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Hacked [Incident: 100829-003189]

I have been hacked and NCSoft arnt responding to my emails :( i can see that my hacker has been online lately i have a CD key to prove it aswell. --The preceding unsigned comment was added by Decimus Vortex (talk).

According to the ticket, this has been cleared up. Glad you're back in the game! -- Gaile 09:05, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Banned, some questions

Hey Gaile

I was on here a couple of months ago, when I got banned(for no apparent reason from what I saw). I've cooled down and I'd like to give this another shot. Support team told me that I had used third-party software and I had no way of getting control of my account again. I'm here to first off say sorry for bugging you about this all, and I'd like to see if there was any way of proving I didn't use third-party software(other than texmod, though I was told that isn't what set the 'alarms' off). I was hacked soon before my account was terminated, support even confirmed that, but they said the time I was hacked at wasn't the same as when I used third-party software. I've been playing the game for years and have nothing but respect for your support team, but honestly, this to me was ridiculous. First of all, I'd like to know if it would be worth anything to make a new support ticket. Second, if that won't get me anywhere, is there at all any way of getting my account re-instated? I know I'm able to buy the game again and start a new account, but then I would be losing 4+ years of work I've put into this one.

Anyways, just seeing if there was any hope for me at all. Miclee 19:04, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

It would not help to start a new ticket because the issue was reviewed multiple times and the decision must stand. While it's clear you did not purposely use a disallowed third-party program, something tied to your account was indeed disallowed / illegal / a breach of the User Agreement or Rules of Conduct, and that's what resulted in the termination. There is no way to earn or pay for reinstatement. I understand you have a lot of time in the game, but in the end, there is no other possible outcome for this situation. The good news is that what happened in GW should have no impact upon a GW2 account, if you choose to join that game. Also, as you know, if you wish to start a new GW account you will not be actioned for the block placed on the original account. -- Gaile 01:11, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

Alright, thanks. Guess I'll be making a new account then. Thanks for all the help. Miclee 02:16, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

I would like to speak with you directly, Gaile.

I would like to speak with you, either by e-mail, or by phone, directly, concerning an issue my husband and I are now facing. You can send me a PM via the Guild Wars incgamers forums. My user name there is Kahlan. I would greatly appreciate your help. --KahlanCyfer

Hi. Please contact Support and work on the issue with that team, as they are responsible for nearly all issues in the first several levels of response. If you wish me to review a support issue, then you can share the incident number and details with me here or use the "email this use" system on this wiki. I simply do not have the bandwidth to initiate or review issues via fan forum PMs, when I am already handling about half a dozen email accounts, escalated tickets, policy and procedure reviews, team meetings and reports, multiple wiki pages, Better Business Bureau reviews, and a new project for which I am the project manager. I hope you'll understand that going through the support system really is the best way to resolve issues, for both of us. The team can and will escalate an issue to me if that is the appropriate thing to do. Thank you for understanding. -- Gaile 22:05, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

I know some details of this issue, and it is very large, high profile (so I can understand not wanting to discuss the details on a public forum), and complicated. And they are getting nowhere with support, which is adversely affecting one of the most respected alliances in the game. If I ever saw a case where the help of a support liason was warranted, this is it. Please trust me on this. --Lensor (talk) 15:55, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

Then they should provide a support ticket. I'm sure Gaile is savvy enough not to discuss it publicly in detail if it's that important. --Kyoshi (Talk) 16:58, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

Even if it is "high profile," I don't see why anyone should be given priority with Gaile's time over anyone else. So, because I'm a member (or leader or whatever) of a somewhat well-known guild (which, personally, I had never heard of), I should be able to come to Gaile's support page and demand personal communication? If the user is facing an issue, then they should go through the same avenues everyone else does: submit a report to the support team, wait a few days until they have a chance to look at it, and, if there's still an issue, then come to Gaile's page and ask politely for her to take another look over it. Really, you would think a "high-profile" guild would know that much. --★KOKUOU★ 18:17, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

Come on, no need to get all insinuant and putting words into other people's mouths. No one is "demanding" anything. Also, it is not about priority, it is about an actual need for a liason. If it was just a simple case involving a single account I would not drop by here, no matter the "profile". But it isn't. The sheer volume and complicated nature of the issue makes it a textbook case for a time when a liason is needed (not just wanted) to liase between the support team and the customer. The "high profile" thing was just an explanation why not all details are shared on a public forum in case Gaile didn't know, and is nothing you need to worry about. You could also do well to remember that you know nothing about what contacts have been made by "email this user", nor do you know what contact has already been with support before posting here or how long they have already waited (hint: it has been way more than "a few days").--Lensor (talk) 22:05, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

Leeching

can you get banned for leeching? User:Austin1

Yes. -- Gaile 21:57, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Abuse at Community-Organized Events?

What about "ganking" / mob spamming at community organized events?

Hey Gaile.. a big question that came up for our ally and it's friends is, what are we supposed to do about "players" (replace with harsh language of your choice here) that delight in ruining player organized events, such as roleplayed marriages, guild birthday celebrations and the like? Like the other day there was that ingame marriage thingy.. all planned out, who played which role, had what lines, etc, really big audience on the guest list from many different allys.. took place in an outpost. Just after it started so many ppl fell in that a new disctrict opened to hold the rest of them. Spamming, flaming, forcing the whole thing to go down, reschedule in a guild hall with much fewer guests that time.. Sure one can't report like a hundred or so ppl for spamming or anything, yet I do know the guys who organize these "raiding parties" - who doesn't, I mean hey're like running around bragging about ruining roleplay or others, feeling untoucheable. Right now they do seem to be just that. Or are they? As we're planning on a big celebration for some of our guild's birthdays that includes some clue hunts/puzzle solvings around Tyria, we're about to put that on hold since we can't possibly keep that a secret from those guys.. I hope you have some thoughts on this one, though I admit, it's a hard one. Golgarit Raven 11:51, 3 September 2010 (UTC) (forgot to log in)

Well just my two copper pieces in this, but you can never completely get rid of trolls. We've had players that were really annoying being kicked from the district by Those Who Serve while we were holding an event. But most of the time we simply try to either ignore the trolls, or try and involve them in the festivities. Most of the time trolls are just people not bothered with the event, so they start bothering others. So when ever possible we try to get them involved, rather than complaining about how they are ruining our event. For example, we've had mobs of gigantic Golems getting in the way of our festivities and obstructing the view for others. What we sometimes did was reward the Golems that would help us with an assignment. This way you get even the trolls into festive spirits and they stop being trolls and join the party. Often a lot of roleplaying is involved with our events as well, and some people simply hate roleplaying. They simply can't get over the fact that some people are using their imagination in a fantasy roleplaying game. But often a bit of humour can get even the biggest roleplay haters into the party mood. If you need help putting an event like this together and preventing trolls from ruining the fun, you can always ask me for help. Just send me a note via one of my minions. Mad Queen Malafide 13:46, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

You sound just like me, before I met these guys.. they're around 100-200 ppl comitted to ruining the game for others by any means possible, because "gw is boring". Tho the main core are only around 30 ppl, they're really dedicated to this and have many minions, as you put it, at their command to aid them. Right now they only use german pages to pick their targets, yet that can change over time. I'm just having a hard time believing that there might not be a way to get rid of ppl who are only playing the game because they enjoy ruining it for others in an organized way. I bet tho, that losing their precious rank 12+ for PvP would make them think twice before going out there to ruin PvE and the events held there. Right now you can't make them stop, much less join the fun altogether. They even delight in hacking gw fanpage accounts (you know, those nes that some use to present their characters and fanfiction they wrote for them?). Feels like trying to talk a botter out of botting when you argue with them. :S (Golgarit Raven 21:15, 5 September 2010 (UTC))

Put it this way. It's their game as much as it is yours, and it's absurd to expect them to vacate an outpost so you can roleplay in peace. elix Omni 21:29, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

That's not entirely true. They still play the game by the rules agreed upon in the EULA. Deliberately trying to ruin other people's enjoyment is not something that is allowed. The best option probably then is to report these players by sending in a report ticket. Any information supporting the allegations would of course help a great deal. Especially regarding the hacking of gw fanpages. If you have any proof of such activities, send the links to these pages (even if they are in German) along with your support ticket. The better informed the team is, the more likely they can help you out. Mad Queen Malafide22:06, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

Guest invitations to your Guildhall. That's all. InfestedHydralisk 22:49, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't see how trying to silence them and kick them out of a public outpost doesn't ruin their enjoyment. elix Omni 22:54, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

Spoiling other people's fun doesn't sound like giving everyone an equal opportunity to enjoy the game — sounds like one group deciding how everyone else should play. Does their right to stretch an arm extend as far as their fist punching my nose? This wiki belongs to everyone, so we don't allow trolls to cross a certain line &mdash — should ANet allow bullies to act with impunity?

Expecting them to vacate an outpost is, of course, absurd. But isn't it reasonable to ask that they respect others right to enjoy the game and not go out of their way to interfere?  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 23:11, 5 September 2010 (UTC)

The best way to deal with that kind of people is ignoring them completely, so ignoring a player should make both their chat lines AND the model disappear, so it is as if you both do not exist to each other. A little troublesome for reports, so those should still work even when people is ignoring you, just by inputing the name, and the report window should have a list of reportable people to pick (That shows names and portaits), instead you having to remember all the names. MithTalk 09:29, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

(Reset indent) This is a tricky one. I was initially tempted to say "Let me know when you're doing something major and I'll come in in stealth mode and monitor for abuse." Then I smacked my forehead and realized there are so many player-run events, there's no way even a full team could deal with such situations! Too, there are no "set asides" in Guild Wars, and I don't see how there will be any in GW2, either, since it's an MMO. So we can't say "This district is off limits" because that would be unfair in the way the game is configured.

That said, I suggest that you report the worst abusers. Either take a list of the people involved or select them and use the /Report system individually. I will talk to the Support Team at next week's meeting about how they handle such situations. Now, we don't have people on board who instantly could remove abusers. While that would be the ideal situation here, it would be unlikely to happen because the team member would need to get the report, pull logs, verify the issue, check the account for multiple violations for possible a "repeated violation" termination and then block. No "poof, you're gone" in <5 minutes, unfortunately. We're pretty good at seeing what's an opportunistic, spur-of-the-moment situation as opposed to one that's executed based on a concerted plan. And it would take time to research each report, so it would be best to concentrate reports only on the worst offenders.

