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ANet Conspiracy?

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  • dariuszpdariuszp Member Posts: 182
    Originally posted by fat_taddler

    So I had my GW2 account hacked last week.  I followed ANet's recommended procedure for reporting the hacked account incident and did receive some intitial responses from ANet support but have not heard anything from them since last Friday night (9/7), even after several follow-up attempts.


    Considering that I hadn't made it very far in the game and wanted to play with some friends over the weekend, I simply picked up another copy from Gamestop (digital sales were halted at the time) and started a new account.


    But this got me thinking...  Is it in ANet's best interest financially to drag out the account recovery process in order to fuel additional sales of the game?


    Considering that there's no monthly fee, it really makes it easier to simply drop some coin on another copy of the game instead of waiting in limbo to hopefully have your account recovered, while all your buddies are enjoying the game.


    Sounds crazy but is it really??  

    Couldn't you came up with something else ? First of all, your account being hacked is 100% YOUR FAULT. It's hard for them from now one because you need to prove that your claim is valid. Also support have over one milion people over their heads so trust me - things go slow right now.

    The Old Republic, 500 milion dolars MMO I played last year was half the size (600.000 pre-orders compare to over 1mln that ANet had) and every support ticket I had took around 1-2 weeks. When I tried to call them they keep me on the phone for 3 hours. Once when my account didn't want to accpet payment, they were playing ping-pong with me. Billing send me to some other tech guys, tech guys send me back to billing and stuff like that. And each redirection was 30m - 1 hour waiting before someone answered.

    And there is lesson for you here. Don't give away your password to third party sites. I have one unique password for email, one unique (both very long) for my bank account. Unique password for every game I play and universal password for fansites and other crappy places I really don't care about.

    I'm doint things like this for couple of years and I never been hacked. Consider this. You registered on some fansite. You used email and password that you use everywhere. I hope it was not the same password you have in your email. Anyone who have access to those passwords could do anything.

  • PsychowPsychow Member Posts: 1,784

    Only an idiot would drop extra coin to buy a new copy of the game instead of waiting for their original account to be retreived.

     

    So I'd say, basing a conspiracy on customers being complete idiots, the conspiracy doesn't pass the smell test. No conspiracy...sorry.

     

    Enjoy your game(s) tho...

  • trenshodtrenshod Member UncommonPosts: 128
    Originally posted by fat_taddler

    So I had my GW2 account hacked last week.  I followed ANet's recommended procedure for reporting the hacked account incident and did receive some intitial responses from ANet support but have not heard anything from them since last Friday night (9/7), even after several follow-up attempts.


    Considering that I hadn't made it very far in the game and wanted to play with some friends over the weekend, I simply picked up another copy from Gamestop (digital sales were halted at the time) and started a new account.


    But this got me thinking...  Is it in ANet's best interest financially to drag out the account recovery process in order to fuel additional sales of the game?


    Considering that there's no monthly fee, it really makes it easier to simply drop some coin on another copy of the game instead of waiting in limbo to hopefully have your account recovered, while all your buddies are enjoying the game.


    Sounds crazy but is it really??  

    Would something like that surprise me absolutely not. Come on they shut down digital copies of the game but allow people to still order collector edition boxes from the site. Sounds a little like money grubbing if you ask me. This would fit right in...

  • Jerek_Jerek_ Member Posts: 409
    Originally posted by MosesZD
    Originally posted by Jerek_
    Nope, any extra sales they get will be offset by people like me-  my account was hacked at 4am this morning, first MMO account I've ever had compromised, and even if/when they get it fixed I'm done with thier game.  Admittedly I didn't care a lot for the game to start with but I had been intending to give it more time, but not now.  I had a fresh email and new password on the account and my gaming system is clean, people can blame the hacks on users all they want but if it happened to me I have to strongly suspect that the developer is the one with the problem.

     

    It's not like they haven't been clear what the probem is...  

