Is it safe to report players who are using bots to AFK farm?

[Anarca.7236]

I never had issues with doing it before, and it's known that Anet takes action against these players that use bots, but since they are always in groups, it requires a bunch of reports at once, and there is a warning on the report tool that states that 'abuse of the report feature may lead to termination of your account'. Having this is mind, is it safe to report these bots or is it a risk?

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

It's completely safe. Report _once_ and move on. If there's a group of e.g. 10, report 2-3; ANet can figure it out from there.

 

The 'abuse' warning is about people using it to grief others (for example, salty PvPers sometimes have used it to report people for botting, when they were just angry about losing 1v1 to a better opponent).

[Teofa Tsavo.9863]

Depending how long it goes on, I report them once every day. Botters used to camp a place or a farm loop for literally weeks. Underwear BearBows, auggghhh!

 

Since they spammed f, my "kindhearted" Mesmer would portal them into a nearby tent or structure so they wouldn't freeze to death.

 

[Gaile Gray.6029]

Yes, please do report players whom you believe are cheating. The in-game report system is very effective, or you may submit a CS Ticket. Thank you for asking, and for helping us keep the game better for all legitimate players.

[Shikigami.4013]

There is a blob of afk farming necros pretty much all the time near the circus in ember bay. Whenever I pass by, I take the time to report all of them for botting, even though it takes a while to target them when there are around 50 or more necropets around them.

 

By the way even when you can only report them for botting, there is no bot needed for this to make it a forbidden and sanctionable activity, when you go to a farming spot, then go afk and put any spell or attack on autocast this is enough even when you are not running a bot.

[Ashamir.9574]

> @Shikigami.4013 said:

> By the way even when you can only report them for botting, there is no bot needed for this to make it a forbidden and sanctionable activity, **when you go to a farming spot, then go afk and put any spell or attack on autocast this is enough even when you are not running a bot. **

 

No, it's not unless you afk for a long period of time. If a player runs the game normally (without macros or bots) and is responsive in reasonable time – meaning there is a person near the pc, even if they are on desktop, in the kitchen, cuddling the cat a part for the time – then no, it isn't an infringement of the Gw2 terms of service.

 

[see here](https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Please-a-clear-statement-re-AFK-farming/page/6#post6161450 "See here") (post will only be up till 15.11. because it's on the old forums)

 

> "@Chris Clearly" said:

> I’ll pitch in on this thread, as there seems to be some confusion about this situation.

> The auto-cast feature was never intended to be used as an AFK farming mechanism, and usage of the auto-cast feature while AFK is fine as long as it is not used to facilitate unattended gameplay.

> Mastery auto-loot also stopping players from being flagged afk seems like a bug instead of a feature, and I’ll be sure to bring it up today while we have a chat about this internally.

> 1) Using skill (1 or more) while AFK

> 2) AFKing in a place where it is beneficial for your character to be at

> 3) Unresponsive to interaction with GMs

> If **all 3 of these** apply to what you are doing, you may get actioned for it.

 

So please if you have to run around reporting people for "botting" at least whisper the players you see standing around instead of going full rage without even knowing if they are there or not. It's kinda embarassing seeing people complain about "afk farmers" in map chat to have half of said farmers answering them immediately in the negative.

[Drecien.4508]

> @Ashamir.9574 said:

> > @Shikigami.4013 said:

> > By the way even when you can only report them for botting, there is no bot needed for this to make it a forbidden and sanctionable activity, **when you go to a farming spot, then go afk and put any spell or attack on autocast this is enough even when you are not running a bot. **

>

> No, it's not unless you afk for a long period of time. If a player runs the game normally (without macros or bots) and is responsive in reasonable time – meaning there is a person near the pc, even if they are on desktop, in the kitchen, cuddling the cat a part for the time – then no, it isn't an infringement of the Gw2 terms of service.

>

> [see here](https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Please-a-clear-statement-re-AFK-farming/page/6#post6161450 "See here") (post will only be up till 15.11. because it's on the old forums)

>

> > "@Chris Clearly" said:

> > I’ll pitch in on this thread, as there seems to be some confusion about this situation.

> > The auto-cast feature was never intended to be used as an AFK farming mechanism, and usage of the auto-cast feature while AFK is fine as long as it is not used to facilitate unattended gameplay.

