tbc-classic Suspensions Going Out for Karazhan Chess Event Reset Exploit

[Starym 3,776]

 

Blizzard are bringing the banhammer down in BCC, but this time using a measured and careful approach, as some players have been suspended for significant amounts of time for exploiting Karazhan, but others that did the same thing are not, and it actually all makes sense.

As initially mentioned by alecn and many others in several reddit threads, there's two things going on here and three groups of players. First off, the key thing is that the Chess event is (was?) exploitable, as players could reset it and basically get the same loot again, repeatedly. Unfortunately there was also a bug that saw the doors to the Chess room closed if the raid left the instance after the encounter was completed (as many did to resume at a later time), and so the only option was to use the exploit and reset it in order to gain access to the rest of the raid.

We then have the three separate player groupings that used the exploit for different reasons and in different amounts:

• Players that abused the exploit and reset the event many times, who received suspensions (possibly a 2 week default, or based on previous infractions, we don't have enough data to be sure) and most likely/almost certainly got all the extra loot removed.
• Players that used the exploit once due to the door bug, who did not get any suspensions nor got their extra loot taken.
• Players that used the exploit a few times in order to get more loot (in one example so they could actually clear the raid that week, as they were lacking gear). There are players reporting doing it 3 times and not receiving any punishment.

And so Blizzard acted pretty swiftly, didn't overreact and just suspend everyone, and seem to have done about as well as could be expected. There may be an argument for the 3-reset crowd needing to at least get their extra gear removed, but that's most likely a VERY small number of players. The relative caution in handing out the suspensions is especially good to see after the recent problematic bot banwave which caught many players that were simply using Console Port (which you can read more about here)      .

Source.

[MrM 44]

I remember something like this happening with the Opera event back in the day. We got a few days off from the game for resetting it a few times to farm extra badges of justice. No idea if anyone else received more severe punishments, though.

[Amorandra 7]

My guild had this happen by accident and were confused and happy when it did happen, extra loot for the guild early in the expansion? yes please.

[Oyeq 3]

Well false, we accidentally got locked in the room after we cleared the whole of kara because one person restarted the chest event and we all got banned, even those that already hearthed and weren't even there. Measured? This is total bull.

Edited June 18, 2021 by Oyeq

[GBeast 33]

12 hours ago, Oyeq said:

Well false, we accidentally got locked in the room after we cleared the whole of kara because one person restarted the chest event and we all got banned, even those that already hearthed and weren't even there. Measured? This is total bull.

sounds like an anecdote that isn't telling the full story

[Raithaam 0]

Ummmm, I got 42 days and literally all I did was play chess. I passed on every single piece of loot that dropped, even stuff I could have used. Meanwhile, there are people who actually took several pieces of gear who are getting two weeks or nothing. This obviously wasn't "measured and careful" more like "automatic and not actually looked at by a person."

The fact that some got huge penalties and some got none is most likely a result of yet another buggy algorithm. Lets face it, Blizz doesn't have the personnel to actually have examined these cases.

IIRC, the people who were literally creating a layering exploit to farm MC bosses were given 30 days, whereas people taking advantage of a bug created by Blizzard are getting 42, even if they didn't take any loot.

 

 

Edited June 20, 2021 by Raithaam
to expound.

[Oyeq 3]

Idc what you think, I have no way of proving it to you as I don't record or stream., Just know that Blizzard isn't very careful or measured in bringing down the banhammer as been shown before. Not everything is so black & white, there's a lot of grey area. Lots of people are getting banned that have no ill intentions and might not deserve it. Meanwhile, /who brd reveals hundreds of boosted rogue bots, farming gold.

[Raithaam 0]

I also really think it's noteworthy here that being able to play an unlimited amount of chess games is a feature, not a bug; you've always been able to do that. The bug was loot dropping each time. Technically, nobody exploited they took advantage of a bug, much like the people who bought up all the season 2 area gear; but as we know those people got no repercussions at all.