I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

Seriously, I need help. Apparently, I have been perm banned for using bot/third party program. I have never used such programs in my years of playing Guild Wars 1 & 2, and now i am being accused of using such program(s). I have already sent in one ticket and got what seem to be automated “copy&paste” response from support, saying pretty much the same thing that i have been using bot/third party program and they take great care in banning those using such programs..etc.

So, i decided send in another ticket to have them to look at it again because i never used such program and now i am being punish for it. I still remember the last thing i did in the game, which was doing the dynamic event, the one with the dragon that arrive by the sea (forgot the name of the dragon; think it was a level 65 dragon and it comes about ever 3 hour-ish). Anyway, after it was killed i open the chest and check if there anything that is either worth using or selling in the auction, and merch the rest and log-off. After another three hours, i tried to log-on again to the dragon event again and got the message that my account was permanently banned for using bot/third party program. That was pretty much the last thing i did prior to the ban.

I do not know why they think i was using a bot/third-party program. I don’t even have a single macro on my computer, which from what been reading on these forums is a ban-able offense. All the things i have done in game is by me manually moving my mouse and typing on the keyboard and all my buttons only does one command.

The only thing i can think up for why i am being accused of using a bot/third party program is that someone actually reported me for botting in game because i believe that area, where the dragon appear is a bot hotspot. I do not know why anyone would report me, if that the case, i mean i do not fire into open space, nor do i use any auto attack and go afk like the engineers and their turrets because i run a Warrior character.

And to be honest i feel i was blindly robbed for my money (i still haven’t even finish the story part of the game) and time (i have been with Guild Wars since 2005; merged my two accounts) by Anet. What’s more upsetting is being blamed/accused for something i did not do.

Please GaileGray or anyone from anet please look into this.
My two tickets numbers are:
120928-000857
120930-004036

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

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Posted by: Kenrid.7859

Kenrid.7859

I am in the exact same boat. At first it was saying for botting, then next message said Third-party program, but seemed an automated response. I have played GW1 since the begining, racked up 50 on the HoM and got GWAMM for GW2. I contribute at the GW2 wiki, I am the guild lead for guildwarsinsider.com guild, I purchased the collector’s edition and bought $100 the first month on gems. I would never risk this account on something like botting, even if I did know how to do it.

Third party programs? I use Vent on occasion.

I did read this from agreement they pointed to:
(i) software that reads areas of computer memory or storage devices related to the Game;
(ii) software that intercepts or otherwise collects data from or through the Game;

And I looked at my Logitech G510 keyboard, it has the small display sceen on it. It displays GW2 stats, my World completion, an areas completion, and the characters attributes. Power, health, etc.

But I did not program this, it must be apart of the game, it even displays GW2 logo when it starts. It did this during the betas and has to be built into the game. But I wonder if this could be a cause?

Looking at my inventory and my characters, you can see it is not a bot farming account. I haven’t been doing selling or buying on the market. And if I am using a 3rd party program to help me play, well it is not working, I die all the time and kinda suck in WvW. (Don’t tell my guild the last part).

Ticket: 120929-000676

I can’t tell on ticket if they are still looking into it or if they giving me a final answer.

(edited by Kenrid.7859)

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

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Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

I am kinda glad to here i am not the only one in this situation (not saying is a good thing because i really don’t want this happening to other people too). And i see how you, kenrid.7859, mention your keyboard might be the cause for the third party program. I doubt that my keyboard could the cause of my problem because i play guild wars 2 on a laptop and i use my laptop keyboard. And as for my mouse, is the exact same mouse that been using to play Guild Wars 1 since 2005 so that should not cause any problems because it never did.

As for third party programs, i don’t use any…not even things like team speak or vent. The only other programs that i sometimes have on while playing Guild Wars 2 are either winamp or windows media player. I prefer to listen to my own music when i play and just mute the game; or sometime i like to watch a movie while i play the game in window mode instead of full screen. And sometimes i visit wiki guildwars2 website to look at some info like what kind of materials are need to craft some stuff. And I do not see how those things can be called third-party program.

