Ladder Manipulation Investigation Results

News from Guildwars.com:

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You can discuss, but there will be no mention of guild names being thrown around. I will delete any reference to any person or guild in this thread.

I think that the reason is unjustitifed. What exactly is "ladder abuse?"

The rumor is that they are attacking guilds who constantly won when the other team resigned.

That's circumstantial, IMO.

Why can we mention names? If they were actually disqualified, then they were caught and punished -> guilt.

I understand about not mentioning names if someone is merely accused or suspected of something, but Anet caught them red handed in this case.

Just asking, the answer could be "Because I said so Carinae."

You wanna publish factual results, have the balls to publish them without withholding the important infos. making guesses is like finding a lost pin inside a dark room.

we're assuming dervish abuse during the pvp event

Carinae Dragonblood, because their's controversy. Because I know of only 2 confirmed guilds involved and speculation on the 3rd. Because everyone will have an opinion on the guild, on members of the guild, on practices of other guilds. And because guildwars.com did not post the actual guilds so I have to assume there is a reason.

it's to do with resign spiking.

I'd like at least know what exactly got Anet off the sidelines about this. There are discussions about ladder manipulation on this forum alone going back to the change in the way Champion Points are awarded. So why now?

Secondly I'd like to know what exacty the ladder abuse was because the rules for eligibility state: "Guilds will be disqualified if they engage in ladder abuse, as determined by Sponsor in its sole discretion." Not exactly descriptive.

Third, okay nice that "something" was done in the top 20, but what is Anet doing to address the whole screwed up top 200 and Champion point farming debaucle?

Bad publicity, I presume. Any guilds publically mentioned would be harrassed.

Moreso, one of those two confirmed guilds (IIRC) participated in the GWFC. If they publically announced their name, ArenaNet would undermine themselves for giving them only a slap on the wrist.

So they decide to do something about it now. You knew it has been going on, did you ever report it? Cheating is cheating, the fact that the acted later than sooner does not mean those guilds should not be punished for their actions.

It's a lot easier to punish guilds from a short "fun" season, instead of tracking and trying to recover prize money given out in the past. You could make the demands, but expecting Arenanet to have the resource to keep the ladder completely fair is simply unrealistic. Get used to the sloppy system!

Hopefully the fact that some official action was taken means you are wrong about this :/

The only reason I play Guild Wars and buy their stuff is for the GvG ladder competition. I am sure I am not the only one there for whom this is true. A ladder without integrity, is a ladder without interest.

If they still had it in the game, I'd assume they did the rated match against other guilds, and the other guild let them win. How are they abusing it now?

What did the involved guilds do that constituted 'ladder abuse'? Someone mentioned "resign spiking" but what is that exactly and how is it rule breaking?

Tour de Cantha anyone?

The main thing they're talking about here is the actions taken by three (actually more involved) top guilds manipulating the ladder, especially in the last few hours of the season in which certain teams were asking other top teams to resign spike for them. It's really not hard to figure out who the guilds were, especially if you were watching obs mode for the last hour or two.

I do not deny that the smurfing and such should be stopped--I'm glad ANet is taking notice. However...

STORYTIME

Once upon a time, in the state of Kentucky, in the United States... there were a series of motor accidents. Emergency vehicles would pull onto the shoulder, either fully or partially, with their lights flashing. However, motorists travelling on the highway would approach too fast and end up clipping the vehicle, or perhaps even a person standing at the scene.

Kentucky passed a law, legally requiring all motorists to either slow down when approaching flashing lights, or to move into the far lane, away from the stopped emergency vehicles. The state put up signs as warnings of the new law--and, over the first month or so, police would pull violaters over and inform them of the new law, getting the word out, and let them go with a warning that the future would hold fierce punishments for violators.

The state did not -immediately- begin writing tickets, even though it started a small campaign while the law was being written. Instead, they made sure everyone understood what had happened, and what would happen if they continue to violate the new law.

...

Compare this with ANet, who stood silent on this subject (and, according to WoC online radio listeners, even some ANet designers recognized the 'strategy' inherent in /resign spikes and such)... and now suddenly pull out the rewards from guilds who have been acting congruent with the standards of high-end PvP.

I agree that smurfing and the like needs to stop; but ANet didn't need to do it this way. It was harsh, done without any warning or communication. This is NOT the way to inspire confidence within your customer base; but rather, only one more example of how ANet will do whatever it darn well pleases, and we are expected to nod dumbly and support them, buying the next expansion without question.

I guess we're just lucky that the Imperial ANet Edict aligned with
(most of) our opinions this time...

who are those three guilds ? Can we know that and talk about those 3

Ummm.... yeah ^