Guild Wars 2

Justine.6351:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Justine.6351:

While it works, I just don’t see the point.

Free loot while you clean your dishes.

Oh yeah all 10 of those greens and blues for 5hrs of afk. I get that in 20min of playing the game casually.

I bet you havent killed that many mobs in this game, they actually drop more than Greens and blue. Ever heard of bags and if you are really lucky you can even end up with a precursor. Now if I decide I am going to watch a movie and then i press a button every 5 or 10th minute or whatever and after I have watched a move I am going to play a game that I actually have to play to get stuff I now and then go to GW2 and press a button. Now and then I salvage and sell the loot and then I continue doing other stuff than activly playing GW2. So after a day doing this I have made earnings in GW2 while enjoying movies and other games and even have the time to eat, go to WC and clean my apartment without barely touching GW2.

This should realy not be allowed.

This behavior has to be one of the least efficient ways to earn income in the game. And, when I say least, I mean it’s probably dead last. The only way to earn less is to either be parked in LA or to be a scout in WvW.

894 Rivets… 895 Rivets…. 896 Rivets…. Zzzzzz…. Wah wut???….. 897 Rivets….

I truly wish players would understand and see there’s many ways to play a game. Better to mind our own business more and enjoy what we’re doing, than worry about what others are doing. With that said, I’m totally guilty of dropping an aggro’d Mob Bomb on the utterly overt afk’ers in SW Though farming “Slayer” achievements in a low level zone, knock yourselves out buddy.

DeWolfe.2174:

This behavior has to be one of the least efficient ways to earn income in the game. And, when I say least, I mean it’s probably dead last. The only way to earn less is to either be parked in LA or to be a scout in WvW.

894 Rivets… 895 Rivets…. 896 Rivets…. Zzzzzz…. Wah wut???….. 897 Rivets….

I truly wish players would understand and see there’s many ways to play a game. Better to mind our own business more and enjoy what we’re doing, than worry about what others are doing. With that said, I’m totally guilty of dropping an aggro’d Mob Bomb on the utterly overt afk’ers in SW Though farming “Slayer” achievements in a low level zone, knock yourselves out buddy.

So are you saying there are better ways to farm in GW2 without even playing it? I do not mind people activily pushing buttons and running in circles a whole day in GW2 (and earn ten times the ammount of reward) but by setting up the game to auto farm (even if activly playing gives you ten times the reward) while you do something compleatly different is in my opinion wrong.

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

DeWolfe.2174:

This behavior has to be one of the least efficient ways to earn income in the game. And, when I say least, I mean it’s probably dead last. The only way to earn less is to either be parked in LA or to be a scout in WvW.

894 Rivets… 895 Rivets…. 896 Rivets…. Zzzzzz…. Wah wut???….. 897 Rivets….

I truly wish players would understand and see there’s many ways to play a game. Better to mind our own business more and enjoy what we’re doing, than worry about what others are doing. With that said, I’m totally guilty of dropping an aggro’d Mob Bomb on the utterly overt afk’ers in SW Though farming “Slayer” achievements in a low level zone, knock yourselves out buddy.

So are you saying there are better ways to farm in GW2 without even playing it? I do not mind people activily pushing buttons and running in circles a whole day in GW2 (and earn ten times the ammount of reward) but by setting up the game to auto farm (even if activly playing gives you ten times the reward) while you do something compleatly different is in my opinion wrong.

Agreed, active play should be rewarded not afk bot farming.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

A similar situation was brought up in another thread a couple weeks ago, and the conclusion that people seemed to come to there was hanging out afk for geodes is an exploit. Admittedly no dev stepped in to say something either way….

I don’t yet see the difference between that previous thread’s version of afk exploitation and what’s been brought up in this thread other than the lewt…. o.O

~EW

edit: and personally I’d love to know if that means it’s not an exploit if I afk while waiting for Pristine Spore Samples to respawn… please, oh please let that be the case….

I was the OP of the thread you referenced above.

Because I kept seeing these people hanging out there in the Flatlands scaling up all the events, I decided to ask support about it, and this is the response (along with my question):

(question)
Mar 31, 08:34

Wondering if all those rangers that are always standing around in Dry Top in the Flatland Wastes are considered exploiting the AFK system? Many of them are there literally 100% of the time I’m there, just standing there with their pets. I know from testing for myself that doing this will garner free geodes while functionally AFK. This sort of thing also scales up the nearby events than run through there (especially the Race, which often fails because there are more AFKers standing around than active players bothering to try), which is detrimental to all active players in the area.

