How to Deal With AFK Farming

How to Deal With AFK Farming

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Posted by: Menadena.7482

Menadena.7482

This ideea is one of the worst cases of “cutting the arm to remove a bruised finger” that I have seen in a good long while…

How is removing something that is not necessary “cutting off the arm”? No one has yet given a reason why pets need to be able to attack independently of player action.

I just did. If I walk into a mob (like bitterfrost) I want something to have my back while I concentrate on what is in front of me. Note that I am not talking about being afk. How is this any different from, oh, a small ad-hoc squad doing a berry run except that only one player (me) gets the berries?

Also note that rangers are a medium armor class. I count on my pet pretty often.

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Posted by: Djinn.9245

Djinn.9245

This ideea is one of the worst cases of “cutting the arm to remove a bruised finger” that I have seen in a good long while…

How is removing something that is not necessary “cutting off the arm”? No one has yet given a reason why pets need to be able to attack independently of player action.

How is it not? You aren’t thinking this through. Passive attacking is a basic feature of pets. I’m not familiar enough with pets in this game to recall exactly how they work, but in other games I’ve played ranger pets have behavior settings such as “passive”, “aggressive”, and “defend”. These setting make playing pet classes far less annoying. Your proposal would be a huge QoL downgrade.

How about just removing credit for passively killed targets? If the pet does 100% of the work, it gets a treat. But you? You didn’t do anything. No soup for you!

“Passive attacking” isn’t a thing. In a game where you can set a pet to “passive”, the pet doesn’t attack at all, even if attacked.

What I’m talking about is pets acting without the player acting. This is the basic problem that allows AFK farming. If you are Away From Keyboard, your pet can attack in your absence. My question is why this is necessary in normal gameplay (I understand why it is necessary for farming ;P ) In normal gameplay, if you are attacked you either respond (and the pet responds with you), or you direct the pet to respond. No automated pet response is required.

I’m pretty sure if you managed to read the word “passive” and understand its meaning in this context, then you were also able to read the words “aggressive” and “defend” and discern their meanings.

I’m sorry that my response upset you.

A better question than why these settings are useful outside of AFK farming is why you feel it’s a better solution to remove them than to directly address the issue by simply removing the loot from passively killed targets? What’s your compelling argument for removing them beyond AFK farming?

I think that removing the ability of pets to attack without player direction is a simpler solution than differentiating loot. But that is just my opinion. I also see pets as part of character skills like an AoE. If we removed any loot gained by pets killing would we also remove any loot from AoEs killing? That would seem like a fairly large nerf.

Removing the ability of pets being able to attack without player direction doesn’t seem like a very big nerf as I can’t see a gameplay reason for it in the first place. I am willing to change my mind if someone can give a reason but so far no one has.

it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol

(edited by Djinn.9245)

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Posted by: Djinn.9245

Djinn.9245

IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.

It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves).

They don’t need to automatically defend if you are present at your computer. If something attacks you, you defend yourself and your pet attacks what you are attacking.

Actually, yes, they do. When a mob surrounds me I can focus on what is in front of me and my pet can get whatever is hitting me from behind.

I will say it again. The balance of the ranger class accounts for this. Take it away and you have nerfed all rangers, not just the ones taking advantage of things.

Hmm, in the 2 most recent profession-specific farms the issue was necros and engineers. So it would seem that rangers have been playing by the rules anyway?

From my understanding of how pets (I’m including minions in the generic “pets”) work, they don’t attack something behind you without direction. AFAIK, the first thing you attack, they also attack. If you switch targets they might continue to attack their target. I think it depends on what mob is doing damage, or more damage, or something.

You are saying that when you get into a fight, your pet will automatically attack something behind you that you are not attacking?

it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol

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Posted by: Menadena.7482

Menadena.7482

IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.

It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves).

They don’t need to automatically defend if you are present at your computer. If something attacks you, you defend yourself and your pet attacks what you are attacking.

Actually, yes, they do. When a mob surrounds me I can focus on what is in front of me and my pet can get whatever is hitting me from behind.

