Guild Wars 2

I was curious what you guys thought the explanation was.
I went to sell some Mithril Pistol Barrels for 9s78c, but there was a listing for 1 at 7s. Instead of undercutting that listing, I thought to buy it then have the new lowest listing. So I bought it. then there was a new listing for 1 at 7s. I bought that one. another one. bought it. another one. bought it. I ended up with 12 extra.
now, my first thought was that a bot is VERY frequently monitoring these listings to always maintain a 7s listing to try and get people to sell for 6s99c so it would then buy those and list at 9s78c.
but I question how quickly bots can react. I mean, shouldn’t it at least have a few hundred ms delay? for the last 10 or so I was just clickclickclickclick rapidly and there never was a break in that 1 listing being there (until it wasn’t anymore).
so I was wondering if it wasn’t just a bug in the TP where it said 1 listed but was actually 12?
this happened with others items as well, Seasoned Rifle Stock, Rugged Shoulderguard Paddings, and a few others.

If anyone other than ‘Mystic’ posted about this, I’d be tempted to file this under “Tin Foil Hats for US$100, Alex.”

It’s definitely odd and I can think of a couple of reasons why you might see something like this that don’t involve bots, none very compelling. However, I can’t think of a more compelling explanation that involves bots. Given the responsiveness of the TP, it’s hard to imagine how even a bot could instantaneously replace a listing. And if they could, how could they manage it across a slew of listings? And even if they managed that, the rate of gold acquisition has got to be pretty small for the risk.

In your shoes, I’d send a report to exploits@arena.net, including the list of items you tested and the approximate times (ideally, run the test again for the exact times and include wiki links or item IDs for the affected supplies). Whether it’s bugs or bots, that should get the right people at ANet looking at the appropriate data to try to figure it out. It’s a very obvious pattern to detect (if a bot).

Thanks for posting about — it’s curious regardless of the cause.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

It’s definitely odd and I can think of a couple of reasons why you might see something like this that don’t involve bots, none very compelling. However, I can’t think of a more compelling explanation that involves bots. Given the responsiveness of the TP, it’s hard to imagine how even a bot could instantaneously replace a listing. And if they could, how could they manage it across a slew of listings? And even if they managed that, the rate of gold acquisition has got to be pretty small for the risk.

They don’t have to watch the whole TP, just their own current transactions. I agree with the last part, making 2-3s profit is simply too little.

I’ve experienced a similliar issue with custom buy orders with crafting mats you want to buy in bulk. It’s not a big deal, but when I would try to place a custom order for a lower price, I’d up the current buy order by 1 or 2 Coppers. However there would about 1-3 items for the “buy it now price” that would match my buy order.

So basically I would put in a custom buy order for 250 of an item, however it would flip to “buy it now order” because 1-3 items over there matched or were lower than my custom buy order. However the rest of the 247-249 items would be significantly higher.

I would keep buying the lower priced “buy it now” items but they kept coming back instantly. Granted I could keep clicking over and over to get the items at a lower price but it would take forever.

I only noticed this when making my Nevermore and haven’t had an issue since. I’m not saying it’s bots for sure but it was a bit strange nonetheless. I guess it does help prevent inflation, but my guess is the intent is to catch people unaware that the custom buy order is getting switched to buy it now and someone makes a decent profit off of that.

Andraus.3874:

So basically I would put in a custom buy order for 250 of an item, however it would flip to “buy it now order” because 1-3 items over there matched or were lower than my custom buy order. However the rest of the 247-249 items would be significantly higher.

yup
sadly the tp website suffers by poor design decisions

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

If anyone other than ‘Mystic’ posted about this, I’d be tempted to file this under “Tin Foil Hats for US$100, Alex.”

hehehe, famous people can be paranoid too.
But I hope I’m not crazy; that something weird is going on. Sounds like others have observed stuff too.

Mystic.5934:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

If anyone other than ‘Mystic’ posted about this, I’d be tempted to file this under “Tin Foil Hats for US$100, Alex.”

hehehe, famous people can be paranoid too.
But I hope I’m not crazy; that something weird is going on. Sounds like others have observed stuff too.

