Forcast: Potential Future Multiboxing Issues

[Xzin]

I don't want to say this because the implications are..... well.... rather huge. But it needs to be said. I posted this in response to a how to make wow gold thread but thought it bore mentioning on the "main" forum.

Let me ask a question.

What prevents chinaman farmers from putting together $800 or less single machine, software only boxing entire single party farm teams?

When I started boxing, this wasn't possible. The hardware was not there, the complexity was huge and the software was not even written yet.

But now....

Advantages:

Instance only, so you can level up without being reported.
5x the profit with a single "worker".
Getting ganked is less of a problem.

We might start to see chinaman boxers before too long. Not entirely sure that is a good thing for us though. We already take some flak as it is but there are so few of us that Bliz doesn't mind too much.

If all of a sudden chinaman embraces boxing on a large scale..... we might have some issues.

If little Timmy can barely get a group together to take down Strat and he has at most one or two solid attempts per day but chinaman is doing 15 minute baron runs..... 24 hours a day.... looting everything, with 5 character slots for loot.... Maybe not the most relevant level 70 dungeon but you get the picture.

The entire market would turn upside down if allowed to continue. Assuming chinaman can control 5 characters at once..... which isn't THAT HARD if all you are doing is static content with an AOE class. You only need to aoe heal, aoe damage, single damage and single heal. Maybe 20 buttons total. You could run it on two monitors. Healer on one and DPS on the other. If you wanted me to design the best farming 5 box, I could tear through static content (but would not be very good at PvP/arenas) but who farms those for gold?

[zanthor]

While definitely a possibility, the single farmer that gets banned then costs 5x to replace. Blizzard does track money exchanges and bans accordingly.

I think that the idea of racking up $70 a month from valid customers is too much to pass up for them just to try and stop someone from farming gold... there are too many OTHER issues.

On the other hand, it could lead to quickly outlawed applications for multiplexing leaving us with a 1:1 hardware solution only.

[Shogun]

I'd rather they did that than bot tbh... although nothing stopping them combining botting and this. They already "play" more than one account per person as it is, from what I've read in interviews etc, 2-3 being the norm, but then who can say how much of that is "botted" and how much they actually do?

And while most of the bought/sold gold comes from China/Asia, not all of it does...

[kalih]

Make it yourself, via direct farming or AH.

Make gold "soulbound" essentially.

Erm.

Me@AH: "1 copper bar for 5000 gold? Who in their... oh"

[Ellay]

I've seen multiboxers before on my server that appeared to be "farmers", after a couple weeks they were never seen from again.

I don't see this as being a problem. It's easy to track where items / gold are being sent to now and if it is for the wrong intent they will be taken care of.

[kadaan]

1. Boxing isn't hard, but it's not easy either. I don't see farmers being able to box instances. I've seen some who have a hard enough time killing non-elites their own level, and most look like they only use 2 or 3 buttons tops.
2. Botting is easier. Doesn't require any manpower.
3. As zanthor said, 5-boxing = 5 banned accounts. It would be a huge red flag if a priest+4mage group did nothing but farm instances and mail gold. With a single character it's a lot easier to fly under the radar.


More than gold farming, I think selling characters would be a bigger concern. Get a 70 frost mage and 5-box with 4 alts from 1-60 in a few days. Not sure how long it takes to "order" a level 70, but boxing would dramatically reduce the time.

[Steph]

You could also go to the hunter forum and post that you fear that blizzard is going to ban all hunters.

It's not the tool, but what you do with it. There is a massive difference between what we here do and a goldfarming company running accounts online 24/7 with two shifts.

Just comparing the IP and CC info combined with the playing times and profile should divide goldfarmers that multibox from players that multibox rather easily.

[Wilbur]

Its an interesting theory Xzin, however its been done with Bots for the last year or so. Admitedly, there are probably only a handful of farms that do this worldwide. The only real costs are paying the developer to write the software, buying sufficient equipment to run it on (With stripped down clients with no graphical rendering you can get 30+ bots running on a Quadcore) and paying someone to 'monitor' the bots and then generate gold from the auction house.

I can forsee a problem if Farmers do begin to use Multiboxing as a viable method of gold creation, however the threat from bots is far greater and most likely far more viable from an owner/operators point of view.

No I'm not talking about the bots you see running around Tanaris farming :P

The level of botting that is currently possible can consist of stripped down clients, fully automated groups, with Excellent Warden protection operating entirely in instances, automation of repairs, mailing, even Raid tactics. These botters do exist, however its highly unlikely you would ever see them, and if you did, theres virtually no chance you would realise they are bots because of how human their movement can now be made.

[Rhod]

Just comparing the IP and CC info combined with the playing times and profile should divide goldfarmers that multibox from players that multibox rather easily.

I'm guessing Blizzard has a program in place that watches this. I'm sure some of us have had our accounts looked at by Blizz, then flagged as Ok after they've reviewed our playing habits. With the ability to track account/character transactions, I think we'll be okey dokey :wink: .

[Majestic_Clown]

Sorry to make this thread go dead by a vague comment but....

Legit dual boxers are safe, non legit players for botting, gold selling etc are not safe and get banned on a regualar basis.

Can't say much more really.