Guild Wars 2

Anet had better investigate the accounts that bought 150,000 of the 160,000 Quartz Crystals over 4 days.

We’ve seen this happen before big changes to the economy, when those items will turn out to be in high demand due to an upcoming update.

If it turns out to be that people knew in advance, please actually do something about it so they don’t get away with it.

Edited the numbers cuz I mixed up my comma placement.

If they knew in advance, then they are engaged in insider trading. Proving that they knew is impossible without the kind of regulatory and investigative authority that a government agency has.

ArenaNet is not allowed to spy on gamers to find out what they knew and when.

Anet should plug their own internal holes.

Hell Avenger.7021:

Anet should plug their own internal holes.

Absolutely.

What if they just had a lucky guess, then everyone will think they had insider infos. However if they guessed wrongly everybody will forget about it 5 seconds after the patch hits. So can selective memory give wrong impressions to players.

Of course it is part of my evil plan to takeover the tinfoilhat market to get rich!!!

If Arenanet does nothing about it, why would that be surprising? It’ll boost gem sales since quartz will be more expensive. For all we know it could have been arenanet themselves that flushed out those items.

Well there was this post a few months back https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/bltc/Quartz/first#post2661775

maybe the surprise is about to show up :P

Calae.1738:

If Arenanet does nothing about it, why would that be surprising? It’ll boost gem sales since quartz will be more expensive. For all we know it could have been arenanet themselves that flushed out those items.

How would it boost gem sales?

Behellagh.1468:

How would it boost gem sales?

Because every single potential gem purchaser are also consumers of Quartz, and not sellers of them, clearly.

Though I’m all for actions which encourages players to buy gems to convert to gold. Is nothing but positive to Anet and to players like me who exchange gold to gems.

Quartz in precursors? Wouldn’t it completely screw new players who never had a chance to do the Bazaar meta?

mtpelion.4562:

If they knew in advance, then they are engaged in insider trading. Proving that they knew is impossible without the kind of regulatory and investigative authority that a government agency has.

ArenaNet is not allowed to spy on gamers to find out what they knew and when.

Thankfully this is not a court of law and more… summary… action can be taken.

Nike.2631:

mtpelion.4562:

If they knew in advance, then they are engaged in insider trading. Proving that they knew is impossible without the kind of regulatory and investigative authority that a government agency has.

ArenaNet is not allowed to spy on gamers to find out what they knew and when.

Thankfully this is not a court of law and more… summary… action can be taken.

As I said though, the real problem is proving the insider trading. Without the ability to do real life spying, there is no way for ArenaNet to differentiate hoarders, speculators, and other legitimate players from those engaged in more nefarious and underhanded practices.

The best option, obviously, is to close the information leak(s).

Ursan.7846:

Behellagh.1468:

How would it boost gem sales?

Because every single potential gem purchaser are also consumers of Quartz, and not sellers of them, clearly.

Though I’m all for actions which encourages players to buy gems to convert to gold. Is nothing but positive to Anet and to players like me who exchange gold to gems.

But quartz isn’t available on the Gem Shop, this is where I’m losing you all. Or is my sarcasm sensor busted again?

Behellagh.1468:

But quartz isn’t available on the Gem Shop, this is where I’m losing you all. Or is my sarcasm sensor busted again?

The assumption is that this is driving prices of Quartz up. Which leads to players, who wishes to buy quartz, to buy gems and convert to gold to buy said Quartz.

Of course, I was using sarcasm to point that not everyone is a consumer of Quartz, and it’s doubtful that it’ll make a dent in Anet’s gem sales. However, if it does happen, it’s a win-win-win (Qnet gets money, gem/gold rates becomes lower, gold is sunk from transactions of quartz)

Asmodeus.5782:

Quartz in precursors? Wouldn’t it completely screw new players who never had a chance to do the Bazaar meta?

Dude made a good point. Not everyone has access to it so it probably is just another speculation that will get some rich and many poor.

Flawless Snowflake
for next duble price !
sure !
stay tuned lol
no rly i hope bazzaar of the four winds get a fast come back and put this to an end
nearly run out off quarz to transform

It’s probably speculation over celestial ascended armor, not precursors.

Still, even if you have access to a node, aside from getting lucky to mine a charged quartz your choices are between waiting a week to make just one or paying 85s. That’s a supplier’s dream come true for those who have no interest in crafting.

The lack of ability to adequately acquire this material is simply unacceptable.

Well I sold mine. I figure it is all speculators. I could be wrong I guess oh well though still happy with my take.

If you didn’t speculate on little used mats that are gated, then you’re left behind the curve. But remember, there’s a 50/50 chance that the speculators are wrong, and they ended up being a huge Gold Sink for the game.

mtpelion.4562:

As I said though, the real problem is proving the insider trading.

