[EU] Boosting Scam

[iperson]

https://www.amazon.com/Sociopath-Nex.../dp/0767915828

[endersblade]

I love how whenever someone finds something that goes against the way they play, they automatically bring up the TOS.

[Seranthor]

Hello WoW Community

I want raise awareness about boosting groups that essentially take advantage out of good geared characters:

I applied for a pre-made raid which said: Fast Run 865+, link Curve Achievement yadayada you know the deal. A few minutes later we have a full 30man group and we can start. The first few bosses I didn't even notice that we had low geared character in the raid until we wiped on renferal. I did a quick check and it became apparent that we are boosting ppl which I was not made aware of.
Basically they use other good geared ppl with experience to increase the profit since they dont have to pay the ppl which they initially got with the "fast run" advertisement.

I called it out in raid chat and got kicked.

I'm not sure if this is against ToS from Blizzard or if anything can be done about it. If its not against the rules of this forum I could call the guild and the guy out who did this and provide additional prove if you want.

I will be more careful now when I pug in the future and I wanted to bring this to attention because I'm sure this is not the only group who is doing this.

Absolutely not against the TOS, and naming and shaming here on MMOC is absolutely against the rules.
Folks make the groups, they make the rules, dont like it, dont stay in the raid/group.

[Daedius]

You're only noticing boosters doing this now? This method of gold making has been around for eons...

[Seranthor]

Don't be obtuse you understood the metaphor and the point behind it.

and I think your metaphor is a joke, its factually and intellectually dishonest on its face. If you knew what you were talking about you wouldn't have even typed it let alone typed it and clicked enter.

[Svisalith]

This is a large part of the reason I never join PUGs asking for item level above what the instance drops. More often than not they're boosting at least one or two people and relying on well geared pugs to make up the difference.



You're a lot luckier than I am. Usually it's impatient idiots who want a wipe-free run while boosting themselves or their friends, ready to kick at the first sign of trouble.

If there are 100 people queuing for your role within 5 minutes then you need to be a pretty solid player to guarantee a spot in any group. Pug life as a DPS sucks.

[Darsithis]

Don't be obtuse you understood the metaphor and the point behind it.

No. Not really.

It's not against the ToS or the EULA to create groups that boost people. There are no rules specifying requirements to tell people ahead of time what everyone else is wearing or what they're doing in the group. There are no penalties or punishments for accepting gold for boosts. Unless they accepted real money, nothing they did is "illegal" in game terms and cannot be even remotely compared in your allegory.

Murder is a crime in every single jurisdiction around the world. It is a crime no matter where you go, with varying levels of punishment. Murder = crime. Boosting people = not a crime. What's to compare? What's the metaphor?

No, the United States has no jurisdiction in international waters.

Surprisingly enough the U.S. will frequently prosecute anyway.

[SoulForge]

Surprisingly enough the U.S. will frequently prosecute anyway.

Whats new. They try to claim jurisdiction anywhere they can.

OT; Nothing illegal or new here. No scam occurred. Pay attention when you join.

ERT can examine the entire raid and you should be able to sort it out yourself.

[Eleccybubb]

Don't think the OP knows the meaning of the word "scam".

[Banquetto]

Can't think what part of the TOS this would violate, but it's the absolute dictionary definition of "scam". Sadly I think all you can do is try to be careful not to be taken advantage of.

- - - Updated - - -

Don't think the OP knows the meaning of the word "scam".

"a confidence game or other fraudulent scheme, especially for making a quick profit; swindle."

This is a fraudulent scheme - the group organizer is lying to his buyers to make them think that the group is there to boost them, and lying to the other group members to make them think that the whole group is qualified players. The reason the group organizer is telling these lies is to make a quick profit.

[Relapses]

This has happened since the beginning of time and will continue to happen until the end of time.

[Louz]

This method of gold making has been around for eons...

Not really.

Don't wanna sound like that guy, but back then before crossrealm, you wouldn't go away with this as people would remember you and eventually spread the word, be it among friends or just start typing VERY LOUDLY on Trade channel.

This method of "gold making" has been around since crossrealm raiding.


The only solution is to get an addon that shows you the ilvl without the need of inspecting everyone separately.

If you notice something odd, call it out and leave, there's a very high chance you won't be the only one.

[Emeraldon]

Not really.

Don't wanna sound like that guy, but back then before crossrealm, you wouldn't go away with this as people would remember you and eventually spread the word, be it among friends or just start typing VERY LOUDLY on Trade channel.

This method of "gold making" has been around since crossrealm raiding.


