Gold sellers—did ESO accomplish the impossible?

lecarcajou_ESO · November 2014

I don't remember when I last saw gold selling spam in chat or mail, or toons acting suspiciously around the world. Could it be that between character deletion limits and the absence of an auction house, ESO has won the war? That'd be quite an achievement, considering that basically every single other MMO is crawling with these parasites like a hedgehog with fleas!

emeraldbay · November 2014

I'll admit, I haven't seen any around since...hm. I can't remember seeing them at all, aside from the first month or so. My hat is off to you, Zenimax, even though I don't wear hats.

Mettaricana · November 2014

havent seen any at all lol

Zorrashi · November 2014

I'm not saying they are completely gone, but I do know that they seem to have become an endangered species.

Did the character deletion limit really accomplish that much?

lecarcajou_ESO · November 2014

Zorrashi wrote: »

I'm not saying they are completely gone, but I do know that they seem to have become an endangered species.

Did the character deletion limit really accomplish that much?

I wonder... there never was an AH, but that did not seem to stop the gold farmers in the beginning. Maybe the deletion limit was the magic bullet?

loudent · November 2014

A lot of people forget that most of the gold selling spam was in some of the early level areas. If you go back there, there's still some gold spamming going on.

Mostly I just think it's not very profitable. ESO seems to be doing fine but the numbers don't support a large scale operation. Also, trading can be pretty rough in this game so gold has little value once you get all your bag upgrades and such.

Loot is meh most of the time and you can level up to max with gear 10 levels out of date so there's no push to gear up as much as other games.

Maotti · November 2014

loudent wrote: »

A lot of people forget that most of the gold selling spam was in some of the early level areas. If you go back there, there's still some gold spamming going on.

Not on Khenarthi's Roost and Auridon on EU server, i'm there a lot with my characters.

ers101284b14_ESO · November 2014

Not in NA server of Bal Foyen or Bleack Rock.

AshySamurai · November 2014

I still can find ESO gold for any server, but no spam in chat, and it's awesome. On EU I don't seen it for a few months.

Valymer · November 2014

You only need gold if there is something worthwhile to buy.

david271749 · November 2014

Losing enough customers for even gold sellers to realize it's not a profitable venture is not what I would call an accomplishment.

Gilvoth · November 2014

good work zenimax

guybrushtb16_ESO · November 2014

david271749 wrote: »

Losing enough customers for even gold sellers to realize it's not a profitable venture is not what I would call an accomplishment.

I wouldn't have put it as harshly, but this is basically it. The measures zeni has taken to combat gold sellers are not harsh in any way compared to other games. If gold sellers have stopped advertising it's rather because they stopped caring really.

ers101284b14_ESO · November 2014

guybrushtb16_ESO wrote: »

david271749 wrote: »

Losing enough customers for even gold sellers to realize it's not a profitable venture is not what I would call an accomplishment.

I wouldn't have put it as harshly, but this is basically it. The measures zeni has taken to combat gold sellers are not harsh in any way compared to other games. If gold sellers have stopped advertising it's rather because they stopped caring really.

Really? Is that why after we stopped seeing them in game and chat we started getting mail spam from them? Then after ZOS started combating that they started impersonating ZOS employees? Then when ZOS combated that they started sending out fake emails and scams to people?

Yeah sounds like they where trying pretty dang hard for not caring.

SteveCampsOut · November 2014

There are plenty of factors that have affected the disappearance of the Gold Spammers. Character Deletion limit is just one of them. People actively reported Spammers on a daily basis and many accounts were banned. The players who were prone to spending real money at their virtual gold stores to get advantages in the game have mostly unsubscribed as well. No Customers=No Sellers. No content worth spending real money on as well. Sure a few of us spent extra for a 1 gold horse, but who's going to pay real money for purple recipes or motif's when they can be had for free with patience and face it, this game caters to an older more mature base who, in general, can actually exercise their patience when it benefits them.

Sleep · November 2014

I haven't seen any gold sellers in game for a long time, but I know they still exist. They're selling golds on some online trading platforms, or via some forums. They claimed their golds were not acquired by botting but legit ways.

