Blizzard has banned over 74,000 accounts in World of Warcraft Classic. In short, it was found that these accounts were using automated tools to collect resources and defeat enemies without any actual players present.

While the use of automation tools is a clear violation of WoW Classic's end-user license agreement, there are online transactions for software that expedite the process. Bots have been the cause of much confusion on Blizzard's forums recently, but given how painstaking the "classic" experience can be, it was perhaps inevitable.

Blizzard is determined to address the issue on an ongoing basis, but warns that the automated software deal probably won't go away anytime soon. A Blizzard spokesperson said, "Real money transactions are the driving force behind third parties spending an enormous amount of effort to circumvent our detection systems. 'This is a very high priority for us, but also the only priority for profit-driven bot organizations. The bans we issue are simply a cost of doing business for them."

The bans are not a cost of doing business, but a cost of doing business.

The studios also point out that while their own detection processes are powerful and evolving, they still require a lot of manual evidence collection. Indeed, some particularly dedicated players may even resemble automated accounts.

"There have been cases where legitimate players appear to be botting [other players]," the spokesperson wrote. In such cases, even if a legitimate player is reported and subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing, it can be very frustrating for the reporting player to see what they believe is botting again." There have also been instances where a reported player was found to be abusing the game, was removed from the game, and then immediately resumed doing the same thing with a new account with the same character name. This is an upsetting sight for the player who first reported it. We greatly appreciate your report." I understand your feelings about this matter."

You can read Blizzard's full statement here.