Actions Taken Against Exploitation -- July 1 Update

[Kneeshooter-amanthul (Kneeshooter)]

I realise this topic relates to Classic, but I’d be interested to know if Blizzard is taking the same sorts of actions in retail.

Because we have a lot of botting/farming going on there too, and have had since the start of BfA.

Are you only looking at Classic bot characters or are you also doing check and bans in retail - because a lot of retail players would love to know if you are.

[Misadventure-herod]

@Clamor-bigglesworth

Assuming I know who Owns is or have any relation to him

I find it odd that you did the investigation of my posting total there, and did not notice the anti change troll right next to my name with more posts. Selective myopia?

@Clamor-bigglesworth

But if they’re spamming the same argument, misrepresenting facts, or are trolling I would say that it is.

Soooo, sticking to a consistent argument is “spamming” in your book? And nothing has been misrepresented.

[Kajii-ragnaros]

oh right! like the multiboxers and bot multiboxers farming 24/7 in retail, herbs and ores until ah characters hold 20k+ of the same item? oh no right, that exploit will remaing for those riiiight

[Azers-netherwind]

I applaud Bliz for doing the right thing to rid these accounts instead of collecting the $15/m fee. That’s $600,000 a month they’ve gotten rid of in income. Thank you for listening to the players.

[Delimicus-heartseeker]

Blizzard has explained time and time again that subscription fees from bots do not = revenue for the company.

Herbalism bots plaguing BFA

I’m sorry, but the suggestion that bots help Blizzard make money or can be viewed by the company as even remotely positive is laughably ridiculous. Such an idea illustrates a fundamental lack of understanding of who these people are. First and foremost, the majority of botting/farming accounts are exploitative. They are usually compromised accounts (meaning they’ve been stolen from normal players, often who are currently inactive so aren’t aware of the theft), or they are created with stolen c…

[Yonai-kiljaeden]

Legit players buying gold, and go to GDKP help gold sellers/bots selling gold, or who would buy 100k gold?

[Rynthid-icecrown]

So the 30 cap is just screwing legit players then. If they need to ban 40,000 accounts in less than 2 weeks since the change, then clearly it hasn’t had much of an effect on the botters. Why does it still exist then?

[Bledya-benediction]

Translation: We turned Warden on auto-ban because it’s just easier than hiring more people.

[Valinia-netherwind]

Yes, and blizzard has never lied to its players. Never

[anon83669306]

@Kaivax

Since our last post about this issue on June 17, we’ve continued to remove exploiters at a high pace, typically 2,000-3,000 per day, with over 4,000 accounts actioned on some days. This daily effort has resulted in actions taken against over 40,000 accounts since June 17 in the Americas, EU, Korea, and Taiwan.

The one thing that is incredibly unfortunate is that all of this is, as all Blizzard account actions ever have been, reactive, after damage is done.

Take “selling in-game services for real money”. By the time that account gets a ban, numerous other accounts have paid cash and reaped the rewards for doing so - leveling, acquiring certain drops, whatever those in-game services are.

Take “botting” and “hacking”. Many saw the video of a hack+bot in ZG, but that player recording, who paid gold, stayed in that particular instance reaping the XP rewards. How many others gained levels, gold, gear? Are we going to ever see penalties that teach the BUYERS to stop buying, because it’s not worth it.

(Not to mention, I’m sure the most dedicated offenders don’t keep the gold/items on their hack+bot accounts. Banning a throw-away account is shaking a fist at a hurricane after it leaves a wave of devastation, and doing nothing to either rebuild or defend against the next inevitable hurricane.)

TL;DR: While I appreciate seeing that there’s action happening, I feel like it’s not going to change much because it penalizes non-players who just make new accounts and leaves the damage for players who know more damage will come.

[Deulon-blaumeux]

I’m curious to know what Blizzards definition of an “exploiter” is. It seems to me like playing the game too much is considered an exploit.

[Rumplez-bigglesworth]

“hey guys don’t worry…we are so concerned about banning bots that we are even banning players too just to be safe”

[Drain-windseeker]

12:12 PM 7/1/2020

1. What about the multibox exploiters? They “degrade the game for legitimate players”, but you openly allow those. Stop worrying about people trading the already tradable gold and go for cheaters that maliciously farm the gold.
2. The number of botters increased because you stopped doing anything about it. People were reporting obvious bots and they’d still be there, 24 7, a week later. When the ignored leak turned into a flood, and surge of forum threads followed, then Blizzard decided to act.
3. When you going to remove the 30day/cap? You said it was put in for botting, well now you’re finally banning botters, so why is this still necessary? It degrades the game for legitimate players (hmm, could have sworn I heard that somewhere before?). Furthermore, you’ve actively ignored everyone complaining about it, giving no details what so ever if it’s going to be permanent, or if there’s some plan to remove it later. You go on to post other stuff but no responses about the instance cap. Personally, I can’t see what purpose this limit is supposed to even serve. People with multiple accounts will just go around it… so all you’re doing is hurting legitimate accounts.

[This would have been one of the first posts, but sadly… it’s being unnecessarily censored by Blizzard until July 2nd.]

[Gaunterr-wyrmrest-accord]

Introduce tokens in wow classic…and I think it will put a good dent in botting.

[Sideous-grobbulus]

@Azzuree-smolderweb

Yes just turn this in to another pay to win game.

Let’s be real. It already is. RMT’ERS wouldn’t be infesting the game with bots if players weren’t buying gold.
All blizz is doing with these “updates” is setting you up for the token to broker gold sales.
Brokering their sales does not get rid of RMT’ERS but blizz selling gold outright would dry this well up pretty quick.

[Sideous-grobbulus]

@Gaunterr-wyrmrest-accord

Introduce tokens in wow classic…and I think it will put a good dent in botting

No it won’t. It just legitimizes gold sales. Blizz selling gold out right would though. Drive the price into the dirt. Bye-bye RMT’ERS.

[Dancemachine-sulfuras-899027]

The Only way they are going to solve a perceived problem with dungeon farming is to fix the pathing and terrain exploits that enable it. And if that’s not possible, cap AoE spell targets.

[Returnall-stormrage]

@Tawns-aerie-peak

Just introduce tokens already.

The overwhelming majority of the playerbase wants it and it will immediately deter bots and scummy mage farmers.

No. Go back to retail.

[Misadventure-herod]

@Rynthid-icecrown

So the 30 cap is just screwing legit players then. If they need to ban 40,000 accounts in less than 2 weeks since the change, then clearly it hasn’t had much of an effect on the botters. Why does it still exist then?

Perhaps spend some time considering why the threads about the bans and the threads about the 30 cap are completely separate.

[Vmac-lightnings-blade]

Happy to hear you are working hard on this issue! I hope the 30 per day instance cap can be lifted soon due to your efforts. Thanks again!