Action Taken for Veteran Asylum Sanctorium Exploit

DanteYoda

Yet they leave in Animation Canceling..

Diminish

I personally feel that perma-banning accounts that "may" have taken advantage of exploiting vAS (either time) is a little extreme. This game is full of bugs, glitches, and game breaking issues that go months, and sometimes years without being fixed. Yet, one of the precious trials gets exploited and you ban/suspend thousands of accounts, and fix the issue with highest priority. ZoS, do you even realize how many other encounters/zones are actually broken in your game? MoL, RoM, HRC, lots of world bosses, ICP, WGT, Sewers, Cyrodiil, Clockwork City, etc. just to name a few.

Its a little painstaking knowing that you have no problem banning accounts like this when YOU dropped the ball whilst gold sellers and bots run rampant in every zone; absolutely destroying the economy. Or how guilds monopolize the economy by technically exploiting the guild trader system. What about all this? Will they too see prosecution in a similar fashion?

I get it, you don't want people exploiting your content, but to be honest... an exploit is an exploit. They all fall under the same section in your ToS. You should not be hand picking what you deem is a "ban-able" exploit, and what you deem is not. Correct them all and pass out a similar judgement to all of those involved, or none at all. Of course you wouldn't do that though, because in the end you would have no player base left. This ban wave is very biased on your part.

I did not exploit this, so I am not here advocating in my own defense. I don't have the skin, and I don't really care to try and get it. Those who do have it, awesome; give yourself a pat on the back because to me that is all it is worth. I don't play this game and see someone with the vAS skin and instantly think he is any better than CP 120 casual Joe standing next to him so the fact that some people got the skin by means of an "exploit" in my eyes does not "devalue" it in any way, shape, or form.

In the end, yet another aspect of the game was poorly designed. ZoS deemed it an exploit, and harshly punished those who utilized yet another one of THEIR mistakes. Between shoving crown store items in everyone's face (***-poor marketing strategy by the way), wrongfully banning people for mistakes they have made in their game/engine, excess lag for nearly the entirety of the games life, way overpriced vanity items (chock this up to poor marketing strategies again), actual game breaking issues that go on FOREVER unfixed, balance issues between PvE and PvP since the dawn of time, and so much more I am finding it harder and harder to stay engaged or wanting to support this game as time passes.

kojou

zhead11 wrote: »

If the Xbox Endgame Players weren't already in slim supply....

True endgame players would try to get it legitimately not exploit. These were likely players that couldn't get it any other way.

WuffyCerulei

DanteYoda wrote: »

Yet they leave in Animation Canceling..

SIRPORKCHOPS

Why have some accounts received permanent bans and other simple suspensions.

WuffyCerulei

SIRPORKCHOPS wrote: »

Why have some accounts received permanent bans and other simple suspensions.

The permabans are probably for people with strikes already against them, and the suspensions for people who are first-time offenders.

Dagoth_Rac

The people who say that it is OK to exploit this because it is ZOS' fault for having a bug in the game? That is like saying it is OK to steal all your neighbors stuff because he thought he locked the door but the lock was busted. "You can't arrest me for robbery, officer! It is my neighbor's fault for not having a better lock! He should have had the locksmith out here faster to fix it. You should be arresting my neighbor, not me!"

There are some areas that are open to debate. "Do you think ZOS intended us to be able to sneak past this trash?" "Do you think ZOS intended this boss mechanic to be cleansed via purge?"

But the vAS exploit is not open to debate. No sane or rational person would think that was working as intended. If something is clearly not working as intended, and it results in trivializing difficult endgame content, don't do it.

pteam

WuffyCerulei wrote: »

SIRPORKCHOPS wrote: »

Why have some accounts received permanent bans and other simple suspensions.

The permabans are probably for people with strikes already against them, and the suspensions for people who are first-time offenders.

Anybody know how long the suspensions are for?

ol_BANK_lo

Alcast wrote: »

and lmfao over 1k lul

"Class Representative" Fancy.

