Guild Wars 2

I farm berries in Bitterfrost frontier every day, and yesterday there was quite a heated discussion in map chat between people who had been reporting people for AFK farming and some of the people that had/were doing it on a regular basis.

For those of you who don’t know about this, it’s where you login onto your necro/ranger and stand on a somewhat profitable place while using auto attack and minions to kill mobs while AFK.

Now for some reason people think this is ok even though Chris Cleary wrote 9 months ago, that it was punishable and exploity behavior.

Thought I would just remind you guys about what he said so many months ago, because I see increasingly more people doing this every day.

Just thought some of you might have needed a reminder and a warning before you start doing this. I know that arenanet have no interest in banning their players.

And no i am not kitten over this, i only made this post because there is a lot of false information out there, which is in my eyes very understandable since the only clear answer about this was made in a forum post 9 months ago.

Good day guys, cya in game ^^

You should simply report them in game.

The problem here is like txting and driving. It’s rarely if ever enforced but the police say don’t do it and move on. So more and more do it without fear.
It’s not about being able to AFK, it’s not about enough resources to ‘police’ but more about as not having any desire to to do something about even though it would be quite easy to do so. IF GMs dropped in to known AFK spots randomly once a day and handed out 72 hr bans for a 1st offence (longer for repeat offenders) the word would get around pretty fast.

One method for fixing the problem might be to have roaming Elite packs patrolling many of these possible AFK locations. A location stops being profitable if you keep getting killed.

Its funny when you say “people need a reminder” when post like this happen near every week. Yet another one is made.
The only way for someone to stay afk and farm is if they have an outside program. Which is where the ban come from.
If you don’t like afk farming, don’t do it. Life is full of people saying don’t do or do do. Let it be, it’s not hurting you. Anet will determine if someone using a broken game mechanic is banable.

Nick Lentz.6982:

The only way for someone to stay afk and farm is if they have an outside program. Which is where the ban come from.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!!!!!!!!!
Rangers and Necros in game mechanics working as intended allows AFK farming which the devs have spoken out against.

Blude.6812:

Nick Lentz.6982:

The only way for someone to stay afk and farm is if they have an outside program. Which is where the ban come from.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!!!!!!!!!
Rangers and Necros in game mechanics working as intended allows AFK farming which the devs have spoken out against.

You can’t stay logged in. You have to use a skill or you get kicked out. Your pets and minions do not keep you from being kicked out.

Nick Lentz.6982:

You can’t stay logged in. You have to use a skill or you get kicked out.

All players have to do is be close enough to press 1 button every 15 minutes or so. And according to the rules laid out by the dev, they can AFK farm as much as they want as long as they respond to a dev message asking if they’re AFK. Set up your AFKer and then go do some housework, play another game in the background, solve world hunger…the sky is the limit!

Boysenberry.1869:

Nick Lentz.6982:

You can’t stay logged in. You have to use a skill or you get kicked out.

All players have to do is be close enough to press 1 button every 15 minutes or so. And according to the rules laid out by the dev, they can AFK farm as much as they want as long as they respond to a dev message asking if they’re AFK. Set up your AFKer and then go do some housework, play another game in the background, solve world hunger…the sky is the limit!

Which I am sure most do, but people love labels. TP Barons do the same thing, yet it’s not the same. People hate things that won’t benefiting them, if I don’t do it, you shouldn’t either, kind of thing.

Boysenberry.1869:

Nick Lentz.6982:

You can’t stay logged in. You have to use a skill or you get kicked out.

All players have to do is be close enough to press 1 button every 15 minutes or so. And according to the rules laid out by the dev, they can AFK farm as much as they want as long as they respond to a dev message asking if they’re AFK. Set up your AFKer and then go do some housework, play another game in the background, solve world hunger…the sky is the limit!

And that’s assuming all of those AFK’ers are actually near their computer.

There’s also the matter of what exactly is the timeframe that GM’s give people to respond before calling them a bot and taking action? 10 min? 20 min?

Players who are not using 3rd party programs to stay logged in have to hit a movement key every 50 minutes. Chances are they could get a whisper in between this even if they do it twice every 50 min.

Nick Lentz.6982:

The only way for someone to stay afk and farm is if they have an outside program.

