Good riddance! I hope the guy who joined our guild and destroyed the HAAT raid with his underpowered roster got banned. I reported but never heard back. Ban em all!
Nice work Lucifer's Daddy and company!
A third party finds a way to create in game currency at a discounted rate to transfer to players in game. These same players more then likely would have spent the money anyways in game to get the edge over those that try and work their way up the hard way. I guess I could understand if maybe this was not a pay to play model. I have been in games where gold farmers were rampant via 3rd party and as others have mentioned used the auction house to complete transactions.
This isn't like gold farming, though. In WoW, and other MMOs, you gain gold by fighting mobs and selling items. You can send that gold through the in-game mail to the buyer. It's all supported in the game.
The only way to get crystals (other than the freebies you earn, which are still non-transferrable) is to buy them with real money. They're then deposited into your account and are non-transferrable. So how do these folks get discounted crystals?
As LD said, you pay the hacker and give them your account information, then they log into your game and buy the crystals for you using a stolen credit card, then log out. That's not just a violation of the terms of service, that's flat out illegal. Knowing that, how can anyone defend it?
Also confused on the hacking here. What was hacked and how was the hacking advantageous? Yes you are not suppose to sell your account but that is not hacking. I guess I need clarification on this one.
They've been using hacking aps to make their attacking teams unkillable, to instantly defeat defending teams, to clone mods, etc.
i use a tapping app to spend my ally points on bronzium packs. its just such a pain to do by hand and bronzium packs do yield nice stuff. i hope that wouldnt get somehow flagged as third party app use. What is your policy regarding that? Am I at risk?
kind regards,
a really long time player
Realistically speaking, they've already noticed an abnormal activity on your account, flagged you, investigated, and already moved on. They don't just look at what you're doing and whether it breaks the rules, they look at whether the rule that's being broken is harming the game. Using a third party to buy crystals (which are probably a scam--see LD's previous posts) harms the game because the people breaking the rules are gaining an advantage over the people who aren't. The people using third party aps to instakill or get infinite health in arena are CLEARLY harming the game.
Using a tap ap to open bronziums isn't hurting the game--but, from personal experience, why are you still using it? It took me a couple hours to open my packs and spend down to 0 when Tournaments were cancelled and I needed to spend a half a million, but once I was down to 0 it took no time at all to spend back down to 0 at the end of every night since you'd only get maybe 15 total packs :P You've got time to open 15!
How is buying from a third party any different then buying game. Yes I understand the difference between the game making money and someone else but I do not see any player gaining and advantage since anyone playing can do the same thing in game. I right now could drop 50k on the game and would gain an advantage so is that harming the game because I have resources that others do not? These people still have to have money to buy the crystals either in game or 3rd party. They go outside to more for their money and yes it violates the rules but I do not see it harming the community as it really is no different then a whale spending money in game.
For the record I am F2P as I see no value in spending on any portion as the ROI is just not there for what my in game goals are.
i use a tapping app to spend my ally points on bronzium packs. its just such a pain to do by hand and bronzium packs do yield nice stuff. i hope that wouldnt get somehow flagged as third party app use. What is your policy regarding that? Am I at risk?
kind regards,
a really long time player
Realistically speaking, they've already noticed an abnormal activity on your account, flagged you, investigated, and already moved on. They don't just look at what you're doing and whether it breaks the rules, they look at whether the rule that's being broken is harming the game. Using a third party to buy crystals (which are probably a scam--see LD's previous posts) harms the game because the people breaking the rules are gaining an advantage over the people who aren't. The people using third party aps to instakill or get infinite health in arena are CLEARLY harming the game.
Using a tap ap to open bronziums isn't hurting the game--but, from personal experience, why are you still using it? It took me a couple hours to open my packs and spend down to 0 when Tournaments were cancelled and I needed to spend a half a million, but once I was down to 0 it took no time at all to spend back down to 0 at the end of every night since you'd only get maybe 15 total packs :P You've got time to open 15!
How is buying from a third party any different then buying game. Yes I understand the difference between the game making money and someone else but I do not see any player gaining and advantage since anyone playing can do the same thing in game. I right now could drop 50k on the game and would gain an advantage so is that harming the game because I have resources that others do not? These people still have to have money to buy the crystals either in game or 3rd party. They go outside to more for their money and yes it violates the rules but I do not see it harming the community as it really is no different then a whale spending money in game.
For the record I am F2P as I see no value in spending on any portion as the ROI is just not there for what my in game goals are.
Since I’ve had a few shard mates get banned for this and they’ve shared their experience, I’ll give you specifics: you hand your login info over to someone, pay them $200 and 150,000 crystals show up in your account. Like LD said this is done through stolen credit cards or gift cards and is a front for organized crime to launder money.
This is about an 80% discount to the game’s store prices. If you are competing with players that are paying full price for the game’s most valuable currency, and cheaters are getting 4x as much for your dollar... this represents an ENORMOUS advantage with regards to game progression.
That $200 goes to the criminal and the $1000, while technically being spent in the game’s store, must be refunded at a later date when the fraud is discovered.
How is buying from a third party any different then buying game.
How is having a job and getting a paycheck different than printing counterfeit dollars?
