Does Arena Net Bans Runners?

KurtTheBehemoth

Banned

Join Date: Dec 2005

tubbyville

Kurt's Royal Guardians

Mo/E

I thought it was strange when I was in lions arch today district 1 and no one was running. I needed a run to sanctum. I was spamming on trade and I got a few replys that disturbed me. People were saying that others were getting banned for running. I talked to one guy that said his second account was suspended because he did droks run. What is going on here. Has Arena Net lost their minds. I need more info does anyone have some.


Never Give Up> Never Surrender!

Theus

Jungle Guide

Join Date: May 2005

W/Mo

heh..heh...Runners got pwnt.

fenix

fenix

Major-General Awesome

Join Date: Aug 2005

Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger

Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&#

W/

Very unlikely. I'd say they are lying, or got suspended for scamming. Most likely they did a Drok's run and after they got payment at Snakes Dance, they left. That I know to be a bannable offence.

Makkert

Makkert

Black Beast of Aarrrrgghh

Join Date: May 2005

The Netherlands

The Biggyverse [PLEB] // Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

Very, very unlikely.
They even stated that the Droks run was made harder to make running more challenging I believe...

KurtTheBehemoth

Banned

Join Date: Dec 2005

tubbyville

Kurt's Royal Guardians

Mo/E

I wish that was true unfortunately I've talked to many ppl from different towns and they say they know its true and won't run anymore.

DABhand

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

W/R

One thing I did notice recently, was trying to see if the drops are still poor outside beetletun, now usually the ettins get owned badly by the tengu, but it was the other way around, the ettins now kick the tengu badly.


So its quite possible, ettins, tundras and trolls have been given a new AI.

Makkert

Makkert

Black Beast of Aarrrrgghh

Join Date: May 2005

The Netherlands

The Biggyverse [PLEB] // Servants of Fortuna [SoF]

Quote:
Originally Posted by DABhand
One thing I did notice recently, was trying to see if the drops are still poor outside beetletun, now usually the ettins get owned badly by the tengu, but it was the other way around, the ettins now kick the tengu badly.


So its quite possible, ettins, tundras and trolls have been given a new AI.
......
That has nothing to do with the discussion in this thread.

Raxxman

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

TEOC

W/N

it seems odd to ban a well established trade with no warning at all. Seems slightly unreasonable as well

KurtTheBehemoth

Banned

Join Date: Dec 2005

tubbyville

Kurt's Royal Guardians

Mo/E

Look People are begining to spam it in a lot of towns
just ask in Lions arch

T1Cybernetic

T1Cybernetic

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Sep 2005

Wakefield, West Yorkshire, Uk, Nr Earth

Alternate Evil Gamers [aeg]

N/

I agree with whats being said here, highly unfair to ban something like this
but i highly doubt it to be honest, it probably is someone telling tales, .
although having said that, Nothing and nobody surprises me these days!

Anyone got any friends in high places to check this out maybe?

Siliconwafer

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2005

Australia

Shameful Spirits

Not to mention that some areas-especially from Beacons to Droks-were put in with the sole purpose of running. And how on earth can one distinguish running from normal play? That you have to kill x amount of monsters in an area? I find that unlikely to the point of fantastical.
Until there's an email from support from one of those "banned runners" or an official statement, I hardly think it's correct to say Anet have banned running.

DABhand

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2005

W/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by Makkert
......
That has nothing to do with the discussion in this thread.

It does, Trolls and Tundras are on the Droks run, and I feel the have been upped.

Even the ettins have had an extra member to their mobs recently, where it was 2 or 3 group mobs now 3 or 4 group mobs.


At the end of snakes, I noticed the trolls and tundras love to rush when one mob has been agro'd.


So yeah it was on par with the thread. Just didnt sound like it at first :P

Rajamic

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2005

IA

Chronicles of Heroes [CoH]

R/Me

Increasing the difficulty of a run =/= banning runners. If they wanted to stop Drok's runs, they'd completely close off the route with a "landslide" or something.

