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BEWARE: Do NOT Play The Auction House / Acquire Credits in SWTOR - BANNED LVL 50!
MrChase
Member Posts: 1
I played this character during head start. Made it to 50 some time ago, made 60 valor today (I am mostly a PvP’er). I play a lot, and when I’m logged in, I’m either in a warzone, or I’m at the GTC terminal on the imperial fleet going between the fleet and the mailbox waiting for the WZ queue to pop (and the terminal for the PvP daily).
I had 400 biochem / 400 bioanalysis / 400 diplomacy on this character. I made moves in the market early selling my stacks of bioanalysis mats at the ridiculous prices they sold for (because everyone was leveling biochem), and I invested my credits into buying stacks of A.) Mandalorian Iron, B.) Corsuca Gems, C.) Radioactive Paste (the three biggest-value mats with low-supply which sold fairly high).
When I’d see large stacks of those for cheap, I’d buy them up and relist them in lower quantity at higher price. This was all I did for the past few weeks every day between WZ’s sitting at the GTC. A stack of 99 Radioactive Paste is currently worth at least 1 million credits (check Vulkar Highway empire prices on GTC, 1 sells for 13K cheapest). A stack of 99 Mandalorian Iron is worth more, and a single Corsuca Gem is selling for 25,000 credits, so you can imagine what I was getting when I built up to selling stacks of 99.
I made a few big trades, and between winning a lot of WZ’s and making wise moves, and my credits on char were sitting at around 9.5 million or 10 million last time I checked today (just bought another stack of 99 Corsuca Gems off someone TODAY for 1 million credits). I really don't think this is a lot for an end-game player who wins a lot of PvP games (valor 60) and plays the auction house with grade 6 artifact (purple) mat stacks of 99... but even then, what is a "credit farming" ban? WHAT IS THIS?!?! Is there some limit on credits for legit end-game PvP'ers / Raiders? I understand kicking out someone running a bot point to point collecting chests, BUT THIS?!
Try to login just now, and I’m getting denied. My account is locked, and yours will be too if you play the market and have enough credits (seemingly low IMO) to be deemed a "Credit Farmer". I check my email and see the following vague message:
Dear *NAME OMITTED*,
We are contacting you regarding your account MoarPowar for Star Wars™: The Old Republic™.
We wish to notify you that you are in violation of our Terms of Service.
From an investigation of your account, we can see that your character has carried out the following violation:
Credit Farming
As a result of this violation we are locking your account with immediate effect until we have fully reviewed your account.
We will be in contact with you shortly following our review.
Please note that violation of our Terms of Service may result in a suspension or ultimately a permanent account closure. We encourage you to familiarise yourself with our Terms of Service which can be found here:
http://tos.ea.com/legalapp/WEBTERMS/US/en/PC/
Thank you for your understanding.
If you feel you have received this ‘Account Lock’ in error, please contact us at swtoraccountdisputes@bioware.com
I replied with the following to that dispute email, and have not yet heard back.
My login is this same email, my account name is MoarPowar.
How is my account locked for credit farming? What is such a violation?
If you review my accounts statistics, you will see that I have been heavily active in trading on the GTC, buying low, selling high, of high-end crafting materials.
I currently have listed many stacks of 99 of Grade 6 compounds, premium and artifact level items that sell for hundreds of thousands, and some stacks of grade 6 artifact level items over 1 million.
If you were to actually log onto my account, you would see that I am indeed a heavy trader and that the stacks of crafting materials I have on my character are well worth millions. Are you saying that you have policy to ban people who trade too well?
You should restrict your market and make this policy clear then. People write guides on how to do effective trading and playing of the market, assuming it is all fair game to buy low, sell high, analyze demand, target markets and try to control them by buying out competitors, etc.
I have done nothing but followed legitimate trading techniques that everyone uses in any open trading system, and my account does not have some insane trillion amount, but rather I am sitting at around 10 million credits on my character last time I checked.
You may have banned me for this ridiculously vague accusation of "credit farming", but know that I will be posting about this on the mmorpg.com forums. You are essentially saying you don't want end-game players who are max-level (I have been 50 for some time, and 60 valor PvP), and have 400/400/400 maxed out crew skills (I am 400 biochem, 400 bioanalysis, 400 diplomacy), to successfully trade in the open market.
This is absurd.
Comments
ahahahah these guys ban for some funny reasons
Absurd, indeed.
Apparently if you level too fast, have too much money, or in any other way out-perform other players you will be investigated and possibly banned.
Everyone has to have an equal chance at every single aspect of the game or it's not fun! Right?
Hey, I've been playing since day 1 of head start and I just reached level 25 last night, when is Bioware going to ban everyone who got to 50 already!?
"There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
These guys like all developers spent all their time writing code in college. They skipped advanced coursework in the various liberal arts, did not read fantasy epics, and once they came to companies like BIO and EA, they they joined the borg of people who think pvp is red vs blue team and instancing. They have little concept, therefore, of things like economics 101. What you did was savvy and fair. They just don't understand it, and like most developers, what they do not understand they kill (see also Dark Age of Camelot/RIP).
