Recent Actions Against Exploitative Accounts - September 2023

[Lumy]

Recent Actions Against Exploitative Accounts - September 2023

To provide more transparency on the actions we take against cheating and exploitation, here is an accounting of the number of actions that were taken over the last month, September 2023:

Total Exploitative WoW Account Actions in September 2023: 136014

All of these actions were for cheating or exploitation, which primarily result in permanent bans or 6-month suspensions. This number does not include other actions such as those taken on accounts with character name or in-game language violations. We continue to evolve our methods and act against these malicious accounts on a daily basis.

[Altmer]

136k that is a lot!. Sometimes I wonder if we are talking of chinese bots + players cheaters. Or is actually a serious bots problem going on in the game. So far, I have rarely seen bots in Moonguard and Area 52.

[Futuredanish]

AKA we just earned 7 million from new bot account sign ups! We, the normal players mean nothing to Blizzard. They are selling a service to bot accounts now.

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136k that is a lot!. Sometimes I wonder if we are talking of chinese bots + players cheaters. Or is actually a serious bots problem going on in the game. So far, I have rarely seen bots in Moonguard and Area 52.

I am on A52. Turn off warmode and go into the Cavern. You will see them everywhere mining nonstop.

[trapmaster]

This is important cuz bots just kept going...? Lol waste of time posting something meaningless.

[Mendzia]

Another month another confirmation that 'Token is here to fight bots!' was a total lie.

[Daedius]

Whooptidoo? Those bots been making gold for those gold sellers for months in-between these ban waves, literally doesn't impact them other than the odd player cheating.

How about automatically banning new accounts that have been farming 24/7 from the statistics of that account alone and not 'physically' tracking for botting activity with the characters movements and actions.

If an account can't make enough gold in the time it gets banned from its creation into affording WoW tokens, that'd be worthwhile an announcement. But as it stands they could probably afford it 10000 times over before action is taken... so I'm pretty sure Blizzard is intentionally in no rush to ban them because of the money Blizzard gets with their existence.

[Railander]

does this include people botting solo-shuffles? what about people abusing the macro exploit?

[Relapses]

I wonder if the same people who post the same "lul there's still bots" message in every comments section for these monthly reports will ever get bored of stating the painfully obvious.

[Altmer]

Another month another confirmation that 'Token is here to fight bots!' was a total lie.

Token only solved giving more money to Blizzard. Other than that, is a pointless feature introduced to the game and a Pay to Win feature. But since there is no regulation, it keeps going.

[SinR]

I'm one of those in the latter category.

a 2 week timeout from WoW cause I said something "offensive" in LFG Chat on Classic.

[Relapses]

Token only solved giving more money to Blizzard. Other than that, is a pointless feature introduced to the game and a Pay to Win feature. But since there is no regulation, it keeps going.

I'd love to hear how you think the gold market should be regulated.

[exochaft]

I'd love to hear how you think the gold market should be regulated.

That's the irony of the situation: Blizz might be regulating (or manipulating) the gold market and/or token prices, but we'd have zero knowledge if/when they're doing it. All we do know is that Blizz can make tokens out of thin air if they wanted, and there's no way in hell Blizz would ever admit to doing it. I suppose we could take it a step further and say that Blizz does change gold values/drops occasionally because they don't like easy sources of gold popping up... and we could say that's to keep gold inflation rates down, make people want to buy WoW tokens more than grinding out gold themselves, or both.

At this point, it's a case of who knows so should we really be worrying about it. WoW token was always about Blizz getting their cut, with a couple secondary reasons tacked on that were incidental, ineffectual, or (in good faith) intentional. Still, it's always fun to see Blizz say they add vanity items that are worth millions of gold in the name of removing gold from the economy while there's an "easy and safe" way to buy gold from Blizz themselves.

[Relapses]

That's the irony of the situation: Blizz might be regulating (or manipulating) the gold market and/or token prices, but we'd have zero knowledge if/when they're doing it. All we do know is that Blizz can make tokens out of thin air if they wanted, and there's no way in hell Blizz would ever admit to doing it. I suppose we could take it a step further and say that Blizz does change gold values/drops occasionally because they don't like easy sources of gold popping up... and we could say that's to keep gold inflation rates down, make people want to buy WoW tokens more than grinding out gold themselves, or both.

There's no incentive for Blizzard to manipulate the market. Why would they? They have nothing to gain and everything to lose. Everything you've suggested is straight up conspiracy theory territory.

At this point, it's a case of who knows so should we really be worrying about it.

Except we do know. They aren't because it'd be stupid as fuck if they were.

