Guild Wars 2

Charr Guardian.1497:

Charr Guardian.1497:

There’s 2 active mail spambots RIGHT NOW. Please, shoot them with an asura megalaser or something.

1.MAP AND LOCATION: Divinity’s Reach, at the royal palace entrance, next to Seraph Tinkerer [Repairs].
2.WORLD: Borlis Pass
3.DATE, TIME AND TIMEZONE: Right now. 12:00 a.m. GMT -6, February 25

The two accounts responsible for botting are still active within the city. I can provide character names, but I know that’s not the purpose of this thread.

You literally can see a mail pigeon flying by every 2 seconds, and they both exhibit these bot lag/warping issues. They don’t reply even if they seem active, and the mails they send/receive do not stop.

These two guys have been dealt with, but another 2 took their place. Also, they’re in the same guild as the ones that have been erradicated. Is there a specific way to report this kind of botting issue? I have the feeling that investigating their guild would turn up a lot more bots, possibly an entire network.

1. Map and Location : Harathi Hinterlands – Ourobore Caves
2. World : Seafarer’s Rest
3. Date, Time : 03/03/2013 , 12 a.m. CET.
4. Quantity: 4

These bots were quite original as they had proper names, were from different guilds ( maybe stolen accounts? ) and used unusual skills (such as Elementalist’s Conjure Flame) but they kept warping/lagging around and cycled through the cave in the same pattern. They didn’t answer any of my whispers. All of them have been reported through the reporting system.

1: Straits of Devastation, Teleporting infront of the Mount Maelstrom portal
2: Henge of Denravi
3: 3/3/2013, 4:44pm
Theres only two different characters at the moment,but very recently ive seen 4 or 5 different characters,at once, teleport in front of this portal and vanish repeatedly.
I got the guardian reported in-game,but the ranger was just too fast!
~Edit: Why is this not a sticky?!

Server: DarkHaven

Location: Just about every Portal Gate between world zones, you will see the same players pop in and out over and over, just stand at one and watch, i report them if i can happens so fast.

Jade Quarry, Cursed Shore, in the water between Mausallus Sea and The Shipyard…..teleporting and killing. 4:24 am PST march 5th……second report about these, last report feb 25th(really, does anet even care?)

I just wanted to ask if there was anything being done about teleporting node farming bots? They are kitten near impossible to report and it’s obvious what they are doing. Some are clothed, most I see are naked. I’d assume it would be obvious to weed out players teleporting all over the place and ban them. I’m just curious are you working on a method to weed out and ban these bots or what’s up?

1) Wayfarer Foothills – Farming carrot nodes, the “bot” popped up next to the new flame and frost camp and gathered some carrot then logged off again without making any other movements.
2) Gunnar’s Hold
3) 03/03/13 sometime around 9 pm GMT.

1. Sea of Sorrows – Lion Point Waypoint
2. Piken Square Server
3. Ranger with pet, autoattck + healing skill + reuse for nourishment.
Killing underwater mobs.
Submitted report in game too. (13.25 GMT +1)
Have screens too.

Pls kick this bad players from our game.

Charlie

1. Sea of Sorrows – Lion Point Waypoint
2. Piken Square Server
3. Ranger with pet, autoattck + healing skill + reuse for nourishment.
+ Another Ranger with same bot.
Killing underwater mobs.
Already reported yesterday too. They are farming 24/24h.
I’ll stop to report, no one care about them.

1. World vs World , south of temple of storms, taking quaggan camp facing hills sometimes
2. Ring of Fire (enemy botters), so in this case WhitesideRidge, botting in Ring of Fire border
3. I spotted them today, but another player reported to me, since 03/07/13
+ reported some of them ingame

World: Fissure of Woe
Map: Wayfarer Foothills
Spot: Nort of “Solitude Waypoint”, near the portal to Frostgorge Sound

They appear there and then start to teleport around. Some of them are injured when appearing, meaning that they’re not simply logging out and in.

Edit: I did not specify a time because you can find them all the day long. I seggest to implement a /report console command to be able to report them without right clicking anything. Thanks guys

1. Frostgorge Sound, Despond Precipice, dredge spots
2. Far Shiverpeaks
3. 4:00, 10-03-2013, CET +1

They were using always the same skill combinations, walking side by side, always next to eachother even jumping at the same time. We wrote to them ( with my friend) but they ignored us
+ reported 2 of them
++ have screens of their names and acc names too

Inviting the player in a party and then using the portrait to report him/her works like a charm. Bots appear near portals between zones too, not only on nodes. I think they use some hack that sends them back and forth those portals.

Gaile Gray.6028:

Please continue to report individual suspected bots via the in-game system.

