Guild Wars: A ghost town in the making.

Dear Gurus,

Today, over 3700 accounts were banned due to botting and use of third-party programs. Let's take a moment and really break down how and why nearly half of the populous of this dying online community spontaneously combusted.

Arena-Net has offered us so many lovely content additions in the recent history, such as costumes, NPCs to talk trade useless crap for other useless crap, ways to change our character from a down-syndrome having asian infant, and finally the War in Kryta quest chain. These additions have molded the community from a dying game, to a dying game that the players realize won't get better. I understand GW2 is on the rise, but that's been the case for 2 years without any love for the original, and will continue to be the case for months to come. With this being said, what do the players with 3-5 years under their belt have to do? Repeat missions, vanqs, dungeons? Needlessly grind out speed clears (which Anet failed at attempting to shut down)? Or maybe participating in nerdy e-peen battles on a nightly basis with the same morons every night in HA? THIS my friends, is precisely why people bot. It makes the game fun again. Personally, I've achieved GWAMM, r8, g3 on my own, no bot help. I moved to PvP because there was nothing else left to do in PvE. When PvP becomes redundant, you simply move on (botting). An evolutionary process mediated by A-net themselves.

For those of you who didn't bot, you simply didn't know where to get it. Honestly, when something becomes meta (obviously botting was), this community of ours nestles into it wholeheartedly. So basically, my point is this: Anet killed this game by not updating it enough. Without enough content updates, or micro-transactions, or anything that normal, successful MMOs employ to keep their game active, this game died out. 15 minute zaishen wait times in HA, empty districts in PvE zones, etc... BEFORE the ban-o-mania. Just imagine what the future months will behold.

I would just like to note with this post, that the people that botted, didn't necessarily bot because they wanted a maxed title, or money, or fame, or glad, etc.. etc... Personally... I just didn't know what else to do... Second GWAMM? ok.. bot account wide titles (treasure, luxon.) Bot eotn titles. Who cares? I've done them already... If a game wants to combat botting, don't let the players get bored of said game. Honestly, running rupty and watching people rage was more fun than playing the game for what it is. If Anet sticks to this concept of an MMO.... even if it is more like WoW (.... zzzzz), who is going to play it? You think I'm gonna buy GW2 after filling my HoM legitimately, getting gwamm, r8, g3 legit? After 5000+ hours of gameplay? I can't imagine so. Because truthfully, with the effort put into GW1 in the last few years, why would I expect anything more from GW2 once they design it? A re-skinned, re-written WoW isn't going to do anyone any good, especially when the Arena Net team won't be adding new content updates every couple of months like WoW does... As BAD as WoW is... it's better than GW... because the designers actually give a damn. =/ sad news for Guild Wars today.

Generally... good luck GW community. - What's left of it, that is.

I'm surprised it took you THIS long to realize all this.

Maybe because when I look at "this community", I never take bots and gold-farmers into account.

Maybe that's that.

fresh start in gw2 atleast for many

Old news. Thank you, good bye!

Wrong. And I also do not accept your assertion that botting was "meta".

I have lots of personal in-game achievements, and I would never risk losing those by using a bot. I assume you decided to take that risk and paid the price.

I fail to see how botting makes the game "fun again". After all, if you're botting, you're not playing. Where's the fun in that? If the game is no longer fun for me... I don't turn to botting - I move on to another game and come back for new War in Kryta stuff, GW2 etc.

The bans were great news, not sad news.

Your complaining that ppl got banned for botting?
If your bored of the game then just move on, no need to bot :P

good read, good read.

this wasn't a QQ post.. it was an awareness post..

"blah blah" is really all I read in your post there mate... flame away bro... I really could care less....

if you don't realize this game is dead... and is dying further... wow.

Botting was meta if 3700 people got banned for it bro... lawl.

lol at all the people raging. just lol. retorts. rebuttals. who cares?!

So...you are blaming Anet that players bot? Wow.

"I'm bored of playing a game, so I'm going to bot it."

I guess that's much more entertaining. It must fall solidly between 'watching grass grow' and 'staring at the clock' on the entertainment scale.

If you're an idiot, that is.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. If you want to see a real dead online game, take a Dark Age of Camelot trial for a week.

Right, because self-satisfaction and following the rules are totally square. Also, my friends are all jumping off a bridge, so...

"Without any love" would mean no content whatsoever. I hate to bring up this tired argument, but other than the costumes, Anet's not seeing a dime off WiK stuff.

Irrelevant in the large scheme of things, but this'll probably get locked anyways. We all know Blizzard invented MMOs. They also came up with Elves, Orcs, Talking Trees, Minotaurs, Magic and Paladins.

So you're basically saying that it's Anet's fault that botters exist? That Anet should have to release content constantly to keep you interested, or else they are forcing you to bot? What ever happened to, "If you get bored of a game, play another game."?

I can't take this thread seriously at all. You got banned for botting, and now you are trying to put the blame on Anet saying that they should of released new content for you so now you are forced to bot. Wow really? Seriously?

You should be grateful Anet made this game for you to play. They don't have to release new content for you. Be happy with what you get and be done with it. Just because you think they didn't release more content to keep you satisfied personally, you think it is their fault that you had to bot the game to make it more entertaining. That is the lamest excuse I have ever heard. People don't bot to make the game more fun to play, they bot because they can't handle the game normally and can't work for stuff like the rest of us do. They have to cheat and hack the system to get what they want.

There is plenty of players that are happy with the content that is given to them. They don't cry about how there isn't enough content being released so now Anet has forced their hand to hack and cheat their game. And botting made the game fun again? How so? The bot plays the game for you. What fun are you having? Sitting back in your chair watching a game play without the need of you?

Basically, if you are bored of a game and there is no more content being released to satisfy your personal needs, go play a different game. That simple. Don't cry about how there isn't enough content so now you are forced to bot the game. Go play something else instead. Now because you decided that "Anet forced you to bot", you have your account banned. Way to go on that one.

So basically:

Arenanet doesn't care about game because there are bots everywhere and anet won't do anything

then

Anet doesn't care about the game because they banned everyone botting

If game doesn't appeal to you anymore, just move forward. Bots and all other shitty stuff are forbidden in EULA which you have accepted before playing, so no hard feelings, right? No subscription fee -system is quite good for leaving the game for a while - and then coming back.

The last phrase about gw2 is mostly bs, so not gonna comment it.

you know alot of people took breaks in gw like i did, did not played for about half year and now playing since weeks again love it never considered to bot. you know why? because it actually is more fun to get titles yourself instead of botting it and no i dont need GWAMM i play for fun.

awwwwwww.... did your GWAMM get reaped?

Botting never was and never has been sanctioned by the EULA. Anyone who used a bot should have known (because it is a REQUIREMENT TO READ THE EULA) that botting is against the rules of the game and will cause your account to get banned.

You're complaining that they did exactly what they promised? Amazing. You're QQ'ing. Anet finally does what they're supposed to do and some people still can't be thankful. Good riddance.

But based on Anet's actions, botting = ban, then unban, and slap on the wrists. Gogo HFFF botters! Or the other title botters that are given the option to have their account back, minus the points they botted...

Good that they're enforcing rules on botting, but Anet needs to be consistent in their approach. Why do some people get off with a slap on the wrists, and others don't?

This.
And..."you didn't bot cause you didn't know where to take it"??? serious???
Yeah botting is really funny, yuuuhuh.
When I'm bored with a game no, what could I do? Have a real life? Play something else? No, botting is the key, is soooo funny putting an automated program on. /sarcasm.

Strange thing this thread is still open.

He was probably botting on it when it happened, and started crying, beating the computer, and kicking his cat.