ArenaNet Addresses Guild Wars 2 Issues Via Reddit

Written by: QuintLyn Bowers (@QuintLyn) | August 30, 2012 4:52 pm

65 Comments

When compared to past MMO launches, the Guild Wars 2 team seem to have done a pretty decent job. Although there have definitely been some noticeable issues.

The good news is that the team is working on them — and they’re doing what they can to make sure fans are informed about what’s going on. In an effort to do that, the team took to Reddit yesterday to address some of the things that have been happening.

A few edits in the post even show where the team has made progress on some of the things they’re working on:

Account security - We’re seeing an uptick in reports of account theft and attempted account theft. We believe hackers are using databases of email addresses and passwords stolen from other games and web sites, and pre-existing trojan horses, to search for matching Guild Wars 2 accounts which they attempt to compromise. To prevent this, we have temporarily disabled the “reset password” feature, and we’re working to bring email authentication online. To protect yourself, please ensure that you use a unique password for Guild Wars 2 that you don’t use for any other game, email account, forum or web account.

Email authentication - Email authentication is a feature that notifies you if someone tries to log into your account from a location you’ve never logged in from before. Thus, even if someone guesses your game password, he can’t log in unless he also guesses your email account password. You can make email authentication even more secure by using an email provider that supports two-factor authentication, such as Google or Yahoo, and taking advantage of that. We’re currently preparing email authentication and intend to deploy it in a phased rollout, starting on Thursday, August 30.

Parties, guilds, etc. - Parties, guilds, and other social features are periodically failing. This causes issues such as party members not appearing on the map, and party members not staying in the same overflow servers as they travel between maps. This happens particularly during times of peak usage. We’re working to fix related problems and mitigate this issue with each subsequent update.

Worlds - Many worlds are filling up. We’re keeping the number of worlds constrained so that worlds stay well populated even after the initial surge of high concurrency. However, we will add worlds as necessary. As of Wednesday, August 30, all German language worlds are full and all French language worlds are at high usage, so we’re adding two new German language worlds and one new French language world.

Overflow worlds - During this initial surge of high concurrency, and especially while many characters are low-level and thus playing in the same starting areas, it’s common for players to be directed to overflow maps. If you want to play with a friend, but you’re not on the same overflow map, you can form a party together, then right-click on your friend’s portrait in the party list and click “join”. Note that this functionality is sometimes intermittently unavailable due to the “parties, guilds, etc.” issues noted above.

Trading Post - We’re working to bring the Trading Post back online. To help test, we’ve temporarily made it available to a random 15% of players, while we work to resolve remaining capacity constraints that will allow us to open it to everyone.

Edit: We have completed our live testing of the Trading Post for today and the Trading Post is now in maintenance for all players. Thank you everyone that participated; this test has helped us tremendously.

In-game mail - We detected a potential abuse of the in-game mail system and have temporarily disabled in-game mail to prevent any such abuse. We’ll reenable it soon, hopefully in tonight’s update.

Edit: The fact that in-game mail is disabled means that it’s currently impossible for account hackers to loot stolen accounts, so we’re going to leave it disabled for just a little while longer, while we work to ramp up email authentication.

Botting - We’ll start substantial banning of bots on Wednesday, August 29. Since we’re currently seeing widespread casual, unsophisticated botting, we will start with 72-hour bans for first offenses. In the coming days, as we address the casual botting problem, we plan to switch to our normal policy of permanently banning anyone who runs a bot.

Forums - Our most important priority at the moment is to ensure that the game runs stably and flawlessly. So as to not create additional demand on our infrastructure and on our programming team, we made the decision not to open the forums until the initial mass influx of players has calmed down a bit.

Next software updates - The next update of the game server and back-end server software will take place tonight at midnight Seattle time. The game may be unavailable for approximately 20-60 minutes while we perform the update. We expect this update to have fixes for email authentication and in-game mail. Our continued work on the Trading Post is not tied to game updates, so we will continue to test Trading Post updates throughout the day.

