Action For The Ravager's Exploit

[Elracor]

Given that the bans that have started include forum posting bans, per Eric's statement, it's unlikely that the people posting here today are "exploiters".

 

Several players I know did the exploit and I know got the mail are still online in-game (and some of them restarted client to check if they were banned). I highly doubt the suspensions are in effect yet, at least not for everyone.

Edited January 29, 2015 by MFollin

[Frybert]

RIP for good now swtor. The player base in this game is retarded and you are baning the last loyal, and above average, ones that you had.

Doubt it.

• Received a warning along with anywhere between 1-7 days of in-game suspension time.
  
  • Anyone who received an in-game suspension will also lose their forum privileges for the same period of time.
    

  [*]For our most egregious offenders, they will have received a suspension up to a permanent suspension.

Inside of those categories of player’s it is also possible they could have very specific additional actions taken against them including:

• Removal of inappropriately obtained high-end gear and crafting materials
  
• Removal of credits and commendations
  

 

Reading between the lines a little would tell you that about 99.9% of players who participated are getting the 1-7 day suspension.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Frybert

[Tysu_Lanx]

Though this was a long time coming I commend BioWare for owning up to their part in this little drama and taking reasonable action instead of caving to the angry demands of a minority.

 

Let's bury the hatchet and move on.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Tysu_Lanx

[Taorus]

Doubt it.

 

 

Reading between the lines a little would tell you that about 99.9% of players who participated are getting the 1-7 day suspension.

 

Doubt it even less then .001%

[Kurin]

Just last night, I pugged into a Ravagers run with an entire guild (well, 6 of them) that had clearly exploited, each wearing their 198 HM set piece chest, and very few other set pieces or token items (lots of Massassi and 192 comms gear...and most with 186 Mainhands). These were gear levels that simply could not have killed Coratanni on HM.

 

It was very depressing to see at the time.

 

I can only hope that all of those 198 Chest Set pieces are out of the game today...or soon. And that those players don't just receive a day or two ban (which is indeed nice to see). I'd like to see them lose their achievement and the gear item. Not sure if that is planned for the "casual" exploiter, but it's what I would have liked to see.

 

Regardless, I'm glad BioWare is doing what I consider to be the right thing and taking some action. Hopefully it gives more players pause the next time an exploit is revealed. Likewise, I hope BioWare takes future exploits far more seriously and fixes them in a far more timely manner.

[OMGitsCHARLIE]

Consider me impressed that BW actually took action. Edited January 29, 2015 by OMGitsCHARLIE

[Kourage]

So ok, now could 1 of your staff update the group finder levels and suggested item levels for level 50,55,& 60 content? Telling a level 60 tank or anyone else that all he needs is item level 147 for a hard mode flashpoint is just wrong. Edited January 29, 2015 by Kourage

[_Coragin]

Given that the bans that have started include forum posting bans, per Eric's statement, it's unlikely that the people posting here today are "exploiters".

 

But, you know, keep on assuming that anyone who questions the disproportionate response from the outraged players and from Bioware is "an exploiter."

 

I'll just refer back to my earlier post:

I am sure none of them, zero, none of them have more than one account they pay for. None. That is unheard of...

 

Oh right, I have more than one account that I pay for...

 

And considering a lot of people who are in fact posting, admitted to exploiting, it is entirely possible that one of the following.......

 

1. Their ban has not hit yet.

2. Their ban has not reached the forum yet.

3. They have been or use a different account to post on the forums.

4. The forum bans are not working as intended.

 

But the fact still remains that people in this very thread have admitted to exploiting it. So, no I will not apologize to the at all, not in the slightest, not even a little bit. I am relishing in this news. And I honestly think anyone who did this more than 3 or so times should get a perma-ban. Period.

 

Oh and your argument is invalid since, the above highlighted.

 

So the people who exploited and (noticed the and) also jumped on everyone who was posting displeasure in the changes to slots and the rate drops of certs/etc and relentlessly hounded, them, berated them, made fun of them...

 

Eat up your punishments! How does it feel? I hope it feels great! On my end of the things, since I did not exploit, I am basking in the QQ glory! I cant wait to read more butthurt. This thread has made my week/day/weekend/month. Karma, gotta love it.

