Banned from GW - Updates

[Mahomet The Templar]

Early GW info on account banning.....................

Urban tales are abounding such as this one:Originally Posted by Naughty Vicar
My account has been blocked for inappropriate gameplay. I have not even talked for the past 3 hours. I have been questing by myself. Is there a way we can find out what we did wrong? Or is everyone having this problem?

Read what Gail Gray has to say from The Guild Hall Forums 5/6/05
http://forums.knights-templar.com/images/mahomet/gaile-gray-GWavatar.gif
Please see this page to locate the Rules of Conduct and the Outcomes documents. You will most likely be able to recall what you did that resulted in the suspension. I would suspect you were suspended for inappropriate language, although if you had an offensive name you would also earn a mark. If it was your first offense, the "time out" will be brief. If you have accumulated more than a mark or two in the brief period since Guild Wars released, well, your suspension will be longer, but I'm sure that everyone will agree that an escalating scale is appropriate.

We are showing a very light hand in administrative actions. It is not our intention to be harsh or unnecessariy punitive. It takes a few steps to place a mark on an account, and it doesn't happen by accident. Our intention is to keep Guild Wars a pleasant place for all players, and if that means that a few spend a period cooling their heals before rejoining the community, that is a necessary process to keep the game world a good place to be. Every player controls his own destiny. Choose names wisely, use reasonable behavior and you'll never see such action taken on your account. I would estimate that 95% of all Guild Wars players won't need to even think about a suspension, because they're here to play, not disrupt, and they are reasonable people willing to show even the most minimal of respect for their fellow players. That's all it takes to retain unrestricted access to this great game.

Edit to add: Any stories about "account closures" or "permanent bans" are bunk. The greatest action we have taken to date is a suspension. (Suspension is temporary, on an escalating scale.) We have not banned or closed an account. Not one.

EDIT - That HAS changed - read replys

-Guy

[Biltmore]

I imagine that it will take them awhile to get it all under control. But I have seen a couple 'Ph's substituted for 'F's in some names, as well as the use of spaces.

Also the language filters do not work for Spanish curse words in the chat. (Unless I spelled it wrong, J/K.)

[Brewer]

Hello, I'm new to these forums and was scimming over some of the Topics and posts and couldn't help notice the above message about Guild Wars not having a single account banned yet.

Well I'm here to inform you that will change this Thursday or Friday.

I purchased a copy of Guild Wars at my local Wal-Mart store the package was sealed but the CD case had the looks that it had been opened to seeing that it didn't even have a plastic seal or cover on it that you would usually have to cut open with a knife.

I entered the Access Key when asked for when I was creating my Account but it seemed that it was already in use. So I figured someone had stolen the Key without purchasing the Game and probably got a burned copied from a friend or relative.

I submitted a Account Support email to Guild Wars Support Team and they quickly replied back. Matter of fact, 6 minutes later is a quick reply. First they asked me if I had mistyped anything in the Access Key and I've tried many different combinations and I'd either get the same "Access Key In Use" or "Not Vaild."

They then sent me another Email asking me what Email I used to create the account with and if I had any alternates that I could've used when creating it. I had only used one Email.

They again sent me another reply saying that they wanted me to Mail my original Access Key insert and a copy of my Store reciept. I quickly replied saying that "The mail has the requested Information and is in the mailbox for delivery for Monday's Mail."

They replied back saying thanks and confirmed me they will be sending me a new Key if all works out well and they will be Banning/Closing the Account with the stolen Key.

[Spux]

Since the key is scratch off, shouldn't u have noticed by that that it had been used?

[Litebringer]

how would he know its scratch off if it was already scratched off?

[Biltmore]

Why would you purchase a box that had already been opened? I purchased the retail version from Best Buy and consdiering that each of the box was securely taped that would be easy to notice.

And then after you open the box all of the contents are shrink wrapped within the cardboard inner container.

Thirdly the CD Key was of the scratch and sniff variety (mine smelled of turtle soup.)

So I can see not knowing about the CD Key, but you could easily see the box was opened if you would have looked.

Interesting story. :roll:

[Brewer]

It turns out that my CD key was infact stolen and obviously had gotten a burnt copy from someone.

GuildWars Support Team emailed me with a password for that CD key.

So what they did was they didn't ban the account or erase that CD key and give me a new one.

They gave me the persons account on that CD key. And reset his password and changed the account name and gave me all this information through email. So as soon as I would log on using this new password it would become vaild for me and invaild for whoever was using it.