The answers:
1. The money is fraudulent
2. The money doesn't go to pay for the servers or future content which everybody is using
3. The money goes to and supports criminal organizations
4. They are able to gain crystals at a much lower cost than in-game, thereby inflating the meta and arenas which cause other players to lose crystals due to less access to crystals via rankings
5. They are cheating at TW
6. They are cheating at TB
7. They are cheating in squad arena
8. They are cheating in fleet arena
9. They are cheating in PVE
10. They are cheating in all challenges
11. They are cheating in all events
i use a tapping app to spend my ally points on bronzium packs. its just such a pain to do by hand and bronzium packs do yield nice stuff. i hope that wouldnt get somehow flagged as third party app use. What is your policy regarding that? Am I at risk?
kind regards,
a really long time player
Realistically speaking, they've already noticed an abnormal activity on your account, flagged you, investigated, and already moved on. They don't just look at what you're doing and whether it breaks the rules, they look at whether the rule that's being broken is harming the game. Using a third party to buy crystals (which are probably a scam--see LD's previous posts) harms the game because the people breaking the rules are gaining an advantage over the people who aren't. The people using third party aps to instakill or get infinite health in arena are CLEARLY harming the game.
Using a tap ap to open bronziums isn't hurting the game--but, from personal experience, why are you still using it? It took me a couple hours to open my packs and spend down to 0 when Tournaments were cancelled and I needed to spend a half a million, but once I was down to 0 it took no time at all to spend back down to 0 at the end of every night since you'd only get maybe 15 total packs :P You've got time to open 15!
How is buying from a third party any different then buying game. Yes I understand the difference between the game making money and someone else but I do not see any player gaining and advantage since anyone playing can do the same thing in game. I right now could drop 50k on the game and would gain an advantage so is that harming the game because I have resources that others do not? These people still have to have money to buy the crystals either in game or 3rd party. They go outside to more for their money and yes it violates the rules but I do not see it harming the community as it really is no different then a whale spending money in game.
For the record I am F2P as I see no value in spending on any portion as the ROI is just not there for what my in game goals are.
My sentiments exactly, it's not hurting the game per se.
However, it's obviously unfair that some players who are breaking the ToS are getting crystals at a lower price than players who buy their crystals legit though.
i use a tapping app to spend my ally points on bronzium packs. its just such a pain to do by hand and bronzium packs do yield nice stuff. i hope that wouldnt get somehow flagged as third party app use. What is your policy regarding that? Am I at risk?
kind regards,
a really long time player
Realistically speaking, they've already noticed an abnormal activity on your account, flagged you, investigated, and already moved on. They don't just look at what you're doing and whether it breaks the rules, they look at whether the rule that's being broken is harming the game. Using a third party to buy crystals (which are probably a scam--see LD's previous posts) harms the game because the people breaking the rules are gaining an advantage over the people who aren't. The people using third party aps to instakill or get infinite health in arena are CLEARLY harming the game.
Using a tap ap to open bronziums isn't hurting the game--but, from personal experience, why are you still using it? It took me a couple hours to open my packs and spend down to 0 when Tournaments were cancelled and I needed to spend a half a million, but once I was down to 0 it took no time at all to spend back down to 0 at the end of every night since you'd only get maybe 15 total packs :P You've got time to open 15!
How is buying from a third party any different then buying game. Yes I understand the difference between the game making money and someone else but I do not see any player gaining and advantage since anyone playing can do the same thing in game. I right now could drop 50k on the game and would gain an advantage so is that harming the game because I have resources that others do not? These people still have to have money to buy the crystals either in game or 3rd party. They go outside to more for their money and yes it violates the rules but I do not see it harming the community as it really is no different then a whale spending money in game.
For the record I am F2P as I see no value in spending on any portion as the ROI is just not there for what my in game goals are.
My sentiments exactly, it's not hurting the game per se.
However, it's obviously unfair that some players who are breaking the ToS are getting crystals at a lower price than players who buy their crystals legit though.
Its feeding organized crime and thats not an issue for you? The devs didn’t create this game to fund criminals.
A third party finds a way to create in game currency at a discounted rate to transfer to players in game. These same players more then likely would have spent the money anyways in game to get the edge over those that try and work their way up the hard way. I guess I could understand if maybe this was not a pay to play model. I have been in games where gold farmers were rampant via 3rd party and as others have mentioned used the auction house to complete transactions.
This isn't like gold farming, though. In WoW, and other MMOs, you gain gold by fighting mobs and selling items. You can send that gold through the in-game mail to the buyer. It's all supported in the game.
The only way to get crystals (other than the freebies you earn, which are still non-transferrable) is to buy them with real money. They're then deposited into your account and are non-transferrable. So how do these folks get discounted crystals?
As LD said, you pay the hacker and give them your account information, then they log into your game and buy the crystals for you using a stolen credit card, then log out. That's not just a violation of the terms of service, that's flat out illegal. Knowing that, how can anyone defend it?
Also confused on the hacking here. What was hacked and how was the hacking advantageous? Yes you are not suppose to sell your account but that is not hacking. I guess I need clarification on this one.
They've been using hacking aps to make their attacking teams unkillable, to instantly defeat defending teams, to clone mods, etc.
In many other MMOs about 10 years their were numerous 3rd parties that would advertise outside and inside the game to sell gold at a discounted price. The same method was used in the beginning by allowing someone else access to you account, they would log in, and you would have gold. Mainly the gold was to use to buy crafting mats and what not because at the time most of the top end game gear was crafted until later it would be obtained via raids that made items bound to character once received. Then as auction houses expanded they used this to back door so the 3rd parties could deliver the ingame gold that someone purchased via 3rd party. Even a game I a currently still playing after 12 years monitors now transactions of gold via the auction house. Not nearly as bad the in game spammers we had for a few years offering 3rd party gold.
