Status Check on the Third Party Cheat Detection

[Picus at the office]

The last three days or so have been very exciting on the old UO battlefield. But all this said I cannot believe that the only current option for pvping in UO is either script, pay for UOA or run the EC(this answer is only 1 year old so its rather outweighted by those who just don't care for the client).

I believe that the EC has options to build macros and buttons linked to pots(I think it does, right) but the old classic client is stuck having to shell out $15 on top of the monthly price which is in addition to all the upgrades over the years. This in itself is BS. You cannot make a macro to use apples, buff up on the run, trigger a box, cure, heal, dismount or anything else with out having UOA and for this simple 10 year old issue nearly everyone would like to run something(op you don't fall in this area because you do all this by hand) to at the very least hotlink a key to avoid paying for UOA.

Then again I've now got a swampie that can spam poison breath but I don't get effected while riding it two feet away from its mouth??? Thanks dev team for the efforts but you've missed the issue.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Maybe the solution would be to give every fellucan the ban hammer ability so they can all ban each other. That would stop the majority of scripting (and accusations)

"scriptbeard is scripting! - I ban thee!" Only UO humor...

 

[Llewen]

I really do not see how using auto-heal or auto-cure scripts is a big advantage. Any experienced player can beat a warrior scripter. If you cannot beat him with a mage, it is not because of the scripts nor because you're not good. It is because this item based game allows him to be immortal (same concept why my greater dragon will never die fighting 3 consta spawning mongbats) I do not see how the script's .1 second auto-cure will make a difference compared to your .2 second manual hit button cure, give me a break here). Also, I do not even see how training a skill (eg. poisoning, alchemy etc...) via scripts is an evil thing either.

And here we have another one saying, "It's no big deal, leave it alone." If it's no big deal, why are so many going to such lengths to get the devs to leave it alone? And if you don't see how cutting response times in half, on top of freeing a player from having to think about that specific function, isn't an advantage, which is what you are saying in the example you gave, words fail me...

The truth is that an awful lot of people use scripts to do things like train skills, but they are also using them in pvp, and they don't want to lose the advantage that gives them. And that is why we are seeing this concerted campaign of misinformation and obfuscation. If they don't offer any advantages, why would anyone care if ****** was shut down, and the scripts done away with permanently?

What we have seen is every thread in which this subject is discussed with any seriousness attacked in a way specifically intended to get the thread locked. What we have seen is a steady, repetitive flow of misinformation and obfuscation. What we have seen is repeated attacks on the credibility and reputations of anyone who dares to discuss the topic and shed some light on what is actually going on.

And another tactic being employed is raising the spectre of this new all powerful scripting engine available for the EC. Which leads to another question. If there is a new scripting engine readily available for the EC which can do all these wonderful things that ****** cannot, and is undetectable, and can make you your breakfast while it pwns all the nubs killing Baracoon, why would any of these people care if ****** was shut down? Things that make you go, "Hmmmm...."

 

[GreekHero]

And here we have another one saying, "It's no big deal, leave it alone." If it's no big deal, why are so many going to such lengths to get the devs to leave it alone? And if you don't see how cutting response times in half, on top of freeing a player from having to think about that specific function, isn't an advantage, which is what you are saying in the example you gave, words fail me...

The truth is that an awful lot of people use scripts to do things like train skills, but they are also using them in pvp, and they don't want to lose the advantage that gives them. And that is why we are seeing this concerted campaign of misinformation and obfuscation. If they don't offer any advantages, why would anyone care if ****** was shut down, and the scripts done away with permanently?

What we have seen is every thread in which this subject is discussed with any seriousness attacked in a way specifically intended to get the thread locked. What we have seen is a steady, repetitive flow of misinformation and obfuscation. What we have seen is repeated attacks on the credibility and reputations of anyone who dares to discuss the topic and shed some light on what is actually going on.

