Offenses Laxity - Tolerance of offenses on the realm
This post is not a request for support, I'm simply sharing my personal recent experience on the realm.
TL;DR: Many scammers & ninjas. They can get away with it.
I don't wish to waste too much time, not more than I already did playing the game, and making an effort only for someone else to take it on a whim with no regard to consequences, and with the server staff hardly being any use to stop it.
I get there is a large crowd, and a massive amount of reports (both valid & invalid, complete with evidence & incomplete) And I do get the staff are trying. But it simply isn't enough.
Two days ago I was scammed trying to get two items crafted. Naturally, I took as many precautions as I can (But you can NEVER be truly safe), but still got scammed. It is not the first time I run into scammers, but this one stands out a little bit: (#3)
In order to avoid being scammed, you need to (in order):
1- Play/Deal/Trade with someone trustworthy (Friends & Guild members)
2- If 1st option isn't available, make sure you deal with someone reputable (With many previous interactions with you, or someone who vouches for him)
3- Make sure you're dealing with someone who has a lot to lose by scamming you. (This is the one I had to go through); if it is someone who has less than 6k GS & is not in a reputable guild, he is VERY LIKELY a scammer. The less the GS/Level & Sketchy name/guild, the more likely it is for him to be a scammer.
The scammer in the case I reported was actually a near-bis character who is a member of a raiding guild that I played with a long time ago.
As soon as I traded the items, the chain of bizarre events showed me I was spending my time in the wrong community (gladly I had better experiences in the past)
First, I looked for someone over trade that can help me craft the items, considering my guild didn't have a blacksmith, and I would give a decent fee. Got couple of whispers but I checked the ones I'm going to deal with, decided to go with the High GS member of a familiar guild. (He seemed safer than the other options)
After that, got into party and went to the Blacksmith Shop in Dalaran. As I was trading him the items, I took screenshots. (A lesson I learned, on this server, ALWAYS take screenshots, a lesson I realized to be useless on this realm). I went on with the trade, and, as you guessed it, and to my surprise, OFFLINE.
It took him a few minutes to log back in, but I was still there, in the party, preparing the report. I whispered him: "mate". And before I send the next message, OFFLINE.
At this point I realized how foolish he was for doing something like this. The items he scammed me out of, are raw materials worth 12k Gold. I could farm it in a week, and he shouldn't risk his high geared toon (and whatever other character he may have on the same account) by doing this.
Spoke to the guild members, whom I thought he was actually one of. (Log off then log back in on an alt) So I spoke to multiple members. Naturally, a couple of them answered and spoke to their guild officers about it. Within 30 minutes, I had prepared and submitted the report, while the scammer was logging in and out every 10 to 15 minutes only to finding me still in the same party at the same spot.
Then BOOM! The message I was waiting for, he whispered he will give me back my items, but "2 mins, I give you back items", Upon reading that, I knew he was going to try something, maybe send item to alt or leave party and /ignore me, or whatever. But to my surprise, he went offline (I know nothing special about going offline), and left the party, WHILE OFFLINE! As soon as I saw that, I knew he did something unexpected, but I knew what he did.
He switched to HORDE. I was laughing my *** off as I did /who "name" and found him with my Blood Elf. I sent him the message I originally wanted, "give me back my items and no need to get banned over this, I will even give you extra money". He didn't reply, simply read the message (took him a few seconds) then logged off. Unbeknownst to him, He is on my friend list. Meaning whenever he logs in, I know he is there, and the coolest part, if he CHANGED HIS NAME, I would know, I have a little note that says "Scammer".
I knew about ninjas using this trick to avoid bans by the GM, they simply take whatever item from the raid, log off for a couple of minutes and switch character name, race, or more effectively, faction. This way you report them for something, the GM looks them up, doesn't find the person you reported, and then the case is dismissed. Perfect Crime!
This moron, however, didn't switch his name, which was very lucky for me, and at the same time, I was laughing in my head that he SEALED his fate. Take items, log off, switch faction, all recorded with screenshots. And here comes the best part that I almost never expected (but really, on warmane, nothing should ever surprise you) The GM simply responded to my ticket that he wants to know "What items you asked him to craft" (I did mention the items I wanted him to craft in the first ticket.). Here at this point, I realize on this server you must play only with friends. I would have said a "good guild" but then again, this guy was a guild member himself.
Earlier, I reported 2 ninjas with evidence, but you guessed it.
With that said, you can scratch #3. In fact, you can scratch rule #2 as well.
I don't care what happens from here on out. I know that I can't continue to play in a community that betrays the most common notions of trust, let alone condone actions it itself condemned. The only 2 good things that came out of this is me getting a clearer understanding of what this community (and staff) is capable of, and that guild which got rid of a rotten apple.
Stay safe (the good guys)
