Yesterday (05.05.21), Blizzard made another policy change regarding multiboxing within World of Warcraft. It is now prohibited to use software or hardware mechanisms to mirror commands (input broadcasting keystrokes) to multiple World of Warcraft accounts.
Players found to breach these new conditions will receive warnings, account suspensions, and, if necessary, permanent closure of the player’s World of Warcraft account(s).
Policy Change:
I have added below a screenshot of the updated policy change from Kaivax – Community Manager at the World of Warcraft forums.
Policy Update for Input Broadcasting – May 2021
These new policy changes will affect many players, myself included. So this morning, I approached Blizzard’s Support and opened a ticket to clarify whether the use of Joe Multiboxer (JMB) was safe to use. If you read my review on JMB here, you can see that JMB doesn’t input broadcast keystrokes to multiple accounts. Thanks to Blizzard’s term “streamlining” I found this vague and felt it was essential to get some clarity.
My Conversation with Blizzard’s Support:
Please find below a copy of the support tickets from today’s conversation with Blizzard Support. The last response is vital as the GameMaster expresses that as long as the program used (JMB) meets the criteria set out in the policy change, then it’s okay to use.
Original support ticket:
I also attached a screenshot from JoeMultiboxer’s website outlining the inability to broadcast keystrokes to multiple World of Warcraft accounts with their program.
JoeMultiboxer Screenshot:
First GameMaster Response:
I felt the response was very vague, pretty much a copy and paste job (from the policy itself), so I carefully worded my response in the hope of getting a definitive answer.
My Response for further clarity:
Second Response from a GameMaster:
As mentioned above, this final response from a GameMaster clarifies that as long as JMB doesn’t breach the criteria set out in the policy change, then it’s okay to use.
Conclusion:
As I only use JMB for their window layout manager and the program doesn’t have input broadcasting to multiple accounts, I will continue to use JMB. The only players banned so far are those that have participated in Group Farming or World PvP. A result of other players reporting them.
Since the original policy change in November last year, I haven’t done any Group Farming, Dungeons, or PvP. My sole purpose for using JMB is to reduce my posting times; when I post my auctions. This is possible with their window layout manager and using multiple accounts.
Blizzard Support:
Blizzard’s Support is extremely helpful and approachable, and I understand the guidelines they must adhere to when responding to players. However, I hope this blog post today offers a little reassurance to you if you use JMB.
Thank you to the GameMasters for their time and continued efforts.