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iamthemikeb

I want to drop in a few thoughts on the exploit update that has come up since recording this an hour or so ago.. If I had known that they were banning people for the 21 karma weapon bug, I would’ve been a little more heavy handed with my commentary towards how they are handling certain facets of their launch. As it stands, they incorrectly priced some high price items and people took advantage of it, whether it be maliciously or not, they should not have received a permaban. All my other points still stand, while they don’t have a forums, at least they are communicating with the players as best they can (twitter/facebook/reddit).

Would be nice to see some communication in the launcher, though..
- http://www.facebook.com/gurome09 Ömer Gürlek
  
  Although you are right to some extent, I still think the bans are deserved (at least the 3 day ones). The reason of this is people who exploited these weapons did not only buy a few to sell, but hoarded hundreds of them, put them into mystic forge for high level orange items, or salvaged them to gather expensive crafting materials.
  
  In short, they did it after they realized it was an exploit and tried to profit from this.
  - iamthemikeb
    
    I think 3 day bans all around are definitely deserved, it’s the perma-bans that are too much.
    - NinetyNineRule
      
      People exploiting to that degree for personal profit while furthering their own endeavors in-game need to be made an example of.
      
      Those who want to make a case of their ban -temp or perm- can contest the decision.
      - iamthemikeb
        
        I’m certain they have the ability to zero someone out or maybe delete a character or something, but throwing away someone’s hard earned money for purchasing items THEY priced incorrectly is wrong.
      - NinetyNineRule
        
        Each to their own, Mike. I agree that it may seem heavy handed, but I do want those people who exploit for profit like that to f-off.
        
        Those who weren’t fully taking advantage can plead their case and I know that’s still heavy handed for buying incorrectly priced gear but it’s a fine line between mistake and beginning to exploit, here.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/W76UOX2IDTRMMYTPASSJDLXLRM Bob
  
  On ArenaNet’s Twitter page, they confirmed that they didn’t permaban people who bought 50 of these weapons. They permabanned people who bought hundreds of these weapons and with the Guild Wars economy tied into using real money (through gems), permabans were the only solution. I applaud ArenaNet for having 0 tolerance.
  - Old Ben
    
    Delete the items, delete their karma, problem solved.
    
    If a reputable jeweler sells me diamond rings for $10 and then discovers that was a mistake, they can ask for them back, and they might even be legally allowed to make me give them back, but they can’t send me to jail for having accepted the deal they offered me.
    
    I didn’t buy any of those weapons, but this stinks of entrapment.
    - Jant0n
      
      That is a poor analogy considering that you signed a User agreement with them before you played.
      “Use, or provide others with, any “hack,” “cheat,” “exploit” or “mod”;” ~Guild Wars 2 User Agreement No.8 (d)
      The people they banned ( clearly knew that it was an exploit still abused it.
      Also just saw this on redddit:
      ”
      Today we banned a number
      of players for exploiting Guild Wars 2. We take our community and the
      integrity of the game very seriously, and want to be clear that
      intentionally exploiting the game is unacceptable. The players we banned
      were certainly intentionally and repeatedly exploiting a bug in the
      game. We intended to send a very clear message that exploiting the game
      in this way will not be tolerated, and we believe this message now has
      been well understood.
      
      We also believe and respect that people make mistakes. This is in
      fact the first example of a widespread exploit in the game. With this in
      mind, we are offering the members of our community who exploited the
      game a second chance to repair the damage that has been done.
      
      Thus, just this once, we will offer to convert permanent bans to
      72-hour suspensions. Should those involved want to accept this offer of
      reinstatement, contact us on our support
      website–support.guildwars.com—and submit a ticket through the “Ask a
      Question” tab. Please use the subject heading of “Karma Weapons Exploit
      Appeal”, then confirm in the body of your ticket that you will delete
      any items/currency that you gained from the exploit. You should submit
      only one ticket. Once you have done so, we will lower your ban to 72
      hours, and following your re-activation we will check your account to
      make sure that you have honored your commitment. If that commitment is
      not hindered, we will re-terminate the account.
      
      This is a first and final warning. Moving forward, please make sure
      you that when you see an exploitable part of the game, you report it and
      do not attempt to benefit from it.
      
