So Bioware, about people bypassing the locked part on Ziost to fight the OP Boss etc.

[LtGeneralGezlin]

Good. Seriously, if you have to exploit just so you can get some gear, and make your EPeen can get bigger, you must really suck at MMO's.

[Mariojediwookie]

I would assume similar punishment as to the Ravagers exploit for people doing this and very harsh punishment for those that already got caught and punished for Ravagers? Such as perm bans this time perhaps?

 

If I remember correctly the punishment was tame specially considering they were able to keep their gear. The only ones who had harsh punishments (at least I thought) were the ones who actually SOLD access to the exploit. Other than that suspending accounts for a day to a week was just ridiculous and totally made the punishment worth it since they kept their gear.

[Alec_Fortescue]

That was fast.

[Knorlac]

If I remember correctly the punishment was tame specially considering they were able to keep their gear. The only ones who had harsh punishments (at least I thought) were the ones who actually SOLD access to the exploit. Other than that suspending accounts for a day to a week was just ridiculous and totally made the punishment worth it since they kept their gear.

 

Sure, the punishment for the last exploit was merely a slap on the wrist in most cases, but it was also a statement by BW, that would start dealing with exploiters in a more consistent way from then on and I'm glad they followed through with this one.

 

IMO the sanctions are very well balanced against the severity in this case at least for 1st time offenders. I hope that the punishment for the irredeemable, who already participated in the last exploit will be exponentially harder (1 month ban to perma ban).

[JedixJarf]

That was fast.

 

That's what she said.

[Tsillah]

It shows who those datacron explorers are and what they are like - posting screenshots and videos of the kill...

 

Yeh, I mean, I understand that BW can't just throw out permabans like that. It is a fair punishment for first offenders, but it's sad to see at the same time what the reactions are to these bans from them. I don't need them to come forward and confess or anything but perhaps they could be more quiet about it actually.

 

I am clearly a different person but as much as I try, I just don't get why this is so cool to them. I always want to understand why people have different views but here I don't get any further than that some people apparently feel good about themselves for using an exploit as if it's a sort of achievement. It's just like a level 60 crushing a level 20 and thinking that they did something impressive. It's completely self-delusional from my point of view and I guess I just have a hard time understanding this but then we are all different in the end...just sometimes more different than expected

[ParkisMaximus]

is there an original post of the person or person who already glitched into the area? if so links please.

 

 

great job on devs for the fast reply. should be at least a week ban after it comes out so they have to wait and everyone has a chance to get it before them. sounds right to me.

[dscount]

Couple days would be nice (Starting on May 4th), but a WEEK ban still isn't jack to a lot of players.

 

I'm still thinking previous Ravagers exploiters should get the PERMA-BAN, but that's not my call.

[masstan]

Yeh, I mean, I understand that BW can't just throw out permabans like that. It is a fair punishment for first offenders, but it's sad to see at the same time what the reactions are to these bans from them. I don't need them to come forward and confess or anything but perhaps they could be more quiet about it actually.

 

 

I too am at a loss for words at such behavior to be honest. It just seems too childish to be true. Of course, the courage to post the videos and images only came after the ban.

[Knorlac]

Couple days would be nice (Starting on May 4th), but a WEEK ban still isn't jack to a lot of players.

 

I'm still thinking previous Ravagers exploiters should get the PERMA-BAN, but that's not my call.

 

At least those who sold access to the exploit then and did the same thing now should definitely be perma banned IMO.

[ufarax]

Permaban anyone doing it. Simple.

 

 

Permaban who, the player base is small...trust me. No one will get banned nor should they. This is biowares fault. They should fire someone for this, and apologize to the players. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Replace insanity with stupidity, and you have a description of the dev team.:D:D

[Tsillah]

I too am at a loss for words at such behavior to be honest. It just seems too childish to be true. Of course, the courage to post the videos and images only came after the ban.