     

    Account Security

    Hackers have lists of email addresses and passwords stolen from other games and web sites, and collected through spyware, and are systematically testing Guild Wars 2 looking for matching accounts. To protect yourself, use a strong, unique password for Guild Wars 2 that you've never used anywhere else! If your current password isn't unique to Guild Wars 2, change it today! Do not under any circumstances use the same password for Guild Wars 2 as you do for your email account.
    We've observed hack attempts against hundreds of thousands of accounts that don't even exist. To protect those people in case they purchase Guild Wars 2 and create an account, we will now disallow customers from picking passwords that we've previously seen used in a hack attempt.
     
     

    Day after day after day after day good ol' 'PvPBank' hacks at your account because they're methodical and punish people who foolishly think they can't be hacked with a harsh dose of reality.

    yah, i know, I also know what info of mine that they had- the email has never been used before or since and the password is a brand new, alpha numeric 50/50 split with extra characters, and a mix of caps that has never been used for anything previously.  The truth is companies get compromised to and they absolutely hate admitting when it happens.

  • MosesZDMosesZD Member UncommonPosts: 1,361
    Originally posted by SuperDonk
    Originally posted by MosesZD
    Originally posted by SuperDonk

    It is not in Anets best interest to delay helping thier customers, unless they want to start being talked about in the same breath as SoE and Bioware.

     

    Sure it might provide a few more sales from people like yourself, but the overwhelming majority will likely just move on from the game and never look back. No company thrives in the long-term by pissing off thier customers.

     

     

    Oh please, hacked accounts are being turned around in under two days if you give them all the correct information.   Compare that to Blizzard, or most every other MMO company, which takes 3-weeks to a month IF they'll restore your account.   And when they're not crushed, it's a matter of hours to get your account back.   Like when I had my GW1 account restored earlier this year.

     

    This topic and these ANet bashing responses are just silly.     If you have a real complaint, make it.  But this pretend  "ANet bad customer service to sell more games' crap is both annoying and lame.

     When I got hacked in WoW, took 15 minutes to get all of my gear back, I'm not sure what you are talking about.

     

    Three weeks to a month to get your account back.   I'm not talking a gear/gold hack where you log in and find yourself poor and naked.   I'm talking a stolen account.   Even Blizzard is clear it will likely take DAYS for them to answer your initial 'stolen account' ticket:

     

    ...there may be a perfectly normal period of several days before you hear back. Whilst you are waiting please do read through the Further Reading section below.

     

     

  • NikkitaNikkita Member Posts: 790
    Originally posted by teotius
    Originally posted by Nikkita
    Imagination is a great thing especially when it runs wild. You are thinking way too much into this. There is no conspiracy. Just a little bit of careless ness on part of users as well as the fansite from where account information was stolen.

    What if YOU are one of them?

    I never use same email or password for fansites and MMOS.

    image


    Bite Me

  • thinktank001thinktank001 Member UncommonPosts: 2,144
    Originally posted by fat_taddler

    Sounds crazy but is it really??  

     

    No it isn't crazy.   It is their policy to not prioritize hacked accounts.  What they did prioritize was fixing the security issue.   Hacked accounts are currently under the policy " We'll get to you when it's your turn. " 

    If you hadn't heard anything for a while, then it is usually Anet making a mistake by marking your support ticked as completed.

  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,857
    Originally posted by fat_taddler

    So I had my GW2 account hacked last week.  I followed ANet's recommended procedure for reporting the hacked account incident and did receive some intitial responses from ANet support but have not heard anything from them since last Friday night (9/7), even after several follow-up attempts.


    Considering that I hadn't made it very far in the game and wanted to play with some friends over the weekend, I simply picked up another copy from Gamestop (digital sales were halted at the time) and started a new account.


    But this got me thinking...  Is it in ANet's best interest financially to drag out the account recovery process in order to fuel additional sales of the game?


    Considering that there's no monthly fee, it really makes it easier to simply drop some coin on another copy of the game instead of waiting in limbo to hopefully have your account recovered, while all your buddies are enjoying the game.


    Sounds crazy but is it really??  

    Maybe...They didn't plan on haveing so many aacounts hacked and While I feel they have dropped the ball on the support side, I would like to believe they are doing what they can to fix the situation.

     

    I am fairly sure they had no fore knowlege that sites like this mmorpg.com got hacked and that so many users would use duplicate passwords.

