Bans - Banned for using MQ2, not AFK......

[dream_cloud]

So 3 of my toons recently got permanently banned, one of them was my main account. I played my main 100% of the time, and had the other 5 toons assist me with kissassist. I have never AFK fought even once, I've never even set it up to do that. Every single mob I've ever fought was me pulling it and engaging manually, with my group assisting. I even had my toons stagger the times they attacked, and I would stop using Kiss when unknown people were around. I didn't even need AFK tools because I was there to be my own AFK tool (I had the AFK tools on also, though, just in case) I've read this was a pretty safe way to go, and that daybreak didn't care about regular servers, as long as we don't try it on Phinny or Argarr. Well I can safely say that's complete bullshit now.

I filed an appeal to my ban, thinking surely it was for RMT, as I've bought krono's and a few of my secondary accounts from people on here. But to my surprise I receive this response.

"Your account has been suspended or banned based on a combination of factors including but not limited to: Cheat detection tools, video evidence, player reports, as well as direct observation.
We do not base our decisions on a single report or piece of evidence, and as such we feel very strongly that the action taken against your account is valid."

What ever happened to the suspensions? They go straight to perma-ban... I'm lucky they didn't ban my other 3 as well I guess, I'm not sure how that happened since I always had all 6 together. But I'm not even interested in running a full group anymore without Kiss. So good luck with the MQing I guess guys, the ban hammer is coming I'd say....

 

[exocet]

So 3 of my toons recently got permanently banned, one of them was my main account of 17 years. I played my main 100% of the time, and had the other 5 toons assist me with kissassist. I have never AFK fought even once, I've never even set it up to do that. Every single mob I've ever fought was me pulling it and engaging manually, with my group assisting. I even had my toons stagger the times they attacked, and I would stop using Kiss when unknown people were around. I didn't even need AFK tools because I was there to be my own AFK tool (I had the AFK tools on also, though, just in case) I've read this was a pretty safe way to go, and that daybreak didn't care about regular servers, as long as we don't try it on Phinny or Argarr. Well I can safely say that's complete bullshit now.

I filed an appeal to my ban, thinking surely it was for RMT, as I've bought krono's and a few of my secondary accounts from people on here. But to my surprise I receive this response.

"Your account has been suspended or banned based on a combination of factors including but not limited to: Cheat detection tools, video evidence, player reports, as well as direct observation.
We do not base our decisions on a single report or piece of evidence, and as such we feel very strongly that the action taken against your account is valid."

What ever happened to the suspensions? They go straight to perma-ban... I'm lucky they didn't ban my other 3 as well I guess, I'm not sure how that happened since I always had all 6 together. But I'm not even interested in running a full group anymore without Kiss. So good luck with the MQing I guess guys, the ban hammer is coming I'd say....

thats strange... im super abusive with afk macro... like the last week i camped a spot for 7 days 24hrs lol

 

[dream_cloud]

thats strange... im super abusive with afk macro... like the last week i camped a spot for 7 days 24hrs lol

That's just crazy. I see people running around with like 40 toons, and AFKing all day, and I get banned for my measly little group while at the keyboard. WTF

 

[exocet]

That's just crazy. I see people running around with like 40 toons, and AFKing all day, and I get banned for my measly little group while at the keyboard. WTF

yea... some one may have reported you or something like that... like i said i afk for days some times lol

 

[TheEld3r]

I have to honestly say im quite lazy with checking my afk camps when I'm at work with remote desktop stuff..... Not been hit with any ban or suspension I also camp in places others normally do not.

 

[waldonodrog]

the only way they could actually prove you were afk..or botting is if you were makin runs with a toon while the group was still slaying...word of advice..have a druid or wiz be your runner. switch up where you port to for merch runs. doesnt hurt to be safe..if you port to CR everytime you need to make a sale thats a hot spot for many different reasons..anybody could pop an alt there n hit record for a week then say " hey how is he running here but still killing there"..i hope thats not the case though..sorry for your loss

 

[janktron]

This sounds really odd. Especially considering in the thread right below this one people are talking about how it's in the EULA now that MQ2 is allowed on all servers (minus truebox) as long as you are at the keyboard.