I’ve recently been reporting a few of them as botters, since it’s clear they’re using some method to avoid AFK kicking as they’re there for hours at a time pretty much every single day. But, I’m asking this now to get an official stance on whether this behavior is actually botting and/or exploiting as per ANet’s definition, and whether I should bother reporting those I repeatedly see there for long periods of time without moving / acting, or just ignore it.

Thanks.

(response)
GM Chainsaw Doll (Guild Wars 2 Support)
Mar 31, 08:58

Hey,

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Yes! Keep reporting them to us in game and our security team will look in to each occurrence and deal with them accordingly. For security purposes we can not tell you the outcome to those it applies to, but we greatly appreciate you looking out for other players.

Regards,

GM Chainsaw Doll
Guild Wars 2 Support Team
http://help.guildwars2.com/

This thread needs a proper GM look. Inconsistencies all round.
Pets and turrets are fine to attack mobs whether you are there to make them do it or not. The problem seems to be that people are finding a way round the auto log out.

I would not feel comfortable logging both my accounts in, setting something to auto and going to work or sleep but clearly some people are and that needs looking at and some retroactive work done to deprive them of undeserved gains.

Charrbeque.8729:

Michael Henninger.7451:

This is allowed behavior; as it was designed to function that way.

Unless your policies have changed recently, that is incorrect.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Is-an-engineer-going-AFK-with-turrets-up-considered-an-exploit/first#post337232 CC Dalmarus

Anything that enables a person to play the game without actually playing the game is a problem, such as using third party programs to automate game play.

Going AFK with turrets running isn’t technically an exploit, but players should be playing the game in good faith.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/After-reading-these-forums-slightly-worried/first#post277742 Gaile Gray

We do not consider “not answering a whisper” as an indictment. Please do not worry about this; as long as you legitimately are playing, or are not gaining undeserved rewards when not playing, you’re just fine.

This one was very clear https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Has-there-ever-been-an-official-response-on-what-is-considered-botting/first#post204144 Regina Buenaobra

Anything that automates game play to the point where you are able to not actually play the game as-intended (example: you can walk away from it) is considered a breach of the User Agreement.

Using ranger pets or necro minions to kill stuff while not actively playing the game is considered “Extended Unattended Play” and players have been suspended/banned for it in the past.

I don’t know about now, but it was a major problem in the past in Dry Top and Silverwastes. Often times these AFK players with pets/minions are using macros and/or bot programs to prevent the AFK timer from kicking in and logging them out of the game.

That last bit, which I put in bold, is the difference between the two.

Going AFK for whatever reason and leaving the game running is one thing, but when you’re using a macro or bot program to make sure you don’t get kicked (and/or to heal/pick up loot/tag mobs etc.) then you’ve crossed the line into what Anet have always said is not allowed.

I always thought it was pretty clear myself, but I know this rule has caused confusion in the past. Taken all together it seems to me what everyone from Anet has said is this: If you start up just the game on it’s own, log into a character who is out in the world somewhere and then walk away that’s fine and whatever happens is allowed.

As soon as you add the use of another program, whether it’s a script or a macro you’ve set up on your keyboard or whatever to influence what happens while you’re away, whether it’s healing you ever so often, tagging mobs or simply moving around so you don’t get kicked by the AFK timer then you’ve crossed the line into what they have always said is not permitted behaviour – automating gameplay.

(And part of the reason the first one is allowed and the second is not is that they’ve put in functions, like diminishing returns and the AFK timer, to prevent players being able to take advantage of situations like this.)

Danikat.8537:

That last bit, which I put in bold, is the difference between the two.

Going AFK for whatever reason and leaving the game running is one thing, but when you’re using a macro or bot program to make sure you don’t get kicked (and/or to heal/pick up loot/tag mobs etc.) then you’ve crossed the line into what Anet have always said is not allowed.

I always thought it was pretty clear myself, but I know this rule has caused confusion in the past. Taken all together it seems to me what everyone from Anet has said is this: If you start up just the game on it’s own, log into a character who is out in the world somewhere and then walk away that’s fine and whatever happens is allowed.

As soon as you add the use of another program, whether it’s a script or a macro you’ve set up on your keyboard or whatever to influence what happens while you’re away, whether it’s healing you ever so often, tagging mobs or simply moving around so you don’t get kicked by the AFK timer then you’ve crossed the line into what they have always said is not permitted behaviour – automating gameplay.

(And part of the reason the first one is allowed and the second is not is that they’ve put in functions, like diminishing returns and the AFK timer, to prevent players being able to take advantage of situations like this.)

“Going AFK for whatever reason” – the reason being that the player wants to leave the character there for hours on end, circumventing the auto-kick function (which must be there for at least some reason) so they can go to work, go to college, go to sleep, whatever. Then come back to the game and maybe, just maybe, they get a precursor drop.