So, like i mention before, the only reason i can come up with what could cause anet to say i was using bot/third party program is if i was actually reported by someone in game. Because the last few time i played GW 2 before i was ban i was farming the area where the dragon dynamic event spawn (the lvl 65 dragon the one where the npc say “there something in the water”), and i actually seen a good amount of bots there so i might have been mistaken for one of those bots there. And I am fairly sure those i saw were bots because some where actually running in sync around one area where a event spawn (the one near the small hill). There were also a lot of turrets running at the area too but i am not sure how many are actual player that are actually there spawning those turret, not someone who is afk with turret on. So, ever time i log on to do the dragon event, which comes by about every 3 hour give or a take a few mins, I would do the other three events that comes up that area while i wait. And i do like you, Kendrid.7859 die ever-so often too, especially during the dragon event when it releases poison. And when people revive i always try to type “ty” or “thanks” as a good gesture. I also revive others too and sell stuff to vendor, savage items, deposit collectibles and check the trading post to see if i can sell my item there for more than what the vendor can give me before i vendor any item that green or higher quality by actually typing out the name of the item in search box of trading post. I even id’ed dyes and tried them out on my Warrior during those dragon farming runs while i wait for it appearance. I really can not see how is that bot behavior. If there anyway to check what i have been doing all these time when i am gw 2 please do Anet and you will see it can not be stuff done by bot. On top of that, when the dragon event is over and i have checked what the chest gave me and either vendor and/or post them on the trading post, I would usually log on to my ranger to do its story related quest and map completions stuff. That is what i have been doing these past few days before i was banned.

Can farming an area to many times lead anet to think i was boting or something? I mean if anet have a way to check my keystrokes or something like that , it would show that i am not using a bot. From the things i see bots do, they always do the exact same thing, run in the exact area, and probably have the exact attack pattern and they would do this over and over again exactly the same way every time. And if there a history of the keys i press there shouldn’t be such patterns.

i hope this situation can be resolved soon; same to you kenrid.7859…good luck i hope yours situation gets resolved soon too.

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Posted by: Airala.8629

Airala.8629

Don’t file multiple tickets – worst thing you can do, it only delays a response. If you need to offer more information, just update your existing ticket.

One thing you’ll want to check is to make sure your account was not compromised. People assume that the scum that take over compromised accounts & use them for gold selling/botting will always change the email address and/or password on an account.

Many don’t bother – especially if they just want to use the account for spamming their RMT services. They know they’ll likely get at least a few hours use out of the account before it’s banned, so they skip the extra step of altering the login info – a step that has a high chance of getting them caught before they can make any use of the hijacked account.

So just because you can still log into your account does NOT mean it hasn’t been accessed by some scum-sucking-low-life. At the top of this page, click on “My Account” and then on “Security.” Look to see if there are any unfamiliar IP addresses/locations in your history. And if for some reason you have not verified your email address, you’ll want to do that so that if anyone does attempt to log into your account in the future from a different location, you’ll be notified.

If your account was compromised and used to bot/spam, they’ll reverse the ban after you contact them.

Good luck to all of you.

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Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

Ok, seriously, i am beyond confuse right now. I just got this email from support and this is what it says:
———
Hello,

Upon an additional review of this matter, we have come to the same conclusion. As we have now reviewed this on multiple occasions, we will no longer be discussing this particular incident. Please ensure that additional penalties are not necessary by reviewing and abiding by the User Agreement and Rules of Conduct.

When your suspension has passed, your account will automatically be accessible again. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns regarding this process.
———
It states “When your suspension has passed, you account will automatically be accessible again” , i do not know how that is possible as the message i get when i try to login it says “my account has been terminated for the use of bot/third party program”, which i never used ever in my years with guild wars 1 and 2. Which led me to the conclusion that all these response just seem to be a “copy&paste” template response. This is seriously confusing.

So, again I will like to as GaileGray or anyone from support to look into this again. And also with the inconsistent info base on the newest email i got it make me feel like they didnt really look into this situation much. And i am beginning to think this is a lost cause. Or, at least tell me what did this bot/third-party program, that i am being accused for using, did. As i dont see what behavior i did in game can actually imitate a bot beside of not talking too much because i have been pretty much solo’ing this game.

Honsetly, speaking, after so many years with A-net, i am beginning to lose faith in it. Not only am i being accused for using bot/third-party program, i’m also seem to be getting “cut&paste” template response with not much detail on what i am being accused of.

I am actually beginning to think that farming too much can actually make anet think i am bot/third-party program or even standing next to some character that acuatlly a bot can make anet think you a bot too.

