Players BANNED for going to Ilum? Suggestions to Customer Service

[Overdoze]

I also recieved this email today. About me exploiting the zone of illum, I wasnt banned. It stated that I will have a warning placed onto my account. My reasoning for going out there was after the nerf to slicing I wanted to see if manually collecting lockboxes was still a decent source of income. Since I didnt feel that sending my companions on slicing missions was worth it anymore I figured illum would be the best place to run a 30min test of collecting boxes. After doing my test I left the zone and ended up dropping it for underworld trading. Don't see how me using my gathering skill to gather is exploiting.

[Thiussat]

As others have said, the exploiters are out in full force on Illum and BW is not taking any **** and is banning low levels on site to stop this nonsense. People are using alts to gain PvP XP, etc.

 

Even if the OP's friend wasn't guilty of actually exploiting and was completely ignorant, oh well. I am glad Bioware isn't tolerating it.

 

You Rift vets may remember the same thing happened in Rift. People were rolling the other faction so they could artificially gain tons of XP for better PvP gear by doing PvP rifts. Essentially, you had people who got the absolute best R8 PVP gear in the game after using exploits for only a few hours, while most of us who did it legit, had to spend weeks or months grinding to hit R8. The forums were ablaze for days over it with people asking Trion to start banning. People were posting YT vids bragging about how they did it. Trion said they were "looking into it" but never did anything about it. I am glad Bioware is banning first and asking questions later. Hopefully it will send a message.

 

That said, it is partly BW's fault for not thinking these matters through in advance. They gave us the mechanics that are easily exploitable. They should simply not allow anyone that's not lvl 50 into the zone. Period. Problem solved.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Thiussat

[Altinar]

This thread is honestly just borderline comical. I've consistently seen three trends:

 

First: the OP constantly skirts the issue and never reveals the true nature of his "friend" that got banned, nor does he offer any further insight into the nature of the ban, hiding behind "I can't reveal private information". If that were the case, offer a screenshot with names blurred, or perhaps post a link to another site; offer proof, without any evidence to your claims you have absolutely no argument.

 

Second: trolls abound. Everyone in support of the OP isn't truly in support of anything he claims; rather, they're just using this thread as an opportunity to mindlessly insult Bioware, not to mention in an amazingly poor and baseless manner. If you're going to bash a company with a reputation for stellar games and RPGs, at least do so by stating more than "omg OP is soooooo right guis, Bioware sucks lololol so typical what a trash company".

 

Third: Those who are against the OP all present themselves in a way that conveys skepticism in the proper form; they demand at least a modicum of evidence before considering the OP's claims. Considering that the OP and his support, despite having 28 pages to do so, have offered no evidence beyond a link from reddit (which is laughable as a source for reliable information) and continue to howl "this game sucks, and so does Bioware", it's quite surprising that this thread has gone anywhere. That said, it's been made quite apparent across this thread that Ilum is the site of exploiters abound, so I'm weighing in favor of the opinion that the OP is either a liar or is completely misinformed.

 

In summation, this thread should honestly just be closed. It's pathetic that it's gone on as long as it has with not a single bit of evidence being presented toward the OP's claims, and has only led to the frustration of wisely skeptical people and the mindless trolling of anti-Bioware idiots who obviously can't understand that A. this is their first MMO and B. every MMO in HISTORY has had a terrible, buggy, laggy launch; WoW's was FAR worse, but most of these people likely either never played an MMO before or just can't help but continue this childish effort to keep WoW the "king of MMOs". Enjoy the game or don't, complaining about a game, and even more so its creators, with no solid basis for your arguments and no evidence to substantiate or support your claims (in most cases there aren't even any arguments, just blatant childish insults), makes you no better than the ocean of trolls that populate WoW's forums today.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Altinar

[Adryn]

jeezy chrissy would people read the whole thread before shouting it was deserved and dumping on the OP.

 

The person in question got their crew skills up while still low level, something perfectly reasonable and possible by game design then needed to go to higher lvl zone to collect nodes.

Something done in mmos since the dawn of the freaking genre. If a lowbie was banned for going to tat to collect nodes people would be screaming blue murder, but there is no difference if its ilum or somewhere else.

It would appear the ban was most certainly not deserved.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Adryn

[xandax]

All bans will always be 'unjustified' to the ones getting hit. However - there's often much more to it than that.