And another tactic being employed is raising the spectre of this new all powerful scripting engine available for the EC. Which leads to another question. If there is a new scripting engine readily available for the EC which can do all these wonderful things that ****** cannot, and is undetectable, and can make you your breakfast while it pwns all the nubs killing Baracoon, why would any of these people care if ****** was shut down? Things that make you go, "Hmmmm...."

Llewen,

I respect your point of view but I want you to check the following. I am talking about PvP and training scripts here and NOT speed-hack scripts and resource gathering/gold farming which really harm the game.

1. Scripts do not cut down the heal-cure time in half, it is nanoseconds we are talking about here.

2. If there was a way to "write" your own macro in the game to help you with skill development I would think that 90% of script users would be gone.

3. I think you disregarded my suggestion that by changing the game mechanics, it would eliminate scripters by a huge percentage. (Eg. you can do a single dungeon spawn per day - then you have to change dungeon or spawn location, delay in healing/curing etc.)

 

[Kratos Aurion]

Hey GreekHero,

Speed hacking is actually a form of packet manipulization which is actually a minor form of hacking. It's not affiliated with scripting, although I'm sure a lot of scripters utilize it.

Though what I believe LLewen is getting at is even though the cure time (the initiation of the cure on the target) is the same for both scripters and non-scripters, a script can perform the function much quicker than a person can. If the script performs and action, it completes that action immediately and then waits for the action to complete to initiate a new or the same action. A human though has a train of thought where we must first engage in the macro/action and click a target (or use a separate macro for last target) which still requires hand motion which requires time (miliseconds?). It may be a very short period of time (under a second), but it takes much more training to perfect that course of gameplay over a scripter, which is why scripting (pvp related at least) is a problem.

I'm not arguing against you, but merely trying to identify Llewens point of view.

 

[R Traveler]

Every compromised account does already flagged. Too many for mass ban.

 

[Old Man of UO]

Every compromised account does already flagged. Too many for mass ban.

And you know this because...?

Sorry, but anyone can make any claim without proof. Your statement is meaningless without it. Do you have a link to a source?

 

[Kratos Aurion]

And you know this because...?

Sorry, but anyone can make any claim without proof. Your statement is meaningless without it. Do you have a link to a source?

I'm a statistic, but I learned from my youth and past mistakes

 

[Llewen]

1. Scripts do not cut down the heal-cure time in half, it is nanoseconds we are talking about here.

I'm not talking about the time it takes to heal or cure, I am talking about response times, and depending on the player it could easily be much more than 50% drop in response times. But more importantly scripts don't make mistakes.

If you have a well crafted script that will drink a heal pot when you reach 20% health, it will do that every time. It doesn't have the problem of target fixation where you are so focused on killing someone that you forget to watch your health. It doesn't get distracted by multiple attackers, or a team mate that calls for healing in vent, or any one of the millions of ways in pvp that a human player can make mistakes. Every time you hit 20% health, it will drink the heal pot.

3. I think you disregarded my suggestion that by changing the game mechanics, it would eliminate scripters by a huge percentage. (Eg. you can do a single dungeon spawn per day - then you have to change dungeon or spawn location, delay in healing/curing etc.)

Solutions like this treat the symptoms, not the problem. The problem is that we have a TOS that is not being enforced by the only people with the tools and the authority to police player actions and enforce that TOS.

I believe that it was Mark who in what seemed a moment of frustration a short while ago said (this is a paraphrase), "I apologize that other people have chosen to cheat in our game."

Well, in a way he's right, the ones to blame are the cheaters and those that consistently violate the TOS, but on another level he's completely wrong. There will always be people that will attempt to break rules, no matter what the rules are, it's a given

The only ones with the power and authority to police player actions and ensure that the TOS is upheld are those directly responsible for the Ultima Online IP - in this case the developers and the GM's. The buck stops with them.

