In WoW: Classic, Blizzard has once again wielded the ban hammer. However, it seems that a great number of innocent players have been caught in the crossfire.
If there is one thing that hasn’t improved in the last weeks and months in World of Warcraft Classic, it is the bot problem. Since the launch of WoW Classic, every day multiple threads and videos showcase bots at work – for instance, in Stratholme or Maraudon. A new wave of bans had been long anticipated, aimed at finally putting the automated farmers out of business. This wave has now arrived, but it appears to have caught many innocents.
What happened? Since yesterday (May 13, 2020), there have been increasing posts in the WoW Classic subreddit where players claim they have been banned unjustly. Anyone who has experienced a few ban waves knows that among these claims, there are often a few “black sheep” who were rightly banned and now want their accounts back under community pressure.
Particularly many complaints: However, this time many posts share similarities, and the affected players have documented their activities quite well. The user “wow-classic” provides a series of screenshots showing him while casually playing, often even containing chat logs. He takes these when trading with enchanters, for example, to protect against fraud.
Other images show him farming in Zul’Farrak (which is very popular among mages) or how he transfers gold to his second account. Here it seems Blizzard’s automation has kicked in, reacting to suspicious activities such as transferring large amounts of gold to another account, even if it belongs to the same player.
Other players report being banned while “getting boosted.” So, for example, while being carried through dungeons by other players (friends or for gold) and fishing on another account.
Whether the statements of the affected players are all true cannot be determined, of course. However, the sheer number of players who believe they have been wrongfully banned at least suggests that some of them may not have deserved a ban.
Bot Problem Persists
What about the known bots? Rather unchanged. Despite the obvious ban wave, it seems the (supposedly obvious) bots, for instance in Stratholme, have not been caught. The same players are still farming gold and materials 24/7. Many players are puzzled as to why Blizzard is not taking action, even though these bots are reported day after day.
This has been causing unrest for months, especially now with the ban wave, comments like: “Sure, ban the honest players who even pay for 2 accounts, and leave the bots untouched.” keep coming up.
The mood is very tense again; Blizzard has not yet commented on the topic.
Players Helping Themselves: In the past, some players have started to solve the bot problem on their own. On PvP realms, they waited in front of instance entrances to catch bots. When these players return to the dungeon just after selling their loot, the bots were killed – again and again. Similar tactics were employed against honor bots, which had larger impacts.
However, against the sheer number of farm bots, players cannot prevail. It is necessary for Blizzard to intervene directly. Many players are still puzzled as to why this has not happened yet.
Do you know anyone who was affected by the ban wave?
