Talk:Scam

stolen?
i get the impression that this guide has been ripped off of another site, word for word... sorry if i am accusing someone unduly, but having "credits" on the bottom is very suspicious, cirdan could you explain please? - LordBiro

Collector rewards?
I see that a lot of people sell collector rewards for rather unreasonable prices. These prices are so high that the cost above the collector items you'd turn in can't be described as a "delivery fee." It's not exactly a scam, but it is a common way people try to rip you off, I'd say. Should it be added? Fyren
 * I'm not sure I'd call this a "scam" as such. Maybe "profiteering."  The problem as I see it is that the collector items are just too rare, so you outlevel the hunting zones long before accumulating enough monster bits to exchange for level-appropriate gear.  My main character is up to Copperhammer Mines and has only gotten one worthwhile item from a collector (not counting pre-searing), and it was replaced two hours later with better crafted gear.  If along the way I could have overpaid for some items -- or for the monster bits to get them, perhaps from a trader NPC -- I probably would have. --Saucepan 08:06, 24 Jun 2005 (EST)

Unidentified stuff
I don't think it this really should be in here. It's pretty obvious an unidentified item can be anything and there is a market for them. Gold salvage items go for cheaper than unidentified superior runes in most cases. The only thing might be people selling "unidentified superior absorption runes," which I've seen people try. --Fyren

My concern is the noob here, not the person who knows what's going on. You are a noob, someone offers you a Gold/Purple hammer and you think it is necessarily better than your blue hammer. But there is no such guarantee. You might say it is the noob's fault for being a noob. The risk part is not the issue you could buy an un-ID'ed item for 2K and find a rune of Superior Vigor, or you could find a rune of minor vigor. My concern is the noob who doesn't understand that purple/gold does not necessarily mean better weapon/item. Perhaps what I am warning against should be expressed better. --Karlos 09:00, 4 Jul 2005 (EST)

(Hi, I'm new here. Glad to see you've got a nice wiki built about this game. Going back to the topic...) Actually, I'm pretty sure that the primary reason why unidentified runes or items are sold is because of unlocking and the market there is behind it. Several posts at Guild Wars forums confirm that people seek unIDed items to unlock them for PvP, for which an already IDed item doesn't work. You can buy an Wrapping of Enchantment 20%, but that only allows you to use it once on the item you originally bought, unless you want risk salvaging the wrong mod or, worse yet, a bunch of wood. By IDing the weapon you can unlock the mods so that you can mod any weapon you want for your PvP characters. If you agree, I'd like to add that to the page. - Dologan, Aug 1 2005 - 7:35 PM (CST)
 * Go ahead. I made the original comment but forgot to sign it, I guess.  Certainly selling unidentified items is useful; my guild has spent hundreds of platinum to get everyone runes.  Also, you can click the signature link in the toolbar above to get --~, which till get turned into this: --Fyren 10:44, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)

Quest Items
About quest items not working, can't you just go out into a zone, drop the item, and pick it up? I've done this for things like the Royal Papers where it gets assigned. I've picked it up and dropped it for another party member and their log updated when they picked it up. --Fyren 04:46, 30 Jul 2005 (EST)
 * Hmm, maybe this needs to be looked into..I personally have only tried buying Althea's Ashes, but even web source I've found says that this is the only exception.--Jackel 06:13, 30 Jul 2005 (EST)
 * I, on principle, do not buy quest items. :) But, I haven noticed that this is being gradually fixed and improved. Last I heard at Piken's Square was that you cannot buy Althea's Ashes to complete the Quest anymore. I have not tried it, though. In addition, now when you kill a boss to get an item (like in Blood and Smoke), the boss drops six items for a six-member party! (each assigned to a specific player.) --Karlos 12:06, 30 Jul 2005 (EST)
 * I bought her ashes for 65g two days ago (I did the quest with a PUG and realised too late that I didn't have the quest on my list!). Once I found her ghost and got the ashes quest, buying the urn worked fine.--202.47.54.244 20:47, 27 Sep 2005 (EST)

