New Annoucement - A Stern Warning

makosi

makosi

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

"Pre-nerf" is incorrect. It's pre-buff.

Requirement Begins With R [notQ]

Me/

It's not a new threat. It's reiterating an already present rule which is not a way of 'getting at players' or using scare-tactics.

Nearly all players will now be assured that this is a breach of the EULA and they will have undoubted assurance what the consequences could be.

It's just another method of reducing farming bots and sweatshops farmers because low demand for their 'product' means bots and farmers become redundant and move to another game or something.

As Gaile says frequently, botters and sweatshop farmers don't buy, but steal, accounts so they're not customers.

makosi

makosi

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

"Pre-nerf" is incorrect. It's pre-buff.

Requirement Begins With R [notQ]

Me/

It's not a new threat. It's reiterating an already present rule which is not a way of 'getting at players' or using scare-tactics.

Nearly all players will now be assured that this is a breach of the EULA and they will have undoubted assurance what the consequences could be.

It's just another method of reducing farming bots and sweatshops farmers because low demand for their 'product' means bots and farmers become redundant and move to another game or something.

As Gaile says frequently, botters and sweatshop farmers don't buy, but steal, accounts so they're not customers.

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Roo Ella
Maybe the next warning message will be.

Do NOT buy multiple unid gold items from people
as they could be bots and you are suporting them
and there gold selling practices.
If you do your account may be banned by association.

Where will it end?
It will never end.

As long as players are willing to buy currency, there will be players willing to sell currency, and the people who run whatever game that may be, will try to stop it.

However, if you get falsely banned, just stick by your guns.

Shuuda

Shuuda

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2006

Guildless

Me/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Seraphic Divinity
Yeah, precisely.

Heck, why do you even need the item?

What if someone just decided to try and get many people banned?

*random person runs up to you opens trade and puts in 100k*

*you scratch your head and accept for kicks*

*random person accepts and trades you over 100k*

*5 minutes later you are banned for receiving botted gold*

*random person infected 50 accounts with botted gold*

*50 people who accepted a freebie trade are now banned, no questions asked*
If you accept gifts from random strangers, you should be ban for being plain stupid or greedy (or both). Didn't anyone teach them not to accept gifts/candy/rides home from strangers.

Loviatar

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Feb 2005

Quote:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gattocheese
They dont have actual people in game looking for bots. Thats the thing where they screw up. They have a system that is really flawed. If a person repeats his acts over a set amount of time, then he gets the bot ban. My guild leader got banned for faction farming for over 20 hours. What they need to do is station gm's over at the gold farming hot spots and monitor and ban on a continual basis. Warn people that massive bot bans at altrum, bergen ect will be happening. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out who's a bot. But anet would rather have a computer program ban people for repeating various tasks instead of have a gm or pay an actual person to go and ban bots. Now people can complain about there being a new bot thread ..
and somebody can tell just by looking if that is a bot or a player just like that?

idiot idea

and i keep offline to avoid jerks sending random messages to people so dont even mention calling the player to see if they respond

idiot idea compounded

Yaga Philipe

Yaga Philipe

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2007

Insanity

Vis Decus Vertus [vDv]

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by makosi
It's not a new threat. It's reiterating an already present rule which is not a way of 'getting at players' or using scare-tactics.

Nearly all players will now be assured that this is a breach of the EULA and they will have undoubted assurance what the consequences could be.

It's just another method of reducing farming bots and sweatshops farmers because low demand for their 'product' means bots and farmers become redundant and move to another game or something.

As Gaile says frequently, botters and sweatshop farmers don't buy, but steal, accounts so they're not customers.
QFT. It's already a rule, and it's not "scaring" anyone. It's to inform them that you will get banned for buying gold.