I feel the time investment in getting offending players blocked would be worthwhile because they would probably think real hard before doing such a thing again and they may even tell others about what happened. That would mean a single block could prevent others from being abusive. I'd like to have a better and more-immediate resolution to such situations, but that's the best I can suggest at the moment. -- Gaile 21:50, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Yes, it is. It may be an idea for the future here to allow really big groups to enter an area for roleplaying, maybe even without monsters in it, just to mention something so you still have to think about a thing when we're done here ;) Anyway, I pretty much agree with you. In my experience these guys are mostly PvP sector, high ranking, bearing no respect for other players. But they value their ranks and so they will fear for their accounts. My immediat question here is now, I do have screenshots handy from meanwhile two player organized events that were ruined by the same ppl.. should I send them in? Incidentally, I wanted to invite you to my own if you'd like, along with Regina and Martin. Will be in pre searing tho, where we don't even have guild hall access (as mentioned above as an evac plan). Golgarit Raven 03:50, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

This type of thing can be a problem in other games as well. Hmm. A suggestion for GW2, probably a little too ambitious. A personal district. Similar to a Guild Hall. A person can define NPC's and set up buildings, decor, etc. then invite people to come in. Could be used for events or a slice of GW. Main issues would be cost and development (to make an editor). Would be rather unfeasible.

An alternative would be a way to "clone" an area of the game. Then say, set up entry points for visiting players. Could be a reusable "magical item" that would take much effort to obtain (or possibly DLC to offset costs). Perhaps 4 markers that can be placed on a map in a 'square' that would define the terrain/structures to reproduce. That could enable the process to be automated, not instantaneous though.

Sounds like a good way to create a position at the company and get hired to fulfill it, or it's late at night and sleep should be had. Aro 08:07, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

There's already a "home instance" that you can invite players to in GW2. House party, etc. --ஸ ķ̌yǾshĺ 16:07, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Yes, but it seems like it will be fixed and not too customizable. But who knows. Aro 21:23, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Gold seller sites

Does anyone have any legal recourse to go after some of these gold seller sites like okaygold.com and mmobear.com? They still seem to be being spammed fairly often in game. Their servers being located in china probably doesn't help with trying to shut them down since china doesn't seem to care at all about breaking any laws. --Lania 04:56, 09 September 2010 (UTC)

Hi Lania. You're right, we have very few options in dealing with websites in other countries, and Chinese websites are the most difficult to impact in any way. For one thing, I don't believe that China supports the DMCA which ties to the WIPO, the World Intellectual Property Organization whose charter includes this key element: "WIPO seeks to promote the protection of intellectual property throughout the world." China is a member of WIPO, but their membership doesn't seem to have heightened their protection of or respect for the intellectual property of others.

At this point, I don't even know if we try to get China to help with closing a website that is on their soil. The best thing that players can do is select the player character and type /report. Wish I could tell you otherwise. :( -- Gaile 05:13, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

I wonder how much of the gold they sell is stolen from hacked accounts, and how much of that profit goes on to fund shady organizations in china... :-/. I think the government completely condones all the intellectual property theft that's occurring frequently. After some research, it seems that the business of selling/buying counterfeit or pirated products from stolen IP's is a 200-700 billion dollar business annually. The recent hacking of gmail in china and the theft of terabytes of sensitive information is troublesome since, Google is no stranger to cybersecurity and the capability to hack gmail and steal a huge amount of data doesn't really exist outside of the Chinese government. Also considering that guildwars isn't the only game where it's IP is being infringed upon, I doubt even a coalition of MMO publishers all putting pressure on the Chinese government would do much since much of the hacking is probably sponsored or at least supported by the government. Plus, what government wants to disrupt a 200-700 billion dollar annual cash-flow into their country... I think as individual users of the net, we need to be more conscious about cybersecurity to limit the possibility of getting hacked and inadvertently supporting gold seller sites. This kinda reminds of something funny that Richard Clarke said, "If you spend more on coffee than on IT security, then you will be hacked. What's more, you deserve to be hacked." --Lania 17:21, 09 September 2010 (UTC)

Probably not much of it, really. The skills needed to just farm massive amounts are so much ridiculously easier to train that it's cheaper to hire hobos to do that than it would be to crack accounts. --Keiyakins 08:15, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

One of the harder things to understand is that many asian cultures view intellectual property rights differently than most westerners. I claim to be no expert on this, other than facing it head-on while teaching in China. Rooted in Confucianism, the act of copying somebody is considered proper, if not respectful. Students at the school, as well as my Chinese colleagues I worked along side with, saw nothing wrong with an essay or other work being built with copy/paste from other people's work, and attributing them as their own. This pattern is far stronger in the universities, where it is repeated time and again by professors and researchers; again, their culture does not see it as ethically wrong. Only a couple of years ago did I start to hear grumblings for change coming from Korea, where numerous individuals claimed that an idea was theirs in order to get recognition from one of the western countries. From our standpoint, it can be exceedingly frustrating, but they are practising what their culture has passed down to them. G R E E N E R 20:02, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

I never even considered that... I did a little bit of digging around and found this quote from what Confucius said,"The Master said: "Transmitting insight, but never creating insight, standing by my words and devoted to the ancients: perhaps I'm a little like that old sage, P'eng." 7.1". It basically means that instead of creating new ideas for a problem, it's better to look to the past for solutions and ideas and use them. Kinda like that old saying that "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". It's odd that looking at Japan, where Buddhism is also fairly popular, copyright isn't a problem like it is in China. Afaik, Japan's copyright law and enforcement is right up there with the United states. Maybe it's because Japan's cultural base is more complex than just simply being rooted in Buddhism or Shinto or both... who knows? Quite interesting though... :> --Lania 21:00, 09 September 2010 (UTC)

The difference might also have to do with the fact that Japan has more need to maintain copyright law than ignore it. Imagine if these big Japanese software developers couldn't maintain control of their IPs in their own countries.-- Pyron Sy 21:55, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

I think there was a question in here somewhere. :) The vast majority of accounts used for sales, delivery, and advertising by RMTs (Real-Money Traders) are stolen accounts. Why would the company pay for the game, when people use poor passwords or easily get scammed out of their credentials? The irony is that many of the stolen accounts are actual customers of the RMT. So the players try to buy gold and get their accounts stolen in the process.

How do RMTs steal accounts? Poor user security. Shared credentials. Pass-along accounts. Here's a scam example: Gold Deliverer--"ArenaNet is watching us and you don't want to get caught buying gold. So simply give me your account credentials and I will place the gold you so kindly purchased from my company onto your account directly." Gold Buyer--"Oh, sure, here's how to steal my account of five years, all my stuff, all my titles, and by the way, feel free to keep the dollars I paid for the gold you're not going to deliver, too." Now, would you fall for that? Sadly, people do, every day. But then, they're also the kind of people who guy gold, so I have trouble understanding that whole thing on a few levels. :D -- Gaile 08:39, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

XTH 'replacements'

Do you know of any ideas for 'replacements' for the XTH being kicked around? I understand why it was closed (though I wonder how it was set up on the back end to be such a mess, I've seen enough of messes in my time to know it's not always an easy fix.) but it filled the function of giving people who don't "get" PvP (like me!) a way to sort of play along. Perhaps something kinda like Super Smash Bros. Brawl's spectator betting? Though I guess that could be abusable if the participants told others who won before it was available for spectating... Iunno, I'd just like something sort of along the same lines, because buggy as it was the XTH was kinda fun. --Keiyakins 08:34, 11 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't know of any at the current moment. I know of a lot of other really cool stuff coming -- some for Guild Wars, a lot for Guild Wars 2, of course -- but I can't think of anything that directly correlates with XTH. You could put your thoughts about it on the Suggestions Portal, if you so desired. -- Gaile 20:07, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Aww, okay. I'll do that. Good to hear there's neat stuff in the pipeline at any rate ^_^ --Keiyakins 00:33, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

I was Banned.

Hi Gaile, my name is Gary Limon, I am 42 years old, and have been enjoying Guild Wars for over 4 years, with 9.7k hours of great entertainment and commitment on my account. I have only been able to acheive 23 titles on my ele, but was hoping to get G.W.A.M.M. eventually. 2 weeks ago my account was banned due to botting or the use of a 3rd party program, while I was farming topk.As a side note, another person that I have had discussions with since then had added my name, "Angels Tread Among" to their list in the guru forum. Anyway, I admit to using a tex mod a few years ago, but nothing since 2008-2009, but I do admit to being an avid farmer..it can be extremelly boring, thats why i have Ron White and other comedians on my media player, allowing me to farm for hours on end, without interruption, other than the occasional bio break. Plus, I did a lot of salvaging, both during some of the farms and in topk between runs.Anyway, although i have another account, I am "killer bunny fu fu" *would love to say hi*, it isnt my main account..I have begged the support staff to reinstate my account, and after putting this much into it, it hurts and angers me to no end, knowing i didnt do anything wrong.Now, on my second account, i have been "alphabet farming" saying a letter of the alphabet each time i zone, in hopes arenanet wont ban ne again for doing something i love to do.Anyway, I have no way to prove that I am innocent I suppose.But I swear to you I am, and it hurts losing my account just days before my 42nd birthday, Aug 19th.I couldnt believe it when i seen the ban message come up, I about had a heart attack. Can you please look into this for me? I love guild wars, and I have turned in many bots from topk, i am sure you have ways to tell that too. Thank you for your time, Gary Limon--Angels tread among 19:18, 26 August 2010 (UTC)Angels Tread Among

Alphabet farming isn't exactly going to get you sympathy, it's easy to write a macro to do that. Back when I botted, I had a macro that identified each item for me, so I don't think it'd be too hard to write one in that just salvages an item every now and then for mats, before it goes to merch. -- Tha Reckoning 19:31, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

You should post the support ticket number so Gaile can tell which particular issue you're talking about. Lots of people have been banned, and to be bluntly honest, you're just one more claiming to be innocent. --Kyoshi (Talk) 20:30, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

I fogot to add my Banned Incident number 100817-000132. I am terribly sorry, I am unfamiliar with posting threads, and I forgot to add my incident number, 100817-000132...Again, I apologize.--Angels tread among 20:33, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

Hi my name is Cody, and I believe he is speaking the truth. we started using fast cast mesmers to farm topk about at the same time right after the nerf. we have consistently ran tombs together for about the past 6 months, every time i ever see him in topk, he responds to me. I honestly think Anet is having a hard time getting rid of the bots and some ppl are paying the price. i am scared to farm topk.--Sgtdrpepper 20:54, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

You both should read my response in the thread immediately below, where I explain that we do not ban for farming. Yet again, I understand your concerns, and I do see where some farming could be confused by "the system" with botting. Ideally and with concerted effort on our part, there are enough safeguards to prevent false positives. However, even with human review -- which all banned accounts received -- and with great care, no system is perfect, particularly when the game design changes from time to time. I'll be looking into this matter now, from several viewpoints. Please give me a while to gather input from various teams. Thanks. -- Gaile 02:34, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

