Guild Wars - Limited Account Restorations
Regina Buenaobra
For a Guild Wars game account hacked after October 1, 2011, we have new tools that will be able to restore a player's account to its pre-hacked status under certain conditions. For more information about this, please go to the Guild Wars Support forums for all the details: https://forum.guildwars.com/forum/fo...age/1#post6528
Showtime
Wow! Thx for the peace of mind.
Edit:
Offtopic slightly...
Any chance that a change could be made to the log in? Change it so you can only log in with one characters name instead of any of the names on the account? That way hackers would have to know account name and log in character to try to even hack the account. It would make it a lot harder especially if there's no notice up that says it's the wrong character name. They could try for years not knowing which name to use.
Edit:
Offtopic slightly...
Any chance that a change could be made to the log in? Change it so you can only log in with one characters name instead of any of the names on the account? That way hackers would have to know account name and log in character to try to even hack the account. It would make it a lot harder especially if there's no notice up that says it's the wrong character name. They could try for years not knowing which name to use.
cosyfiep
sounds wonderful! Many people have asked and I am glad it is finally being offered.
I do wonder about trades the 'hacker' may have made after the 'snapshot' was taken and how that will be handled (say they sold a whole bunch of limited minis or such to others...)...since items can only exist with one 'id' code-----
I do wonder about trades the 'hacker' may have made after the 'snapshot' was taken and how that will be handled (say they sold a whole bunch of limited minis or such to others...)...since items can only exist with one 'id' code-----
Family Guy
Wow! What a cool surprise. Nice to see you guys workin on the "hacker" problems. Keep up the good work!
Frangeo Munda
I've not had any problems yet (fingers crossed), but I just wanna say thanks for doing this. I'm aware, with my limited knowledge of arcane computeryness, that restoring an account on a live server isn't exactly just pressing a reset button, so I appreciate this effort. Even when a lot of lost accounts (not all! but a lot!) can be attributed to keyloggers or other faults on the part of the loser of the account.
Ohno I'm gonna get raged at for saying that, aren't I
.
Ohno I'm gonna get raged at for saying that, aren't I
.
DreamingGirl
I'm just wondering about one of the points mentioned:
"Take action on the account of the hacker and others who may have been involved in the incident. Terminating all such accounts will remove the hackers from our game community and will also remove all stolen items from the game economy."
Does that mean that anyone buying a stolen item, knowingly or not, will get their accounts banned? In that case, people might stop trading in fear the item might not be 'legit'
"Take action on the account of the hacker and others who may have been involved in the incident. Terminating all such accounts will remove the hackers from our game community and will also remove all stolen items from the game economy."
Does that mean that anyone buying a stolen item, knowingly or not, will get their accounts banned? In that case, people might stop trading in fear the item might not be 'legit'
Chthon
I'm stunned. Good job a-net.
I'd guess that they'd apply the same rule that applies in real-world law (in the Anglo-American legal systems at least): A third party who paid a fair price for a stolen item, and did not know it was stolen, and was not presented with any "red flags" that should have told him/her it was stolen, gets to keep the item. See the wiki article on "bona fide purchaser for value without notice."
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DreamingGirl
I'm just wondering about one of the points mentioned:
"Take action on the account of the hacker and others who may have been involved in the incident. Terminating all such accounts will remove the hackers from our game community and will also remove all stolen items from the game economy." Does that mean that anyone buying a stolen item, knowingly or not, will get their accounts banned? In that case, people might stop trading in fear the item might not be 'legit' |
Shrikey
had my account hacked and cleaned out b4 that date , all chars wiped etc. etc .
So no good news for me then or now ...
So no good news for me then or now ...
wilebill
Regina, thanks for the update. I made quite a sour post about the situation about two months ago. Honestly I did not expect to see progress in GW 1 before the release of GW 2. This is really a big step forward. My congratulations to ANet for taking all the hard work that must have been involved instride. This is a big step forward for player peace of mind.
Glem The Sadewind
Thank you so much for doing this. These kind of things r very important to the game and make people very happy. :-)) Maybe I will buy GW2 after all!
I hope this means that our old & beloved characters have more protection against malicious attacks and can now go swimming in Fishermen's Haven without having to think that strangers can erase them from the GW universe at any moment. Not the stuff, the memories..!
