Guild Wars 2 and It's Schizophrenic Exploit Policy

[R-F]

I recently got banned from Guild Wars 2 from buying items for a vendor in game that ArenaNet retroactively decided were too cheap and decided to then raise the prices and ban everyone who bought too many items off them. This was despite people using similar exploits earlier in the week not having any measures taken against their accounts. Also was the fact that I flagged that there might be something wrong with the vendor in a ticket to ArenaNet.

Now they've told me that I can get my account only suspended for 72 hours, but the ticket I sent in several days ago has had no one touch it or approve it, so I'm stuck just waiting to be unsuspended, unable to play a game I paid £60 for.

Again, yesterday / today, it was done again, but no one who did it has had any measures taken against their accounts. No suspensions, no permabans, no nothing, just people running around doubling their gold every few minutes and destroying the economy.

I got banned for exploiting because it "might damage the economy", despite the fact that, at the time, there was no trading post, mail wasn't working and there is no way to trade with other players. Now that the trading post and mailing is back up, there are people running around selling items that they have used exploits to gain on there, but they are having no action taken against them.

ArenaNet's exploit policy is all over the show, and it's ruining the game. They need to either ban everyone who does anything that could be considered an exploit (Hello shutting down the Mists->LA->City route, which is an exploit that stops city / world travel costing very much) or unban and recompense the people that were banned or suspended for buying things off a vendor on a mistake ArenaNet made.

This is absolutely disgusting. Would it be possible to get some RPS coverage on the way ArenaNet is treating it's paying customers?

[jnx]

You did exploit the vendor though... Submitting a ticket about the thing just confirms that you knew there was something wrong with it.

[Nalano]

They didn't "retroactively decide" that the prices were 1% of the intended prices. They misplaced a decimal point during an update and people took advantage.

The trading post has been up for some, and people could exploit the mystic forge with the (incredibly cheap) materials with the intent of flooding the market when it would be up for all.

Being that the game is just getting started, large influxes of this kind of shit would have outsized effects in the gameplay right when people are getting the feel of the game, so it's shoot first, ask questions later.

My suggestion is: Suck it up. The people who have a right to complain are the ones who were hacked and have to wait for ArenaNet to put out this fire before they can go on to reinstate their accounts.

[R-F]

They didn't "retroactively decide" that the prices were 1% of the intended prices. They misplaced a decimal point during an update and people took advantage.

The trading post has been up for some, and people could exploit the mystic forge with the (incredibly cheap) materials with the intent of flooding the market when it would be up for all.

Being that the game is just getting started, large influxes of this kind of shit would have outsized effects in the gameplay right when people are getting the feel of the game, so it's shoot first, ask questions later.

My suggestion is: Suck it up. The people who have a right to complain are the ones who were hacked and have to wait for ArenaNet to put out this fire before they can go on to reinstate their accounts.

And then they retroactively decided it was an exploit. Nalano, I implore you to first learn what the words retroactive and exploit mean before carrying on in this thread.

First off, no, the trading post was up for no one at that point. Secondly, it has been going on for the past two days with FAR worse reprecussions since it was possible to make more money selling the items than buying them.

My suggestion is: Please stop being a dick.

You did exploit the vendor though... Submitting a ticket about the thing just confirms that you knew there was something wrong with it.

What a ridiculous concept. Like I said, there're "exploits" that're endemic, should I stop using them, too?

[Brit89]

I bought 4 of those Karma weapons, not knowing there was a mistake on the price or people were exploiting this..... I'm still in the game. Like jnx said, you wrote a ticket, after buying the items, knowing there was something wrong.

I sick of people posting threads about this, there's a few upset users over at PCG about this as well... they all feel like they've been cheated or abused. Honestly, it's just lies. People exploited KNOWINGLY, and those people got banned... with AN giving you guys another chance.

[R-F]

I bought 4 of those Karma weapons, not knowing there was a mistake on the price or people were exploiting this..... I'm still in the game. Like jnx said, you wrote a ticket, after buying the items, knowing there was something wrong.

Which is even worse.

Exploits aren't about magnitude, they're about whether people exploited. You exploited, why shouldn't you be banned for it? I exploited and reported it to bring ArenaNet's attention to a potential issue, why should I be banned for it?

EDIT: This is all beyond the point. My point is that in the past day or so there has been rampant exploiting going on and nothing is being done about it, despite the instant permabans on anyone who "exploited" the karma weapon vendors. I guess ArenaNet only wants to make an example instead of actually upholding their policy.

[gundato]

No, if anything, ArenaNet made their policy clear. Exploits that harm the community/game/other players are bad. Exploits that benefit the player without harming the rest are tolerable. That is why people who just grabbed stuff for themselves and maybe a friend are okay.
And while there may be arguments on where the threshold lies, I don't think anyone can, with a straight face, say "I think people should not be punished for trying to flood the market and abuse the system"

So if you see a shortcut you can hop over to get past a mountain, no harm will come to your account. If you use that exploit to start flooding the market with super loot (basically what happened with TOR) or to bring mobs over to wipe out newbie village, that is something else.

