Somehow I talked one of my friends into returning to L2 and he decided to start a new class. Not 5 minutes after he started his new character I got a PM asking "What the hell is this?" so I took a trip to his starter land of DE ville.
What he was talking about was the OMG loads of horribly farmer/bot like named (nnhyt, ytrrrg etc) NG characters running to the GateKeeper, all (or nearly all) in the exact same armor holding the same fist weapon. I'm not talking about what we have all just grown to accept in the one's and two's as you pass through. This was easily a hundred accounts that passed before me in a 20 minute period like one long endless train of strange named characters. None of them resposive (I'm giving away free adena and armor!! no answer? strange for a newbie zone) These farmer/bots were non-stop running to the GK, some getting stuck on corners and not getting anywhere at all. They came every couple of seconds in 2's in 3's and sometimes just one right after the other and piling up at the GK.
This scene was something that just made you stop and think, how can this be ok. How can those that run this game not notice that something has gone horribly wrong.
I stood there watching this and trying to interact with any of them for half an hour with no response.
I came here to a place that posts used to be so often that you had to go through a few pages of posts just to get what was being talked about that morning. Today I realized there's over 3 days of posts on the first page and now I know why.
The majority of L2 players "Bots and farmers" dont post and I'm embarrased to have brought a friend back.
It was a disapointment and I think something that I definatly wasnt expecting.
We all see de-levelers non stop killing themselves by use of town gaurd in Giran down to Starters. We try to talk to them or pm them and theyre just running a program. I guess I have been ignoring it and left it out of my "Come back to L2" speech. Bots and farmers oh my.
I petitioned 15 bots at LEV on Saturday... all female dwarves, all with bronze armour with hand axes, all named the same thing, adding a number 1-14 at the end, and one other random name leading the bunch.
Watched them go, like clockwork, from the respawn-tree to the newbie buffer to the guard, rinse, repeat.
Since the bots are NOT going anywhere soon we should all take advantage of the entertainment they can provide.
One day after logging in early I was waiting for the rest of my partymates to arrive when a friend and I decided to pass the time by going to Dion and buffing the mobs in the bot zones and making bets on who would drop first...bot or mob.
Apparently a bugbear fully buffed (esp with VR3) is a bytch of an opponent because in just a few moments 9 bots had taken dirt showers and soon the remaining ones all headed back into town where they milled about and which seemed to us that they were waiting for us to leave
So just maybe instead of of relying solely on NCsoft we should on each server form vigilante groups of high level buffers to assist in the control of this vermin thats always scurrying about underfoot like a plague of **** roaches
(But I've got to admit that I now think I know how the Roman elites felt watching gladiators fight to the death for their amusement lol)
The heal over time spells are also excellent for killing these guys via mobs, one heal tick takes them from 50% health to full ;) Add VR, DW, focus, might 3 = fun times.
My neice (who is living with us again) is going to take advantage of the fact that augmented weps cant be dropped and is preparing to go on a bot killing rampage the likes of which Erica has yet to see lol
Those bots have been doing the exact same thing for months. I made an archer to use to kill them in C4 but then C5 canceled the drops from them so I got over it.
Other fun things to do with town bot hordes is to kill the guards they are using to delevel or bring your characters and block the door they use to go to the magic shop and watch them pile up and mill around lost.
Some of them are smart enough to change targets if you have the same target. You can stand in the hunt area and click each mop it runs to and watch it go the other way. Looks like dwarf ping pong if you get one going good.