need for a list of banned aps

because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.

Allowed: Anything you get when you download Guild Wars 2Risky: Anything else.

I doubt a list is going to be released, so until there's some kind of communication from the company, I'd advise not using anything 3rd party.

Ok, there is something clearly wrong with the game. I think there is some major bugs.I just logged in on another computer upstairs....went to official forums (where I am clearly typing). Logged into my account and it said:You currently do not have access to your Guild Wars 2 Forum account because your game account was suspended. You will be able to participate in the forums once your game suspension has expired.

So, i came back downstairs...logged into game to see if it was actually suspended. It wasn't.Logged into forum here and clearly (again, i am typing in it) it works again.

What is going on?

p.s. I have never been suspended from the game. Nor do I really log on anymore other than to upgrade occasional quartz crystals. Nor have I used any third party apps

CALL ORKIN

@AgentMoore.9453 said:Allowed: Anything you get when you download Guild Wars 2Risky: Anything else.

I doubt a list is going to be released, so until there's some kind of communication from the company, I'd advise not using anything 3rd party.

wow has 3rd party aps. when we used to raid their we all has ap xyz so we knew when to cast skill 123, even maps etc. quests orgabixers.

discord team speak is 3rd party ap. clearly a simply guideline can be done.

This request is impossible to fulfil, because there is no definitive "list".

From the Guild Wars 2 User Agreement:8. PROHIBITED AND IRREPARABLY HARMFUL ACTIVITIES CONCERNING ArenaNetYou acknowledge that You may not, without signed written consent from a legally authorized representative of ArenaNet, do any of the following:...© Use, or provide others with, any software related to the Game, including any automation software (a.k.a. “bot”) or software designed to change or modify operation of the Game;(d) Use, or provide others with, any “hack,” “cheat,” “exploit” or “mod”;

If ANet provided any list of banned software, it would still be possible to break the terms of use with a program that wasn't on it. Therefore, no list could ever be comprehensive.

The best way to avoid getting banned is to avoid using software that can violate the rules, instead of looking for ways to avoid getting caught.

@AgentMoore.9453 said:Allowed: Anything you get when you download Guild Wars 2Risky: Anything else.

I doubt a list is going to be released, so until there's some kind of communication from the company, I'd advise not using anything 3rd party.

I would agree with that. I never looked for, or heard of any, 3rd party apps for GW2. I never felt the need for any. But when I heard of arc (quite recently) I was surprised that Arenanet's lawyers ever let them allow it. I suppose they had to make it very clear it was 'use at your own risk', 'not responsible for any loss/damage to your account' kind of thing?

If there are any approved apps, there should be a list.

As far as I am aware. this is the last time there was an official announcement.

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/65547/policy-third-party-programs#latest

Perhaps the key point is, "You use any third-party program at your own risk."

It would be much more sensible to have a list of what is allowed. Otherwise if an addon is banned someone could create an exact copy under a different name and then insist it's ok to use just because it's not on the list.

And at the moment what is allowed seems to be nothing. I suspect the rumoured ban wave for everyone using ArcDPS is a mistake with the automated system and will start to be fixed once they're in the office in a few hours. But as far as I know that was the only addon Anet ever allowed, and now that's gone we're back to nothing.

@Sovereign.1093 said:

@AgentMoore.9453 said:Allowed: Anything you get when you download Guild Wars 2Risky: Anything else.

I doubt a list is going to be released, so until there's some kind of communication from the company, I'd advise not using anything 3rd party.

Discord is an entirely seperate program though, it doesn't interact with the game in any way. That's very different to mods or addons which change the game itself, or even ones which pull information from the game to tell you what to do (like when to use certain skills).

@Sovereign.1093 said:because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.You’re making a claim based on nothing. The only loosely approved mod is ArcDPS.

@phokus.8934 said:

@Sovereign.1093 said:because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.You’re making a claim based on nothing. The only loosely approved mod is ArcDPS.

what nothing? ppl got banned. thats why a list is needed.

My only worry now is: will TacO go down the same way?

@Sovereign.1093 said:

@phokus.8934 said:

@Sovereign.1093 said:because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.You’re making a claim based on nothing. The only loosely approved mod is ArcDPS.what nothing? ppl got banned. thats why a list is needed.I think what they're referring to is that nobody outside of ANet yet knows the real reason for those bans.

