I dont’ understand this ruling. It was my understanding that the penalization for being afk in a battleground is the deserter penalty. That’s it.
I work from home, but I also have three children whom I’m responsible for. It’s not uncommon for me to randomly have to step away or get distracted for a few moments while grinding bgs in preparation for the new season. Sometimes I’m gone too long and get kicked. Damn, I have to wait 15 minutes now… no biggie, it was my own fault.
But yesterday I received an email that I was suspended for a week because my practice was “exploitative”. I don’t understand, what am I exploiting?
I’m always active on comms making call out and overall being positive. If my frequent AFKs are an issue, why not extend the deserter.
But instead I’ve been banned on the week the season starts. I’ve been grinding incessantly to have the honor needed to take advantage of the 60% discount… and now its all just been taken away from me.
It feels really horrible to have worked that hard, then have your entire account taken away with almost no communication. Now when I get back I’m expected to grind even more to get these honor pieces so I can finally play the game???
2 Likes
Being in BGs means you want join a team and help out to try and win. Having kids doesn’t mean one can just up and leave their teammates one person down and not have any consequences to this. If it’s been a habit, blizzard will have to take action against the account because the person isn’t helping out and just making the team with the person have a harder time.
14 Likes
Which I understand. Kick me for it. Give me deserter and make me have to play another part of the game in the meantime.
My win record is over 60% because I try my heart out in every single bg trying to milk whatever honor there is to get. I make call outs and strats and overall try to be a positive and not toxic.
But I cant control life outside the game if something happens. But BANNING the account for being exploitative just isnt true. I’m not exploiting anything. I’m a parent whose still trying to enjoy his one hobby he has. Games can last up to 30 minutes. I had a WSG last an hour.
The penalty for having to leave shouldnt be a suspended account. ESPECIALLY not for a first time offense with no warning.
1 Like
You look like an AFK honor farmer.
7 Likes
I’m not sure what you mean? Are you just trying to troll me?
If you check my games, in AV I’m always helping kill belinda, back cap and push van
In AB, I’m one of the few people that actually sit bases, defend and make call outs. I’m never on the bottom of the leaderboards in damage. And I’m always communicating in bg chat.
What did I do to deserve this animosity from you?
If life gets in the way of your BG and you must go AFK, just leave the battle ground on your own. That way you take the deserter debuff without getting kicked and / or reported. This would have made it so much easier on you.
26 Likes
I think that’s fair.
Though most of the time I make it back in time where it’s of little importance.
When I don’t make it back in time. I accept my loss and go farm something else in the meantime.
But I’m not intentionally sitting there and avoiding my character from going afk while not actively helping the game. Which is why I dont understand how I’m being EXPLOITATIVE
But, your team mates and Blizzard don’t know that. From their perspective you’re just AFK. They don’t know the reason, they don’t know what goes on in your household. They only know that your pattern of being AFK is the same that is used by honor farmers.
13 Likes
Are you positive the penalty is for Battlegrounds? If it were non-participation you would be told it was for non-participation. It usually isn’t classified as exploitative activity.
I was under the impression that honor farmers avoid the AFK system by exploiting something in the game to stop them from being kicked?
When I’m afk, i get kicked. I thought that is the penalty. Not an account suspension.
Blockquote Are you positive the penalty is for Battlegrounds? If it were non-participation you would be told it was for non-participation. It usually isn’t classified as exploitative activity.
The email said Offense: PvP Non-Participation/Exploitation
I was never aware that getting deserter would mean that my account would be suspended. I thought the penalty for being AFK was deserter.
No I’m not.
Nothing. There is none coming from me. I’m telling you what it looks like. Not that you are that thing.
2 Likes
Receiving the deserter debuff is “a” penalty, but it is more of a warning.
The point of the system is to deter players from not participating if they decide to join a Battleground. Receiving a debuff is the first step in saying… “hey, you aren’t participating, we’re removing you from this match, in the future, if you join a Battleground, please participate in that Batttleground”.
We understand that life happens, and that sometimes you may need to step away for a moment. You will generally only receive a harsher penalty for a pattern of such behavior, a pattern that other players have also noticed and reported for investigation.
Sorry if you were unaware that a harsher penalty was possible.
13 Likes
So in the future, I’ll make sure that if something comes up, to just manually afk out of the bg before being reported.
I can live with that. I just really don’t want to miss these honor rewards I’ve legitimately been working so hard for this past week, even if it is just a game.
1 Like
I have kids as well and I understand its tough to balance but you cant just afk enough times in a bg while your team needs to carry you. If you keep doing that it is against tos. You must choose family time or game time. I usally wait until the kids are asleep or at school before I have fun wrecking people in bgs <3
5 Likes
You could always /afk and leave the battle ground and take the deserter debuff for those times when you need to afk.
If you decide to stay there and let others grind honor for you its not really fair on them is it. Would you be happy for those others to afk frequently and soak up your hard work?
Do you stop and think that when you didnt make it back in time you added to the loss for others? You might accept your loss but remember you are in a bg with others who are counting on you never being afk.
Again /afk to leave instantly from a bg when you need to step away.
8 Likes
I hate to be that guy, but your honor points are probably all gone. I know 2 people this happened to, and one friend lost 60k
Wow,
Blizzard really is on a mission to drive customers away aren’t they. It is silly to give paying customers a week long suspension because they had to step away from their computer in order to deal with rl issues. Batting a thousand… -_-
1 Like
It most likely was not once incident of non-participation that lead to this suspension, but rather a period of non-participation. Either way, OP now knows if they need to leave for any period of time they should leave the battleground, rather then risk future penalties.
2 Likes
Once or twice, that wouldn’t be an issue. An established pattern as is being hinted at here? That’s when a more notable sanction comes into play.
6 Likes
Yeah, repeated violations of the rules result in higher penalties. The folks on the other end don’t care why you are not there, just that someone AFKs.
Cut and dry. Same with penalties. If someone does not have time to do a BG, don’t do a BG.
Sorry to pull you in from GD…
3 Likes