In regards to the apps for ingame play not familiar with those but again this is my first mobile game I have ever played. When I started playing MMOs over 20 years ago apps were not around.
i use a tapping app to spend my ally points on bronzium packs. its just such a pain to do by hand and bronzium packs do yield nice stuff. i hope that wouldnt get somehow flagged as third party app use. What is your policy regarding that? Am I at risk?
kind regards,
a really long time player
Realistically speaking, they've already noticed an abnormal activity on your account, flagged you, investigated, and already moved on. They don't just look at what you're doing and whether it breaks the rules, they look at whether the rule that's being broken is harming the game. Using a third party to buy crystals (which are probably a scam--see LD's previous posts) harms the game because the people breaking the rules are gaining an advantage over the people who aren't. The people using third party aps to instakill or get infinite health in arena are CLEARLY harming the game.
Using a tap ap to open bronziums isn't hurting the game--but, from personal experience, why are you still using it? It took me a couple hours to open my packs and spend down to 0 when Tournaments were cancelled and I needed to spend a half a million, but once I was down to 0 it took no time at all to spend back down to 0 at the end of every night since you'd only get maybe 15 total packs :P You've got time to open 15!
How is buying from a third party any different then buying game. Yes I understand the difference between the game making money and someone else but I do not see any player gaining and advantage since anyone playing can do the same thing in game. I right now could drop 50k on the game and would gain an advantage so is that harming the game because I have resources that others do not? These people still have to have money to buy the crystals either in game or 3rd party. They go outside to more for their money and yes it violates the rules but I do not see it harming the community as it really is no different then a whale spending money in game.
For the record I am F2P as I see no value in spending on any portion as the ROI is just not there for what my in game goals are.
Since I’ve had a few shard mates get banned for this and they’ve shared their experience, I’ll give you specifics: you hand your login info over to someone, pay them $200 and 150,000 crystals show up in your account. Like LD said this is done through stolen credit cards or gift cards and is a front for organized crime to launder money.
This is about an 80% discount to the game’s store prices. If you are competing with players that are paying full price for the game’s most valuable currency, and cheaters are getting 4x as much for your dollar... this represents an ENORMOUS advantage with regards to game progression.
That $200 goes to the criminal and the $1000, while technically being spent in the game’s store, must be refunded at a later date when the fraud is discovered.
Never said what they did was not illegal and it does not change I could just like anyone else still spend whatever I wanted to gain the same advantage like so many already do via in game.
But I also mentioned I agree it is cheating the company as it limits the resources that go back into the game.
i use a tapping app to spend my ally points on bronzium packs. its just such a pain to do by hand and bronzium packs do yield nice stuff. i hope that wouldnt get somehow flagged as third party app use. What is your policy regarding that? Am I at risk?
kind regards,
a really long time player
Realistically speaking, they've already noticed an abnormal activity on your account, flagged you, investigated, and already moved on. They don't just look at what you're doing and whether it breaks the rules, they look at whether the rule that's being broken is harming the game. Using a third party to buy crystals (which are probably a scam--see LD's previous posts) harms the game because the people breaking the rules are gaining an advantage over the people who aren't. The people using third party aps to instakill or get infinite health in arena are CLEARLY harming the game.
Using a tap ap to open bronziums isn't hurting the game--but, from personal experience, why are you still using it? It took me a couple hours to open my packs and spend down to 0 when Tournaments were cancelled and I needed to spend a half a million, but once I was down to 0 it took no time at all to spend back down to 0 at the end of every night since you'd only get maybe 15 total packs :P You've got time to open 15!
How is buying from a third party any different then buying game. Yes I understand the difference between the game making money and someone else but I do not see any player gaining and advantage since anyone playing can do the same thing in game. I right now could drop 50k on the game and would gain an advantage so is that harming the game because I have resources that others do not? These people still have to have money to buy the crystals either in game or 3rd party. They go outside to more for their money and yes it violates the rules but I do not see it harming the community as it really is no different then a whale spending money in game.
For the record I am F2P as I see no value in spending on any portion as the ROI is just not there for what my in game goals are.
My sentiments exactly, it's not hurting the game per se.
However, it's obviously unfair that some players who are breaking the ToS are getting crystals at a lower price than players who buy their crystals legit though.
Its feeding organized crime and thats not an issue for you? The devs didn’t create this game to fund criminals.
Whether or not it's feeding organized crime has no bearing on whether or not it's hurting the game.
I do hope the criminals are being caught and justice is being served, but it's not like it's an issue for me personally. Just like burgalaries or organized crime in Dallas or Tokyo (i live nowhere near these cities) aren't an issue for me personally. I hope they get caught, that's about it.
I certainly won't aid organized crime and i hope these bans deter others from buying crystals via these criminals, but it hasn't really affected my gaming experience in a negative way. That's all.
How is buying from a third party any different then buying game.
How is having a job and getting a paycheck different than printing counterfeit dollars?
I buy crystals in game it is legal. I buy crystals outside of game from 3rd party and if it appears to be legit like many do I have not committed a crime only a violated a rule of the game. Now the 3rd vendors have committed a crime but if I did not willfully or knowingly colluded in their efforts I did not commit a crime.
The answers:
The money is fraudulent
Most of the time it probably is
The money doesn't go to pay for the servers or future content which everybody is using
I agree
The money goes to and supports criminal organizations
Sometimes not always
They are able to gain crystals at a much lower cost than in-game, thereby inflating the meta and arenas which cause other players to lose crystals due to less access to crystals via rankings
Yes they do purchase at a lower cost but how is collusion in the arena any different?
Whether or not it's feeding organized crime has no bearing on whether or not it's hurting the game.
I do hope the criminals are being caught and justice is being served, but it's not like it's an issue for me personally.