Raxxman

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Dec 2005

TEOC

W/N

lots of runners to droks still

jmj102

jmj102

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2005

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rajamic
Increasing the difficulty of a run =/= banning runners. If they wanted to stop Drok's runs, they'd completely close off the route with a "landslide" or something.
Ssssh Dont give them ideas! >.<

Gli

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

Maybe they've been banning runners who've been spamming their services in regular chat? (Just trying to find an explanation, in case the rumors are true. )

KurtTheBehemoth

Banned

Join Date: Dec 2005

tubbyville

Kurt's Royal Guardians

Mo/E

I have an update. They are not banning running as much as they are banning those who charge. Too much scamming is affiliated with it. I just talked to someone who got warned in greenish-yellow letters. This is freaking me out because i made a living off of running

cagan

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Aug 2005

Me/Mo

And how well do you trust this person?, do you know the exact message he got/reasoning?
Still sounds like craziness to me, i think we'd need a screenshot of the warning to start to convince.

bongo-666

bongo-666

Academy Page

Join Date: Jan 2006

Nl

Mo/W

as long as they dont ban the free running its all fine with me

=HT=Ingram

=HT=Ingram

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2005

Anchorage Alaska

Haz Team [HT]

R/W

the people that got banned recently had more to do with their ADVERTISING BOTS and the fact that some of them were scamming like crazy... Running has been and will be an acceptable practice. Arenanet has stated that several times... Its just that most people doing it are not always the most ... honest people.... to say the least. dont get me wrong. there are many honest runner services. some of which can be found in guru... and they will tell you they have not had a problem.

tryptamine_xxp

tryptamine_xxp

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Feb 2006

Desolation Lords

A/

if they should ban runners then they should ban traders cause they offer goods-services in exchange for INGAME cash... their effort for your cash,,,, they should all be ba..... wait... isnt this wrong? :P

William Stark

William Stark

Academy Page

Join Date: Dec 2005

UK

The Imperial Guards

W/Mo

Interesting thread guys, and thanks for bringing it up. I've gone from worried (as I started reading) to quite hopeful.

I was doing fairly regular Droknar runs until a few weeks ago, but I stopped doing it (except by request) because of the vast number of runners who always seemed to be spamming their services. I also felt kinda sorry for anyone trying to get a quest done from Beacons, with their attempts to get a team swamped by chat spam.

Reports from several of my friends seemed to indicate a surge in the number of new/poor quality/scam runners. If Anet are cracking down on the latter, then great. I'm happy just to do occasional runs for repeat clients/guildies and a few extras to fill out these groups. Not taking large numbers of PUGs from Beacons to Droks is a small price to pay for making life difficult for scammers and cutting back on the message traffic.

Zaxan Razor

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Oct 2005

Organised Spam [OS]

W/

Personally it wouldnt surprise me if running was banned, or at least people who charge for running are stopped, for several reasons;

1) It is stopping people from playing the game. In PvP, IWAY is stopping people from learning how to play the game properly, and now in PvE, people aren't learning how to play the game properly, because as soon as they get to ascalon city/beacons perch or wherever, they see that they can be run to the end City. It really ruins the game for people that want to play thru. Its said when you get to the Fire island chain, and you play with people who only have 6 skills in their bar, dont have any elites and dont have a clue what they're supposed to be doing.

2) There are so many complaints from both runners and runees (sp?:P) about being scammed, that it must take up 80% of the scam reports that ANet ahs to deal with, and there is no real way to police it.

Ok i said several reasons, but, the others i had in mind relate to the first two..so there are two reasons :P

SilentAssassin

SilentAssassin

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

Belgium

Remnants of Ascalon, KT alliance

R/N

man,

its easy as it is

runners dont get banned !!

They only get banned when they scam ppl, like asking money halfway and then leave. Goodjob A.net ban those darn scammers !!

Most runners who say stuff like that are scammers themselves...

Optime

Academy Page

Join Date: Oct 2005

Runners Academy [LBS]

W/Mo

Anet has never said they don't agree with running, and I think in fact that they once said something along the lines of seeing it as a viable business.

Just to note, I do not personally believe running ruins the game for anyone. New players are not FORCED to take runs to different places. In fact, I would be surprised if the majority of them had the money for such runs. Also, surely these players would know they are ruining the game for themselves if they were to take such runs? And therefore, why would they do it?

Scamming is, and always will be, a problem of the players. It is because people decide they want to scam that it happens, not only in running, but in trading too. There are people within the game who set out to do exactly what they offer, with no devious thoughts behind it (i.e. scamming). These are the people who are rewarded, since they are given a good name, and often, this good name can be spread between players, resulting in further business. The scammers however are shamed within the community and therefore they quickly lose business.

Of course, these are just my opinions, and sorry it's slightly off-topic. I was just replying to the above post ^^

Thanks,
Optime

Edit: Replying to post 23*

Edit: Also, to the post above, sometimes, asking for money half way, is done as an attempt to make it fair for both runners and customers, but, of course, there are always people who will abuse it ^^

Lord Cooper

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2005

Black Death Knights

E/

i noticed last night that the ettins around beetletun have got harder.. i thought i was just off-form for solo'ing but maybe not

M1h4iL

M1h4iL

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Apr 2005

Perth, Australia

I was run today from LA all the way to crystal deserts and all the cities there, havent heard about this rumor that people get banned for running.

