A recent patch to Aion implemented a crude but temporary fix to address the rampant gold spam taking place in Aion: The Tower of Eternity. The patch disallows characters under level five from sending whispers, similar to general chat which also maintains this restriction.

Having never played Aion, roughly how long does it take to hit level five? Do you think this change will make an impact on gold spam? Or will it simply serve to annoy legitimate players? Let us know in the comments!

LOLOL

 This has had zero effect. I still get a whisper 2-3 times per minute and even if you use /anon you will see tons of spam on the LFG and other channels. For reasons beyond understanding, they do not do something more effective like /report and then hire a couple folks to insta-ban the accounts. If this very simple step was done, every time someone spammed, it would cost them $49 for the account that was just banned, plus they would have to (easy enough) get past the IP ban.  But again, AION (an Asian company, wink wink) seems to want to treat these farmers with the kindest of kid gloves 

In the open beta at least (I'm not sure about live), I know you couldn't send a message in general chat until level 5. This move really isn't any different.

As for getting to level 5, that takes about... 30 minutes or so? It doesn't hurt the players, nor does it hurt the gold sellers and their bots that run around like the fleas they are.

It is the same old NCSoft.  Nothing has changed, it is like this in all their games.  They could care less.  They don't bother to ban anyone.  You can bet the bot farmers are highly active right now.  Another reason Aion should be avoided.

That is the question I kept asking prerelease are they going to control the spammers and botters.  As usual, NCSoft comes through like a champ and does little to alter their activities.

It's a bit better, but it's still highly noticable. Getting to 5 doesn't take long. In my opinion they should raise it to 10. Everything is solable during those levels. They need to crack down on it big time, it's out of hand right now. This is my major con with this game. Eliminate or slow it down big time, and I'll be happy.

Originally posted by mmofan2112

 This has had zero effect. I still get a whisper 2-3 times per minute and even if you use /anon you will see tons of spam on the LFG and other channels. For reasons beyond understanding, they do not do something more effective like /report and then hire a couple folks to insta-ban the accounts. If this very simple step was done, every time someone spammed, it would cost them $49 for the account that was just banned, plus they would have to (easy enough) get past the IP ban.  But again, AION (an Asian company, wink wink) seems to want to treat these farmers with the kindest of kid gloves 

Well for starters, most gold sellers use fake/stolen credit card numbers and don't get charged a dime. All that banning does is cost them the time to create their new account, but they probably have a guy sitting next to them doing that so they can keep swapping to the next one. Now if they banned ip/hardware numbers it might slow them a bit more.

But it comes down to the line I say everytime there is any thread like this. Stop blaming the company which can only do so much to stop it. BLAME THE PEOPLE WHO KEEP BUYING GOLD IN GAMES! They cause all of these issues. If people weren't so ridiculous and lazy that they need to spend real world money to get gold and get a short cut then this wouldn't happen.

Originally posted by mmofan2112

 This has had zero effect. I still get a whisper 2-3 times per minute and even if you use /anon you will see tons of spam on the LFG and other channels. For reasons beyond understanding, they do not do something more effective like /report and then hire a couple folks to insta-ban the accounts. If this very simple step was done, every time someone spammed, it would cost them $49 for the account that was just banned, plus they would have to (easy enough) get past the IP ban.  But again, AION (an Asian company, wink wink) seems to want to treat these farmers with the kindest of kid gloves 

I doubt they are actually buying the game and sub... Most spamming is done through trial versions, Which then raises the question why not implement a 2 step system. Ban sub accounts and completely remove the whisper feature from the trial version :P 

 Takes about 10-20 minutes to reach lvl5. I don't think this will affect genuine players in any way.

 they should have blocked that till you ascend 

that way no gold seller and if there are would give plenty of time to ban em 

but its a great move from aion this will cool off junk seller 

but like i say aion will probably need to raise that from lvl 5 to after you ascend 

 Yep... 7+ years of ignor... err... combatting RMT in their other MMOs has provided them the wisdom to implement such a revolutionary tactic: Give the RMT a few more levels go grind through, in the earliest/fastest part of the game! That'll show 'em!

 one thing is sure it will raise the number of player that level from 1 to 5 by a lot (evil grin)

Loved that pic.

I mean look at Lineage II , that game can not even be played unless u are buying gold or running bots 24/7. Those are the types of games NCSoft makes.

Originally posted by Ozmodan

It is the same old NCSoft.  Nothing has changed, it is like this in all their games.  They could care less.  They don't bother to ban anyone. 

This is something you've said several times before.

"...it is like this in all their games."

Can you give us examples of this perceived dev apathy and excessive gold spam in Exteel, CoH/CoV and GW? Was this occurring in Dungeon Runners or Auto Assault?

Originally posted by LynxJSA

Originally posted by Ozmodan

It is the same old NCSoft.  Nothing has changed, it is like this in all their games.  They could care less.  They don't bother to ban anyone. 

 

This is something you've said several times before.

 

"...it is like this in all their games."

 

Can you give us examples of this perceived dev apathy and excessive gold spam in Exteel, CoH/CoV and GW? Was this occurring in Dungeon Runners or Auto Assault?

+10 to you

Curious though...what are the names of the sellers there? If it's the normal garbage names, why not make character name rules. Like no numbers and such....

The only way to get rid of gold sellers is to put them out of business by selling gold officially.  When it's not lucrative for them, they will leave.

Originally posted by Stuckov

 

I doubt they are actually buying the game and sub... Most spamming is done through trial versions, Which then raises the question why not implement a 2 step system. Ban sub accounts and completely remove the whisper feature from the trial version :P 

There is no north american trial version.

Originally posted by MortisRex

Originally posted by Stuckov

 

I doubt they are actually buying the game and sub... Most spamming is done through trial versions, Which then raises the question why not implement a 2 step system. Ban sub accounts and completely remove the whisper feature from the trial version :P 

 

There is no north american trial version.

Which is why its boggling my mind why NCSoft doesn't just ban them. If they have to pay 49 bucks a pop to get a new key... that'd cut into their profit margin rather quickly (unless they're abusing CC's and digital downloads, in which case, stop the digital download keys from being able to speak for 10 levels in any other chat than "Say".)

LOL.

An MMORPG, an INHERENTLY social game, and you can't talk to anyone before level 5?   Niiiice.  /rollseyes

LOL.

What I think they should do (this is just my two-cents, mind) is not allow whispers from people that aren't on your friends list.  This doesn't have to be mandatory!  But it could be an option.  No one can whisper you unless you add them as a friend.  If someone else wants to talk with you (say, someone passing by), then they can either form a group with you and talk that way, or just speak out loud. 

Of course, banning ip addresses would probably work too... until the gold spammers find a way around it.