Do you partake in squad or fleet arenas or raids or are you part of a guild that does Territory Wars? Are you playing the game using the software and servers created by EA/CG and funded by crystal purchases?
If you answered, yes, then it does affect you. They are taking higher ranks in arenas and raids and pushing you farther down and out of prize brackets. If you take part in TWs, then they are beating your guild and winning prizes.
EA/CG is losing potential income from the cheaters. Even if the cheaters who cheated wouldn't play the game if they couldn't cheat, that would be less people and that would require less servers which would require less money spent by EA/CG to maintain the game.
As long as you're playing the game, it affects you.
Its feeding organized crime and thats not an issue for you? The devs didn’t create this game to fund criminals.
If an organized crime syndicate is doing it then they will find another way whether CG bans these accounts or not unless they are not a very successful syndicate and then they are probably an unorganized crime syndicate.
Whether or not it's feeding organized crime has no bearing on whether or not it's hurting the game.
I do hope the criminals are being caught and justice is being served, but it's not like it's an issue for me personally.
Do you partake in squad or fleet arenas or raids or are you part of a guild that does Territory Wars? Are you playing the game using the software and servers created by EA/CG and funded by crystal purchases?
If you answered, yes, then it does affect you. They are taking higher ranks in arenas and raids and pushing you farther down and out of prize brackets. If you take part in TWs, then they are beating your guild and winning prizes.
EA/CG is losing potential income from the cheaters. Even if the cheaters who cheated wouldn't play the game if they couldn't cheat, that would be less people and that would require less servers which would require less money spent by EA/CG to maintain the game.
As long as you're playing the game, it affects you.
I never said it doesn't affect me, i said it's not an issue for me. Whether i'm fighting a guy who've spend 20k on 20k worth of crystals or a guy who've spend 5k on 20k worth of crystals makes no difference to me gameplay wise.
I phrased it poorly, i meant it's not hurting gameplay. I obviously does hurt the game itself (the developers), so i fully understand that they're taking action. Not because it would free up so much server space that it would cost them less to host the game though
In the end if this was not a pay for play model their would be no need to purchase crystals. But the game itself also created a need for those that wish to advance faster to find ways to do so at a cheaper rate. Part of the negative side to the business model. When demand is created a supplier will oblige. Also as the game continues to provide a model that requires more money to be spent to stay relevant for so many in game more players will look for the best ROI when spending. Maybe the 3rd parties would not be so attractive to those that use them if the game did not continue to become more of money sink with the quicker cadence release of toons needed to complete events for relevancy.
But the same can be said for those guilds and players that collude. If they would just play in the arena the way it was meant to play maybe some would not feel the need to use a 3rd party to compete. And everyone would have the same opportunity in game to receive the payouts they hope for.
See the solution is not a simple one. Outside of utilizing a 3rd party there are also ways in game to cheat the system for crystals. Until all are addressed and dealt with players will look for any advantage outside the game when the current model allows for players in the game to gain an unfair advantage just as well.
In the end if this was not a pay for play model their would be no need to purchase crystals. But the game itself also created a need for those that wish to advance faster to find ways to do so at a cheaper rate. Part of the negative side to the business model. When demand is created a supplier will oblige. Also as the game continues to provide a model that requires more money to be spent to stay relevant for so many in game more players will look for the best ROI when spending. Maybe the 3rd parties would not be so attractive to those that use them if the game did not continue to become more of money sink with the quicker cadence release of toons needed to complete events for relevancy.
But the same can be said for those guilds and players that collude. If they would just play in the arena the way it was meant to play maybe some would not feel the need to use a 3rd party to compete. And everyone would have the same opportunity in game to receive the payouts they hope for.
See the solution is not a simple one. Outside of utilizing a 3rd party there are also ways in game to cheat the system for crystals. Until all are addressed and dealt with players will look for any advantage outside the game when the current model allows for players in the game to gain an unfair advantage just as well.
This is an incredible false equivalence between shard chats and getting 120,000 crystals for free via funding criminal enterprises.
The business model of the game is one that we all signed up for when we downloaded and began participating. Swgoh is not alone in using it and generally is very ftp friendly.
In the end if this was not a pay for play model their would be no need to purchase crystals. But the game itself also created a need for those that wish to advance faster to find ways to do so at a cheaper rate. Part of the negative side to the business model. When demand is created a supplier will oblige. Also as the game continues to provide a model that requires more money to be spent to stay relevant for so many in game more players will look for the best ROI when spending. Maybe the 3rd parties would not be so attractive to those that use them if the game did not continue to become more of money sink with the quicker cadence release of toons needed to complete events for relevancy.
But the same can be said for those guilds and players that collude. If they would just play in the arena the way it was meant to play maybe some would not feel the need to use a 3rd party to compete. And everyone would have the same opportunity in game to receive the payouts they hope for.
See the solution is not a simple one. Outside of utilizing a 3rd party there are also ways in game to cheat the system for crystals. Until all are addressed and dealt with players will look for any advantage outside the game when the current model allows for players in the game to gain an unfair advantage just as well.
The business model of the game is one that we all signed up for when we downloaded and began participating. Swgoh is not alone in using it and generally is very ftp friendly.
I agree, but that's also the reason why i'm not that mad about players buying 3rd party crystals.
Let me put it this way, who do you think is worse off in this game? a player on a leaderboard with 10 legit, highly competative krakens, or a player on a leaderboard with 3 third party crystal buying, highly competative, not banned whales, everything else is equal.