I will say it again. The balance of the ranger class accounts for this. Take it away and you have nerfed all rangers, not just the ones taking advantage of things.

Hmm, in the 2 most recent profession-specific farms the issue was necros and engineers. So it would seem that rangers have been playing by the rules anyway?

From my understanding of how pets (I’m including minions in the generic “pets”) work, they don’t attack something behind you without direction. AFAIK, the first thing you attack, they also attack. If you switch targets they might continue to attack their target. I think it depends on what mob is doing damage, or more damage, or something.

You are saying that when you get into a fight, your pet will automatically attack something behind you that you are not attacking?

It is probably on the wiki but by ‘defend’ I assumed if something attacked me that would up it on the pet’s target priority list. Occasionally I have turned around and my pet was in a fight behind me and if it was always fighting with whatever I was attacking that should never be the case.

If it is ‘whatever monster is doing the most damage gets the priority’ the one attacking your back will probably always win out in terms of a priority. Whatever is in front of me is attacking me through a hail of my outgoing attacks. Whatever is attacking my back has no such impediment. In a mob the 2 should be roughly equal. Yes, there might be a vet but it has equal odds to be on either side.

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Posted by: Djinn.9245

Djinn.9245

IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.

It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves).

They don’t need to automatically defend if you are present at your computer. If something attacks you, you defend yourself and your pet attacks what you are attacking.

Actually, yes, they do. When a mob surrounds me I can focus on what is in front of me and my pet can get whatever is hitting me from behind.

I will say it again. The balance of the ranger class accounts for this. Take it away and you have nerfed all rangers, not just the ones taking advantage of things.

Hmm, in the 2 most recent profession-specific farms the issue was necros and engineers. So it would seem that rangers have been playing by the rules anyway?

From my understanding of how pets (I’m including minions in the generic “pets”) work, they don’t attack something behind you without direction. AFAIK, the first thing you attack, they also attack. If you switch targets they might continue to attack their target. I think it depends on what mob is doing damage, or more damage, or something.

You are saying that when you get into a fight, your pet will automatically attack something behind you that you are not attacking?

It is probably on the wiki but by ‘defend’ I assumed if something attacked me that would up it on the pet’s target priority list. Occasionally I have turned around and my pet was in a fight behind me and if it was always fighting with whatever I was attacking that should never be the case.

If it is ‘whatever monster is doing the most damage gets the priority’ the one attacking your back will probably always win out in terms of a priority. Whatever is in front of me is attacking me through a hail of my outgoing attacks. Whatever is attacking my back has no such impediment. In a mob the 2 should be roughly equal. Yes, there might be a vet but it has equal odds to be on either side.

I guess my point doesn’t depend on whether your pet is attacking something behind you. What I am proposing is that if you are just standing there not responding to an attack, your pet shouldn’t respond either. Standing there not responding to an attack is something that someone would do while AFK. If you respond to an attack, that should “activate” the pet to also respond in whatever manner it would normally respond.

it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol

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Posted by: Ider.1276

Ider.1276

This statement fills me with various emotions that can only be depicted with a suitable emoticon but I’m torn between O.o and XD and and >.>
Which is the best (and most elegant) way to express my reaction to this statement?

Also, on a sadder note – if this is the best solution possible, then it means it’s all downhill from here. Any future farming issues can only be solved with worse solutions than this, since this is the best and all.

The community had a problem with engi farm. The solutions were: cripple engis (turrets nerf), cripple the farm (reduce droprates/spawn), cripple Anet’s reputation and Lake Doric playability (do nothing) or cripple your playerbase (just ban all the engi camp). The trebs were the best solution, cause they solved engi farm problem without hurting anyone (exept engis that did that farm, and the “hurting” was a mild one “oh no I can’t farm here anymore, I’m getting killed”, not an account-wide ban for a day).