No, it’s really NOT.

The snowflake-ecto loop carried severe consequences based on fairly arbitrary decisions about volume=intent. It was carried out without appeal and without any sort of spying. Behavior revealed abuse and sanctions were leveled. The End.

The best option, obviously, is to close the information leak(s).

A process perhaps quite reliant on the spying you’re certain they can’t do .

Its a lofty goal, but I see it as maybe less achievable than using punitive action as a deterrence.

Ursan.7846:

Though I’m all for actions which encourages players to buy gems to convert to gold. Is nothing but positive to Anet and to players like me who exchange gold to gems.

Nooooo, I want it to go higher! Prices have dropped below the 100 gems → 5g mark again. Come on, 100 gems → 10g exchange rate!

mtpelion.4562:

If they knew in advance, then they are engaged in insider trading. Proving that they knew is impossible without the kind of regulatory and investigative authority that a government agency has.

Well if they are anet testers then I would say its pretty easy.

Honestly if they are requiring quartz for precursors, I think that bodes poorly for the item, since it means they will likely add more ways to get it. That said, I luckily decided to buy somewhere between 100 and 200g worth of quartz at 1s… which is child’s play really, unfortunately. Was considering doing up to 500g but my bags are full of cloth and leather.

But I think quartz rose mainly from the new place of power in home instances, and ascended armor speculation.

They don’t need illegal spying. They have TP logs and IP address logs. See which account bought all of the supply. If they send money to someone else, check that person’s account.

Be serious. A crooked playtester need merely tell his friend 2 time zones away what to buy/look for. Laundering the coin is nearly as trivial, and that’s assuming the leaker/playtester doesn’t just take it out in the friend buying burgers next time they meet. Or the other guy pays the vent server fees for the next 3 months. Or the reciprocation takes the form of trade in an entirely different game.

Nike.2631:

No, it’s really NOT.

The snowflake-ecto loop carried severe consequences based on fairly arbitrary decisions about volume=intent. It was carried out without appeal and without any sort of spying. Behavior revealed abuse and sanctions were leveled. The End.

The Snowflake-Ecto loop took place entirely within the game, where metrics are easy to obtain by ArenaNet.

Evidence of insider trading exists exclusively OUTSIDE the game, where ArenaNet has NO LEGAL ABILITY to investigate.

A process perhaps quite reliant on the spying you’re certain they can’t do .

Its a lofty goal, but I see it as maybe less achievable than using punitive action as a deterrence.

Stopping the leaks is within ArenaNet’s authority, as companies are fully able to spy on their employees. The leaks are obviously happening in violation of someone’s confidentiality agreement, thus ArenaNet has both the ability to spy and find out, plus the legal authority to punish by firing.

I thought the massive buy-out was a result of ascended crafting coming. People that want ascended celestial gear will realize they need three stacks of quartz for a single armor set.

But maybe Clark is right, in which case I’d expect an investigation of the accounts that bought more than 100k quartz during that period. That’s not spying btw, anything you say and do in the game can have consequences for your account. Bluntly put, you have very little to no rights when it comes to decisions regarding your account.

Zaxares.5419:

Ursan.7846:

Though I’m all for actions which encourages players to buy gems to convert to gold. Is nothing but positive to Anet and to players like me who exchange gold to gems.

Nooooo, I want it to go higher! Prices have dropped below the 100 gems -> 5g mark again. Come on, 100 gems -> 10g exchange rate!

Still waiting for that too :P

I prefer to fill my charged quarts slot first before I even contemplate selling any extra quartz…

But even if people bought a lot of crystals, you can still only turn 25 of them per day into one charged one.

Buttercup.5871:

I thought the massive buy-out was a result of ascended crafting coming. People that want ascended celestial gear will realize they need three stacks of quartz for a single armor set.

But maybe Clark is right, in which case I’d expect an investigation of the accounts that bought more than 100k quartz during that period. That’s not spying btw, anything you say and do in the game can have consequences for your account. Bluntly put, you have very little to no rights when it comes to decisions regarding your account.

Someone who buys 100k could simply be speculating. There is no way for ArenaNet to prove they those people were relying on insider trading without having access to real life wiretapping or digital snooping, things that they are not legally allowed to do.

Of course I wasn’t suggesting wiretapping lol! In my country, by law, even the secret service can’t do that without permission from the ministry of justice (no wiki leaks yet to prove the contrary).

What I will suggest is that if they find out that you post about your cheating on a third party forum, and/or they find out through reports of other players that you have been cheating, they need not disclose that information to you, they can just terminate your account.

Buttercup.5871:

Of course I wasn’t suggesting wiretapping lol! In my country, by law, even the secret service can’t do that without permission from the ministry of justice (no wiki leaks yet to prove the contrary).

