**OFFICIAL** Star Wars: The Old Republic Thread

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s44

Diamond Member
Oct 13, 2006
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id also like to point out that they have been supposedly banning people on SWTOR for loot gathering on low level toons in high level area's because it might "damage the economy". bioware's rational turns to a very broad definition of "unusual gameplay" in the EULA which covers just about anything they want it too.
I'd like to point out that this FUD has been debunked. Sadly, Bio could only ban the gold farmers, not publicly execute them.

That said, if you want a game where exploits are OK, go play EVE or something.
 

exar333

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2004
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I've played one character up to 11 and am working on another right now so it's not like I'm deep into this game or anything...

To be honest, imo this game is basically WoW set in the Star Wars universe but without the polish WoW has gained over the years. If this game were branded something other than Star Wars I doubt it would be doing very well past the first month or two.

With that being said, I'm having fun for now but we'll see how long that losts. The problem I'm running into now is that I realize this is just the same old MMO grind so the allure of 'new' is probably going to wear off quickly.

How so? There are tons of fun missions on every planet that are more than just 'kill 10 of x'. Bioware did a great job with this. The heroic missuion flashpoints are fun too. I have enjoyed this very much (as a player who dislikes grind-fests).
 

maniacalpha1-1

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
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I'd like to point out that this FUD has been debunked. Sadly, Bio could only ban the gold farmers, not publicly execute them.

That said, if you want a game where exploits are OK, go play EVE or something.

players may choose to travel to Ilum earlier than the recommended level (40+) and may loot containers if they can get to them, in the cases of those customers that were warned or temporarily suspended, they were systematically and repeatedly looting containers in very high numbers resulting in the game economy becoming unbalanced

So you can loot these containers, but if you loot a lot of them it's an exploit? Were these people using macros to help them loot more of them? If not, what am I missing here? He confirmed you're allowed to loot them even if you're not 40 yet.
 
Mar 10, 2005
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wow, that sounds quite shitty. these players aren't manipulating the software, or glitching thru a wall, or running at 100x speed or something. they're walking into an area and looting a box that was put there to be looted. i'd argue that this is in fact perfectly normal player behavior. if bioware doesn't like that low levels are getting this free box, they should stick a mob next to it.
 

Magusigne

Golden Member
Nov 21, 2007
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wow, that sounds quite shitty. these players aren't manipulating the software, or glitching thru a wall, or running at 100x speed or something. they're walking into an area and looting a box that was put there to be looted. i'd argue that this is in fact perfectly normal player behavior. if bioware doesn't like that low levels are getting this free box, they should stick a mob next to it.

/Thread.
 

maniacalpha1-1

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
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wow, that sounds quite shitty. these players aren't manipulating the software, or glitching thru a wall, or running at 100x speed or something. they're walking into an area and looting a box that was put there to be looted. i'd argue that this is in fact perfectly normal player behavior. if bioware doesn't like that low levels are getting this free box, they should stick a mob next to it.

Didn't they learn from previous MMOs? They can have level minimums to loot, have the items drop from mobs (or put mobs in the area of the containers as you say).

What the hell kind of game has powerful loots just sitting in containers? Oh wait, I know this one...single player games like KOTOR do.
 

maniacalpha1-1

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
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I just did some googling and I found some info on an exploit that was used to make the gathering nodes(I guess this is the containers) respawn. OK, fair enough, but now I have to ask: They said they banned some people for gold farming, and suspended some people for mass looting of the nodes. It sounds like each group was doing two different things, which one was exploiting the node respawns and what was the other one doing?

I'm guessing it was the suspended accounts were using the exploit and the farmers were doing something else. If that's the case, then OK.
 
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IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
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Ugh, hit level 42 last night and I think I may be getting burned out. I don't know how those lvl 50 guys did it. :eek:
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
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Ugh, hit level 42 last night and I think I may be getting burned out. I don't know how those lvl 50 guys did it. :eek:

I don't get it either. I hit 22 last night and I feel like my pace has been good. I can't even imagine being 50!

KT
 

IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
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I don't get it either. I hit 22 last night and I feel like my pace has been good. I can't even imagine being 50!

KT

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time leveling so I can only imagine the time those guys spent. My wife is gone tonight so I have all night free to play and to be honest, I am not looking forward to it. :(
 

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
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I have spent a ridiculous amount of time leveling so I can only imagine the time those guys spent. My wife is gone tonight so I have all night free to play and to be honest, I am not looking forward to it. :(

Time to take a break. Too bad Luck is not playing again tonight; you could spend a few hours getting ready for the new era. :awe:

I'm slow and kind of a completest so it takes me forever to do everything, but I'm ok with that.