Of course, the main problem was the design of that leather farm. Just like Bitterfrost, it is not about reward (leather in case of Doric), it is about massive spawnpoints with little cooldown. As long as mobs are dropping blue and green armor and weapons and spawn in one place in a rapid succession there will be an opportunity for AFK farmers. THIS is the root of the problem. So… just dont do such spawn points. And fix all that were already created. For Bitterfrost you even don’t need trebs. Just make the spawn timer of berries mobs x10. Problem solved. You even get a kind word from players who were tired of perma-frosting mobs in BF.

(edited by Ider.1276)

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Posted by: Zoltar MacRoth.7146

Zoltar MacRoth.7146

This statement fills me with various emotions that can only be depicted with a suitable emoticon but I’m torn between O.o and XD and and >.>
Which is the best (and most elegant) way to express my reaction to this statement?

Also, on a sadder note – if this is the best solution possible, then it means it’s all downhill from here. Any future farming issues can only be solved with worse solutions than this, since this is the best and all.

The community had a problem with engi farm. The solutions were: cripple engis (turrets nerf), cripple the farm (reduce droprates/spawn), cripple Anet’s reputation and Lake Doric playability (do nothing) or cripple your playerbase (just ban all the engi camp). The trebs were the best solution, cause they solved engi farm problem without hurting anyone (exept engis that did that farm, and the “hurting” was a mild one “oh no I can’t farm here anymore, I’m getting killed”, not an account-wide ban for a day).

Okay, with your latest post, I see where the problem is. You believe the solutions you’ve suggested are the only ones available and if they are, then one of them must be more elegant than the others, and you believe that’s the one anet chose. If your initial premise were true, then your conclusion would have some basis.

The trouble is that your initial premise is false. There aren’t just five solutions to this issue (or any other). This is the ol’ false dichotomy. (Or is that heptotamy?)
There have been many other solutions for this issue presented by posters in these forums, many of which sounded better than what anet went with in terms of simplicity and elegance, not to mention your criteria of preventing suffering to players or anet’s reputation. Of the set of actual possible solutions (which is probably infinite) anet’s solution was …. a solution. Not the worst, not the best.

Of course, the main problem was the design of that leather farm. Just like Bitterfrost, it is not about reward (leather in case of Doric), it is about massive spawnpoints with little cooldown. As long as mobs are dropping blue and green armor and weapons and spawn in one place in a rapid succession there will be an opportunity for AFK farmers. THIS is the root of the problem. So… just dont do such spawn points. And fix all that were already created. For Bitterfrost you even don’t need trebs. Just make the spawn timer of berries mobs x10. Problem solved. You even get a kind word from players who were tired of perma-frosting mobs in BF.

See… you’ve suggested yet another solution anet could have gone with, and it’s still more elegant than their solution.

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Posted by: Ider.1276

Ider.1276

See… you’ve suggested yet another solution anet could have gone with, and it’s still more elegant than their solution.

Unfortunately, my solution works only for Bitterfrost, cause Bitterfrost mobs were never ment for a farm by Anet. Setting a x10 spawn timer for Doric centaurs would cripple that John Smith’s glorified centaur leather farm. I was always against that farm, proclaiming that it was curing the symptom, not the root of leather problem. But apparently there are people who enjoy it, so it would be unfair to take away something people like.

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Posted by: DeWolfe.2174

DeWolfe.2174

The community had a problem with engi farm

Excuse me, the volume of players engaging in the Engi farm were far greater in population than the few who complained. So it’s disingenuous to say “the community” had a problem with it. The complaints were also selfish in nature as it was about “shiny envy” than anything else. Even Anet’s reasoning for nerfing it was likely profit motivated in wanting us to buy gems with cash, than farming/playing the game to earn loot.

A sarcastic “GJ” to the dev’s because the zone is dead now. I’d bet that player engagement as measured by player hours spent in game has dropped now too. Passive or “chill play” needs to be respected, not demonized.

[AwM] of Jade Quarry.

(edited by DeWolfe.2174)

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Posted by: Menadena.7482

Menadena.7482

IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.

It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves).