Now go and watch for the walls at certain prices and you’ll find a useful pattern that, unless it violates the TOS can make you an insane amount of gold. The TP is as quite some other things that underly player-control in this game.

Something is strange for sure.

Yesterday I went to sell about 69 elder wood logs and wound up selling half of them 4 at a time.

The sell instant price was only 1 copper less than the lowest sell order. But what happened was only 4 logs sold. I figured it was just the last of a buy order and expected to sell the rest of the logs at the next lowest price which had an order for hundreds of logs. However, it sold another 4 logs at that same exact price as the first 4 logs. This happened a few times for around 28 logs or so before that price was finally gone and I could sell the rest all at once to the next price price at 1 copper lower.

Basically, as soon as I sold 4 logs, another buy order at that price for another 4 logs was posted, instantly after selling. Over and over again.

Theory: what TP bots do is buy/sell low quantities of a single item at a time and not too much all at once in order to avoid detection. So once you buy/sell an item a new listing is immediately put up for the same price. Basically, it may have been set to buy elder wood 4 at a time until it reached a certain quantity purchased, then the bot stopped buying for a while. Just a guess.

It really is quite annoying when trying to instantly sell a whole stack of items only to keep being forced to sell just a few at a time. It took me a couple minutes just to sell my wood.

Charrbeque.8729:

Something is strange for sure.

Yesterday I went to sell about 69 elder wood logs and wound up selling half of them 4 at a time.

The sell instant price was only 1 copper less than the lowest sell order. But what happened was only 4 logs sold. I figured it was just the last of a buy order and expected to sell the rest of the logs at the next lowest price which had an order for hundreds of logs. However, it sold another 4 logs at that same exact price as the first 4 logs. This happened a few times for around 28 logs or so before that price was finally gone and I could sell the rest all at once to the next price price at 1 copper lower.

Basically, as soon as I sold 4 logs, another buy order at that price for another 4 logs was posted, instantly after selling. Over and over again.

Theory: what TP bots do is buy/sell low quantities of a single item at a time and not too much all at once in order to avoid detection. So once you buy/sell an item a new listing is immediately put up for the same price. Basically, it may have been set to buy elder wood 4 at a time until it reached a certain quantity purchased, then the bot stopped buying for a while. Just a guess.

It really is quite annoying when trying to instantly sell a whole stack of items only to keep being forced to sell just a few at a time. It took me a couple minutes just to sell my wood.

Interesting. This is similliar to problem I’ve had except with buy orders.

I’ve run into this on a number of occasions as well. There will be one or two items at a low price, and then after purchasing them, there are instantly more at the same price.

Neural.1824:

I’ve run into this on a number of occasions as well. There will be one or two items at a low price, and then after purchasing them, there are instantly more at the same price.

Sounds like a probe to me and eliminates the need to actively monitor. If I had to write a script doing that it would simply include all available items or groups of items (otherwise multiple running script could result in sth. like a ddos-attack hammering the tp).
Let’s assume a single item, where the script constantly probes a desired price in low quantities resulting in the described result.
Very often you can detect a rise in quantity offered at a higher price (which acts as the wall later). This way, the seller fills his supply cheap and locks the buyers in to pay his wall price. Only fractions are given away cheaper than that to those who “coincidentally” click faster than the script operates, which doesn’t matter.

Well, anet, better look into it. Trading was fun, after all.

Mystic.5934:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

If anyone other than ‘Mystic’ posted about this, I’d be tempted to file this under “Tin Foil Hats for US$100, Alex.”

hehehe, famous people can be paranoid too.
But I hope I’m not crazy; that something weird is going on. Sounds like others have observed stuff too.

I don’t understand what’s there to be paranoid or tin-foil-hatted about, the TP’s API is available, it’s used by multiple sites to track prices and volume of all transactions on the TP; the behavior you described can be achieved by having a botting program hook into the API and issue transaction orders based on the numbers it gets.

