Hate NCSoft? Maybe think again

Be sure to drink your

Are you a NC Soft fanboy, or employee?

I do finally hate NC Soft for what it is and what they did to Paragon Studios finalized that feeling.

I'll explain why.

Come October 2006 I will have been playing Guild Wars 1 off and on for 6 years. Last year I finally had it. I had it with the massive amount of bots in PvP, particularly in the Jade Quarry as that is where I was spending most of my time. I had it with hearing all the time about player accounts being hacked and stolen. (Most of the 'bots', possibly all, in the game were set up on stolen accounts) Sick of the hacked/stolen accounts set up with spam bots advertising gold selling websites. I never got into the random arenas PvP because of the large amount of bots, but more so than the bots, players who syncronized their teams to get in together and assure themselves consecutive victories (The point of random arenas is that all players on both sides were suppose to be random, and according to GW1 ToS, this should have been considered 'match manipulation', a perma-ban offense but they did NOTHING about it). Thankfully to this day I've never had my account hacked or stolen.

When the date for the pre-purchase of GW2 was announced I was excited and hoping for something different and past problems (named above) taken care of. I was going to pre-purchase it so I could participate in the beta weekends since I've never beta tested an upcoming game. Until............I saw a few player reports on the official GW1 support forums that after linking their GW1 and GW2 accounts, their accounts were hacked and stolen. (So much for that not happening anymore, eh?) So I decided to stick with CoH and wait a few months to get GW2 until things settled down, the economy stabilized for the most part, major bugs that happened at launch were fixed, and they FINALLY did something about account security instead of putting the responsibility and blame on the PLAYERS.

But.........I've been reading recent reports about GW2. I will NOT be buying GW2 now. Not to spite NC Soft for what they did to Paragon Studios, that's only part of it. But because A-net doesn't give a damn about their players. Currently in GW1, as of about a week ago when I logged in and played a bit, bots are still in PvP and gold selling spam bots are still showing up in towns, on characters that have elite armor no less, i.e. stolen accounts. (In fact I reported 1 and support said the account was terminated).

Here is what I've been reading about for GW2:

Article dated Aug. 29, 2012 ( the day after official launch)
Subject: ArenaNet warned players to be vigilant with account security and ADMITTED they've had a lot of accounts hacked!
http://www.videogamer.com/pc/guild_w...igilant_3.html

Here on Sept. 1, 2012, and Sept. 3, the official GW2 wiki had an announcement about account security, working on support tickets from players who've been hacked, etc.: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game...mber_1.2C_2012
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Game...mber_3.2C_2012 (Edit: info in the link was most recent game status update. New links added.)

And something funny and disturbing: The same day Paragon Studios is given the boot, Anet perma-bans a large number of GW2 accounts (3 days after launch) for exploiting a bug in the game. From reports I've seen in comments on MMORPG.com and other places, at least 3,000 accounts or more were banned. The cherry on top of the cake? Anet isn't even admitting they made a mistake in the game! They are going to be "nice" about it by unbanning accounts and giving players a 72 hour suspension instead. The stipulation for getting your account back? Admit that you violated the rules, promise to delete all in game currency and items you obtained through the bug in the game. And Anet warns "Once you have done so, we will lower your ban to 72 hours, and following your re-activation we will check your account to make sure that you have honored your commitment. If that commitment is not honored, we will re-terminate the account." The problem? Some players may not have realized they were exploiting a bug (that should have NEVER happened in the first place), and some players may have been banned by accident. For those banned by accident, if any and I'm sure there were at least a few, the players have to admit to doing wrong when they may not have even known.
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/c...apons_exploit/

(some comments on MMORPG.com people were saying they are now paranoid that they may get their GW2 account perma-banned for an exploit they had no idea was even there)

And more: Because of the massive volume of players, GW2 digital sales have been halted for now so they can lighten the load on the servers. (you can still buy a retail boxed copy though) http://games.slashdot.org/story/12/0...f-guild-wars-2

This happened the day after all the account bans. Coincidence? Someone here has a conspiracy theory that does make some sense: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...1#post18231180

Now with my experience and what I've seen (never had my GW1 account perma-banned) but Anet's policy on bug exploits is 0 tollerence. It lies in the depths of the galaxy where the stars don't shine in ABSOLUTE 0 temperatures kinda policy and they NEVER EVER unban accounts for ANYONE, even players that plead with them that they had no idea they were violating the rules, and granted some of them probably didn't know. As per that person's conspiracy theory: is it possible the thousands of account bans, then the discontinuation of online sales, were both to lighten the server load for the massive amount of players logging in and playing? And the only reason they made the offer to unban accounts for an exploit was because they succeeded in their server load goals?

