Hello All I have to get this off my chest and have already been in conversation with GW support.
My GW account was recently hacked. Many of items from my characters were stolen (including cerimonial daggers) I have never downloaded any 3rd party software to do with gw (infact the only thing I downloaded before my account was hacked was a gw update.
In reply to my posts to GW support it took a week for them to tell me "As far as items, characters, or gold that were lost due to your account being hacked, we are unable to replace any of those things"
There was no reason why. just the statement they cant. I had already read their FAQs on security of accounts before posting them my problem, and they put a lot of blame on the customer and a way out for them (that I feel makes less work for them), which I dont agree with.
I have a friend at work who plays WoW and told me of how in the past he was hacked and when he told WoW support his account was returned of all items lost.
I have been playing guildwars for over a year and have only now felt like such a big pile of poo.
There that is better.
Thanks for reading.
El
The wonderful people in the world of GW
ElDuddz
CyberNigma
I think you're out of luck here. Unless you are playing from China or Korea then there's no chance of any recoup. NCSoft has had a bad record of stuff like that (google for the latest class-action against them), but ArenaNet seems to not have as bad a record.
I'd recommend you use a unique password (don't share it with anything else) in the future if you don't already. Also, even though quite a few ppl compare GW to games like WoW, as it is more like Diablo/Diablo II via battle.net than MMOs (its not a real MMO, but a CORPG), which you normally wouldn't get anything recouped.
I'm sorry to hear about your bad luck, though. Again, if you were playing in one of those countries then you'd have some recourse, but otherwise just start all over. It's still an enjoyable game and that rarely seems to happen (that I hear about).
I'd recommend you use a unique password (don't share it with anything else) in the future if you don't already. Also, even though quite a few ppl compare GW to games like WoW, as it is more like Diablo/Diablo II via battle.net than MMOs (its not a real MMO, but a CORPG), which you normally wouldn't get anything recouped.
I'm sorry to hear about your bad luck, though. Again, if you were playing in one of those countries then you'd have some recourse, but otherwise just start all over. It's still an enjoyable game and that rarely seems to happen (that I hear about).
that red guy
Well, most people who are hacked either download bad software, or do something stupid like use there guild wars password and account name on forums or say it in chat or use there name as there password. I'm not saying you did just making a generalization.
And Anet probably doesnt give you your stuff back because I could trade my Rare 15over50 amazing long sword of expensiveness to my friend and say "I was hacked give me another one" or never have one to begin with and say mine was stolen "I need another"
And Anet probably doesnt give you your stuff back because I could trade my Rare 15over50 amazing long sword of expensiveness to my friend and say "I was hacked give me another one" or never have one to begin with and say mine was stolen "I need another"
Don Zardeone
I'm not saying you are but a lot of people claim to have been hacked in order to get free stuff from people who feel bad for them.
I once got hacked (4 times in a row) but that was a serverside issue in another game. I never got my stuff back either. I instead made everyones life hell which was more satisfying anyway.
I once got hacked (4 times in a row) but that was a serverside issue in another game. I never got my stuff back either. I instead made everyones life hell which was more satisfying anyway.
ElDuddz
Cheers,
I suppose I am more p'd off at the fact there are people in the world who do this sort of thing.
I suppose I am more p'd off at the fact there are people in the world who do this sort of thing.
Orbberius
Protect yourself! People don't lose accounts randomly, there's usually a good reason. You say you haven't used any suspicious programs. Are you using a bad password? Do you use the same password in many places, especially on forums? Never use the same password for random free stuff like forums, and things you care about, such as Guild Wars or your home computer. I personally have 3 different passwords that I use, depending on how important the thing is.
For all forums and such useless things, I use one password. For online banking and things like that, I have another, very secure password which is just a random gibberish string that I've memorized and never written down or even spoken out loud (not that it can actually be pronounced). Then I have another password for Guild Wars. That way, if a crappy forum leaks my forum password, it's not a problem for me at all.