Tide to Go

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Nov 2006

I War Torn I [Torn]

N/Me

i have more than one account...and i farm on one...play on the other.....they need to take that off because if not my accounts are going to get ban for nothing....

kooomar

kooomar

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2006

Pow Pow Pow [myau]

Mo/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by Loviatar
and somebody can tell just by looking if that is a bot or a player just like that?

idiot idea
Do you play with your monitor on, or no?
Go to Bergen and sit there for about 5 minutes, if you can't tell who the bots are, you have some SEVERE problems, seek help immediately. The bots are the ones with names like "jksm owmsd" and have the same tattoo armor as all the other ones. When they load into the city, they stand there, then run to the merchant in some odd way, by scraping walls. THEN they run towards the oupost sign, where they continue to oddly scrape walls until they leave the zone.

Its EXTREMELY obvious who bots are, and I believe if you implemented a warning system, and false accusations would be cured. For example, I once got banned for 55ing Elona's Reach too many times I guess. After the week and a half of fighting to get my account back, I never did it again.

I dunno, I think this is what should always have been done, pay some intern 7 dollars an hour to do this for a week. At the end of the week, all the bots will be gone, its not like its an infinite amount of them exist. And once they are all gone, yes, they can get another account, but there will be much less of them, thus much easier to control.

/my two cents

=HT=Ingram

=HT=Ingram

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2005

Anchorage Alaska

Haz Team [HT]

R/W

To the guy that said "HTF am I suppose to get anywhere." wow. dude... all I can say is if you really think we need millions in gold to be good at this game, you are doing something wrong.

Now that my main characters are a few years old and have some really good things on them. I can't complain too loud. HOWEVER, I can say this. its all from drops. I don't BUY from players. EVER.. And back when I didn't have much, I made full use of the free collector weapons that did the job JUST as good if not better at times then the Golds and Greens do now... To this day I equip Heroes with collector weapons with not a worry in mind that it will be 100% adequate for their needs. Indeed until factions came out I was using free Collector armor from the desert on my primary ranger. Just cause I didnt like the idea of wasting gold for stuff.

In general I average around 30k being avialble to me... thats MORE then enough to equip what I got using in game resources. Its only when you start trying to get things you have NOT earned that you come into a place that you need millions of gold. and to get that you have to CHEAT and buy it someplace. That here in has ALWAYS been the problem. And THAT has always been why its has NOT been allowed. Cause there is No need for anything in the game that is "EXPENSIVE".

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tide to Go
i have more than one account...and i farm on one...play on the other.....they need to take that off because if not my accounts are going to get ban for nothing....
Why should they take it off? Its always been a bannable offense to buy eBay gold. What don't people understand about this?



Do both of your accounts reside in the same house? Same ip? Are both linked to the same NCsoft account?

Cacheelma

Cacheelma

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

The Ascalon Union

Me/Mo

What I REALLY like to ask is, why do people with multiple accounts get upset?

They said they're banning THOSE WHO BUY in-game gold with real money. I highly doubt that they would ban you simply because you transfer MONEY between some random accounts.

From my understanding, they'd have ot identify certain accounts as Gold-seller accounts, and then BAN accounts that made the money transfer with these accounts (in some fasion, not just for 5k for a white dye or something).

And this is coming from me, an EX-fanboi, and my common sense.

arcanemacabre

arcanemacabre

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Feb 2006

North Kryta Province

Angel Sharks [As]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cacheelma
What I REALLY like to ask is, why do people with multiple accounts get upset?

They said they're banning THOSE WHO BUY in-game gold with real money. I highly doubt that they would ban you simply because you transfer MONEY between some random accounts.

From my understanding, they'd have ot identify certain accounts as Gold-seller accounts, and then BAN accounts that made the money transfer with these accounts (in some fasion, not just for 5k for a white dye or something).

And this is coming from me, an EX-fanboi, and my common sense.
Actually, that doesn't make much sense, unless you were just plain ban-happy. If you could identify gold seller accounts, why not just ban the gold-seller? That would be like watching a drug dealer over a period of time, and arresting all the people they sell drugs to, while leaving the drug dealer alone.

immortius

immortius

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2005

Black Cats

E/Mo

If I was ANet, here is how I would implement gold sale tracking:

1. First you need to identify a the point of origin:
a. A bot that has been banned.
b. A trial accounts that traded large amounts of gold.
c. etc.

