@Devs:Bots everywhere

I see fully scripted botcrews everywhere. Why are you not doing anything about it ?
Seems like many are actually defending it on the server wich is even sadder...

Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but I've only seen a few and certainly not everywhere. I ignore them because they're not disrupting my gameplay and I guess I've just gotten used to it after so many years playing EQ, even under Sony. Compared to EQ TLPs these bots are mild, but report them and let DP decide. I would be sure they are actually bots though. My brother and I play, both of us 2 box, and some annoying bugger began following us around playing detective. Think it threw him for a loop when I asked him if he wanted to join us.

Just an example i was lucky enough to get a exp group in sos last night. Our healer rezzed a wiped group in there and got no thanks. It carrried on rezzing the group ,then started scripting around in circles.
I usually dont care,
but now it is affecting my gameplay in a sence that i can seldom find a group at any lvl below 80. Seems like alot of people are using this PL service at the moment and we who dont give in to that crap. Have to slugg our way to 80 instead of finding same lvl people to group with. So yes i feel like im allowed to vent about this now. It is demoralizing.
Even when we go lfg in the lfg channel a script is auto typing PL for sale.
Anywhoo im done venting. Hope it changes.
Easy to see the difference between box or bot i have no issues with people boxing. Yall have a nice day.

(1) It's difficult to actually know whether someone is multi-boxxing (permitted) or botting (automated play that is forbidden). Boxing is perfectly fine. Botting (which looks like boxing but which uses verboten third party automation software) is not fine. If you think a person is botting, you do a /report then a /petition if you want GM action. If you only use /report, then the GMs never saw anything, because they don't look at /reports without the /petition.

(2) There is a really high incentive for DBG to look the other way, since everyone who is running either boxes or bots is purchasing multiple subscriptions on TLE.

(3) While it certainly IS possible for DBG to detect use of forbidden automation tools, they tend to turn a blind eye unless someone specifically reports a botter. We know for a fact that DBG was scanning for forbidden automation/botting tools on the last TLE PVP server. If they'd do that on ALL servers I think it would help a bunch. You wouldn't even need to ban the people, just make the game not start if such a thing is running, and shut down the game if such a program is started after the game is up.

(4) What happens if you send a /tell to each of the characters? Does more than one reply? Do any of them reply? You may want to use /report if you get hostile communication back. Get FRAPS or other video recording tool, get in-game video of this happening, get screen shots, get the names, and then /petition or create a Support Ticket.

Explain that you believe the person is using third-party software to automate his characters, and why you believe that to be so. Tell them the approximate time and date you used /report, give links to the video (upload it to YouTube or somewhere it can be easily accessed), and attach the screenshots. If a GM determines someone is botting, they take punitive action, and it seems like they've gotten more aggressive about it here of late.

If someone with what appears to be a bot army is doing stuff and it doesn't impact your gameplay, it's probably easiest to ignore it. But if they're hogging content or doing anything harmful to you, then gather documentation and let the GMs sort it out.

Oh, and BEFORE you even start the process of making a /petition or Support Ticket, take a minute or two and read the EQ2 Rules of Conduct in full, so you know what is and what isn't an infraction. I find that the GM response is better when you say, "The Rules of Conduct says quote the rule and this guy is doing X, Y, and Z, which appears to violate that rule".

The only thing that bothers me about this is that a LOT of ppl box, and ppl that dont understand what they are seeing thinks that its BOTTING alot of folks use ISboxer that IS NOT a botting program nothing more than a Key mapping and broadcasting . Those ppl get accused of BOTTING when in fact they are not . They are still in control of all their accounts just from one tab but they still have to actively click . And as far as i know Sony ,DBG ,DPG is 100% ok with ppl using ISboxer and boxing . However they are against BOTTING (Automated) game play .. i only mention this because i would hate to know that someone got banned for doing nothing wrong and only because someone else lack of understanding between the 2 . if you can stand up and walk away and toons are still at work then yes that is botting hence the word BOT , but if you get up and toons do nothing that is BOXING , takes you clicking YOU a real life person not a prog to click to get activity from the toon . And you mentioned its easy to tell the difference between botting and boxing well if Hotkeys are made and key binds as well its really not that easy to tell , you can send in all your toons at once with keystroke most ppl just set up all the same nummber 2 hotkey on all the accounts then spam the hell out of the number 2 key with the macros on that # 2 key for all toons and woolah all your toons are being actively ran from YOUR keystrokes .

