Breakfast Topic: No ifs or bots.
by Zach Yonzon 
Feb 18th 2009 at 8:00AM
It's not even a question, really. Botting is against the game's TOS. If you're caught doing it, you're going to get banned. In case you hadn't already heard, Blizzard recently dealt the botting program Glider a killing blow in the courts, which should lead to the demise of the program. Whatever your views on it, Blizzard frowns on botting and even here at WoW Insider, most if not all of us are strongly against it.That said, yesterday's 15 Minutes of Fame was an eye-opener for me. I guess because I'd never viewed botters with much regard I often dismissed them. I've even reported one or two over the past years. But Daedren's interview was actually something to mull over.
If you did bot, what would you bot? All of us have experienced horrible, senseless grinds in the game. Whether it's farming for mats, grinding Honor, completing long quest chains... at some point in playing the World of Warcraft, we've all felt the tedium that can sometimes lead to unsavory (and TOS-breaking) thoughts of hassle-free automation. I'd never do it, but if I did, I'd probably have used it to level from 1-80 -- something I don't particularly enjoy. How about you? Hypothetically, what would you have botted? Or does the thought of bots make you feel all dirty inside?
Filed under: Blizzard, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
Kosh Feb 18th 2009 8:08AM
If I were to bot one thing I probably would is fishing. Fishing is one of the most boring things in the game atm and it would just be nice to relieve the constant clicking of the bobber :P
xenothaulus Feb 18th 2009 8:11AM
Agreed; in-game fishing is worse than real fishing!
BulletzBill Feb 18th 2009 8:18AM
Yeah they definitely need to add some kind of minigame to make fishing more involving and possibly slightly modify the loot you receive based on how well you do.
Taladan Feb 18th 2009 8:43AM
I seriously thought about using something to raise my fishing skill in BC. Lately, I'm fishing 'cause it makes me relax after doing some BG where the team plays like they belong to the other faction.
Abbadon Feb 18th 2009 8:48AM
I'm not surprised that almost everone has said they'd bot fishing. It truly is one of the worst aspects of the game. I feel that Blizz really dropped the ball by not including a fishing daily in Wrath. Had they done that, I'd prolly be 450 already instead of a mere 400.
And on that note, the thing I find most aggravating is that your fishing skill doesn't really make you a better fisher... the only thing affected by the skill is which zones you can access.
I find it ridiculous that at lv 400, I can run up to a pool of tasty fish in STV and cast half a dozen times or more before hitting the center of the pool, but a lv 19 twink with much lower skill can run up and (with the luck of the RNG) cast and catch 2 fish before I ever even get the bobber to land in the pool.
IMO, a skilled fisherman should be able to place a successful cast where he/she wants it to land. If there is a pool within range, a player at 450 should have the bobber land smack in the middle on the first cast (unless if they're drunk.. maybe... lol). And likewise, it should be assumed that a skilled fisherman would cast in a more populated area of the water and would know how to jiggle the line to attract fish, etc... I hate that so many of my casts will run the entire (22 sec?) timer and not get a bite till the very end, or even worse, not get a bite at all.
Jamesisgreat Feb 18th 2009 10:28AM
@ Abbadon - totally agree. Both hitting the pool directly first time and catching stuff quicker would give a lot more people incentive to level their fishing. I leveled mine to 450 as I'm a masochist but they really need to make some changes to make it less boring.
Healabit Feb 18th 2009 1:40PM
I got my fishing to 450 trying to get the giant sewer rat... 1250 casts later, no rat, maxed fishing, and a true hatred of the RNG. If I were to bot, it would be for fishing up that damn rat, and Mr. Pinchy.
Mr42 Feb 18th 2009 2:10PM
this
evestraw Feb 18th 2009 8:07AM
Since i got a fulltime job i would like it to do the holyday achievements
http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlocke-vs-the-horde/the-flintlocke-holiday-special-2008/940315p1.html
Keyra Feb 18th 2009 11:06AM
Though I would never run a bot, I have had that though sneak in when I'm fishing. There have been several times when I was sitting in front of the keyboard, right hand on mouse, left hand on keyboard - hit key, cast...wait...click mouse. Wash, rinse, repeat....and then I'd fall asleep.
If I'm going to snooze-fish, at least give me a beer and a funky hat!
I agree - there needs to be something to liven up fishing. Make it so that your rewards as a master-baiter (sorry, I couldn't resist) allow you to cast right where you put the mouse, put in a mini-game...SOMETHING.
Cast...wait...click...cast...wait...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.....