Ridiculous... what is up with BW/EA and their go go Ban happy syndrom?
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Thanks for the warning and yes that does seem completely absurd.
Hope you get back in soon, keep us advised as i also like to trade heavy in my mmo's.
I remember when Lineage 2 first came out people found a way to dupe items and make a ton of gold.. well they just started banning people who had over X amount of gold.. i remember make a ton of cash seeling stuff and guess most of that money came from people who were using the dupe and so I got banned for it... guess it doesn't pay to take dirty money... but yea if you're story is legit they should be able to follow character logs and see how the money was made...
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/339443/Video-FollowUp-Guide-For-Enhancing-Graphics-and-Performance-in-SWTORSorry-still-Nvidia-Only.html
I would be willing to bet that the Devs set an amount of $ over x amt of time = investigation. I would also bet that the initial account lock happens automatically. So, there is no one to see that while you are accumulating $ at a rate faster than they anticipated, you are not selling it to others; rather you are sitting on a pile of well-earned $.
Hedonismbot: Your latest performance was as delectable as dipping my bottom over and over into a bath of the silkiest oils and creams.
And you didn't get an initial start up fund by aquiring credits through a grey zone method?
(Just asking since 90% of the cases it's always: I'm so innocent while they had done something, even if it's something minor)
If you're a saint and belong with the 10% I hope their slip up will be rectified!
which is what they did with lineage 2.. since the game was new there shouldn't be a way for people to get x number of gold without exploits so they did a mass ban
http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/339443/Video-FollowUp-Guide-For-Enhancing-Graphics-and-Performance-in-SWTORSorry-still-Nvidia-Only.html
This amazes me. The company is milking every cent out of their playerbase. Then when a player uses the capitolist free market system to make money just like the company is, they get banned XD Does anyone else see the hypocrasy here?
"Question everything, even the existence of a god"
I'm a major AH addict in WoW and when I play LOTRO. This is worrying stuff. SWTOR embraces socialist marxism? Too deep. Back to capitalism.
Didn't they also ban someone for having the audacity to go into an area higher level than his?
I'd be willing to bet there is a less than 50% chance that the OP's story is true...
E.A Sports, if its in the game, its in the game right? I watched them murder SWG Pre-NGE, and will never play another E.A game! Its all about profit and selling boxes, they don't care about you or your time, just your money! If hardcore gamers get an edge, they will make sure you lose it. They'd rather have 1000 casual gamers cash, than one hardcore player's cash. You bein'so overpowered and rich makes causal players turn their accounts off and quit...its all about profit!!!! Sucks that Lucas Arts choose them...
If you did nothing wrong you won't get banned, they said that playing the AH is part of normal gameplay.
No they banned "people" who took low levels to high level areas to farm credits from high level chests and crafting nodes and then sold the money they made for real cash. They didn't ban low levels who went to Ilum to poke around.
So YES they did ban low level characters for doing the work of going into a higher level area to loot some high level stuff. Sorry but thats normal procedure on any mmorpg, its laughable that thats a bannable offense. It's supposed to be an open world if they didn't want someone to do something they shouldn't have made it possible.
Euhm... you mean Sony right? xD
Thats why you dont buy any game by EA
Btw ammount of mismanagement on this game is more laughable than anyone predicted
as already said. If you've done nothing wrong your account should be unlocked in due course. If you have been economical with the truth, tough.
As for the smart mouths with 1 line comments regarding playing games from certain companies .. high 5 /facepalm.
I'd rather they keep a tight hold on their game to crack down on exploits which can ruin games for many people than let people cheat. As always some legit but unusual behaviour will get picked up.
Ridiculous ban. You likely either got caught up in an automated script looking for gold farmers, or some other players got sick of you buying up all the resonably priced mats and reselling them and filled complaints against you. I've played the AH to a much more modest degree in WoW and Aion. I had a WoW GM ask me questions, but there was never any action against me. I did, however, have a number of players take time to bitch at me. I'd stress that I was a pretty minor player on the AH and never accumulated massive amounts of currency, but a few players were offended enough to comment and I'm sure that one WoW GM questioned me in response to a complaint by another player.
As long as you never "donated" large amounts of cash to other players, you will probably be reinstated after the investigation. If not, the Bioware really will need to post guidelines on what they do and do not consider legitimate levels of wealth accumulation.
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Wow, awful, senseless move by BW/EA. And of course, because it's such a stupid thing to do, I can totally see BioWarEA doing it.
This company continues to blunder in the dark, digging themselves deeper into their grave.
I feel for you OP - I'd be SO livid if they locked my account for playing the market, even a temporary lock. I seriously wonder where BW's head has been.
Is there really *any* reason to play this game if they are going to slap you on the wrist for everything?
"Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."
I need to take this advice more.
this is becoming outright blatantly moronic. credit farming? are you ****ing kidding me?