I think Blizzard should ban data mining.

[Legends303]

It undermines the game and never keeps the new content fresh since most people what is already in the new content. The content also barely changes from ptr. If you want to see the new content they should make everyone download the ptr instead of relying on sites like wowhead perculia would be out a job which makes me more happy. I mean back in vanillia data mining didn’t exist and we were fine.

[MonsieuRoberts]

No support for argument, 17 posts, "back in my day" conclusion...

[Felrane]

Its easy. Dont come to these websites.

[vipers]

so you want to try to stop ppl spreading info and how you want to do that ?

[Lolsteak]

I think Blizzard should ban betas.

It undermines the game and never keeps the new content fresh since most people what is already in the new content. The content also barely changes from beta. If you want to see the new content they should make everyone download the beta instead of relying on sites like wowhead perculia would be out a job which makes me more happy.

[Thrif]

Just don't read mmo-champ or wowhead for a while if you want it to be fresh for you?

Personally I love datamining, speculating about upcoming content can be really enjoyable, and I'd probably die of boredom if I didn't have it in between expansions. Also, it's not like Blizzard can write anything interesting enough to be worth not spoiling in advance really.

[Biged781]

How do you think that would work exactly? Hold the miners responsible? Track every one of them and link them to their wow account? And then... just piss off the player base and create a controversy over something which has been implicitly blessed by Blizzard for more than a decade?

[Divinexve]

I think blizzard should delete Bloodbath from the game, but thats just me

[Teri]

Blizz already shoots itself in the foot by not having 1 PTR forum, in fact they should improve their test environments, making 1 test forum, PTR is already multi-region, so no reason not to make a Test forum too, just let us post on characters from PTR or whatever if the forum website region is an issue.

If they really don't want things to be found like mount/pet models related to some hidden achievement or whatever, don't put them on PTR builds.

Ultimately, don't visit WoW News sites if spoilers are a problem.

[MatadorMedia]

Data mining is free promotion for Blizz. It stimulates theorizing and discussion amongst the fans. Lets us debate what is coming or give ourselves pseudo-spoilers which builds up hype.

[chazus]

I mean back in vanillia data mining didn’t exist and we were fine.

Thottbot says Hi. We had that back then, and it was just wowhead in another form.

[Ielenia]

It undermines the game and never keeps the new content fresh since most people what is already in the new content. The content also barely changes from ptr. If you want to see the new content they should make everyone download the ptr instead of relying on sites like wowhead perculia would be out a job which makes me more happy. I mean back in vanillia data mining didn’t exist and we were fine.

"Blizzard should ban data mining." Seriously, do you even know what "data mining" is? Because your post indicates you don't. 'Data mining' isn't a tool that Blizzard gives players to look into the content they're uploading. It's people cracking into the game files using their own tools to see what's new and what's different.

Asking Blizzard to "ban data mining" is akin to asking to ban listening to podcasts while playing WoW.

[Airwaves]

That is impossible to enforce...

[Soeroah]

Eh, I'm in two minds.

I like datamining systems and mechanics and learning how they're gonna work ahead of time.

I don't like anything that spoils any element of the story. New races, new scenarios, etc, I'd rather not know about.

It's a bit difficult to just excise yourself from the community, as the fact there's always something new coming means you'll never be able to be part of the community if you took that approach. And it's not as big a dealbreaker for me as it used to be, but still.

I like what they've done with the cinematics, how they actually make it to the day a raid opens/patch goes live before being datamined. Wrathgate was an amazing surprise, and since then we rarely got a surprise cinematic. Hell, for WoD they literally put all the leveling cutscenes on the official YouTube channel before release. In MoP they spoiled who the final boss was and screwed that surprise to the point even the datamining didn't matter.

Ultimately, Blizzard can't ban datamining, nor should they. But I think they should encrypt more than they do, or hold it back until they announce things (like the Allied Races we knew about before Blizzcon). It'd be nice if they could obscure major storybeats with placeholder text to at least hide the context of what's going on in questlines and then alter it with the launch of the patch, but eh. Datamining itself keeps people interested and communicating, I'd just prefer it to be largely about systems and speculation, not almost certain developments in plot.

[Whatever Dude]

I agree.

I also think they should ban certain addons that more or less play the game for you, like Deadly Boss Mods and WeakAuras.

[Onikaroshi]

I agree.

I also think they should ban certain addons that more or less play the game for you, like Deadly Boss Mods and WeakAuras.

GL with that vendetta.

[Whatever Dude]

GL with that vendetta.

lol what?

[Onikaroshi]

lol what?

Because neither addon "plays the game for you" and blizzard openly supports most of it, killing parts they find they don't like when they crop up.

[Bathory]

Thottbot says Hi. We had that back then, and it was just wowhead in another form.

Now that's a name I haven't heard of in years! They gave me a t-shirt at the first Blizzcon. Good times!

[Whatever Dude]

Because neither addon "plays the game for you" and blizzard openly supports most of it, killing parts they find they don't like when they crop up.

Calm down little buddy, everything is gonna be okay. I know it triggered you real hard to see an opinion that you don't like, but trust me, you'll be just fine.