wow The Bots and Multiboxers of the Shadowlands

[Starym 3,800]

 

We've had a little break from focusing on the bots and multiboxers, as the new expansion took center stage, but they definitely didn't go anywhere! The main issue with these two VERY different and separate activities is that most players can't seem to tell the difference. Many often mistake multiboxing, which is completely "legal", for botting, which isn't under any circumstances. Multiboxing can be against ToS but it's pretty tricky to figure out if someone is using hardware or software to control multiple characters.

Both of these activities are back and players are posting about them a whole lot, as new locations for farming have been found throughout the Shadowlands, and it's really tricky figuring out if a spot is full of bots, legit multiboxers, software input "illegal" 'boxers or just a regular somewhat mindless 2x4 farm! Let's see if you can spot the differences (because in some cases, we sure can't).

An important note: we don't know which of these are actually bots or doing anything against ToS and don't think any reports should be made lightly. Also, apologies if the reddit threads all play their audio at once (just turn the volume down on one and reload, should help).

This first one is tricky, as it starts off looking like normal hardware multiboxing, but then turns in to something weirder:

Then it's on to the starter zone, as this shot is somewhat more obvious, with 21 "druids" with the nice little new player murloc icon.

Source.

This next one is a little trickier, as nothing really looks too bot-like, as that's basically what you'd do if you were farming yourself, but the low levels and items add a bit of a question mark:

The following is a little more clear-cut, as we'd be very surprised if these weren't actual bots, as their lines and layout perfectly match the Zandalar trains of yore (apologies for the low low FPS):

Then there's a seemingly slam-dunk case, as "targetenemy" doesn't quite seem like regular chit chat, but this is also what it would look like if someone absent-mindedly clicked a macro and didn't notice any issue:

And finally, let's not forget, there are still plenty of bots back in Zandalar as well!

While bots really are a bit of a plague on WoW (and all online games, really), don't forget that multiboxing itself is perfectly fine, as long as input broadcasting software isn't used. We've seen plenty of players get banned over incorrect reports, and despite the community having serious anger issues with multiboxers in general, witch hunts and similar are never ok.

[Devastor 11]

And it all started when saying multiboxxing is not nice but legal cause it means more money for the company....

I watched that evolution from almost the very beginning and remember when such ppl simply got banned cause it turns the whole game economy into a steaming pile of shiiiiiiiiet - basicly that also was the begin of these "famous" boosting communities - I mean well you have services and pay for it but basicly simply shopping things like cutting edge achievements completely erase their meaning. 

Today you simply can ask "how much paid for it, rather than wow nice congratz man!"

Well everyone is free for themselves but this also ruins the game community sadly 😞

They could simply trait those achievements like Raid-Tier-Sets... just delete em (still hoping and begging they bring one of the most unique features of wow raiding back into game) - and for those M+ Peeps maybe if just enough ppl wish it they would also do Dungeon Based Sets for M+ Players ... yeah it would be muuuch more grind but also you have more to do and it not turns boring that fast and also could give any dungeon a very different feeling.

 

Hope some of these last ideas which I already sent to the support also find some nice places in your minds and maybe you also ask for them.

Therefore have a happy Xmas and a good ride into 2021 (13.01.2020 doesn't exist don't worry! ^^)

[Devastor 11]

Just now, Devastor said:

And it all started when saying multiboxxing is not nice but legal cause it means more money for the company....

I watched that evolution from almost the very beginning and remember when such ppl simply got banned cause it turns the whole game economy into a steaming pile of shiiiiiiiiet - basicly that also was the begin of these "famous" boosting communities - I mean well you have services and pay for it but basicly simply shopping things like cutting edge achievements completely erase their meaning. 

Today you simply can ask "how much paid for it, rather than wow nice congratz man!"

Well everyone is free for themselves but this also ruins the game community sadly 😞

They could simply trait those achievements like Raid-Tier-Sets... just delete em (still hoping and begging they bring one of the most unique features of wow raiding back into game) - and for those M+ Peeps maybe if just enough ppl wish it they would also do Dungeon Based Sets for M+ Players ... yeah it would be muuuch more grind but also you have more to do and it not turns boring that fast and also could give any dungeon a very different feeling.

 

Hope some of these last ideas which I already sent to the support also find some nice places in your minds and maybe you also ask for them.

Therefore have a happy Xmas and a good ride into 2021 (13.01.2020 doesn't exist don't worry! ^^)

sry if I had a few mistakes in it - was a bit driven by the flow 😕

[Eilanzer 1]

Wow....please report this cancer guys!

[SidonisAntares 290]

Something I'm seeing so many of at the same time that makes me think bots rather than multiboxer, is tauren/highmountain druid pairs, the highmountain is riding the tauren that herbs without leaving travel form, except to mine. Even if there's mob agro, it's on the tauren druid not the highmountain.

[Arcnail 3]

There's software out there now replacing the popular old one, that doesn't broadcast keystrokes to all WoW clients. It doesn't work as well obviously, it works well enough I guess, but you do look like a bot. Blizzard has long been able to read what's in your ram (its in the Terms of Use) and see if there's sketchy programs going. Otherwise it's pretty hard to deal with, without observation. 

Then don't forget that the reason why you see a lot of old world content farmed is that there's no need for a game purchase, only a subscription. By the time Blizz gets through all the reports and does their investigation, the bot have made their money to cover the cost of the subs and then profit on top. Just simply re-up a new account with new subaccount under it and away they go again.

Its a tough issue to fix.

[Frogspoison 63]

I've still ran into a good number of farming bots in WM ON - Easiest 600 honor I've ever gotten.