Bot Spotting 101
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 22nd 2006 at 1:30AM
Doc Robot has a short but sweet guide to how to spot a botter (or, sometimes, a farmer) wandering around the World of Warcraft. Warning signs: they behave erratically, don't answer tells, use repeated attack patterns, and so on and so forth. Chances are that if, like me, you play on one of the higher population servers, you've seen this stuff happening, even if you didn't know at the time exactly what you were dealing with.My own bot story is pretty funny-- I was leveling my rogue through Stranglethorn Vale, killing and skinning panthers to grind and make some money. Along comes a paladin-- she walks right up to a panther near me, and proceeds to kill it. I play on a PVE server, but I've got no love for the alliance, so I did what I thought was an appropriately undead rogue-y thing to do and I ninja'ed the skin from her on that kill. She tried to skin, failed, and... moved onto the next mob. I got no reaction out of her at all. So I let her kill the next mob, beat her to the skin again, and still nothing. I did this three or four times, and I didn't get so much an emote out of her-- not even an angry look.
I couldn't believe that someone would let me get away with this, so even despite the fact that she was a few levels ahead of me, I went ahead and flipped my PVP flag on, and threw down a few /taunts. Still nothing-- she just keep rolling on in her pattern without even acknowledging I was there. By then, of course, I knew I was dealing with a bot, and so for an hour or so, I tagged her panthers, let her kill them and gain experience for me, and then ninja'ed the skin out every time. Wonder if that botter was surprised that his paladin wasn't very productive that hour.
Unfortunately, I never did report her, which is what you're supposed to do when you find a character botting or farming (as the article says, it's usually a hunter, so my guess is that my paladin was simply being powerleveled). Blizzard is doing everything they can to battle this stuff, but my guess is that it's much more rampant than even they will admit. Have you seen a bot? What did you do when you discovered it?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Jon Nov 22nd 2006 3:46AM
I have pretty much the same experience, Just round the corner from Morgan's Vigil on the Qual'Thalas EU Sever, several bots, all Hunters, one named "Crazychick" a another called "AHorde" constantly killing the Elite dragonspawn that reside around those parts. I was suspicious so tried skinning one of their kills and got away with it. Did it again and added a /lol once I had skinned their kill, no reaction. So continued to skin both of their kills and also try and get the first shot in so I could loot, but this is hard if you are a paladin against a hunter. Reported about 5 characters that day, received a "standard issue" reply from a GM. That was about a month ago and last time I checked they were still there.
Bot Checklist...
Are they a hunter?
Are they wearing lvl40 greens at lvl60?
Do they walk around in circles?
Do they occasionally get "stuck" behind a rock or tree or such like?
Do they kill for you and/or allow you to skin their kill without a word?
If you have answered yes to two or more of these questions then you have discovered a Bot. Gratz!
Eh @ Silvermoon EU Nov 22nd 2006 4:47AM
Silvermoon EU is a hot spot for Bot HK's! There is nothing like mind controlling them into monkeys.
Draxle Nov 22nd 2006 4:01AM
I've run into a couple of rogue bots on my warlock that, for one reason or another, were programmed to treat my demon as a killable mob. Let's just say that all of these events ended in hilarity, for there is absolutely NOTHING that a rogue can do when they target a felhunter (and thus ignore the warlock), except die horrifically.
Kahdrill Nov 22nd 2006 6:33AM
I play on Steamwheedle cartel EU, and I went to Burning steppes to finally get started on my Onyxia chain with my human holy priest. And it took me quite a while to get to kill the dragonkin I needed, because the black dragonkin camps were filled with bots running around taking every kill. I tried to steal their kills, but a hunter is so much quicker than a priest and have much more range... *blergh*
Well I reported 6 bots there anyways, about a week ago. And they are still running around in the very same area, making it hard for anyone to do the Onyxia chain.
Adam Nov 22nd 2006 7:38AM
I've run into MANY a bot in my time, all have been reported (in detail) and to my knowledge all of them have been removed...of course this didn't stop me from having a little fun. I too have done the kill stealing thing. Hunter bots have a habit of marking their target, then sending their pet in. As long as I tag the mob (do it with an instant ranged attack) while the pet is in pursuit the bot will continue to kill it. If I tag the mob before it sends in the pet, it will abort.
