Booted from server then says account permanently banned!

SerafinaWaterstar

Ok, have to say thank you for sorting this out as am now back in the game.

Banned for less than 24 hours for accidental behaviour & missed a prog group, but on for tonight’s.

Still not happy with the way this was handled initially, and it has deeply coloured my view of the company, but glad to be back playing.

I hope all those who did not deserve this ban get back in soon too.

prof_doom

kevkj wrote: »

Personally, I'm appalled that players who dared to travel to one of the base game zones and earn pennies of a non-tradable virtual currency are allowed to continue to play this game.

Yeah, I'm gonna have to agree that if the "exploit" can be accidentally triggered by going to one of the more popular "home base" and teleport to a house right next to a wayshrine zones in the game, that the false positive rate is going to be through the roof.

emilyhyoyeon

Between this, the Arenthia black hole, and the Rawl'kha overpopulation issue back in like 2016, I'm never going to that zone again

vsrs_au

I'm just disappointinted that after Gina's apology re: lack of communication on the queue problem, they repeated it for this problem. An update or two, just to reassure the affected players, would have been nice.

sarahthes

vsrs_au wrote: »

I'm just disappointinted that after Gina's apology re: lack of communication on the queue problem, they repeated it for this problem. An update or two, just to reassure the affected players, would have been nice.

Gina posted a comment explaining what was happening within about 30 minutes of the first report on the forums.

React

sarahthes wrote: »

vsrs_au wrote: »

I'm just disappointinted that after Gina's apology re: lack of communication on the queue problem, they repeated it for this problem. An update or two, just to reassure the affected players, would have been nice.

Gina posted a comment explaining what was happening within about 30 minutes of the first report on the forums.

Explaining that the bans were intentional and justified.

tincanman

vsrs_au wrote: »

I'm just disappointinted that after Gina's apology re: lack of communication on the queue problem, they repeated it for this problem. An update or two, just to reassure the affected players, would have been nice.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We can confirm a number of accounts were recently suspended temporarily while we investigate a recent in-game exploit. As mentioned in the email from our Support Team, we will follow up after investigations are complete.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7930453#Comment_7930453

tincanman

React wrote: »

sarahthes wrote: »

vsrs_au wrote: »

I'm just disappointinted that after Gina's apology re: lack of communication on the queue problem, they repeated it for this problem. An update or two, just to reassure the affected players, would have been nice.

Gina posted a comment explaining what was happening within about 30 minutes of the first report on the forums.

Explaining that the bans were intentional and justified.

Yes, I do think the 'ban first then investigate' is completely the wrong way around.

vsrs_au

sarahthes wrote: »

vsrs_au wrote: »

I'm just disappointinted that after Gina's apology re: lack of communication on the queue problem, they repeated it for this problem. An update or two, just to reassure the affected players, would have been nice.

Gina posted a comment explaining what was happening within about 30 minutes of the first report on the forums.

Yes, 1 post. Then nothing. If I'd been hit with this ban, as a paying customer I'd be very unhappy with that.

tincanman

In fairness, it does say there will be a follow up post-investigation.

Sucks but still way better than the <remains silent> last weekend over log-in queues.

AnduinTryggva

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We can confirm a number of accounts were recently suspended temporarily while we investigate a recent in-game exploit. As mentioned in the email from our Support Team, we will follow up after investigations are complete.

I have a question: I can imagine that some people may happen to unknowingly use an exploit when they stumble upon a bug. As to when is this considered as a deed worthy of a ban?

And what can a player who unknowingly used it once do to get the ban removed?

WaywardArgonian

It's encouraging to hear that many of the affected players did not have to wait weeks to regain access to their accounts.

However, I do want to reiterate the point that many people made that banning people before the investigation is complete feels wrong. My guess is that the exploit was of such gravity that ZOS deemed this a fitting preventative measure, but I recall similar instances of this happening in the past.

Many players, including myself, don't feel comfortable with the idea that we could just randomly lose access to our accounts without having done anything to cause it. This is not a feeling that you should want to instill in the people who help build your community and keep this game going. I'd request the powers that be to take said angle into consideration going forward.

Wolfkeks

Glad to hear you guys got unbanned!
Hoping ZOS may find a way to compensate you somehow and that this won't happen again.

b3cky1b16_ESO

Able to log back in now, finally.

ghost_bg_ESO

AnduinTryggva wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We can confirm a number of accounts were recently suspended temporarily while we investigate a recent in-game exploit. As mentioned in the email from our Support Team, we will follow up after investigations are complete.

