Feedback:User/Rose Of Kali/Item protection from hack theft
Item protection from hack theft
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|---|---|
| User | Rose Of Kali |
| Categories | Mechanics → Inventory Items |
Problem[edit]
The eternal problem of losing all your valuables through account hacking. Also, the fact that ANet is usually unable to restore stolen items after the account is returned to the owner.
Intention[edit]
To protect the most valuable items that the player has no intent to trade in the near future, such as expensive armor, weapons and miniatures. This is not intended to protect everything a player has.
Solution[edit]
An NPC who can mark items as "Trade Protected." It works similar to customization and appears under the item's name. This is not permanent and is applied to each item separately.
When Trade Protected, items cannot be dropped or traded between accounts, exactly like Zaishen Coins, or destroyed. Additionally, armor and weapons that are trade-protected can only be salvaged for upgrades with a Perfect Salvage kit, but cannot be salvaged for materials, and thus cannot be broken. This allows the player to re-modify their items as needed, but prevents them from being scrapped by a hacker.
In the event that the player does decide to remove trade protection, the same NPC can do so. This does not happen immediately, and the protection will expire in, say, 5 days from when you asked the NPC to un-protect the item. This goes in hand with my other suggestion: Feedback:User/Rose Of Kali/Prevent character deletion. During the 5 days it takes to unprotect the items, the player and Support Team have time to act on the hack, and the protected items will not be lost.
Any piece of armor, weapon, or miniature can have this done. These are usually the most valuable items that players can protect from theft, and are usually not traded, thus the 5 day restriction will have no impact on the items the player does not intend to trade soon, but the protection can still be removed if the player so decides in the future. These are also the items that players claim to miss most after being hacked.
Materials (such as ecto), gold, consumables, runes and other miscellaneous items cannot be protected. I say this because they cannot be customized or dedicated, and those 2 mechanics can be modified into trade protection, just like back in the day customization of miniatures was modified into dedication.
Food for thought[edit]
Some players may not log on very frequently, or could leave on vacation for more than 5 days. In this case, if Support does not detect the hack and does not block the account within the 5 days, the items can still be stolen. As a remedy, I can suggest two solutions:
- Some players have suggested a password to be able to trade "protected" items. This would remove the need for a time delay altogether, as the items will stay protected permanently. The protection will be removed once they are successfully traded to a new account, and the new owner may choose to protect them again, or not. A password would also need to be provided when attempting to salvage the item with a chance to break it. This password cannot match the account password or a character name on the account. Essentially, this is a basic password protection for specific items.
- Instead of a password like above, the players can choose the unprotection delay to apply to all protected items on the account based on their play style, or an upcoming vacation. For example, there can be a protection "menu" where you choose from "I play frequently = 5 days delay", "I'm going on vacation = 30 days delay, drops back to 5 after 30 days", "I'm leaving for a long time = infinite until a password is provided, then drops back to 5." This last password has the same restrictions as in the first option.
Impact[edit]
IF (and that's a big "if") this can be done, it would be a monumental relief to all players who get hacked in the future, as it would let them keep their most prized possessions.
