Can we get a response on the Ilum Boosting please?

[lazze]

like to say i have lveled every toon on this game on a us server, i changed to a eu server and really found it boring leveling a new toon but i did get my sniper to 50 .. but when heard about ilum i did a powertech got him to 42 was the best thing i did on this game and the best thing this game as done.

 

why bioware is patching it is a joke its a 3 weekend event that ends but yet people still crying bout it how does this effect anyone but the people who power leveling..

 

why do people have to ruin a good thing for those that enjoy doing it !!

 

BRING ON ESO cant wait !!!

[Fireswraith]

Hey folks,

 

I wanted to give you all an update on this now that I have all of the information in place.

 

First, we are not considering this an exploit so anyone who had fear of action being taken against their characters, etc, should not be afraid. We will not be doing anything to players who used the Ilum pylons to get to 50.

 

I will say that player ingenuity never ceases to amaze us all. This was not a part of the intended design of the Gree event running simultaneous to the Double XP Weekends. Due to this, we are going to be having a maintenance later this week to deploy a fix to this issue.

 

I wanted to talk a bit about the fix itself since it will mix up things on Ilum temporarily. Our immediate fix to this issue is that for the time being, we are going to disable bolster on Ilum. This will have a couple of different affects.

 

• Low level characters will no longer be treated as level 50 in regards to experience. They will now have the normal experience penalties associated to grouping with a player of a higher level. Meaning those players will now gain little to no experience when grouped.
  
• Players who are levels 45-49 will have a slightly harder time completing some Gree event quests as they are no longer bolstered to level 50.
  

I want to again reiterate that this is only a temporary solution. We are continuing to investigate the issue and intend to have a more permanent solution in place before the Gree event returns.

 

-eric

 

I guess I don't quite get why no action is taken, even if a little action by bumping people down to half their current level. Bolster is functioning mechanic, double xp is a functioning mechanic...... combined together with high level mobs lowbies jumped to lightspeed on their xp. However I think you guys really need to stop putting stuff on Ilum, because everyone seems to find a way to exploit it. Low levels traveling to Ilum going for the high level loot containers repeatedly I heard ban stories of, players node trading on Old Ilum I heard was exploiting, and now this. Oh can't forget the dancing in combat exploit that made the mob just stand there looking at you and you took no damage, that was clearly an exploit even though dancing is a fully fledged game mechanic it was being used in a way definitely not intended.

 

But I suppose on the other hand since a whole butt load of people did it, taking action against all of them would be a massive undertaking and a waste of time.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Fireswraith

[Eillack]

Hey folks,

 

I wanted to give you all an update on this now that I have all of the information in place.

 

First, we are not considering this an exploit so anyone who had fear of action being taken against their characters, etc, should not be afraid. We will not be doing anything to players who used the Ilum pylons to get to 50.

 

I will say that player ingenuity never ceases to amaze us all. This was not a part of the intended design of the Gree event running simultaneous to the Double XP Weekends. Due to this, we are going to be having a maintenance later this week to deploy a fix to this issue.

 

I wanted to talk a bit about the fix itself since it will mix up things on Ilum temporarily. Our immediate fix to this issue is that for the time being, we are going to disable bolster on Ilum. This will have a couple of different affects.

 

• Low level characters will no longer be treated as level 50 in regards to experience. They will now have the normal experience penalties associated to grouping with a player of a higher level. Meaning those players will now gain little to no experience when grouped.
  
• Players who are levels 45-49 will have a slightly harder time completing some Gree event quests as they are no longer bolstered to level 50.
  

I want to again reiterate that this is only a temporary solution. We are continuing to investigate the issue and intend to have a more permanent solution in place before the Gree event returns.

 

-eric

 

Sometimes I wonder.....

 

But I think my IQ drops each time I look at this.

 

And way to go for punishing level 45-50's. Thank God I got in before you guys did this.

[Kail_Shefned]

While I can certainly see the reasoning for the fix, what I don't understand is the people whining about the practice to begin with.