They don’t need to automatically defend if you are present at your computer. If something attacks you, you defend yourself and your pet attacks what you are attacking.

Actually, yes, they do. When a mob surrounds me I can focus on what is in front of me and my pet can get whatever is hitting me from behind.

I will say it again. The balance of the ranger class accounts for this. Take it away and you have nerfed all rangers, not just the ones taking advantage of things.

Hmm, in the 2 most recent profession-specific farms the issue was necros and engineers. So it would seem that rangers have been playing by the rules anyway?

From my understanding of how pets (I’m including minions in the generic “pets”) work, they don’t attack something behind you without direction. AFAIK, the first thing you attack, they also attack. If you switch targets they might continue to attack their target. I think it depends on what mob is doing damage, or more damage, or something.

You are saying that when you get into a fight, your pet will automatically attack something behind you that you are not attacking?

It is probably on the wiki but by ‘defend’ I assumed if something attacked me that would up it on the pet’s target priority list. Occasionally I have turned around and my pet was in a fight behind me and if it was always fighting with whatever I was attacking that should never be the case.

If it is ‘whatever monster is doing the most damage gets the priority’ the one attacking your back will probably always win out in terms of a priority. Whatever is in front of me is attacking me through a hail of my outgoing attacks. Whatever is attacking my back has no such impediment. In a mob the 2 should be roughly equal. Yes, there might be a vet but it has equal odds to be on either side.

I guess my point doesn’t depend on whether your pet is attacking something behind you. What I am proposing is that if you are just standing there not responding to an attack, your pet shouldn’t respond either. Standing there not responding to an attack is something that someone would do while AFK. If you respond to an attack, that should “activate” the pet to also respond in whatever manner it would normally respond.

It might come down to terminology. I am responding to the attack in front of me but I am not responding to the thing behind me also attacking me. Is your proposal that my pet could still defend my back (which I am not actively doing anything about) or not?

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Posted by: FrizzFreston.5290

FrizzFreston.5290

“It isn’t working!” CL4P-TP
Ingame Name: Guardian Erik

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Posted by: Ider.1276

Ider.1276

Excuse me, the volume of players engaging in the Engi farm were far greater in population than the few who complained. So it’s disingenuous to say “the community” had a problem with it

Indeed? Were there any demographic analysis on this? All I saw was a mountain of salt and stench on the forums, which is an indication of a problem in the community.
That farm was an expoit use, and it was undone as gently, as AB multiloot beforehand.
Just for comparison, the latest example from WoW: Legion. Several months ago there was exploit so players could run the same local quest over and over again and get reward every time. Blizzard fixed the exploit, and those who used it were banned for a day, and all there character progress was rolled back (exp, gold, artifact power, gear, achievements). Would you like that kind of a treat?

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Posted by: Jahroots.6791

Jahroots.6791

It’s laughable that they made a dedicated area for farming, yet some players got mad that people were farming it the wrong way so they nerfed a bunch of stuff.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

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Posted by: Djinn.9245

Djinn.9245

IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.

It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves).

They don’t need to automatically defend if you are present at your computer. If something attacks you, you defend yourself and your pet attacks what you are attacking.

Actually, yes, they do. When a mob surrounds me I can focus on what is in front of me and my pet can get whatever is hitting me from behind.

I will say it again. The balance of the ranger class accounts for this. Take it away and you have nerfed all rangers, not just the ones taking advantage of things.

Hmm, in the 2 most recent profession-specific farms the issue was necros and engineers. So it would seem that rangers have been playing by the rules anyway?

From my understanding of how pets (I’m including minions in the generic “pets”) work, they don’t attack something behind you without direction. AFAIK, the first thing you attack, they also attack. If you switch targets they might continue to attack their target. I think it depends on what mob is doing damage, or more damage, or something.

You are saying that when you get into a fight, your pet will automatically attack something behind you that you are not attacking?

It is probably on the wiki but by ‘defend’ I assumed if something attacked me that would up it on the pet’s target priority list. Occasionally I have turned around and my pet was in a fight behind me and if it was always fighting with whatever I was attacking that should never be the case.