How do you report in game? i cant find any option specifically for reporting players.

To Gaile/ANet –
1. The only way I seem to be able to send a screenshot currently is through the “Report Bug” window. Given the nature of blinkbots, the only way I can send a screenshot is if I literally waited at a certain spot for one to appear; not very feasible. If a screenshot is important as evidence (I guess to show we got the correct names), then I hope that the Report Bug window could allow us to attach a screenshot that we’ve already taken. Or perhaps some clarification on where and how to send screenshots would help a lot.

2. I would like timestamp and location data to automatically be included in the screenshots. I’m sure this would make any submitted screens more meaningful.

3. I would have thought that if I provided you with the name of the offending player, that you would be able to track his movements and investigate for yourself.

To players who want to help catching blinkbots, here are some ideas you may find helpful –
1. Assigning a key on a gaming mouse to ‘Print Screen’ helps immensely (for me, thumb button 10 on the Razer Naga). That second that you spend reaching for the normal print screen button is what will allow the bot to escape.

2. Unfortunately, most of us only realize what we saw was a blinkbot when the blinkbot disappears. Therefore these days, I tend to take a “Take screenshot first, ask questions later” attitude. If it turns out to be nothing, I can delete the screenshot.

3. Don’t put up screenshots and name names on the forums. ‘Name and shame’ aside, it will warn the botters and give them time to transfer their ill gotten gains elsewhere.

Hi Gaile and other forum mods.

First, would you please make this thread sticky.

Second, botters tend to blink in at waypoints frequently, so it’s easy to catch their names when they show up there for the split second and manually type their name into your contacts list. I have several dozen that I’ve caught that way and reported them. It’s nice seeing half of my contacts list (which I only use for marking botters) as never being online anymore. Great job
Though bots have now started to spawn dead at waypoints, like they drop into the waypoint, die, then teleport somewhere else.

Also, I have several dozen botters on my list that fall into the TP botting category, but they teleport like bots, just not from ore node to ore node (though they still do this). These bots are spawning en masse, stacked on eachother on Repair NPCs (as I’ve mentioned they like to do before). These bots also then teleport to a Repair NPC in a different location in the zone, and sometimes a whole different zone altogether. (bypassing waypoints, as they spawn on the Repair NPC).

Case in point.
Server: Eredon Terrace
Zone: Queensdale
Spawning on the Repair NPC located at the Trading Post in the Village of Shaemoor are dozens of bots, most from the same guild and follow the same name formatting. Tracking these bots and standing there watching them with them in my contacts list, they proceed to disappear. They then instantly show up in Caudecus’ Manor on the Repair NPC there. A few minutes later they once again spawn on the Repair NPC at the Trading Post in the Village of Shaemoor…completely bypassing all waypoints, so it’s obvious that they are bots.

I have video and screenshots of them spawning on the Repair NPC, disappearing from Village of Shaemoor and appearing in Caudecus’ Manor in my contact list, then spawning again on the Repair NPC in the Village of Shaemoor. As well as in reverse, of them being at Caudecus’ Manor and going to the Village of Shaemoor and back. I also have all the names I’ve managed to catch.

Also, it would be nice if names stacked up on eachother like in GW1 when you hovered over a group of people, this way it would be easier to select individual people that are stacked on eachother.

Knowing this behavior should help you with catching them.

What would you like me to do from here with what I have?

1.)Map and Location: Frostgorge Sound – Frostwalk Tundra (Grawl spot)
2.)World : Sea of Sorrows
3.)Date and Time : March 18, 2013 – 12:30pm GMT+8

Apparently they noticed I was watching them closely, as they started messaging me in broken English tonight, in-game, stating they’re reporting me in-game on all of their accounts, their words. Then started saying something in another language I do not understand. I do nothing, so I know I should be in the clear from their mass report attack on me. But can something be done about them please?

Near goldslost swamp on Far Shiverpeaks, encountered a teleporting gatherer chopping down some trees. It was a hunter. Not sure of the time, but it was not long before shadow behemoth pre-events were up.

map: Dredgehaunt Cliffs
location: Dwarven tombs
time: seen at various times of day
server: jade quarry

i’ve seen bots pop in, loot chests and pop out, even with the door closed (stayed in once just to watch and see if they kept coming). thought they were parked characters at first, until i ran into the same characters at the next tomb i opened half an hour later. as soon as i opened the tomb, they started cycling through to loot the chest.

map: Frostgorge Sound
location: any rare node near Earthshake wp. most commonly Snow Truffle nearest the wp.
time seen: every day mid afternoon pst.
server: Jade Quarry

i’ve spent several happy hours reporting bots as they pop in to gather the snow truffle located under the pine tree directly behind the waypoint. have seen same names pop in at ancient saplings and orri nodes on the map, so can confirm that they aren’t parked.