Nord Feb 18th 2009 12:48PM
If you don't want to use your keyboard with you fish, try Fishing Buddy, its a great add on, all you have to do is click the mouse button, when you cast, and catch the fish. It will also tell you how many fish and were you caught them. What I like is I have caught 63 gold coins and I am still missing 1 gold coin for my achievement.
Also with the last Holiday, it I would have botted getting the gifts, what make it worse is I didn't even complete the Fool achievement, I only got one bag of candy in a week. At the end I had over 20 pieces of chocolate of each type.
QXX Feb 19th 2009 11:04AM
I got banned for being F*@(#*(@$&*%$*@&#*(@#$& stupid and lucky i was able to get on of my other account back on a different server. GOD BLESS THE GODS for my luck
Arcaria Feb 18th 2009 8:10AM
I'd be too afraid of getting caught but I'd probably bot fishing if there was a way.
Hypothetically of course, like I said. i wouldn't want to get into trouble.
Ishnai Feb 18th 2009 8:09AM
Fishing, that is all I have to say.
Alamais Feb 18th 2009 8:08AM
Fishing. Hands down. Everything else I can stand to do myself, but I can never bring myself to truly enjoy fishing. I don't even have the skill on my main character.
MusedMoose Feb 18th 2009 8:08AM
To me, botting is like saying "I don't want to play the game, but I want the rewards of doing so." I think it's cheating, and I would never do it.
Conundrum Feb 18th 2009 8:27AM
True! Whatever thoughts I had about botting, your post said everything. The answer is not botting, is making boring aspects of the game, like fishing, more interesting and fun. Botting is cheating.
Amalgham Feb 18th 2009 8:51AM
I used to think botters where either lazy or where gold farmers. I really despised botters. However, after reading yesterday's article and the release of yet another grinder expansion compounded with the fact that I have too many alts, I've started to view things differently. I'll admit I've been tempted to bot before, but the fear of getting caught kept me at bay from going that route. Also, I am not one to enjoy something that I did not work for.
That being said, I can see the benefits of having a bot. If you have already traversed the games contents with at least one main all the way through to the maximum level then there is no need to go through it with other toons. Maybe one other, just for good measure, but really not needed to be done for more than two toons. Yes, you could say that if you don't want to put the time in other toons then don't bother leveling them, but that logic fails when you think about the fact that Blizzard didn't start DKs at level one. Why do you think they did that? Because they knew that that class would not have been picked up by as many if people had to start from scratch.
Then there are the monotonous skill level grinding professions such as fishing. People pull out their hair having to do that because there seems to be no way of speeding that skill point. Unlike other professions where you get to see what item will definitely give you a skill point if you create it, fishing has none. I don't know what goes through Blizzard's developers every patch that they do not see that people find fishing to be tedious. If they'd at least make it so that people could see schools in various colors as with the other professions skills then people would be more apt to fish. They could do colors around the school rings such as green, yellow, and orange, then people would be able to know if the school of fish they are fishing is going to give them a faster skill-up or a slower one. I think this would also encourage people to move to higher level fishing schools simply because when they saw it they knew they would get the skill point right away. And hell, just so that a person doesn't exploit one school for multiple points, they could make it like mining was, where once you tapped it you only got the skill point for the first tap. So, in this case the first fish would net you a skill point, but the rest would not.
In any case, I don't agree with botting, but I can see the justification.
Charlie Feb 18th 2009 9:18AM
"To me, botting is like saying 'I don't want to play the game, but I want the rewards of doing so.'"
I think thats a little strict definition.
If i botted i would use it to level alts. For me the fun parts are the social aspect, acheivements, raiding, and leveling for the first time. To say that those are the 'rewards' of 'playing the game' (leveling 1-80) is like saying that 1-80 is the majority of the game, while endgame is the cherry on top. Considering over half my playtime (70 hours total on my main, 40 on my 72 alt) is at each endgame (60/70/80). I don't see it that way at all.
Thats my big thing about botting. I said this in the other post. I believe when most people think of botters, they think of people gold farming, which hurts the economy and effects them. They don't think of other uses which may not affect them in the least, except for saying "He got this without doing any work, its not fair".
Imbolcain Feb 18th 2009 11:24AM
@Amalgham
"They could do colors around the school rings such as green, yellow, and orange, then people would be able to know if the school of fish they are fishing is going to give them a faster skill-up or a slower one. "
I agree this would be nice, but given the current system behind skilling up your fishing, this does not work. Not counting "your fish got away" messages, your fishing skill will level just as quickly in Stormwind and it would in, say EPL, as you get a fishing skill point every X casts, rather than every time in an "orange pool," but only once in awhile in a "green pool." That being said, I wish they would do away with this mechanic, and have fishing skill ups work just like any other profession. If something is harder, it should have a higher chance of giving you a skill up.