Bot Ban Update--Late March 2024

as much as some people hate the bots, i for one enjoy having a certain subset (not all of them, some are really bad and seem like a project done by middle schoolers) of bots around for a very specific purpose: achievement hunting … some of the achievements would be even more frustrating than they already are without semi-predictable bots in ranked (which is the only place you can get achievements to progress) … honestly, there are a number of ways to make some of the achievements more enjoyable, but while bots in ranked seems like the only “compromise” that is going to exist in the game, i’d like to voice my counterpoint to the notion that bots in ranked is bad … give me a mode where i can get achievements vs bots that doesn’t mess with ranking/card rewards etc. and i’d be happy (see note), until then i look forward to staying in low rankings vs bots to get my achievement hunting bucket list complete

note: there are many achievements where you want to craft a deck that optimizes getting as many “dings” (to borrow a term from hots quest talents) and doing so in ranked play is often quite counterproductive to what ranked play actually entails which is doing your best to make the best plays, the best deck choices, to be “the best” you can be in the meta … while in some sense you are even “better” to make in some sense suboptimal plays in ranked (suboptimal b/c many achievements may in theory be against those ideas of making the best plays, deck choices, etc.) and still win, much of the time making achievement focused plays forces you to choose between completing the achievements sooner or taking a win toward a higher ranking … in some sense, achievements, while not directly so in theory, are often in practice against the spirit of “ranked” play … so forcing us to do achievements within the competitive modes is therefore, in some sense contradictory to the essence of both ranked play and the achievements … consider that people are able to report each other for “deranking” … and yet the most optimal achievement hunting strategy in many cases given the parameters we are given is to do just that (stay low ranked) and look for bots that will allow a certain kind of deck to grind for a certain achievement to check it off the list … or even if not getting bots, just finding players who perhaps are new and do not yet have the collection necessary to be a threat to an achievement seeking deck (whether or not the achievement deck allows the opponent to take the win) … yes, that was a long note, but the conditions for achievement hunting being within ranked/competitive play has seemed silly to me for a long time, and i for one have found an appreciation for these bots even if they have other drawbacks for ranked play

the last time i attempted to get achievement progress battling a buddy this did not work – was this changed recently? (not to derail the thread …)

Bronze 9… Bots don’t play to win.

In-game reports are the only method I’m aware of, and this is probably by design.

I’m not discounting the possibility that you might have a recording demonstrating actual proof. (Do they let you post it here?) But 99% of player complaints of botting on this forum cite either the player name or what deck they are playing as “evidence”.

Hiring the staff necessary to sift through that garbage to find proof of scripted plays would cost more money than the entire company makes, or some AI that will decide based on whatever patterns they feed it, and good luck to any human player that accidentally fits the profile.

I’m not an achievement hound, but are achievements not doable in casual?
I know I’ve gone there when I had to build a one-and-done deck for events before.

achievements for some reason cannot be done in casual, nor can they be done matching up with a friend like for dailies/weeklies … they could be done in casual duels when that existed

Last 3-4 days has been all bots in wild. Not a SINGLE human being… They all have names with random letters (capital/small) or japanese/chinese characters (dunno how to distinguish between those two) and use just basic/core/class cards. Which begs the question why is it so difficult to figure out those are bots and delete their accounts when they have so blatant play and account creating patterns. At this point, its not just a problem anymore, but an actual infestation.

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I still cant seem to login. The maintenance message still appears and the game wont open :frowning:

People have to be crazy to pay for a game where everything can be taken from you at a moment’s notice. They banned thousands of accounts and caught many innocent players in their net. They don’t care. One poor player had spent over $3000 on his account.

Instead of fixing bad game mechanics that leads to botting they actually attack their customer base. If I can’t have at least a feeling of ownership over what I pay for I’m certainly not paying for their digital content.

No, no you didn’t. Stop BSing :poop::poop::poop::poop::poop::poop::poop::poop::poop::poop: us. When bots like sdfaag#3532 and other SD bot tags are still going strong; it proves that this company doesn’t ban bots.

I will continue to post this clip on every one of these type of BS posts. Stop the BS. :poop::poop::poop::poop::poop:

I think it’s nonsense because I played against a bot with Chinese names and who would do that?? The Chinese who can’t connect to the American network?! Of course it’s an official Blizzard bot!! This game is really boring after the big nerfs, I stopped playing, do you think I’m going to uninstall this crap!! I think the majority will do this and let the official bots play the game.

What a bad joke. Blizzard banned thousands of accounts for botting, catching hundreds of innocent players in their net and botting is even worst than before. I played 30 games and played 30 bots. Didn’t get one actual player. Banning players is not going to fix botting but it is going to hurt the company’s bottom line.