 

I wouldn't call it courage but it's just their way of "getting back" at BW I guess. Childish as you say. Recently though I've ran into more and more players who just have really odd attitudes. Getting angry because I try to help them but they assume I was not trying to help...people putting me ignore and calling me a ninja when I leave a group because the raid leader takes all the loot and then explaining they will divide loot at the end of the run. I mean how does that make me a ninja if he takes all the loot?

 

Sometimes I do wonder what people are like but I suppose it's not limited to this game.

[The_Wulff]

The ones posting the videos and images to the internet had better hope EA/BW doesn't go after them for leaking content prior to the official release of that content.

[Callaron]

Hey folks,

 

As I mentioned earlier this morning, we very quickly isolated what the exploit entailed and began an investigation into players who have participated. As of now, we have identified those unique accounts which have gone into the blocked off area of Ziost, and killed one of the two bosses present. For each of these players, they will receive a minimum of the following action:

• Multiple day suspension
  
• Removal of all gear earned through defeating those bosses
  
• Removal of all achievements earned through defeating those bosses
  
• Reduction in Elite and Ultimate Commendations
  

 

We will continue to monitor the blocked off area of Ziost throughout Monday, May the 4th, which is when it opens officially. Any player who is found to participate in this exploit beyond today’s notice will likely receive more aggressive action. Thank you all for bringing this to our attention.

 

-eric

 

Nice to see you guys laying the smackdown on all the cheaters.

Too many MMOs encourage this kind of behavior by letting them off easy, or by perma banning only a handful of the worst offenders while letting the rest keep their ill-gotten gains.

[darkov]

Geeze it's not like they cheated and got the gear for free they legitimately killed the boss.

 

I don't really care about the exploiters, and they actually gave them a 3 day ban, but I was hoping that BioWare might take exploiting a little more seriously.

 

Never mind, I look forward to the next exploit and the huge forum thread about that

[FerkWork]

Permaban who, the player base is small...trust me. No one will get banned nor should they. This is biowares fault. They should fire someone for this, and apologize to the players. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Replace insanity with stupidity, and you have a description of the dev team.:D:D

 

Wow so brave

[MeNaCe-NZ]

If I remember correctly the punishment was tame specially considering they were able to keep their gear. The only ones who had harsh punishments (at least I thought) were the ones who actually SOLD access to the exploit. Other than that suspending accounts for a day to a week was just ridiculous and totally made the punishment worth it since they kept their gear.

 

I completely agree especially over the "keeping the gear" part, that was just poorly handled but at least something happened so I dropped the topic in the end.

 

This time though it would be interesting to know if they did keep a list of previous exploiters and really did take serious action against their accounts for the multiple infractions.

 

If they do that to repeat offenders and it becomes common knowledge then people will be VERY cautious over exploiting anything in the game again. If however they met out the same punishment each time to serial offenders it creates a culture of "Let's just run this exploit and if we get caught it's only a couple of days ban and if not we get to keep our ill gotten gains etc.".

 

It's that culture that needs to be broken ( and it's prevalent all over comments this time and last time on Dulfy and reddit ) and only Bioware can do it by taking harsher action this time against the recidivist offenders.

[chinamike]

Wow so brave

 

Wrong. You try designing a large planet area that some derp can't find a tiny crack in a wall somewhere to access an area or do something they aren't supposed to. It is all on the exploiters, who as other have said, just can't play by the rules and have to have this perceived edge on others by cheating. They should get a min 2 week ban, loss of gear, comms, achievements, and a mark on their record that if it ever happens again, their account will be closed and all toons deleted permanently.

[FerkWork]

Wrong. You try designing a large planet area that some derp can't find a tiny crack in a wall somewhere to access an area or do something they aren't supposed to. It is all on the exploiters, who as other have said, just can't play by the rules and have to have this perceived edge on others by cheating. They should get a min 2 week ban, loss of gear, comms, achievements, and a mark on their record that if it ever happens again, their account will be closed and all toons deleted permanently.

