Companion App Ventures

[Alyssasidhe]

I fully understand the app having an upgraded subscription version, and I am completely on board with limiting the number of transactions that a person can make in a period of time. As a software developer myself, I know that if you allow someone to have API access to your game, that is a vector to perform a Denial of Service attack. I also know that Real Money Traders benefit from having unlimited access to changing market board prices more easily than the in game interface allows.

That said, Ventures are already rate limited. I am recently returning, and ventures at the level I have access to are an hour long. You can't do more than 24 transactions a day without abandoning the previous one. Ventures also require an in game currency to enact, which means that ventures can't be started, canceled, and restarted to enact a denial of service as easily.

I propose that the Companion App be allowed to use Venture credits to start Ventures, just as you do in game. Yes, Kupo nuts are much more limited, and yes, Mog Coins restrict the interest of real money traders, but I think the more dangerous of the two major activities in the app are the marketplace traders. Of course, I would suggest that you put this option behind the premium function of the app to lower likelihood of farming abuse by real money traders. I would happily add the companion app premium rate to my account specifically for this upgrade.

As it is, the Companion App loses much of it's interest to me. The big appeal for me is being able to send my retainers on a venture while I'm at work and have a few minutes on my phone. I can have up to 11 retainers, two free, eight paid for, and one from the premium companion app. At best, Mog Coins are available at a rate of eight for a dollar. That means that if I want to max my retainers and renew their ventures every day at work, I'd use more than a dollar an hour to keep them running. I find this unacceptable, and I think most others would, too. This proposed change will likely draw more use of the companion app and result in more upgrades to premium, which will be a benefit for the company in the long run.

I hope that my thoughts were conveyed clearly. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

[Uzephi]

You do know how easy it is to get ventures in game, right? You claim to understand the security risks of API access allowing DDoS attacks, but neglect to confirm any group with a few thousand ventures (very easy to accumulate) per character could do to their network if sending those requests via the app's API. A bad actor would definitely burn thousands of an in game currency to DDoS if it were possible.

[Alyssasidhe]

You do know how easy it is to get ventures in game, right? You claim to understand the security risks of API access allowing DDoS attacks, but neglect to confirm any group with a few thousand ventures (very easy to accumulate) per character could do to their network if sending those requests via the app's API. A bad actor would definitely burn thousands of an in game currency to DDoS if it were possible.

I mean yes, but it is still way more limited than just having no limit on it at all. I'm not saying someone couldn't try to do it, but I don't think it would be as much of a problem as you think it is. Also, as I said, the real threat is Real Money Traders abusing everything. You can only get 24 ventures in a day no matter what you do. If you remove the Mog Coins, that doesn't go up.