Maybe if the gathering result was split. For example, when you click the herb, it displays how many you would get, with an option to play the minigame for increased results. That way, the player gets the choice, and if the bots aren’t smart enough to complete the puzzles, they don’t get any extra.
In addition, the puzzles and/or win criteria should be randomized each time. So, for the red/yellow/green idea, you would need to click them in order in one game, but then the next time you see it, only click the yellow one(s), and maybe the red the next time. Maybe you get the line/orb puzzle, then a picture tile/slide game, then one that simply asks, “Which of these 4 images matches the herb you are gathering?”
I don’t think spawn pattern matters, although theoretically it should help. They’re still going to carve out the best theoretical path and walk it and whatever they get they get.
Sadly this is the annoyance of a bot program. It’s not gonna get bored and say it’s not worth it, they’re just gonna run less efficiently.
I do think single tap nodes might be for the best though.
I really really really disliked single-tap nodes, and was relieved when they allowed some additional gathers per node. It was nearly always a race, and I mostly lost. Bots would still win in the end, most of the time. If there was a way to limit them per IP, per Bnet account, or some other way to still allow me to get mine, I would be Ok with that.
Unless that brings a significant increase (as in, more than double current) to mats per node, that sounds like a terrible idea that’ll negatively impact normal players more than botters.
Increasing the reward per node is exactly the point, and through testing it would be fine-tuned to where it would balance out. But it wouldn’t be hard to get it pretty close the first time with a rough estimate.
There are several factors they could tweak to really get it honed in too (game time, node spawn rates, drop rates, etc)
As of right now, regular players can’t compete against bots, so the people who want to harvest, will actually get to harvest and have their time respected. If you don’t want to harvest . . . don’t harvest.
Yep, I still lose from time to time, while heading towards a despawning node. It doesn’t feel near as bad as seeing someone loot it in front of you, or running a zone where it feels like there are no nodes.
I think this is brilliant. Sure it might take 3 times longer to gather, but you can get 2 to 4 times more mats from it. And honestly, it would make a lot more sense than mashing those herbs with my moose hoof.
3x as long? Nah brah you need to play a full game of Dance Dance Revolution before you can skin a mob, A full game of guitar hero before you can pick a flower, and a full game super mario bros before mining.
I mean, some people are pretty good at math. Even though this is incredibly basic math – it would be trivial to find the right amount of resources gained per node. And there are several easily tweakable variables that would make fine tuning a breeze (minigame time, node size, node spawn rates, etc)
There would be no ‘3x as long’ because the reward would reflect time spent at each node. In the end you would come out with the same amount of resources after a few iterations.
Could do color patterns or something. Look how the chests in Torghast are.
Like in Mining, Open up a mini game where there are areas that must The pick axe must be directed to break the node, for example.
One thing they do is remove flying at the start so druid bots cannot fly and gather ressources. They also add mobs around nodes to make it difficult for mobs.
It’s not suffering, the system has a dynamic success and failure system. So if you do really well (complete with speed and accuracy), you get more resources, while breaking up the monotony. The point of a game isn’t just to automate everything, it’s not a punishment to further gamify harvesting.