SteveCampsOut · November 2014

Sleep wrote: »

I haven't seen any gold sellers in game for a long time, but I know they still exist. They're selling golds on some online trading platforms, or via some forums. They claimed their golds were not acquired by botting but legit ways.

You know this how exactly? Are you admitting to being a Gold Buyer? Otherwise, all you're spouting is hearsay. "I saw it on Da InterWebZ It must Be True!" Be very careful how you answer that....

Sleep · November 2014

@SteveCampsOut

SteveCampsOut · November 2014

Sleep wrote: »

@SteveCampsOut

Again, and I do think my point went over your pointy little head, unless you have actually "RECIEVED GOLD" from them, all you are doing is showing me listings which may or may not belong to scammers who are just taking money and running with it....

Sleep · November 2014

@SteveCampsOut you can give it a try to see if they are scammers or not, though I don't recommend you do that. People in some forums keep telling others not to buy gold from gold sellers. My point is that gold sellers are not completely gone. It's your choice to believe it or not.

Circuitous · November 2014

SteveCampsOut wrote: »

Sleep wrote: »

@SteveCampsOut

Again, and I do think my point went over your pointy little head, unless you have actually "RECIEVED GOLD" from them, all you are doing is showing me listings which may or may not belong to scammers who are just taking money and running with it....

...which is all you could guarantee that the in-game advertisers were doing, too. Who cares if the ads you find online are legit or not? You shouldn't be buying it anyway.

Still_Mind · November 2014

Haven't seen any goldspam in months on the EU servers. ZOE definitely did a good job.

kongkim · November 2014

I use the anto spam mod. never seen on since i got that

fromtesonlineb16_ESO · November 2014

Yeah but the damage was done in the months they were more numerous than legit players at times, the economy was destroyed by a combination of exploiters using broken content ZOS took far too long to fix .. 200K gold per hour is so broken it's insane .. and the many gold buyers who bought the fortunes they're now sitting on and using to buy advantages those who came after the exploits were closed will never have.

jeevin · November 2014

No player really needs to buy gold for this game as there is very little you need to spend gold on. Gold is so easy to come by and once you master all the crafts the only thing to really buy is skill point resets or max level another horse.

Murmeltier · November 2014

Hi,

wow, damn. I thought i have seen it all in the Forum of Teso. It is unbeleavable how negative some People can be. Always there is something that isnt fair and right, or doesnt works.

Man, i played alot of MMORPGs, there are always Errors in all of them. The Teams of this Games try to work hard to repair them but always some Players say: "Bah, they dont do everything, never ever". These Players always knows it better and demand insane Things and Times for Repairs.

I am sure, you can repair all and everything in a Game and offer the best Gamingexperience but some People will moan again. Why? Because they can!

Teso is one of the best MMORPGs outthere, offers continuous great Updates , like a Clockwork. They patch fast and most of the Time it works fine. They listen to the Players, see the upcoming Changes and react really fast.

(Only for the "All and everytime Doomsayers", it cost a little bit Time to fix some Errors or Balances, this isnt "Counterstrike" Kids

.)

At the Start of this Game i have seen alot of These Goldsellers/Mails, like in every other Game too. But now they are vanished, thats a Fact. I doesnt seen one of them for a long Time and i play a lot of in the Starterzones too.

They vanished and the Arguement they only vanished because no one needs Gold anymore, is interesting.

You always need Gold in this Game, for a Horse (not everyone has a Delxuxe Edition), epic Recipes (the Goldsellers wasnt there, in the Times that these epic Recipes cost a lot ), for epic/legendary Equip-Upgrades (some People have more than one Set), for Epic/legendary Motifs (always expensive, now even more), to buy Mats (not everyone have the Time/Fun to search them), to buy Equip (some of the Equip you will buy, like the Warlockjewels for an Example) etc etc.

Fact is, the Goldsellers are not in this Game anymore, no Mails and no Spams in the Chat anymore. Fact is that Zenimax and the People who helped them objective and fair, do a lot for this and not the Doomsayers.

So here is the only Thing we should say to Zenimax because they have stop the Goldsellers/Mails/Spams.....

Thank you Zenimax and all the People who supports the Fight against this, thank you

!

Nox_Aeterna · November 2014

david271749 wrote: »

Losing enough customers for even gold sellers to realize it's not a profitable venture is not what I would call an accomplishment.

