I had started another post and had to stop to do something else...this was posted while I was away.
I am glad to see attention from Stephen to this matter and I would also like to say that in this communication the tone and the actions were both right. I wish, however, that the crisis had not been allowed to get to this point before finally being resolved.
What I would like to see is for this communication to be the beginning of a new precedent: matters addressed timely and respectfully towards the players.
Please remember that people's feelings are not simply system or technical problems, and need to be addressed in a manner befitting of that. It is always good practice to communicate before a change...yes, sometimes the response may not be what you hoped for, but as long as the communication is done with tact, even a less-than-hoped-for outcome will generally be more favorable both short- and long-term than silence and late, reactive communication, or worse, late and tactless communication (this particular post is a good example of what one should do to avoid falling into the tactless category so good on you, Stephen, for that).
I am not sure what your level of involvement in the locking down of the forums was, but I would recommend you communicate to your team that this was an example (not unlike the initial blanket removal of spec points) of a draconian, reactive, and systems-oriented solution that did not address the real root cause of the problem, which unfortunately was the burned relations between Cryptic and the player base. I am not unreasonable and would have considered one and even two minutes perfectly within reason to prevent spam and server overloads, but I think it went too far and was as before, only communicated retroactively and after a great uproar. Perhaps this restriction could be looked at again brought down now into the realm that I have suggested.
I would also submit that many of us as customers will need to see a sustained pattern that includes better and more frequent communication with respect, far greater evidence of Tribble/QA feedback being processed timely and that such feedback is being listened to before implementation (which may go hand in hand with being a bit less aggressive in setting deadlines, if staffing or budget are constraints). And please remember that the risk/reward structure needs to be within reason in order to keep players' interest.
As I have said all along, strong though my criticism has been at times, and even as much as I feel that my trust has been trodden upon, I remain willing to listen and to observe to see if things can improve and if today's action and communication can be learned from and set a precedent for better things. I am also willing to sit down and talk with you and your team to discuss this and I would recommend you consider this with *several* players here, taking care to embrace a diverse spectrum of views as I do not think any one of us can speak for everyone in the community.
Please show us that you can step back from all of this, take stock of all that has occurred and get down to the real root cause of why, and show a pattern of future actions that can begin to rebuild the trust that has been lost. I do not want to lose this community and I hope that you feel the same.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
There's a time and a place for everything. Sometimes you need to continue, sometimes you just need to say "Thank you!" I believe the latter is one of these moments.
I would never thank anyone for rectifying a bad situation they created in the first place, but I would accept their apology. And considering the reimbursement of what was taken away, it is evident that this is a sincere apology. Provided that the reimbursement actually works that is. Cryptic's quality assurance process is at an all time low at this point: A bug in the process to recognize the use of another bug. Ironic.
None-the-less, on this particular point I would move on.
What I don't understand is: you say that there were only around 300 players that took advantage of this 'exploit', then why were far more punished? There must be a discrepancy in either what you said, or what has been done in, more or less, retribution against these players.
There were a ton of players that were punished. You said there were only a few hundred who took advantage of this 'exploit'. Now you say that of the tons who were punished, only a few didn't take advantage of this 'exploit'?
My understanding is that 300 were leveling at 17x intended speed. Far more were flagged as progressing faster than intended.
I think (and hope) this actually underscores a need for some gameplay balance passes.
I didn't lose any levels before and I didn't gain any now but I think this is a decent decision on Cryptic's part. It's unfortunate that they had to reverse a position, because reversing a position means people may fight them harder for reversions in the future when I think Cryptic's stance would be stronger if they simply didn't make the call to retract to begin with, without first working through what was happening.
But speaking from right here and right now, this is a good move and a show of maturity and sound business practices on Cryptic's part. Not every critic in the playerbase was mature and that's a pity but it doesn't mean that the playerbase as a whole isn't worth engaging and listening to. Just because some bad apples make threats or stomp their feet doesn't make their position wrong, just their priorities and their tactics. And I think this is a triumph for players who articulated their case and for Cryptic in finally engaging with those players.
oh please Dangelo you and your lot didn't restore it to be nice to those that didn't do the Ta dewa sector block you did it cause you wouldn't or don't want to take the time and effort to do it to every single person that used the Ta dewa xp gain so you boys were going to blanket everyone and when those that didn't use the gain complained you put out this grand gesture of "we'll restore it for everyone to avoid TRIBBLE up the nice players" but what you don't say is that if no one had complained you wouldn't have done ANYTHING about it!
