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76 000 accounts banned, 11 million gold removed
Saturday,October 14th, 2006
Blizzard banned 76 000 wow accounts and removed 11 million gold from the game in Europe, Korea and the US in the month of September.
According to Blizzard, "The closed accounts were associated with activities that violate World of Warcraft’s Terms of Use, such as using third-party programs that allow cheating, and farming gold and items. These types of activities can severely impact the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players."
My guess is most of these accounts are autoplayed high-level characters farming lucrative areas. I see them from time to time and I always report them, repeatedly if necessary. I hate when they steal my mobs and disrupt the server economy by dumping huge loads of specific items on the market, depressing AH prices. Besides, it’s just plain wrong and I detest cheaters.
So I take pride in thinking that some of those accounts were banned thanks to me. I hope you do the same. If you’ve never seen a bot, here are some telltale signs to look for:
- All bots I’ve seen are hunters (though I think they can be any class)
- If you "tag" their mobs (i.e. attack them so you get credit for killing them) the bots will still attack them, IF they have sicced their pet on the mob before you attacked it. In other words, there’s a short window of opportunity between the bot siccing its pet on the mob, and you tagging it. If you do it right, they will continue killing the mobs you’ve tagged.
- They will just use auto attack
- If a bot is attacked by several mobs, it will not react like a human, but simply continue auto attacking its target, then select the next
- The same applies if you attack it
- You cannot carry on a normal conversation with it
- They play way too early in the morning. I once saw three bots farming the same spot at 0600 a.m.
If you suspect someone is botting their character, report it to a game master using the in-game support form. I just place my ticket in the "physical harassment" category, and it works. Follow up if necessary.
By the way, none of the guides or services on this site will, to the best of my knowledge, violate the End User License Agreement and will not get your account banned/suspended. These are guides, not cheats or third party programs, and as such they are perfectly ok to use.
More info here, currently: http://wow-europe.com/en/
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Well, morning is a good time for bots, true, though I’m often on at 6:00 a.m. (still up), and I’m not a bot. Or am I?
Comment by Reign — April 27, 2007 @ 9:07 am
Admittingly, if you are on WoW at 6:00 in the morning, you have some problems yourself. However, at least you aren’t so obsessive to be on at 1:00 in the moring. Oh god call the psych ward.
Comment by anon — June 10, 2007 @ 5:46 am
i think u are right martin
i lost tons of gold because of bots
i have done what u said”physical harrasment” and i bet i got quite a few accounts banned
thx a lot martin i think ur awesom
Comment by chknnudlsup — June 13, 2007 @ 9:47 pm
whats wrong with you? oh so now becuase someone bots there now considered a ” bad player” becuase they use a method of leveling? sure its not exactly playing the game, but look at you. and everyone else who agrees with you. your all banning people, and enjoying it more than the game. so are you really playing it? of course not. your to buy looking for the one botting that you dont even care about the game any more u just whant people band. so your really just the same thing. your doing what there doing, your not really playing the game, your just on it to make something of your self. and your attitude and actions toward this non lethal problome sickness me. you should really re-think your “banning”.
Comment by trey — July 26, 2007 @ 5:18 am
Its still wrong with botting in WoW, and i enjoy banning botters because they are disrupting the gameplay for ALL other “real” players around it..
If we ban bots that is violating the policys with Blizzard. I think ive done something good in the systen, because we are doing their job. So you should be proud of yourself banning all botters, so we can “clean up the mess”
Comment by Max — August 13, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
AND as Trey said, qoute “bots there now considered a ” bad player””… Botters ARE bad players, theire completely destroying the gameplay and are so god damn lazy that they use WoW for their own profit. Lazy bastards…
Comment by Max — August 13, 2007 @ 8:32 pm
Lazy for using bots??
NewsFlash, some people have jobs and can’t play the game for hours a day to see end game content.
I got my char to level 43 in over a year of playing and im now using a bot…. Oh no a bot.
I use it because i don’t have time to get square eyed and have a high level character but i still want to experience it… So blah blah to all of you who cry about botters. I don’t profit from it as i am a hunter and fill my bags with food and arrows, there is no room for loot. It’s not giving me an advantage as it’s getting xp for me nothing more. If i had the time to waste like the rest of you i wouldn’t bot. I have a career and a life but love the game, you guys tell me what i should do……
Comment by Alan — October 29, 2007 @ 1:55 am
Hey Alan,
How many hours did you spend actually playing your character? Chances are you could already be level 60 or 70 if you followed a leveling guide. It “only” took me 216 hours (9 days) or so to do 1-70 that way.
Comment by Martin Malmberg — October 29, 2007 @ 7:30 am
Martin,
Yeah i have played 8 days atm and am 49 but from 43 using the bot.
The problem i have is the amount of continuous time it takes to complete certain things, I can’t play for hours at a time meaning i can’t quest or instance with people very often if at all.
The bot has saved me a lot of boredom from grinding as i find that’s the quickest way to level.