I have a question: I can imagine that some people may happen to unknowingly use an exploit when they stumble upon a bug. As to when is this considered as a deed worthy of a ban?

And what can a player who unknowingly used it once do to get the ban removed?

scrolling through posts, i was just happy i don't bother on my 2 accounts/both serves on pc with endeavors (only xbox now)... switching accounts and servers, if it says i didn't do it i will do it again thinking it was endeavors for other account or server... and with answer to may be wait for 2 weeks - will directly withdraw payment through my bank and forget for that banned account...

Elvenheart

Personally, I think it’s egregious that ZOS doesn’t employ a psychic who can look into the future when these things happen and predict how long investigations will last and exactly who will be affected in the end. I hear Madam Leota may be available…🔮

MidniteOwl1913

As a software engineer I know to try and reproduce a bug (if possible) before I report it. A bug that can't regularly be reproduced is *very* hard to fix. So I won't be reporting any bugs because I don't want to put myself at risk of being banned because I tried to help by trying to reproduce the bug.

I understand that from ZOSs point of view it is hard to tell the differance between exploiting and trying to reproduce. I guess this just the way it is for ban first ask questions later.

Surak73

So I received the mail saying that my account has been reinstated "because we determined that you did not do this egregiously or an excessive number of times. In the future, please make your best effort to avoid using exploits and report them to us".

All good, except that I was the first to exactly pinpoint the issue, https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/7917108#Comment_7917108, allowing them to fix the bug in a couple of days... And for that I have lost one day of Eso+. Nice...

Ethar_Miraz

kevkj wrote: »

Personally, I'm appalled that players who dared to travel to one of the base game zones and earn pennies of a non-tradable virtual currency are allowed to continue to play this game.

This is why I do not really understand to ban everyone who went to Reapers March that day. It is a non tradeable currency, plus you can earn like a handful daily. Heck if they were able to reset and redo weekly tasks, calculating with this weeks 220, you had to do weekly 10 times to get 2000 points. Which still get you nothing.
They could have flagged all accounts and check them without just banning blindfolded.

(Reapers March is bugged since the game is released on PS (donno about other hardwares). There are parts of the map that you cannot visit without the fear you lock yourself out of that character till it sorts itself out or till support can help (if they can, I knew a person who lost his main char there).

stargazer69

React wrote: »

sarahthes wrote: »

vsrs_au wrote: »

I'm just disappointinted that after Gina's apology re: lack of communication on the queue problem, they repeated it for this problem. An update or two, just to reassure the affected players, would have been nice.

Gina posted a comment explaining what was happening within about 30 minutes of the first report on the forums.

Explaining that the bans were intentional and justified.

And the resolution email reads like it's still my fault for getting more SOEs than shoudl be possible due to a bug in their code, and also not noticing that routine activities (like killing things or picking flowers) were triigering the bug.

A "Sorry for the inconvernience caused by our bad coding, knee-jerk banning and lack of communication" would have been better.

a_u_s_t_y

I’ve also had my ban reversed but the email is comical. “ In the future, please make your best effort to avoid using exploits and report them to us”

All most of us did was play the game, and had no knowledge that this glitch was happening.. most (including me) probably don’t even pay attention to the endeavour system.

Feel like we have been slapped on the wrist and got away with a warning when really we should have an apology and some sort of compensation

Goldie

p00tx wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We can confirm a number of accounts were recently suspended temporarily while we investigate a recent in-game exploit. As mentioned in the email from our Support Team, we will follow up after investigations are complete.

Respectfully, it might be worth exploring whether it's necessarily helpful to suspend/ban people until Zos knows for sure these players were knowingly participating in the exploit in question. I obviously don't know all of the details, but from my perspective, it seems like immediate bans are a little extreme, and this has been the case for a lot of recent issues. The ToS change so often, and are only made initially visible via a painfully long and convoluted message that most players quickly click past without reading (understandably since most of it is in a "language" the average person isn't well versed in reading). Punitive measures should only be taken after a player is individually verbally warned and refuses to comply rather than as an initial measure.

#freeZanshii

THIS!!! ^^^

You report ACTUAL exploiters WITH video evidence and they can play with impunity. What a slap in the face for paying customers to be accused and punished with no confirmation of wrongdoing.

