Exploiters selling their cheap mats and getting rich

Magdalina

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Magdalina wrote: »

He used his hands in the game where you're not allowed to do so and won over the people who only used feet as they're supposed to. And the...um I don't know English terms for that well, sorry...couch? Judge? Sport commitee? Whoever's in charge, they recognized this as a legit victory.

... and that happens pretty often, in soccer at all levels from amateurs to competition. Sometimes people get away with it and keep their victory, sometimes they don't, there's a whole discussion going on about referrees using cameras, but there are a lot of valid arguments against it, so yes, things are never as easy and simple as they seem.

I don't consider this entire survey issue to be that big and I definitely don't want ZOS to waste X manhours on investigating each case. It's just not worth it, and it wouldn't even prevent exploiters to exploit next time, because next time / next issue will be entirely different with totally different outcomes and related issues.

Frankly all these cries for fairness and justice in a videogame are beyond ridiculous and out of proportion.

I'm pretty sick of "if you exploit in time, good for you" attitude because yes, when I play a videogame of all things I'd like things to be somewhat fair at least there. And I do think it'd nice if they wasted some hours on this(or better yet, on fixing the whole thing before this got out of hand, it'd been reported before) rather than moar half naked outfits for Crown Store.

I'm not at all surprised though. It's ZOS usual stance on exploits, been that way since launch. If you exploit, good for you. But gods forbid you call someone a d*** in zonechat. That just might get you permabanned.

andreasv

VampiricByNature wrote: »

I think everyone agrees it's silly to propose some kind of heavy punishment on people who used the exploit. ...

How can you say that after reading all the comments?

mtwiggz

GrumpStump wrote: »

Would any of you fine ZOS people be willing to let us know why no materials were removed?

@ZOS_DaryaK
@ZOS_AlanG
@ZOS_AntonioP
@ZOS_Finn
@ZOS_RichLambert
@ZOS_Finn
@ZOS_GinaBruno


Thank You


GrumpStump

Been tagging the ZoS employees into this thread, any many others like this one, for nearly a week now. Still no response. I doubt they'll ever give us an actual reason. It seems like it's one of those "ignore it and it will go away" situations.

Absolutely pathetic.

VampiricByNature

I'm assuming a lot of these comments were in jest... at least... the throwing fruit and such. Lol.

OrphanHelgen

I need voidstone. They seam to be rare lately. Where is this underpriced mats I need?

Turelus

mtwiggz wrote: »

GrumpStump wrote: »

Would any of you fine ZOS people be willing to let us know why no materials were removed?

@ZOS_DaryaK
@ZOS_AlanG
@ZOS_AntonioP
@ZOS_Finn
@ZOS_RichLambert
@ZOS_Finn
@ZOS_GinaBruno


Thank You


GrumpStump

Been tagging the ZoS employees into this thread, any many others like this one, for nearly a week now. Still no response. I doubt they'll ever give us an actual reason. It seems like it's one of those "ignore it and it will go away" situations.

Absolutely pathetic.

Sadly I think the majority of the game do not care (or don't know to care) so it really can be a ignore it and it'll go away issue. Unless this hits a news website and becomes more common known they're not going to address it no matter how much we ask for it.

We don't even know if anyone is still reading this thread (or if they have been to start with). Even if they are what we're asking for goes against all their established rules and set up. There was a thread yesterday asking for a direct statement from ZOS and it was locked for talking about player discipline actions.

The fact this thread is still going and hasn't been shut down yet is pretty surprising. However I am waiting for the inevitable "this discussion has run its course" from a mod before the lock.

andreasv

VampiricByNature wrote: »

I'm assuming a lot of these comments were in jest... at least... the throwing fruit and such. Lol.

No, I'm afraid not. It seems that people are really upset this time. I agree that there should have been a harsher punishment, if not at least to prevent future exploits.
Right now ZOS is in a position where if something happens in the future they either upset those that didn't exploit or those that exploited but were "unfairly" treated considering previous actions.

I agree with you, however, that the best would be to avoid getting those ill-gotten materials if possible. And the impact on the market remains to be seen down the line.

anitajoneb17_ESO

Magdalina wrote: »

I'm pretty sick of "if you exploit in time, good for you" attitude because yes, when I play a videogame of all things I'd like things to be somewhat fair at least there. And I do think it'd nice if they wasted some hours on this(or better yet, on fixing the whole thing before this got out of hand, it'd been reported before) rather than moar half naked outfits for Crown Store.

