Hmmm...EQL (EQ Landmark) or EQC (EQ Casual) or EQOA 2 is a great game...be proud of it... And we are all glad the "permanently suspended" (terminated) accounts are being resolved...or are being resolved...for those players that are not cheaters at least. People are still WoWed about the Blizzard of 1888 when they are studying history.
Yes, we will. Look, our prisons in this country are filled with people that proclaim innocence. But here is a news flash for you, some of them actually are. This thread isn't about punishing the guilty, which should be done. This thread is about the innocents who get caught in the dragnet and are also punished. That should never happen. It always will because there is no such thing as a perfect system, but it should never be acceptable. SOE understands this, the real question is why some players don't.
No, not other EQ games, but the illegal stuff cheaters use. Heck, mods already posted/advertised EQ Next in these forums.
Life is not fair. We can complain, scream, cry and it does not change a thing. If the unfairness of it all is temporary then be happy, it only horrible when it is not. Glad to hear folks are back playing
The 99% accuracy rate stated by Piestro is utter rubbish, I have been falsely banned twice now in the space of about 3 or 4 months. Community forum people will always try to put a positive slant on things, that's their job. You just hope that the flak they take gets passed upwards and the few people there are left running this game actually do something to fix the issue.
The 99% accuracy rate is rubbish. They messed up and now Piestro and the damage control police are out.
1. I sympathize with anyone who is wrongfully banned. I'm convinced that SOE does not provide many details why nor the evidence in support of banning. And I think the review process is pretty draconian. 2. I reserve judgement on people who (all of these have been posted on the forums repeatedly - I'm not telling people how to cheat) - strafe sideways to get faster run speed than intended use rocketeer boots to cross obstacles it's intended to be navigated normally pop in and out of skelly form to get through locked doors attack mobs that are unable to fight back because of geometry take advantage of lag or your connection to travel more safely or quickly intentionally lag zones to mess up the usual combat sequence etc. It is an exploit to use mechanics or geometry to acquire an unintended advantage. That's any unintended advantage, not just ghost killing. 3. I have no sympathy for people who are banned for hacking, ghost killing, etc. I'd like it if SOE would be a little more discriminating between gross cheating to gain major advantage and gray area/perhaps clueless advantage taking. IMO it's more appropriate to warn second category offenders and only ban if their corner cutting is chronic despite warnings.
Battleaxe, I might agree with most of that cheating list, but what do you think the intended purpose of the rocketeer boots and levitate is? To get over inconvenient locations, I'd think. They disable it some zones they don't want it in.
In 2010 it was possible to click Rocketeer Boots multiple times to get higher than intended and you could climb higher than Levi would allow by clicking while Levied. In 2012 there were changes made. It's hard to argue they were being used as intended when SOE elected to make changes to get them so it was more difficult to use them in unintended ways. I doubt mentioning exploits/gray area stuff mentioned in these forums many many times and in many cases addressed by SOE gets posts removed. Like most players I'm aware of some shady things done by others - I don't walk off the end of a will get you banned bridge just because I think someone else does. Nor do I pass what they've done along. My point is that a fairly innocent person might continue attacking a mob that inadvertently gets hung up on geometry (if they stopped and thought about it, they would realize they shouldn't). A cheat hangs up mobs intentionally and repeatedly. IMO there's a difference between rare poor judgement without malice aforethought (perhaps cheating) and being a cheater. They penalize you for roughing the passer. Unless it's a regular part of your game or amounts to aggravated assault they don't ban you from the sport.
Um, I'll elect to trust me and my assessment of Piestro and the rules. There is nothing I've said that hasn't been stated publicly many times. (For example - exploiting game geometry was mentioned very early when Conquest was banned and after they smeared SOE, SOE went public with their evidence. The evidence was compelling.) I've not mentioned new or current cheats, said how to cheat, or in any way encouraged cheating. In fact I see no good reason to wander the gray areas. If you see a bright white out of bounds line it doesn't damage your game playing experience at all to play well within it. Which is what I've carefully done in this instance. Matter of fact, in case I haven't been abundantly clear, while I would encourage SOE to be careful in removing bad apples from the game... ...I'd strongly encourage players not to do things that could make them look like a bad apple when they would insist they aren't.
This is the email I got after being wrongfully accused of cheating in 2011 Greetings, This is a notification to let you know that we have released your EverQuest account from suspension. In an effort to better safeguard EverQuest from abuse from using 3rd party programs, we did a sweep against this type of activity and took action against accounts that have trigged our anti-cheating detection logs. In this effort, it seems the most recent wave of suspensions may have caught up some accounts un-intentionally that did not quite meet the threshold which we desired. It appears one (or more) of your accounts may have been affected. We apologize for any inconvenience. All affected accounts have been released from suspension and 7 days of game time have been added to the subscription(s). We thank you for your understanding as we continue to work towards making Norrath more fun and fair for all. If you have any questions concerning our rules and regulations, please visit the link below: So keep fighting if you are innocent you will win. Good Luck to you all
First, cudo's to SOE for leaving this thread open and for quickly getting to the bottom of it. This could have been a lot worse. (not that this was "good") With that said: 1. The first official (canned) post was not a real good PR move - for all the reasons others have said. 2. The use of the word "suspended" instead of "banned" in a later post was no accident. It's called "damage mitigation" - however it was also misrepresentation. Clever phrasing, is however, easily spotted and not at all helpful. Like SOE - we too can smell a "cheat" when it's presented. 3. A ban in a game like this is the online equivelant to Capital Punishment. (Your character is dead - for ever.) Therefore it would seem wise to suspend first and only ban AFTER the human contact reveals "the true heart" of the accused. Yes, you really can turn a suspension into a ban. The PR hit for upping the punishment for the guilty would be less than this "mass extinction" method of solving problems with a net cast too widely in the beginning. 4. The policy of NOT telling the accused individual exactly what they are accused of is born of the misguided thinking that disclosing too much information as to how to cheat would only lead to more cheating. In reality those who systemically cheat in games have their own ways to communicate about nefarious activities. I base this statement on my long time work with Air Warrior (before SOE took it over). This policy therefore needs some serious review. I don't know if "draconian" goes over easier in Japan - but since the EQ market is largest in the US - it might be wise to learn how we over here view such behavior. Repeat it too often and you lose face - and therefore paying customers. 5. I'm left after all this wondering if such "strange behavior" isn't an intended as a calculated "fishing trip". ie "Were not sure what's going on here - let's do a mass ban and see who screams and why." Remember the phrase - "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission"? -Rat
I agree Ratbo, I think a thanks is in order to those who'd usually lock/delete a thread like this, even though one of my posts was vaporized. I think some certain words are forbidden, lesson learned. Conquest banned with evidence by SOE? Oh man, I need to read up on that.
battleaxe, I believe you think that I was saying your post here would get deleted. that was not what I meant. I was how ever contending that people who intentionly lag the servers to gain advantages in combat, something we both agree is bad, would get their accounts banned. there have been threads on these forums about it. at least 4 in the last month. 3 of which are now gone. these people, those who lag the servers, do not get ban. those complaining about it here, that would be those who have troubles playing in the same zone due to the lag, get their posts removed and/ or threads locked.
