World of Warcraft: Forever is opening up old wounds when it comes to Blizzard’s actions (or in many players’ views, inaction) against bots and real-money gold buying, with a recent incident involving a popular streamer becoming a flashpoint for the MMORPG.
WoW Classic streamer Ziqo was recently seen on stream accepting large sums of gold from strangers in the lead up to a $100,000 WoW: Forever beta dueling tournament on October 17. In a clip in which he was traded 380 gold from a level one character (a huge amount in WoW Classic/Forever, particularly in a beta that’s only been out for two weeks), Ziqo can be heard saying there’s no way that amount of gold is “natty” but accepts the trade anyways. In another clip, he accepts 175 gold from a different level one character named El Delivery.
The community immediately saw huge cause for concern. Not only did gold buying already appear to be alive and well in the Forever beta after Blizzard previously said it would be more aggressive in taking action against gold buyers, but the streamer looked to be effectively buying his way to victory in the upcoming tournament. With that amount of gold, Ziqo would be able to essentially buy anything he needed in the lead up to the tournament, giving him an advantage. The WoW Classic subreddit became aflame with calls for Blizzard to take action.
Without mentioning Ziqo by name, WoW community manager Kaivax shared Blizzard’s stance on real-money transactions (RMT) in WoW: Forever via a forum post on September 28. While Blizzard has always looked to take action and punish gold sellers, Kaivax said, it will increasingly take action against those buying or accepting RMT gold as well.
“It’s important to know that while we have always actioned RMT seller’s accounts as quickly as possible, we will increasingly take action against buyers’ accounts,” Kaivax said. “That means that we will remove the illicit gold from the recipient and/or take further actions, which can include closing accounts.
“We’re once again asking all players to be very cautious when it comes to accepting gifts from strangers or other one-sided transactions. If it becomes apparent that a recipient knew or should have known that gold wasn’t from a legitimate source, they may be subject to account actions as well.”
According to Ziqo, Blizzard has since removed the ill-gained gold he received (as well as some additional gold he hardened the old-fashioned-way) but as of writing has not punished him further.
Many on the WoW Classic subreddit are calling for Blizzard to stay true to its words from Kaivax’s forum post and take further actions against Ziqo’s account, as it’s obvious he knew the gold could not have been legitimate.
“We can all agree it’s not good for the integrity of the game when streamers get showered with free gold on stream,” Reddit user Nino171 writes in a post calling for streamers like Ziqo to be banned just like any regular player would. “Treat everyone equally. Streamers should have to watch what they accept for free, just like any other player.”
Even if Ziqo isn’t banned from the game, some are calling for him to at the very least be banned from the upcoming tournament by its organizers. Others on the game’s forums are calling for Blizzard to ban accounts permanently that are caught engaging in RMT trading, with a call to “make an example of these streamers.”
For now, it’s unclear if Blizzard will punish Ziqo further with an account ban, but it’s definitely caused many in the Forever community to lose faith that Blizzard is willing to put its money where its mouth is in regards to cracking down on those both selling and buying in-game gold.
WoW: Forever’s beta, which costs $60 to gain access to, is currently live until October 21. The new version of WoW Classic with over 1,000 new quests, as well as new dungeons, raids, and zones, is proving to be popular, with Blizzard recently stating it had to once again increase the beta’s population cap. WoW: Forever will launch in full November 4.
