Insane amounts of druid levling/farming bots.

[AlexisIndesign]

@Moparadize.
Mother said to turn off PC. So, its might be just logging out for sometime.

[Ostlimpa]

i reported also bot and gm answered like you " we are investigating" then all the bots disappeared the next day.

but it doesn't mean new bots won't appear soon in the same zone.

Some of the bots I have reported has vanished, others have not. And like you say, there are no end in sight, so this way of handling this problem has proven to be rather ineffective.

[Mercy]

If you don't provide evidence for the person botting, then the GM has to check the player out and evaluate their behavior on their own. Sometimes bots are obvious, but sometimes they aren't. I've reported many myself, and when the GM in question goes to check on the character, they can be AFK or offline, which makes it impossible for the GM to determine if it is a bot. In which case, the GM moves on to the next report. Just keep reporting them guys. Three of the bots I reported just today have already been banned.

[Ostlimpa]

I believe this is the problem Mercy. Every morning when I login and do /who for the most "hot-bot" zones, I stumble upon numbers over 100 and upwards. I think you can already see the problem as you read this: They are so many it would take 6h, if not more, to report all of them by frapsing (because Screenshots seldomly works) and that is simply too much time required, especially considering that this is supposed to be a funny free time game. Unlike a GM, I cannot fly, I cannot run with increased speed, I cannot be invisible (some bots react on players being nearby) and most important of all, I cannot ban them straight up when I see them. While there are certain tricks/cheats/exploits to mimic ALL the GM commands apart from the last, they are both immoral and problematic to use and is more likely to result in a ban for me.

While my reports have yielded some results, it is barely felt. Primarily for the same reason you mentioned - the GM needs to check each bot - 1 by 1.
I therefor strongly believe that the best way for GMs to deal with this problem, is to personally fly over the zones with increased travel speed and slam the banhammer as they go.

I also wish to make a proposition to create a new world channel. A bot report channel.
The idea is to have GMs monitor this channel whenever they are able to in order to get immediate alerts from players detecting bots.
Certainly one might run into the problem of trolling players and therefor it might be a good idea to either A) Punish players abusing this channel for anything else but advicing GMs for spots to travel to in order to investigate bot activity, B) Restrict access so only a handful trusted players may post in the channel.

It would be nice to hear your thoughts on this Warmane.

[Mercy]

I believe this is the problem Mercy. Every morning when I login and do /who for the most "hot-bot" zones, I stumble upon numbers over 100 and upwards. I think you can already see the problem as you read this: They are so many it would take 6h, if not more, to report all of them by frapsing (because Screenshots seldomly works) and that is simply too much time required, especially considering that this is supposed to be a funny free time game. Unlike a GM, I cannot fly, I cannot run with increased speed, I cannot be invisible (some bots react on players being nearby) and most important of all, I cannot ban them straight up when I see them. While there are certain tricks/cheats/exploits to mimic ALL the GM commands apart from the last, they are both immoral and problematic to use and is more likely to result in a ban for me.

I've come across a few bots myself, but nowhere near the numbers you're claiming here. I'm sure there are a lot of them, but come on. I also didn't ask you to fraps all of them. Give names in the ticket so that a GM can go check them out. If the bot is there doing its thing, then it is likely to get banned.

While my reports have yielded some results, it is barely felt. Primarily for the same reason you mentioned - the GM needs to check each bot - 1 by 1.

There are plenty banned on a daily basis. The reason you don't feel a change is being made is because of the sheer volume of these characters and how quickly they are replaced.

I therefor strongly believe that the best way for GMs to deal with this problem, is to personally fly over the zones with increased travel speed and slam the banhammer as they go.

The GM team has other duties to perform. They cannot commit as much time to this as you seem to want.

I also wish to make a proposition to create a new world channel. A bot report channel.
The idea is to have GMs monitor this channel whenever they are able to in order to get immediate alerts from players detecting bots.
Certainly one might run into the problem of trolling players and therefor it might be a good idea to either A) Punish players abusing this channel for anything else but advicing GMs for spots to travel to in order to investigate bot activity, B) Restrict access so only a handful trusted players may post in the channel.

It would be nice to hear your thoughts on this Warmane.

Maybe, but it would also require more work on the GM's part because they (or another staff member) would have to moderate the channel. If it isn't moderated, you can expect it to be abused in one form or another. That in itself is a problem and would need to be run by Aldtharios for his thoughts.

Now, don't get me wrong. I would love to see such things. But I just don't know how feasible they are.

[Ostlimpa]

I've come across a few bots myself, but nowhere near the numbers you're claiming here. I'm sure there are a lot of them, but come on. I also didn't ask you to fraps all of them. Give names in the ticket so that a GM can go check them out. If the bot is there doing its thing, then it is likely to get banned.

