I've spent 180 hours in Guild Wars 2 and I've run into Bots once, and they didn't even bother me then when I did.  Just did the event with them and moved on.

You guys make too much of a deal about nothing.

<edit> nvm , I gave the botters waay too much credit :)

BTW, this is a hilarious suggestion from youtube:

How to deal with bots:Bring a mesmer with "Portal Entre" and lead him to his death..you can be sureboth bots and people using macros are spamming the lootkey which luckily also are the interact key..so you can either lead him to a lot of mobs that will kill him or to a cliff..might? take a couple of portals to travel a longer distance but its hilarious.

Originally posted by Connmacart

Originally posted by itgrowls

Originally posted by Jyiiga

Originally posted by Connmacart
Oh look another over exaggerating thread about bots. Still have to find my first plain as day bot. I'm sure I ran past a few, but no obvious ones that you and your like keep saying are running rampant throughout every zone of the game. Neither has my girlfriend for that matter.

You are either on a low(est) population server. Play Spvp or WvW primairly or completely and utterly oblivious to everything going on around you. Sorry. 

I can take you into game right now and lead you around and point them out to you. At any time of day, every single day of the week. 

You DO realize that there are only TWO count them TWO US low population servers and ONE of them was not there until last week. right? yeah. ALL of the other ones say full ALL day long. The point he was making and I agree, is it's not anywhere near what people are claiming it to be. I actually saw multiple threads on mmorpg.com that claimed it was in EVERY zone on EVERY server US and EU. THAT's what his point was. 

If people spent more time playing the game and less time wondering what some gold farmer was doing, there might be some enjoyment possibly.

Thank you that was my point yes. Just for the record. I'm on Far Shiverpeaks. I have 2 level 80s one on 99% exploration. Having trouble with the last 1% Since the French basically control The Eternal Battlegrounds constantly. The other above 70% completion. 

You the OP need to realise that just because a few servers are affected doesn't mean all of them are. 

Exactly! The over-exagerrated bot posts are nothing but the desperate attempt at trying to smear GW2's reputation in anyway possible.

Are there bots in GW2? Of course there are!

Do these bots make up the majority of the population in the zones they are affecting? Of course not.

Are they truly as big a detriment to the gameplay as stated in this thread? Not even close.

They are a nuisance and nothing more...and yes some servers may have more bots than others but no where near the numbers being stated. That is just good ol' fashioned libel (look it up) at its best. Now apparently by being honest about the problem and not blowing it out of proportion means im "Sticking my fingers in my ears and saying LALALALALA"  or  "I'm just another GW2 die-hard fanboi" then so be it. I'll continue to enjoy my time in game regardless. And for the record I have been playing since launch, 1 lvl 60, 1 lvl 36, and 1 lvl 18 (no 80's yet...dam you RL obligations!!! haha)....have yet to spot even one bot, at least no obvious ones at that.

Oh look another post with exaggerating claims about botting. True i have noticed maybe one or two bots in my 40 days of playing and True they can have the ability to alter in some way the economy. But i still have yet to seen its effects in the community. Do you work for blizzard by any chance? Oh and just curious, did those bots you CLAIM to have encounter effect your gameplaying experince? In reality there isnt any more a bot problem then there is in ANY mmo.

Please just shut this troll thread down.

Oh and i play in JQ server if anyone cared to know.

Originally posted by ButeoRegalis

nvm , I gave the botters waay too much credit :)

BTW, this is a hilarious suggestion from youtube:

How to deal with bots:Bring a mesmer with "Portal Entre" and lead him to his death..you can be sureboth bots and people using macros are spamming the lootkey which luckily also are the interact key..so you can either lead him to a lot of mobs that will kill him or to a cliff..might? take a couple of portals to travel a longer distance but its hilarious.

That is hilarious and I would LOVE to see a YouTube example of that!

