Why WoW Classic's botting problem may only have a vigilante justice solution

WoW Classic servers — and World of Warcraft just in general — have a pretty serious botting problem. This seemed to only get worse after in-game GMs (Game Masters) stopped being a thing. Of course, other factors contributed to this, such as greater access to technology/internet connections, and lessons learned from botting in the past. It has likely always been a part of the game and will never truly go away.

However, some players have taken a stand, and perhaps it’s going to lead to more, what could only be called vigilante justice. Whether you’re playing on SoD Phase 6 or the Fresh Servers, you will no doubt be inundated with botting players in WoW Classic.

---

What could the solution be to WoW Classic’s current botting predicament?

There have been reports of botting everywhere in WoW Classic, and it only seems to have gotten worse over the years. As a long-time World of Warcraft player myself, I've seen them for decades — but perhaps never in as significant numbers as you see on the Classic-era servers these days.

A good example is a recent Reddit post from Dr-Enforcicle, that showed a massive group of level 60 Hunters down in Blackrock Depths. Every name, as you can see below, looks like it was created by keysmash.

Nothing to see here, just a bunch of completely legitimate players in Blackrock Depths byu/Dr-Enforcicle inclassicwow

While yes, one of the names above could be a coincidence, and someone simply was a lazy level 60 hunter, it is incredibly unlikely. This post, of course, led to lots of Simpson’s jokes, from the episode when Bart could only find memorabilia for “Bort”.

Others have joked that bots simply act too much like a typical Wow Classic player, making them harder to find. Some bots react like a player would — such as a Hunter spamming Wing Clip and fleeing. However, one of the main problems is that since there aren’t as many GMs as there used to be in-game, most of the bot punishment is almost certainly handled by an automated system.

Comment byu/bubblekings from discussion inclassicwow

Many people think Blizzard simply doesn’t care about bots, and bans waves of them every few months, because they know those bots will just be back again. Bots have subscriptions tied to them, so either way, Blizzard is making money. It’s a cynical take, but given the general response to botting in WoW Classic, many feel it’s accurate.

You also have to take into account that, if available, many botters purchase level boosts, which is another microtransaction that goes to Blizzard’s bottom line. However, some players have decided to fight back. This includes the WoW content creator Madskillzzhc, who essentially began fighting bots.

Whether it’s through his exposé videos that highlight major botting groups, or simply taking it upon himself to kill any botting player he sees, he's invested time into this.

That attitude is catching on. More players are going out of their way to inconvenience and kill botters anytime they see them across the hardcore servers, and it’s hurting those botters’ bottom line.

After all, if you lose a hardcore character, they’re dead forever. You can't retrieve any gold or items on them. Even if you can’t fight them directly, you can kite extra monsters toward them, and defeat them that way.

Is this really the answer, though? Vigilante justice where players have to kill and report every bot they see, just to make a dent? It’s hard to say. The botting problem never goes away, and there are always people buying gold, justifying the existence of the bots.

---

Unfortunately, we don’t have an answer, but at least on the hardcore servers, some players have found a solution — kill or interfere with the bots they see, to impact the amount of money those characters can earn.