No topic - Not sure how to name this Goodbythread

[Zofinur]

This might be the last time i log in. Turned of PM´s already.
Took the weekend to drink, cry (yes even 40+ males can cry) & decide something.

EA did destroy a huge part much of my life(uo) now i will take care of the rest of it now.

Always loved UO, even the U alone. Started to play with UIII (Exodus) when it was fresh, and played them all.

Anyway was about to leave without further words ... But since there is a post that asked for lost items i started to think about it ... And finally came to the conclusion to give u all a list that may (or may not) be discussed in the public.

But before i start i have to mention three things

1) I always was (and still am) 100% against duping, scripting and stuff like that. Did report obvious scripters for a long time. Even offered ways to proof they were scripting in "multitudes" of GM-calls for physical harrassement!
So i say
BAN THE SCRIPTERS
BAN THE DUPERS
BAN THOSE WHO TRADED DUD-ITEMS
(but hell, tell the reasons if ppl ask for it; especially if the claim to be innocent)

2) Thanks to a lot to the many ppl that
* send messages asking how i FEEL
* offered me help (100M credit, free house, any help that´s needed to return / stay - Stuff like that is/was much appreciated!)
* kept in contact with banned scum like me (Thats irony! ... For those that dont know me)

3) A lot of disrespect for EA´s way to talk to 9 YEARS playing (& paying) customers!

So, öet me start with things that did NOT make me get banned; This refers to the fact that i was banned for "multitude of highly illegal items" and no other accusation was stated so far!

1. Scripting
2. Duping
   please take into note that i never switched shards with any of my chars. And as far as i read in all the ban-thread xsharding was part of the 'technique'. Of course this could be proffen by EA, but they wont...
3. Running an auctionsite
   It was strictly limited to ingame deals; clearly stated no reallifecash was allowed!
4. Trading for cash
   You have to trust me here, but i never did any trade for cash; neither buying nor selling
5. NO Valorite hammer, NO verite hammer
   Never did held any of these on any of my chars, houses or bankboxes. Never 'touched' one!
6. NO agapite hammer on my acount when i was banned. Maybe had like 5 in my 9 years of playing (see below!)

Followed by other items/Rares which i never owned (and mostly never even saw) in the whole 9 years of playing:

1. 2 storey Covetous statues
2. Vinecord sandals
3. singing balls
4. named Shrouds with attributes
5. special Sashes wit attributes
6. Serverbirth items
7. magic doors
8. sigil-coloured items; didnt even buy them when they were declared legal!
9. Just name any rare item that was >5M and i most likely didnt own it

So now about the "multitude of highly illegal items".
Since i wont get any official word from EA on this (neither in private nor in public) i just make a list of items that you all may discuss now.
Let´s start with the things that may look strange to EA, but not to me

