Curse

Perkunas · Feb 19, 2015, 08:44 PM // 20:44

With them restoring banned accounts, anyone guilty of "breaking the rules", be warned that someone is watching.

Glad to see the not guilty being allowed to play again. Until just a couple of days ago, I was unaware of the bans. Guess I spend too much time in the empty outposts and towns, never spending more than a minute or two in the busier ones.

Time to see if my missing friends have rejoined the game.

sparklybeast · Feb 19, 2015, 08:49 PM // 20:49

Well, it's now happened to me too.

Today all four accounts have gone kaboom. After spending so long playing and spending so much money, and even meeting my husband in-game, that is apparently that.

I have submitted a ticket but don't hold out much hope that anybody will even look at it for weeks.

Blue Inferno Master · Feb 19, 2015, 08:53 PM // 20:53

ANET can beat the bots. u can set a script indepth to search for patterns . such as a agro code or even a timed skill set, a human player will not hit the same buttons or make the exact same moves 100% of the time . a bot on the other hand will make the same exact flux in move and skill hits. time is everything to a bot. with this script u can isolate the account IP and track its numbered code/path of codes the game runs threw the written code of the server and tell if its a bot or a player. they have it right to a point, but when u get a ego going that u just stopped XXX amount of botters and want to clear the rest u run the problem of banning ppl that didn't deserve it. and if they still had GM's that were not part of the problem from the start botting would not b as big of a problem as it is now. the other point of it is this. they are using the players personal IP not the server IP to do the bans, this is wrong u can ban the IP the account uses on the server "everyone has one" and not the ISP of the computer player. this in its own will clear accounts that are wrong doing and not hurt say the kids or parents that have diff pc's and all run from same ISP. just another thought of mine.

**cosyfiep** · Feb 19, 2015, 09:08 PM // 21:08

I guess the witch is hunting again....I am afraid to log onto my accounts now for fear of being banned again --still have no clue as to what triggered the flag on my accounts in the first place and since anet wont pony up...we could just all get re-banned again!

I understand them not wanting to tell us certain information, but if there is something that is causing innocent folks to get banned--they really should let them know the real reason not just a generic code.

Marcin · Feb 19, 2015, 09:10 PM // 21:10

Well ive been banned on the first wave which was my main for doing nothing.. and I look at all these stories here of unbanning which is kinda making me sad lol. I made another account and it also got banned yesterday night. No 3rd party usage or botting was present idk where they got this idea from.. Idk if its a computer system just banning or if its a person.. its seriously stupid and all the dedicated innocent people are getting punished.. Anyone else know if theyre still unbanning accounts?

Cleavage · Feb 19, 2015, 09:25 PM // 21:25

So people are getting un-banned while others are being banned now...... wow...

Surge goes pre · Feb 19, 2015, 09:42 PM // 21:42

Wait, so cosy. Did you get banned, unbanned, and rebanned?

I think anet has a few issues to fix... People are getting banned as other get unbanned.

I logged in this morning just fine. I'll try again tonight.

Zahr Dalsk · Feb 19, 2015, 09:46 PM // 21:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Inferno Master

ANET can beat the bots. u can set a script indepth to search for patterns . such as a agro code or even a timed skill set, a human player will not hit the same buttons or make the exact same moves 100% of the time . a bot on the other hand will make the same exact flux in move and skill hits. time is everything to a bot. with this script u can isolate the account IP and track its numbered code/path of codes the game runs threw the written code of the server and tell if its a bot or a player. they have it right to a point, but when u get a ego going that u just stopped XXX amount of botters and want to clear the rest u run the problem of banning ppl that didn't deserve it. and if they still had GM's that were not part of the problem from the start botting would not b as big of a problem as it is now. the other point of it is this. they are using the players personal IP not the server IP to do the bans, this is wrong u can ban the IP the account uses on the server "everyone has one" and not the ISP of the computer player. this in its own will clear accounts that are wrong doing and not hurt say the kids or parents that have diff pc's and all run from same ISP. just another thought of mine.

You know it's piss-easy to randomize a bot's timing and exact coordinates a little bit, right? I mean it's a piece of software. Come on.

-andy- · Feb 19, 2015, 09:50 PM // 21:50

I just got my accounts back, I hope it will stay this way now. Thank you to the one correcting this and to you guys for not giving up. It does kind of scare me to see people getting banned today as well though. Have you guys tried to log in again later?

Yeah I would also like to know what flagged our accounts and if there is anything other than the obvious we should avoid doing so we won't end up in this situation again. Took a month to get my accs back, I would hate having to go through that again.

Title Points R Us · Feb 19, 2015, 09:54 PM // 21:54

Shazbawts program may still be banning people. They'll have to get that sorted out. He seems like quite the asshole tho. Locking & removing a thread that Gaile herself posted in & was investigating. He's got some balls albeit small but still.

Bristlebane · Feb 19, 2015, 10:03 PM // 22:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peace

For people who got unbanned
can you say please when did you get the ban ? like what date or something
there is people who didn't get unbanned yet , and maybe this clear some answers

Banned Jan 19, and were unbanned on or before Feb 19.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Inferno Master

I would b happy with 1 stack of ectos and a mini polar bear or panda. (and the resignation of the kid).

I'm not greedy, but resignation of the kid would be a boon.