If it is ‘whatever monster is doing the most damage gets the priority’ the one attacking your back will probably always win out in terms of a priority. Whatever is in front of me is attacking me through a hail of my outgoing attacks. Whatever is attacking my back has no such impediment. In a mob the 2 should be roughly equal. Yes, there might be a vet but it has equal odds to be on either side.

I guess my point doesn’t depend on whether your pet is attacking something behind you. What I am proposing is that if you are just standing there not responding to an attack, your pet shouldn’t respond either. Standing there not responding to an attack is something that someone would do while AFK. If you respond to an attack, that should “activate” the pet to also respond in whatever manner it would normally respond.

It might come down to terminology. I am responding to the attack in front of me but I am not responding to the thing behind me also attacking me. Is your proposal that my pet could still defend my back (which I am not actively doing anything about) or not?

I’m proposing that the pet is inactive unless you press a key / mouse button. If you do that then the pet does whatever it normally does (defend your back, etc.)

it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol

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Posted by: FrizzFreston.5290

FrizzFreston.5290

It’s laughable that they made a dedicated area for farming, yet some players got mad that people were farming it the wrong way so they nerfed a bunch of stuff.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

I wouldn’t ever define that farming method as nice lol.

“It isn’t working!” CL4P-TP
Ingame Name: Guardian Erik

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Posted by: Djinn.9245

Djinn.9245

It’s laughable that they made a dedicated area for farming, yet some players got mad that people were farming it the wrong way so they nerfed a bunch of stuff.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

I agree. Apparently there has been afk farming of places with continual mob spawns for quite some time. So Anet was aware that if they created a place with large numbers of mobs that dropped leather (which has a really high price), players WOULD try to afk farm it. So they made the mobs Veteran Centaurs which they thought that people could not farm sitting in one place because of the huge number of trampling vets. I’m not sure why Anet didn’t think of engineers placing turrets which will stay in one place. Maybe because they were thinking of the standard afk farm which requires the character to stand in the spot with the mobs so they are attacked and their pets respond. But they really should have thought of engis since this is their game and developers know that players will look for any angle.

Not saying that the engis were afk farming, just pointing out that Anet had to have been prepared for that type of attempt and so they should have been looking at all the possibilities. I.e.: no excuse to not design it with engis in mind in the first place.

it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol

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Posted by: Menadena.7482

Menadena.7482

IMO, the real solution is to remove the ability of pets to attack on their own. Other professions do not have that ability and I frankly don’t understand why necros and rangers do. It’s not necessary for the other professions so I don’t see why it’s necessary for necros and rangers.

It’s so they defend you if you’re attacked (and defend themselves).

They don’t need to automatically defend if you are present at your computer. If something attacks you, you defend yourself and your pet attacks what you are attacking.

Actually, yes, they do. When a mob surrounds me I can focus on what is in front of me and my pet can get whatever is hitting me from behind.

I will say it again. The balance of the ranger class accounts for this. Take it away and you have nerfed all rangers, not just the ones taking advantage of things.

Hmm, in the 2 most recent profession-specific farms the issue was necros and engineers. So it would seem that rangers have been playing by the rules anyway?

From my understanding of how pets (I’m including minions in the generic “pets”) work, they don’t attack something behind you without direction. AFAIK, the first thing you attack, they also attack. If you switch targets they might continue to attack their target. I think it depends on what mob is doing damage, or more damage, or something.

You are saying that when you get into a fight, your pet will automatically attack something behind you that you are not attacking?

It is probably on the wiki but by ‘defend’ I assumed if something attacked me that would up it on the pet’s target priority list. Occasionally I have turned around and my pet was in a fight behind me and if it was always fighting with whatever I was attacking that should never be the case.

If it is ‘whatever monster is doing the most damage gets the priority’ the one attacking your back will probably always win out in terms of a priority. Whatever is in front of me is attacking me through a hail of my outgoing attacks. Whatever is attacking my back has no such impediment. In a mob the 2 should be roughly equal. Yes, there might be a vet but it has equal odds to be on either side.

