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[flyinpiranha]

Awesome. That's all I can say. I don't care if it's ANet's 'error' is 'their' fault. The people banned knew when they were exploiting that is what they were doing, exploiting errors. It's a live game and if that's the kind of player you are I'm glad they are getting rid of that trash.

Harsh? Sure. Needed? Probably not. Reasonable? Maybe not. But I like it, whether it's justifiable or not.

They'll get more money from me, although I'm sure anybody 'perma-banned' will just get another copy anyway.

What sucks is I won't be able to log on until mid September now, vacation is coming up so I'll be coming back to a guild full of 80's =(

Right. It makes sense! Stopping first-party digital sales to prevent a few exploiters from getting back in the game makes 0 sense.

Aren't those completely unrelated? They stopped the digital sales to curtail server stress, the bans are just there for our enjoyment.

 

[Rokam]

The problem with botters, is there are too many false positives. Temp ban is a good way to do a Human Check, though it's not ideal. GW1 suffered from a lot of botters for a while, but eventually they got it under control.

From the server side, identifying 100% a botter, is very difficult. It's like flashcarts - all you can do is fix the problem once you have enough data, and by then the flashcarts will be using new workarounds, which will have to be fixed in the future once more.

There is a huge difference between knowing someone did a buy/sell exploit, and if someone is using client-side input feeding. I can understand why they err on the side of caution.

Plus... the botters that DID get permabans, well. They're not exactly on twitter complaining, are they.

Fair enough.

 

[inter]

To be fair, there is a link to the Reddit thread right on the front page of the official site.

And it actually shows up on the launcher too.

 

[thetrin]

Having too many players is a good problem to have.

 

[picklecannon]

Hmm, I think it's good publicity for them. Banning Kripp within a week is a sign of a developer who gives a crap about his game.

They banned botters for 72 hours though lol. Probably the most prominent problem with any MMO anywhere.

 

[Hawkian]

And it actually shows up on the launcher too.

That appears to be due to our very own Aeana!

They banned botters for 72 hours though lol. Probably the most prominent problem with any MMO anywhere.

They banned thousands of high-volume botters permanently.

 

[epmode]

Aren't those completely unrelated? They stopped the digital sales to curtail server stress, the bans are just there for our enjoyment.

They are. But some crazies in this thread were saying otherwise.

 

[vaelic]

good for Anet. exploiters need to go bye bye

 

[Ferrio]

They banned botters for 72 hours though lol. Probably the most prominent problem with any MMO anywhere.

And as someone said, botting is hard to detect unless you physically watch someone. These exploits they can easily look at logs and figure out what was happening. So if they ban someone who they think was a botter... and wasn't... then 72 hours later it's all good.

 

[The M.O.B]

He didn't post anything on Reddit. He got banned for buying cooking mats and crafting them and vendoring whatever he made.

Someone in this thread said he got a 72 hr ban for that which is fine, but then they upgraded it to a perma ban after his reddit post which is stupid.

They did, this is just clean up at this point.

By clean up, they should be able to track how much money these people exploited and then either take away their money or wipe their char. Perma banning in this situation is pretty telling they would rather have another $60 in their wallets, they are entitled to that because of their TOS but that doesn't mean I agree with it. It's a greedy thing to do.

 

[Heysoos]

They banned botters for 72 hours though lol. Probably the most prominent problem with any MMO anywhere.

Guild Wars 2 status - Thursday, August 30 by ArenaNetTeamin Guildwars2

[–]ArenaNetSupportTeam
3 points 42 minutes ago (12|8)

It's a matter of degree. RMT botters are gone. Less-active botters are shown some level of mercy with a suspension. And of course exploiters are in the same situation -- only those who really did it a lot experienced an account termination.

.

 

[ROBOKITTYZILLA]

Yeah, I have no sympathy for these people. Go ArenaNet!

 

[Hawkian]

They are. But some crazies in this thread were saying otherwise.

I thought they were related based on their statement!

edit: Nope, they were totally talking about player volume. My bad.

 

[inter]

That appears to be due to our very own Aeana!

I was going to try to bring it to their attention too if I couldn't find it anywhere.

 

[Aeana]

To be fair, there is a link to the Reddit thread right on the front page of the official site.

Not until I badgered them about it on Twitter.

 

[Kingbrave]

I hate botters, our server is already full. If your not gonna play yourself at least let someone who wants to get on.

 

[Ferrio]

By clean up, they should be able to track how much money these people exploited and then either take away their money or wipe their char. Perma banning in this situation is pretty telling they would rather have another $60 in their wallets, they are entitled to that because of their TOS but that doesn't mean I agree with it. It's a greedy thing to do.

If someone is permabanned and still wants to support the developer that permabanned them.. then that developer deserves that $60 bucks. Hah.

Either way it's a HUGE deterrent to keep people from doing shit like this, especially as people become more invested in their characters.