> > Mastery auto-loot also stopping players from being flagged afk seems like a bug instead of a feature, and I’ll be sure to bring it up today while we have a chat about this internally.

> > 1) Using skill (1 or more) while AFK

> > 2) AFKing in a place where it is beneficial for your character to be at

> > 3) Unresponsive to interaction with GMs

> > If **all 3 of these** apply to what you are doing, you may get actioned for it.

>

> So please if you have to run around reporting people for "botting" at least whisper the players you see standing around instead of going full rage without even knowing if they are there or not. It's kinda embarassing seeing people complain about "afk farmers" in map chat to have half of said farmers answering them immediately in the negative.

 

It's funny the all "afk" at the prime spots to afk farm dontcha think??? Oh i heard the doorbell, lemme park by these winterberry nodes and select a spell 6-10 to auto cast.

[Ashamir.9574]

> @Drecien.4508 said:

> It's funny the all "afk" at the prime spots to afk farm dontcha think??? Oh i heard the doorbell, lemme park by these winterberry nodes and select a spell 6-10 to auto cast.

 

It is their goddamn right to do it. They can stay in afk farm spots. They can spam minions and autocast. Unless – as you can see in the quote I posted – they don't answer to GMs or use forbidden software they aren't doing anything wrong by the TOS.

 

It doesn't matter if you like it, that's the rules.

[BunjiKugashira.9754]

> @Drecien.4508 said:

> > @Ashamir.9574 said:

> > > @Shikigami.4013 said:

> > > By the way even when you can only report them for botting, there is no bot needed for this to make it a forbidden and sanctionable activity, **when you go to a farming spot, then go afk and put any spell or attack on autocast this is enough even when you are not running a bot. **

> >

> > No, it's not unless you afk for a long period of time. If a player runs the game normally (without macros or bots) and is responsive in reasonable time – meaning there is a person near the pc, even if they are on desktop, in the kitchen, cuddling the cat a part for the time – then no, it isn't an infringement of the Gw2 terms of service.

> >

> > [see here](https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Please-a-clear-statement-re-AFK-farming/page/6#post6161450 "See here") (post will only be up till 15.11. because it's on the old forums)

> >

> > > "@Chris Clearly" said:

> > > I’ll pitch in on this thread, as there seems to be some confusion about this situation.

> > > The auto-cast feature was never intended to be used as an AFK farming mechanism, and usage of the auto-cast feature while AFK is fine as long as it is not used to facilitate unattended gameplay.

> > > Mastery auto-loot also stopping players from being flagged afk seems like a bug instead of a feature, and I’ll be sure to bring it up today while we have a chat about this internally.

> > > 1) Using skill (1 or more) while AFK

> > > 2) AFKing in a place where it is beneficial for your character to be at

> > > 3) Unresponsive to interaction with GMs

> > > If **all 3 of these** apply to what you are doing, you may get actioned for it.

> >

> > So please if you have to run around reporting people for "botting" at least whisper the players you see standing around instead of going full rage without even knowing if they are there or not. It's kinda embarassing seeing people complain about "afk farmers" in map chat to have half of said farmers answering them immediately in the negative.

>

> It's funny the all "afk" at the prime spots to afk farm dontcha think??? Oh i heard the doorbell, lemme park by these winterberry nodes and select a spell 6-10 to auto cast.

 

Most people are just semi-afk. Remember the Engi-farms? Those turrets need to be replaced every 3 minutes. None of these players was actually away from keyboard. Were they actively playing the game? No. They were probably watching videos, reading a book, doing homework, etc. But they were not away from keyboard. So before you report someone for afk farming whisper them to make sure they are actually afk. If they don't react report them.

[Majic.4801]

I just wish it was possible to report botters who teleport from node to node. They are way too fast and impossible to catch with a right-click menu choice.

 

And so they continue.

[Shikigami.4013]

> @Ashamir.9574 said:

> > @Shikigami.4013 said:

> > By the way even when you can only report them for botting, there is no bot needed for this to make it a forbidden and sanctionable activity, **when you go to a farming spot, then go afk and put any spell or attack on autocast this is enough even when you are not running a bot. **

>

> No, it's not unless you afk for a long period of time. If a player runs the game normally (without macros or bots) and is responsive in reasonable time – meaning there is a person near the pc, even if they are on desktop, in the kitchen, cuddling the cat a part for the time – then no, it isn't an infringement of the Gw2 terms of service. [...]

