Guild Wars 2

if someone doesnt use any 3rd party program

It is not allowed to afk farm.

From a previous thread

Chris Cleary.8017:

I’ll pitch in on this thread, as there seems to be some confusion about this situation.

The auto-cast feature was never intended to be used as an AFK farming mechanism, and usage of the auto-cast feature while AFK is fine as long as it is not used to facilitate unattended gameplay.

Mastery auto-loot also stopping players from being flagged afk seems like a bug instead of a feature, and I’ll be sure to bring it up today while we have a chat about this internally.

1) Using skill (1 or more) while AFK
2) AFKing in a place where it is beneficial for your character to be at
3) Unresponsive to interaction with GMs

If all 3 of these apply to what you are doing, you may get actioned for it.

I see AFK farmers a lot when in Kessex Hills after spores. I seldom report them because I’m genuinely worried doing so may damage my reputation – yet when I stop and question them, not a one of them ever replies suggesting they are AFK and effectively on ‘’auto pilot’’ which would imply a botting tool is being used.

Anet won’t straight-up endorse or condemn any particular combination of actions, possibly (and realistically?) assuming that if they say “A, B, C, and D” is bannable, then the community response will be “A, C, and D” is 100% bona-fide Anet approved!

Use common sense – with or without a third party tool, if you’re set up your character in a way to stay alive and logged in without player interaction -with the intent- of gathering items, then you’d have a very difficult argument against the imminent ban.

In other words.. if you have to ask, then you probably already know the answer.

/justplaythegame

Major Domo.9250:

Anet won’t straight-up endorse or condemn any particular combination of actions, possibly (and realistically?) assuming that if they say “A, B, C, and D” is bannable, then the community response will be “A, C, and D” is 100% bona-fide Anet approved!

Use common sense – with or without a third party tool, if you’re set up your character in a way to stay alive and logged in without player interaction -with the intent- of gathering items, then you’d have a very difficult argument against the imminent ban.

In other words.. if you have to ask, then you probably already know the answer.

/justplaythegame

actually no…in my mind as long as i am not using 3rd party tools/abusing the client and you are strictly using in-game mechanics im doing nothing wrong.
the reason im asking is because i saw a youtube video in which the recorder said someone was banned for it(apparently they banned him for using 3rd party tools even though he wasnt and that was their way of “getting” him i guess)

The very first response is all you need. The fact that you’re arguing against it “because you’re not using third party programs” seems to suggest that you already afk farm and are just looking for someone to justify it for you.

As an example: Anet has provided players with a chat box, yet they will still ban for abusive language. Third party programs are not the determining factor.

How can using the mechanics given by the game get you banned? The difference in getting banned or not is if i am sitting infront of the pc?

Congratulations, you have mastered reading comprehension!

Belenus.9132:

I see AFK farmers a lot when in Kessex Hills after spores. I seldom report them because I’m genuinely worried doing so may damage my reputation – yet when I stop and question them, not a one of them ever replies suggesting they are AFK and effectively on ‘’auto pilot’’ which would imply a botting tool is being used.

Sometimes I farm spores in Kessex Hills.
Used to search the map on thief because he is fast, to find a spot where they spawn and then I would gather the spore and leave the character and go about my business in the house or the garden / come back to the computer every now and then and press F. I need a lot of condi food because I play necro in wvw and condi ranger in raids and prefer to make it my self, not buy from tp.
Sometimes I forget and I get disconnected and loose the map. Sometimes I get killed by mobs someone aggroes. It is sort of an afk farming but I only get the spore if and when I am there to press the button.
Sometimes I watch a movie on the other monitor and whenever the gather sign shows up I press F. If you whisper me I will reply.
Lately I am going with the necro and leave the minions up. Why ? Because I have seen many times that other players deliberately aggro mobs, brings them to you and then stand back and hope you die. For fun. Not a big deal to wp and run back but still I prefer to stay alive. If the map would not change after logging out and back in I would do that. Not making any money by standing there, only when I am at the comp, pressing the button. And still I am afraid I might get banned one day. Because Anet is vague about it all, deliberately. Some people here are saying that is their right, it is to prevent hackers,etc.etc. It is not, it is just unfair to all the players that are actually playing the game. Is it ok to leave the character at a spot for 10-15 minutes and then come back and collect a plant that has grown since you left ? I guess it is. It should be. But I do not know for sure, because they are misterious about it all.
Used to gather platinum and hard wood at Mount Maelstrom. I never go there now because I am just fed up with the million minions there, the real afk farmers. People who leave their characters there for days. Yes, days. After a while I recognized the names, a lot where still there after a week. You can make decent money that way, while you are at work, at school, away from the computer for hours. Can you make more by playing the game ? Yes ofc, much more but you have to sit there and press the buttons. Multiloot, silwervaste, frac 40 …over and over again, sometimes a brainless boring activity just because you want to buy more and more stuff. Reporting those people changed nothing , because I added them as friends and reported them every day for a long time and they are still in the game today. Not only they are afk making money but I feel like a traitor and an idiot at the same time, not a nice person because I am reporting a fellow player and an idiot because Anet actually did nothing about it. If they did, we know nothing about it. Why ?
Its just simply not okay that someone can make money in the game while they are not there at all.

