New Necklaces and Purchasing Problems

Hey Gang,

So there was some maintence early this morning going on in the Spiral! KingsIsle has released the new necklaces (you know, the ones that let you use power pips for Schools that aren't your primary School?) to the live realm. They also released a bunny suit and the mini game kiosks that were in the test realm (these items used to only be obtainable via the $40 Gift Card or the Auction House if someone sold their one from the $40 card). KingsIsle also said that the maintainence was the last of their sessions were they were upgrading their software. Does anyone remember the last time we saw a message similar to this? About a month before Celestia went to the Test Realm, KingsIsle made similar regular maintences, saying that they were "upgrading the system," which is true. However, if this is the usual pattern for releasing a new world/ new content, I'd say that WinterTusk will be here by late May/ Early June. Yay! New content!

Also, I wanted to bring something to the attention of people recently buying Crowns or a Membership. Anyone using American Express Gift Cards (and possibly Credit Cards, I'm not sure) to purchase Crowns (or a Membership, again I'm not sure if it matters) will find difficulty purchasing the item. This is a temporary glitch, as I was informed by KingsIsle, and should be resolved shortly.

How do I know such a thing is occuring? Well, I have bought 2 $25 American Express Gift Cards within the past two weeks (as that is how I pay for things like Crowns and my URL). I've been trying to purchase the Crowns, and it just hasn't been working. I've called American Express and complained multiple times, but it wasn't until later that I realized that it wasn't quite their fault with what's been going on. If I made my payment for my URL with one, then it must be the Wizard101 site that's having problems. So I sent a ticket in to KingsIsle about it, and they are currently working on the issue. Supposedly there are other wizards who have been having this problem as well, so if you are one of those wizards, please let KingsIsle know! It will help everyone!

In other news, Wizard101 Central's Video of the week is up! I actually really like these videos, and I'm really looking forward to watching it when I get home.

There is no gaming news from me today, as I couldn't play much last night due to an ill-wanted meeting that i had to attend with a troll. Basically I had to go to a meeting with my sister and my mom about a college and let's just say that it wasn't too happy for me because there was someone that I didn't like at the meeting. I did the right thing though, and while it may be hard sometimes, it just goes to show that the best weapon you have is your conscience.

So look for some news tomorrow about Patrick! And who knows; maybe there will be some Spiral news for us! See ya later,

P.D.

**EDIT: The Amex (American Express) Gift Card bug will not happen to everyone; some people may have no problems with it.**

The Dawn of a New Age

Hello Everyone,

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