Blizzard Brings Banhammer Down on 100,000 WoW Accounts

Steven Bogos

The Taco Man
Jan 17, 2013
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Blizzard Brings Banhammer Down on 100,000 WoW Accounts


A reported 100,000+ World of Warcraft players have had their accounts banned for six months.

Blizzard recently announced via an official screenshot [http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/17347095985] entailing a conversation with a Blizzard Game Master, the number of bans exceeds 100,000 - meaning a little over 1% of World of Warcraft's entire population has suddenly been snuffed.

According to the Game Master, the bans are not "permanent" account bans, but rather, six month bans.

"We're committed to providing an equal and fair playing field for everyone in World of Warcraft, and will continue to take action against those found in violation of our Terms of Use. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated," said Blizzard blue poster Lore.

Furthermore, the makers of popular WoW bot Honorbudy have released an official statement [https://www.thebuddyforum.com/honorbuddy-forum/215021-honorbuddy-bans-statement.html?s=6c82d28bcae1e94f067422eaa4156264] confirming that the recent banwave had specifically targeted its bot, and would thus be completely out of commission for the time being. "With Honorbuddy you thought that we are unbeatable, we never thought that, we've succeeded since 2010 - Honorbuddy had not a single software detection. It seems there is one now," said an Honorbuddy representative.

"We want to be offering Honorbuddy as soon as possible. Right now, we have no news for you. Please do bear with us - immediately we have news we will share it," it added.

So the bottom line is, if you cheat in a Blizzard game, they probably will find you sooner or later!

Source: Honorbuddy [http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/17347095985].


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RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
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I've never understood the point of using a bot in a subscription-based MMO...you're literally paying to not play a game. >.>

If you find it so much of a chore to play that you would use a bot...why even play?

I do find it pretty humorous that the maker of the bot basically said "Yeah, this is a minor set-back. We'll work on the issue and get back to letting you use a bot as soon as we can." :p
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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RJ 17 said:
I've never understood the point of using a bot in a subscription-based MMO...you're literally paying to not play a game. >.>

If you find it so much of a chore to play that you would use a bot...why even play?
It's because of the way MMOS are designed and people being too lazy to try and come up with alternative ways of doing things. At the end of the day all MMOs involve a huge amount of grinding, and no matter how much you love the game it can be mind killing after a while. Let's say you want to hang out with your friends and raid for example, back when I did it you needed to get your hands on tons of money for repairs, flasks, and other things which could take hours of farming, herbing, etc... and usually competing with other people doing the same thing for limited resources of the appropriate level. Basically coming home every day from work or whatever to sit down and grind for four hours so at the end of the week you'll have enough resources to actually do the part of the game your interested in becomes a chore. As a result people have done things like make bots that will keep them online and run around a specific area and auto-attack and auto-loot easily farmable mobs, and say collect herbs of a specific type, or whatever else. That way the game can be doing the mind-killing grind while your at work, and the you can come home and have time to goof off with your friends, do some extra dungeons, or whatever else.

I am personally opposed to botting because I think part of what makes someone "elite" is the endurance needed to maintain that status, and I find bots incredibly annoying when I'm trying to play/farm/harvest manually.

This crackdown seems to be aimed at the worst kind of botters though, who are the PVP botters, going by the whole "honor" mention in the name. Basically people who create bots to join Pugs and run around randomly so they can gradually accumulate hours and hours of "participation" rewards. The general argument being made is that PUGs will not win anyway, and it's mind killing to even try, so you might as well just let the computer lose for you. A lot of PVP people do things like that to pad their points and such when they don't care about actual win/loss ratio (which many games don't even make visible), then they PVP seriously only when they are on with their buddies in a pre-made team.

I've been retired from WoW for a while, but those who ran Arathi Basin might have seen cases where you'd say have a mage buff himself and then run right out to the flag at the stables and circle it casting arcane explosion, before sitting down to drink, and then start doing the same thing again. That's a bot in action, albeit a lot of the ones people used were more advanced and might say have the controlled character head off into the boonies in hopes that during the action nobody will notice he isn't there and assume the character is always at another point. They can be hard to detect at times if your not paying attention.

