A number of Call of Duty content creators, streamers, and regular players believed that they were ‘shadow-banned’ or ‘blacklisted’ in Warzone, and were forced into front-door porters full of hackers simply because they were reported by opponents .
Fraud has been a constant thorn in Warzone’s side since day one, as crossplay makes aimbots, wallhacks and other unfair advantages common to console gamers.
There is a report feature in the game, which allows each player to report any opponent for cheating in just a few presses of the buttons. The increase in cheating has made many players too suspicious, and therefore false reports are very common.
Some players claim that despite the fact that they did not cheat, they are reported as cheaters, because of the good cause, especially since the incredibly excessive DMR now dominates Verdansk.
Players believe that their account shadow is banned – just because it is logged.
Warzone shadow ban for suspected fraudsters
It turns out – although it cannot be confirmed – that if you are regularly reported to be cheating, you can be placed in a lobby with a lower confidence factor (ie other players are also regularly cheated).
If true, it would mean that good players, who play fair without any cheats, could find themselves in an endless barrage of hackers simply because they were reported. The issue was raised by popular YouTuber Tomographic, who explained his own experience.
“Essentially, my account was blacklisted from the matchmaking system, and I’m now in a ‘cheater bracket,'” the YouTuber explains. ‘I’m now encountering numerous fraudsters. And it struggles that I can not play with my friends, because all my games are occupied by fraudsters. The match system considers me one of the bad guys, and it destroys the game for everyone. ”
He claims they played with friends, fellow YouTubers Aculite and JackFrags, constantly had cheaters. But after Tomographic left the party, the other duo said they would not run into fraudsters at all.
And it’s not just fraudsters. One of the other disadvantages of this problem is much longer times. Tomographic reports wait up to 20 minutes to find a match. And even once a match is found, the connection is weak, with a high ping and proliferating with scammers.
Previously, players reported similar ‘shadow bans’ in the base Modern Warfare multiplayer. In October, another YouTuber, Expel, claims to have had a similar experience, with matches full of scammers and very bad connections.
Warzone players banned ‘for no reason’
On the Activision forums, players claim that they also have shadow ban, without any helpful answers from the support teams.
One player complains about ‘200 ping games’ and ‘even if you find a game that suits you against hackers.’ They continue: ‘It’s unfortunate that this is the way the game works now, the normal player gets a shadow ban for no reason and keeps up with malicious people who prefer to cheat the game.’
The DMR 14 tactical rifle has taken over in Warzone, making more players think they have been cheated.
There is no response to Activision Support forums, and there probably won’t be one either. For a system like this to work, it needs to be monitored to prevent anyone from trying to abuse it.
But in its current implementation, it appears that players can maliciously target an opponent with incorrect ban reports, or simply mistakenly believe that they are cheating. This can result in the account being ‘blacklisted’ from the regular matchmaking pool.
The problem could get worse while the DMR 14 remains the strongest rifle in the game. Players who are killed so quickly by this highly damaged weapon are more likely to report their killer for fraud.