now that that’s done…
:)
i’m thrilled to have found this thread. truly. ‘blinkbots’ (great name) have been a source of curiosity (at first) and wonder (at second) swiftly progressing to annoyance once i realized what they were doing. now, i make a point to report every one that i see- even though i have no idea how reporting is to be done most effectively!

i’d sure LIKE to know, tho.

at the moment, the only way i can find to report is to whisper the name i saw blink in (assuming i caught it) and right-click/report that way. taking a screenie has been pointless (tho i try to on the names that are harder to spell/type to make sure i get them right) since they can’t be attached to the report anyway.

i realize this might be asking a bit much, but a system for quickly and accurately tagging and reporting bots would be SO welcome to those of us bothunters out there!
heck, it could be a whole aspect of the game! after all, we have guild bounties for npcs! why not bounties on bots?

with that said, i’m just going to throw this out there:
an equippable item (like gathering tools) that one earns through some achievement (perhaps a gathering tier 5 or something that would show that you are active and invested in the fair trade of resources ingame-however that could best be established).
the item would allow you to ‘tag’ a blinkbot. Spot the Bot? Dot the Bot? lol much like the old ‘pin the tail on the donkey’ game. or ‘whack-a-mole’ if that’s more appropriate! :p
it would be usable quickly and with little hassle- like whipping out a bow and arrow, but a dartgun instead. ;D
by darting the blinkbot, the character would be tagged with a time/date/location stamp that would be flagged for review- effectively proving that it was in the place it was tagged at that time, etc.
no more guesswork.

the challenge (minigame?) for the bothunters would be in tagging efficiently and responsibly. to this end, anet could create imitation blinkbots to randomly appear and test hunters. bothunters who succeeded in accurately tagging certain numbers of bots could earn achievements/titles (taking it to that level may not be appealing for anet, but would be fun for the players! ) while those who chronically mis-tag innocents (bound to happen now and then) would lose their license to ki—-tag. perhaps with an option to retrain for it? idk.

anyway- just a thought. but some system for quick and simple reporting of botters would be VERY much appreciated!!

There is currently a bunch of botters all following the same pattern in the northern parts of southsun cove, and I always find at least one at the grawls in Frostgorge.

- Blacktide

Gaile, maybe you can’t answer this, but why is the ability to teleport given to the client of normal players? The only reason they can do this is because they can relay coordinates on where to place the player to the server and the server complies. Why?

Map — Southsun Cove
Location — Underwater, East of Pearl Islet Waypoint
Server — Isle of Janthir
Time/Date — Since last month to now

Reported a blinkbot in game last month, and there are currently more than 5 blinkbots in same area. Please, save the sharks, Anet.

Hey, I’m on anvil rock, and since doing my map completion I noticed a LOT of bots on the Orr maps, especially “Leap” in a matter of 5 minutes i ran into 3 bots there. Reported them all. It’s easy to tell when they are jumping from resources, or attacking mobs there oddly… But I always CHAT them to see if they respond, “Hey can you help me”, try to annoy them, when there is no response I report.

Hey, what about the gold sellers, or whatever classification they are now because they no longer spam the chat. I noticed the other day one of them adding me as a friend for a couple of seconds than dropping me. I’m guessing that they are getting my display name for later mail sending. I know they are gold sellers or something because of the garbled up name,1 achievement point and they sit there in LA all day. I’ve gotten to the point of opening my followers window when I port in there just to see another add me. I whisper them with no response than report and block them. It really is annoying and I’m about to the point of avoiding the area just so they don’t get my name. By the way, I’m from Anvil Rock, assuming similar things are happening on other servers.

Mind you I am no programer, but you would think, there could be something done to negate the botters from teleport hacking. One or a few of Anet shoulf browse youtube, and look at the bots offered or advertised there, or heck, google gw2 goldsellers. Our guildies were talking about goldsellers the other day, and thought, why doesnt gw2 just sell gold at a reasonable price, undercut the farmers, and drive them from the game…..hmm just a thought.

Gaile and company, I thought you would like to know that there are some players that I’ve seen that may be using a bot program to spawn ON the event chests in the world, similar to that list of bots (that are still in-game botting, by the way) that spawns on repair NPCs. They may be farming baubles and converting them to bauble bubbles to flood the trading post with the skins.
Now, this may only have to do with the extremely excessive, and completely unnecessary culling stuff (which I wish would be put into the options menu just as the WvW culling has been, I don’t want culling at all).
I was in Metrica Province on Eeredon Terrace server and I was at one chest and two people showed up out of nowhere…thought I might have just not seen them close by due to the culling…err…stuff, that has been implemented. Then they disappeared after gathering the baubles. There was another chest close by that I could see from the first chest location, I started to head toward it, it disappeared from my mini-map meaning it was opened, 4 seconds later I was at it and those same two players appeared at that one, killed the things, and proceeded to disappear once again. If this is just this silly culling stuff where people disappear when they are 5ft in front of me, then I guess just ignore this.

