The Force Awakens in Azeroth, Dec 16 Hotfixes, Bot Ban Wave, Warlords Digital Deluxe

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The Force Awakens in Azeroth
Tonight's hotfix gives many of the Orgrimmar and Stormwind guards red and blue lightsabers, or as close as you can get in WoW!


Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
These aren’t the guards you’re looking for...

Some sort of force awakens in both factions!

We figured we'd pay homage to a galaxy far, far away that has long been near and dear to our geek hearts.

Stop by Stormwind or Orgrimmar to pay respect to your guards and appreciate their exotic new weapons. They won't be able to maintain the unfamiliar technology for long!

Patch 6.2.3 Hotfixes - Dec 16
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
Winter Veil
  • Players are now automatically dismounted in the area around Greatfather Winter and Winter Veil presents.

Quests
  • Greatly increased the spawn rates of quest objectives for the following Winter Veil quests: What Horrible Presents!, Grumpus, Menacing Grumplings, and Where are the Children?
  • What Horrible Presents!: Spirit Bomb should no longer incorrectly cause players to become flagged for PvP.

Recent Actions Against Botting in WoW
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
We've recently taken action against a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay, known as “bots.” As a part of this action, we have removed various currencies and inventory from these accounts including, but not limited to, gold, PvP currencies, and gear. The penalty for those identified as repeat offenders has also been increased.

We’re committed to providing an equal and fair playing field for everyone in World of Warcraft, and will continue to take action against those found in violation of our Terms of Use. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated.

If you believe that you’ve encountered a player abusing a bot, exploit, or cheat, please let us know! You can do so by using the right-click report functionality in the game, and/or by emailing information to hacks@blizzard.com.

So let me get this straight. You just want them to resub rather than banning players that are ruining the game? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding but to me that just seems like all blizzard cares about is cash flow.
Sorry, let me try to explain more clearly:

Take your average botter. Let's call him... Jim. Jim is an awful person who uses various scripts and/or third party programs to give himself an unfair advantage against other players. We don't like Jim. One day, Jim gets caught, and Blizzard takes action against his account.

Now say, hypothetically, that Jim's account gets permanently closed. Everything he had on that account is now gone forever, and he has no way of getting it back. Now, many players in this case would (and do) just stop playing, but not Jim. Jim decides he still wants to play World of Warcraft, so he buys a new account and starts over fresh. And since Jim's now starting from scratch, he decides he doesn't have much to lose, so he fires up his scripts and third party programs again.

Net result: Jim is still at it. If and when he gets caught again, he just buys another account, and continues to be an awful person.

However, if Jim only gets a temporary suspension, he knows he's getting his account back, so starting over from scratch sounds much less appealing. Jim likes his characters and wants to keep them, so he decides to just wait the suspension out. Once it ends, he really doesn't want to go through that whole ordeal again, so he decides not to risk botting again.

Net result: Jim is a decent guy who made some mistakes and learned from them. We're actually pretty okay with Jim now.

I'm obviously painting a rosy picture here (not everyone responds this way), but I'm just trying to illustrate why suspending accounts tends to result in fewer cheaters long-term than permabanning. Like I said, there's some really interesting psychological shenanigans involved (which are a bit above me, I'm afraid). That's my understanding of how all this works, though.

(Also, apologies to everyone named Jim who is not a filthy cheater. I'm sure you're all lovely.)

Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Winter Veil Spawn Rates
Reports of unusual gifts not spawning and concerns over grumpling population levels have been forwarded. Hang in there folks, we won't let Grumpus ruin Winter Veil!
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. The proper people were notified and unusual gifts should now be spawning correctly for the realms where it wasn't spawning correctly. Additionally, Grumpus and Menacing Grumplings' spawn rates should still be more frequent but at a more appropriate rate now. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Guild Challenge System Changes
So time walking dungeons don't count then? Or is time walking considered part of this expansion so they do?
No.

