Ok so right off the bat, let me say that this is a hot-ish topic and most likely not true. So prepare your tin foil hats for this one and ride along! In this article I’m picking up a comment by YouTuber IntegrityGames, who sat down with GalacticUnderwear to talk Mod 15, the Trickster Rogue, and Huntgate. The whole podcast is a great listen, so make sure to check out the video below. But the part I’m specifically referring to starts around the 00:53:00 mark.

Cleanse the Community?

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In case you’re lazy, here’s a quick recap of the theory IntegrityGames put out. So we assume that the devs knew about the exploit for a while and didn’t fix it. What if they did it intentionally to lay a bait for the endgame community, because they knew that “we” would eventually start exploiting the bug? IntegrityGames reasons that the game puts an emphasis on getting new players in and that this might have been a strategy to get out with the old and in with the new. Additionally endgame players own the vast majority of Astral Diamonds in the economy. So banning them directly fights the ongoing inflation.

This might sound crazy, but logically makes total sense. Note that many veterans have been banned on their first infraction, which feels a bit harsh. We also reported that Perfect World used that weird reasoning of banning based on number of Hunts exploited, and not necessarily currency gained. So maybe this was a welcomed opportunity to get some players and their large amounts of ADs (that they’ve mostly earned legitimately) out of the economy.

“Healthy” Streamers

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The other aspect IntegrityGames touched on was the streaming scene. With FNHUSA57 one big name was perma-banned and others at least received suspensions. Some users and mods on the official Subreddit celebrated these actions because they hoped it would open the door for more “healthy” streamers to take their place. The term “unhealthy” has also been used by Community Manager Julia to explain why they can’t work with the current set of content creators more closely. So according to representatives of the game, it would be better to replace the current guys and bring in new ones that are doing what they want them to do more positive.

In a very scary way this makes way too much sense. You can always point to the endgame players and streamers being cheaters while you follow a completely different agenda. Many players reporting that more ADs got stripped from accounts than they have exploited. Any some even got banned without even participating in bugged Hunts.

Does It Make Sense?

So tin foil hat and all, does this make sense? I don’t hope so, but Cryptic Studios and Perfect World didn’t help themselves with how they’ve handled the situation. It might sound like a broken record, but if you’re being so nontransparent about, well everything, then you make yourself vulnerable to such opinions. Proof the opposite, state your approach and ban numbers, and call it a day. You might still have guys that complain and bitch and all, but at least you have something to point to. Otherwise opinions like the one from IntegrityGames might be unlikely, but certainly not unreasonable.

What’s your take on this topic? Did the devs use Huntgate to silently strip ADs from the community and remove unloved content creators? Share your thoughts on our social channels, in the comments below, or visit our message board!

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