Bot Hot Spots

#1 - Jan. 11, 2013, 12:45 p.m.

While in-game bot reports are the best way for us to address the issue of botting, several players have asked how to report areas that appear to host a lot of botters. This thread is intended to furnish a place for you to share that information.

If you would like to submit a report, please understand this is an possible bot area report system (not an individual botter report) and provide us with the following:

1. Map and Location: Map name and general spot on the map
2. World (aka server)
3. Date and time of day, plus timezone: 1:00 PM Pacific Time on January 8, 2013

Please do not provide:

• Screenshots (which are a form of “name and shame” because they contain character names and could include innocent players)
• Names of presumed botters

Please continue to report individual suspected bots via the in-game system.

We will scan through this thread and check out the areas that you are concerned about, but keep in mind that:

• The process of bot reviews can take a while—sometimes we amass information over many days—and the process can involve a certain level of stealth.
• Sometimes an area that is popular with botters is also popular with players, so we must use care in the actions we take.
• This means you may not see the area you report completely scrubbed of bots in the short-term, as we review and assess the situation.

Thanks for your reports!

#13 - Jan. 11, 2013, 8:10 p.m.

Divine Crab.2481:

Southsun Cove (Desolation)

I’ve sent a private message to one of Anet guys yesterday and he didn’t reply so i don’t know if they have been removed. There are 3 of them basically all the time killing karkas at the south of the map.

PMing a staff member isn’t going to help. If they’re in the game, they’re either working on something, in which can they don’t have time to deal with the message, or they’re playing, in which case they would like to do that without dealing with work issues.

So please use the in-game report function and this thread, and we’ll get this taken care of! Thanks for understanding.

#15 - Jan. 11, 2013, 8:12 p.m.

Michael.4791:

scabies.3246:

If I provide a video of bots circling the same path in Southsun Cove 24/7 that use obvious speed hacking, moving 4-6 times faster than any normal player, can I post it here?

No. It would probably include names. That would be not allowed here.

But we would welcome that in a Support Ticket which you can file through the “Ask a Question” tab on that linked page.

#37 - Jan. 12, 2013, 11:37 p.m.

You guys rock! Many of these areas are under our beady eye right now, but it’s super helpful of you to give us the details that you notice.

Now remember, you may not see a “scrub and clean” in a matter of hours. We may amass a number of bots and smoosh ‘em all in one fell swoop. But you can be sure we’re serious about this situation and your help is greatly appreciated.

And I have to remind: The very best way to report bots is to submit an individual report via the in-game system. This is because those reports give us ever so much info and they help us nail… err… attend to them very quickly. * ahem *

Thanks again and keep the location reports coming!

#65 - Jan. 16, 2013, 9:31 a.m.

Thank you again for your continued reports! <3

#66 - Jan. 16, 2013, 9:33 a.m.

Siliconmana.3816:

Gaile Gray.6028:

You guys rock! Many of these areas are under our beady eye right now, but it’s super helpful of you to give us the details that you notice.

Now remember, you may not see a “scrub and clean” in a matter of hours. We may amass a number of bots and smoosh ‘em all in one fell swoop. But you can be sure we’re serious about this situation and your help is greatly appreciated.

And I have to remind: The very best way to report bots is to submit an individual report via the in-game system. This is because those reports give us ever so much info and they help us nail… err… attend to them very quickly. * ahem *

Thanks again and keep the location reports coming!

Stormbluff Isle:
Gaile, at least one of the bots Enju and l reported in this thread days ago is still active in Cursed/Malchors everyday as he was downed it was possible to add to friends list. Whenever l’ve been ingame since, he is logged in. We are not supposed to post names and fair enough if there’s a mistake however l did shoot fraps of the others that were blinking in and out and guess l will have to edit and upload to YT and send names and private video link to Anet as nothing seems to be done through here yet.

How are you reporting this? Via a ticket, or via an in-game report using the interface? I can check into it if I know which means you’re using to report. Thanks.

#76 - Jan. 24, 2013, 12:46 p.m.

LordGustoff.3752:

Gaile Gray.6028:

Now remember, you may not see a “scrub and clean” in a matter of hours. We may amass a number of bots and smoosh ‘em all in one fell swoop. But you can be sure we’re serious about this situation and your help is greatly appreciated.

