Azigon

Please tell me what you think. This is about a month's research on plat farmers.

Intro:
A long long time ago... There was t5 rare farmers. They farmed rares, and auctioned them off in OOC. Then the standard chat channels came. They moved there. Desert of Flames was introduced, and then came the bots tradeskilling to 60. Pre-Kingdom of sky, there was the Pillars of Flames farmers. Those farmers, seeing that they could not get profit, evolved into the spam mail. Post Kingdom of Sky - Tier 7, the great frontier of plat farming. A common sight was farmers on Gazer Isle and Fear Tainted farming gazers and fearling-tots respectively. After the droprate AND price on the fearling-tot drops being nerfed, the plat farmer was running out of ideas. Until Echoes of Faydwer. The necromancer and wizard have evolved into a destructive force like Norrath has never seen. This leads us to the beginning of the farm trade...

We've been seeing a lot of them. A lot more of them since the spam filter was introduced. I'm here to inform you of these diseases, and how to cure them.

Their tactics have stepped up a bunch, and are as vicious as ever. Not only do they cover one zone, but several zones as well.

You can never get rid of them, but damn... we can try...

Chapter I - Plat farmers - Hey, Ma, I can kill stuff!
Gone are the days when they were just harvesting nodes. They are now a destructive force, and this chapter will cover it.

The Barren Sky Strifewind/Discord Guy(s)

From the depths of where ever he came from, these guys are a force to be reckoned with.

1. They consist of a wizard, warlock, or necromancer. Multiples of these classes.
2. They may have a conjuror. Rare case.
3. Their strategy is bringing together a bunch of mobs (mainly aviaks exclusive) and AOE nuking them. Carnage ensues.
4. Names will include: Weird names, anything ending with love or sky in the last name.

How to defeat: Must have a coercer. Bring a charmed pet from the isle of the awakened and let him loose while you run away. Make sure your pet is guarding at their location. Drakes on Isle of Awakened work nicely.

1)The Mistmoore Catacombs/Loping Plains Guy(s):
This one is really a pain, and will be covered in two sections.
One will be MMC, and another will be LP.

1a) Mistmoore Catacombs
A lot to cover here, so little space.

1. Consists of a necromancer OR wizard OR conjuror. No warlocks here.
2. Their strategy is farming named. First, they pet pull Korzar the Savager, and kill him. He is above the zonein, on the left from zoning in, up on the wall. Next, they go to Goregrush the Impaled. He is near the wall near the other mutants. After that, they climb the two walls, and go to Chieftan. He's on the left side after climbing the 2nd wall. Chances are, they go for Stog the Overwatch across the bridge south of the other wall going down, and after they cross the bridge they go hit Stog, who is on top of the back way to the top area. After this, they will head across the bridge with a hole in a mountain. On the right side is their next stop. They go after the named there (forgot name), and then go back up the wall and kill the 3 named up top.
3. How to kill: Druid, Ranger, or Coercer will work. Coercer any aggro mob in the zone that is 65+, Ranger + Druid should use the borebeaks. Same technique as in Barren Sky.
4. Names: See Barren Sky.
5. There is a second way to kill those standing on walls, provided you have the HP. Get the Impaler guys near the farmer on the wall, and AOE him to death, only works if they are AFK.

1b) Loping Plains

1. Consists of necromancers only. In a rare case a coercer may be seen.
2. Charms a spirit down near Freethinkers Hideout. Those things nuke for a lot.
3. How to kill: Fight fire with fire! Charm one spirit as a coercer and drop it on him. Since they move, be careful with your mob's placement. Handy to have a scout for evac.
4. Names: See Barren Sky.

2) Pillar of Flame
Oh, the oldest type of farming and yet they continue to do it.

