I would think if they have an exclusive add-on that allows them to play the AH in such a way that would be a severe advantage through 3rd party means which no one else does it wouldnt be that far from cheating…
Of corse getting the evidence other then speculation and conspiracy is another thing.
What other evidence do you need to explain how there are three dozen accounts with the same username format on all day buying up cheap items as soon as they’re posted? I’m really curious what level of mental gymnast you are if you can logic yourself out of this scenario.
I’m not the one needing evidence or to be convinced blizz does and if nothings been done now theres either no evidence or its not been brought to their attention or nothing can be done in a free market.
I’m not logicing myself out of anything or denying or supporting the claims simply stating that by blizz inaction then nothings an issue to them about this.
The auction house is a player controlled part of the game and if someone has enough gold on every toon to play it like their own piggy bank then thats because thats how the system was inevitably going to go just like runescape.
Blizzard would have to do something about it but if they can suddenly deny a player freedom to buy and sell because they have too much gold well then they will cause it to also effect everyone else too eventually.
Any restriction implemented will hit everyone else.
This part right here shows that you don’t understand what the point of this thread is and why this is a problem. For the love of god, this isn’t about a person buying and selling items at a high volume.
This isn’t true. They do ban bots. I know of one website that sold bots that finally shut down because the bots they sold were broken time and again.
They just don’t ban/break them the minute they are reported. They have to study them.
Break them and then I assume update software to catch that variety.
Banning bots isn’t as simple as many seem to think it is.
Also? I’ve gotten in game messages from Blizzard saying thanks for helping to keep the game clean. Well Azeroth anyway.
Wanted to add that I try to stay away from the AH. I agree that it needs to be changed or fixed or something.
People say this about all sorts of other games as well as WoW, both versions of WoW are infested with bots and you can always go to specific areas to find bots. Years later, same area, bots. Clearly the whole ‘study them and figure out how they work’ isn’t working out for Blizz and certain other companies. They don’t invest into bot busting or any of that anymore. You can go into Classic and sit in LFG, tons of ‘boost’ bots too advertising in LFG (Not trade chat, so again against the game rules. Nothing done there anymore either because people gave up reporting again, because it takes TOO MUCH TIME to report how many there are and detracts from you being able to even play the game.)
This is very true. I get it though. I’ve seen 4-5 groups of bots killing in certain high spawn areas. Usually Druids… lately.
Having to report each and every person in that group is time consuming. Some have at least 5 in the group. If it’s a Multi boxer (not sure if that’s a profitable thing still) then it’s up to I believe it’s 25 (?) to report and with them sticking close together it’s almost impossible to get them all. So very much time consuming.
So yes I can understand the giving up. Especially if the same group is there for several days or weeks. Makes it seem like nothing is being done.
lol yup same here. but i did it at a time back in mop when the game was flooded with tcg pets and mounts all selling for 20k to 100k when the gold cap was 999,999g. sat on them in my personal guild bank and like 8 years later sold each for millions. had to create a crap ton of extra guilds to hold all the dough.
My question is “who on earth is paying for three dozen account subs in order to be able to manipulate a video game market.” O_o
You can easily pay for a month of gametime right now if you know what items to flip. Before the exodus to FF14, it was very easy to make a million gold an hour based on how many items there were on the ah that were the wrong price.
Ahhh, I see. I forgot in game gold can be used to buy account time.
That + multiboxing is probably going to be the root of the issue in terms of economic instability.
I don’t think it should be considered a valid form of play since I consider it exploiting a system until it breaks and nobody else can compete. But it probably technically will be considered valid so long as economic multiboxing is considered valid.
I think that’s the best thing to come out of this thread. There’s no better way to define this other than that. The only thing that would need to change is to restrict the api call that permits the looking up of items without a one to one input for each item. If I have to input a keystroke each time I post with ah addons, scanning for an item should require the same work from me.
So, yeah. What seems to have happened is that being able to buy account time with gold in the game has allowed a single player to buy 3 dozen accounts to run a economy script. This is breaking the in-game economy, and probably should not be allowed. That’s my two cents. 
Right, I dont see any issues making gold. All the bots do is afford me an opportunity to make money. The bots have 1247 Widgets for sale at 95 gold each… ok bot … here are my 20 widgets at 89 gold. Bot buys my items. I list my items every morning at 6am and return home at 4pm and RARELY have any unsold items still in the AH.
Multiboxing isn’t against the rules. If it’s a multiboxer and not a multibotter you’re reporting, then of course they won’t get actioned.
Look for telltale signs of botting, such as synchronous actions. Multiboxers won’t loot something the exact same time, but multibotters often do just that.
Did you actually read the outcome of the Microsoft antitrust case? The suit was about Microsoft bundling IE with their OS. The situation was declared ‘unlawful monopoly’ but nothing was done about it. They were not forced to stop bundling IE or undertake any other practices that make their OS’s intrinsic link to IE less annoying. Effectively nothing changed, and the judgment has not been used in any meaningful regard since then, as evidenced by the fact that Microsoft’s market position is what it is and tech mammon-machines like Amazon and Meta function with effectively the neocolonial power and market-shaping authority of a modern-day United Fruit Company.
Hold on a second…my brain may be short-circuiting again:
Is someone suggesting that antitrust laws need to be enforced in a video game?
Nobody. Foxbanker has invented a narrative to suit his crazy ideas. He has been debunked repeatedly both here and on Wowinterface, yet he continues saying things that are neither factual nor based on reality.
Can you link to the debunking, then?
Because some people are saying he’s telling the truth but they think that it’s a viable form of play (and I don’t) and this is the first thing I’ve seen that says he’s making it up.
I know multi-boxing’s not against the rules. I’ve been a supporter of boxer’s. Figure their money, spend it like they want. Which apparently isn’t a shared opinion by many.
I mis- typed or spelled. Multi-botter
I know of one boxer who had his account hacked and was used to bot. May be why I mis-typed/spelled.
When I said I wasn’t sure if it was still a profitable thing to do, to multi-box, it was because of limitations put on boxxing now. Since I don’t box, I wouldn’t know.