Actually, there are ways to AFK farm without an outside program.

Nick Lentz.6982:

If you don’t like afk farming, don’t do it. … Let it be,

Good advice (or /report it and move on).

Nick Lentz.6982:

it’s not hurting you.

That’s not true — it impacts the economy in a number of subtle ways, which ultimately hurts us all. (Well, to be fair, a single AFK farmer isn’t a big deal; the effect comes from there being a lot more than one.)

Nick Lentz.6982:

Anet will determine if someone using a broken game mechanic is banable.

Yes, indeed. It’s completely up to ANet to determine how urgent or how important the situation is.

Boysenberry.1869:

Nick Lentz.6982:

You can’t stay logged in. You have to use a skill or you get kicked out.

All players have to do is be close enough to press 1 button every 15 minutes or so. And according to the rules laid out by the dev, they can AFK farm as much as they want as long as they respond to a dev message asking if they’re AFK. Set up your AFKer and then go do some housework, play another game in the background, solve world hunger…the sky is the limit!

Auto heal

Blude.6812:

Boysenberry.1869:

Nick Lentz.6982:

You can’t stay logged in. You have to use a skill or you get kicked out.

All players have to do is be close enough to press 1 button every 15 minutes or so. And according to the rules laid out by the dev, they can AFK farm as much as they want as long as they respond to a dev message asking if they’re AFK. Set up your AFKer and then go do some housework, play another game in the background, solve world hunger…the sky is the limit!

Auto heal

Doesn’t work as you still get timed out for not moving.

Got to ask, I see it getting complained about all the time. Is there really that much that they gain from it? Looting anything their minions attack while they are AFK. I could be missing something but thought a short time playing seriously would be a lot more rewarding than AFKing for a long time.

Sinmir.6504:

Got to ask, I see it getting complained about all the time. Is there really that much that they gain from it?

~snip~

It must be worth some gain (I have no idea what), otherwise we wouldn’t see these groups of AFK farmers, at the same spots, hour after ahour, day after day, week after week.

Endless Soul.5178:

Sinmir.6504:

Got to ask, I see it getting complained about all the time. Is there really that much that they gain from it?

~snip~

It must be worth some gain (I have no idea what), otherwise we wouldn’t see these groups of AFK farmers, at the same spots, hour after ahour, day after day, week after week.

Any individual who AFK-farms will have more stuff than those of us who don’t. That seems unfair to some of us (although personally, I’m not bothered by it).

Collectively, if enough individuals AFK-farm, it affects supply of mats, which affects those who on-keyboard farm.

So it’s a combination of some people disliking the very idea of “freeloading” and a global economic impact.

Boysenberry.1869:

Nick Lentz.6982:

You can’t stay logged in. You have to use a skill or you get kicked out.

All players have to do is be close enough to press 1 button every 15 minutes or so. And according to the rules laid out by the dev, they can AFK farm as much as they want as long as they respond to a dev message asking if they’re AFK. Set up your AFKer and then go do some housework, play another game in the background, solve world hunger…the sky is the limit!

Actually, necros can just put autocast on that greatsword spell that creates the swirling aoe on the ground that increases in size. It will cast it whenever its off cooldown, potentially aggroing nearby enemies.

Sinmir.6504:

Got to ask, I see it getting complained about all the time. Is there really that much that they gain from it? Looting anything their minions attack while they are AFK. I could be missing something but thought a short time playing seriously would be a lot more rewarding than AFKing for a long time.

Some of the LS3 episodes have “karma” drops if you buy the thingy. but otherwise, no, it’s like just the thing.

Of course, is someone is stationary in the game and pressing a button every 15 minutes you could argue that they are not AFK. How often do you have to interact with the game to be “not AFK”? 10 mins? 5 mins? 5 seconds? Who decides?

Just report them and move on. They really are not earning very much at all.

They sit in Malchor’s Leap near the air elementals all the time and I have no issue reporting them when I see it. Minion mancers I’m watching YOU!

