Quite interesting to be playing a game where they are not afraid to say NO to botting. 34k bans in 1 month, and actually have a security post. https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/mike-lewis-on-the-war-against-the-bots/?utm_source=client Would this be a good or bad thing for EQ2?
Who exactly is botting? Aside from those who like to bot-box 6 toons and run raid zones. I know that at least for us (Kharma) all our Avatar-Watching accounts are raider-alts on separate accounts that people are manually checking every 30 mins during a day for an Avatar at least. So not sure where you are wanting this topic to go. There are plenty more problems imo in EQ2 that are hurting the playerbase over potential botting.
I know that, I am saying that most "bots" at least when I hear talk of them are actually AFK-Multiboxed alts that are just camping around. There of course are some who bot to run raids by themselves and THAT is a detriment to the game. Just saying that if they go back to making GM's send you a PM and if you don't respond your banned for botting... then that will also cause issues as some are just momentarily AFK with stuff bashing on them. I have put on reactive damage and reactive heals and just AFK-killed a room.
Is botting even an issue in EQ2 these days? I remember the botters from early in the game running around in Feerrott & Pillars of Flames, but the only thing I've seen in the past year or so has been afk leveling with pets/mercs. As annoying as I find this practice personally, it's not the same as botting. I imagine there are probably still some craft bots around but they hide in thier guild halls to do their dirty deeds. Really what I'm getting at I guess is if you honestly think EQ2 needs that sort of heavy banstick at this point? I personally don't see an issue these days. Keep in mind multi-boxing isn't the same as botting.
I've heard of several alliances using something called whoops can't say it or else I'm advertizing to fill in spots for raids.
The problem with botters in the day was game disruption - I used to get so darn mad at the ones with one live player and five bots all casting at the same instant that killed the Sandscrawler goblins that we needed for writs. But other than that, if some fool cheats to get uber gear super fast, all that means is that they will get bored and leave the game sooner. Other people cheating doesn't affect us in a PVE environment. (Cheating in PVP is something else altogether!) What other people do doesn't stop YOU from questing or harvesting or enjoying whatever aspects of the game you enjoy. If you see someone you think is cheating, try sending them a tell, and then /petition them if you think it's appropriate. If they aren't griefing you, is it worth the time it takes to fill out the dumb form? That's the calculation I make: am I aggravated enough to take the time to petition?
The only thing that is actually being done there is a marketing campaign to give the impression that there is a crack down on botting. You can only go so far when it comes to getting rid of paying customers. I have no doubt it's alot lower then 34k
It probably is, but no sub fee means they have less incentive to pretend to kick people. The rampant botting is one of the reasons I haven't logged in to GW2 in about a month.
My friends who play say that the market in-game is broken for actually making money unless you are really savvy about pricing. Diablo III is being ruined by bots too as you can buy 5,000,000,000 gold for $2.50 so most items are 100+ Million if it happens to have the 3 Primary stats on it (Damage Stat, Vitality and usually Critical Chance and/or slots)