 

Really, how is this harming your game play? The majoridy are pissed because they didn't think of it. Another portion are pissed because they think it's cheating. Hell, it makes levelling pretty easy for those who don't want to go running all over planets for 2-3 hours on end repeating quests they've probably done 2-3 times before on other toons. The repitition does get pretty dull.

 

Kinda reminds me of the SMC cave from the early days of SWG...though the GMs there would go upside your head for XP grinding. All in all, fixing the problem is a lot more effective than having to take action against a good portion of your playerbase. In the end, not fixing it is more harmful, because you're just asking for the " trouble" associated with it.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Kail_Shefned

[Selenial]

So.

Ive completed the Smuggler story before... Twice.

I want to roll a gunslinger because i need a RDPS, and on 2.0 its quite obvious the best dps are gunslinger and scoundrel, so i pick gunslinger... That and its fun.

Ive got plenty of republic 50s, and i can pretty much remember every singe quest there is on planets....

Yet your making me go through it all again, when i had a much easier method that hurt NO ONE?

*********** hell bioware.

******* move after ******* move. and to think i had faith in you guys...

[Infernixx]

So.

Ive completed the Smuggler story before... Twice.

I want to roll a gunslinger because i need a RDPS, and on 2.0 its quite obvious the best dps are gunslinger and scoundrel, so i pick gunslinger... That and its fun.

Ive got plenty of republic 50s, and i can pretty much remember every singe quest there is on planets....

Yet your making me go through it all again, when i had a much easier method that hurt NO ONE?

*********** hell bioware.

******* move after ******* move. and to think i had faith in you guys...

 

This is a case where I have no problem with people power-leveling however they like.

 

If you haven't done it, I'd recommend maxing out your Space Mission XP bonuses in Legacy and doing Space combat to 50. Or maybe Warzone XP bonuses and doing PVP to get to 50...

[Selenial]

This is a case where I have no problem with people power-leveling however they like.

 

If you haven't done it, I'd recommend maxing out your Space Mission XP bonuses in Legacy and doing Space combat to 50. Or maybe Warzone XP bonuses and doing PVP to get to 50...

 

Exactly!

People dont CARE if others do it!

If you want to do it. Feel like, "Meh, my guild needs this role end game but i dont want to do the storys again" then LET us power level however we chose.

If you want to power level like this, that should be fine. Let us. No one should give a **** if others do it to level faster, if they care so much they'd do it themselves.

WELCOME MORE PLAYERS AT 50. Bioware, you've royally ****ed up this time. Ive lost faith...

[Eldriq]

I have a hard time wrapping my admittedly small mind around people who are saying this is the most fun they have had in this game. If that is true you really should find another game. When grinding the same mobs over and over just to get to 50 is the most fun you have had it is definitely time to evaluate how you use your free time and if you want to continue to play this game.

 

Now as for the point that this was a community building event that allowed a swell of good cheer that radiated sunlight out of your monitor and cured cancer with its holy light. Well I can not imagine that it was all that and if you want to group to level you are actually encouraged to do so even in ops if that is is you bag. You see groups of friends that band together to level new characters all the time nothing is stopping you from making a massive group. Well the fact that no one wants to do it is stopping you.

 

It is true that this kind of thing is not hurting me in any way shape or form the fact is I can't understand why anyone would want to do it but that is par for the course in life as well so what ever. However the devs have said it is not intended and they are stopping it so to those that are asking how this leveling is different than pvp leveling well one is intended and the other is not.

 

And the my end point is pretty simple games do not allow these kinds of things no game does. You want the levels then you have to play the game the way they want to to play no go to 50 button.

[Asuka]

While I can certainly see the reasoning for the fix, what I don't understand is the people whining about the practice to begin with.

 

Really, how is this harming your game play? The majoridy are pissed because they didn't think of it. Another portion are pissed because they think it's cheating. Hell, it makes levelling pretty easy for those who don't want to go running all over planets for 2-3 hours on end repeating quests they've probably done 2-3 times before on other toons. The repitition does get pretty dull.

 

Kinda reminds me of the SMC cave from the early days of SWG...though the GMs there would go upside your head for XP grinding. All in all, fixing the problem is a lot more effective than having to take action against a good portion of your playerbase. In the end, not fixing it is more harmful, because you're just asking for the " trouble" associated with it.