KT
 

paperfist

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2000
6,521
280
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www.the-teh.com
I just did some googling and I found some info on an exploit that was used to make the gathering nodes(I guess this is the containers) respawn. OK, fair enough, but now I have to ask: They said they banned some people for gold farming, and suspended some people for mass looting of the nodes. It sounds like each group was doing two different things, which one was exploiting the node respawns and what was the other one doing?

I'm guessing it was the suspended accounts were using the exploit and the farmers were doing something else. If that's the case, then OK.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/01/swtor-ban-for-high-level-looting-unlikely/

Says the exploit involves flipping the zone:

“Well, the people on bioware fourm are saying he is actually banned for doing a “flip” exploit on the planet. not because he was low level and farming high level nodes. which makes a lot of sense to me. the flip exploit: from what i understand, when the control of the zone is changed from one faction to another, all the gathering nodes respawn. so if you have someone from the other team to cooperate and flip it back and forth, you would have infinite money. the reason why bioware mentioned he is there at low level is most likely to emphasis the fact he is exploiting there isn’t enough high level player to fight for the control of the zone yet. so he is also exploiting this fact by going there at low level. i think this makes the most sense. as stupid and unreasonable as EA support is, to be banned for playing the game different is too much.”

I have spent a ridiculous amount of time leveling so I can only imagine the time those guys spent. My wife is gone tonight so I have all night free to play and to be honest, I am not looking forward to it. :(

That what I did with WoW, EQ2, etc just played the game to level. SW:TOR I'm smelling the roses, crafting, checking stuff out. At 20 it hardly seems like I've spent any time playing.
 
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IndyColtsFan

Lifer
Sep 22, 2007
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Time to take a break. Too bad Luck is not playing again tonight; you could spend a few hours getting ready for the new era. :awe:

I'm slow and kind of a completest so it takes me forever to do everything, but I'm ok with that.

KT

I was hoping to get to level 50 by the end of the month and then just take a break. One thing I do enjoy is playing with my brothers and friends and we're all on Vent nearly every night playing. We haven't played a game like this in years and it brings back good memories. :thumbsup:

P.S. Flynn to the Vikings?
 

paperfist

Diamond Member
Nov 30, 2000
6,521
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www.the-teh.com
I think you're under the impression that I'm saying that the effects of these "exploits" should simply be accepted/tolerated with no action taken. That is in fact not what I'm saying.

What I'm saying is that since these are, undeniably, the fault of the gaming company, they should, except in cases of a true emergency, expend a little more man hours to avoid a ban. Because I believe they use bans because banning is more manpower-efficient than say, going into the account to hand-remove the exploited gains.

Or, as in the example I gave, they could deny all sub level 40s access to the zone until a more fine-tuned solution can be coded, this is acceptable as well, and it's even more efficient than banning, because it will also stop the need to even ban for it, since it can't happen.

But like I say, at least these are temporary bans. Hopefully they do not graduate to issuing permanent bans for unfair reasons, but if they do, there were those of us who knew it might happen.

Yes, I was under the impression that you thought it was okay to continue to exploit a bug.

Of course they are taking the easy way and just putting a ban on him. They are catering to a large amount of people who may get pissed for not having zone access, maybe some 30s in a guild have teamed up with some 42s. Now they can't. By banning what sounds like someone who has been warned you 1)get rid of the problem till fixed and 2)put a shot over everyone's bow that if you following in that guys footsteps you'll get warned/temp banned. No programming necessary :)

OK, but let me ask - it's great that you can visit any place at any level, but is there actually any sub level 40 content in Ilum that would truly hurt anyone to lose access to for a week or two? If there is, then I accept that this wouldn't be a workable solution. The only reason I suggested blocking it off was because I got the impression it was a high level content only zone.

I don't know, I'm only a 20 n00b ;)

See the example I used above. I don't think these places are meant to be soloed by anyone, sounds like you'll be there with a mixed group of levels and talents. Perhaps there's some nodes you can harvest there which your crew skill gives you access to.
 
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lupi

Lifer
Apr 8, 2001
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That sounds highly fishy. Unless users gain control of the box spawn rate, I don't see how anything someone does in game like this is banable.
 

maniacalpha1-1

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
3,562
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Yes, I was under the impression that you thought it was okay to continue to exploit a bug.

Of course they are taking the easy way and just putting a ban on him. They are catering to a large amount of people who may get pissed for not having zone access, maybe some 30s in a guild have teamed up with some 42s. Now they can't. By banning what sounds like someone who has been warned you 1)get rid of the problem till fixed and 2)put a shot over everyone's bow that if you following in that guys footsteps you'll get warned/temp banned. No programming necessary :)



I don't know, I'm only a 20 n00b ;)

See the example I used above. I don't think these places are meant to be soloed by anyone, sounds like you'll be there with a mixed group of levels and talents. Perhaps there's some nodes you can harvest there which your crew skill gives you access to.

Now that I know more about the exploit being used I would say that instead of closing the zone to sub-40s, just lock the zone control changeover so that the exploit can't be used, until a more finely tuned solution is available.

