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Bots and Gold Sellers/Buyers Need to be Eradicated

AtomZer0
AtomZer0
The amount of bots and gold sellers spamming up this game is ridiculous.
They say they've banned "thousands", but I'm not seeing a difference.
At many dungeon bosses, there are usually so many bots, it takes players several tries to even do enough damage to get the reward for killing the boss. This isn't fun.
Gold Selling spam is clogging up chat and in-boxes. I had 10 messages just today!
Reporting them is tedious and needs to be streamlined.
We also don't need an email ticket every single time we report a gold selling. It's clogging up my real email.
And gold buyers are ruining the economy. I find it really hard to believe that in a week (almost 2 if you include early release) that so many people have 100k+ to spend on rare motifs or the ridiculous amounts people are offering for a vampire/werewolf bite.

I want better communication on what ZOS is doing to combat these issues. I want to know that gold buyers are being banned permanently. It only takes a simple google search to find forums of people talking about where and how to buy gold and sharing tips and tricks to not get caught. That's infuriating.
I honestly wish ZOS would start publicly shaming gold buyers.
But knowing that won't happen, I want to know that they really are getting banned.

  • lyndsayporterb16_ESO
    not everyone farming bosses is a bot, believe it or not. I've been guilty of camping at the boss point in order to get loot
  • Tweek
    Tweek
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    TBH I think gold buyer's should be warned and not banned(like in WoW and every other MMO) with the amount there probably is I would think it would be bad for business to ban them(they obviously have money to spend). Not to mention with the amount of spammers nor everyone knows this isn't allowed.

    Edited by ZOS_AlexD on April 14, 2014 11:14PM
  • Inco
    Inco
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    Sorry I have to disagree. You SPAM in CHAT about selling gold.. You get INSTANT BANNED.. I'm tired of reporting those f'rs and would like to see quick and immediate actions by GM's.
  • Blu3d0gd3m0cr8ts
    Blu3d0gd3m0cr8ts
    ✭✭✭
    Tweek wrote: »
    TBH I think gold buyer's should be warned and not banned(like in WoW and every other MMO) with the amount there probably is I would think it would be bad for business to ban them(they obviously have money to spend). Not to mention with the amount of spammers nor everyone knows this isn't allowed.

    are u mad bro?

    "We also don't need an email ticket every single time we report a gold selling. It's clogging up my real email."

    Yeah u mad.

    WoW players that buy gold don't get banned in fact its not even a bannable offense. The GM's will just say its frowned on, but they wont ban you for it. In all honesty the constant spamming that the gold farmers do in this game is more annoying than them selling gold.

  • robacooperb16_ESO
    robacooperb16_ESO
    ✭✭✭
    Tweek wrote: »
    TBH I think gold buyer's should be warned and not banned(like in WoW and every other MMO) with the amount there probably is I would think it would be bad for business to ban them(they obviously have money to spend). Not to mention with the amount of spammers nor everyone knows this isn't allowed.

    Actually other MMOs do ban/suspend the seller and the buyer when it comes to RMTs. Coming down hard on them significantly improved the playing experience and economy in EVE for example.

    The only negative experience in ESO is those that make it negative.
  • Tweek
    Tweek
    ✭✭✭
    Tweek wrote: »
    TBH I think gold buyer's should be warned and not banned(like in WoW and every other MMO) with the amount there probably is I would think it would be bad for business to ban them(they obviously have money to spend). Not to mention with the amount of spammers nor everyone knows this isn't allowed.

    Actually other MMOs do ban/suspend the seller and the buyer when it comes to RMTs. Coming down hard on them significantly improved the playing experience and economy in EVE for example.

    I have played most other MMOs and no you're very wrong.

    All of them that I know of only suspend sellers then ban them, and only warn the buyers as it is unprofitable to ban them.

    I agree on your point about the economy in EVE it helped but RMTs still go on there btw.
  • AtomZer0
    AtomZer0
    Tweek wrote: »
    TBH I think gold buyer's should be warned and not banned(like in WoW and every other MMO) with the amount there probably is I would think it would be bad for business to ban them(they obviously have money to spend).