 

Because it's EAWare sanctioned exploiting regardless of whatever cop out EAWare wants to use to get around it. Illum was never intended for anyone below 50. EAWare said, you can fly there, you can loot chests if you can get to them but nothing more.

 

The game doesn't even send you there til 50 though you can go a bit lower with a group and xp from 45-50 within the xp level threshold. It just makes them a look like hypocrites when it comes to enforcing their own policies. EAWare let people exploit for 3 days then decides to fix it and in the end penalizing those who didn't do it because they actually understood it was an exploit and did nothing about the exploiters because they are more concerned with the "feelings" of some exploiters than the integrity of the game which has suffered as it is.

[Infernixx]

Because it's EAWare sanctioned exploiting regardless of whatever cop out EAWare wants to use to get around it. Illum was never intended for anyone below 50. EAWare said, you can fly there, you can loot chests if you can get to them but nothing more.

 

The game doesn't even send you there til 50 though you can go a bit lower with a group and xp from 45-50 within the xp level threshold. It just makes them a look like hypocrites when it comes to enforcing their own policies. EAWare let people exploit for 3 days then decides to fix it and in the end penalizing those who didn't do it because they actually understood it was an exploit and did nothing about the exploiters because they are more concerned with the "feelings" of some exploiters than the integrity of the game which has suffered as it is.

 

I'm curious how the 'ones who didn't do it' were penalized by the fix.

[DarthClarky]

The people who complained about this are knob's Ive got over 22 characters and nearly all 20+ and a few 50's Ive realy had enough of grinding planets. Im a PvPer and the quicker I get out of the dog ***** 10-49 bracket the better!

[Asuka]

I'm curious how the 'ones who didn't do it' were penalized by the fix.

 

By fixing it, those who didn't do it but would have had they known it was EAWare sanctioned exploiting don't get to take advantage of it next weekend and am sure there are quite many of those.

Edited March 20, 2013 by Asuka

[Selenial]

Dont you love how Eric Musco is on the forums but hes ignoring this simply because theyve made a ******* mistake, followed by another?

[Infernixx]

By fixing it, those who didn't do it but would have had they known it was EAWare sanctioned exploiting don't get to take advantage of it next weekend and am sure there are quite many of those.

 

So, you didn't do it because you thought it was the wrong thing to do...

 

They confirm that it wasn't what they intended and they fixed the issue..

 

And you're mad that you didn't get a chance to do something that was wrong, but not wrong enough to deserve punishment after the fact.

 

Well...okay then.

[Omisri]

Guess I wont be levelling up any toons these next coming weekends. Sorry Bioware, but although the story and side quests were fun the first time round... when you have several 50's and just want to roll the opposite advanced class... they are painfull.

 

Seeming as double xp is only over a few weekends until the new exp... Why not just let it ride?

[Asuka]

So, you didn't do it because you thought it was the wrong thing to do...

 

They confirm that it wasn't what they intended and they fixed the issue..

 

And you're mad that you didn't get a chance to do something that was wrong, but not wrong enough to deserve punishment after the fact.

 

Well...okay then.

 

Oh BioWare should have taken action there's no question. Per their statement, it was an unintended mechanic which was abused but they chose a cop out rather than enforce their own policies. It's EAWare sanctioned so then don't bother fixing it for next weekend or take action on those who did it. Actually no, I didn't do it because I'm actually questing alts with friends who just got into SWTOR and regardless of that still wouldn't.

[islander]

They havent fixed the issue, and Ilum is full of people knowingly exploiting something Bioware doesn't approve of.

[TravelersWay]

I don't know if this was mentioned in the thread, but if you are going to put a fix in for the Illum power-leveling, can you also pass on the suggestion of having a toggle for the XP buff for those people who don't want it?

[Korbanth]

because it's not good for the game.

 

Even without rhe 2xxp weekends, it's already way too easy to level in this game and there's really too many people that reach 50 without understanding how to play pve in a group or do warzones. The more you simplifie leveling, the less people understand their class, their role and how to behave in a group.

 

that is exactly what playing on the pts is like!