I guess my point doesn’t depend on whether your pet is attacking something behind you. What I am proposing is that if you are just standing there not responding to an attack, your pet shouldn’t respond either. Standing there not responding to an attack is something that someone would do while AFK. If you respond to an attack, that should “activate” the pet to also respond in whatever manner it would normally respond.

It might come down to terminology. I am responding to the attack in front of me but I am not responding to the thing behind me also attacking me. Is your proposal that my pet could still defend my back (which I am not actively doing anything about) or not?

I’m proposing that the pet is inactive unless you press a key / mouse button. If you do that then the pet does whatever it normally does (defend your back, etc.)

Thanks, that would work then. The best thing is to have the timeout ignore autoloot though so someone does not get kicked for standing a mo at a merchant.

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Posted by: FrizzFreston.5290

FrizzFreston.5290

I always find that when people say that there’s no excuse they are also including the actual reasons.

Like when you say that ArenaNet was aware that if they made the farm people would farm it this way. Because very obviously they werent aware of it at all. You can argue they should have been more aware though.

Otherwise youre basically saying they were aware and put it in the game like this on purpose and decided to fix this on purpose. And that sounds just silly.

“It isn’t working!” CL4P-TP
Ingame Name: Guardian Erik

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Posted by: DeWolfe.2174

DeWolfe.2174

Excuse me, the volume of players engaging in the Engi farm were far greater in population than the few who complained. So it’s disingenuous to say “the community” had a problem with it

Indeed? Were there any demographic analysis on this?

One evening alone I hopped around 4 different map instances. That’s easily 400 players, likely more, farming just during the one time zone. I do not recall any thread on the topic that had that many individual players replying to it. And again, that was just during late NA time zone. Also, there might have been even more map instances. Those are just the ones I experienced.

btw… there was no exploits required to Engi farm. Anyone can stand over a respawn area and kill the mobs.

[AwM] of Jade Quarry.

(edited by DeWolfe.2174)

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Posted by: mtpelion.4562

mtpelion.4562

If Ranger pets lose the ability to self-acquire targets that attack them or me, or the ability to target a separate enemy than the Ranger, then Rangers need to receive an across the board 40% damage increase in all game modes to compensate.

Server: Devona’s Rest

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Posted by: Menadena.7482

Menadena.7482

If Ranger pets lose the ability to self-acquire targets that attack them or me, or the ability to target a separate enemy than the Ranger, then Rangers need to receive an across the board 40% damage increase in all game modes to compensate.

I agree (although the number may be a bit high). If I am surrounded by a mob I want my pet to be able to attack something attacking me while I am busy chopping down another monster. The balance for the ranger is partly for the fact you have a pet so if the pet gets a severe nerf those points should be reallocated to the ranger.

While the profession being nerfed for the pet I agree with the current tradeoff. In an area where there are frequent mobs and you might be bending down to do farming (like a berry run in BFF) I want something that will play defense for me. Out of my 15 characters most of my berry farming are from professions with some form of a pet.

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Posted by: Ider.1276

Ider.1276

btw… there was no exploits required to Engi farm. Anyone can stand over a respawn area and kill the mobs.

But only engis can do it with 1 click in several minutes. Or even completely afk, if they are enlightened enough to know what autoclicker is. And that is an exploit, just as ABML.

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Posted by: Djinn.9245

Djinn.9245

If Ranger pets lose the ability to self-acquire targets that attack them or me, or the ability to target a separate enemy than the Ranger, then Rangers need to receive an across the board 40% damage increase in all game modes to compensate.

I don’t see a reason to nerf the pets themselves. Just to stop the pets from responding to an attack if the character doesn’t respond.

it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol

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Posted by: Djinn.9245

Djinn.9245

btw… there was no exploits required to Engi farm. Anyone can stand over a respawn area and kill the mobs.

But only engis can do it with 1 click in several minutes. Or even completely afk, if they are enlightened enough to know what autoclicker is. And that is an exploit, just as ABML.

