Guild Wars 2

Would i get banned for playing near bots? Since bots are in many good hunting spots where i play, there is always the chance that they help to kill the same mobs you are hunting. So this could be considered an exploit? And could i be banned just for playing too close to a group of bots?

ArenaNet Support said no: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/account/Legit-Farming-dangerous/1137129

Your association with them in the manner you described is bannable on nearly every MMO I can think of ; that being said – stay clear and don’t give anyone a reason to report you

After the mass bot banning, there are really not that many bots out there. Sure, they exist in a few prime spots, but stationary “farming” doesn’t result in significantly more look than migratory event farming. Staying in one place is boring. See a bot? Report it, finish the event, and move on.

Stated a different way, don’t look like a bot when playing near bots. You don’t want another player to mistake you for a bot and report you. So, don’t follow them around, running exactly where they run as if you’re tied to them in some way. Behave differently from them—not because ArenaNet thinks what you’re doing is wrong, but because somebody may mistake you for a bot, and you don’t want the hassle of having to open a Customer Support ticket and provide data to prove them wrong.

But being in the same area, doing the same events, killing the same creatures because you happen to intersect—that’s ok.

Jinx.7945:

Stated a different way, don’t look like a bot when playing near bots. You don’t want another player to mistake you for a bot and report you. So, don’t follow them around, running exactly where they run as if you’re tied to them in some way. Behave differently from them.

But being in the same area, doing the same events, killing the same creatures because you happen to intersect—that’s ok.

I don’t follow bots on purpose, but sometimes they are running after the same mob as i am.

Yep, don’t worry. It’s easy not to look like you’re one of them when you can clearly see what they’re doing and what paths they’re taking. No worries in killing or running after the same mob.

Jinx.7945:

Yep, don’t worry. It’s easy not to look like you’re one of them when you can clearly see what they’re doing and what paths they’re taking. No worries in killing or running after the same mob.

What if the hunting location is a small area, and if you want to hunt there, you have to stand very near the group of bots?

Based on Gaile’s post, playing near bots is not bannable in ArenaNet’s opinion.

From a practical perspective, there is a risk in other players thinking you’re a bot and reporting you. Players I know wouldn’t do this based on a single battle in a tight area. They would watch for longer than that before reporting. They’d have to think you are a bot, not just that maybe you are, maybe you aren’t.

But really, this is a call you’ll have to make. Do you think you’re doing something that will look like a bot to other players, and if so, is it worth doing anyway because it’s probably too quick for them to report you before you’re obviously behaving differently? Or how much do you care if they report you because when ArenaNet Support looks, they won’t see bot behavior? Those are risk questions that only you can answer.

Always remember to wear armor, and don’t name your character “qwertyuiop”. Seriously, the signature that ANet uses to detect bots is not going to be publicly available, for obvious reasons. If you are close enough to a group of bots to be concerned, play it safe and go somewhere where you aren’t worried about it. Tyria is a pretty big place.

I would report you if you quack, smell, sound and look like bot. Do your best to distinguish yourself amongst the bots. I am very meticulous about reporting my bots.

I’ve been reporting the same 3 bots for over 6 weeks now, and they are still in the same place botting away 24/7 they are in my friends list so l know. (Maybe they disbanded the bot team).

I’ve farmed in the same place, good drops, fast respawns, they sure know how to pick a good place, I wouldn’t stay too long though, other players will report you by mistake.

i don’t know if you can get banned for playing mmm… let’s say 6-7 hours in the same spot while bots play days in a row… they move in exact patterns.
don’t press any extra keys other then the “minimum” required.

i report on bots and even if i see u, ill prbbly try to talk to u first. and if i reported you – you wouldn’t get banned. otherwise – people would exploit it to ban any other person that annoys them…

All I know is that you have plenty of time before you get banned if you’re actually running a bot.

Alloy.2839:

Always remember to wear armor, and don’t name your character “qwertyuiop”. Seriously, the signature that ANet uses to detect bots is not going to be publicly available, for obvious reasons. If you are close enough to a group of bots to be concerned, play it safe and go somewhere where you aren’t worried about it. Tyria is a pretty big place.

Someone strutting around in anything remotely good looking is probably not a bot, after all. Good looking takes effort!

Polaritie.4851:

Alloy.2839:

Always remember to wear armor, and don’t name your character “qwertyuiop”. Seriously, the signature that ANet uses to detect bots is not going to be publicly available, for obvious reasons. If you are close enough to a group of bots to be concerned, play it safe and go somewhere where you aren’t worried about it. Tyria is a pretty big place.

Someone strutting around in anything remotely good looking is probably not a bot, after all. Good looking takes effort!

I have seen Characters teleporting from node to node dressed as well as any high player, many players seem to be running the teleport hack as well, i’ve reported 8+ this week alone, they are still in game hacking..

Solid Gold.9310:

I’ve been reporting the same 3 bots for over 6 weeks now, and they are still in the same place botting away 24/7 they are in my friends list so l know. (Maybe they disbanded the bot team).

I’ve farmed in the same place, good drops, fast respawns, they sure know how to pick a good place, I wouldn’t stay too long though, other players will report you by mistake.

I dont know what Anet is doing…. They only published one article about how they fight against botting…nice words…but reality???? Reality is that Anet is totaly blind to botting. I have reported from start of game about 60 bots, 3 of them I reported on the begin of December and now Im surprised that exactly same bots are still farming on same area where I reported them before more than one month.

Anet are you serious??? You let farm bots for more than month? You dont care that these bots destroy ingame economy + real players cannot farm ingredients because groups of 5+ bots kill all monsters so fast that normal player has almost 0% chance to hit and drop??? I dont understand you Anet. You banned many players for using wintersday glith with snowflakes and you cannot ban bots which operate on whole game? Its total nonsense what you do. You banned many non-guilty players which didnt know that this thing with snowflakes is glitch but on the other side you let bots farming for months their ingredients and rare item – you see any logic on this? I dont.

I really dont know why I still report all these bots which I find on maps. When I report them its same like i dont report them. Report or no report = no punishment for botters but when somebody use glitch and dont know that use glitch, you ban immediately. You have really feeling for fairness.

I

Want to know why they don’t ban a bot account right away? Because that only kills one part of the organization. Mark an account as a bot account and then see where it sends the money it makes, there it comes from, etc… and you may get the information needed to ban both the seller and the buyer.

Born.1745:

Want to know why they don’t ban a bot account right away? Because that only kills one part of the organization. Mark an account as a bot account and then see where it sends the money it makes, there it comes from, etc… and you may get the information needed to ban both the seller and the buyer.

They might be trying to find out if it’s a hacked account.