Turns out, WoW is half-as moddable as Skyrim in terms of characters (not cheats/hacks)

TheScavenger · January 2017

So, one thing always bothered me about WoW. I can't play the character "I" want to play. The customization sucks, compared to games like BDO. So, I decided to go to google and see if that can't be fixed. Its one reason I found WoW so boring after playing BDO, is I can't play the character I imagine in my mind.

So on google. Found a rather niche part of the internet with "adult" WoW mods. But it isn't just "nudity", but tools, advice and guides on how to design your own character. You can change NPCs and all kinds of stuff. Only you can see it however. Of course, unlike Skyrim, you have to design the character with Blender/paint.net/photoshop and its a lot more limited...but...

Look

http://i.imgur.com/0m2uFjt.jpg

Its Sylvanas (my favorite character in WoW), but changed to Blood Elf skin with High Elf-like features. That is a character I designed myself to play. Suddenly, finding these tools, WoW has changed from a very meh game, to a game where I can customize my character to look how I want it to.

A HUGE part of any game for me, is to play the character "I" want to play. Not what the game dictates what I can play. I want to play a character from my mind, not from a bunch of cheap ugly parts to choose from.

So, finding out how easy WoW is to mod, has just literally renewed my enjoyment of WoW to even MORE than when I first played at release with vanilla. NOW I can play MY character, not BLIZZARDS character...I can customize my character to look how I imagine, not how blizzard dictates how it should look.

This has been the most game changing thing for WoW for me. Now I can play my character, my OWN character. Not pick from crappy parts that is VERY limited and I can't customize my own. That is really only reason I even liked BDO, is because in BDO if you spend enough time, you can make a character that is in your head and make it in the actual game.

http://vendayn.wixsite.com/skyrimvendayn/black-desert-online

you can see there, my Ranger+Witch are very unique compared to many in BDO, but that is what was in my imagination of what I wanted to play in BDO. Sure WoW still is limited by graphics (compared to BDO), but the character in that imgur link is the character "I" want to play. Not a junk character Blizzard made, but my own from my own creation.

I wish more MMOs came out like BDO where you can truly customize your character. But at least WoW is highly moddable, kinda like Skyrim.

TheScavenger · January 2017

davethebigfellah said:

So, did you fight better?

No, its just cosmetic. Same combat style as WoW, that isn't changeable.

But, at least I can play the character I want to play, not a pre-made one with random parts. That for me is 100% required in any game I play (except RTS/strategy games), especially after playing games like Skyrim/BDO/Fallout 4 where I can make the character look how I want it.

Forgrimm · January 2017

Any character appearance mods in WoW are against the ToS and can get you banned.

TheScavenger · January 2017

Forgrimm said:

Any character appearance mods in WoW are against the ToS and can get you banned.

actually not true. For one, on the site I found out about WoW modding, they've been doing it for many years.

As a further test, I left the game running on my PC (still logged into the game). Took my laptop to the local coffee shop's wifi (so different location/IP). Used my 2nd account I also pay for (I have 2 accounts in case I need to do a group activity). Reported my main account (through live chat) and said there might be suspicious cheating. Keep in mind, my character was still logged on. And the guy came back to chat after looking, and said he could find no suspicious activity. Then gave me a series of fixes if my game was lagging on the laptop.

Its only hacks and actual cheats they look for. Not cosmetic stuff.

(edit:

Posted to soon.

But, everyone wins in this case. Blizzard gets my 30 dollars a month, I get to play as a character "I" want to play, and get far more enjoyment out of it. Only I can see my character changes, no one else (which is the only downside, means only I can see it, which is sad). So my enjoyment of the game is far more than even it was at release, because I get to play MY character, not someone elses character. So again, everyone wins

Maybe one day WoW will have BDO customization, but I dunno if Blizzard would ever want to do that.

Forgrimm · January 2017

TheScavenger said:

Forgrimm said:

Any character appearance mods in WoW are against the ToS and can get you banned.

actually not true. For one, on the site I found out about WoW modding, they've been doing it for many years.

As a further test, I left the game running on my PC (still logged into the game). Took my laptop to the local coffee shop's wifi (so different location/IP). Used my 2nd account I also pay for (I have 2 accounts in case I need to do a group activity). Reported my main account (through live chat) and said there might be suspicious cheating. Keep in mind, my character was still logged on. And the guy came back to chat after looking, and said he could find no suspicious activity. Then gave me a series of fixes if my game was lagging on the laptop.

Its only hacks and actual cheats they look for. Not cosmetic stuff.

Character appearance mods, though they've been around for years, have always been against the ToS. It doesn't matter that it's cosmetic, it's an alteration of game files. It's rare that they issue a ban or suspension for it, but they absolutely can. People have been banned for using Tmorph.