[Infernixx]

Oh BioWare should have taken action there's no question. Per their statement, it was an unintended mechanic which was abused but they chose a cop out rather than enforce their own policies. It's EAWare sanctioned so then don't bother fixing it for next weekend or take action on those who did it. Actually no, I didn't do it because I'm actually questing alts with friends who just got into SWTOR and regardless of that still wouldn't.

 

They chose to accept that the players were smarter than they were and figured out a side-step to the usual leveling process.

 

Rather than punish the players for being overly creative, they're simply going to negate the side-step before the weekend and that'll be that.

 

I see no reason to punish the players, either, and I'm not someone who used the Ilum thing at all. I love leveling through the story content. But, I realize it's not for everyone, especially people who've already seen the story at least once before.

[Reacto]

So, wait. What you're saying is that this is not considered an exploit for anyone who already did it, but you're going to fix it so that no one else can. That seems like a contradiction to me, Eric.

 

If it's not an exploit, leave it alone. If it is, fix it and take action against the players that used it.

 

 

listen ea/bw cant afford to lose any more customers. they wont ban the few they have left.

[Asuka]

They chose to accept that the players were smarter than they were and figured out a side-step to the usual leveling process.

 

Rather than punish the players for being overly creative, they're simply going to negate the side-step before the weekend and that'll be that.

 

I see no reason to punish the players, either, and I'm not someone who used the Ilum thing at all. I love leveling through the story content. But, I realize it's not for everyone, especially people who've already seen the story at least once before.

 

It was still an unintended mechanic which they let go on and on for the entire duration of the event when claims say it was reported Friday night. Saying players are just creative is just an excuse for not admitting it was an exploit.

 

Don't think some people want punishment as much as folks want EAWare to simply call a spade a spade and say yeah it's an exploit, we're fixing it but since it's their fault they'll let it slide with a warning instead of coming up wish some wishy washy justification for sanctioned exploiting. The rules on abusing unintended mechanics is clear as is the hypocrisy on their part. It's not illegal only when it makes them look bad when it shouldn't matter.

[jedimasterjac]

I'd find it difficult. Even with Bolster, you lack abilities, buffs, etc. that you'd need. At 50, some Elite mobs are hard, and I doubt I would even be able to kill them at level 23 using Bolster. Honestly, it's only an issue if you make it one. Edited March 21, 2013 by jedimasterjac

[Infernixx]

It was still an unintended mechanic which they let go on and on for the entire duration of the event when claims say it was reported Friday night. Saying players are just creative is just an excuse for not admitting it was an exploit.

 

Don't think some people want punishment as much as folks want EAWare to simply call a spade a spade and say yeah it's an exploit, we're fixing it but since it's their fault they'll let it slide with a warning instead of coming up wish some wishy washy justification for sanctioned exploiting. The rules on abusing unintended mechanics is clear as is the hypocrisy on their part. It's not illegal only when it makes them look bad when it shouldn't matter.

 

You simply don't call something an 'exploit' unless you hand out punishments for partaking in it. The word carries serious weight in the gaming world.

 

So, rather than call it an exploit, they simply did NOT do that and so avoided having to punish players that they felt didn't do anything all that bad.

 

And since it's THEIR game, I don't see how anyone else should be all that upset by it.

[Asuka]

You simply don't call something an 'exploit' unless you hand out punishments for partaking in it. The word carries serious weight in the gaming world.

 

So, rather than call it an exploit, they simply did NOT do that and so avoided having to punish players that they felt didn't do anything all that bad.

 

And since it's THEIR game, I don't see how anyone else should be all that upset by it.

 

The 1s on Illum was exploiting an unintended mechanic, wasn't a fair game experience for all players and was a disruption to those trying to do the Gree event. Pretty much contradicts their own statement on policy.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?p=1060894#edit1060894

 

"It's important to remember that our Terms of Service team is extremely careful and thorough in their investigation of any potential exploit or unusual activity in-game. Working closely with the development team and using extensive metrics based on player activity, they are able to determine what is normal player activity, what is unusual and what is exploiting. Our goal is always to ensure a fair game experience for all players while also protecting the rights of individuals, and if people are disrupting the play experience for others action will be taken."