Weekly Update 11/13/06

Frelorn · 11-13-2006, 04:50 PM

Hello there and welcome to the November 13th edition of the weekly update.

As many of you know the Asheron’s Call free trial site was live over this past weekend. Unfortunately we had to bring the site live before originally planned and before all of the development support was ready. This allowed some players to possibly abuse trial accounts in an unintended manner.

The positive side of this is we have information for those people and we will be checking the system based on the information we have. Anyone found to have exploited the system by gathering either rank chains or excess housing may be subject to a ban across all of their accounts, both trial and existing accounts. This will mean any accounts associated with trial accounts caught abusing the system could be banned. If you are a player who used the trial in a legitimate manner, you will not need to worry about any type of repercussions with your account.

We had hoped it would not come down to this, but some players felt the need to once again try to gain advantages over other players. This trial is meant to re-energize AC and this kind of behavior only serves to hurt the game and the community.

When the Free Trial officially goes live there will be restrictions in place that will prevent this from being an issue. Until this system is in place we will be monitoring all account transactions related to the free trial for abuse.

The November event, Remembering the past is tentatively going live this Thursday, the 16th. All worlds will be down from 8am – 3pm EST and players will not be able to log in to the game. Make sure to check out the various fan sites for the tease images related to the November event, and check out the Remembering the Past event page.

That’s about it for this week. Have a great day and see you all in Dereth!

PartyVT · 11-13-2006, 05:01 PM

Excellent news, thank you very much!

Kid · 11-13-2006, 05:20 PM

I've seen some people already exploit the rank chains on HG and I just mentioned (on the General chat on HG) that you can get banned for it.

Some people are wondering if they will still get banned if they already made their rank chain? They said they didn't know it was an bannable offense until now.

Holt Politician · 11-13-2006, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kid

I've seen some people already exploit the rank chains on HG and I just mentioned (on the General chat on HG) that you can get banned for it.

Some people are wondering if they will still get banned if they already made their rank chain? They said they didn't know it was an bannable offense until now.

Ahhh, I can see the complainers and apathetists coming in droves now.

*shakes head*

Common sense would dictate that if you were to create rank from free accounts, that perhaps you should at least ask if Turbine is going to allow it.

Anyone that went to the trouble of finding the trial url, before it was even announced should of known better. Try to sneak some cheating in...then claim "oh i didn't know!"

Fzzt · 11-13-2006, 05:50 PM

"Anyone that went to the trouble of finding the trial url, before it was even announced should of known better" - Holt Politician

Actually it wasn't much of a hunt as I found it on the main page with a direct link to the Free Trial website which is one of the reasons for my Nov 10 post asking questions about the trial.

I remember reading that the trial was supposed to take care of the past versions exploits however it sounds like they didn't

...and no, while I did go through the site far enough to get a client key I did not set up any trial accounts, mainly I was just surprised that the Trial was live before we were given any information or Do's and Dont's from Turbine.

*edit - my post after I found the trial link : http://forums.ac.turbinegames.com/sh...ad.php?t=32102

Holt Politician · 11-13-2006, 06:03 PM

Something that negates the hard work that people have done over the years to get rank 5,6,7,8,9, or 10 is highly questionable ladies and gentleman.

Before doing so.....perhaps the people that did this questionable act would of had the common sense to say to themselves,

"hey, I bet Turbine doesn't intend to negate the hard work of my fellow gamers." "Perhaps I should go to their forums and see if they actually intend on letting people use this method in establishing rank, which would probably piss all the people that have spent time and effort achieving rank through cross server trades, gaining loyal vassels, and creating monarchies."

So let's not defend the questionable acts of our fellow gamers.

Gouru · 11-13-2006, 07:09 PM

Sounds like we need to add to the mantra...
Exploit Early, Exploit Often, Get Banned

Midgar · 11-13-2006, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holt Politician

Something that negates the hard work that people have done over the years to get rank 5,6,7,8,9, or 10 is highly questionable ladies and gentleman.

Before doing so.....perhaps the people that did this questionable act would of had the common sense to say to themselves,

"hey, I bet Turbine doesn't intend to negate the hard work of my fellow gamers." "Perhaps I should go to their forums and see if they actually intend on letting people use this method in establishing rank, which would probably piss all the people that have spent time and effort achieving rank through cross server trades, gaining loyal vassels, and creating monarchies."

So let's not defend the questionable acts of our fellow gamers.

A majority of those people never worked for their ranks because just as they are using the free trial now they did so before as well.

Septa Scarabae · 11-13-2006, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Midgar

A majority of those people never worked for their ranks because just as they are using the free trial now they did so before as well.

I'd estimate 80% of players achieved their rank through cross-server trades or abused the old free-trial system. Some did both, making cross-server trades with rank on other servers they made with a free-trial account. I honestly don't see the issue with it. Rank is bogus these days due to all the semi-exploit'ish things done, anyways.

Gengis · 11-13-2006, 11:54 PM

There was no precedent set and Frelorn said they could be banned, but did not say they would be banned. if I had to lob a guess on this one, the ones who did it before this news came out will not be banned, but the issue fixed, and anyone who knowingly does it after this news will be banned.

It goes back to the old addage, exploit early, exploit often as Gouru says. Those who chained before they were nerfed have a significant advantage over others who grinded. Those who UCMed have a significant advantage and significantly more gear. Those who did the trade macro have a significant advantage even still it seems. Etc etc etc.

So, some folks tried to take advantage of the trial to create rank, it has been done before with no consequences. I don't see why they wouldn't try it. Its a history of exploitation without consequence that leads to this behavior.

Turbine is at least complicit if not an accomplice in some of these exploits. But, if you're going to change that, you have to start somewhere. So, make a statement and make a stand. But, from that time forward, be consistent.

Jin Saotome · 11-14-2006, 01:02 AM

Awesome! And you know 99% of the exploiters are the UCMing 'l33t' that have 19 regular accounts and greed flowing out their ears. Do your part like I am and turn in the people that went from rank 2 to 10 over the weekend, the ones boasting on CG that they now own five entire cottage settlements. It feels good to clean up AC, doesn't it?

MaddyFF · 11-14-2006, 04:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kid

They said they didn't know it was an bannable offense until now.

Want to see how often that line comes up?

Kid · 11-14-2006, 04:48 AM

Yeah I guess they should've known not to but they did anyways. I guess they're upset now heh

Replex · 11-14-2006, 08:13 AM

'the_pony' is absolutely correct. Turbine is responsible for ensuring that it's customers are treated fairly. They have issued a binding Terms of Service and Code of Conduct agreement for this service that deals specifically with what can, and cannot be done.

No provision exists in any of Turbine's agreements, whether it be Privacy, End User License Agreement, Terms of Service (ToS) or the Code of Conduct (CoC) that prohibit in any way shape or form the use of a trial service from interacting with the retail service.

Turbine should issue an update to their own Terms of Service if this is the case.

If someone with a finer eye can point out anything I have missed while reviewing these contracts, please correct me.

PartyVT · 11-14-2006, 09:34 AM

Well, there is a way to deal with the situation:

Delete the questionable accounts unless they are upgraded to a retail account, or at least delete all allegiance ties / housing information on those accounts.