TheScavenger · January 2017

Forgrimm said:

TheScavenger said:

Forgrimm said:

Any character appearance mods in WoW are against the ToS and can get you banned.

actually not true. For one, on the site I found out about WoW modding, they've been doing it for many years.

As a further test, I left the game running on my PC (still logged into the game). Took my laptop to the local coffee shop's wifi (so different location/IP). Used my 2nd account I also pay for (I have 2 accounts in case I need to do a group activity). Reported my main account (through live chat) and said there might be suspicious cheating. Keep in mind, my character was still logged on. And the guy came back to chat after looking, and said he could find no suspicious activity. Then gave me a series of fixes if my game was lagging on the laptop.

Its only hacks and actual cheats they look for. Not cosmetic stuff.

Character appearance mods, though they've been around for years, have always been against the ToS. It doesn't matter that it's cosmetic, it's an alteration of game files. It's rare that they issue a ban or suspension for it, but they absolutely can. People have been banned for using Tmorph.

Could be the GM I contacted didn't care then.

Still, I read about a few of those bans. 100% of the ones I read about, the ban is because they have a hack program (which is VERY easy to detect). Either they had it (even if its not running when they play WoW and used for other games) or they used it (and lied about it) when playing WoW. Of the 8 people I read about, I looked through their post histories and they had all used hack programs, either for WoW or other games.

Actual customization mods aren't the issue. Like I said, many of used it for years. And, the GM I contacted looked for a good 10 minutes (well maybe not entirely that long, but that is how long it took him to get back to me) at my main account, and he came back and said no suspicious activity.

I wouldn't want to play WoW without my own character (look at the Imgur shot, maybe not everyones cup of tea. But that is MY character, no one elses). I'd rather go back to playing BDO if I couldn't play MY character, but I like WoW more.

TheScavenger · January 2017

Imagine if WoW put in by default really awesome customization.

That would be amazing! Then you aren't clones of everyone else, but you can make your own character.

That is why when I found the modding site, it was so exciting because I can finally after so many years, make MY character in WoW and not look like someone else or use pre-made characters with random pre-made parts. I can play WoW now, and enjoy it so much more.

inmysights · January 2017

I felt like he told us the same thing 5 times!

Forgrimm · January 2017

TheScavenger said:

Forgrimm said:

TheScavenger said:

Forgrimm said:

Any character appearance mods in WoW are against the ToS and can get you banned.

actually not true. For one, on the site I found out about WoW modding, they've been doing it for many years.

As a further test, I left the game running on my PC (still logged into the game). Took my laptop to the local coffee shop's wifi (so different location/IP). Used my 2nd account I also pay for (I have 2 accounts in case I need to do a group activity). Reported my main account (through live chat) and said there might be suspicious cheating. Keep in mind, my character was still logged on. And the guy came back to chat after looking, and said he could find no suspicious activity. Then gave me a series of fixes if my game was lagging on the laptop.

Its only hacks and actual cheats they look for. Not cosmetic stuff.

Character appearance mods, though they've been around for years, have always been against the ToS. It doesn't matter that it's cosmetic, it's an alteration of game files. It's rare that they issue a ban or suspension for it, but they absolutely can. People have been banned for using Tmorph.

Could be the GM I contacted didn't care then.

Still, I read about a few of those bans. 100% of the ones I read about, the ban is because they have a hack program (which is VERY easy to detect). Either they had it (even if its not running when they play WoW and used for other games) or they used it (and lied about it) when playing WoW. Of the 8 people I read about, I looked through their post histories and they had all used hack programs, either for WoW or other games.

Actual customization mods aren't the issue. Like I said, many of used it for years. And, the GM I contacted looked for a good 10 minutes (well maybe not entirely that long, but that is how long it took him to get back to me) at my main account, and he came back and said no suspicious activity.

I wouldn't want to play WoW without my own character (look at the Imgur shot, maybe not everyones cup of tea. But that is MY character, no one elses). I'd rather go back to playing BDO if I couldn't play MY character, but I like WoW more.

A GM isn't going to be able to see anything. If Warden does a scan and detects the file alterations, you can be banned, it's that simple. Here's a reply from a Blizz rep when someone asked about "is it bannable":

I would avoid any program that changes such files as it could very well put your account at risk of closure.

So as long as you're cool with the possibility of losing your account, then go for it.

Sovrath · January 2017

I think Forgrimm is correct. You probably won't be detected but just know there is a possibility.

Vrika · January 2017

It's against TOS. I remember a Blizzard representative commenting something along the lines that if they allowed it, then you could change enemies to 100 feet pillars of fire in order to see them better.

Whether you get banned for it is another matter. Blizzard can choose not to act as long as they don't see it causing any harm to the game.

TheScavenger · January 2017

Vrika said:

It's against TOS. I remember a Blizzard representative commenting something along the lines that if they allowed it, then you could change enemies to 100 feet pillars of fire in order to see them better.

