Blizz asked for help and let us know selling boosts in Looking for Group is not only bad for the game but against the current TOS. After seeing this I had hope I would be able to use this function again because no one uses the in game group finder.
The first week of spam reports I saw multiple “Thanks for Reporting” message’s sent from Blizz but that in later weeks stopped and I continue to see the same spam from the same people every day. I currently play on a very high pop server and it makes finding a group very hard sifting threw all the garbage.
Do we still report? Is it against TOS? If Blizz put a actual GM on a server the would have a full 8 hour shift just tagging all these spammers. I know there is people who find it fun and earn gold doing this for personal game play but I suspect most of this gold is going to third party selling sites.
Thanks for reading and I hope a fix is coming soon
Best regards - Brockman
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i reported 100+ boosters (even swapped servers to lurk their lfg channel). 100+ messages from blizz saying they took action
still no beta invite.
im DONE reporting people for free.
Imagine spending your time doing this. Karen.
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my name is literally ciaracy but ok
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Boosting was never against the TOS. Neither is advertising it in LookingForGroup. Buying or selling gold is against the TOS and so is botting that facilitates is. I don’t think boosting would have become unpopular the way it is if blizzard cracked down on botting and RMT. Its the real money trading that enabled boosting to grow into the monster it is. Without RMT it would just be guildies helping each other and stuff since there is no incentive for people to do it to sell the gold for real money (which is what all the boosters are doing).
It’s interesting that blizzard are getting rid of what isn’t against the TOS (at the same time they add a paid level boost which now has no competition after boosting and rfd are removed) but leave botting and rmt untouched. Makes you wonder if ‘addressing community concerns’ was ever part of it.
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50 to 70 maybe.
Sub 50 not so much as I see it.
Get a 58 boosty and outland them. make say 50g in outland quests. ship off 25 to an alt in 15 to 30 level range.
and that is how on slow nights you pay for stockades on alts you properly level.
Some even give discounts. 5g a run or you take the 5 run package for 20 gold. A savings of 5 gold.
Ideal? No. HAs you thrilled to do it? Not really. But…it is an option when it slow or dead for “real” pickups.
Now 60 to 70 is just…it has you go wth?!. Okay…50 gold and no loot? C’mon booster, work with me here. Some can’t even give the summons. pay them 50, they get loot to sell/de, and I have to walk there? hell no.
I can save the 50, and make 50 more slow brew questing it.
I didn’t say it would get rid of it entirely, just that without the rmt it wouldn’t have become something that is unpopular the way it is. No one gets upset at the occasional healer in trade offering to heal heroics for 50g because its so small scale.
“Organisations”. If you keep reading you will find this:
“This policy update does not restrict individuals or guilds from using the provided in-game tools (“trade channel” chat) to buy or sell in-game items or activities for in-game currency. However, “boosting communities”, especially those who operate across multiple realms, are no longer permitted.”
Individuals can advertise all they want.
This change happened because of discord communities on retail selling in game services for real money and bypassing the wowtoken. You can still buy the wow token and buy a paid in game boost from an individual for gold, You just cant let that individual create a discord community where he sells the same service directly for real money because then how does blizzard get paid. That genuingly is what this change is.
What defines community? Its left open for blizzard interpretation.
Well, they explicitly say individuals can do it, so i can define community in this context to explicitly not include individuals.
That makes no sense Nick. A individual can be part of a community
Yes, and that individual can be a part of a community and sell in game boosts for gold. He just can’t use that community to sell in game boosts for real money. Its intentionally set up so blizzard can ban service for real money trading. They only want you going through the wow token.
An example would be this. I am a part of a community. My home and family is an example of a community. A company im employed at doesnt mind me being part of a community, however if i form a specific type of community such as a union in my work place then suddenly they mind. You can be a part of a community, and you can operate as an individual, you just cant operate within certain types of communities your employers considers a threat to profits.
There is no wow token bro, its TBC classic. There is a lot of assumptions in your argument. The words read that the individuals and groups could be against TOS but it depends on blizzards interpretation of the situation.
That change to the rules you linked was specifically posted in general and not classic. It was directed at retail and trust when I tell you, im not just talking out my backside. It was directed specifically at discord communities selling arena, M+ and raid gear for real money. I know because I was selling M+ for gold and those communities offer high raider io players like we were gold to do their carries for them. They don’t actually do the carries. They get paid real money and then pay high ranked players gold worth less than the amount they got paid to do the carry and they keep the difference.
Blizzard ban it because the real money is going directly from one party to the other without going through them to take a cut which is how it works when you buy a wow token and then buy a boost with that gold. The wow token cost $25 to buy but if you convert it back into battlenet money on your account it only converts back to $20. Blizzard take a cut on every transaction and they lose that cut if people trade directly.
Thats why they use wording like ‘organisation’ to say what you can’t be but ‘individual’ and ‘guilds’ can. They don’t want to stop boosting. They want in game boosting for gold because its how they make money on the wow token. They just want to stop you buying it directly from each other and cutting them out.
Explain why I received messages that blizzard was taking action the first week on 'Individuals" I reported for spamming boosts?
Dude trust me. It really is what I’m saying.
I’ve always seen it in LFG chat since the day Kavaix claimed it was prohibited. I reported for a while but eventually gave up. Why bother if no one does anything about it?
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Because its not against the rules. You can sell boosts for gold in LFG or trade all day long. You can do as an individual or an in game community like a guild. You cant do it as an out of game community for real money in retail. They dont care if you do it for real money in classic because there is no wow token they are losing money on. So they police RMT outside of THEIR rmt in retail and ignore it completely in classic.
He has no answer for this.