Guild Wars 2

Clockradio.3257:

I do this all the time if I want to get a stack of something with high turnover relatively quickly and save a little gold. I think you’re jumping to conclusions a little too quickly.

Three issues here: 1. Speed of price changes, 2. strange human behaviour, and 3. there is an incentive for cheaters to use bots.

On the issue of the speed at which the prices are updated: I can touch type and consider myself a fast user of the mouse and the UI in game, but this behaviour I am witnessing that I think is botting updates the prices far too fast for it to be human.

On the issue of it otherwise being strange human behaviour: I understand why a real human would constantly monitor the market for something that is highly liquid – i.e. there are lots of trades in the commodity. Things like crafting mats have high liquidity because there are lots of them in game, so doing what you say by outbidding to get your items bought faster is logical and many people probably do the same. However, there are some markets such as the one for minis that are not so liquid, and it often takes a long time for buy orders to complete. I have bought all the minis in the past, and I know how long it takes to buy them at the lower price, especially the exotics. If a real person was to sit there for that amount of time and constantly update the price if they got outbid, I suggest they would go crazy. And don’t forget, they are doing it with inhumanly fast speed.

On the issue of the incentive for cheaters to use a bot on the TP: There are vast profits to be made if you constantly outbid the high bids of real players who are wanting to obtain the item per se and not to flip it. Doing so will cause such real players to end up buying at the sell prices, thus reinforcing the botter’s behaviour. Algorithms can be written that are very sophisticated and don’t send the bids above a certain level, thus ensuring the botter will make a profit.

As a final point, there are ways to detect such botting. I have written several programs that monitor user activity on the keyboard and mouse, and once you are able to compile simple statistics of such behaviour into a temporary memory location you can poll it every now and then to see how they compare with average user statistics. If the behaviour appears to be suspicious (i.e. not like an average human) then you can flag that account for closer inspection. The monitoring algorithm does not need to be constantly switched on, it can perform random tests to save on overheads (a bit like a random breath test on motorists). Closer inspection then comes in the form of a more detailed assessment of the behaviour by constant algorithm monitoring and Anet evaluation of the account.

So you are trying to put in a low buy order for that final mini you’ve always wanted. You are willing to wait a while, but you would like to put in the highest bid. So you add, say, one copper to the current highest bid price. Seconds later, the previous highest bid price is removed and instantly replaced with one maybe 1-5 copper higher than yours.

You think… hmm… that was a fast update. Maybe there is someone watching this position closely. So you update your price to be the high bidder again, only to find that the same “person” updates theirs almost instantly to cap yours. The speed with which this happens is inhumanly fast. Could this be a Bot? I suspect so, after all, who has the time to sit there and check a single post all day, every day?

So we, the normal users of the trading post, ask that Bot Traders be detected and banned from the game just as any other Botter would and should be. It is making it nearly impossible for a normal player to buy some items at low prices and is making a profit for cheaters because it is the Botter who forces us to buy at the higher price.

Something has to be done and we look forward to the change.

Thanks Anet.

Mkalafut.1273:

Tranc.6780:

Given the number of years many of us put into GW1, as opposed to the 1 year GW2 has been out, fair would be to make the HoM worth 50,000 points instead of a measly 500 ;-)

Agreed. I mean I could care less since they’re achievement points and affect nothing, but given the amount of work we did to get 50/50 I would not turn away anything extra.

If you love GW1 so much, go back to that game, seriously. This is not GW1, and to constantly have you “veterans” touted as some kind of reason for celebration when there are many of us who do not share your titles but who did play GW1 and support Anet just as much as you did yet do not get half as much recognition – well, it makes me wonder why we are playing GW2 in the first place.

Let’s also link PvP rankings to GW1 shall we? And let’s allow our wealth in GW1 to transfer over also! What else should we do? Let’s transfer over the number of character slots…

Mkalafut.1273:

Wukunlin.8461:

500 points looks like a lot but it translate to what… an extra chest?

That’s not even what they’re QQing about. They’re upset that they got bumped down by others on the achievement leaderboard.

Not to mention, HOM points weren’t the only things that got a boost. But hey, HoM can’t be done in GW2 so target them as the cause of being bumped down.

