First time botter: question about usage, bannings, and safty

Hello all! I recently decided to test the waters with the HB bot. I bought the trial 3-day package and am loving it thus far.
As a first time botter; however, I'm kind of nervous about actually buying the program and using it multiple times a week.

I tried to look through the forums to get some community feedback; however, I still have some unanswered questions (which I will post below).
The main reason why I decided to start botting was I found certain actives (namely grinding/questing) boring. I had a friend tell me that gather/grind bots are a great way to get banned fast.
That has me nervous... and makes me question whether I should even use them.

Currently I am a light user. I only use bots for a maximum of 4 hours a day (and never more than 1-2 hours per session, 3 hours max). I never let it run unattended.
two nights ago I ran gatherbuddy for approximately two hours in nagrand/gorgand. I got stuck a couple of times (with witnesses) where my character paced back and forth. When this happened (within seconds of the stuck), I would immediately stop the bot and resume gathering without using the bot. Then when I got to the next node, I would start it up again. The "pacing" never lasted more then 30 seconds.

Last night I decided to try to use the questing bot on my priest for about an hour. (kicks profile). That ran smoothly for about an hour. Occasionally I would control my toon in tandem with the bot (throwing in an extra heal or whatever, not sure if this would cause a red flag?)

In essence... I only run the Bot when I normally would play anyways. I just want to use it to automate the processes that I find repetitive/boring so I don't actually have to be conscious when doing those said activities lol. I am semi-paranoid though that it could lean to a ban. I only have one account and although I'd be fine if it got banned... it would basically stop me from playing (not necessairly a bad thing imo )

I would also often communicate with guildmates, etc. while playing/botting. Not sure if this would cause red-flags (reason I bring it up).

My main question (that I couldn't really find on these forums) has anyone else had any instance of being perma-banned from light bot usage (with no history of heavy usage)?
The vast majority of people whom have posted on these forums about bannings seem to be super users (botting for 6+ hours a day, selling gold, etc.)

Also... if anyone has any suggestions for a first time botter let me know!
My main goal of using a bot, like I said before, is not to farm/grind beyond my play time but rather to simply automate the boring stuff. EG. I currently am farming primals on my pally to buy savage bloods for inscription trinket upgrade for my druid. As a result I want to be farming minerals for 1-2 hours a day anyways. But running around in a circle for that long... get's boring... so a bot comes in handy.

 

If you want your acc to stay unbanned I would avoid Gatherbuddy, as Blizz knows about the most popular profiles and their routes. They might not be able to detect HB with Warden but they can look at your movement patterns and NPH (nodes per hour) and they will ban you based on those. Doesn't matter if its for only 1-2 hours or 10 hours, its the bot pattern that gives you away. Of course they need a certain level of statistical certainty before they ban you, so it will take longer if you only bot for 1-2 hours a day, but they will eventually slap you with a ban.

Currently these are risky: Gatherbuddy, Dungeonbuddy, BGBuddy. Gatherbuddy because of what I said above, Dungeonbuddy because of so many Chinese farmers farming dungeons (so they watch dungeons a lot more), BGBuddy unless you have premium plugin, because BGBuddy is very obvious.

I would only recommend HB for leveling via Questbot and rotations via Lazyraider/Enyo. I suppose you could also POSSIBLY get away with using GB if you switched profiles often, never spending too long in one area, and only for limited time per day, but its still risky since there have been people whohave done just that and still got a ban.

 

Thank you for the information. Kind of sad to hear (especially since I liked the gatherbuddy features :'( ) but understandable nonetheless.

 

Lets not exhagerate. I have never been banned for a few hours of BGBuddy, grind bot, AH bot, questing bot most days of the week. If you don't sell gold it's kinda hard to get banned unless you use gatherbuddy and such. But that doesn't mean you can't make a grind profile combining your mineral farming with some cloth farming or whatever you want.

If you grind for an hour or two a day using common sense in how you would act as a player - combined with a relogger like HBRelog - you will look very human and nobody will be the wiser.

 

Is the general census that gatherbuddy2 is just too risky then? That's what my friend (who bots) alluded to as well : /

 

I would say it's really risky solely because they know the pattern for most of the major gather profiles

I've used it for 30min-1hr though

I'd say if you're afraid of a ban, just don't bot :|

I personally use Enyo/Combat and questing 98% of the time, and I'm there for all of it (I'm pretty much playing without playing XD)

 

MMkay. I guess I can farm the old fashioned way.. actually using my mouse : |

 

Most farming bots are reported by other farming botters. Yes, Gatherbuddy is one of the more Risky to use, but in moderation and a tad of intelligence you should be fine.

Don't run for Crazy amounts of time don't run everyday. If you are really worried you can just do it at times your close by to stop it if something seems fishy. If you do not go too crazy, even if you do get banned you can get your account back.

I have gotten accounts back that botted over 20+ hours a day everyday. If you are farming by hand there is still a good chance you are at some point being reported for botting. Its the easiest way to remove the competition.

If you play regularly and don't just farm with it you will be fine, MOST Likely. There is always a chance with botting that you can lose your account. and if you are not willing to risk it you have 2 choice. Get a second account, or don't bot.

EDIT* I should also Note i have accounts farming still 20+ hours a day that have never caught a ban. Its all subjective and never absolute.

 

First rule of botting, never bot on an account your not willing to have banned.

 

That is so subjective though... especially now that you can spend $60 and get a brand new account with a level 90 ._.

 

Some people have accounts that have years of mounts and achieves on them, and then they buy they trial, do some stupid gather buddy stuff and get banned perm. and cry about it. the rule of, dont bot on a account your not willing to have banned is still very valid.

 

True. I've had my account for a very long time. IF I were to get banned i wouldn't cry about it. But it would be frustrating to loose it... mosly because I have a few level 100 toons
But I've never cared about achievements.... ever.

That being said... creating a trial account simply to use a BoT seems like its asking for a permaban... the same thing could be said if you create a brand new account and start botting hard on it.
Without any previous normal activity... it can send up red flags (unless im mistaken?)

Any of you all actually bot on your main?

 

Jesus, this place is a hotbed for conjecture and scaremongering.

 

Do this mean I have less to fear? I feel like I'm getting mixed feedback