Well.. kitten .
Was doing dailes in Bitterfrost few minutes ago, there was at least 2 necros on every spot, i wrote “this afk farming is getting out of hand”, suddenly i was called: idiot, noob, childis, crying/crybaby and i was making “kittenstorm”.
Anet, stop ignoring this, they are toxic and they are abusing game, farming karma (and karma is gold basicly) while you don’t even play the game is a close to botting, as you can get without programs.
And i strongly belive, some of them have macros (using 3 skills on rotation, all the time, they won’t speak, won’t move).
Or is this really ok and i can do it on another account 24/7?

Xiem.4719:

Well.. kitten .
they are toxic

How so? They aren’t making a fuss or demanding that ANet do something.

Xiem.4719:

and they are abusing game,

Sure, but at a level that doesn’t matter all that much in the short-term.

Xiem.4719:

farming karma (and karma is gold basicly)

No, it’s not “gold basically” — it takes 15,000 karma to earn a gold.

Sure, it’s a better than “nothing” earned by those of us who log out when we’re not playing. It just doesn’t happen at a rate that matters much.

Xiem.4719:

Or is this really ok and i can do it on another account 24/7?

No, it’s not really okay.

I don’t like it that people will AFK farm, even though I understand why they do. All the same, it’s nothing close to a fundamental problem with the game.

The biggest issue is that it makes ANet look ineffectual, which might lead people to ask, “what else can I get away with?” But that’s ANet’s problem, not the community’s.

Sinmir.6504:

Got to ask, I see it getting complained about all the time. Is there really that much that they gain from it? Looting anything their minions attack while they are AFK. I could be missing something but thought a short time playing seriously would be a lot more rewarding than AFKing for a long time.

Well there are always people like me with multiple accounts, i could play one and set up the other 6 to AFK farm, tried it once (just with one account and i got about 3g an hour on a random spot i thought was profitable. ) doing it with 6 accounts, while playing the 7th would net me an extra 18g an hour if I were to do that. (ofc you’ld have to find two spots and rezone your necro from time to time as DR would kick in I guess.)

But the comment from 9 months ago states that you’ld have to use a skill. When i did it my necro just idled and the minions attacked anything that came close and attacked them or me. So I guess cindition 1 is not fulfilled in that case and no sanction can be made.

It’s funny I was running around aimlessly in a map and found 5 minion master necro’s all just standing around an npc spawn place killing everything. The place had a few vets and a bunch of wondering npc’s that seem to respawn fairly quickly that they were just shredding through them with that many minions. I guess my question is, how is ‘that’ ok? It’s unclear whether that’s something to even report or just ignore to me. With all this discussion, it seems like this topic is on ethics and not why this is not an ok thing to do, for the plain reason playing the game should progress you in the said game, if you don’t want to play it then don’t. Not find a work around to not play the game and still make progression in it.

I guess for me, the feeling I get with afk farming is, it’s not about them making ‘x’ amount of gold an hour. It’s that ‘I’ am playing the game. Putting in my time and effort into it and they aren’t. Yet still being able to get and do the same things that I can with the gold they make for no effort or time spent personally put into it. Just a sucky feeling is all.

I’m not saying this is a clear comparison because I know it’s not, but I get the same feeling when I play a game and they put a p2w feature in that game awhile after it comes out or something you can buy in said game that puts you at the same position as someone who just spent 150hrs and all you have to do is spend 50 bucks. While I get there are games like that, and even some that thrive on it, like Destiny did. You pretty much knew what you were getting into from the start. This though is like an unintended consequence that at least appears to be not be getting the full attention it deserves or at least imo the full action of the ‘hammer coming down’ so to speak. And while no one is ‘paying’ anything to get ahead no. People are doing ‘nothing’ though, to get to the same place (earning gold) as the people ‘earning’ it by playing the game and spending their time to do it.

Point me in the right direction and I’ll report them. I love ruining someone’s fun ’cause they thought they found the quick and painless way to make money that, in most cases, is an exploit. Whinge all you want about it, but I love snitching on players like that.

Lelongue.1320:

Sinmir.6504:

Got to ask, I see it getting complained about all the time. Is there really that much that they gain from it? Looting anything their minions attack while they are AFK. I could be missing something but thought a short time playing seriously would be a lot more rewarding than AFKing for a long time.