      We look forward to seeing you in game,
      
      Yours Sincerely,
      
      Chris Whiteside- Lead Producer ArenaNet”
    - Jant0n
      
      Your analogy is flawed considering you signed a user agreement with them.
      “Use, or provide others with, any “hack,” “cheat,” “exploit” or “mod”;” ~Guild Wars 2 User Agreement No.8 (d)
      
      Edit: Also, they did not ban people who only bought a few.
      - Old Ben
        
        There’s no difference between buying one or buying six million. You’re just as “guilty”.
        
        And an “exploit” is a very vague concept. If I find that some enemy can’t jump over a fence, and I just keep kiting it around that fence, is that “an exploit” ? What if I find that the experience received from crafting varies with your level, so I deliberately put off crafting until level 60 or 70, to “make the most” of it? Is that an exploit?
        
        In this case (the karma weapon) no one hacked their code, no one used 3rd party software. It was their mistake. They should fix its consequences, not try to squeeze an extra $60 out of the people who took advantage of it, without hurting anyone else.
        
        Did they ban the developer who put in the wrong value from ever working on the game again?
        
        I’m all for punishing cheaters and hackers in PvP, but this is ridiculous. If Arena Net can identify the players who did it, they can simply roll back their transaction and zero out their karma.
        
        A “lifetime ban” isn’t going to keep them away from the game. It’s just going to make them pay $60 and they’ll be back 5 minutes later with a new account.
      - Jant0n
        
        >”There’s no difference between buying one or buying six million. You’re just as “guilty”.”
        
        There is a major difference between the two. If someone only bought a few it is much more likely they bought it not knowing that it wasn’t supposed to be at such a low price. People buying hundreds or thousands of them to salvage or use in the mystic forge are clearly exploiting the game.
        
        >”And an “exploit” is a very vague concept. If I find that some enemy can’t jump over a fence, and I just keep kiting it around that fence, isthat “an exploit” ? What if I find that the experience received fromcrafting varies with your level, so I deliberately put off crafting until level 60 or 70, to “make the most” of it? Is that an exploit?”
        
        It isn’t all that vague of a concept. Exploiting (“to take unfair advantage of” ~ Merriam Webster Dictionary) an in game bug or glitch.
        
        >”A “lifetime ban” isn’t going to keep them away from the game. It’s just going to make them pay $60 and they’ll be back 5 minutes later with a new account.”
        
        They actually are allowing the players a second chance “Thus, just this once, we will offer to convert permanent bans to 72-hoursuspensions. Should those involved want to accept this offer ofreinstatement, contact us on our support website” ~Chris Whiteside- Lead Producer ArenaNet from Reddit thread titled “Karma Weapons Exploit”
      - Old Ben
        
        > If someone only bought a few
        
        Yeah, they saw a vendor selling a bunch of weapons for thousands of karma, and one for 21 karma, and they “only bought a few” because they didn’t notice…
        
        > are clearly exploiting the game.
        
        So is the guy who only bought “a few” (or even one). He just lacks ambition, or is trying to avoid being found. He’s just as guilty and, in the long run, far more likely to prolong the situation than the guy who posted a public video exposing the error in the price.
        
        > It isn’t all that vague of a concept.
        > “to take unfair advantage of” an in game bug or glitch
        
        Oh, that completely clears it up. Now you just have to define what “taking advantage” means, what constitutes “unfairness”, and what is “a bug”. Having worked as a coder for several years, entering a value wrong in a price list definitely doesn’t qualify as “a bug” or “a glitch”. The game was working as intended; someone just typed in the wrong price. It was human error.
        
        Websites post incorrect prices every day, and people try to take advantage of it every day. No one goes to jail (or gets banned from online shopping) because of that.
        
        Arena Net has great game developers, but it really needs better PR.
      - Jant0n
        
        >”Yeah, they saw a vendor selling a bunch of weapons for thousands of
        karma, and one for 21 karma, and they “only bought a few” because they
        didn’t notice…”
        Or they were exploring their races capital city and ran into the weapons vendor and saw they had enough to purchase one so they did, unknowingly. We don’t really know that someone buying one or two weapons knew that it was an exploit.
        
        >”Oh, that completely clears it up. Now you just have to define what
        “taking advantage” means, what constitutes “unfairness”, and what is “a
        bug”. Having worked as a coder for several years, entering a value wrong
        in a price list definitely doesn’t qualify as “a bug” or “a glitch”.
        The game was working as intended; someone just typed in the wrong price.
        It was human error.”
        