I hope this means that our old & beloved characters have more protection against malicious attacks and can now go swimming in Fishermen's Haven without having to think that strangers can erase them from the GW universe at any moment. Not the stuff, the memories..!
Gill Halendt
I wish something could be done for those hacked before that date, but great news nonetheless 
Bristlebane
Believe it or not, but this is actually good news even for those who had their accounts hacked before this date. How? Because those hackers would still know 2 of 3 account details; your login and your character names. And once hacked there's probably a high possibility they might attempt to hack you again. Cunning hackers might perhaps even let accounts "recover" for 6-12 months before they attempt it again allowing original owner to build up some profit again. All in all, if you ever got hacked, change your password regulary despite this update
That being said, thanks Anet for this update, it will surely help some people from grief later on. I assume this is in line with what kind of account protection we might expect in Guild Wars 2?
That being said, thanks Anet for this update, it will surely help some people from grief later on. I assume this is in line with what kind of account protection we might expect in Guild Wars 2?
Intrinsic
Actually it should have always been like this imo: if you had been logging in from one IP address(or if a dynamic IP you'd still have a range allocated to your ISP) and then suddenly someone tried to log in from the other side of the world it should have thrown alarms and locked the account and sent a warning to your login address. That would have meant near enough zero problems with hacking and saved them a bazillion man hours in customer support.
LanaDarkess
Glad to hear of this!
My account was hacked four days before Halloween, and was glad to get it back just in time for the events! I feel sorry for the people who have had theirs hacked before this time though, but rest assured for them that next time it happens (if it happens), there is the rollback for them =]
Good work Anet for this update!
My account was hacked four days before Halloween, and was glad to get it back just in time for the events! I feel sorry for the people who have had theirs hacked before this time though, but rest assured for them that next time it happens (if it happens), there is the rollback for them =]
Good work Anet for this update!
Coast
still leaves everyone in the dust who got hacked before, ty ANET for NOTHING
DeVerseBakker
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Coast
still leaves everyone in the dust who got hacked before, ty ANET for NOTHING
|
Imagine all the resources it would take to go check every hacked account since Guild Wars got released. That would make GW2 release get delayed.
Crazy Chipmunk
I don't understand all the enthusiasm for this. It should have been this way from the beginning. Security is something that is automatically expected and assumed. Not having it is a big failure, or was a big failure.
Coast
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by DeVerseBakker
I think you will appreciate this if your account gets hacked after this. It's better than A-net not doing anything at all.
Imagine all the resources it would take to go check every hacked account since Guild Wars got released. That would make GW2 release get delayed. |
Swingline
This is indeed good news for GW1 and GW2. It does suck for people that had their accounts hacked before October 1st but I like to know Anet cared enough to create this tool. Better late than never and Coast can stfu.
Skyy High
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Coast
still leaves everyone in the dust who got hacked before, ty ANET for NOTHING
... That's no problem if gw2 gets delayed, this is forum for gw 1. I think ur on the wrong forum for this. Ur post is very offensive also, seems like ur planning to hack me in future, I keep that in mind... |
@Chipmunk: The fact is, the game didn't have it in the beginning, and now it does. It probably should have had it from the start, but are we supposed to not show enthusiasm for a much-requested feature? This is a Good Thing, particularly for anyone who plans on getting GW2. It's also a complete surprise, and it makes me feel much safer.
DeVerseBakker
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Crazy Chipmunk
I don't understand all the enthusiasm for this. It should have been this way from the beginning. Security is something that is automatically expected and assumed. Not having it is a big failure, or was a big failure.
|
There are numerous cases that proof that even if security is there that it fails, otherwise people wouldn't get away with crimes as they do, or steal items, or hack into servers like what has happened this year all over the world with Anonymous.
It is true that the restoration part should have been there from the start but this is a step in the right direction, although perhaps a bit late.
Shanaeri Rynale
while I sympathise deeply for those who have been hacked before this date, I do think it's a fantastic addition to the support for this game. Anet could so easily have not spent the time adding this to a six year old game but they did.
So thank you for putting this in and saving many, many people from the distress being hacked can bring.
It's kinda obvious, but it's also not a license to be silly about account security, I regard this facility as a last resort rather than a replacement for good security practices
So thank you for putting this in and saving many, many people from the distress being hacked can bring.
