Tl;dr intentional mechanics that allow pet kills to give experience and loot =/= permission to afk farm.
This is absolutely correct.
If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.
And we players who are saying this means it’s not allowed, coupled with the fact a few players are now getting suspensions even though they’re supposedly not using 3rd Party Programmes, I think it’s safe for all of us to say it’s actually not ok to AFK farm now. Which is how it should be.
They’re referring specifically to your pets/minions doing the killing. Nowhere did they state that you could use skills on auto to bypass the idle timer. Refer to the following image.
You aren’t reading it clearly are you? Players are being said they are AFK pets killing auto loot going. Sure auto skills are not mentioned but that IS another in game mechanic just like pets and auto loot. its all in the same scope of work here.
botting and 3rd party mentions are only if you are using an external interface to play the game for you (macros, timed macros, Programs…ect) None of which apply here.
Nice try, but try again.
All that they said was that it is okay to have your pets do the killing. They did not give you permission to auto AFK for extended periods of time by circumventing the idle timer by using skills on auto.
And again, refer to the attached image.
You should know that I would come back to my console after 2-3 hours to check on bags to salv greens/blues…ect, and sometimes my client was disconnected back to character select or even all the way out to the launcher. I was not going a full 100% AFK, and the game was doing its job to kick my accounts off the maps. The Auto Heal skill only does so much.
And yet you circumvented the idle timer and stayed on 2-3 times longer than intended, while AFK, and using your pets/minions to gain a benefit on top of that.
Yup, using an ingame Anet provided mechanic.
Which was misused in an unintended way like many exploits.
Its only an exploit if it is unintended to be used at all. In which case Anet can block auto cast on the healing slot. But they dont/wont as its a mechanic that the druid and a few other builds use during raids/heavy PvP content.
so no, you are wrong. yet again.
They won’t block it likely because it has actual intended uses such as auto casting during a fight.
Which makes it NOT an exploit.
No. You’re using it to circumvent the idle timer.
Anet can by all means provide a specific response that will meet what some players are asking for. I’ll even frame the question which only requires a Yes or No. If they say yes then I’ll take all of my accounts and have them AFK farm whenever I am not playing.
Are players allowed to use skills on auto-cast, or any other available means, in order to circumvent the idle timer which would normally kick them back to the character select screen?
Tl;dr intentional mechanics that allow pet kills to give experience and loot =/= permission to afk farm.
This is absolutely correct.
If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned. This does not mean design can’t/won’t/should/shouldn’t update the system as it works today.
Is somewhat unfortunately written as there seems to be an internal inconsistency but “If your pets are doing the killing and your mastery is doing the looting; you’re okay as far as GMs are concerned.” seems very clearly to mean: “yes you can” as the only way to interpret it as not being allowed is to add “but being AFK while doing so isn’t” which would be unlikely given the topic.
“intentional mechanics that allow pet kills to give experience and loot =/= permission to afk farm.” can be interpreted in different ways:
1: The situation does not allow it, but the post(s) from the support lead do(es).
2: It’s not permitted but you won’t get in trouble for doing it.
3: He means you may at some point in the future no longer be able to do this.
I agree none of these are the most straightforward interpretation of that statement but one of the statements unambiguously states you can, while the second seems to agree and the third (which seems to be the most ambiguous) can be interpreted in such a way as to make it compatible with the other two.
The only reasonable conclusion seems that yes, it is allowed (or at least tolerated).
It’s not. The “allowed behavior” was directed at the pets and not bypassing the idle timer by using skills on auto.
They’re referring specifically to your pets/minions doing the killing. Nowhere did they state that you could use skills on auto to bypass the idle timer. Refer to the following image.
You aren’t reading it clearly are you? Players are being said they are AFK pets killing auto loot going. Sure auto skills are not mentioned but that IS another in game mechanic just like pets and auto loot. its all in the same scope of work here.
botting and 3rd party mentions are only if you are using an external interface to play the game for you (macros, timed macros, Programs…ect) None of which apply here.
Nice try, but try again.
All that they said was that it is okay to have your pets do the killing. They did not give you permission to auto AFK for extended periods of time by circumventing the idle timer by using skills on auto.
And again, refer to the attached image.
You should know that I would come back to my console after 2-3 hours to check on bags to salv greens/blues…ect, and sometimes my client was disconnected back to character select or even all the way out to the launcher. I was not going a full 100% AFK, and the game was doing its job to kick my accounts off the maps. The Auto Heal skill only does so much.
Gone for 2-3 hours while your pet farmed for you? You somehow thought that was ok? I could get it if you parked yourself there for a TS meeting or to clear your bags but not what you describe.