As has been mentioned several times in this thread, ANet usually bans in waves, and it takes them several weeks of preparation to make certain who to ban. It's highly unlikely that they've come through with this with only four days.

Remember the last big ban wave (April '18)? People were screaming "bans due to ArcDPS/TacO" straight away, too, and in the end it turned out it was due to entirely different software. There are too many conflicting reports to make me believe that the original ArcDPS in any form or shape (or version) that was once green-lit is involved here.

Anyway, you'll never get a list of what's not allowed, for the simple reason that pretty much everything is disallowed unless explicitely tolerated by ANet.

@Rasimir.6239 said:

@Sovereign.1093 said:

@phokus.8934 said:

@Sovereign.1093 said:because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.You’re making a claim based on nothing. The only loosely approved mod is ArcDPS.what nothing? ppl got banned. thats why a list is needed.I think what they're referring to is that nobody outside of ANet yet knows the real reason for those bans.

Exactly this.

And here's the official response

"That is the policy. Third party software may be changed by whoever makes or uses it to lead to severe breach of the terms of use for the game. As such, I cannot give you a "use whatever you please, it's cool" - because we have no control over it or the changes that may be made to it. What looks fine today could be modified in the next hour to break the rules, and then if users get banned, they would point at my statement.

So, third party tools, tools we cannot control and have no say over what they may do in the future, cannot be OKed by me or anyone.

As such, they are "use at your own risk".!

Full thread here for context https://old.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/dka7hc/megathread_october_2019_ban_wave/f4lgjva/

a list of not allowed is like to say "everything else is allowed" lolz.

They have been crystal clear on this point since day one. For years, they discouraged the use of third party add ons - to the point of just saying "don't use them." A few years ago, they made a tacit exception for Arcdps and similar tools, but even then said "use at your own risk." Their reasoning has always been that company monitoring and oversight of these tools would take developers away from the actual game. I doubt that has changed.

Im not saying any of these tools are bad, but if you use them, you are CHOOSING to do so at your OWN RISK. If the use of that tool detracts from the game in any way (interferes with the processing, requires continual administrative actions, etc), then Anet should hand out bans (temporary or otherwise).

These tools were never meant to be a part of the game (unlike certain other MMOs that almost require them). They do not want to - and should not - dedicate resources to overseeing or managing them. New resources need to be dedicated to actually developing the game.

Again, they have been clear about that stance since day one, and I am glad they are sticking to their guns on it.

So, again, tools like arcdps can exist, but it isn't Anet's job to make sure they comply with the clear guidelines and do not interfere with the game in any meaningful way. Use at your own risk.

And, to add - it's now looking like there were no actual bans related to arcdps. It was pretty much a hoax.

From my understanding, and from the links above, acrdps was not the reason for the ban. the players in questions from what I remember CLAIMED it was for that, however the main person had blatant evidence of cheating, and was boosting others in PvP, so that one user had logged into 60+ other accounts, used cheats to win games and boost the players PvP rank. These are often paid services, and while the owner of those accounts didn't use the cheating program, they paid for and allowed someone access to their account who did, and also got banned for it.

Not saying anet does much good in these areas, however everything I have seen so far shows it being a rightful ban.

And as others have said, any 3rd party software is a use at your own risk, I have seen this before in other games where a program comes out as just monitoring software for years, and people use it often, then one day the dev added macro ability to it and people started getting banned for it. That is outside of anets control and honestly trying to monitor all programs out there for PC gaming is impossible. You need to read and understand the ToS/Rules and make sure the program you are using does not break any of those. That is your responsibility, not anyone else.

@Sovereign.1093 said:

@phokus.8934 said:

@Sovereign.1093 said:because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.You’re making a claim based on nothing. The only loosely approved mod is ArcDPS.

Okay, here's a list:

How to Not Get Banned:Don't cheat.Don't be a kitten.Secure your account.

• Don't share accounts, especially with people you don't know.
• Use unique passwords.
• Enable and use two-factor authentication.

@Sovereign.1093 said:because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.

