Follow In Battlegrounds Broken After 5.2

[Chumbucket]

I'm no programmer; but, from what I gather from reading what programmers are saying, killing /follow will only affect a group of bots that are now being used but will have little to no effect on other available bots. I imagine a botter, whether farming gold, gear or whatever, wouldn't let killing /follow stop them from botting if there is a program that will still work. I just think Blizz may have temporarily slowed the botting problem but not for long, while it completely ruined boxing bgs. It just seems that there is a better solution.

It is a waste to ruin such an incredibly fun style of play that is so seamless that it is almost as if the game was designed to be boxed.

Here's a tip for a programmer who wants to create the next generation MMO. Make a game where you level, but as you level, you gain toons as well as gear and strength. Then everyone can box and the dynamics would be incredible. Talk about an addictive game. It would completely overshadow WoW.

[zenga]

I'm no programmer; but, from what I gather from reading what programmers are saying, killing /follow will only affect a group of bots that are now being used but will have little to no effect on other available bots. I imagine a botter, whether farming gold, gear or whatever, wouldn't let killing /follow stop them from botting if there is a program that will still work. I just think Blizz may have temporarily slowed the botting problem but not for long, while it completely ruined boxing bgs. It just seems that there is a better solution.

According to their statement it wasn't there intent nor their expectation to kill all bots, just the basic ones. While I completely reject botting, having an sophisticated bot in your team doesn't hurt your gaming experience/winning chances as much as having a bot who just is just following everyone on his mount (I've actually been owned by a bot in a 1v1 when I was playing an alt, they have a pretty good combat AI). And the /follow bots are the most obvious ones as well. As said before, there are limitations to what they both can scan and are allowed to scan on a player his computer (depending on legal privacy matters). There is simply not a 1 stop go all solution to weed out botting, it will be a never-ending fight. And the bots will only become more and more advanced / smarter. Really, if someone with the skills puts his mind and time to it, 10 bots will be able to take world first heroic kills, since they in theory will never fail as opposed to humans.

It is a waste to ruin such an incredibly fun style of play that is so seamless that it is almost as if the game was designed to be boxed.

Fun for the boxer, not so much fun for the one on the receiving end ...

[Meathead]

Follow will come back to BG's give it a little time. Since they will see that it did not effect many people. I am still going to keep playing and level my toons while we wait and see what they are doing.

[Cptan]

The vast amount of conspiracy theories and fallacies is amazing in this thread. I was under the impression that the multiboxing community here was a bit more mature and intelligent.

Surprised, or no more?

Blizzard is not stupid, for sure. They have tons of data/info/feedback to work on and decide what's best for the company, and they have a lot more things to worry than us. Follow removal is not the only weapon they use against bot in BG. If boxers create more negative actions toward other players, than we are bad. I won't be surprise they will be forced to restrict our play in PVE, like the solo raid quest...

[JohnGabriel]

Blizzard is required by law to make money for its shareholders, and since I own ATVI stock its my fault they broke /follow.

[Blubber]

Blizzard is required by law to make money for its shareholders, and since I own ATVI stock its my fault they broke /follow.

'

Damn you!

[luxlunae]

Blizzard is required by law to make money for its shareholders, and since I own ATVI stock its my fault they broke /follow.

Write to the chief financial officer that you are worried that they made a change without warning that has angered the disabled community and lost subscriptions.

[MadMilitia]

Well as MiRai (I think that was who) mentioned removing /follow probably wasn't what killed the bots, it was the patch. Every patch kills the bots and they have to update their software to get things working again.

This exactly.

Anybody on the software dev side knows this happens. Not always but it does happen and 5.2 was no exception. 5.2 broke a lot of them.

[Lokked]

I haven't boxed WoW in a long time, but this is pretty sad that they destroy a PvP community with such impunity and disrespect.

Play LOTRO, I find it's pretty much the same as WoW, but more challenging to box (note: Challenging =/= Annoying). It's also free.

[EaTCarbS]

It's also free.

Kind of. Still a great game though.