Do we deserve to be upset? Given that you admit “HoM can’t be done in GW2” I think we do, don’t you? It is an unfair change that has angered many people and will be corrected in a future update, we can only hope.

ilr.9675:

Ruith.5861:

ilr.9675:

billykwong.3742:

but 500 achievement points seems a lot to be rewarded for gaining achievements that aren’t even in this game.

Care to link us your HOM score then if you think it’s too easy?
http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/#page=welcome

There it is, don’t be shy!

It’s not about whether it’s easy or not… it’s not this game. End of story.

You don’t get to tell us when it’s the End of Story….

…Mainly b/c this is Guildwars Utopia retitled and they stopped updating the BETTER previous chapters to bring this expansion that lets ppl jump and dodge and farm COF again basically.

We get to keep our Achievement points, End of Story

I laughed my head off when I read the word “expansion” there. This is not an expansion, it is a new game. End of Story <—— notice the fact that it is a new game, not an expansion there….

Mkalafut.1273:

I’m also not sure how a measly 500 point ACHIEVEMENT POINT (NOTICE I SAID THE WORDS – ACHIEVEMENT POINTS – NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO GAMEPLAY OR PLAYER ABILITY) boost is considered arrogant. The work the players put into GW1 to achieve 50/50 (to get 500 points) took THOUSANDS of hours!

The title “God Walking Amongst Mere Mortals” is arrogant mate. Achievement points are not arrogant… how can a number be arrogant? Get real. So many people run around with this title … filling up our screens with unwanted spam. I ask you why we need so many gods… of course it is a reference to Ron Burgundy in the Anchorman films, so the joke is on the wearer of the title in any case – yet still they parade.

And buddy.. you are getting tiring with your support of the change… I’m over the moon for you really I am, that you happen to like the change. But some of us don’t – can’t you just accept that? It is a change that should not have happened because primarily of one reason, and I want you to read this and suck it up:

GW1 is not GW2

Mkalafut.1273:

Ruith.5861:

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Just want to cast my vote. I don’t think they got it wrong. And I think there will be just as much of a firestorm if they revert the scores now.

What about the people that tried hard to make it to the top 100, and finally made it when they were rewarded for their 1000s of hours work filling the HoMs? Is it fair to shove them off the top of the list?

If there is a solution, it surely isn’t taking points away now.

Wrong my friend, sorry but you are wrong. You dedicated those many hours to a different game, and when the Eye of the North was released, many of those categories were already filled out for you. We all paid our money for that old game, yet not all of us spent so long on it. That’s all.

Now there is a new game… GW2.

Changing this bad move would do what? It would return things to how they were just a couple of days ago, as though there had been a glitch or a mistake.

We have spent the past 10 or so months with the Achievement Points for HoM as they used to be, and now you expect us to think that after a day of experiencing elevated ranking for something they did not do in this game, they will be more upset than those who have just been kicked in the teeth? I think not…

As I posted in another thread. What does being any spot on an ACHIEVEMENT leaderboard do for you? Nothing. People weren’t complaining when HoM gave 20 points (or 50 or whatever) but now all of a sudden they’re worth more and NOW you complain?

They’re achievements. The people who got them have more than earned them.

Please take the time to read my other posts, and those of others who are unhappy. You will no doubt find some shred of argument to raise but it does not detract from the fact that GW2 is a different game. APs did not exist in GW1, and HoM APs have been constant for about 10 months. This has really upset the status quo and makes the whole “God Walking Amongst Mere Mortals” title even more arrogant and hated.

Mkalafut.1273:

Kojiden.8405:

I went from being in the 60s rank on the leaderboard achievements to the 90s. Exciting. :/

And how is your IRL or GW2 life changed in any way from that? What does being in a certain spot on an achievement leaderboard get you?

People place meaning on different things.. it’s all part of life. You let people feel how they want to feel and you don’t tell them how to feel. If this guy feels upset about the change, he’s entitled to do so. He is not irrational… and if you fail to see how that change could upset somebody then you probably don’t understand things like football leagues, tennis rankings, and any other form of ranking system that has meaning to some group of people… this is an artificially inserted jolt to the system that came without any warning.

And on the contrary, if what you say is true, then there should be no problem in reverting the change because it is a different game anyway, and those who just benefited should not really care either… should they?

