Curse

Vizi · Jun 06, 2016, 05:32 PM // 17:32

Hey there,

Probably most of you have seen these messages in game of websites spamming real money sales for currency & others.
In this past 1 (2?) years there was only one spamming in Kamadan and EotN, so it wasn't that bothering. Though lately there are new ones spamming even more, and this became really annoying. Baltha, EotN, Kama (both districts) are filled with this kind of message (trade or local chats). I guess it's better if I don't give any name or website.

I wanted to know you guys' opinions about how we could act against this. Of course my first idea was to contact ANet about it, with proofs but I'm not sure that it'll have any effect (did anyone ever try?)

Am I the only one bothered by this? Any solution? (Hacking the websites?

I wouldn't be the only one willing to pay for this imo)

Vizi

Surge goes pre · Jun 06, 2016, 05:39 PM // 17:39

It is irritating. They even advertise in presearing ascalon. And once a certain someone supporting one of these websites even offered people in the alliance 'discount codes'.

I do wish a net would do something about it. I doubt they will.

**cosyfiep** · Jun 06, 2016, 06:39 PM // 18:39

yeah, there have been the same characters spamming for years now...and now a few more, guess the new ones saw that the others were not getting banned and decided it was ok for them to do it as well. I think that anet should have done away with the others last year instea-----well, they should have gotten these guys last year too.

yes, its is bothersome.

StueyG · Jul 01, 2016, 08:26 AM // 08:26

Yeah I agree it is really frustrating. I don't get why they have left them. Well I have my guesses but still quite frustrating.

wind fire and ice · Jul 01, 2016, 08:35 AM // 08:35

Definitely annoying. I go to Kamadan a lot less since the new website started spamming so much.

I wonder if anyone has submitted a full ticket with pictures to GW2 support. I'd love to at least know what their answer is, even if it's "we can't fix that any more".

It's sad, because this could be permanently fixed if someone with the ability to ban accounts sat in Kamadan for a week. I doubt those sites have very big profit margins, so they shouldn't be able to sustain buying new accounts to spam with forever. I doubt they're stealing accounts to spam with like in the old days.

**cosyfiep** · Jul 01, 2016, 08:41 AM // 08:41

if they only----

yes, if they would just log onto the game for a few minutes they would see the same things we have said, there are the same characters in eye, kamadan, gtob, who have posts in search as well as the new ones (all with the same name, just different numbered)....wouldnt take very long at all. they didnt even ban the older ones when they did the mass wrongful bans a while back----.
guess you can decide what that means about how they feel about the game and its 'economy'

wind fire and ice · Jul 01, 2016, 08:52 AM // 08:52

I submitted a ticket anyway with screenshots. Explained that it is not an economy issue, but rather a quality of life issue so we don't have constant spam messages in our major outposts. If I ever get a response I'll post it on Legacy.

I encourage you all to do the same. Even if it isn't much, 4-5 tickets about the same easy to fix community topic might make someone on the support team at least send it up to someone capable of solving the issue if they choose to.

StueyG · Jul 01, 2016, 08:54 AM // 08:54

That would be nice if they would do something - will try to do the same soon.

Age · Jul 02, 2016, 12:06 AM // 00:06

Don't sit in town to much do what you got to do and move on.

Vizi · Jul 02, 2016, 03:11 PM // 15:11

Of course those people make low profit, because of taxes, PayPal tax, etc.
+ they pay VPN services, and need a lot of equipement, accounts, programs, and mosty time. And I don't think there are many costumers willing to pay to an unknown website that could do his own feedbacks, and especially with their high prices.

Still, they are 2 spamming websites like shit in different outposts, and if ANet won't do anything, it doesn't mean we can't do anything. Only suggestions there, but again I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one willing to pay a bit to see those websites go down, that would also prevent others. Also, scam could also be an option, but I don't know if I should develop this idea here.

wind fire and ice · Jul 02, 2016, 03:31 PM // 15:31

Summary of my opinion after a day of looking into this topic(no response yet from anet though)

Perhaps we can negotiate directly with the sites to reduce their spam. I don't think we can brute force this with encouraging bans or shutting down sites. My reasoning follows.

