Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

Abusive chat should drop after ‘World of Warcraft: Legion’ pre-expansion patch

By
Everyone hates a party pooper. That’s why, to those that don’t play World of Warcraft, it may come as a surprise that one of the world’s most famous game developer, Blizzard Entertainment, has just now announced that in its upcoming pre-expansion patch for Legion, it’s implementing a system to punish those that use abusive language in chats. According to a blog post, players who are reported multiple times under the Spam or Abusive Chat categories will be investigated, and if it turns out positive the player will receive an “account-wide silence penalty.” And while that penalty is great for those who are experiencing the nasty side of the game’s community it doesn’t completely disallow chatting with other people, and Blizzard has published a detailed list of what a silenced player can expect.

Its main targets appear to be the general chats. Players who have been silenced will be unable to join instant chat (for raids, party, and battlegrounds) as well as automatically joined global channels like General or Trade. They won’t be able to host in-game marriages or birthday parties either, at least not via the game’s built-in calendar, since they’re unable to create events or send invites. In-game mail will also be out of reach, and invitations to a party of War Game are shut off too. That’s a lot of limitations on interaction with other players, and it doesn’t stop there. Should a silenced player want to duel someone they’ll have to wait for it to come from somebody else. Finally, they’ll be barred from updating premade Group Listings or creating a new list for a premade Group.

Related

Still, there are a few options left for communication. Silenced players can still whisper to friends, and reply to their whispers, on both WoW and Battle.net. A party or raid with invited players will also be open for a chat, and they can still create their own parties or raids. Blizzard has also decided that as long as a moderator is present, the player will be able to talk on global channels. They can also share quests and sign up for pre-made groups.

A player that has been silenced will stay that way for 24 hours, should they repeat their behavior that duration will double. This happens indefinitely, meaning the next successful slew of reports get you banned for 48 hours, then 96 hours on a third occurrence, and so on. Blizzard encourages players to create a non-volatile community by making proper use of the in-game report tool.

Players are displaying differing opinions on the game’s official forums. Some are voicing concerns that the game uses an automated system despite the statement there will be a prior investigation, but a community manager was quick to point out it will be investigating the reported cases. For now it’s uncertain what effects the penalty system will have on reporting players in the game, but one could argue that, for a game that has been out for almost 12 years, something like this should have been implemented a long time ago.

The next expansion, World of Warcraft: Legion, will hit the shelves on August 30.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Dan Isacsson
Dan Isacsson
Contributor
Being a gamer since the age of three, Dan took an interest in mobile gaming back in 2009. Since then he's been digging ever…
World of Warcraft’s new leveling gives reason to play without watching Netflix
world of warcraft new leveling experience rework good wow shadowlands opinion 01

At Blizzcon 2019, in a simpler time, Blizzard outlined its plans to make World of Warcraft feel like an RPG again. It was a shocking confession of failure from the minds behind the most influential western MMORPG. Blizzard promised that before the (now delayed) Shadowlands expansion release, it planned to refine the leveling experience to make every “ding” feel rewarding.

It would all start with a squish, reducing the game’s lofty maximum level of 120 down to a measly 60 -- the lowest cap since "vanilla" World of Warcraft (now known as Classic) launched 16 years ago.

Read more
Ubisoft confirms Assassin’s Creed remakes are in the works
Basim perched on a ledge overlooking Baghdad

In a company interview with CEO Yves Guillemot posted on the Ubisoft website Thursday, the executive reveals that there are remakes of Assassin's Creed games in the works, although he doesn't specify which ones.

"Players can be excited about some remakes, which will allow us to revisit some of the games we've created in the past and modernize them," he says, implying that it could pertain to games made before Odyssey. "There are worlds in some of our older Assassin's Creed games that are still extremely rich."

Read more
Surfaced patent shows what an Xbox streaming console would’ve looked like
An Xbox Series X sits next to both Series S models.

There have been a few Xbox devices that have never come to fruition, one of which was Keystone, a prototype for an affordable game streaming device you could hook up to your TV or monitor. Thanks to a surfaced patent, we've gotten an even closer look at what it would've potentially looked like.

The patent, first spotted by Windows Central, gives us a more complete view of the device. We've previously seen the Keystone in the flesh. Microsoft Gaming head Phil Spencer is known for hiding teases and interesting collectibles on the shelf in his office. In a 2022 X (formerly Twitter) post congratulating Bethesda on Fallout's 25th anniversary, you can see a small white device on the top shelf that's actually a Keystone prototype. Xbox told Digital Trends that it was a version of the device made before it decided to "refocus our efforts on a new approach.”

Read more