Sorry for the lengthy post, but in conclusion I don't trust NC Soft anymore. I've also read reports about items in the cash shop for Lineage II and Aion being INCREASED, possibly doubled. It sounds to me that those are the games they should have shut down, or at least 1 of them.

It's Corporate greed.

Of course it's evil.

No, dude. The rest of your rant can stand, but this is BS.

The exploit WAS AN EXPLOIT. Hugely. And there was NO WAY to "accidentally" perform the actions that were causing people to be banned.

There was a vendor selling high-end weapons for 21 currency instead of 21,000. It was obvious and right there in the vendor. He went from 94,000, 74,000 and then 21. It was an obvious mistake.

People bought THOUSANDS of these weapons, and used an in-game item transmuter to roll the dice, creating THOUSANDS of super-rare items that were flooding the game market on its first week out the door, which would have completely destroyed balance and the game's economy.

And instead of just letting that stand, the way EVERY other MMO company that I've ever played under has done, leaving the people who play honestly in the dust of cheaters, Anet took action to protect the rest of us.

In addition, Anet is giving people a 72 hour ban for using hate speech in public channels, cursing people out, abusing them, calling things "gay" or "retard" in a derogatory way. Because they're PROTECTING their game and their customers in a way that NO other MMO company I've ever played under has EVER bothered to do, despite the code of conduct we all sign to be allowed into the games.

So no. That one doesn't get to stand. Anet DOES care about their customers. I for one have been protected by them in a number of ways - because the people they're banning are botters, RMT spammers, racist/homophobes and cheaters. And I'm ALL FOR those people getting thrown out on their *****.

I'm neither. I'm a big fan of this game however.


I don't want to get into that comparison because it's just so wrong. Let's just say I'm with Christopher Hitchins on that.

I'm not trying to dumb down anything - but there's a couple of reasons to maybe reflect on why ranting at NCSoft isn't our best course of action and they are reasonably simple:

NCSoft don't have the emotional attachment we do and to them it's product, like beans or peanuts. They are simply conducting their business in the best way they see fit. It's tough on many but it's just business. I dislike their decision but I don't hate the company nor any individuals associated with that and hyperbole isn't going to change anything.

But there's a far more pragmatic reason - IF this game is to be saved, it is far better that NCSoft is approached with respect and decorum than a ranting "NCSoft is ebil" - and these forums are a big part of that process. Getting the back up of key decision makers right now is not a good thing.

NCSoft have handled this poorly in this instance but in the round they gave the game a new lease of life and we should remember that.

"You got to dig it to dig it, you dig?"
Thelonious Monk

Whoah. I'll try to sum it up:

Digital sales of GW2 were stopped because of the massive amount of players joining the game, the day AFTER thousands of accounts get banned for a rules violation. Is it possible the account bans were also to alleviate some of the pressure on the servers, and the reason they changed it to "give them a second chance" and switch to a 3 day ban instead was because server load was lightning up?

I know. It's a wild theory. But I never said that people were not exploiting the game. Merely pointing out that Anet was putting ALL the blame on the players and not even admitting that the bug was their fault to begin with.

Should they have banned people who clearly were taking advantage of it? Yes I believe so.

Did they admit they made a mistake and promise to be more careful so they didn't have to ban people again? Hell NO.

Edit: P.S. How can Anet "care" about their customers when GW1 account hacks and thefts, as well as rampant botting, still taken place and have been for many years? How can they care since, as I pointed out and they admitted to a small degree, GW2 accounts have been getting hacked since before the weekend beta started and they were doing the pre-sales?

Just a beloved game and beloved characters, with collateral damage done to the beloved community.

'It's just business' doesn't magically remove evil from a decision any more than 'I did it for science!' or 'I was just following orders'. Indeed, the stereotypical mafioso villain often cites the business motivation before enacting some rather despicable deeds.

Yes. After playing GW1 for 6 years I'm fully aware about the 99.9% of accounts that bot and cheat are actually stolen accounts.

