Vampire/Werewolf Extortion: the growing problem.

Uriel_Nocturne · June 2015

We all know that there are those... people, in the game who are charging 5, 10, or even the absurd amount of 15k Gold to give someone else a Vampire/Werewolf bite. While this is ignorant beyond belief, it was bound to happen. It also isn't inherently wrong as it doesn't prevent another player from enjoying or partaking in any aspect of the game (despite being extremely D-baggish). Players looking for bites still have the option of finding someone to do it for free, or wandering into the wild to find a Vampire/Werewolf NPC on their own and getting infected in the old fashioned way.

However; now we hit the newest extortion of the game. Some of those players who were charging for bites have taken to forming Guilds and Groups dedicated to milking players for every bit of Gold that they can through abusive extortion.

Those groups have taken to sitting on Vampire/Werewolf spawns and killing the Vampire/Werewolf NPC's as soon as they spawn into the game. They sit at these sites, and while they are still selling their bite for many thousands of Gold, they're killing the aforementioned NPC's before people even have a chance to get infected. With the limited spawn times of the NPC's being reliant upon the time-of-day and cycle of the moon, that's not a large window to get infected by these beings.

Then the real extortion happens.

These D-bags tell everyone at the spawn point that they'll leave and quit interfering, for the price of 10k Gold. If no one pays, then they and their party/group members do everything they can to ensure that no one gets infected that night.

This is directly affecting and disrupting the other players ability to enjoy a designed and intended aspect of the game. Extortion is running rampant, and someone needs to do something about it.

Now; some players have taken to creating Guild of Vampires and Werewolves whose specific goal is to hand out these infections for free. While that is excellent, finding them is more than difficult. While there is a "mega-thread" for people looking for free bites, what player in their right mind is going to sift through thousands of posts to find someone that hasn't been bitten yet? Yet every other thread created along this same line is locked faster than actual in-game problems are being solved.

The solution to the above extortion falls upon the shoulders of the GM's. They need to be policing the game better as this type of extortion is not only illegal (it goes against the ToS and the CoC which specifically state that this interference in the game's designed features is a bannable offense), but is directly interfering in an individual's ability to enjoy a designed aspect of the game.

This is easily solved by having GM's "patrol" the Vampire/Werewolf spawn sites in each Alliance. If anyone is discovered promoting this extortion, they take the necessary action.

But something needs to be done as simply refusing to pay isn't the end of the issue. In fact; the extortionists become extremely abusive if someone/anyone refuses to pay. Then they actively work to not only ruin that spawn site, but start following a players around the game world harassing them via verbal abuse and preventing them from achieving objectives related to Quests that they may be working on.

But all of this can change with the slightest little appearances by the game's GM's, and by the active participation of players working to stop these individuals.

Thoughts?

NBAballar18 · June 2015

Totally agree, there needs to be a partition and have to get in contact with Elder Scrolls makers

Allentrill · June 2015

I'm sitting at a na spawn in my game waiting n there are 3 vamps here already

PurpleStarsaver · June 2015

I agree as well. It's absurd that those individuals are doing that so people would have to pay in order to get bitten. It's very pathetic on their end.. Hopefully something will be done about this in the near future! I just hope they don't get rid of the mail system because of this.

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO · June 2015

I see a significant problem with enforcing the TOS for the console versions: there is only voice chat. With the PC text chat, it's easy to collect a clear and indisputable text log of what is "said", and any GM could easily browse though it very quickly to look for signs of extortion or abuse. Because the consoles have voice chat only, they would have to record everything that is said in the general area and listen through it all to find any proof of alleged extortion, abuse and interference with game play. It is also unnecessarily difficult to make out who says what in an audio recording. I hope the audio log contains that information as well, but in any case, catching sleazebags by listening to recordings is a lot slower than just browsing a text log.

Killjt94 · June 2015

I have gone to the spawn points several times and found both vamps and wolves killing the bloodfiends.. How did the community become so corrupt. I have searched for a bite, and last night was the last straw. I was by myself found a bloodfiend, but as I approached it, a bunch of screaming guys came through and destroyed it as they cursed me out. It's disgusting..