After about 30 minutes of doing this, suddenly the bot stopped its erratic movements and walked up to me and I got a whisper saying "fu ck you" - I laughed and watched him some more...after about 5 minutes of manual kills it was back on botting mode again and I reported it.
Most bots I've seen are hunter bots but I've also seen rogue bots and even one warlock bot.
Kinless Nov 22nd 2006 7:40AM
We've got three bots, at least, on Kirin Tor in the Burning Steppes hunting the Elite Black Dragonkin. Troll, Orc, and Dwarf.
I too have watched them circle their staked out areas, each sticking to their territory like robotic vacuum cleaners.
I have watched them sit in a fire, take damage, eat to fix damage, sit in a fire, take damage, eat to fix damage, sit in a fire...
I've waited for them to kill a dragonkin, loot it, and skinned it in front of them. I did this over and over. Every once in a while they'd stop for a bit, just stand there stupidly, and then reactivate and move on.
There were two hunters, Troll and Night Elf, in the Alterac Ruins hunting Elite Ogres.
I've reported them to Blizzard. They were gone for a day, but then they came back. Same players, pets, actions. Blizzard doesn't seem to care.
You know as soon as *I* run a bot to play my characters, I'll be banned in a heartbeat.
Another tell tale sign of a Bot: Their pet is always named "Cat" or "Owl" or "Boar". Level 60 and they can't be bothered to name their pet? Different reasons for playing I guess. Mine is to play. Their's...? As if they botted even the taming and management of their pet. Don't the botter's name their pets in real life?
But, that reminds me. As long as they're killing Black Dragonkin why not farm them for the Dragonscales. I won't be earning XP, but the black dragonscales will come in handy crafting armor. Just need about 40 more to drop.
Beth Nov 22nd 2006 8:03AM
I've reported, using a help ticket with no help. There are always bots farming felcloth at the exotic reagent vendor in Winterspring. Incredibly frustrating. I've reported a bunch of times and they never do anything about it.
Is there a more effective way to report these guys?
Altan Nov 23rd 2006 1:59AM
One morning when levelling up and questing at Sorrow Hill in Western Plaguelands, there was myself, a warrior and 4 hunter bots. It was the most concentrated botting I have ever seen - I reported all of them and I'm happy to say all are 'gone' now from the server listing. I frequently see hunterbots and I hope the recent bannings have cleared most - if not all - of them out.
I think overall, fishing bots annoyed me the most. In the space of a month stonescale eels on the Dragonblight auction house dropped from around 16-18 gold a stack to 4-5 gold a stack, and mostly there would be about 20-30 stacks listed at a time from the two main bots on the server, usually not selling out, which made fishing for profit mostly pointless. I knew the locations of these botters and along with a lot of other players, reported them a lot over last summer. They are finally gone now.
Actions like that totally undermine the botters claims that they aren't hurting the game or players - anything that impacts that largely on the economics of the game is unbalancing for the whole population, to satisfy the lazy greed of a few.
I hope Blizz keeps developing their ability to swing that banstick, until they can beat these lowlifes out of the game for good.
Orizon Nov 22nd 2006 9:02AM
On Burning Blade, I've seen the same character fishing at the same spot in Tanaris, between Steamwheedle Port and the pirates, where there's a cave with an NPC. I think he was in his 20s which is by far, way too low to be there by normal progression. I whispered him on multiple occasions with no response. I didn't bother to report it as it wasn't running a pattern or anything. I just wished I could find a horde to kill the guy. I actually saw that person with 2 different characters about a month apart.
Slug Nov 22nd 2006 9:24AM
Here is a movie what I did to a bot we found..
http://files.filefront.com/ReclaimTheServerwmv/;6177562;;/fileinfo.html
Katie Nov 22nd 2006 9:39AM
One of my good friends transferred servers so I made a new character on her new server so we could still chat and play together once and a while. I made a human mage and was wandering around building up levels again when I got the quest to go kill Princess at the local farm.