 

[Rubberguard]

So 3 of my toons recently got permanently banned, one of them was my main account of 17 years. I played my main 100% of the time, and had the other 5 toons assist me with kissassist. I have never AFK fought even once, I've never even set it up to do that. Every single mob I've ever fought was me pulling it and engaging manually, with my group assisting. I even had my toons stagger the times they attacked, and I would stop using Kiss when unknown people were around. I didn't even need AFK tools because I was there to be my own AFK tool (I had the AFK tools on also, though, just in case) I've read this was a pretty safe way to go, and that daybreak didn't care about regular servers, as long as we don't try it on Phinny or Argarr. Well I can safely say that's complete bullshit now.

I filed an appeal to my ban, thinking surely it was for RMT, as I've bought krono's and a few of my secondary accounts from people on here. But to my surprise I receive this response.

"Your account has been suspended or banned based on a combination of factors including but not limited to: Cheat detection tools, video evidence, player reports, as well as direct observation.
We do not base our decisions on a single report or piece of evidence, and as such we feel very strongly that the action taken against your account is valid."

What ever happened to the suspensions? They go straight to perma-ban... I'm lucky they didn't ban my other 3 as well I guess, I'm not sure how that happened since I always had all 6 together. But I'm not even interested in running a full group anymore without Kiss. So good luck with the MQing I guess guys, the ban hammer is coming I'd say....

That is a automated response, I recently have gotten that exact same response word for word, I pushed the issue further because I was not using MQ2, so It didn't add up. They finally responded and said it was because of RMT reasons, and sure enough it was an account that had interaction with Wealthmanager.

 

[AugustineSurfer]

"Your account has been suspended or banned based on a combination of factors including but not limited to: Cheat detection tools, video evidence, player reports, as well as direct observation.
We do not base our decisions on a single report or piece of evidence, and as such we feel very strongly that the action taken against your account is valid

Yes, this is an automated response. I've never heard of someone getting banned for just using MQ2 and, with the way you describe you run your toons, you didn't get a straight ban for simply running MQ2 either. If you have suspicions of RMT, that's probably the reason, but the only way to find out is to press Daybreak further. If you really want to find out why you were banned, follow up with an e-mail and get past their automated response.

 

[dream_cloud]

I'll push it further and see what they say. It's just kinda weird that my main account would get banned as well, because I was careful to keep any RMT directly away from that account. I had separate email addresses for my accounts, and if they went by IP address or MAC address then it would only make sense my other 3 accounts would have got nailed too. Also other people in my house have multiple accounts, and recently had some banned, and in their response from Daybreak they told them it was RMT related right away.

 

[aspire2008]

Krono's have unique ID's so they probably tracked the chain branch of that ID and banned every account involved.

 

[dream_cloud]

Krono's have unique ID's so they probably tracked the chain branch of that ID and banned every account involved.

That makes sense, that could be possible. Maybe I only used 3 krono's from a certain batch on those accounts. That sucks, I'd never pay full price to run all my accounts. This is definitely a game-changer with krono's not being safe to buy. Also I didn't buy any krono's for a couple months prior to my ban, I was buying them in bazaar because I had a lot of plat saved. So they must have went back through the records looking at past transactions.

 

[Noobhaxor]

Could be the start of a crackdown from all the AFK folks. Lots of people are doing it and honestly, it has kinda turned me off to EQ. I would not be suprised if they went after all MQ2 users as a result. It has been out of hand for quite some time and driven many folks from the game legit or not. That is the sad truth, the only reason I login anymore is to update my macros. We are long overdue for a ban wave, with the last substaintial one happening during House of Thule for Warping.

 

[aspire2008]

Could be the start of a crackdown from all the AFK folks. Lots of people are doing it and honestly, it has kinda turned me off to EQ. I would not be suprised if they went after all MQ2 users as a result. It has been out of hand for quite some time and driven many folks from the game legit or not. That is the sad truth, the only reason I login anymore is to update my macros. We are long overdue for a ban wave, with the last substaintial one happening during House of Thule for Warping.

I highly doubt they will ban all MQ2 users, that would pretty much kill EQ1 blue servers within 12-18 months. They know the MQ2 users are bringing in considerable revenue, which is why the EULA on 3rd party programs has undergone a change over the years. Its a hush hush policy at Daybreak headquarters to allow MQ2 usage. But I welcome them to try and do it (yes thats a threat if a Daybreak employee is reading this). Most of us will walk away from the game with only the TRUE BOX servers still viable revenue for Daybreak and you gotta wonder how long that model will sustain them without live servers bringing in revenue before they decide to shut down the true box servers too. It won't make sense to keep 3-4 servers up and continue funding developing the game.


