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WoW Forever: Blizzard gives numbers for its beta bans
More than 2100 accounts closed for buying, almost 1600 for selling or botting, and a warning is coming to the trade window.
Blizzard has put figures on something it had only described before. In the 3rd episode of its own podcast, Josh Greenfield said that more than 2100 accounts have been closed on the WoW Forever beta for buying gold, and almost 1600 more for selling it or for running bots. His words were that the stance has not changed, that Blizzard is going to be very aggressive and will not tolerate it, and that the beta has already shown as much.
The second half of what he said is about a change players will see. A future update puts a small window in front of every trade asking whether you are sure you want to trade with this person, and Blizzard will add a line to it: be sure you know where your gold is coming from. The same reminder is planned for accepting mail.
He was careful about how that should feel. Blizzard does not want to create an aura of fear, he said, and it has got good at telling an ordinary trade apart from the other kind — a tip for a portal, or payment for something crafted, against a transfer that is part of a real-money sale. The warning is meant as a reminder rather than an accusation.
None of this is new policy, only new numbers: Blizzard said in early October that it was acting on bot accounts and planning the trade warning, without saying how many accounts were involved. The beta runs until 21 October, and WoW Forever opens at 23:00 UK time on 4 November, which is midnight on 5 November in Central Europe.