>

If you go to the thread you quoted and read some other posts you will realize that I was **very** active in that thread and know all about it. And nothing you wrote contradicts what I wrote in any way. I suggest you read my post to which you replied to again, and you will realize the following:

 

I said "when you go to a farming spot" which equals "a place where it is beneficial for your character to be at"

I said "then go afk" which equals "Unresponsive to interaction with GMs" because when you are afk you cannot interact with GMs. If you can answer a GM you were not afk, you were just not using the keyboard. Not using it is not the same as being away from it. Maybe your definiton of "away" differs from what people generally define as "away". For me "afk" means you are not there. Sleeping, working, doing gardenwork, school, eating, whatever. That is "being away".

I said "and put any spell or attack on autocast" which equals "Using skill (1 or more) while afk".

So I basically wrote exactly the three points which you quoted with the intention of proving what I wrote was wrong.

 

> So please if you have to run around reporting people for "botting" at least whisper the players you see standing around instead of going full rage without even knowing if they are there or not. It's kinda embarassing seeing people complain about "afk farmers" in map chat to have half of said farmers answering them immediately in the negative.

 

There is no "rage" involved when I report afk farmers for botting. And it is not my job to determine if they are really afk either. I will not stand there for an hour, to make sure none of the 10 players sitting in a blob all day is actually there and enjoys pressing the same button for 10 hours straight. This is the job of the game security employees who check the reported players. Telling people not to report anyone unless they made sure none of them answers a whisper is nonsense. Reporting them all takes long enough, there is no need to place even more effort on players who wish to help to keep the game clear of cheaters and there are enough people who will not even put the effort of clicking the report button because they are too lazy for that.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @BunjiKugashira.9754 said:

> Most people are just semi-afk. Remember the Engi-farms? Those turrets need to be replaced every 3 minutes. None of these players was actually away from keyboard. Were they actively playing the game? No. They were probably watching videos, reading a book, doing homework, etc. But they were not away from keyboard.

Correct. As stated above, that's allowed

 

> So before you report someone for afk farming whisper them to make sure they are actually afk. If they don't react report them.

Naw, don't bother. We aren't the AFK-police; it's not our job to investigate. If you honestly suspect people are AFK, /report and leave it to ANet to figure it out.

 

I don't do it, but if I did, I wouldn't bother replying to some stranger worried about whether I was AFK or not; I wouldn't think it's any of their business. (If they want to talk about my shiny infusions, then sure, I'm happy to have a conversation. )

 

tl;dr /report and move on. (And only report when you have good reason to think someone is using a macro/script/bot or otherwise actually violating rules.)

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @Shikigami.4013 said:

> There is a blob of afk farming necros pretty much all the time near the circus in ember bay. Whenever I pass by, I take the time to report all of them for botting, even though it takes a while to target them when there are around 50 or more necropets around them.

>

> By the way even when you can only report them for botting, there is no bot needed for this to make it a forbidden and sanctionable activity, when you go to a farming spot, then go afk and put any spell or attack on autocast this is enough even when you are not running a bot.

 

Those necro afk/macro/bot farms are everywhere these days take a trip around Timberline at the Jotun camp, the grawl areas, even seen them at the little patch of skelks.. and as for the tool being very effective.. as Gaile says.. it's so effective the same cheats have been there to this day after months of reporting - all day, everyday spells "very effective", but not the way I think Gaile means :)

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @BunjiKugashira.9754 said:

> > @Drecien.4508 said:

> > > @Ashamir.9574 said:

> > > > @Shikigami.4013 said:

> > > > By the way even when you can only report them for botting, there is no bot needed for this to make it a forbidden and sanctionable activity, **when you go to a farming spot, then go afk and put any spell or attack on autocast this is enough even when you are not running a bot. **

> > >

> > > No, it's not unless you afk for a long period of time. If a player runs the game normally (without macros or bots) and is responsive in reasonable time – meaning there is a person near the pc, even if they are on desktop, in the kitchen, cuddling the cat a part for the time – then no, it isn't an infringement of the Gw2 terms of service.

