Earlier this month, we reported on an issue that’s been plaguing World of Warcraft: Classic since its release late last year. We wrote a few articles on it, actually, discussing how much of the fanbase had grown fed up with the problem and were shouting to Blizzard to do something about it, as well as Blizzard’s response as they discussed their recent no-tolerance actions.
Blizzard’s response was a strict ban system that seeks out and immediately suspended players that were suspected of botting. Others that were affected included those that used scripts to cause their character to move in place in the far-off corners of battlegrounds maps, keeping the character active enough to avoid getting kicked out of the PvP match without actually having to do something.
Unfortunately, though, it seems the problem is still alive and well. One look through the forums and social media shows that players are still dealing with the problem just as much now as they ever were.
On the forums, one player was inquiring with others about how the bot issue looks on their servers. According to them, their realm Mograine is absolutely overrun with them. There are always around half a dozen rogue bots farming mobs at Dreadmaul Rock, with hunter bots doing the same at Stratholme Live and Alterac Mountains.
Reporting the bots doesn’t seem to do much. Many discuss Blizzard’s approach as passive and frustrating, stating that they only ban those that have been reported over and over.
Some even go so far as to say Blizzard isn’t doing anything at all. If the bot exists, they have an account, and that account is still paying the same $15 subscription fee every human player is. By that logic, why would Blizzard care about getting rid of them?
It seems that low-level and high-level zones are the most focused by bots. Leveling bots are common in low-level areas from players that purchased bot services to get a new toon leveled up. Websites that sell gold will often have high-level bots grinding out endgame monsters that drop gold and sellable items. After they’ve accrued the right amount, the gold is sold through third-party websites to players that don’t mind risking getting banned to not have to play the game they’re paying to play.
Hopefully, Blizzard is able to get the issue more under control as the months go on. As the population of the game slowly seems to drop, bots are less and less, but it makes it so that the ones appearing seem much more common.