But, here is more info I found dated August 29, 2012, the day AFTER the game launches:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/c...day_august_29/

This is a load of crap. Account hacking/theft has been rampant in Guild Wars 1 since I started playing in late 2006, or possibly before that. How many players from way back then are still going to be using the same exact computers they had, or if they are using the same computer, never ever find these "pre-existing trojan horses" when anti-virus software has changed and updated so much since? And what of all the players completely new to Guild Wars and have never played it until GW2 launched? I think they are lying and don't want to admit, which would be really bad PR, that their 'own' websites are being hacked. Why do you think they shut down the GW2 official forums? I doubt it's only because of the influx of players.

I remember them saying something a couple years or so ago during development that botting was going to be nearly impossible in GW2. What do they mean by "casual" botting? Bots that only do it an hour or 2 a day instead of non-stop 24/7?

I definitely can NOT trust ArenaNet or any other NC Soft game anymore, aside from CoH. Period.

Wild is right. Why even make stuff up and post it? Seriously?

Again, you are ignorant. HELL YES.

"Hello,

In the coming hours, we will be restoring account access to those who were suspended for exploiting the bugged vendor prices for the Norn Cultural weapons. Not everyone will have access restored right away. In some cases we are awaiting more information from the player, and some appeals are still coming in. We will address each appeal as quickly as we can.

We’d like to remind everyone that we do not seek to punish, and any time a drastic measure like this is taken, it is taken to maintain the health and integrity of the game. As we reinstate these accounts, we expect everyone who appealed to honor their commitment to destroy all illegitimate gains, whether those are crafting items, currencies, or the weapons themselves. To remove currencies, making a purchase of appropriate value and destroying that purchase will suffice.

We would also like to acknowledge that we are not free from blame. In a game this big, problems inevitably occur that are difficult to locate , and moving forward we will continue to address these issues in a timely, communicative and efficient manner. What constitutes an exploit, and what has resulted in these suspensions, is using a flaw in the game to gain an unfair advantage over other players that is clearly not in line with the design of the game. Please remember, opportunity does not equal permission.

We also understand that sometimes the consequences of such an exploit may not be clear or apparent. In these cases, try to think about how the actions of one player can affect the millions of other players, or the in-game economy as a whole. In your appeals, many of you stated that you only purchased large quantities of weapons to use for personal gain and not for profit. Such an act devalues the time and effort put forth by every other player who opts not to take advantage of an exploit. We will be publishing a FAQ on exploits soon.

On the subject of your appeals, most of you expressed understanding for the decisions that we made. For that, we are deeply appreciative. Going forward, we will strive to maintain only the highest of standards for the game and the community, and we ask that you do the same.

As one player noted in his appeal, we have the opportunity to work together to forge a legendary MMO experience and that is not something we take for granted. If you encounter any other bugs or anything suspicious in game, please feel free to report it by typing "/bug" in-game, or by sending an e-mail to exploits@arena.net.

All of that said, on behalf of ArenaNet and NCsoft, we’d like to extend a sincere welcome back to Tyria. Let's all have some fun.

Regards, The Guild Wars Support Team"

Seriously, is it so hard to do a little research before you slander?

The GW2 hacks are the result of aggressive goldfarmers, and email lists culled from other games, resulting in password changes by using legitimate customer emails, and people who are phished and are stupid enough to click a link in an email. It is NOT a result of poor security on Anet's part, but they are adding an authenticator to the account options ASAP.

I was sent two different e-mails telling me my Guild Wars e-mail address was changed. I've never played either of them. I'm assuming the links in the e-mails lead to some sort of phishing site.

Yup.

Here's Anet's posting on it as of today's (Tuesday's) daily update:

Same thing with me. I already had a "Someone has reset your guild wars 2 account password. Was this you?" email and I haven't, and won't, buy GW2.

Edit: Forgot to mention what I found strange about the email........It was using my email address I used to originally create my NC Soft master account and Guild Wars 1 account. For the past couple years my master account has had a different email address listed as my contact email.

And lately for the past year or so I've been getting emails saying that my Blizzard account was found to be in violation of the rules and I had to go to some site to log in and talk to them about it. I've never ever had a Blizzard account of any kind. Don't care much for their games. Most recently getting emails about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion.

I'm not dumb enough to fall for this. The only thing I can think of is that I used that email address to register for accounts on a few F2P MMORPGs in the past, all of which I didn't care for, and maybe Anet is right about the hacks of other databases.