Guild Wars 2

Still dunno where should i post topic – here or in “Bugs”…

Anyway. I’ve read Anet said all macros guys would be banned. It was about 1 month (or smth) ago, so what i see when play against premade with thief? Yeah, i got macrosd. What i get playing against any thief 20+ rank? Macrosd!
For sure i know how to evade, break stun etc but it helps in 1×1 not in 3×3.

Anet guys, you thinking about competitive and e-sport, spectator modes and other usefull things. But you really think if someone would be interested in those things if he dies in 1 sec?
I thinking on my build, testing it, discussing with my mates and die of noskill-1-button-5rank player. Why do i should compete with anyone with lower skill and got beaten? Seems kinda unfair to me.

So i have just 2 questions: 1. Will you ban players who use macros? (your words guys, just tell Y\N)
2. When?

It’s extremely hard to catch up people who macro.

Then, there is two cases of macro:
- Something you download for the purpose of macroing
- Something you get with your mouse etc, why would you use something you paid for ?

Thats why they can’t just find/ban everyone who ‘macros’

Syko.3726:

It’s extremely hard to catch up people who macro.

Then, there is two cases of macro:
- Something you download for the purpose of macroing
- Something you get with your mouse etc, why would you use something you paid for ?

Thats why they can’t just find/ban everyone who ‘macros’

It isn’t…as i said about one month before: on server side devs can clearly log the time between skills…if this time (In a matter of milliseconds) is always the same for a certain skill chain well….no dubt he’s using macros, and it’s not only a thief’s problem, pretty much everyone with a burst chain can set up a macro for it, from mesmers to eles..to wars…

Easy and effective. Now just start to ban those. From a program of from keyboards and mouses like G15 and stuff doesn’t matter…macros are bots sending keycommands on their own and noone should use them in this game…you bought it? Fine…use it with something else, people buy guns everyday…but it doesn’t mean they can go around shooting ppl just because they bought them.

1 press = 1 action

Period.

They havent banned anyone yet for macroing as far as i can see so theres ur anwser. They have however banned quite a few ppl for language (free speech and all that, supose to be a human right) and exploits in PvE which is another indicator of where their priorities lie…..

guza.6170:

They havent banned anyone yet for macroing as far as i can see so theres ur anwser. They have however banned quite a few ppl for language (free speech and all that, supose to be a human right) and exploits in PvE which is another indicator of where their priorities lie…..

We all know…money…..but i’ll keep asking for it…they can already detect bots and ban them looking at skill’s time log, but again..with pve bots they’re losing money, with pvp macros they’re not so not a single kitten was given..

how can you know they are macroing?

Kultas Sunstrider.9218:

how can you know they are macroing?

Read my first post of this topic

If we are talking how to catch macroing ppl – its easy. Every ingame action you can fing in server log so if Anet has intention to ban for macroing – all about server logs.

Hope someone from Anet would answer :>

also its incredibly easy to hit 7(signet), 5(CnD), f1(Steal), 1(Backstab) quickly,
so you might not actually be getting macro’d,
it’s just an incredibly easy and overpowered combo to pull off.
mini rant: and what’s getting nerfed? POWER NECROS.

I’ve never even considered using macro on thief; is there isn’t any combo complex enough for it to matter, especially considering you can rebind your skills to whatever you want to make it SUPER easy.

… People use macros? There’s not even enough buttons in the game for that to be considered :/

that’s why thief uses macro, fix bug, fix ridiculous combo, and there won’t be any advantage of using a macro over normal players.

dronos.1027:

Still dunno where should i post topic – here or in “Bugs”…

Anyway. I’ve read Anet said all macros guys would be banned. It was about 1 month (or smth) ago, so what i see when play against premade with thief? Yeah, i got macrosd. What i get playing against any thief 20+ rank? Macrosd!
For sure i know how to evade, break stun etc but it helps in 1×1 not in 3×3.

Anet guys, you thinking about competitive and e-sport, spectator modes and other usefull things. But you really think if someone would be interested in those things if he dies in 1 sec?
I thinking on my build, testing it, discussing with my mates and die of noskill-1-button-5rank player. Why do i should compete with anyone with lower skill and got beaten? Seems kinda unfair to me.