I'm not sure the "if you exploit in time, lucky you" is so widespread. I run one guild and am a member of 4 other, and in all those, bug abuse and exploits are taken very seriously. Most people would even frown upon using shards on Kena, fighting Mephala Spawn on the bridge (in FG), farming XP on Craglorn Scorpio, or on "Shadow"... (all these examples "back in the days" of course). I had not heard at all about the survey thing before last friday.

Why ZOS did not act earlier if they had been informed of the glitch by reports, that's the only question that makes me a little bit salty.

istateres

Thornen wrote: »

GrumpStump wrote: »

Would any of you fine ZOS people be willing to let us know why no materials were removed?

@ZOS_DaryaK
@ZOS_AlanG
@ZOS_AntonioP
@ZOS_Finn
@ZOS_RichLambert
@ZOS_Finn
@ZOS_GinaBruno


Thank You


GrumpStump

I'll eat my own hat if this actually gets a response, usually Zos will bury their head in the sand and pretend that this never happened.

Edit: And I was actually hyped for the DB update now I can't give a *** about it due to how useless this company is.

Admit it. You don't have a hat!

istateres

OrphanHelgen wrote: »

I need voidstone. They seam to be rare lately. Where is this underpriced mats I need?

If only there was an exploit we could use to flood the market for you . . .

Magdalina

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Magdalina wrote: »

I'm pretty sick of "if you exploit in time, good for you" attitude because yes, when I play a videogame of all things I'd like things to be somewhat fair at least there. And I do think it'd nice if they wasted some hours on this(or better yet, on fixing the whole thing before this got out of hand, it'd been reported before) rather than moar half naked outfits for Crown Store.

I'm not sure the "if you exploit in time, lucky you" is so widespread. I run one guild and am a member of 4 other, and in all those, bug abuse and exploits are taken very seriously. Most people would even frown upon using shards on Kena, fighting Mephala Spawn on the bridge (in FG), farming XP on Craglorn Scorpio, or on "Shadow"... (all these examples "back in the days" of course). I had not heard at all about the survey thing before last friday.

Why ZOS did not act earlier if they had been informed of the glitch by reports, that's the only question that makes me a little bit salty.

This is a people thing. It sounds like you're in some very nice guilds, no sarcasm

Now ZOS' actual stance...when the game just launched there was a duplicate item bug. I must admit I don't know much about it because I was a total newbie back then but I know it was present for quite a while, and afaik the duplicated items were never taken away.

I remember numerous occasions when ZOS'd accidentally end up with an area of instantly respawning mobs providing for easy farming of xp/mats/gold/stuff. Their stance on every single one of them that I can remember was to be silent for days/weeks(without as much as acknowledging if it's even an exploit/bug or just to be considered a "feature" now), then by the time most players(or perhaps not most, but at least many; like after a few weeks of people farming those places I'd usually get inclined to believe it's intended and consider farming myself...and THAT's when things get patched) start believing it's a feature and want to try it out as well it gets patched. The stuff people got from it while it was still "functioning" stays with them.

When IC launched there was a bug where you could get vet achievements from nonvet IC dungeons, so some people simply downscaled nonvet dungeons to level 10 and roflstomped them for easy points...and were the first to get the hardest(at the time at least) achievement in game without actually learning any mechanics or anything. Now I don't think those people should be banned because it's ZOS' fault this ever made it to live at all, but those achievements should've been taken away. I think we can all agree it'd be fair that way. They weren't(however the bug was fixed...eventually. Not sure how long it took).

So yeah, all in all, ZOS' stance seems to be "exploit all you want, while you can".

Toast_STS

Prices I saw on xbox.

8k for 200 rubedite. Was around 40k a couple weeks ago

2k for 200 ruby ash.

Going to stock up on mats for future crafting writs. People that didn't exploit can now get much cheaper mats. It benefits everyone.

anitajoneb17_ESO

Magdalina wrote: »

When IC launched there was a bug where you could get vet achievements from nonvet IC dungeons, so some people simply downscaled nonvet dungeons to level 10 and roflstomped them for easy points...and were the first to get the hardest(at the time at least) achievement in game without actually learning any mechanics or anything.

So THAT'S how so many people managed to run around with the daedric hoarvor pet on week 1 of IC release ?? Always been wondering about that one. I get it now !