In the end if this was not a pay for play model their would be no need to purchase crystals. But the game itself also created a need for those that wish to advance faster to find ways to do so at a cheaper rate. Part of the negative side to the business model. When demand is created a supplier will oblige. Also as the game continues to provide a model that requires more money to be spent to stay relevant for so many in game more players will look for the best ROI when spending. Maybe the 3rd parties would not be so attractive to those that use them if the game did not continue to become more of money sink with the quicker cadence release of toons needed to complete events for relevancy.
But the same can be said for those guilds and players that collude. If they would just play in the arena the way it was meant to play maybe some would not feel the need to use a 3rd party to compete. And everyone would have the same opportunity in game to receive the payouts they hope for.
See the solution is not a simple one. Outside of utilizing a 3rd party there are also ways in game to cheat the system for crystals. Until all are addressed and dealt with players will look for any advantage outside the game when the current model allows for players in the game to gain an unfair advantage just as well.
The business model of the game is one that we all signed up for when we downloaded and began participating. Swgoh is not alone in using it and generally is very ftp friendly.
I agree, but that's also the reason why i'm not that mad about players buying 3rd party crystals.
Let me put it this way, who do you think is worse off in this game? a player on a leaderboard with 10 legit, highly competative krakens, or a player on a leaderboard with 3 third party crystal buying, highly competative, not banned whales, everything else is equal.
Those questions are potentially the same as those krakens may have bought 3rd party crystals.
In the end if this was not a pay for play model their would be no need to purchase crystals. But the game itself also created a need for those that wish to advance faster to find ways to do so at a cheaper rate. Part of the negative side to the business model. When demand is created a supplier will oblige. Also as the game continues to provide a model that requires more money to be spent to stay relevant for so many in game more players will look for the best ROI when spending. Maybe the 3rd parties would not be so attractive to those that use them if the game did not continue to become more of money sink with the quicker cadence release of toons needed to complete events for relevancy.
But the same can be said for those guilds and players that collude. If they would just play in the arena the way it was meant to play maybe some would not feel the need to use a 3rd party to compete. And everyone would have the same opportunity in game to receive the payouts they hope for.
See the solution is not a simple one. Outside of utilizing a 3rd party there are also ways in game to cheat the system for crystals. Until all are addressed and dealt with players will look for any advantage outside the game when the current model allows for players in the game to gain an unfair advantage just as well.
The business model of the game is one that we all signed up for when we downloaded and began participating. Swgoh is not alone in using it and generally is very ftp friendly.
I agree, but that's also the reason why i'm not that mad about players buying 3rd party crystals.
Let me put it this way, who do you think is worse off in this game? a player on a leaderboard with 10 legit, highly competative krakens, or a player on a leaderboard with 3 third party crystal buying, highly competative, not banned whales, everything else is equal.
Those questions are potentially the same as those krakens may have bought 3rd party crystals.
It's a hypothetical question, in this hypothetical scenario those krakens are 100% legit.
In the end if this was not a pay for play model their would be no need to purchase crystals. But the game itself also created a need for those that wish to advance faster to find ways to do so at a cheaper rate. Part of the negative side to the business model. When demand is created a supplier will oblige. Also as the game continues to provide a model that requires more money to be spent to stay relevant for so many in game more players will look for the best ROI when spending. Maybe the 3rd parties would not be so attractive to those that use them if the game did not continue to become more of money sink with the quicker cadence release of toons needed to complete events for relevancy.
But the same can be said for those guilds and players that collude. If they would just play in the arena the way it was meant to play maybe some would not feel the need to use a 3rd party to compete. And everyone would have the same opportunity in game to receive the payouts they hope for.
See the solution is not a simple one. Outside of utilizing a 3rd party there are also ways in game to cheat the system for crystals. Until all are addressed and dealt with players will look for any advantage outside the game when the current model allows for players in the game to gain an unfair advantage just as well.
The business model of the game is one that we all signed up for when we downloaded and began participating. Swgoh is not alone in using it and generally is very ftp friendly.
I agree, but that's also the reason why i'm not that mad about players buying 3rd party crystals.
Let me put it this way, who do you think is worse off in this game? a player on a leaderboard with 10 legit, highly competative krakens, or a player on a leaderboard with 3 third party crystal buying, highly competative, not banned whales, everything else is equal.
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make with your comparison.
Would you be mad if it was your stolen credit card number being used?
There’s a MUCH bigger issue with the fraud that has been discovered here that you’re dismissing completely because you don’t think it has affected your shard specifically. Which is that organized crime has unfortunately infiltrated players here and that $ is being used to fund illegal activity.
This is something that obviously needs to be addressed, and for your response to be “well what about shard chats and legit whales” seems incredibly short-sighted.
Please show me a sport or competition where the better funded person/team doesnt have an advantage. Better training, coaching, team diversity, recruitment, or.... There are many examples where money influences the outcome of a competition. And the better funded player/team doesn't always win.
Ahh yes, the George Steinbrenner method. The "Best team money can buy" Skill is a thing of the past. Why worry about learning a profession, pay someone else to do it! Or as H. (named violates filter? O.O) Roth said it best "I've loved baseball ever since Arnold Rothstein fixed the 1919 World Series" LOL Sorry Kyno, you walked into that one..
We consistently see that a player willing to cheat a raid will soon escalate to cheating TW. Or a player willing to cheat to get crystals, will soon cheat to take first place in the arena.
LD
It's kinda funny if you think about it. If these hackers can cheat themselves millions of crystals anyway, what's the purpose of arena then? Just adding a chump change of 500 crystals to their 1 million crystals stash? Seems redundant. But very likely just for the ego boost.
Anyway, keep up the amazing work guys. Cheaters are the absolute worst, and we, as a community, need to work together to finally put an end to this. It may be impossible to FULLY stop and prevent cheating, but we need to try to get as close to 0 cheaters as possible.