WoW token was always about Blizz getting their cut, with a couple secondary reasons tacked on that were incidental, ineffectual, or (in good faith) intentional. Still, it's always fun to see Blizz say they add vanity items that are worth millions of gold in the name of removing gold from the economy while there's an "easy and safe" way to buy gold from Blizz themselves.

It's an alternative to attempting to win an unwinnable war against botters, a war that they'd never win and would potentially bankrupt Blizzard in the process. I prefer the timeline where Blizzard spends money on developing the game instead.

[Altmer]

I'd love to hear how you think the gold market should be regulated.

The gold market?. Who cares about that....
More like the unfair practices performed by gaming companies. Such as microtransactions, fake currencies purchased by real money, etc.

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That's the irony of the situation: Blizz might be regulating (or manipulating) the gold market and/or token prices, but we'd have zero knowledge if/when they're doing it. All we do know is that Blizz can make tokens out of thin air if they wanted, and there's no way in hell Blizz would ever admit to doing it. I suppose we could take it a step further and say that Blizz does change gold values/drops occasionally because they don't like easy sources of gold popping up... and we could say that's to keep gold inflation rates down, make people want to buy WoW tokens more than grinding out gold themselves, or both.

At this point, it's a case of who knows so should we really be worrying about it. WoW token was always about Blizz getting their cut, with a couple secondary reasons tacked on that were incidental, ineffectual, or (in good faith) intentional. Still, it's always fun to see Blizz say they add vanity items that are worth millions of gold in the name of removing gold from the economy while there's an "easy and safe" way to buy gold from Blizz themselves.

Also, you nailed that point. Who actually dictates that the Token is worth more than 200k in gold?....Blizzard

[Relapses]

The gold market?. Who cares about that....
More like the unfair practices performed by gaming companies. Such as microtransactions, fake currencies purchased by real money, etc.

Brother, you're describing a capitalism problem not a gaming company problem. Multinational corporations are driven by profit not by what's best for consumers. So unless your big brain gambit is "end capitalism," nothing will ever happen.

[Altmer]

Brother, you're describing a capitalism problem not a gaming company problem. Multinational corporations are driven by profit not by what's best for consumers. So unless your big brain gambit is "end capitalism," nothing will ever happen.

So, are you ok with these practices?

[Elbob]

I'd love to hear how you think the gold market should be regulated.

do you think they understand the gold received from selling a token comes from other players not blizzard just generating it for them on the spot?

[Relapses]

So, are you ok with these practices?

No, I'm absolutely not okay with these practices but I also understand that being mad about capitalism existing on a message board for a video game where we slay internet dragons for imaginary loot is laughably out of touch with reality.

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do you think they understand the gold received from selling a token comes from other players not blizzard just generating it for them on the spot?

Considering I've already had two people tell me that Blizzard is just printing gold because reasons, I'd say the chances are pretty low.

[Altmer]

No, I'm absolutely not okay with these practices but I also understand that being mad about capitalism existing on a message board for a video game where we slay internet dragons for imaginary loot is laughably out of touch with reality.

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Considering I've already had two people tell me that Blizzard is just printing gold because reasons, I'd say the chances are pretty low.

Is simple. Are you able to see who owned the token you are buying?. Or who was the owner of the gold you are getting?. I haven't used this service, so i'm not sure if you are able to see that information. But if not...Is clear that the provider is still Blizzard to guarantee that you are getting your gold/game time. And not really a fair and clear transaction between two players. Unless, the email from the Token that was sold said something like X player purchase your token, here is your gold....

Sorry for being skeptical with anything Blizzard related, but they have a long history of making polemic decisions that appear on the internet news front page.

[Elbob]

Is simple. Are you able to see who owned the token you are buying?. Or who was the owner of the gold you are getting?. I haven't used this service, so i'm not sure if you are able to see that information. But if not...Is clear that the provider is still Blizzard to guarantee that you are getting your gold/game time. And not really a fair and clear transaction between two players. Unless, the email from the Token that was sold said something like X player purchase your token, here is your gold....

Sorry for being skeptical with anything Blizzard related, but they have a long history of making polemic decisions that appear on the internet news front page.

yeah blizzard is the middle man because it hosts the software that the auction house runs on. But we've been told how it works and the fact little things like variable sell times, token value adjusting with the market all points to that being correct. You need to provide some evidence showing blizzard is just spawning the gold without requiring a token buyer on the other end. Otherwise you are just spouting conspiracy theory nonsense. Besides when you buy gathering mats on the ah nowadays you don't see who you are buying from, is that also blizzard spawning some bubble poppy for you or did some one actually post that?