jimmorrisson Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 When spammers are delt with their accounts should be deleted to free up ignore list space Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shepird Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 I have always figured these guys were just trying to get your credit card info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NovaGrantham Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 This is a topic we have certainly talked about quite a bit in the past. Our fight against credit spammers is always on-going and something that will be tricky to ever resolve 100%. Sometimes we wait to take action to take down entire "rings" of sellers at one time, other times we take more direct frequent action, typically against compromised accounts. We know it can be frustrating and it is something we are constantly looking to address. Always report them when you see them, it helps us immensely in taking them down. -eric Eric, One of the things that other games have successfully done is turn game time/subscriptions into a resalable item within the game. (EG: Eve Online's PLEX) This allows you to combat the credit spammers by destroying the market utterly. Give the PLEX a value where players can purchase it with Credits on the GTN and give players a way to buy into the credits they need, while maintaining control of the market and utterly annihilating any Credit Resaler's method of keeping up with Bioware's new method (how can they keep up with the ability to just create Subscription Objects on the fly?). Is this something that Bioware has discussed as a permanent resolution to the problem? Even Blizzard and WoW have gone forward with this solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 They will never EVER be able to completely eliminate credit spammers. They're like roaches. The sooner you come to terms with this, the better off you'll be. Report. Ignore. Forget. Yep. Dealing with RMT gatherers, spammers, and in game mailers is an ongoing and iterative process. It's the nature of MMOs. I have to say though.. the mail spammers are indeed having to get really creative in their mail spam now days to get past the studios filters. They are getting laughable and almost unreadable. But it does demonstrate that the studio continues to try to filter their communications attempts out of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rrusalka Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 For chat spam reporting we need a "Report Gold Seller" option. Instead of just report spam. Honestly I haven't reported email spam in some time and I will not. It completely blocks you from getting customer support. You can easily report enough in a week to completely fill up the support box and then you are hosed waiting weeks to months for CS to clear out your reports. That is just not worth it. The mail process for gold seller reports should be automated so it is shuffled elsewhere and not leaving legit players high and dry when they are trying to help the process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borderrr Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 (edited) First sorry for my bad english! I'm from germany and my last english-leasson in school is far, far away. Not in an other galaxy, but decades away. Always report them when you see them, it helps us immensely in taking them down. That's a bit difficult for ingame-messages. I report every message, but your support has to deal with it and that's obviously hard, because it takes much time until these "tickets" are done. If I had a problem, I can't write a ticket, because the system says "to much open tickets". So I have to choose: Always report those messages and no chance for ingame help or no reports and ingame help, if I need it. Difficult! Edited January 31, 2017 by Borderrr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattjurado Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Yet another frustration I have... I've been reporting the same gold farming bots since early 2016, and they are still there, running around Yavin on Harbinger. I must have 10 tickets with specific names, including alt codes... In PVP instances, I used to be able to glitch them by killing their companions on stairs outside the Temple entrance, and they would sit their idle for hours. They adapted. Nothing is ever done about them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediRelentless Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 (edited) If you can pass it on to the appropriate channels please tell them to have mailboxes removed on the starter planets. It's been asked for a long time now and I think it would severely impede on the credit spammers. I think that's a very poor suggestion that would only inconvenience the average player and do nothing to discourage credit sellers. Edited January 31, 2017 by JediRelentless Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avicii Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 This isnt something anyone should spend time on, the way 5.0/5.1 are going even gold sellers will be leaving game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andryah Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 (edited) I think that's a very poor suggestion that would only inconvenience the average player and do nothing to discourage credit sellers. I agree. Those mailboxes are a lifeline for new characters until they get to fleet. Sure.. it means they get some abuse by spammers....but I don't see a lot of mail spam lately.. and what I do see.. they are almost unreadable now as they try to find ways to escape the studios spam filters. Edited January 31, 2017 by Andryah Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anesvik Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 On this topic, I want to hear from a dev or BW on what they are doing to take action (if any) to the sites/"companies" that are responsible for the credit seller spam. WE ALL KNOW A FEW OF THE SITE NAMES. And if WE KNOW, then they have to know. Yet this same site has been allowed to continue for years. Why has this been allowed to happen? Is it a legal loophole? Do they just not care as much as they would lead us to believe? I feel it is a minor issue, but an issue none the less. I joke that BW runs this site and when a player buys from them, they ban that person and pocket the money. Like a side hustle to their cartel system. I was never serious when I say that, but now I wonder... