Guild Wars 2

I think all of us have seen at least once some bot running around the map. It’s a shame that we can’t kill each other in the PvE, otherwise I would kill them all.
A few minutes ago I was in Sparkfly Fen and I saw for the first time something like 20 bots running around in the same area. I reported them, but then I started to see how they work.

I’m not an expert but I think that they are just programmed to lock on to the nearest target until it’s dead, loot his corpse and continue until the inventory is full.
So here is my idea: you should insert in the game some random enemies (easily recognizable by a human) that do not attack, but are unkillable. If someone attacks these targets for more than a few seconds, he immediatly receives a mail with a sort of captcha to verify his identity. No answer within a few minutes = you are a bot = ban.

I don’t know if it’s feasible or if it’s a good idea, hope it can be at least a starting point.

An interesting idea, but what would be considered easily recognizable, but still be able to be legit targets of bots? How often would these enemies appear? Also, I kind of feel that the instant ban over a few minutes is a little harsh. I would personally like to see something more of a warning system. After a set number of warnings, the account is banned.

I personally hate bots too, and I wish they would just go away. As I had said, the idea is certainly interesting, but I doubt it would be a permanent solution.

Don’t know, I was thinking about something like standard foes (same name, same “shape”) but with a different color. E.g. instead of red, they are blue. The idea is to use something that is hard for a bot to recognize, like a color.
I think that this type of enemies can be generated on a random basis (like a dozen in each map, especially near the waypoints). But they can also be generated dynamically where and when some player sends a botting report.

About the warning system maybe you are right, direct ban is too harsh.

The real problem is that I don’t know if people can accept the idea to have something in the game that is not strictly related with it. Otherwise there are a lot of other things one can do to make the bot’s life hard. For example, they could implement a feature that every, say, 10 times you try to sell something at the merchant, he ask you some stupid question like “Am I a male?” or “3×2=?”… if you do not answer you receive a warning and so on.

Usually bots use Monster ID to find what to attack.
I’m pretty sure they would just put this ID on their “avoid” list.

People tried something similar in RO with invisible monsters that only bots would see. Didn’t take too long for them to just block this ID.

You will find more information on this issue here.

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