They’re referring specifically to your pets/minions doing the killing. Nowhere did they state that you could use skills on auto to bypass the idle timer. Refer to the following image.
You aren’t reading it clearly are you? Players are being said they are AFK pets killing auto loot going. Sure auto skills are not mentioned but that IS another in game mechanic just like pets and auto loot. its all in the same scope of work here.
botting and 3rd party mentions are only if you are using an external interface to play the game for you (macros, timed macros, Programs…ect) None of which apply here.
Nice try, but try again.
All that they said was that it is okay to have your pets do the killing. They did not give you permission to auto AFK for extended periods of time by circumventing the idle timer by using skills on auto.
And again, refer to the attached image.
You should know that I would come back to my console after 2-3 hours to check on bags to salv greens/blues…ect, and sometimes my client was disconnected back to character select or even all the way out to the launcher. I was not going a full 100% AFK, and the game was doing its job to kick my accounts off the maps. The Auto Heal skill only does so much.
And yet you circumvented the idle timer and stayed on 2-3 times longer than intended, while AFK, and using your pets/minions to gain a benefit on top of that.
Yup, using an ingame Anet provided mechanic.
Which was misused in an unintended way like many exploits.
Its only an exploit if it is unintended to be used at all. In which case Anet can block auto cast on the healing slot. But they dont/wont as its a mechanic that the druid and a few other builds use during raids/heavy PvP content.
so no, you are wrong. yet again.
They won’t block it likely because it has actual intended uses such as auto casting during a fight.
They’re referring specifically to your pets/minions doing the killing. Nowhere did they state that you could use skills on auto to bypass the idle timer. Refer to the following image.
You aren’t reading it clearly are you? Players are being said they are AFK pets killing auto loot going. Sure auto skills are not mentioned but that IS another in game mechanic just like pets and auto loot. its all in the same scope of work here.
botting and 3rd party mentions are only if you are using an external interface to play the game for you (macros, timed macros, Programs…ect) None of which apply here.
Nice try, but try again.
All that they said was that it is okay to have your pets do the killing. They did not give you permission to auto AFK for extended periods of time by circumventing the idle timer by using skills on auto.
And again, refer to the attached image.
You should know that I would come back to my console after 2-3 hours to check on bags to salv greens/blues…ect, and sometimes my client was disconnected back to character select or even all the way out to the launcher. I was not going a full 100% AFK, and the game was doing its job to kick my accounts off the maps. The Auto Heal skill only does so much.
And yet you circumvented the idle timer and stayed on 2-3 times longer than intended, while AFK, and using your pets/minions to gain a benefit on top of that.
Yup, using an ingame Anet provided mechanic.
Which was misused in an unintended way like many exploits.
They’re referring specifically to your pets/minions doing the killing. Nowhere did they state that you could use skills on auto to bypass the idle timer. Refer to the following image.
You aren’t reading it clearly are you? Players are being said they are AFK pets killing auto loot going. Sure auto skills are not mentioned but that IS another in game mechanic just like pets and auto loot. its all in the same scope of work here.
botting and 3rd party mentions are only if you are using an external interface to play the game for you (macros, timed macros, Programs…ect) None of which apply here.
Nice try, but try again.
All that they said was that it is okay to have your pets do the killing. They did not give you permission to auto AFK for extended periods of time by circumventing the idle timer by using skills on auto.
And again, refer to the attached image.
You should know that I would come back to my console after 2-3 hours to check on bags to salv greens/blues…ect, and sometimes my client was disconnected back to character select or even all the way out to the launcher. I was not going a full 100% AFK, and the game was doing its job to kick my accounts off the maps. The Auto Heal skill only does so much.
And yet you circumvented the idle timer and stayed on 2-3 times longer than intended, while AFK, and using your pets/minions to gain a benefit on top of that.
They’re referring specifically to your pets/minions doing the killing. Nowhere did they state that you could use skills on auto to bypass the idle timer. Refer to the following image.
You aren’t reading it clearly are you? Players are being said they are AFK pets killing auto loot going. Sure auto skills are not mentioned but that IS another in game mechanic just like pets and auto loot. its all in the same scope of work here.
botting and 3rd party mentions are only if you are using an external interface to play the game for you (macros, timed macros, Programs…ect) None of which apply here.
Nice try, but try again.
All that they said was that it is okay to have your pets do the killing. They did not give you permission to auto AFK for extended periods of time by circumventing the idle timer by using skills on auto.
And again, refer to the attached image since you don’t seem to have looked at it.
show me input that says its not allowed. I can show you GM posts that say its permitted and ‘as designed’.
The post you’d point to only says it’s okay and designed to combine auto-loot with pet kills… it DOES NOT SAY it’s okay to step away from your keyboard for long periods of time while doing it.
