AH Sniping: T he Lowest of the Low

[Zachk]

You can't manual snipe random items within 1-2 seconds of them being posted

actually you can. TSM is an addon that searches most recent auctions on the AH and gives a list to you of the ones you may be interested in based on your set parameters. TSM lets you bind buy auction to mouse over scroll wheel. all it takes it hover over the item and scroll. it is that fast manually.

people dont want to believe it, but AH bots dont really exist. there is just too much room for error when it comes to sniping. you need to know items value and if something is worth buying.

[Deleted]

Well... if you're in need to press only one button to buy, there is a simple Simpsons Bot. Used it back in Lineage 2, just macro the shit out of everything ant make it press one macro, whilst Multibox Army trashes one target.
And... no server software ever busted me

[Amorac]

I've got another idea.. How about a 30 sec grace period when buying items?? This would help prevent from buying overpriced items from those evil overpriced sellerbots..

Gives the seller time to cancel so yea, two birds with one stone

[Marxman]

This is to help alleviate mistakes since you're a human who makes them. We know it's inevitable that they'll happen

But it's not inevitable. I've been playing the AH for close to a decade and honestly can't recall a single time I've posted something with a typo in the price. Pay attention to what you're doing and it won't happen. Simple as that.

Alternatively, use an addon that sets your prices automatically/dynamically. Voila, no more mistakes.

[Deleted]

Alternatively, use an addon that sets your prices automatically/dynamically. Voila, no more mistakes.

If you don't pay attention to the prices the addon sets its easy to get scrwed, too.

Take auctionator for example. you can see if someone uses it by the margin they undercut. get into an undercut battle with them, and then at some point list one item at 1/10th of the price. If the other party blindly uses the addon, he lists items for 1/10th of their price and you can buy them all, making a fortune. I've done that more then once.

No amount of addons, confirmation boxes and grace periods will protect people from their own stupidity. The best protection is doing things calmly and while paying attention.

[Marrilaife]

I love it when snipers grab my vendor-bought items I posted for 10x the mark-up only to repost it for 1000x mark-up, I keep replenishing the auctions until they give up. Easy gold as the supply is unlimited and if the price is low enough they get fooled into a "deal" because of the 1000x mark-up dudes registering as "market average price" or something.

[JemiS]

I love it when snipers grab my vendor-bought items I posted for 10x the mark-up only to repost it for 1000x mark-up, I keep replenishing the auctions until they give up. Easy gold as the supply is unlimited and if the price is low enough they get fooled into a "deal" because of the 1000x mark-up dudes registering as "market average price" or something.

Messing with people who have heard "sniping makes lots of gold!1!" and have no idea what they're doing is a lot of fun.

It's just like raising the price on something that never sells by being the only one listing it, then suddenly dropping the price to get a sale.

[munkeyinorbit]

... 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.

Nothing is broken. You just have to l2p. If you paid half the attention in game as you do to your whining then you would never be the "victim" on the ah.

[xanzul]

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.

New players aren't braindead people who can't figure out how a game's economy works. They can take advantage of the same markets the veteran players do.

- - - Updated - - -

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

This community doesn't handle personal accountability very well.

- - - Updated - - -

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

And contrary to popular belief AH bots are not common.

[Maquegyver]

First, the addon does not buy the item for you. It simply finds badly priced items and you have to buy it. Usually need to beat a ton of other people to the punch. Anything buying items for a player is a bot and is a bannable offense.

Second, I've been on both sides. I've had things bought for super cheap that I (key word here is I) posted incorrectly and I've also snagged things others posted super cheap. That is part of life. Mistakes happen. Next time be more careful but its likely it will happen again because people make mistakes. Whining that you made a mistake and someone else didn't is just so backwards. But hey these days everything has to be idiot proof.

[Radaney]

TSM doesn't buy the items for me, it just tells me that people have posted things at 1% market value.