1. a Personal Bless Deed of IGM Talos
   This was the rarest item that i ever owned, and its a truley loss for the Europa shard!
2. True white cloth & items made from it.
   Could have been done with a quest-item (silk) long ago; cant remember details. This was declared legal by Wilki with words like "Have fun with it" and so i started to get some; sadly the reference to the old Forum is lost? Maybe somebody else remembers details?
3. about 60M in checks; give or take 10M.
   I would not call this multitudes! Did get some when i sold a (south of) Luna house for 50M, or a set of Tokuno-dyes for 30M quite some time (month!) ago. Spent most of it on my Keep.
   As a guess: These checks must be the reason for my ban, since it´s the only items i wasnt able to control when i was paid!
4. Ressources (regs, leather, ingots)
   About(!) 10-60K each; no exact numbers here, because obviously i cant access my chars anymore. Yes i got GM Miner & GM Lumber, followed by a Yes i did buy ressources ingame from Vendors and on auctions.
5. Heritage tokens on almost every shard:
   Yes i did own 6 chars on almost every shard, and because i crossharded some (note: withouth transferring a char; but trading with ppl on other shards) i got plenty on europe. Must have been around 70. Additionally, if i am right, getting two of these tokens per character was easy by just logging in with existing chars fot the 10th anniversary.
6. "multitudes" of fountains of life:
   About 15 were located in my keep. All filled with clean bandages. Honestly, i saw houses with way more!
7. 125 stone statues in a chest:
   On one of my chars, i held a chest with 3 * 125 stone-statues inside. That´s 1 chest with 755 stones which i held for years(!) now. Note it wasnt two-story-statues, but the craftable type.
8. Coloured bone armor (spined/blue, horned/red & green/barbed)
   These were to be created long time ago, and afaik never were declared illegal!
9. green exceptional cloth: See coloured bone armor
10. On the next item i am guessing, not even sure if i did own one. EA is the only party to clarify it: a movable ballot box. As far as i know these were declared legal to own. Please note: ONE, not multitudes! And still i am not sure if i kept that item when i cleaned the house of a friend years(!) ago.
11. multitudes of bods, exactly 4326.
    So yes thousands of bods; some were filled, some not. Got all in a database by importing UO-Assist-Vendor-text: Please take into note i did play nine years. Sometimes up to three accounts. One of those accounts was 5 * GM Tailor GM Smith; trained manually years ago just to pick up bods 3 times a day!
12. BOD-Rewards which mostly were earned by myself; last time i bought 10 bronze was July 17th on uo-auctions: 10 bronze for 375K. Got mails for all other buys as well.
    • a chest full of gargoyles, prospectors & sturdies
    • 1 golden runic
    • several bronze & copper, but as i said i was addicted to bods!
    • 2 * ASH[60] (ancient smithy hammers)
    • about 10 ASH [15]
    • many ASH[10]
13. "a ship model"
    Did get this from a friend years(!) ago, and i survived multituds of ban-waves with it. Should not be the reason. Afaik those never were declared illegal!
14. 2 * 25-Stat-scrolls 120 disco and 120 peace
    Did receive these as payment for 2 halftrained Bakes. Obviously not sure on the source, but i could name the provider. Anyway these are still not multitudes.
15. coloured boards:
    You were able to dye non-plain wood with tokuno dyes
16. coloured leather:
    making ninja-belts, dying and cutting them did return coloured leather. Not named "spined", "horned" or "barbed" but coloured.
17. single artifacts bought from various sources (vendors & auctions). Let´s see what i remember:
    • * 2 Voice of the fallen king
    • * 1 blade of insanity
    • * 1 ring of the vile
    • * 1 bracelet of health
    • * 1 ring of the elements
18. full set of cursed arties from magincia (did collect all myself; no shady sources!)

Thing i owned but i am quite sure that did not cause a ban

• Collection of Tokuno Mayors and Minors
• Collection of Spring-point tickets:
  Did own two of each (Except the 7.500)
• ranger armor set
• red daemon bone armor
• full set of Mini house deeds
• full set of (rainbow)coloured valentine cards
• 10-30 books of truth
• Full set of practice weapons
  Yes, incl battle-axe. One more is lost now!
• Full set of coloured anvils (just one of each colour; not 1 each colour&direction)
• Bucket with water: was easy to get in Labyrinth years(!) ago.
• A keep

Oh, and the two most important things i did lost

1. Trust in EA
   This was not the way to handle it! You should talk to customers! And give details to the community!
2. My reputation
   Those who new me did know there were no questions about my honesty
   Btw: Guess why this post is not in UHall?

So that´s it from my part.

Since i doubt EA will ever tell reasons for all this to anybody it´s all speculations, and reallife decision have been made. So i strongly doubt to be back!

@EA: it has been in YOUR HANDS!

*closes the door*

 

[THP]

You need to stick at this..keep mailing EA and keep asking for the reason..and dont give up till u get it...Remember Lady Tia was unduly banned and she fought her case for weeks and eventually got reinstated with free game time too!! and an apolgy....

DONT GIVE UP...

 

[Bobar]

Well I have to tell you I am one unhappy bunny!.

As Zof will be aware I have made several posts in support of EA giving reasons for these bans even if only to the players concerned.

I have also tried my best to induce EA to make some kind of statement regarding the action, not necessarily about what they did, but the manner in which they did it.

In my humble opinion although EA had a perfect legal right to act the way they did I think they should also have had some regard for their customers and in that regard they have not fulfilled AT ALL their moral obligation.

Buying and selling anything means both parties carry responsibility. EA sell their game and we purchase it. Our responsibilty then is to play the game within the rules, one of theirs is to let us know what the rules are. It will be difficult, if not impossible, for us to achieve ours if the rules change and we are not informed.

Fine they have banned players for having a 'multitude of illegal items' so what were they? how do we know if we have any? was it duped cheques? duped arties? how can we identify duped items?. As far as I know these do not have a gump attached saying 'I am a dupe'. These questions have been asked and not answered. Is this letting us know what the rules are?.

To leave your customers in ignorance of why certain actions are carried out, although reasons are requested, simply generates unease amongst them. This inevitably leads to a loss of faith in the ability of the vendor to shoulder their areas of responsibility.

To say I am dissatisfied is understating the case. When I read posts like Zof's above I am even more convinced that EA's lack of response is appalling.

I do not wish to lose online friends without knowing why.

