Influx Of Bots

[Mechgraber]

I highly doubt anyone using dungeon helper, even auto-follow (a feature that LotR apparently has in-built) will get any kind of repercussion. And then stuff like trove where you can search for items across accounts? It's almost astonishing that we have to use a 3rd-party tool to do that. Map reveal, that shouldn't exist. Have never used it, that's silly.

They've certainly made a lot of money on alt accounts, I know many people who buy the latest xpac on 6 accounts, sometimes even the highest tier for the teleport clickie. They are absolutely making bank from it, you do see people rerolling on many accounts many times on top of buying the content. It's a product of rare loot...or maybe the cause of it. It's part of the game at this point, because a large number of those players would probably quit, or at least spend way less if it was disallowed.

Now, you could argue that drop rates have been lowered because of people running multiple accounts to try to loot it, but it's not particularly clear which came first: them lowering drop rates to make up for the dual-boxers, or people rolling up multiple accounts because the drop rates have become so pathetically low.

While some clarification would be nice, they'll probably continue to avoid the topic.

 

[Christhemiss]

if you are complaing about dungeonhelper and how you think its botting, i have to ask, have you used it? cuz like half of the stuff you claim it does doesnt even work and its still a massive PITA

 

[Fallout47]

This is a wild post. So much hate for auto follow.

Auto-follow is likely singlehandedly saving SSG. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the actual live population of DDO is 1/4 of the actual number of toons logged in at any one time. All those alt accounts need expansions/content. This game will end up with a dozen people all running 20 accounts each.

 

[zandoe]

Filter out general chat and if drop rates etc annoy you make box accounts for farming and such like many of us have done already years ago.

 

[Throbulator]

Man you crack ONE joke about autofollow-trains and everyone gets superdefensive... sheesh.

No one hates you. You're fine. Enjoy the game. Choo-choo, Thomas ❤

 

[Br4d]

Those are multiboxers, not bots.
SSG has said that this is ok as long as all Characters are being controlled by a person at the computer. Most multiboxers are very ethical about 1 key press = 1 action and do not make bots that play the game by themselves. I know that's the way I approach it when I box...

I don't know if it is happening in DDO yet but the classic 6-box is 6 casters all attuned to the same keyboard and mouse firing 6 nukes off of one key press.

IMO that should not be legal.

 

[Chacka]

Ok but like, by your own example, if you press jump and your main client jumps, and that sends a relay to clients 2, 3, 4, and 5 to jump in the background, you have now automated that action from 1 key press to use the same action on 6 clients - this is separate from writing a macro to use jump, alternate clients, use jump, alternate clients, use jump, etc, as this is reading client data to tell background clients to perform actions automatically upon reading another client's actions. Splitting hairs, that is 1 press to 6 actions if using 6 clients. The bigger issue is that it is forcing commands to background clients/applications, using a third party tool to do so. This is, by definition, an automated function. While you may see automation as requiring full automation, e.g., a program advertised as a botting program, the Awesome Autofollow plugin is automating actions.

For those less informed, the Awesome Autofollow component goes beyond mimicking actions from the main client, it allows for the designation of specific loot items in chests, automatic passing of items to the primary client, using doorways and likes when the main client does.
I understand the tool makes your life easier, it certainly adds quality, but it's still commanding 5 clients to run autonomously after setup, in the background, compared to manual control of multiple clients and needing manual input for every action.

There are other morally ambiguous plugins in Dungeon Helper as well, such as the map hack that reads the active locations of data such as crests, monster locations and names, etc.

From my understanding, the main requirement from SSG is that each action of a player character must be triggered by a player.

Therefore, the real point here is whether the character’s action is caused by an algorithm or by a human. And on that matter, there is absolutely no doubt: every action triggered with the help of Dungeon Helper is caused by a human action. Yes, you may dislike that one player using Dungeon Helper can control six clients at the same time, but claiming there is any kind of “automation” involved is simply incorrect.

Regarding passing loot in chests, it can NOT pass specific items to the master! Dungeon Helper can do two things: pass all loot to the leader or auto-loot everything. You can also make the following characters pass their loot to you after you cause them to open the chest. But this is essentially just a macro executed by each client after the player has commanded them to open the chest. A developer once responded to my question about macros and said they are allowed as long as a player is sitting at the keyboard and triggering the action.

And yes, SSG could also decide to forbid using tools like Dungeon Helper. But currently, from everything I understand, it is allowed. If SSG wants to forbid it, they should clearly inform the players—and especially the developers of Dungeon Helper. Because as far as I can tell, the creators of Dungeon Helper genuinely believe they are not violating any SSG rules.

 

[Sarlona Raiding]

I don't know if it is happening in DDO yet but the classic 6-box is 6 casters all attuned to the same keyboard and mouse firing 6 nukes off of one key press.

IMO that should not be legal.

Is it even possible to cast 6 meteor swarms or 6 greater ruin with dungeon helper with 1 button. If so it's news to me.

Alt accounts existed long before Dungeon helper and would continue without it - the ddo client was changed to support this long ago. I don't think rare loot had anything to do with people having alt accounts, but it's quite possible it did result in more players creating alt accounts as often loot farming is a solo or short-man activity anyhow - so you might as well fill the party.

