Curse

Martin Alvito · Jan 31, 2008, 04:34 AM // 04:34

Honestly, I don't see why there are still trial keys nearly three years after release. I'm sure that they make ANet marketing happy, but I have to wonder whether the sales figures justify their continued existence.

Gaile Gray · Jan 31, 2008, 07:02 AM // 07:02

Yep, in answer to the title, we're tired of it too. Rather than repeat myself, may I link you to another thread, where you'll see that we are trying to deal with this, and very much hope to improve this situation in the near-term and in the long-run as well.

We thank you for your patience as we work on this matter. We truly are putting considerable thought into how to reduce the advertising. In addition, the Support Team is working hard -- after a brief period of training two new employees -- to get back to their normal daily block rate of something close to 1,000 bots a day.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Alvito

Honestly, I don't see why there are still trial keys nearly three years after release. I'm sure that they make ANet marketing happy, but I have to wonder whether the sales figures justify their continued existence.

These are brand new trial keys, not old ones. And yes, they are effective marketing, as we see new accounts created daily, many as a result of the trial itself. The spamming of advertisements is unfortunate, but as another player mentioned in the linked thread, if the trials engender that irritation, but also help us with marketing, he'll put up with the minor intrusion of the ads, especially since we are working to reduce them.

Skye Marin · Jan 31, 2008, 10:31 AM // 10:31

Here's what I'm thinking:

-Trial Accounts can only whisper characters that have them added on their friends list (or whisper them first in the same instance)
-Trial Accounts have auto-screening for known gold selling website names, .com, .net, .org, and are instantly canceled if the filter is hit 3 times
-New /report option for unsolicited advertisements

erk · Feb 03, 2008, 11:36 PM // 23:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

...
The spamming of advertisements is unfortunate, but as another player mentioned in the linked thread, if the trials engender that irritation, but also help us with marketing, he'll put up with the minor intrusion of the ads, especially since we are working to reduce them.

I don't think most people feel that way, the general chatter I saw on the weekend went more like "Why are theses spam bots here? I didn't pay for that" "I did /report and nothing happened".

The PR disaster you are creating is that the public perception that A.net doesn't care about in game spammers. Putting up a forum post that says you do means little as most players don't read forums, but are flooded with bots in every staging area and major town. Grab an anonymous account and go have a look for your self, you will find no shortage off pissed of people and spammers.

Grasping Darkness · Feb 03, 2008, 11:37 PM // 23:37

tired of it? no. i love sending /reports to anet in the expectation of the accounts being banned. i know im not alone on this one

Diddy bow · Feb 03, 2008, 11:40 PM // 23:40

I don’t see why you cant report someone from another district, it makes no sense, I’ve seen a bot who whispered then zoned. Meaning he couldn’t be realistically reported...

HawkofStorms · Feb 04, 2008, 03:16 AM // 03:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Diddy bow

I don’t see why you cant report someone from another district, it makes no sense, I’ve seen a bot who whispered then zoned. Meaning he couldn’t be realistically reported...

Agreed. I've repeatedly suggested this should be changed. Bots now change zones every couple of seconds to intentionally avoid reporting.

Fril Estelin · Feb 04, 2008, 06:25 AM // 06:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawkofStorms

Agreed. I've repeatedly suggested this should be changed. Bots now change zones every couple of seconds to intentionally avoid reporting.

I can only think of one good reason for that: because technically it's more difficult to check if the nickname "exists" if it's in a different district (you have to check to avoid people mistyping nicknames).

Just for everyone's information, there's been a great and brilliant news on the war front with gold-sellers/RMT thanks to Blizzard who won the first trial against one of these companies:
http://virtuallyblind.com/2008/02/01...rd-injunction/

Saint Zeth · Feb 04, 2008, 06:29 AM // 06:29

The whispers are a little annoying, but I don't usually stay in the Great Temple of Balthazar long enough to be bothered by it.

pkodyssey · Feb 04, 2008, 06:00 PM // 18:00

Answer - Just get rid of Trial accounts. Instead institute buddy keys. Only allow 1 to be generated at a time.

For example, I can send a friend a buddy key, but can't receive another until it expires. I know this won't stop them, however, it will greatly reduce the situation.

Alternatively, if a buddy key gets wacked by Anet for spamming, flag the account that generated the key. If it gets hit 3 times then pow, it gets a ban.

