Bethesda Fixes, Then Bans Users Of The Elder Scrolls Online's Item Cloning Bug

Ricky from Twinfinite writes; "Bethesda has responded swiftly to the item duplication bug in The Elder Scrolls Online, fixes the bug and also announcing they will be perma-banning users who abused it."

[ErcsYou]

Maybe Bethesda should stop releasing games with game breaking bugs. The only reason they care now is because of the online element and pay to play structure. The rest of their games had similar issues and they didn't threaten anybody over abusing them. I'm sure most people abusing this bug figured Bethesda never cared before why would they care now. Don't get me wrong, I loved Fallout and Skyrim but there quality assurance team sucks..

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Apparently the bug was so easy to do, some people did it without noticing they did.

Are those players going to get banned too?
Does Bethesda even have a Q&A team? If so, why haven't they been fired yet for gross incompetence?

[XtraTrstrL]

That's the issue I'd have with it. If the bugs are so crappy that people can easily do them without even trying or knowing about it, there's no way they should get banned. They just need to get better coders, they have a great vision for games, they just suck at clean code.

[slate91]

Yes, someone on n4g was able to see a flaw that a multi-million dollar gaming company did not see before lol. I am sure they approached this issue from all angles and didnt take "banning" lightly. Just a thought

[Anthotis]

I wouldn't be surprised if they went on an epic banning spree. They got their $60 off them, as well as charging them for a sub they were told would be free for a month.

What a hideous company they've turned into.

[AlexFili]

Modern Q&A is a joke. These developers don't take the time to test games properly and we get abominations such as poorly optimised PC ports and similar experiences on console games. The obsession with releasing a game in November is killing the industry with terrible rushed products.

[brish]

A QA team can only suck if it exists! ;-)

Personally I find it odd they would ban people for this. Every ban = the end of a subscription. It seems like they are trying to make the game fail.

I'm against cheating but forcibly cancelling subscriptions just seems really dumb because every banned account means part of their revenue goes away.

[Palitera]

If they let a thousand cheaters still ruining the game's economy (these guys would find another way a week or month later), which message they'd send about cheating on their online game?

In the end, how many sales would they lose due to the 'hackfest' their game would become?

They're not losing money at all with the banning. Lots of people simply wouldn't buy it or would just stop playing it.

[brish]

@Palitera

How many subscriptions are they losing by banning people?

They are losing money by banning because the monthly fee is gone for every ban they do.

You do know it's $15 a month for the subscription right? That's $180 in revenue per year that is gone every ban.

[Palitera]

That's a very limited and very immediate way of seeing this matter.

[brish]

"That's a very limited and very immediate way of seeing this matter."
- Parlitera

Right, clearly cancelling subscriptions has no impact on the long term viability of a game that is funded based on subscriptions.

[Ghost_Nappa]

Bethesda did not make eso. Zenimax is the developer.

[barb_wire]

So, and your point is what? Bethesda's name on the box and that the name the public will associate with this game.. not ZeniMax.

To think, it's rumored they spent $200mil on this.

[awi5951]

That bug is in every elder scrolls game ever lol. That's why i never ran out of money or items in any elder scrolls game lol

[CyrusLemont]

So now Bethesda not only releases games filled with bugs, but bans people for making use of them. Nice. Imagine if Skyrim was an online game; erry1 bannd4lyf. Regardless if it was morally right or wrong to use it, the issue is a result of the game not being properly polished and not the players.

[OMGitzThatGuy]

Bans are well deserved, you don't just "make use" of glitches to get an unfair advantage, it's call exploiting and Im sure people were well aware what they were doing, and they took the risk. That's like someone committing a wrongful murder and blaming the police because they couldn't stop them when the shooter should be at fault.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

There are some who did it by accident though. I read up on it. It's EXTREMELY easy to do without even attempting to do it. Should those people be banned because Q&A didn't even bother testing it?

[Ghost_Nappa]

Are you fucking kidding with that analogy?

[AlexFili]

If there wasn't a glitch in the first place they wouldn't be banned. Users get banned for inappropriate language and cheating in competitive multiplayer, not duplicating items.

[Ghost_Nappa]

Bethesda did not make eso, zenimax did

[RedSoakedSponge]

that is a pretty harsh punishment. they could have just wiped the character they were using to duplicate if they really had to punish them.

[aragon]

I second that

[Maxor]

Despite all the hate for this game I decided to try it out based on great fan feed back, and I was totally blown away. No wonder the charge a sub, the contents are freaking amazing. The amount of quality quests, and voice acting could easily fill 3 Skyrims. Combined this with a fun as hell skill system, great action combat, and the best fantasy open world pvp ever. I'm sold.

All they need to now is keep the content coming and fix more bugs.

[MaxwellBuddha]

ESO sucks. I'm done with BUGthesda until they make a proper Elder Scrolls game (not gimped for consoles) using an engine from THIS century.

[brich233]

A century is 100 years, i think you mean decade.

[Activemessiah]

Bugthesda living up to their name.

[Roccetarius]

Since this bug was in the beta for a long, long time, they could've easily noticed and fixed it. The reason punishment is so extreme, is that this can ruin economy in a game.

[jegheist2014]

this game flopped beofre it was even announced form get go stick with ff 14 if u want true mmo or for matter avoid them period

[Skate-AK]

That is stupid. If it was a hack then I could see that. Banning people for using a bug that all your QA couldn't fix? Not off to a good start with ESO.

[jessupj]

Perma banning for exploiting this easy glitch is so extreme it borders on corruption.

I'm sure Bethesda knows the people being banned ain't going to just stop playing after they sunk $60 into the game.

No. They're most likely going to buy another sub and Bethesda is exploiting this. Kinda of ironic.

I used to have a lot of respect for Bethesda. It's wavering heavy right now.

[Belasco]

I was on the fence about buying this game and paying a monthly subscription, this helped me decide...

[aliengmr]

I should shocked by all the outrage, but I'm just not anymore.

Are people actually surprised an MMO has bugs?

MMOs like ESO NEVER have a smooth launch. There are ALWAYS bugs and it take months you iron them all out. They also ban you for exploiting.

Nothing stops the N4G Hate Train Express.

[AlexFili]

Hah... Take the money of people that bought the game and then ban them for exploiting a glitch that the developers left in the game. ESO doesn't sound very enticing to me.

Charging the user for both a subscription AND the game itself is ridiculous and I can't think of any other publishers that would try such a thing. If this doesn't go free-to-play by the end of 2014 I will be very surprised.

[allgamespc2012]

haha keep doing the same crap youre doing bethesda. such a horrible company. ffxiv a much better mmo and from squarenix.

[TitanUp]

i can understand banning users that used the bug, if its a bug the user takes advantage of it knowing full well its not meant to be in the game. thats understandable

how can they tell those who done the exploit on purpson and those who only done it once on accident. that is going to happen to those who accidentally used the bug/exploit