Ashes of Creation has banned nearly 80 accounts that made more than 200 characters after taking advantage of a gold dupe exploit and subsequent RMT activity. Intrepid has fixed the original exploit, and will be naming and shaming the banned accounts, while reiterating official RMT policy, though some are calling for even harsher action.
Steam Early Access launch happened weeks ago, with a wipe to go with the new platform. With these exploits and the economic damage caused, there was even concern there would be a new wipe. They were able to avoid this with a quick fix. Given how AoC is in alpha, that wouldn’t have been strange, but Intrepid has actively worked to reduce wipes.
A video from Zybak (H/T: Slapshot1188) dives into the issue, including the impact on the economy. According to his analysis here, organized gold farmers, reportedly from China were engaging in gold duplication through an exploit involving running crates. There were also potential instances of item duplication, including best in slot armor, and even guilds taking advantage in ways that would greatly affect the PVP balance.
Ashes of Creation’s Steven Sharif, in a message to the community, says that the many reports from the community help them to identify and work quickly to fix the problem. While the exploit has been fixed, the team continues to analyze the economy to identify duped items and gold to clean up the damage to the economy. The process will continue during nightly maintenance for a bit.
Sharif also emphasizes that their policy on RMT on either side is zero-tolerance. This means that if you are buying or selling you risk a permanent ban.
Zybak added “You can’t beat them by banning them. You have to beat them by starving them out,” encouraging Intrepid to ban both buyers and sellers with regards to RMT, which they are vowing to do. It remains to be seen just how successful this cleanup is, as some have even bragged openly about exploiting. Even in an alpha, as he says, you have to get this problem under control and can’t just keep wiping because people are actively playing. At some point, you’ll start driving people away.
Next week, they will share a list of the now-banned cheaters’ character names.