The Dangers of Buying Plat and/or Power Leveling services

Discussion in 'Community News' started by ARCHIVED-Greeblen-, Mar 17, 2008.

  1. ARCHIVED-Tsunai Guest

    As others have pointed out, this thread has absolutely nothing at all to do with Station Cash and everything to do with giving your personal information to unsecure and unknown sites leaving yourself open to internet theft and fraud. Take the Station Cash discussion to the appropriate thread and drop it here or I'll have to remove all posts that have deviated from the OP's subject.
    And in case anyone has forgotten, be sure and refamiliarize yourself with the Forum Rules as posting off topic is covered within them.
  2. ARCHIVED-Kitsune Guest

    I do have a question. I am definitely against Plat sellers, and farming etc. Played a Korean made game with a US branch that were basically helpless to solve the problems of Sold accounts, Illegal levelling services actually active on our Server, and Farmers camping out Quest areas and killing us. So I have no time at all for that.
    We have a Link up top to https://exchange.livegamer.com/eqii/
    This completely baffles me. I followed it out of curiosity. Please tell me what this is since it sells EQ2 accounts, and sells items and plat all for cold out of game cash. Is it a affiliate of Sony? I assume it has official blessing since it is on our Forum pages as a Link. Is this a Sony thing, or a sanctioned 3rd party firm? And why no mention of it in all this really interesting discussion?
    On the topic of good, free AV software, I use AVG and love it. It has caught potential problems before they are more than potential. It also scans Eudora email program nd web sites etc. It has a smallish footprint, and doesn't hook into all your programs like a worm/virus the way the commercial products Norton and McAffee do, and is easy to remove if you decide to do so. Also has great Forums for help.
  3. ARCHIVED-Nuhus Guest

    Kitsune wrote:
    SOE used to handle the transactions itself for the exchange services, but instead now, livegamer does it.
  4. ARCHIVED-Kitsune Guest

    Thsnks, but still not sure why it happens at all - I thought it was illegal. /shrug.
    I line with this topic, I found this in a regular mail I get from Zdnet. It may explain how some of the hacking of account information is happening. Certainly CERT's fix is something we can all apply, and I have.
    The fix is at http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/techaler.../TA09-020A.html
    This is the article:
    http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=...amp;tag=nl.e589
    "The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) has issued a technical cyber-security alert to warn that Microsoft’s guidelines for disabling AutoRun in the Windows operating system “are not fully effective” and argues that this “could be considered a vulnerability.”
    The U.S. CERT warning comes on the heels of live malware/worm attacks that take advantage of the Windows AutoRun and AutoPlay features to improve propagation."
    If you follow the link in that article to a more in depth one on the background of this, you get this:
    Link: http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=2235
    "The U.S. army’s recent ban on removable storage probably says it all, though one may wonder what took them this long.
    The vast majority of these malware samples is originating from China. Their functionality varies. It started out with online games password-stealers targeting World of Warcraft, LineAge and others. But over the last months, we’re seeing malware being upgraded to also spread via removable devices. They all make use of Windows’ AutoRun functionality.

    It’s boot viruses all over again. Some ten, fifteen years ago we faced a huge problem with viruses spreading via floppies. Already infected machines would infect floppies upon insertion and infected floppies could infect clean machines by being booted from. Microsoft reacted to this threat and with the introduction of Windows95/NT boot viruses started to die out.

    Unfortunately the current situation is worse than the one caused by boot viruses.

    The main reason for that is instead of (accidentally) having to boot from an infected floppy, pretty much plugging in the USB stick or other USB device will get you infected."
    So this may well be a factor in the stealing of game passwords.
  5. ARCHIVED-Kulssin Guest

    Kitsune wrote:
    Possibly.
    Nah.. I'm still gonna run with "I gave my password to my girlfriend/wife/lover/best friend/guild mate and I'm too embarassed to admit it". At least for the majority of the cases.
  6. ARCHIVED-Kitsune Guest

    lol, for sure, but for those that didn' t.... maybe this is the answer. Besides, taking precaustions when an exploitable are is exposed is common sense.
  7. ARCHIVED-StormQueen Guest

    I want to point out a reason for NOT giving out your login/password to friends, guildies etc. They may have the best of intentions; I see it all the time in my own guild and so far (cross fingers) none of them have been compromised. Now here's why I say this:
    YOU may have the greatest security on YOUR computer. YOU may not run to plat sites, download iffy programs and the like. But can you be absolutely sure your friend/acquaintance/guildie doesn't either A. visit iffy sites, B. have poor security/antivirus programs, or C. allow their own friends/family to use the same computer to do the same things?
    Once you give out the information, you are completely at the mercy of chance.
  8. ARCHIVED-Juravael Guest

