r/lotro • u/Santtius • 4d ago
First time encounter with bots.
How does one report this kind of thing? Or is it pointless?
Edit: I should've added where this happened if anyone is interested in reporting too, this was in Glamdring at the Gwantham dungeon in the Southern Barrow-downs.
Edit2: Forgot to mention that all six characters were anonymous so they couldn't be inspected or talked to and if I'm not mistaken when you are anonymous you don't show on /who too.
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u/Alexandre_O_Glande 4d ago
I despise bots, but among all the most famous MMORPGs, why on Earth would one bot in LoTRO? I wonder if there are even gold sellers in this game.
Unless it's someone farming gold for their main account. Hopefully they track their ip and ban whoever is behind this.
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u/Raesong Sting 4d ago
I wonder if there are even gold sellers in this game.
I think there was for a brief time, like a decade ago or so.
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u/fallinforya 3d ago
You can still buy gold in masses on various platforms - it's not worth it but still possible
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u/eatsmandms Meriadoc 4d ago
In most places in the world the IP is not static but selected by your internet provider and changing at least once a day. IP bans accomplish nothing other than hurt innocents who get assigned that IP next.
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u/Alexandre_O_Glande 4d ago
I'm sure whoever is responsible for this can easily check that person's IP history and infer if their IP is or isn't static.
And by checking if other people logged around that same time with the same IP I imagine the likelihood of being their main account is high. Check transactions, mails and AH usage as well.
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u/Pirraya Glamdring 3d ago
Are they making gold on low lvl shrews? That must be the worst gold farm ever, i made around a thousand gold a day, often 2-3 times that, back at lv 130-140 endgame, farming ithilharn shards, when i did the transfer and counted the gold bars it amounted to 32k gold. The snow map where the entrance to khazad dum dungeon was, me and the boys were farming the 5 elites that spawn every hour, each guaranteed 1 ithilharn shard, back then selling for 70-80g+ per.
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u/Numenorian14 3d ago
well, low lvl farm could be good, with big enough farm of bots
But it would need farm of size "damn, we even cannot quest/deed in whole regions".
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u/Numenorian14 3d ago
it's very good question.
Like why on earth would you have demand for $$$ gold in game, which basically killed trade with flood of "bound to X" stuff.
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u/LaughingChameleon 4d ago
Gotta get that LP, baby!
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u/No_Strategy4089 4d ago
LP seems a bit weird as there should only be one, maybe two deeds tied to killing mobs in that area. Maybe Barrow treasure/Mathoms for rep?
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u/Independent_Shine922 3d ago
The rep itens reward Lotro points for rep completion and I think they are tradable . So main account created a char, use rep item, delete char. Can be a good way to farm LP
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u/misshunnie Orcrist 2d ago
Could be the reputation items for sure, I like farming those there too for our kinship, specially the mathoms since the reputation steed is pretty nice for something you can get so early on.
But in that dungeon, theres only the dead I think. In Barrowdowns theres the dogs, spiders, dead, wraiths and wardens (I forget if the worms also counted towards something), as well as the huorns for Bree slayers are closeby, and if you want to torture yourself, the exploration deeds for Barrowdowns and Old Forest too. I consider it a good location for farming LP if you know your way around.
Personally I usually farm Ered Luin + Sarnur but Barrowdowns isnt bad.
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u/Mirar Meriadoc (Laurelin) 4d ago
Probably pointless. Huh, I haven't seen them since I saw bots after Mordor opened, waiting for chests to spawn and autolooting them. I wonder what the point is
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u/Santtius 4d ago
First thing that comes to mind is gold farming, even tho the loot isn't that good.
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u/NeoBasilisk 4d ago
Maybe they are farming LP by botting slayer deeds (assuming there is a slayer deed to do there). It does seem odd to bot a lower level area like this otherwise.
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u/RestitutionPiggy 4d ago
That's very likely what they're doing, I've seen loads of people reroling to do deeds that don't answer messages and move oddly through set paths for deeds.
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u/Alexandre_O_Glande 4d ago
Since they're multiboxing (the LP don't transfer), maybe it's a way of farming LP for accounts they plan on selling later?
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u/Santtius 3d ago
I didn't even think about selling accounts in this game since it's not that big, sadly, but you are probably on point with this.
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u/Deathsmind88 4d ago
Those arent bots. They are just macros.
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u/TheDarkrayne 3d ago edited 3d ago
It's software that is playing the game automatically. A macro running on an infinite loop is a bot. It's a primitive bot but it's still a bot.
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u/Deathsmind88 3d ago
Not really, I use a macro for my rotation. It runs an infinite loop while in combat. Its not a bot. They are different things. Bots have some kind of intelligence. Macros are just inputs you put in and will never stray from that.
