The Ravager exploit in Star Wars: The Old Republic had been kicking around since at least mid-December of last year, judging by this complaint thread on Reddit, yet it wasn't until mid-January that BioWare promised action against those who took advantage of it. Last week that action was finally taken, and it has perhaps proved unexpectedly harsh for those involved.
Specific penalties will depend upon the severity of the infraction, but BioWare Community Manager Eric Musco said that players who took advantage of the exploit—which, as PCGamesN helpfully explained, let them teleport directly to the treasure room at the end of the Ravagers instance rather than fighting their way to it—will be slapped with a suspension of between one and seven days.
"It is also possible they could have very specific additional actions taken against them," Musco wrote, including the loss of high-end gear and crafting components gained via the exploit, as well as credits and commendations.
The "most egregious offenders," however, have actually been hit with a permanent suspension. The specific level of bad behavior required to trigger that weighty punishment wasn't revealed, but Musco said that while BioWare couldn't take the matter lightly, it "reviewed every account to determine where we could be lenient."
"From our end, this was a no win situation. We feel responsible for allowing the exploit to occur and remain in the game for an unreasonable length of time, but we also cannot and will not condone cheating. Thankfully, a large majority of our players didn’t exploit at all, but unfortunately, some of those who did have been with us for a long time, even all the way back to launch," he wrote. "It breaks our hearts to see a few of those loyal players partake in the exploit. Still, it would be unfair to not punish those players, and so we had to take action."
Star Wars: The Old Republic players who believe they have been mistakenly suspended for using the Ravagers exploit can contact swtoraccountdisputes@bioware.com to appeal the decision.
