#0 - Aug. 20, 2009, 11:57 a.m.
I figure posting here will at least let me feel someone is hearing me.
My brother and I leveled horde and alliance characters. Playing off of Blizzard's "non-bop pets" we decided to use the neutral Auction Houses to attempt to cross the pets over.
As my horde character does not have much gold, due to mount training, we set the price at a true steal. We are communicating over a voice network system and have ready communication to instantly allow the other to know when the listing occurs.
We set a "White Kitten" carrier for 10c and the second I searched it, it was gone. Let me state - The listing was less than a second old and it got bought. Finding this fishy we tracked down the buyer. It was a level 1 orc warrior standing in the corner.
We decided to test our theory that this was a botter. We placed an item for less than sell back price - and instantly it sold. We'd put an item up for over the limit and it wouldn't sell.
Figuring we had this found out - we decided to attempt a few risky items. We sent some fused wiring over for 1c and it didn't get bought. Deciding the program may sort by rarity we decided to try some rare items. We successfully sent a frozen orb and Siren's Tear over without issue.
Then, deciding to be risky - we sent over a Dun Murogh Cub for 10c (which is the price we were toying with) and it was instantly snatched up. Instantly.
My conclusion is that the player is using a program to not only search for "lower than average" items but to search by title as well. This means the program bypasses the Auction House's search timer as well. Instantly allowing them to track any and all items within the program list and buy it up in a split second. Meaning they are also using a program that presses a sequence of keys or "moves" the mouse.
The entire time I've been typing/dealing with this - the player has yet to once <AFK>
Which means they are also using a program to keep them from timing out.
I could understand losing the items fair and square to someone who luckily buys it before I do. I, however, do not think that this is fair in any sense. It allows this player a strong advantage over others in the market. It is also a program that works like a leveling program - enabling a player to go AFK or entirely away from the computer and still profit. This gives them a huge edge to those of us who play the game fairly and with our physical person's present at the keyboard.
/rantoff
