WoW players unite for bot purge event in Season of Discovery
Blizzard EntertainmentAs with all flavors of World of Warcraft, Season of Discovery has a problem with bots. Now, players have decided to band together to address the problem head-on.
There are a lot of reasons that people program bots to wreak havoc in Azeroth. They follow pre-programmed paths to farm mobs in certain areas, the main purpose being to accumulate as much in-game wealth as possible.
This usually happens via direct gold farming in Stockades or by collecting and selling as many valuable materials as possible. The botters then sell this wealth via third-party websites for real-world currency. It’s a huge problem for the game’s economy, and Blizzard has a tough time addressing it in earnest.
Season of Discovery’s community remains unhappy with the problem, deciding to take it into their own hands.
Season of Discovery group assembling today to report bots
In a post on Reddit, one player shared their call to arms, encouraging others to come and take direct action.
Specifically, the idea is to get players from EU servers to log in today (27 February) at 6 pm GMT. From there, they are going to head to the Stockades and report every bot they see en-masse. In Season of Discovery, the Stockades are a notoriously profitable place to farm gold.
Reception to the idea is generally positive, with many chiming in to offer their support. One said: “Honestly if players can be toxic enough to get people banned for random stuff with mass flagging surely someone can put together a raid party and mass report bots until they get auto-booted.”
Another added a potentially helpful tip, saying: “everyone level rogues / druids / anything that can stealth for prolonged times and do it stealth so no countermeasures can be taken easily.”
Whatever does happen later on today, it’s nice to know that enough people care about the game to take these steps. With individual reporting famously hit and miss, this mass movement may carry more weight.