Goldie

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

If they're investigating "a recent in-game exploit," they are unlikely to offer any information about what triggered the ban until they've finished their investigation, as any information they give out might reveal the nature of the exploit. And even after they patch the game to prevent a given exploit from recurring, they don't often say much about what the exploit was, as that could lead to players trying to figure out similar exploits.

All I know is, when I come to the forums and see these kinds of threads, it makes me afraid to try to log into the game for fear that I might find myself "erroneously auto-banned" as well. Yikes! o_O

Exactly this! ^^^

Out of the 5 FULL guilds im in - we have released a statement advising all of our members to avoid ESO until this has been resolved.

stargazer69

Elvenheart wrote: »

Personally, I think it’s egregious that ZOS doesn’t employ a psychic who can look into the future when these things happen and predict how long investigations will last and exactly who will be affected in the end. I hear Madam Leota may be available…🔮

I work for a very large software and hardware company.

If a customer finds a bug in our code, here are things I do:

1. Thank them for finding it (our QA dept obviously didn't)
2. Apologise for any inconvenience
3. Fix it for both them and us

If a customer screws up their system due to no fault of the product:

1. Thank them for highlighting an issue with the documentation
2. Apologies for any inconvenience
3. Fix it for both them and us

What I wouldn't do is revoke their license so they can't use our software

If you have an issue with your product, own it, don't blame the customer (that pays your wages)

ElderSmitter

I am not defending ZOS in what took place but i am going to say that if there is a Major Problem and it has been exposed by Many players than going thru each individual account while allowing them to play the game may be rather difficult. If you Temp Ban (Right or Wrong) At least you then can go account by account and re activate those caught in the crossfire. I feel just by reading what has taken place imo ZOS was not trying to hurt innocent players but rather had to by no choice of their own Temp Ban all guilty and non-guilty parties that intentionally or inadvertently executed whatever happened to be able to rectify what has taken place. As you can see Many have already had their account bans lifted. SCARY ABSOLUTELY! Intentional i do not feel so. I am glad those who did nothing wrong r playing again! Regards Elder....

ZOS_GinaBruno

Just to update everyone on this issue, we are close to completing our investigation and have started unbanning the majority of affected players; only those that we found have exploited maliciously or an excessive number of times will remain banned. Please remember if you come across a game exploit, make your best effort to avoid it and report it to us as soon as possible. Thanks for everyone's patience while we investigated this issue and you can expect an email from our Support Team soon with an update on your account, if you haven't already.

stargazer69

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Please remember if you come across a game exploit, make your best effort to avoid it and report it to us as soon as possible..

Wow, read the room.

This was a bug that neither your developers or QA team picked up on, and yet you put the onus on your paying customers to do their jobs... and ban them if they trip over it.

Shameful

Editing to add that I am in no way having a go at Gina, I know she's been told to put out this [snip] by the C suite

[edited for profanity bypass]

wilykcat

@ZOS_GinaBruno

Thank you so much your response 😀👍
Keep up the good work. You're the best.

spartaxoxo

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Just to update everyone on this issue, we are close to completing our investigation and have started unbanning the majority of affected players; only those that we found have exploited maliciously or an excessive number of times will remain banned. Please remember if you come across a game exploit, make your best effort to avoid it and report it to us as soon as possible. Thanks for everyone's patience while we investigated this issue and you can expect an email from our Support Team soon with an update on your account, if you haven't already.

It's not always possible for a player to understand a bug even occured. So, they aren't exploiting it just because they encountered it.

I hope you update your process for this in the future to do the investigation first and THEN only ban people who did it an excessive number of times. People who repeated on purpose are often doing so because that is common and necessary practice for a bug report. And then there are people who had no way of knowing a bug had even occured because their gain was minor and not noticeable. Neither group should be getting banned, and players who report bugs should be getting thanked.

The user that originally brought this the attention of ZOS without exploiting it was one of the people banned and then unbanned.

Please consider updating policy so that better communication and more fair punishment occurs in the future.

FantasticFreddie

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Just to update everyone on this issue, we are close to completing our investigation and have started unbanning the majority of affected players; only those that we found have exploited maliciously or an excessive number of times will remain banned. Please remember if you come across a game exploit, make your best effort to avoid it and report it to us as soon as possible. Thanks for everyone's patience while we investigated this issue and you can expect an email from our Support Team soon with an update on your account, if you haven't already.

Wow. Just wow.

This was not poorly handled by the players, several of whom reported this bug days ago.
This was not a fair response on Zos's end. Y'all really need to start putting your money where your mouth is with improved communication and quality of life improvements.