Guild Wars 2

My brother was banned from the forums back when you banned half the WvW playerbase for fighting and complaining about hackers. Can he get the portal, or are people banned from the forum ineligible? I assume forum feedback is an important part of the beta, which is why I am asking.

Is this a serious question? Do you actually think that the programmers go into accounts and change their loot tables based on whether or not they got a forum ban?

If you think that, why would you stay with a game like that? I would get the heck out if I thought that they would modify the loot tables based on something so petty or any reason at all for that matter.

Wanting people who can actually post on the forums in their beta is not petty…

Going into people’s accounts and altering their drop tables because they broke forum rules is petty and a forum ban doesn’t stop people from reporting bugs in game or posting on the forum for that matter.

1) bugs found in the betas are best reported in game, not the forum
2) people who are banned from the forum can buy an alt account and use that to post. In fact, people do that already
3) they can ask a friend or guildie or family member to post what they want to say.

I am sure he has the same minuscule chance of getting the portalas rhe rest of us.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Going into people’s accounts and altering their drop tables because they broke forum rules is petty and a forum ban doesn’t stop people from reporting bugs in game or posting on the forum for that matter.

1) bugs found in the betas are best reported in game, not the forum
2) people who are banned from the forum can buy an alt account and use that to post. In fact, people do that already
3) they can ask a friend or guildie or family member to post what they want to say.

I am pretty sure you neither understand what the word petty means, nor why a forum ban matters. Being able to post feedback is very important, so Anet restricting beta access to those who can actually post on the forums would not be at all petty. Many game companies do this, so I was wondering whether Anet has done it as well.

I DOUBT they have done it, but my brother is out there grinding like a mad man, so I want to be sure he is not wasting his time.

You can post on your brother’s behalf if he gets a portal, anything he feels it is important to say about the beta. That way anything he wishes to say on the forum can be heard. If posting personally on the forum is important to him, he can buy a cheap alt account the next time they are on sale.

Since I doubt that they will answer this question on the forum, why don’t you send them an email at forums@arena.net and ask them directly.

As long as the player in question can still play the game, that player still has a chance to get the drop and thereby get access to the beta.

That said, the drop rate is still fairly low, so no it’s not a conspiracy to stop him from getting a portal key because he can’t behave on the forums.

Hope this clears things up.

Ardenwolfe.8590:

As long as the player in question can still play the game, that player still has a chance to get the drop and thereby get access to the beta.

That said, the drop rate is still fairly low, so no it’s not a conspiracy to stop him from getting a portal key because he can’t behave on the forums.

Hope this clears things up.

You do not get it either. I am not saying this is a conspiracy or anything like that. It would be perfectly reasonable for Anet to not take forum banned people in a closed beta, which is why I am asking this question.

However, due to the nature of the way accounts are flagged, I doubt they did it. But that small chance made me ask.

dietzero.3514:

Ardenwolfe.8590:

As long as the player in question can still play the game, that player still has a chance to get the drop and thereby get access to the beta.

That said, the drop rate is still fairly low, so no it’s not a conspiracy to stop him from getting a portal key because he can’t behave on the forums.

Hope this clears things up.

You do not get it either. I am not saying this is a conspiracy or anything like that. It would be perfectly reasonable for Anet to not take forum banned people in a closed beta, which is why I am asking this question.

However, due to the nature of the way accounts are flagged, I doubt they did it. But that small chance made me ask.

I disagree with your assumptions, but I can agree it’s theoretically possible that ANet could set up the game that way. Here’s how we know they didn’t:

• They have said repeatedly that forum behavior doesn’t affect what happens in-game, nor vice-versa (with the obvious exception that if you’re perma-banned from the game, you ultimately won’t be able to post on the forums).
• It’s too expensive to put in the code to do it. The forums use a 3rd party system so they’d have to specially customize something to make a list of suspended/banned forum people, make sure it cannot be altered by anyone, and pass that list to the game, which would then have to have special capability to treat people differently.
• ANet has said many times, in many different ways that they don’t treat accounts differently for any reason, aside from suspending or perma-banning, i.e. you can either play the game or you can’t.
• Secret punishments fail as deterrent to bad behavior: the only reason to implement this (from a business or community sense) would be to let folks know in advance that their forum behavior could result in changes to their luck or rewards.