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Posted by: ikaze.7039

ikaze.7039

Wow I am reading this and hoping this is not in my future. My video card went bad and I had to send it in for RMA. So I have not been able to get in game for 2-3 weeks. Over that time I received an email from Arena net saying someone from a Tokyo IP was attempting to login. I didnt have access to my comp so i used my iphone to go onto the account page and change my password. I received a email asking if i had been the one to make the reques which i was. Today I got my video card back and installed figuring woohoo time to play some guild wars 2!! Nope now when I try to launch the launcher it says connection error(s) retrying….its beed doing that for some time now. What gives. I paid money to play this game as did we all and I love the game but it would sure be nice to play it?:(

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Posted by: Gaile Gray

Gaile Gray

ArenaNet Communications Manager

I am looking into the two issues here. It’s very unusual for someone to be banned for botting who was not botting. Having said that, though, the first thing that most RMT account thieves do with stolen account is — you got it — bot. And they may do that without changing your account credentials, so you may not be aware that your account was used to bot.

You’ve both submitted tickets and that’s good. The team will help you with this issue.

Gaile Gray
Communications Manager
Guild & Fansite Relations; In-Game Events
ArenaNet

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Posted by: BLUcorp.6970

BLUcorp.6970

ArenaNet wouldn’t just ban accounts because they were reported for botting. They have the ability to see what programs your computer is accessing while you are playing the game, and they investigate by using those methods. If you got banned for botting, it’s almost certainly because you were botting. Saying otherwise on the forum doesn’t mean anything if they have the actual proof you were doing it.

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Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

Yeah, a response from an actual person and is GaileGray.

As for the having the account stolen. Well, when i read the post mentioning that the account could have been hacked/compromise, i imminently checked “my account” for an any ip address other than my own, which there was none. I also checked if i received any email notification from guildwars2 about authenticating login attempt there were none and i have all the emails that i received this past months and i only installed gw 2 about two weeks, so everything they sent to me should still be there.

And having been on Guild Wars 2 a lot since i installed the game, i haven’t notice anything strange about my account. I was able to log in every time without any incident like can not log into account because is logged in from somewhere else.

And if it helps with this investigation i still remember almost everything i did last time i was in the game, right before i received the ban. Which is on 9/27/12 i logged onto my warrior around 9:00pm est (give or take a few minutes) to participate in the dynamic dragon event (the one that is near the sea, and i think its lvl is 65). And was pretty sure it would spawn around that time since i did the one that spawn around 6:00pm). Anyway, since i was early, i went and did one of the other event that spawn around that area. The event that i was doing was the one near small hill and enemies just spawn in the same area. And, at the time i was wielding a rifle so i decided to fight on top of the hill figuring i wont get hurt since there were a good amount of people there. So, when the event started i press tab to target an enemies than press the numbers keys to use my attack skill and when one died i press tab again to target another one. I think i only killed like 3 or 4 guys because the dragon spawned about half way thru the event and i think i got a bronze metal for it. Anyway, when the dragon spawned i ran towards him and the entire fight i think i only used the rifle because i was tire of dieing by the poison which cost me about 1.5 silver for each death to repair. After the dragon died i open the chest and want to the vendor which i think i vendored everything expect the upgrades things (nothing were worth selling on trading post). Than i exist the game, i was probably online for about 15 minutes tops. Than around 12:00 am on that night, i tried to log in again to do the dragon event again, i got the message i am banned. That is pretty much everything i did before getting the ban.

Also, if one think about it, i have never violated any rules not even smaller things like name calling, insulting, etc. If anet have all my gw1 records, it should show that i have been playing by the rules since 2005, why would one risk the chance of losing an account that have so much time invested in it by using a bot or a third party program now; which are offense that will get you ban in any online video game. I know it doesn’t prove anything, i am just stating my opinion.

Yes, i understand when anet say one has violated a rule like using a bot/third party program and ban them because they know one did it. Thats why i am asking/requesting exactly what did this said bot/third party program did because i am beyond baffle or at least something not as generic as “you have been using a bot/thrid-party program”. As i honestly never used said such programs and do not know how i can be accused for using such programs. There have to be some kind of record of what buttons i press or things i did in this game. And if there are such a record if one look at it, it should shows things that only an actually human being can do. Because, dosen’t bot do things in exact patterns like go from point a to b than back to a taking the same route and attack things in its path with similar attack pattern ….and repeat the same process over and over and over again.

