Guild Wars 2 players find bans in their stockings after Wintersday

During the Wintersday holiday event recently, players stumbled onto something exciting - by crafting an item requiring one ectoplasm (ecto for short), six mithril ingots and a Pristine Snowflake they could make a rare earring. Breaking down that earring would then give the player back some mithril, the Pristine Snowflake and up to three ectos. As fans of both the first and second games will be aware, ectos are very rare - and the abundance of new ectos on the market would have an alarming effect.




And now, as spotted by Massively, ArenaNet have begun banning people. An actual number is tough to find, but it was enough that if these players were allowed to continue unchecked (read: unbanned, keeping all of their ectos) it would destroy the economy. Fans of the game will recall that this isn't the first time they have done this, but backed down amidst outrage. This time however, they won't be backing down, with ArenaNet's Support Liason explaining in a thread on the topic:

We’ve been more than kind, in the past, and everyone needs to own up to his/her errors and recognize: We all are part of the game economy, and those who exploit it are hurting the rest of us.

If this statement were a person it would be Bill Gates it's so freaking rich. Everyone needs to own up to his/her errors? You're damned right they do ArenaNet. And if an exploit pops up, it is not the users who are at fault - it is ArenaNet. They made a mistake and people took advantage of it. If ArenaNet don't want people tanking the economy through exploits, then maybe they shouldn't put such exploits in the game.

Of course, it's tough to catch every single issue - particularly when you are making an MMO. But it's not like ArenaNet don't have other options available. They are capable of fixing the game's economy - they already have in this case - so fix the item, fix the economy and move on. If you really can't fix the economy without dipping into player's inventories and taking stuff, then you apologise, explain why and do so. Banning players because you screwed up is little more than a good way to get people upset and paranoid.

I kind of feel like this wouldn't be the issue it is without Guild Wars 2's cash shop - since you can trade gold for gems and vice versa, the ecto exploit gives some players a method of gaining generally unobtainable goods without putting in actual cash or an assload of effort. Of course, Guild Wars 2 is ArenaNet's game and they are free to do whatever they want and ban whoever they want. If they want people to trust them however, they should probably stop blaming their users for their mistakes. What do you think? Am I all fired up over nothing? Let us know in the comments below!