Bots, and where to find them.

 

Hey Folks,

 

So we've been working on retraining the GM team since June. Introducing the dedicated 24/7 bot hunting team in September and over all trying to improve the player experience when dealing with the GM team (Xealot as the GM Liaison).

 

We know that the bots continue to be the greatest concern in the community. We're working on several routes of attack to deal with the bot situation.

 

1. Removing the benefit of botting.

 

The quickest return on efforts bots can get is consumables and crafting items for other consumables. Since these are always in demand they tend to sell well to the player economy. Unfortunately this has also always historically been the best route for new users to earn a little zeny to get started.

Were going to turn many of these items into NPC sold. To start with WSS, Stems, Strawberries, Blue Herbs. With plans to expand later into other items should the tests go will. They will be sold for near market value of these items

 

At the same time were going to be working on providing new users with quests to get good starter consumables so that they can fund their adventuring habits.

 

2. Stemming the tide of bot creation accounts.

 

We are analyzing the registration information of the bots that are being banned and working to filter out their ability to create new replacement accounts. Through the use of Captcha or even closing down that particular registration page if that is the only use it is serving.

 

3. Upgrading the GM team..

 

Xealot and I are reviewing the bot banning process that the current team is using and how they are making multiple account associations. Unfortunately due to the prevalence of proxies it is not just quit as simple as banning every account on the IP address. There is a need to train the fine tuned ability to connect accounts through trade, registration information, mail, and other activities.

We are also working with other teams in the company to make sure that the GMs have more tools available to them to make these associations.

 

Some of these can be enacted as early as next week while others will take longer to setup and get running. Overall we are not content with the current health of the server and will continue to expend efforts fighting the infestation.

 

1) Well ...nice new zeny sink (at least a better one than a raffler), but seriously... they just gonna switch and sell other stuff : cyfar,brigan, elus, oris , shoes, piece of cakes, porcellio card... oh nvm they do already

2) automated bot protection ... ...i heard that one before ... like.... 2 months ago

3) at least this sounds somewhat promising ... forgive me when i dont get my hopes up at this point.

K ... the reaction took you long enough ... the repromising of things aswell... go ahead i look forward to be positivly suprised ... in this case i rather say at the end of things "didnt expect that to work out ..." instead of "told you ... " we will see how this turns out

Bots thrive on this sorta thing, where they can farm Zeny to no end, NPC vendor it and then buy the items that people want. Doing what you want to do will just make it easier for bots to -_- with the economy by selling it below the market price. 

If you want bots to not be a thing, you need to give a way for people to make zeny in a comparable manner, that requires ZERO wallet interaction. If people can get zeny by playing the game without getting lucky, they will stop wanting to buy it(as much). Kill quests, reasons to group up in zones never used, things that make people get more out of their play time will deter people from needing items from bots. 

Combine that with making alchemist blue pots > Woe blue pots, and 1-3 kill quests that reward SV/Zeny/Gear of choice, you can make botting not as profitable.

Bots thrive on this sorta thing, where they can farm Zeny to no end, NPC vendor it and then buy the items that people want. Doing what you want to do will just make it easier for bots to with the economy by selling it below the market price.

If you want bots to not be a thing, you need to give a way for people to make zeny in a comparable manner, that requires ZERO wallet interaction. If people can get zeny by playing the game without getting lucky, they will stop wanting to buy it(as much). Kill quests, reasons to group up in zones never used, things that make people get more out of their play time will deter people from needing items from bots.

Combine that with making alchemist blue pots > Woe blue pots, and 1-3 kill quests that reward SV/Zeny/Gear of choice, you can make botting not as profitable.

Add WSS, immortal hearts, alcohols, mermaid hearts, zenorc's fangs, and fabric as a supply box from MVPs or harder-to-kill monsters. WoE supply boxes are already available on other servers--no reason why they can't be on here.

2 and 3, fine, wtf on 1.

It's already tough to stay on the alchemist list, but it'll go from "Play the market, get your guildies to all help, and use the pretty limited supply of well-priced materials well" to 100% "Who's the biggest whale, has the fastest macro, and the most people playing their account" once you can make slim whites purely from npc items.

