Player proves you can determine your layer with /who (proof inside)

FINAL EDIT: Despite these issues, we still need to be thankful of Blizzard. See here: Despite layering exploits, we should be thankful of Blizzard

EDIT: I would love to be shown that what I am seeing is wrong. I am not here to spread misinformation. My post shows the results of my own testing and the honest interpretation of those results. It does appears to be correct. You can test this all for yourself. Take a look at the data results and tell me what your conclusion is.

If I am mistaken then I will definitely update the post. But for now, based on what many people are saying, and based upon my tests, the results I have found seem to be correct.


There are now multiple addons to determine your layer and exploit layer switching. It is known you can determine your layer with the /who command.

Blizzard stated this isn’t possible:

However, there is proof that indicates this is not correct. The following screenshot for example:

https:// imgur . com/a/Z8j3I6E

Clearly shows the difference from seeing your local layer characters (using z- command) and then showing the entire layer characters (not using the z- in /who).

To see your specific layer:

/who with the following: z- “Origrimmar” 1-2

To see the entire server of all layers:

/who with the following: “Origrimmar” 1-2

In addition, you can determine this by looking at the “General Chat” for your area.

I have confirmed the above by doing multiple zones, using multiple level ranges, on multiple characters that were confirmed to be in different layers. It seems to me that you absolutely CAN determine your layer easily.

Why this matters:

Two big reasons:

  1. It confirms that players are absolutely abusing the layering system for personal gain.

  2. It confirms that Blizzard does not fully understand how the layering system is being exploited for personal gain.

The #2 is very telling because, if the exploiters cheating the game using layering, and Blizzard believe layering is not being exploited, then we have no reason to expect Blizzard to fix the exploit and suspend/ban the cheaters if they can’t even acknowledge the exploit even exists.

This is what the community wants:

  1. Acknowledge that exploiting layer hopping for personal gain is against the rules of the game. This is very, very important.

  2. For the layering exploit to be immediately fixed. This can be easily done by forcing a player to stick to a layer for a period of time and disallow a switch. This should have been done at the start.

  3. Reverse all XP gains that utilized layering exploits. This can be easily done by determining XP gains that were made within X period of time that a X amount of layer switches happened.

  4. Remove all reputation and gold and item gains that utilized layering exploits. This can be easily done using the method in #3.

  5. Suspend and/or ban those who used layering exploits. This includes streamers who used these exploits to reach the world’s first level 60 and to clear MC first.

EDIT: Lots of proof in this thread. Here is more:

43 Likes

Thank you for an effective and concise description of an aspect of the problem, hopefully this gets attention.

11 Likes

The plot thickens.

11 Likes

Someone order some pizzas.

5 Likes

You didnt prove anything with that screenshot except that you dont know how the search function works…

First one is a much more specific search and the second one is a more general search which includes all the members from the first search and more.

10 Likes

Everyone who doesn’t believe everything blizzard says because they said so knew this was happening

#MyClassic

2 Likes

His explanation is wrong.

First one is all players in the zone Orgrimar.

Second one is all players who have ogrimar in one of the searchable terms (name, guild, zone, etc).

The second set includes the first set and more, I would love to see the guild tab on the second set.

11 Likes

Yeah something was really strange about Blizzards response, it didn’t seem like the usual classic team responding but Activision saying hey everything is fine, please stay subbed!

5 Likes

Proves nothing?
The z- filter specifies that you are filtering for Zone.
Without it, it is using Orgrimmar as a keyword for various items.

4 Likes

Disclaimer: I would like the OP to be wrong, for the sole sake of the system not being too broken.

With that being said, I am still confused. I understand what you are saying here, but the 2nd set is only people from Orgrimmar (i.e. we can not say that "oh, 2nd set is larger because there are also players that have a name close enough to Orgrimmar so maybe the fuzzy search actually matched their name too). So, to me, 2nd set is obviously a super set of the 1st one (i.e. people from the current “layer” plus the others that are in Orgrimmar).

2 Likes

Like what other items? It seems like all it filters is other players from the same Orgrimmar zone. Why didn’t the first query pick those up as well?

1 Like

Basically, my question is this: if all the players in the 2nd query are truly in Orgrimmar (as the UI shows), and Orgrimmar is a “Zone”, why isn’t the 1st query picking them up as well?

2 Likes

It has nothing to do with layers…

First one only count players in the zone Orgrimar.

Second one would count all players in the zone Orgrimar or with Orgrimar in there name or players with Orgrimar in the guild name etc.

Also doesn’t help that the shots appear to be taken at different times.

4 Likes

Again, their Zone is still Orgrimmar. If there would have been other players, outside of Orgrimmar in the 2nd set, I would understand. The 2nd set clearly contains more players that are in the Orgrimmar Zone, correct? Why aren’t these in the 1st query?

2 Likes

What Kelzar said.
Plus, unless these searches are verified that they were ran within 100ms of each other, I don’t buy it either (due to high traffic since Classic was released like a week ago)

1 Like

This is the only explanation I would buy at this point, other than the layering dispute.

1 Like

First pic looks like he is in orgrimmar second one he seems to clearly be in tb

1 Like

Yeah, I’m going to believe some player who doesn’t understand how the search has always worked versus Blizzard who made a very direct, very explicit statement today.

6 Likes

ALSO:

The same thing applies to world chat. For example, your Barrens chat is only from people in your specific layer, not from all layers. You can use this information and compare against others and instantly build an index of which layers exist and who is in what.

You can give it a test and it absolutely works.

Blizzard needs to fix this, acknowledge it is an exploit, reverse gains, and suspend/band those who exploited it INCLUDING the streamers who provide Blizzard with massive free advertising.

4 Likes

This is false.

Your stated commands don’t match the screenshot (Origrimmar) and there is no indication of time difference when you did the command. When I test in Darkshore for example within 1 second the same results are returned.

8 Likes