Recent Wave of Account Actions

[Shodokan]

Are we 100% sure its connected to the /report tool?

Its not click to move
Its not interact with target
Its not being AFK (since they are doing damage/healing they are NOT afk)

What else COULD it be?

[MadMilitia]

Are we 100% sure its connected to the /report tool?

I believe so. The blues have been silent on it. There is really no other way they could have done this. Too much sophistication going other routes. I'm a software developer and in this regard I've thought it over and yeah.. they are using the playerbase and the /report tool to do this. That's why multiboxers are getting hit.

https://us.battle.net/support/en/art...sting-websites


They added an option to reporting players for cheating some time ago. And they bumped the usefulness of the /report tool in battlegrounds as well. The latter being very recently.

I saw a blue post on the issue a few weeks ago but the board is updated all day so the post is buried. For name reporting they are ditching it /dev/null. Everything else goes through some new filter auto monitoring tool they've developed. That tool is banning multiboxers. Its probably some basic arithmetic on average proximity to other players and sequence input. I don't think it works on having AFK status either.

[JohnGabriel]

Of the people that were banned, did any of you have mixed teams with uniquely different names?

I imagine if you all go in with xmog twins all named the same except é or whatever, then people are going to quickly report you.

But if you're getting banned for the less obvious boxing then maybe its not the /report tool, or maybe its only partially that. And I cant imagine more than a few people in a 40 man that reports you so it would be a very sensitive tool if that is the case.

[Owltoid]

I think GMs review the situation before issuing a ban. I know that when I was locked earlier this week it was because I was reported as botting or cheating which led to a GM reviewing the ticket which led to my account being locked due to my strange IP address.

What is most likely going on in Blizz hired a slew of new GMs that don't know what they're doing yet, combined with an increased focus on removing bots. Given that the last time I called I got through immediately and only had an 11 minute wait, I'm guessing I either got extremely lucky during prime time or Blizz is ramping up the customer service (and we are likely suffering due to ignorance).

[heyaz]

More and more GM responses mentioning multiboxing as a concern, but that screenshot is the first one I've seen them mentioning the burst potential as a concern (contradicts all the blue posts). They do seem to have a concern about multiboxers not pulling their weight though.

I wonder if there is a correlation between constant suspensions and unsympathetic GM's mentioning multiboxing as a concern, and getting stomped in the BG's you play. Like bringing in an undergeared, nonviable comp and not being able to complete the objectives or getting farmed in the GY the whole game.

I almost want to try it out to see what happens, during WSG CTA. Bring in my most geared, best comp, and win, and then do games on a not-so-viable comp and get stomped. And see which set of accounts gets suspended more. I know which comp will get reported more, and which one will have a higher contribution, but I'm curious if that will make any difference in the actions taken against my accounts.

[Ughmahedhurtz]

I think GMs review the situation before issuing a ban. I know that when I was locked earlier this week it was because I was reported as botting or cheating which led to a GM reviewing the ticket which led to my account being locked due to my strange IP address.

Your situation probably had particular flags on the incident. For regular /report stuff in BGs, I cannot imagine how they could process tens of thousands of reports manually and expect to have enough resources to get anything resembling a reasonable outcome.

[MadMilitia]

Your situation probably had particular flags on the incident. For regular /report stuff in BGs, I cannot imagine how they could process tens of thousands of reports manually and expect to have enough resources to get anything resembling a reasonable outcome.

They don't. They tried that for years and it got them nowhere. They would have to pay an astronomical amount of money to police the game that way. It would logically take 1 employee 8 hours to watch a handful of players. There are millions of players. Too much overhead involved in that.

Warden was the right approach but it broke laws. So they couldn't go that route. Arithmetic is not going to work on its own either as players do things like spawn at a GY and autorun right to the enemy GY while watching television.

There has to be a middle ground and like blogs and forums, the developers of the game are using their subscribers to flag players for their new tool to ban. The tool with player input does what they think is fine. But players hate multiboxers so they routinely /report us. The tool is now being used as a weapon against multiboxers, not botters.

