For card catalogue references and guide, head on to this link → http://guardiancross.wikidot.com/guardian-catalogue

Hi guys,
Seeing how so many honest, but clueless players, or top players alike (the list includes me), fall victim to the merciless banwave, I've decided to write this thread with the permission of our beloved SuperMod, MetalStitch.
*Please find attached are some pictures I took from my own device, during my hacking phase. Golbez picture is provided by 'poy(To be clear, he didn't hack, juz found the picture)

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OBJECTIVE:
This thread is to raise everyone's awareness regarding the banwave and the probable cause of it, which in most cases are the work of hackers. So I will try to equip you with the knowledge to recognize some of their handiwork. (I will try to show evidence for some important ones)

*My goal, however, is not to reveal any names, so don't expect one.

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*If u juz wana get to the hacking part, u can skip this 1st chapter.

1st CHAPTER: MY BACKGROUND
Like some players here, I played this beautiful game up to level 60-70ish on my own, before I got frustrated and look around for guides and helps, before I found the old forum, and eventually made the switch to this forum. And just recently, my original account: Zeromaru, was BANNED at level 115, with an S deck, probably falling out to A+ on the last day, LOL. My deck consists of a trio of Fast Almighties: Raijin, BW, & Aps. And 12 aces: Domi, Ettin, Agni, Sucellus, Chariot, Shiva, Atlas, S Bird, Fujin, Raijin, Apsara, Garg. (Most are fully stoned ex mp, none of them are max all stats) and other noteworthy 5* is Int LL, Pow Ifrit, and many bad types, including 6 sexy guardians I was ready to do a Sexy Giveaway for newbies, juz before I was banned.

I got to my deck without spending a single coin, bcoz my device is jailbroken, so nothing happens when I tried to buy coins. I cross traded heavily from 2 other games, namely Blood Brothers & Rage of Bahamut (I finally gave away both accounts, so I can focus on 1 game, GC.) And did a lot of upwards trading.

Anyway, before I was banned, I lent out some of my cards to my friend: Ace Baha, ace VM, ace Nix, ace Azi, & Chao Frank for his coli. So these cards were safe, or so I thought. When my friend learnt that I was banned, he gave me his main account(with all 5 of my cards), and he focused on his 2nd account. The only trade I did was giving someone the 5 ref cards for a baby Ace Meph, with a wind+1 skill(which I later learnt was a hacked card, and I'm going to teach you how to recognize it).

4-5 days before coli ends, both my friend's and my new account were banned. So, after getting automated and useless replies from SE regarding the appeal of my ban, we both went berserk, and learnt all kinda hacks possible, and experimented with most of them successfully. Which leads to the 2nd chapter of this thread.
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2nd CHAPTER: THE HACKS REVEALED
Multiple accounts (Not with different devices, but within 1 jailbroken device)
Duping Stones (actually not duped but hacking the numerical value of the stones)
FP Hack
Duping Cards
Creating/Hacking Cards
Invincible Hack
Special Hunting Hack (I saw a video of it, but never done it)
Timer Hack

1. Multiple Accounts
This is very useful, usually for doing referral service, and creating multiple account to feed and support ur main account. Later I will explain, how this hack is actually very key to hackers' operation.

2. Duping Stones
Hackers need 5 of each kind of stones(skill & stat) to do this hack. What they really do is manipulate the numerical value of the stones, maximum number per stone is 99 stones of each kind.

3. FP Hack
A favorite hack amongst harmless hackers, same with the stone duping process, u manipulate the numerical value of ur FP, up to 99,999. To hack, u need at least around minimum 300FP. U can buy Boon of Gods(not available in EN GC yet, in case u r wondering what happen when u click to redeem it, nothing happens, and ur FP remain the same. BoG is a special guardian with no element, and its released in the JP GC.) and u can buy unlimited recovery potions, and special hunting tickets.

4. Duping Cards
This hack requires two device, and they both need to synchronize their UDID and MacID, and both device log into an account(A) simultaneously. Let's call 1st device's account as A1, and 2nd device account as A2. Now, the next step is to use a 3rd party's account, B. B will send whatever card dat is to be duped to account A. Then A1 and A2 will receive the same card, as they are virtually the same account. Then A1 will keep the card, while A2 will give away the card to another account, C. Voila, u now have what was once a single card, can now be found in A1 and C. This process is tedious, and more troublesome, hence most hacker prefer the next hack.

5. Creating/Hacking Cards
This is the ultimate hack!!! U can basically create any cards you want to, even those unavailable yet to the public gamers, but is already in SE's database (see picture for some unreleased guardians, including a Mighty[limited bordered card] 4*) Even an ACE Almighty!!! (see picture also. Note: Alm Valk has a Wis buff as her 1st skill, not a Light+1) How it works is u take a base card (anything from a 1* to a 5*) and change the card ID to a card of ur choice. Say for example, u take an Ace Poison Slime and convert it into an Ace Shiva or an Ace Almighty Valkyrie.
*The key to recognizing this hack is its skillset. If the base card is a level 1 ace Poison Slime, its 1st skill will be an Agi debuff. Hence, if it is converted to an Ace Shiva, this fake Shiva will have an Agi debuff as her 1st skill.
*This may seem like a giveaway for the hackers, but it can be used to a hacker's advantage. Say, u want to give Almighty Fast Raijin a revive ability. Use, for example, a fast Phoenix (1st skill is revive) as the base card, and voila, u'll have an Alm Fast Raijin that can revive.

