Battleground bots out of control, should something be done?

[tomcruise]

I'm not sure if anyone else has noticed, but the amount of QQ over bots in battlegrounds has reached fever pitch. There are multiple 100 page+ threads of complaints on the official forums (there is one linked on the front page of MMO-C at the time of writing this). I know that this is par for the course, there are always people complaining about bots, but I feel recently it's approaching the stage where Blizzard will have to do something, be it either step up their efforts to detect HB users or introduce human verification in order to join a BG, the former being the most likely and also (potentially) the most damaging for all of us.

The question is what can be done about it, should anything be done about it? Admittedly I cannot offer any solutions, but I would have thought the HB team must be monitoring this. When the program starts to have such a detrimental effect on the game it becomes inevitable that Blizzard will have to act, we've seen it before with other third party programs that stayed under the radar for a long time but once the amount of complaints reached critical mass they get struck down. I do not think there are any other forms of botting that have either currently or historically generated the amount of QQ currently being generated, even resulting in unsubs if those people are to be believed.

If your attitude is "who cares", then it means you are prepared to face the alternative, which is to let the situation continue getting worse and just hope that the HB devs don't slip up somewhere, or deal with whatever measures Blizzard are eventually forced to implement to deal with the problem.

 

[Epicknight]

Keep in mind honorbuddy isn't the only bot that does battlegrounds. I tried several different bots before honorbuddy and they were all terrible.

 

[leetdemon]

there are tons of bg bots out there like the dude above said.....most suck ass few are decent. They eventually get caught.

 

[tomcruise]

True there are other bots, but I think it's safe to assume the overwhelming majority are going to be HB users, no other bot has a user base like HB.

Get an Alternative BG Bot base and dont ever worry again. It makes me look and act more human than most of the human players in the BG.

I'm not talking from a personal point of view here, it's more about the endemic of BG bots in general. Even if you yourself configure your bot absolutely perfectly and are never suspected, it's the thousands of people who are obviously botting and ruining the game for the legit player that is the issue. It's like in FPS games when wallhacks/aimbots get out of control, eventually the developer has to do something or they risk losing big chunks of their player base.

I'm trying to give everyone a warning, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I've been around for long enough to trust my instincts on this, the present situation cannot (and will not) continue for much longer. It will end either in the mother of all ban waves or some really obnoxious in game feature like Captchas, either way it won't be pretty.

 

[DX123]

If your doing AV or IOC you are going to have about 90% bots. That is why they always pop fastest in the que. And yes.. people are always talking about the bots. However.. some of them are just really bad. Running against the door in IOC before the match starts, waiting in the cave in AV (horde side) way after the gate opens, capping GY's that you shouldn't, etc.

It is getting bad.. but I would say in all honesty.. I don't think its HB users mostly. I use an Alternative BG Bot base which is incredible. But even then, I will still monitor it from time to time and complain in the chat if its AV or IOC. One or two comments in chat can make all the difference between being called out as a bot or not.

People may be pissed.. but frankly I think it's expected in regular BGs. It took me all of two days with the Alternative BG Bot base to farm all of my regular gear and get some Prideful stuff. Now I don't bg bot that much anymore. I think people will get over it. Maybe..

DX123

 

[jimmy06]

Get an Alternative BG Bot base and dont ever worry again. It makes me look and act more human than most of the human players in the BG.

True there are other bots, but I think it's safe to assume the overwhelming majority are going to be HB users, no other bot has a user base like HB.

I'm not talking from a personal point of view here, it's more about the endemic of BG bots in general. Even if you yourself configure your bot absolutely perfectly and are never suspected, it's the thousands of people who are obviously botting and ruining the game for the legit player that is the issue. It's like in FPS games when wallhacks/aimbots get out of control, eventually the developer has to do something or they risk losing big chunks of their player base.

I'm trying to give everyone a warning, maybe I'm just being paranoid, but I've been around for long enough to trust my instincts on this, the present situation cannot (and will not) continue for much longer. It will end either in the mother of all ban waves or some really obnoxious in game feature like Captchas, either way it won't be pretty.