[darkwarrior42]

But it's not inevitable. I've been playing the AH for close to a decade and honestly can't recall a single time I've posted something with a typo in the price. Pay attention to what you're doing and it won't happen. Simple as that.

Alternatively, use an addon that sets your prices automatically/dynamically. Voila, no more mistakes.

This; humans are absolutely capable of perfection, so there is no excuse for your mistakes.

If someone gets to profit off a mistake you made, that is entirely your fault and you should feel grateful for the honor of them letting get a good deal off of you.

[Gadzooks]

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.

It's been like that since vanilla, when you could sit at the neutral AH in Gadgetzan and watch for people transferring things across to the other side.

[keedorin]

Adding a timer would only fill the forums with QQ of, "Timer to Long" "Timer to Short" "Take the Timer Out!"

It's a stupid idea, just be more careful when you post auctions. So what got snipped and by how much?

It's not a stupid idea. In fact, it's a great idea and will help save someone a lot of money in the future. There are no downsides to this because I just can't believe that an auction will get bought in 30 seconds unless it's in high demand or it has a very low price. If so, then it will just normally get bought after the 30 second timer.

Common sense is not so common in seems, or unless you guys are trying to gain profit out of other's misfortune, which is completely toxic and is something that blizzard doesn't want. The Ah Snip highlights mistakes made my players who miss a couple 0's or price the item too low, and this is all done by a robot, a freaking robot. All YOU have to do is click a button, and boom, a lot of gold is lost and gained because a human can not react fast enough to take down the auction because of "robots." Without these "robots", the chance of reacting fast enough significantly increases. So I believe that every player should have the right to have a 30 second grace period when posting an auction to defend themselves against these "robots" who seek out to destroy them for their master's gain.

[Amorac]

All YOU have to do is click a button

All you have to do is pay a little attention. Why is there a need to solve to solve the attention span of people that people should just learn to grow.

This should have been learned when you were a toddler. If you cant handle this in a video game good luck coping in real life.

And as said, the buying of items is not automated the user still needs to click the button. And if that proofs to be falls the buy button needs to be protected from automation/scripting.

And as I mentioned jokingly, how about buying an overpriced item by not paying attention. You want to block that as well? Why not try learning from mistakes instead of keep making them. Shouldn't be hard for any human, noob/casual or hardcore veteran.

[Redroniksre]

I AH sniped for a little bit to kill boredom back in WotLK. Would hit the Booty Bay AH and get people who were trying to send items back and forth to their alts for 1 copper. Is it kind of a dick move? Yeah, but it is completely legitimate and even if you pad posting on the players side you are still going to have people that list something for a copper by accident but don't notice. Best way to prevent it is just pay attention when you are posting prices.

[Polarthief]

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?

I've never once had an issue with sniping because I've always taken the extra precaution (of literally < 10s to check a post) when I post things on the AH.

If you are too lazy to take an extra 10s or less to double-check the price, that's 100% on you dude. Maybe after getting sniped once you'd remember not to do this, though I guess for some people it takes more.

PS: I don't snipe nor have I ever been sniped; this is just such a non-issue that I don't understand why you're blowing it out of proportion.

[Deleted]

I bought a swift spectral tiger back in mop for 60k gold. It was a mistake by the seller and I was at the right place/time. I gave the mount back to the guy and got a 10k tip for honesty I guess. Still don't own the mount to this day.

[BananaHandsB]

Lots of misinformation in this post. Firstly, running "software" to scan/buy items off the AH automatically is considered botting and is already not allowed. What's more common are addons that scan the AH after being initiated by the player, and then will give the player a list of items that seem to be priced low based on historical data. The player then has to manually click a button in their addon to purchase these items. A player has to be present, at their computer, dedicating their time to repeatedly performing these scans: this is allowed.

I say let these snipers endure the greater punishment, that is sitting at their computer, spending precious hours/days of their lives scanning for virtual items in game, and take caution when posting to prevent them from getting any benefit from it.

[faithbane]

you should write drama..