Whether you get banned for it is another matter. Blizzard can choose not to act as long as they don't see it causing any harm to the game.

yeah. While above I said I read 8 actual cheaters. There have been times I've seen people PUBLICALLY say "hey I modded WoW and can see enemy players from so far, made them so big! lolol"

not exactly like that, but saw a couple posts that said pretty much that on the OFFICIAL forums :P I didn't see them post again rofl. What idiots. That is cheating. But they are easy to get caught, since other PvP players tend to find out easily. or they blab about it to their friends or in chat like idiots.

Granted, I don't think Blizzard can easily tell someone (like me) who just changes the playable character to his/her own taste. Or someone actually using it to cheat.

From what I was told, its more likely they'll take action on a PvP server or if someone PvPs more often. I dunno how accurate that is. But person I talked to the other day said most people who get banned, tend to be the PvPers. Which maybe they like to cheat more, or maybe blizzard pays attention to them more, or both. I dunno.

I play on Moonguard (I stay the heck out of Goldshire as much as possible. Its a good alliance server once you avoid elwynn forest). And that is where most of the cosmetic mod players play on, so blizzard is probably aware of that. So yeah, I guess if its in their TOS, if they find me or others who mod the game to be exploiting, that is their decision.

I do think they actually ignore Moonguard players and leave them to their own thing. Probably why all the cosmetic mod users go there. If blizzard paid attention to moonguard, all the trolls going to elwynn would be banned and never seen again lol

But I find almost all the time its actual cheaters that get banned, or those who have bots/hacks on their computer (which don't even need to be running). Not someone who just changes what their character looks like.

Its like, if a cheater gets banned...they ALWAYS say "I never cheated". When actually 99% of the time that is what it is lol. Same with people going to a forum saying "hey I got banned on a forum, dunno why, so made new account to find out. I swear I didn't do anything", when they know exactly why they got banned.

TheScavenger · January 2017

Also, for cosmetic mods...wouldn't sweetfx also be flagged? I know LOTS of people use Sweetfx for many games. And no ones ever been banned for that (at least as far as I know. If they did, I'd assume that be big news and very bad PR for sweetfx), despite it being a program that edits WoW's graphics with its .dll file.

And the devs/GMs for many MMOs always say "be careful running sweetfx as its actually against the TOS". So that isn't any different than running cosmetic mods. And no one I've ever heard of got banned for sweetfx.

Like I said, that goes back to almost entirely actual cheaters that get banned. Or people who have hacks on their PC for other games, but it still gets detected. Or have viruses (probably from said hacks lol)

Octagon7711 · January 2017

I've used client side mods on a lot of MMO's over the years and never had a problem. I don't think Devs really care if you want to see characters running around half naked and it is kinda fun for a little while at least.

Volgore · January 2017

This is old news, people have been doing this years ago already.
Yes, according to the TOS it's altering game files. I'm not even sure if Warden was ever looking for that, back in my time it did not.
I've been using SweetFX on and off and nothing ever happened. Your mileage may vary.

If anyone ever actually got banned for doing this, we don't know. As with SweetFX, at least i've never heard of a ban because of it. But by my experience over many years of playing WoW you can't trust Blizzard on why they banned somebody and you can't trust anybody on why he get got banned. In my years of botting i've seen ALOT of crazy things happening around bans on both ends of an account.

What i do know is that Blizzard got much more easy with the bans in general, especially permabans and especially since Activision got involved...because of "reasons". There have been times in which you got banned for spamming the trade channel or foul language -when was the last time that this happened? I guess when WOW still had 12mio subs.

So if all my fun would depend on that skin of a cloak or chest, i would just change it. Worst case would probably be a 3-7 day temp ban or more likely a warning only, very very unlikely a permaban for this -especially if it is the first offense on an old account. And if they'd permaban me on first offense over that, then so be it.

The Battlechest costs nothing, leveling takes no time anymore and it's not like i'm clinging to an account like i did 10 years ago when you had to put many month into a character and a good account was worth something.

tawess · January 2017

Warden seems to be fairly ok with SweetFX but many other services are not (especially after updates to either) But you keep saying Blizzard would this and that... Understand that Warden is a computer and as such does not really give a flying fuck why you did it. It will flag anyway. All it takes then is a newbie or tired GM and BOOM. You have to go through the long and annoying process of appealing your ban of a actuall ToS violation. Even if it was not doing any harm.

It is like a friend of mine. He lives in the farmlands and there is a long stretch of road that pretty much only he uses... So he tend to speed a fair bit there. For years it was ok, no problem at all. But one day it just so happens that a police car was patrolling because someone had be stealing diesel. This is a place of a lot of flat open ground, so they saw him way off in the distance barreling down this road. One radar tag later and he got a nice fine and a firm warning to not do it again...

