Yesterday, an exploit that is going on since the start of the Winter Event, went public on the official message boards. The moderation muted several threads regarding the issue as always, but we discuss the implications of the current situation. The exploit allows you to open infinite Gift of Simrils and consequently infinite Lights of Simril, Stars of Fortune and Starlight Bags on a second account.

The Auction House is flooded with the exploited stuff. All BoE items from the Star of Fortune and Simril Store are affected as well as the Bonding Runestone, which you can get from some Companions that drop from the Starlight Bags. While the Companions themselves are bound, the Runestone is not. Here is a complete list of the exploitable items:

Sparkling Transmutes

Dappled Riding Horse Mount

Fawn of Shiallia Companion

Ice Sprite Companion

Frost Mimic Companion

Lesser Bonding Runestone

If you were hoping to make some profit grinding the event, you should stop right now. On the right you see the price development for the Fawn of Shiallia under the current exploit. After the Winter Event last year, the price settled for 185k ADs and remained very stable throughout the year. Especially since the turn of the year the amount of Fawns in the Auctions House made another serious jump and the price plummeted to 10k.

Although this is a big hit for legit grinders, the BoE items from the Starlight Parcels are unaffected and can still net you some ADs if you are lucky enough to get a decent item. (Additional note 5/1/2014: One player rightfully noted that all items are somewhat affected by the bug because exploiters can get to higher tier awards faster than intended and cash in on their daily Parcels.)

What you should do right now is stop grinding the event, it became worthless. You can still do the dailies to get your bound (and cool!) Winter Sled Mount plus the Scarfs, but everything else should be obtained via the Auction House. Be aware that you are most likely buying from exploiters though.