72 replies to this topic

[rhexis]

They are here to stay, sadly. 

[apiz001]

You know what would be an easy and fast solution? Give them a HWID ban!

 

Ok, IP banning would be ineffective since they use VPN's most of the time or, at the very least, they could just change their IP's at any given time. However, a Hardware ID ban is quite different. A HWID ban would surely make things a lot better since you can't change your HWID without buying new hardware!

 

Well, I guess you could but it is an extremely exhaustive and hard process that would most likely cause a bunch of problems in your pc which would surely discourage the great majority of botters. But it is such a harsh approach that i doubt they would do something like that unfortunately...

 

Unfortunately, bot doesn't run though client. So the HWID packet that is sent to the server can be manipulated.

 

Captcha is pretty helpful, but having a team of active staff would be way better.

[Exxed]

But most botters use VMs to run their farms. Banning HWID of a virtual machine is ... an interesting endeavor.

 

What could help: force all new WP accounts to use 2-step auth (and eventually all old users as well for added security) - you have to confirm your cell phone in order to (re)activate account. In case of a ban from RE:START all other RE:START accounts bound to that cell phone number are banned as well and number itself is blacklisted.

 

That is a great idea. The most sensible one yet. Blizzard uses a similar system?

[DarthaNyan]

That is a great idea. The most sensible one yet. Blizzard uses a similar system?

 

Blizzard uses auth app. And that can be virtualized (android device with an app on it). Although if game will require auth app code on every login as pin - that would add an extra layer of pain in the arse for botters, but will eventually be automated as well.

Edited by DarthaNyan, 31 August 2017 - 06:21 AM.

[Dythe]

That is a great idea. The most sensible one yet. Blizzard uses a similar system?

 

I agree. As for Blizz, I know it's an optional account security thing, not designed to hinder bots or anything like that. It's to help prevent being hacked etc.

 

I think the phone number thing is definitely a good idea.

 

Also I know PINs were also mentioned. MapleStory uses PINs (mandatory every time you log into any character) but they still have bots. idk how that really works overall.

[Marador]

Come on over to chaos. The water is fine over here. Course the prices for some things seem kinda rediculous, but if the odin server keeps up the way it's going chaos prices may in fact be LESS inflated before too much longer.

And lol. To that pic of 27 Andre cards. That's like farming 24 hours on that map without stopping since the server opened. Or close to it.

You would think that would be a MASSIVE red flag. But No. "Everything is fine here." While the burning house falls down around your ears.

*why post here than?* im honestly hoping they fix the issue so I can come back without having to worry about elbowing thousands of computer programs out of my way to get to the monsters. Not to mention fighting them for drops.

So I'm checking in daily. So far.... future of the server is looking pretty bleak.

[Amongluttony]

Well i already prepare a new account in Chaos, no matter how many bots coming to Chaos, since there are a lot of places where they cant coming (well they can but is useless for them) so even if Chaos is a ghost P2W server is still playable xD.

[RadicalFanatic]

So I was walking in prontera when suddently...

 

 

Ok those aren't mufflers though...

But it is pretty much the same problem.

Mufflers suffer the same fate.

And here I was happy to have dropped 1 vitata card for selling !

 

woah calm down now the persons account might get "restricted"

 

[RadicalFanatic]

I'm 100% sure GMs ban bots. The process must be really slow if they are not effective in mitigating bots. 

 

The bigger problem in bots are actually the high level bots. Low level bots can't get much zeny in low level spots (obviously)

 

People blatantly bot even main accounts, theres vends that are 100% bot vends, and guess why? Because there not scared enough of covering there tracks its so easy to look at the logs and see main accounts of bots.

[RadicalFanatic]

Botters use VPNs so they can run 50+ from one client. IP ban doesn't work here.

 

 

Botter detected

 

Yeah but you can go threw the logs and find where they end (main account) get the main account and the bot account and the player needs to start over again. Its time consuming but ban 10 high ranking bot players main account and you,ll see the bot population drop. The more popular the player the better and shame or ban there accounts on other gravity games seriously do what every other mmo or private server does.

Edited by RadicalFanatic, 31 August 2017 - 09:50 AM.

[jaypeesevilla]

1. GMs are banning.

2. People are not vending 10+ mufflers at a time.

3. You don't farm all day.

4. bots don't control the market.

5. more lies i could list but i'll stop there 

 

Quit overexaggerating thanks kid

 

Guarantee bot 

[Sairek]

*Sigh...*

 

GMs do ban bots. Please stop saying they don't.

 

 

 

 

You're probably not going to see them banning bots in the middle of a field or dungeon because they're most likely going to be invisible. If you have a GM wandering around in a field or dungeon that's visible then it's more than likely going to create a bigger scene than necessary.