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmorrisson Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 (edited) This issue ignoring spammers is there is a finite number of ignore slots before you clear them out. Manually clearing out list becomes monotonous really fast. This is why spam profiles should be deleted when dealt with. Once deleted your ignore list frees up a ignore slot. (Assumes spammer is name, email, and IP-banned.) Also Report Spam should auto-ignore which would also promote spam reporting. Edited January 31, 2017 by jimmorrisson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AscendingSky Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 This is a topic we have certainly talked about quite a bit in the past. Our fight against credit spammers is always on-going and something that will be tricky to ever resolve 100%. Sometimes we wait to take action to take down entire "rings" of sellers at one time, other times we take more direct frequent action, typically against compromised accounts. We know it can be frustrating and it is something we are constantly looking to address. Always report them when you see them, it helps us immensely in taking them down. -eric I'm not going to report them anymore if that means I will never be able to send a ticket on any issues I have, since you guys don't clear out those reports for months and they've now filled up my ticket box. See my post earlier in this thread on the subject. If you guys regularly closed those reports to clear them from the queue, then I'd start reporting them again. Until then, I'm not making the situation worse for myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AscendingSky Posted January 31, 2017 Share Posted January 31, 2017 Yet another frustration I have... I've been reporting the same gold farming bots since early 2016, and they are still there, running around Yavin on Harbinger. I must have 10 tickets with specific names, including alt codes... In PVP instances, I used to be able to glitch them by killing their companions on stairs outside the Temple entrance, and they would sit their idle for hours. They adapted. Nothing is ever done about them. I've reported them all too on Ebon Hawk. They're there every day, all day, are obviously bots, and EAWare doesn't seem to care because no matter how many tickets people send about them they never leave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixxieTriss Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the "B2W" issue everyone's always worried about? I mean... if I can buy a token for rl $$$ on the GTN that gives me say..... $10mil in game credits for $5, then suddenly for about $50 I could buy pretty much ANYTHING in the game available on the GTN. Including the top tier armor mods, hilts, barrels, etc. Aside from armor with set bonuses that is... While I'd personally LOVE to be able to do that, I can only imagine the RAGE it'd cause others. Lol Actually lots of them are sold on the auction house, so the in game economy is setting the rate of what they are worth and they would have to be less than what they give out. Honestly I don't really see how it works, but I have friends who still play WoW and they tell me they buy these all the time off the Auction house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrixxieTriss Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 This is a topic we have certainly talked about quite a bit in the past. Our fight against credit spammers is always on-going and something that will be tricky to ever resolve 100%. Sometimes we wait to take action to take down entire "rings" of sellers at one time, other times we take more direct frequent action, typically against compromised accounts. We know it can be frustrating and it is something we are constantly looking to address. Always report them when you see them, it helps us immensely in taking them down. -eric Hi Eric, Is it possible for spam reports not to go in your in-game CS communication section or at least have them delete regularly. Lots of us have stopped reporting because it fills up and then won't let you ask CS for help or report other things not associated with spammers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joonbeams Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Hi Eric, Is it possible for spam reports not to go in your in-game CS communication section or at least have them delete regularly. Lots of us have stopped reporting because it fills up and then won't let you ask CS for help or report other things not associated with spammers. This is the main issue. Reporting them creates tickets and you fill up your allotment fast. Then you can't report anymore or create any other tickets. So atm, we mostly use ignore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zasszz Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Word filters don't work. That's why we can't say Saturday in chat. It also takes time and processor effort to run a filter against each and every message, be it chat or in game email. We have enough of a lag problem around here. I seriously doubt players are going to want to trade even more lag against checking for spam. Ive seen them work. And I can say saturday just fine in chat. I played wow until legion hit. I had an addon that filtered out 99% of spam without causing lag. Yes, thats client side but it demonstrates that the chat doesnt need to be filtered on the server but on our computers. I have a spamfilter set up for one of my few email adresses and the list consists of about 50 entries so far and this blocks out most spam. And that adress and this feature doesnt cost me anything. Some of us have been dealing with spam since we got on the net back in the mid 90's with our Wildcat BBSes. I sit here for an hour nearly every day with what spam gets through and checking the logs and the blocked IP ranges. Have (Checking the iPod Touch) 5,363 outstanding reports since I just deleted the report folder on the 1st. It's not a simple solution. This is what word filters have been designed for. You have to keep up with the new words spammers come up with and that reduces your workload. True story - I had an account for WoW when it first started. I played maybe a day or two, but didn't like the cartoon graphics, so stopped playing. I forgot to unsubscribe, so I was paying monthly with a CC. It was re-upped every month and I continued to pay for it without realizing it. Then I got an email that I was selling credits and my account was banned. Accounts do get stolen. Thankfully they banned me or I would still be paying for that game and not knowing it.... Yes, it happens. But not paying attention to your expenses and bank accounts is extremely careless. YOUR security starts by picking a password thats not just a lazy 5-6 letter word people can guess without knowing a thing about you. This is a topic we have certainly talked about quite a bit in the past. Our fight against credit spammers is always on-going and something that will be tricky to ever resolve 100%. Sometimes we wait to take action to take down entire "rings" of sellers at one time, other times we take more direct frequent action, typically against compromised accounts. We know it can be frustrating and it is something we are constantly looking to address. Always report them when you see them, it helps us immensely in taking them down. -eric Thats the kind of empty assuring nobody is looking for. You dont fight spam. Many suggested to remove the