And since i have been banned i have been searching thru these forums and found out there were others in similar situation of being accused of using bot/third party program and got banned. But some turned out to be engineer leaving there turret around and going afk for a few (again not sure how true/accurate is that because is just people posting on the forums like me…it could be the truth or the person just lying). But in my case i farm with a warrior and warrior dont have any auto attack skills, and the other char i have and used more than 2 hours is my ranger which i been using to do map completions quest and story related quest with it.

Also the entire time i spent playing with gw 2 , the only other programs that were running are winamp, windows media player, firefox, and an anti-virus program. I dont think any of those could have cause anet to think i was running a bot/third party program. Oh, and i usually play in window mode instead of full screen.

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Posted by: Kenrid.7859

Kenrid.7859

I am looking into the two issues here. It’s very unusual for someone to be banned for botting who was not botting. Having said that, though, the first thing that most RMT account thieves do with stolen account is — you got it — bot. And they may do that without changing your account credentials, so you may not be aware that your account was used to bot.

You’ve both submitted tickets and that’s good. The team will help you with this issue.

Thank you, Gaile, for looking in to it.

I am not even sure if botting is the reason, I assumed and the ticket got that name, but the response talks just about 3rd party program, which is kinda broad. I asked on the ticket if they tell be exactly what it was. Is there a reason they can’t?

I see a lot of people here guessing at what they did. We don’t even know when the infraction took place. I was doing map completion in Eternal Battlegrounds, and then joined a group taking on the castle. Got killed and disconnected when trying to use waypoint. Was it something earlier that day or from 2 weeks ago? It would be so helpful to know and try to work it out from there. If the proof is there, then it can’t be that hard to include it on the ticket.

Like Bystander, I have a 7 year history with GW1 and never recieved an infraction.

Could my account have been hacked? Well, only notice I’ve gotten was from me trying to log in to forums from work. I’ve never noticed anything missing, only have about 10 gold amongst 5 characters. But most of my items are crafted and don’t have anything special. None of them seemed out of place when logging in to them. And if they were using my account as a gold seller crier, wouldn’t that be a different banned notice?

Any information appreciated, Gaile. And thanks again.

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Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

I agree with Kenrid, that it seem a lot of people are guessing on what they did wrong to get punished. (base on what i read on these forums, and yes i know some could be lying but some could also be telling the truth; there’s really no way one can tell which one is telling the truth so i usually take ever comments with a grain of salt).

Anyway, more information would be better instead of those cut and paste response. I am not even asking like 10 page report on what anet found/think you did wrong….but something along the line like: On (said date), you (account name) this (char) was found to be using a bot , doing (insert what ever the bot was doing) in (insert location of the bot)…..or something like that, not sure if it makes sense to anyone.

I mean in real life if one commits a crime like robbery, one’s police record will probably show something like : (insert name) robbed (insert name of person or store) on (insert date and or time robbery took place) in (location of the crime) using (insert method of robbery). Yes, i know is pretty dumb to compare something like this to robbery in real life, but is the only analog i can come up with now.

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Posted by: ounkeo.9138

ounkeo.9138

not making any judgements on Anet here, but some games in the past I’ve played have wrongfully banned me for botting, farming and gold selling (wow). I got banned from other games as well but in all cases have had my access restored after I wrote in and complained.

The problem is that some people do report you if they think you’re a bot. In all the cases I got banned, I’m 100% sure it was multiple complaints by various ppl who thought I was a gold farmer and a GM coming to observe without trying to interact with me to verify.

The problem is, I am a gold farmer. I farm gold for myself to use – Like I got banned for trying to farm gold for my mount in WoW. It’s just how some of us like to play.

Any system that is automated or a GM that doesn’t verify/authenticate you, will flag that kind of pattern as a gold farming bot (made worse by the fact I can be on for 20 hours at a time during holidays). Lord knows, the Chinese farmers keep trying to talk to me in nearly every game because they think I’m one of them.

I’m not! I make gold for my own use. I. do. not. sell. And you know how some people are addicted to slot machines? yeah I’m like that with loot drops.

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Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

i just want to say that i have to agree with ounkeo, that some people can actually be online for a long period of times and just do nothing but farming for themselves. As a matter of fact, there actually have been cases of people dieing from exhaustion from playing an online game non-stop for days.