Timewalking dungeons will no longer give guild challenge credit. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Will the Winter Veil garrison decorations replace the Hallow's End ones? Last chance to pick up the previous event's pets?
You can have either holiday up, but not both at once. (Muffinus)

Warlords of Draenor Digital Deluxe Items Back for a Limited Time
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
While the Digital Deluxe edition of Warlords of Draenor is no longer available (blame the Burning Legion), we know some WoD players might still be interested in snagging the digital items that came with it—including the Dread Raven mount and Dread Hatchling pet. Well, here’s another chance: we’ve created a special bundle that includes all of the Digital Deluxe bonus items, which you can purchase now for a limited time.


These Warlords of Draenor–themed extras for WoW, Diablo III, Hearthstone, and StarCraft II will be available for purchase until the pre-patch for the upcoming Legion expansion—after which point they’ll be sealed away into the vault. Please note that in order to purchase, you’ll need an active WoW subscription and a Warlords of Draenor standard edition or higher license on your account. Once purchased, these digital items will apply to all World of Warcraft accounts on your Battle.net account.

Visit the Battle.net Shop to buy or find out more about what’s included!
This article was originally published in forum thread: The Force Awakens in Azeroth, Dec 16 Hotfixes, Bot Ban Wave, Warlords Digital Deluxe started by chaud View original post
Published on 2015-12-18 02:16 AM
74 Comments
Comments 74 Comments
  1. Dasn's Avatar
    enough of this star wars shit
  1. Adoxe's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dasn View Post
    enough of this star wars shit
    No. /10char
  1. ColbyWolf's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Dasn View Post
    enough of this star wars shit
    Why so angry, man? If you don't like star wars, just scroll past it. Don't be angry just because some people like something you don't.
  1. IIamaKing's Avatar
    So horde ARE the bad guys.
  1. Xerra's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by IIamaKing View Post
    So horde ARE the bad guys.
    Nah it just means they are more passionate about their cause.
  1. jaws4rl's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by IIamaKing View Post
    So horde ARE the bad guys.
    From my perspective the Alliance are evil!
  1. DocHibb's Avatar
    Now if only they could get phasers. It would unite all of my nerdy enjoyments.
  1. TheWindWalker's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by jaws4rl View Post
    From my perspective the Alliance are evil!
    It's okay. We all have the right to be wrong about things now and again.
  1. stinkypinky's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by jaws4rl View Post
    From my perspective the Alliance are evil!
    Only the Horde deal in absoultes
  1. Mazzic518's Avatar
    That's awesome! Well played Blizzard!
  1. camplify's Avatar
    I love this update! It's cool seeing blizzard mixing star wars with their game.
  1. mmocced9c7d33d's Avatar
    Garrison guards don't have costumes, plz fix naow!
  1. Xandrigity's Avatar
    Pew pew pew pew pew pew!
  1. Eleccybubb's Avatar
    From my point of view the Alliance are evil! . Also what happened to the days when botting got you permabanned?
  1. Alayea's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Eleccybubb View Post
    Also what happened to the days when botting got you permabanned?
    Lore had some more to say on the subject:

    Originally Posted by Lore (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)
    why only 6 months..... blizz your getting greedy

    So, here's the thing.

    Through various studies (conducted both here at Blizzard and by other companies/groups), and by monitoring player behavior, we've discovered that suspensions are actually more effective than permabans for preventing repeat offenses by the same people.

    There's some really interesting sociological hocus pocus behind it, but from what I understand, the TLDR is that if a botter gets permabanned, they'll often just buy a new account and go right back to botting. However, if we only suspend them -- meaning, they'll get their account back later -- they're less likely to buy a new one. Furthermore, once they do get their account back, they're EXTREMELY unlikely to bot again.

    I'm not a psychology expert, but there's something about "I'll get this account back later" that leads more of these sorts of people to give up their botting ways than if their accounts had been permanently closed. It's kind of fascinating (at least I find it to be).

    Side note: please avoid referencing bot programs directly by name, you're only making it easier for people to find them!


