(Leveling to 85)

I promised a post on the how bots can affect all the battlegrounds.

I'm a bit embarrassed because I'm still testing the newer ones.

Rather than give you an incomplete posting. I'm going to wait to post the complete list.

I did level another character this past weekend. Taking full advantage of the Call to Arms feature.

But instead of detailing that experience, I want to share something I'm sure few of you know.

There have been improvements in the botting world...

Now... before I let you in on this. Take a seat.

Are you sitting? Good.

A new profile has been released recently that allows you to take a level 1 character. We'll say warrior for all intents and purposes.

You can name him, model him and do whatever you want. Then, you load up the world and turn the bot on. He will then run some tests and figure out where in this large world of Azeroth he is at. Once he realizes his location he starts running to a quest giver. Takes the quest and starts doing exactly what a human player would do.

QUESTING!

Once he hits say level 5 in that area... He walks to the next area and resumes his questing. Anytime he passes a flight path he gets it so that later when he needs to go back to a previous area for a quest he can.

Take that method. Rinse and repeat all the way to 85.

Yes. You can also grab two gathering professions and he'll level those as well the entire time.

Yes. He will repair himself.

Yes. He will send off his items to another character when his bags get full.

To be honest. I haven't tried this yet. I'll download the profile and get back to you with my results.

Any questions you have can be directed to the comments or @thefriendlybot on Twitter and of course emails are always welcome: thefriendlybotter@live.com

Until next time friends.

Ethics and Flags

First things first.

I am not here to make you love or even like people that bot. That is an impossible task. How could I ever expect you to enjoy someone that uses an automated system instead of hard work?

Answer is: I can't.

No, what I AM here for is just to open a line of communication. To clarify the blurred thoughts that you hard working people have about us "slackers."

You see, I don't bot my toon in instances. No. I feel that using it in that way would be very disrespectful. (I'm sure you already think that using a bot in general is disrespectful.)

I don't. No. Not at all. Using one to cut back on my actual computer time is perfectly ok with me.

I have never and will never use one in an instance. It's just wrong. On so many levels.

That aside. I do use it in every other aspect.

Bgs, farming, the AH, leveling.

But... you're not here to hear about me right?

You're here to find out what markets us bots are affecting right?

Well... to be honest all of them.

I know. That's not the answer you want. It is the truth though.

The gold farmers that do it for pay. The ones who go to work, get on a random (almost always hacked) account and use whatever method their boss tells them to use. Mainly farming for whatever trade good sells for the most. They usually only have the one profession they need and the gear they use is all under the ilevel for that area and broken.

Those are the ones that are supplying the bulk amount of ore/herbs that you and I buy up.

They're fairly simple to figure out. Really, they don't care if you figure them out. They just want your gold. Then they turn around and sell it to the mass amount of people that don't read the gold blogs.

Reading the gold blogs is going to get you information you never knew...

About the gold farmers.

They're not going to be able to tell you about us independent botters. Why?

Because we're unpredictable.

Pretty much like every other human. It just might have something to do with the fact that we ARE humans...
Not machines.

Week to week we're focusing on a different task.

This past weekend? Call to Arms.

Thats right. Leveling alts through the Call to Arms.

Which... would be a good time to join in on the fun. You'll get faster que times and if you're lucky the opposition will have more bots than you. Giving you an easy win (in certain bgs).

You see... in Arathi Basin and Alterac Valley the bots are programmed to cap flags. Yep.

I bet you never knew that "Noobsalot" who just capped a flag could actually be a bot.

I think I shared too much already.

Read wednesday's post for more.

As always you can follow me on twitter @thefriendlybot or email me at thefriendlybotter@live.com.

Until next time friends.

Bots all around us

Most people out there think that bots are slave laborers. They grind all day long and sit on the AH babysitting their wares. Making sure they never get undercut.

While this is true of a good majority of them out there. Those are the ones that are hired by the gold selling companies that are running around your capital city using /y and /s to the best of their abilities.

I'm here to inform you that there are actually quite a few independent botters. (I say independent only because I'm referring to the fact that they don't contract other botters.)

I'm actually one of them. I participate in guild raids. Chat it up on the trade channel. Even play the AH a little.

No one on my server would ever suspect that I use a bot.

They see me on all the time and know that I have never had a problem with gold. Although I've never bragged about how much I have.

As far as they're concerned I just have no life and enjoy this game.

While the latter is true, I disagree with the former.

This bot allows me to raid near the top of the ladder without the constant play time that it requires to collect mats for flasks, gems, gear, and anything else I need.

It gives me the freedom to do whatever I want when I'm actually at the computer, and when I'm away. The bot does all my dirty work.

In other words. I can have my cake and eat it too.

Why have I never been caught?

I can only assume that it's because I'm not stupid with the bot. He (I call it a he for no reason at all) logs off periodically which shows regular play times for any hardcore raider. He does both bgs and farms at the same time. He'll fish for me, cook for me, play the AH for me. Do anything you can dream of.

All while appearing to be a normal player.

Now... All of this is only because I have set him up to behave this way.

The botters that you catch. They're the ones that either rush into the process trying to get "Phatlootzlol" or they're slave laborers just trying to meet a quota and the account is not theirs.

I'll expand on the actual population later.

Until next time my friends.

Why would I switch to herbs?

I've been noticing a trend recently.

All of the major gold bloggers have been constantly telling everyone that once the cut green gems that you vendor drop from 9 gold down to 75 silver that all of the botters out there will be switching over to herbs.

I'm not quite sure of the reasoning behind this...

Now maybe the chinese gold farmers will do this, but the average people, the botters that don't have to reach a quota, the ones who use a bot only for their personal profit (and believe me, there are an abundance of them), we won't be "making a switch."

Something that I'm perplexed at is that these "Gold Gurus" think that us botters have not already been in the herb market. They obviously don't understand how these bots work.

I'm not here to reveal the mechanics of any of the bots out there. If you're here for that. Then you might as well leave.

What I am here for is to help eliminate the stigma that everyone has towards us botters.

The fact is.

Bots have been around since World of Warcraft was created. They will continue to exist.

But I digress;

Who's to say that my bot. The one I use on a daily basis. Has not already been running/flying around grabbing up every ore AND every herb it finds.

You read that right.

The bots grab ore, herbs, kill mobs, loot the bodies. Plus many other things.

So this information that has been going around about the bots switching come patch 4.1 is utterly ridiculous.