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Posted by: Kenrid.7859

Kenrid.7859

i just want to say that i have to agree with ounkeo, that some people can actually be online for a long period of times and just do nothing but farming for themselves. As a matter of fact, there actually have been cases of people dieing from exhaustion from playing an online game non-stop for days.

Umm, I did a week vacation from work starting at headstart. Last I checked before all this was up to 360 hours before this happened. But I am still alive! Want to ban be for being a game addict or send me to Alt Anonymous support group, fine. lol

My name is Kenrid, I have not made an alt in 5 days.

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Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

glad, that your still alive kenrid .
but, what i am saying is true. There have been cases where people actually die from exhaustion from playing online game non-stop for days……you can google it. I even saw a show/documentary on it; think it was on the discovery channel or national geo or history channel (forgot which one but is from one of those) on game addicts. and these guys are not about your “average joe” game addicts; these people where hardcore like no sleep, no eat, no drink game addict. These people actually fight against the urge to sleep just to continue gaming.

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Posted by: Kenrid.7859

Kenrid.7859

Well, message on ticket today, “After reviewing the issue, it appears that your account was blocked in error. Your account is now released and you should be able to log in to Guild Wars 2. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Inconvenienced, stressed, made a grown man whimper. Ya, I probably should demand my subscription fee refunded for the month.

Good luck Bystander, I hope it works out.

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Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

Congratulation, Kenrid, that you got your problem fix.

I, on the other hand, no such luck.

My last reply 9which i got on monday) is still this:
———
Hello,

Upon an additional review of this matter, we have come to the same conclusion. As we have now reviewed this on multiple occasions, we will no longer be discussing this particular incident. Please ensure that additional penalties are not necessary by reviewing and abiding by the User Agreement and Rules of Conduct.

When your suspension has passed, your account will automatically be accessible again. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns regarding this process.
———
And i did reply to that respond on the ticket after reading it and its before GaileGray responded in this thread. Nope, still no respond from anyone. And to add to my confusion my problem is that my account is “TERMINATED” but as one can see in my last respond i got it say “SUSPENDED”. Makes sense to anyone??

And my message that i get when login into GW2 has been updated to “terminated due to botting, extended unattended play, using macros, or similar behavior.” Before it was just “botting/third party program”. And base on that, the only behavior that can be similar to any of those is probably playing the game for long period of time but there was never any extended unattended play and i was in front of the computer ever time manual moving my mouse and typing on keyboard. And dont have any macros install on my computer. And i dont know how is even possible for me to to do things like automate gameplay, like the populat engineer and their turrets, when i run a warrior and my other char is a ranger (and yes i know that one can idle a ranger and let there pet kill and level for them but since the creation of my ranger all the things i did with it are map completion and story quest, which none of those thing can be done if you just sit idle and let pet kill. the only time i let my pet do the killing is when i am dieing and trying to heal myself or hoping that my pet can kill an enemy before my life drains away so i can be revived).

i am going to try to appeal again. as there was another player, Linestro, who posted in the thread “I was banned” , said he/she appealed twice before his/her problem was rectified. And prior to receiving the message “After reviewing the issue, it appears that your account was blocked in error. Your account is now released and you should be able to log in to Guild Wars 2. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.” which is similar to what kenrid got, Linestro said that he/she that 2 days before getting that message he got the message saying “This mail is to notify you that your account was confirmed to be violating the User Agreement and/or Rules of Conduct by engaging in the use of an unauthorized third-party application in conjunction with the Guild Wars 2 service.”

I am really just hoping to at least get an explanation on what did this bot/third party program that i am being accused for using did if they think my account should be terminated. As i don’t see what i did in game that can cause them to think i am using such program aside for playing for long period of time and was never afk more than a few minutes tops during my entire time i was on guild wars 2, or doing the dragon event ever three hours (all which was done by me sitting in front of my computer typing/controlling my warrior with my mouse and keyboard). And those action can not be illegal to do as i was doing all the controlling and nothing was exploited. I dont even have any macros installed on my computer so i am pretty sure macros can not be the reason for my punishment.

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Posted by: mulch.2586

mulch.2586

The other thing that could be goin on is – we have all seen the dozens of players lined up at regularly repeating “dynamic” events, with a skill set to autofire (ctrl right-click). Flame turret, spike trap, whatever.