So i have just 2 questions: 1. Will you ban players who use macros? (your words guys, just tell Y\N)
2. When?

i think they need to develop a system that can counter macros

about thieves in general though one of the things that makes thief so potent with this back stab combo is a lack of global cool-down which is how Anet wants thieves to play

yet with so many people complaining about thief back stab I think it warrants change if the community is not happy with it, there are a lot of strong skills that seem cheap in this game but unlike the thief most of the time you have a fighting chance against these classes or at least a chance to fight back

getting jibbed in one second is not fun and poor counter-play by design Anet needs to stop balancing only for the top players or they will never get any new ones.

Macroing or scripting (semantic difference) will never be bannable, because there is nothing wrong with doing it. If any proficient scripter wanted they could just make a random number generator, and every sleep function could call to that generator and pick a number between x and y, which would make it virtually indistinguishable from human input.

Example i made in 10 seconds: (AutoIT)

hotkeyset(“{F1}”,“attack”)
func attack()
$pause1 = random(20,30,0) ;min 20|max30 (floating point)
$pause2 = random(245,255,0) ;min 245|max 255
send(“a”)
sleep($pause1) ;wait x milliseconds
send(“b”)
sleep($pause2)
send(“c”)
EndFunc

It could obviously be easily expanded.

Edit: What they need are internal/global cooldowns that prevent hitting certain skills together within a fraction of a second. Maybe add diminishing returns, or something like the re-stealth cooldown.

Sand Beagle.9867:

Macroing or scripting (semantic difference) will never be bannable, because there is nothing wrong with doing it. If any proficient scripter wanted they could just make a random number generator, and every sleep function could call to that generator and pick a number between x and y, which would make it virtually indistinguishable from human input.

Example i made in 10 seconds: (AutoIT)

hotkeyset(“{F1}”,“attack”)
func attack()
$pause1 = random(20,30,0) ;min 20|max30 (floating point)
$pause2 = random(245,255,0) ;min 245|max 255
send(“a”)
sleep($pause1) ;wait x milliseconds
send(“b”)
sleep($pause2)
send(“c”)
EndFunc

It could obviously be easily expanded.

Edit: What they need are internal/global cooldowns that prevent hitting certain skills together within a fraction of a second. Maybe add diminishing returns, or something like the re-stealth cooldown.

Macroing and scripting are actually both currently bannable in almost every online game in existence. Only a few MMOs allow scripting, and even then only in their built-in restricted environments. You’re absolutely wrong on all of your points.

As for GW2 specifically, using macros and scripts are both bannable, no matter what you use them for. This precedent was established way back in the days of MUDs and will not change anytime soon. People playing GW2 should be rewarded for their skill in playing GW2, not their skill in scripting or macroing.

Also, this game isn’t built for GCDs. That’s why most skills have cast times. If thieves are able to activate their abilities too quickly through the use of macros, ban the people using macros and increase the cast time on the abilities to make macroing no advantage over normal ability usage. (This has the problem that instant-cast abilities such as signets are instant-cast so that they can be reliably combo’d without breaking the cast of other abilities. It’d require discretion on ANet’s part to pick and choose how to deal with the situation, something that they’ve shown the capability of doing over the past decade.O

ban macros and 2/3 of the PVP population will be gone. good luck with ur queue times

I think they should permanently ban players who use this kind of stuff. It does not encourage a less skilled player to become better, it eliminates the fun factor from most fights and things like this should not be present into a game that aspires to become an e-sport. I would not go as far and say that 2/3 of the pvp population is using those kinds of things like Gwawer said, because I personally noticed it a bunch of times and only on thieves. I`m not sure why some do this, it`s an unfair advantage, very, very close to cheating.

thieves still use the macros in the backstab build =)

Eristina.5967:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbhdsF4oEI8

that’s why thief uses macro, fix bug, fix ridiculous combo, and there won’t be any advantage of using a macro over normal players.

in this video you can just see nothing wrong…who made the video wrote that the thief did 4 skill while invisible, well….steal + c&d makes you invisible, then backstab (That is the 1# skill while in stealth) and it becomes visible again…then he goes with hasted hs….