They are the rule makers, the police force, and the judge and jury, and it is their responsibility to ensure that their rules are followed. If they abdicate that responsibility, as has been the case throughout the history of UO, then what happens is what has happened throughout the history of UO, the honest players, the players who take their agreement to follow the TOS seriously, end up playing one game, while the dishonest players, those whose word means nothing, end up playing a much easier game, and what inevitably happens is the honest players become the victims of the dishonest players.

You end up with a "sheep" and "wolves" scenario, which is exactly what has always been the situation in UO. And you end up with bad decisions, like the decision to create Trammel, being made to address the symptoms of the problem, without dealing with the actual problem itself.

 

[R Traveler]

nobody have a link to something not released on web

 

[Old Man of UO]

nobody have a link to something not released on web

Then you really don't know how many accounts have been flagged, or how many would be banned. Sorry, but too many people base their arguments on assumptions with no basis.

Here's mine:
EVERY scriptor and user of speedhacks come to Stratics UHall to post that so many users uses these illegal programs that UO will fail if they ban these users. EVERY one of these posts are wrong.

It's on the internet... it's a fact now.

 

[Lord Chaos]

It adjusts the script's reaction times. Something you said couldn't be done...

It adjusts additional delays, you cannot adjust the reaction times of the actual program and make it react faster. These delays are to make it slower on slower machines.

There's no need for delays on fast machines.

Here's for instance a place where a script would die in PvP. It cannot anticipate, so for instance if you're recieving damage, you cannot start a heal early to have it go off right at the barrage of damage, as your script only reacts at a certain limit of damage, nothing else. Its dumb as hell.

As Kaiser and several others have said repeatedly, you're not such a good PvPer if you can't beat someone using a script.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

But what if the healing script performs a health check at a rate of 10 times per second where if any sustained damage occurs, a bandaid or other healing method is then used to counter the damage?

Scripting is a dynamic environment. And basically what you said (the delay/reaction time) are both the same thing. If an object, lets say a bandaid, is delayed for 1.75 seconds after use, the script would be made to wait 1.75 seconds before reapplying that object again, otherwise risk over-lapping the action and cancelling the original.

The reaction time is EXACTLY when that 1.75s delay ends, the script re-initiates a new, or repeat action. No, the script CANNOT alter (hack) the actual delay time of an object, but that's not what we're discussing. We're discussing how fast a script performs an action versus how fast a human can. Not everybody has lightning fast fingers that can out-perform a script that performs an action in atom-seconds (totally made up by the way).

This topic has been trolled so hard, we really should get back into discussion about the anti-script system EA has implemented versus endlessly debating the way a program works.

 

[R Traveler]

Then you really don't know how many accounts have been flagged, or how many would be banned. Sorry, but too many people base their arguments on assumptions with no basis.

You right, I don't know numbers. There are some basis anyway: crash report thing have feature to "send running script for analysis". Most users do not send reports, so they change it to auto send. This change to client made mandatory asap, not after publish hitting Origin at least.

 

[Old Man of UO]

You right, I don't know numbers. There are some basis anyway: crash report thing have feature to "send running script for analysis". Most users do not send reports, so they change it to auto send. This change to client made mandatory asap, not after publish hitting Origin at least.

That I'll buy, although we don't know if either of the two clients have a self-reporting feature for crashes. Does it? And I'll agree that EA/Mythic has some idea of how many are using some, but not all, programs.

Still, that doesn't tell us anything at all about how many there are. Origin and then EA/Mythic has been studying this for 13 years. That does tell me they don't know what to do about it. That is sad for the rest of us.

 

[R Traveler]

That I'll buy, although we don't know if either of the two clients have a self-reporting feature for crashes.

http://www.uoherald.com/news/news.php?newsid=1069

Patch 7.0.8.0 (Classic Client)

● Client crash reporting is now done automatically. The pop-up window to that instructs the user to e-mail the crash details to the UO staff has been disabled.