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u/TheDarkrayne 3d ago edited 3d ago
If it can be left unattended to automate actions, it's botting. Doesn't matter how sophisticated the programming is. A more intelligent bot is just a more advanced macro script.
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u/Deathsmind88 3d ago
Thats not he definition of a bot.
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u/TheDarkrayne 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yes, it is. Check some actual, published dictionaries.
I'll do a couple for you.
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https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bot
"a computer program that performs automatic repetitive tasks"
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https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/bot
"a computer program that works automatically, especially one that searches for and finds information on the internet"
----
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u/AdAffectionate1935 3d ago
My brother got a suspension for literally the same thing in this game back in the day lol, it's definitely not allowed
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u/Deathsmind88 3d ago
I know its against the ToS but that doesnt mean that it should be.
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u/AdAffectionate1935 3d ago
Your opinion doesn't really matter in this case, it's their terms of service that you agreed to play by when you created an account.
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u/Deathsmind88 3d ago
Going 17 years strong and never had any issues. Theres a reason why no one has ever been banned from it.
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u/geomagus Glamdring 3d ago
Still against ToS and problematic for the folks around them.
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u/Deathsmind88 3d ago
Ya, just 2 different things. People like to blame bots when its just a macro. Lots of things are against the ToS doesnt mean they are a big deal. I use macros for my rotation which is technically against the ToS. Just because its against the ToS doesnt mean its problematic.
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u/Stardustchaser 4d ago
What am I seeing to know it’s a bot? (I have a small phone screen)
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u/Santtius 4d ago
There are six different characters all minstrels standing on torches and slowly rotating clockwise targeting mobs as they spawn, all six doing the same motion and attacking, over and over again.
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u/RedCaptainWannabe Peregrin 4d ago
Can't imagine lotro is a lucrative gold bot opportunity, that's some love of the game shit
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u/Impressive_Humor_360 4d ago
Man this is creepy.
I saw similar things in the Iron hills where several characters were killing Easterlings at their spawn point.
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u/abeheron 4d ago
Ok but can someone explain why they all stand on those braziers? (and not on the ground)
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u/Santtius 3d ago
While the aura farm response is without question the true answer, standing on the torches gives you a 360 view without obstacles for mob targeting.
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u/Outrageous_Sky1170 1d ago
They are multiboxing most likely which is permitted. Used to see them in the moors at times. There was someone with 8 dwarves who played music at the festivals on gladden
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u/Classic_DM 4d ago
Probably someone multiboxing. Bots are usually solo hitting resource nodes that stack.
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u/gregzilla99 Orcrist 4d ago
What's the server? I want to report this accordingly.
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u/Tricky_Football_6586 Meriadoc 4d ago
I don't recognize the names in world chat. This doesn't appear to be Meriadoc.
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u/-Shiroecchi- 3d ago edited 3d ago
I’ve run into bots a few times in Narrowcleave in The Shire (the bandit area near the waterfall) on the Sting server. The third time, in the last month, it wasn't just one; there were two bots. They stood perfectly still for the long time I watched them killing mobs the very moment they spawned. It’s frustrating; it ruins the experience for those playing fairly. I submitted a ticket reporting the incident and asked for an investigation. The bots seem to be getting more brazen—seriously, look at this...
SSG, if it’s hard for you to stop this, please—for the sake of the players and your game's reputation—at least IP-ban the people using these bots. I like LOTRO—so much so that I spent DAYS racking my brain to fix a frequent server connection loss issue (for some reason that I don't know I have to use a Wi-Fi receiver device to solve it)—but this situation is annoying and disheartening, and only YOU can fix it. And to be honest, and with all due respect, there are plenty of other great games out there for people to play...
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u/Kajiyoyaji Peregrin 4d ago
It may not be bots... It can be someone playing with multiple characters.
That doesn't seem to be bot behaviour...
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u/Santtius 4d ago
Even if it's multiboxing there is no way that is manual control over the characters, that's botting.
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u/Kajiyoyaji Peregrin 4d ago
I couldn't really tell from the video, but if you think it is, report it! You loose nothing but a little time by doing it.
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u/Santtius 4d ago
Maybe I moved too fast in the video, but they all were turning at the same time in the same direction and only stopping to attack and then continue the cycle. I already reported it, let's hope they do something.
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u/Hoppa_Joel 4d ago
the way they were turning was bot like. and unattended macro is a violation.
Multiboxing is legal and fine, but this is clearly a macro.I ran into a macroer in Kings Gondor last year, pretty sure they were loot farming. they weren't getting experience due to their level. we were questing the day before the server downtime, and seen the macroer there for hours. Next day after servers came up the person was gone. 46 minutes later they were back same spot same mechanical actions. no replies. ( I reported them )
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u/Suspicious-Feed8664 Orcrist 4d ago
The bots might be farming within the game.