^ this kind of says enoughif in truth the bans are confirmed (assuming anet gives an offical post) people who tried to alter templates then those people should be banned (for at least some time)This is likely one reason why anet did not simply copy arc's work because you have people who break into stuff and get around the rules then give the surprised pickachu face when they get punished for breaking said rules.

Why on earth anyone thought it would be a good idea to try and modify disabled arc templates as a ez work around would be ok is beyond reasonable.

Dont drive without a licenseOk ill just travel its not the same as drivingGets pulled over and punished for drivingOfficer no I'm traveling not drivingNo you cant punish me... attempts to drive off from the officerGets snatched out of carsurprised pickachu face

Like i dont want to be mean but as they say where i live stupidity should hurt.

The recent bans, just like last time, had nothing to do with ArcDPS. It's simple really, ArcDPS and TacO are ok to use so long as they don't change anything in future updates that would violate Anet's rules. If ArcDPS or TacO were to ever put out an update that Anet did not approve, I'm sure they would give people a heads up to stop using these addons before banning everyone that is using them. Anything else besides ArcDPS and TacO I would not risk using.

@"Randulf.7614" said:And here's the official response

"That is the policy. Third party software may be changed by whoever makes or uses it to lead to severe breach of the terms of use for the game. As such, I cannot give you a "use whatever you please, it's cool" - because we have no control over it or the changes that may be made to it. What looks fine today could be modified in the next hour to break the rules, and then if users get banned, they would point at my statement.

So, third party tools, tools we cannot control and have no say over what they may do in the future, cannot be OKed by me or anyone.

As such, they are "use at your own risk".!

This cannot be emphasized enough.ReShade? What if one day it gets an plug-in that makes you see through environments to precisely pinpoint where an enemy player is?YoloMouse? They could add a "snap-on" enemy players' direction to that tomorrow.GW2Hook? Same as ReShade - A plug-in that only shows environment meshes or a camera that infinitely zooms in or out.TACO? Could have a plug-in that automatically shows enemy player positions or equipment used.Possibilites are endless.

Not saying this will happen or 3rd party programmers are maliciously trying to gain the community's trust then suddenly do a Top 10 Animé Betrayal, but it could; and if Anet gives a greenlight to any of those programs, they can't enforce their rules if it does.

This is also the reason why Anet could not and did not support MightyTeapot's ERP3. Because he was using a 3rd-party Camera hack. It maybe harmless, and swore that the program would not be shared to the public, but if they give an inch to him, people will take a mile.

If anet gave a list people would just bitch if they got banned for using something that wasn't on it because "tHeY dId NoT sAy It WaS bAnNeD, hOw ShOuLd I kNoW"

@ZDragon.3046 said:

@"Sovereign.1093" said:because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.

The anet response was already linked above. It was NOT for arcdps, it was someone selling PvP boosting services to people and was using a cheating program to win matches to boost them. That person gets banned, and the accounts that user had logged into, as such, the people who paid for the service never used the cheating software.... but they get banned and start posting "but I only ever used arcdps, so thats why i was banned". When that had nothing to do with the ban, they paid for in game services with real money (against the ToS), they account shared to the hacker, the hacker then used the cheating programs to win (also all against the ToS) and boost their PvP rank. More or less this is people title hunting who don't want to spend the time to get good at PvP, so they pay someone. This isn't anything new to GW2 or games at all, it's actually a very commonly sold service.

@TinkTinkPOOF.9201 said:

@ZDragon.3046 said:

@"Sovereign.1093" said:because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.

I see in any case the dev also talks about arc dps and any other 3rd party tools below that. I think its clear to say that the gray area is pretty crystal clear.At your own risk means you can be subject to ban at any time and thus no one at anet will never officially say directly to any player that its approved and "ok'ed" to use as something could change at any time that warrants banning.

But its good to know this instance was over pvp cheaters we can always use less of those.

@ZDragon.3046 said:

@TinkTinkPOOF.9201 said:

@ZDragon.3046 said:

@"Sovereign.1093" said:because of recent ban of arcdps altered for templates, let there be a list of what is not allowed and allowed.

Yes, as that software is outside of their control. They are not, as it stands right now, going to ban for arcdps, however, if a feature is added that breaks ToS, you can be. That is for each user to figure out, and is why it's "at your own risk".