If I may ask (and I apologize if this had been answered before in some other thread), why do you guys not “scrub and clean” as soon as a bot is identified, rather than “amass and smoosh in one fell swoop”. It’s not that I don’t appreciate your efforts at getting rid of bots in game, I do wholeheartedly.

Sometimes it’s more effective to “take names” and remove all at once, to not give warning to the bot companies that we’re observing their minions. I’ve removed bots, and I’ve seen the RMTers respond quickly and move to another area when they start seeing other botters getting banned.

Many RMTs have dozens of people working the game, and what I envision is someone calling out “There’s a GM in [Area A] so we’re going to move to [Area B] for now.” And suddenly, Area A is bot free and Area B is filled with those who jumped maps.

#81 - Jan. 28, 2013, 4:43 p.m.

I wanted to be sure to tell you that our agents are on the case, and your information has been very helpful. We pulled some data today and the team is going to assign some folks to watch…. This one map… and that other area…. and that spot that was mentioned here.

We find that spots can change daily, and we’re by no means asking you to spend your gaming time looking for bots, if you can report the area when you find it, it’s all good!

So please, do keep these reports coming, guys. We love the information, and appreciate the help!! <3

#85 - Feb. 4, 2013, 4:36 p.m.

Thank you for these continued reports!

#89 - Feb. 7, 2013, 5:39 p.m.

Kraggy.4169:

Tell me, does using the ‘report cheating’ really work?

Thing is, as a relative noob I saw several time characters appear at a node, farm it then log off. I asked on here if these were bots and was told ‘yes’, report them.

The only way I have found to do this is to ‘friend’ them, then use Report. However, there is nowhere for me to describe the activity at all. Thus, my ‘report’ consists of me simply naming them as a ‘bot’: there’s no evidence collection, no information is asked for at all.

Are these ‘reports’ REALLY taken notice of? I took a screenshot, simply to be able to remember the character’s name, but that wouldn’t be evidence since obviously faking screenshots is easy, so I’m left wondering just how useful this reporting scheme is.

Also, if this is considered useful by Anet, why isn’t this ‘report’ option available simply by targetting the bot, instead of having to try to remember a name that is often deliberately designed to make remembering something seen for only a few seconds difficult?

Yep Kraggy, it really works. We have team members reviewing the in-game reports pretty much around the clock. Player reports are very helpful to us: either the in-game report system or putting locations of concern in this thread.

Thanks for asking!

#90 - Feb. 7, 2013, 5:40 p.m.

Kruhljak.2705:

@Kraggy: What you saw was a bot teleporting to the node you were near, using it, then teleporting off the next node in their circuit. This teleporting stuff is actually a sort of hacked trick, not something the character is actually doing legitimately.

As you’ve found out, friending them in order to report them is the easiest method to deal with them. If I see someone appear out of nowhere at a node, I immediately screenshot it, refer to it to get the exact spelling so there’s no mistaken identity issue, friend them, then report them for botting. I leave them friended until I haven’t seen them for quite a while. Because bots will tend to remain functioning until they’re forcibly removed, I assume not seeing them for several days means they’ve been dealt with. This sometimes takes upwards of a week, though. I’ve reported perhaps 50 bots of various types, and most of them have disappeared (only the most recent ones I have in my friends list are still hopping around).

I’d say that these reports are working. Those that handle them don’t really need too many details from you, as I believe they just review whatever metrics they keep on how the character’s been being “played” either in general or around the time of the report datestamp.

To the last question, you can report them by targeting them and right-clicking on their portrait (top center of your screen). There’s an option to report them from there, though as noted with regard to mining bots, you’re unlikely to be able to do all that while they’re still in front of you. The method I noted above removes the issue since a screenshot takes less than a second and the info’s there until you have some time to deal with it.

My advice is to report them every time you see them, even if you’ve already reported them (assuming some reasonable time has passed since the last report). The more distinct reports, the more likely they’ll be noticed. I expect ANet uses a weighted priority system to determine what order to address each suspected bot; more reports, higher priority.

Valuable comments, Kruhljak, and thank you.

#95 - Feb. 21, 2013, 12:44 p.m.