Tallowby · June 2015

For the last year the price in chat has been 5k per bite... So saying that is unreasonable is laughable.. Now on console the demand far exceeds the supply at the moment so 10-15k is not absurd. Supply-n-Demand....

What is absurd is low lifes blocking the natural way to get that bite. Agreed -Report them to ZOS & Xbox -Let the ban hammer fall!

Friends and Guildmates tend to give bites for free ;-) General Public they charge at market rates. If people don't pay at those rates the rate will drop... But people are paying.

Ranique · June 2015

The same thing happened on the PC. the main way to fight this is to do the following.
1: do not pay for a bite EVER
2: understand that the dissease will spread over time and those people will loose thier profit. The sooner you stop acting on the market, the sooner it is resolved.

smokes · June 2015

can't pre-existing vampires/werewolves be phased out from the NPC's that bite other players.

bit more difficult for them to get a monopoly on it then

Tallowby · June 2015

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO wrote: »

I see a significant problem with enforcing the TOS for the console versions: there is only voice chat. With the PC text chat, it's easy to collect a clear and indisputable text log of what is "said", and any GM could easily browse though it very quickly to look for signs of extortion or abuse. Because the consoles have voice chat only, they would have to record everything that is said in the general area and listen through it all to find any proof of alleged extortion, abuse and interference with game play. It is also unnecessarily difficult to make out who says what in an audio recording. I hope the audio log contains that information as well, but in any case, catching sleazebags by listening to recordings is a lot slower than just browsing a text log.

Hello... You can record a game clip and that is better than a text log. The GT of speakers is displayed in the lower right of the screen.

Xbox will give out perm bans so report to both

rb2001 · June 2015

I don't know what's more disgusting.

That players' characters want to get infected with a disease/curse from a monster of their own volition, and are mad that they can't, or that a bunch of other players, actual people, human beings, are actually blocking other players from the game.

Uriel_Nocturne · June 2015

Tallowby wrote: »

stefan.gustavsonb16_ESO wrote: »

I see a significant problem with enforcing the TOS for the console versions: there is only voice chat. With the PC text chat, it's easy to collect a clear and indisputable text log of what is "said", and any GM could easily browse though it very quickly to look for signs of extortion or abuse. Because the consoles have voice chat only, they would have to record everything that is said in the general area and listen through it all to find any proof of alleged extortion, abuse and interference with game play. It is also unnecessarily difficult to make out who says what in an audio recording. I hope the audio log contains that information as well, but in any case, catching sleazebags by listening to recordings is a lot slower than just browsing a text log.

Hello... You can record a game clip and that is better than a text log. The GT of speakers is displayed in the lower right of the screen.

Xbox will give out perm bans so report to both

Yep. It's as simple as "Xbox, record that".

MissBizz · June 2015

Ranique wrote: »

The same thing happened on the PC. the main way to fight this is to do the following.
1: do not pay for a bite EVER
2: understand that the dissease will spread over time and those people will loose thier profit. The sooner you stop acting on the market, the sooner it is resolved.

This. PC went through the same thing, it will die down. Now you're lucky if you can even give away your bite for free each week.

As far as the threads go - I'm happy they are being closed and directed to the megathread. I realize it's not the prettiest, but the threads are literally taking over the players helping players forum, so players actually looking for help may not get it just because their thread is so buried.

Uriel_Nocturne · June 2015

MissBizz wrote: »

Ranique wrote: »

The same thing happened on the PC. the main way to fight this is to do the following.
1: do not pay for a bite EVER
2: understand that the dissease will spread over time and those people will loose thier profit. The sooner you stop acting on the market, the sooner it is resolved.

This. PC went through the same thing, it will die down. Now you're lucky if you can even give away your bite for free each week.

As far as the threads go - I'm happy they are being closed and directed to the megathread. I realize it's not the prettiest, but the threads are literally taking over the players helping players forum, so players actually looking for help may not get it just because their thread is so buried.

I do understand why the Mods are closing the "LF bites" threads, and you're correct in that it would clog the Forums.

IMO; a better way to do it would be similar to how Bethesda does it on their Forums. Have the Mods impose an unofficial Post Count Limit of say... 200 posts. After the limit is reached, it gets closed and a second "LF bites megathread II" gets opened. Then "LF Bites Megathread III", and so on.