2. Have a system to follow the trail of gold from the point of origin through other account.

Typically you would probably see gold flowing through a number of accounts, perhaps accumulating in a few big accounts before being traded in small parcels to vendor accounts and then onto the players, or something like that.

3. Take action on touched accounts as appropriate.

Cacheelma

Cacheelma

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

The Ascalon Union

Me/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by arcanemacabre
Actually, that doesn't make much sense, unless you were just plain ban-happy. If you could identify gold seller accounts, why not just ban the gold-seller? That would be like watching a drug dealer over a period of time, and arresting all the people they sell drugs to, while leaving the drug dealer alone.
Uhhh, sorry. I should've said "ban those accounts AND the gold-seller accounts". If Anet is going to ban only the gold-seller accounts, they won't put up such warning, right?

Molock

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Sep 2006

Qu??bec

Legacy of Angels [Halo]

E/

This all happened a couple months ago... anyway...
I knew a dude in game who bought gold, the first time he was suspended...
he of course told me he was going to buy some again... I never saw him online again after that

Blackhearted

Blackhearted

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2007

Ohio, usa

none

Mo/

I laughed when i saw this warning. I know for a fact anet next to never bans accounts that buy gold. How? well i've been in a handful of guilds and there's always atleast one or two people, if not more, that buy gold. And guess what? they still play.

ELTQ

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2007

Tranquil Quietus

N/R

okay - silly question:

Someone define for me "Bots" "Buying Gold" and what they are warning against...

For example, I have a Cruel Sword Hilt that is (according to this site) worth 1k, that I've been offering around for 500g...can I get banned?

Secondly, it never ceases to amaze me what sort of mischief folks can come up with in every way shape or form - I mean, money laundering and smuggling on an internet adventure game - stealing licensing to support this 'black market'?

Wow...anyway, I'm an old fogey who's interested in this subculture of the gaming world so any answers are much appreciated...it will help me understand my environment a little better...

Regards,
Elhedra...

Relambrien

Relambrien

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2006

Delaware, USA

Error Seven Operators [Call]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by ELTQ
okay - silly question:

Someone define for me "Bots" "Buying Gold" and what they are warning against...

For example, I have a Cruel Sword Hilt that is (according to this site) worth 1k, that I've been offering around for 500g...can I get banned?

Secondly, it never ceases to amaze me what sort of mischief folks can come up with in every way shape or form - I mean, money laundering and smuggling on an internet adventure game - stealing licensing to support this 'black market'?

Wow...anyway, I'm an old fogey who's interested in this subculture of the gaming world so any answers are much appreciated...it will help me understand my environment a little better...

Regards,
Elhedra...
Certain websites will advertise that they are selling in-game funds for real-world money. Using anything outside of the GW universe as funds in a trade is against the rules (meaning you can't trade for gold in other games, you can't trade for real money, etc). This is "buying gold."

Also, some people set up programs to automate character movements in such a pattern as to be able to farm enemies repeatedly and sell the drops to the merchant, with no human input needed. This is a "bot" and is also a bannable offense.

Selling in-game items for in-game funds will -never- get you banned, unless you're trying to do so by spamming All chat with your trade offer. So you aren't doing anything wrong, as long as you're using the Trade chat channel to do your business.

Sir Green Aluminum

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

Bots: Using a program to play the game while you are away for you to either make levels, get skills, or gold/items. Buying gold is buying in game money for real world money. Selling stuff cheap does'nt get you banned.
There should be articles about gold selling. I think I saw one that said gold selling was a million dollar trade or something. It has the attention of known media.

NeHoMaR

NeHoMaR

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

I have a simple question: Why someone buy in-game gold with real money? WHY? is not that completely stupid in a game like Guild Wars is? a game where you reach max level in some hours of play, and can buy a max armor for 5k and a max weapon for 5k or free drop .... WTF? are people insane?