Pandaman.4758:

Mystic.5934:

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

If anyone other than ‘Mystic’ posted about this, I’d be tempted to file this under “Tin Foil Hats for US$100, Alex.”

hehehe, famous people can be paranoid too.
But I hope I’m not crazy; that something weird is going on. Sounds like others have observed stuff too.

I don’t understand what’s there to be paranoid or tin-foil-hatted about, the TP’s API is available, it’s used by multiple sites to track prices and volume of all transactions on the TP; the behavior you described can be achieved by having a botting program hook into the API and issue transaction orders based on the numbers it gets.

You have taken my comment too literally. There’s all sorts of pricing on the TP that could be explained by bots, but most of it can be explained more easily without botting being involved. Consequently, I prefer to ask: “what might be going on that might cause this phenomenon” rather than to ask “did bots causes it?” The former allows for easy discussion about all the likely causes.

In other words, I was poking fun at the tendency of some people on this forum to assume Machiavellian schemes first (and teasing Mystic about using a click-baitish topic heading). As my subsequent text indicated (and as Mystic’s original post stated), it’s hard to explain the phenomenon without considering bots as likely.

In other words, yes, I agree:
“…the TP’s API is available, it’s used by multiple sites to track prices and volume of all transactions on the TP; the behavior …described can be achieved by having a botting program hook into the API and issue transaction orders based on the numbers it gets.”

I run into several items every day that say there are only one of them at the price, and if you buy it then you get the one you bought, but the listing doesn’t go away and still shows one available at that price. It eventually gets bought out if you buy enough 1 at a time. Or if you simply buy a bunch at a time, it’ll end up buying all of that hidden quantity and refund the incorrect difference in price from selecting higher priced listings.

I mark this up to the number simply not displaying how many are actually listed there at that price.

The weird thing is, I notice this happening constantly on the same items day after day when they get listings down around a certain price range.

It might be a TP bug. I recall putting in like 10k buy orders for something with relatively low trade volume and they all got filled instantly, like the 250 I ordered would be filled immediately in my inbox. It’s been fixed for that item but I wouldn’t be surprised if others have similar bugs.

I was doing similar things in reverse and I thought the opposite person is bot.

I try to sell Spinal Blades Blueprint Scrap (2/4) in mass when there are information on new scarlet box events.

Every time I sell 250, there were another buy listing up. The thing is this is not a common item, so how would anyone monitor the screen 24/7 I don’t know.

That being said, there is no way to be sure. Since I’m doing the opposite thing the OP is doing and thought the other side is bots.

If I’m selling the item to the OP, and the OP might think I’m bot too.

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

You have taken my comment too literally.

Evidently so! My apologies!

Mystic.5934:

I went to sell some Mithril Pistol Barrels for 9s78c, but there was a listing for 1 at 7s. Instead of undercutting that listing, I thought to buy it then have the new lowest listing. So I bought it. then there was a new listing for 1 at 7s. I bought that one. another one. bought it. another one. bought it. I ended up with 12 extra.

thats literally all i could think of when i read that.

No there is definitely something screwy with the TP I experience it all the time. I would like to see Anet either remove the 15% fee especially the 5% listing fee or at the very least make it refundable because when these games with the TP happen you are stuck leaving your items on the TP forever.

Cinnamon Goddess.3869:

No there is definitely something screwy with the TP I experience it all the time. I would like to see Anet either remove the 15% fee especially the 5% listing fee or at the very least make it refundable because when these games with the TP happen you are stuck leaving your items on the TP forever.

how does that even help?

there actually should be fee for buy listing too to stop bot.

Sounds more like a bug or a “quirk” to me. Bots would probably focus on bigger profits.

laokoko.7403:

how does that even help?

there actually should be fee for buy listing too to stop bot.

It is an interesting idea. If the spread between buy orders and sell listings is small then it will force players to buy from sell listings. Also there would be a risk of overbidding and you will lose your gold.

On the other hand it would reduce 1c overbids and it would work as a gold sink. So the question is: do we need more gold sinks?