Keeping them at 200 posts makes sure that anyone looking to give a bite only has so many posts to look through, and gives people looking for bites the hope that they won't get lost in the weeds.

As far as reporting extortionists who're killing the Vamp/Werewolf spawns before they can infect anyone, and who're charging players money to leave the area, I'm going to start recording it when I see it and reporting them for it.

I played this game on the PC as well as many other people have (didn't transfer over as I wanted to start fresh), but just because it was done on the PC doesn't make it right.

soulstealernl · June 2015

yeah i know what u mean, vamps are killing the bloodfiends just for scamming people, iḿ scammed for a total of 50k allready...

Uriel_Nocturne · June 2015

soulstealernl wrote: »

yeah i know what u mean, vamps are killing the bloodfiends just for scamming people, iḿ scammed for a total of 50k allready...

I can't even imagine losing that much money... I have a hard time getting up to 1k, much less 50k...

And that's something I forgot to mention in my OP; many of these people extorting the spawn locations are also outright robbing people of their money.

They want you to pay them 10k in Gold for a vampire/werewolf bite. Once the money is handed over though, they just up and run off without giving you the bite.

The worst part is, there's no recourse for having just been robbed. You're simply out 10 thousand Gold you probably worked your buttocks-off to get, with no way to get it back.

Most of the people doing this are (unfortunately) PC Gamers who've transferred their accounts over. While this isn't all of the cases, most people I've talked to have said that a majority of them are.

Is this how you screw someone over on the PC version? Is this the sort of reputation you want to be your vanguard on the consoles?

That's a pretty crap-tier way to represent the "PC Veterans", guys. Very D-baggish.

LegionIsAll · June 2015

I have sold my WW bite twice . I didn't ask to sell it they asked me if they pay would I bite them and they paid 5k each time. I have lots of friends that want a bite so if I don't know you then your paying lol. Now killing AI to extort people is ridiculous. And something should be done about this

Zebo7 · June 2015

If folks would level up on the console instead of hanging out waiting/begging for a bite you could try the silver/gold zones to find your respect spawn. Very sparsely populated in the silver/gold zones right now. I just went through most of silver and never seen more than 5-7 folks in the towns at one time

Bloodbath019 · June 2015

I agree, but the problem is some have taken this to the level of charging for bites and taking the money and running before bitting/ or bitting and or player running away and getting it for free. In my case i payed 5k for a bite and the player ran away.

skoomaking916 · June 2015

Uriel_Nocturne wrote: »

We all know that there are those... people, in the game who are charging 5, 10, or even the absurd amount of 15k Gold to give someone else a Vampire/Werewolf bite. While this is ignorant beyond belief, it was bound to happen. It also isn't inherently wrong as it doesn't prevent another player from enjoying or partaking in any aspect of the game (despite being extremely D-baggish). Players looking for bites still have the option of finding someone to do it for free, or wandering into the wild to find a Vampire/Werewolf NPC on their own and getting infected in the old fashioned way.

However; now we hit the newest extortion of the game. Some of those players who were charging for bites have taken to forming Guilds and Groups dedicated to milking players for every bit of Gold that they can through abusive extortion.

Those groups have taken to sitting on Vampire/Werewolf spawns and killing the Vampire/Werewolf NPC's as soon as they spawn into the game. They sit at these sites, and while they are still selling their bite for many thousands of Gold, they're killing the aforementioned NPC's before people even have a chance to get infected. With the limited spawn times of the NPC's being reliant upon the time-of-day and cycle of the moon, that's not a large window to get infected by these beings.

Then the real extortion happens.

These D-bags tell everyone at the spawn point that they'll leave and quit interfering, for the price of 10k Gold. If no one pays, then they and their party/group members do everything they can to ensure that no one gets infected that night.

This is directly affecting and disrupting the other players ability to enjoy a designed and intended aspect of the game. Extortion is running rampant, and someone needs to do something about it.

