World of Warcraft®

He mostly plays with others in our guild, which is why the /follow being broken is so much of an issue.

It became an issue because he logged in today, ready to pvp after patching up and suddenly he couldn't.

I, like many others find the guy inspiring, and I really feel for him.
Maybe there are solutions out there though, this article came to mind.

World of Warcraft studio Blizzard Entertainment has paid tribute to a sightless player of the game and a user who helps to guide him with the release of two special items.

British soldier Ben Shaw, who was blinded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, continues to play the multiplayer online title as an Enhancement Shaman called Hexu with the aid of a Death Knight known as Davidian.

Davidian is controlled by a Scottish user named Owen, who uses a series of macros to guide his friend through the game. Hexu can perform raids, repairs and battles with his friend's assistance.

Blizzard has now introduced two special items to the game named after the pair - 'Hexu's Amplifying Helm' and 'Davidian's All-Seeing Eyes'. The items' respective descriptions read "A man with a friend is never without vision" and "Sharp enough to see for two men".

Hopefully a solution will be found, but in the meantime, maybe you could do a few things?

Is it possible to figure out a system of macros like these guys used (above)
Can he be guided by voice commands over Vent?
Perhaps you could try reaching out to the add on community, there are some very talented people out there and I am certain something else could be created to make it easier.

I am posting this in the hopes that it will get a blue response or a fix, after being advised that posting in the BGs forum would not net results.

I have a blind friend that plays World of Warcraft. His character name is Refunki. You can see his armory here:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/character/malygos/Refunki/advanced

Another thread about problems for the blind here:
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7894179446

And his Youtube account, showing he is blind and playing WoW:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Refunkiisblind

For years now (since the beginning of Cata), we have used scripting commands and voiced emotes like /yell, /cheer and /roar to communicate with him and other players. We purchased a Vent server so he could talk with guildies. He has a macro that he sends to players in battlegrounds letting them know he is blind and how he will contribute to the battleground. He is consistently in the top half of DPS in random BGs when someone leads him to the fight. Playing World of Warcraft has been the first time since going blind that he has been able to play a video game, and it has brought him many friendships and immense satisfaction.

Breaking /follow in battlegrounds effectively prevents blind people from playing. He literally can no longer play and it has made him depressed. It is just one more way the world around him refuses to welcome him into doing regular things that all his friends do.

What's more, I am shocked that Blizzard, after touting the success of another blind player
(http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/01/12/guide-dog-player-and-guild-embrace-sightless-guildmate-steer/) would do something that would so fundamentally prevent a blind player from playing. I was encouraged that I could play with my friend for years to come.

Refunki is willing and able to provide documentation of his blindness, if only he can play again. Please don't punish him for the actions of others.

Edited to clarify.

You may want to place the blame where it really belongs...the players. If people weren't constantly trying to find ways to cheat then Blizzard wouldn't need to have to do things like this to prevent it.

I really don't see how /follow caused much of a problem anyways. Most bots have their own paths to follow, no?

I know this is difficult to comprehend but there are many different types of bots and many different ways to cheat. While breaking /follow only addresses a very select group of cheaters it is just further proof that Blizzard isn't sitting around relying on reports to handle this problem.

To quote Star Trek.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one.

Don't blame Blizzard, Blame the players who abused the system, Multi boxers, Botters, or just plain lazy sods not willing to earn their honor.

In the following movie, Kirk, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, Uhura, and Scotty risked their careers and lives to rescue Spock's body.

Why? Because they believed that the needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many.

In the process, they also ended up rescuing Kirk's son and a Vulcan scientist from Klingons, and in the movie after THAT, ended up saving Earth, and were only able to do so because they weren't on Earth when the Probe arrived.

Hopefully a solution will be found, but in the meantime, maybe you could do a few things?

Is it possible to figure out a system of macros like these guys used (above)
Can he be guided by voice commands over Vent?
Perhaps you could try reaching out to the add on community, there are some very talented people out there and I am certain something else could be created to make it easier.

Thank you for the suggestions, but we already do many of these things to enable play in the first place. The fact is that /follow is forbidden to be called from the command line in BGs. The ability has literally been taken away.

Wow - very impressive stuff! I'd like to hear how the Blizzard PR team handles this issue.

There is nothing to handle. Just as multboxers are a niche play style so is blind people playing the game. Blizzard can't support everyone's style of play and certainly not to the detriment of the entire community.

Because they believed that the needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many

Was slightly off so fixed it :)

Pounceykins: I cannot help other than to wish you luck, and that you remind me of an old saying "courage needs witnesses".

Toujours l'audace.

Killing off Multi-Boxers is more important

If Blizzard wanted to put an end to multiboxing there are a million more ways that are far more effective than breaking /follow.

There is nothing to handle. Just as multboxers are a niche play style so is blind people playing the game. Blizzard can't support everyone's style of play and certainly not to the detriment of the entire community.

They can try.

Xanzul: I submit to you that the loss of a player like this, is a detriment to us all.

This smells of multi-boxer

This has NOTHING to do with multiboxers. There are already workarounds for multiboxers that don't violate any rules. This was done to handle afk followers.

03/05/2013 08:51 PMPosted by Zhenogre

Because they believed that the needs of the one outweighed the needs of the many

Was slightly off so fixed it :)

Pounceykins: I cannot help other than to wish you luck, and that you remind me of an old saying "courage needs witnesses".

Toujours l'audace.

Heh, actually just noticed it myself. ^^ Thanks, though. ^^

And luck in what?

The blind man should be able to play, if he can handle it.

/support

And luck in what?

Everything.

03/05/2013 06:23 PMPosted by Arikara

FYI Azzeria Multiboxers don't play to sell accounts.

No they play because they are incapable of winning 1v1.

I'm totally fine with them doing stuff on their own, but in no way shape of form should they be allowed to influence positively or negatively the actions of others.

I'm sure there are one or two decent multiboxers who play for the challenge, or lack of friends.
But a multiboxer in a battleground has one reason to be there, and that is to overpower.
$15 a month per account or not, that is cheating in my book.

The fact that you even think 1v1 matters pretty much says it all and why you dislike multiboxers. Battlegrounds are a multiple player experience so if you go running off alone of course you are going to get stomped by 2+ other players.

03/05/2013 06:26 PMPosted by Frigidaire

That sucks for your friend, but...this was certainly not something directed at blind players. I think it would be great if Blizzard could make an exception for him, considering his situation and faithfulness to the game, but to call this discrimination is actually harmful to the case you are trying to make.

Discrimination is in the effect of an action. Regardless of their intention, their actions specifically prevent blind players from playing and that is unacceptable without a workaround.

This is a video game. You do realize this right? No one is being discriminated against. Please just stop now because this is completely insulting to your friend.

Blizzard should fix this up and put follow back in BG's. It's not like botters use the follow function anymore. Their AI has advanced

How in gods name would a blind person pvp or quest or ... anything? This is 100% a visual game and there is no way you could play without seeing. This has got to be the best troll EVER.

Oh, wait, I think I might have seen your friend in game. He was running into a wall for about an hour in ORG.

And now the thread really derails....