What guide do you use??
I would rather do it properly but it just takes too long for someone like me with my career to stay on top of.
Comment by Alan — October 30, 2007 @ 3:45 am
I understand, Alan.
Grinding is too boring and not the way to play this game.
I use Joana’s Horde Leveling Guide on the horde side, and Brian Kopp’s Alliance Levleing Guide on the alliance side.
They are both based on solo questing, so you can play at your own rate. You can of course do the quests with someone else as well.
I think you’ll find those guides invaluable.
Comment by Martin Malmberg — October 30, 2007 @ 4:00 pm
have any tips for me? i hardly have any time to play because of sports. im a new player also with the burning crusade. what race should i be and what class.
Comment by Anonymous — December 26, 2007 @ 7:08 am
#11
I would decide what I wanted to do in WoW first. Do you wanna level up, PvP, do instances?
Getting into a guild is always a good idea. That way you can ask questions and get help. Try to find a friendly leveling guild.
As for races… any horde race is better if you like PvP. Horde are just plain better at PvP, don’t ask me why.
some comments on the classes: warriors (always wanted in instances and PvP), priests (same), hunter & warlock (best solo classes), mage (damage dealer that is loved in instances), rogue (master of ganking and exploring), paladin (often “forced” into being a healer), shaman (hybrid class that can be like a mage or warrior or priest), druid (hybrid class that can be like a rogue, warrior, or healer).
Comment by Martin Malmberg — December 27, 2007 @ 6:54 pm
I have Brian Kopp’s Aliance Leveling Guide and it works but it is still not a simple run through the quest by any means.
I have run into situations where I became unexpectedly attacked, quest were un-obtainable due to NPC’s being destroyed by attackers, and mobs ready to kill my character without warning and in mass. This has caused some disorientation of where to go from those situations.
I can honestly tell you that if you keep your eyes open and I believe form a good group to follow you through the quest you will have placed yourself in the best possiable position to level the game.
My wish was that there was better information on how to get coins, and what and when to buy, sell, or what to dispose of during game play. Warnings of when to form or call in groups and establish raids to assist me would be very helpful.
As far as getting youself pointed to each step along the way the guide is excellent. The exception to this is when quest are not obtainable and there is no information of what to do, when you need a group or raid party, and how to handle your money, goods to buy and when and what to dump alonge the way.
I got to near level 10 and frankly was broke along the way having to toss out nearly everything i I found. This was because of the mass amount of stuff picked up and no frequently suggested point along the route in which to sell or buy.
I believe I am better off with the guide. I wish I had prior experience before using it and had better clues along the way. I would however buy the guide again knowing what I know now. There is no doubt it beats having to search all over the map for items for finish the quest undertaken.
As for bots I too think they have no place within the WOW world. I also wish there was a way to buy gold, at least in small amounts, until I could get my feet planted a bit more firmly on the ground in the game.
Comment by Monty — January 8, 2008 @ 2:33 am
I read all these postings of people leveling 1-70 in a week or less? I thought this game was to enjoy, and explore? What fun is it to “hurry” thru it, for the sake of level 70? I prefer to play and learn as I go. I dont care if it takes me months which it wont take me, because leveling comes gradually anyways when killing creatures same level or one higher then myself.
Comment by Dave — February 1, 2008 @ 5:22 am
Dave,
It depends. If you’re leveling in alt then maybe you want to get to 70 as fast as possible. Otherwise, if it’s your first character, I kind of agree that you should take time and explore the game.
However, it’s still nice to follow a leveling guide imo since then you can focus on questing instead of looking things up on thottbot which can be frustrating.
Comment by Martin Malmberg — February 1, 2008 @ 7:22 am
I find it complete bull that you are only 43 in a years time, I also have a career, that makes me work 6 days a week 12 hours a day, but by playing 1 hour a day I still mange to get a character up to 70 in less then 2 months time, ofcourse on sundays i play 3 hours.
I don’t feel that i’m rushing things this way, I do an instance once in a while but i prefer the higher level ones, thats why I rush things.. as far as exploring goes, you can always do that at 70 as well.
the only problem I have with some guides is that they are hunter based, both brian’s and joanna’s are played with hunters and I never liked that class.. so sometimes i had some difficulty completing quests they gave..
Now i finally started a hunter and im leveling way faster then on every other char I have, using brian’s guide.. I also own the TeamIdemise guids and they work good to, although they are not as detailed as brian’s..
As far as gold making goes, I also spend about 30 mins a day on my bankchar, and it is now sitting at a nice 19.343 gold, and some silver and copper ofcourse.
All my other chars have a nice cashflow as well, either being send to them by my bankchar or making it themselves (the hunter does this very well, being my farmer, and the rogue for solo instancing high level instances, stealth and just take loot from certain chests/mobs) they but have around 6000 gold, and when leveling a char i try to keep them at a constant flow of 1500 gold (given by my bankchar) so I can buy everything I want.
