Unfair Advantages in Game Progression: Impact on Completion Scores, Achievement Points, Mounts, and Titles

Greetings fellow players,

I wanted to bring up a concerning issue that affects our gaming experience: the unfair advantages some players gain in game progression. Specifically, I’ve observed instances where certain players exploit loopholes such as account sharing and dubious methods to alter their last names, all to gain advantages in acquiring completion scores, achievement points, rare mounts, and prestigious titles. This not only undermines fair play but also affects the overall integrity of the game.

Issues Raised:

  1. Account Sharing:
    Many players are resorting to sharing accounts to obtain hard-to-get mounts, complete achievements, and boost their completion scores. This practice gives them an unfair advantage over those who play by the rules.
  2. Last Name Alteration:
    There have been reports of players changing their last names through questionable means (like forged documents or creating extra accounts) to meet certain eligibility criteria for rewards tied to real-life events or achievements. This manipulation skews the playing field and denies fair opportunities to others.

These actions not only distort the competition but also erode the trust and fairness within the community. Genuine achievement and progression lose their value when some players can shortcut their way to rewards that others strive honestly to earn. It creates a disparity that discourages fair gameplay and diminishes the enjoyment for everyone.

For example, in World of Warcraft, there exists a rare and prestigious mount known as the Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal. This mount was originally obtainable during the game’s vanilla phase as a reward for completing a challenging questline associated with opening the Gates of Ahn’Qiraj.

Recently, Blizzard introduced a new version of this mount, called the Black Qiraji War Tank, which was made available as a reward for participating in the Call of the Scarab event.
I’ve encountered instances where certain players have obtained the Black Qiraji War Tank without legitimately earning the original Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal. Here’s what I observed:

  1. Buying Old Accounts: Some players have resorted to purchasing old accounts that already had the original Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal achievement.
  2. Forgery of Documents: To consolidate these achievements onto their main accounts, these players reportedly used forged documents to change the last name associated with the account where the achievement was originally earned.
  3. Transfer to Main Account: Once the last name was changed and the achievement transferred, these players were able to consolidate the character onto their main account. However, despite these efforts, they only received the newer Black Qiraji War Tank mount and not the original Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal.
  4. Concerns about Fairness: This practice raises concerns about fairness within the game. It undermines the integrity of achievements and rewards by allowing players to obtain prestigious items through means that violate Blizzard’s terms of service.
  5. Proposal for Addressing the Issue: In light of these observations, I believe Blizzard should enforce stricter policies to verify the authenticity of achievement ownership when distributing rewards like the Black Qiraji War Tank. This would ensure that only players who legitimately earned the original achievement are eligible to receive both mounts.

Blizzard should take action against players who obtained the Black Qiraji War Tank through cheating or illegitimate means. One effective method could be to review achievement dates associated with the acquisition of the newer mount:

  1. Review Achievement Dates: Blizzard can analyze the dates when players earned the achievement associated with obtaining the Black Qiraji War Tank. Players who obtained the achievement significantly later than the introduction of the mount or those who do not have the original Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal could be flagged for further investigation.
  2. Differentiate Legitimate Players: Those who legitimately earned the original Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal during vanilla WoW should be identified and recognized. These players should be allowed to retain both mounts as a testament to their genuine achievement and dedication.
  3. Punitive Measures: For players found to have obtained the Black Qiraji War Tank through cheating, Blizzard could consider punitive measures such as:
  • Temporary suspension of accounts.
  • Removal of the illegitimately obtained mount.
  • Ineligibility for future rewards or events.

By enforcing strict measures against cheating and rewarding genuine accomplishments, Blizzard can uphold fairness and integrity within the World of Warcraft community. This approach not only discourages cheating but also ensures that achievements are rightfully earned and respected.

I invite you all to share your thoughts and experiences on this matter. Have you encountered situations where unfair advantages have affected your gameplay or perceptions of fairness? How do you think Blizzard could address these issues to promote a more equitable gaming environment?

In conclusion, addressing these issues is crucial for maintaining a healthy and competitive gaming environment. Let’s discuss potential solutions and advocate for fair play so that everyone can enjoy a rewarding gaming experience based on skill and dedication rather than unfair advantages.

Thank you for your attention to this important topic. Your input and perspectives are valuable in shaping a better gaming community for all.