Title Points R Us · Feb 19, 2015, 10:06 PM // 22:06

How much you want to bet this was Shazbawt that removed my post? lolol

Quote:

Your post in How long does it take support to reply? was infracted by a moderator:

Gaile I sent you a Private Message also. These few in this thread are among Hundreds this has happened to. Yes thousands were banned for legit reasons but Hundreds were banned that are innocent. IMO fire that useless botter Shazbawt & rectify most of his wrong doings. Maybe if this is done Anet can save face with many long time & loyal customers.

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Blue Inferno Master · Feb 19, 2015, 10:09 PM // 22:09

you kno I was going to comment on something someone said but I think they dug the hole enough to prove they them self are a botter and should not b on game. thanks for proving my point and this is nothing more then a forum

Cleavage · Feb 19, 2015, 10:16 PM // 22:16

^^^ HUH

They need to revert all bans back to bans now because this is really confusing trying to figure out who to re-add to the friends list and who to remove

Yllena · Feb 19, 2015, 10:38 PM // 22:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Inferno Master

you kno I was going to comment on something someone said but I think they dug the hole enough to prove they them self are a botter and should not b on game. thanks for proving my point and this is nothing more then a forum

Im writing software, have been writing software for years (about 15 years now) and I can tell you:
The kind of algorithm you proposed needs about three times as much server performance than a game server gw1's calibre nowadays. If not even more.
Tbh, having customer support sift through botting reports every few months is just way cheaper, AND it has the added benefit of avoiding a debacle as the one that just happened anet. Because funny as it is... human brain sees patterns just way better than computer algorithms, in cases such as this, where its difficult to even find the correct parameters.

A computer algorithm wont be able to tell the difference between someone just farming heavily for hours, or a bot doing that. It will ban both. Because both show the same pattern.

Lets say: online for hours, doing repetitive farming, probably always walking the same way within a certain margin, having more than one account active at the same time.
Ive done that... me, not a bot. During festivals, I sometimes spent hours on farming something mindlessly to get those festival items. Having a second account open at the same time and doing some trading half heartedly at the same time. I mean, seriously... probably half the community did something like that now and then.

A pattern recognition software would flag such a behaviour as botting. To automate a software like that, you could say... if flagged 20 times, please ban, because botter. Because theres no reason to invest heavily into such a recognition software (lets call it bot guard) and then having to pay humans as well for being the last contoll-instance.

See the dilemma? A bot (piece of software) can copy human behaviour down to the ig socializing. Bots in gw1 seem to be rather uninspired. In other games I saw bots so sophisticated, Id have loved to see their coding (kinda like an automechanic wanting to see an engine, ya know?

not all automechanics are chop shop owners)

I can really understand Shazbawt for getting frustrated about it. Having to deal with tons of bot reports, bots and only limited ressources (gw doesnt even have somekind of botshield). Id be tempted too, to implement some kind of algorithm I thought would be perfect to automate detection.
But tbh, the difference between me and him is... I wouldnt risk implementing it without heavy testing, lets say testing it for a year, letting the software flag accounts for me and I do the banning if I can confirm it.
And who knows, maybe thats exactly how he wanted it to be handled, just to get some guy from management say he has to implement it NOW or get fired.
Happened to me too a few times, is quite common.

Im admitting freely, I rather have my doubts about Shazbawt. Especially after reading some of his comments on twitter. But Im trying to see the whole picture and not condemn him from the start.

I know this is a wall of text, but... maybe its worth reading

Especially if you got banned without doing something wrong, and are just so ANGRY atm.

K A O S Theory · Feb 19, 2015, 10:44 PM // 22:44

For everyone saying they should just log movement and things and just kill repeating patterns. Im sure arenanet would love to create terabytes+ of log data for every incoming and outgoing packet to determine that...

TheFrogMan · Feb 19, 2015, 11:04 PM // 23:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Title Points R Us

Locking & removing a thread that Gaile herself posted in & was investigating. He's got some balls albeit small but still.

lol that might have been the thing to push her over the edge. She probably said wait a minute, who the hell are you to lock a thread I was posting in?

Surge goes pre · Feb 19, 2015, 11:07 PM // 23:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cleavage

^^^ HUH

They need to revert all bans back to bans now because this is really confusing trying to figure out who to re-add to the friends list and who to remove

Yeah this haha. And I feel the botters should not be unbanned. They were banned for a reason. They cheated.

Blue Inferno Master · Feb 19, 2015, 11:12 PM // 23:12

Yllena I want to thank you for that I did in fact read ever single bit of it. maybe his boss did say place it now and run it. but on the other hand if he did not and got fired he could argue it and b in the right to say " it was not rdy" but by his twitter posts I would bet money he was not given the order from his boss. and I do understand what u were saying about bots and how some of them are rly hard to track, I do kno ppl that use bots for other games and just the work they put in to them to hide them from GMs and other security, myself and my wife along with some friends were ban and still have not gotten our accounts back as of yet and we all are mad not going to say we are not. I just want to ty again for a bit of a breakdown

Toxon · Feb 19, 2015, 11:26 PM // 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeefWellington

I'd also like to thank whoever keeps Guild Wars Guru up and running. Who knows, without this site we might all be in ticket hell for another few months. Maybe even banned forever.

Seconded.

Yes, thank to this forum, and most importantly the community here who speak out. I am so grateful that anet is listening and fix the problem. It is a bit slow and hurt no doubt. I hope this type of stupid ban wave will not happen again.