bot or not?

[Skarm]

Due to the no naming no shaming policy, I'm not going to name the toon in question, but I think that most of you know who he is. I have been spending a lot of time with Gwoobler in the basin mining. There is this gnome flying around doing the same thing. Now normally, I wouldn't even pay any attention to another miner unless they are trying to jump my vein, but this guy is doing some strange stuff. First of all, he seems to drop out of the sky from the middle of nowhere, when I'm on top of a paticularly good vein. My punk detector doesn't go off, and there is no one around for miles, yet there he is. Second, he and his minion never go where its dangerous. If there are beasties around, they don't go to that vein, and I never see either one of them engage. Third, I can not get a reaction out of him no matter what I try. Fourth, tonight, I watched him run around a rock formation 3 times and try to mine from the wrong side. I have heard from other guildies that he is a bot, and I am really starting to wonder if he is or not. My questions are as follows: 1)How does someone make a bot to do this? Knowing the little that I do about programming, it can't be easy. 2) How can I prove that he is a bot? 3) If he is a bot, and I can prove it, then what. I believe in earning my toys and mounts in game, and have little tolerance for gold farmers and those who buy from them in order to get ahead in the game. It is my opinion that the rest of the guild seems to observe the same mores, as I have heard the horror stories about farming for weeks to be able to purchase a particular item in game.

[Golden]

If I were you I would report them anyway. The people at Blizz's end will know whether or not it's a bot. I've found that they don't ask WHY you think so - just send them the name and in which zone it is, and they'll look into it.

"Bot in [zone]: [name], a [race] [class]"

[Adam-Savage]

Def sounds like bot to me.

[Kayb]

that is most assuredly a bot

[Kalliope]

I can vouch for the Nesingwary GMs to be VERY prompt in their response regarding bots. If it's really a bot, they'll take care of it immediately.

[Mockingbird]

yep, open a GM ticket, give the name, zone and say "appears to be botting/automated gathering".

A GM will check up on it.

[Sarayana]

Yeah I agree with the others. It definitely sounds like a bot, but you don't have to prove it. Blizz will be able to verify it, once they know to check that account. If you report him and he's not botting (yeah right) then there's no repercussions for either of you, so ticket away.

[Magyck]

I've reported people I see doing strange things, good to know I don't need to have any "proof" that they're doing something not quite legit.

I mine mostly in Wintergrasp, and I saw a paladin on top of a rich saronite node, just standing there. I didn't want to mine out from under him, so I waited to see if he would take it. He stood on top of that node mounted, then unmounted a couple minutes later, then mounted again. I mined the node, and he didn't move - went on my merry way. When I came back around, he was still there, mounting and unmounting at set intervals (on top of a titanium this time). I mined there for a couple of hours, and he was there the whole time. Sounds like the programming for that one wasn't too hot.

[VelkynKarma]

XD Normally I find this sort of thing annoying, but in that case, Magyck, that's just hilarious.

When Bots Fail. Haha!

~VelkynKarma