I was instructed by Customer Support to post a comment on this board because, “development... reads the threads on this community board”, though I'm not really sure what good that does as I was hoping for help in-game, but here goes...

 

My son, who had a quest on Tat that he was attempting to complete, was continually killed by a gang of level 55's before completing said quest. He was then commanded to give them 200,000 credits, after which he would be left alone to complete his quest. As a young autistic child who often doesn't understand certain social environment “issues”, was completely ready to give them the money as he wanted to complete his quest, (important to an autistic person), but didn’t have the money... that was how I found out about it as he asked me to transfer the credits to him so he could pay the “ransom”.

 

Not only is this unfair, but absurd that I should pay real life money for a game for him (and me) to play, and then have to give my (and his) hard-earned credits just so we can complete a quest! We were instructed by Customer Support to just have him go to the rest area for 5 minutes to have his PVP status removed, which he did... then he went back to the questing area and was flagged again, and was defeated within 5 seconds or so by the same group. He then changed servers... guess what? Same guild members, different people were waiting... he was killed again and again again only to give up on his quest.

 

In May of 2013 I experienced a similar situation time and time again on Tat, and I too eventually gave up on my quest, and after seeking assistance from Customer Support and getting nowhere with them, (I was told that Tat was a PVP planet and to “bring a friend” with me. I didn't have any level 55 friends and there were at least 8 of them), I quit the game. I rejoined just about 2 weeks ago. How ironic that within 1 week of rejoining, I find that the same thing is happening again, and there is nothing I can do to prevent it or stop it.

 

I would STRONGLY suggest that if SWTOR wishes to have a planet dedicated to PVP, make it PVP only. DO NOT have quests there for the general public to complete as some of us don't like to PVP, not to mention some (if not most) don't have 8 or so level 55 friends ready and willing to assist us with a quest just because we continually get killed by other players when trying to complete said quest. It is my contention that SWTOR is fostering a hostile environment between those who wish to “own” others and those of us who just wish to complete our quest, for either an achievement, (which is my son's favorite thing to do on this game), or to just simply finish the task we've been given.

While I do think it's lame that a bunch of 55's would get enjoyment out of killing someone solo and far fewer levels than them, Tatooine is NOT a pvp planet. There's a small pvp zone but, other than the HK part quest given at level 50, I can't think of any other quests that would require you to enter the zone. What quest was it that your son was trying to complete?

Mind if I ask what server you (and your son) are on? A lot of times, different servers can have way different communities. For example: On my current server me, my friends and my guildies have never run into this problem while leveling, and I've never seen anyone talk about this or report it in chat.

 

Also what quest required you to go into a PvP zone in tatooine (Outlaws Den)? There is none that I can recall that makes you go in or through there.

 

Best of luck to you and your son.

Edited February 26, 2014 by Essence_of_Light

I think the "demand" for ransom is grounds for reporting as "harassment", and hopefully gets someone noticing their behavior. However, perhaps a PVP server is not in your best interest. PVP griefing is quite common, and one of the main reasons I did not roll on a PVP server. Unfortunately there is little that can be done in a public game like this to allow both open world PVP AND prevent PVP griefing. Free will always results in a few bad apples and personal responsibility (theirs) is difficult to police.

 

A temporary work around (if possible) would be to switch instances and hope they do no follow.

I said on my post that he switched servers, but what i meant was that he switched instances. I didn't even think that if we were to switch servers this would no longer be an issue! We are currently on Evan Hawk, (I think), because I came from another RP game with a friend who suggested it, (totally different RP than killing other players), but will change if that means we will no longer be killed by level 55's. Thank you so very, very much for your suggestion! Brilliant! (I don't know why i never thought of that...)