I never understood why people cheat in such games. 90% of the fun in this game (at least for me) lies in the constant challenges it gives me. It feels great to build up teams to overcome those challenges, get better, and constantly see you improve over time. Cheating destroys all of that and eliminates any purpose of the game. If you cheat, why even play at all? Just my 2 cents on it.
I guess I am a little confused here. I understand the terms of the service to play the game and these actions violate that and applaud the company for taking action but not sure how it is hacking and cheating though. The terms seem not to apply here to be honest.
A third party finds a way to create in game currency at a discounted rate to transfer to players in game. These same players more then likely would have spent the money anyways in game to get the edge over those that try and work their way up the hard way. I guess I could understand if maybe this was not a pay to play model. I have been in games where gold farmers were rampant via 3rd party and as others have mentioned used the auction house to complete transactions. That was the only way to obtain discounted gold. But then all that did was create a unbalanced trade market and gave no real advantage in the game. Here I understand by having more crystals and gear gives you an advantage but anyone that is willing to spend the money can gain that same advantage just from buying in game via the store. So I guess maybe they are cheating the company who has monopolized the market but not gaming community.
Also confused on the hacking here. What was hacked and how was the hacking advantageous? Yes you are not suppose to sell your account but that is not hacking. I guess I need clarification on this one.
Again I understand rules that we agree on to play the game are being violated by those who are looking for cheaper ways to purchase top gear and in game items but that is a bi-product of a pay for play model especially when a game like this one is currently ramping up the model to succeed you will need to pay or get left behind. Not sure it is cheating or just hurting the bottom line of the company which I understand if they are not making money, no money will go back into the game, and the game will eventually cease to exist.
And before this announcement 33 of the top 50 in my shard were Raven teams yesterday 37 were Revan teams. So not really sure how much it is changing.
I mean, if these things don't affect you, why do you need clarification?
No one was creating currency. A player would supply their login information to a vendor that would buy crystals using stolen credit card information. If you look into these operations, trust me, you would have no reservations about banning players that engaged in that activity. Knowingly or not.
Selling an account and hacking are two separate items. A shard mate of mine used a hack that could boost the stats on their toons. They effectively, overwrite the games code in the raid environment and can get 1st place not through progress, but through code manipulation. They got caught. They're gone.
Regarding selling your account to a new player, I don't really mind this activity, but the game has a policy against it and that's also fine by me.
You can't blame the cost of gear / shards on people behaving unethically. If your desire to advance in a mobile game overwrites your moral compass, I feel deep sympathy for you <- meaning those that cheated, not you specifically. And again, these are not "cheaper" options to purchase currency. They're fraudulent options.
People need to get off this idea that EA / CG is cracking down ONLY because it hurts its bottom line. It also creates a toxic player environment. It also leads to funding these criminal organizations that are profiting off stealing credit card information. Law enforcement has also been involved. Not sure how much EA / CG will disclose to us regarding this, but I guarantee they're working in conjunction with FBI to provide data on users that engaged in this activity. Primarily for helping shut down those types of operations, but prosecution isn't a far fetched idea for someone who helped promote these services. Just like if you buy a stolen TV, you're not immune to prosecution just because of your ignorance. If you're buying crystals through a third party where you have to give up your login information, you're not only stealing from EA / CG, you're also promoting hackers that steal CC information from people like me.
I guess I am a little confused here. I understand the terms of the service to play the game and these actions violate that and applaud the company for taking action but not sure how it is hacking and cheating though. The terms seem not to apply here to be honest.
A third party finds a way to create in game currency at a discounted rate to transfer to players in game. These same players more then likely would have spent the money anyways in game to get the edge over those that try and work their way up the hard way. I guess I could understand if maybe this was not a pay to play model. I have been in games where gold farmers were rampant via 3rd party and as others have mentioned used the auction house to complete transactions. That was the only way to obtain discounted gold. But then all that did was create a unbalanced trade market and gave no real advantage in the game. Here I understand by having more crystals and gear gives you an advantage but anyone that is willing to spend the money can gain that same advantage just from buying in game via the store. So I guess maybe they are cheating the company who has monopolized the market but not gaming community.
Also confused on the hacking here. What was hacked and how was the hacking advantageous? Yes you are not suppose to sell your account but that is not hacking. I guess I need clarification on this one.
Again I understand rules that we agree on to play the game are being violated by those who are looking for cheaper ways to purchase top gear and in game items but that is a bi-product of a pay for play model especially when a game like this one is currently ramping up the model to succeed you will need to pay or get left behind. Not sure it is cheating or just hurting the bottom line of the company which I understand if they are not making money, no money will go back into the game, and the game will eventually cease to exist.
And before this announcement 33 of the top 50 in my shard were Raven teams yesterday 37 were Revan teams. So not really sure how much it is changing.
The methods of cheating have been discussed by LD somewhere within these 11 pages of posting. As I understand it, and to paraphrase, basically, there is no method of transferring crystals from account to account in SWGOH. To obtain discounted crystals, a crime-syndicate entices you through false advertisement, or worse you knowingly engage with crime syndicates, then willingly or unsuspectingly you give them your password and user id. They log onto your account, and then use stolen credit cards, stolen gift cards, and other money laundering techniques to put money into your account and then buy crystals on your account. To cheat in this game, you actually have to collude with Syndicated Crime, so this is a big deal, and not as innocent as you make it sound.
what an ugly thing to say... does this mean we're not friends anymore?
