How can I know if the clump of toons stealing a herb node out from under me is a multi-boxer or a bot? Are there characteristics in movement difference in the two? I do not want to report a multi-boxer but do need to report bots.
The area I have seen these clumps of toons in is Nazjatar. The elevated AH price of Zin’Anthid may be the reason that Naz is so popular for farming right now. Thanks.
There is no way for us to differentiate between the two on the surface. But we do encourage you to report anything you think might be suspicious! Always, always report your suspicions. Blizzard would rather a report lead nowhere rather than have no report at all, and if it turns out to be a false positive, it’s just tossed aside without any action taken against either the reporter or the reported.
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Not to the casual observer, no, not definitively.
If you suspect they may be bots, right-click and report them for cheating. Blizzard will investigate and take appropriate action.
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Technically you can’t, though a multiboxer probably will have pretty similar names, to help with their self targeting macros.
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Report 'em all!! Let Blizz sort 'em out.
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Let’s not report them all.
One thing typically noticeable in multiboxers is that they tend to have the same naming scheme, and are all on the same realm. Oftentimes they’ll have the same gear on, and all be the same class, or be in the same guild.
If you’re not sure, it’s always better to be safe and report than sorry, but usually multiboxers will either be all together in the same place, or they’ll all be following one character.
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Thanks for your replies. I would spend a lot of farming time reporting them all if I thought they were bots. Would not be fair to a multi-boxer if they were erroneously reported.
I do see a bunch of similar names in the group. It is difficult to tell since they are a clump of toons. I seem to remember a group of Druids that were reported as bots by players in the MoP area. They all had similar names as well. I was one of the players who reported them. I did not see them in that area again after a large ban wave. Thanks again.
(One of the toons in one clump of toons was different, they were Mage class, in the middle of the flying Druids in Naz.)
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This does nothing except to contribute to excessive response times.
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Blizzard doesn’t need you to report them all. Just report one or two in the clump if you feel they are botting.
In my personal observations, the ones I believe to be multi-boxing are in a clump, or a clump following a leader. The ones I believe to be botting follow the same path, but seem to travel in a queue rather than a clump. I have no way of personally confirming either belief.
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If they’re not botting, they won’t even know they were reported. Report 'em all!!
I just wanted to touch on this. Multiboxer or not, no one can “steal a node” out from under you. If you harvest it first, you get the loot. If you are fighting a mob near/on the node, it is not “yours” until you harvest it.
As stated above, not that a player can tell. If you suspect, you can always report and Blizzard will investigate.
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Usually, if you behave friendly with a suspect multiboxer and you just ask, they’ll tell you if they are or not. Some won’t reply though, which might actually be the bots. I personally don’t see very many multiboxing bots from my own eyeballs.
It’s not a sign of a bot. There is no rule in the game that requires someone to respond to a whisper. If they are multi-boxing, you may only get a response if you whisper the main character. Someone can be botting but also be at their computer, so they respond to whispers. If they are focusing on farming something, they may not even see a whisper.
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I mean, I wasn’t saying that they “are” bots. I was just simply stating that if you try to whisper one and they don’t reply to you and continue to “look” like a bot they might be…well a bot?
Was hoping the context of that statement wouldn’t be lost just for that one call out. I personally multibox(in classic) and I miss whispers all the time and it bothers me when I get a whisper on anyone other than the “main” because I have chat disabled on my followers. This way I have more room for other UI features. It’s definitely not a catch all for sure, which is where other context clues come in.
The thing is, Blizzard doesn’t need players to investigate if someone is a bot. Responding or not responding to chat does not prove a bot. No response doesn’t mean someone is botting. Getting a response doesn’t mean they aren’t. If you suspect someone is botting, right-click and report it. You don’t need to whisper them. You don’t need to follow them. You don’t need to gather “proof”.
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You are mostly correct and no one is disputing that. But it is player reports that helps get those individuals into the eyes of Blizzard. I’m not telling anyone to go and gather proof, but to report with some kind of basis, rather than assumptions because they have a group of the same named players.
Not sure what you’re trying to defend here honestly or make a point of. I’ve been playing a long time and I understand how to report someone when it makes sense. Just chimed in and made a simple comment. That wasn’t an invitation for you to explain that we don’t need to investigate anything. It is absolutely our responsibility as a community to report an individual with some sort of fact before assuming(which is why a chat box pops up asking you for a description of why you think they are cheating).
It wasn’t meant to start an argument about what exactly a bot is and how you can verify each and every single bot as a random player.
Cheers.
Edit: Corrected typos
The only fact that you need is “I think something isn’t right here”. You don’t really have to justify that feeling.
I do understand your meaning, and I generally agree. I would HOPE that the reason for a report isn’t “this person beat me to a node” or “this player killed me in PvP”, but it really doesn’t matter. What Ruffle said is 100% accurate:
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All a player has is assumptions. Players are not in any position to properly investigate. They don’t need “some kind of basis” to justify reporting. If it looks suspicious, they can report it. If it’s a group of same-named players and they feel those players are botting, they are free to report it. They don’t have to know how multi-boxers name their characters. It doesn’t matter. If the player doing the reporting feels that someone is botting, they can report it. Being a multi-boxer doesn’t mean they aren’t also botting.
All you need to do it type “possible bot”. It doesn’t need any “facts”. It doesn’t require a player to try and talk to the player they are reporting. They don’t have any “facts” other than what it looks like to them. Having anything else as a “fact” meant that they investigated the player.
Players can’t. That’s what the report is for. Just right-click and report “possible bot”. There’s no need for players to be sure. Players don’t need “facts” to report it.
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I stand by what I said. I’m not here to continue arguing a point that I understand already.
It is however your responsibility as a person to have some kind of fact before you accuse someone of anything. If you truly care about reporting a bot, you’ll do more than go “eh that looks like a possible bot”.
There is an explanation box for a reason. Just because YOU do not want to elaborate any more as to why you think the person you are reporting is a bot, that’s your prerogative.
I’m not going to go into details, but I can assure you that more information is a billion times better than saying “possible bot” as possible bot doesn’t actually do anything but show you are assuming they are a bot. The in-game report box specifically says this:
“Below, please provide a clear and specific description of the cheating behavior you observed from this player. Include as much detail as possible about the time frame, the location and the actions the character was performing.”
If this isn’t clear, then idk what to tell you from here.
Well, this certainly got all circular. 
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