Map: Queensdale, Hunter’s Lodge. Multiple bots talking to Chiffly
World: Sorrow’s Furnace
Date: 7:16pm Central Time on April 12, 2013

Umm, seems like that teleporting application(I know the name but I dont use it) just became even worse… Seen ppl in WvW using it to get nodes, chests, and even keep lords lately…

Just came across a character in Harathi Hinterlands near the Wynchona Rally Point Waypoint that teleported right on top of a tree node, farmed it, and vanished.

Someone created a thread about a high number of bots teleporting between two specific locations in the “Game discussion” forum area. Unfortunately, instead of refering the person to this thread, a moderator closed it and told that person to use the ingame reporting tool.

As I am not going to repost his post here (I think reposting the contents of closed threads is against one of the many forum rules…) I will just give a link to the closed thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Bots-in-Queensdale-1

Map: Sparkfly fen, toade’s head
World: dragonbrand
Time: about 9:20-9:50 GMT+8

Map: Diessa Plateau, Village of Butcher’s Block and surrounding area.
World: Gunnars Hold
Time: 16:00 BST to (as of this post) Friday,19th April.

Group, same guild tag.

Map: WvW, Arborstone BL. Location: south west of the central island, underwater.
World: I’m from Fissure of Woe, and the bots I spotted were also Fissure of Woe.
Time 23:10 local (Australian Eastern Standard) on Monday 22nd April 2013.

A group of about 7 or 8. Same guild tag. Just attacking krait underwater mindlessly.

Underworld borderlands, in the lake. Half dozen+ Millers` bots. This is urgent, it is affecting our access to Bay, Hills, Garrison at times.
Underworld server.
1600GMT.

Map: Frostgorge sound, north of Watchful WP
World: Gandara
Time: I don’t know, GTM +1

3 from the same guild, same armor,same weapon sets, same order of using attack skills, farming corrupted kodans and collosus

Edit: 100% sure they are bots, why would 3 persons lay around dead for multiple hours

There is probably a thread somewhere and I just don’t know where to look but I’ve been seeing a lot of Level 2 Ele’s that all look the same in LA. Most of them have weird names such as alskdhg;ashg or qwerthiasdfig. I saw one log in recently and followed it. Added to friends list to track it as well. This account had 2700+ achievement points so my question is…is this a hacked account being used to sell gold and if so what can I do? I haven’t received a message from it personally but it doesn’t move and it stays logged in. It hides out away from other players in LA. Seems fishy to me.

1.MAP AND LOCATION: Lion’s Arch: Tenaner’s Fightpit
2.WORLD: Sorrow’s Furnace
3.DATE, TIME AND TIMEZONE: Right now 6:50 am Server Time; 24 April 2013

Millers Sound borderlands, in the lake. dozen+ Millers` bots.
Underworld server.
1700GMT.

Anvil Rock has bots outside of Sorrow’s Embrace

Not going to post screen shots here, but filed some reports in game. Please look into it. They all seem to have the have the [SOME] tag.

Thank you

1. Map and Location: Timberline Falls, Krongar Pass
2. World: Maguuma
3. Date and time of day, plus timezone: 1:15 AM Pacific Time on April 26, 2013
4. Observed behavior: Character was physically inside an iron ore node, and visually rotating rapidly, while mining. Upon completion, the character disappeared from visual view, likely using some method of teleport hack.

Anvil Rock has bots outside of Sorrow’s Embrace

Not going to post screen shots here, but filed some reports in game. Please look into it. They all seem to have the have the [SOME] tag.

1. Map/Location: Dredgehaunt cliffs/Tribulation Caverns (right outside dungeon)
2. World: Anvil Rock
3. Date and Time of day: Right now (0640 EDT). They seem to be on almost 24/7
4. Observed behavior: Large groups of bots spawning in the exact same 2 spots (at way point and jumping twice or at dungeon entrance and jumping twice), utilizing the exact same behavior without variation.

Yea Vorch, just saw them too myself.
Reported them all.

Map: Frostgorge Sound, Icebrood area north of Watchful Waypoint.
World: Gunnars Hold
Time: Everytime I have visited since seeing NvNs post. Including now 9am BST Wednesday 1st of May.