All it takes is a bit of bad luck.

Renoaku · January 2017

Could get banned but back in the day when I still played wow I modded my characters with all kinds of things including adult themes and never got banned although its unlikely if you did get banned just tell them you modded your textures you likely get your account back and told to not do it again at which point you would simply fully remove the game and reinstall...

Its likely better if Blizzard would just fix wow and update the character models and everything with more customization options anyways.

TheScavenger · January 2017

Well, according to the modding forum; someone said he talked to a GM and they said they don't ban cosmetic mods (unless it goes into cheat territory). Maybe the person was lying, or maybe that GM doesn't do it. Either way, kind of was my experience talking to a GM when they found no suspicious activity. Of course, their anti-hack is just a bot, not a GM. Either way, many people use cosmetic mods for years and are fine. Maybe they are lucky like a couple/few people here said.

In any case, its sure made my enjoyment of WoW be far better. It isn't because of the "adult" mods, but because of my actual character that I made myself, instead of relying on pre-made parts.

Quizzical · January 2017

Forgrimm said:

TheScavenger said:

Forgrimm said:

Any character appearance mods in WoW are against the ToS and can get you banned.

actually not true. For one, on the site I found out about WoW modding, they've been doing it for many years.

As a further test, I left the game running on my PC (still logged into the game). Took my laptop to the local coffee shop's wifi (so different location/IP). Used my 2nd account I also pay for (I have 2 accounts in case I need to do a group activity). Reported my main account (through live chat) and said there might be suspicious cheating. Keep in mind, my character was still logged on. And the guy came back to chat after looking, and said he could find no suspicious activity. Then gave me a series of fixes if my game was lagging on the laptop.

Its only hacks and actual cheats they look for. Not cosmetic stuff.

Character appearance mods, though they've been around for years, have always been against the ToS. It doesn't matter that it's cosmetic, it's an alteration of game files. It's rare that they issue a ban or suspension for it, but they absolutely can. People have been banned for using Tmorph.

Games tend to make more things nominally against the terms of service agreement than they'll actually ban you for. They don't want to catch someone doing something that really should be bannable, but have to let them off because they missed some loophole in the terms of service agreement.

"Cosmetic" changes that let you see things you shouldn't be able to (e.g., through walls) might get you into trouble, but they're not going to ban you for making your character look different to you unless they're unable to distinguish between that and changes that do provide an unfair advantage. Which they might.

Mods like this are at your own risk, of course, and if Blizzard bans you, it's your own fault. Or if you manage to screw up your game installation so that it won't run, that's also your own fault.

TheScavenger · January 2017

Quizzical said:

Forgrimm said:

TheScavenger said:

Forgrimm said:

Any character appearance mods in WoW are against the ToS and can get you banned.

actually not true. For one, on the site I found out about WoW modding, they've been doing it for many years.

As a further test, I left the game running on my PC (still logged into the game). Took my laptop to the local coffee shop's wifi (so different location/IP). Used my 2nd account I also pay for (I have 2 accounts in case I need to do a group activity). Reported my main account (through live chat) and said there might be suspicious cheating. Keep in mind, my character was still logged on. And the guy came back to chat after looking, and said he could find no suspicious activity. Then gave me a series of fixes if my game was lagging on the laptop.

Its only hacks and actual cheats they look for. Not cosmetic stuff.

Character appearance mods, though they've been around for years, have always been against the ToS. It doesn't matter that it's cosmetic, it's an alteration of game files. It's rare that they issue a ban or suspension for it, but they absolutely can. People have been banned for using Tmorph.

Games tend to make more things nominally against the terms of service agreement than they'll actually ban you for. They don't want to catch someone doing something that really should be bannable, but have to let them off because they missed some loophole in the terms of service agreement.

"Cosmetic" changes that let you see things you shouldn't be able to (e.g., through walls) might get you into trouble, but they're not going to ban you for making your character look different to you unless they're unable to distinguish between that and changes that do provide an unfair advantage. Which they might.

Mods like this are at your own risk, of course, and if Blizzard bans you, it's your own fault. Or if you manage to screw up your game installation so that it won't run, that's also your own fault.

Well, its like I said yesterday. Its like Sweetfx. Tons of people use it, in the TOS they "can" be banned for it. The GMs of most MMOs even warn about Sweetfx. If the person using it gets banned, it IS their fault. But no one gets banned for Sweetfx. Its probably there, against the TOS, because someone could use it to cheat somehow if someone found a way.

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Turns out, WoW is half-as moddable as Skyrim in terms of characters (not cheats/hacks)

Comments

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey

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Turns out, WoW is half-as moddable as Skyrim in terms of characters (not cheats/hacks)

Comments

"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey

This have been a good conversation