As a result of recent event when Luna's top bot party has been unbanned I've contacded old friend to talk about current situation on teon and ask his oppinion why and when everything started go bad with botting/ebuying etc. He has been playing on teon since server started in c2 and is a member of power clan. Btw before reading any further I've to warn you that this is a players view so don't expect anything new here :)
He starts with c2 when everything has started. In his oppinion it was one of the best times in l2, also he says that it's due to nostalgic memories. It was a time when we didn't knew the game or game mechanics well, it was time of discoveries and fun. I've grinded to 3x with none grade and got my c grade only on lvl 48 but still it was the best time to play. I could say that at that time there was no ebuy or much botting. Maybe some1 was doind that but it was in very big secreat. There was bots but mostly farmers.. I could that at that time there was 90% live players at any given time and maybe 10% of bots.
Than he continues with c3, new grade, SSQ and so on. For a lot of players still it was best time, top players where 7x some of them had subs. Power clans were already establised and where playing totally legit. Botting clan member were expeled w/o a chance to return. Game was not easy but we already new how to establish good groups and always tried to find out most efficient way of lvling. Quests for a grade armors where stupid but it wasn't bad because ever1 was doing that. It was easy to trade items. However he also mentions that nothing has been improoved for new players. To be honest I wouldn't want to be in their place to start over again. It was fun back than but not now. In this chronicle ebuy started to become kind of accepted fact and botting was more and more common view.
C4 he mentions as a break point where everything went from bad to worst. New gear, new levels, new occupation new supper skills totally new posibilities. Here ebuy became accaptable as well as boting. Even though power clan were still legit players and most of power clan players made their 3rd class jobs being legits but overall situation was more than out of control. New players were not welcome in this game because they had to go over the same as we did but the fact is that at that time all players were in same condition while now(in c4) game was pushed up to new limits.
C5/Interlude was the time when game become pretty much as it is now. Botting/ebuying 3rd soft become totally acceptable and no1 was trying to hide that they use it. It just became sad... However most of old players who started back in c2 still remained legit no matter what trends where at that time. It was easy for us to be legit because we were playing since start gearing/advancing all together. However he admits that he would have been botted if his start would be in c4 even though he's totally legit now.
Concliusion
This concliusion is made by me from the story above.
GM activity has nothing to do with fact that game derailed so much. Wel ofc there's some responsibility for them but not as much as no localization. New players still had to go throught everything that old players did and it was not easier in any way. Grind till 3x with no grade, 4x with d grade.. It was old days! Game moved to S grade now! The fact remains that new players couldn't find enough new players to group and hunt with. They had to do same long quests, same everything which were stopping them to catch up older players so instead of farming as older players did most new players chosen ebuy later bot option to catch up. In my oppinion such things as common items had to be introduced in c3/c4 where situation was still in control. Or at least NC had to make obtain those items more easily. Ofc we won't change what was done and I see that NCsoft learned they lesson because they're localizing AION :)