     

    At 1st I was ready to blame ANet for this, however, after I saw MMORPG.com admit to being compromised and players admit that they used the same passwords, I dropped that one real quick.

     

    So, in some cases, players did not use common sense and got hacked. And while it's not ANet's fault. It is ANet's problem.

    And as I said, I think they are doing what they can. I also think it's not in their favor since I believe the hacked account issue was a direct influence on haltig 1st party sales so no, I don't think there is any conspiracy at all.

  • SuperDonkSuperDonk Member UncommonPosts: 759
    Originally posted by MosesZD
    Originally posted by SuperDonk
    Originally posted by MosesZD
    Originally posted by SuperDonk

    It is not in Anets best interest to delay helping thier customers, unless they want to start being talked about in the same breath as SoE and Bioware.

     

    Sure it might provide a few more sales from people like yourself, but the overwhelming majority will likely just move on from the game and never look back. No company thrives in the long-term by pissing off thier customers.

     

     

    Oh please, hacked accounts are being turned around in under two days if you give them all the correct information.   Compare that to Blizzard, or most every other MMO company, which takes 3-weeks to a month IF they'll restore your account.   And when they're not crushed, it's a matter of hours to get your account back.   Like when I had my GW1 account restored earlier this year.

     

    This topic and these ANet bashing responses are just silly.     If you have a real complaint, make it.  But this pretend  "ANet bad customer service to sell more games' crap is both annoying and lame.

     When I got hacked in WoW, took 15 minutes to get all of my gear back, I'm not sure what you are talking about.

     

    Three weeks to a month to get your account back.   I'm not talking a gear/gold hack where you log in and find yourself poor and naked.   I'm talking a stolen account.   Even Blizzard is clear it will likely take DAYS for them to answer your initial 'stolen account' ticket:

     

    ...there may be a perfectly normal period of several days before you hear back. Whilst you are waiting please do read through the Further Reading section below.

     

     

     So a couple of days = a month? Say what you want about the gameplay of WoW, thier customer service is one of the best in the gaming industry. Anet has a long ways to go to be on Blizzrd's level.

  • mikunimanmikuniman Member UncommonPosts: 375
    Nah, I would think most disgruntled customers unhappy with service probably wouldn't buy another copy. if Anet was that greedy to hold out on reactivation of your hacked account in order for you to buy another why would they shut down digital sales. Doesn't seem the act of a company desperate for sales.
  • GeezerGamerGeezerGamer Member EpicPosts: 8,857
    Originally posted by SuperDonk
    Originally posted by MosesZD
    Originally posted by SuperDonk
    Originally posted by MosesZD
    Originally posted by SuperDonk

    It is not in Anets best interest to delay helping thier customers, unless they want to start being talked about in the same breath as SoE and Bioware.

     

    Sure it might provide a few more sales from people like yourself, but the overwhelming majority will likely just move on from the game and never look back. No company thrives in the long-term by pissing off thier customers.

     

     

    Oh please, hacked accounts are being turned around in under two days if you give them all the correct information.   Compare that to Blizzard, or most every other MMO company, which takes 3-weeks to a month IF they'll restore your account.   And when they're not crushed, it's a matter of hours to get your account back.   Like when I had my GW1 account restored earlier this year.

     

    This topic and these ANet bashing responses are just silly.     If you have a real complaint, make it.  But this pretend  "ANet bad customer service to sell more games' crap is both annoying and lame.

     When I got hacked in WoW, took 15 minutes to get all of my gear back, I'm not sure what you are talking about.

     

    Three weeks to a month to get your account back.   I'm not talking a gear/gold hack where you log in and find yourself poor and naked.   I'm talking a stolen account.   Even Blizzard is clear it will likely take DAYS for them to answer your initial 'stolen account' ticket:

     

    ...there may be a perfectly normal period of several days before you hear back. Whilst you are waiting please do read through the Further Reading section below.

     

     

     So a couple of days = a month? Say what you want about the gameplay of WoW, thier customer service is one of the best in the gaming industry. Anet has a long ways to go to be on Blizzrd's level.

    I had my primary email account accesed from China one day. So I remoted to my PC from work and sure enough, I found my stuff in WoW missing. I lodged a ticket and was back in that same day.