Please don't advertise paid botbases

 

[Eldacar]

[HIDE][/HIDE]

Get an Alternative BG Bot base and dont ever worry again. It makes me look and act more human than most of the human players in the BG.

I agree im one of the least tarded players in ally bgs now.

 

[Chaser]

can't understand what legit players do in random BG? I'm a pvp player, gearing new toon to 522 in 2-3 days (using paid alternative botbase) and never see random BG until I need 550 for my offspec Not because of bots, there is just no fun in killing poor geared people and no way to make some good gold there.
Sometimes I do 1-2 BGs if I need to test something BG related.

 

[dayloon]

Sorry if this is a silly question but where do you get high level gear from for honorpoints ? I can't find the vendor.

 

[Nivvie]

Sorry if this is a silly question but where do you get high level gear from for honorpoints ? I can't find the vendor.

In a building on the great wall of Pandaria, near the Dread Wastes.

 

[webhond]

the BG bot included in honorbuddy is a piece of crap and we all agree upon this. You should not be advertising a paid botbase though.

this

bg buddy is a joke.

bot trains again, you spot em frm a mile away.

so many times reported that start mesh is fucked.

no one does a thing about it.

you see bots the 2nd the door opens.

always.

and that made HB big.

A joke!

 

[Cukie]

Please don't advertise paid botbases

Then fix your own BG Botbase, maybe?

 

[Eldacar]

Please don't advertise paid botbases

Firstly I would like to say yous all do a wonderful job. But for one were not really advertising the botbase no names or anything were mentioned. And secondly we should be able to tell other people that there is a alternative bg bot that will more than likely stop you from getting banned for bg botting.

 

[tomcruise]

Bumping this thread in light of the recent tripwires and apparent efforts of Blizzard to upgrade Warden.

If you wanted to know the primary motivation for doing so, the epidemic of obvious bots in battlegrounds would not be a bad guess. The official forums are inundated with complaints and huge multi-page threads discussing the fact battlegrounds are being ruined by bots. Blizzard are losing money from this. Blizzard want to improve their PvP systems to make them more rewarding and engaging in WoD, but what would be the point if they do not also tackle the bot issue.

I implore the HB devs to do something about this, either limit the number of people that can be botting in battlegrounds at any one time or remove it altogether.

The next time I bump this it will be after the inevitable mass banwave that is coming, I say inevitable because there is no way this situation can persist forever. Don't say I didn't warn you.

 

[webhond]

bg buddy should be taken out. Deffo untill this 30 day period is over.

If anything is bringing this bot down then it is a non functioning botbase that

gives away whos botting and whos not. Its a farce to keep this going untill its fixed!

 

[Molestia]

You use BGBuddy at your own risk. End of Story.

 

[Drope]

Can someone tell me which bot base is good for bgs ? (Something smarter, or less bottish than BGBuddy)
I've seen many of them, but idk what really should use.

Send it via pm please.

 

[tomcruise]

You use BGBuddy at your own risk. End of Story.

Not the sharpest tool in the box are you?

It's not about personal risk, at all, it's about the BG botting epidemic putting us all at risk. Whether you are using HB to sell some stuff on the auction house or just using LazyRaider in LFR, if HB gets detected it will be a blanket ban that applies to all HB users.

Everyone should have an interest in reducing the motivation for Blizzard to clamp down on Honorbuddy.

 

[Coolio99]

The Warden updates are directed at stuff like this (less combat routines and such). And I wouldn't be surprised if the rise of BG bots is the factor, since it's so public and extremely noticeable. I agree with everyone else, either remove it or fix it. Right now it sticks out like a sore thumb and as a result the entire bot is being targeted.

 

[holynorth]

Right now it sticks out like a sore thumb and as a result the entire bot is being targeted.

Agree with this entirely. It's an infected limb. Cut it off. However, the counter argument is that other bot producers will simply take on the flux of customers that desire BG Botting, essentially resulting in no change but a shift of money.