in-game macros are partial gameplay automation. macros in eqii are part of internal dbg software in game. program you mentioned also provides some automation of game process. however, this is third party software. and according to ToS it's not legal. whether dbg turns blind eye to this is another question

boxer who respects other players (taking over complexities of playing with boxes) switches to new box/window or desktop each time to perform an action with different toon.
and those who have no respect are easier to determine if pay attention to those who play more than five boxes (honest play, without using automation programs, in five boxes - this is very difficult for mmorpg-virtuoso). if someone plays with large number of boxes and his toons don't stumble, don't get stuck anywhere, don't stand for long time without action, etcetera stemming from fact that it's difficult to control everyone at same time, then perhaps in front of you is an "autoclicker" (this name is applicable not only to a certain type of software, but also to people using it). report+petition*several complainants=fair ban. so tle-server is flooded not with "bottguyses" but with "autoclickers" as i assumed. you have given correct definition of what is "botting" - this is when your toons act in game and you, for example, sleep and dream of a good loot in your sleep..
for others - don't be offended by dbg for not banning them all so far. because it is technically impossible to reliably identify them (unless dbg obtains right to scan player's user processes that are not directly related to the game), because they can set delays in actions (or their third-party software is already configured with necessary delays) and by this are no different from honest boxers (except for impudence). only sensible thing that can be done is to limit entrance to server to maximum of five boxes per one ip. but yes, that means less money from game. but on live servers can introduce such limit of five boxes. although if person plays on two keyboards and with two mice at same time, then he may need ten. but I haven't even read about them in science fiction

why ban them when they make DBG $?

They are unfair to the real players.

i guess you're right.
i was thinking it might be worth it for more man power from the devs for the real players.

Who cares? More money for the company in the grand scheme of things. If they're doing it in contested zones, report it to the ISX developers and they'll shut down the account for you.

shish some people even accused those who provide a service of botting , why pick on those who were opening portals for others all day ?
I remember this nice guy on Fallen Gate who opened portals manually while he was playing on other toons and he got reported. I sometimes chatted with him , he was a nice guy .

People complained about the ones in SS on Kaladim , they use a makro , and how does that evect others game play ? besides maybe you want a portal busyness .
I think sometimes people are over rightest and condemn even helpful people ,even if all botters were eliminated would not make it easier to get a group .
Find a good ,helpful guild and nicely ask for help .
I don't care if it's a boxed group , or a group with 6 individuals that camps the same named all day , or even a bot .
I know camping is legal but I don't have to like it .

Darkpaw doesn't see bots. They see paid subs.

How are they unfair? Are they more unfair than guilds whose members group together, allowing only guild members in their groups?

If a bot/box army is blocking access to content, that's against the Rules of Conduct and you can /report and /petition. This is what used to severely aggravate me. Back in DoF especially and KoS, we had armies of bots harvesting and also mass-slaughtering everything in Sinking Sands/Barren Sky, and if you tried talking to them you soon found out that these folks did not speak English. Most were farming junk by mass slaughter that they sold for in-game currency, which they then sold illicitly via third-party sites (introducing Krono got rid of most of that).

But if a bot or box group is in an instance, they aren't costing you anything. They might be getting gear you can't get solo, but you have recourse for that: you can get a cooperative guild, you can learn to box yourself, you can start a pick-up group. As long as the botting isn't happening in a contested zone, then it's really not impacting the rest of us.

On Maj'Dul, we frequently see what is almost certainly a boxxed raid selling loot rights (SLR) raid gear and instance gear. In a regular raid, you have 24 or so people who really don't want to stand around while stuff is auctioned off, but a botter can do that because the automation doesn't whine about the wait. Yes, the botter ends up with lots of plat, OTOH, you can buy stuff from raid zones that you need. But I've seen actual raid forces with real players also SLR, so how is it different?

To this day, the most reliable method of getting cash is (1) harvesting your tuchis off and selling rares, and (2) hunting shinies and selling those (esp. from old Heroic zones that we can now solo). Once you have enough cash from rares/shinies, then you start watching for someone to be selling Krono much cheaper than the average price, and you buy that Krono. Then you resell that Krono at the average price. Recently on Maj'Dul, the average Krono price is 8.5 million plat, so if you can buy one for 8 million or less, you make a half-million profit. Keep plowing that money back into flipping Krono, and before you know it you have a really good steady in-game income.

People who use illicit means to play are annoying, but unless they are blocking you from content, they really aren't affecting your game. Personally, I usually ignore them, because it's too darn much effort to /report, get screenshots or FRAPS movies, then /petition. But if you CAN show that they're using automation (I've seen several folks boasting in chat about using various automation tools by name, for instance), then if it makes you feel better, /report, document, and /petition. Problem is, they'll be back tomorrow with 6-24 new accounts doing it under new names.

If DBG really wanted to, they could prevent people who are running automation software for boxxing from playing. They did so aggressively on the last TLE PVP server. So obviously they have reasons to NOT do that, which I am guessing are economic (6 to 24 account subscriptions).

A helpful flow chart:

Some early signs of precogs. Interesting, this thread is closed though, that is correct.