Milkshake.4038:

laokoko.7403:

how does that even help?

there actually should be fee for buy listing too to stop bot.

It is an interesting idea. If the spread between buy orders and sell listings is small then it will force players to buy from sell listings. Also there would be a risk of overbidding and you will lose your gold.

On the other hand it would reduce 1c overbids and it would work as a gold sink. So the question is: do we need more gold sinks?

It actually encourages the bot. Since now bots will always have the lowest listing.

Imagine you are trying to sell a legendary. The bot keeps relisting the item and undercuts you by 1 copper.

DoctorDing.5890:

Sounds more like a bug or a “quirk” to me. Bots would probably focus on bigger profits.

or they have hundrefs of different market which makes a big market.

laokoko.7403:

It actually encourages the bot. Since now bots will always have the lowest listing.

Imagine you are trying to sell a legendary. The bot keeps relisting the item and undercuts you by 1 copper.

If I sell a legendary I won’t relist it as it will cost me over 100g. I will be glad to see the bot wasting gold on this I have several expensive items on the TP, but I won’t relist them, I consider them to be long term investments.

Milkshake.4038:

laokoko.7403:

It actually encourages the bot. Since now bots will always have the lowest listing.

Imagine you are trying to sell a legendary. The bot keeps relisting the item and undercuts you by 1 copper.

If I sell a legendary I won’t relist it as it will cost me over 100g. I will be glad to see the bot wasting gold on this I have several expensive items on the TP, but I won’t relist them, I consider them to be long term investments.

so what exactly are you talking about. you quote my response which talk about removing tp tax.

I can imagine a clever programmer doing exactly this, hundreds of small transactions every time leading to enormous profits as it runs 24/7.

Whether someone is actually doing it or not will never be admitted by Anet in any event, so it’s pure speculation.

But if someone was running one, this is the sort of thing they would target rather than any of the more obvious higher ticket items.

laokoko.7403:

so what exactly are you talking about. you quote my response which talk about removing tp tax.

You wrote about adding fee to buy orders not removing the existing tp tax.

Baldrick.8967:

I can imagine a clever programmer doing exactly this, hundreds of small transactions every time leading to enormous profits as it runs 24/7.

Whether someone is actually doing it or not will never be admitted by Anet in any event, so it’s pure speculation.

But if someone was running one, this is the sort of thing they would target rather than any of the more obvious higher ticket items.

a programmer working at a bank did exactly that at some point in the past, of sorts.
he transfered the fifth digit after the decimal point of each transaction to his own account. he got busted some time later though, as it was odd for a programmer to have something in the million range on his account.

The problem with this that makes me wonder if it is a bug, and not a bot, is that the re-listings are almost instantaneous.
In order for a bot to use the API to do that sort of monitoring, they would need to be making requests of the API that would show up on Anet’s radar easily, as it would be costing processor time, etc.

Neural.1824:

The problem with this that makes me wonder if it is a bug, and not a bot, is that the re-listings are almost instantaneous.
In order for a bot to use the API to do that sort of monitoring, they would need to be making requests of the API that would show up on Anet’s radar easily, as it would be costing processor time, etc.

sending a HTTP GET Request isn’t exactly rocket science… nor would it look any different on their side than any other Request being sent.

I was trying to sell pile of mystic dust. There is a buy listing of 2.

When I sell it to the buy order, another 2 is up again.

Either it is a bug, or Anet should look at it. This is the same thing happened before when I sell blade shard blue print.

AysonCurrax.3254:

sending a HTTP GET Request isn’t exactly rocket science… nor would it look any different on their side than any other Request being sent.

I am 100% sure that this no longer works. It worked in the past, but not since the end of 2014.

Milkshake.4038:

AysonCurrax.3254:

sending a HTTP GET Request isn’t exactly rocket science… nor would it look any different on their side than any other Request being sent.

I am 100% sure that this no longer works. It worked in the past, but not since the end of 2014.

As far as i recall, the unofficial trading post API was Read_Only aswell back then, as the official one is now.

AysonCurrax.3254:

As far as i recall, the unofficial trading post API was Read_Only aswell back then, as the official one is now.