Ultimately this is just a game , it is meant to be played and enjoyed so who cares how much money someone makes in the game when they are not actually playing the game ? I know we players should not care, we should just play our own game and enjoy it.
But it is not fair, and we deserve to know what steps are taken by the ones that control the game. It is not true that devs have no time to check or that they are banning in waves . It only takes half an hour to stay there, whisper all the afk players – if you can single them out from the million minions- and if there is no reply in half an hour, ban for 24h.
Do that every day for a week.That is half an hour a day. And then the forums would be full of people talking about bans and most of the players would be clear about Anets position and would think twice about afk farming.
But if it is true that there is no employee there who can do this for half an hour a day for a week then we are in much more serious trouble.

Sarda.5918:

The very first response is all you need. The fact that you’re arguing against it “because you’re not using third party programs” seems to suggest that you already afk farm and are just looking for someone to justify it for you.

As an example: Anet has provided players with a chat box, yet they will still ban for abusive language. Third party programs are not the determining factor.

actually i dont afk farm but it does like a profitable thing if its allowed
your argument is completely kittened,it clearly says in the tos that abusive language will be punsihed
nothing in the tos about “dont leave your minionmancer afk with autoattack on num 4 where mobs spawn”

Any other post past the second one in this thread is irrelevant.
Just A Flesh Wound, and by default, Chris Cleary have already answered your question. Why are you trying to spin the quite clear answer into something you favour? It’s not going to work.

Amaranthe.3578:

Sarda.5918:

The very first response is all you need. The fact that you’re arguing against it “because you’re not using third party programs” seems to suggest that you already afk farm and are just looking for someone to justify it for you.

As an example: Anet has provided players with a chat box, yet they will still ban for abusive language. Third party programs are not the determining factor.

actually i dont afk farm but it does like a profitable thing if its allowed
your argument is completely kittened,it clearly says in the tos that abusive language will be punsihed
nothing in the tos about “dont leave your minionmancer afk with autoattack on num 4 where mobs spawn”

And do you know what is in the TOS? The statement that they can remove your account at any time for reasons they don’t have to provide. Do you know why? So people like you don’t get all kitteny when they get banned for doing things that were in fact pretty clearly forbidden but weren’t technically explicitly forbidden.

Amaranthe.3578:

nothing in the tos about “dont leave your minionmancer afk with autoattack on num 4 where mobs spawn”

No, but you are linked up there to a post were one of anet’s staff said you would get actioned for exactly that.

I think it falls under exploits, which happen to be against the ToS.

As others already said: It’s not allowed, and Anet employees have expressed that publicly. So, if you opt to AFK farm, you may get reported and then get a suspension.

If you have to ask if afk farming is allowed then no it is not…

The real question is why does anyone care if someone’s afk farming? It’s not hurting me in any way, why would I ever report them? Do all you people fist bump behind your screens because you might get someone banned? Disgusting.

I see you subscribe to the “if I can’t see it, it doesn’t exist” line of thinking. Let me know how your journey to remove all multiplayer games from existence goes.

AriaFiresong.7023:

Amaranthe.3578:

nothing in the tos about “dont leave your minionmancer afk with autoattack on num 4 where mobs spawn”

No, but you are linked up there to a post were one of anet’s staff said you would get actioned for exactly that.