Does this sound right to anyone? If so, perhaps ArenaNet might as well remove the auto-kick function altogether so players don’t even have to stick their heal skill on auto-attack.

Must agree. Seen this in action in a very specific spot in Tangled Depths. It’s my understanding that the mechanic the ranger used, namely ‘Guard’, changed to prevent this behavior.

However, there are basic workarounds . . . which I will not discuss.

Surely, AFK farming is not allowed. Being AFK, for hours, while your pet auto attacks and you auto-loot is definitely not intended in my book. Being a ranger, I don’t want to see a return of the ranger-bot farmers that so plagued the game that first year.

If you can set your heal to auto cast (which you can) and if you have a minon/pet that kill stuff that attacks (which they can) and it is not against the EULA or ToS to go afk (which it is not) then zero rules are being broken…

For people who have zero clue how drops in this game works… Once you kill the same mob type a certain number of times the drop reduces dramatically… For instance lets say all mobs have a 25% drop rate… After you farm the same mob type for 10 minutes it decreases to 15%…. After half an hour it further reduced to 10%… After an hour it is 5%.. And after two hours it is less than 1%…

I have personally set up an afk necro system in mount maelstrom just to see how the drop were… I left it running well over 12 hours straight… My inventory wasn’t even full… I barely had over 70 bags… All in all it scored about 5~7g for 12 hours of “afk farming”…

So rest assured when you see this kind of thing… They are barely making 50s on average per hour and if anything, they could have saved a few dollars on their light bill and coulda bought gems with it and made more gold…

Allison The Strange.4519:

For people who have zero clue how drops in this game works…

We do have a clue about how drops work, your argument has already been established. We’re talking about a U-Turn on ArenaNet policy here. And for whatever reason the Ranger/Necromancer AFK farmers are doing it, they are doing it for some benefit. Otherwise they wouldn’t be there!

Wow, didn’t expect AFK farming to be endorsed by Anet. With the state the game is in currently, I guess they’re now doing everything they can to boost those player-time spent ingame metrics. Quite sad if you ask me.

Danikat.8537:

Charrbeque.8729:

Michael Henninger.7451:

This is allowed behavior; as it was designed to function that way.

Unless your policies have changed recently, that is incorrect.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Is-an-engineer-going-AFK-with-turrets-up-considered-an-exploit/first#post337232 CC Dalmarus

Anything that enables a person to play the game without actually playing the game is a problem, such as using third party programs to automate game play.

Going AFK with turrets running isn’t technically an exploit, but players should be playing the game in good faith.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/After-reading-these-forums-slightly-worried/first#post277742 Gaile Gray

We do not consider “not answering a whisper” as an indictment. Please do not worry about this; as long as you legitimately are playing, or are not gaining undeserved rewards when not playing, you’re just fine.

This one was very clear https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Has-there-ever-been-an-official-response-on-what-is-considered-botting/first#post204144 Regina Buenaobra

Anything that automates game play to the point where you are able to not actually play the game as-intended (example: you can walk away from it) is considered a breach of the User Agreement.

Using ranger pets or necro minions to kill stuff while not actively playing the game is considered “Extended Unattended Play” and players have been suspended/banned for it in the past.

I don’t know about now, but it was a major problem in the past in Dry Top and Silverwastes. Often times these AFK players with pets/minions are using macros and/or bot programs to prevent the AFK timer from kicking in and logging them out of the game.

That last bit, which I put in bold, is the difference between the two.

Going AFK for whatever reason and leaving the game running is one thing, but when you’re using a macro or bot program to make sure you don’t get kicked (and/or to heal/pick up loot/tag mobs etc.) then you’ve crossed the line into what Anet have always said is not allowed.

I always thought it was pretty clear myself, but I know this rule has caused confusion in the past. Taken all together it seems to me what everyone from Anet has said is this: If you start up just the game on it’s own, log into a character who is out in the world somewhere and then walk away that’s fine and whatever happens is allowed.

As soon as you add the use of another program, whether it’s a script or a macro you’ve set up on your keyboard or whatever to influence what happens while you’re away, whether it’s healing you ever so often, tagging mobs or simply moving around so you don’t get kicked by the AFK timer then you’ve crossed the line into what they have always said is not permitted behaviour – automating gameplay.

(And part of the reason the first one is allowed and the second is not is that they’ve put in functions, like diminishing returns and the AFK timer, to prevent players being able to take advantage of situations like this.)

There is something else I forgot to mention, that needs to be taken into account:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Advanced_Logistics Completing tier 5 of Pact Commander mastery.

You now have the option to have loot from creatures you defeat be deposited automatically into your inventory. This ability can be turned off in the Options menu. Your party now has a permanent 33% swiftness bonus in cities.