Num Nutzo.9056:

I have question. Are you guys aware that botters are botting the Gathering Nodes? I mean there leaving all there toons on individual nodes and logging in and out on each toon every so often to gather them. Now i know some people do this normally but i also Know theres a great many botters doing it also. I don’t like farming the same events over and over so i travel through all the maps doing events i come across only once, Doing the Jps, grabbing chest and any gathering node along the way. I see so many toons appearing and disappearing on the nodes i come across in all the maps not just one. But i will say the most notable map i see them doing this in is Dredgehaunt Cliffs. I Always see at least 5-10 toons appear and dissapear before im done with that map. I was just in that map a couple days ago and noticed the botters bot program was glitching out. The same toon kept logging in and out over and over and over. The problem I had it was so fast I couldn’t left click the toon right click the target display and then select the tiny report text before he logged back out and the target display is lost. I still have this same problem with the rest of them. There only logged in for 2-4 secs, long enough to gather the node then there gone. I rarely fast enough to get the report screen to come up before they log off.
Now before you blame the culling on what I’m seeing, I was seeing this long before culling was being adjusted/fix.
I guess you guys have 2 new problems to tackle. Same node farming and how hard it is to report a toon that is only logged on for 4 secs.

Hi there. Thanks for this post. Yes, we’re aware that this can be an issue, and we have a means and are adding means to address this particular situation.

Just an FYI: If you can report even a character name, that’s more than enough. You do not need to struggle to try to find the display name — character name is good, too.

#101 - Feb. 28, 2013, 3:30 p.m.

Hello, please remember not to post the names of possible bots. As a reminder, please read this post. Thank you.

#107 - March 5, 2013, 3:26 p.m.

Charr Guardian.1497:

Charr Guardian.1497:

Charr Guardian.1497:

There’s 2 active mail spambots RIGHT NOW. Please, shoot them with an asura megalaser or something.

1.MAP AND LOCATION: Divinity’s Reach, at the royal palace entrance, next to Seraph Tinkerer [Repairs].
2.WORLD: Borlis Pass
3.DATE, TIME AND TIMEZONE: Right now. 12:00 a.m. GMT -6, February 25

The two accounts responsible for botting are still active within the city. I can provide character names, but I know that’s not the purpose of this thread.

You literally can see a mail pigeon flying by every 2 seconds, and they both exhibit these bot lag/warping issues. They don’t reply even if they seem active, and the mails they send/receive do not stop.

These two guys have been dealt with, but another 2 took their place. Also, they’re in the same guild as the ones that have been erradicated. Is there a specific way to report this kind of botting issue? I have the feeling that investigating their guild would turn up a lot more bots, possibly an entire network.

You know, you have such specific and detailed info, I don’t think the in-game system (or this thread) will really be effective and halting their nefarious activities. Would you mind submitting a ticket? In that system, you can provide map, location on map, time (and time zone), plus all the character names you wish, because it’s private communications. I think that would be the way to go, if you have the time to do that.

Thanks!

#111 - March 6, 2013, 2:08 p.m.

Tup.1803:

I just wanted to ask if there was anything being done about teleporting node farming bots? They are kitten near impossible to report and it’s obvious what they are doing. Some are clothed, most I see are naked. I’d assume it would be obvious to weed out players teleporting all over the place and ban them. I’m just curious are you working on a method to weed out and ban these bots or what’s up?

We do know it’s hard to get those names, but we take out botters of this type on a regular basis and our team is looking at other means to detect them, as well.

#122 - March 18, 2013, 3:34 p.m.

Thanks again for all your help, folks!

#124 - March 19, 2013, 2:38 p.m.

I have placed this post in the Sticky Post section, so that it will always be visible.

Thanks again for your continued efforts to help us nail the bots!

#174 - Oct. 9, 2013, 11:20 a.m.

I’m going to check with our Security guy about the more recent reports of bots. From what I can see, you folks are giving these a careful assessment and yet the bots remain in the game for long periods of time. I will verify that our processes are functioning properly and that we are taking out the bots at a reasonable level and as promptly as we can.

Thanks for your continued diligence!

#175 - Oct. 9, 2013, 11:22 a.m.

I’m going to check with our Security guy about the more recent reports of bots. From what I can see, you folks are giving these a careful assessment and yet the bots remain in the game for long periods of time. I will verify that our processes are functioning properly and that we are taking out the bots at a reasonable level and as promptly as we can.

Thanks for your continued diligence!

#203 - Oct. 10, 2014, 12:27 p.m.

Hey guys. Thanks for the heads up on this problem. I just wanted to let you know that we are aware of it, investigating, and have already banned a bunch of accounts (I don’t know the exact number, but I know Chris Cleary has been very busy with this lately). Please keep letting us know when you see suspicious activity!