For all forums and such useless things, I use one password. For online banking and things like that, I have another, very secure password which is just a random gibberish string that I've memorized and never written down or even spoken out loud (not that it can actually be pronounced). Then I have another password for Guild Wars. That way, if a crappy forum leaks my forum password, it's not a problem for me at all.
ElDuddz
Trust me I have learnt from this.
I grant I was lazy and used the same passwords in many places, but in my defence my account was completely stripped, money, item, runes, weapons I think they can see I am not lying and I am not asking for anything I didnt have I just want to have I had before I got hacked.
If I had sold everything and transfered the money I would expect some sort of recorded trail to exist dont you?
I mean that green text that pops up in the message box when things get dropped must do something else more useful then get in the way of conversations.
I grant I was lazy and used the same passwords in many places, but in my defence my account was completely stripped, money, item, runes, weapons I think they can see I am not lying and I am not asking for anything I didnt have I just want to have I had before I got hacked.
If I had sold everything and transfered the money I would expect some sort of recorded trail to exist dont you?
I mean that green text that pops up in the message box when things get dropped must do something else more useful then get in the way of conversations.
Dart
Back in my super noob days i let a party member "borrow" a sheild....never gave it back and though Anet most likely booted him for a bit...it still doesn't return your item. Yes I know they want to police ourselves but in your instance man that really seems like they should meet you half way. 
Like offer similar items in collector weapon skins or something.
I always wondered if we had a major crash if Anet would say the same of our inventory then....makes me want to take a ss of all my stuff to prove/demand i get them back - doubt they would tho considering their track record...maybe they feel that they would open with a whole worse can of worms if every scammer started claiming their stuff got stolen.
Either way I feel really bad for ya mate, I remember how it felt...maybe post what u lost and your stats, there are a lot of good guilders here who will offer stuff to help you out especially if they have extras and know what it is that you lost.
Best wishes
Like offer similar items in collector weapon skins or something.I always wondered if we had a major crash if Anet would say the same of our inventory then....makes me want to take a ss of all my stuff to prove/demand i get them back - doubt they would tho considering their track record...maybe they feel that they would open with a whole worse can of worms if every scammer started claiming their stuff got stolen.
Either way I feel really bad for ya mate, I remember how it felt...maybe post what u lost and your stats, there are a lot of good guilders here who will offer stuff to help you out especially if they have extras and know what it is that you lost.
Best wishes
ElDuddz
I dont expect hand outs, I have been waiting a week and will get back up to playing and restock my chars in about a month. Everything was how I liked it and now I have the inconvinience of having to get everything again.
This person even salvaged my ranger masks for the sup runes that are worth only about 100gp from the trader and they left my mini pet (jade armor) which to be honest I would have taken.
This person even salvaged my ranger masks for the sup runes that are worth only about 100gp from the trader and they left my mini pet (jade armor) which to be honest I would have taken.
eternal pho
Yeah I'm sure theres some random guy typin up random passwords =P. I doubt it's about how well your password is because it's your e-mail adress/account name that people use to hack accounts. I have no idea how your account go hacked without the account name being known to anyone, but thats too bad =(
CyberNigma
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Orbberius
Protect yourself! People don't lose accounts randomly, there's usually a good reason.
|
ElDuddz
I would like to add that I have had various contacts with the support but this is the first time they have made me feel like this.
GloryFox
Here is one way your account can be hacked without using a 3rd party utility.
Simply give your e-mail to someone such as your Guild, Web forum etc.
Simply enough if that e-mail is the e-mail you use for your Guild Wars account then your account can be hacked pretty easily.
It then just takes time and a good access program. OR if your password is the name of one of your characters its that much easier.
SO I suggest you get some obscure yahoo account and use some password that has at least 3 numbers in it. That is the best way to protect your account.
AS FOR ITEMS..
Its bad luck but I agree with A net on this one. TOO much potential for abuse.
Simply give your e-mail to someone such as your Guild, Web forum etc.
Simply enough if that e-mail is the e-mail you use for your Guild Wars account then your account can be hacked pretty easily.
