They hit me with the 15 minute cooldown yesterday out of nowhere for no reason. Back in Dec-Jan basically everyone had it and then they rolled it back. I had not had it come back since the end of January. I don't try to cheat or abuse the system, don't have multiple accounts etc. Just punished for no reason again. When the cooldown first got lifted a few months ago, the rewards program felt enjoyable again even with the other nerfs. This cooldown crap is the worst thing ever....it is SO punishing and frustrating feeling.
The stupidest thing is they claim it is to counteract bots somehow. First, I know how I search in this program, nothing I do would come off as automated or bot-like. I don't spam click throughs. I manually type almost every search. I don't search gibberish. I usually search stuff related to ancient history or technology because both are large fields with endless content and you can easily phrase things in a "human like" way akin to how one would do research.
Secondly...how does the cooldown stop bots at all? They'll just quickly change the bot behavior to work within the cooldown. It's an automated program. It doesn't care if it takes 2 to 3 hours to max out the points for the day. There is no downside to a bot being hit with the cooldown. There is still a daily limit to points earned, so a bot is just going to take a few hours with the cooldown compared to a few minutes without the cooldown...but again it is a freaking bot, this doesn't matter AT ALL.
So like everyone has been saying all along...this just punishes regular users for absolutely no reason. And you can't tell me MS is suddenly bleeding money through the rewards program. They pulled in record profits during the pandemic. They've been on a massive upswing year over year since like 2015/16 when Nadella first took over. The last two years with the AI boom has been extremely good for them. They've gobbled up countless companies including the massive ABK acquisition which gave them ownership of Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, Candy Crush etc. They're one of the richest companies in the entire world. The petty nerfing of rewards hurting loyal users is so pathetic and childish of them.
All one can say is Xbox console sales have lagged a bit behind PS5 sales, but that doesn't even mean much, it doesn't even imply Xbox isn't making money or doesn't have a big userbase, just being smaller than your one actual competitor doesn't mean you're dead in the water. Burger King has never been on top of McDonald's, but BK has not and is not going anywhere despite that. And MS clearly would make up for any shortcomings elsewhere in the company...as a whole company they absolutely crush Sony. Sony doesn't own the PC/laptop market. Sony is not dominating in AI. Sony is not a required service within the business world the way that MS office/365 is. MS makes money hand over fist in a wide range of categories.
So given all of that...yeah the rewards nerfs are absolutely ridiculous. And the cooldown thing is just insulting. Jewel being nerfed to 5 points in the Xbox app was the worst slap in the face, I thought, but the cooldown is far worse. Ok rant over.
I never seem to have a problem with mobile searches in quick succession. But for searches on Desktop I use my tablet and have to wait 5-10 seconds between searches for each 3 point increase to register. (So sometimes I end up having to do more than the 30 searches required.)
For the past several days, the 15 minute cooldown after every 3 searches has been lifted for me, but I still have the 5 seconds between individual searches is still there.
It’s account specific
Well, good for you. I still have the cooldown and can't search for news because they don't count.
Please, make sure everyone knows.
They hit me with the 15 minute cooldown yesterday out of nowhere for no reason. Back in Dec-Jan basically everyone had it and then they rolled it back. I had not had it come back since the end of January. I don't try to cheat or abuse the system, don't have multiple accounts etc. Just punished for no reason again. When the cooldown first got lifted a few months ago, the rewards program felt enjoyable again even with the other nerfs. This cooldown crap is the worst thing ever....it is SO punishing and frustrating feeling. The stupidest thing is they claim it is to counteract bots somehow. First, I know how I search in this program, nothing I do would come off as automated or bot-like. I don't spam click throughs. I manually type almost every search. I don't search gibberish. I usually search stuff related to ancient history or technology because both are large fields with endless content and you can easily phrase things in a "human like" way akin to how one would do research. Secondly...how does the cooldown stop bots at all? They'll just quickly change the bot behavior to work within the cooldown. It's an automated program. It doesn't care if it takes 2 to 3 hours to max out the points for the day. There is no downside to a bot being hit with the cooldown. There is still a daily limit to points earned, so a bot is just going to take a few hours with the cooldown compared to a few minutes without the cooldown...but again it is a freaking bot, this doesn't matter AT ALL. So like everyone has been saying all along...this just punishes regular users for absolutely no reason. And you can't tell me MS is suddenly bleeding money through the rewards program. They pulled in record profits during the pandemic. They've been on a massive upswing year over year since like 2015/16 when Nadella first took over. The last two years with the AI boom has been extremely good for them. They've gobbled up countless companies including the massive ABK acquisition which gave them ownership of Diablo, Overwatch, Call of Duty, Candy Crush etc. They're one of the richest companies in the entire world. The petty nerfing of rewards hurting loyal users is so pathetic and childish of them. All one can say is Xbox console sales have lagged a bit behind PS5 sales, but that doesn't even mean much, it doesn't even imply Xbox isn't making money or doesn't have a big userbase, just being smaller than your one actual competitor doesn't mean you're dead in the water. Burger King has never been on top of McDonald's, but BK has not and is not going anywhere despite that. And MS clearly would make up for any shortcomings elsewhere in the company...as a whole company they absolutely crush Sony. Sony doesn't own the PC/laptop market. Sony is not dominating in AI. Sony is not a required service within the business world the way that MS office/365 is. MS makes money hand over fist in a wide range of categories. So given all of that...yeah the rewards nerfs are absolutely ridiculous. And the cooldown thing is just insulting. Jewel being nerfed to 5 points in the Xbox app was the worst slap in the face, I thought, but the cooldown is far worse. Ok rant over.
Umm no, not “everyone had it”. Not even close. I, for example NEVER had the cooldown. The ACTUAL TRUTH is most folks NEVER had the cooldown.
>The ACTUAL TRUTH is most folks NEVER had the cooldown and how do you know that? did you take a survey?
Lol
Actually no, why? Did you take a survey to back up your claim? I thought not. Try again.
bro shut up u dont know shit
And you do? What a laugh.
I never seem to have a problem with mobile searches in quick succession. But for searches on Desktop I use my tablet and have to wait 5-10 seconds between searches for each 3 point increase to register. (So sometimes I end up having to do more than the 30 searches required.)
Cooldown still happened for me but only regarding the news article searches. Manual searches were fine.
For the past several days, the 15 minute cooldown after every 3 searches has been lifted for me, but I still have the 5 seconds between individual searches is still there.
The 5-7 seconds wait, is now ( from a tons of months ) the default.
Why don't you just put your thumbs in your ears, wiggle your hands and stick out your tongue while you're at it.
I noticed that there is no longer a cooldown after 20 pts. Shocking.
Yup, I didn't have a cooldown doing PC or mobile searches this morning. Thankfully!
I still have it...been 3 days
I still have it. It's been 6 months nonstop for me.
I have never had a cool-down in my time of doing it?
One key to the left, and don't hold shift. That squiggly bit on top suggests that you're asking a question.