    GW2 actively bans gold buyers. They've said as much and people have (astoundingly) complained about being banned for buying gold.
    Tweek wrote: »
    Not to mention with the amount of spammers nor everyone knows this isn't allowed.

    It's in the user agreement that it's against the rules, people can't use the "I didn't know argument." Also, common sense. Perhaps "thou doth protest too much"?

    And yeah I'm mad. Gold buyers ruin the game more than banning them would. You get a small minority ruining the game economy because they inflate all game prices by using real world currency. Banning them would only help stabilize the game economy, keep others from doing it, and make it all around more enjoyable for the majority of players. Customer satisfaction is better for business. Why would people continue to pay $15 a month for a game full of spam where you have to pay more money for in-game currency just to stay competitive?
  • Dalriaden
    Dalriaden
    ✭✭✭
    Tweek wrote: »
    TBH I think gold buyer's should be warned and not banned(like in WoW and every other MMO) with the amount there probably is I would think it would be bad for business to ban them(they obviously have money to spend). .

    Not really they just buy multiple cd keys and run that account until it gets banned.
  • Osses
    Osses
    Soul Shriven
    Ok, for those of you that really hate the gold sellers spam in chat, here's the fix. Ignore Them. Fixed! Simple! Plus you can submit a ticket and hope for the best.
  • omgvalk
    omgvalk
    Soul Shriven
    Unfortunately the gold botters and spammers have more experience at dodging consequences than the company has at eradicating them. IP banning isn't even a solution because they keep rotating their IPs and/or going through new proxies.

    So really, I feel like ESO needs a new strategy for dealing with them. Clearly their current one isn't working at optimum efficiency. What that strategy might be though, I have no clue. I'm afraid I can't be very helpful in that department.
  • deheartb14_ESO
    There's an app for that.

    Or actually a couple of add-on's I use one and only occasionally have to manually ignore one that gets around the filter.

    As for not seeing a difference, I had to delete my whole ignore list yesterday because it was full up. All 500 or what ever upper limit there was for the ignore list of the people were not there to try to spam me again when I did a mass unignore. Only a few new ones.
    This is my Signature, but not really because I didn't sign it with a pen and its not my name.
  • Nohvin
    Nohvin
    Osses wrote: »
    Ok, for those of you that really hate the gold sellers spam in chat, here's the fix. Ignore Them. Fixed! Simple! Plus you can submit a ticket and hope for the best.

    Yes! Ignoring them totally fixes the economy, and combats inflation! Why have none of us thought of this?
  • Tweek
    Tweek
    ✭✭✭
    AtomZer0 wrote: »
    Tweek wrote: »
    TBH I think gold buyer's should be warned and not banned(like in WoW and every other MMO) with the amount there probably is I would think it would be bad for business to ban them(they obviously have money to spend).

    GW2 actively bans gold buyers. They've said as much and people have (astoundingly) complained about being banned for buying gold.
    Tweek wrote: »
    Not to mention with the amount of spammers nor everyone knows this isn't allowed.

    It's in the user agreement that it's against the rules, people can't use the "I didn't know argument." Also, common sense. Perhaps "thou doth protest too much"?

    And yeah I'm mad. Gold buyers ruin the game more than banning them would. You get a small minority ruining the game economy because they inflate all game prices by using real world currency. Banning them would only help stabilize the game economy, keep others from doing it, and make it all around more enjoyable for the majority of players. Customer satisfaction is better for business. Why would people continue to pay $15 a month for a game full of spam where you have to pay more money for in-game currency just to stay competitive?

    You clearly must not play guild wars.

    They ban gold buyers because they have an in game store where you buy gems and then trade them for gold. They want the money going to them not the gold sellers. Also I have bought gold in guild wars and was not banned for it even though they knew I did it. I told them myself, but because I spend so much in the store they let me off the hook. You see what I mean?

    Banning gold buyers altogether=no game,
    Letting gold buyers roam free=unfair game

    The middle ground is warning and suspensions(24-72 Hours) where they're still supporting the server. Banning customers with money is bad business.
  • Natjur
    Natjur
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    There are a few good add-ons which block 99% of the spammers, and they have added some new auto blockers, but they have back fired and blocked anyone sending out the same message to more then 10 people at once which has blocked all guild leaders sending mail to their members.

