Guild Wars 2

I thought you were leaving?

Ayrilana.1396:

It’s a build that allows you to be effective with little to no effort.

I found this the most useful answer.

However, I will point out that it seems that some players do act rather sour about builds that are ‘effective with little to no effort’.

Doesn’t that just mean it’s an efficient build?

mauried.5608:

Theres a simple fix to the entire AFK farming problem.
And thats to simply totally randomise the respawn locations of the mobs being farmed, so that once the mobs are killed, they respawn again in a totally random location.
This way, no one will know where to locate their AFK farmers.

So, Nightmare Court can spawn where Destroyers live? Or Bandits spawn where Ettins live? The location of the mobs are in their current positions from a lore perspective. Your idea would fix one thing for a few players, but it would totally break immersion and the story of the world for every player.

Loboling.5293:

I’ve been killing afk farmers in multiple games for a while. If they are specced efficiently its fairly easy to end them. If they spec for tanking, well let them be, and report. I used to afk farm on my engie (5 minutes at a time with turrets) when I had to afk during world completion. I first used them as defense, but then I noticed I got loot and xp. Very cool. For rangers and necros, well they could get the same 5 minutes despawn timer if they are afk. But, in all honesty, this doesn’t bother me at all. When is the last time you ran SW. My bags are super full in 30-45 minutes, tons of loot. I feel like afk farming is slower than slow, its more of an offshoot from trying to keep the game fun for pet classes.

I say leave it as is. However, I sure hope they continue to work on botting. It’s different if you don’t get logged out eventually, because a program is moving your character. Then you can farm all day, which is already against the game’s rules. Botting is not the same problem as afk farming. Unless there is some trick I’m unaware of, but I figured after 20/30 minutes you get logged off for being afk?

It’s not about how much they can get. It’s about getting it whilst being in bed or at school or work whilst not actually playing.

Jahroots.6791:

This has got to be a free player issue. I feel like everyone else who owns the game is just…above all this.

It’s not a free player issue, since you have to own HoT to have the Pact Mastery line to get the loot whilst AFK.

Syllvir.4176:

Question for all those that are against the “afk farming” and using the phrase “not playing as intended”.

I have real life issues that prevent me from playing the most optimal way. I sometimes sit in one area of the game and let my necro pets do all the killing as I don’t have the energy or dexterity for anything else.

I am sitting in front of my screen (usually with a movie on another screen) and glancing at the game screen every 10 seconds or so. I set my auto cast button on my summon bone minions and explode them as they are summoned. The exploded minions create poison rings that will kill most anything veteran or below. I will have to occasionly heal but sometimes can go 30 min or so without hitting a button.

Would I be a target of random people coming up and reporting me?

If so why do I have to be harrassed in this way just playing a game to my best ability?

I recommend you no longer do it. If you want to earn money, you can do so by gathering wood or metal nodes. No time limits, you can take a break whenever you want, and you don’t have to rely on other players being there/not being there.

Forum Bug is Confusing.

This won’t resolve anything. They are like flies around an open bin with apple cores. Remove the food source, and the flies just migrate somewhere else. The AFK farmers will find another spot to farm the materials, say Flame Legion for example, then we’ll have to deal with that.

Does anyone remember that massive ban wave that happened when people exploited the Mystic Forge shortly after release? I can’t remember what the exact exploit was, but didn’t that use in-game mechanics too, and still wound up with the banning of a massive amount of accounts?

usnedward.9023:

Yeah again the system allows for someone to stand there and “AFK farm”.

The suspension my guess would be is a different mechanic in use.

I only reply again today because I got a guildie and a couple on map to come watch two Rangers “AFK farm”. The issue is one of them was spamming at every CD his heal… you could time it. I even talked in “say” about it with others in front of them and no response, movement and the one kept spamming his heal.

So I reported both as bots in case this is a person with two separate accounts because of what I witnessed. Now I have seen others stand there and do nothing but let pets or minions attack and not worth reporting because there was no indication of an outside mechanic being used ie program…macro…

Again…ANET has a long road ahead if the intend to fix the “AFK Farming” but I suppose as long as it is within game terms not much in that aspect I believe they will NOT do in the immediate future.

I report them all to be honest. It’s not up to me to determine which one is cheating and which one isn’t. I report what I suspect as cheating and walk on and go back to what I’m doing (usually in this case where I see AFK farmers, it’s when I’m At-Keyboard farming myself).