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Just want to cast my vote. I don’t think they got it wrong. And I think there will be just as much of a firestorm if they revert the scores now.

What about the people that tried hard to make it to the top 100, and finally made it when they were rewarded for their 1000s of hours work filling the HoMs? Is it fair to shove them off the top of the list?

If there is a solution, it surely isn’t taking points away now.

Wrong my friend, sorry but you are wrong. You dedicated those many hours to a different game, and when the Eye of the North was released, many of those categories were already filled out for you. We all paid our money for that old game, yet not all of us spent so long on it. That’s all.

Now there is a new game… GW2.

Changing this bad move would do what? It would return things to how they were just a couple of days ago, as though there had been a glitch or a mistake.

We have spent the past 10 or so months with the Achievement Points for HoM as they used to be, and now you expect us to think that after a day of experiencing elevated ranking for something they did not do in this game, they will be more upset than those who have just been kicked in the teeth? I think not…

ilr.9675:

billykwong.3742:

but 500 achievement points seems a lot to be rewarded for gaining achievements that aren’t even in this game.

Care to link us your HOM score then if you think it’s too easy?
http://hom.guildwars2.com/en/#page=welcome

There it is, don’t be shy!

It’s not about whether it’s easy or not… it’s not this game. End of story.

william dj.6953:

guess its time to play some gw1 and finish a few more up. Instead of QQ ing mommy someone got more achievement points than me. It’s not fair. stamp foot.

That’s all the majority of the people are seeing from all the whining about this. It’s a freaking sequel, if you don’t know what that means, look it up.

It’s a sequel to a game that did not have Achievement Points. The Achievement Point system was new to this game, GW2. Many competitive players rightly expected to be able to concentrate on one new game rather than two if they wished to compete against each other in some way.

If so many Achievement Points are to be linked to GW1 then so should PvP ranking.

What a stupid concept…

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

it is fair. those hall of monument achievements takes a lot of time to achieve.

It most certainly is not fair. Those achievements you refer to took place in another game. Most of us bought Eye of the North, thereby supporting Anet in the process, regardless of whether we would get 5 or 50 HoM points. For nearly a year, HoM Achievement Points in GW2 have been at a relatively low level, appropriately so. Now, many people have stopped playing GW1 and moved to GW2. If you want to go back to GW1 and get the extra HoM points, you are going to have a very hard time doing so in some respects, and in the process you will be ignoring your GW2 Guild, and the GW2 community.

It is entirely counter to the philosophy of GW2 in my opinion – that we should be playing together, not wanting to split up and play old games away from our new friends.

Normally Anet gets things right, and I congratulate them on a fantastic game. But sometimes they get it wrong. Crab Toss daily, and now this HoM AP explosion… both are examples of Anet getting it wrong.

william dj.6953:

What amazes me, is there are people who actually think their position on the leaderboard is important to everyone else. If you want to see who is looking at your position on the leaderboard. Look in a mirror. You will see the only one who cares.

What amazes me is that you do not appreciate how many people you are referring to. It is the very large number of people who are really unhappy about this change that makes it important… maybe not “to everyone else” but to that group of people.

Before this change I was around rank 30 in EU. After it I’m more like rank 50. Why? Because apparently doing things in another game is relevant to this game. I played GW1 and supported Anet by buying that game and expansions – I just did not play it as long as some people. I would prefer there to be absolutely no achievement points based on GW1 – period.

It is a different game. Why do they want AP hunters to log off GW2 and go play GW1 again? Because at this rate, when I have nothing else to do as is often the case… I will go and play that game where Gems are not on offer… thereby I shall not be paying Anet any more… it is totally illogical from a business model point of view.

I started from the beginning in GW2 – we already have to put up with that arrogant “God Walking Amongst Mere Mortals” title that spams the screen everywhere you look… for heaven’s sake why now this extra link in the form of Achievement Points?

If I had known in advance that a player’s time spent in another game was going to be relevant to ranking in this game I would not have tried so hard to get to the top… this is a real kick in the teeth to the really hardcore AP hunters out there who just didn’t play GW1 enough to get that totally unfair whack of APs.

The strong ill-feeling that this has generated is in no way warranted by the “happy feeling” that may be gained by players who gain lots of APs from this update.