It then just takes time and a good access program. OR if your password is the name of one of your characters its that much easier.
SO I suggest you get some obscure yahoo account and use some password that has at least 3 numbers in it. That is the best way to protect your account.
AS FOR ITEMS..
Its bad luck but I agree with A net on this one. TOO much potential for abuse.
beanerman_99
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ElDuddz
This person even salvaged my ranger masks for the sup runes that are worth only about 100gp from the trader and they left my mini pet (jade armor) which to be honest I would have taken.
|
Anyways, its tough loosing stuff you worked so hard to get, be it by a hack or some friend stealing it. Anet must have a good reason for not giving your stuff back. I'm sure you know this, but make sure you use a combination of letters and numbers and symbols for a password to make it harder to figure out. Good luck in your re-building and Don't Give Up the Fight!
Count to Potato
My old guild unfortunatly was owned by a hacker, but not hacking just a really good guesser, or some program thing, anyway he told us he found someone with X amount of gold and stole half of it, second he created a character name I am sorrry, so thing is make ur passwords really random and unguessable like mine
lyra_song
http://www.csgnetwork.com/passwordgen.html
Please use a secure password.
Never use the same password for 2 things.
Dont use the same email for GW as you do for Forums.
:/ sorry you lost all your stuff. At least you account is intact?
Please use a secure password.
Never use the same password for 2 things.
Dont use the same email for GW as you do for Forums.
:/ sorry you lost all your stuff. At least you account is intact?
Bale_Shadowscar
This is the advise that Invisionfree (the forum provider) give people to stop their forums getting hacked. I thought it was pretty good so I'll post it here:
---------------------------------------
Passwords should be:
* at least 7-8 characters long — longer is better
* composed of three of these character classes:
1. lower-case letters: abcd...
2. upper-case letters: ABCD...
3. numeric: 1234...
4. non-alphanumeric: !@#$<,"...
If your password is so complex that you need to write it down, choose another one.
What's a poor password?
An easily cracked password has one or more of the following characteristics. Do not use any of the following in your password:
One way of creating a good password is as follows:
Step 1
Think up some short sentence or saying that will be easy to remember, such as "your mom smells like a wet dog".
Take out the spaces and you get: yourmomsmellslikeawetdog.
Step 2
It's not too bad how it is, but since you don't want to get in the habit of using words that are in the dictionary or something for passwords, you can change it to "leet speak" (replacing certain letters with numbers or symbols that look similar), which some people do a little differently than others, but here's how I might change our example to "leet": y0urm0m5m31151!k34w3td0g
Step 3
That's better, but it could still be improved.
An easy way to make it more secure would be to shift everything over one key in some direction.
So, if we shift all the characters over to the left one key, it would become: t9yen9n4n2``4`~j23q2rs9f
---------------------------------------
Passwords should be:
* at least 7-8 characters long — longer is better
* composed of three of these character classes:
1. lower-case letters: abcd...
2. upper-case letters: ABCD...
3. numeric: 1234...
4. non-alphanumeric: !@#$<,"...
If your password is so complex that you need to write it down, choose another one.
What's a poor password?
An easily cracked password has one or more of the following characteristics. Do not use any of the following in your password:
- a password that you have shared with someone else.
- a dictionary word
If you can find it in a dictionary of any language, don't use it. Attackers trying to break into a system use computer programs that sniff out poor passwords. One of the first things that these programs do is try dictionary words — and they have access to dictionaries for all sorts of languages, so don't think you're safe by using German, Akkadian, or Farsi; - your name or the name of your spouse, child, pet, boss or anyone.
Do not use names in any form; - your character username.
- anything that can be found out about you
The street or city where you live, your birthday, license plate number, your social security number, your phone number, the first line of your favorite song, your favorite quotation, etc.; - anyone's birthday;
- movie or song titles;
- password composed of all digits or all letters;
- dictionary words in which the letter "l" has been replaced with the number "1", or "E" with "3" (e.g. e1ephant or 3l3phant);
- a word to which a single digit has been appended or prepended (e.g. bookworm5 or 5bookworm);
- clever-seeming "magic words" from computer games (e.g. xyzzy);
- simple keyboard patterns like qwerty;
- any of the passwords that are used as examples on this page or anywhere else;
- any of the above spelled backwards;
- passwords that are written down on a note kept under your keyboard or in your desk, or are kept in a file on your computer (including email);
- a password that has never been changed or has not been changed in several months;
- a password that you have used before.