Well there are always people like me with multiple accounts, i could play one and set up the other 6 to AFK farm, tried it once (just with one account and i got about 3g an hour on a random spot i thought was profitable. ) doing it with 6 accounts, while playing the 7th would net me an extra 18g an hour if I were to do that. (ofc you’ld have to find two spots and rezone your necro from time to time as DR would kick in I guess.)

But the comment from 9 months ago states that you’ld have to use a skill. When i did it my necro just idled and the minions attacked anything that came close and attacked them or me. So I guess cindition 1 is not fulfilled in that case and no sanction can be made.

That’s might be interesting to do but only if I’m at my computer. I can just cycle through them every so often rather than rely on skills to stay logged in. I wonder how many I could have up at once before my computer slows down.

Opened ticket about this. GM clearly stated this is aganist rules.

Also said…

“Please note, we get hundreds of reports a day and we have to investigate all of them. By the time we get to an “AFK” farmer they may no longer be doing so."

So… Proper fix needed on spawn spots or loot tables to make this unappealing.

Their impact to game eco maybe tiny, but still i hate people abusing game so i will report and laugh(evil) when they lose their farming spots.

(I doubt it will happen, toxic people always wins.)

Fivona.5061:

Opened ticket about this. GM clearly stated this is aganist rules.

Also said…

“Please note, we get hundreds of reports a day and we have to investigate all of them. By the time we get to an “AFK” farmer they may no longer be doing so."

Thanks for sharing that and the clarification on this Fivona.

Sadly I’m not sure a ‘good’ way to fix this, otherwise I’m sure anet would have already done so. I am glad to hear that reporting them will get their account looked at and hopefully they have repercussions for said afk farming. Can’t be easy to go through all those reports, props to whoever(s) does that kind of work.

Just wish there was a clear solution to circumnavigate the true afker’s that just needed to get up for a moment from the computer and the actual afk farmers. Which I’m sure is the delegate part anet has to be sure of as to not punish people that have haven’t done anything wrong.

PS: I did report the necro’s I talked about before. Though would it be helpful to anet if I opened a ticket to give things such as location and ip? Or is that going a bit overboard and should just report and move on?

Jwake.7013:

PS: I did report the necro’s I talked about before. Though would it be helpful to anet if I opened a ticket to give things such as location and ip? Or is that going a bit overboard and should just report and move on?

Report and move on, to save you time.

Reserve opening tickets for when there’s something less obvious, something that requires explanation or screenshots.

In effect, the /report option starts a ticket; we just don’t get to see the progress on it. And, in the case of AFK farming or the like, we wouldn’t see the details anyhow. Consequently, it does the same job, requires about the same effort from ANet, but is more work for you, i.e. it’s only overboard if you have something else to do with your time (e.g. playing the game).

Regardless, thanks for taking the time to report folks and help protect the game.

Fivona.5061:

Opened ticket about this. GM clearly stated this is aganist rules.

Also said…

“Please note, we get hundreds of reports a day and we have to investigate all of them. By the time we get to an “AFK” farmer they may no longer be doing so."

So… Proper fix needed on spawn spots or loot tables to make this unappealing.

Their impact to game eco maybe tiny, but still i hate people abusing game so i will report and laugh(evil) when they lose their farming spots.

(I doubt it will happen, toxic people always wins.)

Adjusting the spawn rates or drop tables would harm people who play normally.

What they could do is log on to a Bitterfrost map and pass through it checking for AFKers themselves, if they were interested in doing so. They don’t need to wait for reports they could be proactive and cut off a few dozen tickets a day.

If they actually can prove people are AFK that is.

Pifil.5193:

If they actually can prove people are AFK that is.

It’s not hard to find out if someone is afk or not. Standing there, watching them get attacked without fighting back normally, but using the same aoe skill at regular intervals makes it pretty obvious. I spotted two necros with minions piled around the same tree yesterday, using the same skill at the same time, never moving. Some I even whispered, asking if they were afk. No answer. Not replying doesn’t help them, it just confirms that they’re obviously not there.

Solution:

Add an “unlimited afk farming contract” to the auction house that enables more options for a comfortable botting day.

I just witnessed a commander at the Malchor’s Leap site rezzing the other AFKers.

~facepaws~

Endless Soul.5178:

I just witnessed a commander at the Malchor’s Leap site rezzing the other AFKers.