I think it falls under exploits, which happen to be against the ToS.

It falls under unattended gameplay too. Also it should fall under ‘common sense not do’ but some players are that litigious I’m afraid, that they have to have every single possible contingency spoon fed to them.

We’re all allowed to walk away from the game for real life reasons. That’s why they have a timer that will kick us to the character screen.

For Kessex, that’s simply waiting for the nodes to respawn. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Hmm, I suppose all of these folks in the attached picture were called away for real life reasons, or are maybe using the restroom, at the same time. Or maybe they’re all just waiting for nodes to respawn. Two of them, I’ve seen at this spot every day for a week. That’s a hell of a restroom break.

@SigiSixx:

• Send your reports to exploit@arena.net or file a support ticket.
• Your post(s) will be deleted if they include allegations against specific individuals — only ANet can determine if there are violations of policy, not any of us.

It’s up to ANet to decide if there’s a general problem of if “this has to stop”.

I agree with you that AFK farming ultimately hurts the GW2 community, even if it’s allowed or even encouraged in certain games. However, I can’t agree with you that there’s an issue so urgent that it can’t wait for ANet to figure out a holistic approach to the issue.

Case in point: they didn’t nerf AB/mulit-loot for months and months, even though (a) it had a greater impact on the economy than AFK farming and (b) they had decided almost immediately it was “exploity”.

It’s a good impulse to want to protect the game. Use that energy to diligently file reports with ANet and let them take care of it, however slowly or quickly.

Devs actually gave it the OK

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

from here

If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.

and here

Liewec.2896:

Devs actually gave it the OK

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

from here

If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.

and here

Your examples are 10months old.. The newer one is 9 months old which says “AFK Farming is NOT allowed”

Anet should give finally a official statement and mark it as favourite in the forums.. its quiet annoying..

Liewec.2896:

Devs actually gave it the OK

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

from here

If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.

and here

You should have put the whole quote in, the post the dev is responding to where Ephemeral Wallaby said intentional mechanics that allow pet kills to give experience and loot is not permission to afk farm and the dev agreed.

Michael Henninger.7451:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Tl;dr intentional mechanics that allow pet kills to give experience and loot =/= permission to afk farm.

This is absolutely correct.

If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Liewec.2896:

Devs actually gave it the OK

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

from here

If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.

and here

You should have put the whole quote in, the post the dev is responding to where Ephemeral Wallaby said intentional mechanics that allow pet kills to give experience and loot is not permission to afk farm and the dev agreed.

Michael Henninger.7451:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Tl;dr intentional mechanics that allow pet kills to give experience and loot =/= permission to afk farm.

This is absolutely correct.

If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.

i thought the pet was implied from AFK farming since it isn’t really possible without a pet build (ranger/MM necro)
it still stands, the dev explicitly said it is fine for your pet to do the killing and your mastery to do the looting.

Liewec.2896:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Liewec.2896:

Devs actually gave it the OK

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

from here

If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.

and here

You should have put the whole quote in, the post the dev is responding to where Ephemeral Wallaby said intentional mechanics that allow pet kills to give experience and loot is not permission to afk farm and the dev agreed.

Michael Henninger.7451:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Tl;dr intentional mechanics that allow pet kills to give experience and loot =/= permission to afk farm.

This is absolutely correct.

If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.

i thought the pet was implied from AFK farming since it isn’t really possible without a pet build (ranger/MM necro)
it still stands, the dev explicitly said it is fine for your pet to do the killing and your mastery to do the looting.

Yes, that is correct. You’ll not be sanctioned for that alone. He is saying that the mechanics alone are not what’s going to get you in trouble. It’s being afk for extended periods of time and being afk where it’s advantageous for you to be afk with the mechanics killing and looting for you.

Again, from the first quote

1) Using skill (1 or more) while AFK
2) AFKing in a place where it is beneficial for your character to be at
3) Unresponsive to interaction with GMs
If all 3 of these apply to what you are doing, you may get actioned for it.

What he is saying is that your pet, summons, minions, etc can kill without you doing any additional damage and it’s not a problem as long as you are not afk farming. You can have temporarily stepped away or you can be doing inventory or chatting or whatever when your pet kills and your auto loot give you the loot, but you can not be afk farming for extended periods. That’s when it’s not ok.