If you agree with any of this, please add your views below and support a call to have the GW1 Achievement Point change revoked asap.

Same happened to me. Any update from Anet as to when this content will be re-activated would be welcome, thanks

Is it just me or is the daily achievement “Crab Toss Champion” (Won the Southsun Crab Toss) capable of becoming very annoying and unenjoyable to complete? Here is my experience:

There was one particular player we came across who was pretty good at the Crab Toss, and after winning he stayed on playing game after game, another player helped him to win also by constantly targeting the person in second place. Don’t ask me why they were doing this, but it was easy for them to fix the match so this guy was always winning, and nearly impossible for anyone else to win.

So why is this a daily achievement when it is such an unenjoyable part of the game, and is capable of being premade so easily?

Anet, I think I speak for many of your players in asking kindly for it to be removed as a daily requirement. I do like to complete all my dailies, and even if this remains as one of them I will still try to complete it, but in doing so it will no doubt make me very bitter, angry and annoyed. This is something I can’t help.

Today I was in the 2/3 fractal and my friend got kicked due to some error, not sure what. Anyway, he ended up on the character select screen. He logged back in and was in Lion’s Arch and of course, unable to return to us in the fractal. From previous experience, I know that trying to re-enter kicks everybody. So, he left the group assuming that any activities he then did would not affect us trying to 4-man the remainder. When he logged in to another character, we all got kicked from the fractal even though he had left the party.

The ideal solution is perhaps to implement the following:

1) If someone leaves a fractal for whatever reason, they can re-enter with no detriment to the progress of the party.
2) If someone leaves a fractal for whatever reason and does not re-enter, their actions in the rest of the game should not have any influence on the rest of the party.

Fix it please. This has been one of the worst problems in the whole game for the past month or more, and has not been addressed.

My account was wrongly banned on Wednesday 7 November at about 8pm GMT. I followed all the ticked submission advice, and it was restored to me at about 3am GMT this morning, Saturday 10 November.

If you are one of the people who has been wrongly banned for any reason, submit your ticket and wait. If it takes over three days, there is a forum post for you to post in there to get their attention, I think. I’m as confused as you are about why this has happened – apparently my account was compromised, but I am not sure this is the case.

48 hours after submitting my ticket complaining about being wrongly banned, have recently received an email from the support team asking for further information. Replied to this email, as instructed, and this reply has now been added directly to the support ticket. Clever system.

Status has changed from banned to hacked/unauthorized access message when trying to log in. I’m hopeful now that I’ll soon be back in game.

ziofanoo.2917:

Hentai.7519:

PetricaKerempuh.7958:

got baned 48 hours ago, and have been working last 4 hours. the update and request to update my ticket have come during that period. so somewhere between 44-48 hours

Well Then Maybe My Ticket has been forgotten I haven’t heard back from them in a day now, ugh I wonder if there was an MMO of the Year I don’t think I’d vote for GW2 just yet. I guess I should Up date my ticket to make sure they haven’t forgotten me. Maybe they just read very very slowly.

i got request to update ticket on my e-mail, so you just need to be patient. i know how it is:) ive been crazy last 2 days, but now i finaly have some good feeling about this problem. i think it is reassuring for all of you guys that are in the same situation. just be cool and when you hear from anet give them info they request and its gonna be fine.

---

five days here and no feed back whatsoever…
what’s the logic?

If you have been waiting for longer than three days, there is a forum topic specifically for you to post in.

Dondarrion.2748:

It’s not that simple always, the botters are becoming more inventive with char names. Anyhow, when I find a bunch of bots in an area I first study if they all run the exact same pattern, then I usually say something to give any present human players the chance to explain themselves, then finally I report the bots for botting and take a screenshot to backup my report.

Gives me much more accuracy on my bot reports, I think, and having done so I also sleep with a better conscience knowing I’m 99% sure it’s a bot and not a human player I contribute to banning.

Dude… we all appreciate your dilligence in trying to rid the game of bots. But seriously, giving human players the chance to explian themselves? Since when should any player have to do ANYTHING at the whim of another random stranger?