1. They consist of the 4-6 box group. Anything lower and it's risky for them. Normally has 1-3 random classes, 1 tank, 1 healer.
2. They gather mobs, AOE them with a wizard, necromancer, conjuror, or warlock, and move on to grab more.
3. Names: Normally random names exclusive. Sometimes guilded. Easiest to spot.
4. How to kill: Train them using the same methods that you use in parts MMC, LP, and BS. When they revive, evac, bring the raptor to the mender and let him loose on the mender. He will kill the mender, then attack the farmers, farmers will AOE, and AOE the elephants + horses. Hilarity ensues.

4) I do t5 instances still, i'm a loser.

1. Yes, they still do t5 stuff. Instances in Everfrost occasionally. Nothing you can do, except just leave a charmed pet broken at the door to all of the instances.
2. Names include the names from the Barren Sky list.
3. /who all 50 can catch some of them occasionally.

Chapter 2: I'm social, look at me!
An increasing number of scumbags are trying to get in to groups/raids and steal loot.

Part 1 - LFG
Oldest way to farm plat. Get a group, steal the loot. These guys have no remorse for you, or your groupmembers.

The hardest part about telling these guys apart is their names. When you're up close and personal with these guys, you can see that they have no guild, can inspect their gear (covered later) and you absoultely know their intentions.

The first way to see if these guys are plat farmers are /who. Unguilded, weird name/guild that is not known, and a farming class. These are all factors you should take in to consideration when trying to spot these guys.

Part 2 - Plat farmer meets you.
With that said, let me first tell you that if you feel suspicious, don't be afraid to ask. Chances are, they will tell you whether or not they are a plat farmer, and, if their name is weird or their guild is odd, they will explain it to you. NEVER judge another person by their class.

If they talk to you for a bit, and are active in group chat to a point, they are typically not plat farmers. MOST of the time.

But there's shy people!

Yes, and you just ask them in group chat. No response, out they go.

Part 3 - Drastic Measures
So say you want to be evil today... You KNOW someone's a plat farmer, and yet they are still LFG. Here's what you do.

Ignore them and move on. Seriously, it's not worth tracking them down to harass them. Get ones you KNOW are plat farmers, unless the case that they are trying to join a raid.

Or.

Try and ask them if they've got a group yet.

If they have a group, ask who's leader. If they don't respond after 5 minutes, send in a petition.

If they do respond, tell your group leader your suspicion. All there is to it, really.

Chapter 3 - Some other notes, and final words.

1. Their gear is treasured/legendary/broker fabled. Some exceptions (aka retards use masters)
2. They come in solo, duo, and groups. Never a raid.
3. Rare farmers do exist, just not as often as those that kill.

And there you have it. Some more ways, in detail, that I have seen them actively do. Good luck, and godspeed plat farmer killers.

PS: 70 nercomancer lfg for oob

Widem

Ok will do!

how can you "steal" loot by joining a group/raid? i dont see how with a lotto or leader assigned loot option stealing is even possible.

from the earlier quote you pointed out farming classes and then said never judge a person by their class, that was kinda contradicting.

You again use a counter intuitive guideline saying if they are active in group chat then saying well not everyone really is active in group chat.

as far as them not responding, doesnt mean they are a plat farmer, but if they refuse to communicate or can't for whatever reason id give them the boot neways.

this was kinda confusing, you said if you know they are a plat farmer then tell the group leader of a suspicion? then if someone doesnt answer your tells you /petition them?

i dont answer most of my tells. especially when im on my alts

as previously pointed out if the raiderbase is such a miniscule amount of the playerbase you have just accused 99% of players that dont raid.

I really think the only way to know someone is doing something bannable is by seeing the crew actually bot, teh way you described in groups of people with crap names and its pretty obvious seeing them when they do. Or the people who send plat selling messages.

i dont see how killing stuff for money is wrong. or even grouping with people for cash is wrong. which is what i took these parts to imply.

the rest of it is dead on and a pretty good resource for people who dont really know what to look for.

