The main place you will find bots are the low level zones where they don’t get attacked. 90%+ of the bots I report are when I go hemp farming at Hermit’s Shrine.
The easiest way to spot a bot is follow it and gather the node before it. They will still run up to it, stop, then run to the next.
Occasionally I find them elsewhere, today there was a lv14 running around Edengrove collecting spinefish/lifemoth etc (there is a small area with loads and no mobs).
There are also ones that will fight back if a mob attacks. Usually just GA spin and light attack, but I see them less now because they have to be over-levelled for the zone which takes time. So the situation is better, I haven’t seen a 200 mining bot farming ori in ages. Though that may partly be because there is less money to be made since NW isn’t doing as well.
As for suggestions. Well as others have said AGS balance the cost/benefit of bots. From the tenchical side there are things that could be done (30+ yrs coding, last 5 on a system that does real-time analysis and storage of real-world data way more complex than NW), but that takes dev time etc.
The cheapest way to improve things would be to get the players to do the work. Currently I report them, but there is zero feedback and it just feels like a pointless excercise. I think even just getting a message back saying “XXX was confirmed as a bot and has been banned” would greatly help people’s attitude to the problem.
There’s more that could be done than just a sumple message obviously, but I’m just trying to show the absolute bare minimum.
Its clear the AGS dont whant to do anything with the bots. This have been an issue since the game released and server have come togther to mass report bots to no help…
Personally recently returned to New World after quitting shortly after expertise was introduced. Feel like a lot of good changes has happened since back then and obviously hoping for more steps in the right direction.
But that said, bots running from node to node in very obviously waypoint manner days after they’ve been reported is really off putting. If they’re trying to get people back to the game. They might wanna look into eleminating bots/cheaters. With how little change there has been to the bot problem it almost gives normal players the incentive to bot themselves. And I bet there’s a fair few people who’s either considered it or tried it.
On a sidenote, If anyone has any good working methods to actively fuck with and break the bots when you encounter them let me know, i’m all for it lol. I’d happily go on a bot-bashing party.
Easy. Disable all forms of trade, including the Trading Post and Settlement ownership. Yes, that means no income from Settlements because that can be abused into RMT by rotating people into the roster to get money.
But no one will seriously want this.
And even if you did this, there can still be RMT transactions by selling runs. E.g., what achievement sellers in ESO do: You pay for the service, they play your toon or you group with them and follow directions. No game goods or currencies transferred at all.
But hey at least there won’t be bots on nodes.
Even if we give AGS management/devs the benefit of the doubt, there’s still the moderation team that’s suspect. There have been posts about cheaters claiming to have someone on the inside unbanning them. If RMT is lucrative enough, everyone has their price. Especially if the moderators are some underpaid peons overworked with tickets from various games.
i have been getting my ori ore from the little area in south reekwater and its full of bots, a couple of them are actually okay and i have not reported cause i noticed when someone else thats not a bot shows up they seem to notice this and will actually share the nodes and not try to hog bot them all, so i left them alone, on the other hand i had one bot actually leave and come back flagged to try and fight me off of his paycheck lol, needless to say they should have spent more time learning some pvp cause i smashed him twice and he did not come back after that lol. as far as disrupting them if the bot is on full auto i will watch the pattern for a minute then i will go around them as much as i can and gather everything in their path for awhile so they are just running to spots that having nothing there, granted this does not stop them but throws them of course for a little bit i have dragged a few mobs on them too lol thats always funny
Bots farm mainly in the low level zones and bring cheaper the base resources which is kinda making it easier for us. Haven’t seen bots getting of the higher tier resources everyone fights about
I see the bots on high level stuff, it’s just more spread out and never where they have to fight something. On my server there is almost always a bot running the ori nodes in southern reekwater, ive stayed there long enough to see their frackin shift change over lol
Always see both sea water fishing hotspots in First Light farmed by bots. Same goes for the hotspots on the south and east sides of Reekwater. East side of Shattered Mountain. South of Ebonscale Reach. Almost every fishing hotspot in my server (Nysa) which is safe from monsters will be camped by bots.
As a fisherman, this just makes me not want to play the game.
Bottom line if you want something done about it. stop being complicit in fueling it. Boycott the cash shop and boycott buying any type of mats you know they heavily farm from the TP. Do this for a short while and you will see AGS change their tune real fast.
I’m on the server El Dorado and the bots in First Light are out of control. I’ve been reporting them multiple times a day for the last couple of days. I just came back to the game a few weeks ago and saw a few at first but First Light is heavy with the bots it’s discouraging.
With the servers filling up again, it would make sense to clear out the bots to allow actual players in. If you buy a game that has been out for this long and supposedly “dead”, you dont expect to wait an hour to get in. Removing bots has to be more cost effective than having to open new servers?
I know some people say they have never seen a bot but they are quite easy to spot.
They even have companies now to try and hide what they are!
There are large amounts of them in the starter areas and again, for a new player this is going to be off putting as they cant find the resources they need to advance their skills or complete quests. As long time players we know where to go but new players dont.
If there were GM’s, they just need to see who is reporting them and go look to see for themselves and can instantly ban them before they are moved to higher level areas after spending days leveling mining etc and reaching level 60.
Having a players name in the trade post would also be helpful. Many other MMO’s do this already.
i have dragged a few mobs on them too lol thats always funny