    Blizz was awesome. Byt the time I got home from work, it was if nothing happened.

  • Felheart5Felheart5 Member Posts: 35
    Originally posted by MosesZD
    Originally posted by SuperDonk
     When I got hacked in WoW, took 15 minutes to get all of my gear back, I'm not sure what you are talking about.

     

    Three weeks to a month to get your account back.   I'm not talking a gear/gold hack where you log in and find yourself poor and naked.   I'm talking a stolen account.   Even Blizzard is clear it will likely take DAYS for them to answer your initial 'stolen account' ticket:

     

    ...there may be a perfectly normal period of several days before you hear back. Whilst you are waiting please do read through the Further Reading section below.

    Thats a disclaimer you'll see for every such service, the truth is usually a lot quicker. They just like to cover their asses.

    My old WoW account was stolen, still only took three hours from me reporting it lost till I had it back.

  • niceguy3978niceguy3978 Member UncommonPosts: 2,051
    Originally posted by MosesZD
    Originally posted by SuperDonk
    Originally posted by MosesZD
    Originally posted by SuperDonk

    It is not in Anets best interest to delay helping thier customers, unless they want to start being talked about in the same breath as SoE and Bioware.

     

    Sure it might provide a few more sales from people like yourself, but the overwhelming majority will likely just move on from the game and never look back. No company thrives in the long-term by pissing off thier customers.

     

     

    Oh please, hacked accounts are being turned around in under two days if you give them all the correct information.   Compare that to Blizzard, or most every other MMO company, which takes 3-weeks to a month IF they'll restore your account.   And when they're not crushed, it's a matter of hours to get your account back.   Like when I had my GW1 account restored earlier this year.

     

    This topic and these ANet bashing responses are just silly.     If you have a real complaint, make it.  But this pretend  "ANet bad customer service to sell more games' crap is both annoying and lame.

     When I got hacked in WoW, took 15 minutes to get all of my gear back, I'm not sure what you are talking about.

     

    Three weeks to a month to get your account back.   I'm not talking a gear/gold hack where you log in and find yourself poor and naked.   I'm talking a stolen account.   Even Blizzard is clear it will likely take DAYS for them to answer your initial 'stolen account' ticket:

     

    ...there may be a perfectly normal period of several days before you hear back. Whilst you are waiting please do read through the Further Reading section below.

     

     

    Maybe there "may be" a period of several days, but I have never heard of it taking several days for the whole process let alone just to hear back.  My wife's account has been hacked twice, the second time completely stolen while she wasn't even subbed to the game.  We found out about it through one of her guildmates texting her because of the curious actions of her characters in game.  They had changed her password, so she called them, and they requested her to scan her ID and fill out a form.  Within 3 hours her account was hers again and they sent an email for her to get a free authinticator (physical not app) and she did, so no further problems.  Though since it happened to her twice I asked her not to do any online banking from her computer because for whatever reason she seems prone to doing things that can get keyloggers.

  • bcbullybcbully Member EpicPosts: 11,843
    Originally posted by fat_taddler

    So I had my GW2 account hacked last week.  I followed ANet's recommended procedure for reporting the hacked account incident and did receive some intitial responses from ANet support but have not heard anything from them since last Friday night (9/7), even after several follow-up attempts.


    Considering that I hadn't made it very far in the game and wanted to play with some friends over the weekend, I simply picked up another copy from Gamestop (digital sales were halted at the time) and started a new account.


    But this got me thinking...  Is it in ANet's best interest financially to drag out the account recovery process in order to fuel additional sales of the game?


    Considering that there's no monthly fee, it really makes it easier to simply drop some coin on another copy of the game instead of waiting in limbo to hopefully have your account recovered, while all your buddies are enjoying the game.


    Sounds crazy but is it really??  

    I bet you more people did that than would admit OP.

  • AmanaAmana Moderator UncommonPosts: 3,912
    There are multiple threads discussing the topic, and one central stickied thread to discuss account security matters as well.  That one is here: http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/363238/Thread-For-Discussion-of-Phishing-Emails-Account-Security-Matters-.html

    To give feedback on moderation, contact mikeb@mmorpg.com

This discussion has been closed.