Guild Wars 2

I am using this topic to warn ArenaNet about many people using software to create macros and instant cast immediately the traps of guardian. Softwares such as AutoHotKey are used to create 4 key combination, instantly casting all the traps at once, in less than a quarter of a second. It would have taken a lot more time to cast them all by hand.

I know this is in the gray area because it’s not really an exploit, as players use software that do not alter game functions and features, but this is an unfair advantage.

I kindly ask ArenaNet for an official response and make this clear.
Am I allowed to use macros too (like many guardians already using them for traps)?
Are these allowed only for instant cast spells (such as traps)?
Are these allowed or not in PvP?
What is ArenaNet doing if this is not allowed?

Please ArenaNet make this clear, because this is getting out of control (in PvP at least, I do not know about other areas of the game). I also wish to take benefits of other players tactics and advantages.

EDIT: Thank you in advance.

Show a video of what you mean. If they’re dropping 4 traps faster than a non macroing user can, that is more like speed hacking. The rule for a macro is simple:

One action per keystroke. If your ONE keystroke casts more than one trap, that is not allowed.

No official answer. I am taking the answer is YES and this is a noob question not deserving an answer. I will start using macros too. Thank you Anet.

you have 5 fingers. 4 buttons to press. 1 finger left free. get real please

Covis.6037:

you have 5 fingers. 4 buttons to press. 1 finger left free. get real please

This.

Now, I do believe Anet really screwed up allowing simultaneous casting of abilities (no internal cast time or cooldown on instants), but I don’t see how it’s an exploit.

If the skill has a channeling/cast time (you’ll see a yellow bar above your health bar) then you can’t drop them at the same time as other skills. You’re probably thinking of the more commonly used traps like Fragments of Faith and Test of Faith + another trap with a cast time. That’s not hacking as others have pointed out and I don’t see why you would need a macro to do it.

Or another possibility is that some traps were pre-placed and didn’t get triggered before the cooldown on the skills was done so the guardian was able to overlay traps.

Macros are a no go in GW2 I believe.

If you see someone rapidly going through skills, they may have a mouse similar to this.

you know a couple of traps have 0 cast time…

If you use a Macro that utilises more than one command per keystroke,you will get your account banned.

Where in the EULA does it say you can’t use macro functions from a mouse? The closest thing I could find would be this:

Use, or provide others with, any software related to the Game, including any automation software (a.k.a. “bot”) or software designed to change or modify operation of the Game;

If you interpret that to include key stroke macros in an MMO gaming mouse, they could terminate your account for just having the drivers for it installed on your machine as you are using the software. I would have to see where they specifically call out the use of commercially available gaming hardware as a code of conduct violation.

Air Ele has been using “macros” for their instant air bursts and nobody bats an eye.
Some one mentions Maco on DH traps and suddently everyone loses their mind!

Seriously though… DH doesn’t need a single macro to be efficient but I do recall a lot of Air Ele’s using macros back in the day.

The real problem isn’t macro spams for damage “anyone can do that with their hands”. The real problem are dodge bot programs. They use interrupt skills, dodges, evades, ect.. ect.. at specific times to make sure players always avoid the important attacks such as Skull Grinder. THESE programs are full of kitten and I wish something could be done about them.

Macros were originally declared as illegal in GW2 “not sure where they stand on that now” but even so, how would they be able to tell if people were using razer mouse macros?

Alin.2468:

No official answer. I am taking the answer is YES and this is a noob question not deserving an answer. I will start using macros too. Thank you Anet.

So you are expecting Anet Devs to ; Read this post, start an investigation on this matter, confirm this matter and then give you an answer that havent been posted by others and Devs in other posts in less than 8 hours?

If you suspect someone using macroes to do multiple skills with one keystroke then you should think about reporting them for it.

Now on the other hand, I beleave that you can cast all DH traps in the same time without macroes as they seem not to have any cast time. I for example use the Razor Naga and I just have to click my whole thumb over the side of the mouse to press atleast 6-8 buttons at the same time without a macro.

sephiroth.4217:

Macros are a no go in GW2 I believe.

If you see someone rapidly going through skills, they may have a mouse similar to this.

Or, you know, just press any 3-4 keys consecutively spaced on the keyboard really quick. I bind my utilties to q (heal) ert. I can guarantee that I can press ert in less than “a quarter of a second” like op says.

Welcome to GW2, where skill is not allowed. The other day I do staff 5 + jump or phase traversal + jump on my revenant I may get accused of cheating…fine.