After backstab that thief immediately went visible…so what’s wrong with that? Stop posting bs…we’re talkin’ about thieves, mesmers, eles, wars and so on who use macros to land always perfect combos…not about stealth and stuff…..shatter mesmers using macros are way more op and deadly than bs thieves..in a macro shatter combo you can’t even see the clones because they shatter to fast to render at all…so?

As i said just ban macro’s users and everything is gonna be ok.

Macroing, i think is rather common, however, few if any of the top players will macro, because once you get to serious tournies, u can’t use em, so bad habit to pick up.

Alas, alot of ppl are floating the no macro rule, mesmers and thiefs in particular.

if you dont know.. thief burst combo is not hard to do without macro.. ..

just saying..

This macro in pertic is kinda stupid, I mean just press the buttons, its not that complex really. Macros are a poor players crutch, as anything that hinders one part of the macro makes it break, silly players who use them.

But I am enjoying the thief players continued plight to convince the rest of the players that they are really actually super weak and in need of a massive buff really. Keep on fighting for dem buffs gais…….

Atlanis.6597:

Sand Beagle.9867:

Macroing or scripting (semantic difference) will never be bannable, because there is nothing wrong with doing it. If any proficient scripter wanted they could just make a random number generator, and every sleep function could call to that generator and pick a number between x and y, which would make it virtually indistinguishable from human input.

Example i made in 10 seconds: (AutoIT)

hotkeyset(“{F1}”,“attack”)
func attack()
$pause1 = random(20,30,0) ;min 20|max30 (floating point)
$pause2 = random(245,255,0) ;min 245|max 255
send(“a”)
sleep($pause1) ;wait x milliseconds
send(“b”)
sleep($pause2)
send(“c”)
EndFunc

It could obviously be easily expanded.

Edit: What they need are internal/global cooldowns that prevent hitting certain skills together within a fraction of a second. Maybe add diminishing returns, or something like the re-stealth cooldown.

Macroing and scripting are actually both currently bannable in almost every online game in existence. Only a few MMOs allow scripting, and even then only in their built-in restricted environments. You’re absolutely wrong on all of your points.

As for GW2 specifically, using macros and scripts are both bannable, no matter what you use them for. This precedent was established way back in the days of MUDs and will not change anytime soon. People playing GW2 should be rewarded for their skill in playing GW2, not their skill in scripting or macroing.

Also, this game isn’t built for GCDs. That’s why most skills have cast times. If thieves are able to activate their abilities too quickly through the use of macros, ban the people using macros and increase the cast time on the abilities to make macroing no advantage over normal ability usage. (This has the problem that instant-cast abilities such as signets are instant-cast so that they can be reliably combo’d without breaking the cast of other abilities. It’d require discretion on ANet’s part to pick and choose how to deal with the situation, something that they’ve shown the capability of doing over the past decade.O

GW2 has no clear stance on macroing. They dont properly define it, and they cant detect it. They dont differentiate macroing from scripting (as most try and fail to do), and they cant tell what macros are from your hardware’s software (keyboard/mouse), and by macroing software. If they allow one, they allow the other. If they allow neither but cant actually detect it, its as good as legal.

Your second paragraph is all over the place and is allofmywat. This precedent? What? Established back in the days of MUDs, and thats why it is bannable in GW2? What? Plenty of games allow macroing, if not only because they cant do anything about it.

Your solution to increase delays only hampers everyone, as anyone can quickly hit keys. The simple fact is there is no way to prevent macroing and there is no reason to, as long as the game is properly designed. You cant ban the people using macros because you cant tell who is using them. You seem to just be making random claims and random arguments to try to prove a random point.

They cant even have a punkbuster type anticheat that scans for macro programs because they would end up kicking/banning anyone with razer/logitech hardware. They cant even scan for artificial keystrokes because they mimic the same action as human keystrokes.

There really is nothing they can do about macroing besides making macros useless in their game through things like a queue system, global/internal cooldowns etc.

The problem is that they eventually plan to have Lan tournaments.
In a lan, you wont be able to use macros cause they can PHYSICALLY see you.

So, anyone planning to be a top player is better off not macroing anyway.

daydream.2938:

The problem is that they eventually plan to have Lan tournaments.
In a lan, you wont be able to use macros cause they can PHYSICALLY see you.