But I guess you already partially screwed it up by making non-ranked pots pretty much useless, so what's one more thing.

 

Hey Folks,

 

So we've been working on retraining the GM team since June. Introducing the dedicated 24/7 bot hunting team in September and over all trying to improve the player experience when dealing with the GM team (Xealot as the GM Liaison).

 

We know that the bots continue to be the greatest concern in the community. We're working on several routes of attack to deal with the bot situation.

 

1. Removing the benefit of botting.

 

The quickest return on efforts bots can get is consumables and crafting items for other consumables. Since these are always in demand they tend to sell well to the player economy. Unfortunately this has also always historically been the best route for new users to earn a little zeny to get started.

Were going to turn many of these items into NPC sold. To start with WSS, Stems, Strawberries, Blue Herbs. With plans to expand later into other items should the tests go will. They will be sold for near market value of these items

 

At the same time were going to be working on providing new users with quests to get good starter consumables so that they can fund their adventuring habits.

 

2. Stemming the tide of bot creation accounts.

 

We are analyzing the registration information of the bots that are being banned and working to filter out their ability to create new replacement accounts. Through the use of Captcha or even closing down that particular registration page if that is the only use it is serving.

 

3. Upgrading the GM team..

 

Xealot and I are reviewing the bot banning process that the current team is using and how they are making multiple account associations. Unfortunately due to the prevalence of proxies it is not just quit as simple as banning every account on the IP address. There is a need to train the fine tuned ability to connect accounts through trade, registration information, mail, and other activities.

We are also working with other teams in the company to make sure that the GMs have more tools available to them to make these associations.

 

Some of these can be enacted as early as next week while others will take longer to setup and get running. Overall we are not content with the current health of the server and will continue to expend efforts fighting the infestation.

 

Stop it! Tell the truth! How much cost antibot shield? I know it's expensive, but we can't suffer anymore.
Let community donate for it! Please! We have no another way.

 

Hey Folks,

 

So we've been working on retraining the GM team since June. Introducing the dedicated 24/7 bot hunting team in September and over all trying to improve the player experience when dealing with the GM team (Xealot as the GM Liaison).

 

We know that the bots continue to be the greatest concern in the community. We're working on several routes of attack to deal with the bot situation.

 

1. Removing the benefit of botting.

 

The quickest return on efforts bots can get is consumables and crafting items for other consumables. Since these are always in demand they tend to sell well to the player economy. Unfortunately this has also always historically been the best route for new users to earn a little zeny to get started.

Were going to turn many of these items into NPC sold. To start with WSS, Stems, Strawberries, Blue Herbs. With plans to expand later into other items should the tests go will. They will be sold for near market value of these items

 

At the same time were going to be working on providing new users with quests to get good starter consumables so that they can fund their adventuring habits.

 

2. Stemming the tide of bot creation accounts.

 

We are analyzing the registration information of the bots that are being banned and working to filter out their ability to create new replacement accounts. Through the use of Captcha or even closing down that particular registration page if that is the only use it is serving.

 

3. Upgrading the GM team..

 

Xealot and I are reviewing the bot banning process that the current team is using and how they are making multiple account associations. Unfortunately due to the prevalence of proxies it is not just quit as simple as banning every account on the IP address. There is a need to train the fine tuned ability to connect accounts through trade, registration information, mail, and other activities.

We are also working with other teams in the company to make sure that the GMs have more tools available to them to make these associations.

 

Some of these can be enacted as early as next week while others will take longer to setup and get running. Overall we are not content with the current health of the server and will continue to expend efforts fighting the infestation.

 

/facepalm spamm harder as i can.

You must be kidding me, so, you want the botter get more richer than before? LOL, i know so many players already told you this but...you guys really dont know anything about your own game right?, there is a reason why in Renewal 1 no one want the Paramarket, and you just...what is feedback for you?

Why not just make legal the bots? LOL, really i dont see any help with this, in fact you are killing as fast as you can...

Rage...not done yet....ok, outside this crap, what you mean is, you still cant do anything about bots, so wait and deal with it?

