Someone was apparently unhappy with the way I was playing the game in a random battleground, called for the entire team to mass report me AFK, even though I clearly wasn’t AFK, and now I’ve got a deserter debuff. Why is this even a thing that’s so easily exploited?
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Theres no such thing.
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Well, to point it out: While in battlegrounds, if reported as afk, there would be a timer. If you don’t take any action to get into combat, you’d be removed. If you had this happened repeatedly, the timer to get into combat will grow shorter until you’re just removed when reported.
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I was in a BG, someone said to report me AFK. Then I left the BG with a deserter debuff. /shrug.
The question here though - did you report them for it? Right-clicking on their name in the chat would have given you the option. Calling on people to mass report is against the rules and people have been sanctioned for it. If you didn’t report them, there isn’t really anything that can be done.
As for:
If you’re not rolling with the team effort and instead choose to defend a lone tower or go in just to skirt around, folks will report you for it. Even just going in to knock out quests, you’re still expected to participate with the team. We have, in the past, seen large numbers of folks suspended due to PvP non-participation. So this is something you definitely want to be aware of too.
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Mass reports = kicked from battle grounds are baseless like saying getting mass reported gets me a acount actioned.
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Yeah, that’s not an exploit. When you’re reported as AFK, you’ll get a pop-up to confirm that you are not AFK. You kind of did this to yourself by leaving.
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Assuming this is Classic.
You were reported AFK, you got a timed debuff that requires you to go into PvP combat before it expires (like a 3 min debuff) and you didn’t go into PvP combat during that time and got booted.
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I should clarify this was retail, posted with the wrong toon. In any case, I didn’t just leave, the game ended with me having a deserter debuff so I’m assuming it was people reporting me after being called to do so.
In any case, I wasn’t AFK. I was healing people, died and waited the 30 sec, rezzed, stealthed to go defend a thing when I was called out.
I would wager enough people saw this as non-participation. If you are not with the group working on the same objectives then the group has options to report you for it. People who go off on their own to defend something, or go do quests find themselves reported for not helping the team with the team objectives.
It is always best to stay with the group, or with the group plan, when doing PvP battlegrounds.
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Unless the group isn’t actually doing the objectives to win the battleground 
Because you left before the match was over. It had nothing to do with reports. Just because some random person tells folks to report for something, does not mean that the hivemind automatically falls in line. Most people will ignore or report that person instead.
Then report the people who are running the show by ordering folks to throw a match or do whatever it is that they were doing that wasn’t fulfilling the objectives (i.e. throwing a match/win trading). Just because there are short-cuts people like to do to make the BG go quicker does not mean they’re breaking the rules.
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No, I DIDN’T LEAVE before the match was over. The match ended and I had deserter after I hit leave battleground.
That wasn’t how you worded it above. My apologies for that, then.
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I apologize for not being clearer. I was just super frustrated.
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This sounds like a bug. I have heard reports from others about it. You will need to make a bug report so that Blizzard’s QA can be made aware of the issue. You can do that in game or via a post in the Bug Report forum.
Reporting a bug in-game
- Go to the Game Menu (Esc key by default)
- Select Support
- Select Submit feedback or bug report
- Select the Submit a bug tab and enter your report
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No amount of reports can lead to you receiving a deserter debuff.
There are only 2 ways to receive a deserter debuff in WoW. Either by leaving prior to the match ending, intentionally or by disconnecting, or by being removed by the system for actually being AFK and ignoring the auto-remove timer.
If neither of those things happened, then report it as a bug.
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I think the green poster was right, it’s a bug that I assumed was an action after seeing someone call for a mass report.
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Doesn’t apply to this thread, but just to bring it back around where Zenjy mentioned it earlier, and to put an official word to it, this can actually happen if someone’s a serial idler.
However, if the repeat offender receives the inactive debuff, they will not receive the 1 minute to engage in PvP combat but will instead be immediately kicked.
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Worth noting that the inactive debuff, or lack thereof if you’re a repeat offender, comes after a 1 minute duration of an idle debuff. So you’re still not immediately kicked out for being flagged afk by your teammates. Unsure if the bg ending while you have the idle/inactive debuff will result in deserter.