It’s not up to me to be judge of who or who isn’t botting/AFK Farming, that’s up to the GMs. I have a few of them on block and gave them nicknames of where they were AFK farming. Some are still at the places and online, others are not, which suggests to me that they are taking action on some (maybe they’re more serious cases, I dunno) but not others.

So I’ve heard a off a few people now, especially in PvP and in the forums, that some builds are called ‘Cheese’ builds. But what exactly is a cheese build?

ArenaNet will be taking my money anyway, no matter what, when the next expansion comes out.

Let’s face it, they’ll be taking most of yours too, even if you deny it now.

STIHL.2489:

Yup, total cheese, in case you were wondering, with that put out, if you have any confusions about if this topic is about confusion and torment, feel free to not torment me with them.

Ok, so back to my original question, and please no politician’s answer this time:

What makes that build a cheese build?

My point is, why does it warrant name-calling a certain way of defeating an enemy, but another way of defeating an enemy is ok?

HiddenNick.7206:

Can we have other metal nodes than Mithril in 80 areas?

It’s as inconvenient as it’s just plain silly that Mithril is the most common metal in the entire game… It drops from all the Heavy trash you find. And all the areas that are filled with players have only Mithril nodes. It’s becoming a weed in this sense…

The current state of metal nodes also encourages farming as it’s only way to acquire large amounts of other metal types.

Fix it! Thanks!

I don’t understand why you want nodes to be in places where other players are, unless you want to do both mining and champ train farming at the same time. This would be too much, and all it would do anyway is devalue the other nodes you want, making it cheaper, and then that node might end up being the most common metal.

Then someone will post a thread saying something like “Why is Iron in Orr when it’s so cheap?”

I think Divinity’s Reach would be cooler than The Black Citadel, since The Black Citadel has that massive junker’s yard with the lava.

Donari.5237:

I saw a druid autoattacking with staff on a constant spawn in Harathi the other day. S/he didn’t respond to queries about whether they were afk, was standing in a safe spot, and just celestial sonar pinging down the spawning attackers. I figured there was no way to afk press 1 the moment the spawn appeared and felt quite comfortable reporting the bot.

I don’t recall seeing any pet, come to think of it, but I didn’t look hard for one. There were some other, active players around so I could have seen a pet and thought it belonged to them.

You can still report AFK farmers under ‘Botting’ anyway, whether they are using a third party program or not.

Ayrilana.1396:

And now there’s another suspension to another player.

I suggest that everyone stops AFK farming now.

Yep. If everyone is looking for a clear statement on it, the suspensions are it.

It would have been a good idea had it been like this to start with, but as it’s a system that uses up materials (and thus purchases from TP in most cases) it would have a huge negative impact on the economy to implement this idea now.

Again, that was not saying AFK farming was allowed. It was saying that if a pet kills for you and you gain loot, it is allowed, not purposely positioning yourself somewhere and going away whilst you sleep to gain loot or XP for your central Tyrian Masteries.

To quote:

Michael Henninger.7451:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

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.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Ranger-Pet-Botting/page/3#post6093187

STIHL.2489:

penelopehannibal.8947:

Everyone needs some build to win. What makes one build cheese and another one not?

I believe the OP outlined that, where they explained that these conditions had dual effects, which is what made them Cheesy in comparison to other Conditions.

I’m not asking the OP, I’m asking you what makes a build ‘cheese’ since it was you who said it!

If having more than one effect on a condition means it should be nerfed, then they should nerf might as well, because it increases both power and condition damage. Let it only increase condition damage. Would you like that?

STIHL.2489:

BrotherBelial.3094:

Ah, yes. I can see what’s happening here. “I keep getting beaten by people running condition builds. Yes it must be the torment and confusion killing me.”

This is a L2P issue. I play warrior mostly, I have 4 of them. So if I can beat condition builds, and I’m not that good, anyone can, with some practice.

I don’t think that is what they are saying anymore then what you’re saying is “Please don’t nerf my builds, I need this cheese to win”

Everyone needs some build to win. What makes one build cheese and another one not?

Loosmaster.8263:

penelopehannibal.8947:

BrotherBelial.3094:

Ah, yes. I can see what’s happening here. “I keep getting beaten by people running condition builds. Yes it must be the torment and confusion killing me.”

This is a L2P issue. I play warrior mostly, I have 4 of them. So if I can beat condition builds, and I’m not that good, anyone can, with some practice.