 

[Hero_of_the_Day]

Finally, I am a member of the GAF guild! Thanks Hawkian.

 

[K.Sabot]

Not until I badgered them about it on Twitter.

It's really sad that they communicate their news to a website that hosts less than 10% of their playerbase.

 

[Kingbrave]

And yeah, thanks Hawkian. It's nice to be able to chat with people while I'm running around all willy nilly. I'm no longer alone.

 

[Aeana]

I hate botters, our server is already full. If your not gonna play yourself at least let someone who wants to get on.

I'm starting to get really cautious about stuff, which is sort of hindering my enjoyment. I found a place where people were obviously botting an event, so I didn't participate at all because I didn't want to get swept up in that and accused of doing it when I wasn't, so I just moved on. Then I came across another event later where the same thing was happening. Sucks not being able to participate in cool-looking events just because you're afraid ANet will overreact and ban you.

 

[Hawkian]

Finally, I am a member of the GAF guild! Thanks Hawkian.

You got it!

 

[Ferrio]

I'm starting to get really cautious about stuff, which is sort of hindering my enjoyment. I found a place where people were obviously botting an event, so I didn't participate at all because I didn't want to get swept up in that and accused of doing it when I wasn't, so I just moved on. Then I came across another event later where the same thing was happening. Sucks not being able to participate in cool-looking events just because you're afraid ANet will overreact and ban you.

Sounds like paranoia. They're not going to ban you if you're in the area.

 

[Aeana]

Sounds like paranoia. They're not going to ban you if you're in the area.

There were people there saying they were reporting everybody. I'd rather be paranoid than banned?

 

[K.Sabot]

Is it lagging for anyone else right now? It's like the first time I've gotten lag since the stress tests.

 

[etiolate]

This whole thing reminds me of Punch Drunk Love and the Snack Packs to Airline Mileage conversion.

 

[nataku]

They banned botters for 72 hours though lol. Probably the most prominent problem with any MMO anywhere.

They said the 72 hour ban for bots is only for now. They'll be perma banned in the future. Probably because of the lost/hacked accounts issues.

Yesterday we applied 72-hour account suspensions to 500 players who were running bots. We're continuing to detect and ban bots. Soon we will ramp up to our normal policy of applying permanent account bans to anyone who runs a bot.

 

[inky]

Is it lagging for anyone else right now? It's like the first time I've gotten lag since the stress tests.

It has been lagging pretty badly for me today. Probably for the best as I got a lot of other stuff done.

 

[Zaph]

With permabans so soon after launch, won't Arenanet run into chargeback problems with their merchant bank account?

 

[Kingbrave]

There were people there saying they were reporting everybody. I'd rather be paranoid than banned?

I've done that giant champion in Dissea about 30 times...you'd think they would at least whisper the person and see if they got a response.

 

[oneils]

what post was that? i keep hearing that but i don't know which one it was

An Arena Net support specialist confirmed that Kripparian's ban was permanent after a bunch of people complained that it was unfair that he got a suspension only. That's all that was said.

He is back up and running on a new account. So there weren't a lot of tears to be had.

 

[Einbroch]

Between the harsh bans, mail being down, the trading post being down, and Anet communicating through a Reddit thread instead of launching with news support... I'd say this has taken a turn from being a low problem launch to a full-on fiasco. With the strange angle on it being that the game is pretty much consistently playable in the midst of this.

Fiasco? I'm enjoying my time.

 

[K.Sabot]

Between the harsh bans, mail being down, the trading post being down, and Anet communicating through a Reddit thread instead of launching with news support... I'd say this has taken a turn from being a low problem launch to a full-on fiasco. With the strange angle on it being that the game is pretty much consistently playable in the midst of this.

Outside of the game having the extremities that make it an MMO being either broken/missing altogether, I've had no problems with the game.

Game of the fucking year, I haven't been this into a game since WoW.

Except I can't give it Game of the Year because it's broken.

 

[Arksy]

They actually turned off sales?

Wow.

I'm happy that the core game is playable but the fact that half the in game systems are down A WEEK IN tells me this launch is pretty shocking. Maybe the demand for the game is just that astronomically high, who knows.

 

[vaelic]

They actually turned off sales?

Wow.

I'm happy that the core game is playable but the fact that half the in game systems are down A WEEK IN tells me this launch is pretty shocking. Maybe the demand for the game is just that astronomically high, who knows.

or to keep exploiters OUT

 

[etiolate]

Here's my thing:

This is a game. In games, everyone plays to succeed. Thus, when you are in a game, you take any advantage you have. That is the nature of games.

This is not an exploit involving the user changing anything within the game. This is an element within the game as it is. People's instincts when playing a game is to take any advantage they can. This was an advantage presented.

The error is on their part. To take advantage of it is the nature of game playing. Nuking accounts is not the best answer or the most appropriate.

 

[K.Sabot]

or to keep exploiters OUT

Either option makes them look bad, so it doesn't really matter at this point.

