Sunday, December 23, 2012

Bazaar Scamming

So, I recently learned how severe this issue was a few days ago, when somebody who was trading between games got screwed out of two Jorms by a player named Pumpkincook (people like him ruin games), no idea if it was a main. I debated on not posting this since I know how bad things get when people see easy ways to gain, but on the other hand, if this issue becomes horribly awful, maybe Rage will fix it.

There are two ways that I have noticed that players use to try to scam other players.

Tricky Listing:

The first is Tricky Listing. This method puts a very nice price in HP on a card, then proceeds to place enough rupies to force the next listed item to the next line. The idea behind this is a player sees a really good price and buys the card quickly before he loses out on the deal, hopefully not noticing the extra item on the line.

An example of this would be listing a Claymore Maid for 10HP, 1000 Rupies, then Claymore Maid again. This way the player is paying 10HP for nothing. Another way of doing the trick goes like this. Maxed Claymore Maid, 5HP, Claymore Maid, players are so desensitized to seeing a maxed card and 5HP, they don't think to look for that third card. Their brain is registering, "Yes, I need to give a Claymore and five HP" but fails to recognize the seller is asking for two Claymores.

This method does not work very well, but if you search the bazaar you will see listings like this everywhere, especially in high level cards where players will try it constantly. It's similar to the rupie trade scam in that you are trying to get the player focused on a number and cause them to ignore an important fact long enough for them to click accept.

Bazaar Hawking:

This one, is the really dirty birdy of the two. Players are now playing multiple TCGs and trading cards from Rage of Bahamut for another card games cards can be tricky. It's honestly hard to find players that are trustworthy enough to do this with, after that, it's tough to work out the mechanics. I will give you an example using Marvel War of Heroes and Rage of Bahamut.

A player wants to trade his Ultra Rare Spider-Man from Marvel for a Batraz in Rage of Bahamut. This guy sends his Ultra Rare Spider-Man to the guy in his Alliance purchasing it. To get the Batraz in Rage, the player places a Goblin at the auction house with a buyout of a Batraz and 157 rupies. He then lets the player know he has listed it at the auction house, the player searches for it and purchases the goblin, thus giving the Batraz to the player. This is how it should go.

Now, what I would like you to do is search the AH at this moment for normal cards. You may notice something interesting. Do you see it?

When a low level card is listed with a high level card as a price, there are clones of it. To use our example above, there won't be one listing of a Goblin for a Batraz and 157 rupies, there will be three of them. This is bazaar hawking. Players search for trades like these and put up identical trades hoping that the player only sees theirs and does the deal.

This is theft pure and simple, and it's wrong. Its the same thing as accepting and keeping another persons UPS package. Actually worse, because you would be looking for good packages, running outside, claiming to be that person, and taking the package. It's just absurd and wrong.

How to fix:
Tricky listing is a lot like the Rupie scam. If you fall for it, you fall for it. Realistically, you can protect yourself from it by just being observant.

For bazaar hawking on the other hand, there is no suitable protection. This could be easily solved if a player were allowed to see the name of who they were purchasing from right before making the deal. Currently the only way to be sure to avoid the issue is to wait two weeks or work within complex trade networks and middlemen who charge fees for the services (I have a friend who makes quite a bit doing this). Unfortunately, waiting two weeks is forever in these games and most buyers/sellers aren't willing to do it.

No matter what, it needs to be addressed. It is blatantly an attempt to steal from other players and shouldn't go unpunished. In the meantime you can add an extra layer of protection on your bazaar trades by enhancing a card to random evo, level, % xp.

** Although I do call out pumpkincook, I don't want people calling out scammers on my site. The list ends up long and trolls start listing people that aren't actually scammers to mess things up. They never work out. Any post calling out other scammers will be deleted. **

20 comments:

  1. Somebody just let me know an interesting way to offer a layer of protection from this is to enhance the low level card to a random level and %. That will be harder to copy.

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    1. That is not enough. people who know how enhancing works can make the same card. The trick is to enhance 2 base cards to a random level, for example lvl 10 and lvl 15 and evolve them. Now enhance the evolved card to a certain lvl. the buyer just need to know the current card level, % xp, atk and def. It is hard to copy such a card.