Pretty much.

If there was a profitable market they would be here , that is a fact.

3 things now enter in this factor:

1) The overall amount of players in the game , which is the market in the first place.
2) The fact that in this game average players really dont need that much gold anyway.
3) Zen made things that make selling cost increase.

Nerouyn · November 2014

guybrushtb16_ESO wrote: »

The measures zeni has taken to combat gold sellers are not harsh in any way compared to other games.

The measures are very harsh on real, new players. The character delete limit is by far the most annoying MMO design feature I've hit in my ten years of playing.

It may have achieved the goal of reducing spam but it's an enormous pain in the rear for new players. ZO just hasn't seen how bad yet because they introduced it after the bulk of their players were well established and not making new characters.

Normally I spend my first week trying out different races, classes, factions, appearances etc. until I settle on one I like. It's even worse in ESO cos how you look in the character creator doesn't always match what you see out in the gameworld.

Five weeks, still going, and growing more bored with the process and the game every day. At this stage I may just cancel my sub and wait until they fix it.

Flynch · November 2014

Nerouyn wrote: »

guybrushtb16_ESO wrote: »

The measures zeni has taken to combat gold sellers are not harsh in any way compared to other games.

The measures are very harsh on real, new players. The character delete limit is by far the most annoying MMO design feature I've hit in my ten years of playing.

It may have achieved the goal of reducing spam but it's an enormous pain in the rear for new players. ZO just hasn't seen how bad yet because they introduced it after the bulk of their players were well established and not making new characters.

Normally I spend my first week trying out different races, classes, factions, appearances etc. until I settle on one I like. It's even worse in ESO cos how you look in the character creator doesn't always match what you see out in the gameworld.

Five weeks, still going, and growing more bored with the process and the game every day. At this stage I may just cancel my sub and wait until they fix it.

Not sure I quite agree with this - considering you can create 10 characters fom the offset (8 basic, then deleting 3 of those, you get another 3 characters)

That's still a lot of characters for a newcomer in their first day. They you get a fresh delete every 24 hours.

jeevin · November 2014

Murmeltier wrote: »

Hi,
You always need Gold in this Game, for a Horse (not everyone has a Delxuxe Edition), epic Recipes (the Goldsellers wasnt there, in the Times that these epic Recipes cost a lot ), for epic/legendary Equip-Upgrades (some People have more than one Set), for Epic/legendary Motifs (always expensive, now even more), to buy Mats (not everyone have the Time/Fun to search them), to buy Equip (some of the Equip you will buy, like the Warlockjewels for an Example) etc etc.
!

All of these things you can buy with gold that is easily farmed from public dungeon drops or motif farming. I do a round of motif farming when I log on and before I log off(around six or seven times a week)and I find at least two rare motifs a week, which at current prices around $75-80k profit. The recipes are ridiculously easy to find now so no need to buy them. I have 3 maxed horses and 170 bank space and really have nothing more to spend gold on other than tempers for crafting or a respec if I feel like a change. Thats it.

Edit: I'm in no way poo pooing Zeni's work at ridding the farmers from the game. It's just In my (extremely)humble opinion there is very little need to buy gold for ESO.

Murmeltier · November 2014

Nox_Aeterna wrote: »

david271749 wrote: »

Losing enough customers for even gold sellers to realize it's not a profitable venture is not what I would call an accomplishment.

Pretty much.

If there was a profitable market they would be here , that is a fact.

3 things now enter in this factor:

1) The overall amount of players in the game , which is the market in the first place.
2) The fact that in this game average players really dont need that much gold anyway.
3) Zen made things that make selling cost increase.

Your Line of Sight, these are no Facts. They sounds logical but saying this is a Fact, makes it not right.

Maybe the 3) Point but this isnt a great one. I would offer the Point that "Zenimax" has done some Things, to make it hard for the Sellers to do their "Selling". Like the Deletion Limit Option for an Example.

But to be fair, the Arguement at all that Goldsellers arent here anymore because it isnt profitable enough sounds not bad, but it isnt a Fact.

The only Fact is, we dont see any Goldsellers and that Zenimax and a lot of People worked hard for this, the Rest is a personal Meaning.