Ppl, what's with the constant changes to Althea's Ashes? It's noted as impossible to obtain, but the reality is much different. It is possible to get her ashes, and it's certainly possible to buy and receive the quest reward from a purchased urn, because I did it myself last week. -- Serps 14:50, 7 Oct 2005 (EST)

Salvage/runes
I'm pretty sure there's no association between the type of salvage/profession of what dropped it and the runes they yield. --Fyren 11:18, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)
 * I'm pretty sure there is. I have never salvaged say, a rune of Axe Mastery, off of Mursaat Garments. The Jade Armor remains always yield warrior and ranger stuff and the Mursaat garments always yield spell-caster stuff. You're saying you experienced this differently? --Karlos 11:22, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)
 * I am absolutely sure there is not. ;) At least not always. Today I got two necromancer runes off salvage items dropped by Avicara Brave (Warrior), Fierce (Ranger) or Wise (Mesmer). I don't recall exactly who of those dropped them, but I'm 100% positive I didn't kill any Avicara Guile (Necromancer). --84.175.95.146 11:40, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)
 * Ok, two votes to one. I'll remove it for now until I can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt! :) --Karlos 12:21, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)
 * I guess just to mention, I spent time farming gypsie ettins (warriors) and Tengu elites (also warriors) and have gotten runes for all professions. --Fyren 13:36, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)
 * I went out farming my favorite creatures (Grawls) tonight and ture enough, as these things always happen, I salvaged a swordsmanship rune out of a Grawl Elementalists Underwear or somehting like that. :) So, case closed. --Karlos 19:13, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)

Alt-F4
Ok, I think this is a little too dumb. :) Not only is it dumb not to know what Alt-F4 does (I know the younger generation doesn't know where the keyboard is), but it's excrutiatingly dumb if a player takes the advice of an OPPOSING team member on what to do or if, worse, he doesn't know that the one giving him advice IS an opposing team player! Can we assume a higher level of intelligence in players than this? :) --Karlos 12:25, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * Disagreed. People are stupid, and we have to cater to that.  I'll also disagree with your statement about younger generations and keyboards: they know where the keyboard is, but they think it only has 39 keys.  26 letters, 10 digits, Shift, Space, and Enter. :) &mdash;Tanaric 20:54, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)

Actually there is only one short harm to someone who falls for alt+f4 compared to lost money. Buts its still a scam, even if you learn more than you lose by it.


 * Well, i am normally in the tomb, and there it IS a SEROIUS problem having 1 member less, but it also gives u a name more to ignore :\
 * But as i try to get with serious ppl together this is no problem 4 us, even fun if some1 writes something like 'press alt+F4 to...' and the some1 drops ;-) --HJT 21:39, 4 Oct 2005 (EST)


 * This is my point. We should not warn people about this. It is the ultimate test of whether everyone playing is a sentient or not. I mean if a team player drops due to Alt+F4 then the team was definitely better off without him! :) --Karlos 22:43, 4 Oct 2005 (EST)
 * I agree to that last sentence! :) --Thundergrace 22:48, 4 Oct 2005 (EST)

i don't like this article
first of all, we're a wiki, not a game faq or a web forum. an article Scams or Reported_Scams would fit in here better than Avoiding_Scams. and second, like lordbiro pointed out, most(all?) of them were copied off of somewhere else. since the original text were written for web forums, i don't think they're good enough to be a wiki article. Nuble 14:16, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * Agreed, rewriting. &mdash;Tanaric 20:56, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)


 * Done, see Scams. &mdash;Tanaric 21:58, 2 Aug 2005 (EST)

Scam?
Im currently not a member of Guild Wiki, buti think i should just point this out as going on, even if it might not be a scam.

