Curse

FX8 · Aug 04, 2005, 05:04 PM // 17:04

Here's something that not everyone will know about, did you know you can get temporarily banned for logging into your "own" account? You may be surprised but this is what has happened to me...

Everyone knows trading is part of the gaming experience and that there are a limited slot on your inventory where you can keep items and another 20 slots in the common "Xunlai Storage". I keep many items for sales ranging from common crafting materials to collectors items. There are 4 available character slots so if you've filled up your common storage then you HAVE to use different characters as storage. When trading I tend to switch characters to get certain items that I can't fit into the Xunlai Storage. The ONLY way to switch character is to log out and back into your own account, and this is what I do when a player requests such item.

I left Guild Wars on while in Lion's Arch for a short while, to my suprise, when I came back I was logged out and a message appeared saying I've been "banned for attempting to hack GW & banned for 168 hours (1 week ban)!". I thought to myself "what the hell?" and emailed Guild Wars Support straight away.

It took me 4 emails before "actually" finding out what was wrong with my account. The first 3 replies were useless and were patronising (e.g. accusing me of cheating...). By the 4th email, someone actually "bothered" to check what happened to my account and told me that my account was temporarily suspended for the logins.

As a player, I NEVER cheated in Guild Wars or ANY other game for that matter. I believed that cheating in multiplayer games that affect others is definately a "no no". I even remind people in my own guild not to cheat. I myself even try to help the developers by reporting bugs I've found.

So far I've been banned for 6 days for a ridiculous reason. I've sent them a total of 8 emails, received 9 replies and still NO ONE has actually done anything useful (e.g. appologies for the mistake & unblock my account). How can someone be banned for something they did NOT know (a notice would have been nice!). This problem would NOT have happened had the developers added the "switch character" button (without logging out and in). So now I've been temporarily banned for "poor user interface" design, talk about the frustration

I didn't pay $50 to write emails to sort out this ridiculous situation.... All I can do now is wait...

I'm surprise that ANet & GW Support think it's ok to ban fair and abiding players!

*** So for people who don't know, refrain from switching characters often. At least until ANet / NCSoft add a new "switch character button" or remove that flawed banning policy. ***

Drakron · Aug 04, 2005, 05:09 PM // 17:09

Holy crap that is so ... lame.

Sorry for that, I wish to rub that in at any time someone goes praising Arena Net for being fair.

Algren Cole · Aug 04, 2005, 05:11 PM // 17:11

uhm...if you entered the password correctly everytime why would they even think you were trying to "hack" into the account....you never returned a failure packet....

Kuku Monk · Aug 04, 2005, 05:12 PM // 17:12

How many times were you switching logins? Must have been an awful lot.

FX8 · Aug 04, 2005, 05:17 PM // 17:17

I didn't log into my account that often. Come on, I have better things to do like "playing" the game than sit there to log into my account. Lets put it this way, everytime you want to sell an item to another player that's on another character, you'll have to log out, log into character with item, move to common storage, log out, and back to original character (that was trading so buyer knows who you are) to complete the sale. How can logging into you own account to complete trade be a way to "hack" the game?

Mugon M. Musashi · Aug 04, 2005, 05:28 PM // 17:28

anyway, this "switch character" feature would be better than logging out/in

Damon Windwalker · Aug 04, 2005, 05:30 PM // 17:30

I ahve to say that I suspect that there is a lot more to this story.

I switch characters probably 2-3 times per day (that I'm playing) - different characters in different stages of the game, combined with guildies with characters in differen stages...

...never had a problem.

I've also cycled through all 4 of my characters (in fairly quick succession) in order to go through their inventories to consolidate crafting materials into storage when I needed to raise some quick case...

...no problems.

So - I am somewhat skeptical...

Algren Cole · Aug 04, 2005, 05:31 PM // 17:31

I wouldn't count on it Mugon....it took them the better part of 2 months to figure out how to implement a name change feature....

Teufel Eldritch · Aug 04, 2005, 05:35 PM // 17:35

I am sceptical as well but... it wouldn't surprise me in the least if ANET/NCSOFT did in fact do this.

boxterduke · Aug 04, 2005, 05:38 PM // 17:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by FX8

I didn't log into my account that often. Come on, I have better things to do like "playing" the game than sit there to log into my account. Lets put it this way, everytime you want to sell an item to another player that's on another character, you'll have to log out, log into character with item, move to common storage, log out, and back to original character (that was trading so buyer knows who you are) to complete the sale. How can logging into you own account to complete trade be a way to "hack" the game?