Additional info on Banned ticket number 100817-000132

Gaile, I have a personal question that doesnt quite tie into myrequest regarding my banned account. Is it going to be an ongoing problem if I contine to farm topk for hours on end to make money, or is there something I can do to make sure this doesnt happen on this account, or my main account once you see i was just a relentless farmer? I dont want it to happen again, and I am scared to farm like i used to. Any suggestions? Thanks--Angels tread among 23:15, 26 August 2010 (UTC)killer bunny fu fu--Angels tread among 23:15, 26 August 2010 (UTC)angels tread among

Angels -- we do not ban for farming. We do ban for the use of disallowed third-party programs (like bot programs), for exploiting, etc. The parameters that get an account blocked for botting include more than just "XX map runs in YY minutes." But I understand you concern, since your account was actioned for botting when you state you were not using any third-party programs of any kind. Let me look into this matter further. I have submitted your ticket to three different team members for appraisal. I ask that you be patient, since it is the end of the week and I'm talking to people on two continents. I hope to have more info by early next week. -- Gaile 02:28, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

Hi Gaile, I hope you wont find that I am being a nuisance; it's just difficult waiting for an answer when my account, in my eyes, shouldn't be in question.If you tell me that a zipped texmod, last used at least a year ago to gain the cart title could solely be the reason I was banned, I will be upset but at least then I would know why it happened. If not, then I remain confused and very upset.I would love to speak with you either on game or on the phone if that is possible.My phone number is on several emails I have sent over the the past few weeks to support, and it would be an honor to talk to you..I know you are busy, I just cant wait to put this behind me.--Angels tread among 20:10, 30 August 2010 (UTC)killer bunny fu fu

In reviewing this case, the team uncovered evidence -- and I've seen it personally -- of an additional infraction that we take very seriously: the attempted scamming of other players. :( The account in question will not be reinstated. As far as your other accounts, I would go very, very carefully in the future. Remember that whatever allows you to not actively play the game -- whether it's called a bot or a macro, whether you're on "auto pilot" for five minutes or five hours -- can definitely raise the flag for possible support action. -- Gaile 01:02, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

I have more information on this, and in fact I believe this was not an issue. I'll drop you a line to let you know more about it, as I think it's a cautionary tale you'll want to know about. -- Gaile 21:05, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Thank You Gaile ticket 100817-000132

Thank you for reading about my situation, and at least now I have hope in being able to continue what is more than just a game in my eyes. If I still have tex mod on my pc but havent used it in at least a year, when i got legendary cartography, that wouldnt show up as long as it isnt activated, would it? I am going to delete it off my computer just the same. This is going to sound weird perhaps, but someone today told me he was pmed while he was running in topk, and the pm was flashing red.he said the person told him to reply, or he would be banned..could I have been afk and got a similiar message? I usually read all chats when i come back from being afk, but I could have missed 1. Anyway, I wasnt planning on saying all that..the bottom line is that I appreciate you taking time out of your life to help me with mine. I have no life, Guild Wars has been my family, thats why i used to turn in bots in topk.But this run is not fun anymore, everyone is scared, most of all myself.I cannot afford to buy all four games again, I just want to have fun, and I pray it will be on my account again.If you are online tonight I would love to chat, you are an incredible person for helping those that need your help...the staff said they know I am guilty of using a third party program, and thats insane..i wish i could prove it, I would do ANYTHING to prove it.Have a great evening Gaile, and thank you.--Angels tread among 05:03, 27 August 2010 (UTC)Gary Limon aka killer bunny fu fu aka Softly Spoken Ms

Texmod will not get you banned. The guy was lying. And once bitten twice shy. elix Omni 05:17, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

Hello. I'm glad to see that the Support Team was able to restore your account. It was a very tricky situation that required a lot of review and some discussion during our weekly meeting. I apologize for the length of time it took to get it resolved, but I'm happy that it turned out in your favor. -- Gaile 20:53, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Ref banned accounts

Thank you for looking into it!  :) Thanks again. Your a rock star. Too bad i started 6 months after you stopped gw.--Troyounce 05:39, 27 August 2010 (UTC)io orell

Dear god, Troyounce! Do you think I quit Guild Wars!? No wai, no wai at all! I play the game; I play Guild Wars 2; I played the he** out of the demo during Gamescom (and saw a lot of friends in game, too!). I love it all, ALL I tell ya! If you mean I'm not visible in the game so much, that's true. But hey, I'm here, and I'm helping players, and we may bump into one another any time, in Lion's Arch, or Kryta, or any other place in Tyria. All the best, -- Gaile 05:50, 27 August 2010 (UTC)

One More Account Ban [Incident: 100531-000099]

Greetings Gaile,

I must say, I sincerely appreciate your position now that I have cause to make use of it. Over a period of many weeks and numerous emails contacting Support, I became fairly certain the individual with whom I was communicating did not examine my case as carefully as he might have done. Further, I had reason to suspect outright lies; unfortunately, my last response in the email exchange is a clear indicator of how I felt as a result of being treated this way by Support, and I apologize for the tone at the beginning of it. However, perhaps one good result came from it: as you can read for yourself, the GM in question clearly contradicts his statement from his prior email message to me. With evidence of a lie, I felt justified in coming to ask you to review the case again, as I believe from the testament of other players that you will fairly observe the facts.

I request you two issues. First, the issue I addressed in my July 29th email concerns me the most since it could affect more individuals than myself. Second, if no account breach took place, I ask you to review what occurred when my account ran a bot. As I admitted, I did experiment with scripts to perform simple actions (one sold dyes to the Dye Trader), but never did I run a script to farm items, and I always remained at the computer so I could view how I had done. I do feel I must say the only reason I experimented was perceived general lack of response to botting at the time; having been disgusted out of pvp during the prior months, I simply wanted to learn what it was all about in what I thought to be an innocent way. Clearly, I was wrong, and I apologize for actions that have wasted the time of individuals seeking true botters. Prior to this week, I had honestly given up on regaining my account, but recent developments raised my hopes. I only ask you to review the aforementioned issues carefully, and you should see the truth.

On a side note, despite the semi-childish nature of my last email with Support, I suggest somebody looks into those issues. By no means do I seriously wish to make an issue of such things, nor will I, but I could see it happening, and I want to see GW2 as much as anybody. Thank you for your attention.

ETA: Hi again, I see I didn't officially post (sign it, whatever) this message last time. Perhaps that's why I haven't earned a response. As you'll be able to see, however, the Ticket Number is real, and I would still appreciate your review of the situation. Thank you.ms 22:08, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Sometimes she makes sure to get all the facts straight before responding (or at least, that's what I assume). There's also a pretty heavy load of these kinds of messages for her to handle. It certainly wouldn't be because of an unsigned post, as she's responded to those before. --Kyoshi (Talk) 21:47, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

Gaile, are you able to tell me if you're looking at my case or if you have and are developing a response?24.197.204.219 20:47, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

I've reviewed the ticket and your account will, as Support informed you, remain closed. You've made several allusions to legal action, and Support has provided you with the information you need if you wish to initiate a lawsuit over the account closure. I will simply say what I have said before: Some of those whose accounts were closed in the May 26, 2010 "Bot Sweep" truly believed themselves to be innocent of the use of disallowed third-party programs. But they were not. Whether they knew it or not, they installed and use something in connection with Guild Wars that put them in breach of the User Agreement and the Rules of Conduct. Some thought their accounts are hacked and that the hacker used the third-party program. All such reports were carefully reviewed, and your account does not fall into that category. I have nothing to add to the lengthy exchange you had with support, nor any more information than was provided, with courtesy and respect, by the support agents with whom you discussed the matter. -- Gaile 09:00, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Just wanted to point out that I had acknowledged and apologized for my unfortunate loss of composure when mentioning legal action. Also, those heated comments of mine were the result of a direct lie from the same support who treated me with "courtesy and respect." I clearly don't know what a review of the ticket exactly entails, but since I didn't use a third-party program to gain ANY sort of advantage, I can only assume it doesn't involve looking at the precise in-game actions. Unfortunate. 24.197.204.219 21:40, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

I reviewed the entire support ticket again this evening, and I can find no evidence of anyone having lied to you. (Any confusion you might have about the IP should have been clarified in a subsequent response from the support lead.) I can see evidence that you used and admitted to using a disallowed third-party program. If your defense is that you feel it did not give you an advantage, I can only point to the User Agreement which prohibits the use of any third-party program. If we, as a company, make a judgment that certain programs are benign and that no action need be taken for the use of those programs, that is our decision to make. A player cannot unilaterally decide what will and will not be considered acceptable in our game. Please note that the Rules of Conduct and the User Agreement bind all players who access our game servers and both make it clear that using third-party programs is "at your own risk." We've also made it abundantly clear that even the usually-benign programs can be and have been corrupted in some incarnations, again increasing the risk involved in using any such program.

I understand that you feel your account or accounts should be reinstated. I appreciate that you've been a loyal player and that your record has been clean of in-game offenses, rude names, and other such nonsense. I regret situations like this more than I can say, but I know that taking action fairly and across the board for disallowed programs is the only way we can fairly handle the problem of third-party programs. Unfortunately the program you used was disallowed and the account cannot be reinstated. -- Gaile 00:50, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

For Gaile Gray

→ moved from Feedback_talk:Gaile_Gray

Hello Gaile Gray. If you don't mind, I'd like to share my feelings with you. At the start of my summer break, the one I had been looking forward to playing Guild Wars in, I was banned from Guild Wars. Now I ask that i'm not filtered out as a criminal just yet. Hear me out, I deserve to be heard after the blood and sweat put into emailing support@guildwars.com during my summer. Guild Wars was a huge part of my daily routine and kept me out of lots of trouble. Something about the game completed me. Well anyways, let's get to the point. I simply did not bot. And was not caught. I was framed. I've came to you to see what you think of this tragedy. The brick wall in my life. Every day at 11:11, I make a wish. Please make that wish come true and give me something to look forward to. Thanks for your time.

Sincerely, A retired(by force) Guild Wars player.