My account was hacked earlier today. I hope that person gets caught. No idea how to find out who it was and was still able to log on to my account so I didn't lose it. Any way I can prevent this?? Really don't want to lose 3 years of progress on this game
My account was hacked earlier today. I hope that person gets caught. No idea how to find out who it was and was still able to log on to my account so I didn't lose it. Any way I can prevent this?? Really don't want to lose 3 years of progress on this game
Change your passwords, contact Google Play or the Appstore, your login is controlled by them not CG unless it is a client side issue?
My account was hacked earlier today. I hope that person gets caught. No idea how to find out who it was and was still able to log on to my account so I didn't lose it. Any way I can prevent this?? Really don't want to lose 3 years of progress on this game
Change your passwords, contact Google Play or the Appstore, your login is controlled by them not CG unless it is a client side issue?
I get the “someone else has logged into the account “ message just before I get an update.
My account was hacked earlier today. I hope that person gets caught. No idea how to find out who it was and was still able to log on to my account so I didn't lose it. Any way I can prevent this?? Really don't want to lose 3 years of progress on this game
Change your passwords, contact Google Play or the Appstore, your login is controlled by them not CG unless it is a client side issue?
I get the “someone else has logged into the account “ message just before I get an update.
Are you using multiple devices to play? Phone, tablet, etc?
Replies
Nice work Lucifer's Daddy and company!
The only way to get crystals (other than the freebies you earn, which are still non-transferrable) is to buy them with real money. They're then deposited into your account and are non-transferrable. So how do these folks get discounted crystals?
As LD said, you pay the hacker and give them your account information, then they log into your game and buy the crystals for you using a stolen credit card, then log out. That's not just a violation of the terms of service, that's flat out illegal. Knowing that, how can anyone defend it?
They've been using hacking aps to make their attacking teams unkillable, to instantly defeat defending teams, to clone mods, etc.
How is buying from a third party any different then buying game. Yes I understand the difference between the game making money and someone else but I do not see any player gaining and advantage since anyone playing can do the same thing in game. I right now could drop 50k on the game and would gain an advantage so is that harming the game because I have resources that others do not? These people still have to have money to buy the crystals either in game or 3rd party. They go outside to more for their money and yes it violates the rules but I do not see it harming the community as it really is no different then a whale spending money in game.
For the record I am F2P as I see no value in spending on any portion as the ROI is just not there for what my in game goals are.
Since I’ve had a few shard mates get banned for this and they’ve shared their experience, I’ll give you specifics: you hand your login info over to someone, pay them $200 and 150,000 crystals show up in your account. Like LD said this is done through stolen credit cards or gift cards and is a front for organized crime to launder money.
This is about an 80% discount to the game’s store prices. If you are competing with players that are paying full price for the game’s most valuable currency, and cheaters are getting 4x as much for your dollar... this represents an ENORMOUS advantage with regards to game progression.
That $200 goes to the criminal and the $1000, while technically being spent in the game’s store, must be refunded at a later date when the fraud is discovered.
How is having a job and getting a paycheck different than printing counterfeit dollars?
The answers:
1. The money is fraudulent
2. The money doesn't go to pay for the servers or future content which everybody is using
3. The money goes to and supports criminal organizations
4. They are able to gain crystals at a much lower cost than in-game, thereby inflating the meta and arenas which cause other players to lose crystals due to less access to crystals via rankings
5. They are cheating at TW
6. They are cheating at TB
7. They are cheating in squad arena
8. They are cheating in fleet arena
9. They are cheating in PVE
10. They are cheating in all challenges
11. They are cheating in all events
My sentiments exactly, it's not hurting the game per se.
However, it's obviously unfair that some players who are breaking the ToS are getting crystals at a lower price than players who buy their crystals legit though.
Its feeding organized crime and thats not an issue for you? The devs didn’t create this game to fund criminals.
In many other MMOs about 10 years their were numerous 3rd parties that would advertise outside and inside the game to sell gold at a discounted price. The same method was used in the beginning by allowing someone else access to you account, they would log in, and you would have gold. Mainly the gold was to use to buy crafting mats and what not because at the time most of the top end game gear was crafted until later it would be obtained via raids that made items bound to character once received. Then as auction houses expanded they used this to back door so the 3rd parties could deliver the ingame gold that someone purchased via 3rd party. Even a game I a currently still playing after 12 years monitors now transactions of gold via the auction house. Not nearly as bad the in game spammers we had for a few years offering 3rd party gold.
In regards to the apps for ingame play not familiar with those but again this is my first mobile game I have ever played. When I started playing MMOs over 20 years ago apps were not around.
Never said what they did was not illegal and it does not change I could just like anyone else still spend whatever I wanted to gain the same advantage like so many already do via in game.
But I also mentioned I agree it is cheating the company as it limits the resources that go back into the game.
Whether or not it's feeding organized crime has no bearing on whether or not it's hurting the game.
I do hope the criminals are being caught and justice is being served, but it's not like it's an issue for me personally. Just like burgalaries or organized crime in Dallas or Tokyo (i live nowhere near these cities) aren't an issue for me personally. I hope they get caught, that's about it.
I certainly won't aid organized crime and i hope these bans deter others from buying crystals via these criminals, but it hasn't really affected my gaming experience in a negative way. That's all.
Do you partake in squad or fleet arenas or raids or are you part of a guild that does Territory Wars? Are you playing the game using the software and servers created by EA/CG and funded by crystal purchases?
If you answered, yes, then it does affect you. They are taking higher ranks in arenas and raids and pushing you farther down and out of prize brackets. If you take part in TWs, then they are beating your guild and winning prizes.