You do not have to go back to the original character. Just add the player to your friends, log off and then trade with the 2nd character. That will save you one step at least.
That is what I do and never had a problem with people not recognizing me.

But still we need that switch character feature.

raven214 · Aug 04, 2005, 05:39 PM // 17:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Algren Cole

I wouldn't count on it Mugon....it took them the better part of 2 months to figure out how to implement a name change feature....

You can change names?

boxterduke · Aug 04, 2005, 05:39 PM // 17:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Algren Cole

I wouldn't count on it Mugon....it took them the better part of 2 months to figure out how to implement a name change feature....

Whats this name change thing, we do not have it yet do we?

Zaklex · Aug 04, 2005, 05:39 PM // 17:39

Interesting, I have been known to log in/out a 5 or 6 times in a matter of 10 -15 minutes, doing inventory shuffling and have never had my account banned. What interests me though is this, "banned for attempting to hack GW for 168 hours!", you never said if you were not logged into GW for that amount of time or not.

Also, the reason why there isn't a "switch character" button is to prevent hacking, if you didn't have to log out to change characters then that leaves the client open for hacking, this has been stated by A.net as the reason for not allowing switching of characters while logged in.

The name change feature is only for those people who use inappropriate character names and are warned by A.net that the character in question will be blocked unless the name is changed(by the way, that idea was taken from a suggestion I had made as a tester).

Crimson_1190 · Aug 04, 2005, 05:42 PM // 17:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damon Windwalker

I ahve to say that I suspect that there is a lot more to this story.

I switch characters probably 2-3 times per day (that I'm playing) - different characters in different stages of the game, combined with guildies with characters in differen stages...

...never had a problem.

I've also cycled through all 4 of my characters (in fairly quick succession) in order to go through their inventories to consolidate crafting materials into storage when I needed to raise some quick case...

...no problems.

So - I am somewhat skeptical...

when i am trading between chars i rapidly log in and out probably 7-10 times as fast as it takes me to finish....never had a problem

the bloodthirst · Aug 04, 2005, 05:44 PM // 17:44

it is a pretty strange story. you would have to log in and out more than a couple of times before getting banned i would think but, it does sound like something anet would do. and as far as the charachter switch feature i totally agree.

hydrak · Aug 04, 2005, 05:44 PM // 17:44

I'm also skeptical...

I do know for a fact that if you are attempting to crack someone else's password, then your guildwars key will be temporarily disabled.

TheGreatBoo · Aug 04, 2005, 05:48 PM // 17:48

I dono. I fill my storage up with raw materials so that they can be accessed from every character when needed. I also use each character to hold specific items. When I get items that don't go with that character, I tend to let them stock up a bit before changing back and forth to sort out the mess. I find myself changing characters quite frequently during this, and I have yet to be banned or warned about it. I think their concern was based on your time in the game, not your amount of character changes. If you're logged onto the server for a long amount of time, with a long period of inactivity, it could mean that you could have went to sleep, and had someone run you from one place to another or the like. I dono, just a possible explanation.

FX8 · Aug 04, 2005, 05:56 PM // 17:56

In reply to the skeptics, I've said that I've done this switching character for trading many times before and never have had a problem. The fact is that "when" I was logged out and temporarily banned, I was NOT doing anything nor had I been trading with anyone.

I'm sure you've all left your characters on in some town for awhile to see what people are trading and buy what you need. I've had the game for 2 months now, traded MANY times, never had a problem UNTIL now.

stumpy · Aug 04, 2005, 05:59 PM // 17:59

do a thorough check on your system ... you may have a hijacker on trying to crack your account. (sunbelt counterspy ... very good for this)

aside from that you wouldn't get banned for logging in and out ... you could do so ... numerous times as I do to trade ... I'll do it like 5-7 times in the matter of 10 minutes ... and if I kill an account ... and have to consolidate his/her goods to the others ... even more than that in less time. Never had an issue.

Sounds like theres more to this story, whether you are aware or unaware of it, that is a mystery to us all.

EDIT ******* oh yeah .. and I do leave my character in town ... in ToA, in LA, hell in any town ... I go turn on the bbq, cook dinner come back ... hell I have even left it on all night and went to sleep. Never had any issues.

rwt2006 · Aug 04, 2005, 06:08 PM // 18:08

very odd, i switch many times and nothing happens. And even if u stay logged in for X amount of time without moving then u get automatically logged out. And for time in game then thats odd because 168 hours would amount to a week so i doubt he was logged in for a straight week if so you need help then... anyway i think when it mentions 168 hours thats the time he is banned for not how long he was in game