What I will suggest is that if they find out that you post about your cheating on a third party forum, and/or they find out through reports of other players that you have been cheating, they need not disclose that information to you, they can just terminate your account.

I’m fully in favor of harsh punishments for insider trading, I’m just pointing out that proving insider trading is practically impossible for ArenaNet since they only have access to what happens ingame, and insider trading ingame is indistinguishable from regular trading.

Now, if someone was bragging online about their insider trading deals and there was a conclusive way to link the braggart with their GW2 account, I fully advocate that you write a support ticket and link your evidence because, as I said, I’m fully in favor of harsh punishments.

John Smith.4610:

As a quick note, this is NOT inside trading. I wouldn’t say that insider trading doesn’t exist, but 99% of the time it’s speculation you’re seeing rather than insider trading. I can’t go into details, but we have plans for insider traders.

Hopefully these plans include public humiliation in the form of selling all their things for 1c and throwing the proceeds into the air.

Or gibbeting. I’m always down for a good gibbeting

In other words certain items might receive the death penalty of either being made account bound, drop at a ridiculous rate, or be obtainable for a set price at an in game vendor. Quite an effective way of ensuring massive profit loss for inside traders…..

I’m glad John responded. Insider trading has only two sources: Anet employees and fan-site admin invited to preview content.

I’m sure an employee wouldn’t want to risk his job to score a quick TP profit, and fan-site admins wouldn’t want to lose their preview privileges all the same. To know that Anet does have plans to curb such activity. But people should take heart in knowing that while the percentages would be low (would say less than 1%), market speculators with high volume trading would be a bigger reason for any type of price movement.

What a nice idea, someone buys 1.5 million of cheap quartz, causing panic on the forums, prices rise up, and then that person dumps quartz back into the market and enjoys the profit.

Nighthawk.6453:

What a nice idea, someone buys 1.5 million of cheap quartz, causing panic on the forums, prices rise up, and then that person dumps quartz back into the market and enjoys the profit.

dun dun duuuuuuuuun

….or quartz is used in ascended celestial armor which is most likely true. Also given the fact the market was flooded with quartz during the event and now that supply has dwindled it makes for an easy target for power traders. I would have invested in it if I wasn’t so poor.

John Smith.4610:

As a quick note, this is NOT inside trading. I wouldn’t say that insider trading doesn’t exist, but 99% of the time it’s speculation you’re seeing rather than insider trading. I can’t go into details, but we have plans for insider traders.

lol i can’t help but think of how the sec handles it. by ignoring it in 99% of cases and throwing martha stewart under the bus for a trivial amount of money because it is high profile.

gidorah.4960:

John Smith.4610:

As a quick note, this is NOT inside trading. I wouldn’t say that insider trading doesn’t exist, but 99% of the time it’s speculation you’re seeing rather than insider trading. I can’t go into details, but we have plans for insider traders.

lol i can’t help but think of how the sec handles it. by ignoring it in 99% of cases and throwing martha stewart under the bus for a trivial amount of money because it is high profile.

Well….

Nice knowing you Vol! You were a nice guy, but here comes the bus!!!!!

(Jokes, not claiming you are an inside trader lol)

Sooo … does that mean that quartz will not be used for precursors … hmm?

John Smith.4610:

I’ve already banned Martha Stewart, so we’re ahead of the game.

This just made my day.

John Smith.4610:

I’ve already banned Martha Stewart, so we’re ahead of the game.

So did she lie, or was it more of a preemptive thing to keep her from encouraging players to decorate their home instances with shabby chic crafts made out of jute scraps and drops of magic glue?

John Smith… Anet’s #1 employee. There is no equal.

i have been harvesting and selling quartz ever since the bazaar release, it was a constant steady stream of a few silver a day. Read the post about it going up in price, still selling it, sweet more money for me. Thanks speculators.

Ascended armor is coming soon, and quartz will almost certainly be used to craft celestial ascended armor. People are buying it out of speculation that the price will go up, which is a self fulfilling prophecy.

John Smith.4610:

As a quick note, this is NOT inside trading.

OK you say it isn’t but I’d like to hear more of an explanation.

morrolan.9608:

John Smith.4610:

As a quick note, this is NOT inside trading.

OK you say it isn’t but I’d like to hear more of an explanation.

The most obvious explanation would be that Anet doesn’t plan of doing anything with quartz crystals at the moment. Unfortunately, if it’d be so, i doubt they’d tell us.

John Smith.4610:

I’ve already banned Martha Stewart, so we’re ahead of the game.

great, now you can go add in quartz crystal formations throughout the game and remove the silly 1x per day transformation restriction too!