 

As for our quests: Mine, back in May of 2013 was to defeat world bosses which I got from the fleet. I remember that every time I and a few others in our group got the beast almost dead, the level 55's would attack us and kill us all before we could get our quest done. This happened soooooo many times that I truly gave up. I also began to have problems with being placed on PVP status in such places as the fleet, (yeah, no joke), and no, I didn't heal anyone nor did I have any friends on at the time who would have put me on PVP status. In addition, one person from the guild of level 55's on Tat said to me, "I'll find you wherever you go and enjoy killing you". I quit the game... I'm a woman who really doesn't enjoy this type of confrontation, which is why I primarily choose to play healers. I'm rather gentle in nature... not my thing to be told I would be hunted and killed.

 

As for my son's quest, I don't know as I never asked. As a mother of a challenged boy, my desire to protect him went into overdrive, and getting certain facts out of him rather slipped my mind.

 

Again, thanks so much for the advice to switch servers! I really appreciate it and hope it will help!

 

-Pamela

While I feel for you, both you and your son were on a PvP server therefore should've known these kind of things are bound to happen. Demanding 200k credits to complete the quest or being kept killed is immature to the level that the name of that guild should be called out in the public and be put to shame, unfortunately TOA forbids this me thinks. There is after all always a group of PvPers whose purpose solely is to ruin the game experience for others, and yes they will deny it or hide behind petty arguments like "Its a PvP server, deal with it".

While I do think it's lame that a bunch of 55's would get enjoyment out of killing someone solo and far fewer levels than them, Tatooine is NOT a pvp planet. There's a small pvp zone but, other than the HK part quest given at level 50, I can't think of any other quests that would require you to enter the zone. What quest was it that your son was trying to complete?

 

There is one other quest as part of the macro binocs quest that forces you in there to grab an antenna also, but otherwise nothing but the HK part like you mentioned.

 

As to the OP, I have to ask, but are you maybe playing on a PvP server? Maybe?

 

 

Edit: I see now that you ARE playing on a PvP server and as such am not surprised now. I would suggest either having a good long talk with your son about the issue (I.E. Not having to pay a ransom to other players, etc.) and then consider either starting over on a PvE or RP-PvE server OR purchasing character transfers to move your current toons to a PvE or RP-PvE server so you don't lose current progress.

Edited February 27, 2014 by Hyfy

As to the OP, I have to ask, but are you maybe playing on a PvP server? Maybe?

 

Has to be, they wouldn't be autoflagged on a PvE or RP server would they?

Has to be, they wouldn't be autoflagged on a PvE or RP server would they?

 

At the point I had read to I hadn't seen whether it was auto-flagging by virtue of the server or her son had flagged himself be it by right click menu on his portrait, healing a flagged friendly, went into Outlaws Den, etc. But reading further I see now they are on a PvP server.

Ebon Hawk is NOT a pvp server. its a rp-pve server, so this shouldn't be happening. reporting them for harassment is definitely something OP should do.

 

there's one quest I could think of that can take you through Outlaws Den unless you know where the pretty much invisible and completely unintuitive cave around passage is - and its a companion specific quest (ok, its not one guest per se, but rather one per class)

 

that said - there's usually a warning in big red letters, giving you 10 second countdown for when you are about to be flagged, giving you an opportunity to move back out of pvp flagging zones (bear in mind - straying too close to enemy base may ALSO flag you for pvp, so if you are killing mobs and get to close - heed the warning and move back)

 

also, if you you are healing and someone in your group has a green colored name tag rather than blue? healing them will automatically flag you for pvp. buffing them also will flug you for pvp. basically, if you don't want to be flagged - do NOT perform any friendly actions towards players with green name tags. there are also jerks that will try to flag you by forcing you to attack them. if you see players around with yellow tags - they are flagged. make sure not to target them and go into your preferences - combat section and disable "autotarget next enemy" (also - in order to see name tags of other players without having to select them - go into preferences again, and select that option as active

Edited February 27, 2014 by Jeweledleah

I was told Evon (Ebon?) Hawk was RP, not PVP, but regardless, I'll switch servers if it will help. I thought I could simply switch servers, but it appears from one post that i would need to start over, (I don't wish to begin again as my toon is a level 44), or pay to switch... more money, i guess, but hey, better that than getting killed all the time.