If you want me to take a look at this situation, I will need your 12-digit ticket or incident number, so that I can pull the records. Thanks. -- Gaile 04:27, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

100830-003292 is the 12-digit number I was given. After seeing this page I'll let you know that I've lost a lot of the hope in a matter of seconds that I spent 3 months building up. It's hard to understand how much the support team changed. They used to hear me out every time, but now it's like an automated response. Losing a lot of faith in this game and starting to miss its company. Thanks again and sorry for any inconvenience(My same old sob story.) Macadamia 04:40, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

This account was closed in the May 26, 2010 Bot Sweep. Most accounts were closed on that date for the use of a disallowed third-party program. A few were closed for match manipulation (often tied to use of the Interrupt Bot, as I recall). In your ticket you indicate you fell into the second category. We're not reinstating the accounts that were blocked, because the evidence was great and although you ask for it, there is no second chance for such situations. -- Gaile 09:13, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Account hacked, please help

Hi Gaile, I think my Account got hacked, please help me as fast as you can :( Subject #100912-002056, thanks a lot :) --14:45, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Number from my support account, I made a second request: 100912-002290 Thanks in advance --17:54, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Hello! Is your account linked to an NC Soft Master account? If yes, make sure your e-mail address of that account ain't compromised, then change password of the NC Soft Master account, then change the password of Guild Wars in the "Game Accounts" section of your NC Soft Master Account. If your Guild Wars account isn't bound, try to change the password in-game (I'm not sure how that works, it's been a while since I linked my accounts). To make sure you're not infected with a keylogger, use another PC to do all of this. If this fails, you can wait for support to reply, and if they don't (wait a few days), only then Gaile will be able to help you with your case. AndrewB 22:28, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Yes it is linked, but I can't login to my NCSoft Account either, maybe it got hacked too or I simply forgot the password. Reset password doesn't help because it asks me 2 security questions which I never filled out. --11:42, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't remember seeing the NC Soft Master account registration without the security questions in the past... but OK, nothing you can do until support gets back to you. Make sure you have the serial numbers of the game to prove them you're the owner. Get back to Gaile if communication with support fails somehow. P.S.: Next time, write down passwords and question answers. Good luck. AndrewB 13:48, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Hmm ok, maybe I just forgot them, but I created the master account like 4 years ago... And under the questions it says "Added 1 Januara 2010" or something, so they are new I think. Support answered me, and I provided them with everything they asked for, now I'm waiting for the next answer... --15:08, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Ok, got my account back, without most of the items but at least my chars still live... I know you can't restore items and money (which I don't understand), but hopefully you'll change your security and support a little with GW2 :) --16:53, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm glad that Support was able to restore your account. -- Gaile 08:44, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Unrightfully banned, please help Gaile! :(

Hello Gaile! How are you? My name is Matic from Slovenia, and I have a big problem. It has been a few months since I have been banned, as one of the 3700 bans that day. The reason i'm writing to you so late is in the fact that I lost every hope fighting with NCsoft and really gave up, untill I saw others on this very page that you have helped. I have been banned for botting which was the last thing I would be doing in Guild Wars. I have had over 3000 hours of playing time as I recall, with multiple characters with costly gear and an elementalist working on God Walking Amongst Mere Mortals. At the time of the ban, I was doing vanquishes in Elona. Me and my cousin (allso banned, but got his account back) have vanquished 12 areas the day before ban. I have allso been grinding raptors like a robot on some events, and doing alot of ToPK farming on my assassin since I was collecting gold for chaos gloves for my monk. When farming, I mostly move by clicking the Xunlai chest or merchant or the portal, so it MAY look like my character was moved using a bot. It's just a simpler and a faster way, plus I can read a book doing it to kill the boredom >.< ... NCsoft had been stubborn and wouldn't buy my pleas and beggings, so you are my last straw I'm grabbing to. I've had to buy a new account since it was just too boring without GW, however it's still nothing like it was before. You can allso just ban my newer account, if you reopen the old one. I just want it back and I swear I will never do ANYTHING against the EULA. Please try and do something... The system might be good at detecting bots, but it is not flaweless! There can allways be mistakes and there will allways be people that will suffer from them. Please review my account. I can provide you with screenshots of my in-game activities to proove the point I was working on titles and missions instead of botting. I can provide you with In-game names of those that will put a good word for me as they have known me and played with me for the last 3 years, and they WILL confirm these facts. Why would I risk my account after doing and gaining so much on it? I allways helped those in need, I even contributed a few bug reports and other stuff I've noticed in-game that could be fixed. Doesn't that ring a bell? :/ After a few months of struggle, most of the hopes are gone, and I will not be angry if you can't do anything. After all I have nothing to show to you but my word and some people that will confirm it... Oh, and sorry for my broken english, I'm doing my best. Faithfully, Matic (ref. 100527-001022) 89.212.146.206 03:57, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

2 weeks are gone and still no response... At least let me know that you have read it :( 89.212.146.206 17:41, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

You received a full set of responses in June. At that time you stated that you had not been involved in botting. The team pointed out that we had incontrovertible evidence that the account had used at least one disallowed third-party program. As a result of that detection, the account had been and would remain closed. You asked about returning to the game and the team gave you permission to do so, with the warning that should the new account use a disallowed third-party program, it would be terminated. You stated that you were going to purchase a new account. With regret, the old account cannot and will not be restored. -- Gaile 20:31, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your response, I shall bother you no more. :)

Thank you for understanding. -- Gaile

account banned ?

hi gaile

really hope you can help me out here after spending a long time farming grog this weekend i find my account to be perma banned for what reason i have no idea really hoping you can help

ticket number Account Ban [Incident: 100919-003182]

regards ziplex

Hello. First, try and sign your posts using 4 tildes at the end of your post (~). Second: You should try to work with support a little longer before you ask Gaile. There's really nothing she can do until support refuses to reply to you, which will only be after a week or 2 of "This is our final decision" replies. Good luck! AndrewB 07:15, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

Hello ziplex. I reviewed the records and asked Support to take another look. They were able to find additional information that allowed them to restore the account. Because I don't want this few instances of restoration to create a false impression with the players, I should point out that it's rare that we are able to restore under such circumstances. But the fact you're back in the game proves that we don't take a hard-line that never allows review and restoration, when it is warranted. Welcome back to the game. -- Gaile 20:34, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Another inocent raptor farmer ban [Incident: 100919-003262]

Dear Gaile

I hope you can help me too I read many forums today and I saw I'm not the only one in this case. I was ban too during a raptor farm yesterday, sunday near 5:00 pm eastern. caracter name Immoral Alien

The gw account aeranet ban have 30 title, goddess waken among humain, all armor except the fow, almost all mini except the really really expensive pets. That's Why I farm so much when an even comes, to full it completely for gw2. Even if I don't know if I recive bonus in GW2 with a full hall of monument. DO you really think I can take the risk to use a bot or anything else and lose my main account ?? Sory but i'll never take a such risk. You know, I play a lot of first person shooter before play GW. And I see a lot of bot and hack. It'S a dealy risk, and I not apporve such method. I have 32 years hold, I spend over 200$ box in this account, I buy all 4 games, I buy 5 caracters slot, 4- Xunlai storage, the mission pack bonus and the bonus with the fire Imp sry I don't remember the name of that pack. And I buy another GW acompt because I don'T have enough places in the main one. And it'S economic to buy all 4 games (40$) than 5 more caracters slots (50$).

I write an e-mail to the french team support because I'm french canadien but they don't want to hear me and they say my band is definitive. So i send another e-mail to the main ncsoft support team in english and they gave me a ticket. My ban will be to examine in the next few days. But the anwser of the french team make me doubt.

I'll describe you what i do when I'm farming. When I respawn in front of the gate I press X to do a 180 degrees and follow by R to run ahead to the portal. Before the loading is finish. I press W ( run button) to run near the grotto entrance. (During that run I identify the Gold id I collect in the last run.) I do my para cast spell on me when i'm near the entrance. I put my para away. After I run inside, agrowing all tha raptor, sometime i run one side another time on the other side, lots of body block. When I have a lot of raptor I cast my spell, and kill them. when raptor died I pick up everything using V and space bar faster than I can V (;) pick button ( to select the nearest drop) and space bar to grap it. after enter /resign (when you type it one time in the chat you have just to do enter arrow up and enter agaiIt'S a GW fonction in the chat.) after i'ved resign in the last run, loading again... the city begin to appear, I press X following by R really fast, turn 180' and run ahead and another run starting.

When I was ban I do that raptor far since 1 to 1 1/2 hours in a row whitout a breack, non stop like a robot. Because I want to do better than my last farm. During a run between the raptor I have 2 big deconection.. i reconect the game and continu farm. During another run, I was body block, so I begame to cast my spell and a dhuum appears. kill me,, I have another deconection, i return to the caracter selection, try to reconect, and a message appear code 045 ban for bot or 3rd party program..

When I saw the box with the code 045. I really thinking have a heart attack.

I play since 2 years and spend over 200$ in Gw and 5 000 hours play time.

I read the rule with a friend this morning ( in french) and we find nothing, no reason for my ban. thank you to read it, any help is welcome. sorry for my english

Hello. First, try and sign your posts using 4 tildes at the end of your post (~). Second: the "we can't do anything for you" reply is what every banned person gets, no matter what. Third: You should try to work with support a little longer before you ask Gaile. Good luck if you're innocent! AndrewB 07:08, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

Hi there. First, your English is great. Would that I spoke French with 100th your fluency. :) Secondly, I understand the situation on a certain level, but I cannot really speak to it until I have more information from the team. I've sent over a request for some details and I'll get back to this request when I have that info. -- Gaile 01:14, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

"Your* English is great" Haha, sorry I had to point out subtle irony in spelling. --Smithy-Star 18:45, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Hello I got some anwser from the support team. I was using a litle macro to pick-up the drops on the grounds. ( enter ; spacebar enter) when the mods are dead. But talking with the Gm it'S appear that's not the reason of my ban because it'S in the grey area it's must be activate manuely by pressing G5 on my G15 keybord. if I understand what the Gm says They have not enough proof of my innocence. Beacause I was not talking enough into the chat and not trading enough too. What is that. I can describe what I use, and do during the farm. I describe my random break. I identify the gold id because I need it for my title. And I sell them to the merchant but i keep all the measure for measure inscription. And I keep it to put it on the shield drop there to have dust by using the recycle kit,, Other time I put the inscription on a hammer to have iron lingot. That'S the reason why I'm not trading and selling weapon to the merchant because I need it. The gm says :We have checked your case again and can confirm that one of our GMs was in-game when your account was suspended.

we have reviewed your case again and decided that your account will remained suspended. Our chat and trade logs aren't in your favor and don't prove that you were actively playing at the time your account was banned.

I was there playing my game. So I was baned beacause I was not talking enough in the chat ??? Why talk in the chat,, I'M using ventrillo !!

When a stack of grog was finish. I gave it to my other account to sell it. SO like that, I can continu farming the raptor to have a lot of grog to buy my fow armor, mini dhuum and ghostly hero, Mox. When I've receive a whisper from someone want to buy my grog. I stop playing with my main account and do the trade with my second.I have 2 gw account and 2 screen on the same cpu.