 

[Absinthe]

And as someone said, botting is hard to detect unless you physically watch someone. These exploits they can easily look at logs and figure out what was happening. So if they ban someone who they think was a botter... and wasn't... then 72 hours later it's all good.

How hard would it be to detect? If a character does not move at all for more than 30-60 minutes disconnect them. Problem with botting solved.

 

[Ferrio]

An Arena Net support specialist confirmed that Kripparian's ban was permanent after a bunch of people complained that it was unfair that he got a suspension only. That's all that was said.

He is back up and running on a new account. So there weren't a lot of tears to be had.

"I was wrongly banned" *buys new copy*.

If you thought you were truely innocent/overpunished would you give that company more money?

How hard would it be to detect? If a character does not move at all for more than 30-60 minutes disconnect them. Problem with botting solved.

Bot would just log back on. Also a human could do the exact thing.

 

[Teknoman]

How hard would it be to detect? If a character does not move at all for more than 30-60 minutes disconnect them. Problem with botting solved.

Yeah that should be the standard.

 

[K.Sabot]

"I was wrongly banned" *buys new copy*.

If you thought you were truely innocent/overpunished would you give that company more money?

He was given the account, allegedly.

 

[oneils]

So ArenaNet has made Reddit their Official Forum or something? That's BS for Kripp to get banned for that post.

Do they ban everyone who posts a rant on Reddit?

But yeah, no way am I liking ArenaNet's response to this crap, fix the exploits should be their priority.

He wasn't banned "because" of a reddit post. His ban was only confirmed on Reddit. Someone complained about their own ban and felt it was unfair that Kripp was only suspended. ANet then confirmed Kripp's ban was permanent because he advertised the exploit over his stream.

edit:

"I was wrongly banned" *buys new copy*.

If you thought you were truely innocent/overpunished would you give that company more money?

Don't really care, either way. This all has zero impact on me.

 

[Themacabre]

How hard would it be to detect? If a character does not move at all for more than 30-60 minutes disconnect them. Problem with botting solved.

That wouldn't solve anything. Bots can do all kinds of stuff.

 

[ROBOKITTYZILLA]

How hard would it be to detect? If a character does not move at all for more than 30-60 minutes disconnect them. Problem with botting solved.

The game already does this and it would be pretty easy to work around that.

 

[Hawkian]

Here's my thing:

This is a game. This is a game you play. Everyone plays to succeed. When you are in a game, you take any advantage you have. That is the nature of games.

This is not an exploit involving the user changing anything within the game. This is an element within the game as it is. People's instincts when playing a game is to take any advantage they can. This was an advantage presented.

The error is on their part. To take advantage of it is the nature of game playing. Nuking accounts is not the best answer or the most appropriate.

Wow, I couldn't disagree more strongly, and I felt a little uneasy reading this. You just justified exploiting; saying not only that the punishments were too harsh or handled poorly but that they are a legitimate part of the experience and should not be punished at all.

In this case, this sort of exploit could have a very tangible impact on the economy as people who hoard and try to sell things they bought with this exploit will skew prices for legitimate sellers.

Part of the cost of my $60 was toward ArenaNet providing the service of stopping things like this swiftly and as completely as possible. I do not support it or feel it's "just part of the game" in any sense.

 

[Absinthe]

Bot would just log back on. Also a human could do the exact thing.

Ok. When you log back on your transported to the nearest waypoint instead of the exact location you were in. Bot would not be able to run all the way back and position itself correctly.

Also, if a human is not moving for an hour they should be booted to make room for everyone else/lighten the load on the servers. There's no reason you can't just relog when you're done with dinner or whatever you were doing for that hour.

The game already does this and it would be pretty easy to work around that.

Really? I did not know that. I've left a location, came back around an hour later and seen the same bots farming said location

 

[Wallach]

There were people there saying they were reporting everybody. I'd rather be paranoid than banned?

They use detection to determine botting whether it gets reported or not. You aren't going to get banned for botting at your keyboard, even if you sit and farm the same area for hours.

 

[Themacabre]

..Bot would not be able to run all the way back and position itself correctly.

Sure they can.

 

[Vano]

How hard would it be to detect? If a character does not move at all for more than 30-60 minutes disconnect them. Problem with botting solved.

Some bots are modern and complex pieces of software, isn't so easy this days.

 

[Ashodin]

Wow, I couldn't disagree more strongly, and I felt a little uneasy reading this. You just justified exploiting; saying not only that the punishments were too harsh or handled poorly but that they are a legitimate part of the experience and should not be punished at all.

In this case, this sort of exploit could have a very tangible impact on the economy as people who hoard and try to sell things they bought with this exploit will skew prices for legitimate sellers.

Part of the cost of my $60 was toward ArenaNet providing the service of stopping things like this swiftly and as completely as possible. I do not support it or feel it's "just part of the game" in any sense.

I agree with this post wholeheartedly. You are essentially justifying hacking, in a way.