The top botters scripters are indeed scripting High Seas, because that is where it is quietest and no-one sees them.
this is often my point, of everyone is going after the wrong people. They see a couple in plain sight, and assume that is everyone, and see it everywhere, but actually not spotting the main guys, because the main guys are 2 steps ahead.
I would just like to chime in and say that I finally witnessed what a lot of you all have talked about, and while I didn't doubt people were doing it (it's not just UO it's pervasive across the MMO industry), I just hadn't seen it on the level that others have reported. I apologize if I disagreed with anybody about how bad it was.
Anyways, I was at an IDOC last night, after 10pm Central (US), and there were a few people there - a couple were actually players on the shard - they had titles, gear, guild affiliation, etc. that made it clear that they actively played those characters (and some I had seen around). There were a few others that had generic names, generic gear, no titles, no visible signs that they were anything other than mules for either RMTers/cross-sharders, or possibly mules for those who were there (although most locals will just use pack animals).
Note: I'm aware that the RMTers/botters/etc. closely monitor for IDOCs through automatic means, as one of them (a neighbor with a "warehouse" near my place) proudly told me about it a few weeks ago, that I needed to get on Discord, and it would keep me informed of IDOCs without me having to do anything.
Anyways, when the timer got down close to 0, another group materialized and began hammering at the perimeter barrels (which had not yet flipped to brown). And when I say materialized, I mean almost a dozen showed up at the same moment, and in unison began beating on barrels. They were all dressed similar (lot of generic robes), all clearly not regular/played characters (no titles, guild, special gear, etc.) When the barrels flipped, it was like a little swarm. Several did have items to boost their strength (I would have assumed the server checks for real strength when determining eligibility but perhaps not).
There wasn't much decent loot from the two barrels I worked on, making me think the person packed up into their bank boxes and quit, or moved to a larger house and left it), and the whole thing was over in like 30-60 seconds.
Then the dozen or so that showed up at the last second, in perfect unison, moved over to the closest perimeter barrels and began hammering away. I mean perfect unison. It was clear that either something broke with their script or the person running them screwed up.
And in the process of moving over to hammer the perimeter barrels, they dropped several valuable items, which a human player would have immediately stopped and picked up. Some were things like gift boxes. I don't know if all of it was loot from the IDOC - one item for example was a bow that could fetch 500,000 gold or more, and there was a token as well, but another was a "clean" ring that had 7 strength, 10 int, 8 dex, and FC and that was it - would have been good for a low-level mule. No antique/brittle/etc. labels. I'm guessing this ring is very valuable (still working on imbuing/item values).
Anyways, I sat there chatting with another player who said it was a botter that runs 10-15 of these accounts at IDOCs and does very well for themselves. For a few minutes, the bots continued to hammer at the perimeter barrels while we were talking.
The person who was apparently botting chimed in and told me to mind my own business and leave. They then claimed that the dozen or so generic characters were actual players who decided to stay after the loot barrels were all done and try and work on their skills/stats by hammering away at the barrels, to "get them ready for events". Now I've been back for almost four months, and I've done several IDOCs, and I make an appearance at the major banks fairly often, and I feel confident in stating that there are not a dozen players on the shard with low-level characters with generic names who are waiting around for a late-night weeknight IDOC to all hone their skills and stats on IDOC barrels, all next to each other, all moving in unison.
Plus, none of these "players" were chiming in and claiming they were humans, they just continued hammering at the barrels. And when I mentioned I had screenshots of everything, and I think I mentioned video, the person became very irritated with me.
The human player I was talking to told me that their script must have broken because normally this group shows up, clears the loot barrels and then immediately bails. He left, I went off-screen and then stealthed back, and then the dozen or so "players" all of the sudden stopped within a second of one another and then left within a second of each other. Amazing coordination for a group of a dozen or so human players who needed to hammer barrels to raise their skills/stats!
It was really sad/pathetic to see somebody so openly botting/multi-boxing/scripting/whatever without any worries of being caught, but also amusing, and yet at the same time jarring that it happens so openly even on the smaller shards.
Sorry for the manifesto, but I now understand why so many of you are so upset about these botters. I know they wreck the various economies of the various shards, I know they run the illegal clients/programs (I've seen their posts on various other sites) but I always pictured them being a lot more out-of-sight and discreet.
Next time I'm going to take full video of the whole thing (I did get screenshots of paper dolls and some video), and I'm going to bring some barrels with junk in them and do some experiments and see if I can get the bots to follow me, like some kind of pied piper. Just create a trail of barrels away from the IDOC just as the perimeter barrels flip. I'm not blocking them mind you, in fact it's the opposite - making a single-line path of barrels away from the IDOC. Probably going to announce the IDOCs in general chat as well.
Thx to the mesanna corporate culture.
