Blatant botting is completely out of hand

^^^ (note: boxers, not botters)

The server economies would be different, but they would be just fine. I don't see how this would affect DBG's revenue. Krono prices would be different, but approximately the same number of Kronos would be bought, sold, and traded.

It is interesting to note that the drop rates on chase loot are tuned around the fact that they are farmed by bot groups (see below). This hurts legitimate players by greatly reducing our chances of looting a chase item.

We are not talking about boxers. (Boxers are fine, and they do help keep the game healthy.) We are talking about bots -- fully automated, scripted groups that tend to monopolize content 24/7/365 in order to farm chase loot, spells to sell, and so on.

Bot groups can not be "pleasant and reasonable" because there is no human being involved -- you can't interact with a bot group.

As far as bot accounts keeping the game afloat? That does not seem viable in the long run. Now that the word is out that anyone can bot with impunity, I see a rapid increase on the number of bots on my live server. The next round of TLP servers will be heavily impacted.

I would argue that the game needs both boxers and botters along with single toon players. Everquest has reached a point in its life (not the first or last MMO to do this) where the amount of time required to accomplish in game goals far exceeds the average players available time to commit to a video game. I personally feel that we should proceed as follows:

In game poll with some options on how to handle third party programs on live servers. Let the people decide what level if any of third party software we want in our video game, on live servers only.

Immediate enforcement of TLP and Truebox rules. As many layers of banning as necessary to remove the people breaking the rules of TLP (Truebox) as well as the immediate banning of all third party programs on the TLP servers. These servers were designed for a reason, and I think that many people truly enjoyed the original feel before they were invaded by people blatantly skirting the rules. I for one really really enjoyed Phinny when it first started, that was some incredible nostalgia and I’d personally like to see the Truebox TLP servers keep that magic.

But what do I know... *shrugs*

I see very few "bot" groups "monopolizing content." I've never been directly impacted by a fully automated bot group not answering tells or not otherwise answering some kind of communication. Most of the ones I've run across were out of the way doing things that may be morally questionable, but from a content monopolization perspective, it didn't impact me at all. I intellectually equate people who complain about that to complaining that the lack of groups is because other people choose to sit in PoK and do tradeskills. In other words, their decision on how they're going to play the game isn't impacting me, so why should I care other than to blame SOMEONE for SOMETHING. I don't feel a need to lay blame at someone's feet for something that isn't directly affecting me.

And complaining that chase loot drop rate is set with people afk botting in mind seems ridiculous. Quote a dev or it didn't happen.

That was when reckless ascension on bristlebane was trying for their first maeratas win.

Dude was love streaming it.. with M Q program running as he streamed .. A dev actually commented seriously man.. then within 5 minutes .. before their raid was done.. the guy stopped streaming and disappeared.

Frontier Mountains (EoK) on Emarr right now:

3 legit players
28 bots (all from the same guild, one of the two major bot guilds on the server)

This illustrates the level of control that DBG has over the game right now. I'd be pretty embarrassed if I were them.

Just go camp next to them. It seems some groups are programmed to stop if people approach.

EW (RoF version) has a bot group that has been there for a few months. I decided to finish my RoF named with the rare increase recently. I already knew this group was there, I did the quests and collections for the zone and noticed them. Zone in a month or so later, do a /who, same people.

As soon as I started killing phers the group no longer moved or killed anything. I'm not saying ALL groups are like this, but the 2 I encountered in RoF (Shards has another) seemed to stop once people get close.

Anyone ever notice when there's a botting discussion thread that theres never any response from dev's on the subject its pretty sad actually.

Andarriel

DBG is a joke.

Andarriel

There was a response on another thread, I can go ahead and post it here.

People are nieve if they think automated gameplay isn’t a huge part of the reason this game is able to sustain itself. I have been a member of multiple raid forces on multiple servers over the last five years that are able to exist solely because they have automated healers and support classes. I don’t even know a single enchanter nor bard main on my entire server - and I know most of the 110s on the server. Without this core infrastructure, the single character players would find that Norrath is devoid of most things and the rate of population loss would accelerate. More than half of my friends play 3+ gold accounts and many run their own full 6-person groups. It is disappointing that the game has reached this point but I’d rather this than a barren wasteland or have the game shut down altogether.

All that said, I’m very supportive of eliminating the free-to-play unattended bot armies. They all seem to hang out in Frontier Mountains because of how easy the zone is. I don’t even know how they make any money because EoK chase items are such garbage now, but perhaps it is because the cost is so low.

I think there are many potential solutions that could work for the majority of players, recognizing that you can never please anyone. Free transfers during a limited window to a designated “True Box” live server could be an option. Or a designated “Automation Friendly” server could be another. I’m hoping that DBG is evaluating this alongside their server consolidation plan that was announced a few months back and set for next year. Either way, I think the best solution is one that maximizes subscriptions for DBG and creates an enjoyable EQ experience for most. This should be achievable with the ability to run multiple servers with different rule sets.

Wish they would (or could) just merge servers...it would do wonders for the game.

That will go over like a lead balloon. And from what I can recall, the last set of merges were so full of problems that it caused a lot of heartburn with those involved.

I hate server merges. Lost names, lost items, and X you dont get rid. Trader needs leveling to 10+ or move the items to a higher one. Oh boy, I don't want to have that again...

#mergenotpurge

How is this getting turned into a merge servers thread? LOL

I'd assume some eldritch magicks.

Did the morph bug crop up again?

There are a lot of long time players who went through both of the major merges and never ever want to see another one. High population means overcrowding and friction, not "more people to group with".