Incident Update - 22 May 2012

Fereos

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Sep 2009

HUCH

W/Mo

Gaile Gray
Location: US
Profession: R
Quote:
Recently, we learned of an in-game exploit. We fully understand that such issues are of great concern to our community —- as they are to us! — and we act as quickly as possible to analyze and address each report or each observation about a possible issue.

We’re happy to relay that we addressed an exploit incident more than a week ago, and that we terminated the accounts of a number of players who abused the exploit. Our team will continue to investigate this matter, and if others are found to be involved, their accounts will be terminated as well.

In light of this exploit, some Guild Wars Players have asked what they can do to avoid innocently acquiring cheated items. First, you should know that the number of such items is very low. But even though the items are very unusual, it is conceivable that a player could make a trade with someone and later learn that the acquired item was cheated. Therefore, in-game traders should be cautious when trading with players they do not know, and they should carefully examine the items that they are being offered.

During the recent incident, some cheated items were tagged as “Customized.” This is noteworthy because normal items of these particular types are not normally customized. If you are worried about possibly acquiring a cheated item, you should look carefully at the item being offered in trade and, if it’s customized, consider declining the transaction. You should also know that some cheated items may have been converted from “customized” to “dedicated,” so use the same level of caution in completing a transaction that involves either customized or dedicated items.

Basically, you should do whatever you can to protect your account. If you find yourself in doubt about the legitimacy of a trade or an item being offered, find another trader.
SOURCE: https://forum.guildwars.com/forum/fo...ncident-Update

Zylo16

Zylo16

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2012

Mo/E

Way to go Anet, stick it to those cheaters

Andemius

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Nov 2008

Vanguard's Last Stand [Hero]

W/

Nice to finally have aknowledgement of the actual issue.

Mercury Angel

Mercury Angel

Avatar of Gwen

Join Date: Apr 2005

Wandering my own road.

Are players on their own to guess the nature of secondary duplicated items - those generated through opening customized gifts, crafting with customized materials/rare items, and such - which lack the customized note?

Horace Slughorn

Horace Slughorn

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2008

Experientia Docet [OHX], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA], We Gat Dis [HRUU]

W/

A problem is that the trading of dedicated mini-pets (esp. high end minis) is quite common, and I think it's hard for any buyer to really gauge the "legitimacy" of a seller. I mean short of knowing the person in real life or something we pretty much just have to take someone's word that their item is legit, ya?

Spiritz

Forge Runner

Join Date: Apr 2007

DMFC

Ive not traded with anyone for yonks but from what i can tell and this shud put horace slightly at ease - mini pets as far as im aware are either unded or dedicated ( dedicated will state they are dedicated ) - from whats been said is if they are customised then dont touch.
Infact anything thats customised dont touch.
So it seems we have to be wary of all trades , check every item , trade from ppl we know - we`ll end up with a paranoid market.
On a lighter note - we shud watch the npcs like rare mats trader - if ppl get too scared then they`ll probably buy from npc instead an prices will rise - or then again the npc may have been involved in the dupe incident and be selling duped stuff.

Zenzai

Zenzai

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2009

N/E

Good to know that the offenders have been banned. I can sleep knowing it now.

I hope this is a good lesson for any weakness gw2 may have.

Bristlebane

Bristlebane

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2008

Mo/

It's great news, although..

Quote:
Therefore, in-game traders should be cautious when trading with players they do not know
..99.9% of all trades are probably with players they don't know which might lead to a paranoid market.

Fay Vert

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Apr 2006

R/

Good to know there are band for doing this but the response to innocent trades is very unsatisfactory. I suppose a patch is out of the question now there is nobody working on GW, but a easy fix would be to make all customised items untradabe.

ruk1a

ruk1a

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2008

UR MOM LOL

ATTACK OF THE KILLER TOMATOES

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bristlebane View Post
It's great news, although..



..99.9% of all trades are probably with players they don't know which might lead to a paranoid market.
Being cautious =/= being paranoid, it's just advice, aside from the blatantly obvious duped items like customized materials you should keep an eye out and generally not be half asleep to avoid scams, etc.

There was a dupe in WoW not too far back but there was no way to tell except for very very large stacks of items being sold at insanely low prices compared to the normal market meaning either botted or duped items, and Blizz said basically the same thing.. players are responsible to recognize iffy stuff like that and a lot of people got banned for trading. Btw I still don't know if the WoW dupe is fixed, haven't been subbed for a few months.

Just goes to show this can happen to any game.