It's kinda obvious, but it's also not a license to be silly about account security, I regard this facility as a last resort rather than a replacement for good security practices
Shayne Hawke
This is a tool that should have been available much earlier, but I guess later is better than never. At the very least, it's great to hear that a tool like this will be available for GW2 security from day one.
Saint Scarlet
As someone who had their account hacked years ago i can understand the frustration from some but even so, this is good news. There were obviously reasons they couldn't implement it before, and only due to the work on GW2 have they been able to make it backwards capable to GW.
I think this is a very positive thing for Anet to have done.
I think this is a very positive thing for Anet to have done.
Jenn
Fantastic, news. Thanks for posting this! I'm sure this is going to please a lot of people.
BenjZee
can i request some sort of way of either moving this to riverside or put a bulletin on top of page for people's interests. Basically every time you mention this somewhat important news that people will find interesting, people go WUTTT? WUT IS THIS YOU SPEAK OF!
cthulhu reborn
Too late for me I guess, since I got hacked earlier this year, but at least the efforts I've made since then will be safer than before. It's something and I am happy to see that you did this.
The Drunkard
It's a step in the right direction, yet the only thing that seems to be able to be "restored" is if a hacker uses a credit from one of the online-store purchases.
Meh.
Meh.
Stop The Storm
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Coast
still leaves everyone in the dust who got hacked before, ty ANET for NOTHING
|
absolute joke tbh.
i'd be EMBARRASSED to release an update like this 6 years into the game, absolutely embarrassed. Should have been there from day 1.
drkn
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Stop The Storm
+infinity
absolute joke tbh. i'd be EMBARRASSED to release an update like this 6 years into the game, absolutely embarrassed. Should have been there from day 1. |
It's only a courtesy of ANet to make it available for GW1 as well, plus it's a nice testing area.
That said, i fully agree something like this should have been introduced much, much earlier, but it's actually a very good thing it got added at all.
Swingline
I can somewhat understand peoples frustration, especially those who were hacked before 10/1/2011 but there are things you must consider before you start throwing bricks through their window.
Arena Net is in no way close to the size of Blizzard so resources go to where they are needed.
Guild Wars was Arena Nets first game. Mistakes were made and they are learning from them.
90% of people that were hacked were not careful enough. This includes sharing account info, downloading material from a suspicious site or person and having passwords a monkey could guess(ex. PASSWORD). These people should be blaming themselves.
The NCMA incident is not Anets fault. It is NCsofts. You can throw your verbal bricks at them.
Arena Net is in no way close to the size of Blizzard so resources go to where they are needed.
Guild Wars was Arena Nets first game. Mistakes were made and they are learning from them.
90% of people that were hacked were not careful enough. This includes sharing account info, downloading material from a suspicious site or person and having passwords a monkey could guess(ex. PASSWORD). These people should be blaming themselves.
The NCMA incident is not Anets fault. It is NCsofts. You can throw your verbal bricks at them.
Coast
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Swingline
90% of people that were hacked were not careful enough. This includes sharing account info, downloading material from a suspicious site or person and having passwords a monkey could guess(ex. PASSWORD). These people should be blaming themselves. . |
Tarun
Quote:
| In the past, account restorations or roll-backs were not technologically possible. |
Even a game like Guild Wars would have SQL database backups of all the players, and these backups would be daily at the minimum.
While it is a good thing Guild Wars is finally catching up, it's rather late to the game. Don't lie about why you're late when these kind of restorations have been possible since the beginning. MySQL has been out since May 1995. As such, backups and restoration of SQL databases has been possible since then.
Welcome to the 21st century, Guild Wars and ArenaNet.
Wracks
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Tarun
Pure BS.
Even a game like Guild Wars would have SQL database backups of all the players, and these backups would be daily at the minimum. While it is a good thing Guild Wars is finally catching up, it's rather late to the game. Don't lie about why you're late when these kind of restorations have been possible since the beginning. MySQL has been out since May 1995. As such, backups and restoration of SQL databases has been possible since then. Welcome to the 21st century, Guild Wars and ArenaNet. |
Cannot agree more, I've known some friends getting hacked like this with no recourse to compensate the times they dedicated into the game only to have all their items "moved" to another character/account(in which Anet support can't even trace it), and with Anet saying they cannot restore due to technicality.
MithranArkanere
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Tarun
Pure BS.