In all the MMOs I have played where botting has been an issue, there are people like you, with good intentions, saying things like “if you are not a bot, please say so now before I report you”. While this may seem like a good test at first, it fails when you think about all the possible reasons why a real player might not reply to you. Here are a few examples:

1. They just don’t want to reply to you because they are busy, or can’t be bothered, or because they shouldn’t have to – they assume ANet isn’t going to ban them based on an incorrect report;

2. They didn’t notice what you said. There may be lots of activity going on and their attention is elsewhere;

3. They may have blocked you.

ANet are asking for the community to report bots they find in game, which is to be encouraged of course. But it seems that many (and by many, I refer to the many people that are getting their accounts unbanned after several days, and those who are soon to have theirs also unbanned) innocent players are getting wrongly reported.

There is clearly something wrong in the whole assessment system, but please remember that just because a character is playing near an area where you think bots operate, it doesn’t make them a bot just because they don’t reply to you.

DarK.1839:

Bought mine on Ebay, suspended after 24hrs..if it is an illegal key, I need an actual statement as to why I was banned so I can ask for a refund/dispute Paypal, 48hrs later I still haven’t gotten any reply other than “escalating your ticket to sales team”.
Got an entire weekend and no game to play -_-

If you can afford it, just buy the game directly from the official source always, it’s much less worrisome. If I were you and if you have the spare cash I would do that now and let your ebay dispute carry on in the background, it will take days to resolve that and in the meantime you can be playing in GW2.

Just avoid doing anything in the game that takes you near botters…

So I guess they are giving people a three day cooling off period, during which time they expect the real botters to have given up hope? Wow…

Grubbey.7042:

I was Banned on Tuesday for Boting/macroing, and my account was restored on Thursday.
It does change just be patient.

Thanks for the update Grubbey. Patience is an attribute that is easier to voice with hindsight, however.

I’m glad you eventually got your account back. I’m not looking forward to another 3 to 4 days of this though, especially since the new Lost Shores update is due out soon.

I would be really disappointed to miss any of that, and sitting on teamspeak listening to my friends enjoying the game is just not the same

tolunart.2095:

Souryu.9074:

tolunart.2095:

Life is not always puppies and rainbows. It sucks to be one of the few people caught up in the nets by mistake, but the alternative is to abandon the game to bots and scams. Which is better for the majority of players?

Well, you wouldn’t be asking such “wise” questions if you were suspended for nothing.
Someone invested money to play the game, time to build up character/get gear etc. Now he/she feels cheated, with no idea what he/she did wrong and no way to fix it. How would u feel? Happy?

I’ve been fired from jobs for things I didn’t do. That’s a lot more serious than not being able to play a game for a few days. But I didn’t throw rocks through the manager’s office window or anything, I just moved on with life. Most of the people playing the game are pretty young, as you get older you learn that life isn’t going to always be fair and that sometimes there really isn’t anything you can do about it.

If I had been fired from a job for no reason I would probably have gone to an employment appeal tribunal unless I had no grounds for appeal. Some folks take any upset lightly, some take it less well. Just because you are of thicker skin doesn’t mean we all are. And less of the patronising speech please. I’m not one of those “pretty young” players you speak of. There is something we can do about this problem – that is complain to customer services and hope that they sort it out. What we shouldn’t do is tell people who have been wrongly banned that they should just accept it and get on with things, lest it happen again to other innocent players. That is, assuming you care about the game…

tolunart.2095:

Life is not always puppies and rainbows. It sucks to be one of the few people caught up in the nets by mistake, but the alternative is to abandon the game to bots and scams. Which is better for the majority of players?

The alternative is to improve the bot detection systems and always insist that even one wrongly banned player is too much. I don’t want to get into a debate on the utilitarian aspects of banning people from the game. When you are on the receiving end of a ban, it hurts. It also generates a volume of negative chat for the game.

Sweeping statements that allege people are liars are not helpful, unless you have the evidence to back up your statements. Accusing people of lying is offensive to honest people. There are several posts appearing in the forums where people are accusing us of lying about the fact that we have been wrongly banned. Such posts are unwarranted, unfounded and a waste of everyone’s time.

This suggestion comes as many people are currently saying they are not receiving any attention to their support tickets for up to three days. Many people are currently locked out of the game due to a faulty bot detection system, and the level of customer support on this matter is poor.

