How much MORE Blatent do Dupers need to be on Atlantic till EA Does something?

[a slave girl]

This is imho the core of the problem. By lack of reactions over the years, various forms of cheating have been rampant (scripts, speedhacks,treehacks, spawncams, duping, etc..). Yes they made some spectacular bannings, but the overall impression is that you can cheat freely in UO, as long as you are not too dumb. This per se made a lot of people quit the game.

I agree that the dev team has been pretty awful at cracking down on cheaters in the past few years.

I noticed with the duped colored shrouds, the duped blue Umbra necromancer robes, the duped gold Brit guard sash clothing when I was still playing on Atlantic.

I'd report Luna city vendor houses with all 12 of their vendors dressed in duped liquid gold robes, vendors wearing and selling the fuzzy blue duped robes, sent in screenshots even of the legit AOS fuzzy blue robes so they could see that the dupes were untagged.

Nothing was done.

Back then I was left to wonder if:

a. the persons duping and selling dupes had friends in high places?

or

b. the dev team turned over a new leaf and decided that duping clothing is ok so long as it has no mods and then they just forgot to tell me?


Of course then later on we got duped vine cord sandals, duped clothing with mods and no action was taken for quite a long time, so b. was obviously NOT the correct answer.

Oh sure the duped vine cords were eventually nuked after certain players were allowed to make some nice irl bucks.

All this duping and dev inaction made me curious as to what has changed in UO in the past few years, so I did some investigating and found this:


http://uocodex.com/uo-devs-draconi/


Home About Contact Us Archives Links Current Events Timeline
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UO - Current Dev Team Members - Tim “Draconi” Cotten
>> List of Current UO Developers
>> List of Past UO Developers

aka: Draconi (aka Draconi Dragon)
Name: Tim Cotten ([email protected])
Years Working on UO: September 19th (?), 2005 - Current
Position(s): Designer
Worked On:
Ultima Online: 9th Anniversary - Designer
Ultima Online: Kingdom Reborn - Designer

Interviews/Comments on UO

Where Are They Now?
- A Designer on the current UO Team.

What Else Did They Do?
- Before his current job working on UO, Draconi was the Atlantic Forum moderator for Stratics. He was not designing/devleoping applications for UO before that, as was reported.

Other/External Sites:
The Creation - Spoof of “And God created…” with Richard Garriott and Ultima

Notable Quotes:

Notes:
- Has stated he has played since the beta - 1997, and that he does in fact PvP, and is/was a well-known merchant.

Draconi was introduced on September 19, 2005:

We have a new designer ON the UO staff and we’re all very excited that he has decided to come join us!

Some of you may recognize the name and but with a few more letters hanging OFF the end of it. (Though he may use his original posting nickname to respond to this thread).

Please welcome our new designer and Draconi_EA to the team!

Niobe
Designer and Ultima Online

*********************************




These two sentences seemed to stand out to me:


..."Before his current job working on UO, Draconi was the Atlantic Forum moderator for Stratics."


..."Has stated he has played since the beta - 1997, and that he does in fact PvP, and is/was a well-known merchant."


'Atlantic' forum moderator AND a well-known 'merchant'.....hrmmm.


And person now in charge of banning some hardcore cheaters who appear to be for the most part 'Atlantic' 'merchants'...


K...


I must add that on test shard a couple years ago I was actually present when Draconi refused to allow some players to participate in an event because their guild tag was Hax (that guild had been banned for duping not long before that).



I'm an optimist, I want to BELIEVE that the devs don't play favorites.


But:


I look at this thread...


And:


I watch that broker on Pac continue to rack up sales with his duped val hammer samurai armor...


And these things sure do make it difficult to keep on Believing.

 

[drinkbeerallday]

Why are people moaning about EA? Did the not just do a mass ban of who knows how many accounts 2 weeks ago? They fixed the dupes as per Jeremy's confirmation and removed all those items from the game.

because as a result of the duping there's a bunch of overpowered weapons and armor in the game

 

[RaDian FlGith]

A command would need to be run to convert all items to this new unique number during the initial database creation -- after importing all existing items. Then, once everything is uniquely numbered, the individual shard databases can (say, once per hour) upload their items to the central server, resulting in no lag time for even the most remote users.

There'd be no need for unique item IDs between shards. The suggestion that I've made similarly requires unique item IDs, but also a table that stores information about the parent process that created an item.

As far as server transfers go, it should take the existing item, create a new item on the new server, storing both parent and child item IDs in the process. Once the server transfer process is complete, the existing items on the old shard are deleted -- the record of that transfer (parent and child) though remains in cold storage, and during the next backup, a transfer verification database ensures that parent items are gone.

