NOBODY got banned for using ARCDPS! - dev post on Reddit

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"Roquen.5406" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > @"Roquen.5406" said:

> > > >Last week, a user was actioned for very, very blatant cheating in PvP (which is why the meme thread is kind of funny to me right now...). The user in question had a bunch of other violations piled in as we investigation the situation and we actioned his accounts and the accounts used to cheat with. In doing so, we also found that he had access to about five dozen other game accounts.

> > >

> > > The PvP leaderboard hasn't changed at all, I see the same people playing and same people on the board. So, what was this player doing? The leaderboard should have shifted if 60 accounts were cheating, no?

> > >

> > > >or their promise to help bump you up in PvP might come at the price of a few months of dishonour.

> > >

> > > So blatant cheating, account sharing, etc...only gets you a few months of dishonour but a family sharing accounts gets them perma banned? Lmao, Anet, you sure know how to punish cheaters and treat your legitimate customers well.

> >

> > You may want to re-read the post on reddit. The accounts banned which were not his was because he had access to them. Those players can submit a support ticket.

>

> Why would you allow cheaters to submit a support ticket? That's my point. They are harsher on people that don't cheat than those that do and it makes no sense. The reason cheating has become rampant is because there is no punishment for it. Few month suspension or dishonor...they just go play alt accounts or another mode. Even if they weren't directly cheating, they were cheating by allowing him to play their accounts for rewards they would otherwise not get. They should be perma-banned as well. Set a zero tolerance policy for cheaters and show they actually have integrity.

 

Except you were calling them “a family sharing accounts”. You were fairly blatant in distinguishing a difference between them but now you’re walking back on it?

[Roquen.5406]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"Roquen.5406" said:

> > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > @"Roquen.5406" said:

> > > > >Last week, a user was actioned for very, very blatant cheating in PvP (which is why the meme thread is kind of funny to me right now...). The user in question had a bunch of other violations piled in as we investigation the situation and we actioned his accounts and the accounts used to cheat with. In doing so, we also found that he had access to about five dozen other game accounts.

> > > >

> > > > The PvP leaderboard hasn't changed at all, I see the same people playing and same people on the board. So, what was this player doing? The leaderboard should have shifted if 60 accounts were cheating, no?

> > > >

> > > > >or their promise to help bump you up in PvP might come at the price of a few months of dishonour.

> > > >

> > > > So blatant cheating, account sharing, etc...only gets you a few months of dishonour but a family sharing accounts gets them perma banned? Lmao, Anet, you sure know how to punish cheaters and treat your legitimate customers well.

> > >

> > > You may want to re-read the post on reddit. The accounts banned which were not his was because he had access to them. Those players can submit a support ticket.

> >

> > Why would you allow cheaters to submit a support ticket? That's my point. They are harsher on people that don't cheat than those that do and it makes no sense. The reason cheating has become rampant is because there is no punishment for it. Few month suspension or dishonor...they just go play alt accounts or another mode. Even if they weren't directly cheating, they were cheating by allowing him to play their accounts for rewards they would otherwise not get. They should be perma-banned as well. Set a zero tolerance policy for cheaters and show they actually have integrity.

>

> Except you were calling them “a family sharing accounts”.

 

What? No, in the past other families/spouses have been banned because they were sharing accounts, outright perma ban. That is what I was referring to, not this group of people doing whatever they did.

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"Roquen.5406" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > @"Roquen.5406" said:

> > > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > > @"Roquen.5406" said:

> > > > > >Last week, a user was actioned for very, very blatant cheating in PvP (which is why the meme thread is kind of funny to me right now...). The user in question had a bunch of other violations piled in as we investigation the situation and we actioned his accounts and the accounts used to cheat with. In doing so, we also found that he had access to about five dozen other game accounts.

> > > > >

> > > > > The PvP leaderboard hasn't changed at all, I see the same people playing and same people on the board. So, what was this player doing? The leaderboard should have shifted if 60 accounts were cheating, no?

> > > > >

> > > > > >or their promise to help bump you up in PvP might come at the price of a few months of dishonour.

