A Message to the WC3 Community | Shut Down

[icecreamss]

Hello Humans, Orcs, Undead and Night elves.

For those of you wondering why you are unable to play that game of Legion TD, Vampirism or Dota you were so looking forward to, It is because We as Auto hosting Bot providers felt drastic measures were needed to show how much value we bring to the Warcraft 3 community. Not only do we provide a stable host for all to enjoy where we endeavor to keep the games clear of griefers and trolls but we also strive to keep games competitive by adding ranking systems and tracking your stats to ensure a more enjoyable experience.

Blizzard wants to remove Hosting bots from Warcraft 3. If they do, this is what it will be like for everyone. Fear not, for our services are only down temporarily but if we don't band together and convince Blizzard to change their mind, you will never be able to play that competitive custom game ever again.

Official message from all the following communities:

ENT Gaming, OHSystem, MYMGN, MMH, GhostPlay, Diplomunion.com, Werewolf Transylvania, MaulBot, Warcraft3.eu

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Support us on the official Blizzard forum https://us.battle.net/forums/en/bnet/12790218/ or share your opinions here
You can also leave your vote here: https://www.change.org/p/blizzard-retur ... ft-3-patch

Jabs, to be honest i think blizzard is hoping to let warcraft 3 bnet die off or at least minimize users to just playing ladders which will in-turn save alot of cost incured from high data servers and maintenance.

Currently warcraft 3 is at sale for just about $10 which definitely isn't making them substantial monetary gain for the effort, or maybe it's even considered an liability.

There is actually alot of tellsigns leading to this, firstly they started updating patches really frequently after years and years of non-updates corrupting some maps here and there especially for customs.

Secondly, through the process of all these updates, they also started banning quite alot of users with shared cdkeys. I saw many complaint to Blizzard but instead of helping the complainant, their only reply was to purchase a new set of warcraft 3. There is only 2 outcome with this, a portion of casual players who feels that they are wrongfully banned might quit or they will just purchase a new set. both outcomes is in Blizzard's favor.

Lastly, I'm pretty sure that Blizzard knows very well what hosting bot brings onto the table and all the advantages it has. However, they are still trying to ban it, why is this so? There are no clear disadvantages for hosting bots, but the advantages of hosting bots especially those with a regulating community is really clear cut even to an average joe.

I really hope ent will get back online asap, to be utterly honest, by taking the bots offline, all we did was give Blizzard the statistics of how effective it is to kill off warcraft 3 with a simple hosting bots ban. I feels as though we're actually walking into their trap

@jabba41

[bill7907]

1) @uakf.b
Is it possible to merge the thread I created about this issue with this current thread ?
This will eliminate information to be spread a bit everywhere.
Please include all of the posts listed in my thread and include them in this thread so we don't miss out on contributions from people/community.

Link to the other thread: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=135665

2) Negative keypoints to consider concerning the use of host bots:
a) Host bots are seen as lobby spam
b) Host bots are seen as intrusive as in collecting personal IP addresses
c) Host bots are seen as having a monopoly on the accessibility of custom games
d) Host bots could be seen as lawsuit triggers ; potentially "Player A" being banned from bots for maphacking would
have no other option to play the game. "Player A" complains to Blizzard for having purchased the game and can't
play any of his games since he's blocked from bots. Since there is no capability to host private games up to now,
"Player A" finds he purchased the game for no reason and this could lead to lawsuits against the Blizzard.


3) The standard community that mostly play custom games are mostly in favor of the usage of host bots.
All you have to do is check the outrage that is going on Blizzard's website.
Link: https://us.battle.net/forums/en/bnet/12790218/


4) So from what we can gather, the "Hiveworkshop" seem to be in favor of the abolition of host bots.
They are a "modding" community and a lot of the moderators and big names there are in favor of blocking host bots ; those against host bots are detached from reality are not in touch with the community's needs.
They have good visibility as two of their members("KAM" and "MindWorX" are employees at Blizzard, more specifically in the Classic team in charge of all those new patches that were dished out recently)

With that being said, Blizzard doesn't seem to be changing its mind on the subject.

There are big chances Blizzard will keep going forward with this project and therefore would you be considering creating an alternative platform with an non-official server such as "Eurobattle.net", "RankedGamingClient", "ICCUP", "Warcraft 3 EU" ?

Maybe we can use the newest build they have but every game would be played "outside" the official Battle.Net.



Anyhow, think about alternatives because it's happening.

[UrbanEdge]

@bill7907

Cant they change their policy and ban cd keys for using 3rd party programs - like they do in Diablo II - instead of removing the bots...