 

[Nyte Doombringer]

Yep totally agree. Many people have posted that just because you where banned you had to be guilty, like EA can never make a mistake. LOL Yea right. Everyone makes mistakes.
If someone is charged with a crime they have the right to know all the facts about it, ie, you have duped items, you have the right to know what those items where and the right to dispute it.
What makes it so bad is these items are in the game because EA cant do anything about it, old game, old code, people can hack it, yet we the paying customers get punished. They really should let this game go free since the amount of customer service and ingame service is little if non existent.
You can go play Guild Wars, which is totally free to play,you just have to buy the games its a huge MMO with 4mil+ players and they have customer service like you where paying for it.

 

[Barian]

Revolving Door never closes..............

 

[Tjalle]

Another vet gone...

I still can´t believe they won´t give the accused p(l)ayer any details about his own ban...
That´s just bad costumer service, no matter how you look at it.

"Well, our rules clearly states that we don´t have too" - Meh!
"Well, he was banned therefore he was guilty cuz we say so" - Meh!
"Well, we can´t give out any details because of blah blah legal blah blah law blah blah..." - Meh!

*Type type type. Send!*

That´s it. Is it really that hard?

No, this is just bad costumer service imo.

Sounds more to me that they know they did some bad bannings but are too embarassed to admit it to the public. So it´s easier to hide behind the "rules"...

Whatever.


Take care out there and I hope you find something else that makes you happy. Farewell "Furi Noz"

 

[Zofinur]

*sighs*

Returned to correct some typos, so i may even take the time for an answer.

Revolving Door never closes

Barian, u r wrong tis time: EA did forget to oil the revolving door (with their words). It´s stuck now!

Over & out!

 

[Winker]

what more to the point is i bet you never buy anotehr EA game again. I have not long come back to UO after a 2 year breack...But i am so disgusted with what has went on that i dont think i want to spend any more money on there games

 

[Escaflowne]

Down with EA! EA Suck!

 

[Black Betty]

Zof,

This is a sad day. I would have hoped that you would stick it out like Tia did to get to the point of being vindicated publicly, especially because you have posted so feverishly protesting your innocence.

People do make mistakes. Maybe they have been meeting and trying to decide how to handle this situation with you and anyone else that may be innocent while investigating. Maybe they aren't in agreement yet of how to handle this further or what to do to make up for it.

My hope is that you are able to stick around long enough to at the very least be vindicated. You reputation is of greater value than anything. Stick it out to see it restored to what it should be.

 

[Lucy of Kenton]

Zof, the crying i know all about.
barian's door is locked im afraid. about ea? well i wouldnt trust them one lil inch and for sure will never purchase an ea game again.
in the positive (if there is one), again europa players have shown how much better they are to other shards. no flaming etc as hey they know us.
what u did for uo in auction then auction 2 was fantastic.
dont ever go away in shame as you have nothing to be ashamed of so hold yer head high and come to WoW turn to the dark side zof
jo
xxxxx

 

[Black Betty]

Ack!!

Both of you.....

Walk towards the light.....

Towards the light....

lol

 

[Llewen]

Zofinur, I don't know you, but based solely on what you have written, I am inclined to believe that you have been the victim of a miscarriage of justice. I could be wrong, but I suspect I am not, I tend to trust my ability to parse language, and my instincts, and in this case my instincts are telling me you are the victim here. Only you know the truth though, and if you have done nothing wrong, as you have stated, then you have nothing to be ashamed of.

I could recommend you check out Darkfall Online. IF it is ever released, it looks like it could be a great home for heartsore old UO vets. I doubt you will find what you are looking for in WoW, I know I certainly didn't. If you like science fiction, EvE has no parallel, from everything I have read and seen of it, and a new expansion is close to being released which will make it even better.

 

[Shazzam Kabarr]

Well this is my first look in here in over a year, someone told me what had been kicking off, just thought i'd check it out for myself.........ouch.

I'm blown away that they would delete all the stuff someone has accumulated over the years, along with their home etc, unless they were 100% certain that you had COMMITTED an offence, and then at least enter some form of communication before taking such irreversible actions.

I know only too well how we get used to the dismissiveness and arrogance of EA's customer service dept, it's not until we experience better that we realise what a bunch of lazy, unprofessional, ammateurs they actually are.

Last June I said farewell to uo after 7 years, after my wife and I were totally disillusioned by everything KR. We went to play Vanguard and have never looked back, I can highly recommend it if anyone is looking for a new online home. I won't push the game, as obviously we love it to bits, finding it much deeper and challenging than WOW, but I will add that their customer service department is incredible, with gm's actually taking time to solve your problems with you ingame and several who even take the time to look you up at quieter moments for a chat to see how things are going. Their devs and cs reps communicate regularly with players via the forums too, all in all making you feel like a valid customer and that your account actually matters to them, it's like another world that as a UO vet I never believed existed in online gaming.