[Pagy]

That just doesn't seem to be the case, at least not any of the players (some guildies too) I've heard from. 24h suspension + removal of schematics is all.

yup

 

i nailed it too from eric's first description of the data they gathered.

even this message strikes me as something that they'll remove from the 7day guys...will be a manual process to go in and tinker with items.

 

there was no way everyone was going to lose the gear. all the clues were there to say its not something that can be easily done, least of all automated.

[Pagy]

Given that the bans that have started include forum posting bans, per Eric's statement, it's unlikely that the people posting here today are "exploiters".

 

But, you know, keep on assuming that anyone who questions the disproportionate response from the outraged players and from Bioware is "an exploiter."

 

I'll just refer back to my earlier post:

the ban begins from the time the email is rcv'd apparently.

 

having said that, those that were in game and rcv'd emails weren't kicked out...or yet.

[Drockter]

But the fact still remains that people in this very thread have admitted to exploiting it. So, no I will not apologize to the at all, not in the slightest, not even a little bit. I am relishing in this news. And I honestly think anyone who did this more than 3 or so times should get a perma-ban. Period.

 

{Snip}

 

Eat up your punishments! How does it feel? I hope it feels great! On my end of the things, since I did not exploit, I am basking in the QQ glory! I cant wait to read more butthurt. This thread has made my week/day/weekend/month. Karma, gotta love it.

 

.... Wow.

 

I advocated for some punishment, exactly how they did it (scaling levels of actions depending on how egregiously the player took part... up to and including bans)...

 

But your response is just.... Wow... Lets just say, a little over the top.

[JattaGin]

Eric, your detailed input on this matter is much appreciated.

 

Judging from the amount of yellow posts we had today (and yesterday), I would say you got an important team meeting earlier this week, probably with some guest from the higher management.

 

I hope that you keep your communication up like this. Even small messages like "Thanks for the post! We are aware of the problem, and looking into getting it fixed. I don't know what it's scheduled for right now, though." from Tait make a positive difference.

[Meiran]

Well done Bioware! Nice to see you taking action against cheating scum. imo it was a little too lenient even...

[lightSaberAddiCt]

Given that the bans that have started include forum posting bans, per Eric's statement, it's unlikely that the people posting here today are "exploiters".

 

But, you know, keep on assuming that anyone who questions the disproportionate response from the outraged players and from Bioware is "an exploiter."

 

I'll just refer back to my earlier post:

 

I gotta say, alot of your posts annoy the hell out of me, but I wrongly accused you of being an exploiter, and for that I apologize. Just glad they actually did something, personally I think the removal of gear, creds and schematics will hurt the exploiter more then the 7 day suspension would.

[Tysu_Lanx]

Eat up your punishments! How does it feel? I hope it feels great! On my end of the things, since I did not exploit, I am basking in the QQ glory! I cant wait to read more butthurt. This thread has made my week/day/weekend/month. Karma, gotta love it.

 

Glad you get some kind of demented pleasure out of the schadenfreude, but from where I sit the majority of people are content with the action BioWare has taken. Not a whole lot of QQ.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Tysu_Lanx

[Drockter]

Eric, your detailed input on this matter is much appreciated.

 

Judging from the amount of yellow posts we had today (and yesterday), I would say you got an important team meeting earlier this week, probably with some guest from the higher management.

 

I hope that you keep your communication up like this. Even small messages like "Thanks for the post! We are aware of the problem, and looking into getting it fixed. I don't know what it's scheduled for right now, though." from Tait make a positive difference.

 

/signed

 

Communication is on the uptick, and I appreciate it.

[Transcendent]

Thank you Eric for the candid and very informative and open post. As an aside, I think the playerbase of SWTOR would benefit and appreciate more open and honest communication of this scale more often. Most of the rage that happens on these forums comes about as a result of the lack of communication from the Dev and CM team. More communication like this would go a long way to fostering a better relationship between the team and the community.

 

[snip]

 

While I may not agree with every decision that the dev team makes in regards to elements of SWTOR, this is one I understand and fully support.

 

These points sum it up nicely.

 

Thanks for the update Eric.

[LyraineAlei]

Well, glad BW admitted that the exploit was live for too long, with too long of a delay before punishment.

