Build Statistics Perspective, Armchair Rifting #1
Skin Spotlight: Master Uther
Artcraft - Level Design Part 1
Alpha Key Giveaway: CurseVoice is giving away beta keys for Evolve! Simply launch Curse Voice and click claim key.
Update 7:42 PM EDT: Added confirmation from Zeriyah about in-game earnings not being removed from bots.
Hearthstone Bot Ban Wave
Several thousand Hearthstone accounts have been temporarily banned for botting. Accounts have been banned until 2015, and further usage of bots on any account will result in permanent account closure. Zeriyah has confirmed on Twitter that anything earned in-game while botting has not been removed.
It is not known how the Shaman totem statistics will be affected.
Quote from BlizzardWe've recently banned several thousand Hearthstone accounts that were associated with the use of third-party programs that automate gameplay, otherwise known as “bots” or “botting.” These accounts will be banned until 2015. As we’ve stated, fair play is at the core of the Hearthstone experience, and cheating and botting will not be tolerated.
We’re committed to creating a fun and rewarding environment for our players, and we will continue to closely monitor activities within Hearthstone and take appropriate action against cheating in any form, as outlined in our Terms of Use. From this point on, accounts found to be cheating will be permanently closed without warning.
If you believe that you’ve encountered a possible bot or other form of exploitation, please let us know by emailing our Hacks team at hacks@blizzard.com.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 31, 2014 (Naxx Launch)Well 90% of golden heroes you'll see are ex-bot user who farmed the sheet out of bots and then stopped using them in time.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 29, 2014 (Naxx Launch)Disappointed that Blizz didn't wipe the accounts of those that used bots :'(
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 29, 2014 (Naxx Launch)this "punishment" is a joke. as many mentioned they gained more in the their botting time then they would during whole ban period playing normaly. how come the honest players always get the short end of the stick...
at the very least there should be an account rollback for botters to when first bot reports showed up. for comparison: when in gw2 there was a glitch that if exploited gave you tons of money the punishment for abusers was "perma ban or no ban if you give everything you gained back. your choice"
ps. personaly it feels like if you robbed a bank for 20 kk $ and after you get captured the police says "prison for 2 months and you can keep the money ofc but dont rob again okay?"
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)You know, I'll kind of miss the bots a little, every game I ever had against one was really easy for me, and I got to practice my BM heh. On a side note, any chance some of this bot technology might be used for the greater good by devs to possibly give some official AIs a fighting chance in the future? Maybe some Legendary ranked practice games or something?
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 29, 2014 (Naxx Launch)Last bot I played (yesterday actually, so I guess they haven't found them all), it did turn 1 Rockbiter to my face, turn 3 (+Coin) Lightning stormed my board with 1 Haunted Creeper and 1 Webspinner and Earth Shocked one of the resulting Spectral Spiders. Turn 4 I think it got a taunt totem and played a Creeper. Turn 5, it Lightning Stormed my board again with a solitary Misha THEN totem'ed and got a spell power totem. Herp beep boop derp. This was at rank 9, so it must have been chugging along for quite some time if that was its typical performance.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)I won't lie, this punishment really feels like a minor slap on the wrist to the bot users. Though hey if any of them are dumb enough to do it again after their ban is up then I won't complain!
It is worth noting that I am still happy that the bans have happened though, I never enjoyed running into them.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)I think thats what the 3 month ban is for. If you have spent money on the game then you will be able to resume play in 3 months, and if you continue to bot then you will be perma banned. I think Blizzard stands to make more money by removing bots, because people will be more likely to pay (or play more) in order to amass their gains instead of botting.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)i personally didn't care if bots stayed or went. they aren't effecting the game at all. there is no gold selling, no economy to mess up, no resources to steal etc. but i guess they did it fairly by not auto banning the players that used the programs and gave them a second chance, as they really haven't created any havoc on the game itself.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)I believe Blizz is going way too easy on the botters.
why do they get to keep the cards/gold/dust/golden hero that they achieved by CHEATING ?
remove everything from their account !
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)My guess is they probably don't have a sure fire way to tell when botting began on each account, leaving them the options of removing everything or nothing. Removing everything is essentially a permaban, which they mentioned would be the next step. In my opinion, cheaters should be perma banned the first time, but Blizzard didn't ask me :-)
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)Why do they need to know when they botting began? I'm sure they have it in their rules that botting is not allowed(and if they don't have it in their rules then they learned NOTHING from Diablo and WoW)...they don't need to figure out when it started. You did it, you are toast. Simple as that. But alas, Blizz knows they won't pay if they are permanently banned...so give them a second chance...and a third...and...
People are willing to PAY for bots. They would not do that if they would think there is a serious chance that they will gain nothing for it. They KNOW that they will not get perm-banned permanently and that the stuff they "earn" with the botting before getting caught is most likely worth the investment.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)Wish they would do this in wow...
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)*Raises Fist* JUSTICE! Guardian of Kings
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)Sad the Evolve beta is only on PC :(
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)I can't wait to see the Shaman emotes...I almost forgot what they were lol
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)The initial ban is like a warning, gives people a chance to stop. Anyone else caught now is permabanned, so they know the consequences. This is a good thing from Blizzard....
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)It's a slap on the wrist, because they've never done anything about bots before. A lot of those people are regular players who just said "hey, no one is getting punished for botting, I should do it." Permanently banning them for that is absurd. This seems exactly right - the people like that will get the message and stop botting (and still be normal customers) and the ones who continue will go away forever.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)Except they didn't actually steal anything since the game is F2P. All they got was cosmetic flair and maybe some free Arenas/card packs.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)Why because they don't think botting is wrong? Everybody knows botting is against ToS.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Oct 28, 2014 (Naxx Launch)Just have fun playing the game yourself. Earning those rewards should be the FUN part about HearthStone. I would never use a bot because I ENJOY playing the game. Why should anyone care if the bots have golden heroes...do you really care about a computer game that much? You'll have a better time EARNING your own, so relax...they are banned for 3 months and all the rest are perma banned from now on.