So, I come across another alliance character. Oddly enough, while I was sitting drinking I was watching the characters movements and noticed they seemed to have one of the non-aggressive pigs on follow. I didn't think you could /follow mobs but I guess a botter can figure a way out to do it. Funny thing was, I guess their system was broken because they weren't attacking any mobs, just following them around in erratic circles. I went up and kill the pig the botter had targetted and it waited a few seconds and ran to /follow the nearest pig.
I finished my quest and a few hours later, I was curious and came back, and sure enough, there was my new bot friend still on /follow on random pigs, not killing any of them. Must have sucked for that person when he came back and realized he's been gone for 3 hours and didn't get any xp!
Another question, is why would you start botting on a character so low a level? I mean, the guy was only level 6 at most, why would you risk the chance of getting your new character banned right off the bat?
jpc Nov 22nd 2006 10:14AM
I've never seen any bots, maybe it's cause I'm on a pvp server? I don't think bots would last too long. I've seen farmers, but not of the bot variety.
Bendyr Nov 22nd 2006 10:56AM
Waitaminit... the warning signs of being a bot are:
1) they behave erratically
2) don't answer tells
3) use repetitive attack patterns
Uhh... if you'll excuse me, I have to V-K myself really quick.
PsyClerk Nov 22nd 2006 12:42PM
I ran into a group of about four bots in Dustwallow Marsh a good while back. Mainly rogues killing the dinosaurs out there. It was really strange because there was one swath of land essentially empty except for these characters running around in circles.
Gwokina Nov 22nd 2006 2:13PM
Well, I play on Uther PVE and bots are pretty much a weekly occurrence for me. In fact there are a few bots that I see on a regular basis. Yes, I have reported them, and no, they haven't been kicked. Just to the north of Steamweedle there is a little cove that *always* has a fishbot in it. Also in the same zone, but south where the Dew Collectors are, is another bot farming zone, but considering the Mobs, thats primarily for power leveling I think.
My tactic with bots is to PST them and when I never get any response, or ignore, I report them. Following that I /friend them, and PST them whenever I get on. Let them know that even if bliz doesn't ban them, I still know they botted ; -)
Nax Nov 22nd 2006 1:49PM
I play on the Silvermoon (US) Server and while leveling my shaman up, I entered the Felstone Field in WPL. There was a female dwarf hunter running around in circles, and I didn't think any thing of it.
Then, I dropped a totem, and she stopped and targetted my totem and just sat there for the duration of the totem. I waved, and cheered, etc. Nothing, just staring at my facinating symbol of shamanistic power.
Once the totem expired, off she was again in a circle.
Even though I was not PVP flagged, she targeted me and began following me around. So I introduced her to the scarlet crusade representives in the corner of the field and watched her die. Sadly, she rezzed and continued to circle.
So every few days, I'll be in the area, and sure enough there's the hunter doing the same circle in Felstone field, and everytime I can I try to get her killed.
You know, to be a neighborly horde, what's a few deaths among friends. :D
-Nax
Ryan Withrow Nov 22nd 2006 3:22PM
I have reported 8 botters in the Shimmering Flats on Archimonde, all of them I proved by stealing kills/skins, none of them were removed, I have seen many of them online botting elsewhere
Tris Nov 22nd 2006 8:55PM
Oh, PVP has some botters on Aegwynn... Usually mid 30-late 40s in Tanaris just ne of the Alliance flight path. Check it out sometime on Thursday mornings. I always pickup about 30-40 heavy leather and some skins there whenever I don't feel like killing. Reported at least 7 or bots over 2 monthes and have only seen 1 since. Not a bad ratio.
PM Nov 25th 2006 3:06AM
My guild and I saw 3 bots farming the shoreline in Tanaris. What was funny is that there were two alliance warlocks and one horde warlock running by each other with no problem (I'm on Destromath-PvP). Usually Destro adheres to the "if it's red it's dead" rule, so we found this unusual. We decided to test this and attack the one gnome lock, then the other, no reactions-- free honor kills!
Romchik88 Nov 30th 2006 9:06PM
the bots collect crap to sell for gold then the guy that created the bots sell the money on ebay and other sites that i wont mention. they are just out theire to make money