Finally, if they threw all that logic completely out the window for reasons we can’t comprehend, why would they change their mind and tell us? They go through all the trouble above, forgo the benefits of such a system… then there would have to be some reason to keep it a secret, so they wouldn’t confirm or deny it.

tl;dr your brother has the same chance as anyone else.

I was once advised this by a member of the gw2 support team:

“Your forum account status does not affect anything related to your game account at all. You could be permabanned on the forums, but yet have a great account in-game. There is no reason for your forum account status to be tied to your game account status. The only thing that ties the two together is your login.”

And here’s your answer. Source

Gaile Gray.6029:

Good luck to everyone who’s trying for a portal!

(And yes, it’s truly random, not determined by your astrological sign, the number of letters in your name, or the color of your socks. )

dietzero.3514:

Wanting people who can actually post on the forums in their beta is not petty…

Yeah, yeah it is, since the beta key isn’t being given away on the forums, its being given away in game. And since a banned game account can’t play, they most certainly cannot get the portal drop.

Can they? Probably.

Should they? Well…

The two aren’t linked and the devs have always maintained unless extremely rare exceptional circumstances crop up, a ban in one doesn’t affect the other.

The short answer is…no the forum ban does not affect the ability to get into beta and forums aren’t as important a part of the beta as it would be for other games.

As for feedback..well they do read some forum feedback. And reddit too. You can also submit bug reports about the beta directly in game. The latter 2 options will not affect a forum banned player who wishes to continue to give feedback if they get into the beta. It’s not like other MMO betas though with dedicated forums for feedback. Anet monitor beyond the forums for their needs.

The vast majority of players are “banned” from the forums. Everyone that hasn’t logged in to the forums before has not accepted the agreement and thus cannot access them.

If they were going to reject people for not being able to access the forums, that would include most people. Regardless, you can use the in-game tool to submit beta reports. If you still want to leave feedback, post it on reddit or gw2guru – the devs are also there.

Lastly, what you do on the forums can affect your game account, but only in extreme cases.

Healix.5819:

The vast majority of players are “banned” from the forums. Everyone that hasn’t logged in to the forums before has not accepted the agreement and thus cannot access them.

If they were going to reject people for not being able to access the forums, that would include most people. Regardless, you can use the in-game tool to submit beta reports. If you still want to leave feedback, post it on reddit or gw2guru – the devs are also there.

Lastly, what you do on the forums can affect your game account, but only in extreme cases.

People in the beta will obviously be directed to the forums…

I remember blizzard did it with one WoW beta, as the forums were where 95% of the feedback was taken.

dietzero.3514:

Healix.5819:

The vast majority of players are “banned” from the forums. Everyone that hasn’t logged in to the forums before has not accepted the agreement and thus cannot access them.

If they were going to reject people for not being able to access the forums, that would include most people. Regardless, you can use the in-game tool to submit beta reports. If you still want to leave feedback, post it on reddit or gw2guru – the devs are also there.

Lastly, what you do on the forums can affect your game account, but only in extreme cases.

People in the beta will obviously be directed to the forums…

I remember blizzard did it with one WoW beta, as the forums were where 95% of the feedback was taken.

Yes, but this isnt Blizzard. Anet doesnt use its forums the same way. Doesnt mean they wont utilise them, just means the emphasis isnt on exclusively here like it would be traditionally.

Ultimately the question is answered though. Looting the portal and beta access is unaffected by a forum ban.

Got a friend who is completely banned from the forums, yet he still got the email for the last beta test.

Orochimaru.4730:

Got a friend who is completely banned from the forums, yet he still got the email for the last beta test.

Thank you. Will tell my brother.