AH Sniping: T he Lowest of the Low

[smaktat]

Back in ICC there was a raid warning addon which changed the game's environment to provide illustrations for boss encounters. The addon was said to have been manipulating the game environment and banned. I've known about AH sniping for a while, but the reality hadn't set in until recently when I had seen it in play. The point of this post is simple: AH sniping should not be allowed.

Sniping means someone will leave their game open and have computer software search through the AH for items listed below a certain threshold. If any items match the search criteria, they are bought.

The Problem: The software is buying the items for the player, making it impossible for any human who had posted the item to react in time. Just with the addon in ICC, the software should not be playing the game for the player, but instead helping them to play the game. This software is performing actions on the player's behalf.

My suggestion: just the same as how Gmail gives 30 seconds before an email is really sent, auction house posting should be given 30 seconds before the item is really "live." You should be able to see it in your auctions tab and click cancel if you notice something is off. This will allow players the opportunity to review their choices and if they REALLY believe what they are doing, then the AH goes live. If not, or they don't care enough to check, then they must live with their decision. Just like how we have checks before trading items to other players now, there should be a check here as well.

This is a good suggestion as its impact on the game is minimal to none. It only benefits those who have realized they made a mistake within an acceptable timeframe.

Sniping is dirty. It mainly targets new players to take advantage of their inexperience and destroys veterans who have simply made a humane mistake. There is no secret or skill to what is being done, it is simply crushing other players who make common mistakes. While I personally don't agree that any part of it can be justified as playing the game and it's probably one of the few ways you could really attribute "no life" to a WoW player, giving someone 30 seconds of review before an item is posted could alleviate a lot of this problem.

e: Well you all have proven something is definitely broken here. I ask for 30 seconds of revival before an item goes live, nothing else changes, and you won't even consider it. Try to remember we're all people here before you decide to be so ruthless. Mercy will be shown to you, but you can't show it yourself.

[Phookah]

Or you could pay more attention to what you post and at which price you post it.

[jackofwind]

AH bots are bannable just the same as gathering bots or farming bots.

Manual sniping is very easy when you watch a few key commodities and have the remote app. If you're salty about getting sniped then be more careful with your auctions. If I snipe you it's by hand and it's your fault.

[Lochton]

But, if something is wrong, that is your job to be sure there isn't. Sniping an item in that method is just because the seller is careless.

[Gorgodeus]

The software does not automatically buy anything. It simply searches for under-priced items. Only a bot has the capability of doing such things.

[smaktat]

Or you could pay more attention to what you post and at which price you post it.

This is to help alleviate mistakes since you're a human who makes them. We know it's inevitable that they'll happen, but this system would allow obvious mistakes to be covered. It would also show that we give a shit and aren't going to crush someone's soul when they do something innocent.

Are you a sniper? Would you be upset if we didn't allow ALL the simple mistakes to immediately go live? Would you not be happy if we took out some of the easily solvable issues?

Or is it preying upon the weak that you take pride in?

[TheBull300]

or you could pay more attention to what you post and at which price you post it.

how dare you suggest i take some personal responsibility for my actions!

[Justpassing]

Some men just want to watch the world burn.

[jackofwind]

This is to help alleviate mistakes since you're a human who makes them. We know it's inevitable that they'll happen, but this system would allow obvious mistakes to be covered. It would also show that we give a shit and aren't going to crush someone's soul when they do something innocent.

Are you a sniper? Would you be upset if we didn't allow ALL the simple mistakes to immediately go live? Would you not be happy if we took out some of the easily solvable issues?

Or is it preying upon the weak that you take pride in?

Are you new to the AH? We're ruthless here and we like it that way.

Tell me my sweet summer child, how much gold did you lose?

[Amorac]

Why not add a confirmation box to the confirmation box confirmation box that confirms the confirmation box of the confirmation box?

If you're not sure if what you put up is done well, wait 30 secs to hit the post button ?

[Sadorath]

isnt there a 10 minute timeframe where nobody can see your auctions so you got the time to react? i heard it on someone's twitchsteam but dont remember exactly

[Deleted]

People that don't do research before posting an item have only themselves to blame. Everyone do mistakes and it sucks but learn from that bad experience and never do that mistake again. Failing is a crucial part in learning something. I believe TSM is the most used addon for sniping and you have to manually click an item when you're using sniper. It wont automatically buy it for you. If you don't have the knowledge about that item you will probably lose it to someone else who had both more knowledge and was more faster.

[smaktat]

isnt there a 10 minute timeframe where nobody can see your auctions so you got the time to react? i heard it on someone's twitchsteam but dont remember exactly

No. You post the item, it's live. If someone running software finds it (they will), you get to live with the fact that this is how people spend their free time.

[Pebrocks The Warlock]

I've made a lot of gold from manually doing this back with the cross-fraction AHs, I'd rather be able to keep making gold time to time.

[the]

This is to help alleviate mistakes since you're a human who makes them. We know it's inevitable that they'll happen, but this system would allow obvious mistakes to be covered. It would also show that we give a shit and aren't going to crush someone's soul when they do something innocent.

I completely agree with you OP. I've been both victim and culprit. It's not a good system. Now that we have a system that is near equivalent to real money if you play Blizzard games, this kind of protection is needed more than ever.

[JemiS]

You're conflating AH sniping (which I do from the mobile AH with no software) to running a bot.

AH sniping does not have software that buys it for you- it just displays the most recently posted auctions, and you have to actually button press to buy the auctions.

AH Bots, where purchases are automatic, are against the TOS and are banned regularly.

So you're complaining about something that's already illegal, and then conflating it with a commonly accepted practice but using reasoning (someone doesn't have to be there, watching) that isn't true.

People aren't disagreeing so much with the 30s delay, but when you base an argument off of a definitively false premise (the program is buying it for someone), then your further developments are going to be wrong due to that false premise.

[Amorac]

I completely agree with you OP. I've been both victim and culprit. It's not a good system. Now that we have a system that is near equivalent to real money if you play Blizzard games, this kind of protection is needed more than ever.

Then it should be "fixed" at the addon part of the problem really, either by an API change or changing making the buy button a manual not script able element. Adding a 30 sec delay isn't going to work cause there will always be that one that only noticed it after 31 seconds and we see threads about how the time should be 60 seconds etc etc.

Still if you can't learn to pay a little attention when posting on the AH after one or two mishaps... Doubt many banks are going to help when you accidentally transfer 100 euro to another account when you only wanted to transfer 10..

[XDurionX]

AH bots are certainly bannable, but if you've been sniped manually, tough luck.

[Cæli]

smaktat, with all respect due I suggest to learn the definition of AH sniping in wow. it doesn't buy it for you. it would be called botting. only the player can by pressing buttons.

there is mistakes sure, but there is also the opportunity to buy items priced by people that you find too low, and that you can flip. you can do it too. anyone can.

ah bots are the worst enemies of ah snipers.

[The One Percent]

How many tardguards does this game need?