I think all my chars combined I have about 50.000 gold, and still making more, and every know and then i take 5000 or something and buy presents for people in my guild or random people, also adding a nice cashflow of 100gold a week to the guildbank.
all guides i have bought are very good at help me level faster and make lots of gold, I bought another recently via e-bay that I didn’t like asked for a refund, and haven’t gotten a reply yet, I hope you can help me out with warning other people brian about this ‘possible’ scam if they dont return my money, the guides are not as how they were promoted, and is mainly free advice or stolen from other guides..
Comment by Kevin — March 5, 2008 @ 4:34 pm
Well, if u not wish to put alot of time and lvl kinda slow but at 70 u get imba pvpclass, go paladin they deal dmg as hell! GL
Comment by Emil — March 22, 2008 @ 9:59 pm
Because this ‘guide’ on detecting Bots has become more of a mass argument on how fast you should be leveling and how it should be done I think it should be done the way the player (Who pays real world money for this game) should decide how s/he decides to advance in this game. Personally, I am level 44 (3/5 of a bar until 45) and have 10 days /played, so what? I enjoy leveling.(yes I said it) When you get to 70 it is boring if you don’t have time to raid for 4-5 hours a day. All you do is grind for the epic flying mount and maybe PvP a bit, but nothing in my opinion is as fun as leveling in World of Warcraft. I know instances are a ’slow’ way of leveling but just think, I am experiencing the game! It is not called experience for nothing, it is called that because that is how Blizzard wants you to level, questing, gaining experience on WoW, and last, see the game. (Not by grinding)
- Pickleman
(I am sorry if I have in a way offended anyone but I have stated the inevitable so it was needed, thank you.)
Comment by Pickleman — March 26, 2008 @ 12:19 am
#18, Pickleman
I agree with you. On your first character I recommend you take your time and do instances and groups. You’ll be a much better player (and have more friends) on level 70, and if you enjoy leveling there’s no reason to rush through it.
Personally, the reason why I use leveling guides is because I hate confusion and being stuck. I do enjoy leveling when I know what to do.
Comment by Martin Malmberg — March 26, 2008 @ 12:21 pm
omg guys….
you all use lvling guides?and u call that fun?i play wow from the first day it was published….and i’ve never used any guide…..only thottbot or wowhead…after some time playing u get to know all the locations of the map…..its easy….i got 6 70 lvl chars and i’ve never thought using a stupid guide,as well as paying for a stupid guide which the only thing it will explain will be how to farm or lvl…omg…i like the game as it is…besides when some1 tells u to find a monster u have to find it….there is no meaning in knowing where the monster is ffs……
Comment by dartakos — April 29, 2008 @ 5:45 pm
to #20 darktakos
and your on wow-strategy.com why? lol, just thought i’d point that out..
Comment by philter — May 14, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
is a bot a program that levels your character or a person doing it for you?
Comment by vagabondchef — May 18, 2008 @ 1:52 am
vagabondchef,
a bot is a program.
But both can get you banned, i.e. botting and having someone else leveling your character.
Comment by Martin Malmberg — May 18, 2008 @ 7:11 am
A lot of very good content in this thread. I am fairly new. My Main has just reached the halfway point between lvl 44 and 45. I guess, like with everything, there are always shades of gray. I wouldn’t use a bot and would likely get a bit cross if it turns out the bot is run for the purpose of farming gold to sell for real life dollars. Why? Well for the reason mentioned above. It can be a bit frustrating when you are fighting that last mob before being able to mine a thorium vein, only to have some toon run by you while you are fighting and take the thorium. But that is part of life. However, if it turns out that toon is a dedicated farming bot it is a bit more than frustrating because a PROGRAM has now just beaten me to a resource. It is hard enough for my old self to keep up with human toons! lol.
I am taking a bit of a hybrid approach. To get the best of both worlds, I follow Brian’s guide (don’t feel bad about buying it as I also have a career, two kids and a busy RL) to level and frequently take side trips for the fun of it. My 8 year old took my main for a gallop through the Searing Gorge for the first time last night. It was great. Got attacked by a bunch of ‘??’ mobs and still escaped! That fun is then balanced out by some dedicated lvling using the guide. Am I screaming fast leveling to 70? Not at all, but that is ok for me. But, the point is, when I want to level quickly, I can. The guides are all a bit different, but for those that have lots of RL committments, it allows us to make up for those ‘Sunday Drives’ in Searing Gorge or the odd farming ride in the Badlands or Hinterlands.
Balance is as important in the game as it is in life. If you have to lvl that toon as fast as you can, and don’t have endless time then a guide is a great idea. If you have the leisure time, or don’t care how fast you level, then walking around and grabbing quests ad-hoc will compliment grinding and you will level eventually.
Happy lvling, however you choose to do it, WoW’ers!!!!
Comment by Irtzgurter — May 23, 2008 @ 8:58 pm