        The people who were banned knew it was an exploit. Lore explained it way better than me in this weeks Legendary”using game mechanics in an unintended fashion”.
      - Old Ben
        
        So we’re down from “a few” to “purchased one”…? And “unknowingly” of what? Of the fact that that one was priced at 21 karma while the others cost tens of thousands? It’s kind of hard to do that “unknowingly”…
        
        If the issue is a moral one, then _everyone_ who bought the weapons and didn’t report the issue should get banned.
      - Jant0n
        
        >”So we’re down from “a few” to “purchased one”…? And “unknowingly” of
        what? Of the fact that that one was priced at 21 karma while the others
        cost tens of thousands? It’s kind of hard to do that “unknowingly”…”
        
        I am not down from a few to one. I said “We don’t really know that someone buying one or two weapons knew that it was an exploit.”. People most certainly could have bought a few of the weapons without knowing it was an exploit.
        
        >”If the issue is a moral one, then _everyone_ who bought the weapons and didn’t report the issue should get banned.”
        
        It was an issue of who violated the User Agreement. They handed out bans based on the degree to which they violated it.
      - Old Ben
        
        > People most certainly could have bought a few
        > of the weapons without knowing it was an exploit.
        
        Yeah, I’m sure people would go to a vendor, see a bunch of weapons with identical stats, notice that they could only afford one of them (priced at less than 1/1000th of the rest), and assume that was intended…
      - Jant0n
        
        There are some people that very well may have. They may have found it odd that it was priced so low but honestly did not know that it was an exploit.
      - Old Ben
        
        If they “didn’t know it was an exploit” after buying one, then they wouldn’t magically know it was an exploit after buying two. Or three. Or five hundred.
        
        If you’re willing to admit that someone might see that and assume it was intended, then any thing the person does after that is based on the same assumption. And you have to admit that as a possibility for everyone.
        
        And since you can’t guess what people assumed, the way to deal with this would have been for Arena Net to clean up its own mistake, not ban people and then post dickish threatening messages on Reddit (they didn’t even have the decency to mention it on their own websites), telling people “delete the items you got or else we’ll ban you”.
        
        What a completely messed up PR culture.
      - Jant0n
        
        I am done arguing with you this is just getting very circular.
      - MMO_Doubter
        
        I Didn’t see THAT episode, but I am PRETTY sure Lore was being sarcastic, as he and guys discussed exploits in previous episodes, and he was not that sympathetic to the devs.
      - Jant0n
        
        He was talking about the people who said they didn’t know that it was an exploit. From what I can tell it seems as though he believes that there are wrongs on both sides. The devs being wrong for permanent bans and the people being banned wrong for exploiting it. It might have been the after show where he was talking about it, I can’t remember’ I was only listening at the time while I was doing something else.
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/W76UOX2IDTRMMYTPASSJDLXLRM Bob
      
      Sorry, the problem won’t be solved by your solution.It will be if proven cheaters are culled from the herd. If they want to pay $60 to try again, they’re more than welcome and remember that ArenaNet doesn’t mess around with exploits.
      - Old Ben
        
        They’re “cheating” just as much as someone who exploits the lack of intelligence of some enemies to kite them endlessly around a fence. Or someone who uses the PvP tab to teleport to Lion’s Arch for free (and then to other cities) instead of paying the teleportation fee.
        
        Have you ever done that? Congratulations, you’re an exploiter.
        
        They didn’t hack the game code, they didn’t use 3rd party software, they didn’t inject data into network packets, they didn’t use any kind of exploit to gain an advantage over other players (a wallhack, a speed hack, etc.).
        
        They took advantage of an item with a very low price to try to discover new items in the Mystic Forge.
        
        And, if they’re banned, all that’s going to happen is that they’re going to pay $60 and come right back (because, let’s face it, someone so hardcore that they’re willing to spend all day dropping stuff into the mystic forge will probably even skip a few meals to pay for a new copy if he has to).
        
        I’m all for banning people who cheat at PvP (i.e., who directly hurt other players). Labeling the exploit of the game’s flaws against the game itself as “cheating” is a very slippery slope. Maybe I’m entitled to a refund if the game “cheats” against me…?
      - MMO_Doubter
        
        Hmm. I bought a digital copy. Does the game box advertise the Trading Post?
        
