Hero image: AION 2. Image: NC
NC has restricted 15,380 AION 2 accounts for botting, gold farming and real-money trading, according to its own notice on Steam.
The Account Restrictions notice was posted at 01:06 UTC on 21 October, which is 12:06pm AEDT by our conversion. The AION 2 Team signs it.
It names two kinds of behaviour. The first is botting and gold farming.
“Botting and gold farming: use of macros, bots or other unauthorized programs, and organized play patterns consistent with gold farming or real-money trading (RMT).”
The second is abuse of the economy, and the notice says who is not affected.
“Economy abuse: Abnormal trading patterns that disrupt the game economy. Restrictions are only applied after review, in line with the Operation Policy. Normal play, including long grinding sessions, is not affected.”
The notice gives the time of the action as “October 20, 18:00 PDT / October 21, 03:00 CEST”. That is noon on 21 October in Sydney by our conversion. It gives the number of accounts restricted as “15,380”.
Separately, it says “a small number of accounts have been temporarily locked as a precaution.” It describes these locks as protection and not punishment.
“A security lock is not a penalty: it protects your account and your items until the situation can be verified.”
Players who think a restriction or lock is a mistake are told to file a ticket with Customer Support. The notice adds “Every request is reviewed individually.”
NC’s patch notes for the same week touch the same ground. They say the system that stops players listing gathered materials in the Market, based on their gameplay history, will be adjusted.
“The system will be improved to allow some previously restricted players to trade normally, while trading restrictions will remain in place for others.”
On Steam’s most-played chart, read on 22 October, AION 2 ranked 8th, down from 6th the week before.
Source: NC (Steam) – Account Restrictions, NC (Steam) – Patch Notes, 20 October (PDT), Steam – most-played chart