Why don't they remove follow from the game?

[Vampiregenesis]

Why is the follow function necessary for the game? They could get rid of multiboxing if they removed it, not sure if it could cause any damage to botters as well. What does this function accomplish that is so necessary?

[FelPlague]

1. people could still multibox, it would just get desynced more often and be more annoying
2. it would do nothing to bots
3. yeah idk how many people actually use follow, but it is nice the one or 2 times ever when a friend goes afk and puts you on follow... until they get stuck on something or you jump or something.

[Super Kami Dende]

Because People that aren't loners use it often when playing in groups?

Literally anytime I'm playing with mates, if we need to go to the Toilet or get a drink or something, we just throw each other on Follow and the person at their PC still can get us to the destination we were going to without having to just sit and wait until the other Person returned.

It's a time saver and also works well if you are doing quest where kill credit is shared, since 1 person can start it with the other in range.

[Azerate]

Multiboxing is only a problem when it includes software that is borderline automation / bot software. If someone has multiple accounts / characters, why not let them play these characters at the same time? If you want to annoy these people with all their 'bonus tools' banned already it's just bullying at this point. Plus, as said above, follow has its uses outside of the multiboxing world, so we'd be gutting out the game just to bully a very small subset of the player base.

[Mellrod]

Follow is one of those commands that saw a lot of use in WoW's early lifespan but no one uses it or really even knows about it now. There was a bigger need for it back when people grouped up more and had to trek around azeroth on foot at lower levels. Nowadays a lot of content is instanced or queue-related, combined with the fact no one socializes as much in modern wow. Kinda useless now but not entirely as there's always those people who still group and quest together. It really doesnt have a big effect on multiboxing, so i dont see a point in removing it. Botters always gonna bot.

[Razion]

The game needs more/better bot prevention, it doesn't need feature removal for normal players.

[Krakan]

How would I get renowned from lfr on my alts?

[Super Kami Dende]

Follow is one of those commands that saw a lot of use in WoW's early lifespan but no one uses it or really even knows about it now. There was a bigger need for it back when people grouped up more and had to trek around azeroth on foot at lower levels. Nowadays a lot of content is instanced or queue-related, combined with the fact no one socializes as much in modern wow

Why do the Anti-social People always assume everyone is anti-social as well. Just Because you are socialising doesn't mean others still don't.

[Tziva]

The game needs more/better bot prevention, it doesn't need feature removal for normal players.

Basically this. This is the same kind of shitty logic that go the group finder taken away from sub-50 alts. Sure, some players that didn't use the tool didn't care when they lost access, but the players that did use the tool lost something they found useful and enjoyable, and to negligible affect on the problem to begin with since it was trying to find a dumb workaround instead of actually addressing the cause at large.

I don't think /follow is "necessary" but neither are a lot of things in the game, like emotes or RP walk or the ability to /yell. It doesn't really matter, if people get use out of it. Personally, I use /follow periodically if I'm in a group and need a quick AFK and find it is very helpful in that situation to not fall behind and still get objective credit.

I also will use it if I'm running both my accounts at the same time. And, no, I don't use (and never have) multiboxing software, I just put one on each screen, /follow when I move, and do everything else manually. Losing follow would basically mean no one could level two characters together because it would be grossly inefficient. There are plenty of us who run a second account occasionally for innocuous purposes that aren't disruptive to the game or the economy in any way.

[Knight Meta]

Me and the SO levels up characters from time to time and /follow is the most used /command on both ends until we get the mount skill. It's not much but it's nice to have.

[Lochton]

Why is the follow function necessary for the game?

Commonly used by people playing together while one is just quickly AFK for a bathroom break or something, so they can keep up. Very commonly used by roleplayers who enjoy putting more of a show to people in the form of parades/marches where the front sets the destination, and people follow the one in front of them. Generally, the tool is really useful for social players and roleplayers.

They could get rid of multiboxing if they removed it,

It wouldn't get rid of them, just make it much much harder at the cost of losing a feature in the game commonly used by normal players too.

not sure if it could cause any damage to botters as well.

Won't harm botters at all. They operate on a controlled program with a set route.

What does this function accomplish that is so necessary?

Outside of making ToS permitted multi-boxing easier it also offers as a feature for players being boosted in dungeons, doing questing together in the world but have to AFK just a moment, it helps in large chunks during roleplay as well.

[Wilian]

Follow is one of those commands that saw a lot of use in WoW's early lifespan but no one uses it or really even knows about it now.

This just is so wrong. It's being used all the time.

[Belloc]

Follow is one of those commands that saw a lot of use in WoW's early lifespan but no one uses it or really even knows about it now. There was a bigger need for it back when people grouped up more and had to trek around azeroth on foot at lower levels. Nowadays a lot of content is instanced or queue-related, combined with the fact no one socializes as much in modern wow. Kinda useless now but not entirely as there's always those people who still group and quest together. It really doesnt have a big effect on multiboxing, so i dont see a point in removing it. Botters always gonna bot.

/follow has been used in almost every single guild raid I've ever taken part in throughout WoW's history and my experience is far from unusual. It's an extremely commonly used command.

[Lochton]

Follow is one of those commands that saw a lot of use in WoW's early lifespan but no one uses it or really even knows about it now.

Well, that is a big negative. The command, /follow, is used loads through each expansion. And it is not like it is some ancient secret of the past that only select people know about.

[MoanaLisa]

Follow is pretty handy when going through a dungeon the first time or with a leading a friend through one. Once upon a time I used to invite people into groups that might have needed it for one reason or another. It's still an option when a friend needs to be AFK for a minute or so.

There's no reason to remove it and Blizzard has mostly addressed the most grievous stuff about multi-boxing.

Haven't we had enough with people wanting QOL stuff removed from the game already?

[Torgent]

Follow is one of those commands that saw a lot of use in WoW's early lifespan but no one uses it or really even knows about it now. There was a bigger need for it back when people grouped up more and had to trek around azeroth on foot at lower levels. Nowadays a lot of content is instanced or queue-related, combined with the fact no one socializes as much in modern wow. Kinda useless now but not entirely as there's always those people who still group and quest together. It really doesnt have a big effect on multiboxing, so i dont see a point in removing it. Botters always gonna bot.

Source needed for "no one uses it or really even knows about it". It's used constantly by old and new players alike.

[Ryzeth]

Damn, people running out of things to complain about that they're scraping the bottom of the barrel for things like this?

Doesn't really affect anything that was listed in the OP, and just serves to further discredit OP with his lack of understanding as to how these things do in fact work.

[caervek]

Follow is one of those commands that saw a lot of use in WoW's early lifespan but no one uses it or really even knows about it now.

This,

The only people who use follow these days are bots, multiboxers, and people who are new to the game and haven't got a multiperson mount yet.

[KainneAbsolute]

People with blindness use it to play:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/blind...%20the%20game.