If you want a zeny sink, put in an NPC every 2 months with a donation goal of 5b total or so (depending on what you think is reachable / amount may vary and adjust to current total zeny of the server) that has to be met within a week, where you can type the amount of zeny you want to donate in a text box, minimum donation amount 1,000z, and if the donation goal is reached there will be a week of double exp / tripple exp / etc. / whatever else you can come up with.

This will drain zeny from all players and will benefit all players, especially new ones.

1. will not help at all with the bot situation unless you completely remove the value of those items and have them be sold for 10z each.

Do not add those items to NPC shops please, don't!

Edited by Morlord, 29 November 2017 - 12:13 PM.

Another solution to the mass botting on the current Bathories map (gef_dun01) is to revert it to the alternate spawns with Jakks, Ghouls, Nightmares AND DRACULA (http://db.irowiki.or...info/gef_dun01/) while also removing the Ogretooth since that gets killed by bots as well. Since Clock Tower Underground 4 is a solid Anolian map, turn Clock Tower 4 into a Bathory Map and remove the current clock/alarms/dukes. Just make the spawns similar to the older UG 4 (this map:http://db.irowiki.or...-info/c_tower4/)that has Bathories, Jokers, Whispers, and the 3 Swords on a 1 hour timer. Bathories are a great place for melee and new players to level and make zeny by leveling, but requiring a catalyst or key to enter would stop a lot of the bots from leveling in those places.

Whatever happened to IP and MAC bans on botting accounts? If they are being created faster then they can be banned...block their IP. Maybe even have a fancy orange county lawyer email the ISP of these accounts explaining they are using their access to the internet to vandalize cyber-tangible services from your company? I'm not a lawyer but I do know they can make anything sound official even if it's not.

Edit: Drop a ban nuke on China. I've never met a player in any guild who plays iRO from that country and I'm going to go out on a limb and assume a lot of the farming operations originate there. Not just for RO, but a lot of games.

Edited by XelithNet17, 29 November 2017 - 12:27 PM.

I could only think that the ones complainibg about #1 are botters and zeny sellers.

Who in their right mind would farm blue herbs and strawberrys for regular use?

Also you might want to make strawberrys as nontradable. Since botters will just bot it even if its for less than npc price

I do, i farm blue herbs, 1k~1.7k Blue herb per day at same time i leveling in Geffen dungeon, and what is the point to play a RPG if all value items can be buy from a NPC? in that case better made a PvP server with already 99 characters.

Campitor, would you please take the time to explain to us why in the past:

1. A bot shield was mentioned?
2. New anti-botting solutions were being brought?
3. You are waiting on Korea for a response on anti-botting?

Finally could you explain what permits iRO to create NPC sold consumables [SP] just like in a private server and be allowed to do it? And what do you actually need approval from Studios for?
 

We have a meeting with the studio head on friday to discuss increasing the health of the server. That is why we had a plan more or less ready to start gathering user feedback. The bots are always on our minds.

I could only think that the ones complainibg about #1 are botters and zeny sellers.

Who in their right mind would farm blue herbs and strawberrys for regular use?

Also you might want to make strawberrys as nontradable. Since botters will just bot it even if its for less than npc price

Although I thank you for your support, saying users who disagree with you are ill mannered isn't exactly helpful to the discussion. Please keep it clean from flaming.

 

Hey Folks,

 

So we've been working on retraining the GM team since June. Introducing the dedicated 24/7 bot hunting team in September and over all trying to improve the player experience when dealing with the GM team (Xealot as the GM Liaison).

 

We know that the bots continue to be the greatest concern in the community. We're working on several routes of attack to deal with the bot situation.

 

1. Removing the benefit of botting.

 

The quickest return on efforts bots can get is consumables and crafting items for other consumables. Since these are always in demand they tend to sell well to the player economy. Unfortunately this has also always historically been the best route for new users to earn a little zeny to get started.

Were going to turn many of these items into NPC sold. To start with WSS, Stems, Strawberries, Blue Herbs. With plans to expand later into other items should the tests go will. They will be sold for near market value of these items

 

At the same time were going to be working on providing new users with quests to get good starter consumables so that they can fund their adventuring habits.