    So let me get this straight. You just want them to resub rather than banning players that are ruining the game? Sorry if I'm misunderstanding but to me that just seems like all blizzard cares about is cash flow.

    Sorry, let me try to explain more clearly:

    Take your average botter. Let's call him... Jim. Jim is an awful person who uses various scripts and/or third party programs to give himself an unfair advantage against other players. We don't like Jim. One day, Jim gets caught, and Blizzard takes action against his account.

    Now say, hypothetically, that Jim's account gets permanently closed. Everything he had on that account is now gone forever, and he has no way of getting it back. Now, many players in this case would (and do) just stop playing, but not Jim. Jim decides he still wants to play World of Warcraft, so he buys a new account and starts over fresh. And since Jim's now starting from scratch, he decides he doesn't have much to lose, so he fires up his scripts and third party programs again.

    Net result: Jim is still at it. If and when he gets caught again, he just buys another account, and continues to be an awful person.

    However, if Jim only gets a temporary suspension, he knows he's getting his account back, so starting over from scratch sounds much less appealing. Jim likes his characters and wants to keep them, so he decides to just wait the suspension out. Once it ends, he really doesn't want to go through that whole ordeal again, so he decides not to risk botting again.

    Net result: Jim is a decent guy who made some mistakes and learned from them. We're actually pretty okay with Jim now.

    I'm obviously painting a rosy picture here (not everyone responds this way), but I'm just trying to illustrate why suspending accounts tends to result in fewer cheaters long-term than permabanning. Like I said, there's some really interesting psychological shenanigans involved (which are a bit above me, I'm afraid). That's my understanding of how all this works, though.

    (Also, apologies to everyone named Jim who is not a filthy cheater. I'm sure you're all lovely.)

    Quote Originally Posted by Dasn View Post
    enough of this star wars shit
    As neat as it is seeing the city guards with lightsabers, I'm ready for a break from all the Star Wars saturation as well.
  1. Polarthief's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Alayea View Post
    As neat as it is seeing the city guards with lightsabers, I'm ready for a break from all the Star Wars saturation as well.
    It should die down in a few weeks or so.
  1. Arvandor's Avatar
    in wow there are no alignments..

    but everyone know that the classic cave orc and troll is a evil race..

    FOR THE LIGHT! FOR THE ALLIANCE!
  1. Eleccybubb's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by Arvandor View Post
    in wow there are no alignments..

    but everyone know that the classic cave orc and troll is a evil race..

    FOR THE LIGHT! FOR THE ALLIANCE!
    YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE! It is said you would destroy the Alliance not join it! Bring Balance to the Horde, not leave it in darkness! :O
  1. mmoc442be69514's Avatar
    I'm obviously painting a rosy picture here (not everyone responds this way), but I'm just trying to illustrate why suspending accounts tends to result in fewer cheaters long-term than permabanning. Like I said, there's some really interesting psychological shenanigans involved (which are a bit above me, I'm afraid). That's my understanding of how all this works, though.

    Nice story, but that would only be true if the majority of botters are average players who once find out "oh i can download a program from teh internets that does all the work for me. i go to bed and in the next morning i can buy full honor gears yay!!". And this is not the truth imho. I say, the absolute majority of botters come from commercial sites who sell the stuff they farm for real money. This is a fuckn business model where the only thing that matters is costs vs. profit. When you permaban those guys Blizzard would at least somewhat threat their profits as botters needs to by new accounts, level up new bot toons etc.

    Sorry but its so damn unrealistic that normal Jim guy buys new accounts over and over again when he gets caught for cheating. After a permaban, normal Jim would either buy a new account ONCE and never cheat again (perfect result achieved) or he deletes the game and plays/cheats something else (minus 1 botter).

    Its just obvious, botters and cheaters bring money, and the only thing Blizzard does is to limit it to a certain extend so it does not get too annoying for the regular playerbase.
  1. muto's Avatar
    I wonder is they dressed up Arthas as Anakin.
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