 

[Kratos Aurion]

http://www.uoherald.com/news/news.php?newsid=1069

Patch 7.0.8.0 (Classic Client)

● Client crash reporting is now done automatically. The pop-up window to that instructs the user to e-mail the crash details to the UO staff has been disabled.

That's a good question. If the crash log was accurately able to determine what factors contributed to the crashing of the client (3rd party programs), that should be a pretty good indication of how many players are using such applications. Although, if the log isn't able to discern UOAM vs "the program that must not be named" <---seriously are we in an effin harry potter movie, then the developers would have no idea as to which program caused the problem and why.

 

[Old Man of UO]

What information is in a crash report? Does this mean that EA/Mythic can't tell which programs are interacting with the UO client until it crashes?

 

[Llewen]

What information is in a crash report? Does this mean that EA/Mythic can't tell which programs are interacting with the UO client until it crashes?

No it doesn't, but you can bet your sweet patootie that running processes are part of the crash report - running processes, and loaded dlls.

 

[Lord Chaos]

I'll explain later why you're so wrong its not even funny. Quit thinking about regular scripting or programming, its not at all comparative in this regard to the program which shall not be named.

But what if the healing script performs a health check at a rate of 10 times per second where if any sustained damage occurs, a bandaid or other healing method is then used to counter the damage?

Scripting is a dynamic environment. And basically what you said (the delay/reaction time) are both the same thing. If an object, lets say a bandaid, is delayed for 1.75 seconds after use, the script would be made to wait 1.75 seconds before reapplying that object again, otherwise risk over-lapping the action and cancelling the original.

The reaction time is EXACTLY when that 1.75s delay ends, the script re-initiates a new, or repeat action. No, the script CANNOT alter (hack) the actual delay time of an object, but that's not what we're discussing. We're discussing how fast a script performs an action versus how fast a human can. Not everybody has lightning fast fingers that can out-perform a script that performs an action in atom-seconds (totally made up by the way).

This topic has been trolled so hard, we really should get back into discussion about the anti-script system EA has implemented versus endlessly debating the way a program works.

 

[R Traveler]

Some illegal sites really messed, gloves hit hard, oops harm

Gauntlets Of Valor (Virtue Armor Set)
(Imbued)
Weight: 10 Stones
Hit Lower Defense 28%
Hit Harm 100%

 

[Picus at the office]

In regards to the original posting if the CC had the ablity to set proper macros this issue would be much less of a big deal but the team has spent a huge amount of effort bringing out two clients that have been largly disregarded but the majority of players.

7 years ago the cat left his post and the mice have been playing ever since. 7 years of mice building and building I suspect the mouse hole is so big they just can't do anything. I know 2 people who do not script(myself included of course). 2 out of every player I have met in the last 7 years since I've been back.

 

[o2bavr6]

I've come a across a few players who have a program that insta uses a trapped box if they get paralyzed.

I've tested it out on the players and no matter when i para them it is instantly released with a trapped box. They don't even have enough time to use their scroll wheel on their mouse with a macro it happens so fast.

Also the stump hack needs to be fixed. nothing is more annoying than someone who can run through trees and other obstacles while the regular player has to run around them.

 

[Cal_Mythic]

Here is a quick status ...
At this moment I have a massive spreadsheet to parse and gather data on player activity.

It has unique account IDs with the programs the account was running.

I will not share how the data was gathered, or the methods by which players will be ... prosecuted ... I almost used the term executed but that would have been a bit too dark even for my tastes.

However, please know the processes are alive and well. The application has been running for some time now, and we made a few changes offline to adapt for different types of accounts and how we can parse all the information.

We had publish to work on as well as the Housing DB, Login Server and conversion of the character DB as priority for a while. (In addition to some other wondrous nuggets you will hear about next week!)

As stated before this is an iterative process. Some players have mentioned how the mass bannings of the past are not the most just way of taking action. As many of you have stated ... moving forward on this is delicate ... But please know it's NOT been abandoned by any means.