Yes, you are right, my mistake, it is too late What I wanted to say is that you cannot use simple http requests to modify your listings, of course you can use the API to collect data. But even if I have the data that I have to update 100 orders I can only do it manually.

Milkshake.4038:

AysonCurrax.3254:

As far as i recall, the unofficial trading post API was Read_Only aswell back then, as the official one is now.

Yes, you are right, my mistake, it is too late What I wanted to say is that you cannot use simple http requests to modify your listings, of course you can use the API to collect data. But even if I have the data that I have to update 100 orders I can only do it manually.

yup. the only way that could possibly be handled by a bot would be by tempering with the gw2 client itself, and that would definetly not go unnoticed for long i am sure.

The issue I see, is the rate/number of requests for data that would have to be consistently done in order to allow some bot to near-instantly place additional items for sale at the same price.
The speed at which I’ve seen identical items pop up after purchasing one has been within a second. So the bot would need to “ping” the value every half to one second. That’s a lot of requests.

We can actually create our own API keys for our accounts. After logging into guildwars2.com, just go to My Account and click Applications. Then click the New Key button here. There is a check box for Trading Post.

I guess I’ll go ahead and mention it. I actually did find there is a trading post bot out there that automates trading post flipping. The bot uses player generated API keys for their accounts. It’s one of those types of bots that has no free trial (athough you can purchase a trial that lasts about a week) and you have to pay real money for it.

Things copy/pasted from their FAQ:

Is the TP bot detectable / will I get banned?

The bot does not interact with GW2 on a low level, there is no memory injection or anything of the sort. The only direct interaction is through mouse input. The bot also relies on the GW2 API to obtain information about your TP listings. Even though there is no evidence of API calls being monitored or causing bans (given that you can publicly give these out, you should not be at fault for someone else using them), reducing the number of calls made by the bot to avoid suspicion was still top priority during development (compared to the first beta version API calls are now down by over 60%). To avoid potentially too regular behaviour on the TP, waiting times of the bot are all randomised as well.

“Waiting times” being randomized could explain why after I sold so many sets of 4 elder wood logs at a time the buy orders suddenly stopped. Same thing for the OP of this thread with what he/she was buying. They buy/sell a bit here and there to avoid detection.

How many GW2 accounts can I use with the bot?

You can use the bot on one character of one account at a time. You can, however, change the API key (defining your account) and character you wish to use in your user settings on the website as many times as you wish.

Can the bot run in the background?

No, unfortunately. Since the TP’s internet communication has been encrypted in the TP interface update last year, the only way to place or remove orders and listings is direct interaction with the game, which requires use of the mouse.

The bot’s resource requirements are very low, however, so it is well suited to be ran in a virtual machine. This option allows it to run in the background, of course.

So basically it uses player generated API keys for their accounts and automates mouse movements to make it appear as though someone is sitting there all day randomly buying/selling stuff on the trading post.

The reason I brought this up is because API keys are being discussed.

How I came across the info: it was posted on that same website that had the Winter Wonderland jumping puzzle bots. There was a post there on Jan. 30, 2016 that said the trading post bot is still being updated. A quick Google search found the official website for the bot.

Of course I had already emailed ArenaNet with links and info about it a little while ago.

I’m starting to believe as well. Now I’m accustom to having my bids getting ratcheted up by a copper but after a battle with another I decided I wasn’t going to win and since my bid is now 10c higher than the next highest I would drop them back to be one copper above the 3rd place. My bidding nemesis did the same almost immediately.

Now I know when I’m being out bid by using gw2bltc which beeps at me when any of my bids are no longer the leading one and I’ve always assume that or similar websites are the way other players realize they got outbid. None that I know off will notify them that their high bid is now more than one copper higher. I never saw this before.

Charrbeque.8729:

I guess I’ll go ahead and mention it. I actually did find there is a trading post bot out there that automates trading post flipping. The bot uses player generated API keys for their accounts. It’s one of those types of bots that has no free trial (athough you can purchase a trial that lasts about a week) and you have to pay real money for it.

