This topic is centred around PVP, but Bots are used in all fields of WOW gameplay. Id would like to bring this to as many people's attention as I can.
Bots in PVP – THIS HAS TO STOP.
It’s been brought to my attention that the usage of ‘Programme-controlled warcraft toons’ in PVP is on the increase. In fact, this is an understatement. It’s out of control. For a long time I’ve sat through my own mini-nerd rages because of lack of teamwork/co-operation on my faction side was so dire. This now, I have found through investigative study – isn’t due to being in an utterly rubbish group of pvpers... but because of lazy arrogant people paying an outside company to run a pre-programmed script that mimics a person playing player-vs-player legitimately. Bots who honour grind are not grinding for honour... but to convert Honour Points to Justice Points – as a bot in a dungeon is far, far more damn obvious.
In a BG, bot packs can be seen blatantly. The ‘Soulwell test’ is one example – take Isle of Conquest (IoC). Everyone stands, waiting at the doors... then someone (bot or not) puts down a warlock soulwell. *every single bot will immediately run to the soulwell, take one, and then move back/mount up immediately back to where they originally stood –using items, mounting and moving to location as one.* I’ve taken to using a /BG macro at the start of every Battleground I go to drawing peoples attention to this test – usually with the help of a warlock friend, just so the real human players can see the scale of this cheat. The responses are shocked and angry... as expected.
Late night PVP will also illustrate the scale of this utter cheat. This example again comes from personal observation. This was a 40 man IoC raid – 5 of us were human. The botpack mounted, ran out – and stopped (Human players had hung back to watch this) without a real human player to follow, the entire team stood at the doors, and did nothing. Then when a human player got close... *every single one of the bots targeted him and /followed* when that person moved out too far away, they targeted someone else and /followed them instead. We gave up the prospect of winning, and instead played ‘bot-hearding’
On the opposite end of this scale, if you attack one enemy bot –ALL bots will immediately turn and attack you, using skills programmed to take out your class as one. No human players can co-ordinate in this way... nor survive against it.
In AV – the botpack I observed charged the full length of the valley, ignoring towers, enemy players and graveyards to get to the alliance boss’s graveyard flag... then stop. This botpack did nothing until the points were in favour of the horde... before all of them charging into the boss room as one. Id like to add with this scenario, the alliance were wailing on us in their own base – and the botpack did nothing to aid or help, frustratingly. What really irritates me about this particular instance is the fact we won; however the human players however were the ones doing the actual winning... whinging all the while about bots.
Now... Bots are blatant in the larger raids... you can see them move mount and so on acting as one player almost. They get in everywhere – 10 to 40 man battlegrounds. I’ve seen and observed bots on both sides and the little clues really do give it away. I’ve even come to recognise the ‘roost spots’ a bot will use and move to if nothing is happening (like the rock on the road to the hangar in IoC specifically about 10 toons standing on this one rock doing bugger all) I have made a LOT of observations, and have a LOT of screenshots.
And now I move onto the actual reporting on this.
Blizzard, it seems does NOT seem to care very much about this issue. I’d love to say they do, but the responses I have received, and the responses people in my guild have received are disappointing to say the least. If I was mean-minded, I would say Blizzard is happy their servers are in near constant use because mini bot armies are constantly waging war on each other. This server use and ‘active’ accounts make them think they are doing well. Im not mean-minded, im pretty confident this isn’t the case... but part of me is damnwell suspecting this.
Below is the recommended thing to do when a player suspects another player for cheating, given via mail to a suggestion that perhaps...maybe... there ought to be a human test introduced to the Bgs... (This also illustrates that the Gm who read this... didn’t actually read it.)
‘Greetings,
Please right-click on the players portrait and select ‘report player for cheating’
This provides all the information we need to investigate issues promptly. The game master team no longer handles cheat reports via petition’
Now... let’s take that 40 man scenario. 35 players are bots. Can you click on every single name and report for cheating? Should you? Is it viable to do this in the 1.5 mins before a battleground? Are you really shooting yourself in the foot by reporting them, removing half your team (if you’re fast with the clicky-clicky)... which gets filled again with yet more bots?
Somehow, this stupid, stupid situation is being missed by Blizzard.
Reporting one player isn’t stopping the problem... true PVPers in fact, true GAMERS want to stop the problem.
As irritating as human tests go – I’m calling for one at the start of any Battleground, typing in a randomly generated number or partially obscured word – anyone who’s applied for accounts online will be familiar with tests like this. And then there’s the more inventive human tests; I’ve noticed Bots cant click on graveyards or control points like Workshop, Lumbermill etc. Why not something in every start zone which means clicking on coloured points on the floor in sequence? Like guitar hero but for PVP... I can see a big problem if a large amount of bots are instantly kicked... running out of a 40 man raid with 20 people is going to be awkward... but rest assured... it would be the same for the other side as well.
For my part, I’m going all draconian. At the start of every Battleground I am attending, I’m using a new macro. It will go something like this:
[BOT AWARENESS] Stop the bots! If you are human... step away from the main cluster of toons! (Watch what happens with the soulwell.) Prove you’re human. Jump. Flex. Fart. Fidget! Standing still means a BOT. I do not want to accidentally report a real player for cheating, but I will report all those stood rock-still. STOP BOT CHEATERS! Player vs Player means exactly that!
I WILL report who I think are bots.
I am sorry if in this process – I accidentally report a real player.
What choice do we have, in truth?
If anyone has any thoughts on this, I would love to hear them.
Kind regards,
Dolldakka, The Sha’tar.
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