BabyJ · Feb 04, 2008, 11:05 PM // 23:05

Whats really sad is, I never go to the great temple yet i still get pm's from gold sellers. So how is that possible? The last time i went to the great temple was a couple of months ago when i met a person for an auction sale. So i just can't figure out how in the world could i get a pm from a place i haven't been to in at least 2 months? It's very irritating to sign in on a character, leave my guild hall and bam, a pm from a gold seller. And i can't report them cause it says they are not in my district and I'm not about to go hunt this bot down just to use a report function when i shouldn't even be getting pm's from bots from a place i haven't been to in months! /end rant /takes deep breath
I usually just ignore it and go on about my business till i get like 4 or more pm's then its to the iggy list. But it would be nice for anet to just to make it all go away.

T. Drake · Feb 04, 2008, 11:21 PM // 23:21

In that case I would report them to the Support over the website and put the player on my ignore list: http://www.guildwars.com/support/default.php

(Yes it requires some work, but at least you know that you try to do something good to the community, tough it doesn't deserve it sometimes

)

Even if I find the gold seller in the same district, I won't report him with the ingame Report System, because I'm unsure if "botting" is the right choice for a player who spams this advertisements.
I'm not sure what A.Net does with this. Do they check the chat log too or just the movement patterns of that player or whatever they do to identify a botting account?
If the last thing is right, they'll never find out why the player has been reported.

With the Support site I can at least describe what the person did.

A.Net should really add an additional option for gold selling in their Report System and possibly make it district independend.

Lady Yuna · Feb 04, 2008, 11:31 PM // 23:31

But unless you guys are visiting the Temple ALOT, you know? once every 1/2 hour or so, who really cares about the bots. I mean, this is a MMORPG, and with that there will HAVE TO HAVE gold selling,(find me a good mmo without gold selling or things similar to it) so why make a post complaining of "Oh I didn't buy a game to see these bots"(Anet NEVER promised there won't be on the EULA btw) it's the same pointlessness like the 117 which many people simply posted "F this, I'm quitting GW cause my friends got banned". All BS, just how hard is it to ignore a PM in this game, it not like you have to buy their gold.

If Anet could fix everything right away, they probably won't assembled a support team from the start.

blurmedia · Feb 04, 2008, 11:37 PM // 23:37

They are in Shing Jea as well now <.<

Heavenly Messanger · Feb 05, 2008, 12:01 AM // 00:01

I suggest that whenever someone tries to PM you, a little window opens that says " Xxxx Xxxx would like to open (trade) chat with you." [Accept][Decline]
(much like how in AIM, if someone you don't know messages you, a little window pops up...) or, much like the little trade window that pops up. If you reject, that person is put on your ignore list, blocking the person from the first time they pm you. And the number of times they are rejected from chat could be sent to Support, to set them up for possible banning.

If someone is on your friends list, then you wouldn't have to go through with this, you could just talk.

Anyways, theres my idea, flawed as it may be.

You can't see me · Feb 05, 2008, 12:04 AM // 00:04

Destroy and any all chat functions for trial keys, and create a tag for all trial account characters labeled [GWTA] (Guild Wars Trial Account) shown with a red tint. This way, people will know why they cannot chat, and gold seller bots will become powerless with trial keys.

Kiragi Yagami · Feb 05, 2008, 12:12 AM // 00:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by You can't see me

Destroy and any all chat functions for trial keys, and create a tag for all trial account characters labeled [GWTA] (Guild Wars Trial Account) shown with a red tint. This way, people will know why they cannot chat, and gold seller bots will become powerless with trial keys.

Very good suggestion. i /agree with this one. perhaps having "buddy accounts" and "trial accounts". Buddy accounts can chat, but only to the person who sent them the buddy key, or people on that person's friend list who also have them added, or have confirmed that they will allow them to chat with them.

Gold-Seller spam doesnt bother me that much, but it seems nowadays whenever i log onto Kiragi, even before im done loading, ive got the "Welcome to <insert crappy gold selling website here>, buy our gold now!" message. my ignore list is getting a bit pudgey.

erk · Feb 05, 2008, 01:14 AM // 01:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saint Zeth

The whispers are a little annoying, but I don't usually stay in the Great Temple of Balthazar long enough to be bothered by it.

Problem is they are everywhere!, it's really bad in the PvP staging areas too when you are waiting to get into a game. People strike up all sorts of interesting conversations about almost any topic whilst waiting, only to have them spoiled by a chat spam ever 10seconds. That actually annoys more more than the whispers, because I can DND the whispers but I still want to be part of the local conversation thread whilst I am killing time waiting.

Voltaic Annihilator · Feb 05, 2008, 01:49 AM // 01:49

Perfect solution right here ---->http://youtube.com/watch?v=L7p2h2Lgpqg

Floski · Feb 05, 2008, 01:51 AM // 01:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by DarkWasp

Gold sellers are black market and screw with the economies of real countries. They should be imprisoned, not just banned.

Can you show me how they screw with real economies? I'd be pretty interested in this magic.