    But if a player can make an add-on which blockes them, I am sure the devs can do a little more. But ever mmo I have seen has gold spammers issues at the start. When the gold sellers fail to sell there gold, THEN it will be fixed as they will move on.
  • Tweek
    Tweek
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    Posted this in another thread I believe it is also relevant here-

    "lol if you banned all the gold buyers...then who is going to buy all the items they release in their game store...certainly not the butthurt 12-16 year old's with no job using mommy or daddys credit card to pay for the game that cannot afford to buy gold so they rage. They cannot ban all the gold buyers as that would cost them...so instead they ban the sellers. Buying in game currency along with any other RMT is always against the TOS but no one is ever banned for it. At least I have never seen it in my fourteen years of playing MMOs...."
    Edited by Tweek on April 13, 2014 5:04AM
  • AtomZer0
    AtomZer0
    Tweek wrote: »

    The middle ground is warning and suspensions(24-72 Hours) where they're still supporting the server. Banning customers with money is bad business.

    Says the admitted gold buyer.
  • Tweek
    Tweek
    ✭✭✭
    AtomZer0 wrote: »
    Tweek wrote: »
    TBH I think gold buyer's should be warned and not banned(like in WoW and every other MMO) with the amount there probably is I would think it would be bad for business to ban them(they obviously have money to spend).

    GW2 actively bans gold buyers. They've said as much and people have (astoundingly) complained about being banned for buying gold.
    Tweek wrote: »
    Not to mention with the amount of spammers nor everyone knows this isn't allowed.

    It's in the user agreement that it's against the rules, people can't use the "I didn't know argument." Also, common sense. Perhaps "thou doth protest too much"?

    And yeah I'm mad. Gold buyers ruin the game more than banning them would. You get a small minority ruining the game economy because they inflate all game prices by using real world currency. Banning them would only help stabilize the game economy, keep others from doing it, and make it all around more enjoyable for the majority of players. Customer satisfaction is better for business. Why would people continue to pay $15 a month for a game full of spam where you have to pay more money for in-game currency just to stay competitive?

    Gold spammers are and will be banned, and you don't need to buy gold to stay competitive as most of the people who buy gold have jobs and they buy it to stay competitive with those who don't have jobs....hence the butthurt 12-16 years olds reference in my other post.
  • Nohvin
    Nohvin
    Tweek wrote: »
    Posted this in another thread I believe it is also relevant here-

    "lol if you banned all the gold buyers...then who is going to buy all the items they release in their game store...certainly not the butthurt 12-16 year old's with no job using mommy or daddys credit card to pay for the game that cannot afford to buy gold so they rage. They cannot ban all the gold buyers as that would cost them...so instead they ban the sellers. Buying in game currency along with any other RMT is always against the TOS but no one is ever banned for it. At least I have never seen it in my fourteen years of playing MMOs...."

    I got a temporary ban in WoW for buying gold.

    (I was just a stupid kid at the time)
  • Minack
    Minack
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    This game definitely needs a Final Solution to the gold spammer problem.
  • Tweek
    Tweek
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    AtomZer0 wrote: »
    Tweek wrote: »

    The middle ground is warning and suspensions(24-72 Hours) where they're still supporting the server. Banning customers with money is bad business.

    Says the admitted gold buyer.

    At what point have a said I bought gold?

    I did in guild wars and in runescape. Your point is?

    Also LOL if this is all you have to say in a response. Butthurt children usually respond in this fashion. With five word sentences and then believe they won a discussion or proved their point with their holier-than-thou I don't participate in RMTs garbage. I'm just trying to lend my opinion and viewpoint to your thread.
    Edited by Tweek on April 13, 2014 5:13AM
  • Osses
    Osses
    Soul Shriven
    Well lets see, wouldn't all these trading guilds inflate the economy also? They all farm, they all sell. Maybe get rid of those too. To be honest, if you find a trading Guild, JOIN ONE! It keeps items cheap and gold sellers pretty much in check. Keeps the economy stable and under inflated. Its a MMO, everyone of them have Spammers, Farmers, and Buyers. Deal with it, like most of us do.
  • Tweek
    Tweek
    ✭✭✭
    Also this quote from you this proves my point entirely -
    AtomZer0 wrote: »
    I honestly don't see the point of the Palomino Horse. It is $15 and you can't use it till level 10 and it has the same stats as the common horse.
    For $5 more ($20 total) you can upgrade to the Imperial Edition (assuming you don't have it) and you get the imperial white horse, which you can get at any level, and is the same stats as Palomino/Common, PLUS you get all the imperial edition bonuses.