> > > > >

> > > > > So blatant cheating, account sharing, etc...only gets you a few months of dishonour but a family sharing accounts gets them perma banned? Lmao, Anet, you sure know how to punish cheaters and treat your legitimate customers well.

> > > >

> > > > You may want to re-read the post on reddit. The accounts banned which were not his was because he had access to them. Those players can submit a support ticket.

> > >

> > > Why would you allow cheaters to submit a support ticket? That's my point. They are harsher on people that don't cheat than those that do and it makes no sense. The reason cheating has become rampant is because there is no punishment for it. Few month suspension or dishonor...they just go play alt accounts or another mode. Even if they weren't directly cheating, they were cheating by allowing him to play their accounts for rewards they would otherwise not get. They should be perma-banned as well. Set a zero tolerance policy for cheaters and show they actually have integrity.

> >

> > Except you were calling them “a family sharing accounts”.

>

> What? No, in the past other families/spouses have been banned because they were sharing accounts, outright perma ban. That is what I was referring to, not this group of people doing whatever they did.

 

They likely got banned banned similar to what happened the past week. One of them got banned for cheating and the other accounts got banned for being in association with them. It’s fairly difficult to prove an account is being shared by family members in the same household nor is it something I think they even spend resources trying to track.

[Danikat.8537]

Bear in mind all they did was tell people who were banned to submit a support ticket. They didn't say they'd all get their accounts back.

 

I suspect that's to counter the inevitable wave of posts about "I've never even spoken to this person and never given anyone my account details. It's a mistake and if it's not then it must be my cousin who sometimes uses my account! Unban me!" If anyone thinks their ban was a mistake (or otherwise wants to argue against it) they can contact Support and then Anet can decide on a case-by-case basis what to do, and discuss the outcome in private.

[TinkTinkPOOF.9201]

> @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > So one user with access to multiple accounts was rightfully banned for blatant cheating in PvP, tried to put the blame on Anet by using Arc Templates as an excuse and multiple people hopped on the "Anet is banning for Arc" bandwagon without any proof just to hate on Anet. Color me surprised.

>

> I think it is about the owner of one of the few dozen accounts the PvPer in cause had access. If the owner did not know what that PvP-er done in the past, it is reasonable to understand his frustration. And the effort to find a reason (in this case ArcDPS) for the bann.

 

No, paying someone to boost your PvP rank is against the ToS, this is well known. Knowing that the person boosting your account is cheating to do it fast doesn't matter, and is really just icing on the cake.

 

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

> > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > So one user with access to multiple accounts was rightfully banned for blatant cheating in PvP, tried to put the blame on Anet by using Arc Templates as an excuse and multiple people hopped on the "Anet is banning for Arc" bandwagon without any proof just to hate on Anet. Color me surprised.

>

> Based on what was said in that topic it sounds like what happened is one person figured out a way to cheat in PvP, which helped them easily get their rank up, then they started offering their "services" to other players to get their rank up (possibly for money or other compensation, possibly not). Those other players may not have any idea anything against the rules happened on their account, except account sharing of course. All they know is they gave their email and password to a really good PvP player who got their rank up, and nothing was stolen from them in the process. Then sometime later, when ArcDPS is a hot topic, they find their account is banned and assume it must be because they used Arc.

>

> Of course it's possible there's also some false positives in there too. I think these things are normally done by IP addresses and those can change and aren't always unique. (My home IP address seems to change at least once a month, so I end up keeping several saved on my GW2 account.)

 

No one figured out how to cheat, there are free and/or cheap programs widely available on public forums that allow you to do all sorts of things in GW2. The boosting and leveling services are also sold on just about all the gold spammers websites. These people bought those services from one of those sites and the person who was running it got "busted" and all those accounts that person ever accessed were banned. In the response on reddit, they stated if the person could prove that was not the case, they can open a ticket.

 

As for tracking a user, they don't depend on just IPs, it's an online game that has access to hardware IDs, past game configs etc etc. when something like this happens, often times the account is not banned right away, but looked into, including active monitoring by a in game GM for cheating/boting etc etc that in many cases has to be seen first hand. Willing to bet that it's a China farm that has lots of PC's or multiboxing on the same connection, making it even more of a dead give away.

