Bots are already becoming an issue

    Quote from Deepee
    Quote from Hellorien

    SUGGESTION (to GAMEFORGE).

    make an automatic CHATBAN for the websites the goldvendors use

    warning the first time, and then 48hours for saying any of their website names automatically, automated response is a great way to fight automated attack

    If you do a google search on Aion Chat Filter, the first link has instructions on how to install a filter that blocks kinah spammers.

    I think you're missing the whole point of my idea.

    the idea wasnt that we wont be bothered by it as players, it was that it would stop altogether. if you chat ban the actual person that advertises, there is no way for the botters to do business (aka sell their merch, which relies heavily on these global chat yells), if they get chatbanned and they arent disconnected the operator of the bot has no actual notification that the bot is not bringing in any fresh money for a while. if he discovers it, it doesnt matter, because their next shouter will also be chatbanned etc. the point is to use automation to fight automation.


    if you have to individually filter/block vendors, you're not solving the botting problems, you're just ignoring it.

    I feel like i need to mention here that players also use bots for their own benefits - and not only for making irl cash.

    good point

    Honestly, you are asking us to do a job that should be done by a team of employees, it's the company's job to monitor and ban bots, to give quality in the game to real customers. If we are going to open 1 ticket for each bot that we find in the game, we simply won't have free time to play lmao


    Let's have a little common sense and good will please... Gameforge is fully capable of having a team monitoring and banning bots. It makes no sense to leave the server unattended

    Thanks for trying to help, but this idea of having to contact support for every bot we find isn't valid...

    Interesting read, especially for those who defend bots and their use, in 2023 having this game in classic mode is already lucky, seeing it already reduced to trash by bots is really sad, this version is played first of all for affection and nostalgia , those who play it really don't care to see the broker bot's items that can in any case be produced by active gameplay. Bots bring real benefits only to those who use them and kill the growth dynamics of a server, all new games are eliminating the transactions of items between players to avoid exchanges for real money and other actions that ruin the stability of the game itself as bring less economic revenue to the server and drive away many players, server revenue bots are like little leeches that put a deadline on the project. In a game with an old client like this, it's not at all easy to counter a phenomenon of this type if not with the help of the community itself and with a real and constant commitment from the staff. An idea could be to create in-game events with good and attractive rewards for players who help with fast report/kill bots and with staff who, especially at night, follow these events and ban bots or vice versa and better get ready to play something 'other because there will only be duplicate bots that skill your mobs and take the loot for you.

    Bots killed NA server (together with inaction from NC) by creating an hyper-inflated economy that benefits only bot owners/goldsellers/buyers.

    Quote from Raisin

    Interesting read, especially for those who defend bots and their use, in 2023 having this game in classic mode is already lucky, seeing it already reduced to trash by bots is really sad, this version is played first of all for affection and nostalgia , those who play it really don't care to see the broker bot's items that can in any case be produced by active gameplay. Bots bring real benefits only to those who use them and kill the growth dynamics of a server, all new games are eliminating the transactions of items between players to avoid exchanges for real money and other actions that ruin the stability of the game itself as bring less economic revenue to the server and drive away many players, server revenue bots are like little leeches that put a deadline on the project. In a game with an old client like this, it's not at all easy to counter a phenomenon of this type if not with the help of the community itself and with a real and constant commitment from the staff. An idea could be to create in-game events with good and attractive rewards for players who help with fast report/kill bots and with staff who, especially at night, follow these events and ban bots or vice versa and better get ready to play something 'other because there will only be duplicate bots that skill your mobs and take the loot for you.

    You appear surprised.

    OBSERVE THE PROGRESSION OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITE MMORPG (lineage2) and its NCSOFT forced guidance.

    The game started as a pay to play, even earlier in the chronology than world of warcraft, with a huge population, they had multiple flooded servers and multiple expansions, each in a form of a chronicle, but the engine was hackable and bots became plenty, if you youtube it you can see chinese botting farms of sometimes 60 computers (in the era before virtual machines).


    little by little people decided that the x1 VERY slow pace coupled by the HARDCORE INFLATION arent worth it and moved to private servers of lineage 2 (some of which exist till today to facilitate PVP - a mechanic which most players only get to really take advantage of without being ganked at the later game)


    NCSOFT ADAPTED SLOWLY, they were more interested in layering the game with more and more and more content and did not react on time, by the time they did anything it was too late. to supplement their income microtransactions were introduced, which alienated much of the playerbase, (free to paytowin) they also added casino island, but then, that was the trend back then.