You have NOTHING you can point to that says otherwise. Nothing you’ve quoted says what you claim it does.
I was in a bandit camp in a mountain not bothering anyone, stopping anyone from doing quests. just like a bunch of other players. GM’s posted saying thats ok, its intended.
that IS the bottom line.
You broke the rules, you got punished. That IS the bottom line.
So, you are AFK farming, which any reasonable person would assume is suspect, you chose to ignore a lot of input which says it isn’t allowable, and you made a mistake.
And now you feel an Anet employee should be fired over the mistake you made?
I think you need to take a huge step back.
Ley lines. The perfect solution to deadlines and writers block. Now in an easy open Can.
A program that is not provided by anet themselves. E.g Autohotkey, GW personal assistant , overwolf etc. Things like that.
They aren’t against 3rd party tools in general just ones that allow you do do things in game that you shouldn’t be able to, e.g a key that does multiple things, teleporting around a map.
Proof is in the server logs. Auto heal, Pet aggro, auto loot. no keystrokes are being pressed at all. Infact I have 2 of my 3 accounts running in VMware workstation doing this. No macros or botting at all.
Running on an ITX 4570 clocked at 900mhz, it cant do much more then just let the game run.
Proof is in the logs.
Then contest the ban by requesting support investigate further. If you’re innocent, you’ll be all set pretty quickly.
Using mechanics as designed is definitely not exploiting. However, using them in a way that is unintended is exploiting. Using auto-cast on abilities is fine. Using it to circumvent the auto-disconnect isn’t. Using minions/pets to kill mobs is fine. Using that in conjunction with auto-casting to stay logged on well beyond when you should have been disconnected in order to obtain a benefit is not.
Yup, this. This is exactly what Anet has said (thus far) about AFK farming.
Using the game mechanics how they were designed to work is not an exploit.
Using mechanics as designed is definitely not exploiting. However, using them in a way that is unintended is exploiting. Using auto-cast on abilities is fine. Using it to circumvent the auto-disconnect isn’t. Using minions/pets to kill mobs is fine. Using that in conjunction with auto-casting to stay logged on well beyond when you should have been disconnected in order to obtain a benefit is not.
The porting about example was strictly in regards to the posters argument that people shouldn’t get upset about things that do not affect them.
I would say we saw the lesson they learned in this April’s patch which tried to address the issues with HoT.
If you watched the Guild Chat about the April patch you would have learned that it was members of the 2nd expansion group coming back to fix the 1st expansion. Hopefully they took the reasons behind the changes to HoT into the next expansion design.
Haven’t listened to the conference call yet but I’m going to guess the analyst who asked about HoT last call asked what’s been done.
Sounds like the “everyday in March” sale worked. Also makes me wonder how much they get from the iam8bit merch like the quaggans and t-shirts.
I think it’s safe to say that Anet has learned it’s lesson after we got dungeon rewards back, WvW is getting support again, and HoT got revamped.
They seem to understand where they went wrong, and, as much as I hate to place this at the feet of Collin, him leaving seems to coincide with this change in the studio.
MO won’t be the game director forever but I feel pretty confident that whatever the next Xpac will be, it won’t be HoT 2.0 when it comes to repeating past mistakes.
As far as the NCsoft vs Anet idea, I’m not sure. Anet has been self publishing for a while now and to my knowledge that essentially means they are responsible for their own studio income rather than getting funding from NCsoft. What level of autonomy this affords them is anyone’s guess but I’ll just assume that NCsoft is letting them do their thing as long as they meet earnings marks since that’s the simplest arrangement I can think of.
If in fact the lesson that was learned is spot on with the reasons that HoT sales did not meet expectations
If ANet produces a new expansion that addresses those issues
…then the whole, "Buy the latest XPac and get everything from before might serve ANet in good stead. Those who bypassed HoT would not need to purchase HoT to get current. I can’t help but think this might boosts sales among HoT non-adopters, despite the inevitable, “I should get a discount because I bought X.” posts.
Frankly, I expected total GW2 revenue to be back in the range of quarters prior to HOT, i.e., around 20,000 – 22,000 Million KW. That it’s about half again that suggests that gem sales are up, that HoT boxes continue to sell, or both. This is undoubtedly a plus for the game, and removes in my mind the idea of a possible sense of desperation to the Legendary postponement. This strengthens (again, in my mind) the likelihood that the postponement was caused by massive inefficiencies in the Legendary Journey creation process.
The performance of HoT was not as expected. We learnt the lesson.
This part is what I found most intriguing. What lesson did they learn?
Thinks that comes up in my head.
- Not too hard content.
- Less content to farm/grind.