[Koen.1327]

> @"TinkTinkPOOF.9201" said:

> > @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> > > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > > So one user with access to multiple accounts was rightfully banned for blatant cheating in PvP, tried to put the blame on Anet by using Arc Templates as an excuse and multiple people hopped on the "Anet is banning for Arc" bandwagon without any proof just to hate on Anet. Color me surprised.

> >

> > I think it is about the owner of one of the few dozen accounts the PvPer in cause had access. If the owner did not know what that PvP-er done in the past, it is reasonable to understand his frustration. And the effort to find a reason (in this case ArcDPS) for the bann.

>

> No, paying someone to boost your PvP rank is against the ToS, this is well known. Knowing that the person boosting your account is cheating to do it fast doesn't matter, and is really just icing on the cake.

 

are you sure? can you elaborite please?

many titles (including god of pvp rank 1) have been boosted, as well as an official anet partner playing on someone else's account openly on twitch

 

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"Koen.1327" said:

> > @"TinkTinkPOOF.9201" said:

> > > @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> > > > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > > > So one user with access to multiple accounts was rightfully banned for blatant cheating in PvP, tried to put the blame on Anet by using Arc Templates as an excuse and multiple people hopped on the "Anet is banning for Arc" bandwagon without any proof just to hate on Anet. Color me surprised.

> > >

> > > I think it is about the owner of one of the few dozen accounts the PvPer in cause had access. If the owner did not know what that PvP-er done in the past, it is reasonable to understand his frustration. And the effort to find a reason (in this case ArcDPS) for the bann.

> >

> > No, paying someone to boost your PvP rank is against the ToS, this is well known. Knowing that the person boosting your account is cheating to do it fast doesn't matter, and is really just icing on the cake.

>

> are you sure? can you elaborite please?

> many titles (including god of pvp rank 1) have been boosted, as well as an official anet partner playing on someone else's account openly on twitch

>

 

Read the TOS that should have been read upon first playing the game.

 

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-user-agreement/

[TinkTinkPOOF.9201]

> @"Koen.1327" said:

> > @"TinkTinkPOOF.9201" said:

> > > @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> > > > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > > > So one user with access to multiple accounts was rightfully banned for blatant cheating in PvP, tried to put the blame on Anet by using Arc Templates as an excuse and multiple people hopped on the "Anet is banning for Arc" bandwagon without any proof just to hate on Anet. Color me surprised.

> > >

> > > I think it is about the owner of one of the few dozen accounts the PvPer in cause had access. If the owner did not know what that PvP-er done in the past, it is reasonable to understand his frustration. And the effort to find a reason (in this case ArcDPS) for the bann.

> >

> > No, paying someone to boost your PvP rank is against the ToS, this is well known. Knowing that the person boosting your account is cheating to do it fast doesn't matter, and is really just icing on the cake.

>

> are you sure? can you elaborite please?

> many titles (including god of pvp rank 1) have been boosted, as well as an official anet partner playing on someone else's account openly on twitch

>

 

The issue is paying for the services. The ToS clearly states that buying items or services for real money is against the rules. The websites that the services/gold is bought from is with real money. Keep in mind the use of account sharing in a competitive mode is not the same as in household account sharing with a spouse etc etc.

 

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/65566/policy-buying-and-selling-runs

 

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/42151/shared-accounts-actioned

 

As for what partners do and don't do, is not the same as a normal player, partners on all sorts of games get away with A LOT. However they are often held to different rules/contracts. And as it is stated, banning for these is at their discretion.

 

[Koen.1327]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"Koen.1327" said:

> > > @"TinkTinkPOOF.9201" said:

> > > > @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> > > > > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > > > > So one user with access to multiple accounts was rightfully banned for blatant cheating in PvP, tried to put the blame on Anet by using Arc Templates as an excuse and multiple people hopped on the "Anet is banning for Arc" bandwagon without any proof just to hate on Anet. Color me surprised.

> > > >

> > > > I think it is about the owner of one of the few dozen accounts the PvPer in cause had access. If the owner did not know what that PvP-er done in the past, it is reasonable to understand his frustration. And the effort to find a reason (in this case ArcDPS) for the bann.