And I will say ... it's nice to be able to look directly into player behavior in a simple format. I guess Excel isn't as evil as some might believe.

 

[Amber Moon]

I guess Excel isn't as evil as some might believe.

Oh yes it is. EVIL *** makes the sign of the cross with her fingers ***

 

[Llewen]

But please know it's NOT been abandoned by any means.

Well, as someone famous once said, game developers are part psychologist, and I feel like I've had my counselling session. I'm feeling better...

 

[R Traveler]

Ahh, I just summoned UO producer as proof

 

[Beastmaster]

Here is a quick status ...
At this moment I have a massive spreadsheet to parse and gather data on player activity.

It has unique account IDs with the programs the account was running.

I will not share how the data was gathered, or the methods by which players will be ... prosecuted ... I almost used the term executed but that would have been a bit too dark even for my tastes.

However, please know the processes are alive and well. The application has been running for some time now, and we made a few changes offline to adapt for different types of accounts and how we can parse all the information.

We had publish to work on as well as the Housing DB, Login Server and conversion of the character DB as priority for a while. (In addition to some other wondrous nuggets you will hear about next week!)

As stated before this is an iterative process. Some players have mentioned how the mass bannings of the past are not the most just way of taking action. As many of you have stated ... moving forward on this is delicate ... But please know it's NOT been abandoned by any means.

And I will say ... it's nice to be able to look directly into player behavior in a simple format. I guess Excel isn't as evil as some might believe.

*Saving this post for future reference*

This post will come back to haunt some folks.

 

[Cal_Mythic]

Well, as someone famous once said, game developers are part psychologist, and I feel like I've had my counselling session. I'm feeling better...

hahah ... nice

 

[Cal_Mythic]

Ahh, I just summoned UO producer as proof

Your summoning spell is bugged ... I feel queasy.

 

[R Traveler]

Your summoning spell is bugged ... I feel queasy.

You know, its very difficult spell. Sorry for few fizzles rolleyes:
I need a lot of time to regenerate mana and stamina now

 

[popps]

As stated before this is an iterative process. Some players have mentioned how the mass bannings of the past are not the most just way of taking action. As many of you have stated ... moving forward on this is delicate ... But please know it's NOT been abandoned by any means.

Well, it is refreshing to know, by all means........

Of course, you guys run the game and the judgement is yours about how to handle the cheating situation but perhaps, just an idea, while those really abusing on cheating deserve being banned, linked accounts included, those occasionally doing it could get a serious warning of some sort, perhaps a limited time ban.

One thing, though, if you spotted accounts using scripting to gain wealth (BODs, mining, chopping wood, Library collectibles and so forth) and you decide to go for a temporary ban or a warning, not for a permanent ban, at least you should seriously consider stripping those accounts of whatever was obtained through cheating......

Good luck in your work and I hope you will be able to be wise and fair not only towards those who cheated, but also towards all those players who, over the years, suffered the consequences of others cheating.

I hope we are at a new Dawn for Ultima Online, the dawn of being free to finally play the game without fearing that other players might be cheating to gain an unfair advantage.

 

[Nyses]

This should be intersting. My personal feeling is that if they start banning folkes who have fired up "the Script Program", UO will be a Serious ghost town.

I do not say this as a scare tactic, but from observation. (Popps) Most (read 80% or more) of the players I have met in the last 5 years, do or have used it. The scripting has gone on so long and gone unpunished, it is practically legal, from the standpoint it has been allowed to continue so long. Now do not get me wrong, I also know players who have never turned on the Scripting program.

At the very least, far too many of the game mechanics are too antiquated. How many clicks should it take to fill and turn in ONE BOD? Let alone the thousands it takes to actually get anything really useful (except POF). Then there is Mining, Looting, combining Powerscrolls and Pinkies and a TON of other activities. I am just saying sitting around clicking for hours gets old fast.