The problem is that MMOs have not really found a good solution to grind and fetch quests since at the end of the day they need to pad out content and progession to keep people playing in order to collect subscriptions or tempt them with the cash shop. As long as grind exists people will find ways to cheat at it. I see that as a problem because I feel if you don't grind and show off your endurance you don't deserve to be successful. To me the people who argue self righteously that they have limited time and don't want to spend it in repetitive actions, are kind of missing the point. I myself would like to see a different way of doing things, but I do not think we'll see it for quite a while, what ideas I and other gamers have for changing things don't matter because at the end of the day publishers don't want to experiment too much, and of course we have yet to see many "lowly nerd to billionaire lottery winner" stories with people financing their own MMOs as a dream to prove other concepts might work.
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
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Therumancer said:
And yet they're still pissing away money with the subscription while not playing the game. If you find MMO's to be such a chore (which I completely understand) then why bother playing at all? I would be more understanding for a F2P MMO, but it seems like a waste of money if you're going to have a bot do all the work for you in the first place. If you only PvP when you want to, then you're a "casual" by definition...someone not truly dedicated to playing the game. Personally, back in the days when I played WoW, I got my money's worth even if it was involving a lot of grinding. If you're only really going to play a handful of days out of the month, you might as well find a cheaper way to get your PvP kicks.

But hey, I really don't care if people choose to waste their money in this manner. It is, after all, their money. :p
 

Doom972

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Dec 25, 2008
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RJ 17 said:
I've never understood the point of using a bot in a subscription-based MMO...you're literally paying to not play a game. >.>

If you find it so much of a chore to play that you would use a bot...why even play?

I do find it pretty humorous that the maker of the bot basically said "Yeah, this is a minor set-back. We'll work on the issue and get back to letting you use a bot as soon as we can." :p
WoW, like every other MMORPG is basically a big Skinner Box that encourages you to grind. The bot does the grinding when the player can't (hanging out, working, sleeping, etc). That's one of the reasons I avoid MMOs.
 

CrystalShadow

don't upset the insane catgirl
Apr 11, 2009
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RJ 17 said:
Therumancer said:
And yet they're still pissing away money with the subscription while not playing the game. If you find MMO's to be such a chore (which I completely understand) then why bother playing at all? I would be more understanding for a F2P MMO, but it seems like a waste of money if you're going to have a bot do all the work for you in the first place. If you only PvP when you want to, then you're a "casual" by definition...someone not truly dedicated to playing the game. Personally, back in the days when I played WoW, I got my money's worth even if it was involving a lot of grinding. If you're only really going to play a handful of days out of the month, you might as well find a cheaper way to get your PvP kicks.

But hey, I really don't care if people choose to waste their money in this manner. It is, after all, their money. :p
It seems plausible that there are people that enjoy certain aspects of MMO gameplay, but not others.
Sure, they could play something else, but that depends both on the existence of something else that contains the elements of the MMO experience they actually care about, and of course, because an MMO is (theoretically) a social thing, where the people that person knows hang out.

Still, it does come across as a little stupid to have a bot doing everything for you...
 

GabeZhul

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Doom972 said:
RJ 17 said:
I've never understood the point of using a bot in a subscription-based MMO...you're literally paying to not play a game. >.>

If you find it so much of a chore to play that you would use a bot...why even play?

I do find it pretty humorous that the maker of the bot basically said "Yeah, this is a minor set-back. We'll work on the issue and get back to letting you use a bot as soon as we can." :p
WoW, like every other MMORPG is basically a big Skinner Box that encourages you to grind. The bot does the grinding when the player can't (hanging out, working, sleeping, etc). That's one of the reasons I avoid MMOs.
True enough, though I also consider circumventing the skinner box aspects of the game part of the fun of MMOs. For example, I still occasionally play SWTOR, and one of the main sources of my enjoyment in the pretty stock gameplay department is to figure out the most efficient way to complete quests and move around on the map. I even developed an acute sense of aggro-radiuses that allows me to skip between mobs to shave off precious minutes. It's something of a meta-game. :p
 

Abomination

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Most of the complains stem from the Battleground bots or the LFR bots. The bots that just farm a particular area are hardly a concern due to how the respawn algorithm operates. At times it's actually beneficial for multiple people to be farming an area rather than just one.

