Shout outs to whoever picked the header image on this article. 10/10 choiceThey really need to 180 on the boosting decision and crack down on it. Yes its "always been around", but it was never allowed and considered taboo for it to ever be out in the open. Advertising in trade chat for boosts and spamming like its done now? This is reductive and destructive to the game as a whole. Yes the systems aren't great, but these boosting empires are killing the game faster than anything blizzard could design outside of just turning the servers off.It needs a firmer hand and stronger action to combat than "Don't do that.".
A lot of advertisers specify a link to their website in the description.If Blizzard would simply block any listings that contain the banned websites, it would filter out a huge amount of spam.All of the player reports NEED to be checked to block future or changed advertising links.I've been reporting the same community for months and nothing is done about. All of the listings contain their website link (p*carry*).Ban the URL, all redirector URLs, the accounts, the linked payment methods, implement multi-factor authentication when using GameTimeCodes, ban the MFA used emailaddress or phone number. Of course there are always ways around this or options not listed, but this would stop or make it a lot harder for the boosting advertisers.
great discourse on WoWs performance society. on a sociological perspective its Klassenkampf all over again. the lower tier players hating on boosts, as they feel degraded in their "social" status by boosted " filthy casuals". (tip: if one cant distinct a boosted from a high tier player, u r probably not high tier)while the more skilled players either participate or just dont care about boosted "filthy casuls", as they can distinct them by a simple gear and achievement, or if necessary Raider.IO check. (hint: check pug applicants on raider.io if trying hard to be competitive)overall boosting is a historic institution in MMOs, esp. WoW and rose to mainstream popularity since BFA with some economically impressive enterprises. understandably Blizzney eventually had to intervene, as those billionaire incomes werent to spend ingame any longer and supported RMT.but RMT is a simple indication of the original issue, which is systemic. WoWs performance society mimics RL capitalisms hierarchy, further incentivized by WoWs design philosophy of vertical progression, which installs pre-reqs, aka limits, or entrance barriers to content.players expectation to experience the whole content (also high tiers) is quite comprehensible, as every player is legitimately entitled to endgame exclusively by purchase (hint: its all about endgame). or y buy a game, which doesnt allow any player - and even if its just by time-investment gaps - to complete it within their individual limitations?finally this "discourse" verifies the systemic issue of WoWs design philosophy and the necessity of boosts, as they r a consequence of a broken endgame system, which again focusses too much on player investment (aka skill: skill is time invested to learn, with some minor outliers) since 7.3 (introduction of de-casualisation, a 180 on the former direction since WoD).those boosts actually finance not just the ingame economy, but r a very considerable factor in token sales, as many just dont have the required time to invest, but still want to experience endgame on a more "relaxed" perspective. for sure, if this community would be really and not just alibi-(as in pseudo) supportive, boosts wouldnt exist at all, as those services would be offered for free, just because y not educate a newbie or support a leisure time players KSM? its not possible, as time is skill is gold is status. without boosting ilvl (and therefore performance) gaps would increase the already severely segregated playerbase. personally i advocate a major reform in design philosophy, cuz the inherent stratification pressure exhibits toxicity by degradation of players into IO ranking.but this is WoW, a reflection on Blizzards corporate culture mirrored ingame, hostile, toxic and ignorant, but as always players r smarter when it comes to their individual understanding of fun and how to exploit it. cuz capitlisms performance society is all about exploitation...
Blazing Boost still up and running :o
Telegram will always be a thing, will keep boosting on other realms and there's nothing you can do about it :)Mad?
Let them cry
Houkan seems to be gone as well, seems like it wasn't only EU communities, starlight boosting is still up though. Although they haven't been participating in escrow at all.
Can't cut this cancer out of the game fast enough.
I don't think this should be Discord's job or responsibility, and honestly, I think it's sort of an overreach of their power. They supply people with a communication platform, unless the content on that platform is illegal in some way, I don't think they should be removing it. That being said, it seems this overreach is exclusive to Europe at the moment, because none of the servers with boosting channels I'm a part of were deleted.
The boosting communities have their discords back up so it really didn't change anything