I would suggest that you improve your customer support speed, somehow. I acknowledge that people are getting their accounts back, but only after several days of being locked out of the game.

Be careful in this area. It seems that it is the target of bots, and many innocent players have been banned just because they spent a lot of time in these areas, perhaps being incorrectly identified by over-zealous bot-reporters, or a faulty new bot-detection system. See this post for more information.

This is very concerning, and just adds to the insult you have already received.

Gaile Gray.6028:

… If a bot is detected, no one looks at the party and takes out every member. Every member is detected to be a bot and then they are removed.

Having said that, I would not accept random invitations in bot hot spots, because I’m pretty sure you’re being invited to try to hide botting activity.

Are we therefore not to accept random people who ask to join our party in Dynamic Event zones? Isn’t that against the whole ethos of the community spirit?

Are we therefore not to do certain events merely because they are popular?

There is a common assumption among players that joining a party gives you better drops. I have no idea where this comes from, but I have not read anything in the User Agreement or other terms stating that joining a party is a bannable offence. Nor have I read that doing any particular Dynamic Event or killing monsters in a particular location is a bannable offence. To ban people simply because they engage in activities that also happen to be the target of bot makers is ridiculous.

It is more than clear that we are witnessing the teething problems of a bot detection system in its infancy, and many of the posters in this forum have been banned for no good reason. Some are probably real botters, but I am convinced that many are telling the truth.

Arena Net should hold up its hands and admit this mistake openly, and apologise to those innocent players affected.

Pboogie.7418:

I try to log on today I notice I have new error It said “we have detected your account may have been accessed by an unaurhorized individual, for your security further access to the account has been suspended until this matter can be resolved. to restore access to this account. please contact support and one of our represenative will assist you” Should I make a new ticket because the old one it said i got terminated for botting here my ticket number 121107-000557

I have read about this happening to people who are having their incorrect bans reviewed, and soon after this happening they get back in game. I hope for you that this is the case.

I’m off to spend some money on another publisher’s game now, to cure this boredom until I get my GW2 account back. This whole fiasco is generating negative press for what promised to be such a great game.

rohff.4816:

Im still waiting an answer from the support team, its been 2 days now. I have a bad feeling. Thats the same feeling i had when i did an accident with my car and the other man didnt stop and continued. The insurance company told me that i was guilty of that accident because the other man implied was not found.
You play a game for escaping life’s reality, cruelty and problems, but the life finds the way to hurt you at a place where you think being invulnerable. Im tired, tired of always being the one to pay for others. Tired of being the victim of a bad system.

I feel for you. I too use GW2 as a way of escaping from the troubles I come across in reality, just as many people do. When you are then falsely accused of doing something and have that little bit of peace stolen from you, it is very depressing.

I use logitech G510 and have been incorrectly banned. nearly 24 hours now since I submitted my ticket, no response yet.

I have this strange feeling right now of being on an aeroplane, on a really long-haul flight. When I land, the account ban will be lifted and all will be back to normal. I just hope that the plane doesn’t crash and that they don’t send me that message your friend received.

It sounds like some of us have been reported for botting just because we have been seen farming events. Today I noticed that the place where there used to be ranger bots near Shelter in CS (the spider spawn just to the south of the gate) was bot free for once. So I went in and killed the spiders to rejoice in the discovery. I wonder if someone reported me for being a bot at that moment? lol

That’s a really bad response then. They should provide him with the evidence. It is also unreasonable for them to be able to label any third party application “illegal” under the terms of use without specifying what kind of application it is he has been using, its identity on his system, etc.

He has agreed, as have we all, to allow GW2 to analyse our systems and the software running on them. It is within their capability to tell him what this software is they are referring to. This does not seem like fair treatment, regardless of whether he is innocent or not.

Jimmy.2638:

he was banned for botting and illgal 3rd party app….
The problem is they never told him which…

And I guess he denies botting?

Kieser Soze.8561:

That doesn’t make sense, someone posted in the Tech Support forum that they are using a Microsoft controller using Pinnacle, etc…
I think that would be out of the Norm input device standards. but no word of that person having been banned.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/XBox-Controller-Input-Disabled-Nov-7th/first#post665446

Yea, you are probably right. Anyhow, banning all people who don’t use a bog-standard keyboard/mouse combination would be a pretty bad business model.

