Guild Wars 2

I am not sure if this is the right place to post this, but it is not an issue but rather a question about my account. So yesterday I was banned for botting and after submitting a ticket, my account was unbanned after about 9-12hours or so, but reading that e-mail was the most heart-wracking experience I’ve had this past year (and I am just finished with my exams which will determine my future more or less XP). So I was just wondering what exactly can I do to prevent being flagged as a bot? Is IP changing software a huge risk, since it seems I was banned after installing Hotspot Shield (in order to change my IP to US so I can access certain downloads and localized information in English, rather than German and horrible horrible surveys which are ALL spam) and trying to log in twice or thrice without turning it off >_>. I removed it now and not going to use it ever again but just wondering, since I will be moving soon and don’t want my new IP address to lead to another ban. Thanks

I think the botters would also be very happy to know what counts as bot-behavior. So I don´t believe that A-net will answer this ….

I think this is a concern for a lot of legitimate farmers.

A lot of players (myself included) actually quite like farming. The requirements for the legendaries mean that many players who have set out to get a legendary will be farming for a lot of their in-game time.

The current 200% magic find buff in Southsun Cove seems like an attempt to encourage farming. People want to farm with this buff, so they will spend a lot of time in this zone. To then accuse players utilising this buff as ‘bots’ seems a little unfair.

I read in another post that there is always a human involved in the decision to ban bots, and that it is never left only to the anti-botting algorithm. The fact that so many people seem to be receiving bans, including the OP, makes me question whether improvements could be made in this process.

Indeed, after spending a few minutes farming in any zone, it is clear that the other farmers in the area are legitimate players. We say hello, we form groups, we link drops etc etc. Indeed, I don’t think I have ever seen a bot while farming.

I am in the same guild as the OP, and we farm together quite often. When I heard he had been banned for botting I was gobsmacked since I had spent time with him the night before farming in Southsun. I was really worried that I too would receive a ban.

Combined with the diminishing returns, I am not really sure what I am supposed to do with regards to farming for my legendary and I feel the developers are sending mixed signals with regard to legitmate farming. They know we have to farm (or indeed grind) to get the mats for the legendary, but seem to discourage players from actually doing so with DR and botting bans. A clear message from the devs would help with this, and maybe a review of the current diminishing returns system. At the very least, give us a visible debuff that lets us know when we have DR, rather than wasting time. It is often very hard to tell if DR has kicked in since the RNG is so random at times that your drops are indistinguishable from DR.

I understand the reasons why you cannot give information about how you detect botting. I am also somewhat reassured that you will listen to players and undo the bans where they are not justified. I do hope though that the devs realise that they added a huge (optional) farming requirement for certain items, and can find some way to acknowledge that farming is a legitimate playstyle in this game, while also providing an anti-botting solution that doesn’t ever impact players going about their legitimate business.

ariel.5038:

I think this is a concern for a lot of legitimate farmers.

A lot of players (myself included) actually quite like farming. The requirements for the legendaries mean that many players who have set out to get a legendary will be farming for a lot of their in-game time.

The current 200% magic find buff in Southsun Cove seems like an attempt to encourage farming. People want to farm with this buff, so they will spend a lot of time in this zone. To then accuse players utilising this buff as ‘bots’ seems a little unfair.

I read in another post that there is always a human involved in the decision to ban bots, and that it is never left only to the anti-botting algorithm. The fact that so many people seem to be receiving bans, including the OP, makes me question whether improvements could be made in this process.

Indeed, after spending a few minutes farming in any zone, it is clear that the other farmers in the area are legitimate players. We say hello, we form groups, we link drops etc etc. Indeed, I don’t think I have ever seen a bot while farming.

I am in the same guild as the OP, and we farm together quite often. When I heard he had been banned for botting I was gobsmacked since I had spent time with him the night before farming in Southsun. I was really worried that I too would receive a ban.

Combined with the diminishing returns, I am not really sure what I am supposed to do with regards to farming for my legendary and I feel the developers are sending mixed signals with regard to legitmate farming. They know we have to farm (or indeed grind) to get the mats for the legendary, but seem to discourage players from actually doing so with DR and botting bans. A clear message from the devs would help with this, and maybe a review of the current diminishing returns system. At the very least, give us a visible debuff that lets us know when we have DR, rather than wasting time. It is often very hard to tell if DR has kicked in since the RNG is so random at times that your drops are indistinguishable from DR.

I understand the reasons why you cannot give information about how you detect botting. I am also somewhat reassured that you will listen to players and undo the bans where they are not justified. I do hope though that the devs realise that they added a huge (optional) farming requirement for certain items, and can find some way to acknowledge that farming is a legitimate playstyle in this game, while also providing an anti-botting solution that doesn’t ever impact players going about their legitimate business.

In one of the threads Gaile Gray gave a hopefull reply yesterday. You might want to look into it cause I think it answers a lot:

’
Gaile Gray.6028:
I wanted to post to say that I am aware that yours is not the only post expressing concerns about false positives (generally for botting or for RMT activity). Some of the account terminations that people complain about here are 100% accurate. They may have a friend post, or use an alternative account to protest, but they truly are guilty of the actions for which their account was terminated. (Just as you’ve seen the “I didn’t do it” claims from people with the nastiest of names, or the rudest and most aggressive of behaviors!)
In the end, though, some suspensions and account terminations are indeed the result of a false positive. We regret each and every one of those.
I am starting an internal discussion about our several review processes, to make sure we’re doing our utmost to reduce false positives to a close to 0% as humanly possible. I can’t promise — no one can promise — that we’ll never make an error. But we take this concern seriously and will address it as well and in as many ways as we can!
’

The solution isn’t to tell farmers what to do to be not been seen as botters. The solution is to get the false positives out of the way so farmers and all players can play the game without the need to get worried.

Thanks for the link. I agree that this is what needs to happen.

Once the botters are gone, maybe we can look at getting rid of DR

ariel.5038:

Thanks for the link. I agree that this is what needs to happen.

Once the botters are gone, maybe we can look at getting rid of DR

Off course………….
though you say a good word ‘once’.
Cheaters and botters will always try and will always be around. No matter how many times they are banned.