Report them for botting… enough reports a captcha pops up. If not answered correctly in 2 minutes the bot auto flags for pvp.
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The solution is incredibly simple.
Hire competent CSR’s that have the tools to enforce standards and are region locked with people that are properly trained, supervised, and paid a decent wage.
Region lock the servers, that is a must unfortunately.
Begin training GM’s for in game interdiction. AGS is running this game like Amazon is for their internet box store, and using the same customer service, that needs to stop.
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Stop while you still can, if you want to keep from seeming dense. It is very easy to tell a bot running a scripted route from an actual player. Most people can discern between the two. If you are unable to, that doesn’t mean that the OP or anyone else can either. I’m on the Dominora server. There is a bot named “max78” that runs a scripted loop outside the Everfall settlement. It runs the same exact path for days on-end. I don’t play non-stop, but I do play NW a lot. And I do a lot of material gathering there. And that bot is ALWAYS there when I go. He has been for weeks. I’ve tried trading with him, DM’ing him, no response. I’ve seen it get stuck against a cliff, continually running forward, for over an hour, randomly jumping in different directions to try and get unstuck, instead of simply turning left or right.
It’s a bot. I know its a bot. If you can’t tell a bot from a player, I assure you most of us can. I’ve reported it at least 50 times, but it is still there every time I go outside Everfall.
To TyusTPHHipocrene, I feel your frustration, brother. I wish AGS would do something about bots. IDK if deputizing players is a good idea, but I would definitely love to do something about bots on my server. Here’s the best thing I’ve found to do: Turn their scripted path against them. My arch-nemesis, max78, runs a loop that grabs a ton of iron, lightning motes, and death motes (all of which I need too). I followed it a couple times and learned the route. I jump in the route about 1-2 minutes ahead of the bot and gather all of the nodes before the bot reaches them. So you can gather resources you need while denying the bot of the same resources. It’s a win-win.
Thanks to max78, I finally found a good low-level, easy location to get death motes I need for crafting that isn’t too over-crowded. Its easy to beat a scripted bot to the nodes…much easier than fighting with other players in an over-saturated farming area. Turn it into a challenge. See how many times you can run the loop without the bot catching you (it will inevitably gain a bit of ground on you over time as you stop to harvest).
I did this for a couple hours tonight and actually found some enjoyment in it. At least it made the mindless resource gathering a bit more fun!
Maybe one day AGS will actually read their “Bot Behavior” reports…
2 Likes
Love it! Simple and satisfying.
Haha agreed. And I completely get that deputizing players may not be the best idea but something has to be done as the current system is broken. Honestly I love the report and captcha idea brought up by Laural1. Simple and allows me to kill them haha. While maybe only allowing someone to trigger this by reporting once every 30 min or something so that peolsyers can’t weaponize or anything.
I’ve done similar things with bots as well it’s just the sheer magnitude of it. On my server there are 100 or more.
There was a system, openly being flagged would have stopped bots. When i played Lineage 2 we dealt with bots by killing them
Agreed and that was my first thought was, “require someone to be flagged to gather a node” but unfortunately it’s not a practical solution as the original direction of the game is more balanced between PvP/PvE.
Killing bots by PvP (PK) in L2 is useless. They are back 2 mins later and even if you decide to do it over and over again - they may lose 1 or 2 hours of their 24h day and don’t care for XP at all (on the contrary, saves them the effort of having to level down themselves to stay in the level range of their spot).
YOU on the other hand care for your XP and have to get rid of massive amounts of karma and steal not only your own time but also the time of the healer who has to keep ressing you.
Open PvP being so great because you can kill bots is a fairytale. Never worked out in L2, it was always full of bots.
PS: I did have some fun though with harrassing bots the “PvE” way and getting them killed by mobs 
That was long ago at a time when they wouldn’t immediately auto-res and move back to their spot completely on their own. Had some videos up too.
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Makes sense that it wouldn’t actually do anything but it sure as hell would be a nice outlet for frustration haha
Poor poor Asian-Pacific servers then….lol
This is not a solution. If you openly become flagged for pvp if you trying to gather anything it would just kill the game straight up. I am still leveling and honestly i would instantly uninstall the game if i have to be forced to PvP on every bit of resource i would like to gather vs all the levels 60s around looking for newbies like me to hunt for fun. No thanks. A capcha pop up window once every minute if repetitive actions are flagged by the client or server. I have seen that solution in a game called MU Legend. Capcha thing is actually super efficient.
Sounds like we found a solution we can both agree upon. I like the Captcha idea as well.
transport all suspected bots in the arena with level 45 Chompy? that way if they are real they will just jump over the fence and if not, well maybe we can watch chompy eat them all and place bets on last bot standing…
OPT
IN
PVP
"Breaking MMO genre News: Bots continue to run rampage in NW for weeks although there was one instance of dialogue we weren’t expecting today from players and bots in the same zone, “We love our safe space!” "
Yes, you are crazy
There are details you’ve missed, you’re too hard focused on one point.
Bots and Solo farmer via the help of Alts made PvE too easy, Buffs made your character literally x3 stronger or better. The problem with Lineage 2 is that they never wanted to tackle this issue properly IE actually making anything supportive skill based among other combat or game changes that could of made brain dead farming so much of an inconvenience it’s just not profitable due to how active you would have needed to be.
Sorry to spoil the eazy peezy ‘Blame PvP’ narrative.
I have no idea what you are trying to tell me. Are you answering to the wrong post? I didn’t blame PvP for anything and the tidbits you wrote had nothing to do with my post.
How much more should I salvage exactly?
Your post LEANS against PvP as an incorrect solution, ofc you didn’t damn it but you didn’t conclude anything otherwise.
Saying something is not effective against x is not “blaming” it fox x. Learn to express yourself and get off your high horse. Blocked.
You’re literally stating only PvP is an issue, there were many other problems with L2 ie the easy hacks on Unreal Engine 2.
I’m expressing myself just fine, it takes a real man btw to block someone, so good job on that 