And, honestly, I'd play it safe, and put a 24-hour waiting period in for server transfers so that all parent items are locked in the transfer process, and HAVE to go through a verification process in order to clear the transfer on the other end. Any errors, and the transfer does not complete automatically, and manual intervention looks at whatever errors exist.

 

[bokke]

because as a result of the duping there's a bunch of overpowered weapons and armor in the game

So in other words are we saying thatall these items need to be deleted then in order to bring about some kind of 'order'?

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

Did the not just do a mass ban of who knows how many accounts 2 weeks ago? They fixed the dupes as per Jeremy's confirmation and removed all those items from the game.

Negative. There was no such confirmation and it has definitely not happened. Also, approximately 150 accounts were banned, jfyi.

 

[Moxis]

My only comment is that I waited a very long time for GM and never saw one. I never even moved up in the queue. Never got in my problem.

They must be doing something, right (RIGHT?)? I suspect they're more involved in this duping problem than you guys think.

Just saying.

 

[Stucky]

http://www.whisperingroseradio.com/shopping.htm

 

[Halister Marner]

http://www.whisperingroseradio.com/shopping.htm

*winces*

I really wish they would get some new sponsors, and since I understand the costs of hosting a site, I would even match what they are paying WRR to remove those ads if it's a money issue.

As far as the dupers/dupes being fixed, the dupe bugs have been corrected and fixed, however there are still giant stashes of duped runics and rares, and many dupers and fencers that have evaded bans.

 

[Godiva_DF]

Just noticed the "rares" vendor in that establishment.

Bone Shards for 50 million can be obtained by slaying shadow wisps...

 

[Crack Head Bob]

The ones from Wisps dont have that name. And i dont think you can get them looking like that either.

 

[Godiva_DF]

They are exactly the same.

It is a scam.

The lower one I just got from a shadow wisp, the upper one is the infamous vendor

 

[Uriah Heep]

Did the not just do a mass ban of who knows how many accounts 2 weeks ago? They fixed the dupes as per Jeremy's confirmation and removed all those items from the game.

Negative. There was no such confirmation and it has definitely not happened. Also, approximately 150 accounts were banned, jfyi.

Where did that number come from?

Just curious...

 

[It Lives]

They are exactly the same.

It is a scam.

The lower one I just got from a shadow wisp, the upper one is the infamous vendor

ShhhUUuuuuuuuNNNnnnN

 

[Trebr Drab]

They are exactly the same.

It is a scam.

The lower one I just got from a shadow wisp, the upper one is the infamous vendor

That's a scam, sure. But it's not a cheat of any kind. I guess the question is, how safe do you want the game? Does every social ill need to be removed? Even if it's "realistic", as in RL scams, especially in the world of art and artifacts...?

For me, I don't want the Devs to handle this directly. I wish there was a way for players to handle these things. But without open PvP, or player controlled areas, cities, zones, or any other social means to handle this kind of thing, it's pretty much useless. Notices can be posted on message boards, but how many players would read them?

In early days, GMs had posted a sign in front of a scammer's house on GL, and I think on another shard too. That was good, but how can players do this themselves without some players abusing that then too? We need player voted governments that have some things they can do, and have to answer to the other players. (Promoted player run cities with real powers...check!)

 

[Halister Marner]

How much MORE Blatent do Dupers need to be on Atlantic

Apparently more blatent by the day. (There's more, I just couldn't fit them all on my screen)

 

[Xalan Dementia]

Bottom Line.... These vendors are tainted with illegal items and shady dealings. Boycott them. Even if all the vendors at these houses arent owned by cheats, the majority of them are therefore the house should be nuked. No one can successfully defend these vendors and thier obviously duped items. So close the thread, everyone here knows theres no justification for these vendors.

 

[Elbryan Uthador]

They are exactly the same.

It is a scam.

The lower one I just got from a shadow wisp, the upper one is the infamous vendor

I passed along the informaton about the bone shards to this vendor's owner. This was a server birth item and evidently the graphic had been used for the ones also recovered from shadow wisps. He wants you to know that he was not aware of this and it was not his attention to try to scam anyone out their gold. I was just there when he took them off and I saw them put into the trashcan.

 

[Godiva_DF]

That's a scam, sure. But it's not a cheat of any kind. I guess the question is, how safe do you want the game? Does every social ill need to be removed? Even if it's "realistic", as in RL scams, especially in the world of art and artifacts...?

For me, I don't want the Devs to handle this directly. I wish there was a way for players to handle these things. But without open PvP, or player controlled areas, cities, zones, or any other social means to handle this kind of thing, it's pretty much useless. Notices can be posted on message boards, but how many players would read them?

In early days, GMs had posted a sign in front of a scammer's house on GL, and I think on another shard too. That was good, but how can players do this themselves without some players abusing that then too? We need player voted governments that have some things they can do, and have to answer to the other players. (Promoted player run cities with real powers...check!)

