Allow us to opt out of events

SilverBride

It would help with events, though. I'd rather have some peace of mind than none.

FlopsyPrince

Opting out would not guarantee you were immune from flaws like these. Perhaps it would make them a slight bit less likely (though I am skeptical of that) but it would not prevent bad coding causing problems as it has.

Simply not using part of that weekend "bonus" at first would have been opting out and would have kept you from the problem.

SilverBride

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Simply not using part of that weekend "bonus" at first would have been opting out and would have kept you from the problem.

I didn't even know there was a bonus until I saw the threads here.

So what if I just happened to be changing builds on a character and needed to reconstruct some pieces? Then I deconstructed the old set because I just don't store things I don't have a current use for. All without knowing there even was a bonus.

If I was given the option to not participate then there would not have been a bonus for me and I would have been able to play normally without risk.

the1andonlyskwex

SilverBride wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Simply not using part of that weekend "bonus" at first would have been opting out and would have kept you from the problem.

I didn't even know there was a bonus until I saw the threads here.

So what if I just happened to be changing builds on a character and needed to reconstruct some pieces? Then I deconstructed the old set because I just don't store things I don't have a current use for. All without knowing there even was a bonus.

If I was given the option to not participate then there would not have been a bonus for me and I would have been able to play normally without risk.

You didn't need to come here to find out about the bonus. There was an event announcement popup on the character select screen.

Additionally, it sounds like pretty much everyone who got suspended went out of their way to maximize their gains from the exploit. Even in your specific example of coincidentally revamping all of your gear during the event, you would be deconstructing different items from the ones you reconstructed, which is not what any of the exploiters appear to have done. I think it would be pretty difficult to stumble into a full ban accidentally.

I agree with others that an event opt-out wouldn't have saved anybody (especially when most of these exploits also get introduced in ordinary, non-event, patches).

SilverBride

the1andonlyskwex wrote: »

You didn't need to come here to find out about the bonus. There was an event announcement popup on the character select screen.

I didn't read any announcement. All my characters are maxed in all the crafts so it was of no interest to me. Plus the fact that I am completely fatigued by all the frequent events and just don't want to be bothered.

Others may not think that an opt out would be beneficial but it would give me some peace of mind and I still want it.

katanagirl1

SilverBride wrote: »

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Simply not using part of that weekend "bonus" at first would have been opting out and would have kept you from the problem.

I didn't even know there was a bonus until I saw the threads here.

So what if I just happened to be changing builds on a character and needed to reconstruct some pieces? Then I deconstructed the old set because I just don't store things I don't have a current use for. All without knowing there even was a bonus.

If I was given the option to not participate then there would not have been a bonus for me and I would have been able to play normally without risk.

Kevin said they looked at the number of reconstructions and deconstructions and made a decision based on that. If you did it once on one character it would not be significant. Even if you did it for each of your characters, probably not. The people who abused it likely did it 100s or 1000s of times.

EDIT: clarification

ArchangelIsraphel

This idea sounds like something that would just cause more issues given the current track record of problems with events, to be honest.

Such as issues where people who want to do the event, get locked out of the event for several days because their account got automatically put on "opted out" settings, even though they had no desire to opt out. Then they end up missing out because of a feature they never wanted to use.

The global application of bonuses ensures that everyone gets what they came for, rather than being compromised by potential mistakes.

Just food for thought: Allowing users to toggle settings on and off that affect how the game functions during events sounds like it has the potential to cause even bigger issues. I imagine exploits could probably be developed using this, since events usually effect bonuses and multipliers. It's not like toggling a cosmetic off and on. It has some pretty serious implications and potential side effects if users found a way to toggle those effects themselves outside of events.

I think the best solution to protect yourself is to carefully read the event pages posted on the news/make sure you read the popups when you log in. Then you can avoid anything associated with the event more easily.

Honestly, the ultimate, real solution is to stop banning users for mistakes ZOS themselves is making. There are probably a great deal of people who got banned who assumed that it was all part of the event. I don't approve of these heavy handed tactics in the least, nor do I blame you for your fear, it's perfectly justified. But I can see a whole slew of new fears arising from this solution that could potentially go south.