  9. ARCHIVED-Quaill Guest

    I know that some people may not like this possible solution, but here it is anyways. Some people play this game more then they live their own lives, some people play this game to relax after a long day, others to keep in touch with friends and just have fun. My point in saying all this is that to this day I do not understand why SoE doesn't sell plat, Now some people might think this is stupid or unfair to whomever. But we all play this game for different reasons those people that want to strive and be the best in the game are not going to buy plat, and for that they experience a richer feeling of satisfaction for playing the game. For others, let them buy their plat and do whatever, if that's how they want to play the game, they won't experience the game as others do but then again who cares it's just a game. I feel that SoE has done a great job at balancing the currency in everquest and made it stupid to buy plat but obviously the want is still there. By SoE selling plat they would eliminate plat farmers, because plat farmers will only sell so low and then it's no longer worth their while, Soe would be getting rid of the issue of plat farmers and putting more coin in their own pockets.....which i don't think they'd mind =P
  10. ARCHIVED-Kitsune Guest

    Bad enough there is Station Cash - and have you read any of the outcry from players over that? - if SOE sold Plat to all the Servers, there would be an absolute outcry.
    It would cheapen their game, would send a message to those of us who actually play the game, that they consider our efforts worthless against those achieving the goals of the game by paying hard cash for them.
    You want to play by buying ready-made characters and Plat so everything is achievable in the game with minimal effort on your part - go play Lineage 2 with its Plat farmers and account buyers! I played it for 2 years on a US server and we hated those players. Apart from anything else, their arrogance to the rest of us was unbelievable. We were maggots under their feet because they had Money to buy what they wanted while we struggled to get 40 million adena to buy our L 40 Sword! Yeah, 40 million for a sword.....
    Also these wonderful people had no idea how to play the game! They couldn't even use the interface properly, or play the charcter, know its strengths and weknesses, what it did on a Raid or in a small group. You could spot them a mile away. And who did they annoy to show them the basics while reassuring us that no, they had not bought their L 43 toon? Yeah, us, the other players.
    So, no I do not want to see that player stratification hit EQ2 ever!
    You want an Exchange Server, you got one. Don't try to convince us we want it too when we do not.
  11. ARCHIVED-Kordran Guest

    Kitsune wrote:
    I don't disagree with you, but it's also true that plat is pretty meaningless in the game once you're at level cap. Coin is tight early on, but unless you're a perpetual lowbie, you end up getting plat firehosed on you with nothing to spend it on. And there's few real money sinks in the game. Mounts, titles, etc. are all trivial now.
    Once you've geared and mastered up, the only thing to really spend money on is food, drink, signets and repairs. You quickly end up with hundreds of plat, and nothing to spend it on except (perhaps) collection items. And of course, that doesn't actually take coin out of the economy, it just shuffles it around from player to player.
    Edit: To put it another way, anyone who feels the need to actually buy plat in this game fails at life. Both virtual and real.
  12. ARCHIVED-Kitsune Guest

    Kordran wrote:
    I totally agree with that. And I ma just getting up to the higher levels now so am having Plat for the first time. Till now it has been a real struggle, but not one I resented. I have enjoyued new kit more for struggling to get it. :)
  13. ARCHIVED-Warpig Guest

    Kordran wrote:
    I've never had that much plat and I have 2 lvl 80 characters?
    Or do I just suck at this?
  14. ARCHIVED-Ikke Guest

    Zorastiz@Antonia Bayle wrote:
    As a soloplayer who plays VERY casual I make a lot of plat by just gathering and collecting shinies. So yes you get the plat " firehosed" to you BUT even the simplest item on the broker costs even more plat. The inflation of the prices at the top level is rediculous.
    (Edited to correct the worst spelling mistakes (In het nederlands gaat het beter ))
  15. ARCHIVED-Zehl_Ice-Fire Guest

    Quaill wrote:
    Part of this game is about earning the gold/plat to get the gear/items you need that are not drops. That is part of the challenge of this game. If you can buy plat for cash, why not sell levels & aa for cash? Instant gear for cash? Instant Mythicals for cash? Then it would leak to tradables like rares & shinys for cash.
    The game would have zero challenge for those with RL wealth, just like the real world has little challenge for the very wealthy, pixel land is supposed to be an equalizer :p. The devs (and me!) do not want anyone getting things with zero challenge, look at frostfell, they made like 60 unique raws for the crafters to have to harvest so it would have a challenge to be able to find and carry them all when it wasn't even a place that should have a challenge.
    Not everyone has this disposable cash, those who do would have huge advantages if you could buy plat, like being geared before someone else who is spending the time to earn the plat to gear up, or buy 5000 plat worth of collection items to get aas faster.
  16. ARCHIVED-Kitsune Guest

