The email does say he was warned multiple times. 

So, if true I don't see the big issue. He was told to stop, he didn't. He was banned. 

Stupid of BioWare to allow access to this in the first place? Yes. But also stupid if the guy was indeed warned, and ignored it.

Originally posted by stealthbr

Originally posted by Creslin321
Your arguments would make more sense if getting a level 50 character in SWTOR wasn't as trivial as it is.

I mean, hardcore gamers will probably get a level 50 character in like 2 weeks. And once they get a level 50 character they have "legitimate" advantage in that they can twink any alts.

Back in the old EQ days, getting a max level character was a difficult, drawn-out affair that required a lot of dedication. So I could understand (but maybe not agree with) why Verant banned people back in the day. Getting a high level item at level 20 or so in EQ was a BIG deal, and drastically changed the balance of the game. True, you could twink in EQ, but it wasn't so trivial to get a high level character to do so.

But in SWTOR? Come on, these people camping for "days" to get good chests in Illum could just spend "days" doing questing and they would be max level, rendering this a moot point. It's already been shown that you can get level 50 in 60 hours if just blaze through the game.

Um..... That's your argument? Since it's relatively fast for hardcore rushers to get to cap, this kind of thing is fine? Lol, please...

Originally posted by rojo6934

that story looks pretty made up. There is an obvious matter i must mention... if BW didnt want us to go to high lvl areas while not meeting the lvl required, they would add restrictions and not let us travel to said planet. In other words,  If you are lvl 40 and you decide to take the risk and travel to a lvl 50 planet, BW cant ban you because they made it possible to trave to high level areas.

whoever made that story up forgot that little detail.....

Originally posted by stealthbr

Originally posted by iCeh

Originally posted by stealthbr

You don't understand bro. He wasn't banned for exploring the planet. He can do that all day if he wants to. What he can't, though, is farm high level loot containers as a low level character because it messes up the economy and exploits progression. You think it's alright that a level 20 character can camp a loot container all day, get high level items, dilute the market, dictate the prices for such items, make money sinks absolutely useless, inflate prices, and remove the "demand" part of the economy? You must be blind or something if you can't see the issues with this.

How exactly does it mess up the economy because he's not level 40? Nothing what you said makes any sense, and niether does this situation.

Chances are that this guy got banned for some other reason. I doubt Bioware even bother to give reasons when they ban someone, and if they did, they probably wouldn't go into such detail.

I'm going to have to take a trip to this place tomorrow on my level 20 character to see these warnings.

Fine, I'll elaborate further... If low level players can obtain high level gear with ease then:

A.) Higher level gear loses value because there is a huge influx and ease of obtaining such gear.

B.) Higher level gear prices are influenced and molded by lower level players.

C.) Lower level players don't suffer from money sinks because they have an easy source of credits from selling higher level gear.

D.) Lower level item prices are inflated because more people have more money which drives prices up.

E.) There is no demand for higher level gear because it is easily obtainable.

F.) Higher level players can't reap the benefits of their leveling as the gear they can obtain can also be obtained by lower level players.

G.) Lower level players are compelled to farm high level Loot containers all day in order to ease their progression. This can lead to necessity as prices become inflated and the player needs that income to buy gear off the GTN.

Now do you understand?

Level has nothing to do with what you're talking about, especially not in this game. Gear at low level is handed to you in every direction and progression happens too fast to worry about it.

If it is an exploit for a low level character to even enter Ilum below 40 ("Illum is intended for Level 50 characters and this is clearly communicated in game. By ignoring these warnings, the account showed intent to exploit the game.") then it needs to be clearly communicated - it isn't in-game or out. Besides, in that e-mail the guy didn't even spell "Ilum" right.

According to the original thread, there is an exploit that allows you and a person from the opposite faction to constantly get the loot container to respawn, resulting in an infinite amount of credits. I'm going to assume the ban was the result of that - there's also a video on youtube of someone disrupting this exploit.

Originally posted by Creslin321


Also, it's perfectly legitimate for level 50's to farm these chests. Wouldn't their farming of it also cause many of the detrimental effects you listed? Things like devaluation of gear, making it too easily obtainable, etc.etc. Why would a level 14 farming these chests devalue the gear any more than a level 50 farming these chests?

I agree.

Imo, both players and BW are at fault here.

• Players are at fault for taking advantage of a poor design
• BW is at fault for allowing the poor design

Banning, imo, is a little extreem, especially if there was no prior warning to such players.

The work should be on BW, not the customer, to clean up the mess, that BW created by their mistake.

Originally posted by Creslin321

 

Yes...basically.

If a player can get a single level 50 character or level 50 "benefactor" then many of your points are null and void. Their level 50 can supply them with twink gear, and its perfectly legit. Since getting a level 50 in this game is a fairly quick and easy process...I don't see how this "exploit" is causing so much damage. Maybe if the chests just immediately made the characters super rich...but if that was the case they wouldn't be camping them for so long.

Also, it's perfectly legitimate for level 50's to farm these chests. Wouldn't their farming of it also cause many of the detrimental effects you listed? Things like devaluation of gear, making it too easily obtainable, etc.etc. Why would a level 14 farming these chests devalue the gear any more than a level 50 farming these chests?

So two wrongs make a right? Also, people love to twist the 60 hours to level 50 to suit their argument. The average player does not make it to level 50 in 60 hours. The average player does not rush to level 50. The average player does not play one character exclusively. The average player suffers a whole lot more from this crap because either the average player changes his gameplay style and resorts to farming, or he does not take part in the game's economy.