> > >

> > > No, paying someone to boost your PvP rank is against the ToS, this is well known. Knowing that the person boosting your account is cheating to do it fast doesn't matter, and is really just icing on the cake.

> >

> > are you sure? can you elaborite please?

> > many titles (including god of pvp rank 1) have been boosted, as well as an official anet partner playing on someone else's account openly on twitch

> >

>

> Read the TOS that should have been read upon first playing the game.

>

> https://www.guildwars2.com/en/legal/guild-wars-2-user-agreement/

 

thnx, seems indeed clear in the tos under 8e and 9b

however, i'm still confused why this blatantly happened in the past including anet partner openly does this on twitch (even said it wasnt his account when asked)

also dornsinger "urges" people not to share their account but doesn't state that it's actually prohibited

 

 

[Healix.5819]

> @"Koen.1327" said:

> also dornsinger "urges" people not to share their account but doesn't state that it's actually prohibited

 

Although account sharing is technically against the rules, it's not something they actually enforce. The reason account sharing is against the rules in practically every game is due to how many problems it can create. If you can 100% trust the person, you'll never have a problem, but if you can't, all it takes is for you to login to their account once and for them to later buy gold to get you banned.

[Obtena.7952]

> @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > So one user with access to multiple accounts was rightfully banned for blatant cheating in PvP, tried to put the blame on Anet by using Arc Templates as an excuse and multiple people hopped on the "Anet is banning for Arc" bandwagon without any proof just to hate on Anet. Color me surprised.

>

> I think it is about the owner of one of the few dozen accounts the PvPer in cause had access. If the owner did not know what that PvP-er done in the past, it is reasonable to understand his frustration. And the effort to find a reason (in this case ArcDPS) for the bann.

 

So .. this owner still shared access to his accounts? IIRC .. that's still against the TOS. So um, no, probably not reasonable to understand his frustration. Don't break the TOS ... no problems.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"Raknar.4735" said:

> So one user with access to multiple accounts was rightfully banned for blatant cheating in PvP, tried to put the blame on Anet by using Arc Templates as an excuse and multiple people hopped on the "Anet is banning for Arc" bandwagon without any proof just to hate on Anet. Color me surprised.

 

Its the familiar deflection method the cheats use every year

[Bloodstealer.5978]

> @"Cristalyan.5728" said:

> > @"Raknar.4735" said:

> > So one user with access to multiple accounts was rightfully banned for blatant cheating in PvP, tried to put the blame on Anet by using Arc Templates as an excuse and multiple people hopped on the "Anet is banning for Arc" bandwagon without any proof just to hate on Anet. Color me surprised.

>

> I think it is about the owner of one of the few dozen accounts the PvPer in cause had access. If the owner did not know what that PvP-er done in the past, it is reasonable to understand his frustration. And the effort to find a reason (in this case ArcDPS) for the bann.

 

If I read the post correctly, those accounts were found not to of been hacked, or been passed stolen goods/money.. therefore it sounds more likely those players accounts granted the cheat access in order to gain pvp progress.. so a ban sounds legit to me

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Healix.5819" said:

> > @"Koen.1327" said:

> > also dornsinger "urges" people not to share their account but doesn't state that it's actually prohibited

>

> Although account sharing is technically against the rules, it's not something they actually enforce. The reason account sharing is against the rules in practically every game is due to how many problems it can create. If you can 100% trust the person, you'll never have a problem, but if you can't, all it takes is for you to login to their account once and for them to later buy gold to get you banned.

 

That's always been my understanding. Account sharing is against the rules not because Anet (and other companies) have a problem with it specifically but because they don't want to deal with the problems that can result from that. Both when someone breaks the rules as in this case and support tickets for things like "My stupid sister spent all MY gold on dyes for her stupid character! Delete the dyes from our account and give me my gold back!" Because their official stance is that one account = one person they can simply say it was a legitimate action from their perspective and they won't do anything instead of having to waste time getting involved in a squabble between siblings.