I have no clues to proof my innocence. when I think i've found something to prove it. I write it to the support and they anwser me it'S not enough to prove it. Reconect my two account 5-6 min before I was baned. It'S not a proof I was there. Start from the guild hall and return to rata sum to do raptor again after my reconection. It'S not a proof that I was playing my game. Keep amelioration from the weapon and sell weapon to the merchant. It'S not a proof. Put the inscription on shield, hammer to recycle it to have somme materiel to do some conset, dust and iron. It's not a proof.

I belive they abuse there right. They treat me like a child, a cheater. For them I'm alwasy guilty and since the begining. Like says Andrew to anwser my first comment here,  : Good luck if you're innocent. Because you really need a lot of luck. To fight agains goliatt and prove you're innocence. To make my right rescpected.--173.176.209.223 19:52, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

What build were you using to farm the raptors? was it the Warrior/Necro farm or was it something else? This case sounds like a confluence of circumstantial evidence that, IMO seems a little weak. Like... I practically never "chat" when I'm farming and I turn the guild and alliance chat off... too distracting. If you are salvaging all the measure for measure and manually putting them on shields and hammers for mats, how is that botting behavior? Also, I can't see how a bot can use the warrior/necro farm effectively since positioning, timing, is so critical... and it all depends on the spawn... A bot can't usually adapt to dynamic changes like that. I've seen a Ele/mes farmer work before on youtube but that build is much more forgiving on skill timing... and that build was nerfed if I remember correctly due to changes in silver armor. --Lania 21:15, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Hello I use the warrior/necro build to farm raptor, with a paragon hero. I was playing with my warrior when I was baned. I can even post the build if you want to know the skill. I even work on the build with my guild. We have change the dolyack signet for finish him. So when the boss remain, I kill him with finish him. And I run this build with a paragon hero, I use the para hero to prot myself. I clic on my name to select myself, and I clic on the para skill to have a max of protection. Because without dolyak signet my farm build have no protection. So like I need the paragon skill at an exact moment before enter the cave. All her skill are bloc (exept a run skill to run near the grotto entrance to save time.) So I must press it. And when the para have finish her casting. I send her far away from me, I don't want she leech my drops. So I send her near the entrance, or in the agarodon group to pull them away. And I use that farm build since february. nothing as change on my warrior since that time. Only the paragon build as change, but for better.--173.176.209.223 22:39, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

(Reset indent) We certainly understand that players can farm raptors for long hours in a day. We have no problem with legitimate farmers. But the team has spent extensive time reviewing the game logs associated with this case. In fact, I took this one to the team during our weekly meeting. In the end, they are of the opinion -- based on years of this sort of review -- that you were using a third-party program, the kind that is disallowed, the kind that allows you to reap reward without actively playing the game. And for that reason, they have declined to reinstate the account and because this has been reviewed so carefully, I must uphold their decision in this case. -- Gaile 09:23, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Prize Tonic Stolen

Important Question

So I had one of them there everlasting henchie tonics and a few other rare things and through a horrible incident I was hacked and got most of my stuff deleted. Now I know anet can't replace most of my stuff but I still have a signed document saying that I was the ha henchie contest winner and being that the tonic doesnt exist anymore, I wondered what could be done. I tried talking to fruitsnake about it but to no avail. Anyway I think if anet really wants to be "for the players" they should really start thinking about ways to protect players from bad mishaps etc because even WoW as bad as they are fully protect their players. Thank you Gaile hope to hear back from you ;) --~Danger~ 14:44, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Not to be rude, but if you got your account hacked through your username, password, and character name, then you're the one who's not protecting your account properly. After that point, exactly what do you expect should be done? What does WoW do that you're asking of ANet now? --Kyoshi (Talk) 16:58, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

They replace items that were lost through stupidity. elix Omni 17:00, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

That's about what I figured, but let the guy talk. --Kyoshi (Talk) 17:03, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

How do you know it was deleted rather than stolen? Tidas 18:16, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

This might provide some perspective. -- FreedomBound 18:44, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

I always find out about competitions after there over.....Just my bad luck User:Austin1

@Austin -- Sorry to hear that you have missed the contests. Watch the main websites -- www.guildwars.com -- because that's where we announce our major contests. There's usually at least a few weeks' notice, and it's getting towards Halloween season, so keep your eyes peeled!

@Danger -- I'm sorry, but no, it's not possible for us to restore such items, for a variety of very solid reasons. All I can say in your particular situation is that you need to do a better job of protecting your account. Account "hacks" from friends or family usually involve account sharing, which means that someone shares his credentials with someone else, or even allows that person to play on the account. In cases where the "hack" wasn't account sharing, the cause would probably have been poor security measures on the part of the player, for instance, he wrote down his password on a sticky note and put it on his monitor. (It would be super rare when someone actually hacked someone else's computer, in the truest sense of the word.) But no matter the cause, account thefts really hurt, and I'm sorry for what happened to you, both for your loss of items and your loss of trust in your girlfriend. -- Gaile 20:06, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Out of curiosity, with these last few years of experience, is there any chance ArenaNet will be reviewing this and looking for ways to support rolling back malicious actions on people's accounts for GW2? I'm not entirely sure whether the issues in GW1 are mostly technical or whether there are some difficult legal or policy issues as well. Nonetheless, if Blizzard is already doing it, it sounds like it should at least be possible in the right environment. -- Sirius (talk) 09:15, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm sure one of the main difference between WOW, and GW is that with blizzard, they have a lot more resources at hand due to the 15$/month fee, and their gigantic player base. There are also technical issues, I'm sure... and individual accounts can't be rolled back while the entire game can be. Gaile said that for GW2 they are implementing additional security measures so that will probably help with the hackings. Maybe Anet can implement a way so that people can buy account "insurance" for a small monthly fee? --Lania 19:49, 01 October 2010 (UTC)

I'd like to point out that when Blizzard restores stolen or deleted property on WoW, there is no "rollback" involved. They actually create new instances of the items and wealth, and more often than not they don't bother finding out what happened to the originals. A friend of mine related an anecdote whereby an officer of his guild's account was hacked and the guild bank had a large amount of money taken. Blizzard actually restored that amount twice. elix Omni 02:00, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Insane inflation, that. I wouldn't support ANet following suit. --Kyoshi (Talk) 05:45, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

I understand it might seem a good thing to simply take everyone's word for reported issues and churn out gold and/or items. But I can sure see some major drawbacks, not the least of which is inflation, as Kyoshi mentioned, as well as the devaluing of the special things that one can acquire over time. (If everyone had an MPB, would that mini be so sweet? :) ) So any sort of item replacement or character rollback would need to be handled with great care and some detailed research.

I can't say just now what our policies and practices will be for Guild Wars 2. It would be permature to talk about that publicly, I think. But you can be sure that we've learned much in the last 5.5 years, and we intend to use what we've learned to support Guild Wars 2 players really well. -- Gaile 08:15, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

(Reset indent) In short, Dont tell your girlfriend any passwords. --Neil2250 09:32, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Or your brother. Or your best friend. Or your Great Aunt Tilly. Please, please, PLEASE keep your account credentials secure by not sharing them with anyone! -- Gaile 20:14, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

But Tilly promised she wouldn't hack me! She promised!!! Kairu 14:10, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

Will this get me banned?

A good real-life friend of mine is moving, and he isn't going to be able to play Guild Wars for about a month. He gave me his password and asked me to collect the Traveler's gifts for him while he is away. I have three computers in this house, and am able to log in with both accounts at the same time. However, the IP address remains the same. Is either of these practices against the rules? --95.237.60.68 13:07, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

I should also mention that we don't live in same countries (anymore). I'm mainly afraid that I, or he will get banned because of me logging in to his account from a "foreign" IP, and because of being logged in to my own account at the same time. --95.237.60.68 13:29, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

I know this has occurred in the past without the parties involved getting banned, but that is no 100% guarantee that you will not get banned. However, Gaile will also not give you a guarantee that you won't get banned and will probably advise you against all kinds of account sharing. I also know cases where this "foreign IP" was in a country that one of the parties never visited. Accounts get passed around all the time regardless of what the terms and conditions say. They don't check for it and don't seem to punish it, but could randomly decide to at any time. Misery 15:09, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Like Misery said, Anet or any other MMO company does not generally look for account sharing and ban the accounts just because of it. But a lot of bad things "can" happen from account sharing. This blog entry outlines just some of the problems that can occur from account sharing [1]. I know it's for maplestory, but the same ideas still transfer. Almost all MMO's have a anti-account sharing clause in their EULA, ToS, etc because of the bad things that can happen outlined in the blog, and it's their way of preventing arguments like, "oh it wasn't me, it was someone else that botted, called someone a "n**ger", etc etc". This makes it much easier to just permanently ban problem or tainted accounts that wouldn't be a problem in the first place if it was never shared to begin with. So in essence, your friend is putting a lot of trust in you to keep is account safe and secure, so don't do anything that could possibly put his account in jeopardy, and tell him to change his password after wards so that you can't use his account in the future. If you are not 100% certain that your computer is secure, and not 100% sure that you can handle his account in a completely secure manner, then tell him that I'm sorry but I can't do that for you because I wouldn't want your account to get hacked or banned. --Lania 16:37, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

In a nutshell, yes, if this situation is detected, the account will be closed. You do not purchase the right to loan, sell, or trade your account, nor to share accounts, nor to pass them along should you decide you've finished playing GW. Please think about it: We do not charge a monthly fee, and "pass along" accounts are a very significant problem for us because (1) the company does not receive income from the player who is using the account (and by giving it to a second player, our costs -- e.g., server costs -- are increased), and (2) a (perhaps the) major cause of support tickets is shared accounts, meaning that not only are we not getting the income from a sold game (which pays for the costs of servers, development of new content, etc), but we're paying the costs of researching an issue where someone gets blocked on someone else's account, where someone refuses to give back the account or engages in bad behavior that results in a ban.