Jimmy.2638:

@Ruith
yea..that’s what I was wondering too… They never told him what “kind” of the 3rd-party-program he used…
I mean, at least send us a video to tell the evidence…

Was he banned for botting? Or was it specifically for using an illegal 3rd party app?

@Kieser Soze I guess we might never find out the reason, because it might be information they don’t want the bot makers to find out. If ANet determine that the factors that have wrongly identified us as botters are in need of change, they will probably change their systems. If not, then this will only happen again.

Yea, that’s probably all it is. I spent a lot of time at Plinx lately, over the last week or so.

@Rachiia.6045 I’ve no idea, sorry. But I’m in a similar position to you, confused as to why my account has been banned for botting. I assume it’s all just the fallout of a large bot-sweep and we will be back in-game soon.

My advice would be to stop adding more information unless they ask you for it. As long as you have told them that you think they have made a mistake, I think they will deal with it appropriately. Initially I was pretty angry, but now I’m a bit more chilled, putting faith in human nature.

NightShine.3849:

I use a logitech cordless desktop ex110 keyboard and a logitech mouse. They are both old and have no macro functions what-so-ever

That’s mildly reassuring then. I wouldn’t want to have to get rid of mine. Do you happen to play in a very repetetive style, like, do you often use the same rotation in specific circumstances?

@Jimmy.2638
Didn’t the response include any information about what this “illegal third-party program” actually is? I’m starting to wonder whether they are banning people for having certain keyboard/mouse manufacturer’s software installed on their systems that people may inadvertently be activating whilst using their keyboards/mice.

NightShine.3849:

I have been banned for 2 days for botting and am waiting for a reply to my ticket. I have never used a 3rd party program… I miss pvping a lot. =(

What mouse / keyboard do you use? I use a Razer Naga mouse and a Logitech G510 keyboard. I don’t use any of the macro facilities, I just press one key for one action in game.

Vulcar.9321:

I was playing and running around and doing my hearts ,way points and opening the map when I get this black screen in the game so I close the game and re start to open and suddenly I got this same messages saying my account is terminated due to BOTTING! I am so frustrated knowing the fact that this is not true. I feel so rage about it that playing guild wars 1 for almost 7 years and now I’m on this game ( Guild Wars 2 ) I will get this type of message of termination for doing nothing bad of this game. I thought about the arenanet or guild wars fault but I also thought that Hackers have something to do with it too. Please admin follow up my issue, my account was terminated for a false accusation.
—thank you—

Same here mate, hang in there I think they are dealing with it. I have read that it can take up to 24 hours to sort it out, there are probably lots of tickets on the same topic at the moment. Something to do with a mass bot-ban. I’m not sure why you have been mis-identified as a botter, the same has happened to me. I am wondering whether it has something to do with the mouse and keyboard I use, both of which have the capability to record macros (pressing one key and sending more than one keystroke), but I do not use either of these facilities in GW2, as I am aware from the terms of use that such macros are not allowed. I always press one key for one action in-game, like everyone else.

My suspicion is that their bot-detection software has the capability to scan for the software that gets installed with the mouse/keyboard, and treats that as a positive macro ID. This is the only thing that I can think of after hours of pondering on this problem. It may then be that they automatically ban you and wait for you to make an appeal via the support system, expecting that anyone who has actually been using macros would hold their hands up and accept the ban, as it were.

Marmalade.9750:

I don’t think there is. I don’t think there should be. You are asking ANet to favor a group of players over another.

It is not asking them to favor one group over another without good reason, however.

If you have contracted to receive a game service and have complied with the terms of use, and are wrongly accused of non-compliance and subsequently have your account re-instated, there ought to be some form of recompense for the nuisance caused. It is a small group of players, we hope, that will be wrongfully banned, so it would not have a noticable effect on the game and would make those players less unhappy about the situation.

JPB.2476:

And my account is restored. Only took just over 24 hours, very fast and efficient. Good luck everyone I hope your ban is as painless and temporary as mine.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but a 24 hour exclusion from the game is not “painless”. It’s kind of annoying, especially when the person excluded has not done anything wrong and was looking forward to spending time with their mates.