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Mail restrictions, why are they so ridiculously tight?


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Sadly any MMO type game suffers from gold seller spam. The only game that didn't have this problem was SWTOR when it came out. But the moment they added an F2P option it was like breaking the damn for these gold sellers. The simple truth is that as soon as you have F2P, like GW2 has now for the core game gold sellers can make endless free accounts to spam other players. And the reality is that it's not that simple to stop them from spamming.

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@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:If you have not been here since release, you may have missed the enormous amounts of spam from Gold-sellers that took many forms: whispers, mail, map chat, etc.There are plenty of systems in-game to discourage RMT, mail restrictions being just one.

(Neither for nor against any changes; just relaying information.)

Fair enough, but why does the same restriction apply to contemporaneous friends?If two people are on each other’s friend list, it should be fine to send more mails.I’ve also opted for a guild mail option once, but anet never replied to it

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@Gehenna.3625 said:Sadly any MMO type game suffers from gold seller spam. The only game that didn't have this problem was SWTOR when it came out. But the moment they added an F2P option it was like breaking the kitten for these gold sellers. The simple truth is that as soon as you have F2P, like GW2 has now for the core game gold sellers can make endless free accounts to spam other players. And the reality is that it's not that simple to stop them from spamming.

Given the restrictions on free accounts, I don't think goldsellers use those much. Can't whisper anyone but friends (so mutual opt-in) and can't send items...They're likely using mostly fradulent or stolen payed accounts, which is why the restrictions on payed accounts are as they are.

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@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:

@"Gehenna.3625" said:Sadly any MMO type game suffers from gold seller spam. The only game that didn't have this problem was SWTOR when it came out. But the moment they added an F2P option it was like breaking the kitten for these gold sellers. The simple truth is that as soon as you have F2P, like GW2 has now for the core game gold sellers can make endless free accounts to spam other players. And the reality is that it's not that simple to stop them from spamming.

Given the restrictions on free accounts, I don't think goldsellers use those much. Can't whisper anyone but friends (so mutual opt-in) and can't send items...They're likely using mostly fradulent or stolen payed accounts, which is why the restrictions on payed accounts are as they are.

They might not use them much to sell the gold, but they certainly use them to have their "employees" gather the gold they sell...so it's a glass half full/half empty problem.

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@Zaklex.6308 said:

@"Gehenna.3625" said:Sadly any MMO type game suffers from gold seller spam. The only game that didn't have this problem was SWTOR when it came out. But the moment they added an F2P option it was like breaking the kitten for these gold sellers. The simple truth is that as soon as you have F2P, like GW2 has now for the core game gold sellers can make endless free accounts to spam other players. And the reality is that it's not that simple to stop them from spamming.

Given the restrictions on free accounts, I don't think goldsellers use those much. Can't whisper anyone but friends (so mutual opt-in) and can't send items...They're likely using mostly fradulent or stolen payed accounts, which is why the restrictions on payed accounts are as they are.

They might not use them much to sell the gold, but they certainly use them to have their "employees" gather the gold they sell...so it's a glass half full/half empty problem.

Free accounts can’t mail out gold or items.

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@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:

@Gehenna.3625 said:Sadly any MMO type game suffers from gold seller spam. The only game that didn't have this problem was SWTOR when it came out. But the moment they added an F2P option it was like breaking the kitten for these gold sellers. The simple truth is that as soon as you have F2P, like GW2 has now for the core game gold sellers can make endless free accounts to spam other players. And the reality is that it's not that simple to stop them from spamming.

Given the restrictions on free accounts, I don't think goldsellers use those much. Can't whisper anyone but friends (so mutual opt-in) and can't send items...They're likely using mostly fradulent or stolen payed accounts, which is why the restrictions on payed accounts are as they are.

And that's why F2P accounts have such massive restrictions. And you are right also hacked accounts or stolen game codes are quite welcome. One of the downsides of a F2P/B2P set up is that you have less to go on when checking whether an account is legit or not. Now I know there are MMOs with subs that have terrible control of gold sellers but that's because they don't care. A sub game is much easier to control however if you want to because there is a direct, regular money trail that leads to a bank account or credit card. As GW2 in basis is B2P and codes can be stolen and accounts can be hacked especially when people have abandoned their accounts cause they're not going to report what they don't know, the chances of them having accounts that look legit are higher.

So by the restrictions there's not much you can do here with F2P. Just advertise a little but then I don't know how clever these people are and what they can do. I have to say that also in GW1 I was never that impressed with ArenaNet's security and account restoration tools. Of course there is a way of buying gold yourself via the official channel (gem store) and that helps also because having an official, legitimate way brings down the need or desire for people to get it somewhere else.

