Question about Bots/RMT?

Support Customer Support
#1

The amount of botting and RMT throughout classic and TBC Classic is nothing short of monumental and game breaking. Bots are everywhere, always, and people are buying up gold from these botters like there’s no tomorrow with little to no punishment for doing so.

Before I reactivate my sub and play Classic SoM, I want to know what will be done about this.

Nerfing pickpocketing for rogues is nothing but a slap in the face to players who did this, and is in no way a deterrent for the endless army of bots that will farm instances and open world mobs for gold, regardless of the efficiency of doing so.

Will bots be banned more than once per year? Will players who RMT be banned? Can we expect any level of adherence to the TOS/EULA of the game in regards to cheaters?

I quit classic because of this. If there were no bots and 75% of the players weren’t buying thousands of gold per month, I’d still probably be subbed and playing.

I just want some sort of assurance that the monthly fee I will be paying in order to access this game will be worth it, and that the plague of bots, cheaters, and RMT payers will be removed from the game. I want to believe, but based on historic evidence of Blizzard “Banning in waves” (aka once every other fiscal quarter) I don’t think I could in good conscience play this game again, despite how much I want to and how interesting the SoM changes are.

#2

First off, let’s make sure that we’re distinguishing between bots and what’s being purchased from the AH.

First off, Bot are banned by the thousands and it’s done daily. There’s a sticky thread in the Classic General forums that outlines just some of the actions that were taken at the time of the post.

As for people who pay real life money for illicit gold, those accounts are also often flagged once the botting account is identified. Then they come to this forum or third-party sites and explain just how “innocent” they are and how they didn’t do anything wrong!!

If you see someone cheating, please be sure to right-click and report them as such. There won’t be a lightening bolt from the sky that bans them, but the report will indeed be looked into.

9 Likes
#3

I’ve been reporting bots every day for years and they’re almost always there.

I remember checking every single day for over a month behind the rock in Feralas near the night elf area for fishing bots, and there were several of them. They never left. The only reason I stopped checking is because I quit playing.

None of this has anything to do with the auction house.

Hell I remember back in Wrath there were DK bots flying around mining and I had reported them constantly. They were still there in cataclysm doing the same routes, I had them on my friends list just to see if they were still online. Yep.

#4

Yes, those who profit from bots will indeed continue to create/steal new accounts so that they can continue to scam people in-game and continue to try and bot.

That’s not proof of a lack of accounts being shut down by Blizzard.

I think you underestimate the amount of criminal activity that comes with online gaming. There will always be those who want to exploit the game in order to make or steal gold, bot for PVP ratings and so on.

As long as there are people dumb enough to pay for this stuff, the criminals will continue to do everything in their power to get money from those players.

Will bots or RMT ever go away completely? Not until the game is shut down. Even then, the people involved will simply move to the next “big thing”.

6 Likes
#5

I just want Blizzard to say something on this matter, as they haven’t even mentioned the existence of it.

#6

o.O

I linked a page where they explain how many accounts get shut down. They mention their awareness of it all the time here too.

9 Likes
#7

Please stop dude you’re not helping. I don’t want to hear from you, I want to hear from Blizzard.

#8

What do you want Blizzard to say? There isn’t a magic bullet to fix the botting issue. If there was, they’d have done such already. They can’t say they remove all the bots and RMTers as they’re going to be back with something else.

6 Likes
#9

So read the thread I linked? Why is it that you need some sort of personal response to something that’s well known and addressed publicly?

8 Likes
#10

I don’t know? Something like this perhaps?

Bro, stop.

#11

I get it, you don’t like being wrong about your original post. Noted.

But I’m not too sure how pointing you in the right direction, providing you with a link to info Blizzard has already provided showing that they’re well aware of the issues and taking actions despite what we’re able to see as players, is not helpful.

I’m sure you’ll just try and tell me to stop posting again since it’s not the answer you’re hoping for.

Also note, it’s frowned upon to insist on a response from a blue.

7 Likes
#12

Ok now you’re just trolling. Stop harassing me.

Also note, it’s frowned upon to harass and flame other people on the forums.

#13

It’s sounds like you want something just printed on the screen for something. I assume related to try to hold Blizzard to something. To be frank, Blizzard works on their own time table, not the players or a given person’s wish. They already made a statement about it and isn’t going to make one to fix a person’s personal taste.

5 Likes
#14

Replying to you isn’t considered harassment. If you don’t wish to see my replies, you can certainly put me on ignore.

If you really think that somehow I’m trolling, you’re welcome to use the flag system to report my post too.

9 Likes
#15

They made a statement and nothing became of it. There are just as many bots now as there were 2 years ago in classic, and just as many as there were 6 months ago farming in terrokar forest and coilfang dungeons.

Their statement was nothing more than lip service and nothing has changed.

#16

Welcome to Customer Support. Not to be confused with Customer Service. This forum is one for players to help other players. There are no GMs or Devs that come to this forum. While our SFAs are pretty dang nifty, no one here is guaranteed a response or acknowledgement from them. Says that right in the stickie at the top of the forum. Even though it’s not in your title, it’s still frowned upon to come in here demanding a response from a Blue.

Just because you don’t think you see enough response does not mean anything. Bots and illegal accounts are banned near daily. You’re also discounting the fact that it could be insane farmers out there with real legit players behind the toon who are doing nothing wrong save for losing out on sleep. Also too, just because you report something doesn’t mean lightning is going to strike someone down immediately. Every report is researched before any sanctions go out.

If you don’t feel like there has been enough response? Continue on and don’t resub. You’re obviously not going to be content with the answers any of us can provide.

8 Likes
#17

There’s always going to be bots and RMTers, there’s no magic bullet to get rid of them. If there was, Blizzard would have already used it. Trying to say Blizzard to say such and such won’t magically make them disappear. More to the point, trying to get a blue to personally post in a thread because you want it doesn’t make it happened. The blues here are CS workers, not the devs, QA, or the team whom handle bots/cheats.

Their job is to watch this forum and keep folks inline.

5 Likes
#18

So you believe that they’re lying then? That they don’t ban bots by the thousands and yet you want them to reply here telling you that you’re wrong…even though you won’t believe them?

Not too sure what else to tell you beyond the facts that I’ve already stated. Yes, botting and RMT will continue until such time that the servers are all shut down. Unfortunately, people will continue to be silly enough to buy illicit gold, pay for someone else to play their account or even just to get gear or pvp ranking so that they can feel “cool”.

Blizzard already knows this and we do too as players. Want it all to end? Report what you see in-game and talk to those who you know who play to ensure that they’re not falling for these sorts of illicit actions.

5 Likes
#19

This is a BILLION dollar industry, one that unfortunately is something that we have to deal with as long as players keep fueling them. Bot accounts are closed daily, all they have to do is move on to the next account they have lined up and continue.

Blizzard does as much as they can, they investigate the issue (which takes time), so actions aren’t immediate. They do their best to get to the source, so that they can make the most impact by closing as many as the accounts as possible.

7 Likes
#20