EA/CG is losing potential income from the cheaters. Even if the cheaters who cheated wouldn't play the game if they couldn't cheat, that would be less people and that would require less servers which would require less money spent by EA/CG to maintain the game.
As long as you're playing the game, it affects you.
I never said it doesn't affect me, i said it's not an issue for me. Whether i'm fighting a guy who've spend 20k on 20k worth of crystals or a guy who've spend 5k on 20k worth of crystals makes no difference to me gameplay wise.
I phrased it poorly, i meant it's not hurting gameplay. I obviously does hurt the game itself (the developers), so i fully understand that they're taking action. Not because it would free up so much server space that it would cost them less to host the game though
But the same can be said for those guilds and players that collude. If they would just play in the arena the way it was meant to play maybe some would not feel the need to use a 3rd party to compete. And everyone would have the same opportunity in game to receive the payouts they hope for.
See the solution is not a simple one. Outside of utilizing a 3rd party there are also ways in game to cheat the system for crystals. Until all are addressed and dealt with players will look for any advantage outside the game when the current model allows for players in the game to gain an unfair advantage just as well.
This is an incredible false equivalence between shard chats and getting 120,000 crystals for free via funding criminal enterprises.
The business model of the game is one that we all signed up for when we downloaded and began participating. Swgoh is not alone in using it and generally is very ftp friendly.
I agree, but that's also the reason why i'm not that mad about players buying 3rd party crystals.
Let me put it this way, who do you think is worse off in this game? a player on a leaderboard with 10 legit, highly competative krakens, or a player on a leaderboard with 3 third party crystal buying, highly competative, not banned whales, everything else is equal.
Those questions are potentially the same as those krakens may have bought 3rd party crystals.
It's a hypothetical question, in this hypothetical scenario those krakens are 100% legit.
I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make with your comparison.
Would you be mad if it was your stolen credit card number being used?
There’s a MUCH bigger issue with the fraud that has been discovered here that you’re dismissing completely because you don’t think it has affected your shard specifically. Which is that organized crime has unfortunately infiltrated players here and that $ is being used to fund illegal activity.
This is something that obviously needs to be addressed, and for your response to be “well what about shard chats and legit whales” seems incredibly short-sighted.
Ahh yes, the George Steinbrenner method. The "Best team money can buy" Skill is a thing of the past. Why worry about learning a profession, pay someone else to do it! Or as H. (named violates filter? O.O) Roth said it best "I've loved baseball ever since Arnold Rothstein fixed the 1919 World Series" LOL Sorry Kyno, you walked into that one..
It's kinda funny if you think about it. If these hackers can cheat themselves millions of crystals anyway, what's the purpose of arena then? Just adding a chump change of 500 crystals to their 1 million crystals stash? Seems redundant. But very likely just for the ego boost.
Anyway, keep up the amazing work guys. Cheaters are the absolute worst, and we, as a community, need to work together to finally put an end to this. It may be impossible to FULLY stop and prevent cheating, but we need to try to get as close to 0 cheaters as possible.
I never understood why people cheat in such games. 90% of the fun in this game (at least for me) lies in the constant challenges it gives me. It feels great to build up teams to overcome those challenges, get better, and constantly see you improve over time. Cheating destroys all of that and eliminates any purpose of the game. If you cheat, why even play at all? Just my 2 cents on it.
I mean, if these things don't affect you, why do you need clarification?
No one was creating currency. A player would supply their login information to a vendor that would buy crystals using stolen credit card information. If you look into these operations, trust me, you would have no reservations about banning players that engaged in that activity. Knowingly or not.
Selling an account and hacking are two separate items. A shard mate of mine used a hack that could boost the stats on their toons. They effectively, overwrite the games code in the raid environment and can get 1st place not through progress, but through code manipulation. They got caught. They're gone.
Regarding selling your account to a new player, I don't really mind this activity, but the game has a policy against it and that's also fine by me.
You can't blame the cost of gear / shards on people behaving unethically. If your desire to advance in a mobile game overwrites your moral compass, I feel deep sympathy for you <- meaning those that cheated, not you specifically. And again, these are not "cheaper" options to purchase currency. They're fraudulent options.
People need to get off this idea that EA / CG is cracking down ONLY because it hurts its bottom line. It also creates a toxic player environment. It also leads to funding these criminal organizations that are profiting off stealing credit card information. Law enforcement has also been involved. Not sure how much EA / CG will disclose to us regarding this, but I guarantee they're working in conjunction with FBI to provide data on users that engaged in this activity. Primarily for helping shut down those types of operations, but prosecution isn't a far fetched idea for someone who helped promote these services. Just like if you buy a stolen TV, you're not immune to prosecution just because of your ignorance. If you're buying crystals through a third party where you have to give up your login information, you're not only stealing from EA / CG, you're also promoting hackers that steal CC information from people like me.
The methods of cheating have been discussed by LD somewhere within these 11 pages of posting. As I understand it, and to paraphrase, basically, there is no method of transferring crystals from account to account in SWGOH. To obtain discounted crystals, a crime-syndicate entices you through false advertisement, or worse you knowingly engage with crime syndicates, then willingly or unsuspectingly you give them your password and user id. They log onto your account, and then use stolen credit cards, stolen gift cards, and other money laundering techniques to put money into your account and then buy crystals on your account. To cheat in this game, you actually have to collude with Syndicated Crime, so this is a big deal, and not as innocent as you make it sound.
Change your passwords, contact Google Play or the Appstore, your login is controlled by them not CG unless it is a client side issue?
I get the “someone else has logged into the account “ message just before I get an update.
Are you using multiple devices to play? Phone, tablet, etc?