Even a game like Guild Wars would have SQL database backups of all the players, and these backups would be daily at the minimum. While it is a good thing Guild Wars is finally catching up, it's rather late to the game. Don't lie about why you're late when these kind of restorations have been possible since the beginning. MySQL has been out since May 1995. As such, backups and restoration of SQL databases has been possible since then. Welcome to the 21st century, Guild Wars and ArenaNet. |
Without a record of all the transactions, a previous backup would just show the items you had, but not where they went.
Otherwise people could do things like: buy/steal a second dummy account. Give it lots of items. Spread those items between other accounts, claim the dummy account was hacked, account is reverted... ding. Items duped. Now you have the items you spread AND the item from the reverted account.
This is just an example, since I have no idea of the structure of their database, but that doesn't change that it's a valid reason, and if there's one like this, there may be more.
Without knowin where the items went, you can only fix the problem by reverting the whole database.
I don't see why they should revert the whole database of players just because one got hacked.
If they say they couldn't do this before, it's most likely not "BS".
If they could, they WOULD offer the service. Because a happy customer is a customer that will likely get more of your games.
Gill Halendt
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by MithranArkanere
Have you even considered that what they lacked may have been a proper record of transactions and a way to track all items from the hacked account and revert all the transactions made by it?
|
We were always told that account restorations were technically possible, but they would require a full server rollback. So, they weren't going to restore an entire database backup, or even just portions - tables - of it, as this would have affected all the users and not just the single hacked account.
Snapshots are needed in this case and, guess what, it's just what they have implemented.
BladeDVD
Probably also a manpower issue, and since they're now going to do it for GW2, the same people can do it for GW1.
Also, what they're having to do to make the HOM/GWAMM stuff transfer over to GW2 is what led them to how to make individual account restorations work in GW1.
At the end of the day, it just doesn't make sense for them to have not offered to do account restorations if it were technically and economically feasible before this.
Either way, that it's available at last is a good thing for everyone who still has an account. Thanks for putting it in, Anet.
Also, what they're having to do to make the HOM/GWAMM stuff transfer over to GW2 is what led them to how to make individual account restorations work in GW1.
At the end of the day, it just doesn't make sense for them to have not offered to do account restorations if it were technically and economically feasible before this.
Either way, that it's available at last is a good thing for everyone who still has an account. Thanks for putting it in, Anet.
Maya Of The Light
My account got hacked earlier this month, and been contacting support. I got the reply that my account got involved in trading for real money etc...and was perma closed !
Luckily this tool and support managed to rollback the account and its amazing i have not noticed anything missing( rare items/minis/zkeys/etc) only lost few glad points. I am totally impressed and loving how the support improving.
Luckily this tool and support managed to rollback the account and its amazing i have not noticed anything missing( rare items/minis/zkeys/etc) only lost few glad points. I am totally impressed and loving how the support improving.
Princesse Rana
This is FANTASTIC news !!!
Not concerned on this amazing upgrade and game enhancement as I was hacked over a year ago and lost very valuable items (unique minis, and tons of stuff).
Got in touch with customer support on my specific case at the time and always got very blurry answers...or was even accused being the bad guy...and i can assure that I did NOT download any weird stuff, I did NOT use a donkey password instead had letters, figures, caps, special caracters, was a different password than my email account ...and NEVER shared my account log in. Comes a bit late...but...
Never mind...I am so happy the Anet takes the hacker issue forward. It won't help me but I hope it will help all other honest players who get their accounts hacked.
If this feature is implemented straight from the beginning of GW2 and coupled with an authentificator I'll buy 10 accounts !!!^^
Not concerned on this amazing upgrade and game enhancement as I was hacked over a year ago and lost very valuable items (unique minis, and tons of stuff).
Got in touch with customer support on my specific case at the time and always got very blurry answers...or was even accused being the bad guy...and i can assure that I did NOT download any weird stuff, I did NOT use a donkey password instead had letters, figures, caps, special caracters, was a different password than my email account ...and NEVER shared my account log in. Comes a bit late...but...
Never mind...I am so happy the Anet takes the hacker issue forward. It won't help me but I hope it will help all other honest players who get their accounts hacked.
If this feature is implemented straight from the beginning of GW2 and coupled with an authentificator I'll buy 10 accounts !!!^^
Wild Rituals
FAIL. I got hacked at the end of August.
This is just disappointing.
This is just disappointing.