Guild Wars 2

I had an issue recently that I really need some clarification on from Arena Net Staff if they could please. I just want to start by saying this isn’t a ‘rant’ thread and I am not looking to start an angry debate. The intent is to address a serious issue with user accounts and hopefully come to some type of consensus on a resolution.

The other day, I was farming for crafting components when I was suddenly banned for ‘botting.’ I was quite surprised when I saw this message because I had only been in the zone for about 25 minutes. This zone was populated with Bots earlier that day all of which were reported (by me) but for some reason I got caught in the net when they decided to get rid of all of them. After this happened, I opened a support ticket and my account was quickly restored by Arena Net for which I am very grateful. The ANet staff was very courteous in helping me and handled my issue very quickly. I was unbanned by 10am the following morning and I thank them for that.

The issue I now face is that I’m a little timid to play because I’m honestly not sure what I am and am not allowed to do. I would like to say that I very much appreciate the aggressive stance that ANet takes against botting and I realize this policy is necessary to protect the integrity and economy of the game world. As a player though, I’m concerned that the trigger might be getting pulled a little too quickly. Am I allowed to Grind? Not only is there no rule against it, but if you look up the process for attaining most ‘end game’ (Level 80) and Legendary items you’ll see that Grinding is actually a vital part of the game. My question is, how do I gather materials without being flagged as a ‘bot?’ Is there anyway I can gather materials without incuring another ban/suspension?

My fear is that it will happen to me again and then my record as a player will show a trend of problems that will lead to me not being able to play at all anymore. Again, I appreciate the effort ANet puts into protecting the game and I have no desire to infringe on that. What I’m asking is if there is a way we can find a middle ground that lets players actually play without risk. Maybe if someone would have sent me a message first and asked me a specific question that a scripted bot wouldn’t be able to auto answer? My goal in this discussion is to find a way to be able to play without being lumped in with rule breakers that have no business being in game.

Thanks again for resolving my issue so rapidly and professionally, and thanks for any input you can provide on this topic.

Best advice I can give is, don’t hang around an area, move on. Do not stay logged in when you go afk, go back to character selection screen. If you see bots, run for it as fast as you can. You don’t want to even risk hanging around bots. If you see hackers, also run for it as fast as you can, because you don’t wanna get banned along with them. Do not trade gold or expensive items, risk of getting randomly banned for RMT. Yes I understand that lots of people trade items and gold every day. Technically if you get banned in error, you should have nothing to worry about. But I honestly feel that when you get banned in error, there is also the risk that you might stay banned in error. Like how did it go wrong in the first place?

Loli Ruri.8307:

Best advice I can give is, don’t hang around an area, move on. Do not stay logged in when you go afk, go back to character selection screen. If you see bots, run for it as fast as you can. You don’t want to even risk hanging around bots. If you see hackers, also run for it as fast as you can, because you don’t wanna get banned along with them. Do not trade gold or expensive items, risk of getting randomly banned for RMT. Yes I understand that lots of people trade items and gold every day. Technically if you get banned in error, you should have nothing to worry about. But I honestly feel that when you get banned in error, there is also the risk that you might stay banned in error. Like how did it go wrong in the first place?

Good advice.. problem is that I did all of that and still got banned.

The Bots were there earlier in the day but at the time I was hit the Bots were gone. Now, I don’t know when they were banned, for all I know they were removed 5 seconds before I zoned in, I have no way to know that. I never spend more then 45 min in a specific area unless I’m trying to complete it or doing events. I was there for 20-25 min tops when I was banned.

This is all good advice, and I’ll try and follow it as closely as possible, I’m just worried because I honestly was making a concerted effort to be mindful of such things and was still banned. From now on if I see Bots, I’ll stay away for at least 24 hours.. that might help. The area I like to farm isn’t an area that’s commonly farmed so I might be able to make that work. I appreciate the suggestion.

You cannot prepare for human errors. I don’t. I just play like I want. I think about problems, when they arise (if they ever arise).
In your case it is on the record now, that there has been a mistake. That should be helpful for the next incident. But I believe that it is preventing another incident, because they will not want to repeat a mistake they have done already.
So good luck!