mailboxes on starter planets because neither veterans or new players need them at all. Thats a no brainer. Yet a fresh lvl1 char can spam all day long on that planet, sending spam mail to my chars that havent been online for weeks. Or just enforce the policy to have proper names instead of lettersalad. I already pointed out that my ignore list continues to grow with spammers instead of shrinking. Or just allow us to block ingame mail from people we didnt add to our friends list and you instantly get rid of ALL mail spam!! After you do none of that, I have zero confidence that you have interest in actually fighting spam. Biowares actions or rather lack of actions demonstrates it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the "B2W" issue everyone's always worried about? I mean... if I can buy a token for rl $$$ on the GTN that gives me say..... $10mil in game credits for $5, then suddenly for about $50 I could buy pretty much ANYTHING in the game available on the GTN. Including the top tier armor mods, hilts, barrels, etc. Aside from armor with set bonuses that is... While I'd personally LOVE to be able to do that, I can only imagine the RAGE it'd cause others. Lol Its the "legalize drugs" version of MMOs. You dont need to go to untrustworthy companies with risk of having your credit card details stolen, your emaila adress sold or your account compromised. If any of that happens, its your fault for being careless even without such companies. Im not sure how far I trust BW but this way you dont have to fear a ban for spending your money on ingame currency. In the end you will only use the GTN to turn your real money into ingame currency. Just like with the cartel market. One problem with that system, which Ive seen in eve online with plex, people tend to ask abit too much for those tokens but its one way to create ingame income if you get lucky to sell it. Its frustrating that players offer so many ideas, other MMOs offer so many working solutions yet I feel like talking to a yellow wall with a smiling face on it with a bubble saying "Our fight against credit spammers is always on-going". It makes me want to rage! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebastiaanZ Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 If you can pass it on to the appropriate channels please tell them to have mailboxes removed on the starter planets. It's been asked for a long time now and I think it would severely impede on the credit spammers. Thanks! Uh lets not remove mailboxes from starter planets shall we? Some of us have 50 mails or more to work through, various of them with boosts (from those cantina crates) or companions or even money and dont feel like traveling to a stronghold every time. So lets not do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zasszz Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Uh lets not remove mailboxes from starter planets shall we? Some of us have 50 mails or more to work through, various of them with boosts (from those cantina crates) or companions or even money and dont feel like traveling to a stronghold every time. So lets not do this. Translation: "Im lazy therefor I oppose the fight against mail spam." *facepalm* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mowermanx Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 Every week in FF14, the devs list their weekly haul of RMT advertisers and bots. This is last weeks report. RMT and other illicit activities upset the balance of the game and, as such, are prohibited under the Terms of Service. Because we have confirmed the existence of players who are engaging in these illicit activities, we have taken the actions listed below. Time Period: Jan. 19, 2017 to Jan. 25, 2017 ・Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT advertising: 188 ・Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT/illicit activity: 16,566 ・Action Details: Permanent ban from FINAL FANTASY XIV This is from the week before. Time Period: Jan. 12, 2017 to Jan. 18, 2017 ・Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT advertising: 247 ・Accounts receiving disciplinary action for RMT/illicit activity: 23,247 ・Action Details: Permanent ban from FINAL FANTASY XIV Keep in mind that this game has to be purchased and a sub to play, and is also region locked(chinese cannot get onto the US/EU servers with their cheap copies) Now, just doing some head math, that's an insane amount of money coming into the studio on a weekly basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liathan Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 (edited) Honestly the only way I can think of actually dealing a major blow to credit spammers is for game companies to sell credits themselves, and at a price that's so low it wouldn't make sense for there to be companies that actually hired people to farm/hack accounts. Of course then this just leads to a jacked up economy, unless you're capping the amount of gold a character has access to at one time, kind of like the escrow accounts they use for F2P characters. So sure I might have 300 million credits, but the most I can ever dish out for something is 1 million credits. Edited February 1, 2017 by Liathan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blurch Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 The credit spammers are now yelling on the fleets instead of posting them in chat. Is there a way to put a report spam option when they yell it on fleets. Other wise its a pain to try to make sure you have the name right when you create a ticket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foambreaker Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 The credit spammers would not be there if it were not for the players who cheat and buy credits. They should just start perma banning the buyers who are easy to track. Arrest the Johns Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deewe Posted February 1, 2017 Share Posted February 1, 2017 This is a topic we have certainly talked about quite a bit in the past. Our fight against credit spammers is always on-going and something that will be tricky to ever resolve 100%. Sometimes we wait to take action to take down entire "rings" of sellers at one time, other times we take more direct frequent action, typically against compromised accounts. We know it can be frustrating and it is something we are constantly looking to address. Always report them when you see them, it helps us immensely in taking them down. -eric Step 1: Add a one right click ignore whole account & report spammer.Step 2: Only allow general chat, direct tells and email sending to subscribers and lvl 10+ characters.Step 3: Act on reported spammers accounts.Step 4: Allow client side, players made chat filters with, say regular expression. Until then, we are both wasting our time. Us reporting and filling spam lists and you not investing your time appropriately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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