> > >

> > > [see here](https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Please-a-clear-statement-re-AFK-farming/page/6#post6161450 "See here") (post will only be up till 15.11. because it's on the old forums)

> > >

> > > > "@Chris Clearly" said:

> > > > I’ll pitch in on this thread, as there seems to be some confusion about this situation.

> > > > The auto-cast feature was never intended to be used as an AFK farming mechanism, and usage of the auto-cast feature while AFK is fine as long as it is not used to facilitate unattended gameplay.

> > > > Mastery auto-loot also stopping players from being flagged afk seems like a bug instead of a feature, and I’ll be sure to bring it up today while we have a chat about this internally.

> > > > 1) Using skill (1 or more) while AFK

> > > > 2) AFKing in a place where it is beneficial for your character to be at

> > > > 3) Unresponsive to interaction with GMs

> > > > If **all 3 of these** apply to what you are doing, you may get actioned for it.

> > >

> > > So please if you have to run around reporting people for "botting" at least whisper the players you see standing around instead of going full rage without even knowing if they are there or not. It's kinda embarassing seeing people complain about "afk farmers" in map chat to have half of said farmers answering them immediately in the negative.

> >

> > It's funny the all "afk" at the prime spots to afk farm dontcha think??? Oh i heard the doorbell, lemme park by these winterberry nodes and select a spell 6-10 to auto cast.

>

> Most people are just semi-afk. Remember the Engi-farms? Those turrets need to be replaced every 3 minutes. None of these players was actually away from keyboard. Were they actively playing the game? No. They were probably watching videos, reading a book, doing homework, etc. But they were not away from keyboard. So before you report someone for afk farming whisper them to make sure they are actually afk. If they don't react report them.

 

Semi AFK all day everyday, for months without moving an inch except maybe when their inventory is full and have to swap toons... cmon who are you trying to kid.

[Irreverent.3594]

> @Bloodstealer.5978 said:

> Those necro afk/macro/bot farms are everywhere these days take a trip around Timberline at the Jotun camp, the grawl areas, even seen them at the little patch of skelks..

Yep one of places they are 100% of time is Jotun camp, i report them every time. And weirdly they are always Reapers.

 

[kierian.1340]

> @Ashamir.9574 said:

> It is their kitten right to do it. They can stay in afk farm spots. They can spam minions and autocast. Unless – as you can see in the quote I posted – they don't answer to GMs or use forbidden software they aren't doing anything wrong by the TOS.

> It doesn't matter if you like it, that's the rules.

 

Well, i disagree, i've got a necro, i have spammed some minions and autocasted without being afk (or using bots/macros), i have been contacted by a GM and replied him immediatly and... Ban 72h anyway.

Opened a ticked, explain that i wasn't afk, send a screenshot with the tchat from the GM to me to proove that i wasn't afk, and a week later (so, long after the ban ended) a reply that tell me that if i don't want to be ban for weeks next time, i must stop this...

 

So afk or not, i think they don't give a damn, using necro with minions and autocast is good enough to be banned.

 

 

 

 

[Teofa Tsavo.9863]

> @Irreverent.3594 said:

> > @Bloodstealer.5978 said:

> > Those necro afk/macro/bot farms are everywhere these days take a trip around Timberline at the Jotun camp, the grawl areas, even seen them at the little patch of skelks..

> Yep one of places they are 100% of time is Jotun camp, i report them every time. And weirdly they are always Reapers.

>

 

Still??? Been a while since I've been there, that has been a bot hotspot for years. And there they do interfere with that Heart Completion since there was always 3 or so. I would have to give up doing it honestly and just start tagging things they were killing.

[Kichwas.7152]

Well as someone who's actually been accidentally banned from an MMO once... there's always a risk that the person checking a report clicks on the wrong account...

 

But the odds are pretty low. I suspect I'm 1 out of a few tens of millions in WoW history that it happened to, and my account was restored in an hour (with a vaguely worded email a week later that summed up as "oops").

 

Anet seems to actually look at chat logs (people here who have said "you folks banned me for nothing" have been met with posts of "we banned you for all kinds of stuff in your chat log")... so that one's easy.

 

A stack of 10 people bot farming... unless they have the ability to run up a 'replay' of the zone at the time... you're always at risk of causing anyone else nearby to also get banned, unless you have to report each bot individually, in which case you likely will miss several of them (I spent about 30 minutes a month ago chasing down some bot farmers in ESO that running in a loop pattern, and I never could manage to capture any of their names for a report... so I jus typed in some of them manually).