    Why play the game if there is no challenge? What's the point if you can buy your way up the ranks? I never could understand those who want to do that. You cna't experience the game doing that. One of the things I love is entering a new area for the first time and going "Wow!" as I see the landscape and the sunsets and dawn. I enjoy it as much as a real world.
    Our Guild is small, we do not raid, so I guess there is a lot of content I am missing in the way of drops etc. However I recently read a comic about EQ2 and saw some pix of a Raid and it looked exactly like raiding a castle on Lineage 2 did - graphics turned to the lowest possible setting and even then you see yourself move or respond to keystrokes several seconds AFTER you make them because of Lag, and you're deep in a knot of overlapping characters and can't see a damned thing for everyone else in the way.. the screeen is partially obscured by spell effects as welll.... Hmmm if this is what raiding is, I can do without it, to be honest, and try and pick up stuff on the broker from Raiders with loot to sell, or do without.
    Yes I could whine about wanting that content of drops for non raiding toons, like high level Masters which apparently only drop in high end raids, but I know that making it easier for small groups and solo players is not what I signed up for to play this game. There isn't a way to compensate those players, the casual ones, the small Guilds, and those who don't like raiding, without devaluing the content for the other players, and thus devaluing the game itself. So I accept that some stuff I will not get unless I make the effort to raid despite disliking it.
    It's like real life - choices have consequences. Your life style has consequences, so obviously your gaming style choices will have them. So suck it up, guys n gals, and be realistic about it, eh?
  17. ARCHIVED-Enna Guest

    To SOE / Greeblen -
    Thank you for your diligence in reminding us silly players not to grow careless with account security. :)

    To my fellow players -
    I know I'm not the only physically disabled individual who enjoys the illusion of freedom that exists in / through Norrath. If RL $$ was permitted to become a major factor in gameplay, that would leave myself and *many* others who are on limited incomes "out in the cold" with respect to our ability to play effectively enough to enjoy returning / continuing.
    That is only one of several reasons I applaud the efforts of SOE GM's to curtail all plat vendors. I'm also glad to see it verified that they especially go after the eula-violators who commit fraudulent transactions.
    People, please bear in mind that part of what makes Norrath enjoyable is that the realm is *interactive.* This means we, as players, must spend time and effort to make progress. Less time and effort = less progress. It is easily possible to grow if you have less time; it's just slower than if you have more time.
    Fortunately, provision has been made to cause the journey - fast or slow - to be enjoyable on its own. Unlike many entertainments of lesser durability, there is a *lot* of content in Norrath for low and intermediate levels. It's not just about being whatever the current top level is
    While it does grow gradually "top-heavy" in player population as long-term players' characters reach their maximum potential, even new expansions usually provide things for younger characters.
    I am increasingly convinced that EverQuest is *not* "just a game." It is also a community that includes a virtual economy. For many people, myself included, EverQuestII is also a hobby -- the same way that many people pursue sports, or a favorite [series of] book(s), or a favorite TV show. It's not just "something to do" or "a way to pass time." It is also something to learn about, and dis-cuss , and inspire.
    If anyone is the sort of person unwilling to exert enough effort to actually interact with Norrath, then I would imagine that person may be better off watching TV - where their entertainment is offered to them "on a silver platter" and without any effort on their part beyond choosing the appropriate channel at any given time.
    If anyone merely purchases levels / awards / items because they chance to have adequate surplus cash out in the real world, such a person has actually accomplished nothing in Norrath. Perhaps that is the reason such players are so strongly inclined to boast. Like all other bullies, they recognize the hollowness of their own lives and abhor it; so they try to compensate for their own inadequacies by putting others down. Such behavior fails to make a favorable impression on thinking people, in any realm.
    EQ/EQII/EQOA, like most other situations where a virtual economy exists, quickly cease to be enjoyable when RL $ is permitted to intrude. Partly because it disrupts that economy, but mostly because it attracts personalities that are not good for the community of players.
    Plat scammers have also been reported to obtain credit card information from people... and misuse that information, too.
    So fraud, and other harmful behaviors, tends to extend between both the real world and the virtual ones.
    I'm glad that a few exchange servers are provided for those who want to buy their way through Norrath with real $$. That keeps most of those people off in their own realm, where they need not trouble the rest of us.
    If ever a day comes when plat farmers and plat vendors are fully extinct in all forms of Norrath, I will celebrate! :)
  18. ARCHIVED-MurFalad Guest

    I totally agree with Enna here, EQ2 is not a game where you need to buy platinum to progress anyway and if it was allowed it could start the slipperly slope where game designers were encouraged to make accumulation of platinum needed for game progress to increase profits. Shiny hunting and gathering get me enough platinum to spend on frivilous things anyway, and are enjoyable activities anyway :)
    One top tip though, while its hard to guarantee that your spyware/anti-virus will pick up every malicious script if you run Firefox then its worth checking out a free util called "noscript", if basically means that you have to ok each and every script that a website runs. So if you don't trust the website then you are least can prevent it launching any scripts onto your computer. As a side bonus all those flashing adverts can then be stopped too ;)
    A bit painful to start with using since you need to ok a lot of commonly used sites, but its good for those times when you just hit a link and find the site on the other end is a bit dubious, at least this prevents that site from launching anything on your pc!
  19. ARCHIVED-Eqsasukei Guest

    Well since SoE is so concerned with dangers they should investigate some of thier devs in EQ1 and eq2 with giving secrets and GM items to certain hack companies who exploit their own company.
    No Delay in EQ1, guess how they got it to work?... A GM admin ..
    Admins are like some cops, corruptable and like a bigger paycheck.
  20. ARCHIVED-mozart357 Guest

    I'm sure they would if you provided some solid proof.