Hoss

I've had a bot in my group before and I considered it stealing for 2 reasons.
A: They did not ever attack. Since it was a caster and I'm so fucking awesome that the mobs died fast anyway, we did not notice for a long time.
B: They roll even for stuff they cant use and someone else needs. In my case, the two times we've had bots in the group, one was discovered after we evac'd and his auto follow broke, and the other was discovered because we realized he wasn't casting, ever. Unfortunately for him, he had chosen to af the assassin. So he got led into a group that couldn't see invis.

I was extremely confused by that part as well. I didn't understand why you even wanted to tell a leader.

You don't answer tells? You botter!

/report

The post was still decent in that it gave strats for wiping bot groups. Too bad if you did these, and the bots reported you .... you'd be the one facing suspension.

Oh yeah, and I did not understand any of the strats for killing them that did not involve a coercer releasing a charmed pet on them. What are rangers and druids supposed to do in mmcc again? What do they have that makes it possible for them but not any other class?

-h

__________________
Let us Pray the Pimp's Prayer.
Lord, please pray for the soul of this bitch and guide my pimp hand and make it strong Lord, so that she might learn a hoe's place.

Amen

Illuminator

The less we discuss this, the better.

__________________
Blackburrow.Aleraku - 80/140 Wizard
Blackburrow.Alaedraa - 80/140 Illusionist
Blackburrow.Calandra - 73/91 Paladin
Blackburrow.Cavatina - 80/135 Troubador
Blackburrow.Selanna - 80/140 Warden

Don't vote for Obama.

Pinski

Rangers and Druids can get Charm Animal from either EoF or KoS AAs respectively. Thus, they can charm the borebeaks(which are animals) and do the same as a Coercer.

__________________

Hoss

I disagree vehemently. Knowledge is power.

A little Learning is a dangerous Thing;
Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring:
There shallow Draughts intoxicate the Brain,
And drinking largely sobers us again.


-h ()

__________________
Let us Pray the Pimp's Prayer.
Lord, please pray for the soul of this bitch and guide my pimp hand and make it strong Lord, so that she might learn a hoe's place.

Amen

Azigon

I'm gonna have to agree here. It's better we don't discuss this.

As for the social interaction, I know what I said is a bit confusing, and if you don't understand it, ignore it and move on.

I tried to make a bunch of notes to show you where they are, and how you can report them should you want to get rid of them.

If you find this useful, fine, you can use it.

If not, oh well.

Hoss

COVER UP! What did you know and when did you know it?

-h

__________________
Let us Pray the Pimp's Prayer.
Lord, please pray for the soul of this bitch and guide my pimp hand and make it strong Lord, so that she might learn a hoe's place.

Amen

Illuminator

This kind of knowledge only leads to nerfs!

__________________
Blackburrow.Aleraku - 80/140 Wizard
Blackburrow.Alaedraa - 80/140 Illusionist
Blackburrow.Calandra - 73/91 Paladin
Blackburrow.Cavatina - 80/135 Troubador
Blackburrow.Selanna - 80/140 Warden

Don't vote for Obama.

Jikko

Some of my favorite pasttimes and methods of killing bots (that don't involve things we best not speak about, lest the nerfbat cometh) are as follows:

Bot groups farming goblins in PoF. These are ALWAYS here, so if I'm bored I'll go mess with them for a bit. Most of the time the wizards will be using Forge of Ro, so I'll just wait for them to come close to the Ashen Order camp or the Swiftrider camp, pull one of the 60-65^^^ quest NPCs with a weak spell, yell it off, and drag it right on top of them. If they eventually get smart and stop getting within leash range of either camp, just wait till they roam back over near the harpies or sabertooths, round up three or four of the ^^^s, and do the same.

In addition, if I happen across a solo farming wizard or necromancer, I'll invite them to group (they always accept), pull mobs, wait for them to engage, then FD and kick them from the group. Hello dead plat farmer.

Also, if you want to cheese off a plat farmer running in instance groups, invite em to a zone with a lockout, zone in, kick em, and bring in a friend. They get booted from zone with a lockout and no loot.

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