Daybreak maybe stupid on how they develop games and spend it on what resources, they are not stupid on knowing that EQ1 without MQ2 would just destroy some of their business.

The number of people walking away from EQ1 because people cheat using MQ2 vs the number of people starting to use MQ2 for the first time, I doubt there is even a contest on which way the numbers are swinging, more people are signing up for mq2 then leaving the game cause of it.


What you might see is what continues to happens currently, they just have GM's monitoring the servers doing individual bans. I think that will continue just to try and slow down the pace of blatant afk usage.

 

[Noobhaxor]

I highly doubt they will ban all MQ2 users, that would pretty much kill EQ1 blue servers within 12-18 months. They know the MQ2 users are bringing in considerable revenue, which is why the EULA on 3rd party programs has undergone a change over the years. Its a hush hush policy at Daybreak headquarters to allow MQ2 usage. But I welcome them to try and do it (yes thats a threat if a Daybreak employee is reading this). Most of us will walk away from the game with only the TRUE BOX servers still viable revenue for Daybreak and you gotta wonder how long that model will sustain them without live servers bringing in revenue before they decide to shut down the true box servers too. It won't make sense to keep 3-4 servers up and continue funding developing the game.


Daybreak maybe stupid on how they develop games and spend it on what resources, they are not stupid on knowing that EQ1 without MQ2 would just destroy some of their business.

The number of people walking away from EQ1 because people cheat using MQ2 vs the number of people starting to use MQ2 for the first time, I doubt there is even a contest on which way the numbers are swinging, more people are signing up for mq2 then leaving the game cause of it.


What you might see is what continues to happens currently, they just have GM's monitoring the servers doing individual bans. I think that will continue just to try and slow down the pace of blatant afk usage.

It would be foolish to ban all MQ2 players, but they have to do something about the rampant AFK abuse. Personally, here is what I would do if I were in charge of addressing the issue:

1. Do Mega Servers and merge all blue servers
2. Have a better in-game report feature. Make it easy for players to police the afk botters.
3. Find and enforce the reports.

That would drive some folks from the game, but would also leave some wiggle room for growth while killing the AFK game.

 

[bigguy37]

Are y'all upset about AFK'ers in new content, or just in general? Also, what server where u on?

 

[Noobhaxor]

Are y'all upset about AFK'ers in new content, or just in general? Also, what server where u on?

AFK'ers in new content are the biggest issue facing the community right now. If you are AFK your heroic lvl 85 group in some distant zone noone ever travels... who gives a shit lol.

Edit: To Clarify: AFK groups are bad in current content because they are extremely visible to the population as a whole, where AFKing in a remote or instanced zone has no public view, hence noone cares.

 

[Skyjet2000]

I've seen some terrible AFK xp'ers on Ragefire.

I walk right up to their group, fully automated. No AFK detection tools in place.
Was a group AFK in BoT for like 12 hours at bees.. right where everyone clicks to to get to towers or zone out. I mean fuck.

If you are going to AFk, go do it in some remote place, or underused zone. Try deep in CoD or something, nothing good drops there to be farmed so it's rarely got people deep in.

 

[playj]

I am still wondering about these blanket bans.

I can't figure out what Wealthmanager did that was warranted banning any account ever associated with him. Seems like a lot of punishment for bystanders.

It is almost like dealing out death sentences to anyone ever found to have touched a counterfeit $20 bill.

My impression was that the only hard bans were for things like credit card charge-backs.

 

[bigguy37]

I am still wondering about these blanket bans.

I can't figure out what Wealthmanager did that was warranted banning any account ever associated with him. Seems like a lot of punishment for bystanders.

It is almost like dealing out death sentences to anyone ever found to have touched a counterfeit $20 bill.

My impression was that the only hard bans were for things like credit card charge-backs.

Insert "don't play with my money!" quote. But you're right, they've salted the earth upon which he walked. It was likely a large purchase...he really pissed someone off. My guess would be the person took it personally to go back and string all those accounts together.

 

[LurkMcGurk]

I am still wondering about these blanket bans.

I can't figure out what Wealthmanager did that was warranted banning any account ever associated with him. Seems like a lot of punishment for bystanders.

It is almost like dealing out death sentences to anyone ever found to have touched a counterfeit $20 bill.