I don't think it's a "stance" from ZOS. It's more imho the result of malfunctioning - seems quite obvious to me that there are serious internal issues at ZOS for transmission of information, prioritization of issues, and generally reaction time.
While the result / consequences are the same for us, I don't think it's intentional and I think it makes a difference.

Magdalina

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Magdalina wrote: »

When IC launched there was a bug where you could get vet achievements from nonvet IC dungeons, so some people simply downscaled nonvet dungeons to level 10 and roflstomped them for easy points...and were the first to get the hardest(at the time at least) achievement in game without actually learning any mechanics or anything.

So THAT'S how so many people managed to run around with the daedric hoarvor pet on week 1 of IC release ?? Always been wondering about that one. I get it now !

I don't think it's a "stance" from ZOS. It's more imho the result of malfunctioning - seems quite obvious to me that there are serious internal issues at ZOS for transmission of information, prioritization of issues, and generally reaction time.
While the result / consequences is the same for us, I don't think it's intentional and I think it makes a difference.

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm sure they made (yet another) honest mistake there and never intended for something like that to happen, let alone to stay in game that long.
However, while it's nice to think they have good intentions and all and everyone makes mistakes, it did happen. And it's their job to at least minimize the consequences - and ideally make sure something like that never repeats again.

They did neither. I still know people who have their hoarvor pet from doing lvl 10 nonvet dungeons, and there we go all over again with a banker exploit.

So while the actual thought behind it might not be "exploit all you can, while you can"(it seems more like "oh who cares, we have more important troubles here" tbh, which isn't that much better) that's exactly the message they're sending, and they don't seem to care one bit(as you can see from the lack of reaction to this and any other threads on the matter).

Elsonso

HxC wrote: »

7- At midnight the script goes on and kick a lot of players from the game even those without the banker assistant.

Just to be clear. It is not guaranteed that the banker was required to do this, under every case where the exploit was possible. It is possible that it was discovered because of the banker, but the exploit has been in the game for a very long time because no one thought to do it. It is also possible that someone did think to do it, has been doing it for months, and the banker was a $40 "quality of life improvement" for them.

Tandor wrote: »

There's still no evidence of any official acknowledgement by ZOS that they have limited their actions in this case to 72 hour bans with no confiscations. All we have is anecdotal evidence relating to some of the cases.

This is true, however, as time goes on, it is increasingly likely that someone who was permanently banned, or had items taken away, will come out and say something. If, in fact, anything like that happened. The longer we go without such a statement, the less likely it is that they did more than 3 day suspensions, even for repeat offenders.

Kalebron wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Kalebron wrote: »

Personally I think everyone in eso would "exploit" a node if it were to continually reappear each harvest if that opportunity would arise. I don't blame these guys for taking advantage of the situation. It is not like they made it happen using some type of hack. I am playing devil's advocate here because this really is not as big a deal as it is made out to be. Zos can only police the game so much.

They kinda did make it happen by using the same survey over and over. Dont act like this is something you could do just walking along minding your own business.

Mindlessly or not, word of mouth or not, it was an opportunity which the game provided. There really is not a difference in the scenario I provided and the one that happened with writs.

Sure there is. People say that to justify doing things they know they should not be doing. There is a big difference between an uncalled for glitch happening, and arranging for, or expecting, a glitch to happen. The latter is an exploit. There is also a difference between those who would say "this is not right and should not be happening" and those who say "awesome!".

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Well hey if you appeal and are found not to have done anything wrong then your account wont be wiped. Or your stuff will be replaced. I think they need to use a firm hand here. If you appeal then obviously if you didnt do anything they will know that. So I dont think the whole innocent bystander argument is a good one for not punishing true cheaters.

TX11 wrote: »

Could we please get an explanation or something as to why the mats where left in the game? Please!

I doubt that they can tell how mats were obtained. While there are people in the forum who would say "take it all", is that any more fair than letting them keep it? Do they take the stacks of ore from before they started exploiting it?

It is much easier, in the case of a mistake, to unban someone, apologize, and give them Crowns than it is to replace items that were taken. The proper first step is to suspend or ban people. Taking stuff away gets into a quagmire of complexity where mistakes could be hard to rectify.

DRXHarbinger

KingYogi415 wrote: »

Markets are the same, they are hoarding them or gold seller scoop them up immediately.