Cador

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Dec 2005

Relax Its Just A [GAME]

R/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zaxan Razor
Personally it wouldnt surprise me if running was banned, or at least people who charge for running are stopped, for several reasons;

1) It is stopping people from playing the game. In PvP, IWAY is stopping people from learning how to play the game properly, and now in PvE, people aren't learning how to play the game properly, because as soon as they get to ascalon city/beacons perch or wherever, they see that they can be run to the end City. It really ruins the game for people that want to play thru. Its said when you get to the Fire island chain, and you play with people who only have 6 skills in their bar, dont have any elites and dont have a clue what they're supposed to be doing.

2) There are so many complaints from both runners and runees (sp?:P) about being scammed, that it must take up 80% of the scam reports that ANet ahs to deal with, and there is no real way to police it.

Ok i said several reasons, but, the others i had in mind relate to the first two..so there are two reasons :P
Are you bloody serious????????? I mean come on. Most low levels who want to be run get run to amnoon HAVE to do the three missions or get run through those then get ascended and have a chance to cap skills out of rankor or droks. or the three ascension missions, and guess what MOST do.

Heres a tidbit for you MOST people who get run are on thier second character having beaten the game with first or gotten significantly far with gameplay through missoins.

When i made my ranger i had him run all over the place cause i did not want to go through all the missions again i found them boring and monotonous. i prefer SF farming and now TOPK farming.

Please think before you post because that really was an insult to runners myself being one.

coolsti

coolsti

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2005

Denmark

It can be expected that Anet will react somehow to any kind of game activity that is contrary to how the game was intended to be played if it gets out of hand. And I would certainly agree that players offering their services as runners to other players certainly has gotten out of hand. When I started to play GW, it was nearly impossible to do anything on the local chat at Beacons because of all the running offers to Droks. Nowadays nearly every outpost and town is filled with runners. Its hard to get a party for real travelling in the desert, for example, because the predominance of runners has given GW players the impression that it isn't possible or worthwhile trying to get to the mission towns any other way.

I can only suppose that as long as the offers for running services continues to grow as it has, Anet will eventually, if not already, take some strong measures to knock it back to a reasonable level.

xxSilhouette

xxSilhouette

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2006

Lost in the sands of time...

Blood Of Orr [BoO]

R/Rt

I have noticed that i see very few runners here lately, But i think it is beacuse a lot of people are running for tips or for free, which is fine if thats what they want to do - but a lot of runners quit running beacuse others are taking there buisness. At least i know thats why a few of them did it. I still see the desert runners and southern shiverpeak runners though.

Im going to agree with talon, I'd say the only runners getting banned are those who are doing the scamming.

koneko

Site Contributor

Join Date: Sep 2005

38??16′ N 140??52′ E

Mo/Me

Quote:
Originally Posted by KurtTheBehemoth
They are not banning running as much as they are banning those who charge.
Roffles with syrup and lmaonnaise.

Gonzo

Gonzo

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

Netherlands

Defenders of the Blackblade [DotB]

W/

Most low lvl without game experience will:
a) have somebody who knows them and will get run for free (that person might also give them pointers on how to play the game)
b) dont have money to get a run anywhere and are very lucky to get a run up to piken/yaks let alone a run all the way to LA or even the desert

- however, I got my first char to LA pretty fast thanks to a free runner, but I bought my (for me at that point) very cool looking armour (which happened to be better) and zoned back to piken to LFP to do dukes daughter.

akitas371

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2006

[GA] Gooch Assasins

R/E

They are not banning period. Its a rumour. This morning alone i found a huge amount of runners both in LA and Beacons. THEY ARENT BANNING FOR RUNNING. Ive made well over 10 LA runs this morning and couple miscellaous runs. They arent nuking running at all.

Gonzo

Gonzo

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Feb 2006

Netherlands

Defenders of the Blackblade [DotB]

W/

Wow, sorry for the terrible English in above post.

XvArchonvX

XvArchonvX

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2005

R/

I doubt A-net will ban running because I think they have a diffrent plan for how it should work. I believe the reason that the Droks run has been made harder and harder is not to discourage running altogether, but rather to drive up the price of a droks run. This will make the run less accessible to those who are playing the game for the first time. In terms of that goal I think they have done well since no one really has 3k (or however much it costs for a droks run nowadays) by the time they get to Beacon's Perch. I remember I only had about a couple hundred gold at that point. Even if they could afford the run, they would find little point due to the price of droks armor as well.