I Doubt I'll be back here very much tbh, but Zof, if you fancy trying Vanguard I have some Buddy keys kicking around, so i'll check my messages on here for the next few days in case you are interested in one.

We still have our guild there The Midnight Runners on Halgar which is predominantly the Euro server and would be more than happy to help you in any way possible.

Take care guys, and try not to let the bastids grind you down, it's supposed to be fun after all. Remember, if EA don't want you there's plenty of other games that do and as much to my surprise as anyones, there definately is life after UO. (with way better graphics too).

*waves to Petra and Terry and anyone else who remembers Shaz & Mystic Princess.*

Cheerio

 

[Lucy of Kenton]

Well this is my first look in here in over a year, someone told me what had been kicking off, just thought i'd check it out for myself.........ouch.

I'm blown away that they would delete all the stuff someone has accumulated over the years, along with their home etc, unless they were 100% certain that you had COMMITTED an offence, and then at least enter some form of communication before taking such irreversible actions.

I know only too well how we get used to the dismissiveness and arrogance of EA's customer service dept, it's not until we experience better that we realise what a bunch of lazy, unprofessional, ammateurs they actually are.

Last June I said farewell to uo after 7 years, after my wife and I were totally disillusioned by everything KR. We went to play Vanguard and have never looked back, I can highly recommend it if anyone is looking for a new online home. I won't push the game, as obviously we love it to bits, finding it much deeper and challenging than WOW, but I will add that their customer service department is incredible, with gm's actually taking time to solve your problems with you ingame and several who even take the time to look you up at quieter moments for a chat to see how things are going. Their devs and cs reps communicate regularly with players via the forums too, all in all making you feel like a valid customer and that your account actually matters to them, it's like another world that as a UO vet I never believed existed in online gaming.

I Doubt I'll be back here very much tbh, but Zof, if you fancy trying Vanguard I have some Buddy keys kicking around, so i'll check my messages on here for the next few days in case you are interested in one.

We still have our guild there The Midnight Runners on Halgar which is predominantly the Euro server and would be more than happy to help you in any way possible.

Take care guys, and try not to let the bastids grind you down, it's supposed to be fun after all. Remember, if EA don't want you there's plenty of other games that do and as much to my surprise as anyones, there definately is life after UO. (with way better graphics too).

*waves to Petra and Terry and anyone else who remembers Shaz & Mystic Princess.*

Cheerio

much as uo needs you back i would strongly advise against it as ea have lost the faith of alot of people over these bannings leading me to believe they will close it not in the near future but not far off

 

[Llewen]

At this point EA is just about the last gaming company I would ever make a purchase from...

 

[jack flash]

well i have been without internet for a week or so, sadly i can see that NOTHING has been done to help Zof or Lucy

this has helped me make up my mind, i was planning a return to the game, but this treatment has confirmed that i shall not be returning

to both of you, you are not cheats in my eyes, you do not need to try and prove it

i have also heard from other guildmates and ingame friends and they have informed me, that, although not quitting YET, scaling down to 1 acct is being done

so NICELY played EA more revenue slips through your fingers

I thank you

 

[Zofinur]

a list of items that you all may discuss now

None of the items looks "shady" then?

 

[Paidric]

I don't visit stratics much anymore, probably because of the very bad spirit I see in all posts (whatever the topic, even common things like "Where can I rp/hunt/fish"). But I wanted to say I trust Zonifur for not doing what they accuse him of.

I think Europa lost something with the two of you. It's sad. I'll personnaly miss you.

I just hope this will serve as a lesson to EA to think their procedure through next time. This kind of miscommunication can just harm the game. It has been a long time since I lost faith in what they undertake, but I don't see any better game than UO out there... grinding is not my thing for sure...

I wish they'd love UO as much as we do

 

[Lucy of Kenton]

*applauds* well said paidric.
im sure we all know what paidric does to europa and new and returning players alike.
The zof also ran the initial auction site and then auction2. these are things done by the both for no reward. what did i do? well i filled in the vacancy for the daft blonde! all mmorpg's need a daft blonde to die in unusual ways (once by blowing up a whole wedding party when i didnt know what a purple potion was!)

 

[Zofinur]

The zof also ran the initial auction site and then auction2. these are things done by the both for no reward

While i am logged in to ask why are some animals more equal than others i can correct the above statement.