~facepaws~

Yeah the great thing about gw2 and the community that makes it different from other mmo’s is you can get just a random person running by and they’ll ress you and be on their way and it’s no big deal. It’s such a simple thing yet so awesome thing in retrospect but sadly afk farmers make you hesitate to ress that random dead person in the map now (at least for me). I’ve started to ask if said dead person “need a ress?” to see if their afk or not before doing anything. Even then though, just making me get to the point of having to second guess whether I should or shouldn’t ress someone in pve is pretty sad in of it’s self.

I should have made my previous post clearer.

This commander was standing in the middle of all the AFKers at Malchors, with all his minions out, and not doing a thing until one of the other AFKers was downed/killed. It was a squad (presumably) of 7~8 AFKers. He wasn’t just running by and being helpful to a random stranger.

Nick Lentz.6982:

Boysenberry.1869:

Nick Lentz.6982:

You can’t stay logged in. You have to use a skill or you get kicked out.

All players have to do is be close enough to press 1 button every 15 minutes or so. And according to the rules laid out by the dev, they can AFK farm as much as they want as long as they respond to a dev message asking if they’re AFK. Set up your AFKer and then go do some housework, play another game in the background, solve world hunger…the sky is the limit!

Which I am sure most do, but people love labels. TP Barons do the same thing, yet it’s not the same. People hate things that won’t benefiting them, if I don’t do it, you shouldn’t either, kind of thing.

Yes, I’m sure those characters loged in at 4 in the morning and the entire night through literally 24/7 have a real person check back every 15 minutes. Stop the bs pls.

Endless Soul.5178:

I should have made my previous post clearer.

This commander was standing in the middle of all the AFKers at Malchors, with all his minions out, and not doing a thing until one of the other AFKers was downed/killed. It was a squad (presumably) of 7~8 AFKers. He wasn’t just running by and being helpful to a random stranger.

Report via ticket and move on. If you think someone is camping out with their alt accounts, running one to keep the others alive, let ANet know. And let them decide how to handle it. They might decide it’s not a problem, since the owner is ‘playing’ them (albeit without much attention). Or they might issue a warning or a suspension; it’s up to ANet.

SmirkDog.3160:

Pifil.5193:

If they actually can prove people are AFK that is.

It’s not hard to find out if someone is afk or not. Standing there, watching them get attacked without fighting back normally, but using the same aoe skill at regular intervals makes it pretty obvious. I spotted two necros with minions piled around the same tree yesterday, using the same skill at the same time, never moving. Some I even whispered, asking if they were afk. No answer. Not replying doesn’t help them, it just confirms that they’re obviously not there.

Doesnt mean they weren’t there and couldn’t have responded if they wanted to. Them not responding to some random whisper from some random dude means nothing.

I don’t know what the fuss is all about? They aren’t hurting anyone in fact necrosis protecting berries benefits everyone and I personally like when they are there, I will add most of the time they aren’t AFK cause I see them chatting in map chat. Imo there okay let me be.

Wow…

“AFK farmers are doing everyone a service!”

These excuses.

Funny how people complain about them in BFF where they farm … karma? Magic? … but there isn’t a SINGLE thread complaining about any of the ones that hang out near the Sparks trying to AFK farm Charged Lodestones in Malchor’s Leap.

I guess when AFK farming lowers the price of something people want, then its OK. But when it’s completely inconsequential stuff like magic … look out! It’s a BIG problem.

Obtena.7952:

Funny how people complain about them in BFF where they farm … karma? Magic? … but there isn’t a SINGLE thread complaining about any of the ones that hang out near the Sparks trying to AFK farm Charged Lodestones in Malchor’s Leap.

I guess when AFK farming lowers the price of something people want, then its OK. But when it’s completely inconsequential stuff like magic … look out! It’s a BIG problem.

I think the difference is that hardly anyone notices the ones in Malchor’s. Lots of people actively farm w-berries, so they are more likely to notice a particular necro (or five) in Bitterfrost.

It’s clear that the people complaining aren’t shy about bringing up the topic or lazy about /reporting.

Obtena.7952:

Funny how people complain about them in BFF where they farm … karma? Magic? … but there isn’t a SINGLE thread complaining about any of the ones that hang out near the Sparks trying to AFK farm Charged Lodestones in Malchor’s Leap.