It doesn’t take a 3rd party program to do it. But if you do it and leave your character while you’re afk, you are in violation of the user agreement vis a vis automated play.

Just cuz you got the ban while in Sparkly Fen doesn’t mean that’s where they think the violation happened. It could be you were reported back on the bridge in Harathi Highlands.

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Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

yea, i understand what you saying mulch.

But, i am pretty sure that can not be the case for me. Because before my warrior discover/found the waypoint for that dragon dynamic event (the one by the sea and i think the dragon is level 65), the only type of farming i have ever done in any of my character in GW 2 is waypoint, hearts, and points of intreset farming (things required for area map completion) and of cousre i try do most of the random world events that appeared as i was run around the map. I know in terms of coins gained is not really effective it but is decent enough. But the experience points, gain from the rewards was pretty good for leveling. And only after finding that dragon dynamic event area, that i acutally started farming, farming . So, it can not be for farming other popluar area with repeating dynamic events because the only area that i acutal farmed was that dragon area. And that why i have only mention that dragon area in my previous post.

And as for “afk” farming violation, i dont think Warrior (main character and only character that i used to farm) has any skills that can do that. You know, like how the Engineer can just set up a turret with the self heal thing, where the Engineer just throw up the turret, walk to safe location and just go afk and let your turret do all the work. The warrior as for as i know does not have any skill capable of that. And if you do the auto-attack skill once the enemy die the Warrior stops its attack complete and can only attack again if you manaual click/tab the next enemy and walk/run to it, if its far away, than you have to press the key for the attack you want to use to begin the attack. Unlike the turret because (base on what i seen in game just auto target next enemey once the one it was attacking dies).

So, again i am really baffle on what i can have done to cause this punishment as i have never used any bot/third party program, macro, or any sort of “afk” farming. And that why i requested an explanation or more details on what “said” bot/third party program did or do that anet is accusing me for using; instead of just saying you were banned for using bot/third party program/unattended game play, or macro.

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Posted by: Justine.6351

Justine.6351

at how sensitive you kids make the being banned for botting problem sound i should have been banned like 10x over.

Ive fallen asleep many times and gotten bumped for afking too long
Ive run around nooby areas on my guardian spamming the staffs auto attack and waving everything infront of me down for laughs.

well ok thats two things.
I have spotted bots for the first time the other day camping a bridge event with centaurs attacking it. were 4 there. 2 in the water attacking same spot waiting for trash mobs to respawn and 2 auto attacking the area in front of the broken bridge. Gave them like 1 min each after the event and then just reported for botting. The game is not that hard to play…

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Posted by: ThunderStorm.3140

ThunderStorm.3140

I am sorry, but over 99% of the guys reported for botting are actually really BOTS. And the first thing they do when they are banned is to say “I am not a bot, please don’t ban my account”.
How to detect a bot: They always stay in the same starting positions, only moving to engage mobs that come within a certain range.
They do not attack mobs that are further than this range yet any player can visually see them and attack them.
Some of them magically teleport back to their starting positions which is not a game mechanic.
They NEVER reply to whispers or chat messages.
They used to be guildless but today I have found a few that belong to a guild called “lkp” on Seafarer’s Rest who are all bots.
They tend to stay in the same area for the events there day and night all the time, never logging out ( obviously to maximise returns) and one more thing that could indicate a bot inmy opinion, is that when picking up loot if there are npc’s around, they seem to get activated a lot, so you keep hearing the npc generic responses all the time when there are mobs being killed nearby by bots. I have only ever once hit a npc with F key while picking up loot so I think these bot programs just auto hit F all the time as soon as any loot appears and the npcs nearby get activated.
Anyway, I have reported dozens upon dozens of bots and most are still there.
What ANet need to do is to STOP diminishing returns which PUNISHES HONEST PLAYERS and only encourages the rest of the players to try botting as well as you can’t beat them by playing honestly. The solution short term is to have GMs patrol known botting areas and INSTA-BAN them on the spot, after observing their botting behaviour. If the bot issue is not stopped in its tracks, it bodes ill for this amazing game. Because most of these bots are actually quite powerful and attack faster than a human can react to mobs, killing them completely before you ever get a chance to land a hit, therefore, no loot for human players. When I see more than 3 or 4 bots in a place, I give up and leave, as I can’t compete with those bots. This is making my game play miserable as I can’t farm the nice spots for gold and items.
My suggestion for you guys? Get a fresh new account from ANet and start from scratch and make sure you don’t get your accounts hacked.