No need to come back every few minutes, ever, to pick anything up. Let your pet/minions kill and all loot goes straight into your inventory.

It also works for world boss chests as well as chests in fractals when completing the instance – no need to walk over and open them because the rewards are deposited into your inventory automatically.

This is how people can actually gain stuff with their AFK pet farming. Without auto-loot unlocked all they’d get is exp which isn’t worth the time if you don’t need it. I’ve also heard there is at least 1 third party software out there that can give you an auto-loot feature for the game, even though you don’t have it actually unlocked.

While it may seem harmless to AFK farm with your pets/minions, it is a problem, and regardless of using third party software or not, people are gaining something from it. Otherwise they wouldn’t bother with it at all.

the ratio for doing so is aout 10 gold in 8 hours so yes this method is not worth much and people doing so do it mostly because they wan’t to get a little it of gold without having to farm for it after they are at home. Is silverwaste it is possib le to gain some shovels with this method for the guild hall and of course some T6 materials are nice to but nothing worth more than 5 Gold beside the shovels that consume high amounts of time to gain while regular playing.

With the right Build and stats it is nearly impossible to get the afk farmer get killed by normal mobs so don’t bother, first of all they will suffer from any that kill the enemys so they are not in combat from time to time and get a inactivity disconect. There is also a soft method for some people without getting much loot but xp while getting b oons from time to time they will not get the afk dc. Before the mastery system it was not possible to afk farm on a legit way as u couldn’t get the loot without being on keyboard thats why it was mostly people using bots doing so and that is still forbidden.

So don’t hate afkler they don’t do it to get u mad just to not have to farm for gold the whole day when they are at home. They will not take anything from you just help with the events in a strange way ^^

What is afk, though? I am logged into GW2 as I write this (in Rata Sum as it happens). I just read this thread and several others, which took me about twenty minutes. I tab out of game all the time and if I happen to start reading or watching something interesting I might be gone for an hour. Several days a week I write blog posts that take me up to five hours and I’m generally logged into an MMO, often GW2, for the whole time.

Now, I almost always park my character somewhere out of aggro because I find the sound of her being mauled by wildlife quite distracting but I could perfectly well put my ranger in the situation described. I have sound set to play even when tabbed out so I would hear the ping of a whisper and could tab back in to reply. I would not, however, be actively playing the game but would I strictly be AFK? I am, after all, at the keyboard, I’m just not using it to play GW2.

Obviously I am not going to be bothered with this pointless process of pet-farming. Who would? But it does seem to me that the whole concept of “being AFK” needs to be more clearly defined – or maybe re-named.

I have done some slayer achievment this way, but you really got more loot/gold when you save the electricity costs and buy gems

ArenaNet: Time to sell Heroes in the game stores like you do in the GW1 store.

Truthbearer.9708:

Wow, didn’t expect AFK farming to be endorsed by Anet. With the state the game is in currently, I guess they’re now doing everything they can to boost those player-time spent ingame metrics. Quite sad if you ask me.

Black Desert Online was released recently in NA. They encourage “afk grinding” with its node system (farms, mines, logging camps,…) and the docks are always full of people afk fishing.

RoseofGilead.8907:

Michael Henninger.7451:

This is allowed behavior; as it was designed to function that way.

Leaving your character afk for extended periods of time and letting the AI rack up kills for you is allowed? Good to know.

Honestly I don’t think it something that Anet wants.
It’s just something that is impossible to enforce.

After all enforcing a rule against that behavior would basically mean that rangers are not allowed to afk while everyone else can.

Crinn.7864:

RoseofGilead.8907:

Michael Henninger.7451:

This is allowed behavior; as it was designed to function that way.

Leaving your character afk for extended periods of time and letting the AI rack up kills for you is allowed? Good to know.

Honestly I don’t think it something that Anet wants.
It’s just something that is impossible to enforce.

After all enforcing a rule against that behavior would basically mean that rangers are not allowed to afk while everyone else can.

The game has ways of logging your activity, and my guess is the GMs/Support can review those logs. So if all they see for 4 hours is “healhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealetc” then they know you werent legitimately playing the game.

Aidan Savage.2078:

Crinn.7864:

RoseofGilead.8907:

Michael Henninger.7451:

This is allowed behavior; as it was designed to function that way.

Leaving your character afk for extended periods of time and letting the AI rack up kills for you is allowed? Good to know.

Honestly I don’t think it something that Anet wants.
It’s just something that is impossible to enforce.

After all enforcing a rule against that behavior would basically mean that rangers are not allowed to afk while everyone else can.

The game has ways of logging your activity, and my guess is the GMs/Support can review those logs. So if all they see for 4 hours is “healhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealetc” then they know you werent legitimately playing the game.