So, anyone planning to be a top player is better off not macroing anyway.

Macros in this game are only useful for 2-3 skill combinations, which are easily hittable on your own. Macros really shouldnt make a difference. If they do, its the games fault, not the macros.

Maybe if the class wasn’t designed so that you buttom smash 6 keys without consequence or consideration to beat other players, macros wouldn’t show up as much. Right now the decision process of a BS thief goes like this:

1. Find target and buttom smash BS combo.
2a. If you kill target you win, no further action needed.
2b. If you don’t kill target, stealth and run away and wait for CDs to recharge.
—> Go back to step 1.

This will get you top score on your team with 350-400 rank points in most of the matches you enter. No other class/build involves decision making that is this simple.

This is probably the best argument for both a global cooldown on thief abilities to prevent chaining, and a reduction in the effect of haste/frenzy

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Shattered-Strength-Shazam-You-are-dead/first#post1061359

JonathanSharp.7094:

@ Macros: Macros are against the user agreement. You can be banned for using them, so use them at your own risk. I would also advise against using them, because in live tournaments, you won’t be able to use macros. So it makes little sense to learn “bad habbits” you’ll just have to retrain later.

We adhere to the same “one keystroke = one action on one character/account”, which is used by a lot of MMO publishers when defining botting/macros.

Just wanted to clear that up – be careful w/ those macros, they can get you banned.

xiv.7136:

This is probably the best argument for both a global cooldown on thief abilities to prevent chaining, and a reduction in the effect of haste/frenzy

Thief abilities are meant to be chained. Ask a dev.

As for haste/frenzy. Take it away, take it out of the game. There’s no need for it.

Tripp.9862:

xiv.7136:

This is probably the best argument for both a global cooldown on thief abilities to prevent chaining, and a reduction in the effect of haste/frenzy

Thief abilities are meant to be chained. Ask a dev.

As for haste/frenzy. Take it away, take it out of the game. There’s no need for it.

bye time warp, macro if you want to suck horrible in lans btw

Who needs macros? Mabye a mesmer… A thief with haste is as fast as the macro.

The problem isn’t macros, the problem is viable character builds that are so simple that a macro works.

The thief akka assassin in gw1 was exatly the same… porting, press combo/chain.
But I get your point… Absolutely right. Still i don’t get why u even need a macro for it when it’s so simple.
Our core thief for example has 4 buttons on his mouse. So he is as fast as the macro, just saying.

Want to hear something cool ’bout GW2?

There is no serverside neither a client side detection. They don’t ban anyone except the obvious Bot Users & Flamers. (Who aren’t really effected by a ban.)

Urvanis.2985:

The problem isn’t macros, the problem is viable character builds that are so simple that a macro works.

Yeah, i have 2.136 Armor and 26.812 HP or 2.780 Armor and 20.372 HP.

Just played against thief and lost 20K+ hp in less than 1 sec.

Our mesmer got back to our point via teleport and got oneshoted.

So tell me about your problem. MOAR.

JonathanSharp.7094:

@ Macros: Macros are against the user agreement. You can be banned for using them, so use them at your own risk. I would also advise against using them, because in live tournaments, you won’t be able to use macros. So it makes little sense to learn “bad habbits” you’ll just have to retrain later.

’nough said.

Archaon.6245:

JonathanSharp.7094:

@ Macros: Macros are against the user agreement. You can be banned for using them, so use them at your own risk. I would also advise against using them, because in live tournaments, you won’t be able to use macros. So it makes little sense to learn “bad habbits” you’ll just have to retrain later.

’nough said.

Well there is no arguing the rules of macros being illegal. I dont exactly agree with that though as stopping one group of people (lets call them law abiding citizens) from using macros, but not being able to stop the other group of players (hardcore, professional, omgcheatinghax0rs, etc) just gives one group an advantage over the other.

And the thing about having to re-learn how to do it by hand… come on this is guild wars. At any given time you are hitting maybe 5 keys in succession and you have a total of like 15 hotkeys. This doesnt even come close to games like ultima online where a good player can have anywhere from 50 to 130+ hotkeys (called macros). There is nothing to learn here, it is merely a matter of convenience and not wanting carpol tunnel when playing some of the more… aggressive classes.

