We have not had a ban wave since MoP, you are mistaken. MoP was the last expansion where ban waves actually happened. WoD started the suspension waves that we still have today. There is no such thing as an actual ban wave in World of Warcraft anymore.
I’m not sure where you heard that but there has never been a blue post stating this.
… Alright nice troll, goodluck dude.
That’s what I tell people when I make false claims also.
My friend is not lying.
I heard about that case where that person got banned for the smiley face shoulderpad. To be honest though - it is hard to believe what the details of that situation was. For example, he might have been botting and got caught and then tried to blame it on the modding aspect.
All I can tell you is that there have been no reports of banning or suspension in the modding community since and including vanilla. You don’t have to believe me on this - it is always your choice as to what to believe. But my friend is not lying about it.
I mean you are the one making false claims man but ok.
so “no one has reported beign banned for it”
“Oh yeah except for that one time”
and what about the famous AQ 40 ban wave for model swapping?
I think there is a communication break down. When I said “innocent modding”, I was talking about simple armor edits etc. In the AQ40 case, they were using modding to exploit the system.
Here are the facts that I stated:
*The last actual ban wave WoW had was in MoP.
*There has never been a blue post stating that being caught cheating 3 times is an actual ban.
*WoD started the suspension waves that we still have today.
All three of those facts that I stated are, you know, actual facts.
The problem is, there is no good way for Blizzard to be sure it is “innocent modding” or not. The program that most of them were using was code injecting the model swaps into the game, they weren’t actually editing the existing models because they game would detect that on launch and repair them back to an unedited state.
It is safer for Blizzard to just put an end to this practice all together then try determine which edits are fine and which aren’t.
I’m pretty sure Warden can detect memory edits, but it’s definitely not worth the time+effort required to enable Warden to differentiate between individual edits (so it reports the guy making the WSG flag 500ft tall but not the guy “enhancing” his blood elf’s chest). The effect is the same though.
This all nonsense. Previous to all this all you had to do was drop a file into a folder and WoW.exe would pick it up and replace the appropriate skin in game. No hacking required. It did not change a models form or function only the appears aka skin.
So any and all discussion about the change to EXE is moot. They could easily use a safe and reliable method to allow us to change skins and alter things for our client sided viewing.
The fact that these people have to disable the EXE is an issue with Blizzard overstepping there is no need to prevent these files from being used.
I believe Blizzard has a HARDLINE banning stance to get legitimate players who were hacked to buy new accounts along with everything that goes with it. Cause they could EASILY automate these bans to prevent banning when someone say from RUSSIA OR CHINA has taken the account. However they don’t and why don’t they? Repurchases, more money…but the game isn’t as popular as it once was you can’t use this sleazy method to bump up sales. You can’t hold the hackers hand and give them thanks with one side of your face and try to be nice while talking out the other side. It’s time to drop these underhanded tactics.
This change is nothing more than a way to increase sales due to false bans.
So blizz reversed most of the bans 24 hrs after because they lost a boat load of money.
When blizz scans players files they can tell what exactly was changed. They flat said most of the people they banned where only using visual model edits that wasn’t straight cheating.
However the people they unbanned they flat threatened with perma bans if caught again. And threatened entire communitties.
Blizzard has effectively alienated thousands/millions of players. They have garunteed that at least some of these players will quit and never return.
Blizzard as a business gave up profit for ego, pride, and some bs moral high ground.
I get the model edits are agsinst tos. But as long as they are purely visual players aren’t hurting anyone no one should care. Blizzard has shot themselves in the foot yet again.
If blizzard was smart as a business they should just turn a blind eye or perhaps find a way to profit working with said modders. Maybe blizz could charge i few extra dollars for model edit support.
That wasn’t it, because if they did it over that they wouldn’t have suspended people over the massive EXP potion exploit either. This was their way of making the point once and for all. Stop screwing with the game files and code injection is not allowed.
I had a friend that got hit for this back a few years ago and they did the same thing to him. They read him the riot act about how it was wrong and if he is caught doing it again he will be banned.
If blizzes character creator wasn’t a fossil people wouldn’t do it. As it stands blizzard only looses money by attacking said modders.
Bliz is a business their wallets are their primary concern.
The results of their current actions will only be further sub losses. And people will always find ways to mod and hack. Its human nature.
The problem is they have no way of telling if you are making your character look better or if you are doing something to models to give you an advantage. I agree it would be nice if you have a way to change models but we don’t and trying to back door it was never an accepted method.
As I understand it, Blizzard doesn’t care if all an addon does is change how a character appears to its player.
The ban wave resulted from the fact that this particular add-on allowed for a wider range of game-changing alterations, including actual exploits.
Using exploit-enabling third-party programs is, and always has been, a no-no, and for those actually exploiting, a six-month suspension is generous, as Blizzard would be within their rights to terminate those accounts, and all characters on them, completely.
That Blizzard has rolled back the suspensions indicates that they agree that a 6 month suspension is excessive for those not actually using the add-on to exploit the game.
At a guess, there was a miscommunication in the disciplinary system that caused all users to be targeted by a blanket penalty, actually only intended for those identified using the the add-on inappropriately.
That said, it is on the player to assure that the add-ons they choose to employ don’t violate the ToS. This one did. Blizz is tempering its response, which is laudable. But the players were in fact in violation.
Blizzard reversed bans for players using visual mods. They specifically targeted mod creators within communitties. Blizzard knows whats being done.
So they certainly can work with the communitties if they wanted. At the very least this should be a huge wake up call to blizzard. Your players are not ok with the current customization options and drastic change is needed.
Until blizzard makes compromises and listens they will just loose money. People by their very nature will continue to bend the rules and find work arounds. And blizzard will just continuelly loose.
They need to leave the ivory towers and actually work with people.
So blizz contacts the mod communities and works out a way to code their game and the mods to asure they are purely visual.
Hell if blizz said. For an extra few dollars in sub fee they’ll work with people to create mods free of exploits.
Or using ideas from modders add these things to the games customization.
Its better then banning people and loosing all profits.
I don’t think Blizzard wants that sort of positivity on their company. They don’t want to be on FFXIV, GW2 and ESO status. They want to be the dark side among their competitors so it can balance out.
Its foolish. They are willingly throwing away profits. Model edits could easily provide wow income and players.