Originally posted by BadSpock

Originally posted by ButeoRegalis

nvm , I gave the botters waay too much credit :)

BTW, this is a hilarious suggestion from youtube:

How to deal with bots:Bring a mesmer with "Portal Entre" and lead him to his death..you can be sureboth bots and people using macros are spamming the lootkey which luckily also are the interact key..so you can either lead him to a lot of mobs that will kill him or to a cliff..might? take a couple of portals to travel a longer distance but its hilarious.

That is hilarious and I would LOVE to see a YouTube example of that!

Thing that disappoints me the most is that I constantly will go out of my way to get bots killed. Pull a crap ton of mobs then have them sit all over them. Sadly thou, people are stupid. Thus they see dead corpse lying there, walk up to it and rez it because its free exp, even though I tell them that it is a bot. They shrug and go not my problem, and go on their way. Sadly it's clearly not a problem to the majority of the players since noone cares whether one can do whatever it wants or not. People are to blaim just as much as the dev's and the botters. If people don't care besides a select few, why should the devs? They got more important things to deal with.

Originally posted by BadSpock

Originally posted by ButeoRegalis

nvm , I gave the botters waay too much credit :)

BTW, this is a hilarious suggestion from youtube:

How to deal with bots:Bring a mesmer with "Portal Entre" and lead him to his death..you can be sureboth bots and people using macros are spamming the lootkey which luckily also are the interact key..so you can either lead him to a lot of mobs that will kill him or to a cliff..might? take a couple of portals to travel a longer distance but its hilarious.

That is hilarious and I would LOVE to see a YouTube example of that!

Another one I've read about is buying some fireworks in Rata Sum, and then drop them off bots feet... they pick them up and since they change the weapon skills, they run around shooting fireworks instead of attacking mobs.. :)

What benefit exactly does a 12 page bitching and whining thread breaking forum rules give to ANet that not only acknowledges the issue but has created an entire security team to fight it?

If nothing else I commend them for trying to keep their forums sane.

Oh noes there are bots in a popular game. that's outragous. And the company behing it doesn't ban them withing an hour of report. Unforgivable.

Seriously people need to get a life and undrestand the world isn't perfect. DEAL WITH IT.

Originally posted by JeroKane

Originally posted by Fendel84M
How do the bots hurt anybody? What if they were actually a big group of players instead of bots? Would it make you feel better? lol

Because they interfere with your questing, killing all the mobs.

Because they interfere with your harvesting, clearing all the nodes the moment they spawn.

On top of that, they use teleport hacks to instantly go from one spawn point to the other.

 

It was the same with Aion way back after launch. Entire zones were cleared of mobs by huge bot trains, preventing "real" players from questing!  It was absolutely terrible and was the main reason for me to quit that game at that time. As NCSoft didn't do anything to combat it! Bots that were reported were farming on the exact same spots more than a week later.

Just like with Aion, in GW2 bots are just running around in plain sight of everyone to see. Totally fearless.

Sure there were bots in WoW and EQ2 as well, but at least there they were more careful and sought out remote places, because they were actually scared to be banned.

Bots I reported in both WoW and EQ2 actually dissapeared within a couple hours to a day at most.

That's the difference.

Wrong game

I will say I see bots and get mail, I do understand bots being in every MMO, and I do understand ANET working on the issue, if correct and using common sense, the bots would be fucking with ANET's income? Because if that's not the case, then sure that can be iffy.

Do I see a  lot of bots, no, but i'm aware they can be redundant in [certaint] areas on different servers with different locations.

So, that being said, if it's that much of an issue and somehow effecting you, please be patient, or log off, get some fresh air or play another game, if you must or would rather play another MMO, then do so.

Remember when they do fix or actually clear majority of the botting problem you can come back.

You guys be easy and enjoy your lives, oh and ANET is hiring if you want to fix the problem in the snap of a finger I suggest getting a job at A-NET and fixing the issue in the timely fashion you prefer. In fact this goes out to any who have these short of issues with any game, it's good not to be oblvious but if it's really easy please go fix it. Now if companies like A-NET aren't hiring then refer to my other suggestions.

If my suggestions suck then hey I'm not sorry, nor am I trying to be an asshole, just it is what it is honestly.