As for the discussion of how running is used as a way for people to not do the missions, I would say that is a legitamate concern. Someone that just sears can be ran all the way through the desert, ran through the Elona's mission, ran through the Thirsty mission (with a necro of course), and only have to fight Dunes which is by far the easiest mission.

I really think their greatest concern is that people don't get new characters, have them run everywhere and powerleveled just so they can farm. In terms of resoponse to this, I think A-net should work harder on making missions and quests more profitable instead of making farming less profitable...

L I G H T

L I G H T

Banned

Join Date: Jan 2006

[Ef] The Elysian Fields rank 26

W/Mo

I've head Gale Grey say that they actually like making things harder so it's more of a challange for the player's...for running that is, she says she dosen't mind..

Kurald Galain

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2005

Fishermans Haven

[DVDF]

Mo/

I don't really know why should ban any honest runners.

First of all noone has to accept a run anywhere if they don't want to. They can still play the game normally without beeing run anywhere.

Second if they really want to get rid of running there are other ways to stop it. Without banning people and possibly loosing players/customers. They would just need to close off some areas and add more Sanctum Cay/ Ascension like missions . Just make sure those aren't runable.


So all in all i think its beein dishonest runners that got banned.

devils wraths

devils wraths

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2005

the fianna [fi]

E/Mo

it could make sence though because all you see in the towns are people asking to be run or running. people arent actually doing the game like its meant to be played anymore. im not saying they should be banned they should make it harder.

Kern Wolf

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jan 2006

NJ

W/E

I think there are 2 parts to this:

I don't blame runners so much (after all, if you can make a tidy sum "running" people from city to city, more power to you); I think those people LOOKING to have someone run them from city to city need to seriously think about their consequences:

1. Lack of experience: You let someone run you through 3/4 of the game. I'm wondering: with all of that running, where do you get gold? Weapons? Salvage materials and weapons upgrades? (Lord, do I hate those people who are CONSTANTLY begging for gold: you know them: "Could some kind person PLEASE loan me 5k for new armor?" and then they wonder why they're getting abused by everyone else.) Most important, where do you get skills (specifically, experience) in battle? I've had to "recommend" strategies to fighting that are obvious to those players who fought from city to city, but it comes across like a foreign language to those who have been "run" all over the map.

2. Lack of Understanding what you character can actually do hurts everyone else in your party: Those who have fought their way through the game have, at a MINIMUM, a pretty good understanding of what their professions' skills can do, how to use them (heck, I'm STILL tring to find that mythical "perfect build" for a warrior/elemental, even though I've finished all the missions), and how to "strategize" with teammates. The funny situation is this;
As that seasoned player, say to yourself, "Hmmmm, I think I'm gonna do hell's precipice. Let me see what I can farm or cap." (heck, you may be just bored, and want to do it for kicks one day!) You also decide, "Let me join a group of people who need this mission." (You're that skilled player, who decides to help someone get over that final mission). You join a group, set your skills, and you're on your way. You get to that 1st Titan, and you see that there's someone not joining the fighting. "Hey, what's up?" you type while waiting for that titan to spawn. you get no reply (in fact, the person may decide to try and cuss you out!), then you realize "Jeez, what's up with this person?". After the fighting ends (and hopefully, you'ved survived), you ask that person to decsribe their skillset, you realize that they dont have a CLUE as to what they're doing. (I've apologized to other players and dropped out because I WON'T run ANYONE through a mission.)

I also dont think people who are run will ever TRULY finish this game. If you're willing to run someone through the whole game, all the Titan Quests, the Titan Source, let me see you take them in to FOW or UW, then get back to me (I'm sure it'll be a short trip!) and let me know if it was worth running someone through the game.

Ira Blinks

Banned

Join Date: Feb 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cador
Heres a tidbit for you MOST people who get run are on thier second character having beaten the game with first or gotten significantly far with gameplay through missoins.
that doesnt make them good players, does it?
I made it thru the game with my ele before i created necro, but i still played it all thru (did most missions with henchies tho), and i beilive that makes me a good necro. And on top of that im sick and tired off all people spamming "VERY EXPERIENCED <char> LFG" in their fow/15k armor and still can not play their character even semi-well.
You have to PLAY the game before you become good at it, even if you know all missions by heart and took ready-to-go build from forums. Different characters require different reflexes and responses to different situation... that is something you can not get by reading or stacking new char with greens.