Not the ‘zomgod, make loads of gold sat at the auction house flipping the herbs I botted’ rather they are there to be abused by players.

To begin this tale, I’ve been farming herbs and ore on Jaaila. Where picking flowers or flinging a pick-axe haphazardly (as I’ve since been told I was doing by my mining trainer) granted more xp per hour than actually doing quests. I’ve gone from 110 to 117 in the space of 6 hours. I’ve lapped Bridgeport and Arom’s Stand and got between 5 and 3x more xp than killing a mob which puts me way ahead of completing quests…

There have been so many fucking bots though. Mainly Druids (all of which have been reported so ‘bye’ cunts) but there has also been a rogue called Åntøcín (I mean, I know you are making a random char to farm as a bot but Jesus Christ… don’t make it look like that…)

They thought they were clever by making something small that would only run around on foot and only breaking stealth to farm the herbs so that they couldn’t be reported. 1- I can see who herbs what, so it wasn’t difficult to find your name to report you by the Blizzard website. 2- your stupid ass bot doesn’t realise when its better to avoid certain things so you don’t end up in combat longer than you need to, so pulling that elite mean’t that I could eat popcorn and watch you getting pummelled while also spend time reporting your ass for botting.

The majority of Druids I reported one day seemed to have been taken down on the next. New ones had popped up in their place but I reported them too. I don’t mind players farming because that healthy competition. Who knows the route best, who has the eagle eye for the herbs etc… Bots are just lazy and more often than not, are being overtaken by actual players who can change direction suddenly while the bot has to play catch up on their set path. I followed one bot who traversed most of Drustvar without finding a single herb…

But, if I have the mount speed buff for two hours, expect me to farm solidly for two hours and report all your asses.

The only plus and downside to bots is that due to the bots scripts and being able to see when shit has spawned that isn’t even shown on my mini map, they can ‘see’ things I can’t but I have someone to follow around and let them do all the hard work for me. You’re finding all the herbs and thinking you’re reaping the rewards? Well, I’ve put a skull marker on you and am following you around. You’re risking your account while I’m letting you take all the risks and getting the benefits. That Anchor Weed that spawned in an area that Track Herbs wouldn’t show up but somehow you managed to change direction to get? Well I got that too. All those Winter’s Kiss you found? I’ve found them too.

The only downside is that reporting them all means there are less bots to follow around and there is a risk that other players will get there first. Especially if they are lapping in the opposite direction. I’ve had more success late at night when there have been less players and it’s just the bots left doing their thing. Whats two hours at 1am when you can get enough to make a ton of Darkmoon cards to resell later? After raids open, inscription is pretty much dead anyway… make the most of it while you can!

Considering the bots are abusing the game I think its only fair that we abuse them. Place that skull marker on them (I use Target Charms btw) and then leave them to the hard work and more importantly the risk. Reporting them for botting every lap you do.
They may disappear but there will always be another bot you can follow and report the next day…and the next… and the next…