I don’t think Blizzard or anyone can for that matter… We see it also outside of WoW and gaming… Performance enhancing drugs, cheat software, people cheating with earphones for stuff…

Some people will always try and find a loophole and exploit, for some it’s their livelihood.

Blizzard is already setting forth a ToS, that prohibits these actions.

It’s not like no one knows of these things, people know boosting exists, people know exploitation exists… But if you ban X people with come up with Y, if you ban Y people will come up with Z…

A note I took from the P2W thread, is… Maybe you should set your own goals, it shouldn’t matter to you that Greg got his KSM achievement being boosted, your achievement is yours. At the end of the day, it is a video game, there is no “prestige” in pixels apart from what we put in it.

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You’ve asserted two problems without providing any sort of example or reason why we should see them as any kind of pressing issues. I’m a bit confused what kind of discussion or result you’re expecting from this.

First one is already against the ToS. But could you elaborate what kind of considerable advantage one gains by sharing an account? What actions are they engaging in that demand any sort of competitive integrity that it requires immediate attention? Piloted boosts come to mind, but again, that’s already against the rules.

Second one, “there have been reports” is a strange way to put it. Some examples would be nice since that seems like a very rare and obscure thing.

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I assume you’re getting this info from the Almighty Q, don’t worry he will overthrow the Deep State Anon and the swamp will be drained.
Then we will be free of the Overlord Elites that prevent us from getting Blazing Drake through their Big Government Anti-Fun regulations.

While we wait for Q Anon we must make sure our Tinfoil Hats are snugly worn to ensure we are not vapourised by Space Lazers.

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Wow that’s pretty accurate …

If they

Okey …that’s funny …

OK??

I don’t know …i’m missing the whole point …

What other people do, don’t do, achieve, don’t achiev whatever… doesn’t bother me.

Stop looking at other people so much.

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The things you describe are already against the rules.

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Its all just a game at end of day means nothing to anyone outside of it, i wish people would stop making more out of it then they should far more important things in life.

Btw looking at some of your FoS in the raid section all i have to say is :thinking:

thank you for your response, I have edited the post and wrote an example above

I have played wow for nearly 20 years and i have never felt disadvantaged by the things that you have mentioned.
From my perspective, if i havent noticed this issue after playing for 20 years they dont impact me.
I dont recall a single time that i have looked at another player and felt they had an unfair advantage over me in any area of the game.

What was the illegitimate way of getting the mount? From what I can find, the Black Qiraji War Tank was automatically given to holders of the original Black Qiraji Resonating Crystal from vanilla.

Or are you talking about illegitimately getting the original mount 18 years ago?

I am honestly even more confused than before.

The timing of some of your legendary FoS are very dubious or very lucky on your part getting so many in such a short space of time.

thank you for your response, I have explained it above

It is only possible to transfer toons to same-named accounts even if they manage to “forge” false documents for the last name and account-bound stuff will remain on the old account as described in:

Due such practices Blizzard has made it effectively harder to impossible both legitimate players and illegals to transfer anything account-bound from accounts - account consolidations aren’t done anymore only character transfers.

Edit2: I believe they’re also retiring the transfers between accounts in TWW due the inclusion of Warband.

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I have no life, I play wow a lot and I mainly try to collect everything which feels impossible

Okay so we’re talking about a mount that only maybe a couple hundred people have in retail world wide, and we’re supposed to worry about a few “reportedly” cases of people going to extreme lengths to obtain an alternate version of it now?

I really do not think this is worth anyone’s attention here. If there are a handful of people “reportedly” doing this, getting the mount is the least of their worry because what they’re doing is literal fraud and potentially impersonation.

If this is happening I’d be surprised if the number of cases world wide is above 10.

The Black Qiraji War Tank mount is only one example.
There are more examples collection wise.

The question is still how often people go out of their way to spend presumably a lot of money just to commit actual fraud, all to get a mount in a video game.

You say this is just one example yet you didn’t give one concrete case of this.

You say “reportedly” which would suggest that there are reports of this, yet you haven’t provided one.

So I don’t see why people here should care that some players might “reportedly” engage in actual crime on top of breaking the ToS in order to obtain a mount. I don’t for a second believe this is a wide spread issue worth discussing.

This reminds me when years ago people were taking advantage of that transmog bug to get Corrupted Ashbringer, the only people who really cared about this were the collectors, and minuscule amount of people were actually going to the lengths to do this. Honestly I don’t think Blizz will do anything about this sort of thing and over time it will eventually get phased out.