Flamage Part Deux: The Salvage Ban-Hammers Start

I was just about to settle into a quiet Friday evening Promy run when I just got tired of FFXI (see the first rant of the night), and decided to go do some RL business.

I decided to take one more check of the Tarutaru Times Online to see if their RSS service had picked up said rant. It had not, but I had another surprise on my hands:

The first round of Salvage exploit ban-hammers has hit the table: 400 suspended, another 550 banned.

Sounds like this happened on the 22nd -- although I have to disagree on one central point:

This is a start. They are nowhere near the end of this if they think 950 bans and suspensions are going to be the extent of this. This was an 18-month known exploit that most of the endgame community knew about and took part in. Any player who got Salvage gear in the last 18 months should be investigated.

Increase this by an order of magnitude, and we may have something.

And if you want my personal opinion as to that you would claim that you got it clean: I would firmly tell you that, in my belief, the odds are against you.

For those few who still do not know, it's as if my blog has come full circle. For 18 months, the Salvage endgame community knew of an exploit to allow them to circumvent what they felt were harshly unfair drop rates for Salvage gear and items by taking the maximum 6-person party and splitting it up into a three-party alliance, on which the gear and items would duplicate.

That's illegal. And I said when I started this blog, every player (I don't care if the total is every player who played Salvage the last 18 months.) who used this exploit should be suspended at minimum. If there's any evidence that it was knowingly used, bye-bye account.

I saw quite a number of blog posts on this subject on the TTO, with click-counts unheard of in the time I've known the TTO to be in existence. Some "highlights":

1) Commenter Staren on http://www.staronion.com/kimiko/?p=706 (Kimiko's Panic Motion):

"I cant say they didnt deserve it but it is still shocking to see the names of the people we’ve lost. I dont think anyone cleanly follows the ToS agreement as there are millions who use the real windower but most of them are not using it to get everyone gear thats supposed to be hard to get."

(Emphasis mine.)

I'll address the "big names" part of that in a moment. (It appears as if several major TTO bloggers are among the cheating bastards.)

The comment I bolded, though, is far more damning. A story:

The night before FanFest, I was on VanaChat (the chat of Vanadiel Profiles), and the talk turned to the Salvage exploit and what might be done. I had one player, straight-faced and straight-out, give me the following belief:

Half the players on Final Fantasy XI cheat.

I will say this unequivocably: If it's that many, then I have one thing to say to Square-Enix: Shut the whole goddamned game down. Now.

I pay my $12.95/mo and uphold the TOS to the best of my ability and knowledge. No illegal Windower, no even some of the third-party spell-timer stuff you see on the pictures on some of these blogs. NOTHING.

And what do I get for it? Shit and shit on by a player base which doesn't give a damn. I have lost all remaining respect for the player base on Final Fantasy XI, as a whole player base. (Individual players may be another matter, but the player base as a whole -- gone.)

It really seems to me as if the players are actually trying to act against Square-Enix so that they go into business for themselves (some literally -- I've heard more and more stories of people buying and selling characters on these blogs and message boards and the like...).

There is no remaining game balance in many sections of FFXI -- it's probably some of the reasons they've had to do things for lower-level and solo players.

2) http://wafiks.com/blog/2009/01/se-shits-on-its-playerbase/ (Lord Wafik on Asura -- one of the people who doesn't know at this point whether he is suspended or banned...)

"Blahblahblah we all know about the dupe issue, we know it’s wrong to do this and that, but a warning would have been more better instead of throwing everyone straight into a ban. Especially 2 months after the incident, especially when SE knew about the incident for 1.5 years and didn’t do anything about it till it became widespread amongst NA players."

Like you felt you had the fucking right?

Frankly, I'd not only have banned all of you, I'd have closed Salvage. Yes, I would have terminated the entire game mechanic as completely imbalanced beyond repair.
Your entitlement attitude is exactly the reason that this kind of stuff actually made me consider, for a moment or two and for the first time, actually terminating my FFXI account on my own.

