What ruins this game...

[Aisha]

... is Jorb & Loftar's crazy updates?
YES

So what ruins this game? BOTS? NO

Very funny, you think the game has 69 player count because of bots when it was the horrible trial and lack of community management that ruined the game.

[DaniAngione]

Just a fun break, found myself before this article and had a laugh. Haven ahead of Science!

http://nerdist.com/scientists-are-teach ... do-chores/

(I know robots nor game bots are new, just sharing the perfectly timed article)

[Avu]

There is no incentive not to bot so those with the best bots trivialize the effort of those that don't bot the logical conclusion is everyone should bot but of course not everyone has access to the same quality bots. The automated resource node checker is a great example.. Sure the underlying action itself is so mind numbingly boring and it's not like people suggested visual clues instead of having to dig every screen or so but alas priorities never got there. If you're serious about it you can bot your fibers the second they get done and be ahead of other people that got lives, you can bot the trees the same way you can have the best resource nodes found while you're at work or asleep. People go how omg wow can't stop all bots of course you can't stop them all but start banning randomly people that bot and see how many people bot after 2 months after you do this. Not that this would save the game at this point. No clue what will to be honest.

[dageir]

What will save the game is making it fun and interesting with an even playing field.
People who invest more time themselves in the game should be rewarded, not the ones that make bots or have
friends that have access to good bots. Why would casuals pay money for this game? Why?

[Potjeh]

Exactly, so what's really needed is stat and q caps, so at least you can match the botters in individual character strength if not character quantity.

[DaniAngione]

Exactly, so what's really needed is stat and q caps, so at least you can match the botters in individual character strength if not character quantity.

^ This is the source of the huge gaps between the types of players that makes it impossible for, whatever the effort, casual hermits face small villages, small villages face big villages, huge factions, etc. It's a game of different scales of power.

If each scale of power only bickered with their own (big villages X big villages, etc)... all the other problems wouldn't be so evident. Bots would be a problem, &tc...
That's not what happens, we see small folk being stomped by big folk and although it is something that could (and maybe even should) happen, not having the smallest fighting chance without radical changes to one's life and playstyle, there's absolutely 0 fighting chance.

So... I think that this comment (and Avu's above) cover all my feelings. It's not about just punishing botters or something like that, it's about flawed game design. I am personally against bots, and yes, I think it should be a ban reason, but I'm only against bots because it seems to be easier - at least for now - to scare botters out with random bans to obvious bots (AND THERE ARE obvious bots) than to balance things out properly.

However, it's obvious that I'd rather see things more balanced and people being able to use (or not) bots at their will without inflicting too much damage to the world's health. A bit utopic, though.

[Usernm]

Nice to see bots ingame again. In w6 i ask to share bots with all community and all have equal possibilities to use it. in w7 game totally die because of bots.

Now we have bots again, but now nobody ask to share bots, because they kill game. Enjoy your manual work every day.

[Jalpha]

I hate to seem like I'm only stirring the pot but anyone can write a bot. If someone is willing to invest the time and effort then I believe they are entitled to some reward.

That reward should be, as a maximum, equal to the reward I get without botting.

It would maybe be handy if those rewards were tradable.

I like the way farming q raises. It acknowledges the inevitability of bots and attempts to mitigate the disadvantage to non-botters. It's much harder to stay motivated when you aren't a program though.

[APXEOLOG]

Exactly, so what's really needed is stat and q caps, so at least you can match the botters in individual character strength if not character quantity.

I don't see how bots help people with q caps. Spots should be found manually. Crops selection is pretty simple now, just replant small fields. Same for trees. Cows? Lot's of people told me it is easy to feed them now.
For the stats cap - yes, bots are helpfull here. But it's better to add proper diminishing instead of solid cap. Many people love this game because it has no potential end of character developing.

[Potjeh]

People sleep and work, so bots can raise crop q faster than people. As for livestock, the more of them you have the more babies you get, so you get good stats faster, and bots can feed more animals than humans can.