All the way back in Patch 23.6, Hearthstone's friends list was expanded to include "recent players capabilities", and we were also promised that in-game reporting would soon follow. Originally, this was meant to happen with the release of Patch 24.0 leading towards the Murder at Castle Nathria expansion, but the plans suffered from an unfortunate delay. Not for long however, as the most recent major Battlegrounds patch has finally turned it all into a tangible reality.
Quote From Blizzard Feature Update: In-Game Reporting
In-game player reporting is now live for all players. You can now report friends, current opponents, and past opponents from the friends list menu. Grounds for reporting include inappropriate names, inappropriate chats, and inappropriate gameplay. Now we can all work together to make sure the tavern is a safe and inviting place for everybody to play!
Now that we've had a full week to test this added functionality, we have more answers to any initial concerns and inquiries there might've been. And it doesn't seem that anyone has been unjustly banned so far, which is undoubtedly a promising sign.
In-Game Reporting System - Developer Insights and Clarifications
The very first time we've actually heard something about this very feature was during the Year of the Hydra announcement back in April. Hearthstone Features Lead Celestalon and his team have even managed to deliver on several other promises since then.
And it's Celestalon who has taken it upon himself to share further developer insights, answer questions, and even offer a small demonstration with step-by-step in-game screenshots and all.
Quote From Celestalon At long last, In-Game Reporting is finally here! You can report people that you've recently interacted with, or are friends with, for Inappropriate Name, Inappropriate Chat, or Cheating. (And no, intentionally losing still isn't an actionable offense.)
What the new Reporting system looks like (Source)
So that last part could be considered pretty confusing, right? If intentionally losing "isn't an actionable offense", then why is it even there as a valid option (vague as it is)? Our best guess would be evil bots, should a huge amount of people end up reporting the same account repeatedly.
Or perhaps it's all just a clever test, set up to see how many players would vengefully 'tell on' anyone who might've been roping or afking too much for their taste - despite such behavior potentially working out in their favor as a free pass at more ranks, achievements, or experience. And in that manner, could be just a 'feel good measure' to placate the most nervous?
Quote From Celestalon Hey, but if I will build achievement deck that’s aiming to progress something and not precisely win - will my opponent be compelled to report me for deranking?One question. What if I concede multiple times ( because, you know, my opponent is not my jam ) do I get in trouble now..
Reporting options are based on what people want to report, not what we take action for.
Quote From Celestalon Is roping an offense?No. It may be unsportsmanlike, but it’s within the rules of the game.
Celestalon actually had even more to say about such notions back in May:
Quote From Celestalon So “intentional losing” clarification question. Assume I have a “Play 3 games with X Class” Quest. I cue a game and then make breakfast; cue and then do the dishes; c and brush my teeth. This is punishable? Hypothetically of course!
Knew there'd probably be questions about that one… Just because something is reportable doesn't mean it's punishable. These categories are designed to match up with what reporters want to report. It doesn't change our policies on what we take action on.
That last one could be relevant in the case of, for example, wintrading, or perhaps some hypothetical MMR bug exploitation. But no, we're not gunna ban you for playing Yes Paladin. ;)
So you know, you can seemingly rest easy there.
Other Details
If you play a lot of Battlegrounds, you might've also noticed that there are currently certain limitations in play. Perhaps some day.
Quote From Celestalon Battlegrounds poses the additional UI challenge of having 7 opponents. Adding 7+ people to the Recent Players list felt like too much with the current UI, so we opted not to for now, and have more ideas there for the future.Yep, reporting by game, or reporting current opponent, or a different Recent Players UI that allows for more players… Many different potential solutions here, all of which require additional work. :)
And still, the one major concern remains for many players, as historically certain Blizzard titles had problems with handling and distinguishing between 'wrongful' reports:
Quote From Celestalon what measures you taking to ensure this system isn't abused and innocent players who emote or take their time etc from being banned and losing all the money they have invested in this gameWe have a very long-standing system of customer service that is prepared to handle these reports appropriately.
Quote From Celestalon We won't be able to give you feedback about your report at initial launch, but are working on that for the future. "Someone you recently reported was actioned, thank you for helping make the community a little cleaner." sort of message.
At least the developers seem convinced we should be able to avoid running into such 'unfortunate accidents'. After all, nobody would like to wake up to their Hearthstone account suddenly being banned for no particular reason. Downright ruins any relaxing coffee/tea moments.
And any kind of feedback would be certainly great to see further down the line.
The Early Version
Just for fun, Celestalon has also allowed us a peek at the early version of the feature, when the reporting reasons hadn't yet been finalized. Ah, to think what could've been with such politeness on display.
Quote From Celestalon And because it makes me chuckle every time I see it, here's a behind-the-scenes look at our early mockup for this feature, when we didn't yet know what our list of reporting reasons was going to be, but needed to put something there. :D
How do you feel about the new In-Game Reporting system now that it's been with us for a little while? Have you found a justified case to make any use of it yet? Let us know in the comments!
Comments
It is so weird to me that T5 refuses to do anything about ropers. Like, I understand being scared of punishing someone for thinking but there is no way someone is queuing up and roping every single turn of a 10 turn game in all of their games while spamming emotes. Other games allow you to report people for slow play but I don't understand why HS doesn't??
The intentional lose report function is there to keep the rest of the data clean. Consider:
Player X has a bad time in a match and feels, strongly, that their previous opponent did not conduct themselves in a sportsmanlike fashion and needs to be punished by the admins. They look at the report functions to express their displeasure. They feel the match was thrown in a way that caused them harm. If "intentionally lost" is not there, they pick some other function that matches how they feel. This distorts the data on that function. If the button is there, they push it and feel some relief, regardless of the button's efficacy.