But in the end gold sellers will use everything they can get their hands on because a lot of it is automated or scripted and they find new ways to bypass security measures all the time. In that sense a company can only do their best to stem it. But they can use 1000 free accounts for some simple purpose and get them banned. And they can repeat that as often as they want really. So that really explains why the restrictions are so severe also for B2P accounts in the end. They can only really limit it, not stop it.

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As the others already mentioned, the mail-restrictions are vital and necessary in this game. During wintersday/xmas it is always a real pleasure, mailing move than one hundred people in 1-2 days, every year XD. You get used to the time-limit, but honestly there are two good alternatives:

1.) Using a guild-bankIf are in a guild with a guildbank you can place all items that can be sold on TP into it and any of your guildmates can retrieve the items. You need the prorper rights, granted from your superiors. But most guilds have at least one section which is free-for-all members. You can put in some item stacks and even transfer gold between accounts easily. A lot of veteran-players have a private guild bank (see below) for their personal use. That can be also utilized for it. Just keep in mind that you have to wait 5 days after joining a guild before you can access its bank. And you need to represent that guild in order to use its bank.

2.) Split mailingThat is a method I use in fractals. In most cases I just want to spread some special food (like the endurance enhancer or the condi-cleanser) quickly after a wipe, so we can give it a better 2nd try. The mailing-restrictions ruin this, due to the 2 mail limit. But I can send 1 food to player A and 3 pieces to Player B, then ask player B to mail one piece to player C and D. So I have spread food among 4 players in no time without sending 4 mails from my account.

Especially when you want to help someone unlocking some skins, the guildbank is the better option. Mails are just tedious for this.


Personal Guild-Bank

You have a free guild-slot and could use 50 extra slots? It is not that complicated. The guildhalls made most of the guild-functions really costly and complicated, but the 1st tier guildbank is still rather easy to acquire. What you need:

  • 51 gold (1 gold for guild registration + 50 gold for the upgrade)
  • 1,000 Guild Favor

That is it. You do not even need Guildhall to unlock this upgrade.

To create a guild just open the guild-panel (G). If you have an open slot you can always create a new guild.To obtain the favor, you have to run guild-missions.

Everyone has different preferences, you do not have to do the old-fashioned PvE missions. When you scroll down the wiki-page from the link, you will notice that there are all sorts of tasks from WvWvW, sPvP and PvE.

How to switch the mission type? Guildpanel (G) => MissionsIn the top-left corner is a sprocket, if you click on that you can change your prefered mission type. The switching will consume some time however.

If the sPvP and WvWvW are pretty self-explaining, the recommended player-participation is in most cases not needed. Just fulfill the task. If you run the old-fashioned PvE missions, just do them at the weekends in the evening. That is a perfect time when many guilds run their own missions. You can even solo a guild-race easily. All you have to do is join a race which was already started by another guild and reached 15/15 or does while you participate. You only have to complete one round and can claim credit of the whole run. Bounties are also pretty easy. Again if you do them when everyone does them, you will easily find people willing to help you finding and killing them. Treks are really easy, for medium and hard, you should have a few more persons in your guild. They do not have to stay there, they can just join for the missions and leave again. Works.

If you are completely alone, you need ~ 2-3 weeks to collect the favor. But the overall time spent per week will be less than 20 minutes. So I still consider it an easy task.

Once you have the 1,000 Favor collected, visit the Guild Bluff Waypoint in Lion's Arch (east) and enter the Guild Initiative Headquarters.Just take the right door and talk to the Norn Guy named Grímur Oddursson. He "sells" the guild-stash (= 50 slot guild bank).

Still looks complicated, but it is not really. However unlocking the other two bays is hilariously expensive nowadays, you need a guildhall and several very costly upgrades. But 50 slots are already pretty nice ^^.

 

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It would be nice if you could get better access by establishing yourself. I've had an account for over 3 years and have never abused the mail system. Surely I can be allowed to send more than one message in a 5-minute window at this point. The only thing I use mail for is: 1) tipping, and 2) giving away dyes or other unwanted items to guildmates. The fact that if I have 2 or 3 dyes to give out means delays is kind of absurd.

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  • 3 months later...

Bit late to this convo, but I think as a new player and guild leader of a new guild who wants to send everyone IN guild a small thank you gift (like the 4 copper choir bell), this feature of being able to send each member 1x mail en-masse would be great.Can't see why you can't do this. Maybe restrict it to once a month???, only to guild members, with non currency items, and only consumable items.. even if only just 1 or two slots are available. Maybe make it cost favor to send, or favor + ectoplasm, or something? Maybe make it that it takes 15 or 30 minutes for people to receive (an internal queue of some sort)?? Maybe put restrictions that if this feature is used, people can't leave guild until next regular weekly reset (or 7 days - whichever is longest)??

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