Policy Update for Input Broadcasting Software - Multiboxing Official Warning

Originally Posted by Kagthul

"Serious" Multiboxers will just use USB devices to make the computer see X input devices that are all the same device.

You can literally build one with a soldering iron and components from NewEgg for about 25$.

You plug your keyboard into the "In" port, and run 5 cables from the "Out" ports to your computer (likely an external hub so youll actually have enough ports) and poof, your computer sees 5 individual keyboards. (Theyll all have the same hardware ID tho) If you really want to get fancy and make sure that isn't even remotely detectable, you can use an RPi as the bridge and each of the 5 outputs will report a different hardware ID and from Blizzards end will look absolutely like 5 different physical keyboards plugged in.

They cant even limit this by limiting the WoW Client to one instance since you can literally just run VMs and have the "individual" keyboards/mice control one of the VMs. (Which will 1000% on Blizzard's end look like 5 different computers - think LTTs "X gamers one CPU" series)

Its not even hard.

This will, at best, put a tiny dent in the number of people who multibox.

Lipstick on a pig, kids.

All this does is give Blizzard an excuse to ban anyone clearly using 4+ characters at once permanently regardless of the interfacing methods used. I doubt after 16 years their engine can't detect player positions and actions and how robotic / mimicked they are. Plus now people will be reporting multiboxing on sight.

Originally Posted by Lavey

What's funny is some of the multi-boxers asked for Shadowlands refunds, and can only get 1 refund per battle.net account.

https://twitter.com/FatbossTV/status...67290215673856

This twitter user has gone on to say that it is not policy to do this, and was corrected.

This might be the best news from Blizzard in a long long time

This is the best news of the millennium.

FINALLY so sick of seeing 5 freaking druids moonfireing everything to ruin economies

Mirrored is the key word here. Multiboxers are not R.I.P.. We will just be slower.

I have two accounts and I literally just tried out multi boxing and i leveled 2 toons to 50 doing dungeons it was kinda fun...i dont know why they are doing this now when its kinda already been a thing. Guess no more multi for me.

Finally some good news in 2020.

Originally Posted by Kagthul

"Serious" Multiboxers will just use USB devices to make the computer see X input devices that are all the same device.

You can literally build one with a soldering iron and components from NewEgg for about 25$.

You plug your keyboard into the "In" port, and run 5 cables from the "Out" ports to your computer (likely an external hub so youll actually have enough ports) and poof, your computer sees 5 individual keyboards. (Theyll all have the same hardware ID tho) If you really want to get fancy and make sure that isn't even remotely detectable, you can use an RPi as the bridge and each of the 5 outputs will report a different hardware ID and from Blizzards end will look absolutely like 5 different physical keyboards plugged in.

They cant even limit this by limiting the WoW Client to one instance since you can literally just run VMs and have the "individual" keyboards/mice control one of the VMs. (Which will 1000% on Blizzard's end look like 5 different computers - think LTTs "X gamers one CPU" series)

Its not even hard.

This will, at best, put a tiny dent in the number of people who multibox.

Lipstick on a pig, kids.

It doesn't matter if they obfuscate their method completely. Blizzard still has access to what those accounts are doing on the server side and can detect accounts acting in unison. I strongly suspect that even though their post is specifically about "Input Broadcasting Software" that this policy will apply to any method of input broadcasting across multiple WoW clients. That's just the most common method right now and one that has been allowed up until now.

For example Path of Exile:

Does it matter if I am using AHK, proprietary software, etc?

No. It is important to understand that in the eyes of the developers they are creating rules based on what a player may or may not do - not specifically how a player may go about doing so. Using AutoHotKey, or software which came with your mouse or keyboard, or even a physical solution such as a popsicle stick would all be viewed the same way.

The method is unimportant.

Originally Posted by PenguinChan

All this does is give Blizzard an excuse to ban anyone clearly using 4+ characters at once permanently regardless of the interfacing methods used. I doubt after 16 years their engine can't detect player positions and actions and how robotic / mimicked they are. Plus now people will be reporting multiboxing on sight.