        If so…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1214190105 Michael Evans

I don’t know if it’s about the karma bug (just learned about it) but I’ve been banned permanently and I have no idea why except it says it is for “engaging or assisting in gold or items sales for real life money”. My account as far as I can tell hasn’t been compromised and I haven’t been doing this. Already sent in a ticket about it, kinda upset that they have no phone number tho. Really aggravating.
http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr

You guys are so nice and sweet to Arenanet. Just good old boy (and girl) winking and grinning as you report on Arenanet launch problems.
- iamthemikeb
  
  you must not read the comments… or are being facetious.. ಠ_ಠ
  - http://twitter.com/dularr Dularr
    
    Your comments do seem to indicate you have changed your tone from the original news hit. (BTW, I posted my first comment at about the same time as your self-comment.) On first viewing, the news hit comes across as a little more “lighthearted” as the content indicated.
    
    Clearly the game is fun and playable, shown by so many players with positive experiences.
    
    What is not released was the known bugs with the game. Features Arenanet touted, but knew were faulty.
    Examples:
    - During the BWE guilds were limited to 100 players. Did Arenanet know that guilds over 100 players had buggy invites?
    - What did Arenanet know about the security of their game? How do you release a modern, high profile MMO without a authenticator.
    - During the BWE guesting was never turned on and still not available today. Instead Arenanet allowed for free server transfers.
    - Terms of Service. I’m showing the Guild Wars 2 terms of service was updated on August 17. I don’t recall agreeing to any new Terms of Service.
    - Customer confidentiality. Arenanet is posting to Reddit and customers are responding. This is a hacker dream to collecting customer data.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=521152493 Kelly Michaels

Those perma-banned for the exploits deserve it…Once they seen what they could do,they kept on doing it. Now,if a player only did it once,and realized it was an exploit and stopped,they don’t deserve a permaban. Also,those who streamed the ways to exploit absolutely deserve permabans.
- Old Ben
  
  It’s a game, you’re not even playing against other players. Unless the “exploit” is some sort of cheat that gives you an advantage _against_ other players (such a wallhack, speed hack, etc., stuff that actually gives you an advantage in PvP), it makes no sense to ban people. They weren’t using external tools, just taking advantage of poorly coded behavior. Remove the items / gold / XP / karma they got through those means, fix the bug, problem solved.
- http://twitter.com/frozenkex Frozenkex
  
  Except it wasnt something that I nor many people even consider an exploit. They were merely converting one currency into another in a very logical rational way. Nothing was made to work the way it wasnt designed.
  
  Blizz for instance, wouldn’t ever have done it, and rightly so. Besides its really bad PR move.
  - Old Ben
    
    Blizzard actually has a history of doing similar things with regards to encounter mechanics (remember the whole Ensidia Lich King thing, or the raid finder repetition issue?).
    
    Of course, WoW’s PvE atmosphere is a competitive one (where everyone is playing _against_ the rest of their own faction in a neverending race for bigger numbers), so in a way getting a world first can be seen as gaining an advantage over other players. GW2′s PvE is cooperative, so this exploit was only “against” the game itself.
    
    Obviously it should be fixed, and the consequences should be rolled back, but this was pretty bad PR.
NinetyNineRule

Yes there are so many things not working as intended like parties and guild invites, the auction house, some dynamic events, skill points and some basic functions like mail, BUT it’s still holding up okay as a very fun MMO. Amazing that despite all the broken stuff it’s still hectic fun.
- Old Ben
  
  It’s not all that amazing if you assume that games should have fun gameplay, and not just be a time-consuming grind to support a ton of little number-based side-games.
  
  It does show that while their game developers are quite good, the people handling the database server and transaction side of things (trading post, logins, etc.) seem to have very little experience and – more importantly – no backup plans.
http://twitter.com/Douknoukam Douknoukam

Giving updates to less than 10% of your community is pathetic.
- http://twitter.com/cipero Matt Cipriano
  
  What’s stopping you from visiting the information?
  - http://www.facebook.com/people/Azimov-Valinor/100001723160042 Azimov Valinor
    
    You have to know of the existence of the information in the first place.
    I avoid Reddit like the plague, it was only through GuildCast that I found out about the excellent thread where ArenaNet were publicly calling people out on the rubbish they were saying.
  - Old Ben
    
    I paid them, I’m registered on their mailing list. I expect them to communicate relevant updates to me, or through their official channels. I and other paying customers shouldn’t be forced to guess which 3rd party site they decided to use as their “official” communication channel today.
    