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: aekt.9438

aekt.9438

i do not know whether you are the infamous bystander that botted on the bridge, dragon events or jeloka. But serveral people on our server have reported many times that “account id bystander” botted whenever i’ve walked through those famous botting area just to get to next map.

but if you are, cut out the lie and suck it up like a man, you botted and you should accept the consequences.

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Olcsonn.9327

Olcsonn.9327

I have been reading things about botters also routing through other people’s IP addresses which could possibly give a false reading of botting. With that being said, I am not an expert on this situation and I feel for you. Being falsely accused of botting is horrible, I am sure that they will work with you better.

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

Late update on my situation.

On 10/08/12 i got an email from support, saying they released my account after taking another look and based on many factors. That would be about two weeks since i got banned.

At this point, I’m glad i finally got my account back, as i have never violated a single rule in Guild Wars 1 and 2 (over 7 years with this game), let alone use any bot/third party program (it takes the fun out of the game; i mean come on things like obsedian armor would be meaningless if you got it by cheatting; thou i never got obsedian armor-couldn’t afford it).

But, it stills leave me with the big question, as on why was i accused for using a bot/third party program in the first place
-Was my account hacked??
-An error by A-Net??
-Farming the same location too much that made (whatever algorithm Anet was using to detect bot) Anet to think i was a botting??
-A case of mistaken identity (bystander is anything but a unique name and Anet might have gotten the wrong bystander.xxxx). As aekt stated “the ingamous bystander”, because the event i only farmed was the lvl 65 dragon (near the sea) and the others three events that appears in that same area. And i think i only done the centaur bridge event ( i am assume that the bridge event you are talking about) about a total of 3-4 times in my 100+hours in this game.; and all those time it was only because it happen to be in path of some sort of point interest/vista/heart/or story quest. and i dont think i done anything near jeloka as the name is not fimilar to me. Also the fact is bystander is not a real unique name; if i knew that i was going to be my id i would used something else intead in the first place. I thought it’ll be like GW 1 were your first character you name is your name for the account.
***by the way aket do you remember what the Warrior was wearing or name of the Warrior or better yet what server was it on; my Warrior weapon skin combo is pretty unique( because i have yet to see one single person using it) and it stands out.
-A virus on my computer that made Anet think i was a bot/third party program???
-Or a legitimate program (like winrar, media player, web browser..etc…) that has nothing to do with GW 2, but somehow shows signs/activtity that is similar to what a bot/third party program does.

Anyway, this whole experience has been nothing but a headache.

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

by the way does anyone know if display driver crashing, but it fix itself afterward during game play make anet think i am using a third party program….because my amd driver did crash a bunch of times only to fix itself during some of my game play.

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Renegadeimp.8439

Renegadeimp.8439

Don’t take it the wrong way, but if youve dealt with hundreds of people that have had security issues, and heard some of the things they come up with, your explanation/reasoning/post can be made out, very easily that you know how the compromise happened, you just don’t want to admit guilt.

Again, don’t take it the wrong way, and i’m sure you are innocent, but it’s how that post comes off to someone that deals with things like this on a daily, if not hourly basis.

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Bystander.8471

Bystander.8471

@Renegadeimp
Yea, i kinda know what you mean. But, I dont know any other way to word my post.
And since, i probably will never know the exact answer. I am just trying to come up with a logical list to what might have happen (to prevent it from ever happening again). Because if it was something serious like hacked, i would have to change my password and stuff.

I have been banned -accused of using a bot/third-party program

in Account & Technical Support

Posted by: Ashlar.2519

Ashlar.2519

Bystander, when you go to the “My Account” link under your login name at the top of the page, does it show any login attempts from countries other than your own? If it does, there is a good chance that your account has been hacked and the hackers actions are what earned you the ban.

You can change your password at any time, so if that makes you feel better, go right ahead and do so. I would make sure, though, that you do that from a machine you know is free of any nasties. If you think you may have a keylogger on your machine and are unsure of how to get rid of it, take the machine in to a reputable repair service and ask them to check for and clean any nasty stuff off of it. After getting the machine back, change your account password and that should help. ArenaNet now also have a beta mobile authenticator app for smartphones that you can start using now to further protect your account.