Not to justify botting is right thing to do but there is no skill involved to claim a mob. There are several factors that you must consider when trying to claim something that is about to pop.
1.) Your connection (ISP) plays a factor. If you have a really bad connection chances are you're not gonna see it pop which will pop you at a disadvantage trying to claim.
2.) When a zone such as Dragon's Aery consists of 50-60+ people, chances are you may or may not even see it pop.
3.) Hardware plays a factor too. Not everyone plays on the same consoles. You have PS2 users, PS3 users, Xbox users, and PC users. Not all consoles will draw the mob fast enough for you to see to claim. Did you know PS2 draws the mob faster then said consoles that were mentioned above? At this day in age, PS2 are going towards being obsolete, most people by now are either playing at least a PS3/Xbox/PC, simply the graphics, sound and overall play is much better and smoother.
You can ramble all you want about using REAL skill by not cheating, I don't see how skill has to do anything with botting honestly. Lets say you bot, and your group claims, you still need the skill, proper jobs and people to still defeat the monster.
People may say oh HNM's are simple because there are other versions of it such as the KS99's and the ZNM Tier 4's. I can assure you the experience is much more intension than fighting a similiar mob in a BC like area. Considering HNM's comes around 24 hours a day for example, you never know what you will have as your support if it's out of your prime playing time. You also have other competitors watching you, waiting for you to make a mistake, sometimes even use filthy MPK tactics to make you lose, which requires alot of focus and skill to kill.
You talk about gear you earn, what if someone bought their gear, are they less worthy because they bought it? They didn't necessarily cheat. If you say yes then alot of people on this server would be considered cheating. Countless black belt items, abjurations and rare/ex gear has been sold to people by the people you are talking down upon.
One thing I do notice, some people would like to have nice End game gear, but they don't wish to be part of a HNM LS for whatever reason it may be, whether due to the amount of time and effort required, real life obligations may limit your playing availibility, or overall don't want to participate in End Game politics.
So I ask you, who are you considering the real cheaters? Who really qualifies as earning their gear? Something to think about. I get tells all the time asking to buy items, rare/ex items that would require camping HNM's, should they be on the wall of shame? hmmmm