Agreed. Torment is a L2NotMove condition. Confusion is a L2NotHit condition. Or you can use condition removal skills/traits as well.

The DOT on Confusion was added not too long ago, and was a welcome change, especially for PvE players but probably for PvP/WvW players too (as long as they were the ones doing the inflicting, of course!)

I’d like to see you not move in WvW. You’re saying “Just stand there and eat my Confusion stacks because you will die from both if even think about dodging?” Cleansed, dodge, boom. WTH, I got stacks on me again.

Each player on the opposing team have the same chance of getting the same conditions on them as you do as well.

Orpheal.8263:

In your opinion maybe, please refrain from trying to change mine.

I’m not trying to change your opinion, you have whatever opinion you want. It’s the way you’re expressing it that I’m talking about. There really is no need to be so hyperbolic about it.

BrotherBelial.3094:

Ah, yes. I can see what’s happening here. “I keep getting beaten by people running condition builds. Yes it must be the torment and confusion killing me.”

This is a L2P issue. I play warrior mostly, I have 4 of them. So if I can beat condition builds, and I’m not that good, anyone can, with some practice.

Agreed. Torment is a L2NotMove condition. Confusion is a L2NotHit condition. Or you can use condition removal skills/traits as well.

The DOT on Confusion was added not too long ago, and was a welcome change, especially for PvE players but probably for PvP/WvW players too (as long as they were the ones doing the inflicting, of course!)

Two things are puzzling me about this now.

1. People are risking their accounts with a type of farming they know to be controversial, but go ahead and do it anyway (and some are then confused as to why they receive a ban afterwards).

2. Why it’s still being argued by some as an ok way to farm despite people actually being banned for it.

Orpheal.8263:

Massive Long Rant

I recommend you try to relax every once in a while. A system we have in place that you personally don’t like, doesn’t make it ‘dumb’, ‘idiotic’, ‘ridiculous’ etc. etc..

DoctorDing.5890:

I’m with TwoGhosts on this one. There are not enough AFK’ers to affect the economy for now. Anet act pretty quickly when there is a serious outbreak of botting or exploiting but small scale AFK’ing for small scale rewards is just not that important to me. Don’t sweat the small stuff.

Because if a green light was lit for this kind of thing, it would have an impact, and would affect more than just the economy when swarms of AFK farmers come out of the woodwork.

Please! Please! Please! NO!

mauried.5608:

There doesnt need to be any justification for the AFK farmers.
All thats required is to determine whether the AFK farmers are or are not playing the game as intended, and until someone can provide some document that defines what playing the game as intended means, this entire thread is simply pure speculation.

I think we can define playing as intended as just playing in this case. If you’re AFK farming, you’re not playing. Fingers need to be on keys if you want to be classed as playing.

SkyFallsInThunder.8257:

Ayrilana.1396:

The advantage that they are getting is making gold (through drops) while not being at their computer. Whether or not there are better ways to make gold while actively playing is irrelavent.

I see. So by that logic players who flip stuff on the TP (putting in buy orders, logging off, then logging back in later and listing what they bought, then logging back out) are also in this same situation? After all they are making gold without playing and while not only being afk, but completely logged off!

Sigh…

Your argument doesn’t make sense.

When someone uses the TP, (whether to flip or not) one click places an order, one click makes a purchase and one click sells an item. It’s irrelevant to AFK farming where someone makes one click to walk away and gain more than one loot, whilst the character is staying in the game as indefinitely as they can.

The two are nowhere near the same, and I think you know it. This sounds like you’re scraping the barrel to come up with a justification for these AFK farmers.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

penelopehannibal.8947:

This is going to get at least 400 replies..

And I wonder how many of those 400 will be trying to spin it that GW2 is dying, LOL.

~EW

Aye, my thoughts exactly. The words ‘this is proof’ will be used a lot!!

This is going to get at least 400 replies..

There’s too many things for me to say one particular piece of end game I enjoy the most. The biggest two are Map Completion and RP though.

When progression becomes instant, it’s not progression anymore.

sirsquishy.8531:

The players do not decide, they just merely interpret the rules of what the GMs set.

This is absolutely correct.

The GMs do the decision making. We merely interpreted, and we interpreted correctly it seems.

Considering that:

Michael Henninger.7451:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

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.

Jhoul.6923:

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Jhoul.6923:

I made the post for WP, but this I don’t approve, for WP they could add something to compensate the work (like require ppl to tag every WP in a map without porting in one go to get the unlocking WP part of map completion) but just unlocking heart, i do not approve.