Paying enough attention to the game to refresh your turrets is “playing” the game. Afterall, people play the game by doing many things that don’t require a lot of character movement like crafting, gambling, etc.

However if any player is actually afk while their character is performing actions in the game, that is cheating. Currently Anet can try to interact with you to determine if there is a live player at the keyboard. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are working on more sophisticated measures.

For actual players, what it comes down to is whether you are willing to risk losing your account because you want to advance your account. Goldsellers don’t care about the actual account so they are willing to take greater risks in cheating.

it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol

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Posted by: Maliel.8362

Maliel.8362

I just farm those AFKers, you can always find them in the corners of the maps sometimes up to 10 of them at once.

(edited by Maliel.8362)

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Posted by: HamHat.5201

HamHat.5201

Open world pvp. Boom probably solved, flag up and kill the afk farmers.

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Posted by: DeWolfe.2174

DeWolfe.2174

btw… there was no exploits required to Engi farm. Anyone can stand over a respawn area and kill the mobs.

But only engis can do it with 1 click in several minutes. Or even completely afk, if they are enlightened enough to know what autoclicker is. And that is an exploit, just as ABML.

The Engi farm had 4 locations to deploy turrets at. You had to run a small circuit every 5 minutes to deploy the turrets properly. That’s why this wasn’t an afk farm, it was a present and chill farm.

btw. you’re being disrespectful to every player that plays by the rules and farmed the area.

[AwM] of Jade Quarry.

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Posted by: Stephen.1207

Stephen.1207

just do it in those farm spot not the rest of the game

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Posted by: mtpelion.4562

mtpelion.4562

If Ranger pets lose the ability to self-acquire targets that attack them or me, or the ability to target a separate enemy than the Ranger, then Rangers need to receive an across the board 40% damage increase in all game modes to compensate.

I don’t see a reason to nerf the pets themselves. Just to stop the pets from responding to an attack if the character doesn’t respond.

That is nerfing literally the only thing pets actually do. If the pet is only attacking something I’ve already attacked, just delete it and give me my base DPS back.

Server: Devona’s Rest

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Posted by: Djinn.9245

Djinn.9245

If Ranger pets lose the ability to self-acquire targets that attack them or me, or the ability to target a separate enemy than the Ranger, then Rangers need to receive an across the board 40% damage increase in all game modes to compensate.

I don’t see a reason to nerf the pets themselves. Just to stop the pets from responding to an attack if the character doesn’t respond.

That is nerfing literally the only thing pets actually do. If the pet is only attacking something I’ve already attacked, just delete it and give me my base DPS back.

What I am talking about is if the character gets attacked but the player hits no keys or mouse buttons at all. In that situation, there should be no reason we need the pet to respond and that is what the AFK farmers are using. Everything else about the pet could remain the same.

it’s this luck based mystic toilet that we’re all so sick of flushing our money down. -Salamol

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Posted by: Zeivu.3615

Zeivu.3615

People who are AFK don’t move, don’t they? Why not just boot the toon if they don’t move for more than 5 minutes? Of course it won’t stop bots if they move a bit, but it should make things a tad more obvious.

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Posted by: Menadena.7482

Menadena.7482

People who are AFK don’t move, don’t they? Why not just boot the toon if they don’t move for more than 5 minutes? Of course it won’t stop bots if they move a bit, but it should make things a tad more obvious.

A 5 minute AFK timer? Do you realize how many false positives you would get?

I keep track of a lot of stuff on various spreadsheets while playing. Just because I have not jostled the mouse in 5 minutes has no bearing on if I am actively playing. Meanwhile someone who has a bot that knows to send some movement every 5 minutes gets a pass?

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Posted by: Ashen.2907

Ashen.2907

People who are AFK don’t move, don’t they? Why not just boot the toon if they don’t move for more than 5 minutes? Of course it won’t stop bots if they move a bit, but it should make things a tad more obvious.

A 5 minute AFK timer? Do you realize how many false positives you would get?

