EA Fix PVZ GW1 Ban Exploit

Question

Subject: Fix PVZ GW1 Ban ExploitDear EA,Could you please provide an update on when the ban exploit will be fixed? I would also appreciate information on when players affected by this issue will be able to play again, especially those whose save files were corrupted due to this exploit.My previous post was deleted by EA_Solaire without a clear explanation. He sent me the following message:Post removedGreetings,Your recent post has been removed as it was in violation of the EA Forums community guidelines. This is a warning only, but please familiarize yourself with the posting guidelines to avoid potential future actions on your account.Below I've attached the relevant guideline that was found to have been breached.Violating the EA User Agreement: It’s there for a reason. Please don’t discuss, promote, or engage in anything against the EA User Agreement.I responded with the following:Hello,I do not fully understand what exactly I violated with my post. The content was purely informational — explaining how to launch the game if your data was affected by the so-called "ban exploit." In my case, my game data was corrupted by a malicious actor exploiting this vulnerability, causing me to lose access to the game even though my account was not banned.I believe there are others in the community who could help restore corrupted save files or explain how to bypass this issue.Currently, I cannot access the game I paid for. My data is essentially controlled by a third party (the game publisher) without my consent, and there is no clear way for me to restore access on my own. This situation seems to violate European Union legislation, including:GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) – Violations of Article 5 (Principles relating to processing of personal data), Article 7 (Conditions for consent), Article 15 (Right of access), Article 17 (Right to erasure), and Article 20 (Right to data portability).Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair commercial practices – Misleading consumers regarding the stability of the service and the possibility of restoring access to purchased content in case of technical failures or attacks.Directive 2011/83/EU on consumer rights – Violations of the right to receive a properly functioning digital product and the right to clear information about how to resolve access issues.Directive (EU) 2019/770 on digital content and digital services – Lack of transparent conditions for restoring access to digital content when affected by third-party interference (e.g., hacker attacks).As a result, my purchase is now unusable due to external factors, and no mechanism has been provided to protect my consumer rights. Despite contacting support over 10 times, the issue remains unresolved.Could you please clarify:What did I violate in my previous post?Will I be refunded for the game, which is now unplayable due to third-party interference?How does EA plan to address this issue in compliance with European legislation?Thank you for your attention.Sincerely,Sergey KlimenokAdditionally, for players who are familiar with cheat engine, please contact me as I have found a way to launch the game in online Garden Ops mode despite the exploit.

stefix12010 · Answer

Hello TumX,I personally have given up hope on support. Since this is about a dead game with no active developers and a dying playerbase, and lawyers are expensive, the chances of receiving support are incredibly low. I have modded the game myself, using cheat engine, a special tool and a .dll file coupled with a dll loader. This allows me to select any map I want, even multiplayer maps, however everything will run in Ops mode. I have noticed that if I load a map right before the crash, I will have half of my progress and level 0 everywhere (except the main menu). However this doesn't allow me to play online, so I just disabled Origin in the dev settings. It almost never crashes now.Edit: Disabling Origin also makes the game run on offline mode. Only workaround I know.

tumx331 · Answer

It's very sad about lawyers. I walked all over the city, but I couldn't find a single lawyer who could take on this case. Everyone's prices are about the same - 2000-6000 euros for such long cases.

karlos194 · Answer

EA_ShepardHow is this still an issue? THIS IS A GAME THAT IS STILL SOLD. TAKE IT OFF OF THE MARKET OR FIX IT. Absolutely ridiculous 2 years....

tumx331 · Answer

EA_Shepard and the rest of the community managers clearly don't care about the real issues players are facing. They’re getting paid by the hour just to sit on the forums, throw out copy-paste replies, and pretend like they’re doing something useful.

There’s zero actual value from them.
Game broken? — “We’ll forward this to the team.”
Can’t log in? — “Check your drivers and reinstall the game.”
Server-side or client-side issues? — “Thanks for the feedback, we’ll look into it.”
A few weeks later? — Radio silence, like it never happened.

If all they can do is recycle outdated FAQ advice, what’s the point of having these so-called "specialists"?
Players have long become their own tech support — digging through Reddit, forums, and YouTube just to fix things on their own.

It honestly feels like community managers exist not to help, but to create the illusion that someone is listening.
In reality, they’re just glorified auto-responders with a paycheck.

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EA Fix PVZ GW1 Ban Exploit

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