Ok we all know the bots are bad, they have been since almost week 1. One of the reasons the are so bad is the materials are in the same spot every time. All someone has to do is set up a macro and tell it to go here mine and move to the next. If the time it right they can keep an area completely wiped out for as long as they are on.
Solution 1: Instance all mining points, the problem with this though though is that it will lead to devaluing of the materials. In fact almost to the point of worthlessness. But it does mean that everyone can get it and the bots will have little reason to be there besides the pennies they could get selling instead of millions. Not exactly a win win, but I cant say anyone loses here completely
Solution 2: Randomize the encounter locations, even if its only by say 100 ft, that way a bot macro is useless. Yes you will still contend with actual people, but that’s the way the game was originally designed. This will leave the economy intact and the value high, and eliminate much of the current bot issue (I am sure eventually they will find another way).
Solution 3: Combine the two. Instance the low level material. This will Give everyone a fair chance to mine those at least. For the higher level Ori and up (given that the new patch is about to drop with new mats) I would say leave that random locations. This way its only by chance you find it and get it before someone else. In this option players can upgrade the low level mats to get the high stuff if they mine enough, but also have the option to hunt with everyone else for the good stuff.
Most bots these days use some form of computer vision, they can just randomly walk around designated parts of the map and identify nodes within the area. Randomization of spawning locations won’t change anything. Instancing also doesn’t change that much in that regard.
What you really want to do is crack down hard on all sides of this spectrum. Perma ban for botting, perma ban for selling in RMT, perma ban the mules, perma ban the buyers. And do this swift. Botting shouldn’t pay, RMT shouldn’t pay.
Solution 3: Give us fresh (non transfer) servers that have PVP always enabled so we can violently murder any and all bots
This doesnt work though, unless you are able to keep killing it 24/7. had a bot running pvp missions once (pvp missions have since changed). we killed it for a while, but eventually it was time to leave the game… log back on in the morning and the bot had run up the territory from 10% to 90%.
Have all the mats guarded by powerful enough NPCs. Yes this means we will have to contend with them as well, but I never see bots in any areas that have enemies in them. I don’t care how sophisticated your cheat/bot software is, it’s not going to be good enough to take on random encounters of stronger enemies. The only place you see the bots are in the highly concentrated areas of mats that are unguarded…almost like they were put there for this reason…I mean who all is profiting in the long run here?
Idk if you have played the game recently but on full servers like barri. Every single type of resource node on the entire map is contested. It is difficult to even get an entire patch of hemp to yourself. Within seconds someone will come along and start collecting. Everywhere, every day, 24/7.
I dont think bots would be very effective if PvP was enabled
In the end all of this is moot, people are still pouring money into the cash shop here, as long as this is going on they have no reason to deal with this. Like I have stated in other posts I have seen a lot of bots now wearing cash shop gear, if the majority of them are buying stuff AGS is not going to ban someone who is giving them money, which is coming from bots that are raping you of your time in a game you have paid for and prob have kept paying for if you buy from the cash shop.
I can’t understand why companies just don’t use legal activities towards this kind of players. If you sue a few players abusing bot programs, etc this would fix to some point of the degree. Imagine amazon legal department against this pleb bot program makers.
EDIT: If he is a bot just train mobs at him. Never seen a bot mine Orichalcum ores tho. Things change it seems.
They would spend more on legal fees than any damages they could seek. That is why they don’t seek action. Also the bots improve their bottom line. Every account purchased to bot is another copy of game sold
playerbase plumet mostly because of abusing ingame economics (dupes), legal abusing economics (owner of WW and EF), bots, etc. So as I see it they made huge damage to the company. But it is hard to sue someone who dupes because that player maybe didn’t have ill intent to “cheat” but it is the problem of bad ingame design, while making boting programs are ill intent to harm game design which can be easily prove in court.
I don’t mind so much for bots because when you play MMO for more then a decade you are aware they are in every game. But making legal action towards them, trust me when they can’t pay legal damages only jail time whcih would made precedens for all future MMOs aswell.
this is actually why I like the idea of world roaming bosses. they tend to be the house keepers. if a bot is frequently traveling a path, for a while it will just get killed and respawn over and over and over while the boss is in the area. this limits the production of materials they gather and there is a boss that is out there for players to either run from or run to.
another is the bot gauntlet. a moving labyrinth of walls and laser traps that would be relatively easy for a human to time and navigate especially if the walls were transparent with opaque boarders. but a bot would have a difficult time in escaping from. and this area would have to limit those in the gauntlet from being able to teleport. it could be made as an ongoing event with gambling and rooting for teams, and even have minigames where you could throw craftable items at them.
