Blizzard Wields The Banhammer Again

Eurogamer reports that Blizzard is once again clearing house, and this time they mean business. From the article: "Blizzard has banned more than 5400 World of Warcraft players from the game for good as part of plans to clamp down on gold farming and cheating in general. A further 10,700 accounts have been suspended for 'participating in activities that violate the game's Terms of Use, including using third-party programs to farm gold and items.'"

Comments

Epic weapons!

[Anonymous Coward]

Now if only they'd use the "Make the Servers Work" hammer.

Re:Epic weapons!

[vertinox]

Now if only they'd use the "Make the Servers Work" hammer.

When all you have is a "Ban" Hammer, all problems look like a Gold Farmer.

Banhammer

[JigsJupeJive]

Hunter Weapon!

Re:Banhammer

[Ignignot]

OH MY GOD it is not just a hunter weapon you jerk because paladins can use +agil just as much because they need all the crit% that they can get! If I saw a hunter roll on a Banhammer I would be so pissed I would track him down and beat the crap out of him and also never group with him again and probably complain in the realm forums!

Btw what is the drop rate because I have been farming this thing for 3 days and it still hasn't dropped!

Encouragement for the survivers

[sinner6]

Won't the farmers that survived the banhammer just be able to increase their prices, as their competitors are at least temporarly out of commision? Plus the supply of gold available for purchase is less so won't prices go up even more?

Re:Encouragement for the survivers

[SatanicPuppy]

It goes both ways. On the one hand, supply is going to drop, so prices are bound to go up. At the same time the reduction in the overall amount of gold will cause currency deflation which would suck for virtual trade balances, but should make stuff cost less.

All that is counter-balanced however by people who camp out the auction houses buying commodities that are "underpriced" and re-selling them at an inflated market value.

I always wondered if blizzard sends in people "undercover" to manipulate the gold supply to keep the economy going. There are certain facets that drain money out of supply...repair costs, mounts, everything bought from vendors, but it seems like that would be really difficult to fine-tune, without some occasional corrections.

They should make it entertaining.

[jbeaupre]

Like creating some sort of grim reaper that starts chasing banned folks where ever they go, like in Gauntlet. Only it never gives up and if you're ever touched, you're dead, er, banned forever. Make it move at a nice steady pace so that everyone else is treated to some Pepe Le Pew style comedy. Or make it like a biblical plague. From time to time, folks are cleared out by frogs, boils, flies, etc.

(I've never played, so it may not as good an idea as it sounds)

Re:At least they have balls...

[egburr]

They won't be out any money. The farmers will have to buy a new copy of the game to get a new serial number. So, the regular monthly subscriptions will still be there, plus 5000 new $50 serials will be sold. Sounds like even more profit.

So, they are cancelling accounts using an excuse that many people will consider legitimate, causing the cancelled players to buy new accounts. How much is the farmer's profit compared to the cost of the new account?

If I were getting the money from the sale of new serial numbers, I'd keep banning the farmers every chance I had, too. :)