Now I have played the EC and I really do like what they have done with the ability to do scrips and macros. But it makes little difference, when you are too busy trying to distunguish your fizzy gliding toon, from the non-distinct pastel background, Brain busy identifying what it sees, not thinking about working your macros/scipts.

I guess time will tell. We will see.

 

[GarthGrey]

Petra, once the bannings begin, will you guys follow suit and ban any known Stratics accounts tied to UO accounts? Or will we have to sit here and listen to cheaters that we've all known were cheaters, as they spin their defense ? Personally, I would get more satisfaction out of sudden absences as the indicator of all who were banned because we won't be allowed to goof on them once they come a cryin...

 

[UOKaiser]

Here is a quick status ...
At this moment I have a massive spreadsheet to parse and gather data on player activity.

It has unique account IDs with the programs the account was running.

I will not share how the data was gathered, or the methods by which players will be ... prosecuted ... I almost used the term executed but that would have been a bit too dark even for my tastes.

However, please know the processes are alive and well. The application has been running for some time now, and we made a few changes offline to adapt for different types of accounts and how we can parse all the information.

We had publish to work on as well as the Housing DB, Login Server and conversion of the character DB as priority for a while. (In addition to some other wondrous nuggets you will hear about next week!)

As stated before this is an iterative process. Some players have mentioned how the mass bannings of the past are not the most just way of taking action. As many of you have stated ... moving forward on this is delicate ... But please know it's NOT been abandoned by any means.

And I will say ... it's nice to be able to look directly into player behavior in a simple format. I guess Excel isn't as evil as some might believe.

LoL excel can be used to automate UO as well how could you?!!!

 

[Llewen]

Petra, once the bannings begin, will you guys follow suit and ban any known Stratics accounts tied to UO accounts?

I don't speak for Stratics, but I don't see how that could be done. Even people like me who have given character names, there is no real way of knowing whether I have told the truth. I mean, there are people that can vouch for me, but even at that, with no system linking the two, the potential for abuse and mistakes would be too great to start doing something like that.

 

[[JD]]

Here is a quick status ...
At this moment I have a massive spreadsheet to parse and gather data on player activity.

It has unique account IDs with the programs the account was running.

I will not share how the data was gathered, or the methods by which players will be ... prosecuted ... I almost used the term executed but that would have been a bit too dark even for my tastes.

However, please know the processes are alive and well. The application has been running for some time now, and we made a few changes offline to adapt for different types of accounts and how we can parse all the information.

We had publish to work on as well as the Housing DB, Login Server and conversion of the character DB as priority for a while. (In addition to some other wondrous nuggets you will hear about next week!)

As stated before this is an iterative process. Some players have mentioned how the mass bannings of the past are not the most just way of taking action. As many of you have stated ... moving forward on this is delicate ... But please know it's NOT been abandoned by any means.

And I will say ... it's nice to be able to look directly into player behavior in a simple format. I guess Excel isn't as evil as some might believe.

Thanks Cal. We're all just tired of the people cheating, auto drinking pots, bandages, auto-cure speedhacking, etc.

I'd have to say though that using for training and mundane tasks should be a heads up to development that those tasks are pretty boring or carpel tunnel inducing: mining, lumberjacking, watering plants, etc. Might be nice to update interfaces for those people so they are more human friendly. I don't raise plants myself but I have a friend who does and she complained she had to log in and do hundreds of clicks to raise her plants, every day.

 

[GarthGrey]

I don't speak for Stratics, but I don't see how that could be done. Even people like me who have given character names, there is no real way of knowing whether I have told the truth. I mean, there are people that can vouch for me, but even at that, with no system linking the two, the potential for abuse and mistakes would be too great to start doing something like that.

I said "KNOWN". Petra and others I'm sure, know who lots of posters are in game. My point was, would they ban those stratics accounts if they knew they were related to the ingame accounts. YOU were the furthest thing from my mind when I posted this, but you're painfully, obviously, nervous .