Funny thing was when I logged onto the account his characters where on it. So I stripped them and gave all there stuff to my character.

So thanks goes out to the Guild Wars Team, great game.

lol! glad it worked out for ya!

[rage]

Im just waiting to get some dough to doop up my comp so i can play this seemingly stellar game, and hearing this sort of responsivness from the tech team really makes me want to get the game EVEN MORE!!! Awesome job by the GW tech support, quick action = MORE CUSTOMERS!

[CowTipper]

If they replied to you that fast, did all that, and got you playing. They must really care for their players. Now that's what I like to hear. That's pretty sweet. If someone ever gets the chance they should get a big cake... through E-mail.

[BatMorph]

I hope ANYONE who sees an open CD in a store, would buy it, I will. Just to stop a thief from getting a free version of a game we paid for. More power to you Brewer, for stopping a thief. I would get a hold of the store also, if you can, and let them know, that this may be a problem for them, take stopping these theives one step further:)

[oblivious]

oh man.. if only D2 was like this... its completly gone mad.. each month or so blizzard goes on a baning rampage, baning 60 accounts in 1 day for things as bots and scammings to hacks and inapropriate language or names....

but this game has it all.. just 1 account banned since there release.. these people are my idol

Props to a great game.

[Brewer]

I hope ANYONE who sees an open CD in a store, would buy it, I will. Just to stop a thief from getting a free version of a game we paid for. More power to you Brewer, for stopping a thief. I would get a hold of the store also, if you can, and let them know, that this may be a problem for them, take stopping these theives one step further:)

Agreed.

[oblivious]

i also agree.. if you didnt catch him.. theres a chance that he'd still be playin for free today, gj

[Gaile Gray]

I'm glad that Customer Support could sort that out for you quickly and happily. :)

I wanted to just make a note that since I posted in May to say that we had not banned a single account, as few changes have some into effect. Most Guild Wars fans are aware that we have banned twice for players using bots; each ban involved more than 100 individual accounts. We also banned a few (very few) accounts for using a known exploit at such high levels that the actions were indefensible.

It's still our intention that we will ban accounts very sparingly, but when such an action becomes necessary, we won't hesitate to take it, for the good of the game.

[oblivious]

if we find such an exploit.. where should we report it?

[Gaile Gray]

Thanks for asking. The best place to report exploits is via the support.guildwars.com address. There is a form to file which submits a support "ticket." The CS people can refer the report to QA if it needs checking. If it's a clearcut exploit that doesn't require a lot of investigation, they'll refer it to right away to ArenaNet and we'll work quickly to resolve it.

We've had a lot of very helpful reports. I can honestly say that some of the exploits that were closed down, and some of the botters who were removed, were a direct result of fan support. We're very grateful for that.

Coming from the bot infested world of D2, Guild Wars is a very refreshing change of pace. It's awesome to see ArenaNet take such a hard stance against botters and exploits!

[oblivious]

apparently there's an exploit in pre-searing where you farm bandits for dye and belt pouches

[Revan]

apparently there's an exploit in pre-searing where you farm bandits for dye and belt pouches

Its not an exploit for the last time first off you should know what your talking about before you try to report it :lol: The bandits dont even drop dye... Well for me anyway they havent once dropped a dye.

Im very happy to see that the ArenaNet team is taking action against rude offensive people who will ultimately ruin the game for everyone. Taking action against Botters and scammers is also great. Im looking forward to future play with the same great atmosphere I have had the fortune of being a part of its refreshing coming from a game infested with rude behavior and bots :!:

[oblivious]

How do you its not an exploit?? i read on many sites that farming bandits gave dyes and belt pouches.. And in every1 of those sites.. they called it an exploit, yes that doesn't exactly make it true but I had good intensions reporting it and i don't need to be brought down by you.

[Valtars]

Technicly it can't be an exploit to farm bandits for belt pouches because they drop the item the collector who gives you a beltpouch requests as for dye... I never got a dye drop off a bandit I got 3 in one instance off scorpions in regent thou... Please correct me iff i'm wrong about the worn belts being used for belt pouches but I'm pretty sure i'm not...

[Avenger]

Yes.. I believe that you are right.

[Avenger]

I have made a new character today (a Mo/W) and have tested this "exploitation" and found that it really isnt a exploitation.. since it takes a whiel to make one belt pouch.. which they sell for 50g, its a very slow process.