Are There Bots In The World Of Warcraft? The Reality

Find out all the info about bots in World Of Warcraft!

Updated on Sep 18, 2023
Fact checked by Marc Hammes |
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Are There Bots In The World Of Warcraft? The Reality

Nearly everyone who ever had a chance to play World Of Warcraft likely already knows the answer to whether there are bots in this game. If you're not one of them, you'd probably want to know, and that's why we wrote this article with in-depth details concerning bots in World Of Warcraft. So stick with us, and you'll discover all about bots in World Of Warcraft before you know it.

Are There Bots In The World Of Warcraft?

Unfortunately, there are all sorts of bots in World Of Warcraft used for an expansive range of illegal actions. This applies to each World Of Warcraft ever released from 2004 until today, whether it’s the retail version or the classic re-release. An issue that's been driving crazy both players and Blizzard Entertainment since the game's initial release, bots have still managed to persist after all these years.

Bots in World Of Warcraft are essentially in-game characters programmed to perform automated tasks without requiring any direct interaction with the human player. These automated tasks can range from farming materials to even leveling up the characters.

Some of these World Of Warcraft bots are so hi-tech that they can even fight PvP battles or complete pretty much any conceivable action set by the player.


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As a matter of fact, World Of Warcraft is knee-deep in bots, despite all the efforts Blizzard Entertainment has put into sweeping them away. Some of the most extreme cases were when they banned over 74 000 accounts in one month, yet that was only a tiny fraction of bots in this game. Since WoW cheaters known as Bot Mafia pull nearly all the strings in World Of Warcraft, in all likelihood, these 74 000 banned accounts were simply replaced with the new ones.

And if you're interested in more bot stuff, check out if there are bots in Halo Infinite or if there are bots in Team Fortress 2.

Why Do Players Use Bots In The World Of Warcraft?

Simply put, they use it for cheating, gaining an advantage over other World Of Warcraft players, and even profit (both in-game and in real life), among many different reasons. For example, one of the most common uses of bots in WoW is gold farming, which can be done by either killing and looting the mobs that drop gold or gathering materials that can later be sold for gold.

In addition, these bots can also farm items with an incredibly low drop rate, which would be nearly impossible to acquire without using the WoW bot.


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Once these players accumulate enough gold, they usually sell it for real money or trade it for other in-game items. There were even cases of "gold farms" when certain cheaters were using multiple instances of WoW simultaneously to farm the gold and make a substantial profit later. These farms were able to automatically make millions of gold coins in total, and most likely, these players (or should we say the cheaters) who used them made a killing.

Another way to use these automated bots is to level up the characters, which can be done in a few days without ever playing the game. In addition, bots can also farm honor at battlegrounds, and they even have preset profiles for each available battleground.

Do Bots Make Or Break The World Of Warcraft Experience?

Bots in World Of Warcraft ruin the gameplay experience for everyone entirely, and here are some examples of why. For instance, automatic bots can camp 24/7 at certain quest zones, so legitimate players can't complete any quests no matter how long they wait. This is especially a problem with rogue bots that enter the stealth mode, so it's nearly impossible to notice them.

Furthermore, bots can completely wreck the in-game economy by undercutting the prices set by players in the Auction House. These so-called Auction House bots are usually found in the AH of each major city, and they can be online 24/7 in some cases.


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So even when players set a bid for the auction house listing, they will automatically get outbid by a bot. Players who use auction house bots can even create a "shopping list" and automatically acquire everything. Lastly, one of the most significant issues about bots in World Of Warcraft is their excessive number. Perhaps those problems we mentioned would have been much less apparent if there wasn't a copious amount of bots on each server, making life more difficult for regular players and the game masters too.

How To Identify Bots In The World Of Warcraft?

There are many signs of the potential bot, and discovering them is pretty straightforward, but only if you pay enough attention. One of the first red flags should be the name, which is usually senseless and gibberish in the case of bots. If you suspect someone being a bot, inspect that player's gear, and if it's not compatible with their current level and consists of bind on equip gear, that could be another indicator of a bot.


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Bots will usually move in peculiar ways, like having identical patterns, running into objects, zig-zagging, etc. To spot bots in the Auction House, look for the players with an enormous amount of farmable items listed for selling there. They are the undercutters most of the time.

And lastly, just use common sense and awareness, and you'll be able to spot (and report, hopefully) bots all the time. If each player reports a bot, there could be hope for a more promising future in World Of Warcraft.

How Can Developers Put A Stop To Bots?

Since the first days of World Of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment has emphasized that botting, hacks or any kind of automated means of gaining an advantage in this game are strictly prohibited and that it's a shortcut to ban.

And yet, this hasn't stopped cheaters from using the botting software or other methods; quite contrary, their numbers have been increasing regardless of the preventive measures and fail-safes of the developers.


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So what does it take to finally get rid of bots?

Quite possibly, some big lawsuit against the bot developers. This would discourage all other bot developers from creating other cheating methods. So instead of banning the cheaters, Blizzard should focus on eliminating the cause of this problem because cheaters will always keep coming around in huge numbers, as they always do.

So far, not a single tactic of controlling and removing the bots for good was successful, so Blizzard Entertainment will have to develop something more ingenious and always be steps ahead of cheaters if they want to win this battle.

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