Blizzard achieves a small victory against hackers and botters in World of Warcraft. One of the biggest providers gives in and admits defeat.
No matter if in World of Warcraft Classic or in the Retail version of the game, bots are constantly a problem. Especially in Classic, many players cannot keep up with reporting. Characters fly through the air, teleport across half the map, and harvest herbs and ores that are no longer available to legitimate players.
A crucial element for hackers and botters has now reportedly been removed, as the platform EWT ceases its operations.
What was EWT? EWT was a platform whose tools allowed users to make settings in World of Warcraft that were never intended. Users could, for example, “jump infinitely” and climb through the air or simply walk through objects. It was essentially a hack. Along with other software, many botters and hackers used this to farm materials, hoard gold, and then resell it to players.
What happened? Blizzard has apparently sent a “Cease and Desist” letter – similar to requesting a cease and desist. As some WoW players reported in the game’s subreddit, there is now only the following message visible on the EWT page:
After Blizzard contacted me, I decided to cease the development of EWT, support and sales.
Although it is an independent platform, EWT allowed for the development of many tools that violated Blizzard’s terms of use. With the immediate stop of EWT services, these tools will no longer function, at least not operating on the EWT platform.
This is the last official announcement and there will be no further comments on this matter.
Are there no more bots and hackers now? Yes, definitely. EWT was just an important component, but there are many alternatives. However, EWT was considered one of the “big players” in the botting/hacking scene of WoW. That Blizzard was able to achieve a success here is definitely a good sign. Perhaps there will be at least a few less fraudsters in the coming days and weeks – at least until they find an alternative.
Do you often have problems with bots or hackers? Or have you been largely spared from them while playing?
Some players also have cool tricks to confuse annoying farm bots.