But when your LFR raid has 5 people afk/botting not contributing it can be cause for wipes and wasting people who are actually playing's time, the same applies to PvP battleground bots.
 

NickBrahz

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Mar 30, 2011
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Let's ban these bot users that will show them we mean business! ...but let's make it not a permanent ban, that should show them when a large chunk of the population by this point is bots especially now that you can bot to get gold to get gametime.
 

Therumancer

Citation Needed
Nov 28, 2007
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RJ 17 said:
Therumancer said:
And yet they're still pissing away money with the subscription while not playing the game. If you find MMO's to be such a chore (which I completely understand) then why bother playing at all? I would be more understanding for a F2P MMO, but it seems like a waste of money if you're going to have a bot do all the work for you in the first place. If you only PvP when you want to, then you're a "casual" by definition...someone not truly dedicated to playing the game. Personally, back in the days when I played WoW, I got my money's worth even if it was involving a lot of grinding. If you're only really going to play a handful of days out of the month, you might as well find a cheaper way to get your PvP kicks.

But hey, I really don't care if people choose to waste their money in this manner. It is, after all, their money. :p
Well, as I pointed out it's not just PVP, although that is what I suspect that bot was for (entirely based on it's name). The thing is people want to do the "fun" parts of the game without the work, being online for the social experience and challenge of doing raids (a big factor here as well) or fighting with a pre-made PVP group. While you can see it as not playing the game your paying for, in reality the people doing it are usually still playing as much time as they would normally put into it, which can be a good number of hours, they just aren't putting that time into the grinding and other parts of the game they find boring, they relegate that to an automated system when they aren't able to play (asleep or at work). As a general rule someone who resorts to botting is going to be pretty hardcore to even go through the trouble. A casual doesn't generally need resources in the amounts that lead to botting. This is just my experiences and observations of course, I'm sure others have their own opinions. I'm just trying to explain the mentality.
 

Breywood

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Jun 22, 2011
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RJ 17 said:
Therumancer said:
And yet they're still pissing away money with the subscription while not playing the game. If you find MMO's to be such a chore (which I completely understand) then why bother playing at all? I would be more understanding for a F2P MMO, but it seems like a waste of money if you're going to have a bot do all the work for you in the first place. If you only PvP when you want to, then you're a "casual" by definition...someone not truly dedicated to playing the game. Personally, back in the days when I played WoW, I got my money's worth even if it was involving a lot of grinding. If you're only really going to play a handful of days out of the month, you might as well find a cheaper way to get your PvP kicks.

But hey, I really don't care if people choose to waste their money in this manner. It is, after all, their money. :p
The reasons fall into three categories. One, addicted and not willing to move on. Two, somehow, having the "perfect cahr" still means something them, but not wanting to grind for it. Three (close to but different enough) they want the loot to build something else, either directly or indirectly, but have grown tired of grinding for it. You can be sure, however, that once someone is botting, they'll probably be bored with their new character within two weeks.

I still play Diablo II, and 90% of the public games are automated and it's pretty much these reasons that people log in, but don't play the game. It's especially sad that it's on all difficulty levels, not just Hell. And for the record, I solo because there's still a build or two I want to finish Hell difficulty with.
 

shrekfan246

Not actually a Japanese pop star
May 26, 2011
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NickBrahz said:
Let's ban these bot users that will show them we mean business! ...but let's make it not a permanent ban, that should show them when a large chunk of the population by this point is bots especially now that you can bot to get gold to get gametime.
~1% is "a large chunk"?

I guess that would explain the "statistics" that tend to get thrown around in internet arguments.

Not that I doubt there are a fair number of people who have set up bots to play WoW for them, but their subscriber base is still, what, seven million? A few hundred thousand accounts is kind of negligible in comparison.