My impression was that the only hard bans were for things like credit card charge-backs.

I think Wealthmanager was the start of something larger with them banning people who sell accounts on a large scale... Maybe a testing of hypothesis/theories they had inhouse.

Banning customers *is* dumb so the only reason they'd ban people is to save themselves money/time. If they ban accounts that people pass around like whores then it'll decrease the amount of tickets from people saying wahh wahh so and so stole my account (when they actually sold it to that person and just want it back now). That's the only logical explanation anyway I have come up with for what is going on with the increased bannings.

 

[Sum1]

Sounds like a shot in the dark. Everything about Wealthmanager and bannings that may or may not be associated with him seems like a lot of conjecture.

 

[MissTerious]

When they are vague about the reason, it's because their cheat detection software failed. (I got banned from forums for calling them out on this shit.) They have to try to justify their false negatives so they search for something that you feel guilty about so you won't debate them on it.

I'd demand that the "observing GM" send people tells to see if they are afk. They once suspended me for AFK foraging even though I was standing there watching the guy watch me. He didn't use /say or a /tell. Of couse, they never apologize or admit they screwed up.

I'm really sorry they did this to you.

 

[teslatrader]

I'm working out the bugs on a new AFK macro. Haven't used it for longer than an hour so far, but the zone gets the occasional pass-through of players. I'm seriously considering upping mitigation so that I literally zone out if I detect any other players in the zone.

Let's face it, the 'nearby player' detection is a pretty obvious test for AFK usage. All you have to do is move in/move out to see if a toon stops and starts based on how close you are to them. Another giveaway is having hundreds of corpses laying around. No need to be that sloppy with such advanced tools available. I've started incorporating more randomness in my macros lately as well.

I have to say, I've been gone for several years and just came back about 6 weeks ago. I love EQ. It's really challenging after playing so many bland and simple games over the years. On the other hand, my first couple of weeks back was very frustrating, which is why I turned to redguides again. EQ with MQ is much more fun, even if you only use the map and a few slash commands.

MQ compensates for some of the more frustrating elements of the game. If I had to stop using MQ, I don't think I would play at all.

 

[bigguy37]

I'm working out the bugs on a new AFK macro. Haven't used it for longer than an hour so far, but the zone gets the occasional pass-through of players. I'm seriously considering upping mitigation so that I literally zone out if I detect any other players in the zone.

Let's face it, the 'nearby player' detection is a pretty obvious test for AFK usage. All you have to do is move in/move out to see if a toon stops and starts based on how close you are to them. Another giveaway is having hundreds of corpses laying around. No need to be that sloppy with such advanced tools available. I've started incorporating more randomness in my macros lately as well.

I have to say, I've been gone for several years and just came back about 6 weeks ago. I love EQ. It's really challenging after playing so many bland and simple games over the years. On the other hand, my first couple of weeks back was very frustrating, which is why I turned to redguides again. EQ with MQ is much more fun, even if you only use the map and a few slash commands.

MQ compensates for some of the more frustrating elements of the game. If I had to stop using MQ, I don't think I would play at all.

I'd like a zone-wide detection where my team drops a campfire then teleports out / returns on the Druid to see if the zone is empty and if not ports to team. Then Test for clear zone every so often...30 min interval?

 

[rhb]

Set /posseradius 1000 /possezradius 400

Unless someone is using bind sight, they can't run "in and out" of the radius and see anything, those parameters are far too wide. And if you're thinking that's too far my group will never run, well then you're in a much too populated zone to be afk

 

[LurkMcGurk]

Set /posseradius 1000 /possezradius 400

Unless someone is using bind sight, they can't run "in and out" of the radius and see anything, those parameters are far too wide. And if you're thinking that's too far my group will never run, well then you're in a much too populated zone to be afk

i play with 9000 and 9000

Mother fuckers dont even fully zone in before I cease all macro function

 

[spudz90]

I purchased 2 accounts from a website and they both got banned, due to the IP addy different from my own, and its a known RMTr. SO they know many RMTrs IP. So buying kronos accounts have to do more with the IP. So the rope on RMTrs is getting shorter. So I have stopped buying kronos from websites knowing its only a matter of time before that IP becomes known to DBG, and you get banned for it.

 

[teslatrader]

Awesome! I just upped my posse numbers in my current project. Surely I would have thought of that eventually, but... I'm glad I brought it up. Thanks for the suggestion.