Can we please do something about the bot problem?
I like to play the occasional intermediate bot match, whether it be for first win of the day, practicing CSing, or giving a champion a test run. Lately, I swear I have at least one bot on my team every match. Can an experienced player still win even with a bot or two on their team? Yes, but that's not the point. Think about the new players having to face the fed monsters these bots create. Heck, if you make it a 3v3 match, think about how easily two bots could screw even an experienced player over. I once lost a 3v3 bot match because my two human teammates took turns feeding (in a match when I was on a supportive champion, rather than a carry). I don't want to imagine the same match, but with two bots instead. At least with human players, no matter how bad, there's potential there. With bots, it's going to play out the same way every time.
Which is why I don't understand botting being such a widespread issue in co-op. Riot has to be able to automate the banning of bots with how obvious they make themselves. Want to know how you spot a bot? Here are the signs.
1.) Insta-locks.
2.) Ghost/heal for summoner spells, despite having access to superior options.
3.) Zero runes and masteries, no matter their level.
4.) Goes mid, even if someone is already there.
5.) Only auto-attacks.
6.) Stands there as turret and/or enemies attack them.
7.) Odd starting items (ex.
seems to be the most popular).
8.) Troll builds (ex.
and 5
on
).
9.) 1-2 cs/min. every match.
10.) Feeds every match and almost never gets kills or assists.
11.) Often you'll see multiple bot accounts playing together. Sometimes they might even have summoner names that suggest they're from the same person (like in one of my matches today).
12.) Plays bot matches exclusively.
13.) Only in-game messages are pulled from a set list of words. "push," "lag," etc. Shows zero signs of paying attention to chat and/or pings. Can be called a bot all match and nothing will be said in response.
All 13 of these signs are displayed by the majority of the bots I encounter. Is that not enough for Riot to automate the banning process? Or at least to do a better job of banning them? I always report the bots I see, sometimes going so far as to send a support ticket because just reporting them doesn't seem to actually do anything, but I've never gotten one of those pop-ups telling me they were punished.
If not, can Riot at least start selling level 30 accounts themselves, that way the market for these botted accounts will dry up to the size of a puddle?