Oh and BTW it wasn't a bug or an exploit it was something essential to the games levelling process but the devs didn't foresee that the players are smart enough to take advantage of it and when they did you cry foul!
A little life lesson for the devs, don’t think we are STUPID and don't DUMB things down to the level of a cow for we are far smarter than you give us credit for!
I am sick sore and tired of all this Politician's Bull c$%&*!
Be straight with us!
CVN-65 U.S.S. Enterprise - A ship so badass it survived John McCain.
There's a time and a place for everything. Sometimes you need to continue, sometimes you just need to say "Thank you!" I believe the latter is one of these moments.
This apology reeks of a stale aftertaste of, well, you get the hint... right?
If they are giving back the specialization points to the people they considered "exploiters" then they might as well put the "exploit" back into the game for those of us that didn't have a chance to take advantage of it. Seems a little unfair otherwise.
When Stephen took the STO reigns back I was optimistic. A number of long standing issues that had bothered me, and which I was not seriously expecting resolution on were resolved, and the load out system, which I had long dreamed of was conceived.
Unfortunately the loadout system was a stillbirth, and power creep became a power rocket and new issues become long standing and my faith was slowly eroded.
Although I was not happy with the direction STO was taking under Stephen I still pre-orded a delta pack, because I don't want this game to die, and that's the only vote I can make with my wallet. I wish I could vote for balance and bug fixes, but those arnt in the C-Store so I simply voted to keep development money coming in, even if I couldn't vote for the direction it would go.
Then Specgate happened and I was no longer disappointed. I was angry.
I wasn't about to make an I quit post mind you. I would rather keep contributing to the operating costs and just not put any more money into the game.
I sincerely apologize on behalf of the Star Trek Online team for both the original bugs and the error of penalizing some customers incorrectly.
This makes a bigger difference to me then I can rationalize. I am back to being disappointed in the games direction. But I am not angry, and I will keep putting money into the game when I have some to spare.
But please lets not stop at disappointed, It would be very nice to be happy with Stephen and the game again.
Can we sign up for gamer/developer counseling or something? Maybe there is a support group?
How about we promis to only wine a little bit and cryptic promis to only nurf a little bit?
My understanding is that 300 were leveling at 17x intended speed. Far more were flagged as progressing faster than intended.
It's unfortunate that they had to reverse a position, because reversing a position means people may fight them harder for reversions in the future when I think Cryptic's stance would be stronger if they simply didn't make the call to retract to begin with, without first working through what was happening.
Very true. My reply was based on the fact that the next time they try and stand by a decision or a change in gameplay that people just have to stink up the forum with all sorts of venom to get what they want.
I would like to thank the players who took the time to report problems with the Specialization Point removal last Thursday through the Customer Service ticket system. It really helped in being able to track and take care of everyone.
In the process of reviewing each persons ticket, we did indeed find that there were a few customers who did not take advantage of the power-leveling bug and yet had Specialization Points removed. There were also a few who managed to use the bug and were not penalized.
After considering the situation, we have decided that rather than doing another round of corrections a week after the problem event, that we will restore the points to all characters that had them removed. As of the time of this posting, all characters should have had their missing points restored.
I sincerely apologize on behalf of the Star Trek Online team for both the original bugs and the error of penalizing some customers incorrectly.
Stephen DAngelo
Executive Producer
Star Trek Online
Best decision that could have been taken. Bravo sir.
So those who took advantage of the XP loophole don't suffer any consequences, but those of us who DIDN'T take advantage of it are still hammered by the ridiculous XP earning rates?
Well done! Apparently all exploiters have to do is whine loud enough and everything is ok here, nothing to see here, move along...
So those who took advantage of the XP loophole don't suffer any consequences, but those of us who DIDN'T take advantage of it are still hammered by the ridiculous XP earning rates?
Well done! Apparently all exploiters have to do is whine loud enough and everything is ok here, nothing to see here, move along...
Wow. Just wow. So apparently even the innocent people are exploiters to you.
Guess its okay to punish the innocent along with the guilty where you live, but in most parts of the world that exist past the year 2000 that kind of thing is considered morally reprehensible.