[Grrl]

There are 2 different things here, exploiting pvp objectives (which is lame) and gathering with low char in high level area (which is cool).

 

 

Though the email from reddit made it look very bad (lame) for EA/BW who ever runs the player administration, cause it was about gathering in high level area.

[Belbullab]

All bans will always be 'unjustified' to the ones getting hit. However - there's often much more to it than that.

 

nah, if i'm exploiting and i get banned then i know it's justified... i don't hate... but if i get banned for slicing boxes on ilum with my level 400 slicer who is sub class level 30 then that will not be cool at all...

[Keadil]

It's a decision a developer makes when partnering with their publisher. For an example: Dice is pretty small and probably doesn't have to man power to actually police their forums. I'm betting it's part of their contract for EA to police the game and forum while they develop the game. It's common for lots of developers to do this (F2P games companies like Aeria Games/G Potato/So on and so forth).

 

So far, I don't see any EA Representative policing the forums and in game for BW, because the fact is that BW has the man power to do so, and they want to police their game in a particular way.

 

Since EA owns Bioware they could dictate any policy that they see fit. Bioware seems pretty independent, but it is still owned by EA.

[PibbyPib]

Exploiter gets banned, fails to mention exploiting in whine post-- news at 11. Edited December 31, 2011 by PibbyPib

[MaliceX]

BIOWARE isn't going to apologize for anything... because they don't give a crap that they banned you or anyone else they don't like. Sorry but it's true. They will ban your account and then put yourass on ignore.

 

 

 

YOu like to complain about Bioware dont ya? yet you're still here posting.

 

Do yourself a favor and quit... You're not happy so leave and be happy.

[Altinar]

All bans will always be 'unjustified' to the ones getting hit. However - there's often much more to it than that.

 

This, despite it having already been said once per page (no offense intended).

 

And Adryn: Consider the above quote. A player does not simply go to X high level area and begin harvesting Y material; it usually involves many other activities which may be in breach of the agreements and ToS. Take the ongoing, though declining, chinese gold-farming practices of WoW for example: Several thousands of characters at level 1 are made to be able to harvest high level skill nodes, and usually do so by wall-hacking, speed-hacking, and many other methods of making their character "cheat" the game. They are not simply "utilizing their high trade skill level at a low level"; they are utilizing multiple methods to do such things, all of which are ban-worthy in nature.

 

Though SWTOR might not be the same case, it most certainly follows the same rules for determining credibility of claims: there is always more to the story than just "what X person did and what happened because of it", you must always, *always* ask how X person did what they did, because that is most often what will be left out of stories such as this thread's topic (and it is expected to be so, as it would instantly discredit any story of this nature). Point is, never take the claims of the individual (or anyone directly affiliated with) who was banned for face value; especially if they don't offer any details to the story other than those that support their argument.

[chavoda]

If a player can go to any zone unrestricted and loot something whit use of only game given skills and not any form of unintended misuse then its not a exploit.

 

If this ban thing is true and the player did not use a real exploit (using a bug or something) then I will simply not sub to the game once my days are done for.

 

you cant punish players for being smarter then game developers,never has a mmo never should one.

That Bioware/EA shipped the game in a half finished state is not the players responsibility

Questing works in sw:tor but thats about it,everything else needs work.

Edited December 31, 2011 by chavoda

[MaliceX]

This thread is honestly just borderline comical. I've consistently seen three trends:

 

First: the OP constantly skirts the issue and never reveals the true nature of his "friend" that got banned, nor does he offer any further insight into the nature of the ban, hiding behind "I can't reveal private information". If that were the case, offer a screenshot with names blurred, or perhaps post a link to another site; offer proof, without any evidence to your claims you have absolutely no argument.

 

Second: trolls abound. Everyone in support of the OP isn't truly in support of anything he claims; rather, they're just using this thread as an opportunity to mindlessly insult Bioware, not to mention in an amazingly poor and baseless manner. If you're going to bash a company with a reputation for stellar games and RPGs, at least do so by stating more than "omg OP is soooooo right guis, Bioware sucks lololol so typical what a trash company".