 

Thanks again for the suggestions...

I was told Evon (Ebon?) Hawk was RP, not PVP, but regardless, I'll switch servers if it will help. I thought I could simply switch servers, but it appears from one post that i would need to start over, (I don't wish to begin again as my toon is a level 44), or pay to switch... more money, i guess, but hey, better that than getting killed all the time.

 

Thanks again for the suggestions...

 

Ebon Hawke is NOT a pvp server. so issues you are having a due to a small group of players being jerks and not understanding how flagging works. I tried to explain to you in my previous reply how you can avoid getting flagged. if you are having these issues on Ebon Hawk which is one of the nicer servers for the most part, you will continue to have this issues on other servers. becasue there are jerks everywhere. you need to know 1. how to avoid becoming a bait to them (by avoiding pvp flag) and how to report them for harassment so that game masters can deal with them.

that is a very disturbing story. What kind of jerk/idiot spends so much time and effort to keep one person from completing a quest, and much more to follow him to another server just for 200k?

Thanks Jeweledleah, for the tip! I'll try it and attempt to explain it to my son.

That's pretty messed up. Even if this was on a PvP server, these guys are still ***hats.

If this happens again, call them out in chat. Maybe ask for help from other 55's. You would be surprised how many players would rush to the opportunity to show these chumps what it's like to actually have to fight someone that isn't 30 levels below them.

 

I hope you get this sorted out, good luck OP.

That's pretty messed up. Even if this was on a PvP server, these guys are still ***hats.

If this happens again, call them out in chat. Maybe ask for help from other 55's. You would be surprised how many players would rush to the opportunity to show these chumps what it's like to actually have to fight someone that isn't 30 levels below them.

***hats at best and ***holes at worst. Too many epeeners.

 

I didn't catch your faction Pam or the guild these jerks belong to. I play on Ebon Hawk and have 55s on both sides. My Pub side is not really played much or affiliated anymore so grabbing a bunch Rep side would be more difficult but should you be an Imp I am a leader in a group with over 70 55s and easily see over a dozen of them any night in primetime. To boot as my chars are Lightside this would be perfectly in character for me. Feel free to PM me.

A few important things to remember:

 

1 - Running around flagged for pvp makes you fair game. If you don't want to be harassed by other players, go to a safe zone, unflag, and go back.

2 - There is a designated pvp area on Tatooine. If your son was there, then he's fair game.

3 - There are servers that are pvp-oriented and again, if your son is playing on one of those servers, he's not going to be shown any mercy.

 

You and he both need to be aware of these facts. Respect the rules, you won't have a problem.

@ Korithras, first of all, as was mentioned in my previous statement, my son did go to a safe zone to get unflagged, only to be flagged again once he got into his questing area. secondly, he was NOT on a PVP server. Third, in what world is it "fair game" to demand credits, (especially that much) in exchange for not being harassed? That isn't role-playing, Korithras, that's intimidation... that's bullying... that's harassment... that's wishing to "own" another player simply because they can, (remember, we are talking about a group of level 55's against ONE level lower than them all)...call it what you like, it's just plain wrong, and from everything I am reading, sounds like it's also against SWTOR policy.

 

@Crispywalrus, thank you.

 

In closing, I feel a bit of satisfaction from this post as a player who was (or may have been) in the guild responsible for this action private messaged me to tell me he was sorry for what his guild had done, that they do it all the time to other players, and that he, and i quote, "after reading your post, I feel like a villain". Thank you for your post and thank you for your apology.