Im pretty sure macros arent allowed in gw2, although the stuff you said with the traps doesnt really work since the macros really only work with instant cast skills. Only case ive ever seen macros be used was fresh air ele. If you just get things to muscle memory you can do it pretty much as fast anyway so doesnt really matter.

lol what a joke i remember when i used to have people accusing me of macroing because i could do the stow ele stow weapon lol

Its quite easy and was answered hundreds of times already, mostly by Gaile Grey.

Every action your character does has to be caused by an action you, the player, have to do.

The only exception are those tools that GW2 provides for you, such as auto-casting a weapon skill of your choosing.

Is using macros in GW2 forbidden per-se? No. You can use a macro that binds a mousekey to a key-combination that performs ONE action in the game.

You click one key → your character does one thing → working as intended.

You click one key → your character does several actions not intended by anet → banable offense.

Trevor Boyer.6524:

The real problem isn’t macro spams for damage “anyone can do that with their hands”. The real problem are dodge bot programs. They use interrupt skills, dodges, evades, ect.. ect.. at specific times to make sure players always avoid the important attacks such as Skull Grinder. THESE programs are full of kitten and I wish something could be done about them.

Macros were originally declared as illegal in GW2 “not sure where they stand on that now” but even so, how would they be able to tell if people were using razer mouse macros?

i think the macro youre complaining about was a good player

kitten.5862:

Trevor Boyer.6524:

The real problem isn’t macro spams for damage “anyone can do that with their hands”. The real problem are dodge bot programs. They use interrupt skills, dodges, evades, ect.. ect.. at specific times to make sure players always avoid the important attacks such as Skull Grinder. THESE programs are full of kitten and I wish something could be done about them.

Macros were originally declared as illegal in GW2 “not sure where they stand on that now” but even so, how would they be able to tell if people were using razer mouse macros?

i think the macro youre complaining about was a good player

Skill op plz nerf

Dodge bots are the 2nd most widely used cheat in the game, right under speed hacking. Don’t be so quaint as to act like these things don’t exist.

A quick Google search can show you otherwise.

Trevor Boyer.6524:

Dodge bots are the 2nd most widely used cheat in the game, right under speed hacking.

[citation needed]

Trevor Boyer.6524:

Dodge bots are the 2nd most widely used cheat in the game, right under speed hacking. Don’t be so quaint as to act like these things don’t exist.

A quick Google search can show you otherwise.

Dodge can cancel a skill that may have been life saving. Likewise, there’s no reason to automatically dodge a skill that would otherwise be blocked or blinded.

Unless i’m missing something here, a good player would never use such a program.

The dodge bot does a lot more than just dodge “the actual name of the program I won’t mention here” and of course they aren’t good players if they are using it. They are however clever programmers to make it work for w/e build and purpose of that build that they are using it for.

It’s real simple, they use the generic bot program that exists in circulation right now and just program it to avoid a certain list of priority skills that they do not want to get hit with. That or they set a quick interrupt skill to always fire off when the currently targeted opponent tries to use #6 heal or w/e the hell else they want it to do.

This stuff is all over youtube guys, it’s nothing new and of course some players would try to use it to grind legend in spvp. That’s why report for “botting” exists.

The only reason I ever bring this stuff up in the forum is because not enough legit players realize this stuff is indeed being used. They have no idea how to spot/report some of the lesser obvious cheating and it’s a good idea to raise awareness of these issues.

Trevor Boyer.6524:

This stuff is all over youtube guys, it’s nothing new and of course some players would try to use it to grind legend in spvp. That’s why report for “botting” exists.

Well, I youtubed it and there was absolutely nothing. The only thing I found was some video that supposedly showed a bot playing engineer on skyhammer, but it was doing a really cruddy job of it.

I think you’re just convinced that these “bots” exist as something to blame losses on.

Trevor Boyer.6524:

The dodge bot does a lot more than just dodge “the actual name of the program I won’t mention here” and of course they aren’t good players if they are using it. They are however clever programmers to make it work for w/e build and purpose of that build that they are using it for.

It’s real simple, they use the generic bot program that exists in circulation right now and just program it to avoid a certain list of priority skills that they do not want to get hit with. That or they set a quick interrupt skill to always fire off when the currently targeted opponent tries to use #6 heal or w/e the hell else they want it to do.

This stuff is all over youtube guys, it’s nothing new and of course some players would try to use it to grind legend in spvp. That’s why report for “botting” exists.

The only reason I ever bring this stuff up in the forum is because not enough legit players realize this stuff is indeed being used. They have no idea how to spot/report some of the lesser obvious cheating and it’s a good idea to raise awareness of these issues.

