“If you report me, I will report you too” – a silly threat. But bots in World of Warcraft Classic hold the upper hand and enforce it.
In World of Warcraft Classic there is primarily one problem and that is the bots. They not only ruin the economy of the game and lead to absurdly high prices in “GDKP” runs, but also to a scarcity of resources or they compete with real players for them.
The only chance against these bots is to report them repeatedly and hope that Blizzard enforces a ban.
What is the problem? Some players want to be sure that they are reporting a bot and message the suspicious characters beforehand. However, this proves to be a mistake – because this starts a fight that normal players can only lose.
Once you have messaged a player suspected of being a bot, they simply turn the tables. They report the real player with their numerous bot accounts, resulting in the real player facing a sanction shortly thereafter. These are usually temporary bans.
A post in the WoW Classic Subreddit discusses the issue, even though the original author has since deleted their post.
Are there automated bans? Even though Blizzard repeatedly denies that there are automated sanctions, reality presents a different picture. There have frequently been videos in the past from streamers or large guilds that have banned a player “on demand”. Once a certain number of players report a character for an offense, the account is automatically banned for a while.
What can be done about it? The only option currently available is to report suspicious characters without messaging them first, but simply report them based on (justified) suspicion. Those who message the bot accounts risk becoming a target themselves.
Those who want to report bots should observe them for a moment, then click on them and simply report them with a right-click. A whisper could have adverse effects.
Similar problems have also occurred in modern WoW: Dragonflight. There, craftsmen who did not bow to a greedy cartel were also silenced.
A player has recently achieved something quite special in WoW Classic: He reached level 60 naked and without talents.