That sounds highly fishy. Unless users gain control of the box spawn rate, I don't see how anything someone does in game like this is banable.


Now that I know more about the exploit being used, I can say they WERE controlling the spawn rate. Unless we've misinterpreted the info available and it was the banned gold farmers doing the flipping and the suspended people were just running around looting. I guess we'll never know 100% certain since they aren't likely to provide further details.

Another problem is, what if you decide you're going to go to Illum to loot, and you aren't going to exploit, but other people are there at the same time and THEY are flipping the zone? If you loot anything at all, EA/Bioware might decide to group you in with them. PURE SPECULATION FOLLOWS:In fact, this might actually be what happened: they banned the people collaborating to flip the zone as gold farmers, and suspended the people who just happened to be bystanders in the zone for taking advantange of it, possibly they didn't even realize something bad was happening. And while we can rejoice that they only got a warning, an unfair warning is still unfair because what if by chance they get caught up in something else unfair and get banned because they already had a warning?

I mean, seriously, if you don't realize someone is collaborating with the enemy to flip the zone, from your point of view, you would simply be running around looting everything in sight, which is normal behaviour for MMO players.
 
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KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
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Nov 30, 2005
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Yeah I've reported four gold/level spammers so far. Seems to be inevitable in any of these games.

Not sure I understand the point, do people actually contact these places after getting an in-game e-mail?

KT
 
Mar 10, 2005
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Yeah I've reported four gold/level spammers so far. Seems to be inevitable in any of these games.

Not sure I understand the point, do people actually contact these places after getting an in-game e-mail?

KT

absolutely. i never have, but a lot of players get frustrated at the time/money sinks and cough up $20 to make the game fun again.
 

nanobreath

Senior member
May 14, 2008
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Another problem is, what if you decide you're going to go to Illum to loot, and you aren't going to exploit, but other people are there at the same time and THEY are flipping the zone? If you loot anything at all, EA/Bioware might decide to group you in with them. PURE SPECULATION FOLLOWS:In fact, this might actually be what happened: they banned the people collaborating to flip the zone as gold farmers, and suspended the people who just happened to be bystanders in the zone for taking advantange of it, possibly they didn't even realize something bad was happening. And while we can rejoice that they only got a warning, an unfair warning is still unfair because what if by chance they get caught up in something else unfair and get banned because they already had a warning?

I mean, seriously, if you don't realize someone is collaborating with the enemy to flip the zone, from your point of view, you would simply be running around looting everything in sight, which is normal behaviour for MMO players.


Dear God man, stop with the conspiracy theory possibilities of how innocent bystanders can get banned. Unfair warnings?!?! Paranoid much?

Have you guys received any emails in-game from Gold Farmers yet? I started getting them last week. :eek:

I did, and I so took the 1 credit they sent along with the message. I hope they don't ban me!!!! (Sorry I couldn't avoid the jab Mania)
 

maniacalpha1-1

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
3,562
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How exactly do the spammers send emails in game anyway? At least in EQ, you had to have a paid account to do it, and surely they would get banned because the people they spammed would report them, right? I mean, if you're constantly paying to subscribe an account to spam gold tells/emails and getting banned, how do they make any money? Is there a hack that lets them email people in game?
 

maniacalpha1-1

Diamond Member
Feb 7, 2010
3,562
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Dear God man, stop with the conspiracy theory possibilities of how innocent bystanders can get banned. Unfair warnings?!?! Paranoid much?



I did, and I so took the 1 credit they sent along with the message. I hope they don't ban me!!!! (Sorry I couldn't avoid the jab Mania)

The thing is, if this was an item duping exploit or something, that's fairly easy to avoid and only affects the one player doing it. But this turned out to be something that affects the entire zone and all the players in it.

I will grant you that MOST exploits do not have the potential to catch up innocent bystanders. But if flipping zones makes mobs/nodes respawn, that's a big risk. Hopefully if I running around looting stuff and it seems to have an endless supply I'll remember to see what's going on.
 

HumblePie

Lifer
Oct 30, 2000
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That sounds highly fishy. Unless users gain control of the box spawn rate, I don't see how anything someone does in game like this is banable.


Ahh after reading farther, this is EXACTLY what is happening.

Couple of people on a new server rush to level 10 and rush to the level PVP planet which is meant for 40+ chars. Each player is from the opposing faction. They sit at the box spawns and loot everything then "flip" the control of the planet to the opposite faction so the boxes all respawn for the opposing team. That team loots the boxes and then flip control back so the other team can loot. rinse and repeat. So basically high level gear and credits as fast as the pvp control of the planet can be flipped and the boxes looted.
 
Mar 10, 2005
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not really a spoiler:

the end of act 1 brought a very disappointing and cheesey turn for my assassin.

is this yet another mmo that starts very strong and turns to crap once you lose noob status?