When they launched HoT they hit 7 million players, lets say a fraction of them are playing at all times, maybe…. 100k to be fair. Consider the fact that they had pulled the Legendary team from working on the future release on any more legendaries, because they needed their man power elsewhere… now how many of those, or the whole dev team in general do you think are sitting in front of their monitor’s looking at 100k logs per day to see an inconsistency…
7Million PLayer base Source
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/23/guild-wars-2-hits-7-million-players-as-expansion-launches

Aeon.4127:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Crinn.7864:

RoseofGilead.8907:

Michael Henninger.7451:

This is allowed behavior; as it was designed to function that way.

Leaving your character afk for extended periods of time and letting the AI rack up kills for you is allowed? Good to know.

Honestly I don’t think it something that Anet wants.
It’s just something that is impossible to enforce.

After all enforcing a rule against that behavior would basically mean that rangers are not allowed to afk while everyone else can.

The game has ways of logging your activity, and my guess is the GMs/Support can review those logs. So if all they see for 4 hours is “healhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealetc” then they know you werent legitimately playing the game.

When they launched HoT they hit 7 million players, lets say a fraction of them are playing at all times, maybe…. 100k to be fair. Consider the fact that they had pulled the Legendary team from working on the future release on any more legendaries, because they needed their man power elsewhere… now how many of those, or the whole dev team in general do you think are sitting in front of their monitor’s looking at 100k logs per day to see an inconsistency…
7Million PLayer base Source
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/23/guild-wars-2-hits-7-million-players-as-expansion-launches

Not 7 million players. 7 million accounts since launch 3 and a half years ago. That includes all the accounts that have stopped playing since the start of the game and all the multiple accounts per player.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Aeon.4127:

Aidan Savage.2078:

Crinn.7864:

RoseofGilead.8907:

Michael Henninger.7451:

This is allowed behavior; as it was designed to function that way.

Leaving your character afk for extended periods of time and letting the AI rack up kills for you is allowed? Good to know.

Honestly I don’t think it something that Anet wants.
It’s just something that is impossible to enforce.

After all enforcing a rule against that behavior would basically mean that rangers are not allowed to afk while everyone else can.

The game has ways of logging your activity, and my guess is the GMs/Support can review those logs. So if all they see for 4 hours is “healhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealhealetc” then they know you werent legitimately playing the game.

When they launched HoT they hit 7 million players, lets say a fraction of them are playing at all times, maybe…. 100k to be fair. Consider the fact that they had pulled the Legendary team from working on the future release on any more legendaries, because they needed their man power elsewhere… now how many of those, or the whole dev team in general do you think are sitting in front of their monitor’s looking at 100k logs per day to see an inconsistency…
7Million PLayer base Source
http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/10/23/guild-wars-2-hits-7-million-players-as-expansion-launches

Not 7 million players. 7 million accounts since launch 3 and a half years ago. That includes all the accounts that have stopped playing since the start of the game and all the multiple accounts per player.

Thus the reason I said a fraction, lets assume it’s even 10k, I stand by my previous post. They pull devs from a specific team to accomplish a specific task, a very risky but necessary move as Mike O’Brien has in so many words demonstrated. With this, I doubt they have a team dedicated to looking over a monitor(s) for hrs on a regular basis. Consider they receive most “inconsistencies” from the player base through the report system, Michael Henninger – Game Support Lead in short said this is working as intended, which is clearly an exploit in-itself An oversight, and the reason I would hope he would elaborate, so the people who read this and spread it around don’t take it to heart and do what I have already seen a major increase in, and that of course is afk rangabotting.

Whilst doing map completion today, I’ve run into numerous AFK farmers. A lot more that I have ever seen with this character, than I have seen with probably all the other 17 characters I’ve done map completion with put together, or near enough.

All in various maps, since the announcement made by Michael. One particular instance was worrying. In the picture below, there are five AFK farmers at [Stentor Cannonade] POI, Straits of Devastation. All AFK, during a heavy assault event by risen forces. Two of them I ended up struggling to revive before I realised they were AFK farmers, as I was switching between fighting and reviving.

There were four rangers, and one elementalist. All of which are upscaling the event in question, with just myself as the real player fighting against the risen. If this behaviour is going to be allowed, it will be detrimental especially towards events, as well as lower the value of the overall economy over a longer period of time, if more and more players start doing this.

The time and place this happened (if it’s important) was around 00:30 BST, megaserver /ip 206.127.146.105:0 on EU servers.

And same situation at d.c. Auto-Necros…

Tnx A-Net and their stuffs.

penelopehannibal.8947:

Whilst doing map completion today, I’ve run into numerous AFK farmers. A lot more that I have ever seen with this character, than I have seen with probably all the other 17 characters I’ve done map completion with put together, or near enough.