 

Third: Those who are against the OP all present themselves in a way that conveys skepticism in the proper form; they demand at least a modicum of evidence before considering the OP's claims. Considering that the OP and his support, despite having 28 pages to do so, have offered no evidence beyond a link from reddit (which is laughable as a source for reliable information) and continue to howl "this game sucks, and so does Bioware", it's quite surprising that this thread has gone anywhere. That said, it's been made quite apparent across this thread that Ilum is the site of exploiters abound, so I'm weighing in favor of the opinion that the OP is either a liar or is completely misinformed.

 

In summation, this thread should honestly just be closed. It's pathetic that it's gone on as long as it has with not a single bit of evidence being presented toward the OP's claims, and has only led to the frustration of wisely skeptical people and the mindless trolling of anti-Bioware idiots who obviously can't understand that A. this is their first MMO and B. every MMO in HISTORY has had a terrible, buggy, laggy launch; WoW's was FAR worse, but most of these people likely either never played an MMO before or just can't help but continue this childish effort to keep WoW the "king of MMOs". Enjoy the game or don't, complaining about a game, and even more so its creators, with no solid basis for your arguments and no evidence to substantiate or support your claims (in most cases there aren't even any arguments, just blatant childish insults), makes you no better than the ocean of trolls that populate WoW's forums today.

 

 

Now you added a 4th:

People who think they are smarter/better then everyone else in the thread while stereotyping everyone who's post they didn't read.

[Kharik]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis

 

This is why everyone thinks anyone who has been banned is a liar and a puppy murderer.

[drealmer]

I went to Ilum at 32...there was nothing there so I left....maybe I will go back...I did like that it was nighttime, I wonder where nighttime is on the other planets...

[PibbyPib]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-world_hypothesis

 

This is why everyone thinks anyone who has been banned is a liar and a puppy murderer.

 

Not at all. It's the result of repeatedly seeing posts like this, that inevitably end with the revelation that the banned person thoroughly deserved it and simply didn't disclose any information that made them look bad.

 

The initial post always has the same sort of "they banned you for THAT...? That makes no sense" quality.

[Kwonjah]

This isn't true... Anyone who believes this is just stupid

[Jaku]

There is some much sensationalism in this thread it hurts to read. Edited December 31, 2011 by Jaku

[Baaddare]

For those with doubts:

 

 

Please read that.

 

so he was warned and continuted to do it anyway

[AndiusTheGreat]

I call BS...

 

+1 I would like to see a screenshot of this costumer service mail.

 

By ignoring these warnings, the account showed intent to exploit the game.[/Quote]

 

Sounds like you are looking for attention. When an admin warns you to do something shut up and do it. Don't ignore it, then cry about it on the forums while failing to mention you were warned.

 

Nobody cares about your injustice. You are just an uppity self-important jerk who thinks that they don't need to play by the rules.

Edited December 31, 2011 by AndiusTheGreat

[deserttfoxx]

Where's the part of the story where exploitation was being done?

 

This.

 

Nobody is banned for going to a zone, that sounds completely ridiculous.

[Darth-Malice]

Someone ask Rockjaw on Twitter about this and find out if its legit.

[Chomag]

Hahahahaha, so going to a high level area and opening some chests makes you a bannable, exploiting scumbag.

 

Seriously ?!? This is so stupid I'm just speechless.

Edited December 31, 2011 by Chomag

[Ultrazen]

Taken from Wikipedia:

An exploit, in online games, is the use of a bug or design flaw by a player to their advantage in a manner not intended by the game's designers.

 

An exploit does not have to be a bug, but can be the use of game mechanics in an unintended way. Honestly, tell the average person to go to a level 50 area with a level 17 character in order to take advantage and get rich...no go. Most people would understand that was never intended.

 

You can sit on the fleet and level all skills to 400 and farm level 50 missions as a level 10... this entire thread makes no sense. It makes zero sense that BW would ban someone for farming mats over their level, as there is no level restriction on trade skills (which is going to be a huge problem for them very soon from gold sellers).

 

I'm guessing what happened is, GM sees low level character getting killed by high level character, assumes he's part of the PvP objective swap/shenanigans that are going on, and bans him.

 

Entirely possible for someone to be there just to farm crafting, and get caught in the rampant exploiting that is going on in the zone.

[Kraun]

If you consider it to be exploiting (which in this case it most propably was) don't do it, even if it's a "designer flaw" it's still exploiting a broken mechanic/design, thus bannable offence.

 

No point in crying.