 

My inference is that most people likely just had their gear/whatever taken back, with a rising scale of violations until permaban for the worst offenders.

 

Glad to see this post up. Now, does this mean the community team is actually going to talk to us again about stuff behind the scenes, or just lurk in the shadows until some small thing pops up (like what moves does Eric have to land the gig at BW)?

[ufarax]

Lol.

 

Are you implying you don't intend to resub because you are being punished for something you had to know was cheating?

 

Good for him, I hope all the banned cancel their subscriptions.

[Pagy]

Just last night, I pugged into a Ravagers run with an entire guild (well, 6 of them) that had clearly exploited, each wearing their 198 HM set piece chest, and very few other set pieces or token items (lots of Massassi and 192 comms gear...and most with 186 Mainhands). These were gear levels that simply could not have killed Coratanni on HM.

 

It was very depressing to see at the time.

 

I can only hope that all of those 198 Chest Set pieces are out of the game today...or soon. And that those players don't just receive a day or two ban (which is indeed nice to see). I'd like to see them lose their achievement and the gear item. Not sure if that is planned for the "casual" exploiter, but it's what I would have liked to see.

 

Regardless, I'm glad BioWare is doing what I consider to be the right thing and taking some action. Hopefully it gives more players pause the next time an exploit is revealed. Likewise, I hope BioWare takes future exploits far more seriously and fixes them in a far more timely manner.

the chestpiece itself doesnt affect the game any.

 

for most, its a setpiece (bonus) that can be easily obtained in storymode. the extra stats between 192/198 aren't overwhelming. for many people they won't even have other setpieces to get the set bonus...it's not an "exotic" item.

 

what DOES have value are the BiS mods and enhancements that could drop from the chest.

 

i actually inspected a dude a few weeks ago and have the 198 ravagers chest...his other gear was all green. he had ZERO operations achievments...not ONE for EV, KP, DP, DF...NOT ONE. except for one. hm19 ravagers. too funny.

 

what other players wear in pve has no affect on you.

Edited January 29, 2015 by Pagy

[Amodin]

Funny - "May lose" and "Could lose" - being used for those that gained items, schematics - instead of "Shall be" or "Will be". I didn't even give a damn about suspensions, that won't fix the problem. What would fix the problem with those that gained, should just lose any money they gained, along with whatever they gained from the instance and leave it at that.

 

People won't give a two bits **** about getting a slap on their wrists. People learn through pain and pain for them would be to take away what was gained.

 

Typical lack of spine response and action taken, but whatever.

[JourrnoRush]

If the rumors about a certain guild who spread the exploit is true, I do hope they take the most severity of the bans.

 

People being held accountable is one thing, but holding only certain people accountable is going to be a lot worse in this situation.

[Darslk]

I think they went about this the wrong way. They've admitted to responsibility for the whole thing, so that's good, but they should have simply instituted a clean slate policy, instead.

 

Admit to being responsible, accept the blame, give a few mea culpas and then make it abundantly clear through in-game mails and emails to all accounts that any exploiting going forward will be dealt with severely and quickly, that the days of ignoring exploits and exploiters is now in the past.

 

That way, no one can go forward and exploit and say that they didn't know.

 

You're right in that they have to start somewhere, and it's good that they've taken their share of the guilt for this debacle, but you can't get away from the fact that most of the players wouldn't have exploited if they honestly believed that BW would do anything to them for exploiting. And those players had good reason for that belief that BW didn't care.

 

No. It was known it was an exploit. Exploits are against the TOS. The exploiters shouldn't have received leniency just because they didn't expect to be punished. Exploiting has always been risk vs reward deal, and though the risk seemed little after so much inaction in the past, they were still risking bans by breaking TOS.

[_Coragin]

Yeah, there was none dummy.

 

The Butthurt is strong with this one.

 

Schematics gained would have unbalanced the economy. Couple that with tons of free mats to make those things? And yea, it effects a whole lotta things. Like pumping an item or items into the economy and a large rate that was never intended.

[Cyzicus]

Sorry both raid groups that I am subbing for while regular members are out of town. I won't be raiding for the next 7 days, and you'll have to find another replacement. If you want to blame someone, talk to the original poster, lol.