    Honestly, I can't believe they're charging $15 for it. It's Oblivion horse armor all over again in my opinion.


    I hope zenimax makes an in game shop so you can buy all the in game things you want. Then people like you will insta-rage quit lol.
    Edited by Tweek on April 13, 2014 5:14AM
  • Tweek
    Tweek
    ✭✭✭
    Osses wrote: »
    Well lets see, wouldn't all these trading guilds inflate the economy also? They all farm, they all sell. Maybe get rid of those too. To be honest, if you find a trading Guild, JOIN ONE! It keeps items cheap and gold sellers pretty much in check. Keeps the economy stable and under inflated. Its a MMO, everyone of them have Spammers, Farmers, and Buyers. Deal with it, like most of us do.

    Glad to see someone other than me understand MMOs, economies, and the mature way to handle them.
  • AtomZer0
    AtomZer0
    Tweek wrote: »
    Gold spammers are and will be banned, and you don't need to buy gold to stay competitive as most of the people who buy gold have jobs and they buy it to stay competitive with those who don't have jobs....hence the butthurt 12-16 years olds reference in my other post.
    I have a well paying full time job and would be considered very financially stable. I'm still not going to buy in-game currency because I can to make it "easier".
    Saying "butthurt" and "you mad" doesn't make you seem very mature and your argument is basically "Don't ban me because I spend money on the game."
    Guess what? I spend money on the game too. You're not giving more money to ZOS by buying gold.
    Every legit player is paying the monthly fee and paid for the game, and the vast majority don't want gold buyers like you in it.
    Edited by AtomZer0 on April 13, 2014 5:25AM
  • Tweek
    Tweek
    ✭✭✭
    Nohvin wrote: »
    Tweek wrote: »
    Posted this in another thread I believe it is also relevant here-

    "lol if you banned all the gold buyers...then who is going to buy all the items they release in their game store...certainly not the butthurt 12-16 year old's with no job using mommy or daddys credit card to pay for the game that cannot afford to buy gold so they rage. They cannot ban all the gold buyers as that would cost them...so instead they ban the sellers. Buying in game currency along with any other RMT is always against the TOS but no one is ever banned for it. At least I have never seen it in my fourteen years of playing MMOs...."

    I got a temporary ban in WoW for buying gold.

    (I was just a stupid kid at the time)

    The same has happened to me, sometimes they suspend you but never perma-ban gold buyers unless they have a shop for you and you instead chose gold buyers over their shop like in Guild Wars 2.
  • Tweek
    Tweek
    ✭✭✭
    AtomZer0 wrote: »
    Tweek wrote: »

    The middle ground is warning and suspensions(24-72 Hours) where they're still supporting the server. Banning customers with money is bad business.

    Says the admitted gold buyer.

    Also wanna add to this....really great job cookie cutting my entire post....here is a link for you - https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/strawman

    Learn how to debate a topic without being fallacious please.
    Edited by Tweek on April 13, 2014 5:18AM
  • AtomZer0
    AtomZer0
    Tweek wrote: »
    Also this quote from you this proves my point entirely -
    AtomZer0 wrote: »
    I honestly don't see the point of the Palomino Horse. It is $15 and you can't use it till level 10 and it has the same stats as the common horse.
    For $5 more ($20 total) you can upgrade to the Imperial Edition (assuming you don't have it) and you get the imperial white horse, which you can get at any level, and is the same stats as Palomino/Common, PLUS you get all the imperial edition bonuses.

    Honestly, I can't believe they're charging $15 for it. It's Oblivion horse armor all over again in my opinion.


