Guild Wars 2

Not sure where else to post this, so I’ll put it in General in the hopes that it gets attention/gets moved to the proper area.

I’ve suspected TP bots for awhile now(I know they exist, a simple Google search will show you), but haven’t had real “evidence”. That said, I’ve spent the last couple days monitoring a market that doesn’t have a whole lot of fluidity/players: legendaries. I choose this market because it has very few people putting in buy-orders and as such would be much easier to spot the bots.

Case in point: Flameseeker Prophecies

I started placing buy-orders on this ~5 days ago, after seeing one @ 1050.01g . I began simply by upper-cutting by 1c and noticed that the other player was fairly quick to respond with another 1c upper-cut. Now, this itself isn’t indicative of botting, however the following behavior is: a CLEAR cut-off point, specific re-list/de-list times(10-30 seconds), behavior occurs at ALL hours(meaning unless this player sat 24/7 in front of their computer, they were a bot), etc.

The cut-off point for the bot seems to be around 1070g; anything more and the bot will permanently de-list their bid(meaning, they will retract it until the bid above their cut-off point is removed). You can test this by watching for the bot to post around 1050.01g, then putting in your own bid of say 1100g, and then remove it. The bot will quickly de-list, wait until you remove, and then re-list @ 1050.01g .

So obviously this is happening in this market…but what about the other less obvious markets? There is no doubt in my mind that it’s occurring there as well and with no real means of reporting this activity(we can’t see who posted an item/bid), it leaves us with no other option but to submit a generic ticket.

ANet what is your response to this? Obviously you banned a ton of in-world botters, those who were gathering/farming/etc. but have you done anything to those utilizing TP botting/automation?

for now my only response is, i wish i had all that money to make such an offer… although i believe you, in fact i noticed a similar attitude whenever i place offers for some rune… it’s a matter of seconds, since i am no patient i usually end up buying at the lowest offer and magic the previous competitor disappear… whoever he/she is he/she has all my hate

I’m someone who under/overcuts by more than 1c because I realize that the current price snapshot I’m seeing is also being looked at by other players who all are planning to under/overcut as well. It’s not just four of us competing against one another in the M.U.L.E. auction screen but against thousands of others.

They still haven’t done anything about this activity? I was going on months ago. Let me guess there are still bots warping all over the world gathering as well?

They can’t stop it without completely redesigning the TP to make it not a website. With a little modification, it’s possible to bot the TP from within the game itself, so it’s not like they can really do anything about it that a bot couldn’t just work around.

Since the TP is a website, I assume they originally planned for it to be a part of the extended experience. If they ever officially release an API for it, botting it will become a feature, since one can’t exist without allowing for the other. Playing the TP from a mobile device is already possible with 100% functionality, but you have to leave the game running somewhere.

Cazio.2137:

Let me guess there are still bots warping all over the world gathering as well?

Moving outside the bounds of a map flags your account. All those people that fell a few times in that bugged jumping puzzle a while back got auto banned.

I know this is in the Tin foil hat area but could those bots be run by the company that made the game designed to up the economy?

Either way it shows how broken the Trading post is.

So what you’re saying is … you act like a bot to accuse others of being a bot. Not only that but the bot is actually closing gaps so people get a more fair and stable price?

What’s the difference between a bot doing this, and a player doing this and how does it negatively affect anyone (since the person selling the legendary with get a fairer price under bot-driven economics)

What’s the problem? You really think the TP would be better without bots actively stabilizing prices and closing exploitable price gaps?

Dante.1508:

I know this is in the Tin foil hat area but could those bots be run by the company that made the game designed to up the economy?

Tin foil hat area is immediately discarded in my books. Evidence go before meaningless accusations. Not only that but slander is illegal in my country which marks your post because it’s not allowed to post illegal things in this forum (read the eula)

Either way it shows how broken the Trading post is.

It shows the TP works just as well as the real world economy which, despite all it’s flaws, still gives us electricity, computers, games and the internet. What’s your alternative to the TP?
Saying something is broken without evidence nor potential improvements makes your post rather shallow in content.

Dante.1508:

I know this is in the Tin foil hat area but could those bots be run by the company that made the game designed to up the economy?

Either way it shows how broken the Trading post is.

Sure, the bots could be run by the company.

I could sprout wings and fly too.

I know you don’t like the game (as anyone can see from your post history) but it is really necessary to personally try to implicate Anet in some sort of activity for which you have less than no evidence?