Long time no see. I know, I know; I promised that I wouldn't post for a while, but I feel the need to cover the latest outbreak of news. Before I begin, however, I feel the need to apologize about my past post about the Crowns VS Sub. I realize now that it was necessary of KingsIsle to implement this into their game, and I'm no longer angry about it. Anywho, let's move on:
So, people are hearing all types of things. "People got banned because they were stacking items?", "People got banned for buying Mega Snack Packs?", "People got banned for selling their products from gardening?", "I heard over 10 million people got banned!". These are all rumors, and even moreover, lies. Here's what really happened (as quoted in a comment I made on a Central Blog):
"People were NOT banned because they had floating plant towers, rugs, items, etc. The reason some people were banned was because there was a strange glitch with the floating plants that let you harvest them many many times in such little time. Not only did these plants harvest so much, but they also gave off extremely rare prizes, mostly Mega Snacks. The problem that surfaced is, people pay real money for these. People were exploiting this glitch by farming these snacks by the hundreds. One player said he farmed well over 500 Mega Snacks, so he cheated KI of around $3,500. So now can people see why the had to resort to banning players? They were cheated out of a LOT of money. Also, they warned people that they would permanently be banned for exploiting in both one edition of a News Letter and in their Terms of Use. It was even more a disastrous exploit than with the wings or PvP. The people who were banned, while some great, truly deserved it. And @grant4323: Could you prove this? I highly doubt 10 million people were banned, considering that W101 has around 15 million players."
Please don't spread rumors (or for that matter, believe in them unless valid evidence supports the rumor), because trust me, seriously, it gets you no where (as I had to learn from a previous experience, and learning about rumors and how to handle them is NOT a fun experience for anyone involved). This was a high scale exploit, and KI was facing HUGE amounts of money loss. And they will continue to face money loss due to the fact that they had to banned subscribers for breaking their Terms of Use.
So not only did the exploiters make things bad by not letting us go to our homes for a while (or as Kevin BattleBlood so cleverly put it, "yellow-taping us from our houses,") however they also probably delayed any new updates to the game. Updates = $$$$$. Lack of $$$$$ = lack of updates. So we suffer twice.
As to exploiters that are coming out and apologizing, well ... I don't have pitty for you. HOWEVER, I do have a new-found respect for you. It's not hard to come out in front of everyone and say you were wrong; it's a hard task for anyone. Is it worth asking KI nicely for your account back at any cost (cost meaning muting, suspension, etc.)? I guess it's worth it, but you probably wont be shown any kindness. Not that I'd blame KI for not giving you your account back; you cheated them out of a ton of money.
What's the point of all this that's happened? Well:
1. If you see an exploit, instead of participating in it, report it. When KI eventually figures out (and trust me, they will), you'll only get in trouble for it.
2. How do you tell if it's an exploit? Well, something is probably an exploit if it:
A. Gets you a lot of x (x = money, experience, reagents, etc.) really fast.
B. If it gets you a money that costs real money for free (with the exception of item drops from enemies).
Follow those rules, and I can guarantee your account will not get suspended for taking advantage of KingsIsle. Thanks for listening, and sorry for yet again breaking my promise.
Luke GoldHorn