Kiki Go Boom

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2009

Mr Sunqua Blade

Rt/

If an offer feels too good to be true, back away. Don't get greedy like fereos

GODh

GODh

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Nov 2005

The Netherlands

BFTW and DLRR

Good to see this has been fixed...

nought15

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2012

The New Protectors

R/N

why didnt they just say all this a week ago? instead of "fixed a known crash-bug"?

not that it really makes a difference I guess, just curious as to why

Thrilla Killa

Thrilla Killa

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Aug 2006

Florida

W/A

Quote:
Originally Posted by nought15 View Post
why didnt they just say all this a week ago? instead of "fixed a known crash-bug"?

not that it really makes a difference I guess, just curious as to why
Why bring awareness to something that your trying to prevent? They did it the smart way, they didnt do anything right away, making the dupers/cheaters think that nothing will happen. More do it, then bam, they all get hit by the big ban hammer. By not saying anything right away, they probably caught a few more players. Kudos to Anet.

FoxBat

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Apr 2006

Amazon Basin [AB]

Mo/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thrilla Killa View Post
Why bring awareness to something that your trying to prevent? They did it the smart way, they didnt do anything right away, making the dupers/cheaters think that nothing will happen. More do it, then bam, they all get hit by the big ban hammer. By not saying anything right away, they probably caught a few more players. Kudos to Anet.
I'd say it's much smarter to stop your economy from being destroyed through dupes propogating to the general public than trapping a handful of monkies aping what a few talented hackers figured out.

lemming

lemming

The Hotshot

Join Date: May 2006

Honolulu

International District [id???]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thrilla Killa View Post
Why bring awareness to something that your trying to prevent? They did it the smart way, they didnt do anything right away, making the dupers/cheaters think that nothing will happen. More do it, then bam, they all get hit by the big ban hammer. By not saying anything right away, they probably caught a few more players. Kudos to Anet.
That's the kind of thinking that made the botting problem so widespread two years ago.

Lordkrall

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2011

W/

Wow... people still complaining now that ArenaNet actually stated they solved the issue a week ago? Seriously?
Last week people were whining about ArenaNet doing nothing. Now when we know that they actually did fix it people whine because we werent told right away?

Star_Jewel

Star_Jewel

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Mar 2010

Denizen of Tyria since Feb. 2009

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thrilla Killa View Post
More do it, then bam, they all get hit by the big ban hammer. By not saying anything right away, they probably caught a few more players. Kudos to Anet.
I'd be inclined to think it has less to do with trying to catch more to ban them, and more to do with testing to make sure the patch was completely successful. It's not like they could say, "Hey, we're pretty sure we completely fixed that exploit. Could you guys try it and let us know?"

nought15

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2012

The New Protectors

R/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lordkrall View Post
Wow... people still complaining now that ArenaNet actually stated they solved the issue a week ago? Seriously?
Last week people were whining about ArenaNet doing nothing. Now when we know that they actually did fix it people whine because we werent told right away?
lol, yeah we get drunk off "whine"

Martin Alvito

Martin Alvito

Older Than God (1)

Join Date: Aug 2006

Clan Dethryche [dth]

Working hard to defend the legitimacy of your merchandise, are you?

I find it stunning that Gaile simply said caveat emptor and left it at that. There is absolutely no content in that post regarding the final disposition of the ersatz items.

Arkon Necrocannibal

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: May 2011

Is that why there are not the ele [CaSh] in Kamadan US d1 now ?

impulsion

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Sep 2008

Terra Noise [Zraw]

N/A

ANet acted very quickly to this and got it sorted before too much damage was done. Luckily the people doing this exploit didn't attempt to do too much damage either.

lemming

lemming

The Hotshot

Join Date: May 2006

Honolulu

International District [id???]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Martin Alvito View Post
I find it stunning that Gaile simply said caveat emptor and left it at that. There is absolutely no content in that post regarding the final disposition of the ersatz items.
Have they even gotten around to doing anything about those Halloween triple modded items that they claimed to be deleting?

Swingline

Swingline

Forge Runner

Join Date: Sep 2010

Somewhere far away from you

The Mirror of Reason[SNOW]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by lemming View Post
Have they even gotten around to doing anything about those Halloween triple modded items that they claimed to be deleting?
No...12 char...

T-Strudel

T-Strudel

Academy Page

Join Date: Jan 2010

Gate of the Nightfallen Lands

Above Pop Secret [PoPS]

E/A

Haven't there been previous game updates stated as "Fixed a Crash Bug", without any other explanation.

BuD

BuD

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2006

Nunya

E/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by T-Strudel View Post
Haven't there been previous game updates stated as "Fixed a Crash Bug", without any other explanation.
Sure there has. The crash bugs they fixed in the past probably werent as in the open with the community as this one was, therefore no reason to mention what was fixed, or what it was fixed for.