    PLAYER RETENTION in the western population was never NCSOFT STRONGER POINT, they eventually decided "if they cant be bothered to do these, we'll automate it, remove the bots advantage", the game moved between one model to another, and at some point you could also right click a skill to automatically repeat it whenever its ready. on RETAIL. sounds botty to you?


    Its a long story i know, but try and see the pattern here.

    slow to adapt, reacting to their own local market and autoapply to everyone, lack of ACTIVE ENFORCEMENT, and a community that adores and loves them until they just had enough.


    can you blame them? yes.

    but then we should also blame some of us, consider this: some players on our server bot, they do it because they cant be bothered, to get ahead or to avoid "GRINDING" / "FARMING" and just skip to the PVP.


    *NUDGE NUDGE* Sounds to me like a pvp oriented environment where its a plug and play might be in order (AND NOT IN A FORM OF THE MORE TRADITIONAL ARENA)


    also, while we're on the technically "FARMING IN A NON TRADITIONAL WAY" topic: on our server you have players who have been grinding 16 hours a day (you can see some on twitch) and have gotten bored at max level, they are now leveling "TWINKS" which are basically elite gankers, that live on certain levels and aim to catch enemies of specific levels during a quest to farm AP, those little assassins (excuse the double entendre) are technically following the rules, but if we're nyerks to each other, do we really deserve help?


    finally on the topic of botting, it is a deeply rooted problem which if left unchecked (like, as it is today) exponentially will grind the economy, it is a solution to a constantly diminishing kinah source. YOU CANT SPRAY AGAINST BOTS. they need a team of dedicated bot hunters, especially since bots can hide in zones with multiple channels. I suggested getting rid of their announcers in the past - chat ban which will reduce bot sales, which in turn will limit their profitability and lower at least the amount of bots of pirate businesses, but its still on the suggestion tab untouched.


    and i know it doesnt help against players who farm through bots, but this isnt an easy question and SOMEONE *GAMEFORGE/NCSOFT, i am looking at you* should think of an answer, and preferably one thats automated and doesnt disrupt the play of the rest of us plebs who consider botters our ingame enemies.

    (for example if you had an active gm they could use our "BOT REPORT" to generate a rift to allow players from the other faction to get rid of them naturally)

    Did bro actually use chat-gpt to write a post? THATS CRRAAAZYYY lmfao

    Quote from Sparx

    Hello,


    please stay on topic. The PvP aspect during sieges is not the topic here.


    ~ Sparx ~

    something needs to change in the game's economic system, it's becoming unfeasible to play... see, most of the bots are in intermediate levels, and there are many. Just walk in verteron and eltnen areas to see that, when you arrive in endgame areas, there are no bots, and there are no drops either, theobomos for example... and to make matters worse, how do you expect us to have profit in our crafts when Are you distributing consumables on the daeva pass? the server economy is broken, the profit margin on any alchemy craft for example is minimal, the item costs on vendors is absurdly expensive, the same happens with soul heal, each kill at lvl 50 costs almost 150k kinah . And when players can't farm enough to at least cover basic expenses, they turn to people who use bots 24/7 to get kinah. These poor choices regarding server economy is encouraging buying kinah, which makes more people run bots, it becomes a vicious cycle...


    I played the classic, you call this server classic, but the experience is not from the 2009~2011 servers.

    hear hear!

    When are the bots getting removed? The game is umplayable especially when you need help to kill elites like Krall or Lepharists. I came back to experience Classic Aion but this is nothing but a mockery of Aion.

    Bots should have been dealt in real time as they spawn in/or pass Poeta, every day that goes on, inflation is up and legit kinah we obtained loses value, it's not enough to have a massive banwave later on, the damage caused on the server economy as this keeps going is irreversible.

    I don't know who's the guy who say " dont post here video or screenshot , go on support" but i already reported 16 bots in 2 days ( bot lv 40+) , they just say " thanks for helping us improving the game " and didnt ban them as i keep see them since.


    So what , GF launch classic just to let it die again ? with so many bots , in maybe one month the rss , stigmas and more will be overpriced.


    I know a independant server where it happened , after on emonth bot hold 80% of rss of the server and only them could decide when to sell it. Funny heh ?

    You shouldn't have the characters displayed then, there are some at the exit of the fortress gelk on the left on the named points also all of them by the way, it's simple in t1 t2 you always and very often have the same ones with new ones being added despite the assistance postponements.

    Among the elyos I only see those in t2 on the other hand since I am asmo.