 

On a related note I'm glad that when I was a kid and sharing an Ultima Online account with my brother and sister there was no way to transfer gold and items between characters because that absoluely would have happened, repeatedly. As it was my sister nearly got our account banned because two of her ways of making gold were scamming newbies and scamming people who would pay for ERP. Part of me thinks if you were scammed by a 7 year old you had it coming, but I'm still glad we caught her before the GMs did. I don't actually know if account sharing was against the rules (because UO was one of the early MMOs they didn't know a lot of practices which are standard now would be necessary) but I can't imagine they'd have banned just 1 character for that.

[Alin.2468]

PvP in this game is clearly dead for more than 3 years; at least since players voted SoloQ and even ESL stopped accepting this game. On such note, I don't get it why players pay someone to do their PvP, and even cheating while at it. In my opinion this game is only about PvE, like doing events, stories, killing animals and virtual creatures.

[Dante.1508]

> @"ParadoX.3124" said:

> Can't devs communicate on their own forum ?

 

That made me laugh..

[Donari.5237]

> @"Danikat.8537" said:

 

> As it was my sister nearly got our account banned because two of her ways of making gold were scamming newbies and scamming people who would pay for ERP. Part of me thinks if you were scammed by a 7 year old you had it coming, but I'm still glad we caught her before the GMs did.

 

Wait .. 7 year old .. ERP? Ewwww.

[Acheron.4731]

> @"Donari.5237" said:

> > @"Danikat.8537" said:

>

> > As it was my sister nearly got our account banned because two of her ways of making gold were scamming newbies and scamming people who would pay for ERP. Part of me thinks if you were scammed by a 7 year old you had it coming, but I'm still glad we caught her before the GMs did.

>

> Wait .. 7 year old .. ERP? Ewwww.

 

Yeah, I am hoping ERP means something different than it use to here.

 

[sephiroth.4217]

I think it's glorious that all these PvE players who paid for leaderboard spots got the ban hammer...

 

I hope those bots were also dealt with too.

 

I just hope they aren't covering mistakes by blaming PvP again.. If they did ban ArcDPS players by accident, blaming 1 person using multiple accounts on an unofficial forum would be a great way to divert pressure off the company.

[Ashen.2907]

> @"Donari.5237" said:

> > @"Danikat.8537" said:

>

> > As it was my sister nearly got our account banned because two of her ways of making gold were scamming newbies and scamming people who would pay for ERP. Part of me thinks if you were scammed by a 7 year old you had it coming, but I'm still glad we caught her before the GMs did.

>

> Wait .. 7 year old .. ERP? Ewwww.

 

My reaction as well.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

> @"Ashen.2907" said:

> > @"Donari.5237" said:

> > > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> >

> > > As it was my sister nearly got our account banned because two of her ways of making gold were scamming newbies and scamming people who would pay for ERP. Part of me thinks if you were scammed by a 7 year old you had it coming, but I'm still glad we caught her before the GMs did.

> >

> > Wait .. 7 year old .. ERP? Ewwww.

>

> My reaction as well.

 

Post said she was **scamming** people "willing to pay for ERP". *Scamming* is the operative word here, they never said that

a) She delivered any ERP, *nor*

b) any of the suckers knew how old she was.

[Glider.5792]

> @"Acheron.4731" said:

> > @"Donari.5237" said:

> > > @"Danikat.8537" said:

> >

> > > As it was my sister nearly got our account banned because two of her ways of making gold were scamming newbies and scamming people who would pay for ERP. Part of me thinks if you were scammed by a 7 year old you had it coming, but I'm still glad we caught her before the GMs did.

> >

> > Wait .. 7 year old .. ERP? Ewwww.

>

> Yeah, I am hoping ERP means something different than it use to here.

>

 

I know right... Amazing that someone already properly raids at that age. I wonder how she became an elitist already thought :open_mouth:

[Gop.8713]

I am, as always, grateful when anet chooses to communicate with its players on matters that concern them . . .

[Manasa Devi.7958]

Yeah, Enterprise Resource Planning isn't something a 7-year old should be involved with. Disgusting.

[Clyan.1593]

I'm confused:

So one person had multiple accounts banned due to hacking and THAT ONE person went on to complain about it causing the community to believe many different individuals had their accounts banned?

 

If this is correct, I am honestly amazed.