All in various maps, since the announcement made by Michael. One particular instance was worrying. In the picture below, there are five AFK farmers at [Stentor Cannonade] POI, Straits of Devastation. All AFK, during a heavy assault event by risen forces. Two of them I ended up struggling to revive before I realised they were AFK farmers, as I was switching between fighting and reviving.

There were four rangers, and one elementalist. All of which are upscaling the event in question, with just myself as the real player fighting against the risen. If this behaviour is going to be allowed, it will be detrimental especially towards events, as well as lower the value of the overall economy over a longer period of time, if more and more players start doing this.

The time and place this happened (if it’s important) was around 00:30 BST, megaserver /ip 206.127.146.105:0 on EU servers.

Sadly, I’ve seen this in other areas, too.. though that screenshot you’ve got captures the ambience of the gaming environment we’ve seen lately quite nicely. Well done, Penelope. Perhaps that’ll show those in charge that such “allowed behaviors” are a detriment to those attempting to actually play the game, and this allowed “function” of game mechanics should be reviewed.

One question… Does the auto-attack stop the inactivity timer? Because if that’s the case, then that’s a big flaw. I personally think that running into a wall (auto run) and auto attackin (or auto healing) should never let you atay logged in longer than the timer.

Without that, people will need some macro to stay in game when AFK, and that is clearly forbidden and a bannable offence.

Edit: silly autocomplete!

LadyRhonwyn.2501:

One question… Does the auto-attack stop the inactivity timer? Because if that’s the case, then that’s a big flaw. I personally think that running into a wall (auto run) and auto attackin (or auto healing) should never let you atay logged in longer than the timer.

Without that, people will need some macro to stay in game when AFK, and that is clearly forbidden and a bankable offence.

It’s thought that the auto-loot feature may do so, if that doesn’t- (the thread I linked to on Reddit has folks talking about it at least), but who knows. I’ve not done this.

• edit- added the link for ya!

Further edit- In looking at that Reddit thread I just linked, someone posted this comment link too.

Siobhan.5273:

LadyRhonwyn.2501:

One question… Does the auto-attack stop the inactivity timer? Because if that’s the case, then that’s a big flaw. I personally think that running into a wall (auto run) and auto attackin (or auto healing) should never let you atay logged in longer than the timer.

Without that, people will need some macro to stay in game when AFK, and that is clearly forbidden and a bankable offence.

It’s thought that the auto-loot feature may do so, if that doesn’t- (the thread I linked to on Reddit has folks talking about it at least), but who knows. I’ve not done this.

• edit- added the link for ya!

Further edit- In looking at that Reddit thread I just linked, someone posted this comment link too.

If the AFK timer gets reset due to the auto-loot feature of the Pact line, I’d say that’s a rather big bug that should be fixed asap!

The way I see it, it’s built into the mechanics of the game.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be very lucrative because there is an anti farming code that reduces loot if you repeatedly kill the same mob type I think.

Siobhan.5273:

penelopehannibal.8947:

Whilst doing map completion today, I’ve run into numerous AFK farmers. A lot more that I have ever seen with this character, than I have seen with probably all the other 17 characters I’ve done map completion with put together, or near enough.

All in various maps, since the announcement made by Michael. One particular instance was worrying. In the picture below, there are five AFK farmers at [Stentor Cannonade] POI, Straits of Devastation. All AFK, during a heavy assault event by risen forces. Two of them I ended up struggling to revive before I realised they were AFK farmers, as I was switching between fighting and reviving.

There were four rangers, and one elementalist. All of which are upscaling the event in question, with just myself as the real player fighting against the risen. If this behaviour is going to be allowed, it will be detrimental especially towards events, as well as lower the value of the overall economy over a longer period of time, if more and more players start doing this.

The time and place this happened (if it’s important) was around 00:30 BST, megaserver /ip 206.127.146.105:0 on EU servers.

Sadly, I’ve seen this in other areas, too.. though that screenshot you’ve got captures the ambience of the gaming environment we’ve seen lately quite nicely. Well done, Penelope. Perhaps that’ll show those in charge that such “allowed behaviors” are a detriment to those attempting to actually play the game, and this allowed “function” of game mechanics should be reviewed.

I returned to [Stentor Cannonade] this morning at 11:00 BST, and four out of the five AFK farmers were still there, some of them in a slightly different position to pictured. There was also an additional two AFK farmers there.

Look just below the Not So Secret JP chest. That’s the best place. My Mes looks down and all I see is AFKs.

Danikat.8537:

Charrbeque.8729:

Michael Henninger.7451:

This is allowed behavior; as it was designed to function that way.