I would actually be interested in just how many of these you purchased and what your rationale was.

[R-F]

So if you see a shortcut you can hop over to get past a mountain, no harm will come to your account. If you use that exploit to start flooding the market with super loot (basically what happened with TOR) or to bring mobs over to wipe out newbie village, that is something else.

Which is what has happened over the past few days. It was actually far worse than anything I did.

Basically, these people bought items from their Order's vendors for very cheap, put them in the mystic forge and made very expensive items then sold them on the trading post, easily making back their money. They did this repeatedly and double or even quadrupled the amount of money they put in.

I would actually be interested in just how many of these you purchased and what your rationale was.

I don't know. ArenaNet hasn't contacted me, has refused to reply to anything I've said on Reddit and has generally been like a stinted lover.

[gundato]

You need ArenaNet to tell you how many items you purchased at the exploit price you reported? You have no recollection of how many times you clicked 'buy"? And you don't even remember WHY you clicked buy X times?

Is there something more to this story? Were other people on your account? Did you bad-touch a smurf?

[R-F]

You need ArenaNet to tell you how many items you purchased at the exploit price you reported? You have no recollection of how many times you clicked 'buy"? And you don't even remember WHY you clicked buy X times?

Is there something more to this story? Were other people on your account? Did you bad-touch a smurf?

How aggressive can you be? :D Sorry you're a fanboy, please get over it and stop trying to derail the thread.

[Nalano]

How aggressive can you be? :D Sorry you're a fanboy, please get over it and stop trying to derail the thread.

Dude. If you can't remember how many time you mashed the "buy" button, it's likely because you were mashing it many, many times.

If you don't tell us the whole story, we have to assume the problem is you.

[Brit89]

@R-F: I didn't buy loads to break into mats, or to resell or anything like that. I bought them with the intention of using them for myself. Had I known prior to purchasing it that the prices were a mistake and people have been exploiting it, I would not have bought them. But I didn't know.

They're banning people for major exploitation. Me buying 4 weapons to use for my character and again, not to break down for mats or resell, to AN is tolerable.

If you need to know why I bought 4: Scepter + Pistol for weapons loadout 1, Staff for 2, and Trident for underwater. I'm currently, 10 levels afterwards, still using those said weapons for myself.

[FriendlyFire]

Dude. If you can't remember how many time you mashed the "buy" button, it's likely because you were mashing it many, many times.

If you don't tell us the whole story, we have to assume the problem is you.

Do you really need to know more when the first reaction is "lol fanboy"?

[Barnox]

So, back on the rails of "I did an exploit and I got banned, moan about ArenaNet with me"...]

How do you know people are exploiting still now? Or that nothing is being done?
And just because the trading post wasn't up then doesn't mean you couldn't just wait for it to come up, then flood the economy with all your exploit-gained goods.

[Nalano]

Do you really need to know more when the first reaction is "lol fanboy"?

R-F's whole schtick has been "I hate games" for months now. It's sort of a permutation of the theme.

[R-F]

So, back on the rails of "I did an exploit and I got banned, moan about ArenaNet with me"...]

How do you know people are exploiting still now? Or that nothing is being done?
And just because the trading post wasn't up then doesn't mean you couldn't just wait for it to come up, then flood the economy with all your exploit-gained goods.

Because it has been being posted on Reddit for about two days and they've shut the vendors for the items down (which they could've done with the karma weapons vendor, but didn't?).

Dude. If you can't remember how many time you mashed the "buy" button, it's likely because you were mashing it many, many times.

If you don't tell us the whole story, we have to assume the problem is you.

Actually, I think it was around the 180 mark, which is nowhere near as bad as it sounds. But that's just an educated guess, it might've been less or more.

R-F's whole schtick has been "I hate games" for months now. It's sort of a permutation of the theme.

I love games, I hate game companies. I wish people would distinguish between the two.

[Tres]

That's interesting. When there was a market crash in GW1 and ectoplasm and everything prices went to something like 2% of their market value and some lucky people got incredibly rich within minutes, they didn't do anything at all IIRC.

[Mohorovicic]

Do you really need to know more when the first reaction is "lol fanboy"?

To be fair, it was gundato

[FriendlyFire]

@Mohorovicic: Whatever you think of somebody, devolving to ad hominems or variants thereof add absolutely nothing to the conversation and, frankly, make you look like you have no case.

@Tres: Was the market crash due to an exploit or bug, or merely an event that happens in just about any capitalistic economy? I don't think I was around when it happened, so this is an honest question.

[RakeShark]

And this is why I have a TF2 Halo hat.