The only thing you are right on is that these bans should've come 18 months ago. But they're here now, and they will devastate the endgame community, by everything I've read on it.

3) http://ringthree.blogspot.com/2009/01/hubris-is-mother-fucker.html

I almost think the name of this blog is appropriate, given the stand here: "You Are Not Your Fucking O's-Kote."

"Just want to get down on anyone that duped, got banned, when they previously said they were so fucking scary smart for duping and are now whining that it is SE's fault that they fucking did it.

To those people.

DIE

IN

A

MOTHER

FUCKING

FIRE."

Preach on. The real interesting thing is going to come on about Sunday when the 72-hour ban period comes off and we start finding out what's really been done.

I really think Square has to start taking some very serious examinations as to the nature of the game and to see if any high-level or endgame players really are acting in concert with the TOS at all!! I think the future of FFXI is in danger -- if the STF doesn't get some real indications that they can get control of the player base and force enough of them to play fair, cheaters WILL kill FFXI, and they will do so (with the help of the economy) very soon (think within 2009).

The players are acting with absolute impunity. They don't care. It's that damned simple. Maybe Anakin Skywalker was right: People need to be made to 'care'.

4. http://vedderffxi.livejournal.com/51840.html (Vedder from Cerebrus)

"Perusing forum posts about these bannings has revealed quite a few well known and well geared players were hit. The top two guys on the ffxiah.com achievements list got it: http://www.ffxiah.com/achievements.php There are also a number of prominent forumgoers who look to have been taken down... mutliple relic holders, d-ring holders, AV item holders too.

It's just crazy.I don't personally take a lot of glee in this news, mostly because I haven't heard of anyone from Cerberus getting hit yet, so things will be same ol' around here. I think permanent bans for people that utilized this exploit, but didn't have any previous offenses, is pretty harsh. However, with the way the rules are written and the fact that SE needs to be consistent, I guess I can understand why people are "getting got"."

I take absolute glee in this news, and, given some of the stuff already said, it sounds as if they could probably do 10 times this amount of players if they really did a thorough investigation.

A couple of your comments basically indicate my concern that no mega-high player is actually getting there legitimately: First, for those who do not know, the FFXI Auction House website (http://ffxiah.com/) has come up with an Achievement system not unlike XBox's achievement system. It sounds as if the top two players (the two most decorated players in that system who used FFXIAH.com) have both been banned, as well as has much of the top-level community.

I think a real question going forward has to be: Can Square-Enix justifiably maintain any degree of game balance without basically being forced either to shut down FFXI as a cheaters' paradise, or, as a last resort which will decimate the fanbase, reset everyone?

Second comment: To the level of crime committed, a first-offense ban is absolutely appropo. Think of the possible RMT ramifications and how much a character with one piece of (duped) Salvage gear would be worth more than the same character with all levels, skills, and all other things intact without that piece of duped gear. Take the monetary difference, divide it by $35, and multiply that by a million gil. That is the level of problem here.

5) http://www.rianon.net/mogknight/2009/01/22/mog-banned/ Mogknight loses all his credibility.

"I played with the fire and I got burned. Can’t say I saw this coming and I can’t say I didn’t deserve it either. I lost a lot of things, quite a bit of things from the four years I’ve played this game. And yeah, this is probably the worst way to go out really. I was a bit emo about it earlier today (who wouldn’t really?) but I’m not gonna try to defend myself or push trying to get unbanned or anything like that, everything is written there in black ink."

Good-bye, MogKnight, and don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

This was one of the most prominent TTO contributors, and it really makes me wonder how few people actually play this game clean. We may soon find out. My statement from above stands: If so few people play this game clean, Squeenix should shut the damn thing down.

I'm sorry, but, as I've said before, I've lost what little remaining respect I had for the player base over the course of the last couple of months. So don't expect any sympathy if you get exposed as a cheater. You lose all your cred and all of what you gained, not unlike Charles van Doren in the late 1950's when a rigged stint on "Twenty-One" got him a gig on the Today Show.