Takecare fellas and peace/deuces.

Edited: Actually I decided to come back, forgot to say, it's not a bad thing to keep complaining, because that's how shit gets changed, acting an ass about the complaint doesn't make shit happen faster, only reason I finally am saying my 2 cents now is because I agreed with the posts earlier about botting, and I don't know about you guys but I already can tell A-Net [gets it] "but if they 'get it' why aren't they gone?" because fixing shit like that probally isn't that easy, [DUH].

"How was the OP acting an ass he/she was just making a statement." figure it out yourselves, I also put acusations in same category as acting an ass.

Also to those who keep tryin to act like it's not an issue shut that mess up please, because the bots are there, they may not be a major issue for your server and etc but it's possible esle where.

So am I on sides no not really, though I will be vocal in a few months if the bots [increase] rather than [decrease] so in essence I'll be with the complainers/bitchers lol. 

Now deuces and enjoy life.

---

Originally posted by TdogSkal

---

Originally posted by JeroKane

---

Originally posted by Fendel84M How do the bots hurt anybody? What if they were actually a big group of players instead of bots? Would it make you feel better? lol

---

Because they interfere with your questing, killing all the mobs. Because they interfere with your harvesting, clearing all the nodes the moment they spawn. On top of that, they use teleport hacks to instantly go from one spawn point to the other.   It was the same with Aion way back after launch. Entire zones were cleared of mobs by huge bot trains, preventing "real" players from questing!  It was absolutely terrible and was the main reason for me to quit that game at that time. As NCSoft didn't do anything to combat it! Bots that were reported were farming on the exact same spots more than a week later. Just like with Aion, in GW2 bots are just running around in plain sight of everyone to see. Totally fearless. Sure there were bots in WoW and EQ2 as well, but at least there they were more careful and sought out remote places, because they were actually scared to be banned. Bots I reported in both WoW and EQ2 actually dissapeared within a couple hours to a day at most. That's the difference.

---

How about playing the game before you post about it.  You clearly have never played Guild Wars 2 ever.

Nobody can clear the harvesting nodes for you, they are there until YOU MINE THEM.  Same with mobs and quest.   Mobs spawn so fast that there is zero chance of them clearing all of them.  GW2 is built not to allow bots or others to stop you from progressing and it works very very well.   

Harvesting nodes are per your toon, not anybody else's toon.   There can be 500 bots running around mining and I will still be able to mine every node in the zone.  FACT.

GW2 Bots are also removed within a few days.  I reported 3 bots on Saturday morning and by Sunday they were gone.

Please try and play the game before you talk about it.  You clearly have never played GW2.  

Another hater that has never played the game but is some how an expert on the issues we have.  

Botting is an issue but biggest issue is idiot sellers on the trader selling stuff at a lost because of the tax system and screwing the market up for the rest of us.  When an 18 slot bag costs 2 gold to make after mining all the mats and it sells for 2g 20 silver.  That is not a good profit at all for the time it takes to get the mats.

 

---

Thats the gold sellers selling stuff at a lost most of the time. To them its nothing. When you have 20 bots farming 24/7 you can easily sell stuff low (even at a lost to what most others would be able to sell at). To them its doesnt matter since making gold is there primary goal. Rather its selling so low noone else can match it or what have you. You find what people are going to buy the most and you sell it cheaper then anyone else.

Originally posted by JeroKane

Originally posted by Fendel84M
How do the bots hurt anybody? What if they were actually a big group of players instead of bots? Would it make you feel better? lol

Because they interfere with your questing, killing all the mobs.

Because they interfere with your harvesting, clearing all the nodes the moment they spawn.

On top of that, they use teleport hacks to instantly go from one spawn point to the other.

 

It was the same with Aion way back after launch. Entire zones were cleared of mobs by huge bot trains, preventing "real" players from questing!  It was absolutely terrible and was the main reason for me to quit that game at that time. As NCSoft didn't do anything to combat it! Bots that were reported were farming on the exact same spots more than a week later.