Please do not do this. Please be aware that if you do, you are putting the account -- and presumably your friendship -- in jeopardy. -- Gaile 16:57, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

While I do appreciate ArenaNet's position and knew this answer(or a don't ask don't tell type answer) would be given, I will point out briefly that if the OP is being honest(easily confirmed by checking that the gifts remain on the account collecting them) no loss of revenue would occur. There would be increased server load in comparison to them not doing this(and thus increased expenses), but these are the kinds of outcomes you end up with when you introduce content that encourages people to log in weekly. That being said, I know you don't have the resources to check for this(because I know people who do this and have done this without consequence) and likely nothing will happen. Misery 17:05, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

I can see you've made a couple of unfounded assumptions there, and I'm not going to go into that. You may hold to your opinion, but remember you don't have a full view of the system. The point is, it's against the UA. It can result in an account termination. And these situations result in a huge number of issues down the line. As a player -- aside from my insight into the details of this sort of situation -- not only would I advise "Don't do it" for the account owner, I would advise "Don't do it" from the viewpoint of the would-be account user. -- Gaile 17:20, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Oh, I'm not advocating his behaviour in any way, in fact I suspect he is being dishonest. Collecting gifts for his friend would not require two accounts to be logged in at the same time in any way, shape or form. He'd even have plausible deniability if he played the two accounts separately, "My friend logged in at my house to collect his gifts while he was hanging out at my place." But you probably don't want me explaining how systems can be cheated here. He does appear to have been silly enough to post from his IP address, however, so if you see him doing any of these things and want to ban him, it should be trivially easy. Misery 17:37, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Hey, hey... This is not what I was after, I simply asked if this was against the rules, and since it clearly is, I will not be doing it. I understand the dangers and the reasons behind it, although we've been friends for the longest time and there's no change in hell I'd ever harm his account. BUT, I understand and now that I know this, I will not use his account. Thanks, Gaile, for taking your time to respond :) As for saying I'm being dishonest... LOL. The reason I want to be able to log in at the same time is because I don't know how to use the Warrior profession, which is my friend's character. And since you have to farm for items for the gifts, I would've instead traded the money between my char and his, and just bought them... What I WOULD HAVE done, would've been trading money from my character to his, and then buy the required items for the gifts. Since you do have to farm in order to receive enough of the required items... Stop assuming things, Misery. The only silly person here is you. Sorry about the edits, I didn't read Misery's last message before I posted my thank you to Gaile. This community seems real hostile... --95.237.60.68 18:30, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

I feel I have to point out here that people move, change IP addresses, etc. all the time. OP, had you not even mentioned it, the chance that your friend's account would have been banned for this without him filing a ticket with support for some wrongdoing on his account (report of being hacked or stolen) is minimal. Gaile, I do appreciate Anet's position on account sharing/trading, but let's be honest here, support has enough work to do on legitimate support claims to be randomly checking if this account or that account is being accessed from a different IP address than it normally is. What if someone goes on vacation and takes their laptop with them and plays from where ever they are vacationing? Is support seriously going to ban that account because they "happen to notice" it's being accessed from a different IP? With over 7 million accounts, I find this to be an unreasonable position. There is a point where this moves into the area of ridiculousness. -- Wyn talk 18:46, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) It's really nothing against you. A lot of people claim account sharing when in reality it was account theft. Yeah there is a certain level of cynicism in the community due to many people claiming innocent while at the same time participating in account theft, scams, and botting... among other things. Again, I highly doubt that was meant as an insult to you. --Lania 18:51, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

OP. To me it's rather insulting to assume 1) I'm stupid enough not to realize my IP is logged each time I log into GW, 2) That I've got some dishonest agenda behind my question. I asked the question before doing anything, so I would know whether it's against EULA or not, so, if it were I wouldn't be doing it. --95.237.60.68 18:55, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Wyn, the main problem isn't the act of sharing... but it's what happens down the way in many cases. Sharing accounts seems benign but it opens up a whole can of worms. A lot of the accounts that were hacked come from shared accounts because all it takes is one computer to be infected, or one person in the group of users to fall for a scam or a phishing attempt... one person to participate in a scam, buy gold online, etc etc... The problems that shared accounts cause is so major that many MMO's EULA and ToS strictly prohibit account sharing. None of the MMO's support staff will specifically look for sharing, but if account sharing was found the be the starting point for problems down the road, it makes less of a headache for support to just simply permaban the account.

IP, yeah I think Misery's accusation was contrary to GWW:AGF. He shouldn't have assumed that. --Lania 19:05, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

My opinion of the matter is torn. I understand why this rule exists but on the other hand, I also know the risks of this would've been 0%. I would've collected the gifts till he came back to GW, and he would've most likely changed his password after that. We're good, good friends but with some things it's better to be safe than sorry. But as I said, I respect this rule and will follow it, and once again thank Gaile for her response. --95.237.60.68 19:13, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

A suspicion is not an assumption, but it was not my intent to offend, so I withdraw the statement. Misery 07:47, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

AGF is also a guideline at best, and not one that applies here. -Auron 11:32, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

If you've actually read the guideline, you'd know it applies here exactly as it is. Anyway... --95.237.59.65 12:08, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

AGF only means not to assume people are acting to destroy the wiki. I actually believe you're all serial killing pedophiles in real life. elix Omni 13:53, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Look, I only meant to say that such a statement of suspicion shouldn't have been made w/o stronger evidence... and it's retracted anyway. Even though AFG is a guideline that doesn't apply here, I think people should still follow the ideals of it here too... I mean it's kinda natural to think maybe someone asking gaile is being dishonest, since it's statistically likely as many asking for a ban reversal, do lie quite often... Wow, a serial killing pedo huh? hmm... I can't think of anything to top that ^_^;;.. --Lania 14:39, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Oh also, I was wrong to quote the AGF guideline as is... sorry, :> --Lania 15:03, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

I was thinking about Gaile's response yesterday and it got me wondering... (Please note that I'm talking about a theoretical situation and do not have any plans nor hidden agendas behind this question) What if, my friend were to visit me for like 2 weeks and wanted to play Guild Wars from his PC while I played using mine? The situation I explained above would be exactly the same, but wouldn't involve account sharing. Would Anet still close his account, and demand flight details and tickets to prove he was actually here? I find it interesting. --79.2.18.66 06:56, 29 September 2010 (UTC)

People play all the time from the same home, dorm, or office. They're playing on their own accounts, not someone else's account, and there's obviously no problem with that. -- Gaile 08:49, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

That doesn't really answer the question... What about a couple of people who each live in their own apartment and play from there, and often visit each other and play from each other's place as well ? Or who play from the place they're on holidays in because the weather is bad ? Or people who visit their family for Christmas or a birthday and play there on their laptop, even though their little bro/sis plays too ? This kind of situation seems so common to me that i don't know how you could use IPs in any way.78.116.50.66 12:22, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

The idea is that... Anet or any other MMO support staff don't specifically look for account sharing. The account may be flagged if account was logged in from America and then another login from china only several minutes later after it was disconnected from the states... But that would point to account theft rather than sharing. To put it simply, if the geographical location of the IPs are too far away to allow enough time to travel between logins, then it can get flagged. If the login happens at home, disconnected, and then another one only 10 minutes from a different IP in the same city, then that seems reasonable. If an account is logged on in Albany, NY, and then only 10 minutes later, logged in at San Diego, CA... then that's suspicious, but if the later log in was like over 8 hours instead, then it's less suspicious. On the other hand, if the account sharing occurs with the same IP, in the same location, it is nigh impossible to say for sure, unless they admit to account sharing. The main reason so many MMO EULAs and TOSs contain a harsh penalty for account sharing is to discourage it, since probably a majority of account security breaches, and EULA violations come form shared accounts. --Lania 15:34, 03 October 2010 (UTC)

In short, players who follow the Rules of Conduct and the User Agreement need have no worries. Forgive me, but I don't care to get into greater detail. Questions may be based on simple curiosity. They may be a means to engage a developer in a casual conversation. And they may have a darker motivation: learning more about a system so that someone can attempt to work around it. I make no assumptions here because I do not want or need to do so. If one of my greatest concerns is encouraging account security and maintaining our ability to help those who need our assistance, than I can be forgiven for not getting too specific about security measures and the extensive means we take to protect and to service our players. -- Gaile 20:22, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

[Incident: 100805-000971, 100819-003718]

I sent u email asking for help and providing details of my friend ban using 'email user' link about 1 month ago. Im not sure if u got these emails at all. Support team is not willing to help from about 3h after ban had happened. Since then, for almost 2 months they keep answering they had reviewed issue before ban and not gonna do it again. Reasons they provide can be verified by checking logs. I think time metters as u prolly dont keep logs forever. I understand u r busy but i would rly appreciate help. Let me know if i need to send details again.

I understand that you want to defend your friend from what he has told you was a unjustified account termination. And I'm certainly saddened whenever we close an account, especially one that has been played for so long, and which has so many attainments. Your friend says he was innocent. The team can see that is not the case. As I pointed out in my email responses, this person was knowingly involved in the theft of items from another player. This wasn't an error -- game logs confirm the facts, and the Support Team made the correct decision. -- Gaile 20:38, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Hall of Monuments Calculator

Hey I just wanted to point out the calculator allows anyone to access detailed information about another person's account simply by knowing one of their character's names. I know this isn't a huge deal but I entered a couple friend's names out of curiosity and ended up feeling like I had invaded their privacy. It kind of seems weird that anyone can do this now (it's not a huge problem I guess but I'm sure some people will care). It's not a lot different from World of Warcraft's armoury which most people like, its just a new level of transparency for Guild Wars we previously haven't seen. 122.104.175.131 22:25, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

They're going to be using the items they earned in GW2, so you'll basically know how much they've accomplished anyway. It's definitely a new level of transparency, but think of the time it'd take to check this thing if they had some kind of confirmation system! (And, for that matter, the amount of time it would take them to even implement a confirmation system. Oh, and to figure out how to even confirm it without requiring an NC login or something.) --ஸ Kyoshi 17:01, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Eeh, I have a different problem with the HoM Calculator. Which, before I go on, I must say that I think it's really cool and I'm glad it was made <3

Unfortunately, the issue I have with it is... Well... To put it bluntly, It leaves no goals for me to attain in guild wars, and sorta makes me feel like some stuff I've done was an utter waste of time. :/ I'm at around 8000 treasure, 7500 wisdom, been death-leveling for LdoA for weeks... But since all I apparently need to do is purchase (one) oppressor weapon for 50/50, it sorta makes all that seem like a massive waste of time, and makes me feel that there's no real point to finish that off, except for the fact that I'm so close to finishing it that I don't want it to be a COMPLETE waste of time >.< Devvu Sumisu

@122 -- I'm listening. Can you explain a bit more? Do you see any way in which the information that is exposed could pose a security risk to the player? The HoM Calculator was developed by an amazing team, and those team members are keenly aware of security. I'd like to know if you think there's a problem or if you're just noticing that you can see more than you expected. :) Thanks.