- this very act by me... if you had been there trying to report them as well, could have caused us to report each other. In my case there I stayed back from the zerg of them... but someone could easily decide everyone in the region was a bot farmer and start reporting us all.

 

That said... I'd still report them. The odds of a mishap are pretty low.

 

[Tekoneiric.6817]

 

> @Anarca.7236 said:

> I never had issues with doing it before, and it's known that Anet takes action against these players that use bots, but since they are always in groups, it requires a bunch of reports at once, and there is a warning on the report tool that states that 'abuse of the report feature may lead to termination of your account'. Having this is mind, is it safe to report these bots or is it a risk?

 

The problem is knowing who is a bot and who isn't. Some people have their favorite routes to gather stuff. I remember awhile back that someone on the old forum said their grandmother got flagged as a bot because she took the same route every time to farm. The report feature is ripe for abuse also. Someone could report another player just because they didn't resurrect them, because they didn't help them in some way or accidentally had a agro creature tag along to the player who might be lingering at a node. I try to be mindful of that last part when I'm moving quickly through maps. One thing they need to do is add a tiny karma reward or maybe a 2 minute speed boon for resurrecting other players. It would be an incentive for players who might pass on resurrecting other players.

 

[Kal Bhairav.6589]

Why do you even care if they are afk farming?

I am just wondering.

I have seen some but I never report for it.

I mind my own business and move along.

 

 

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"Kal Bhairav.6589" said:

> Why do you even care if they are afk farming?

> I am just wondering.

> I have seen some but I never report for it.

> I mind my own business and move along.

>

>

 

People not playing the game and getting loot impacts the market value of that loot for those who do play. Thus, you are affected, even if the mechanics of that impact aren't obvious.

 

(For other people, there's a principle of "fairness," which is why there are some people who also report semi-AFK players and even folks legit selling raids; they just don't think it's "right" that someone can get gold without having to "play" the game the way they would.)

[Shikigami.4013]

> @"Kal Bhairav.6589":

> "I mind my own business and move along."

 

Not caring for broken rules by other players is a sign of egoism - as long as you think it does not affect you, you don't care. Not a nice trait.

 

 

[Nox Lucis.8341]

What I've always wondered is how would I know the difference between bots and a group of players on a gathering run?

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @Tekoneiric.6817 said:

>

> > @Anarca.7236 said:

> > I never had issues with doing it before, and it's known that Anet takes action against these players that use bots, but since they are always in groups, it requires a bunch of reports at once, and there is a warning on the report tool that states that 'abuse of the report feature may lead to termination of your account'. Having this is mind, is it safe to report these bots or is it a risk?

>

> The problem is knowing who is a bot and who isn't. Some people have their favorite routes to gather stuff. I remember awhile back that someone on the old forum said their grandmother got flagged as a bot because she took the same route every time to farm. The report feature is ripe for abuse also. Someone could report another player just because they didn't resurrect them, because they didn't help them in some way or accidentally had a agro creature tag along to the player who might be lingering at a node. I try to be mindful of that last part when I'm moving quickly through maps. One thing they need to do is add a tiny karma reward or maybe a 2 minute speed boon for resurrecting other players. It would be an incentive for players who might pass on resurrecting other players.

>

 

99.999% of the time its not about favorite routes.. its just either a bot put in away/offline state standing in the same spot and macroing the same skills every few seconds until their inventories are full then another toon will appear in the exact same spot to do the exact same thing.. and these days its mostly necro MM's.

AFK players who are "semi afk" in the same spot all day everyday for months and months.. yeah sure that's a good one as well.. but hey.. their reporting tool and policies are very "efficient" of course

[Teratus.2859]

It really doesn't matter to me.. I see characters standing around in a group spamming some aoe skill.. I don't care if they are at the computer but doing something else.. they are still not playing the game and getting rewarded for it.

 

By my definition that's no different than afk farming so I have no issue with reporting them on sight.

 

Considering minions masters are common culprits of this and I happen to be a big fan of the minions myself.. I consider myself personally invested in cutting down these afk players when I find them.

I certainly don't want to see minions.. a mechanic I love in gw2 get changed in any way because some people are abusing it like this.