Guild Wars 2

I’ve noticed a lot of bots that appear on a mining / gathering node, use it and then disappear. A lot of the time they are so quick that I can’t report them as I lose focus on them as soon as they disappear.

I searched but couldn’t find any official word on this, is there anything else I should be doing?

I have actually noticed this as well. Always wondered what that was about. But I see it constantly pretty much everywhere. I will head to a mining spot and then a player materializes and mines then instantly disappears. Its extremely common pretty much everywhere.

I’ve noticed the same, played for an hour this morning and it happened on almost every gathering node that I gathered from.

The best is when they glitch out and keep appearing near you enough for you to get in a report.

So does anyone know if there’s another way to report a player other than clicking on him? i.e. can i type something like “/report name” ?

While I was doing an event and failed it! Since I had to protect three guys.. I checked my map radar on the right bottom left and saw some fallen players so I was like ok HELP time! I went and saw about 5 or 8 bot players named “Diesel Engine” or “Daany Yui”. Is there a way where I can report this? I have pictures and videos.

I take a screenshot if I can to get the name, add the bot to my blocked list, then report them for botting from my blocked list.

Besides right-clicking a name and reporting, you can also collect names and create a support ticket (or just email support).

Thanks guys for the help!

If you catch the name you can use the invite command (/invite name) to party then click on party icon and report as normal (they dont have to accept).

Serraphin Storm.2369:

If you catch the name you can use the invite command (/invite name) to party then click on party icon and report as normal (they dont have to accept).

I prefer the /block command — something rubs me the wrong way about inviting a hacker or bot, even if they don’t notice.

I add them to my friend list and then report. Seems wrong, but at least I can keep track of them.

Thanks for the tips. I’m a bit baffled that Anet can’t just see the coords of these bots zipping around everywhere.

Been seeing this a lot too… I bet this explains why material prices keep dropping…

I had a theory that the way they do it is to mine node, guest to another server, mine fresh node, then guest to yet another server… ?

I tried it… It would work in theory (if you’re very lazy or automated) but the node randomization would mean you’d have to walk sometimes to get to the next node… So it doesn’t explain how these bots seem to appear exactly at the node they want to farm. shrug

As long as people buy from gold sellers, there will be bots farming to raise gold. No matter what ANet or the players do, these people will find a way around it. All ANet can do is make sure they aren’t affect the economy too much. Think of them like counterfeiters: some exist in every country, but despite this, they have almost no impact on the health of the economy (at least, within the industrial world).

@Peter: it’s not all that hard to have one or two humans go to every server, scout the locations for nodes, and give that to the programmer who can set up a route for the bots. (Ordinary players use orrmaps.com, which is an analog version of the same idea.)

ANet, like most gaming companies, tends to ban a bunch of botting accounts around the same time: this makes it harder for the bot programmers to know exactly what they were doing that got them booted from the game. A few dozen bots working full-time for a week or two isn’t going to affect an economy that consists of 200-300,000 people playing at any one time. So far, I have never seen an account that I’ve reported remain playing for longer than a fortnight or so — at some point, I expect I will, if/when the botting is done by a hacked account that is restored to its rightful owner.

This is part of another post that I replied to but may be relevant here:

To players who want to help catching blinkbots, here are some ideas you may find helpful –
1. Assigning a key on a gaming mouse to ‘Print Screen’ helps immensely (for me, thumb button 10 on the Razer Naga). That second that you spend reaching for the normal print screen button is what will allow the bot to escape.

2. Unfortunately, most of us only realize what we saw was a blinkbot when the blinkbot disappears. Therefore these days, I tend to take a “Take screenshot first, ask questions later” attitude. If it turns out to be nothing, I can delete the screenshot.

3. Don’t put up screenshots and name names on the forums. ‘Name and shame’ aside, it will warn the botters and give them time to transfer their ill gotten gains elsewhere.

justkoh.4073:

I tend to take a “Take screenshot first, ask questions later” attitude. If it turns out to be nothing, I can delete the screenshot.

Yes. I also tend to /report rather than try to figure out if someone is botting or hacking the game. It’s a good use of the support team’s time for them to investigate my reports; it’s a bad use of my time. I’m here to have fun, while ANet actually pays people to look at hard date before banning someone. As it turns out, I don’t report that many people anyhow.

Is it possible that people are logging their alt’s near nodes and logging this in once an hour? I have no idea if this is what is happening, but seems like a possibility.

Sickyl.1056:

Is it possible that people are logging their alt’s near nodes and logging this in once an hour?

Some folks are, but they still look and act like a normal player when they do so. The current crop of bots is only visible for a couple of seconds over the node and disappears before the gathering sound loop even starts, usually popping up at another nearby node before the sound loop finishes.

All I was doing was looking to buy a gem card at Amazon.

Amazon.ca has gold sellers linked as a sponsored link,
go to amazon.com and scroll down to sponsored links—and guess what—more gold resellers.
So when people go there, it may seem that it is legit.
Maybe Anet ought to give them a heads up.

Ysengrin.6428:

Sickyl.1056:

Is it possible that people are logging their alt’s near nodes and logging this in once an hour?

Some folks are, but they still look and act like a normal player when they do so. The current crop of bots is only visible for a couple of seconds over the node and disappears before the gathering sound loop even starts, usually popping up at another nearby node before the sound loop finishes.

Agree with Ysengrin!

With regards to players leaving alts near nodes, I trust that Anet will properly investigate a player’s movements once a name has been provided and differentiate between the botters and the alts. After all, what does a screenshot really prove anyway except that the reported name is correct?

If it looks suspicious, I will report it. The investigation, I leave to Anet.

justkoh.4073:

Ysengrin.6428:

Sickyl.1056:

Is it possible that people are logging their alt’s near nodes and logging this in once an hour?

Some folks are, but they still look and act like a normal player when they do so. The current crop of bots is only visible for a couple of seconds over the node and disappears before the gathering sound loop even starts, usually popping up at another nearby node before the sound loop finishes.

With regards to players leaving alts near nodes, I trust that Anet will properly investigate a player’s movements once a name has been provided and differentiate between the botters and the alts. After all, what does a screenshot really prove anyway except that the reported name is correct?

If it looks suspicious, I will report it. The investigation, I leave to Anet.

I have a number of screenshots of folks logging in their alts for a node that I’ve had to toss out. If you pause for a second, it becomes sort of obvious what is happening. With teleporting bots you rarely see 5 of them pop in one after another. When in doubt however, make the report and let ANet sort it out.

This is why I like to file a follow up support ticket explaining why I think they’re a bot instead of just using /report. It should be fairly easily to separate a teleporter from someone logging in alts, and it narrows the data that ANet has to look at. I haven’t had that many bots to report lately, so it’s not that big a time sink.

Hello everyone,
before this thread gets into a direction of accusing players of botting and because the question by the OP has been answered, this thread is closed. Thank you for your understanding.