Or its a convenient way to action people without admitting the system itself is responsible, which they have incentive to do considering keeping it in place saves them $$$.
If the players had the power to actually BAN other players it would be wildly irresponsible of Blizzard, piss off the players, and COST them huge amounts in subs.
That does not seem likely.
For example, I have been a forum MVP since 2013 in three separate Blizzard programs. I have ZERO moderation powers at all - and I am considered trusted. Not even people they ātrustā, have the ability to do more than flag other players for mod review. In game, or on the forums. The ONLY thing MVPs get is green text and TL3, nothing else.
This is really important. Only Blizz staff can remove someone from game or forums.
Blizzard staff has shown very recently how much they are to be trusted with the whole ālets ban a person because a streamer said soā, so that doesnāt mean much to me.
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people are human and make mistakes but lets not be naĆÆve here i mean would Blizzard have rushed to rectify the matter so quickly if the GM hadnt been caught in a live stream doing the actions they did?
it all comes down to damage control a Blizz employee not only brought shame to his position but it reflected badly on the entire company and honestly Blizzard has enough sketchy moments on their reputation and this isnt helping
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Ehā¦ I donāt know all the details of that, but looks like Blizz stepped in and fixed it.
I have seen individuals make VERY poor judgements before. I have had to contact senior folks before when I have witnessed very wrong answers given by Blizz staff in a public format. Stuff that was not just incorrect, but would cause a very negative outcome to the player if followed. Yes, it was dealt with and no, they did not give me the details. I suspect it was a new person giving answers who needed more guidance. It was all handled quietly so you donāt see it all over reddit, etc.
It happens. What I care about is that they review it, action staff, educate staff about policy or tool use, etc. Having seen them do that, over and over and over, I know they do try to make sure staff are up to date on policy and tool use. Nothing is perfect though.
P.S. They have an Internal Investigations/affairs division. For those who think they allow staff to run around granting favors or accessing accounts. That is a big no no.
mirasol, youāre a greentext - do you have any idea as to why my post criticizing the fact that the gm team is understaffed was just removed by a mod? Nothing in it was inappropriate or offensive.
Sure starting to feel like any criticism towards blizzardās barebones support staff policy isnt allowed on these forums, or at the very least the flag system is being abusedā¦ which brings me to my original point, that automating these types of things is a VERY poor idea in a social game.
I have no idea. The only thing I can think of is that they donāt like misinformation. Stating something as a fact, that we donāt have proof of, can cause mods to remove the false information.
I canāt see the post obviously so I canāt say if that is what got it removed, or something else was viewed as inflammatory. Speculation about staff levels is not always a bad thing - but can cross lines. Sorry I donāt remember the rest of what you wrote. I was trying to cover the CS thread and this as well as some non game stuffs IRL 
Never worry about deleted posts though. Just take it as a gentle reminder that something in it was not what the mods wanted that day. Try to avoid doing whatever that is again. I get mine removed ALL THE TIME. Usually as part of a thread clean up when I try to calm someone down, but it just ends up all being removed in the end.
Again, the actual removal of a player from the forum or game is not automated. Saying that is considered misinformation. The most players can do is flag things for review which can get a post greyed out (can still be clicked), or a player muted in game (squelch). They canāt remove players.
Your later posts about the number of tickets, the speed they might be processed, etc, was valid and understandable. I even think I agree that right now a lot of workers are under a lot of pressure! Please drop the automated part unless we have real proof of that - which we donāt.
If they donāt even trust greens on the forums with ANY mod powers, what makes you think they would trust the masses in game to remove players? It would be bad business to do so.
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Iām referring to the flagging system on the forums.
And Iām honestly justā¦ not really sure what it was that I need to avoid doing again in all honesty because there was no feedback given beyond āflagged by the community as inappropriateā. GM ticket response times were once within hours, now its 2-3 days or more - i dont think its a stretch to speculate staff levels are much less than they once were.
no they just give them an automated streamlined method to troll anyone who has an opinion that they dont agree with
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Normally a mod has to see a flagged post to remove it, however, this thread has the attention of the Forum Support Agents and management right now so is likely being actively monitored in real time, or nearly real time. Much like the Customer Support forum is when Blizz staff are in.
It is entirely possible you were not even reported (unless you got a notice in the forum notifications system that it was removed). That a mod was just cleaning up what they felt was not accurate.
Yes, yes it is. There are two reasons for a longer wait.
-
Less staff
-
More customers who need help
With the pandemic and everyone at home, entertainment such as TV streams, online games, etc have seen a HUGE boost. There are many many people playing now who are normally at work or school - or out playing sports/vacation/etc.
I am going with more customers right now. Same as when we have a surge around game releases and patches.
? If you mean enough reports can squelch someone in chat, I suppose so. Yes. If you mean they can cause a forum post to be greyed out (but clickable), yes.
They canāt remove someone from the forums or game though. Just annoy them at best. Further, they Do action people who abuse the report system.
Iām not following. Its a stretch to speculate that but you admit its a potential cause? Iām not trying to be a pain here, Iām really not - but these kinds of conversations are very frustrating to me as a customer. These wait times were pushing 2+ days even pre-covid.
Seems like a billion dollar company could just hire people to meet the demand of their customers.
The first gate was opened in 20 days, less than 3 weeks, try again.
yeah and Blizzard said BFA was meant to last 2 years and people actually made 120 in 24hrs
What? Those two arenāt even related, he was speaking of the the event.
No, you are not. You are focusing on one cause I think.
False - that they have reduced CS/GM staff. Those were not in the recent cuts.
True - there are a LOT more support requests due to pandemic changes and those seeking online entertainment.
Reality - hiring people in the middle of a pandemic when you canāt get them in for training and teach them to use tools safely - is an issue. Even so, surge support is an issue as complicated as Blizz support is. It is not like a 2 day class for one game. They support EVERYTHING and go through weeks of training. Doing so is a big dealā¦they are not disposable.
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Over vanilla player to CS/GM to player ratios? Iām referring to vanilla response times, which imo had a lot to do with overall player behavior (youāre likely to think twice before acting a certain way if you know its likely to net you a suspension), and the lack of response has a lot in turn to do with the level of rampant toxicity in classic. Certain behaviors that were actionable in vanilla appear not to be in classic, or simply not enforced. Help and assistance from gms is much harder to come by in any meaningful way.
Retail response times are irrelevant to me honestly - its a very different game.
There is ONE team. It handles all the games.
- Starcraft and all variations
- Diablo 2, 3, Immortal when it releases, D4 eventually.
- Hearthstone
- Heroes of the Storm
- Overwatch
- World of Warcraft retail and classic.
There is no dedicated team to Classic. Times have changed and that is not the only game Blizz has real person support for. I know that is not fun to hear, but that is how it works.
Further, the need to appear in game for GMs went away long ago when they improved the GM tools. They mostly donāt even need to talk to anyone anymore. Classic is on the new logging system and support system.
I think thats up for debate. The system may not require it but I think losing that has led to a lot of the disconnect and feeling that the GM staff is failing to adequately provide the needed support.