6) http://evyenffxi.blogspot.com/2009/01/lol-banned-people-dynamis-toau-wotg.html (Eyven of CaitSith)

"Of course all the FFXI community is talking about the bannings of Salvage duppers at the moment. It's been entertaining to read all the QQing in BG. The comments that have said how FFXI will be dieing (!!!) now with all those HQ endgamers gone have been the best laugh. Hate to break this to you, but this game doesn't revolve around you. You broke the rules and knew the risks, now face the consequences like a (wo)man and stop whining."

Preach on. In fact, tell them to STFU and GTFO would be even better. (This is going to be one very long post. I'll deal with the BG threads in a separate post.)

Here's the problem with simply discarding their thoughts, though: There is a real possibility that they might end up being right that this might kill FFXI. Consider two things:

a) What if we end up finding out that, in fact, basically none of the end-game community plays clean at all? The vote of no-confidence at Square-Enix would probably result in the game being terminated on their end.

b) What if so many players leave the game, not willing to play by Square-Enix' rules, that the RL economy does not allow them to continue the game? An MMORPG of this level is NOT cheap.

Both of these results are very plausible. I'm not even sure you can have full confidence that any 75 (including me!) is completely legit at this point. Send all flames to the comments section.

7) http://aikiz.livejournal.com/33509.html (Aikiz of Alexander)

"It doesn't matter now that we were in competing shells. That we shit talked back and forth. Botted on top of each other. Gossipped. Made fun of. Name called. 1.22.09 is the day that Square-Enix decided to HOLOCAUST the upper tier of their fanbase for duping Salvage/Nyzul/Sandworm drops through what was a 'secret' exploit. The LM11 and LM17 bans were issued in the early hours of 1.22.09 effectively taking out some of the most famous, well geared, and respected players of the game.

The moral legality of what these players did is much debated. Though they broke terms of services, there is still the debate of whether what they did was justifiable. Some were second offenses. Some were firsts. Some got lucky with a temp. Others are permanenty. Personally, good for them that they fucked this game the way that its fucked us. Yeah fuck you remnants for NEVER FUCKING POPPING ANYTHING."

No. There's a reason for their pop rate. They want some degree of game balance across the game. There is such a freaking thing as "game balance".

Until you get that, the very future of FFXI is endangered. If you don't like it, leave. If enough people leave, the game is over. At that point, Square-Enix' work will have essentially been proven wasted on a player base which did not deserve it. Period.

Why do you think they've been having trouble with getting new players and losing ground to WoW, for freaking God's sake?

I mean, if we're going that route, what's to say they didn't try the same garbage with Up In Arms with the Kraken Club drops? Under Observation with the Peacock Charm or Utsusemi: Ni?? You have NO RIGHT -- NONE -- to even suggest cheating as a circumventing justification because you don't like the fucking drop rates.

You don't like it? Leave. At minimum, don't play Salvage. You are shitting all over this game for what few players might be playing legit...

8) http://dantpup.livejournal.com/14578.html (Dantaro of Alexander)

I'm not going to quote it, but it was a list of all the players known banned from posting in different places about it. The list contained just half of the 950 players involved.

At that point, 91 Relics (I'm assuming weapons) were removed, and 2 Mythic Weapons tossed.

12 Linkshells have had their leaders stripped.

The highest-ban/suspension server at that point: Shouldn't surprise you in the least...

Asura.

The more I was on it, the more I felt that place was growing into an absolute piece of shit. This is just more evidence.

Valefor is a close second.

Well, that's all I've seen on TTO. If I really am up to it (trying also to finish at least half of a remaining project before the world goes completely to Hell), I'll dive into the real shit-storm, BlueGartr...

But I have one final comment:

Cheating WILL kill FFXI if not stopped.

Given the comments and the scope I've heard over the last couple of months, it is not implausible to believe it may already HAVE KILLED it.

If you can't play clean, do not play.