Suck on This Yantis / IGE

Morgrym · Post by **Morgrym** » March 12, 2005, 1:11 pm

Over the recent weeks we have been investigating the activities of certain individuals who have been farming gold in order to sell it in exchange for real world currency. After researching the situation, we have issued permanent suspensions to over one thousand accounts that have been engaging in this practice. We do not condone such actions and will take decisive action as they are against our policy and damage the game economy as a whole. We will continue researching this matter. If you suspect someone of taking part in said gold farming, please eMail the report to wowgm@blizzard.com.

Maleki
In-Game Support Manager

Tyek · Post by **Tyek** » March 12, 2005, 1:37 pm

Isn't this where Miir pops in and tells us EQ2 has already developed an anti-Bot, anti-Yantis solution and that this just shows why WoW sucks?

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » March 12, 2005, 2:49 pm

Good deal. I am glad to see that there will be penalties for gold-selling asswads.

Fash · Post by **Fash** » March 12, 2005, 3:07 pm

im assuming the farmers already use separate mule bank accounts that would not be suspected... and im curious how many innocents might have just gotten a permanent ban.

this change will only slightly change the methods of the farmers, and increase revenue for blizzard because they will need to continuously buy more boxed copies to continue farming. the mistake is in even believing it can be stopped or culled to any effective degree...

Avestan · Post by **Avestan** » March 12, 2005, 3:10 pm

Fash wrote:im assuming the farmers already use separate mule bank accounts that would not be suspected... and im curious how many innocents might have just gotten a permanent ban.

this change will only slightly change the methods of the farmers, and increase revenue for blizzard because they will need to continuously buy more boxed copies to continue farming. the mistake is in even believing it can be stopped or culled to any effective degree...

I support their trying. At least by doing this, they raise the risk and cost to these companies. There should be fairly automatic ways to track the flow of gold in game and without too much time, a decent GM should be able to identify a lot of sellers easily enough.

I think it is a positive step and I am interested in seeing how it pans out.

Avestan · Post by **Avestan** » March 12, 2005, 3:11 pm

on a side note, if Blizzard was really smart about this, they would get someone to start being a farmer for the biggest of these groups and identify those involved from the inside out. Maybe they already have.

Once you are 100% sure on a single ringleader, you could really identify a ton of people just by logging that person's every action.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » March 12, 2005, 7:38 pm

A lot of times the bans don't just include an account but an IP and billing information. When one of the flagged items is used, the transaction will not go through. I don't know if Blizzard is using this same method though.

miir · Post by **miir** » March 14, 2005, 1:49 pm

Tyek wrote:Isn't this where Miir pops in and tells us EQ2 has already developed an anti-Bot, anti-Yantis solution and that this just shows why WoW sucks?

The hate for those IGE fucks is universal in all MMOGs.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » March 14, 2005, 11:54 pm

yes, but who hates ige more....

Fash · Post by **Fash** » March 15, 2005, 1:44 am

you may not like it... but they totally love ige..

drives sales way up and increases account attachment via investment.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » March 15, 2005, 12:59 pm

Fash wrote:you may not like it... but they totally love ige..

drives sales way up and increases account attachment via investment.

Actually, I felt LESS attatched to my monk gimp after I bought plat from a farmer. $30 is meaningless in the long term, and the LACK of that feeling of accomplishment when I looked at my toon made me abandon him before he even hit 50.

Nilaman · Post by **Nilaman** » March 15, 2005, 1:39 pm

You only spent how much?

I have never had the need/want to buy anything from a farmer. Not from IGE, not from Yantis, not from Joe Shmoe trying to make a buck.

One thing I do know though, if I spent a few hundred dollars on gold in WoW... I would be attached to whoever I spent that on. The items, more then the character. Running around knowing I have the best gear, epic drops, and the fastest mount in game would make me think twice before rerolling, quitting, or doing something else.

miir · Post by **miir** » April 1, 2005, 2:30 pm

Tyek wrote:Isn't this where Miir pops in and tells us EQ2 has already developed an anti-Bot, anti-Yantis solution and that this just shows why WoW sucks?

Moorguard wrote:Yes, we have recently banned hundreds of additional accounts. Our own Scott Hartsman has devised some nice little tools that make catching these folks even easier.

Our main target is people who screw up the game for others. It's not just that bot groups generate a bunch of coin; it's that they monopolize areas, disrupt other players, and generally make things suck. As I've said before, we neither want nor need money from people who aggravate the good folks who just want to log in and have fun. We'll kick their butts out the door when we catch them, and keep on doing so until they get the message

In retaliation, IGE has removed the EQ2 site from their ogaming.com network.

miir · Post by **miir** » April 1, 2005, 2:33 pm

Looks like the WoW site is also gone from ogaming.com (thottbot is still up, though).

Nice to see these new games having a zero tolerance policy on these IGE scumbags.