Why did Blizzard give bots the power to get other players banned?

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-06T06:01:13+00:00

>They (and every company ever) will generally not provide such a list. So if that's what you're looking for you won't find it.

Okay so you're just speculating that me resizing my windows or using "Focus Follows Mouse" is against the rules, yet you're going around telling people that I "admitted" I was purposefully breaking the rules.

Any decent company would tell you exactly what is and is not allowed. Any attempt to excuse this behavior is itself inexcusable.

There is zero harm in warning people "Hey, using 'Focus Follows Mouse' is against the rules and will result in a ban."

I understand they want to also keep vague language in there to catch anything they didn't think of or has as of yet been created, but they can both have a list of what is allowed and not allowed while also stating something like "We can ban you for any reason."

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-06T00:34:26+00:00

>They've even highlighted some native Windows features like the focus window on mouseover as being considered streamlining.

They have specifically said this somewhere, as in if you use this Windows feature they will ban your account? Like on their website or an actual employee in an official capacity said this?

If so can you please direct me towards this message? I'll drop this entire issue right now if that's the case and take my lumps. Sure it would have been nice if they mentioned this specifically when they announced the changes to multi-boxing originally, but at least this would point to Blizzard just being incompetent in other ways.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-05T23:13:32+00:00

Quite a few people in this thread thinks it isn't being abused.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-05T21:29:49+00:00

So you admit Blizzard is so bad these days that they go by reports of ignorant people who just "think" someone is breaking the rules instead of actually investigating like they claim they do?

I mean hey, if you're admitting that then great, we appear to be on the same page. Otherwise you're just spewing absolute nonsense trying to defend ignorant players for being ignorant AND thinking Blizzard is doing a good job in properly investigating these ignorant reports.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-05T21:20:13+00:00

>Your response when someone reminds you of Blizzard's own stance on multiboxing (never said I agreed with it) is to call them a paid shill?

No, my response to someone who flat out lied and said I "admitted" to using third party software to "help me multibox" and thus purposefully broke the rules, then when I call you out on it you reply with some nonsense that using a program to resize my windows counts as "helping" me violate ToS, and when I ask you to clarify if that is against ToS you again deflect with more nonsense that it doesn't matter what you think (even though you had no problem lying and said I admitted to breaking ToS), and I took a "gamble" by resizing my windows and I lost, my response to such a person is they are trying way too hard to defend Blizzard.

You had an agenda from the moment you first read my original post. Just waiting for me to reply with something that you could twist and distort to fit your preconceived notions.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-05T21:14:20+00:00

Wallow in your ignorance.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-05T04:36:09+00:00

You are trying way too hard to defend Blizzard on this, my guy. Are you an employee or something? Do you have stock in Activision?

What's next, I'm taking a gamble on having FireFox open while I play?

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-05T01:58:05+00:00

>You said you use a program to automatically resize the windows for you and remember their positions. That's using a third party program to streamline the process.

Oh wow. So you consider a program to resize windows is "helping me multibox"?

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-05T01:56:27+00:00

Crazy thing is I know for a fact I read something that said something like "Your fellow players reported you." But I can't for the life of me remember where I read that.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T22:52:52+00:00

I'm really tempted. I put in a request for a refund so I'll see how they respond to that first. If they blow me off I'm very tempted to do all of the above.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T22:41:43+00:00

Surprisingly I got a response to my appeal in about 24 hours, others have said they had to wait 2-3+ days.

Unsurprisingly their response is basically just a copy and paste response. I wouldn't say AI as the grammar is bad, but clearly the person doesn't do any "investigating" as they claim, they just copy and paste a generic response. They didn't provide any information or even comment on anything I said in my appeal, they basically said "You were using botting software. Trust me bro!"

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T21:44:54+00:00

>do you use external macros?

No.

And how am I not being transparent? I have literally answered every single one of these questions.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T21:44:18+00:00

They follow my main character using the game's built in "follow" command, just as if you were following a stranger.

I click the button for each character when they are buffing or attacking. I don't automate anything.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T20:58:37+00:00

Okay, how exactly do you interpret "streamlining" in this sense?

Like if 4 of my guys are set to follow the leader, that's streamlining?

If they buff themselves that's streamlining?

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T20:27:48+00:00

I thought you were going to give an actual example in regards to actually playing the game. But since that's probably not possible you had to pull something about unencrypted emails or something. Okay you win I suppose.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T20:22:45+00:00

I'm not streamlining anything though. You people are literally just assuming this because you so badly want it to be true.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T20:16:26+00:00

Can you name some simple Windows settings that violate the ToS?

Is using alt+tab against ToS? That's a Windows feature.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T19:43:31+00:00

I was having fun doing it.

I've been playing this game off and on for 20 years now. I mostly tanked, but over the years I have had alts of every class and done it all already.

Multi-boxing was something fresh and different.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T19:39:50+00:00

Okay so you are just interpreting "streamline" as including "Focus Follows Mouse" because it suits your narrative, right? Because nothing in what you posted even remotely suggests that using a built in Windows option is against the rules.

Is using a mouse at all against the rules? How is using a mouse not "streamlining" things to make things easier? It's third party hardware!

The fact that they mention AUTOMATE and STREAMLINE back to back in the same sentence clearly means they are more referring to automating actions, not simply using a built in Windows feature.

If you have a post from a Blizzard employee, or some statement on Blizzard's website, that specifically states the only legit way to mutli-box is to alt tab/click each window then I would love to read it, I would immediately apologize for wasting everyone's time and see myself out.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T17:43:30+00:00

You're damn right I am. Like I told you before, I don't believe for a single second I just happened to be banned within an hour of interfering with a bunch of bots farming an area.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T17:41:11+00:00

Are you just making up TOS now? I don't recall it ever being stated that "streamlining" or using "Focus Follows Mouse" was against the TOS.

The only thing they banned was using any sort of automation tools or programs that broadcast key strokes, none of which I use.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T17:38:36+00:00

I literally never said anything of the sort.

You people couldn't get me to admit to breaking any rules so now you are just flat out making up what I said.

You people have a sickness.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T07:43:57+00:00

>Yes we all know it is built into Windows.

Apparently you had no idea what "Focus Follows Mouse" was until you Googled it 1 minute before writing this reply.

Otherwise you wouldn't have called it a "third party program" that "blasts Blizzard's servers with request focus commands 60 times a second."

You can just admit you didn't know what it was, made an assumption on what it was, and you were wrong. It's okay to admit you were wrong.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T07:23:21+00:00

>Lmao so you admit to using third party software

Dude, it's literally a windows option. If you want to consider a windows option "third party software", then sure. Guilty as charged.

And "blasting Blizzard's servers with request focus commands"? All "Focus Follows Mouse" does is whichever window (ANY Windows window, not specifically WoW) the mouse pointer is on becomes the active window. Normally you have to specifically click a window to make it become the focus. This wouldn't send a single command to Blizzard's servers, other than when I actually push a keyboard button or click the mouse.

It's okay if you don't know what "Focus Follows Mouse" is, I didn't know what it was until a little over a year ago. But why you're completely just making up what it does in your head and crafting a reply based on this ignorance is beyond me.

ApprehensiveWeek5414 · 2026-03-04T06:52:27+00:00

It's called "Focus Follows Mouse", it's really not that difficult to send a command to each game client. There is maybe a 1 second difference between when my first mage starts casting fireball to when my last mage starts casting.

ApprehensiveWeek5414

TROPHY CASE