 

2. Stemming the tide of bot creation accounts.

 

We are analyzing the registration information of the bots that are being banned and working to filter out their ability to create new replacement accounts. Through the use of Captcha or even closing down that particular registration page if that is the only use it is serving.

 

3. Upgrading the GM team..

 

Xealot and I are reviewing the bot banning process that the current team is using and how they are making multiple account associations. Unfortunately due to the prevalence of proxies it is not just quit as simple as banning every account on the IP address. There is a need to train the fine tuned ability to connect accounts through trade, registration information, mail, and other activities.

We are also working with other teams in the company to make sure that the GMs have more tools available to them to make these associations.

 

Some of these can be enacted as early as next week while others will take longer to setup and get running. Overall we are not content with the current health of the server and will continue to expend efforts fighting the infestation.

 

Maybe, i can again play re:start 

1 & 2 finally good ideas.

addition idea to 1 : please put many low& mid level monster weapons& equip in the npc shops.

and make silvervine not tradable.

The bots have lose the game

I do, i farm blue herbs, 1k~1.7k Blue herb per day at same time i leveling in Geffen dungeon, and what is the point to play a RPG if all value items can be buy from a NPC? in that case better made a PvP server with already 99 characters.

Edited by Panteperu, 29 November 2017 - 12:35 PM.

That DR card would be worth like 500m not 3b though if there weren't any bots. 

Maybe, i can again play re:start

1 & 2 finally good ideas.

addition idea to 1 : please put many low& mid level monster weapons& equip in the npc shops.

and make silvervine not tradable.

The bots have lose the game

^ I hate to say it but the silvervine idea is a bust. There is a enough exchange through the gift card service that people can negotiate WPE to in game currency on their own. Silvervine makes it way too open source for people who use bots to generate infinite zeny to purchase this silvervine. Pull the plug.

If you want a zeny sink, put in an NPC every 2 months with a donation goal of 5b total or so (depending on what you think is reachable / amount may vary and adjust to current total zeny of the server) that has to be met within a week, where you can type the amount of zeny you want to donate in a text box, minimum donation amount 1,000z, and if the donation goal is reached there will be a week of double exp / tripple exp / etc. / whatever else you can come up with.

This will drain zeny from all players and will benefit all players, especially new ones.

 

 

1. will not help at all with the bot situation unless you completely remove the value of those items and have them be sold for 10z each.

Do not add those items to NPC shops please, don't!

THIS

Slotted sunglasses 50m

^ zeny sink

+1 thats a good ideia, but I would suggest a higher price, maybe 200~500m.

#1 wont disrupt your leveling at nightmares and the amount of blue herbs you get but, asking for bot and economy solutions without changing the flow of the economy is like asking for all prices to drop but the items you hunt remains their price.

Yeah and there are better ways like:

1.- Castles give treasures with materials like 1 supplie box= 200 WSS or trade stuff from castles for supplies / materials (Example: Mufflers= 100 Fabrics) and to avoid the botted mufflers make different ID from de Mufflers of castles.

2.- Hunt Missions for a amount os materials / supplies only for high lvs 85+ kill 150 x monster for x amount of materials / supplies. Of course the Bot hunting team will be active in those maps and change the map / monster every week.

3.- Week Events different quest to get a amount of exp and supplies.

4.- PvP event or WoE events outside the normal WoEs Winners gain a good amount of supplies and who dont but participate in the event gain consolation material prize.

etc, there are so many ideas, just need certain limitation like lv or a Active Bot hunter team, but this kind of stuff just dont, but well whatever, dont complain later.

 

Hey Folks,

 

Were going to turn many of these items into NPC sold. To start with WSS, Stems, Strawberries, Blue Herbs. With plans to expand later into other items should the tests go will. They will be sold for near market value of these items

 

all this will do is make it easy for thos who have botted and now have massive amounts of money to spend, this is a good way to kill your economy and the server, this all so makes it easy for bots to sell other items and just buy the WSS off the npc.

all this will do is hurt new players and the economy.

how about you start really hunting down bots, its not hard to spot a bot.

hell incentives players to report bots, most players just go oh look that's a bot and moves on, add a in game report system.

do you guys get off on killing this game? do you want this Restart server to end up like classic? STOP KILLING THE GAME!