Unless your policies have changed recently, that is incorrect.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Is-an-engineer-going-AFK-with-turrets-up-considered-an-exploit/first#post337232 CC Dalmarus

Anything that enables a person to play the game without actually playing the game is a problem, such as using third party programs to automate game play.

Going AFK with turrets running isn’t technically an exploit, but players should be playing the game in good faith.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/After-reading-these-forums-slightly-worried/first#post277742 Gaile Gray

We do not consider “not answering a whisper” as an indictment. Please do not worry about this; as long as you legitimately are playing, or are not gaining undeserved rewards when not playing, you’re just fine.

This one was very clear https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Has-there-ever-been-an-official-response-on-what-is-considered-botting/first#post204144 Regina Buenaobra

Anything that automates game play to the point where you are able to not actually play the game as-intended (example: you can walk away from it) is considered a breach of the User Agreement.

Using ranger pets or necro minions to kill stuff while not actively playing the game is considered “Extended Unattended Play” and players have been suspended/banned for it in the past.

I don’t know about now, but it was a major problem in the past in Dry Top and Silverwastes. Often times these AFK players with pets/minions are using macros and/or bot programs to prevent the AFK timer from kicking in and logging them out of the game.

That last bit, which I put in bold, is the difference between the two.

Going AFK for whatever reason and leaving the game running is one thing, but when you’re using a macro or bot program to make sure you don’t get kicked (and/or to heal/pick up loot/tag mobs etc.) then you’ve crossed the line into what Anet have always said is not allowed.

I always thought it was pretty clear myself, but I know this rule has caused confusion in the past. Taken all together it seems to me what everyone from Anet has said is this: If you start up just the game on it’s own, log into a character who is out in the world somewhere and then walk away that’s fine and whatever happens is allowed.

As soon as you add the use of another program, whether it’s a script or a macro you’ve set up on your keyboard or whatever to influence what happens while you’re away, whether it’s healing you ever so often, tagging mobs or simply moving around so you don’t get kicked by the AFK timer then you’ve crossed the line into what they have always said is not permitted behaviour – automating gameplay.

(And part of the reason the first one is allowed and the second is not is that they’ve put in functions, like diminishing returns and the AFK timer, to prevent players being able to take advantage of situations like this.)

This.

There are soooooo many bigger issues than this. Arguing over this is akin to debating the proper arrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic.

Esquilax.3491:

The way I see it, it’s built into the mechanics of the game.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be very lucrative because there is an anti farming code that reduces loot if you repeatedly kill the same mob type I think.

How long after you start does it kick in though?

Obviously, this is being done on the scale it is for a reason. They’re getting something. Besides, something when they’d normally not be getting anything is an improvement over nothing, right? I mean, it’s not like they’re having to do anything, they’re off tending to something else.

Daddar.5971:

There are soooooo many bigger issues than this. Arguing over this is akin to debating the proper arrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic.

It’s a good thing we’re in the proper thread for this particular discussion then and not bogging down all of the forums with it so there is room for those discussions to take place… or are you saying the game is a sinking ship?

Daddar.5971:

There are soooooo many bigger issues than this. Arguing over this is akin to debating the proper arrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic.

This is the thread for this discussion. If you have another, more worthy topic you wish to discuss then make a thread about it to discuss it. No one is stopping you.

Siobhan.5273:

Esquilax.3491:

The way I see it, it’s built into the mechanics of the game.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be very lucrative because there is an anti farming code that reduces loot if you repeatedly kill the same mob type I think.

How long after you start does it kick in though?

Obviously, this is being done on the scale it is for a reason. They’re getting something. Besides, something when they’d normally not be getting anything is an improvement over nothing, right? I mean, it’s not like they’re having to do anything, they’re off tending to something else.

And it’s not just about getting loot from mobs. It’s about getting loot from events as well since Map Bonus Rewards came into place. An Unidentified Dye here.. a Watchwork Sprocket there. A few T6 Mats. It all adds up what they might get whilst they’re asleep or doing their dishes. It’s still more loot for nothing than what a genuine player would get.

This, plus the fact they might upscale events for genuine players too, is the reason I think ArenaNet need to reconsider this position.

i’m wondering if the dev kittenponded read carefully, or just skimmed. no offense intended to said dev either way. but the stance on afk exp gain and botting etc seems to have been made rather clear, so i’m thinking that was the dev may have actually been saying is intended is "a ranger’s pet being able to kill mobs without the ranger also taking part is intended." and not "afk exp/loot gain using pets is within policy"

but anyway... something i won’t be doing... i’ll be too busy WvWing...

Esquilax.3491:

The way I see it, it’s built into the mechanics of the game.