    I hope zenimax makes an in game shop so you can buy all the in game things you want. Then people like you will insta-rage quit lol.

    Yes, let's take things out of context. You forgot the other comment I made too:
    AtomZer0 wrote: »
    I agree, if it's worth it to you, and you have the money, fine, I'm not judging anyone that buys it. I'm judging the price they set it at. It's $5 dollars less than the Imperial Edition Upgrade and the Imperial Edition upgrade comes with a horse that is also 1g for all characters, but you also get a new race, a unique crafting style, mudcrab pet, and rings of mara. I just don't see how they could justify a $15 price point.

    It's a legit criticism of their pricing point based on what you get for your money. I guess in your world view consumers shouldn't judge or criticize what's offered and just accept it.
    Hey, if you want a pay2win shop, then tell ZOS that in your own thread and see how that plays out with the majority of their customers. I'm more than fine with in-game stores, if it's like what GW2 has, where all real money items are either cosmetic or time saving, but nothing that gives you a true advantage over other players. It still wouldn't mean that customers couldn't criticize the prices of said items, as you seem to think. This thread is being derailed though.
  • Kenny_McCormick
    Kenny_McCormick
    ✭✭✭
    check my post here
    http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/77061/answer-to-gold-spam-d#latest it has addon posts that will help u :)
  • Cry_Wolfe
    Cry_Wolfe
    ✭✭✭
    in response to the OP:
    if ZOS say they are banning accounts for gold spam, botting, hacks and RMT advertising then we have to take them at their word that they are; there is little chance any dev will publish a list of banned accounts (though Blizzard did so on a couple of occasions in order to shame players via their social circle).
    I haven't seen any evidence of ESO's economy being ruined by RMT gold, mostly I suspect that being a New game, pricing indexes will reflect the lack of rare items in circulation.

    inline with the thread title:
    I have however seen speed hack farmer bots on every single map i've played on. And i suspect that they have both handlers on separate accounts, and cohorts selling off the materials farmed from a safe account.

    I have also been invited to a gold seller/power leveler sites Guild...Twice!!...
    What a neat idea for gold sellers!
    They get to camoflage their guild by inviting brand new players with no idea of what is going on. They get a guild bank and guild store to launder items off their farm bot accounts, AND they can move gold and items off to Gold Buyers thru a legitimate process, via both Guild Store and Guild Bank!!
    NEATO!!

    The only real way to stop a gold seller franchise within a game, is to dry up its business, in aid of this end killing off accounts associated with RMT gold vendor activities bites into profit margins, but only for this title... RMT operations can offset losses on one title with profits on another.

    We as the playerbase, cannot account for every players actions, what peer pressure we can bring to bear in this direction we should, with the knowledge that it will drive RMT gold buying underground and not totally obliterate it.

    So once again it is down to the games publisher to find solutions to their RMT problems. If a company decides to take action against the gold seller organisations they will not publish details because that would weaken their efforts!

    TL:DR, I'm afraid you'll have to trust ZOS to find ways to combat this problem, for your part, never belittle someone that has bought gold and admitted to it... smile at them and tell them "thats really cool! Which site?"... then report what info you have and your suspicions to ZOS.

    :wink:
  • Tweek
    Tweek
    ✭✭✭
    AtomZer0 wrote: »
    Tweek wrote: »
    Gold spammers are and will be banned, and you don't need to buy gold to stay competitive as most of the people who buy gold have jobs and they buy it to stay competitive with those who don't have jobs....hence the butthurt 12-16 years olds reference in my other post.
    I have a well paying full time job and would be considered very financially stable. I'm still not going to buy in-game currency because I can to make it "easier".
    Saying "butthurt" and "you mad" doesn't make you seem very mature and your argument is basically "Don't ban me because I spend money on the game."
    Guess what? I spend money on the game too. You're not giving more money to ZOS by buying gold.
    Every legit player is paying the monthly fee and paid for the game, and the vast majority don't want gold buyers like you in it.

    I'm not a gold buyer, and have not done an RMT in many years, and never plan to ever again. I just tell it like it is.
    Edited by Tweek on April 13, 2014 6:03AM
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