I was looking at nirn prices and almost bought one at 13k. I went back ten mins later and the lowest on the market was 18k, all of the lower priced ones got bought up.

Still don't get why people sell Nirns, you can craft an item / weapon and sell it for double compared to the stone itself, this morning I logged to over 100k in sales waiting for me on just 5 Nirnhoned infernos alone.

KingMagaw

I will be as simple and frank as i can:


It is my experience of how poorly ZOS has dealt with this issue, both in lack of any communication and their game cheating stance.

Are people more or less likely to exploit if a future bug is found?.If the answer in your mind is LESS likely then good, less cheaters around the better, i think everyone agrees that.

Now if the answer is MORE likely, then this shows what a poor job they done.

Anyone who is subb'ing is constantly funding this treatment of players. It very obvious ZOS in this to make some quick money releasing re-meshed cosmetic junk all the time. Stop subbing and your doing something proactive that might make ZOS actually discourage cheating and exploiting.

SkoomaAddict420

Alcast wrote: »

ZENIMAX handled the issue really well.
rewarding exploiters is not a good thing ZOS.
And how do I know? It is quite obvious if people sell materials 2k lower than usual all of the sudden in all zone chats lol.

The small punishment of a 3 day ban just encourages people to exploit again once another opportunity arises

What was the exploit ?

khele23eb17_ESO

anitajoneb17_ESO wrote: »

Wow wow wow... human nature at its best all over this thread.

My guess is that most people here asking for "hard punishment" are in fact envious of the exploiters and frustrated to not have know of the exploit earlier. They'd have used it no limit if they had known.

Dont blame people for being people. Its the devs/gms role to enforce rules. If they dont more and more players will abuse any new exploit (some out of greed, some out of frustration, some out of spite) until the game becomes a cheat2win clusterfudge.

Also the best way to get an exploit fixed asap isnt to report it. If ZOS thinks the issue is contained to a few individuals theyll deal with it at their own snail-like pace. The thing to do is to plaster information about the exploit all over the internet. Gaming websites, MMO forums, everywhere. That usually gets their butts in gear.

Inklings

I would love for all these people that want blood over this to be innocently caught up in one of these ban/suspension waves and have to go through all the steps to try to get it rectified only to have the suspension withheld. People would have such a different tone about this if they only knew how often ZoS wrongfully suspends and bans players. The same players will *** and complain about how bad the game is coded or how poorly it runs, while at the same time believe that ZoS has a full proof way of catching and stopping stuff like this survey exploit. If these players even slightly had an issue were ZoS wrongfully threatened to take away everything they have earned in game, they would be singing a different tune.

sadownik

Inklings wrote: »

I would love for all these people that want blood over this to be innocently caught up in one of these ban/suspension waves and have to go through all the steps to try to get it rectified only to have the suspension withheld. People would have such a different tone about this if they only knew how often ZoS wrongfully suspends and bans players. The same players will *** and complain about how bad the game is coded or how poorly it runs, while at the same time believe that ZoS has a full proof way of catching and stopping stuff like this survey exploit. If these players even slightly had an issue were ZoS wrongfully threatened to take away everything they have earned in game, they would be singing a different tune.

Right, but isnt it another issue Z. needs to figure out? Surely they, with all the data they have are capable of minimizing innocent players banned?

Magdalina

Inklings wrote: »

I would love for all these people that want blood over this to be innocently caught up in one of these ban/suspension waves and have to go through all the steps to try to get it rectified only to have the suspension withheld. People would have such a different tone about this if they only knew how often ZoS wrongfully suspends and bans players. The same players will *** and complain about how bad the game is coded or how poorly it runs, while at the same time believe that ZoS has a full proof way of catching and stopping stuff like this survey exploit. If these players even slightly had an issue were ZoS wrongfully threatened to take away everything they have earned in game, they would be singing a different tune.

Actually what most of us would prefer would be for the acquired mats to be removed. And yes. It's probably not as easy as it sounds. But if you made a f***-up like this(and ZOS did), have the decency to at least try to set it right instead of taking the cheap way out.

DeadlyRecluse

It seems to me that their method of tracking this exploit was not infallible (by their own admission) so they may be hesitant to send down harsher punishment.

It will be funny if, when the next exploit rolls around, it's something easy to track, everybody bandwagons onto it because of this response, and there end up being more serious repercussions.