[hungrymuch]

I think GM presence in the game would help a lot. This is the first time i've ever seen bots be this bad and it's probably because there's 0 server wide presence of the GM's in the game. They can just log in and be like "WHATS UP WE EXIST! " then ignore all whispers take like 5 ~ 10 minutes to ban some bots and do this every day for a couple of days. This would at least have the botters be less obvious. If they walk around invisible that wouldn't affect them. They need to be aware HEY HO!!! or something. If GM's ban people invisible if anything someone might think it's just the anti bot system or something.

Edited by hungrymuch, 31 August 2017 - 11:07 AM.

[Exxed]

I think GM presence in the game would help a lot. This is the first time i've ever seen bots be this bad and it's probably because there's 0 server wide presence of the GM's in the game. They can just log in and be like "WHATS UP WE EXIST! " then ignore all whispers take like 5 ~ 10 minutes to ban some bots and do this every day for a couple of days. This would at least have the botters be less obvious. If they walk around invisible that wouldn't affect them. They need to be aware HEY HO!!! or something. If GM's ban people invisible if anything someone might think it's just the anti bot system or something.

 

Agreed.

 

I need to correct myself when I said the GM's don't ban bots. They do.. but not proactively (I mean come on).

[Sairek]

I think GM presence in the game would help a lot. This is the first time i've ever seen bots be this bad and it's probably because there's 0 server wide presence of the GM's in the game. They can just log in and be like "WHATS UP WE EXIST! " then ignore all whispers take like 5 ~ 10 minutes to ban some bots and do this every day for a couple of days. This would at least have the botters be less obvious. If they walk around invisible that wouldn't affect them. They need to be aware HEY HO!!! or something. If GM's ban people invisible if anything someone might think it's just the anti bot system or something.

 

How are they meant to do that? The GM was literally working over time banning the bots. They're already understaffed as it is. And it's not like you can hire random Joe and Random John off the street and expect them to use their newfound powers seriously. Sometimes even the most awesome person can still be corrupt and abuse GM powers. Something my brother realized when he ran a private server himself.

 

Let's be real here. They could ban half of the bot population today, and there would be just as many more bots coming back tomorrow and people would still be unhappy.

[luminaa]

I think, I'm so tired..................... 

 

It seems impossible to ban all the bots.....

 

The only option is change the server a P2P because 70% OF THIS SERVER IS BOT

Edited by luminaa, 31 August 2017 - 12:19 PM.

[Exxed]

How are they meant to do that? The GM was literally working over time banning the bots. They're already understaffed as it is. And it's not like you can hire random Joe and Random John off the street and expect them to use their newfound powers seriously. Sometimes even the most awesome person can still be corrupt and abuse GM powers. Something my brother realized when he ran a private server himself.

 

Let's be real here. They could ban half of the bot population today, and there would be just as many more bots coming back tomorrow and people would still be unhappy.

 

You say they're understaffed like its our problem? I am not blaming the GM's but your head is so far up WP's ass that your vision is compromised.

 

If McDonald's is understaffed and they serve you a rotten burger you'd still eat it and not say anything? They are charging you for things in the cash shop. The game is far from completely F2P before you make the argument that the game is F2P and I'm free to quit. 

 

What kind of -_-ty speculation is that? If they banned half the bot population I'd be happy and so would the entire playerbase.. well atleast the legit players. Even if they come back. Just ban them again. Has this ever been tried? i don't think so.

[BestOneHere]

You don't think a lot it seems. 

[hungrymuch]

How are they meant to do that? The GM was literally working over time banning the bots. They're already understaffed as it is. And it's not like you can hire random Joe and Random John off the street and expect them to use their newfound powers seriously. Sometimes even the most awesome person can still be corrupt and abuse GM powers. Something my brother realized when he ran a private server himself.

 

Let's be real here. They could ban half of the bot population today, and there would be just as many more bots coming back tomorrow and people would still be unhappy.

 Letting everyone in the game know they're around? most people don't come to the forums or anything to see any feedback or comments from them. People need to be aware and know they're around instead of working in secret. If they make announcements and stuff in the game botters will more than likely be more weary of them. Log in and announce they're there to track down bots for a bit every day and do so. Even if they make more it'll be known that GM's are around looking.This would also bring positive feedback to the gm's as people would see "hey they're around! they exist!"

[Sairek]

You say they're understaffed like its our problem? I am not blaming the GM's but your head is so far up WP's ass that your vision is compromised.

 

If McDonald's is understaffed and they serve you a rotten burger you'd still eat it and not say anything? They are charging you for things in the cash shop. The game is far from completely F2P before you make the argument that the game is F2P and I'm free to quit. 

 

What kind of -_-ty speculation is that? If they banned half the bot population I'd be happy and so would the entire playerbase.. well atleast the legit players. Even if they come back. Just ban them again. Has this ever been tried? i don't think so.