Neither uoa nor uoa2 was run by me!
I was staff (my job was to offer safe trades) at uoa2 but did voluntarily quit.

And when uoa2 did brake i offered an alternative with another auctionsite that in fact was run by me. and it was free of use.

 

[Fizzleton]

well, the part with the blonde blowing up a wedding is a nice one

I played europa too, and I closed my accounts due to this bannings. And to clear the point: I did not close them since I knew that zof or others were not guilty; I closed them since the way ea did the bannings made me feel sick about a company not caring about their community. We depend on being treated in a respectful way; and this was disrespectful, in every way.

Maybe we will once meet again; let us know if and where you will settle in the online universe. I found wow not to meet my wishes; maybe I will try others, but, to be honest - there are nice things left to do in this world, online or not. Take care, people, and remember the most important thing - try to have fun!

best wishes

 

[nixwb]

Do you pvp alot, talk trash to others, grief players or **** off a Gm recently? GM's and dev team do in fact play UO, so if you **** one of them off in game they will ban you temp or perm depending on how big of a tantrum they have.

If none of those apply, then only thing left is: what kind of house or houses did you own. How large and where were they located? If you own a castle or a keep, or your house is in an area large enough to place one? Have you recently been asked to sell your home? If so then you were probably banned so a gm or dev team can use the area.

Because they refuse to tell you the specific reason why you were banned, then its safe to assume the reasoning is 'shady' and they know it. So, as long as they dont give you specifics then I can tell you whats going to happen. They are going to ignore you and anyone else on the subject, in the hopes that you will get frustrated enough to give up and say to hell with it all. On the flip side, if you dont give up, then they will simply make up crap to shut you up, unless you rally ALOT of players to assist you in protest on this matter. Of course it will usually take several weeks or months to get anything rectified.

Now, this is what I would do. File a discrimination complaint with the Better Business Bureu, then with consumer report, then send a detailed report on your dilemma to various news agency's. Just say you feel like your being discriminated because they will not tell you what is going on. I am not kidding either, just watch the news, they LOVE reporting on ANYTHING that is negative and makes someone or some business look like crap. But in your case its not 'going to make them look like crap' because they are already so full of it, and no matter what they do you cant polish a terd.

I know everyone even them is going to mention in the rules of conduct in the TOS, that they reserve the right to terminate an account for any reason they want to use. So technically they could ban you for spelling a word wrong in game, and nothing can be done or argued. However, they are duty bound and required to inform you of the reason of termination with specifics. Reason being, they are a business, providing a service, you are a customer wanting and paying for a service. If businesses were actually allowed to refuse service to customers without having to give ANY reason as to why, then by simply posting a TOS at the front door to a bar or club would give the bar/club owner the powert to tell every black or hispanic, or jewish, or atheist, or disabled customer to go elsewhere and deny them service.

Also, make sure you tell ALL of your friends and ALL of your family members, if you start playing another online game, put the word out on how EA treats loyal customers, some over ten years of devotion. Blog it up, rant and rave on any and all game releated forums. Go to youtube, myspace, etc. and put the word out EA needs to experience a rude awakening and bear witness to what happens when you freaking **** off, disrespect, and take for granite the acceptance of their products by us consumers. Most of my gaming friends roughly 80-90), my brother, and myself have agreed to never buy anything ever again from EA. If I want to be treated like crap, then I would reenlist back into the army.

 

[Leto]

Do you pvp alot, talk trash to others, grief players or **** off a Gm recently? GM's and dev team do in fact play UO, so if you **** one of them off in game they will ban you temp or perm depending on how big of a tantrum they have.

If none of those apply, then only thing left is: what kind of house or houses did you own. How large and where were they located? If you own a castle or a keep, or your house is in an area large enough to place one? Have you recently been asked to sell your home? If so then you were probably banned so a gm or dev team can use the area.

Because they refuse to tell you the specific reason why you were banned, then its safe to assume the reasoning is 'shady' and they know it.

*Rolls eyes* And the Bush-administration engineered 9-11, right?

 

[Black Betty]

*Rolls eyes* And the Bush-administration engineered 9-11, right?

I do so love your sense of humor, Leto!

 

[nixwb]

The Bush Administration was unable to prevent Bush from becoming THE MOST INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT in history, so I doubt they had anything to do with 9-11, now you might wanna go look at who cashed in on the tragic day if your looking for conspiracys.


Besides everything I mentioned was just BS to possibily make them want to defend themselves, but they only pretend to read these forums.

 

[Petra Fyde]

erm, This board is not here to debate American politics, and since Zofinur has left the building and won't be reading any more replies to this thread I'm locking it.

I'll answer pm's if anyone has a problem with that.