 

[Lord Chaos]

This should be intersting. My personal feeling is that if they start banning folkes who have fired up "the Script Program", UO will be a Serious ghost town.

Yeah, not to mention the legitimate people who will quit along with it down the line. And with little to replace them.

I do not say this as a scare tactic, but from observation. (Popps) Most (read 80% or more) of the players I have met in the last 5 years, do or have used it. The scripting has gone on so long and gone unpunished, it is practically legal, from the standpoint it has been allowed to continue so long. Now do not get me wrong, I also know players who have never turned on the Scripting program.

This is a good observation. Also, it would really be sad that they let the people who used the passive cheats like search sites get away with wrecking the game (making all traffic revolve around Luna, instead of shops other places)

Its utterly ludicrous if they start to go Judge Dredd on the whole thing, when they've allowed it to seep into the community for over a decade with little effort to neither combat it, nor actually make game systems that works to make them unneeded.

At the very least, far too many of the game mechanics are too antiquated. How many clicks should it take to fill and turn in ONE BOD? Let alone the thousands it takes to actually get anything really useful (except POF). Then there is Mining, Looting, combining Powerscrolls and Pinkies and a TON of other activities. I am just saying sitting around clicking for hours gets old fast.

Yeah, this is far too much of a mindless clicking game, which is the prime reason why most people cheat.

Now I have played the EC and I really do like what they have done with the ability to do scrips and macros. But it makes little difference, when you are too busy trying to distunguish your fizzy gliding toon, from the non-distinct pastel background, Brain busy identifying what it sees, not thinking about working your macros/scipts.

Right as well. Not to mention its totally stupid that you're forced into the EC and you're basically forced into the cheating if you want to use the CC because of the antique interface.

I guess time will tell. We will see.

Yeah, time will tell...too bad we'll likely get yet another freaked out reaction and get something dumb like randomized resources were. I honestly can't see any good way out of this situation as it is.

 

[Nyses]

I hope everyone realizes, that even if every Scripter, was banned, It would not eliminate the Speed hacks.

And the Speedhacks are far worse in PvP than Scripting, imho. If you and a friend are good (and on one target), there is no reason you should not beat a guys scripts, but when he "skips" away at will, to heal and "skip" back in to attack,

I for one, would be far more excited to see an end to speedhacking.

I personally think we will see players leave slowly, without some mechanism to midigate the tediousness and massive clicking required for most all crafting and some other things.

I may be wrong. Many players are also on limited play time, and after the first few years, mining, chopping tree, crafting for BOD's, it all gets REALLY REALLY boring. There is not danger, no surprise, no random chance for much to happen at all ( just carpel tunnel). Random Ore locations do not count as exciting, nor do Ore ellys, and BOD rewards are all set in stone as it were. (except the new, small chance for a high end bump). Ever go killing on a Sampire (say the bane event), with Corpses dropping under already dead corpes and the HUGE piles you can get around you, it can be VERY difficult to even get he corpses open.

Just some stuff to think about.

 

[AesSedai]

... [predicted rebuttal]...

- Good to hear ya' sayin' such; different perspectives are quite often good to hear.

- Thx for the update Cal. A lot of people that have given up on UO, due to cheating, just might appreciate that when they get the itch to see what's happening in UO and return for a glimpse. A lot of people that are just paying and not playing just might like to hear it too. Thanks team for the continued evolution of our beloved entertainment entity.

 

[Mapper]

Petra, once the bannings begin, will you guys follow suit and ban any known Stratics accounts tied to UO accounts? Or will we have to sit here and listen to cheaters that we've all known were cheaters, as they spin their defense ? Personally, I would get more satisfaction out of sudden absences as the indicator of all who were banned because we won't be allowed to goof on them once they come a cryin...

EA isn't likely to give out a list of who was banned so theres nothing Stratics could even begin to check to see who is who and ban those who were banned.