I keep track of a lot of stuff on various spreadsheets while playing. Just because I have not jostled the mouse in 5 minutes has no bearing on if I am actively playing. Meanwhile someone who has a bot that knows to send some movement every 5 minutes gets a pass?

Agreed. I can spend an hour trying different dye combinations with different armor pieces to find something I like. I cant even see my character while looking at the hero and preview screens. It would be really annoying to have to constantly move my character during this process to avoid being kicked.

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Posted by: Zeivu.3615

Zeivu.3615

People who are AFK don’t move, don’t they? Why not just boot the toon if they don’t move for more than 5 minutes? Of course it won’t stop bots if they move a bit, but it should make things a tad more obvious.

A 5 minute AFK timer? Do you realize how many false positives you would get?

I keep track of a lot of stuff on various spreadsheets while playing. Just because I have not jostled the mouse in 5 minutes has no bearing on if I am actively playing. Meanwhile someone who has a bot that knows to send some movement every 5 minutes gets a pass?

I am not saying that the user would get banned. I am saying the server just forces them back to the character select screen. And no, it isn’t a free pass. The behaviors will be repetitive enough for users to report it and Arenanet to be able to identify it. You talk as if this is the Dark Ages of MMOs. They can see every input you make with a kittening timer.

(edited by Zeivu.3615)

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Posted by: Zeivu.3615

Zeivu.3615

People who are AFK don’t move, don’t they? Why not just boot the toon if they don’t move for more than 5 minutes? Of course it won’t stop bots if they move a bit, but it should make things a tad more obvious.

A 5 minute AFK timer? Do you realize how many false positives you would get?

I keep track of a lot of stuff on various spreadsheets while playing. Just because I have not jostled the mouse in 5 minutes has no bearing on if I am actively playing. Meanwhile someone who has a bot that knows to send some movement every 5 minutes gets a pass?

Agreed. I can spend an hour trying different dye combinations with different armor pieces to find something I like. I cant even see my character while looking at the hero and preview screens. It would be really annoying to have to constantly move my character during this process to avoid being kicked.

Like tapping a single key once every five minutes will really harm you. Especially if you consider the mouse as an input.

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Posted by: Ashen.2907

Ashen.2907

People who are AFK don’t move, don’t they? Why not just boot the toon if they don’t move for more than 5 minutes? Of course it won’t stop bots if they move a bit, but it should make things a tad more obvious.

A 5 minute AFK timer? Do you realize how many false positives you would get?

I keep track of a lot of stuff on various spreadsheets while playing. Just because I have not jostled the mouse in 5 minutes has no bearing on if I am actively playing. Meanwhile someone who has a bot that knows to send some movement every 5 minutes gets a pass?

Agreed. I can spend an hour trying different dye combinations with different armor pieces to find something I like. I cant even see my character while looking at the hero and preview screens. It would be really annoying to have to constantly move my character during this process to avoid being kicked.

Like tapping a single key once every five minutes will really harm you.

I didnt say it would harm me. Perhaps you misread my post, or quoted tbe wrong person?

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Posted by: Menadena.7482

Menadena.7482

People who are AFK don’t move, don’t they? Why not just boot the toon if they don’t move for more than 5 minutes? Of course it won’t stop bots if they move a bit, but it should make things a tad more obvious.

A 5 minute AFK timer? Do you realize how many false positives you would get?

I keep track of a lot of stuff on various spreadsheets while playing. Just because I have not jostled the mouse in 5 minutes has no bearing on if I am actively playing. Meanwhile someone who has a bot that knows to send some movement every 5 minutes gets a pass?

Agreed. I can spend an hour trying different dye combinations with different armor pieces to find something I like. I cant even see my character while looking at the hero and preview screens. It would be really annoying to have to constantly move my character during this process to avoid being kicked.

Like tapping a single key once every five minutes will really harm you. Especially if you consider the mouse as an input.

If excel is the front app then hitting the mouse or tapping a key will do nothing. Maybe I should set up an alarm every time I background the game?