I Am The Heart of Darkness, The Conspiracy Behind +15 Exploit

Greetings young and old members of WeTheProud, it's about time I do a full writeup on the situation of the +15 Exploit because I've noticed a few odd patterns have been taking place. The information I provide is based on facts and opinions I have interpreted from a few sources.  Some of this information may not be fully true until the +15 wave is over, but for now, I think this is pretty solid.

As you all know Nexon stands as the world's most successful corporate gaming company next to Blizzard.  However, the key term of "infamous" would fit more snug to their company profile.  The reason behind this is related to when the community discovered the "dirt" of Nexon stealing the Dragon story from a random community forumer.  If he had reported it as a cyber tort or illegal theft of personal property, he could have stood to take down Nexon. In any case, this event did prove Nexon can be quite shady in these areas.  The +15 Exploit is no different, and I believe this is the reason why Nexon took the action to milk the opportunity of incoming revenue.

In the ending fall season, Nexon included a hidden HUD update (HUD is the overview of your buttons, inventory, skin, etc.).  Many believed this to just be a regular Nexowned update that is completely for player benefits.  However, Nexon did not realize this HUD update created the +15 exploit bug.  Now in any case, I'm not sure if this exploit was implemented intentionally, but I do know for what is to come in the future.  Around winter season, two genius M***ers coded by the alias of "D*** and N***" discovered the +15 Exploit.  Now, they did the right move and kept quiet about it, making +15s for themselves (The +15 Chiulin Long Hammer if anybody remembers, by d*** was completely exploited).  However, the HUGE error they committed was releasing the method to friends.  And as you all know, word spreads fast.  It was to no surprise that the +15 Exploit was eventually released to the public and tons of flame wars have taken place.  Nevertheless, this did not change the fact that players EXPLOITED weapons.

Now, take a quick step back. Many people would know in the Lann forums that a pretty well known Lann in East known as Beyak was a legit +15 holder because he spends thousands of dollars on the game.  Beyak has been holding a +15 even since patch 8 or so, so his weapons were completely accepted as legit.
Guess what happened?

3-09-2012, 11:06 PM#1

Beyak 

Join Date

Oct 2011

Posts

653

So, Finally, after all that was done, and after all this time...

I'm done.
Nexon cut my Lann in half and removed all my weapons (Luminaries, braids and raiders, all +15)

If i cannot get them back, consider me not playing this game anymore. This honestly just destroyed my hopes and trashed my future projects. There's little keeping me tied to this game at the moment, i'm surprised i havent quit months ago when the market glitch made me lose tons of gold.

I am sorry for those who were waiting for more quick solos, I wish i could've put more out there.

I will stick around the forums to provide help and advice for any lann requesting it.


P.S. What a *****y way to go...so ********* sad

Notice the text, ALL of his weapons were removed.  Truly a sad loss for him.  This proved that Nexon has not finished wiping weapons and will continue to do so over the next month.
So hopefully this clears up the issue that even LEGIT players out there are getting wiped.

Back to the main issue.  During the +15 Exploit many players did not know the hidden update behind Enhancement Runes.  If anyone noticed, the requirement level for the Enhancement Rune had read Level 71.  Now a few people stated, "Ah HA! Nexon has finally done something about the exploit, so now nobody can make exploited weapons....right?"  WRONG.  The Level 71 Req. turned to out to just be a text ninja error, or more of an intentional scheme to raise revenues of Vindictus.  Once people found out that you could STILL enhance using these runes at ANY level, another wave of flames came in, "QQ NEXON is so imcompetent! They can't even take out Enhancement runes! This is the end of vindictus...right?  WRONG.  again.  Now this is where my speculation comes in prior to Nexon's infamous company profile.  This is why Nexon is heeded as the most successful gaming corporation out there BECAUSE they know how to do shady things like this.  Ready to get your mind blown?

Here's what people DIDN'T see in runes.   The text read, Enhancement Rune: Level 71, purchase via Credit or Prepaid.
Credit is by Credit Card or direct Bank Account purchases.
Prepaid is by purchasing Karma Koin cards or NX cards from your local Walmart, etc.
In Nexon's Terms of Service, the contract states that any account holder has the right to refund ALL of his or her purchase in NX IF purchased via CREDIT.  Nexon WILL NOT REFUND ANY NX PURCHASED VIA PREPAID.  So guess what?  The only thing that changed with Enhancement Runes was that you could not buy Enhancement runes with prepaid.  The option was completely shaded out, and the only option available was Credit.  So, why would they want players to buy via Credit?  Well it's so that Nexon won't have to refund them if they purchased over 1000 runes.  Now before this change, Nexon included an ADDITIONAL hidden update in their ToS.  This change was that all account purchases prior to December or so, would only be able to receive $60 MAX on ANY PURCHASE VIA CREDIT.  When was the exploit discovered? December.
And oh great!   Coincidentally Nexon has stated that they're going to start banning players who exploited the +15 weapons!  What great heroes they are!!!! Hooray!  Well nope.  Here's the problem.  If players are banned, the players would begin to think hey, the exploit was fun and all, but now at least I can get my money back....right?  WRONG.  2x.  Here's where Nexon screwed the consumers.  Consumers could not purchase via Credit, so they were forced to buy prepaid.  If  you're banned, you do not get any refund in prepaid.

Currently as of today, it has just been released to me that players who WERE banned in the exploit wave WERE give the opportunity to retrieve their accounts by paying NX.  LOL?  So in any case, Nexon was able to "legally" get away with millions of dollars of enhancement rune purchases AND they look like heroes for banning exploited +15 weapons.

Now why does this frustrate me?  The reason is because if this whole issue had been kept quiet, Nexon would not be BANNING LEGIT PLAYERS.  Aside from Beyak's unfortunate removal, players have reported that weapons starting from +11 and beyond were being removed even if they were legit or not.  This case is happening in EAST, where in West, we should embrace ourselves for a complete wipeout.
Another rant is that Nexon does not realize that the majority of the exploiters are the only hardcore people that play this game.  If they eliminate everything here, what players will be playing Vindictus?  As you all know, WTP hit rank 7 yesterday, and I have spoken to GMS above our ranks.  Every single of them holds a +15 weapon, and most of them are exploited.  You don't even have to tell me, I already know since they hold like 4 of them.  So what if these GMs get banned let alone weapon removals?  Nexon will be crumbling EMPIRES of guilds out there which are the vast majority database of the game.

As a player of Vindictus I can state now that despite what weapon you hold, you are not safe.  The corrupt policies of Nexon constantly delve into the purchases by consumers like us and as a result, we have no choice but to follow them.  Nobody is safe.  Ultimately, Beyak's wipeout had shaken the entire Vindictus community because now we know even legit players out there WILL get wiped.