MIR4 is a fun f2p MMORPG with cryptocurrency elements, featuring a TON of quests and character progression content. I have had a blast leveling up my new Sorcerer main (currently level 45) alongside the guild Yield Squad.
I'm leveling up while I write this post! GMI
However there is one dark side of MIR4. I've experienced it perhaps even more than my higher level colleagues, since I rerolled my character weeks ago and am still in lower level areas... THE BOTS!!
please not the bots, anything but the bots
Yeah it's been an absolute botfest in all of the low level areas of the game, specifically all of the areas that allow you to mine darksteel.
Darksteel is the in-game resource which can be minted into the cryptocurrency token DRACO.
It's also a critical resource for in-game progression and upgrading many of the game's items. This means that if bots are dominating all of the darksteel nodes, it makes it hard for new players to progress - on top of threatening the whole financial ecosystem that gives the token value.
Bots have been a problem -- but there are two key factors in why I haven't lost hope in MIR4 at all despite the bots.
1: The Game Is Still Fun
The game still functions and it's still fun. You are able to build up a small store of darksteel simply by completing the many quests in the first 20 hours of gameplay, thus allowing new players to still progress in spite of bots hogging darksteel nodes.
In a guild, for players like me, higher level characters can still own entire groups of bots in no-time, clearing up resources for guildmates to get some farming in.
Whenever anybody has criticisms on MIR4's botting situation, my first answer is simply that me and my friends are enjoying the game and the bot thing is, while annoying, not a disqualifying factor.
2: WEMADE is really trying to stop the bots
Last night WEMADE (the company behind MIR4 and other games in the same crypto gaming network) took the servers offline for 10+ hours to do a massive anti-bot update. They've substantially increased the requirements to get into the darksteel mining areas, making it much harder for bot accounts to level up to the point where they can be used to abuse the system.
MIR4 official announcement prior to the update
By increasing the amount of time before an account is viable to use for botting, it means that bot bans are more effective. A ban is no good if a new account can be prepped in less than a day, but if it takes a few weeks to set up a new account, that ban is much more effective.
With tweaks to the game's ecosystem, it seems possible to drastically alter the incentives to where bots are less viable. There may always be some botting, just like in non-crypto games, but it can be brought down to a manageable level.
Give it some time
My main strategy with the bot situation of MIR4 is to just ignore it. I'm giving it plenty of time because I can tell that WEMADE is trying to fix the problem, and, what is the benefit in me worrying?
MIR4 is a fun enough game with enough potential crypto upside that I'll keep playing so long as a lot of my friends are in the game. I'll be honest, pretty much any game that all my friends are playing is something I want to play. Half of the fun of gaming is playing with friends.
If the idea of bots in MIR4 drives you crazy, you don't have to play, but imo this is a quickly diminishing problem. I've been logged into the game for several hours after last night's update and so far I am seeing way less bots.
If you are playing MIR4, what do you think? Have you seen a lot of bots? If you played today post-update, how does it feel now? Any better?
That sucks about bots, Sadly much like regular games bots are going to become a massive problem that places will need some type of anti cheat in place.
It's gonna be worse with money involved
yeah its been happening ever since WoW, game devs just need to stay one step ahead of bots and we can be good
Splinterlands has had bot issues too, but the devs did not seem too bothered for a long time. They have tweaked the economics a bit to encourage people to actually build up one account rather than playing lots of small ones, so maybe that will help. I see less obvious bots now. Some had sequentially numbered names.
!PIZZA
I hope it helps, I played against many bots in the past! It never bothered me too much but less bots is better
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