Reverb

pteam wrote: »

WuffyCerulei wrote: »

SIRPORKCHOPS wrote: »

Why have some accounts received permanent bans and other simple suspensions.

The permabans are probably for people with strikes already against them, and the suspensions for people who are first-time offenders.

Anybody know how long the suspensions are for?

Until the review is complete, just like Gina's post said.

Suspensions will be held while we conduct a more in-depth investigation of the accounts, which will be completed by time Summerset launches on console with a fix for the exploit on June 5.

Lots of people here asking questions that are answered in the first post.

Minyassa

SIRPORKCHOPS wrote: »

Why have some accounts received permanent bans and other simple suspensions.

The permabans were probably for the people profiting from it, i.e. selling exploit runs to other players. I can actually see someone getting sucked into a trial that they didn't know was headed in that direction--I didn't even think people would pug a vet run at all but I was in one last week that pugged vet instead of normal for some inexplicable reason--though you'd think they would bail when they realized what was happening, but maybe the ones that they had proof were just *** they only suspended. I expect that they are looking at chat screenshots and seeing undeniable evidence like "give me x amount of gold and I will make sure you get the skin", etc. to decide who to permaban. They did say "who have undoubtedly taken advantage"; that implies they have proof. Since there were only 117 permabans out of over a thousand guilty parties I would think they only permabanned the ones that they had screenshots, chat logs, and such for.

Unfadingsilence

zhead11 wrote: »

If the Xbox Endgame Players weren't already in slim supply....

?? NA is perfectly fine, EU on the other hand RIP

DoctorESO

BANK_IT_HERE wrote: »

Alcast wrote: »

and lmfao over 1k lul

"Class Representative" Fancy.

?

DoctorESO

The Silver Skinners can once again look down upon all you non-Silver Skinners! Just kidding!

MLGProPlayer

Why the *** do people do this ***? Getting to endgame is such a huge time investment and they just threw all their progression away. Based on past responses from ZOS, this ban wave was to be expected. Not sure what these players thought they were gaining.

DoctorESO

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

Why the *** do people do this ***? Getting to endgame is such a huge time investment and they just threw all their progression away. Based on past responses from ZOS, this ban wave was to be expected. Not sure what these players thought they were gaining.

They gained a temporary moment of delight (gold, or the skin) for a permanent term of banning.

Sheezabeast

Thanks for stepping up to the plate, Zos!

Reverb

I don't understand who would be stupid enough to do this, so soon after sweeping bans for cheesing this fight.

DoctorESO

Reverb wrote: »

I don't understand who would be stupid enough to do this, so soon after sweeping bans for cheesing this fight.

People without integrity who shouldn't be playing the game (hence their suspensions and bans).

Rickter

ralphylauren wrote: »

Rickter wrote: »

get rekt.

If these are some of the people I'm thinking of. . . then some of them paid upwards of $150 USD for that vAS clear.

Folks willing to cheat their way through a videogame, or the amount of people looking for an easy ride - makes me lose faith in the human race. Think about if these are people you might work with in real life, of worse - work FOR.

people with such low moral values theyre willing to cheat the system, or step on others to get to the top. Good riddance.

Wait time out you never seen American Greed? People cheat everyday in life to get ahead, especially in business. Businesses is cut throat by nature. Besides this is a VIDEO GAME, if people purchased the game then invested time into it and then decide to cheat that’s on them.

And if cheating in a video game makes you “loose faith in the human race” you really need to re-evaluate life

wait. . . what exactly are you saying? that this is normal behavior and I should accept that people will lie cheat and steal their way to the top?

and you're telling me i have to re-evaluate my life?

wozborne

Yes, let’s focus resources on fixing and banning a harmless glitch that only succeeds in a getting a cosmetic while The copious PvP bugs get ignored . I swear PvEers are ridiculously overprotective of their stupid skins.

XxCaLxX

Did the accounts only get banned or IP banned? Have a feeling that most ppl that sold the skins with the glitch had more than one account that the gold got sent to.