So you go to a grocery store and buy some cornflakes for, what the price tag says, 4.50$. At the checkout you notice "Oh, it charged me for only 2.30$", so you think the price might be entered wrong in their system. Then you think, hmm yeah i could eat a bit more cornflakes in the future and since they are pretty durable you go back in and buy 10 packages more for only 2.30$. I mean i would never do that because its very questionable ethicaly whise. But will you get arrested for it? Ofc not. It was the grocery stores' mistake, maybe not even from a human, probably something corrupted the system, but it definitelly was theirs. Why would they be able to punish you for exploiting it?

I'm amused by this particular "what if" scenario, because I once worked in a grocery store to put myself through college. And you are absolutely right, at least, concerning the particular grocery store chain I worked in.

Not only did you NOT get into trouble for taking advantage of such a mistake, but if you went to the service desk and pointed it out, they would REFUND your money and give you the product on top of it FREE. Any pricing error was treated this way, even ones where the customer had the advantage.

They not only couldn't punish their customers, but they actively patted them on the back for this type of behavior. As you can imagine, there were certain regulars scouring the shelves each day to take advantage of this.

Do I agree with exploiting such things in this way? Not in the least. But there is certainly a precedent for companies accepting their own fault in the matter and taking a "the customer is always right" stance regarding it. Giving some people the benefit of the doubt "Maybe they forgot to mark it on sale"- tends to look better than "banning" the customer from the store on the first offense. (The second offense, by all means, you're gone.)

barney2525

SilverBride wrote: »

barney2525 wrote: »

I thought I was opting out of an event when I just decided to go do something else while it was running.

No one was opted out if the perks of the event were still there for them even if they weren't actively participating.

" Opting " is - Making a decision.
The decision is Not made by the Company. The decision is made by the Player.
Whether the Company includes a button or toggle or whatever that the player selects to " Opt Out ", or the player does nothing and simply decides they do not want to participate and goes off and does other things, there is no Difference.
It is simply a decision by the Player. One can Not place the responsibility for the decision on the Company.
Even if it was a toggle a Player could select, it could Not be a permanent decision. The Company would have to allow for the Player to change their mind and undo the selection, and thus participate during the remaining time. So even then the perks of the event would be 'available' all the time, even if they were not actively participating and had 'Opted Out'.
It is the Player's decision.
The Company has no input or responsibility for that decision.

Ph1p

SilverBride wrote: »

I would like the option to opt out of events I don't want to participate in. With all the bugs lately from these events and innocent accounts being banned for not realizing these were bugs and not features, I don't want to participate any more.

Are there actually any confirmed cases where a player was accidentally suspended for completely innocent crafting activities? Practically every single player I've seen complain about their suspension here eventually admitted that they took advantage of the situation and got free transmutes out of it. And at least some of them are already back in the game.

We also have a community manager clarifying that this only affected a very small number of accounts, since they used multiple and stringent criteria. If anything, I've heard about people who definitely exploited this event and didn't face any consequences at all, so ZOS indeed seems to have made significant effort to not punish innocents.

[Snip]

[Edited for non-constructive]

colossalvoids

As others have stated, you could opt out manually already as no one would most definitely code an alternative universe which would have no exploits and bugs (like they know those exist), or this opted out version might even have one attached as you can never be sure 100% about such stuff. Gladly no one banned for innocent in-game participation, but in blatant exploitation in said one hour timeframe.

Any alternate state or toggle might potentially be a reason for a new exploit or a bug, also testing time would be split (if any lol). I know that not everyone is a dev but those are kind of obvious.

Lixiviant

@ZOS_Kevin Thanks for the information!!

I also wondered what got players banned so this clears up a bit for me.

As far as the events: I love all of them. Maybe I complained about the PVP events in the past, but it got me off my ass to try PVP and now I really enjoy it.

TheNuminous1

Reginald_leBlem wrote: »

I "opt out" of events by simply not participating.

But for instance I had no idea there was an event when the transmute issues just happened. That was an unannounced mini event.

I was just trying to transmute something normally, NOT because of an event. And then all those ppl got banned.

It's like damn I can't play the game normally without them messing something up I didn't even ask for and now there are consequences.

I'm lucky and didn't even transmute anything cause I thought it was a glitch.

Turns out it was glitched and ppl got hurt.

I have over 3000 real world dollars in the account.

I CANT LOSE IT BECAUSE OF A RANDOM GLITCH IN AN UNANNOUNCED EVENT.

That would end my soul.

oldbobdude

Well, you are allowed. Opt out any time.

SilverBride

oldbobdude wrote: »

Well, you are allowed. Opt out any time.

I'm not allowed to opt out of event features that I don't care to participate in. They are present whether I take part in the event or not.