I wish I was exaggerating mercy, but I am not. Everyday I login in do a /who check on Silithus, Winterspring, WPL/EPL, Feralas, Desolace and Stonetalon. The numbers are with ease over 100 everytime. And this is just on the Horde side.

There are plenty banned on a daily basis. The reason you don't feel a change is being made is because of the sheer volume of these characters and how quickly they are replaced.

You hit the nail on the head here Mercy. I am not complaining about the current bans, I am complaining because the trend is clear: The current numbers of bans does not even seem to tickle the current bot population as new ones keep coming faster than the GMs can ban them (under this model). Therefor the hole effort is rendered useless in the long run as more bots show up faster than old ones are dismantled. The mere fact that bots can even reach lv 70 reinforces my point.

The GM team has other duties to perform. They cannot commit as much time to this as you seem to want.

Exactly. I am well aware that GMs cannot focus on one task alone. What I am proposing is that time spent reading GM tickets with bot names followed by a checkup (1 bot at a time) is closed down in favour of using that time to patrol heavily infested areas.

Maybe, but it would also require more work on the GM's part because they (or another staff member) would have to moderate the channel. If it isn't moderated, you can expect it to be abused in one form or another. That in itself is a problem and would need to be run by Aldtharios for his thoughts.

Yes it is a clear downside, but I see few other alternatives if you want feedback from us players. An idea could perhaps be to only allow Premium Accounts to access this chat? That would at least cut down the amount of players who could troll and I reckon most premium account holders have invested time into the Warmane project and might be inclined to be more serious.

Now, don't get me wrong. I would love to see such things. But I just don't know how feasible they are.

I do not know either Mercy, but clearly something must be done. I am close to asking to be signed up as a special GM just to purge this bot infestation because if nothing changes with the current system, the server will eventually die out in terms of fair play. I am well aware Outland is not the only server that needs attention and that the entire staff cannot be placed in one project, and therefor we must find a solution to handle this problem with what resources we have.

[shataram]

Warmane should invent and implement anti-bot system and gold flow control, definitely. No matter how many you will ban, Cninese Bot Center ℠ will still profitable even if you are banning 90% of them. Probably they are fully automatizated because accounts and nicknames arent human-like. Huge gold transfers and coin markets should be closely watched. Characters which leveled only by grinding should be autobanned. Suspicious skinners should be marked as potential bots by system in the background. Those who recieve many gold by vendoring should be marked also. I'm sure bots values are significantly higher than the usual player. How do they make money? Gold trading, coin trading. How do they make gols? Vendoring gray staff, flooding AH by mats. If you can control the cash flow (AH, mail, trade), bots will die by itself.

[Ostlimpa]

This morning:
Winterspring: 28 bots - 23 are druids.
Silithus: 46 bots - 43 are druids.
EPL:24 bots - 19 are druids.
Desolace: 7 bots - 2 are druids.
This is just on Horde side and 4 out of 12 bot zones.

[Drektar90]

Admins are obviously FAILING at this BOT PROBLEM miserably.

I encountered a couple of 70 horde feral druid BOTS in Netherstorm few feet away from Area 52 - they have been grinding for 3 days straight 24/7 AFTER I reported them.

What is funny is that they even have Guild ... a BOT GUILD !!

https://imgur.com/hYTkHex

https://imgur.com/v5RI1PF

Well Warmane GM staff does NOTHING what can I say - if you guys can not manage your **** recruit more GMs from us players?

[lordsebbe]

The Bot Plague is here! RUN!

[Nitrogen]

After reporting several times the same bots farming at the very same place everyday at any hour, getting the same "We will investigate the following players" from GMs at each ticket, the bots are still here, farming at the very well know spots stated several times on this thread.

I decided to stop reporting them altogether, the staff's response to this is just not worth the trouble of creating tickets over and over again, especially for the same bots at the same places.

[Ostlimpa]

Bots this morning:
Winterspring: 22 - 17 are druids.
Silithus: 44 bots - 41 are druids.
WPL+EPL: 41 bots: 29 are druids.

[deflowerinfidel]

Should ban their IP. not their accounts. if you ban an account. chances are it was only used for botting in the first place. nothing to stop them from making a new account and start botting again 10 minutes after you ban their bot account.

[Mercy]

They use VPNs. Banning IPs does nothing.

Bots this morning:
Winterspring: 22 - 17 are druids.
Silithus: 44 bots - 41 are druids.
WPL+EPL: 41 bots: 29 are druids.

You can't automatically assume every result of your /who is a bot.

[Ostlimpa]

They use VPNs. Banning IPs does nothing.
You can't automatically assume every result of your /who is a bot.

I never assumed anything here Mercy. I take my time to go through the zones on several accounts with characters placed in different parts of the zones. A quick mount ride with them allows me to see the bots in nearby area and so all I basically have to do is to check off the names on the who list for each bot detected. Also old bots are automatically confirmed. But I trust you understand that I cannot do this for every zone.
So the numbers I present are (sadly) real.