Oreyn_Bearclaw

Glad you took appropriate action, but it’s a shame the numbers were so high for many reasons. Not the least of which is that it’s a reflection not only the playerbase’s lack of moral compass, but also in just how far out of hand things need to get for an appropriate response from the devs.

Bad day for the game...

ManwithBeard9

wozborne wrote: »

Yes, let’s focus resources on fixing and banning a harmless glitch that only succeeds in a getting a cosmetic while The copious PvP bugs get ignored . I swear PvEers are ridiculously overprotective of their stupid skins.

They aren't bugs, they're features.

AgaTheGreat

People on facebook who got perma banned on PS4 have a really weird attitude.... Posting their ban letters and bragging about it. Some of them are so confident they're getting unbanned that they don't even recognise they did something wrong.

I hope the bans stick.

Asmael

XxCaLxX wrote: »

Did the accounts only get banned or IP banned? Have a feeling that most ppl that sold the skins with the glitch had more than one account that the gold got sent to.

IP bans are completely uneffective for a number of reasons. Among other reasons: some ISPs allow you to change your IP at will or on routine (sometimes just turning off & on your box will suffice), you can hide your actual IP to the service you are using and several people share the same IPs, so you can end up banning people who had literally nothing to do with it.

Short term IP ban is often used as a deterrent to DDOS attacks, long term IP is generally speaking a poor moderation tool.

MTijhuis

@ZOS_GinaBruno Now that you guys are on a roll with the ban hammer. Why not start a investigation in Vmol, afterall that trial is still being glitched daily.

Well you at it, please also ban everyone that abused the trial in the past. Afterall a skin iss a skin, a glitch is a glitch and it's against the ToS. For a lot of people it's a high achievement. You can't make exceptions now!

jaschacasadiob16_ESO

So yesterday in the /zone they have anticipated these people will suddenly have a new quest. A girl wearing a hoodie tells you the benefactor wants to talk to you. As you enter that same home, @ZOS_GinaBruno will hit you with the hammer and finally you are back to the main menu. The Prophet won't save you this time.

DPShiro

DuskMarine wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Recently, a number of players have been found exploiting Veteran Asylum Sanctorium Hard Mode by exiting the playable area to defeat the boss, earning the Sanctified Silver Skin fraudulently for themselves and other players. This reward is typically earned for completing some of the most challenging content in ESO, and devalues the work of other players who have put in the time and effort to earn it legitimately.

Taking part in this exploit is a violation of the ZeniMax Terms of Service, and as a result, we have just suspended 1,046 accounts and issued a permanent ban to 117 accounts who were found to have undoubtedly taken advantage of the exploit. Suspensions will be held while we conduct a more in-depth investigation of the accounts, which will be completed by time Summerset launches on console with a fix for the exploit on June 5. Additionally, the unfairly-earned Skin will be removed from the account.

It's worth noting that we will perform an additional audit between now and June 5 for any additional accounts to use this exploit, and we will action those accounts as necessary.

ya know you cant really ban people over an exploit you were suppose to have fixed already that seems kindve wrong in the handbook and especially since you cant really see them do it how do you actually know? just thank god i wasnt going into vet AS on a score run

Yes of course they can, and they just did.
People did this, knew they were glitching and abusing a bug to get a illegitimate clear for the skin.

It’s very easy to to see who has glitched it, there are several parameters that doesn’t line up with a proper run.

DPShiro

Dagoth_Rac wrote: »

The people who say that it is OK to exploit this because it is ZOS' fault for having a bug in the game? That is like saying it is OK to steal all your neighbors stuff because he thought he locked the door but the lock was busted. "You can't arrest me for robbery, officer! It is my neighbor's fault for not having a better lock! He should have had the locksmith out here faster to fix it. You should be arresting my neighbor, not me!"

There are some areas that are open to debate. "Do you think ZOS intended us to be able to sneak past this trash?" "Do you think ZOS intended this boss mechanic to be cleansed via purge?"

But the vAS exploit is not open to debate. No sane or rational person would think that was working as intended. If something is clearly not working as intended, and it results in trivializing difficult endgame content, don't do it.

Well said, I agree