In a little over two years, our actions against bots have been reinforced and made it possible to auto-ban many of the bots, while reducing the potential for them to exist and be profitable. Some legitimate players have also paid the price with "false positives", which we're doing our best to keep to a minimum. Regardless, we apologize to those affected.
Otherwise, these measures have paid off, although the situation is far from ideal. Even so, it's much less dire than it once was.
Should we be content with things as they are? Not in the slightest, hence the new measures!
Some Context
Most bots exist because players will buy kamas from them using real money.
Whether this happens through specialized sites or on Discord channels (sometimes posing as regular players who aren't supposed to be bots), the result is the same.
And as a side effect, buying kamas also promotes harmful practices such as phishing.
Unfortunately, there are and always will be bots; we have to be realistic about the infamous "supply and demand" issue. All studios that develop MMOs come up against them one day, no matter the studio's size, methods, etc. Even juggernauts continue to struggle with them, which is especially true for free-to-play games like DOFUS Touch.
Some farfetched theories would imply that Ankama benefits from bots. This was already hard to understand for DOFUS 2, and even more so for DOFUS Touch, which is free to play and doesn't require a subscription:
- Bots scare away players, mainly newcomers.
- They greatly disrupt the game economy and the work of game designers.
- They sometimes cause technical issues.
- They reduce profits, since the spending that goes toward buying kamas, and therefore bots, doesn't get to Ankama.
- They make us waste a lot of time that we would otherwise devote to developing and improving the game.
- etc.
With that being said, let's move on to specifics!
Sanctions for Kama Buyers
For the reasons described above, now we'd like to spend a bit more time on the source of the problem, i.e. kama buyers aggravating the harm done to DOFUS Touch.
From now on, we will issue bans much more often, and sanctions will much more quickly lead to a permanent ban that can't be contested through Support.
Server Rotation
We conducted a test on the French-language servers over the last few months. And the test was conclusive!
As a result, we'll be applying this measure to the international servers in addition to the French-language servers, from maintenance on Tuesday, October 17, 2023.
The Brutas server will be closed for registration, then the Grandapan server the following week, and so on. This cycle will last for an undetermined period.
Specifically:
- Terra Cogita, Herdegrize, and Brutas: closed to new accounts between the October 17 maintenance and the October 24 maintenance
- Oshimo, Terra Cogita, and Grandapan: closed to new accounts between the October 24 maintenance and the October 31 maintenance
- Oshimo, Herdegrize, and Brutas: closed to new accounts between the October 31 maintenance and the November 7 maintenance
- Terra Cogita, Herdegrize, and Grandapan: closed to new accounts between the November 7 maintenance and the November 14 maintenance
- etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
I already have a character on Grandapan, which is currently closed to new accounts; can I create another one?
You can still create characters on a closed server if you already have one on the server. Accounts are only locked out of the server if they don't have a character on it.
My server is currently closed, but a friend wants to join me on it; how can they?
If your friend doesn't have any characters on the server that's closed, they won't be able to join you and will have to wait.
What's the point of this test and these closures that are so restrictive?
We'd rather not reveal all the ins and outs, as this would make it far too easy for cheaters. This topic may come up again a few weeks or months after the test, but we can't promise anything.
This is the very reason we're typically so discreet about the various measures we take.
Aren't there more important things you can do??
We're afraid not. We realize this will be inconvenient for many, and we're sorry about that. But we're not doing it for fun!
Are you aware that the bots will be able to anticipate everything because of this article?
We are!
If you have any practical questions, feel free to share them in the comments section! Thanks in advance for your understanding.