6. Invincible Hack
This hack practically levels up the card and stats up to 9,999.
a. This hack is used for feeding purpose. Say u hack a card to lv 300(see picture), and feed it to a lv 1 Ace Domi, and in one feed(cost ard 1,500GP) Ace Domi will be lv60. Without hunting for SS and feeders.
b. This card is used to gain S+ rank in coliseum. Again, u take a poison slime(for example) and max its stats all to 9,999. And u'll get a invincible 1* slime that will annihilate a full deck of stoned 5* and Almighties. In fact, u dun even have to level it to 9,999, juz change the stats to lv 9,999 and leave it at lv 1.
*The drawback to this hack is, when the hacker logout of the game, the slime will revert to its max original stats. (same thing will happen if u tried to gift/trade it to another acount) This is why u'll find some players in S or S+ rank, with slimes and 9 other crappy low cards. This is also how u get a max all stats 5* cards.

7. Special Hunting Hack (I never try this)
Practically, this hack allows u to:
- 1 shotkill any shadows
- Slowdown timer
- U get the same Guardian, for example Vamp Matron, no matter what shadow u shot
- Every shot adds +10 to the timer
- hunt unlimited amount of guardians, til u r tired or bored.

8. Timer Hack
This hack is harmless to other players, but allows the hacker to keep on replenishing the energy, without waiting for 2,5 hrs to refill. If u r dedicated enough, u can go from lv 1 to lv125 in a day!

*For video proof of FP Hack & Invincible Hack, check out HyoMinSsi's thread: http://theguardiancrossforums.com/H...ut-u...on-slimes.2506/
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3rd CHAPTER: HACKERS' MODUS OPERANDI (MO)

1. Hackers create multiple accounts, as many as needed. This is where multiple account hack is key. The type of accounts(self-named) are: Main Hacking Account, Storage Account, Agent/Distributors Account.

2. They create Main Accounts to do all the hackings.

3. Then they distribute all the hacked cards to all the different Storage Accounts that are clean from hack, except receiving and keeping those cards. (If they want to be more meticulous, they create a "Middleman" Accounts to stand in-between the Main Accounts and the Storage Accounts.) Why so many storage accounts? Simple, if 1 storage account is banned, another survives. SE would probably not ban all simultaneously in a banwave.

4. The next step is where it branches out to the Hacker's objective.
a) Most Hacker puts up the hacked cards for RMT(Real-Money-Trading) sale
b) Some hackers wants to clean their cards, called "card-laundering", by putting them up for trade, in the hope of trading them off for unhacked/legit cards.

5. In both cases, when a trade or sale is made, the hackers will transfer the cards from the Storage Account to an Agent Account, and gift/trade it to the buyer. Usually these Agent accounts are low level, because in most cases, the hackers couldn't be bothered to invest time leveling up that account. So beware, when a trader is using an Agent Account. (This is done in the hope that when SE suspects RMT, SE will ban the Agent account, and not the Storage account.)

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4th CHAPTER: HOW TO RECOGNIZE HACKERS or HACKED CARDS/STONES

1. Overpricing 1. They offer excessive(unthinkable) amount of stones.

2. Overpricing 2. They made crazy cards-offer, e.g. 3 aces for 1 ace. (they trade downwards, because their objective is to clean their cards.)

3. Smokescreen. They usually lowball u in PM, so u'll reject their offer, then they will say something like, "Anyway, if u want to trade, juz let me know, if not, I also do RMT, check this link out." The lowballing offer is a smokescreen for RMT, which is their real goal

4. NEOSEEKER FORUM!!! A hacker usually do their RMT in Neoseeker forum, because its allowed over there. Our beloved Mods in here do not endorse RMT at all, and will take action against it. So beware! (This special message is sponsored by MetalStitch )

5. "Agent" Account. They used a low level secondary account to trade/gift to you. (Back in my naive days, someone paid me almost 100iii stones for one of my auctioned 5*, using an Agent Account. If only I had known then. But the key is, if they r afraid of getting banned for doing the trade, hence using another account, why should u take the risk too, by doing the trade w them? Think.)

6. New Release. A new set of guardians are just released, and they already have the Ace types of those guardians. As of this writing, a limited-time FFIV event is just released, with 4 new guardians: Cagnazzo, Rubicante, Scarmiglione, & Barbariccia. If you don't believe me, check out this link: http://www.neoseeker.com/forums/579...ne-b...behemoth-nuada/
*Notice the date of the post, and how ppl are buying, but the thread was never updated with "SOLD" status on any of the guardians, meaning the seller has unlimited stock.