Anyways i dont use macros because its illegal and against the law, so everything i say is merely for the sake of discussion.

Sand Beagle.9867:

Atlanis.6597:

Sand Beagle.9867:

Macroing or scripting (semantic difference) will never be bannable, because there is nothing wrong with doing it. If any proficient scripter wanted they could just make a random number generator, and every sleep function could call to that generator and pick a number between x and y, which would make it virtually indistinguishable from human input.

Example i made in 10 seconds: (AutoIT)

hotkeyset(“{F1}”,“attack”)
func attack()
$pause1 = random(20,30,0) ;min 20|max30 (floating point)
$pause2 = random(245,255,0) ;min 245|max 255
send(“a”)
sleep($pause1) ;wait x milliseconds
send(“b”)
sleep($pause2)
send(“c”)
EndFunc

It could obviously be easily expanded.

Edit: What they need are internal/global cooldowns that prevent hitting certain skills together within a fraction of a second. Maybe add diminishing returns, or something like the re-stealth cooldown.

Macroing and scripting are actually both currently bannable in almost every online game in existence. Only a few MMOs allow scripting, and even then only in their built-in restricted environments. You’re absolutely wrong on all of your points.

As for GW2 specifically, using macros and scripts are both bannable, no matter what you use them for. This precedent was established way back in the days of MUDs and will not change anytime soon. People playing GW2 should be rewarded for their skill in playing GW2, not their skill in scripting or macroing.

Also, this game isn’t built for GCDs. That’s why most skills have cast times. If thieves are able to activate their abilities too quickly through the use of macros, ban the people using macros and increase the cast time on the abilities to make macroing no advantage over normal ability usage. (This has the problem that instant-cast abilities such as signets are instant-cast so that they can be reliably combo’d without breaking the cast of other abilities. It’d require discretion on ANet’s part to pick and choose how to deal with the situation, something that they’ve shown the capability of doing over the past decade.O

GW2 has no clear stance on macroing. They dont properly define it, and they cant detect it. They dont differentiate macroing from scripting (as most try and fail to do), and they cant tell what macros are from your hardware’s software (keyboard/mouse), and by macroing software. If they allow one, they allow the other. If they allow neither but cant actually detect it, its as good as legal.

Your second paragraph is all over the place and is allofmywat. This precedent? What? Established back in the days of MUDs, and thats why it is bannable in GW2? What? Plenty of games allow macroing, if not only because they cant do anything about it.

Your solution to increase delays only hampers everyone, as anyone can quickly hit keys. The simple fact is there is no way to prevent macroing and there is no reason to, as long as the game is properly designed. You cant ban the people using macros because you cant tell who is using them. You seem to just be making random claims and random arguments to try to prove a random point.

They cant even have a punkbuster type anticheat that scans for macro programs because they would end up kicking/banning anyone with razer/logitech hardware. They cant even scan for artificial keystrokes because they mimic the same action as human keystrokes.

There really is nothing they can do about macroing besides making macros useless in their game through things like a queue system, global/internal cooldowns etc.

No currently running games allow macroing. None. Zilch. Nada. There was one guy in WoW, for example, that were banned for leveling weapon skills on his priest using macros. Priests don’t even use their weapons! Where the macro originates doesn’t matter. Hardware v software macros are irrelevant. Macros are, by the way, scripts. They are synonymous.

As for GW2 specifically, here’s a gem straight from the Rules of Conduct:

You may not use any third-party program (such as a “bot”) in order to automate gameplay functions, including playing, chatting, interacting, or gathering gold or items within Guild Wars 2. You may not assist, relay, or store gold or items for other players who are using these processes.

All macro software, including software built into or packaged with hardware, qualifies as a ‘third party program’ that would ‘automate gameplay functions’ (ie the function of input). This says that I cannot, for example, use the macro software that came with my keyboard or mouse, nor the macroing capabilities built into my keyboard, nor use other software written specifically for macroing that is not packaged with hardware.

Hello,

If you have any concerns about the use of a third party software of any kind, please send an e-mail to exploits@arena.net or submit a ticket to our customer support team, as they are the only ones who can decide what is a bannable offence or not.

Thank you for your concerns.