Your still standing by the "theyre all exploiters" motto. Despite it being wrong.
oh please Dangelo you and your lot didn't restore it to be nice to those that didn't do the Ta dewa sector block you did it cause you wouldn't or don't want to take the time and effort to do it to every single person that used the Ta dewa xp gain so you boys were going to blanket everyone and when those that didn't use the gain complained you put out this grand gesture of "we'll restore it for everyone to avoid TRIBBLE up the nice players" but what you don't say is that if no one had complained you wouldn't have done ANYTHING about it!
Oh and BTW it wasn't a bug or an exploit it was something essential to the games levelling process but the devs didn't foresee that the players are smart enough to take advantage of it and when they did you cry foul!
A little life lesson for the devs, dont think we are STUPID and don't DUMB things down to the level of a cow for we are far smarter than you give us credit for!
I am sick sore and tired of all this Politian Bull c$%&*!
Be straight with us!
See, I never get posts like this. The man restored our points, what more do you want?! And so what if he did it because of the backlash? it still takes a big man, especially when you're the EP, to come out in public and admit your actions caused more harm than good.
"(...) but what you don't say is that if no one had complained you wouldn't have done ANYTHING about it."
That's pretty much a null-statement: if there hadn't been a backlash, there wouldn't have been an issue in the first place (no effect, no cause). It's like saying "If I hadn't gone back to the store to try and get a refund, you guys wouldn't have done anything!"
It does, however, show that resistance is NOT futile! And that's a good thing, to be heard.
N.B. It's also commonly considered not cool to beat someone when they're down: one might think you're 'eploiting' the situation. :P
Wow. Just wow. So apparently even the innocent people are exploiters to you.
Guess its okay to punish the innocent along with the guilty where you live, but in most parts of the world that exist past the year 2000 that kind of thing is considered morally reprehensible.
Your still standing by the "theyre all exploiters" motto. Despite it being wrong.
Bet you only do 5k dps too.
If someone unfairly lost their points, they should be restored, but 300 cheaters got their points back too. I have a major problem with that.
Much better worded to not offend the innocents who were unjustly persecuted this last week, and still feeling sore no doubt.
I also agree the exploiters should not have had their points returned. However some of those people who hit max caps did it by being boosted, and running 50k dps ships in preformed voice chatted groups. They ran STFs over and over. No patrols.
How do you determine which player with max stats did it thru "regular" play, or exploiting, when the program they used to remove them couldnt. I daresay they dont know even know.
Because someone doing 50k dps is killing 17x faster than someone doing 3k dps. Exploiter?
If someone unfairly lost their points, they should be restored, but 300 cheaters got their points back too. I have a major problem with that.
It's the right thing to do in the scenario.
Maybe they don't deserve their 300 points back, but the point of the action is that Cryptic proved that their system of identifying exploiters was flawed.
If the system is flawed, then everybody gets reimbursed or nobody does.
It is Cryptic's mistake for having flawed data, and their mistake for having a system in place that allowed them to punish players for having a flawed system.
300 players is still a drop of water in the ocean.
This is one step to regaining the players. The next will be to fix all queues.
Simplest is to leave Normal as-is, revert Advanced to Old Elite levels, just with MINOR HP/DPS boosts, and keep the "optionals" Mandatory. Still would require some teamwork and concentration, but it won't lock out undergeared and newly leveled 50s or the casuals from working on actual decent gear (specifically, Omega gear and Dyson gear). Elite can remain as the sadistic runs masochists always wanted.
Alternatively, just move BNPs and VCIs to Normal queue rewards, double it for Advanced, and triple it for Elite. Not only would this still help casuals and fresh 50s, this too would make up for the lowered Dilithium gains, due to the turn-in quest requiring 1 BNP/VCI for plenty of Dil.
I would like to thank the players who took the time to report problems with the Specialization Point removal last Thursday through the Customer Service ticket system. It really helped in being able to track and take care of everyone.
In the process of reviewing each persons ticket, we did indeed find that there were a few customers who did not take advantage of the power-leveling bug and yet had Specialization Points removed. There were also a few who managed to use the bug and were not penalized.
After considering the situation, we have decided that rather than doing another round of corrections a week after the problem event, that we will restore the points to all characters that had them removed. As of the time of this posting, all characters should have had their missing points restored.
I sincerely apologize on behalf of the Star Trek Online team for both the original bugs and the error of penalizing some customers incorrectly.