I see the random GM input as useless and unworthy of discussion. These guys are not publishers or developers of the game. The only useful input they have is canned.

So yeah they used to review these things, hence why ban waves would come in bunches every 6 months or so. Lots of records to look at! These off the cuff suspensions and bans are coming out of their new tool that is tied directly to the number of reports hanging over a character's head.

[MadMilitia]

Of the people that were banned, did any of you have mixed teams with uniquely different names?

I imagine if you all go in with xmog twins all named the same except é or whatever, then people are going to quickly report you.

But if you're getting banned for the less obvious boxing then maybe its not the /report tool, or maybe its only partially that. And I cant imagine more than a few people in a 40 man that reports you so it would be a very sensitive tool if that is the case.

I'd be interested in knowing this as well. Also the odds of a player who runs an entire BG on their side being banned. If we knew for sure they weren't being banned then we know it is directly involving the /report tool for the knobs in game to abuse.

[Percocet10n1]

Last week I un subscribed all my accounts because of all the recent suspensions and bans and decided to check back to see if it was still happening. While everyone says and even blizzard says that multi-boxing is allowed, I have come to believe that they won't come right out and tell us that they don't want us boxing in BG's. They see it as an exploit where as one player has an advantage over other players. So that said I personally believe they will not fix this problem for us and force boxers out of the pvp part of the game. They will continue to keep saying that boxing is allowed, which it is technically but as long as you stay out of bg's and arena.

I logged onto my battle.net accounts today to see if the bans had been lifted as they said they were going to do. Because I would like to come back to the game when/if this problem is fixed and was surprised to see that all my accounts are now banned. Previously, when I unsubscribed only 2 had 3 day bans and I haven't played since. But in that time I did receive a message on a ticket that all my previous bans were un-banned. This is not the case, and even though I haven't played since I unsubscribed I have earned 3 new bans. Curious.... I have submitted a ticket to fix this, just in case they do fix the game so that boxers can pvp without fear of being suspended or banned.

I will keep updating as new information comes my way.

I have moved to Guild Wars 2 and am having fun with that game right now. I don't know if you can multi box it. But I opened a single account just to get a feel for the game. So far I am having fun with it.

[MadMilitia]

Last week I un subscribed all my accounts because of all the recent suspensions and bans and decided to check back to see if it was still happening. While everyone says and even blizzard says that multi-boxing is allowed, I have come to believe that they won't come right out and tell us that they don't want us boxing in BG's. They see it as an exploit where as one player has an advantage over other players. So that said I personally believe they will not fix this problem for us and force boxers out of the pvp part of the game. They will continue to keep saying that boxing is allowed, which it is technically but as long as you stay out of bg's and arena.

I logged onto my battle.net accounts today to see if the bans had been lifted as they said they were going to do. Because I would like to come back to the game when/if this problem is fixed and was surprised to see that all my accounts are now banned. Previously, when I unsubscribed only 2 had 3 day bans and I haven't played since. But in that time I did receive a message on a ticket that all my previous bans were un-banned. This is not the case, and even though I haven't played since I unsubscribed I have earned 3 new bans. Curious.... I have submitted a ticket to fix this, just in case they do fix the game so that boxers can pvp without fear of being suspended or banned.

I will keep updating as new information comes my way.

I have moved to Guild Wars 2 and am having fun with that game right now. I don't know if you can multi box it. But I opened a single account just to get a feel for the game. So far I am having fun with it.

I haven't bothered with GW2 as Dead Space 3 is due out next month and I still haven't finished up Borderlands 2. Throw a hectic work schedule on top of that and I have little time for WoW.

So yeah I'm with you here. Unsubbed all my accounts last night. But I have a month to go so I want to step into some random BGs and see if my mogged twins and like names get me banned right away. When I have time I'll check. Got 20 days left on the subs.