Larqh

Larqh

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Jul 2007

R/

Am I the only one who's noticed a lot fewer bots since they posted that? I was in Bergen and the Citadel yesterday. Only saw about 4 or 5 bots, and there's usually 10-15 or more. These were American districts, so it may not mean anything.

Seissor

Seissor

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Aug 2005

Squiggilyville. Population: Me.

[oRly] Hello Kitty Death Squad

R/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by arcanemacabre
Actually, that doesn't make much sense, unless you were just plain ban-happy. If you could identify gold seller accounts, why not just ban the gold-seller? That would be like watching a drug dealer over a period of time, and arresting all the people they sell drugs to, while leaving the drug dealer alone.
only to pounce on him after 12 months when he reveals his boss is Ernesto Escabado!

Gawa

Gawa

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: May 2007

[Oldschool Respect and Honour]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Larqh
Am I the only one who's noticed a lot fewer bots since they posted that? I was in Bergen and the Citadel yesterday. Only saw about 4 or 5 bots, and there's usually 10-15 or more. These were American districts, so it may not mean anything.
I was also pleasently surprised last night or the night before when i dropped by Granite Citadel for a moment.. there were actually no bots at all :O I had to check i had mapped to the right place... Yep, the place where i have reported several hundred bots from, with upwards to 30 bots at a time, and at least half a dozen or more every single time ive visited... had none at all. (European dist)
I didnt stay long, so not sure if it is lasting or not, but with your post.. maybe we are seeing a reduction now.

kalebmordannon

kalebmordannon

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2007

Ost in Edhil

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darksun
It's a JUMP TO CONCLUSIONS MAT! It's a mat with conclusions you can jump to!


lol! Office Space ftw!!

Razz Thom

Razz Thom

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2007

Three Feet Below Sea [LevL]

D/Mo

everyone is on here talking down about this but nobody has mentioned that just about a week before the update, there was a thread where everyone was saying how the chat channel anouncement worked so well. that Anet should do the same about buying gold. and then they do and you have something negative to say about it. how fickle can you get. at least it shows that they do pay some attention to the forums and hear(pronounced read) what you have to say.

P.S. about the decreased bot activity.........stop by Marketplace in Cantha. The botters have gotten thick there. they farm one area, map to another to sell their loot, then start over. half a million mostly naked/guildless/grey loincloth/Hkjh Ctrs mo/me's pop in run to merch pop out again.

pumpkin pie

pumpkin pie

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

behind you

bumble bee

E/

just this minute in kamadan i saw this being advertised



couple of days ago, in Chahbek Village (where all the lvl 2 arrived in Nightfall) there are many many level 2 necros bot spawning there. its rather irritating as I was trying to talk to the mission starter NPC, I cannot even see the NPC becaue all the bots are surrounding him. I think thats new place to farm gold, if not mistaken you do get somekind of gold reward upon entering Chabek Village.

NeHoMaR

NeHoMaR

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Feb 2006

What about people doing that by hand? I mean, not using bots. How ArenaNet could be sure and don't ban him/her? I don't see anything in the rules preventing someone creating a necro and delete it, and create a new one and delete it????

I remember when I tested some farms in Elona Reach (Minotaurs) in the time when bots farmed there a lot. I remember the lot of bots running to merchant, blah, blah, and I was with my monk farming too and fearing for a ArenaNet mistake, I was with a different armor at least.

MrSlayer

MrSlayer

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2006

United Kingdom

Quit Whining And [PLAY]

Mo/

Does anyone else not think maybe this is something to do with a recent increase in gold buying?

The only guess as to why would be poor farmers getting all sad and mopey that drops are nerfed, so simply buying what they need instead.

Paloma Song

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2005

[JM]

Rt/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by assassin_of_ni
soooo if thats the case....
can we get rid of loot scaling yet?
/cheer

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