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TL;DR: This game is infested with self-gearing, map-farming bots and here's how I found them.
For backstory, I usually put all the rare rings I can find in a dump tab at 10-15 chaos. It makes me some currency, it is honest work. However, I noticed that there was a common relationship between most of the rings I sold... they were 40% or more "Increased Item Rarity" rare rings. These buyers were all very similar, and acted weirdly, so I investigated. In conclusion, I am 100% certain they are all self gearing, map- farming bots.
Common traits between these bots:
None of them make any attempt at recognition or communication.
They spam maps and Blood Aqueduct with insane uptime.
They are all Necromancer witch summoners.
They all have a Lush hideout with randomly placed objects near the south side.
If I dont complete the trade with them, they afk in my hideout for ~2 minutes then leave silently.
They frequently go to town, mostly Sarn Encampment, to visit their stash before a trade. Or to do Chaos Recipe.
They range from level 70-85 with 4-10 league challenges completed. Mostly level 73 with 4 challenges, I believe this is when they start gearing up for map farming.
Every bot messages me multiple times to buy the exact same IIR rings. My PMs are flooded as we speak.
Every bot has a human-like account name, paired with a silly character name.
They usually say a generic "thank you!" after successful trades.
They often change their hideout to a pre-determined layout.
Each bot seems to have Navali, Helena, and Officer Kirac in their hideout. They run between stash, navali, maps, Blood Aqueduct, and other players hideouts to conduct their affairs
They often log off and on again. Not sure why.
Most are from Paris (EU) servers. Some are Frankfurt (EU)
* Some of my experiments... *
I decided I must test if they were elaborate trolls or real bots. I crafted another 40% IIR ring and listed bothl for 10 chaos, same as the first ring. A suspected bot messaged me about both rings at the same time, but he would only respond to the first buy request. This happened on multiple separate occasions, and it aroused my suspicion.
Shortly after, I had two bots message me about both rings -- simultaneously. Yes, I got four messages at the same time about two different rings from two different people. They were both zombie/spectre summoner Necromancers, neither of them moved, they both afked for two mins then left, and neither of them would accept the second item. They only wanted the first item.
Moreover, when I put an exalt in the trade window, they do not accept. They will only accept when their ring is in the trade window. When the ring enters the trade window, they quickly accept the trade. Otherwise, they do not accept anything.
I started to remember their names and invite them to my party randomly. Usually, they accept and then leave the party repeatedly. However, sometimes a bot would not respond to my party request, then ~4 minutes later, he would accept and begin mapping. I watched twp different bots on two separate occasions for 20 minutes each. I noticed they paused frequently, got stuck in corners, had trouble with doors and zone transitions, etc. They farm blood aqueduct and low tier maps.
I am willing to bet money that not a single human has tried to buy these 40% IIR rings I crafted. I messaged every one of them and investigated individually. These are all similar bots trying to farm with Magic Find builds, and I suspect they do chaos recipe.
Today...
Today, I have three of these 40% + IIQ rings on the market. The same ~15 bots are spamming my inbox repeatedly. As time goes on, I find more of them. I have over 60 messages for the same three items from the same 10+ bots in under one hour. I believe they stop spamming when they finally get their rings. I have acquired a screenshot of each of their hideouts, they're all nearly identical.
I have only been able to find bots that are willing to trade with me. There is no doubt hundreds more of them hiding in maps, blood aqueduct and Sarn Encampment.
Here is a large selection of screenshots for your viewing pleasure: https://imgur.com/a/5VL5EHP It contains several identical hideouts, my chat logs, and some of my attempted trades.
I encourage you to experiment yourself with 40% or more rare IIR rings. List them around 4-10 chaos. Real humans likely will not buy these. If you have multiple, you will get heavily spammed by these self-gearing, map-farming bots. Thank you for your interest, and good luck out there :)
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