    Can you imagine Microsoft, Apple or Blizzard posting important news on a 3rd party site and _not_ on their own official site(s) ?
    - http://twitter.com/H3L1ON Samir
      
      I guess its becuz of marketing, this way if it issent on official site
      it cant be used against them, stating that this game launch wassent as
      succesfull as they had hoped.
      
      And even if this is not true i dont understand why they dont open the official forums, why do we need to post issues, conversation or even player based confirmation (due to lack of official confirmation) on a 3rd party site. Wouldend it to be easyer for them to track everything if it was on there own platform instead of searching other sites for possible bugs, cheats or …
      
      Makes you wonder if they where ever ready for this
    - http://twitter.com/cipero Matt Cipriano
      
      Well, it’s not like the info is solely on reddit. It has also been on their wiki page, which is an official site for the game. Also, you weren’t forced to guess… Not only have gaming websites like this one informed you where the information is, but they also repeatedly tweeted the info and posted the info on their facebook that directly linked you to it.
      - Old Ben
        
        One week later, yes, they’re finally posting (some) updates on their website.
        
        And “websites such as this one” are under no obligation to inform Arena Net’s clients of server status, etc., nor should Arena Net’s clients be required to check 3rd party sites.
        
        The game still lacks something as basic as a status / MOTD _before_ log-in, which means that when there are problems with log-in (as there were yesterday), Arena Net has no way to warn its users that they’re aware of the problem (and they didn’t post about it on their website, either, or even on their Facebook page; this time they decided to use only Twitter, just as on the day this article was posted they had decided to use only Reddit).
      - http://openid.aol.com/Jpuffer87 Justin Pfeifer
        
        Well guess you didn’t bother to look at the giant news feed that pops up when you log into the launcher might wanna get those eyes checked since they’ve been posting stuff up there.
      - Old Ben
        
        Well, I guess you didn’t bother to read my post, or the date and title of this article.
        
        Namely the fact that I mention the launcher in my post (and how it only shows you MOTD _after_ you log in, so it can’t warn you about log-in issues), or the fact that this article was posted nearly two weeks ago, and at that point there _was_ no news section in the launcher, no updates posted on the Wiki, etc..
        
        In fact, the title of this article says it all: “Arena Net Addresses Guild Wars 2 Issues Via Reddit / August 30, 2012 ”
        
        Might want to get those eyes checked, or perhaps the part responsible for processing the information coming from them.
  - pc11
    
    So customers should go to an unrelated third party site to get informaton fom the company they bought a product from? Do you see the problem there?
    
    Next time you have problems with say your internet provider and you find out that the solution to your question is in a forum based somewhere in India you will maybe realize how silly your comment is.
    - http://twitter.com/cipero Matt Cipriano
      
      My comment isn’t silly at all. You were told where the info is, it is then your choice not to go read it. Additionally it has been on their wiki which is an official site from arenanet. Just because you want things dropped into your lap doesn’t mean it’s someone else’s responsibility to do it.
      - pc11
        
        Again you seem to fail to understand the principles of trade. If someone sells you something yes IT IS their responsibility to deliver information directly to their customers.
        
        I am just going to assume you live in a communist country or dictatorship since you have no concept of customers rights.
      - http://twitter.com/cipero Matt Cipriano
        
        Nope. Just because you didn’t check their official outlets doesn’t mean they have to airmail you every single bit of information. If there is a class action lawsuit against a company, and you fail to get involved in that, then you don’t get the rewards of it. That’s not communism. If Arenanet puts out information, links you directly to that information, but you never visit it…it’s not their fault. What kind of carebear world do you live in?
        
        You are probably “that guy” who buys something from a store without taking note of the store’s refund policy, then cries about said policy when you try to return it. That’s your fault.
        
