Prior to getting into the topic I will give just a bit of history of my gaming experience. I am 57 years old and began online gaming back in the days of script based games, public dialports and BBS’s. I have played many,many different MMORPGs since that point in time and will probably continue to do so but GW2 is starting to leave a sour taste that I just cannot shake.
So the purpose of this thread is to point out, as constructively as possible, ANET’s flaws and mishandling of bugs/exploits/hacking although with their policies I suspect it will garner me an infraction or possibly my first ever ban from a gaming forum.
In most if not all of the other games I have played there was a direct option to report someone for using an exploit or hacking from within the game. In GW2 you have to jump through hoops to make a report. This needs to be fixed and sooner rather then later. ANET wants us to provide screenshots/video of possible infractions yet they do not support us in the effort to do so and that lack of support is glaring.
If I witness a possible case of someone using a hack in-game it happens over the course of a few minutes before that person is gone. At that point in time I have to have video capture software at my fingertips and be able to turn it on quickly and record what is happening on my screen. Other games made it possible to contact a GM who would “ride on your shoulder” or be there invisible in order to observe for themselves and to make a decision if what you were seeing was a verifiable hack.
Other games published the fact that they suspended “X” amount of people for hacking even to the point of what type of hack was used but here it is all hush hush. If I reported what I believe to be someone using a hack I do not even get the courtesy of a reply to let me know if I was correct in my assumption or not. Any forum posts are immediately infracted and locked/deleted. I want to know if what I just witnessed was an actual hack or just a misconception on my part.
Then there are the game “bugs” that go un-fixed. 4 months ago, in this thread,
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/wuv/wuv/ANET-Fix-Your-Towers/page/2#post2612972
I posted on the NW tower bug that allows people to bypass closed gates/walls. At that time I caught on a screenshot an ANET employee who told us that it would be made a top priority issue but 4 months later nothing has been done as it happened again 4 days ago.
There is the ongoing argument over mesmers dying at gates and being rezzed through them. Not once has ANET appeared in any of those threads to tell us it is or is not an exploit. There have been discussions on how those dead people can extend their “time out for inactivity” timer yet to this date you can still manipulate that timer.
Arrow carts with their ability to hit anywhere in a tower if one manipulates his windowed screen size is another issue ANET chooses to ignore rather then address again one way or the other.
So my suggestions:
1) Make it easier to report hacking suspects so it is quick and efficient
2) Post on whether or not something is an exploit or is working as intended
3) Provide feedback to people reporting hacks verifying that it was or was not a hack
4) Post the number of people banned for cheating/hacking on a regular bases
5) Provide in-game GMs that go go into the field to verify reports immediately on receiving them.
6) Provide even a quarterly report on game bugs that have been reported and a tentative “fix” date. (such as that bugged tower)
And above all quit infracting/banning people for posting about hacks/cheats/exploits as this only leads us to believe you value the possible revenue loss versus the satisfaction of the customer when it comes to the integrity of your game.
Thank you for your consideration.
