I was trying not to suggest that the paying players are in higher guilds and that could have swayed the decision not to act on it, but you’ve hit the nail on the head at what I was hinting at.
Couldn’t agree more. Don’t care about call outs in this situation. I have no intention of leaving my guild, but for those that are looking to join a (new) guild I’m sure they’d want to know exactly what they’re signing up for and be able to make an informed decision.
@Saltypatra Thank you for making a definitive statement regarding this moving forward and for facing the proverbial firing squad. You have a hard job to do and I appreciate you for doing it.
That being said, I would like to point out one thing that made me shake my head a little
I am speaking purely for myself here, but the EFFECT is not about # of GW points per se, but RATHER # of GEMS. A small # of points is all it takes to move up one spot in Bracket 1, moving from spot 2 to spot 1, which is only 1 spot after all and fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of ALL GW battles, and yet it is a difference of 500 gems and ALOT of cards…
THAT IS THE SIGNIFICANT EFFECT that is concerning ME. (And I suspect many others.)
Edit: Forgot to add, that the devs recent decision to Nerf Gems from Tasks and LTs merely exacerbates the significance of those gems being “lost” to collusion in GWs.
Well it was suggested when Guild Wars were taken offline that the restrictions for bonuses should be placed on the defenders not the attackers to add more team variety. Such a change would also promote more honest defense behavior.
I look forward to a future where Monday is no longer the most enjoyable day on the guild wars calendar.
This won’t be enough… We had it with people exploiting the game on pvp defenses, and they walked away of it freely as some of them still had the guts to post on these very forums saying they weren’t cheating.
Now that proof, clear as the day light, came out the team will not make a move against these involved? This is not only unacceptable, but a bad strategic move on these troubling times where the credibility of the team is on the balance.
Steam has a tos too, and they don’t treat cheaters lightly. Not sure about collusion, but if you think steam players are cheating, valve wants to hear about it.
valve knows about this? what did they say in return?
I would like to second this sentiment especially since i feel i was among the proverbial firing squad. As i said last night i am sure this has been a very stressful situation for @Saltypatra. Hers is undoubtedly a difficult job one which i would not be capable of doing.
I also appreciate that a major concern for the B1 guilds are the lost gems and cards due to this cheating but as a member of a guild that is not B1 my concern is different.
The way i see it is this: it already seemed like a tall mountain to climb to try and get to B1 as is but now it seems insurmountable to say the least. If this kind of cheating is going on at the top how can i believe it isnt going on in the lower brackets as well? That said, how is my guild supposed to climb the brackets when we may be facing a “dead end” of guild all working together to keep out any interlopers?
It makes me significantly question the integrity of GW as a whole…
When will GW cards go into guild chests? I’m sure many of us would like to see that happen earlier in the cycle, like after 3 rotations. Do we really have to wait a full 4 rotations until the new cards come in before that happens?
It’s just one more thing that keeps us riff raff down.
Honestly, it seems like people have lost all reason at this point. They’ve made a very clear statement that it’s not acceptable moving forward. They’ve said they’re working to introduce a new system that will counteract it in the future. They’ve said they’ll keep an eye on it in between.
I don’t really get what more people want? It’s super hard to prove that guilds were collaborating. And they didn’t have a clear stance on it before so they can’t exactly ban everyone b/c they did something against the spirit of the rule, even if they can prove that it was definitely collusion.
It’s feeling an awful lot like reason has left the building. I don’t really see what more they can do to stop what now seems like witch hunt territory.
I fully understand and appreciate your assessment here but i also understand the frustration of the community here. If this was the only thing that ppl felt the devs got wrong it may not have carried on so far but you know as well as i that frustration with the devs has been growing for some time now (justified or not)
For many in the community i am sure this is another in a line of missteps by the devs
Like the Eddie “The Eagle” Rule 
For me, the problem is closed.
Devs clearly stated what is legal, what is not, what is possible to track, what is not possible to track.
Period.
From now, every player and every guild will decide how to play, based on what Devs replied to the first question.
Probably the easiest way to fix this is to let guilds play against teams the devs put up daily. This of course gives the devs a lot of work extra and I would personally find it less fun.
Sure, but beating your chest over something that’s been adequately resolved, solely b/c you’re generally unhappy with the recent level of communication from the team, is nonsensical. If you want to start a new thread that lists all of the things that are still “not right”, then fine, do that. But continuing to make an issue out of something just b/c you want something to complain about is completely unproductive.
I agree totally and i have said all i needed to say about it i was simply saying that i understand why others may still have more they want to say.
For me personally, it’s enough for now. Devs has made a clear statement now that they’re against it and this kind behaviour will be punished in the future. Because that’s part of reason why guilds in question did it in the first place. I also understand reasons behind the decision why they won’t punish both guilds.
And I’m sure both guilds will stop doing it now that devs has made a clear and strong statement. I’d be surprised if they will continue this behavior after this public outcry. I know they’re good guild and more than capable of winning GWs without having to put their guild reputation in the risk by doing something like this. I have faith.
Hope we all, both devs and players learn something out of it. There’s always a rainbow after the storm.
I wouldn’t call it resolved… They didn’t acknowledged it in the past the possibility of this situation, they supposedly ignored the first reports of colluding, and only now after this exposure they are making a move… If they would take tthe reports seriously and investigate i’m sure we would have seen an statement such as:
“Hello everyone, it came to our attention that some guilds seems to be involved in some sort of agreement that hurts the competitive spirit of GW that we envisioned. So, from this point we want to make it clear that some measures will be taken regarding such conduct. First and foremost we will consider this practice illegal, we will also monitor the situation and…”
Saying they would investigate it in secret can be already discarded as an excuse since it was stated they didn’t thought this would become such a problem. So, in the end it seems to me, and certainly to others, that they ignored the issue, and hid the dirty under the carpet until this point…
The damage to the dev’s credibility is extense. It surely doesn’t feel reassuring for me to imagine that in the next episode where players are involved in any form of exploit, the protagonists of such feat will walk away with all the benefits they reaped simply because it wasn’t stated that it’s against the rules.
This is totally absurd. In no just system, anywhere, ever, can you punish people for doing something that isn’t against the rules. You’re literally asking for a totalitarian state where people can be punished for doing things that the dev team arbitrarily decides it doesn’t like, as it likes. I don’t see how any reasonable human being can think that it’s okay for them to punish people based on a rule that was created after the fact. NO THANK YOU.
@Saltypatra - That is unacceptable. The team behind Gems of War is rightfully under tremendous pressure right now to do something, anything, correctly. To show us players that you guys care about this community, that you understand what is important to us and react accordingly. Every comment you’ve made in response to this article says the opposite, says that you know better than us. It reads as defensive & reactionary, completely skirts taking any responsibility for what you all allowed to happen, and, most important, your comments now read as dishonest. You have now tried 3 or 4 different excuses for why you all haven’t reacted yet, each quickly shot down in the comments as obviously insuffiient, and now you are trying another one. You don’t need to know exactely how many individual players were abusing this, only that a guild had organised to do so. It’s time for you all to step up and do what’s right, not what’s easiest.
I agree with most of your post except this part
I think dishonest is the wrong assessment here brudda