One way of creating a good password is as follows:
Step 1
Think up some short sentence or saying that will be easy to remember, such as "your mom smells like a wet dog".
Take out the spaces and you get: yourmomsmellslikeawetdog.
Step 2
It's not too bad how it is, but since you don't want to get in the habit of using words that are in the dictionary or something for passwords, you can change it to "leet speak" (replacing certain letters with numbers or symbols that look similar), which some people do a little differently than others, but here's how I might change our example to "leet": y0urm0m5m31151!k34w3td0g
Step 3
That's better, but it could still be improved.
An easy way to make it more secure would be to shift everything over one key in some direction.
So, if we shift all the characters over to the left one key, it would become: t9yen9n4n2``4`~j23q2rs9f
blood raven
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Bale_Shadowscar
[*] passwords that are written down on a note kept under your keyboard or in your desk, or are kept in a file on your computer (including email);
|
lets not get overboard... hacks happen all the time and i dont think anyone is stupid enough to not allready know all the advice offered in this thread.
dargon
You may not have downloaded any 'hacks' for guildwars, but thats not to say you don't have some form of malware installed on your computer. Any sort of keylogger could easily sniff your username and password, it doesn't have to have come from a guildwars 'hack', they are just a likely source.
KANE OG
I don't particularly care for the title of this thread, lumping everyone together like that. It should be renamed to "I got screwed" or "I screwed up".
ElDuddz
Thanks for the input.
I have started up again as I will not be expecting much to be done by the support (I hope they find the person at least) and you will be glad to know I am going well.
The person who hacked my account was evil but infact helped make the decision for what I should keep... (basically nothing) so I have started again with collecting materials, luckily all my chars that I created are intact, but only had 600gp between them all and scraps of materials.
So I am in it for the long hall, just been farming and it is going well.
I am remembering what a great game this is.
Cheer
El
I have started up again as I will not be expecting much to be done by the support (I hope they find the person at least) and you will be glad to know I am going well.
The person who hacked my account was evil but infact helped make the decision for what I should keep... (basically nothing) so I have started again with collecting materials, luckily all my chars that I created are intact, but only had 600gp between them all and scraps of materials.
So I am in it for the long hall, just been farming and it is going well.
I am remembering what a great game this is.
Cheer
El
ElDuddz
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by KANE OG
I don't particularly care for the title of this thread, lumping everyone together like that. It should be renamed to "I got screwed" or "I screwed up".
|
Demesis
WoW gave all the items back??? Holy crap, I'm going to buy WoW and play that instead! I'm kinda tired of Anet not enforcing their authority against afker's and scammers and afk bots, and also putting the blame on players so that they don't have to bear any responsibility at all.
lg5000
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by blood raven
hehe like someone would break into your house and search for your GW passsword
lets not get overboard... hacks happen all the time and i dont think anyone is stupid enough to not allready know all the advice offered in this thread. |
Alternatively, have my hand writing.. it's illegible? (non-readable) to anyone but me
lishi
im feel sorry for you.
But arena.net policy is that.
Actually i find also the reason of this policy.
There is no a button "Give the item back" where someone in arena.net office can press to put your item back.
They cant just cancel all the trading your character made. becouse maybe they dont keep track of it, maybe your stuff was sold to someone else who are onest. maybe etc etc.
all the tracking require a real person. Who will have to check the log , trade translaction etc etc.
A job who require hour , not error proff. etc etc.
But arena.net policy is that.
Actually i find also the reason of this policy.
There is no a button "Give the item back" where someone in arena.net office can press to put your item back.