I guess when AFK farming lowers the price of something people want, then its OK. But when it’s completely inconsequential stuff like magic … look out! It’s a BIG problem.

If it were inconsequential then no one would be afk farming. Justifying one type of afk farming with another type is nonsense. Two wrongs do not make a right. That’s not the reason though why afk farming gets on peoples nerves.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

I think the difference is that hardly anyone notices the ones in Malchor’s. Lots of people actively farm w-berries, so they are more likely to notice a particular necro (or five) in Bitterfrost.

It’s clear that the people complaining aren’t shy about bringing up the topic or lazy about /reporting.

This is.

The reason people are complaining is that it’s so absolutely obvious in your face that it actually makes people wonder and argue about it. Any experienced MMO player knows that there will be a certain amount of bots, hacks, exploits, etc. getting abused by a certain part of the playerbase. It’s unavoidable.

What one can ask for though is to at least have the developer take active steps to prevent the majority of the playerbase to notice. Especially in the newest maps which people will automatically gravitate to. I mentioned this in another thread, from an image and appearance standpoint, this is a disaster. It amazes me how inactive arenanet have been these last few weeks.

The one AFK farmer in Malchor’s Leap has been there over a month. When you report him his account name is his serial # !!!! I mean c’mon. I’ve reported, sent screenshots, they’ve responded thanking me and saying something will be done… an month ago. He’s still there. Little asuran kitten. ugh. On the Bitterforst side, I had a stroke when the tree was unmanned by necros :O but then I found some at another tree. I know they get over whelmed with tickets and reports, but they can easily pull game logs and see this person was in this spot for X amount of time. Was it on a necro/reaper? Then its an AFK farmer.
The loot they get is minimal, but still loot. Unbound magic will net you warped packets and mats to sell, potentially ascended mats. Plus the spiders drop tier 6 venom on occasion. Theres the profit from it all.
We cant just nerf the loot/enemies/or minion mancers. My suggestion would be to add another veteran or allow one that is already there to move over to the spots in question and be able to kill off the minions and mancer. Would it take 2 vets? 3? or a champ? Well a champ would potentially give them more loot, and if it was an unlootable champ then its just a waste/hindrance to us. Personally, I’d like to be able to kill of the minions myself and watch the mancer die. but that’s just me.

Went to bitterfrost after couple of months and there are necros hugging every second tree, wtf is this anet, ban these kittens already.

Nick Lentz.6982:

Blude.6812:

Nick Lentz.6982:

The only way for someone to stay afk and farm is if they have an outside program. Which is where the ban come from.

Wrong, Wrong, Wrong, Wrong!!!!!!!!!
Rangers and Necros in game mechanics working as intended allows AFK farming which the devs have spoken out against.

You can’t stay logged in. You have to use a skill or you get kicked out. Your pets and minions do not keep you from being kicked out.

That isn’t true. As stated in THAT VERY POST that he linked, the auto-loot mechanic from getting the pact mentor mastery keeps you from being flagged as afk and kicked to chara select. You NEVER have to use a skill in AFK farming like this to keep from kicks as long as you have passive auto-loot.

Cheating, Abusing Game Mechanics, Hacking, Botting “Allowed” in Guild Wars 2.

Fivona.5061:

Cheating, Abusing Game Mechanics, Hacking, Botting “Allowed” in Guild Wars 2.

No, it’s not, so please stop saying otherwise.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Fivona.5061:

Cheating, Abusing Game Mechanics, Hacking, Botting “Allowed” in Guild Wars 2.

No, it’s not, so please stop saying otherwise.

Yes it is.
Proof ?
Bitter Frost Frontier since release.

Fivona.5061:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Fivona.5061:

Cheating, Abusing Game Mechanics, Hacking, Botting “Allowed” in Guild Wars 2.

No, it’s not, so please stop saying otherwise.

Yes it is.
Proof ?
Bitter Frost Frontier since release.

So, if you really believe that, make your choice: either stop complaining and get on the AFK farming train, or go to another game before this one is ruined because you won’t have the same income as the people who do it.

It’s not exactly rocket surgery: if anet really, really do permit this, then your complaining here isn’t going to change their minds, right? It’s not like they are unaware of the situation…