Apologies if this isn’t the appropriate place for this, but I was hoping to get an answer from someone at Blizzard rather than from other players. I know this is a hot button issue and I don’t intend to start a discussion or argument about voting to kick here.
I’m curious about any features in place within the vote to kick system that would limit its use. There seems to be some confusion on whether these still exist or not. Specifically:
Are there still internal cooldowns on using the feature within the first X minutes of joining a group?
Are there still increased cooldowns for people who initiate the vote to kicks more often? Eg, if they use it “too often”, the system adjusts to give them longer periods between use. Conversely, people who don’t use it often would have little to no waiting period between kicks.
Same idea for people who get kicked often, does the system adjust to prevent those people from getting kicked too much?
In a scenario where a group of three join a dungeon, I know they still need a fourth person to agree to a kick, however, if someone initiates a votes to kick someone from the group of three, can that person be successfully kicked by just the two other non-grouped players, or would someone from the players own group still need to vote yes (making it 3 yes votes) for that player to get kicked?
Are there any other built in or “hidden” restrictions/cooldowns on the system besides these?
Yes, there is a cooldown if a group/person use the kick function too much, having to clear dungeons to reduce it.
Not that I know of, mainly due to folks would try to troll groups, so it’d defeat the whole use of the VTK system.
For a group of three, yes, they’d need to have a 4th vote yes. When a group join together in the LFD/R, that group would be treated as one vote as it’d make the three control the group however they see fit otherwise. So a 4th would need to agree for it to pass.
Not really know to my knowledge, they’re pretty clear on how the system work as it’s pretty much a majorty group vote and self-managed system.
There used to be a short period at the beginning of a dungeon run to prevent kicks, but I don’t believe that’s been in place for a long time.
This I’ve not heard of personally. I know that if a group of 3 queue together, then a vote requires the 4th person to agree in order for the kick to happen. Additionally, if that group makes ‘too many’ kicks, it will prevent them from initiating a kick until they’ve completed a whole dungeon without attempting to kick. From what I recall, this penalty increases if they continue to kick too.
I’ve not heard of that. I do not believe that’s a feature.
Uh…why would a group of 3 do that exactly? Whether or not this is a thing is sorta moot. Yes, I know there are people who have been arguing about it, but it’s a stupid thing to get caught up on. At the end of the day, if there’s a vote to kick and the majority of the group votes in favour, they’re removed. Period.
There’s really not much else to the system. If there are, then it’s something that Blizz has decided not to reveal and likely wouldn’t now.
Just to touch on this part…while the blues here are often quite active and always helpful, this forum is still primarily for players to discuss these things with other players. Technically speaking, ‘asking for a blue reply’ is frowned upon as covered in the sticky for this forum.
Hoping to get a response from Blizzard to get clarity on the systems in their game that players may not know or be sure about. As both replies so far have featured answers with uncertainty, I hope to get the truth, not just what people believe. If there’s a better avenue to get the concrete answers I’m looking for, I’m all ears. Would opening a ticket with CS be a better route?
My understanding of their question was how would it work if someone outside of the group wanted to kick someone from inside the group?
For instance, if John, Max, & Sue all queued into a dungeon together and ended up with Paul & Tyler as their running mates.
How would it work if Paul & Tyler wanted to kick Max from the group? Would it require John or Sue to also agree to the vote-to-kick or would it just automatically fail?
Or could Paul and Tyler kick Max with just Paul and Tyler voting yes, with John and Sue both voting no counting as one single vote, but yes, you understand.
Yes, there used to be. I don’t know if there still is
Yep. Things used to be in place, but it is currently unknown as to what they are now.
The OP has quite valid questions to be honest. I don’t know the answers and they are ones that come up a lot on GD in discussions about the VTK system.
Understanding what is currently in place, and what systems might be adjusted, helps make educated suggestions and discussions.
Just be aware that you’re asking about game features in a forum that has no involvement with the game at all. Customer Support employees and its forum are an information desk that generally only deals with account- and payment-related issues. They may not have the answers you seek.
Most solutions about game-related problems come from other players, if they aren’t redirected to a more-appropriate forum, first.
Fully aware, but these are questions that players just don’t have the answers to. At least, no one I’ve talked to on these forums does. And I’ve tried looking at external sites as well, to no avail.
Hoping a CS rep will have more resources than the average forum poster in regard to these questions.
I’m afraid there isn’t much that Customer Support is able to tell you outside of what has been publicly listed in the patch notes:
Patch 3.3.5 (2010-06-22): The functionality of the Vote Kick feature in the Dungeon Finder will now behave differently according to a player’s history with the system. Players using the Dungeon Finder who rarely vote to kick players from a group, or rarely abandon groups before a dungeon is complete, will find that the Vote Kick option will have no cooldown. For players who frequently abandon groups or vote to kick other players, the Vote Kick option will be kept on a cooldown. This functionality will adjust itself as a player’s behavior while using the Dungeon Finder changes.
Patch 3.3.3 (2010-03-23): Players who use the Vote Kick option will now be prompted to provide a reason for kicking a party member. This reason will be presented to everyone in the party except for the person voted to be kicked.
Dungeon Finder
If a party member remains outside of a dungeon for more than 3 minutes, they become eligible for removal, regardless of other Vote Kick restrictions.
When players queue as a group with a tank or a healer, and the tank or healer drops group (or is kicked) within the first 5 minutes, all of the other players who queued with them are removed from the group as well.
If there is a group of 3 or more friends and someone in that group initiates a Vote Kick of a random party member, it now requires 4 votes to kick the player, instead of the standard 3 votes.
The penalty for using the Vote Kick feature too often is not issued to a player who kicks someone with whom they queued for a dungeon (i.e. the party member being selected for removal is not a player randomly selected via the Dungeon Finder).
The penalty for using the Vote Kick feature too often will be issued much more quickly to players who join as a party of 4 and kick the randomly selected 5th player.
The penalty for using the Vote Kick feature too often will now not allow the player to initiate a Vote Kick for 2 hours, up from 45 minutes.
Almost certainly, but if they are not publicly announced, it wouldn’t be information that we would be able to share even if we knew what it was. Sorry.
There are likely other changes that have happened over the years, but I’m afraid these are the only references I could find. Others may be able to share other links.
Thank you for taking the time to respond, I appreciate it. I’ll keep searching to see if there are any other updates since these, but it seems like the information we have available to us would indicate there are certain safeguards in place to prevent certain unwanted behaviors.