- Not too much vertical content where usage of spacebar is needed.
- Not to promice more than they can deliver at release.
- Not to charge as much as a new full game.
- Not to create content for WvW players, they will hate it anyway.
- Putting more focus on ammount of content instead of details.
This has nothing to do what I like or not, this is something that has been complaints about in the forums.
True but a lot of that is just terribads complaining about having to actually put in effort to play the game (jumping, “too hard” mobs).
Trying to lure in raiders when they have WoW and FF14 was a mistake even if raids seem to be working out. Their other major sin was the supreme grind in the xpack in both the masteries and insane material cost of the new gear and guild halls.
As far as WvW content. It’s not to never make any stuff for it, it’s don’t make stuff for it, beta test it, and then throw 100% of feedback in the toilet thinking you know better than your customers. People told them everything that was wrong with the DBL during the whole publicity beta test and Anet basically ignored all of it.
The performance of HoT was not as expected. We learnt the lesson.
This part is what I found most intriguing. What lesson did they learn?
Thinks that comes up in my head.
- Not too hard content.
- Less content to farm/grind.
- Not too much vertical content where usage of spacebar is needed.
- Not to promice more than they can deliver at release.
- Not to charge as much as a new full game.
- Not to create content for WvW players, they will hate it anyway.
- Putting more focus on ammount of content instead of details.
This has nothing to do what I like or not, this is something that has been complaints about in the forums.
I think that with the new mastery system in place, they wont have to spand as much time and manpower to finalize that mechanic and can aim for more content in next expansion. As usuall I do beleave in Anet that they will do good, now it is up to the players and not keep the grudge from HoT.
Member of Alpha Swedish Gaming Community – http://www.alphas.se/
Guild Leader of Alpha Sgc [ASGC]
If I can get all the hearts by logging in on a new character, then I want the karma from (not) doing those hearts. It’s only fair that I should get all rewards whether I do the work or not. Preferably not, since it’s too, too boring to do the work to get the rewards.
The idea about getting all drops on all my chars is good too. However if I get multiple underwater precursors, I’m going to complain on the forum that it should be one of each type of precursor, not multiples of the same one.
Be careful what you ask for
ANet may give it to you.
Actually I have a new one. Account wide loot drops. Every time an item drops for the character being played a copy of that item is placed on every single character on your account! I don’t know why it has not been asked for before now. Don’t like alts, np just click a check mark in options and the total number of possible characters are added.
Okay, but only if every item in all the loot tables drops 100% of the time. Otherwise RNG is to unfair.
I’ll start complaining that nothing is rewarding anymore because I have everything.
Let’s put all these posts to rest. Anet please add a “I want it all button” to the character creation screen. Just one click and you have everything the game has to offer. Wait, never mind, someone will still find something else.
People would still complain. “Why do I have to click the button once? It should just happen as soon as I log in!”
Logging in? How dare they make me click or press buttons, to play the game. I should have everything I want! I should want for nothing. I demand someone do all the work for me! I want some to ait there and play the game for me, I only want to tell them what to do. No wait, I don’t want to talk god, that’s so much work, I want psychic powers so they know what I want and I can just sit here in and vegetate!
Let’s put all these posts to rest. Anet please add a “I want it all button” to the character creation screen. Just one click and you have everything the game has to offer. Wait, never mind, someone will still find something else.
People would still complain. “Why do I have to click the button once? It should just happen as soon as I log in!”
Let’s put all these posts to rest. Anet please add a “I want it all button” to the character creation screen. Just one click and you have everything the game has to offer. Wait, never mind, someone will still find something else.
Oh look! Yet another “I’m too lazy to play the game, just give me everything, I don’t want to work for anything. Just give me a button that gives me stuff!”
This is about the second thread we’ve had in as many days asking for content done for them. If you don’t want to do them, don’t. No one has a gun to your head. Now if you want world completion, work for it.
People need to stop asking for other people to play the game for them.
chuckle
I was waiting for this…
Don’t look at me like that. Whatever you’ve heard, it’s probably not true.
Oh look! Yet another “I’m too lazy to play the game, just give me everything, I don’t want to work for anything. Just give me a button that gives me stuff!”
This is about the second thread we’ve had in as many days asking for content done for them. If you don’t want to do them, don’t. No one has a gun to your head. Now if you want world completion, work for it.
People need to stop asking for other people to play the game for them.
Renown hearts are meant to take so long because they are a big chunk made up of little stories for the NPCs in the world of Tyria you character is meant to help. Map completion isn’t meant to be easy and instant, which is why the reward at the end are tied to legendary weapons.
So sorry, as I said to the account bound Hero Challenges and account bound Waypoints topics – no thanks. Leave Map Completion as it is.