OT: Eh, as long as the people paying for the accounts don't get charged for the time they're banned (I'd assume not, but I've never been banned from battle.net so I wouldn't know), I find it hard to feel any sympathy for botters. They've been particularly annoying in Hearthstone lately.
 

Scars Unseen

^ ^ v v < > < > B A
May 7, 2009
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RJ 17 said:
Therumancer said:
And yet they're still pissing away money with the subscription while not playing the game. If you find MMO's to be such a chore (which I completely understand) then why bother playing at all? I would be more understanding for a F2P MMO, but it seems like a waste of money if you're going to have a bot do all the work for you in the first place. If you only PvP when you want to, then you're a "casual" by definition...someone not truly dedicated to playing the game. Personally, back in the days when I played WoW, I got my money's worth even if it was involving a lot of grinding. If you're only really going to play a handful of days out of the month, you might as well find a cheaper way to get your PvP kicks.

But hey, I really don't care if people choose to waste their money in this manner. It is, after all, their money. :p
Conjecture: People that use bots to grind probably do so while they are at work or engaged in other mundane activities during which they could not play the game anyway. When considered that way, the utility of bots makes for an efficient use of potentially 40+ hours a week of subscription time that would otherwise be wasted.

Honestly, I don't blame people for using them. I've tried to play MMOs, and I do find some aspects - social included - to be interesting and fun, but the grind always drives me away. It did for Everquest, WoW, Eve, SWTOR, and every other little MMO I've tried. I just can't do it.

shrekfan246 said:
NickBrahz said:
Let's ban these bot users that will show them we mean business! ...but let's make it not a permanent ban, that should show them when a large chunk of the population by this point is bots especially now that you can bot to get gold to get gametime.
~1% is "a large chunk"?

I guess that would explain the "statistics" that tend to get thrown around in internet arguments.

Not that I doubt there are a fair number of people who have set up bots to play WoW for them, but their subscriber base is still, what, seven million? A few hundred thousand accounts is kind of negligible in comparison.

OT: Eh, as long as the people paying for the accounts don't get charged for the time they're banned (I'd assume not, but I've never been banned from battle.net so I wouldn't know), I find it hard to feel any sympathy for botters. They've been particularly annoying in Hearthstone lately.
"Large chunk" might be an exaggeration, but it's certainly a significant amount, potentially more so when you consider the unknown potential loss of money due to microtransactions not being made by people not playing the game.
 

shrekfan246

Not actually a Japanese pop star
May 26, 2011
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Scars Unseen said:
"Large chunk" might be an exaggeration, but it's certainly a significant amount, potentially more so when you consider the unknown potential loss of money due to microtransactions not being made by people not playing the game.
I dunno, if they're just gold sellers, maybe, but I get the feeling that the types of people who would set up bots specifically designed to grind things out for them would be the types of people who would drop a bit of money just so they can have everything.

Not that I've ever heard any definitive figures for such a thing one way or the other, but that's just how it strikes me in the moment of thought.
 

Sarge034

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Feb 24, 2011
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So here's a fun question. How low would WoW subs have to get before they stop enforcing these types of rules? I mean yeah, 100,000 is just a drop in the bucket right now but there are obviously more people than that using bots and WoW is dying. There is a substantial sub bump for new expansions but the content is completed in under a year and even more people leave...
 

Atomic Spy Crab

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Mar 28, 2013
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Good! Why would you pay $15 a month to not play the game? If you're going to that you're probably better off watching Lets Plays or something.
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

Henchgoat Emperor
May 15, 2010
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I can understand the idea behind coding a bot to learn how to code some rudimentary AI, but then selling it (or offering it) to people in WOW so they can basically cheat their way to the top is detestable. That they'd take pride in being undetected just shows how little respect they have for fair competition.
Some people though just think not being caught doing something illegal (I'm making a parallel, not saying botting is illegal) is something to be proud of... its not. It is something you should be thanking your lucky fucking stars you didn't get caught.
Blizz is even being nice about it and not perma-banning. But I'll bet you those accounts will be permaflagged and any permutations that would suggest cheating if/when those accounts become active again they won't get just the banhammer... they'll get Mjolnir.
 