Anyway, it wouldn’t be very lucrative because there is an anti farming code that reduces loot if you repeatedly kill the same mob type I think.

Reduced loot > No loot

penelopehannibal.8947:

And it’s not just about getting loot from mobs. It’s about getting loot from events as well since Map Bonus Rewards came into place. An Unidentified Dye here.. a Watchwork Sprocket there. A few T6 Mats. It all adds up what they might get whilst they’re asleep or doing their dishes. It’s still more loot for nothing than what a genuine player would get.

This, plus the fact they might upscale events for genuine players too, is the reason I think ArenaNet need to reconsider this position.

Right on, Penelope. All of this matters.

For those saying it doesn’t, I don’t know what game you signed on with, but this isn’t the kind of game I signed on with. If I want something with afk mechanics, I’ll go play a single player game where others are not affected by what I do (or don’t do) around them. This kind of thing has been going on for years and it’s always disappointing, however, I’d hope that by now, online gaming (and the rules regarding them) had evolved such that this kind of behavior wouldn’t be tolerated, let alone, given the nod to. The fact that there are events in game that scale based on the amount of players around the area would lead one to believe it had. It is very disappointing. Those gem shop sales must be astounding, because it feels like that’s what it really comes down to with this, and many other things on the table.

ok cor the guys saying that is inefficient way to get gold, that may be right.. if it wouldnt for the multiboxing.
you have 4 guild wars 2 running in each a ranger with its pet. and you can be playing one of those (or not ) and get the loot of 4 toons at the same time.

dont get me wrong, i mostly play ranger and i agree with the dev that the pet is behaving correctly and within the rules. Also you people should have in mind that now even more with the druid there is massive chunks of time the only damage from the ranger is actually from the pet itself. I Anet applies the rule the ranger has to tag directly the druid would end up with nothing.

so my suggestion is this one that will work for any class in game: if the player is not moving\doing actions the pet kills will not give any xp or loot. also the skills from 6 to 0 shouldnt be available to set in AA. never understood that.

Then the afkers will need to use a booting program instead afking. And the ranger/druid can keep getting the already poor loot because of the low damage compared to other classes (yes in blobs\groups is really difficult for the druid to tag enemies that die before your first attack hit)

another nice thing would be: pets that can hit more than one target and they can attack faster.

DragOneve.2359:

Thanks, I won’t report them then, maybe I’ll do it myself lol

Win

I’ve done this a couple of times….its not worth it. Save ware and tear on you computer and electricity. Use that money you save to buy gems.

This is much a due about nothing.

Michael Henninger.7451:

This is allowed behavior; as it was designed to function that way.

i didnt see like this post any mmorpg forums and gms.

This farming style is illegal. Like a hack. I’m farming at cursed shore but these players doing nothin and more gain than me.

You must examine again your justice and systems. And what point doing an auto loot mastery?

Fix that ban them and please dont support cheaters again.

It would be fine with me if they somehow banned this. In a way it is a cheat. Its just that its a stupid cheat. You can gain so much more in other ways.

There is just nothing here for me to worry about.

Tom.6478:

You can gain so much more in other ways.

ORLY? There are even better ways to earn loot while I am at work/sleeping/watching TV? Please, do tell.

This is classic afk farming and it boggles my mind that some people are defending it. Especially with the “it’s not very profitable” argument. What if some of your colleagues at work make 5% more than you just because they keep their computer on at night? I guess that’s OK since 5% is not really that much, right?

I do consider it a shame (and a bit silly) that someone would put in all the effort required to get the auto loot mastery just to risk censure and/or ban with afk farming.

At least when it comes to the pristine spore samples, I have to be at my computer to click on them if I want them, even if I do go afk while I wait for respawn (preferably somewhere where I won’t be attacked).

~EW

General Health.9678:

This thread needs a proper GM look.

How much more you want as the post of Michael Henninger (Game Support Lead)?

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

I do consider it a shame (and a bit silly) that someone would put in all the effort required to get the auto loot mastery just to risk censure and/or ban with afk farming.

At least when it comes to the pristine spore samples, I have to be at my computer to click on them if I want them, even if I do go afk while I wait for respawn (preferably somewhere where I won’t be attacked).

~EW

That’s just it, they’ve been told now that it is perfectly ok so what risk is there?

And with that many, you can’t even mpk them (which, funny enough, could get you reported and suspended for griefing while the afk farmer gets to keep on going)

Saw mention elsewhere asking about the afk timer, and some vague assumptions that auto-loot can prevent being kicked? Who knows, wouldn’t doubt it, but just having some skills on autocast prevents the kick (some skills do, some don’t, never bothered to see which were which really, I just knew how I could go afk on thief in wvw and not get kicked before I got back, you know, before HoT and I actually played wvw.)