[CountChocula96]

ENT:

Is there any way you guys can sue Blizzard in court? It wouldn't cost as much as you think, and you might be able to get a lawyer to do it for free. People have been sued for dumber things. After years, Blizz is cutting into your community for no valid reason.

This would definitely stop them lol.

[Peppe]

ENT:

Is there any way you guys can sue Blizzard in court? It wouldn't cost as much as you think, and you might be able to get a lawyer to do it for free. People have been sued for dumber things. After years, Blizz is cutting into your community for no valid reason.

This would definitely stop them lol.

What would they sue them for? ENT doesn't own the game nor the servers.

[CountChocula96]

ENT:

Is there any way you guys can sue Blizzard in court? It wouldn't cost as much as you think, and you might be able to get a lawyer to do it for free. People have been sued for dumber things. After years, Blizz is cutting into your community for no valid reason.

This would definitely stop them lol.

What would they sue them for? ENT doesn't own the game nor the servers.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not necessarily advocating this or not and am not an attorney. My own theory would be because ENT in good faith provided a service for years to the WC3 community. To suddenly try to shut it down for no reason and/or out of malice is a breach of good faith and invalid interference.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tortious_interference

[HolyBear]

Support this move!

[zawadax3]

Im glad blizzard killing bots. No more elo kids. We will back to old days when just players will hosting the game. k/d/r kids will be searching a new hobbies. Go play battlefield naaps.
U join legion u stack
U join dota u stack
Where is your ur point on balanced game?
No more this shit.

And @devaztate ur funny as f*ck. Just host the ur own game. Its simple!

[dweiler]

I hope you guys will be able to make a difference for this new patch. There is no question that for the regular users of ENT this will be a major blow. Thank you for standing up for this amazing community.

I have signed the petition and commented on the BNet thread. Wish I could do more!

[firefly]

You guys are sitting on a gold mine. Put a team together and set up your own server. Charge a small monthly fee to play the game. I will be happy to pay the fee to play it. Blizzard is a corporation, and there for, their bottom line is profit. If they cannot make money off of DOTA they won't care much it. To be fair they have kept the servers open for custom games for a long time.

Only long term solution is set up you own server.

[driksdijah]

good idea to turn off the server for 48 Hours, or no one would take care about Blizzard Update. I hope you will find a solution or maybe make blizzard change this choice, dont read when people say you can nothing about this , the community have the power, and everything is possible. Thanks you for your personal investment and thanks for all the job you do with Ent Gaming.

[MethodMale]

Can you send a link to that petition?! I used to play a lot of standart Wc3 but since last years im mostly playing LTD and a little dota. I dislike not being able to play what i enjoy. Blizzard is just doing a scummy move maybe in a preparation of a new game or whatever, but Wc3 is alive. They can find a way to make a profit, it's about finding the right way and getting into an agreement of some sort.

[envoy]

Hey All,

Thank you for all that you do and for standing up for the gamers. I play just about every day and appreciate everyone at ENT's effort. I think there are many ways you could have brought attention to this and while i wouldn't have chosen this path, i understand it. It is also amazing to see the coalition that support each other in the move.

With that said, i think it is pretty clear that gamers are on your side but we are also being punished by you by being unable to play you games. You have manifested the thing that threatens us all. Again, i fully understand the reason behind it and have signed the petition but if we as a community expect Blizzard to be reactionary to our concerns, how can ENT not be reactionary to its community?

I do not speak for the community and i myself am conflicted. I want to support ENT in any way i can and yet it is ENT that has removed my ability to play the games they claim to protect.

[kezzor]

RIP

[sl4ck]

Hey All,

Thank you for all that you do and for standing up for the gamers. I play just about every day and appreciate everyone at ENT's effort. I think there are many ways you could have brought attention to this and while i wouldn't have chosen this path, i understand it. It is also amazing to see the coalition that support each other in the move.

With that said, i think it is pretty clear that gamers are on your side but we are also being punished by you by being unable to play you games. You have manifested the thing that threatens us all. Again, i fully understand the reason behind it and have signed the petition but if we as a community expect Blizzard to be reactionary to our concerns, how can ENT not be reactionary to its community?

I do not speak for the community and i myself am conflicted. I want to support ENT in any way i can and yet it is ENT that has removed my ability to play the games they claim to protect.

Yes, bots have been shut down, only for 48 hours though. Without that move, the amount of people voicing their anger on blizzards forum and signing the petition wouldnt be nearly as high.
@envoy