 

He then went on to state, however, that it was just role playing. Number one, I appreciate his post to me and will not reveal the name of his guild out of courtesy for having owned up to it, number two, this isn't role-playing. Role-playing is coming up behind a person, perhaps, and saying "brings the sharp edge of my knife to his throat, the cold steel slicing into his subtle skin bringing forth the metallic smell of his blood..." you get my point. THAT is role-playing. A group of players higher than the victim? And so many on just one? That's isn't role-playing, that's harassment. Then to expect money from the victim? And before anyone mentions that to role-play in such a way takes away any sneak attack, I don't care how strong a player is, he/she won't be able to fight off a group higher than him/herself no matter how many extra seconds he/she is given.

I play on jung ma. the only rp-pvp server in game. Though I understand the rules of contested pvp I typically just ignore low levels and If someone is constantly killing a low level I go and attempt to take them out. I usually try talking to them via /say since its the only way to talk to someone cross faction. Speaking of which was it the opposing faction or same faction who was attacking him. If it was opposing faction e.g. hes empire and they're republic or vice versa. If theyre same faction them the only way they could attack him is in the outlaws den. as stated by others though if youre on ebon hawk that issue shouldnt even be a problem unless he was flagged for pvp or in the outlaws den. Also how did he talk to them? was it /say /whisper /general or /pvp? Lastly if you do decide to transfer DO NOT GO TO JUNG MA it is a rp-pvp server. While it is not as highly populated there are alot of jerks on that server. Especially on fleet. butt also on every planet with cross faction interaction. Due to some of these people me and a few other guildies of mine are transfering to Ebon Hawk for better rp. Only reason im asking about how he talked to them is to helpme figure out more of where he was

Hey if you swap to Ebon Hawk and this ever happens again shoot Saeari a whisper and I'll come help out if I'm free.

Has to be, they wouldn't be autoflagged on a PvE or RP server would they?

 

Yes you can get auto flagged without you doing anything. It has happened to me once. There is a bug that happens at times and no I don't play on a pvp server. I play on Ebon Hawk and it is a RP/Pve Server.

In all my time on The Bastion (PvP), I've NEVER heard of someone asking for a ransom. Yeah, there's a lot of griefing going on, but it quickly escalates into full on PvP wars.

 

I'm sorry to hear you're having such a bad experience, I find it funny that in my experience anyway, PvP servers are actually a bit more...polite. At least with regards for ransom demands.

 

Best of luck to you!

Hmm.. Well I hope it all gets resolved one way or another.

 

As far as my opinion on the matter goes, if it's an autoflag area or PvP server (which I have read seems not to be the case) then I'm inclined to agree that everything is fair game. However you label these actions as either people "Rping" being bandits or outlaws or griefers that are simply harassing people is entirely dependent on one's point of view. It still doesn't excuse their behavior if they're exploiting a bug or the cruddy flag system that in-place on non-pvp servers. If you are indeed on a PvE server then I advise letting the community on that server know. I am unsure of how other server communities are, but I consider mine (Jung Ma, RP-PvP) to be quite closely knit and supportive. I hope your server's community can aid you as mine has.

If you ever run into the same people again on The Ebon Hawk please contact Wrecks and I will try to help out. Better yet, PM me the names of those people and I'll spend my free time farming them. Edited February 28, 2014 by Apollone

I fully agree they need to move all quest that take you into outlaw den to a different area or give the ability to all non pvpers to have a work around. There is 3 quest I know of that forces you into the area.

 

AT NO TIME SHOULD ANYONE BE FORCED INTO PVP IN THIS GAME THAT PLAYS A PVE WORLD!!!!

 

But these people whom I think are less then intelligent that run this game have their heads in the arse over thing like this and enjoy causing people to endure these degrading events.

 

HK

 

Search with the Glasses This one can be completed fast enough if you can get to the correct spot and click your glasses before they attack you making you immune till you find the object and escape out of it. Then take the medical point rez and you are done. BUT YOU HAVE TO GET TO THE POINT TO USE THE GLASSES FIRST, and that is bull.

 

GSI that leads to having to use the searcher driod that makes you a huge target.