The button exists as an emotion sink, allowing people to feel some resolution about a situation that the admins cannot possibly resolve.
The option serves a similar function to the "close door" button of most elevators (protip: those buttons are generally attached to empty shunts with no circuitry and do nothing -- elevator door closing is automatic).
With the added bonus main function of reducing false positives.
It's smart coding.
(And you do not want intentional losing to be penalized. That can of worms has no bottom.)
I'm hoping this cleans up all the bots in Classic. You can count on encountering one or two dozens of bots during the course of a month, especially in the latter half. They're always playing aggro decks (zoolock mainly, sometimes face hunter) and making nonsensical plays (playing minions when a Doomsayer is on board, attacking but not killing a Doomsayer, having their Elven Archer hit their hero, etc.)
I was reporting them using the [email protected] address up to now -- with supporting screenshots --, but this is much easier!
Wait, you can be reported for intentionally losing?
So much for making those terrible decks that complete quests quickly I guess, but that for obvious reasons won't win many games.
Its more related to win trading, something higher legend players tend to do to boost up their friend's ranks. Back in the old days where tournament invitations were granted based on legend rank, its not unusual for something like this to happen.
But it'll take for a very specific brand of maliciousness to report a player for 'intentionally' losing.
Any hints that opponent is XP farming with a bot?
I'm asking since it could just be my irritation is clouding my better judgment. I have been achievement hunting in low ranks of wild and I encounter opponents who hero power then rope. every. single. turn. To top it off, they are always renethal decks which makes it much more of a slog. I concede and move on but this is really irritating.
I'm suspecting bot users since there is an always action to use the hero power and you can see "them" hover over cards. Sort of like a click bot in a loop. I wonder if this is worth reporting or just a wasted effort. As mentioned in their post, reportable does not mean actionable.
A bit weird that you should find it irritating, because in my experience encountering a bot while achievement hunting is one of the few ways I got some of the more tedious shit finished up. I even design decks specifically in case I meet up with bots, and at very worse I'll just concede or raise my MMR slightly so I dont get to see them anymore.
To be honest, the way the achievements are being designed, I dont mind meeting up bots in wild, especially very low bronze wild.
Apologies, I think I misrepresented myself. When I said achievement hunting, I meant I use the the achievements to determine the theme for my homebrew decks. I still make semi competitive decks that still aim to win and not solely to complete the achievement. So not achievement hunting in the traditional sense. I'd rather have a real match and not get an achievement than a rope match that wastes my time but get the achievement. I also don't have a lot of time to play so I get irritated when bots waste my time. Just come context why I get irritated. I usually play standard but feeling burnt out so I tried this out.
It sort of went off tangent a bit lol. My original question was: are they really bots and is it worth the effort to report them? Though I guess from the responses, the answers are yes and no.
That's telling in itself that Team 5 don't playtest the achievement hunting if you're glad to que into bots. Ofc it's a separate discussion completely unrelated to this but with each expansion I always ask myself: "How does Blizzard think some of these achievements will be fun to complete?"
There's a pattern that comes up whenever I see the new expansion achievements. Generally speaking, the goal is for those achievements to be completed within 30-40 odd games, which is doable within 4 months if that's all you're playing, and then there's those which are absolutely mind boggling like Gone Fishin' which might as well be impossible if not insufferable even if thief rogue was all that was being played for 4 months.
Fun is obviously not the goal, because none of them are. The goal is engagement, to get us to actually play certain decks or certain styles. Obviously not with the intention to win. Whirlpool required 12 minions on board, which means you're flushing away your own board which 90% of the time just never happens in a competitive match. Cards like Frantic Hippogryph (which hilariously I completed this almost exclusively against bots) will simply never see any competitive play, not even in bronze wild because the card is shit, I'd imagine team5 managing a smile thinking some poor sod gotta actually attack with this card 80 fucking times.
And then there's the most infuriating thing; the xp reward only lasts 4 months. Why? For being too generous I'd imagine, can't fit it into the design document or that's one name crossed out of the bonus list for that year.
Same feeling here, I also welcome bots whilst achievements hunting. It so much easier to complete the ones with absurd requirements. Yes, the waits in-between turns are annoying, but it is ultimately worth the wait.
The rope bot is common in wild. Most of the time its an odd warrior with tons of taunts. It will try and fill the board with cheap taunts. It will try and activate the hero power multiple times a turn, even if it has no mana left. It will look at the same card in the same place (2nd or 3rd from the left) multiple times a turn then retry the hero power multiple times even if it has no mana. It ropes each turn, and the rope never speeds up because it uses mana each turn with the hero power.
Its goal is to make it as aggravating as possible so the opponent quits. All the while building armor in hopes of outlasting anyone at the point of fatigue. Against some decks it may do that. It hasnt a prayer against Quest priest, Mecathun, or some mill decks. But it does take some time.
The Odd Warrior bots I play against must be broken or badly coded. All they ever do is hero power and rope out while never playing any minions or anything!
Oh, I always thought the goal is to prolong the game as long as possible to get more xp.
That behavior sounds about right.
Since I don't care about my wild MMR, I just concede and move on. But it's really annoying. This should be against blizzard TOS.
Refusing to have tea as an actionable offense?! I’ll be going to Blizzard jail a lot then, because tea is garbage water!
And if you feel personally attacked by that statement… good! :)
Take it you're a coffee person then? 😅
Indeed! I'm also someone with a dry, sarcastic sense of humor that (judging by those downvotes) most people on the forums don't appreciate.
I knew you were joking (and I try to only downvote mean-spirited stuff), but HOT LEAF SOUP IS LIFE!!!
This is bad tea.