 

I'll take sarcasm for 200, Trebek

[nrevox]

Hey folks,

 

As I mentioned earlier this morning, we very quickly isolated what the exploit entailed and began an investigation into players who have participated. As of now, we have identified those unique accounts which have gone into the blocked off area of Ziost, and killed one of the two bosses present. For each of these players, they will receive a minimum of the following action:

• Multiple day suspension
  
• Removal of all gear earned through defeating those bosses
  
• Removal of all achievements earned through defeating those bosses
  
• Reduction in Elite and Ultimate Commendations
  

 

We will continue to monitor the blocked off area of Ziost throughout Monday, May the 4th, which is when it opens officially. Any player who is found to participate in this exploit beyond today’s notice will likely receive more aggressive action. Thank you all for bringing this to our attention.

 

-eric

 

fair and handled like a boss ... well done.

[DarthDymond]

The ban is 72 hours according to someone who received it posting on Dulfy's site.

Thing is, Eric's post indicated that the list there was the minimum action being taken. I would assume the 72 hour folks are at the low end of the spectrum, people who joined a group and killed the boss, but didn't sell access, post guides, etc. And honestly, that seems fair for 'low level offenders' (when coupled with having their 'ill-gotten gains' removed as well).

 

I would bet that accounts that repeatedly used the exploit, sold access to the area, etc., or that had already had action taken against them in the past *cough*ravagers*cough* are looking at more extensive action being taken on their accounts taken this time around.

[g_land]

Out of curiosity... why wasn't the instance door just disabled till a set time for release?

 

Also, one of the great things about this game is exploring and people getting to previously thought inaccessible places e.g. tops of the cliffs around yavin base, is it so surprising that people did whatever it was to access the "blocked off" area?

 

Yes people have "exploited" but if Bioware can't do simple things like the above or understand that there are segments of the community that just like to explore... They made datacrons, what part of the customer base does that cater to in reality... surprise!

[Joesixxpack]

one of the two bosses present.

 

-eric

 

Delete spoiler post pls

Edited April 29, 2015 by Joesixxpack

[FerkWork]

Out of curiosity... why wasn't the instance door just disabled till a set time for release?

 

Also, one of the great things about this game is exploring and people getting to previously thought inaccessible places e.g. tops of the cliffs around yavin base, is it so surprising that people did whatever it was to access the "blocked off" area?

 

Yes people have "exploited" but if Bioware can't do simple things like the above or understand that there are segments of the community that just like to explore... They made datacrons, what part of the customer base does that cater to in reality... surprise!

 

Except these weren't people exploring willy nilly. Maybe the first ones were but most after were there for the loot and to get it early. You cannot deny that.

[Gytheran]

One of the things we tried to be clear about with the Ravagers is that we are serious about handling exploits. With that exploit, the Ravagers we were open about our process and the action we were taking. For this issue with Ziost, we are going to do the same.

 

If a player is bypassing the environment to access an area they should not be able to, and then killing a boss to get loot they should also not have access to, we absolutely consider this an exploit. We are investigating this issue right now, and will be actioning any player who participates, or has participated, in this exploit.

 

If you ever hear of or find something that can be exploited, do not test it yourself. Please notify us immediately and privately. Some of you brought this issue to our attention on PTS and we thank you for that. We closed that opening, but it seems that there is another method of getting into the area.

 

We would also like to thank those of you who did not exploit and who have brought this to our attention. Our goal will always be to create a safe and fair environment for our players.

 

Thanks.

 

-eric

 

Here is a novel idea... how about making a game WITHOUT the ability to access areas that players shouldn't be able to access? Own up to your own screw ups and FIX THEM.

 

So you include an area... with mobs and loot... and a way to get there... and you call the people who access it exploiters...

 

To me, these people simply accessed material present in the game. It may not have been as intended... but it was material you put in the game...

 

I certainly hope this 'exploit' you guys created involves more than platforming into the "illegal" area. After all, adverse environment navigation is a game mechanic Bioware specifically put in this game...