@Sumisu -- well, at least it's validation that you rock, eh? ;) -- Gaile 00:57, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Hello Gaile. I checked, and there's no apparent security issue. There's just this "privacy" issue where people check random people in town (by entering their names in the calculator), and then are like "omfg you freak, get a life man seriously" while this is the reason some of my guildies don't brag with in-game title displays. No big deal. AndrewB 05:20, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

The game says "Seriously, you crazy." when you get 50/50. So, since everybody already knows that, why worry about others telling you that. It's a game, have fun. And props to the Arenanet team that put the HoM project together. Rev 2.0 request, please enumerate the mini's in the Hall. — Mar Master 14:05, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

A quick check over the code didn't reveal anything unusual, unless the Yahoo API's have a zeroday vulnerabilities that I'm not aware of. I tried a couple of basic hacking techniques to make it behave differently but it was only cosmetic, as an example here [2]. I was trying to see if I can modify the client side script to make it display the database listing all the character names, but no dice. Any kind of malicious code injection I know into the name input didn't work so that's good too. But since I'm a noob when it comes to hacking I don't know how to do a lot of other things. About the only security concern is if someone was able to get a list of all the character names, but the value of that is marginal at best since matching the emails and passwords with the character names will be impossible unless someone has the same character name as their email addy. --Lania 14:42, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

In any case, it'd be far too much work on the hacker's end to cause any kind of epidemic account stealing. --ஸ Kyoshi 18:00, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

One of my issues with it is just the general privacy issue: I don't care for bragging, and I don't want to be bugged about what I have and haven't done. It's not anyone else's business. The other problem I have with it is what RMTs could use it for. Not necessarily the hacking Lania talked about (I didn't even think of that), but that they can use it to check out what people have in their halls to see if it might be worth attempting to steal their account. I'd guess that people with a lot in their halls, or people with certain expensive things in their halls, probably have a lot of money, and might be ideal targets for RMTs looking to steal accounts. For both reasons, I'd like to have some control over who can and can't see my hall's info.--Res 20:06, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

The only issue is, if people are skulking around HoM calculators, anything in the HoM is essentially worthless (especially the higher up minis since they will not count for more in any way anyway). A lot of people are in the HoM crunch, so all money they have is being dumped into that and only that -- hacking someone because of their HoM would be stupid. They'll be poor, and everything will be worthless.

I don't see the issue. 71.84.199.42 21:05, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

I personally don't see this as a security issue - you need to know their name to be able to search in the first place so it doesn't give any info in that regard (although Gaile, I think this would be a prudent time for ArenaNet and support to remind players in the game through the log in message that sharing a character name on forums etc does make your account less secure, in the rush to share their HoM stats a lot of people started posting them on the forums, possibly forgetting we were previously encouraged not to do so). I think it's still possible to link people to your HoM stats without giving them your name but many people aren't using that option.

As far as issues go I simply see this as a privacy issue (whether it's a big one or a small one, I don't want to give the impression I'm outraged by this - I'm not) - previously none of my friends knew what I had or hadn't done in the game beyond what I told them. Now they can search it up without my permission. I know some people are uncomfortable with this kind of thing, I personally don't mind too much, it's just a new level of transparency of our privacy we have no control over which might irk some people. I personally love the HoM calculator and I enjoy that people are sharing these things, it's interesting if nothing else. I only brought it up on your page to make you aware this was possible and point out some people might not be comfortable with it. I expect it was probably already considered in the design (and thus a password requirement might have also been considered) I just mention it in case it wasn't. 122.104.175.131 21:38, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

No one even HAS to share their name on a forum (though I've never seen the issue) and there are thousands of people who have character names listed on both wiki's with full character profiles. I for one am not going to eliminate all the hard work I put into doing that on the off chance that someone might use it to hack my account (they would still need my account name and password). People see you in game, and plug your character name in. The only way I see this as a security issue is that the website is effectively tied to the game server database that contains all your account information. I'm assuming that the team has taken all precautions required to stop any breach that way. I think you are trying to make a mountain out of a molehill over some perceived griefing. -- Wyn talk 21:53, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm not trying to make a mountain out of anything. I'm simply raising something with Gaile, my shovel, pitchfork and flaming torch are still in my garage. I think it's fine to discuss something - even if it's small - because sometimes you learn things or find a better way of doing things. As far as sharing names on forums, it's something in the past we were advised to be conservative about. A lot of people's forum accounts can be linked to their game accounts in more ways that just character names. GW Guru was hacked within the last year and a lot of account names, emails and passwords were stolen. There is a good chance many of those emails and passwords are their game ones for some people. Reminding people about steps they can take to keep their accounts safe (no matter how excessive you might perceive them to be), especially when a lot of people are giving out account security information, is easy to do with possible benefits and minimal costs. Again I won't pull out my shovel, pitchfork and torch if they don't do anything, I just wanted to share my thoughts with Gaile. 122.104.175.131 22:11, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Iirc, it wasn't Guru that got hacked, it was an Aion fansite where some people had the same login info as Guild Wars. But I digress. --ஸ Kyoshi 13:50, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, Guru was never hacked... it was Aion source's web forum which uses IP.board as their forum software. The site webmasters just weren't on the ball when it came to updating the forum software, and the hackers were able to use an exploit that was already fixed in the new version. From what I heard, the actual hack was relatively elementary. --Lania 20:24, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

As an admin on Guru, I find it hilarious that that comment came in response to me. -- Wyn talk 20:32, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

The openness of the Calculator has lead to a bit of trolling and dissing. I know of at least two of my friends who have received one, or many random pms from people laughing/disrespecting/making fun of the fact they don't have much in their HoM, or in the case of one friend, hasn't completed it. Most people it runs down their back, but the question that stems from this is: Why is the calculator able to show anyone anyone else's information? We have passwords and security questions on our accounts for a reason, this is part of the reason.

The very basis of the Hall of Monuments in GW requires you to agree to allow people to see your hall, and Arenanet just bypassed that. Why? It's only a minor thing, the rush for this current situation will die off, but I find myself question why Arenanet did this, and couldn't see this as a opportunity for people to be dicks about it? ~~000.00.00.00~~ 20:39, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

@Wyn, yeah those kinds of rampant mis-information shows how well the community managers were able to relay the information to the general player-base. Even though it is not our job to do that, time and time again, it feels like the jobs of relaying the information falls on people like us that know where to look for the official information. Heck, it's not Gaile's job either to do that, and I think she did a way better job of explaining it and propagating the correct information than any of the CM's have. @IP, yeah I've also heard of some cases of trolling and harassment due to the "content" of their HoM. --Lania 20:50, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

People making fun of you for your in-game accomplishments (or lack thereof) is easy to deal with. Ignore, report, move on.

I've personally never heard of any trolling or flaming cases, but maybe I don't hang around in spammy towns enough or something. And my guildies are all cool about it; one of them keeps joking about how she only has 7.

Asses will be asses, with or without such a system. --ஸ Kyoshi 13:47, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

(Reset indent) (Attempting to summarize the issues so far. My apologies if I missed or misstated a point or counter-argument.)

Some people have expressed concern that anybody can looking up any toon name using the HoM calculator, for these reasons:

1. This has led directly to trolling (your HoM sux).
2. This gives account thieves a new tool that can be automated to validate potential toon names to match with a stolen email address.
3. There's a vague sense that this provides less protection than simply being spotted amongst the crowds in e.g. GToB sporting a MHSoRM or other prestige title.
4. There's a specific sense that public display of account accomplishments runs counter to other NCSoft and ANet actions designed to increase privacy.
   • The old HoM required you to actively give permission to allow people to see it; the new calculator gives no mechanism to prevent that.

Others have stated that they aren't bothered at all by the calculator's transparency:

1. Trolls, as always, should be ignored and can be reported.
2. Botters probably already have tools to quickly validate potential toon names; this doesn't present a new risk.
3. Anyone can see your accomplishments as they are made now; what's the difference?
4. Is this info really personal? Was it ever really private?

 — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 16:05, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

I do understand the concerns that some players have expressed about the HoM Calculator, but I do not believe that any changes are planned. I perceive that some people would like to have an "opt in" option; others are not bothered by the current process one way or the other. Some feel that their stature is too exposed; others comment that their stature is revealed (albeit perhaps less directly) every time they wear high-end armour, display a title, or show a rare miniature.

All my comments are just chatting, though, and aren't some sort of official response, for this isn't a support issue and I'm not really involved. I'm not brushing you guys off, it's just not my area, you see? :) I'd suggest you share your ideas with a Community Team member or via the appropriate discussion page. -- Gaile 07:38, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Do you have a recommendation as to where to get an official (and timely) response that can be shared with the community? I think it would be good to hear someone address these concerns publicly (I would like to hear this too, even though I'm not sure if I'm in the bothered camp or the whatever group.) Thanks for chatting with us :-)  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 10:28, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Following up: TEF, is this still a concern? May I ask if you have or someone else has written to a community team member to ask for more information and/or an official statement about this matter? They would be the best source for the official position you'd like to know about. -- Gaile 01:39, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

I am not aware if anyone wrote to team members about this issue. I haven't see any recent chatter about this in-game or in forums, which suggests it's no longer of pressing concern. On the plus side, some members of my current and former guild (including myself) use the calculator to figure out with whom to share extra consumables or mats (e.g. extra drinks from opening ToTs for cookies), which is a cool bonus.

I wish the community team had gotten in front of this because of the appearance that the HoM's transparency conflicts with ANet's stated goals of security (and, to a lesser extent, privacy). I think it took some of the shine away from the slick new feature and led some to be less confident about ANet.

Thanks for getting back to us on the topic, especially since it is outside your area of responsibility.  — Tennessee Ernie Ford (TEF) 02:22, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Armor Issue

Where would I send a support ticket to see about this armor being fixed? http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/4239/gw004.jpg Kinda irritating being stuck as red because it's not fully dye-able unlike the non-elite version of that helm :P /dowant purple D: Thanks in advance for lettin' meh know :) Devvu Sumisu

Post your armor art issues at : Feedback:Bug reports/Armor art bugs this is NOT a support issue. -- Wyn talk 21:37, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for letting me know where to post it, I don't exactly know my way around the wiki that great. EDIT : Does that page ever get noticed anyway?Devvu Sumisu

Those pages are monitored regularly by the QA team. -- Wyn talk 20:34, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

I didn't respond earlier because I felt you got the info that you needed, but I want to confirm that yes, the pages are reviewed. -- Gaile 01:36, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Incident 100706-002727

Hi Gaile, I've asked you once before about my situation and I was very grateful to hear back from you and to hear that I was close to getting this incident resolved. Unfortunately I never heard back from the team after submitting the information that you suggested. I was hoping you could once again shed some light for me on what would I could be doing for this. With the new Hall of Monuments information out I would really love to get my account back and not have to have the time spent getting Vabbian armor and such be wasted when it could be going toward something now. :) Thanks Gaile! --The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.214.40.145 (talk).