At some point, though, they simply have to come out and say that, then.

They can ban you from using their software for any reason or no reason at all.

But this constant goalpost shifting is just making them look like a joke.

If they're going to ban Multiboxing, do it.

Otherwise, shut the fuck up about it.

Multiple input broadcasting doesn't help bots (who are using entirely "fake"/AI generated inputs that arent actually coming from a real hardware input device anyway), so their "well Bots started using it so..." line is just bullshit.

Have the courage of their convictions. Just fucking ban it, or dont. And if they dont, tell the whiners to shut the fuck up about it. If they do, tell the pissed multiboxers to shut the fuck up about or get out.

Move on.

I'll join the parade and hope it helps the game's economy, albeit it took a good 15+ years to make this simple decision. Still, they picked game quality over money with this move.

I wonder if this means we can report those who are clearly multi-boxing.

Originally Posted by glowpipe

I hate multiboxers as much as the next guy. But im looking forward to the million posts coming now complaining how mat prices are trippled or quadrupled

Sound like time to SELL!

Originally Posted by Kagthul

If they're going to ban Multiboxing, do it.

They effectively did. They are not banning the software used to multibox for nothing, Blizz now has a stance against multiboxing entirely.

Curious to see how this impacts the token price and game economy at large. They don't give any timeline in the blue but I doubt the multi-impaired will give up easy. Where there's a will there's a way...

funniest part of all the people complaining is those are bots, not multiboxers, bots will continue, for those talking about the druids aoe farming.

At least blizzard was kind enough to let us know a couple weeks before the xpac so I can set back up to before i was using the software.

Originally Posted by xenogear3

You had it backwards.

Blizzard sees 10 x $15 a month or $1800 a year, gone !

Considering 99.9% of multiboxers paid for their accounts via tokens and they were bought by other people, yeah, they're not seeing that loss at all.

The tokens were still sold, the only difference is who is paying the gold to get the token which, instead of being multiboxers, will be people who want cosmetic items, mounts, etc that will now be spending their gold to get those items.

If you think about this in terms of drugs; Blizzard is the manufacturer and distributor, the people who buy the tokens to sell for gold on the AH are the street dealers, and the multiboxers are nothing but addicted end users.

Also, you most likely severely overestimate the amount of multiboxers there are let alone little it's going to impact Blizzard's bottom line.

Originally Posted by ketsui

funniest part of all the people complaining is those are bots, not multiboxers, bots will continue, for those talking about the druids aoe farming.

You can literally go on Twitch and find plenty of examples of multiboxers sitting there farming with Druid AoE teams, so no, they're not bot, they're multiboxers. I get the confusion though, because there's really next to no difference between the two.

Bots are hard to detect, because it is alone and can do random things.
The only give away is that he plays 24 hours a day.

I remember that one guy level 1 to 90 without sleep and got banned.
The bots must take a break.

When you see 5 shamans walk and cast at the same time, it is multiboxers !

Good. /10char

Originally Posted by GUZ

I have two accounts and I literally just tried out multi boxing and i leveled 2 toons to 50 doing dungeons it was kinda fun...i dont know why they are doing this now when its kinda already been a thing. Guess no more multi for me.

Multi-tap herb/mining nodes were added with Legion, the rise of multiboxing farmers lead to the AH getting tanked by a flood of mats from multiboxers. Average players have absolutely no way to compete with multiboxers, and thus were shut out of the easiest part of the AH to make gold from. The only people who could reliably make gold from the AH after Legion were people who relied upon spending a significant amount of time just playing the AH, someone like me who regularly took advantage of raid night price spikes to sell potions/herbs lost any incentive to attempt to participate in the AH because of how shitty it feels trying to compete against people who were practically cheating.

I'm assuming the disruption of the AH is the primary reason they're only now deciding to ban multiboxing, though I wouldn't be surprised if PvP multiboxers were another factor they took into consideration. PvP multiboxers have always been somewhat contentious, and they've been around much longer than 4 years.