        Also, in relation, this has everything to do with you not even giving ArenaNet time to set up the outlets on their website. So not only are you mad that they gave you a link of information that you didn’t check out, but you are also mad that instead of working to get an open forum up, they are working to make sure the exploits and hacking issues get squared away. How selfish are you? You definitely live in America.
- Jant0n
  
  They have been frequently responding via Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit. Also, if you go to their website hover over community and then click news it tells you exactly where to go.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Bergevin-Jr/1393526370 Jim Bergevin Jr

It’s new to MMOs because most MMOs have active forums and announcements areas on their websites with which to inform their community. To be honest, I don’t use reddit, have never used reddit, and will never use reddit, so Anet doesn’t get any points in my book for this.
Tidbit411

The people who got perma banned all purchased over 100 of the culture armor and were fully aware that they were exploiting. If you bought 15-99 you got a 72 hour ban and if you purchased less than 15 supposedly nothing happened.

One of my friends bought 4 weapons for personal use and nothing happened to him but I was at work and didn’t purchase any for myself.
- http://profile.yahoo.com/W76UOX2IDTRMMYTPASSJDLXLRM Bob
  
  I was thinking of buying some but frankly the weapons sucked for my (and many) builds. The Norn enchantment weapons are always the lowest priced Rares in the trading post.
  - Old Ben
    
    So the only thing that prevented you from taking advantage of an exploit was the fact that the stats weren’t quite right for your taste…?
    - http://profile.yahoo.com/W76UOX2IDTRMMYTPASSJDLXLRM Bob
      
      That and I knew about the bans for the jalapeno popper issue the night before. I actually thought to myself that I didn’t want to get banned from something so stupid.
      - Old Ben
        
        I guess some people really need to feel the threat of punishment to behave (but, if the reward was better, they’d misbehave anyway).
        
        Just out of curiosity, once you learned about the cheap weapon, and confirmed that it was still in the game, did you file a bug report…?
http://twitter.com/QSatu QSatu

Exploit is an exploit. Thye should ban for them. ANet send clear message to the community. Sorry if some people are simply too stupid to understand what is an exploit.
- Old Ben
  
  > Exploit is an exploit. Thye should ban for them
  
  So going to your PvP tab to teleport to the mists and then to Lion’s Arch for free (and then from there to other cities, also for free) should also result in a ban? It’s clearly an exploit; if that was intended, then the game would let you teleport to cities for free without going through the mists.
  - MMO_Doubter
    
    Good example.
    
    Most players are not going to know that a lot of these ‘exploits’ are against the rules.
- MMO_Doubter
  
  You know what an exploit is? Exposing bad programming.
  
  The devs leave holes in their code, and ban people for using them. It is easier than fixing stuff, I am sure.
  - Jant0n
    
    They did fix it and rather quickly. The reason people got banned for exploiting the issue was that they signed a user agreement which states “You acknowledge that You may not,without signed written consent from a legally authorized representative of NCsoft, do any of the following:Use, or provide others with, any “hack,” “cheat,” “exploit” or “mod”;” ~Guild Wars 2 User Agreement No.8 (d). While I agree permanent bans were excessive in this case, they definitely should have gotten temporary bans.
MiZTiiX

this is great, they perma banned people, made them buy another copy of the game and then unbanned them, great work arena net, they are really great in tricking the community into thinking they are good
MMO_Doubter

I have never been to Reddit. Been gaming since Pong. I also don’t use Twitter or Facebook.
- http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Bergevin-Jr/1393526370 Jim Bergevin Jr
  
  Reddit I can understand. But Facebook! You, sir, are a Blasphemer!! Even I caved to the Facebook generation, but what the he** is a tweet?
Brozathon

Guild Waste 2 is a failure.
http://twitter.com/lukesmi34131981 luke smith

so, i reported being hacked on monday, and have been on a 2 week suspension since. has anyone in my situation regained access to their account yet? or am i waiting this out. i have cut tickets, gave them all my info, then asked for the info again, and again. and i haven’t heard anything wed night. this is so frustrating, all i want to know is… any progress????

Last Stand At Southsun May 28th

Guild Wars 2 Microtransactions: Still Consistent and Strong

Guild Wars 2 Expansion In The Works

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