 

 

I'd suggest you grow up. Just because I disagree with you doesn't give you open judgement to start flinging insults and cursing at people.

My head is up nobody's "ass". It's the reality of the situation. They're understaffed, and banning the bots in the end will ultimately do nothing. You ban a bot, it will come back. That's why they're working on an anti-bot solution primarily and foremost. But this anti bot solution is Gravity's job, not WP's. They can't do anything about it, until Gravity does something about it. If it's anyone you should be angry at, it's Gravity, not WP which whom for all intense and purposes, have been doing a pretty decent job so far given all the DDOS attacks and their lack of resources and Gravity not giving a flying toss about the state of the server.

Does it suck they're understaffed? Yes.

Should it be our problem? No.

But this is the reality of the situation and if you can't accept that for what it is, then yes, it actually is your problem.

 

I don't see what this has to do with a fast food Restaurant. WP isn't serving you a rotten burger. It's more like the burger is fine, but the establishment is filled with bunch of parents with even more children who are misbehaving, then some brat comes along as you are eating the burger that completely ruins it. McDonalds keeps trying to usher the parents and kids out, but when one leaves, two more come in, and the police are refusing to respond to the situation.

 

 

Personally, I've stopped playing until the bot solution has cooled down; only logging in for social reasons. You are free to do what you wish. It's not my job to suggest or recommend what you do with your time. But I'm also not going to make up falsehood facts. I'm not going to exaggerate the situation either, and most importantly, I'm not going to be blaming a party that's not at fault when the party that IS at fault is right over there.

 

The whole bot banning thing is not a speculation. The first anti bot measure had all the bots gone for around a day. People rejoiced -- then they all came back the next day in full force and people were suddenly unhappy again saying WP was doing nothing about the bots. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

 

"Just ban them again". What do you think they're doing? I literally just showed you a screenshot of a GM banning bots. Like... I don't even know how to respond to that.

[9469130508173849077]

Even if they now solve the bot problem. It is impossible to repair the damage that the bots have done and will do in the long term.

 

Sorry for the gms that worked on the problem of bots but the game is already at the point of no return.

 

It was a nice moment to see how the gm ban those bots.

But how little the Anti-bot worked. 2 whole weeks working for less than 1 day without bots. They discourage anyone.

[Sairek]

 Letting everyone in the game know they're around? most people don't come to the forums or anything to see any feedback or comments from them. People need to be aware and know they're around instead of working in secret. If they make announcements and stuff in the game botters will more than likely be more weary of them. Log in and announce they're there to track down bots for a bit every day and do so. Even if they make more it'll be known that GM's are around looking.This would also bring positive feedback to the gm's as people would see "hey they're around! they exist!"

 

That's their fault then. You can't complain about not seeing something when you never attempted to look in the first place. And there are places to even see it in game anyways if you know where to look. That Inn and Prontera for example was one of them.

 

Secondly, it's generally a bad idea when looking for players doing suspicious activity, to literally announce to them that they are looking for suspicious activity. You should assume that they are working best they can around the clock. The GM I showed a screenshot of was literally doing 90 minutes of over time at the office, just to ban bots.

 

...Which is why I get so annoyed at how ungrateful this community is sometimes. Seriously, if I was asked to be a GM in this game, I'd literally be "Nope." without any hesitation. It's such a thankless job and this thread proves it.

[Neeri]

The fact that you dont even need a valid email address to create an account is a joke...Just adding a valid email address as a requirement for creating an account makes creating 20 bots quite frustrating. No it's not a solution but it's a help.

[Stephcake]

Have a GM check for bots on mid to high level maps for 2 hours each day. That alone would help.

Obviously the low level bots just swarm back, but come on, there are bots that are 99, how the hell are those not banned?

[Exxed]

That's their fault then. You can't complain about not seeing something when you never attempted to look in the first place. And there are places to even see it in game anyways if you know where to look. That Inn and Prontera for example was one of them.

 

Secondly, it's generally a bad idea when looking for players doing suspicious activity, to literally announce to them that they are looking for suspicious activity. You should assume that they are working best they can around the clock. The GM I showed a screenshot of was literally doing 90 minutes of over time at the office, just to ban bots.

 

...Which is why I get so annoyed at how ungrateful this community is sometimes. Seriously, if I was asked to be a GM in this game, I'd literally be "Nope." without any hesitation. It's such a thankless job and this thread proves it.

 

Not a single GM has bothered to answer to participate in this thread. I'm sure they have other more important things to do but I'm just saying.

 

Once again.. I'm not being ungrateful to the GM's. They are doing what they're told. WP needs to change their policies and infrastructure if they want this server to survive. We need to fight against bots in more ways. If you want to play the hero card so be it. I don't mind being the dick here as long as we do something about them bots.