Imperioratorex Caprae

Henchgoat Emperor
May 15, 2010
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Sarge034 said:
So here's a fun question. How low would WoW subs have to get before they stop enforcing these types of rules? I mean yeah, 100,000 is just a drop in the bucket right now but there are obviously more people than that using bots and WoW is dying. There is a substantial sub bump for new expansions but the content is completed in under a year and even more people leave...
Blizz has ramped up their expansion development/release cycle though, if I remember correctly so there'll be less time between expansions and more people returning to play the new game. The game will never be non-sub based, unless somehow the population drops significantly and doesn't rise after an expansion but there are a lot of dedicated WoW subscribers who play, finish the content they want and wait for the new expansions. Plus WOW is one of the few MMO's thats constantly updating the game to remain relevant to the hardware its being played on.
Try playing Everquest one day... its still the same shit UI it had in 2000.
The reason WoW is still going is that they learn from their users (addons were a wonderful idea that Blizz allowed, so long as they don't mess with the base game mechanics) and Blizz has even incorporated some addons as true in-game features. Whatever people think of Blizz, they're still one of the most community driven dev studios out there and they're a blessing with the only blight on their record being that they're part of Activision. I see them outlasting Activision since Call of Duty can't last forever, and there's nothing new being developed over there.

Edit: Hit post before I finished

To answer your question, they won't stop banning people just to keep sub counts high. The guys who make WoW love their game and aren't about to give it over to botters just to keep the money flowing. They're a smart company and I think they could find a way to make money other ways if it ever became that dire, which I don't think it will. I'm pretty sure we'll see WoW wrap up in the next decade, whether people like HOW it ends though is a different matter.
 

Karadalis

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I find it funny that blizzard can just 6 month ban the entire population of other mmos...

Kinda puts things into perspective doesnt it?
 

Sarge034

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Imperioratorex Caprae said:
Blizz has ramped up their expansion development/release cycle though, if I remember correctly so there'll be less time between expansions and more people returning to play the new game. The game will never be non-sub based, unless somehow the population drops significantly and doesn't rise after an expansion but there are a lot of dedicated WoW subscribers who play, finish the content they want and wait for the new expansions. Plus WOW is one of the few MMO's thats constantly updating the game to remain relevant to the hardware its being played on.
Try playing Everquest one day... its still the same shit UI it had in 2000.
The reason WoW is still going is that they learn from their users (addons were a wonderful idea that Blizz allowed, so long as they don't mess with the base game mechanics) and Blizz has even incorporated some addons as true in-game features. Whatever people think of Blizz, they're still one of the most community driven dev studios out there and they're a blessing with the only blight on their record being that they're part of Activision. I see them outlasting Activision since Call of Duty can't last forever, and there's nothing new being developed over there.

Edit: Hit post before I finished

To answer your question, they won't stop banning people just to keep sub counts high. The guys who make WoW love their game and aren't about to give it over to botters just to keep the money flowing. They're a smart company and I think they could find a way to make money other ways if it ever became that dire, which I don't think it will. I'm pretty sure we'll see WoW wrap up in the next decade, whether people like HOW it ends though is a different matter.
That's all well and good, but look at the numbers. Subs were already on the decline and then WoD came out. A huge sub spike occurred as people got back in for the new content... then in less than half a year (after people finished the content) the sub cout dropped lower than it was before WoD. I think that's gonna be the model from here on out. WoW will have huge bursts of activity around new content and then die back down to a trickle. The same boom and bust cycle has been happening since Cataclysm (also when people started to say WoW was "dying"), it's just gotten more pronounced and happened faster (see graph).

The part about Bliz being somehow "better" then the rest of the industry just made me shake my head. If Bliz took so much more pride in their game than money, why are there paid max lvl boosts? Is that not in the same vein as a bot? Do nothing, get rewards. And really, I see WoW as the CoD of MMOs. It changes nothing on gameplay or innovation, just releases "more of the same", but with higher lvl caps.