Stephen DAngelo
Executive Producer
Star Trek Online
Kudos to you for this decision, and for following through on your promise to investigate any reports from people who said they had lost points even though they didn't use the bug.
I think you're last sentence helps largely to settle a lot of the discord this entire incident caused. Many of us were annoyed by the fact that this bug was reported during Tribble testing and there was no acknowledgement from the Dev Team, so when it went live it seemed unfair to penalise players for something you were told about already.
Thanks for your feedback on the matter. I can't emphasise enough how much good lines of communication help out.
Join date is wrong, I've actually been around since STO Beta.
True alters don't have a "main". Account wide unlocks for all unique event rewards!!
If someone unfairly lost their points, they should be restored, but 300 cheaters got their points back too. I have a major problem with that.
Why?
How does that effect you and the way you've decided to play the game?
They got to 60 and beyond very quickly... so what.
It's not going to in any way STOP YOU from getting there at your own pace.
:rolleyes:
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
It's funny. A lot this mess could have been avoided if you delayed the release of Delta Rising to November. An extra month of Tribble testing, along with actually reading feedback from that testing, might have made all the difference.
You should also consider opening your tester pool for major content releases to silvers as well, maybe through some sort of drawing. Enough for the testing server to handle.
so basically cryptic's solution is to punish anyone who DIDN"T exploit tau dewa? nice work guys
If that was reality. But it isn't.
The reality is that people who did not exploit were also affected, despite D'Angelo's previous position being that there were not.
D'Angelo took the wrong position, and unintentionally mislead people in his communication that their data was factual, and that despite accusations of players that they were wrongly affected, took no action before now.
He made a mistake. He made a bad judgment call. He proved to the playerbase that their data was flawed. If their data is flawed, then they call their methods of collecting said data into question.
If you have a questionable method of gathering this kind of information, then all information will be questioned.
This is a clean slate for all players affected -- both the guilty and the innocent.
Much better worded to not offend the innocents who were unjustly persecuted this last week, and still feeling sore no doubt.
I also agree the exploiters should not have had their points returned. However some of those people who hit max caps did it by being boosted, and running 50k dps ships in preformed voice chatted groups. They ran STFs over and over. No patrols.
How do you determine which player with max stats did it thru "regular" play, or exploiting, when the program they used to remove them couldnt. I daresay they dont know even know.
Because someone doing 50k dps is killing 17x faster than someone doing 3k dps. Exploiter?
Ay, there's the rub! How indeed does one determine who truly exploited? How does one determine whether people knew, upfront, the 5x payout was unintended? How does one determine whether people 'decided' to use an alleged exploit, or were merely solo-ing a convenient old storyline mission?
It is precisely these deliberations what made taking points a bad decision. I'm sure some true exploiters got away with it now; but that doesn't change the fact that reverting this was a good and solid call.
Comments
The forums are still being censored and some people still have their posting privs revoked or minimized.
Of course, everyone won't be happy, but I definitely feel this is a good move on Cryptic's part!
I am glad to see attention from Stephen to this matter and I would also like to say that in this communication the tone and the actions were both right. I wish, however, that the crisis had not been allowed to get to this point before finally being resolved.
What I would like to see is for this communication to be the beginning of a new precedent: matters addressed timely and respectfully towards the players.
Please remember that people's feelings are not simply system or technical problems, and need to be addressed in a manner befitting of that. It is always good practice to communicate before a change...yes, sometimes the response may not be what you hoped for, but as long as the communication is done with tact, even a less-than-hoped-for outcome will generally be more favorable both short- and long-term than silence and late, reactive communication, or worse, late and tactless communication (this particular post is a good example of what one should do to avoid falling into the tactless category so good on you, Stephen, for that).
I am not sure what your level of involvement in the locking down of the forums was, but I would recommend you communicate to your team that this was an example (not unlike the initial blanket removal of spec points) of a draconian, reactive, and systems-oriented solution that did not address the real root cause of the problem, which unfortunately was the burned relations between Cryptic and the player base. I am not unreasonable and would have considered one and even two minutes perfectly within reason to prevent spam and server overloads, but I think it went too far and was as before, only communicated retroactively and after a great uproar. Perhaps this restriction could be looked at again brought down now into the realm that I have suggested.
I would also submit that many of us as customers will need to see a sustained pattern that includes better and more frequent communication with respect, far greater evidence of Tribble/QA feedback being processed timely and that such feedback is being listened to before implementation (which may go hand in hand with being a bit less aggressive in setting deadlines, if staffing or budget are constraints). And please remember that the risk/reward structure needs to be within reason in order to keep players' interest.