They cant just cancel all the trading your character made. becouse maybe they dont keep track of it, maybe your stuff was sold to someone else who are onest. maybe etc etc.
all the tracking require a real person. Who will have to check the log , trade translaction etc etc.
A job who require hour , not error proff. etc etc.
Katari
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by blood raven
hehe like someone would break into your house and search for your GW passsword
lets not get overboard... hacks happen all the time and i dont think anyone is stupid enough to not allready know all the advice offered in this thread. |
I work in an ITS department, and I can't number just how many times I've seen staff tape the account name and password to their monitor, or leave it under their keyboard. It's scary.
Also, keep in mind how important it is to have a strong password on everything. If you have a strong password on your account, and a poor one on your e-mail, you might as well have a poor password on your GW account.
Desert Penguin
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Bale_Shadowscar
One of the first things that these [hacking] programs do is try dictionary words — and they have access to dictionaries for all sorts of languages, so don't think you're safe by using German, Akkadian, or Farsi;
|
Lol! My password is in the Assyrian language (the language I speak at home), which is similar to Akkadian (old Middle eastern language). I don't think anybody has ever hacked into my account so far
CyberNigma
Well mine was
Username: ********
Password: ********
but I changed it..
EDIT: I forgot that the forums filtered out usernames and passwords...
:-)
There will be one...
Username: ********
Password: ********
but I changed it..
EDIT: I forgot that the forums filtered out usernames and passwords...
:-)
There will be one...
Eviance
I personally registered one of my accounts through PlayNC.... And several weeks later I got about 9 emails of someone trying to hack it -_-
I mean this is my mule account and I do share it my hubby and very close friends I have known for a long time. Mostly materials and junk, nothing extremely high dollar and another reason I put it in PlayNC (double passworded concept).
But they didn't try to hack my GW account, they tried to hack my PlayNC account and they did it in a row over and over! So yes there sometimes are random people throwing in passwords trying to get an account.... They gave my the IP but I wasn't able to track it -_-
Anyways I immediately changed my godly password, but PlayNC refused to track the IP addy that they had given to me?!?!? I was kinda mythed as to why they wouldn't try to stop a hacker! *shrugs* I really do wish I had never registered ther ;_;
Anyways sorry for your luck man, getting hacked, scammed, or otherwise ripped off sucks ;_;
*hugs* Sorry! =/
I mean this is my mule account and I do share it my hubby and very close friends I have known for a long time. Mostly materials and junk, nothing extremely high dollar and another reason I put it in PlayNC (double passworded concept).
But they didn't try to hack my GW account, they tried to hack my PlayNC account and they did it in a row over and over! So yes there sometimes are random people throwing in passwords trying to get an account.... They gave my the IP but I wasn't able to track it -_-
Anyways I immediately changed my godly password, but PlayNC refused to track the IP addy that they had given to me?!?!? I was kinda mythed as to why they wouldn't try to stop a hacker! *shrugs* I really do wish I had never registered ther ;_;
Anyways sorry for your luck man, getting hacked, scammed, or otherwise ripped off sucks ;_;
*hugs* Sorry! =/
Eviance
So basically what you are saying is that someone wont sit there and try a series of common passwords trying to hack your account? 99% of the time, yes its the users fault, but there are some people who hack by guessing or trial and error and they enjoy it. It does happen! It is also extremely rare but it does happen.
Swinging Fists
Sometimes I wonder if some of the things I read in these forums were written through hacked GWGuru accounts.
bulletsmile
if anet gave your things back, it's just to report them that you lost 500k and 99 ecto from a hacker and they would send you that....nope, that wouldn't work.!
Priest Of Sin
*salvages armor*
Uh.. I've been hacked... yeah... >_>... GIVE ME MORE STUFF.
sorry for your loss tho.
Uh.. I've been hacked... yeah... >_>... GIVE ME MORE STUFF.
sorry for your loss tho.
Swampgirl Inez
Thank you everyone for the good advice about password security. However, these "I was hacked/banned" threads are 'beating a dead horse' as it were and usually wind up in flames.
Closed.
Closed.