The only solution is to get an addon that shows you the ilvl without the need of inspecting everyone separately.

If you notice something odd, call it out and leave, there's a very high chance you won't be the only one.

We did this back in vanilla and TBC, well before all the cross realm shenanigans even began.

We were farming BWL and AQ40 in the matter of hours every single week (this was before Naxx) and after a while we began gearing our alts and make gold on our runs.. We would invite a few buyers and a few alts per raid, who would contribute what they could but the majority of our raid was carried by our mains.

I don't see how OPs case is any different, and there's absolutely no "boosting scam" at play here. They could've be more upfront about the alts, but in the end, he didn't pay anything for service he didn't get.

[Meiffert]

Do not post their details here. Naming and shaming is not allowed.

Out of curiosity, why would you consider this naming and shaming? After all, they did nothing wrong.
Is it against the rules to say that Jhazrun from Paragon was an awesome holy priest just because I mentioned his name?

[Relapses]

Out of curiosity, why would you consider this naming and shaming? After all, they did nothing wrong.
Is it against the rules to say that Jhazrun from Paragon was an awesome holy priest just because I mentioned his name?

The purpose of the rule is to prevent players from openly mocking or using a post on this forum as a means to harass the player in-game. How would you feel if a bunch of random people began sending you vulgar tells because somebody on this forum made an unsubstantiated post about something you may not have even done?

[Emeraldon]

Out of curiosity, why would you consider this naming and shaming? After all, they did nothing wrong.
Is it against the rules to say that Jhazrun from Paragon was an awesome holy priest just because I mentioned his name?

Your example; no.

In OPs case, though; because of the context of the post, it could lead to a witch hunt or outrage. There's a difference here.

[Deleted]

So basically:
- The leader/guild gets the gold he/she/it wanted for doing content in return
- The buyer gets to raid and get the achivement or even gear if that was the deal
- The pugged player gets to do content he wanted

I don't see a problem with that at all.
It's almost like in real-life; All parties are not equally informed, hence business can actually happen.

Besides; you can't expect to join a cross-realm run and demand gold from the leader; since cross-server trades are not a thing anyway

[Banquetto]

We did this back in vanilla and TBC, well before all the cross realm shenanigans even began.

We were farming BWL and AQ40 in the matter of hours every single week (this was before Naxx) and after a while we began gearing our alts and make gold on our runs.. We would invite a few buyers and a few alts per raid, who would contribute what they could but the majority of our raid was carried by our mains.

I don't see how OPs case is any different, and there's absolutely no "boosting scam" at play here. They could've be more upfront about the alts, but in the end, he didn't pay anything for service he didn't get.

That doesn't sound like the same thing at all.

OP is talking about inviting some buyers and some well-geared experienced players who have no idea that the raid they're being invited into is partly populated with buyers paying to be boosted.

He's not complaining about paying for a service he didn't get. He's complaining about someone selling his services, without his knowledge, and getting paid for it, by a customer who doesn't know that the people doing the work aren't actually getting any of the gold he's paying.

[Meiffert]

The purpose of the rule is to prevent players from openly mocking or using a post on this forum as a means to harass the player in-game. How would you feel if a bunch of random people began sending you vulgar tells because somebody on this forum made an unsubstantiated post about something you may not have even done?

I understand the general purpose of the rule, I'm just not sure it applies here.

In OPs case, though; because of the context of the post, it could lead to a witch hunt or outrage. There's a difference here.

That's an interesting take. OP described an action that is not against the ToS and is a win-win scenario according to many people. Is it his perspective that constitutes the naming and shaming?
Is the following against the rules?

Slootbag and other Serenity members are funneling gear in heroic split runs. This is, in my opinion, unfair to other guilds since they are getting the equivalent of 5 full clears of gear in a single reset, which is not the intended gearing process.

[Seranthor]

You would rather pick apart semantics and ACT(key word here) like you are idiotic and did not get the point behind the reference. Forgive me for making a metaphor with the assumption that common sense took place here. Que pesada eres

since you need me to break it down Barney-style, my point was that just because it is not technically against the ToS it is okay for groups to do this because you can 'find another group'. Do we need Blizzard to hold our hand and dot every i and cross every t for what is and is not morally wrong? Are you honestly sitting there in your little computer chair saying to yourself that what those guys did was not morally wrong, using other geared people to gain more gold? That was the entire point. idgaf about jurisdiction laws or anything else, stick to the argument and stop trying to side track technicalities like you are Data from Star Trek or something sheesh.

If it isn't against the rules what exactly are you suggesting Blizzard do about it? Break that down Barney.