yellowlab
05-18-2005, 10:21 PM
Unfortunately, there are several scams popping up in game. GWOnline.net has a database (http://www.gwonline.net/page.php?p=141) highlighting these scams. Be on the lookout for things that seem too good to be true.
Bait and Switch: This is a common trading scam. Many icons for items in Guild Wars may look the same, but have different properties and values. When someone is trying to trade with you, be sure to mouse over the item and make sure it's exactly what you've bargained for just prior to accepting the transaction. Those that try to pull off this scam will often modify their trade a number of times, hoping you won't notice that they swapped it out for something that has the same icon, but of lesser value.
Guides on EBay: It was brought to our attention that there are "guides" being sold on EBay that are nothing more than copy-pasted pages from various fansites, including from ours. Nearly all of the fansites provide this information to you for free-there is no reason to purchase such guides on EBay. Not only that, but those individuals and 'companies' that are stealing content from the fansites are in violation of copyright laws. If there's a guide you are looking for and you aren't finding it, drop us a line at tarrantrahl@gwonline.net or chantal@gwonline.net as we're always welcoming suggestions. The simple solution is to NOT buy the guides and visit your favorite fansite for the latest and most up-to-date information.
Account Theft: This is perhaps one of the most serious of all scams. Typically, these people post in forums about some new program that supposedly benefits you in some way while you play the game. We have seen ones for added Health, running an attribute calculator prior to starting the game to mention a few. Be aware and suspect of any so-called program that requires you to run it prior to starting up the game. Quite often, these are scams that steal your account name and password. When you see posts like that, report them immediately to the moderators of the forums and do NOT download it.
Ladder Tampering: This type of scam is very demoralizing and disheartening to guilds as it can cost them the ability to compete in various tournaments as well as their ranking on the ladder. What happens is that a player asks to join a guild and is accepted. That new guild member then challenges specific guilds to battle and deliberately loses, bolstering the opposing guild's ranking and damaging yours. Just be cautious about who you accept into your guild and take the time to get to know them before you do. Setting guild policies in respect to recruitment may help to weed some of these people out, but it's never a guarantee.
Guilds Accepting Members Just to Steal From: Sadly, some guilds will recruit members for the sole purpose of taking their gold and/or items. They offer membership and then state that each member needs to contribute some large amount of gold to go toward the purchase of a Sigil for a Guild Hall. As everyone knows, Sigils are quite pricey right now and most guilds are eager to get their hands on one, no matter the cost. Once that new member is accepted to the guild and pitches in some gold, they find themselves kicked out of the guild. Get to know the guild you wish to become a member of first and be wary of any 'pay upfront' requests. Any reasonable guild will be understanding of your wariness if you explain to them that you've seen this sort of scam before and would rather wait before you make a contribution.
Althea's Ashes Swap: Because this quest offers 2k experience, I felt it merits mentioning separately from the "Bait and Switch" scam, even though in essence, it is the same type of scam. The icon for the ashes looks the same as for the common crafting material Glittering Dust. Again, be sure to mouse over the item and make sure it's exactly what you've bargained for just prior to accepting the transaction.
Buying Armors: Since armors are customized for each character, no other character can wear them. Simply put, don't buy armor from anyone as it will do you little good at all. The best you can do with crafted armors is to salvage them with an expert kit in the hopes of getting a rune back (the armor piece's name will indicate if it has an armor upgrade) or some of the rare materials it cost. Starting armors and Collector's armors cannot be salvaged.
Buying Customized Weapons: Weapons that have been customized cannot be wielded by another character. Be sure you check that the item you are trading for hasn't been customized. You can still purchase or trade for them from another player, however about the only use you'll get from them is to salvage them for materials or upgrades, which the latter is not guaranteed you'd get.
Purchasing/Trading for Quest Items: This simply won't work as your quest log won't update. Even if you have purchased the appropriate quest item from someone without you obtaining it yourself via the quest, you can not return the quest item to the appropriate NPC to claim a reward. Don't buy or trade for any quest items.
Gambling and /Roll Games: Some of these are legitimate games that players have set up, but for every legitimate one out there, there seems to be another 50 that aren't. Typically, in a town or outpost someone spams about their gambling game and encourages players to donate a sum of gold (often 1k or more) to the pot and a partner nearby ready to vouch for them that they were a recent winner. Then they have players emote using the /roll command. The /roll command itself can be simulated by scrolling their text to the end of the line, making it appear that they /rolled, when it's actually regular text. A way to check this is to turn off emotes and see if their text disappeared. If it did, it was an emote and not someone trying to simulate one. Most commonly, however, once these people have collected your gold, they switch districts or areas and you're flat out cold. Don't participate in these games unless you know or trust the person sponsoring it. If you enjoy these types of games but don't want to wind up scammed out of large amounts of gold, see if you can arrange a friendly game with several guilds with whom you are friends or allies.
UW/FoW Entry Fees: Often times groups in Temple of Ages will demand each player contribute to the 1k gold entry fee for the area. Obviously this is done at your own risk, as there is no guarantee the player you give gold to won't simply leave the party. The only way to truly avoid this is to know the players in your party, since it could be equally as likely that a player that promises to pay after the group has entered will simply refuse once inside.
Power Leveing/Rushing: This isn't referring to the services offered for real life gold on some sites, those services are a direct violation of the EULA. This relates to the players that offer to run other players through difficult or time consuming areas, i.e. from Beacon's Perch down to Droknar's Forge. These "runners" will generally ask for payment via gold for the service; how much they ask for and where they ask to be paid that gold is dependent upon the starting area and the ending destination. However, as a general rule, those "runners" that demand payment upfront before running your character even partway to the destination are scammers and will leave once you pay them. To prevent yourself from falling victim to this, if you are going to have a character run to a specific place, try to spend some time asking around or watching to see how much most of the "runners" charge, and where they commonly ask to be paid.
bob
Bait and Switch: This is a common trading scam. Many icons for items in Guild Wars may look the same, but have different properties and values. When someone is trying to trade with you, be sure to mouse over the item and make sure it's exactly what you've bargained for just prior to accepting the transaction. Those that try to pull off this scam will often modify their trade a number of times, hoping you won't notice that they swapped it out for something that has the same icon, but of lesser value.