As I have said all along, strong though my criticism has been at times, and even as much as I feel that my trust has been trodden upon, I remain willing to listen and to observe to see if things can improve and if today's action and communication can be learned from and set a precedent for better things. I am also willing to sit down and talk with you and your team to discuss this and I would recommend you consider this with *several* players here, taking care to embrace a diverse spectrum of views as I do not think any one of us can speak for everyone in the community.
Please show us that you can step back from all of this, take stock of all that has occurred and get down to the real root cause of why, and show a pattern of future actions that can begin to rebuild the trust that has been lost. I do not want to lose this community and I hope that you feel the same.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
I would never thank anyone for rectifying a bad situation they created in the first place, but I would accept their apology. And considering the reimbursement of what was taken away, it is evident that this is a sincere apology. Provided that the reimbursement actually works that is. Cryptic's quality assurance process is at an all time low at this point: A bug in the process to recognize the use of another bug. Ironic.
None-the-less, on this particular point I would move on.
agreed.........
***********************************************************
Windows 10 Pro
Intel Core i7-5700
RAM 32 GB
2 Titan GTX 980M GDDR5 8 GB
***********************************************************
My understanding is that 300 were leveling at 17x intended speed. Far more were flagged as progressing faster than intended.
I think (and hope) this actually underscores a need for some gameplay balance passes.
I didn't lose any levels before and I didn't gain any now but I think this is a decent decision on Cryptic's part. It's unfortunate that they had to reverse a position, because reversing a position means people may fight them harder for reversions in the future when I think Cryptic's stance would be stronger if they simply didn't make the call to retract to begin with, without first working through what was happening.
But speaking from right here and right now, this is a good move and a show of maturity and sound business practices on Cryptic's part. Not every critic in the playerbase was mature and that's a pity but it doesn't mean that the playerbase as a whole isn't worth engaging and listening to. Just because some bad apples make threats or stomp their feet doesn't make their position wrong, just their priorities and their tactics. And I think this is a triumph for players who articulated their case and for Cryptic in finally engaging with those players.
Oh and BTW it wasn't a bug or an exploit it was something essential to the games levelling process but the devs didn't foresee that the players are smart enough to take advantage of it and when they did you cry foul!
A little life lesson for the devs, don’t think we are STUPID and don't DUMB things down to the level of a cow for we are far smarter than you give us credit for!
I am sick sore and tired of all this Politician's Bull c$%&*!
Be straight with us!
This apology reeks of a stale aftertaste of, well, you get the hint... right?
Unfortunately the loadout system was a stillbirth, and power creep became a power rocket and new issues become long standing and my faith was slowly eroded.
Although I was not happy with the direction STO was taking under Stephen I still pre-orded a delta pack, because I don't want this game to die, and that's the only vote I can make with my wallet. I wish I could vote for balance and bug fixes, but those arnt in the C-Store so I simply voted to keep development money coming in, even if I couldn't vote for the direction it would go.
Then Specgate happened and I was no longer disappointed. I was angry.
I wasn't about to make an I quit post mind you. I would rather keep contributing to the operating costs and just not put any more money into the game.
This makes a bigger difference to me then I can rationalize. I am back to being disappointed in the games direction. But I am not angry, and I will keep putting money into the game when I have some to spare.
But please lets not stop at disappointed, It would be very nice to be happy with Stephen and the game again.
Can we sign up for gamer/developer counseling or something? Maybe there is a support group?
How about we promis to only wine a little bit and cryptic promis to only nurf a little bit?
Very true. My reply was based on the fact that the next time they try and stand by a decision or a change in gameplay that people just have to stink up the forum with all sorts of venom to get what they want.
I care greatly that you decided it would be "fun" to make enemy ships with million point shields and hulls.
I log in just long enough to refine dil and start up the next 6000 xp (until you nerf it too 500) R&D research.
When you come to your senses and realize we don't want to play a asian grind fest, let me know.
TRIBBLE you Mods if you think this is hate speech, it is FACT.
Best decision that could have been taken. Bravo sir.
Well done! Apparently all exploiters have to do is whine loud enough and everything is ok here, nothing to see here, move along...
Wow. Just wow. So apparently even the innocent people are exploiters to you.