I think these “public” bots are not working. Anet can simply buy one and then they will know everything about it. When there is no free trial it is most likely a scam, and even if there is a free trial do not buy bots. Your account will be banned. It isn’t worth to lose everything you have. You did the right thing when you reported it to anet.

Behellagh.1468:

Now I know when I’m being out bid by using gw2bltc which beeps at me when any of my bids are no longer the leading one and I’ve always assume that or similar websites are the way other players realize they got outbid. None that I know off will notify them that their high bid is now more than one copper higher. I never saw this before.

The bold part allows you to “play” when you are afk. I would like to see a response from anet: is it legal or not?

For me, it seems to be too much and unfair as it gives you an advantage over other players who don’t use it.

Charrbeque.8729:

We can actually create our own API keys for our accounts. After logging into guildwars2.com, just go to My Account and click Applications. Then click the New Key button here. There is a check box for Trading Post.

I guess I’ll go ahead and mention it. I actually did find there is a trading post bot out there that automates trading post flipping. The bot uses player generated API keys for their accounts. It’s one of those types of bots that has no free trial (athough you can purchase a trial that lasts about a week) and you have to pay real money for it.

Things copy/pasted from their FAQ:

Is the TP bot detectable / will I get banned?

The bot does not interact with GW2 on a low level, there is no memory injection or anything of the sort. The only direct interaction is through mouse input. The bot also relies on the GW2 API to obtain information about your TP listings. Even though there is no evidence of API calls being monitored or causing bans (given that you can publicly give these out, you should not be at fault for someone else using them), reducing the number of calls made by the bot to avoid suspicion was still top priority during development (compared to the first beta version API calls are now down by over 60%). To avoid potentially too regular behaviour on the TP, waiting times of the bot are all randomised as well.

“Waiting times” being randomized could explain why after I sold so many sets of 4 elder wood logs at a time the buy orders suddenly stopped. Same thing for the OP of this thread with what he/she was buying. They buy/sell a bit here and there to avoid detection.

How many GW2 accounts can I use with the bot?

You can use the bot on one character of one account at a time. You can, however, change the API key (defining your account) and character you wish to use in your user settings on the website as many times as you wish.

Can the bot run in the background?

No, unfortunately. Since the TP’s internet communication has been encrypted in the TP interface update last year, the only way to place or remove orders and listings is direct interaction with the game, which requires use of the mouse.

The bot’s resource requirements are very low, however, so it is well suited to be ran in a virtual machine. This option allows it to run in the background, of course.

So basically it uses player generated API keys for their accounts and automates mouse movements to make it appear as though someone is sitting there all day randomly buying/selling stuff on the trading post.

The reason I brought this up is because API keys are being discussed.

How I came across the info: it was posted on that same website that had the Winter Wonderland jumping puzzle bots. There was a post there on Jan. 30, 2016 that said the trading post bot is still being updated. A quick Google search found the official website for the bot.

Of course I had already emailed ArenaNet with links and info about it a little while ago.

I am always the first to shout conspiracy when people talk about bots because it would be SO easy for Anet to track them down…. But I could actually see this working……. I wonder if the bot “reads” the screen to work out where to click or just knows where the windows come up? Maybe you just have to have the TP window in the EXACT right place? If so all Anet needs to do to stop this is make the actual buy/sell open in random spots so it’s never in exactly the same spot twice.

FlashAhAhh.4307:

I wonder if the bot “reads” the screen to work out where to click or just knows where the windows come up? Maybe you just have to have the TP window in the EXACT right place?

Nothing as complicated as that, it’s fairly simple to write a bot that asks you to click on all relevant buttons during the setup phase so it knows where to click when you set it on autopilot.

Charrbeque.8729:

Something is strange for sure.

Yesterday I went to sell about 69 elder wood logs and wound up selling half of them 4 at a time.