Guides on EBay: It was brought to our attention that there are "guides" being sold on EBay that are nothing more than copy-pasted pages from various fansites, including from ours. Nearly all of the fansites provide this information to you for free-there is no reason to purchase such guides on EBay. Not only that, but those individuals and 'companies' that are stealing content from the fansites are in violation of copyright laws. If there's a guide you are looking for and you aren't finding it, drop us a line at tarrantrahl@gwonline.net or chantal@gwonline.net as we're always welcoming suggestions. The simple solution is to NOT buy the guides and visit your favorite fansite for the latest and most up-to-date information.
Account Theft: This is perhaps one of the most serious of all scams. Typically, these people post in forums about some new program that supposedly benefits you in some way while you play the game. We have seen ones for added Health, running an attribute calculator prior to starting the game to mention a few. Be aware and suspect of any so-called program that requires you to run it prior to starting up the game. Quite often, these are scams that steal your account name and password. When you see posts like that, report them immediately to the moderators of the forums and do NOT download it.
Ladder Tampering: This type of scam is very demoralizing and disheartening to guilds as it can cost them the ability to compete in various tournaments as well as their ranking on the ladder. What happens is that a player asks to join a guild and is accepted. That new guild member then challenges specific guilds to battle and deliberately loses, bolstering the opposing guild's ranking and damaging yours. Just be cautious about who you accept into your guild and take the time to get to know them before you do. Setting guild policies in respect to recruitment may help to weed some of these people out, but it's never a guarantee.
Guilds Accepting Members Just to Steal From: Sadly, some guilds will recruit members for the sole purpose of taking their gold and/or items. They offer membership and then state that each member needs to contribute some large amount of gold to go toward the purchase of a Sigil for a Guild Hall. As everyone knows, Sigils are quite pricey right now and most guilds are eager to get their hands on one, no matter the cost. Once that new member is accepted to the guild and pitches in some gold, they find themselves kicked out of the guild. Get to know the guild you wish to become a member of first and be wary of any 'pay upfront' requests. Any reasonable guild will be understanding of your wariness if you explain to them that you've seen this sort of scam before and would rather wait before you make a contribution.
Althea's Ashes Swap: Because this quest offers 2k experience, I felt it merits mentioning separately from the "Bait and Switch" scam, even though in essence, it is the same type of scam. The icon for the ashes looks the same as for the common crafting material Glittering Dust. Again, be sure to mouse over the item and make sure it's exactly what you've bargained for just prior to accepting the transaction.
Buying Armors: Since armors are customized for each character, no other character can wear them. Simply put, don't buy armor from anyone as it will do you little good at all. The best you can do with crafted armors is to salvage them with an expert kit in the hopes of getting a rune back (the armor piece's name will indicate if it has an armor upgrade) or some of the rare materials it cost. Starting armors and Collector's armors cannot be salvaged.
Buying Customized Weapons: Weapons that have been customized cannot be wielded by another character. Be sure you check that the item you are trading for hasn't been customized. You can still purchase or trade for them from another player, however about the only use you'll get from them is to salvage them for materials or upgrades, which the latter is not guaranteed you'd get.
Purchasing/Trading for Quest Items: This simply won't work as your quest log won't update. Even if you have purchased the appropriate quest item from someone without you obtaining it yourself via the quest, you can not return the quest item to the appropriate NPC to claim a reward. Don't buy or trade for any quest items.
Gambling and /Roll Games: Some of these are legitimate games that players have set up, but for every legitimate one out there, there seems to be another 50 that aren't. Typically, in a town or outpost someone spams about their gambling game and encourages players to donate a sum of gold (often 1k or more) to the pot and a partner nearby ready to vouch for them that they were a recent winner. Then they have players emote using the /roll command. The /roll command itself can be simulated by scrolling their text to the end of the line, making it appear that they /rolled, when it's actually regular text. A way to check this is to turn off emotes and see if their text disappeared. If it did, it was an emote and not someone trying to simulate one. Most commonly, however, once these people have collected your gold, they switch districts or areas and you're flat out cold. Don't participate in these games unless you know or trust the person sponsoring it. If you enjoy these types of games but don't want to wind up scammed out of large amounts of gold, see if you can arrange a friendly game with several guilds with whom you are friends or allies.
UW/FoW Entry Fees: Often times groups in Temple of Ages will demand each player contribute to the 1k gold entry fee for the area. Obviously this is done at your own risk, as there is no guarantee the player you give gold to won't simply leave the party. The only way to truly avoid this is to know the players in your party, since it could be equally as likely that a player that promises to pay after the group has entered will simply refuse once inside.
Power Leveing/Rushing: This isn't referring to the services offered for real life gold on some sites, those services are a direct violation of the EULA. This relates to the players that offer to run other players through difficult or time consuming areas, i.e. from Beacon's Perch down to Droknar's Forge. These "runners" will generally ask for payment via gold for the service; how much they ask for and where they ask to be paid that gold is dependent upon the starting area and the ending destination. However, as a general rule, those "runners" that demand payment upfront before running your character even partway to the destination are scammers and will leave once you pay them. To prevent yourself from falling victim to this, if you are going to have a character run to a specific place, try to spend some time asking around or watching to see how much most of the "runners" charge, and where they commonly ask to be paid.
bob