The team has been waiting to hear from you since August, and in checking the ticket just now I can see that it has not been updated by you since several security questions were posed. I have updated the ticket personally three times to indicate that you would be providing the team with the additional information that was requested (by our agent David) on August 23, 2010. Please review the ticket and answer the questions that will establish that you own the account in question; this process helps us provide the highest level of security for each player's account. -- Gaile 07:27, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks again Gaile, I appreciate all of your work, and I'm sure you understand why this is important to me. I am still enjoying the game, but it would mean a lot to me to see my old characters back. I replied again answering filling in the information he asked for as much as I could. It really does kill me that I got rid of my retail boxes so soon before this issue came up in the first place, but with all the moving I have done I would not have been able to bring them around with me every time. I hope I am close to resolving this problem. :)

I just checked this ticket today, and it had not been updated (by the player) since August. but because it was so old, a new incident was created (101022-000859) But the last few questions the team sent were not answered as of late October. At this point, I am going to consider this a closed issue unless I learn there is something I can do to assist. -- Gaile 00:19, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Account Banned (?!) [Incident: 100908-002095]

Hi there Gaile. Unfortunately it is yet another case of the 'unfair ban'.

Well, to start off, I left home (Napier, New Zealand) to go to university (Wellington, New Zealand). To my surprise, my hostel had very strict/limited internet so I had no access to Guild Wars at all. Upon returning for my holiday but more importantly, non-restricted internet(!), I tried to log on to Guild Wars to explain to my friends why they hadn't seen me in so many months. To my surprise (I think we know where this is going), my account was terminated for 'Use of a third party program'. I found this a little puzzling, as not only had I not been on Guild Wars in months, but I have never used a third party program (not even texmod). I found out I was banned a few months before I actually appealed it with the reasoning that:

1- I had moved on from Guild Wars, having completed much of the game as was taking a much prolonged break.

2- There was nothing of great value on my account.

3- I was now playing another MMO which, for the purposes of this forum, we will call 'Morld of Marcraft?'

After I received a polite response from the Guild Wars support team about the account termination, not really outlining why it happened, I didn't really think much of it (giving the time it takes for a response and my time being taken up by other things) but did suggest they merely compare my I.P address (which I have been playing on for years) to the one of received the ban for my Guild Wars account.

After the release of the new Hall of Monument rewards for Guild Wars 2 and encouragement from multiple friends, I decided that because I was not in the wrong that I should go ahead and try appealing my ban again emphasizing that the botting most definitely did not come from my I.P Address as I hadn't even logged onto Guild Wars in months! (and would be very surprised if the I.P address was even remotely close to New Zealand, let alone in the Pacific!)

Reviewing this case leans towards the problem/cause of the account ban being account security/hacked account rather than the use of 3rd party programs. All I ask is you review the ticket and compare the two. The truth will clearly come from the I.P address.

Thanks, Ticket Number [Incident: 100908-002095] --Harleh 06:22, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

I've read the various tickets tied to the accounts you have written about. One was blocked in the large-scale bot ban of May 26th and due to the nature and detail of the research prior to the effort, the account will not be restored. The second account you've asked about is one for which you are lacking certain security-related information. The team has provided you with tips on how you may be able to retrieve or recall that information, and they have also offered to work with you if you will provide them whatever answers you can give to the several data points they asked about. This request was dated November 12th. I hope that you will respond to the team so that they can assist you. -- Gaile 00:27, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

I honestly see very little point in contacting support about my alternative account as they clearly haven't even bothered to look into my original problem.

I am disappointed and quite unimpressed at the nature that the support team took to the state of this account. The fact that the support team didn't even mention in their reply that they had significant evidence, or evidence for that matter, that the 3rd party program was on my computer using my IP address really makes me believe that they have not even bothered looking into this issue at all (as if they did my account would have been returned by now). To stop me for asking for the 'non-existent' evidence that it was in fact me who used this third party program, they decided to include a very vague statement saying that they 'do not provide the exact methods used to pinpoint the offense'. Which, in my seat, sounds like they are saying 'We may or may not have evidence, but we will ban you none-the-less'. Also, I don't really see how telling me that 'the IP I have been using and the IP the account got banned on are/are not the same' reveals any 'exact methods' apart from the broad idea of IP tracing which one would have thought they would do (although in my case they clearly DID NOT)

So, I have come to the conclusion that either the Guild Wars support team either:

1- Looked into the offending IP, saw the account has been used in some far away country and then naturally assumed that I packed up all my things, flew to said country, logged onto Guild Wars for the first time in months and started using a third party program, then come back to New Zealand and pleaded my case some 6 months after the account was banned in order to try and re-obtain my banned account so I can repeat the process again

or

2- Are lazy.

Also, I know this is not your fault, Gaile. This is merely a post to express my(and anyone else who has had this problem) attitude towards this poor attempt for account support.

Well done Support team, you deserve your well earned pay.

--Harleh 04:04, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

[101022-001536]

Hello Gaile,

Below I quote one of your security tips:

Do not trade game accounts or access keys (game, buddy, trial) for in-game payment. You've seen the ads spammed from Ascalon City to Zhelon Reach: "Paying (lots of loot) for GW accounts." But the spammers are not buying, they're stealing. Several times every hour, RMT workers persuade players to reveal their account credentials by saying things like "People from my region are not allowed to trade in Guild Wars. Give me your personal account information so that we can complete the transaction," or "We can hide this illegal sale from ArenaNet. Give me your credentials and I will put your payment directly on your account." If you hesitate, the RMT increases their offer because they have no intention of paying a single gold piece. Once the RMT gains your account credentials, they steal both accounts: the one you offered for sale and your main account, too. Even if an account is recovered — and often it is — it will frequently be stripped of irreplaceable items and wealth.

This is exactly what happend to me. My question is how can I prevent this frequent stripping of items and wealth from my account ? I recovered my account but I get the 007 error quit frequently. I assume this error is caused by the hacker logging in to my account since my connection works perfectly and I get the error way too often to be normal. I already asked support to change my username but this is not possible. This is my ticket number : 101022-001536

Thanks in advance, --Fruitpap 17:18, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

1) Change password

2) Rules Of Conduct, item 10 should get your ass kicked by Dhuum (sharing + trading)

3) Sorry, but you giving your credentials to a stranger is not smart. Just like the "will you please drop the weapon outside so I can see it" scam. AndrewB 07:25, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Yeah change your password ASAP if you haven't done so. Also check your system for any keyloggers and trojans with a reputable antimalware software. If your account is linked to the NCsoft master account, change that password as well. A rule of thumb is... never give out your account credentials to anyone including Anet or NCsoft as they will never ask for your password. --Lania 16:37, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

In reading the ticket, it appears that the Support Team member who most recently responded to you believed the situation was resolved. Can you confirm that everything is ok with your accounts: game and master account? Thanks. -- Gaile 01:35, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

[Incident: 101102-000178]

Hello Gaile.
I know it is very early to ask for help, but I only have a few hours left to turn in the Mobstoppers I spent hours on to farm during halloween. Please take a look at my Issue, maybe u can make a miracle happen so that i can turn those in before Halloween ends.
Support has answered very fast, and it is already delivered to a senior staff member (thx to GM Williams). Please don't think that I want to backstab the support team which is doing a great job with the very fast answer(took only 8 minutes), but I was told that you can speed things up even more :). And maybe as a gamer you know how it feels to farm and farm just to be taken out of game when you are about to turn in your reward, and with the Mobstoppers I would have to wait for a full year before I can turn them in if I haven't advanced to Guild Wars 2 in the meantime.
Regards, Martin.

Update: Issue has been forwarded to Senior Staff a few hours ago. As I dont know if they are on duty that late of the day :( and as there is only little more than one hour left I am starting to feeling sad about this. Is there any way you can help?

Update2: Moved it to right section on wiki

15 Minutes left and I am not getting any more answers from support team. Seriously getting upset now to see that reporting someone else can immediately cut his account down and denies someone from taking rewards for the time used to farm and leads that person into problems trying to get it solved for several hours as there are answers from support, but no actions taken. I won't say the name which the GM told me was the reason for that ban here as it will damage my privacy and account security, but I will stenghten the fact that it is a name referring to something absoluetly harmless if you take in mind, that players do have characters named as or with synonyms of murderers or rapists and playing for years. I even checked Wikipedia before I created that character to be absolutely sure to follow the rules as I am well aware of Guild Mates getting forced to rename their characters. Sorry for being a bit harsh, but who would not get angry if you spend last few days farming mobstoppers just to find out that the moment you try to turn them in, you will get banned and nobody really cares except for that person who I helped farming and thought "Hey that player gets more ecto drops than me, i will now report his name and prevent him from getting rewards!". 4 Days after I bought the Halloween Costume.

You named your character after a rapist? elix Omni 13:20, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Stop trolling his attempt to get his account back Felix. BS like that doesn't help. If you are not able to read what other people write, just don't answer.
@OP: Since the event is over now, tell us if Support was competent enough to fix it in time? Also pls sign your comments. 188.23.90.72 14:34, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

{{ri}The Support Team does not block on demand / by report, but only blocks if a name is truly offensive or inappropriate. They do not hold off on actioning offensive names because an event is going on, and they cannot and would not reverse an appropriate block upon request. I would cordially suggest that you show greater care in choosing names, particularly since you've had issues arise with names you have used in the past. If you make better name choices in the future, all will be well. Oh, and please note that the items that you collected may be turned in next year, so they do still have value. -- Gaile 01:01, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Reporting Real-Money Transactions

Hi

I want to report someone for selling ectos for rl money, where do i do that? DemonicFahrir 11:33, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

Type /report and type the name of the seller, or select the player and type /report and then follow the prompts to report him or her. Alternatively, you can submit a ticket or you can send an email, but /report is best (if they stay in the district long enough for you to be able to report them). Thanks for trying to help! -- Gaile 05:01, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

I for one will no longer report anyone. You can have the locust swarm. I was suspended for 72 hours after 7 reports for those spammers. They suspended me instead of them. I submitted a support ticket immediately about the incorrect suspension, but half of the duration is already up and no resolution. Heck, it took 18.5 hours just to have someone respond and say they were escalating the issue. By the time they actually do anything about the incorrect suspension, I will have served 2/3rds or more of it already.98.167.218.60 13:36, 22 December 2010 (UTC)

code=1751188

Hi Dear Gaile!I wanted to buy things in the online store, but it kept telling me "The Order does not pass he risk mangement Assenment" with my VISA card, and when i buy it on the NC website, it tell me "We're sorry, but we are unable to accept your order at this time. Please try again later or tomorrow. If you continue to have problems, you may wish to visit one of our retail partners. ". I have used this card before to buy things for a friend's account and it worked, i don't see a reason why it wouldn't now. So I would really appreciate it if you can sort it out for me, or at least tell me what's wrong. Thanks! --Black cat 14:54, 25 October 2010 (UTC)

BC -- did you submit a support ticket? I know about "risk management" and all that, but I hope you were able to purchase things from the store! -- Gaile 05:00, 25 November 2010 (UTC)