Originally Posted by
Ailuros
Dave, since you're actually reading this thread I have a question. Instead of fighting against the bot makers, why don't you work with them? I'm quite sure that as I'm typing this, they have already decompiled your client and are working toward a solution. By the end of your weekend of testing for lag improvement, they will have already made the bot recognize, decode, and enter the captcha. I'm sure that your plan in this case would be to send your lawyers after them for a DMCA violation, but I'm also sure they've already thought of that too. Servers hosted in other non-DMCA compliant countries don't really care what your DMCA violation lawyers say.
So, instead of butting heads with them, and ticking off your customer base in the process... why don't you add a game approved bot? Allow a free basic bot that will only farm npcs and is built into the client or allowed to work instead of the client. Add into the happiness chest package a 1 week premium bot credit item. Charge people $30 for a full 1 month premium bot credit item. Give -everyone- to start a free 1 week or 1 month premium bot credit item to tempt them into knowing the luxury and freedom the bot will give them. Make the premium bot also able to queue troops and move the main attack hero around between cities to do so. Make it able to build walls. Make it able to do whatever other boring and repetitive tasks people currently use bots to do.
You'll make money selling the premium version of the bot.
You'll RETAIN more customers that quit due to girlfriend aggro or due to divorce papers being slapped in front of them from neglected wives and husbands or due to failing duties at work 'cuz they're busy farming instead of filing papers.
You'll STOP ticking off all your customers due to captchas, and npc wipes (they still suck, but if the bot is rebuilding them, life goes on), and lag (you'll still lag, but it won't be so bad since the bot is farming instead of you). You'll also stop hearing people btch and moan about botters.
You'll have LESS lag on the servers because you'll be using an official client that follows your client <-> server communication rules, instead of a third party bot that violates them in 20 different places and causes issues for everyone.
Contact the bot makers, work with them, everyone wins.