PM me a video or name of hack ill send you 100g

If I remember correctly Gail has said in other threads that Macros can be used for gem store instruments but anything else is considered a bannable offense.

Thank you for feedback and for keeping this topic alive. However, there is still no official answer, and anything related to bans for macros can be considered as speculation at this point. So far I personally never heard of anyone being banned for using macros in this game.

Because there is no official answer about macros as being forbidden, I can assume it is allowed. It seems many things are allowed in this game, for entertainment, as long as they bring happiness to consumers, and income to developers.

Alin.2468:

Thank you for feedback and for keeping this topic alive. However, there is still no official answer, and anything related to bans for macros can be considered as speculation at this point. So far I personally never heard of anyone being banned for using macros in this game.

Because there is no official answer about macros as being forbidden, I can assume it is allowed. It seems many things are allowed in this game, for entertainment, as long as they bring happiness to consumers, and income to developers.

Quit being dumb, macros aren’t allows they said so. However it is not hard to press 5 buttons nearly at once. Youre extremely, extremely, extremely bad if you think otherwise.

You can just use a skill with a cast time, and then instantly press a bar full of instant skills, resulting in multiple skills activating at once. Instant skills are instant. It’s really easy to do with a basic understanding of keybinds.

You can’t achieve any better top performance level from using programmable key sequences then just hitting multiple keybinds at the same time.

Threads where these accusations pop up sometimes result from clickers discovering the advantage keybinders get.

Alin.2468:

I know this is in the gray area because it’s not really an exploit, as players use software that do not alter game functions and features, but this is an unfair advantage.

Because there is no official answer about macros as being forbidden, I can assume it is allowed.

It’s officially not a gray area. Here’s your officially official answer that you officially asked for. Its officially all exploit.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/support/Policy-3rd-Party-Programs-Multi-Boxing-Macros/first#post153276

Officially from your dear Lord Aargadon. Also, random thanks to Gaile Gray for being officially awesome.

The thread has officially received its answer so should probs be closed er something.

kitten.5862:

Trevor Boyer.6524:

The dodge bot does a lot more than just dodge “the actual name of the program I won’t mention here” and of course they aren’t good players if they are using it. They are however clever programmers to make it work for w/e build and purpose of that build that they are using it for.

It’s real simple, they use the generic bot program that exists in circulation right now and just program it to avoid a certain list of priority skills that they do not want to get hit with. That or they set a quick interrupt skill to always fire off when the currently targeted opponent tries to use #6 heal or w/e the hell else they want it to do.

This stuff is all over youtube guys, it’s nothing new and of course some players would try to use it to grind legend in spvp. That’s why report for “botting” exists.

The only reason I ever bring this stuff up in the forum is because not enough legit players realize this stuff is indeed being used. They have no idea how to spot/report some of the lesser obvious cheating and it’s a good idea to raise awareness of these issues.

PM me a video or name of hack ill send you 100g

Dude, kitten…

It’s just the first and most common bot program that you’ll find running a google search. The people using it in spvp don’t use it’s full functions, they simply set it to do auto spam instants like DH traps for rupts or some other function like dodging a particular CC that they struggle against. They still move and do everything else with their own hands. It’s a game-wide cheat used in all game modes. It’s no secret and IT IS all over the internet and there are plenty of youtube videos on it. Do the search yourself man. If you can’t find the obvious currently up to date versions of this program or the videos displaying what it does, you’re either a bit slow or just trolling. The program is as wide spread as speed hack.

FiveGauge.1357:

Threads where these accusations pop up sometimes result from clickers discovering the advantage keybinders get.

Mmmmmmm yes, this is probably why this thread actually exists.

Trevor Boyer.6524:

kitten.5862:

Trevor Boyer.6524:

The dodge bot does a lot more than just dodge “the actual name of the program I won’t mention here” and of course they aren’t good players if they are using it. They are however clever programmers to make it work for w/e build and purpose of that build that they are using it for.

It’s real simple, they use the generic bot program that exists in circulation right now and just program it to avoid a certain list of priority skills that they do not want to get hit with. That or they set a quick interrupt skill to always fire off when the currently targeted opponent tries to use #6 heal or w/e the hell else they want it to do.

This stuff is all over youtube guys, it’s nothing new and of course some players would try to use it to grind legend in spvp. That’s why report for “botting” exists.

The only reason I ever bring this stuff up in the forum is because not enough legit players realize this stuff is indeed being used. They have no idea how to spot/report some of the lesser obvious cheating and it’s a good idea to raise awareness of these issues.