I talked to the owner of one of the sites and apparently they make over $1,000 a week with 20 trades a day.

Frankly, I don't think actually shutting them down should be a goal. The game is old. People are going to sell currency. Who cares? The spam is the problem.

If we mess with their sites they'll just make another cheap site and plug a paypal button into it. They will buy more accounts if they're really making $1000 a week. We can't stop that as a small community unless we do things directly to the owners, like your "scam" option, but I'm not in support of that at all.

Sorry to be long-winded, but after getting perspective on how much these sites are making I've realized that we probably don't have the tools to do much in the way of stopping them. We would need full admin support to make it a pain in the ass for them to operate, and that just won't happen. The best we can hope for is to convince the owners, as people who clearly have some attachment to GW, that our community is suffering because of their levels of advertisement.

Surge goes pre · Jul 02, 2016, 04:39 PM // 16:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by wind fire and ice

Summary of my opinion after a day of looking into this topic(no response yet from anet though)

Perhaps we can negotiate directly with the sites to reduce their spam. I don't think we can brute force this with encouraging bans or shutting down sites. My reasoning follows.

I talked to the owner of one of the sites and apparently they make over $1,000 a week with 20 trades a day.

Frankly, I don't think actually shutting them down should be a goal. The game is old. People are going to sell currency. Who cares? The spam is the problem.

If we mess with their sites they'll just make another cheap site and plug a paypal button into it. They will buy more accounts if they're really making $1000 a week. We can't stop that as a small community unless we do things directly to the owners, like your "scam" option, but I'm not in support of that at all.

Sorry to be long-winded, but after getting perspective on how much these sites are making I've realized that we probably don't have the tools to do much in the way of stopping them. We would need full admin support to make it a pain in the ass for them to operate, and that just won't happen. The best we can hope for is to convince the owners, as people who clearly have some attachment to GW, that our community is suffering because of their levels of advertisement.

Yeah I highly doubt Kiki gives a damn.

The more I think about it though I think the solution needs to come from anet.

wind fire and ice · Jul 02, 2016, 07:39 PM // 19:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surge goes pre

Yeah I highly doubt Kiki gives a damn.

The more I think about it though I think the solution needs to come from anet.

Short of giving us a dedicated admin I just don't see how anet would fix it. That's why my post wasn't very positive concerning brute force solutions like bans.

With those kinds of profit margins there isn't any reason why sellers couldn't buy three accounts a day and keep running. A banwave would be meaningless, and we're not going to get a 24/7 admin patrol in Kamadan as nice as that would be.

Editing instead of double post. Got a response from Anet. Here goes:

Quote:

"

Hello,

Thank you very much. The appropriate team has been notified of this issue.
I am unable to guarantee any action but can assure you that our attention has been brought to this issue.

The fastest and most efficient way to report someone is in game. Reports in game get no reply but I do assure you they are looked into and handled appropriately.

If you have any further questions or concerns please let us know.

Thank you for your time and for your help in improving Guild Wars 2."

Yes, they said Guild Wars 2. More than once. I definitely submitted to the GW1 section.

I responded and asked that they be sure they notice my ticket is about GW1.

EDIT #2:

Nearly immediate response to my message asking if they realized I was talking about Guild Wars not GW2. The response was just "Thank you very much. I have updated them on the issue."

ACWhammy · Jul 05, 2016, 05:58 PM // 17:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by wind fire and ice

Short of giving us a dedicated admin I just don't see how anet would fix it.

Perhaps we can offer to pay Anet for a GW admin? I'd be down for that lol...

Flint Lightning · Jul 06, 2016, 04:17 PM // 16:17

Quite annoying indeed.