I created and starting using alt accounts long ago - more than a decade before I ever heard of a dungeon helper. In my case I started mostly soloing for questing due to injuries after I was rear-ended at a high speed while at a red light. I play much slower and need breaks much more often so I really push myself without breaks for raiding, an R10 or other group run (such as grouping for hardcore).

I would be more likely to spend on my alt accounts if SSG created an add-on with auto-follow and other features like other mmos, but I still do invest in those alt accounts. Since SSG's stance is kind of uncertain, it holds me back from spending on my alt accounts for sure.

 

[Vladimir]

This is a wild post. So much hate for auto follow.

Auto follows allows 6 toons to farm Favor, ravor reward Points, Points can buy Ottos boxes. If a person lets say is Vietnam and they sell something for USD, lets say an Ottos Box for $20 USD then equate to around $527197 VND. The average monthly wage in Vietnam is approximately 17.3 million VND, which is about 697 USD. However, wages can vary significantly based on factors like experience, education, and location.

 

[Sarlona Raiding]

Auto follows allows 6 toons to farm Favor, ravor reward Points, Points can buy Ottos boxes. If a person lets say is Vietnam and they sell something for USD, lets say an Ottos Box for $20 USD then equate to around $527197 VND. The average monthly wage in Vietnam is approximately 17.3 million VND, which is about 697 USD. However, wages can vary significantly based on factors like experience, education, and location.

Sounds like an ingenious way to make 1/10th of minimum wage.

 

[Vladimir]

Sounds like an ingenious way to make 1/10th of minimum wage.

What you may not understand is, that they typically play several games at the same time, some games such as DDO doenst have a large client base hence why i am surprised seeing these guy back. There were around in 2006. With a much larger population and/or a game heavily structure around PTW such as Age of WuShu, or Black Desert, there are items then can sell for $500+ USD. Selling a three line artifact in AoW which cost around 300-500 USD and you almost have a month wages, In fact the AoW OP martial set is called 18 Dragons and actually costs a player approx 20k to purschse from the game developer if they qualify and win The Mt Hua comp. The two guys I knew who did like like showing us pictures of their Lamborghinis. There whales then there there real whales.

 

[Col Kurtz]

This is a wild post. So much hate for auto follow.

wild thing... you make our hearts sing... you make everything Groovy!

 

[Br4d]

Is it even possible to cast 6 meteor swarms or 6 greater ruin with dungeon helper with 1 button. If so it's news to me.

Alt accounts existed long before Dungeon helper and would continue without it - the ddo client was changed to support this long ago. I don't think rare loot had anything to do with people having alt accounts, but it's quite possible it did result in more players creating alt accounts as often loot farming is a solo or short-man activity anyhow - so you might as well fill the party.

I created and starting using alt accounts long ago - more than a decade before I ever heard of a dungeon helper. In my case I started mostly soloing for questing due to injuries after I was rear-ended at a high speed while at a red light. I play much slower and need breaks much more often so I really push myself without breaks for raiding, an R10 or other group run (such as grouping for hardcore).

I would be more likely to spend on my alt accounts if SSG created an add-on with auto-follow and other features like other mmos, but I still do invest in those alt accounts. Since SSG's stance is kind of uncertain, it holds me back from spending on my alt accounts for sure.

The classic 6-box is hardware not software. Keyboard and mouse plugged in through a multi-adapter that sends each command to 6 systems at once. It can be done with a single CPU running 6 clients but that is clunkier and characters tend to incrementally separate over time so you have to keep realigning them every 5 minutes or so.

If it's happening in DDO the sign would be 6 characters mirroring each action. It's not auto-follow because each of those characters is moving identically.

 

[Cranjis]

Huh, my thread about general chat scammers has turned into a thread about auto following...

I'm using the auto follower right now to level up a little alt for opening. Sure doesn't seem like cheating when the alt account is stuck in a wall or dead (95% of the time)

 

[Col Kurtz]

Huh, my thread about general chat scammers has turned into a thread about auto following...

I'm using the auto follower right now to level up a little alt for opening. Sure doesn't seem like cheating when the alt account is stuck in a wall or dead (95% of the time)

they are auto following the thread that they hijacked to talk about auto following.. brain spinner

 

[Cranjis]

they are auto following the thread that they hijacked to talk about auto following.. brain spinner

Just another day in the ddo community!

 

[danzig138]

What you may not understand is,

What you may not understand is

So what?

 

[Underflow]

Autofollow requires people to buy the expansion x amount of times, where X is the number of accounts. It doesn't lose them money to keep it, and not only improves player numbers but also incentivizes purchases.

I see no real problem with it, as long as you're not being toxic with it.

Scammers are a sign that there might still be life in DDO, as for the longest time, DDO had very few bots selling plat or items or other trade goods: it simply wasn't worth it.

 

[adamkatt]

why does anyone care if someone wants to play their own grp.. dont bother the rest of us at all really and its good for ssg if theyre paying for all 6 accounts.

years ago i watch a guy is wow play 10 shamans at once... now that was some silly battle grounds stuff... fun to watch though.

 

[ChickenMobile]

I once f'd up my hand and had trouble moving & playing for a bit. I put myself on auto-follow (dungeon helper) on a friend and even though it was janky I could still cast spells, click/target things with just the mouse and help finish the quest.