Blizzard has come up with a new strategy to contain toxic, abusive or spammy players in World of Warcraft: a silence penalty. Blizzard will be rolling out the new silence penalty along with the Legion pre-expansion patch.
World of Warcraft: Legion players can expect to be hit with a silence penalty if they are reported multiple times under the Spam or Abusive Chat categories. The penalty will be account-wide and is not automatic, but takes place after an investigation. The details are below (via Battlenet):
Silenced Players Are Unable to:
Talk in Instance Chat (Raid, Party, and Battlegrounds)
Talk in global channels that are auto joined (such as General or Trade)
Create Calendar Invites/Events
Send in-game mail
Send Party Invitations
Send War Game Invitations
Send Invitations to Duel
Update a Premade Group Listing
Create a New List for a Premade Group
Silenced Players Are Able to:
Whisper to friends (both WoW friends and Battle.net Friends)
Reply to Whispers from Non-friends
Party/Raid Chat (with Invited Players)
Create Parties and Raids
Talk in Global Channels that have a moderator
Share Quests
Sign up for a pre-made group
When a player gets the silence penalty for the first time, their chat will be restricted for 24 hours. Further penalties will double the duration of their silence penalty, which has no maximum ceiling set. Continuous douchebaggery means your account will go silent for a very long time.
Anyone can use World of Warcraft’s in-game report tool to point out abusive or spammy players.
The Legion expansion is World of Warcraft's sixth. Legion will add the Demon Hunter hero class as well as a new continent called the Broken Isles (among other goodies).
How do you feel about the new STFU penalty? Afraid it’ll hit your account? Getting ready to smash that report button? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below.