His request isn’t that different from yours. Both of you want a substantial part of map completion to be done with the “touch of a button.” It’s only what you are asking for that’s different.

You did not understand my point with WP, you will still have to run to every WP without porting, once you port to another WP the count goes to zero… so you still have to run to each WP for individual maps… actually this would even make it harder and even more mindless… And since you like mindless content I though you would like this idea at least.

You mean “I’ve done it with one character, can I do it with just one more character and it be instantly done for all the rest”? It’s still instant completion however way you look at it.

Taking bets. Account Bound vistas tomorrow?

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.

Here for your enjoyment, I found a bot this morning that wasn’t only AFK farming, but as evident was using 3rd party programme to constantly spam skill 1 of it’s longbow as well.

So I popped over with my mesmer (I’m the human, the Sylvari is a guild friend of mine who isn’t a bot!) with the Bouquet of Flowers toy, and tossed a bunch to it. Although it didn’t stop the bot (the Asura) from gaining loot from the constant spawning of a nearby drake, it was fun to watch for a short while!

Of course, I also used the in-game report system first!

Edit: The originally idea behind the flowers was to try and force the bot into costume brawl, so I could then use Mad King Scepter to fear it out of the way. Unfortunately didn’t work since the flowers need to have a charge up to activate costume brawl, but was still fun to watch the little blighter bash the floor with the flowers a few times!

The Zephyrite. With dashes and leaps and blinds and stuff. Sort of maybe like, crossing an elementalist with a thief. But probably more support based.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

For those that say it’s only 25% and those who do map completion after buying waypoints should still get Map Completion Rewards and Gifts of Exploration, how about looking at it from this perspective.

It’s a pretty big ‘only’ too – since once you’ve got all waypoints unlocked, you can quickly zip between points on each match to fill in the blanks, saving more than 25% of time needed to do map completion.

More and more topics like this. A symptom of instant 80’s I think. I’ve done it 18 times now, and I still say no to these suggestions.

Anything worth having is worth working for, including map completion.

Behellagh.1468:

If an account has been terminated, then maybe … but that’s like the only case. And since I would guess most terminated accounts are gold seller advertisers with names like ljhafdshdsf, I don’t think anybody is waiting for that one.

I was so annoyed the other day when I wanted to have the name Gfghifasdk but that was taken, so I had to use an accented í instead.

I always wonder what name people wish they had when these topics come up! Usually it’s something like Gandalf or John Snow (why people are wanting to name their character after a British newsreader I’ll never know, but it seems popular!) or something combined from other franchises.

The system is fine as it is. There are literally billions of combinations of letters and spaces you can use to come up with an original name!

Your friend can appeal it if it’s in error. He should have received an email, or the notification when trying to log on shows the email address he can submit an appeal to.

Alternatively, he can submit a ticket by clicking the support link at the top of the page.

Harper.4173:

penelopehannibal.8947:

Harper.4173:

My question to all those who are reporting these farms is this:
How do you distinguish between a human doing what I described above and a bot?

We players can’t distinguish it. That’s up to ArenaNet to come to a conclusion whether a player is breaking the ToS or not. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t report if we suspect a player is cheating though.

Chris Cleary

If you believe that you have run into a player who is cheating, please feel free to report them! You can do so by using the right-click report functionality (Report as Bot), and/or by emailing information to exploits@arena.net.

Yes – and it is important that that definition be made public and clear – so people know what’s permitted and what isn’t.

Agreed, grey areas never help, though it’s probably a bit difficult for them to actually give a single, straight answer since each decision is made on a case-by-case basis.

Harper.4173:

My question to all those who are reporting these farms is this:
How do you distinguish between a human doing what I described above and a bot?

We players can’t distinguish it. That’s up to ArenaNet to come to a conclusion whether a player is breaking the ToS or not. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t report if we suspect a player is cheating though.

Chris Cleary

If you believe that you have run into a player who is cheating, please feel free to report them! You can do so by using the right-click report functionality (Report as Bot), and/or by emailing information to exploits@arena.net.

Number of players is only part of the equation as well. A game with only 10, 000 players might have each of those players playing on average of 10 hours a day, when a game with 100,000 players might get an average play time of just two hours a day on average.

100,000 views could have one person doing 99,999 refreshing the page.

Scipion.7548:

I have experienced the opposite most of the time. People with bunny ears and stupid wings are often -18 year old people.

I’m 34.