WTF? Botting in Duty Finder?

เวลาเล่น Duty Finder เราย่อมต้องปรับสไตล์การเล่นให้เข้ากับปาร์ตี้ และให้เหมาะสมกับความสามารถในการเล่นของสมาชิกอื่น ๆ ในปาร์ตี้ และเหมาะสมกับระดับอุปกรณ์สวมใส่ของทุกคนด้วย แต่เวลาเจอบอท…. ต่อให้คุณมีทักษะในการปรับตัวได้เยี่ยมยอดแค่ไหน หรือเล่นเก่งเพียงใด ก็ไม่รอดอยู่ดี! เดี๊ยนคิดว่าเดี๊ยนเจอบอทในฮาลาตาลีเจ้าค่ะ มันเล่นได้ห่วยแตกแหกพิกัดมาก สุดยอดกากของความกากกกกกกกกกกกกกกก โอ๊ยไอ้หน้าส้นตีน อารมณ์เสียมากถึงมากที่สุด คือแบบ ไม่ไหวละ…. คิดแล้วแค้นมากว่าทำไมกูต้องมาเจออะไรแบบนี้ด้วย ซวยชัด ๆ เล่นด้วยแล้วปวดกะโหลก กว่าจะผ่านมาได้ก็แทบจะกระอักออกมาเป็นลิ่มเลือด ยิ่งคิดยิ่งอยากจะจับไอ้เจ้าของบอทมากระทืบ ๆ ๆ ๆ ให้แบนแล้วปั้นเป็นก้อนกลม ยัดเข้าไปในปืนใหญ่เรือ แล้วยิงลงไปในน้ำให้กลายเป็นอาหารซาฮากิน โอ๊ยโมโหโคตร ๆ ๆ ๆ ๆ ๆ เอนทรี่นี้จะยาวมากเพราะบ่น บ่น บ่นและบ่น (เป็นภาษาอังกฤษเพราะขี้เกียจแปลเป็นไทยอีกรอบ)

I’ve reported this player, stating that their behaviors were extremely suspicious. I hope the Special Task Force would look into it and solve this problem. But this is going to be a LONG rant.

I ran into a party in Normal Halataly (via Roulette) where the tank was very likely a bot. In short, that tank never said anything and never replied to any question and advice. That tank received many equipment from treasure boxes while we were there, but never equip any of them! Normally, people would change into the new gear in order to better the defense and performance in party, right? This tank also seemed to have certain patterns in their movements. The bot must have been programmed to walk in a predesigned route, so it would walk around to search of a target in an empty hall even when all the enemies were killed.

This probably-botting-tank also disregarded standard kill order. For example, they would keep on hitting other enemy when a bomb joins the fray, letting it explode on himself and on me. We died from bomb at least twice during that run, because the bomb attacked me after I healed the tank. They never used Shield Bash to interrupt the self-destruction of the bomb, even after the thaumaturge told them to. And they never run to pick the enemies off me, the thaumaturge, or the archer. At start, they would use Flash once, or twice, without making sure all the enemies were properly gathered or not. Therefore, they never generated enough enmity to keep the mobs away from me, the healer.

It was exhausting and mentally unhealthy to have been put in the same party as a bot. They do not have proper reaction to circumstances, and they have lousy play style. Other members need enormous amount of effort, skills and patience to get through the dungeon, or just to stay alive, LOL. I didn’t realize until nearing the end of the dungeon that the tank MIGHT BE a bot. At first I just thought he was ignorant tank who can’t play his role correctly. I didn’t suspect it until, after I asked the tank to change into their new gear again and again, the thaumaturge commented that “a bot does not equip stuff.” That’s upsetting, because no amount of adjustment or player skills can make a party with a bot run smoothly. I felt like I used up all my daily gaming energy just in that one dungeon.

Moreover, I would have died about 10 more times if it wasn’t because the thaumaturge tried their best to keep me alive with both Stoneskin and Cure (and sometimes the thaumaturge died in my place because of the cure spam and Blizzard something spam (to bind the mobs). The archer, too, would always come to my rescue whenever a monster started beating me up (while the botting tank ignored).  I feel so grateful to them and at the same time feel sorry for them to have to put up with this shit. If we knew or suspected faster that the tank was a bot, I would have asked them to just abandon duty, or vote kick and seek new tank.

If botting is not eliminated, I feel that Duty Finder will lose its charm. It is dreadful to think that you might end up in a party with botters who are not only cheating, but also have mediocre performance.  Usually, I dislike Duty Finder, because I dread playing with strangers, especially strangers who don’t play nice as a team, but with the Roulette reward, I got greedy and want to hog some money. So I’ve been doing a few Duty Roulettes per day or two days.

When I’m on Monk, I get away easily because my role is to survive while dealing as much damage to the enemies as I can. There might be some minor adjustments I need to make as a monk in a party with all total strangers, such as grabbing stray adds if the tank does not grab them, switching target to the enemy that wander off to beat up on a mage, arranging kill order as I see fit, and improvising strategies when shit happens.

However, when I play White Mage, it is a completely different story. My play style will depend mainly on the tank and the members of the party. Take The Wanderer’s Palace for example. It was a popular place for speed runs to farm Tomestones. Many people would want to just whoosh through it in 15 – 20 minutes and just be done with it, receiving easy reward. However, doing speed run, anywhere, requires several factors to be just right. You need good gear, you need experience or some knowledge about the place and the enemies, you need player skills, you need quick reaction, and you need to evaluate your party’s capability well and execute plan according to it.

In WP, sometimes the tank only pulls from 2 or 3 rooms before stopping to kill them off. Some, however, may want to pull EVERYTHING until they reach the boss room’s door. I would have to be on my toes about healing if the tank pulls big horde of mobs. If I cannot keep the tank full or above 80%, I will refrain from spamming Holy. However, if I feel that a stun or two will ease my healing duty, I will try to cast Holy once or twice. If the tank is very good and does not need much of my healing, I just go all out and spam Holy like there’s no tomorrow. :D Also, the faster DPS members can kill, the bigger the tank can safely pull. I can also sit back and just focus on healing if they make enough damage on their own.

However, if, for example, in the Pudding boss room (sorry, I forget the name) if DPS is not enough to kill the pudding adds, I would have to make sure I cast Holy whenever the adds pop, otherwise they will start debuffing people, and a Heavy debuff can be fatal if unlucky (being the “single target” while having heavy and being unable to remove all debuffs fast enough is a pain in the ass! Hahaha.)

The tank, too, should observe their party and carefully plan what they can pull and how many enemies the party can tackle at a time. To bite off more than you (or your party) can chew is to court disaster. Then, your rushing might be the cause for the delay. Dying from being too hurried is counterproductive. Then, why die? Better play safe. You can push, but not too much. Playing in a party is not like soloing. You cannot just rely on your own skills and gear. The party runs with all members together, each with their own role and contribution. If the teamwork is good, the dungeon tends to be smoother.

Oh, but you can’t adapt to a bot’s play style….because a bot’s actions are not practical in real situation, and you can’t discuss with the bot to adjust strategies. They are all brawns but no brains. Fuck bots. Go to hell, bots. I hate you, I hate you! You made my day of relaxing became hell.

Come to think of it, the other lousy tank I met in Tam-Tara might have been a bot as well, judging from how they played. Ughhhhh.

This is making me so mad. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!