The root of the bot problem

[Iron-pagle]

they could hire a part time guy to keep every single server in check of bots pretty damn easily.

how hard is it to just scope out SM / Cath throughout the day and look for 60 mage ftytys aoe farming with ertree and tobvr

[Sitstraight-illidan]

yes, it is that simple.

[Amelioratus-aegwynn]

Do you suggest rehabilitating the bots?

[Rautaketju-herod]

@Sitstraight-illidan

yes, it is that simple

It’s an incredibly naive way to look at the problem. People won’t suddenly stop buying gold, and even if they did, that wouldn’t solve the botting issue. Not all bots are people trying to farm gold to sell; many folks are just too lazy to earn it for themselves. This is especially the case in a very grindy game like Classic.

Saying “people should just stop botting/buying gold” and thinking you’ve solved the problem is asinine. It won’t happen, so any line of thought following that is bunk.

Instead, you need to be looking at ways to prevent those who would violate the EULA from being able to do so (or do so as long as they are now). Better bot detection, more frequent and harsher punishments, or maybe… hiring GMs again.

[Sitstraight-illidan]

Better buyer detection, more frequent and harsher punishments for buyers, or maybe… hiring GMs again.
there ya go

[Delimicus-heartseeker]

I’m pretty sure GM’s aren’t tasked with handling bots, they have a hacks team devoted to that.

[Shootingone-malorne]

The root of the bot problem

Is mage aoe and hunter kiting. Both classes are ridiculously easy to play. Thus, easy to script. Streamers and youtubers encouraging aoe farming doesnt help either.

The root of the bot problem is there’s a demand for their services. No matter what changes Blizzard makes to the game mechanics, as long as players are willing to pay real money for services which break the EULA there will be people who’ll provide those services. Especially when they’re making so much money it’s worth their time to put ads on Youtube videos.

[Farnese-herod]

Remember when the paladin who skills for Blizzard kept reposting the report that over 100000 bots were banned in China in only one week until it was pointed out that a Chinese company unattached from Blizzard handles Chinese WoW and Blizzard had nothing to do with it? Hilarious. That guy is delusional.

[Rautaketju-herod]

@Sitstraight-illidan

Better buyer detection, more frequent and harsher punishments for buyers, or maybe… hiring GMs again.

Sure, but…

@Rautaketju-herod

Not all bots are people trying to farm gold to sell; many folks are just too lazy to earn it for themselves. This is especially the case in a very grindy game like Classic.

Some people bot just for themselves. Banning buyers won’t stop botting.

[Delimicus-heartseeker]

That Chinese company isn’t unattached from Blizzard. They’re not allowed to do whatever they want with the IP.

I knew this from the moment I posted those links. I also corrected people that were saying it was Tencent publishing WoW in China (it’s NetEase, the same company that’s partnered with Blizzard for many years and is co-developing Diablo Immortal with them.)

On the other hand, you’ve been consistently wrong about pretty much everything you post. I can almost guarantee that you, who is posting on a throw away account/character is doing what Nevalistis described here:

https://blue.mmo-champion.com/topic/215264-blizz-mining-bots-are-everywhere-again/

No, most of them do get caught. But on the forums especially, players tend to focus on the negative more than the positive. And those who bot support that ideal, because they want people to think they’re winning. They like the community to think that we do don’t do anything, because it discourages your player reports. And those reports help us immensely in our work.

[Contradictus-westfall]

Then blizzard should hinder the effectiveness of bot aoe farming.

[Rautaketju-herod]

@Delimicus-heartseeker

I can almost guarantee that you, who is posting on a throw away account/character is doing what Nevalistis described here:

Yes, the people going around bringing tons of attention to the issue of botting totally bot themselves. Excellent theory.

@Contradictus-westfall

Then blizzard should hinder the effectiveness of bot aoe farming

If by that you mean ban the bots, I agree.

If you mean hinder the effectiveness of AoE farming, I disagree. No changes. There’s nothing wrong with legitimate players AoE farming.

[Leafie-kromcrush]

NetEase which runs the game in China does it weekly and makes a show of it. Doesn’t Blizzard have phones? They had a meeting with NetEase about how to monetize Diablo immortal Im sure they can contact them and ask how they moderate WoW Classic better.

[Illutiankade-pagle]

@Rautaketju-herod

The root of the problem is Blizzard doesn’t ban them quickly enough. It takes several months for an account to be banned after being detected for botting.

Nope. Not even close.

The actual problem is: Blizzard only bans the offending WoW account.

This means, I can bot, get banned. Then, on the very same BattleNET account, get a new WoW Account to bot with…all while having a WoW Account I play “legit”…on the same BattleNET account.

To make matters even more hilarious. Blizzard doesn’t seem to bother to “follow the money (or items)”. Meaning those botting accounts can funnel their earnings to my ‘legit’ account and still my ‘legit’ account never gets touched.

[Caeylas-pagle]

Here’s my take, let’s look at the root cause…

The classes are balanced as of 1.12 and that won’t change. If your class is overpowered it will stay that way, if it under-performs, it won’t get any better until later expansions, at the least until TBC. No matter how much gear, buffs or consumables you use, the powerful classes get even more godly.

With that said, there are 15 years of knowledge of the game and what works and what doesn’t. Frost Mages can AOE and slow with no cap on the amount of mobs in the target area. There are talents early on to increase HIT , the slowing effect of frost and damage. These are some of the first talents in the Frost tree. It’s incredible. There’s not much you can do, the players have outsmarted the game and the developers. This is why WoW has patches and expansions, to correct these types of imbalances.

Also, it seems Classic is big on consumables and world buffs, which are nerfed later on. A level 60 with world buffs and consumables is very powerful.

Consumables need mats that need to be farmed, mats gives power and that equals gold. So bots go where the money is. It’s supply and demand. That’s the way it is. I don’t see how this can change unless WoW changes (and it does eventually, just not Classic).

The only thing is some kind of detection if a 3rd party app is hooking into the games controls, but I am not sure how cheat detection programs work. They use them on FPS shooters all the time, maybe something like that is needed.

[Cathelmance-sulfuras]

Mages should be nerfed across the board, yes. Their AoE should have a hit limit and the damage substantially reduced.

[Rabit-atiesh]

@Khlause-kurinnaxx

Costs em 15 bucks a shot to do that.

Which is why they need to ban an account at the MAC address, not the IP.

I wouldn’t say first offence, but if you get caught twice, you get to find a new game to bot, or buy a new network card. Then we wouldn’t even need to have a discussion about tokens.

[Rautaketju-herod]

@Illutiankade-pagle

The actual problem is: Blizzard only bans the offending WoW account.

This means, I can bot, get banned. Then, on the very same BattleNET account, get a new WoW Account to bot with…all while having a WoW Account I play “legit”…on the same BattleNET account.

Sure, just add that onto what I said, really.

It still takes them several months to do anything to the individual WoW account.

[Gunzbngbng-herod]

Mages and hunters are the best farmers in the game and are both kite classes. The problem isn’t that they are easy to play, Blizzard just doesn’t care about bots.

[Humborger-herod]

all the people complaining about hunters and mages are priests and other lazy induced classes.

hmmm makes you think