That'll be a fun time to be on the forums.

Inklings

.....

Slayyer-AUS

WTS potent nirn crux 1k each

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO

lordrichter wrote: »

HxC wrote: »

7- At midnight the script goes on and kick a lot of players from the game even those without the banker assistant.

Just to be clear. It is not guaranteed that the banker was required to do this, under every case where the exploit was possible. It is possible that it was discovered because of the banker, but the exploit has been in the game for a very long time because no one thought to do it. It is also possible that someone did think to do it, has been doing it for months, and the banker was a $40 "quality of life improvement" for them.

Tandor wrote: »

There's still no evidence of any official acknowledgement by ZOS that they have limited their actions in this case to 72 hour bans with no confiscations. All we have is anecdotal evidence relating to some of the cases.

This is true, however, as time goes on, it is increasingly likely that someone who was permanently banned, or had items taken away, will come out and say something. If, in fact, anything like that happened. The longer we go without such a statement, the less likely it is that they did more than 3 day suspensions, even for repeat offenders.

Kalebron wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Kalebron wrote: »

Personally I think everyone in eso would "exploit" a node if it were to continually reappear each harvest if that opportunity would arise. I don't blame these guys for taking advantage of the situation. It is not like they made it happen using some type of hack. I am playing devil's advocate here because this really is not as big a deal as it is made out to be. Zos can only police the game so much.

They kinda did make it happen by using the same survey over and over. Dont act like this is something you could do just walking along minding your own business.

Mindlessly or not, word of mouth or not, it was an opportunity which the game provided. There really is not a difference in the scenario I provided and the one that happened with writs.

Sure there is. People say that to justify doing things they know they should not be doing. There is a big difference between an uncalled for glitch happening, and arranging for, or expecting, a glitch to happen. The latter is an exploit. There is also a difference between those who would say "this is not right and should not be happening" and those who say "awesome!".

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

Well hey if you appeal and are found not to have done anything wrong then your account wont be wiped. Or your stuff will be replaced. I think they need to use a firm hand here. If you appeal then obviously if you didnt do anything they will know that. So I dont think the whole innocent bystander argument is a good one for not punishing true cheaters.

TX11 wrote: »

Could we please get an explanation or something as to why the mats where left in the game? Please!

I doubt that they can tell how mats were obtained. While there are people in the forum who would say "take it all", is that any more fair than letting them keep it? Do they take the stacks of ore from before they started exploiting it?

It is much easier, in the case of a mistake, to unban someone, apologize, and give them Crowns than it is to replace items that were taken. The proper first step is to suspend or ban people. Taking stuff away gets into a quagmire of complexity where mistakes could be hard to rectify.

Alternately they could just be perm banned for life instead. Would you rather lose all your stuff or lose your stuff AND your characters?

Inklings

sadownik wrote: »

Inklings wrote: »

I would love for all these people that want blood over this to be innocently caught up in one of these ban/suspension waves and have to go through all the steps to try to get it rectified only to have the suspension withheld. People would have such a different tone about this if they only knew how often ZoS wrongfully suspends and bans players. The same players will *** and complain about how bad the game is coded or how poorly it runs, while at the same time believe that ZoS has a full proof way of catching and stopping stuff like this survey exploit. If these players even slightly had an issue were ZoS wrongfully threatened to take away everything they have earned in game, they would be singing a different tune.

Right, but isnt it another issue Z. needs to figure out? Surely they, with all the data they have are capable of minimizing innocent players banned?

Well that's just it it. You hit the nail on the head on why people only got 3 day suspensions. Even while minimizing the amount of innocents effected, there are still innocent people being punished, and we can not and should not , expect those players to loose everything just cause they are the minority. Its really hard for people to think outside of their own little personal bubble, and im not saying that about you, im saying it as how humans act and think in general. Thats why people really need to try to put themselves in the shoes of the innocents here and think about how they would feel if rolls were reversed.

Inklings

Magdalina wrote: »

Inklings wrote: »

I would love for all these people that want blood over this to be innocently caught up in one of these ban/suspension waves and have to go through all the steps to try to get it rectified only to have the suspension withheld. People would have such a different tone about this if they only knew how often ZoS wrongfully suspends and bans players. The same players will *** and complain about how bad the game is coded or how poorly it runs, while at the same time believe that ZoS has a full proof way of catching and stopping stuff like this survey exploit. If these players even slightly had an issue were ZoS wrongfully threatened to take away everything they have earned in game, they would be singing a different tune.