I of course am just speculating, But I think it will be business as usual here at Stratics, enforcing the RoC and ban those who break it. If someone is banned from UO as long as they post within the RoC here I don't see an issue with it.

 

[Llewen]

I said "KNOWN". Petra and others I'm sure, know who lots of posters are in game. My point was, would they ban those stratics accounts if they knew they were related to the ingame accounts. YOU were the furthest thing from my mind when I posted this, but you're painfully, obviously, nervous .

Not even remotely nervous. There you go again with the innuendo and half accusations based, as usual, on thin air. I was only using myself as an example. I have posted my main character's name, and I am well known, but even in a case such as mine, no one can really be sure

 

[UOKaiser]

EA isn't likely to give out a list of who was banned so theres nothing Stratics could even begin to check to see who is who and ban those who were banned.

I of course am just speculating, But I think it will be business as usual here at Stratics, enforcing the RoC and ban those who break it. If someone is banned from UO as long as they post within the RoC here I don't see an issue with it.

True i don't see people baned in Uo for griefting,cursing,advertising,bad house designs,harrasment,racist,scamming,etc.. Being able to be tracked to Stratics. i think stractics uohall will end up pretty empty lol.

 

[Travis82]

So if you have the error reporting service off how would it report the crash?

 

[Exgirlfriend]

What part of get rid of the cheaters NOW do you not understand? How many years have you ignored this issue? Why should anybody believe anyhthing EA says about this issue? Why have a paging system if you do NOTHING when we use it! I used to think the worst was the speedhackers and the people that are co-dependent on healing scripts....But whats truly worse is your service.

 

[R Traveler]

I guess Excel isn't as evil as some might believe.

Are you using old Excel (2003 and earlier) or latest 2007/2010?

To anyone who wonders, there was rows limit around 65k and it increased to 1m later. We have some guess about active account numbers.

 

[popps]

I may be wrong. Many players are also on limited play time, and after the first few years, mining, chopping tree, crafting for BOD's, it all gets REALLY REALLY boring. There is not danger, no surprise, no random chance for much to happen at all ( just carpel tunnel). Random Ore locations do not count as exciting, nor do Ore ellys, and BOD rewards are all set in stone as it were. (except the new, small chance for a high end bump). Ever go killing on a Sampire (say the bane event), with Corpses dropping under already dead corpes and the HUGE piles you can get around you, it can be VERY difficult to even get he corpses open.

Just some stuff to think about.

Well, not everyone needs to necessarily be self sufficient in everything.........

Do not like doing Library Collectibles or Bulk Order Deeds ? Buy the items from those who like to do them...........

Do not have time to spend mining or chopping wood ?
Buy them from those who actually can do it.........

Getting rid of scripting and cheating in UO brings back game play and buying/selling among players.

It brings the game BACK since it kills (finally) the ability to be able to do everything on one's own, without the need to resort to other fellow players !!

That's how I see it.

 

[Nyses]

Well, not everyone needs to necessarily be self sufficient in everything.........

Do not like doing Library Collectibles or Bulk Order Deeds ? Buy the items from those who like to do them...........

Do not have time to spend mining or chopping wood ?
Buy them from those who actually can do it.........

Getting rid of scripting and cheating in UO brings back game play and buying/selling among players.

It brings the game BACK since it kills (finally) the ability to be able to do everything on one's own, without the need to resort to other fellow players !!

That's how I see it.

I guess we will have to wait and see, Popps.

As much as we all long for the community and player interactions of the past, the future only moves forward.

Oh and right now today, most servers do not have enough population to actually support the trade we once knew.

 

[Mapper]

Are you using old Excel (2003 and earlier) or latest 2007/2010?

To anyone who wonders, there was rows limit around 65k and it increased to 1m later. We have some guess about active account numbers.

Would be concerning if they filled 65,000 rows with suspect accounts.