Now; some players have taken to creating Guild of Vampires and Werewolves whose specific goal is to hand out these infections for free. While that is excellent, finding them is more than difficult. While there is a "mega-thread" for people looking for free bites, what player in their right mind is going to sift through thousands of posts to find someone that hasn't been bitten yet? Yet every other thread created along this same line is locked faster than actual in-game problems are being solved.

The solution to the above extortion falls upon the shoulders of the GM's. They need to be policing the game better as this type of extortion is not only illegal (it goes against the ToS and the CoC which specifically state that this interference in the game's designed features is a bannable offense), but is directly interfering in an individual's ability to enjoy a designed aspect of the game.

This is easily solved by having GM's "patrol" the Vampire/Werewolf spawn sites in each Alliance. If anyone is discovered promoting this extortion, they take the necessary action.

But something needs to be done as simply refusing to pay isn't the end of the issue. In fact; the extortionists become extremely abusive if someone/anyone refuses to pay. Then they actively work to not only ruin that spawn site, but start following a players around the game world harassing them via verbal abuse and preventing them from achieving objectives related to Quests that they may be working on.

But all of this can change with the slightest little appearances by the game's GM's, and by the active participation of players working to stop these individuals.

Thoughts?

you will get a kick out of this... i reported some people doing this exact thing, you know what i got back? if a player is bugging you block them. if they keep doing it, contact sony.

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Abusive Language]

That_Guy42 · June 2015

Let them.

All the time these extortionists are wasting getting a measly amount of gold. Just pitiful. I'll be at endgame while they sit at a shrine or spawn all night. The best thing to do, don't pay. Don't pay a cent. Let them waste their time, I'll keep kicking ass and biting for free.

CuteLilBunny · June 2015

I'll just wait till I'm the right level for this

OzJohnD · June 2015

Thoughts ?

be patient ... its actually not crucial to be either a vampire or werewolf early in the game ... or ever really, but as others have said wait until the frenzy dies down and you will get a player bite for free

kmopotato · June 2015

I think it bites :^)

CYB3RJIV3 · June 2015

I do not agree, i'm sure the GM's have more important things to do. Sadly it's your fault for wanting to pay for something you can get free if you just camp, i have a rank 10 vampire ( vet rank 1) my lvl 9 got bit today (finished the quest at lvl 10) and a rank 10 werewolf. I didn't need to pay for a bite and i camped them all with not one person/people killing them. I've watched people get ripped off 15k then turn right around and get ripped off 5 mins later. How about stop being so impatient & throwing gold at people you don't even know...I run an all vamp guild on Ebonheart Pact call Coven Infectus Somnium-We give free bites to members after a 1 week period, bites are every friday at midnight (est) I'm not trying to be a ***, but i'm tired of hearing people complain about not getting/finding bites, i got 2 vamps 1 wolf, they are out there.

OzJohnD · June 2015

pssst ... the Laughing Coffin is AD side

Mesmerize-_- · June 2015

People need to just be patient, vampire and werewolves seem hard to get, give it another month and it will be like the common flu, everyone is going to have one or the other, i have gave away my bites to random people, i dont need to gold or see the need to try to scam them out of it like other vampires have done numerous times in ESO. I have another bite in a couple days and will just give it to a random person, i dont know why other vampires and werewolves take it so seriously and expect a stupid amount of gold.

Tectonaut · June 2015

PurpleStarsaver wrote: »

I agree as well. It's absurd that those individuals are doing that so people would have to pay in order to get bitten. It's very pathetic on their end.. Hopefully something will be done about this in the near future! I just hope they don't get rid of the mail system because of this.

How would this affect the mail system?

grim_tactics · June 2015

It's a joke that they really don't care about fixing.

1. Try and do it legit: Trolls just hang out and try to kill the fiends so no one can get it because they have nothing better to do.

2. Asking the community for help: no one is willing to do so without being paid/offered something in return. This is the part the really irks me. I'll never pay for something that should be easily acquired in game. Yet this is an issue caused by Zenimax that they seem to not care about.

I'll promise you all this. If I am ever able to get Vampirism in this blasted game I'll post my tag and I'll help all I can free of charge. Ridiculous that it can only be done once a week.

Rinmaethodain · June 2015

#wantsEverythingNao
#wantsEverythingForFree