Of course this is nothing for the Devs to handle, as opposed to the 25 crystalline rings, crimsons, HoMs etc.

It is up to the older players and Rares collectors to post this on message boards and hope for the best. I do this regularly for my shard.

In my opinion, if you manage a Rares vendor with serverbirths and event items you should have a minimum knowledge of what you are selling.

 

[Tomas_Bryce]

In my opinion, if you manage a Rares vendor with serverbirths and event items you should have a minimum knowledge of what you are selling.

Not if all your stock comes from dupers and you are just a useless reseller.

 

[Harb]

Bottom Line.... These vendors are tainted with illegal items and shady dealings. Boycott them. Even if all the vendors at these houses arent owned by cheats, the majority of them are therefore the house should be nuked. No one can successfully defend these vendors and thier obviously duped items. So close the thread, everyone here knows theres no justification for these vendors.

A boycott won't negate the gameplay effects, though I agree in principle and refuse to buy any of the stuff. And as I take my pricipled stand, my characters have moved into a competitive disadvantage that years of play and effort haven't and never can offset - without direct, decisive, permanent, timley (well they missed this one already, we're at least 45 days into this issue) and comprehensive action/ reform on the part of Mythic.

This is just the latest edition of accepting and/ or being unable to adequately address unscrupulous play. The unscrupulous player is limited only by knowledge (they will use every cheat every time if they possess the know how) and regulated or stopped only by EA/Mythic. Actually on a timeline, it's not even the latest edition, young player exploits during the Meliisa event occured after this began. So until the powers that be take a pricipled position, all we can do is report it, post, or hamper play efforts of our own. Truely sad really.

 

[mimring1]

Im not sure if anyone remembers but the same folks that own that vendor house own one just across the street (and yes they are on multiple shards, with multiple luna houses). They had a vendor that was selling vinecord sandles (from what I understood a few pair had been sold) just before the devs did away with the dupes acknowledging that there ever was only one pair created, now im not saying the vendor houses are duping but for sure they rent to em'.
I agree EA needs to do more, but honestly I think they have there hands full with the numerous problems with the game, so as player support Ide love to see us honest players working together, boycot the shops you suspect sell dupes, and hey that goes for you vendor house owners, get rid of anyone you suspect is selling dupes, it makes you look bad!
Paying a little more at vendors you have no doubt are legitimate, although more costly can do a world of good for the economy.

 

[Elbryan Uthador]

In my opinion, if you manage a Rares vendor with serverbirths and event items you should have a minimum knowledge of what you are selling.

A few observations.

1) I believe him when he said he made a mistake, it wouldn't be the first time EA/Mythic/OSI has made a server rare obsolete by using the same graphic. We almost had the same thing happen with the birds nest but thankfully it was changed so the original "serverbirth" item remained its unique color.

2) This vendor's owner was asked or was permitted to run a "history" booth at the rare's festival. Evidently he knows his stuff.

3) He wasn't banned, but having his vendor there with all those vendors that are selling duped items (in my opinion) isn't the smartest place to be. Again that is my opinion.

 

[Goldberg-Chessy]

The owner of those vendors is some chick/dude from an wakoko. She buys the stuff there and then transfers that stuff here to atlantic...

But good job Mr.Detective, did you notice the prices on everything? Do you honestly think a duper would charge that much on an item that they have an endless supply of? Or could it be someone buys the stuff from their home shard (If you ever went to an Asian shard you will notice the big difference in prices) And they bring them here to sell.

Go on though, I'm sure you'll find a duper eventually, just pick out every vendor you see until you find your scapegoat. :loser:

No offense bud but that vendor shop(in its present & past forms under the same owner)has been selling massive amounts of val/ver hammers and heartwood fletching kits for months & months.
I have personally bought at least 20 val/ver hammers and 20 heart fletch kits there. And I have never seen its stock dwindle down. It is always fully restocked within hours.

The owner of the shop has personally told me via Icq that he himself does not dupe or sell anything duped so he feels secure and does not care what his renters are selling as long as they pay their 500k - 1 million per week fees.

As there is no physical way ingame to prove an item is actually duped I have to say I can understand his viewpoint even though I may not agree with it 100%.

As I have said before I can assume that many of the runics I have bought were duped but as I personally have no way of knowing a duped item from a legit item I will keep on buying as there is no other way that I know of to get these items if I dont want to do the quests myself(and I dont as they are ungodly boring and I am extremely wealthy)

IMO EA seriously needs to take the 'assume' out of the game and just once and for all work out a system that just doesnt allow for anything to be duped(or at least makes it possible for the gamers to spot the dupe) But I am not holding my breath on that one.

Peace