Others suggest that perhaps a staff member indeed makes the final decision in the case of an account ban, but that it is virtually just a matter of a few clicks, where accusations are not even checked. This may not be ill will but simply the pressure to handle a certain number of incidents per hour.
How exactly Blizzard goes about administering penalties and reviews is not known. However, in recent years, there have been repeated complaints about unjustified penalties that were later revoked.
It is clear, however, that Blizzard needs to change something about this system. The fact that real cartels are forming for crafting professions that “ban” anyone offering a cheaper price cannot be healthy for the game.
What is your stance on this topic? What should change, and how can Blizzard and the players realistically counteract?
In World of Warcraft, there are nasty player cartels. Those who do not adhere to the prices will be banned. What is behind this?
Blizzard has fulfilled many promises with World of Warcraft Dragonflight. One of them was that crafting professions should finally become truly useful and important again. That is exactly what has happened, as trade is booming and many of the best gear pieces can be crafted by artisans, as long as the materials are procured.
However, the system has its downsides. While on one hand, interaction between players is encouraged, others try to profit as much as possible from the system and eliminate competition, even using unscrupulous methods.
The Elemental Lariat Cartel Eliminates Competition
Even though there are a number of useful crafted items, none is as coveted as the Elemental Lariat. This necklace is desired by basically all classes and specializations as it has a very powerful additional effect and the stats can be freely determined. It is hardly easier to obtain a strong necklace.
At least in theory. However, the recipe for the Elemental Lariat is a very rare drop from some strong, rare enemies from the elemental storms. It can take dozens of kills of these enemies before one gets the recipe. This, in turn, leads to very few jewelers per realm being able to do so.
One example is Schlay from the Thrall server, about whom we reported a few days ago. He stood against the “cartel” on his realm and offered the Elemental Lariat for practically free or for a self-determined tip, promoting his services repeatedly. Even though there were many grateful customers and a lot of support, Schlay was initially “silenced” – he could no longer write in the chat. This happens when messages are reported by many others, e.g. as “spam” or “insults”.
The obvious assumption: The jewelers who wanted to keep their price of 20,000 gold for crafting stable reported Schlay together to silence him.
After his penalty was over, Schlay resumed his services and satisfied numerous customers, promoting his craft again. But just a few days later, his account was completely banned – for a significant 10 days.
Players report threats and pressure: Schlay is not an isolated case, and such cartel structures seem to have developed on most major servers. Many jewelers are in contact with each other and seem to want to keep their prices stable – by any means necessary.
Many report in various posts on the World of Warcraft subreddit that they are contacted by jewelers after they searched for a manufacturer for the Elemental Lariat in the trade channel. When they then explain that they found a cheaper provider, the “cartel members” are very eager to find out the name and even tend to threats and insults if the buyers do not want to disclose the name.
For example, as Fast-Like-A-Snail tells:
On my EU realm, there is a cartel that sets prices for various crafting orders, and if you do not comply, they warn you, and then they report you. If you are not part of the cartel, you will be silenced and banned and cannot offer things at a cheaper price.
I guess that’s how it is on many realms, and it’s something that Blizzard should address. These cartels are no better than the boosting communities they have banned.
Account penalties are issued too easily: Blizzard has repeatedly emphasized in the past that every account penalty is reviewed by an employee beforehand, but serious doubts exist about this statement. Many report that they know exactly how many reports it takes on a chat message to impose this player immediately with a “mild” sanction, such as a speaking prohibition in chat for a few hours.
Others suggest that perhaps a staff member indeed makes the final decision in the case of an account ban, but that it is virtually just a matter of a few clicks, where accusations are not even checked. This may not be ill will but simply the pressure to handle a certain number of incidents per hour.
How exactly Blizzard goes about administering penalties and reviews is not known. However, in recent years, there have been repeated complaints about unjustified penalties that were later revoked.
It is clear, however, that Blizzard needs to change something about this system. The fact that real cartels are forming for crafting professions that “ban” anyone offering a cheaper price cannot be healthy for the game.
What is your stance on this topic? What should change, and how can Blizzard and the players realistically counteract?