Actually what most of us would prefer would be for the acquired mats to be removed. And yes. It's probably not as easy as it sounds. But if you made a f***-up like this(and ZOS did), have the decency to at least try to set it right instead of taking the cheap way out.

Honestly, they can't come out and say it but they are so understaffed for issue like this. That doenst make it right though, and they should be more open about stuff like this, but we all know if they were it would hurt their reputation and sales drastically. So they will put a band-aid on it, keep quite about it, and wait for the problem to go away.

Volkodav

mtwiggz wrote: »

Volkodav wrote: »

Who's getting rich?
It's just ingame gold. Who cares who has a ton of gold even if I dont.
I have always thought that it's silly to be upset at anyone else who has something you do not.In both RL or ingame.
(having said that,I'm not a fan of exploitation of something like this.It can effect the ingame economy.)

You're right, it's not real life. The funny part is it effects some peoples real life. Having to properly farm thousands of materials to be competitive takes a lot of time, which intrudes on your real life activities if you're an advid gamer. Then on the other hand exploiters obtained said mats much, much, more quickly than everyone else, not effecting their life style much at all.

It boils down to a quality of life issue in my book. Wouldn't be a huge issue if the materials weren't gained by an exploit. If players spent the time farming the materials then good for them, the fact that they were exploited is the issue.

You can't properly compare real life "crimes" to in-game "crimes". But to procreate your "real life vs game life" comment - you wouldn't be upset if someone, or several people, were a part of insider trading on the stock market for example? Causing your 401k to take a massive dump. They have something you don't, got it through "crime" that could very well negatively effect your

Manpoints wrote: »

@ZOS_DaryaK Could you toss in a relevant one about whether this is being followed up on the yellow mats/gold front?

Yeah, would be nice. Tagged multiple different employees on this subject, all of which completely ignore it. Then this person just keeps removing comments instead of addressing the issue. Logic is weak here.

Awe,c'mon.Your just out there if you call ingame farming a "quality of life issue". It isnt.It is their CHOICE to be competitive.It isnt a real life job.I'm an "avid" gamer and find no problems with farming or letting any aspect of the game flow over into real life.I am a bit too sane for that,
If someone is stupid enough to let a game effect their real life,then it's their problem.Not ZOS's.
As to me being upset if there was inside trading? Not my problem as I would NEVER even want a 401k.I had the option when I worked in NY and turned it down.I'm not interested in financial systems or those who find that soert of thing important.So,I cant equate,as your example just doesnt effect me or my real life.

Magdalina

Inklings wrote: »

Magdalina wrote: »

Inklings wrote: »

I would love for all these people that want blood over this to be innocently caught up in one of these ban/suspension waves and have to go through all the steps to try to get it rectified only to have the suspension withheld. People would have such a different tone about this if they only knew how often ZoS wrongfully suspends and bans players. The same players will *** and complain about how bad the game is coded or how poorly it runs, while at the same time believe that ZoS has a full proof way of catching and stopping stuff like this survey exploit. If these players even slightly had an issue were ZoS wrongfully threatened to take away everything they have earned in game, they would be singing a different tune.

Actually what most of us would prefer would be for the acquired mats to be removed. And yes. It's probably not as easy as it sounds. But if you made a f***-up like this(and ZOS did), have the decency to at least try to set it right instead of taking the cheap way out.

Honestly, they can't come out and say it but they are so understaffed for issue like this. That doenst make it right though, and they should be more open about stuff like this, but we all know if they were it would hurt their reputation and sales drastically. So they will put a band-aid on it, keep quite about it, and wait for the problem to go away.

They probably are but perhaps it'd help some if they'd take some people off making more Crown Store costumes and mounts and onto more useful stuff.

And yes, I'm aware those are (probably) different people. But those people get paid from the same pool. If the company can afford to hire, say, 10 people to do Crown Store fluff but only 2 to look after exploits and the company is content with this ratio(given the current "effectiveness" of the system) then, well, I don't know what to say.

And I honestly think communication would go a LONG way. Not just on this issue, on all of them. They clearly read the forums but only "z" response you ever get is from a mod telling you to behave. It's sometimes hard to behave when you're feeling ultimately ignored.