7. Unusual Skillset. They usually have irregular skill, this, however, can be undone by leveling the card up to lv40, where it will get its 4th skill, to replace its 1st messed-up skill. Or if it has 2 messed-up skills, then to lv50 to replace with the 5th skill the guardian will learn. (But sometimes u'll see, say an Alm Fast Raijin with a revive, or a Sucellus with 2 buff/debuff skills. Any player knows its not legit.)

8. Quitting Sale. These hackers always quitting-sale-ing, but they are always around, checking threads, making offers on other people's cards, and after the coli ends, they add the new Almighty to the list of their "junkyard" sale. And better yet, the list never runs dry, after so many sales, nothing gets taken out of the list. Quitting? Are u sure? Do your homework, peeps.

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5th CHAPTER: MYTHBUSTERS

1. Max all stats cards are Hacked! and Max ex mp cards are safe. (Not true, because with the above knowledge, u know a hacker can hack a card from level 1 to level 60, clean or stoned, max all stats or max ex mp, whatever he desires)

2. Guardians, special-hunted using FP hack, are legit. (It's still risky, because when SE ban the hacker, SE will monitor his trading/gifting traffic, usually out of RMT suspicion, and u'll still get banned)

3. Yay, no more hacked cards in the new 1.1 Patch! Check my 4th chapter, article 6. Check also the Golbez picture. (img provided by 'poy)

4. Ok, at least no more other hacks in the new Patch. Not true, while before the patch, success rate of hacking is 90-95%, after the patch however, the success rate is much lower, around 5-10%. When a hack is unsuccessful, the GC app will reboot/restart, that's all. (and maybe get banned the next day, like my friend) No, I didn't hack anymore after the patch, wanted to enjoy the game casually and cleanly.

5. The new-release Ace cards are legitly hunted using unlimited SHTs from FP hack. When I hacked the FP, it took me 50+ SHTs(in 2-3 days period) to get a Cool Agni, let alone an Ace. My friend, within the 3rd SHT got a sexy Titan, Chao VM and Pow VM, and in the subsequent 25 SHT, got nothing. (This also verified the low 5* drop rate of EN GC, LOL) Conclusion: For hackers, it is much, much easier to create/hack the cards(and less time-consuming), than to hunt down the cards.

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6th CHAPTER: BANWAVE THEORY

(Still a theory, based on all the banned players' collective knowledge and experience)

1. Referral service. My 10 new referrals were done within 15minutes, with names like ping1 to ping10 by someone. So that should raise a red flag to SE. (Category: Irregular Activities)

2. High stones traffic/possession. If a suspicious amount of stone trafficking is done, you will be flagged by SE, and SE will then monitor your account's activities. You won't get banned on the spot, but a few days/weeks later. (Category: Irregular Activities)

3. Possession of Duped/Hacked cards. This is mainly the reason why many top players/traders got banned, because, with what we know now about how easy it was to hack + the combination of how hard it is to hunt a 5*, about 85-90% of all 5* cards circulating in the market is either hacked/duped. Esp if a player has double-digit Ace cards (like me). (Category: Possession of Fraudulent Cards)

4. RMT. Usually if u receive good cards, or multiple good cards for almost nothing in your in-game trading log, a red flag will be waving for SE to take notice. This call by SE is tough on heavy cross-traders(like me), as we seemingly get good cards for nothing, when in fact we returned the favor thru another game. (Category: RMT)

5. Hacking activities. When u have an irregular amount of manipulated data in ur account, you'll be flagged, and monitored. Thru my buddy's experience, you could get banned right the very next day with the new patch. (Category: Irregular Activities)

6. Suspicious Gifting. This just in. Someone in the forum, just got banned for receiving an Ace Rubicante(1 of the 4 new guardians) from a probably suspicious account, with an IGN: EndOfGC. The poor victim lets the gift sit around his gift box and slept on it. 12 hrs later, he wakes up to a banned account. When u receive suspicious gift, that u know is not for u, dun be greedy, reject it right away. (Category: suspicion of RMT, and a little essence of greed in the mix)
*Funny experience: My banned friend hates someone in the forum who made fun of him, or has a self-righteous attitude. So my fren hacked some cards, one of them an Ace Alm with messed up skillset and gifted to this obnoxious guy, with a message: "You can pay me thru paypal when u r done checking the cards". Needless to say, this guy got greedy and accepted the cards(well, at least he didn't return it), and didn't pay of course. Not long after, both my friend's and the greedy guy's account got banned. Until now, I'm still ROFL-ing thinking of this.

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My hope, as with all the dear Mods here, is that every legit players in this forum is now more aware, and better equipped to avoid trading/buying from hackers. And most importantly, frustrate any hackers reading this, or trying to trade/sell their cards away.

Let's keep this forum clean and conducive to all legit and honest players together.
Report any suspicious activities to the MOD.
Please be careful when trading/buying, stay safe & keep legit.
And lastly, enjoy the game!
Thank you for taking time to read this "newspaper" article.

P.S. If anyone would like to add/correct anything I've missed, please feel free and I'll update this thread.