I think BioWare should also ban level 50's who farm easy loot containers (if they don't do so already), but by disallowing low levels from doing it, they are essentially relinquishing 90% of the problem.

Exploit = banned  seems fair to me... wow a company who actually does something about exploiters and cheaters FINALLY!! GO BW GO!!!!

The responses to this are much more fascinating (not to mention predictable and revealing...) than the original post was. Its possible that its a hoax, but it does track with a certain mentality that one finds all too often among Dev's.  Not to mention with EA suits in the mix, I'd be willing to believe much worse... ^^

Originally posted by LordRelic

Exploit = banned  seems fair to me... wow a company who actually does something about exploiters and cheaters FINALLY!! GO BW GO!!!!

For me, it depends upon where you define an exploit.

If BW has designed an area, where players can go, and can respawn a contain repeatedly, that is a BW's fault.

I agree that the players were in the wrong, but I believe BW is more responsible.

• No warning signs
• No Level Barrers
• No Object Barrier
• No Level Requirement to access Lvl 50 loot

This is like someone parking their car, in lot that is 'too good to be true' for free (because there is no signage nor security guard), and then the lot owner towing their cars without warning.  

Imo, probation for the exploiters, and some quality control review with BW (as well as cleaning up the damage).

Originally posted by stealthbr

Originally posted by Creslin321

 

Yes...basically.

If a player can get a single level 50 character or level 50 "benefactor" then many of your points are null and void. Their level 50 can supply them with twink gear, and its perfectly legit. Since getting a level 50 in this game is a fairly quick and easy process...I don't see how this "exploit" is causing so much damage. Maybe if the chests just immediately made the characters super rich...but if that was the case they wouldn't be camping them for so long.

Also, it's perfectly legitimate for level 50's to farm these chests. Wouldn't their farming of it also cause many of the detrimental effects you listed? Things like devaluation of gear, making it too easily obtainable, etc.etc. Why would a level 14 farming these chests devalue the gear any more than a level 50 farming these chests?

So two wrongs make a right? Also, people love to twist the 60 hours to level 50 to suit their argument. The average player does not make it to level 50 in 60 hours. The average player does not rush to level 50. The average player does not play one character exclusively. The average player suffers a whole lot more from this crap because either the average player changes his gameplay style and resorts to farming, or he does not take part in the game's economy.

I think BioWare should also ban level 50's who farm easy loot containers (if they don't do so already), but by disallowing low levels from doing it, they are essentially relinquishing 90% of the problem.

You're talking about average MMO-player, IMO.

I find it hard to see an average player (yes, they're aiming towards those who have playerd their single player games and WoW casuals whom aren't MMO-players by definition) plays the content once, maybe twice and puts the box to shelf.

Or are you really trying to imply that average player plays games through multiple times?

How many went to Ilum after this with their lowest level character?

Originally posted by Pelaaja

You're talking about average MMO-player, IMO.

I find it hard to see an average player (yes, they're aiming towards those who have playerd their single player games and WoW casuals whom aren't MMO-players by definition) plays the content once, maybe twice and puts the box to shelf.

Or are you really trying to imply that average player plays games through multiple times?

What?

Originally posted by Golelorn

The email does say he was warned multiple times. 

So, if true I don't see the big issue. He was told to stop, he didn't. He was banned. 

Stupid of BioWare to allow access to this in the first place? Yes. But also stupid if the guy was indeed warned, and ignored it.

I thought that as well and then I reread it  I think they are referring to the game giving him warnings as it was "cearly indicated in game".  They then state that he ignored "these" warnings suggesting that the warnings were previously discussed in the email.  There is no mention of other warnings given at all.

Illum is intended for Level 50 characters and this is clearly communicated in game. By ignoring these warnings, the account showed intent to exploit the game.

I believe that if by some way the person teleported or cheated itself up to the chest then it is safe to call this a ban.

I'm sure they wouldn't ban the person for simply running up to a chest and loot it.

Exploiters get banned then they and other people complain about it. If they didn't get banned those same people would complain that Bioware isn't dealing with exploiters. You can't make MMO gamers happy, we're a whiny bunch.

Guarantee there is more to this story. Exploiters and cheaters have a tendency to leave out portions of what transpired whenever they're playing the martyr card.

It's all true. After all the launch drama, getting the serials and game code, all the guild merging suspense and the hype intrigue and they start banning. In a free month sub, that's gonna hurt in accordance with the laws of cause and effect, i.e. "*%#@ this, I will go play something else moan mumble grumble" and so on and so forth into the next 6 months.

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=120099

Originally posted by nyxium

It's all true. After all the launch drama, getting the serials and game code, all the guild merging suspense and the hype intrigue and they start banning. In a free month sub, that's gonna hurt in accordance with the laws of cause and effect, i.e. "*%#@ this, I will go play something else moan mumble grumble" and so on and so forth into the next 6 months.

 

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=120099

Many thanks for posting that. It would appear that no one was perma banned for the chests. I'm still wondering why they aren't level locked or protected by nasty level 50 mobs, that spawn when they are opened.  As for banning money farmers, I'm glad they are being proactive on that. I've seen WAY too many games where thats ignored.  Notice its not just the farming that triggers the action? Its the selling of the credits to other players. As it should be. 

Anybody who believes the OP is either extremely gullible or extremely biased.  What he described was perfectly OK.  I've done it.  No bannings.

Originally posted by Souldrainer

Anybody who believes the OP is either extremely gullible or extremely biased.  What he described was perfectly OK.  I've done it.  No bannings.

Get your Skyrim quote right, please.