PM me a video or name of hack ill send you 100g

Dude, kitten…

It’s just the first and most common bot program that you’ll find running a google search. The people using it in spvp don’t use it’s full functions, they simply set it to do auto spam instants like DH traps for rupts or some other function like dodging a particular CC that they struggle against. They still move and do everything else with their own hands. It’s a game-wide cheat used in all game modes. It’s no secret and IT IS all over the internet and there are plenty of youtube videos on it. Do the search yourself man. If you can’t find the obvious currently up to date versions of this program or the videos displaying what it does, you’re either a bit slow or just trolling. The program is as wide spread as speed hack.

pm name for 100g

After getting accused of using bots and cheating because I do flippy dodges instead of “just” dodging most of the time… Im not giving forum statements without solid evidence any kind of credence.

And you shouldnt either.

However… making a skill-macro is quite easy, and Im sure quite a lot of pvp’ers use(d) those, especially on d/d ele.
Thing is though… d/d ele aside… its not that smart to use those. And a good player doesnt have any trouble against people that use those macros to set up burst chain. After all, the macro “only” chains certain skills that a good player can push just as fast.

d/d ele was another matter, but anet solved that by nerfing d/d ele into the lower regions of barely playable…..

Yasi.9065:

After getting accused of using bots and cheating because I do flippy dodges instead of “just” dodging most of the time… Im not giving forum statements without solid evidence any kind of credence.

And you shouldnt either.

However… making a skill-macro is quite easy, and Im sure quite a lot of pvp’ers use(d) those, especially on d/d ele.
Thing is though… d/d ele aside… its not that smart to use those. And a good player doesnt have any trouble against people that use those macros to set up burst chain. After all, the macro “only” chains certain skills that a good player can push just as fast.

d/d ele was another matter, but anet solved that by nerfing d/d ele into the lower regions of barely playable…..

Look the stupid accusation come from game client and server desync. Here some picture from one videos i recorded.Where i used Executioner’s Scythe and white outlying on ground.While player was out of range and my skill not displayed as used.But clearly the skill was used and player was Desynchronising off place still took the beating.And that is MOST common lately in matches i try to fear a person or do any sort of CC,the enemy has no Resistance no Stability and he is not Feared or knocked back.Then i have games i have stability on and i get tossed around like ragged doll. That is current state of accusations and problem what i hoped not to see this season.

There is even issue that people get Double trap from guards cause these desyncs.Got only verbal confirmation from friends no video and personal 1 time situation happen to me.While they where playing and against guards. Pesonal out of all games i played only 1 time guard enemy had 2 traps and when he attacked me 5 traps under me in time period of 6 seconds..That i was wondering how is that possible.

Sismis.5390:

Pesonal out of all games i played only 1 time guard enemy had 2 traps and when he attacked me 5 traps under me in time period of 6 seconds..That i was wondering how is that possible.

I’m trying to understand your question. Is it, you knew he only used 2 traps while hitting you with 5 or is it, you are wondering how he laid 5 traps in 6 seconds?

Sry lang barrier,was alredy knowing he had 2 traps.During middle of the match game did desync and when he used symbol of blades then 2 traps i dodged the dragon maw and fragments.And then he sudden spammed again fragments of fait and dragonmaw again causing a 5 times animations where i dodged out 3 i got hit by 2 of them.

Sismis.5390:

Sry lang barrier,was alredy knowing he had 2 traps.During middle of the match game did desync and when he used symbol of blades then 2 traps i dodged the dragon maw and fragments.And then he sudden spammed again fragments of fait and dragonmaw again causing a 5 times animations where i dodged out 3 i got hit by 2 of them.

Oh I see. Only thing i’ve seen are preplaced traps but i’ve never seen what you’re describing. Hopefully it was just some weird desync glitch.

Umm.. folks, it should be obvious that this thread was nothing more than a straw man argument to induce hate for DH’s. Why even continue to discuss the topic when it’s been answered with links to Dev’s posts???

/thread

DeWolfe.2174:

Umm.. folks, it should be obvious that this thread was nothing more than a straw man argument to induce hate for DH’s. Why even continue to discuss the topic when it’s been answered with links to Dev’s posts???

/thread

Yea truth. There’s no way to use macros efficiently on DH and those who do were never good in the first place.

People using macros for instant skill use is pretty common. Check out this video of a DNT rev guide from months ago. When he swaps to Glint all facets instantly comeup.

https://youtu.be/On9jT7H1LqE?t=504