I saw a guy in Ashford Abbey offering to tell the secret to tons of platinum for a mere up front payment of 2 platinum. I smelt a scam but was still curious, so i managed to talk him down to 200 gold for the payment. Turns out i was right, his gold getting secret was "Tell people you know the secret to lot sof money and charge them gold to hear about it." Scam?


 * If I had read this on any other day, I would have said it's no big deal. But today I just saw a guy in Droknar's Forge offering a tip to a secret farming place with lots of cool drops for only 3K. I dismissed him as a scammer and a loon. But That with this seems to indicate a trend. So, I will put a note in scams. --Karlos 20:13, 27 Sep 2005 (EST)


 * If someone promises you the secret to making money for a certain price, then you pay him, and he tells you to sell people the secret to making money, is he really scamming you? --Fyren 21:08, 27 Sep 2005 (EST)


 * Yes. --Karlos 21:37, 27 Sep 2005 (EST)


 * But he gave you a secret to making money. --Fyren 22:06, 27 Sep 2005 (EST)


 * I am afraid I don't see the secret that he gave. What he did is he offered an illusionary service, got money for it then told you to go do the same. Selling illusionary secrets to people is: a) Not going to make you a ton of money and b) not exactly a "secret" of the trade. --Karlos 22:57, 27 Sep 2005 (EST)


 * It is a scam because: a) you wont make tons of platium with this and b)Agreeing to this deal, you clearly expect another answer and the scammer *knows* that you expect another answer and deliberatly uses your lack of knowledge to part you from your money, thus scamming.


 * I'd say most people wouldn't think that the secret was selling the secret (or else they wouldn't hand over money), therefore it meets the "secret" criteria. Upon completion of the deal not only does he give you this secret but the moneymaking potential is simultaneously proven.  "Tons" is relative.  There's a difference between a scam and being stupid and greedy.  If a farming spot was promised, it would be a scam.  But if what was promised was a secret to making money, while the seller was vague, he did not lie or even misrepresent anything.  --Fyren 08:03, 28 Sep 2005 (EST)


 * Maybe our definition of what a scam is differ. For me, deliberatly using the lack of knowledge of others to extract money is a scam. Lots of the other scams on the page do not involve the seller lying (eg. Athenas Ashes, Customized Weapons, Gold Dye do not need the seller to be lying, he just exploits the lack of knowledge on the buyer side). If the buyer *clearly* has some expectations and the seller *clearly* knows that he will not meet those expectations, then, for me, its a scam whether lying is involved or not. --Xeeron 05:46, 29 Sep 2005 (EST)


 * In addition, the advice offered creates a sort of pyramid scheme, which is illegal to offer over the internet (even for virtual currency, as I understand it) in the United States. &mdash;Tanaric 04:20, 6 Oct 2005 (EST)


 * One more general point I'd like to make is the absurd unprofitability of scams. Whenever I sit in a town or outpost, I see people offering runs for 500g or selling quest items for 100g. Often these people spam the chat for lenghty periods. With a half decent farming setup, you can make 1 plat in 10 minutes, so I dont get it why people spend 20 minutes offering a service that will take them another 5-10 minutes to complete for less. --Xeeron 01:14, 28 Sep 2005 (EST)

another way to get gold dye
I found if you use a dye remover on a green dye, it gets the same shade as silver+yellow+orange! I don't know if this is known enough to become a scam, but it could create an even bigger rippoff =P Skuld &Dagger; 20:15, 1 Oct 2005 (EST)

-- Same shade in the trade window, or same shade when applied? I doubt it's the latter... -- Serps 07:25, 6 Oct 2005 (EST)

Black Dye Scam
more and more lately people are starting to sell Black Dye for 3p, and if you don't pay attention it'll actually be Silver Dye, as they look very similar. I'm not a member of GuildWiki, thus I'm pasting this here in comments.


 * Put in a general note about selling items other than advertised. --Karlos 19:25, 6 Oct 2005 (EST)