The 2nd & 3rd bullets, I’m throwing out into the wind because of key words (“In Perblue’s opinion”, “deemed by PerBlue”). We can’t declare that being AFK is a violation because … We aren’t PerBlue. We don’t actually know what PerBlue is thinking or what data they’re pulling from.
- Are there complaints? Too many.
- Is it frustrating? Obviously.
- Are there other circumstances that need to be considered? Yes.
Maybe their phones died, maybe they were playing another game mode & weren’t aware of Heist starting, maybe they got a phone call/called away to do something, maybe someone stole their phone, maybe they dropped it in the toilet, etc etc.
I’m not defending AFKers by any means, but if you’re going to do public heist with people you don’t know, you have to be prepared for circumstances you’re unaware of. Like you said, this isn’t a new problem, but if you’re doing the same thing over & over again, expecting different results … I’m not sure what to tell you.
Although kicking isn’t an option while Heist is in session, there are ways to avoid an AFKer from the lobby:
- Host Private Heists & manually invite Guildies, Friends, or folks in Global/VIP who respond to & add you.
- Don’t start Heist until you have a group you’re confident will cooperate.
- Type out passcodes that need to be said by every member before starting.
- Instruct your group that if they want/need to AFK, to sit their heroes on Diamonds before leaving.
In regards to the emotional instability caused by AFKers … The same can be said about casual players in active guilds. It can be frustrating ensuring your members follow your guild’s rules, Check-In, do Surge, or talk. Are we able to ban them from the game forever because they aren’t being a good guildie? No, but we can choose to kick them or keep them. Which brings me to my next point:
Because, their immediate priority after releasing Heist was to get Guild Wars out, which they now have. I imagine their priorities now are optimizing War & doling out their solution to this exact Heist problem (as was promised at the bottom of these Patch Notes).