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    2. It's not meant as a sure fire protection, it's meant as an extra layer of protection. The real solution would be to allow player names when you are hitting the final accept as a form of verification, but since Rage wants sellers to be anonymous I doubt it will happen.

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  2. You can add comments to sales, which while not foolproof because the hawker can check your sale and add your comment, it will add a small layer of protection.
    Although one other form of bazaar scamming that I've noticed is people putting up an unmaxed but usually high level % to next level card (like a level 2 95-99% to level 3) and asking for the card and 1 or 2 HP hoping people don't notice and think they're just getting a good deal on enhancing. Just gotta be vigilant.

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  3. Sorry, not related to topic here. I was wondering what kind of communication app shud we use. I was deciding between palringo and line... Lucarda could u give some advices? I've been using kik but we can't accomodate more than 10 ppl

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    Replies
    1. Line is the preferred for most people. Personally, I prefer palingro, but I believe most use line.

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    2. Palringo has ad all over the chat. Hate it.

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    3. I.c. So what in your opinion makes palringo more preferable to line, lucarda? Just need to reassure myself....

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    4. Oh, Line is definitely the preferred over Palingro. I simply prefer Palingro because it felt less intrusive when signing up.

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    5. So Lucarda does Palingro give u a ping when u receive a message? Like kik? Coz the main function of the comuunication messenger is to wake ppl up for holy wars

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  4. So Lucarda, I have been hearing more and more about peoples accounts being shut down for 1 Rupie trades (which I stopped doing). I have a feeder account and log in and out of them on the same device. I really like the game but I dont want to risk being locked out of my accounts, any advice?

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    1. Yeah. Do 2-rupie trades. :D

      Jokes aside, I'm surprised that they would go to such lengths to hunt down players with multiple accounts. I frequently use 1-rupie trades with my friend and with order members. We're only trying to help each other out, and it's quite concerning that it could be seen as a bannable activity.

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    2. These people getting bumped out are doing strange things. It's not swapping a HR and swapping it back. It's people who are swapping constantly with high level cards.

      The people who are complaining, probably aren't the victims you think they are.

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    3. Yeah, I dont get it either. I mean, I would understand if I was selling my cards for real money or something like that but I am just using it to help myself and other order members, I am one of those people that actually spends money on this game so you would think they would want to keep me.

      I would hate to lose everything for something stupid like that.

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  5. ohhhh, that makes more sense, thanks for the input Lucarda. Since I am not swapping 5 Batraz and/or Enkidu from account to account sounds like I should be fine. Thanks for the help once again.

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  6. I heard that it is not good to have multiple cards that are the same in your deck I.e. 5 Claymore Maids in your attack deck because when the first proc goes off the second is even lower than what it use to be. Is this true or just a rumor?

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    Replies
    1. True, the recent change made it not as beneficial. Change your lead card and run four clays after that though and you will be fine.

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    2. Just to clarify, if I put master archer or sam in lead then say 4 Claymore they will all proc like they use to. However if I tried to put 4 Claymore then the master archer or sam in spot number 5 the first will proc and the other 3 Claymore will be lower then what the usual stats were which I believe was like 100%, 70%, 50%, 30%, 20% give or take. Also if that's the case does anyone you know have those new proc rates would be or is that to soon.

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    3. Another question is does this also affect def decks as well. I have 3 pally skill 10, 3, 2, a captain and a high priestess. My pally are in top 3 followed by captain then high priestess. Should I change it up then or keep the order.

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    4. Technically Proc's are on a waterfall system. I use 100/70/50/30/20 to give people a visual of placement. The first card has 100% chance, then each of the following cards
      has a 50% chance to proc, then lets say the second card procs the next cards has a 25% chance to proc until it procs. So there is only 100/50/25%. But all cards will be calculated at 50% until a second one goes off.

      Under the new system lets say you have 5 claymores. The first card has 100% chance. The second card would normally have 50% but with the current system it is down to 25% if its the same card. Still in a waterfall system. So you could see why people are shifting.

      So I recommend changing the lead card because you will have 100% proc. The Clays being different will actually have over a 50% chance to proc. The third proc will be very low odds, but I normally never count on that one anyway.

      Yes the effect is on defense decks as well. Unless you have a Lancelot to put in that leaderspot just keep it the way it is.

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