The sell instant price was only 1 copper less than the lowest sell order. But what happened was only 4 logs sold. I figured it was just the last of a buy order and expected to sell the rest of the logs at the next lowest price which had an order for hundreds of logs. However, it sold another 4 logs at that same exact price as the first 4 logs. This happened a few times for around 28 logs or so before that price was finally gone and I could sell the rest all at once to the next price price at 1 copper lower.

Basically, as soon as I sold 4 logs, another buy order at that price for another 4 logs was posted, instantly after selling. Over and over again.

Theory: what TP bots do is buy/sell low quantities of a single item at a time and not too much all at once in order to avoid detection. So once you buy/sell an item a new listing is immediately put up for the same price. Basically, it may have been set to buy elder wood 4 at a time until it reached a certain quantity purchased, then the bot stopped buying for a while. Just a guess.

It really is quite annoying when trying to instantly sell a whole stack of items only to keep being forced to sell just a few at a time. It took me a couple minutes just to sell my wood.

I never thought of this. It never even occurred to me when I would sell my mats id have to do it at like 3-5 at a time. Really makes me think just what is going on?

Pandaman.4758:

FlashAhAhh.4307:

I wonder if the bot “reads” the screen to work out where to click or just knows where the windows come up? Maybe you just have to have the TP window in the EXACT right place?

Nothing as complicated as that, it’s fairly simple to write a bot that asks you to click on all relevant buttons during the setup phase so it knows where to click when you set it on autopilot.

Makes sense… so really all the have to do is randomise where the buy/sell window opens, even just a few mm would do it, they are small targets…. although the “Buy” button isn’t which could REALLY ruin their day!

FlashAhAhh.4307:

Makes sense… so really all the have to do is randomise where the buy/sell window opens, even just a few mm would do it, they are small targets…. although the “Buy” button isn’t which could REALLY ruin their day!

That would be really annoying for me I don’t think this is the correct way to deal with this problem.

Milkshake.4038:

FlashAhAhh.4307:

Makes sense… so really all the have to do is randomise where the buy/sell window opens, even just a few mm would do it, they are small targets…. although the “Buy” button isn’t which could REALLY ruin their day!

That would be really annoying for me I don’t think this is the correct way to deal with this problem.

I mean REALLY small, if they are using mouse then they must Click that tiny box of the highest bid, and the tiny up arrow on the price. The window move would be so small that legit players would probably not even notice! Only those using a bot.

We’re getting off-topic but even general purpose automation tools now have decent graphics recognition capabilities. Give them a fragment of an image and they can find it anywhere on the screen. They can even search for partial matches. You’d have to keep changing the colours and scale of the buttons to stand any chance of fooling them and, even then, they’d eventually capture enough samples to get around it most of the time.

That said, I still think it is most probably not bots causing the described behaviour. My money would be on a bug but it might also be just other players. There are lots of players using the TP concurrently. I often list something and see someone else having listed at the same time, same price. It’s easy to blame bots for everything but there is often another explanation.

There are bots on the TP. A few years back I used to make satchels of armor to sell, The area I was selling it was pretty empty with me being the only seller for a long while, This was until someone began to undercut me.

Naturally I undercut him, however before I could even go back to the page to check the price he undercut me. This went on for a few times, till I suspected a bot. I then did a few “tests” to see if it was a bot or a obsessed player.

I was eventually able to find a limit that the bot would always undercut if it’s above, several times I tested it by putting a price below the limit then removing it and undercutting the bot.

The next day the bot was gone(guessed the player saw I was messing with it.)

zerorogue.9410:

There are bots on the TP. A few years back I used to make satchels of armor to sell, The area I was selling it was pretty empty with me being the only seller for a long while, This was until someone began to undercut me.

Naturally I undercut him, however before I could even go back to the page to check the price he undercut me. This went on for a few times, till I suspected a bot. I then did a few “tests” to see if it was a bot or a obsessed player.

I was eventually able to find a limit that the bot would always undercut if it’s above, several times I tested it by putting a price below the limit then removing it and undercutting the bot.

The next day the bot was gone(guessed the player saw I was messing with it.)

So how do you know it was a bot? This was sell orders so you found the limit at which the bot would not go past?