I posted this in GD, but it was buried pretty quick. I moved it here in case anyone has an answer.
I’ve recently been doing some pvp pet battles, and I’ve noticed something strange. I recognize opposing teams, yet each time I fight them, the player’s avatar changes. It seems to be selected out of a pool of available avatars.
Why is is not ok to see the opposing player? Am I really playing against players at all, or are they just npc’s?
So you can’t find them out and be toxic.
See Voodoofu’s reply.
The element of anonymity may also make the PVP environment more comfortable and less stressful for some players.
Overall, anonymity has both pros and cons.
As far as anyone knows, they’re real players. Are they real players using bots/scripts? Can’t really say with absolute certainty one way or another.
It’s rare, but I have had to report people in pet battles even. So yes I’m pretty sure they aren’t blizzard robots. Otherwise I dunno why blizzard would make pet battle bots With pets named S***, and My, and D***.
They are not bots. I’ve dueled against friends using the queue. I know it was them because I knew their pet names and team comp, but the avatar is changed.
This is for the best to prevent verbal abuse. I haven’t played LoL in years, but verbal abuse during games was out of control when I did. The same thing would likely happen in this game without this feature.