Just like with Aion, in GW2 bots are just running around in plain sight of everyone to see. Totally fearless.

Sure there were bots in WoW and EQ2 as well, but at least there they were more careful and sought out remote places, because they were actually scared to be banned.

Bots I reported in both WoW and EQ2 actually dissapeared within a couple hours to a day at most.

That's the difference.

 You cant have harvesting nodes cleared on you. BOTs suck but they dont clear nodes and when I see them near a DE I am doing they never kill things so fast that I cant get damage in and get credit. I still want all BOTs banned. The problem is a lot of what people call BOTs are farmers.

OP, that shutdown post is just a red flag that AN is overwhelmed by the bot problem currently.  It has a level of chippiness to it that shows some frustration leaking out.

Given that, it's probably the right call to go dark until they have the banhammer of d00m ready.  If they did a daily "We apologize for the inconvienence, and thank you for your patience" post the actual players would start saying "URGE TO KILL RISING" and troll each one to death.  Silence and speculation that something's happening Soon can't do more damage than timely confirmation that nothing IS happening now.  Still, they way AN's going about it is pretty ham-fisted so far.

And there is absolutely a real problem happening. If you, as a player, haven't seen it for yourself, count your lucky shinies.  If AN can't get it under control you WILL see them eventually, and they WILL start blocking your game in one way or another, as it's just a matter of time if left unchecked.

I have no idea how bad the botting problem is since i did not log in for a couple weeks but most ppl who complain about them seem to argue that they destroy the economy and that is bad since the players have a harder time getting gold.

So they complain that Anet is too slow to deal with a problem which makes it harder for the players to get gold which they can use on gems....

I do not understand that

Don't all of you who complain about botting see that its good for business?

You have a hard time to earn gems with gold so you end up spending money for them and the GW2 fans are doing a great job of discrediting everyone who claims bots are a problem so Anets image is saved sounds like a win win for me and i as a company would have my employees botting as well ;) 

That of course only works if the argument about botting destroying economies is valid tho ;)

I do NOT understand the point of people defending the botting situation by downplaying it with 'oh look another exaggerated post regarding...' All I can figure is that either the naysayers are true fanbois and feeling 'their game' is being attacked or they buy/sell gold. Or they are just jackasses. There is always that.

The bots are there and all over the place. I've been on 3 servers and they all have bots, in all areas and lots of them. Many are getting much more subtle, many of the names are 'legitimate-ish' and a lot of them are using warping programs rather than running trains (though the trains are still frequent enough but they are still there. Some of the bots both trains and warpers are running in guilds now. *sigh*

I've gotten so used to them, I just report them when I see them if they don't warp/run out of range and then I move on.

If 1K people say it's happening and 50 say not...guess who is the more likely in accuracy.

ANet is just blocking the posts because all it does is incite more upset. The issue is real though. I am sure they are working on it but it's disappointing that they've taken the 'block all comments' approach.

Originally posted by Doomedfox

 

I have no idea how bad the botting problem is since i did not log in for a couple weeks but most ppl who complain about them seem to argue that they destroy the economy and that is bad since the players have a harder time getting gold.

So they complain that Anet is too slow to deal with a problem which makes it harder for the players to get gold which they can use on gems....

I do not understand that

Don't all of you who complain about botting see that its good for business?

You have a hard time to earn gems with gold so you end up spending money for them and the GW2 fans are doing a great job of discrediting everyone who claims bots are a problem so Anets image is saved sounds like a win win for me and i as a company would have my employees botting as well ;) 

That of course only works if the argument about botting destroying economies is valid tho ;)

 GW2 has BOTs, BOTs hurt the in game economy without a doubt. But people keep talking about buying Gems with money like Gems are needed. You dont ever need to buy gems so people saying that BOTs help Anet make money are wrong and dont understand.

Anet is not paying for Botting. Such claims are ridiculous.

I miss the days when there were actually people doing the gold farming.  You know, the guy from country X who had to meet a quota but was basically friendly and would sometimes do an instance run for fun.

I'll still take ANets response over Blizzards non response on the subject.