Guess its okay to punish the innocent along with the guilty where you live, but in most parts of the world that exist past the year 2000 that kind of thing is considered morally reprehensible.
Your still standing by the "theyre all exploiters" motto. Despite it being wrong.
Bet you only do 5k dps too.
See, I never get posts like this. The man restored our points, what more do you want?! And so what if he did it because of the backlash? it still takes a big man, especially when you're the EP, to come out in public and admit your actions caused more harm than good.
"(...) but what you don't say is that if no one had complained you wouldn't have done ANYTHING about it."
That's pretty much a null-statement: if there hadn't been a backlash, there wouldn't have been an issue in the first place (no effect, no cause). It's like saying "If I hadn't gone back to the store to try and get a refund, you guys wouldn't have done anything!"
It does, however, show that resistance is NOT futile! And that's a good thing, to be heard.
N.B. It's also commonly considered not cool to beat someone when they're down: one might think you're 'eploiting' the situation. :P
Kira out.
If someone unfairly lost their points, they should be restored, but 300 cheaters got their points back too. I have a major problem with that.
I also agree the exploiters should not have had their points returned. However some of those people who hit max caps did it by being boosted, and running 50k dps ships in preformed voice chatted groups. They ran STFs over and over. No patrols.
How do you determine which player with max stats did it thru "regular" play, or exploiting, when the program they used to remove them couldnt. I daresay they dont know even know.
Because someone doing 50k dps is killing 17x faster than someone doing 3k dps. Exploiter?
Let me guess why.. cause you suck
It's the right thing to do in the scenario.
Maybe they don't deserve their 300 points back, but the point of the action is that Cryptic proved that their system of identifying exploiters was flawed.
If the system is flawed, then everybody gets reimbursed or nobody does.
It is Cryptic's mistake for having flawed data, and their mistake for having a system in place that allowed them to punish players for having a flawed system.
300 players is still a drop of water in the ocean.
Simplest is to leave Normal as-is, revert Advanced to Old Elite levels, just with MINOR HP/DPS boosts, and keep the "optionals" Mandatory. Still would require some teamwork and concentration, but it won't lock out undergeared and newly leveled 50s or the casuals from working on actual decent gear (specifically, Omega gear and Dyson gear). Elite can remain as the sadistic runs masochists always wanted.
Alternatively, just move BNPs and VCIs to Normal queue rewards, double it for Advanced, and triple it for Elite. Not only would this still help casuals and fresh 50s, this too would make up for the lowered Dilithium gains, due to the turn-in quest requiring 1 BNP/VCI for plenty of Dil.
Kudos to you for this decision, and for following through on your promise to investigate any reports from people who said they had lost points even though they didn't use the bug.
I think you're last sentence helps largely to settle a lot of the discord this entire incident caused. Many of us were annoyed by the fact that this bug was reported during Tribble testing and there was no acknowledgement from the Dev Team, so when it went live it seemed unfair to penalise players for something you were told about already.
Thanks for your feedback on the matter. I can't emphasise enough how much good lines of communication help out.
Why?
How does that effect you and the way you've decided to play the game?
They got to 60 and beyond very quickly... so what.
It's not going to in any way STOP YOU from getting there at your own pace.
:rolleyes:
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
Much win here.
If that was reality. But it isn't.
The reality is that people who did not exploit were also affected, despite D'Angelo's previous position being that there were not.
D'Angelo took the wrong position, and unintentionally mislead people in his communication that their data was factual, and that despite accusations of players that they were wrongly affected, took no action before now.
He made a mistake. He made a bad judgment call. He proved to the playerbase that their data was flawed. If their data is flawed, then they call their methods of collecting said data into question.
If you have a questionable method of gathering this kind of information, then all information will be questioned.
This is a clean slate for all players affected -- both the guilty and the innocent.
Wow, personal insult... you must be the most smartest and most popular person in your class...
Better idea, why not actually try to give a rational and logical reason for exploiters not to be punished?
Ay, there's the rub! How indeed does one determine who truly exploited? How does one determine whether people knew, upfront, the 5x payout was unintended? How does one determine whether people 'decided' to use an alleged exploit, or were merely solo-ing a convenient old storyline mission?
It is precisely these deliberations what made taking points a bad decision. I'm sure some true exploiters got away with it now; but that doesn't change the fact that reverting this was a good and solid call.
Original Join Date: January 30th, 2010