NEWS [UO.Com] Exploiting Game Mechanics

[UO News]

Good afternoon everyone, I wanted to touch base with everyone because there seems to be some confusion. If you box in any mob with impassable items you will get your account actioned. This is and always has been a rule in UO. The team would like to wish everyone a Happy Easter! Thank you, UO Team

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[R00]

Duh

 

[Anon McDougle]

Honestly A+ for rapidly responding with a clear answer

 

[GarthGrey]

Of all of the things they could enforce..this one's the silliest....who the eff cares ? Apparently someone, because they're paging...

 

[R00]

Of all of the things they could enforce..this one's the silliest....who the eff cares ? Apparently someone, because they're paging...

You let this go suddenly folks are crying for getting actioned for blocking Corgul or something.

"But you let me block the rabbit!!" *cry*

 

[Coco_Zamis_DF]

Yeah here they Show the hard actioning. All other Bug, illegal clients and Bots cannot be caught and not be punished.
What a different in behavior.

 

[Keven2002]

You let this go suddenly folks are crying for getting actioned for blocking Corgul or something.

"But you let me block the rabbit!!" *cry*

Things like Corgal and even white wyrms / mares etc all blow up things you try to block them with.

 

[Danneskjold]

Now if they would do something about other cheats. Like all the blue beatles inside the IDOC barrels last night. Not just one account but 1/2 dozen.

 

[R00]

Things like Corgal and even white wyrms / mares etc all blow up things you try to block them with.

Corgul does *not* blow up bagballs

 

[John Knighthawke]

Like I said on the official forums, she's mostly right that this is the rule and always has been. However, she's not telling you that they've made exceptions now and again over the years, which has only led to more confusion. People doing it however shouldn't be surprised to learn that this is illegal at all. Come on, folks. You really want me to believe you've never heard of this rule before?

For those of you who think this is an entirely harmless activity? Well the first time I saw someone doing this, it got me killed. Dude thought it was pretty funny. I did not.

 

[Keven2002]

Like I said on the official forums, she's mostly right that this is the rule and always has been. However, she's not telling you that they've made exceptions now and again over the years, which has only led to more confusion. People doing it however shouldn't be surprised to learn that this is illegal at all. Come on, folks. You really want me to believe you've never heard of this rule before?

For those of you who think this is an entirely harmless activity? Well the first time I saw someone doing this, it got me killed. Dude thought it was pretty funny. I did not.

When talking about all this stuff, I think there are various levels to it. You are comparing someone bagballing a rabbit in a field versus whatever happened to you which I know for a fact you weren't killed by a vorpal.

I think one thing that you and many others have forgotten is that Mesanna is also the same person that said something to the effect of "do what you need to do to win". I'm against 3rd party clients and to me it's black and white when talking about them in PvP because that's an unfair advantage but if we are talking about filling BODs, I don't really care because it's not really giving anyone some major unfair advantage (assuming it's attended); it's QoL and fine to me even though it's basically clicking things for you. So when we are talking about 3rd party clients which are used to "win" she is going to turn a blind eye.

Now let's compare that to the whole bagball issue. If someone is throwing down bagballs to impede players and harass them then sure I see the issue and it's not harmless and could be considered unfair; let the bans begin. But when we are talking about somebody in a field just boxing in a rabbit, then I don't see the harm in it. Basically what it's doing there is QoL so that someone doesn't have to double click a million times (or hold down a macro) to keep the rabbit in place... it's no different than my BOD example.

I think it's pretty easy to apply some logic to what's actually harming others and what isn't. This is just one more example of the Dev/GMs inconsistently enforcing some semi-defined rule.

 

[Tyrath]

I could care less one way or another about bag balling the bunnies. I do find amusing that there are so many so bad at UO that they feel they have to bag ball the bunnies LOL. Where blocking annoys me is the A Hole that keeps putting crates on my house corner recall spots. Or the dickweed that didn't like me leading Lurg to cave entrance running out invising and going right back in to put the pet on Lurg. So they put a triple wall of bag balls at the entrance. I will give some humor credit to one house blocker though...... I chopped a crate on the house corner and it was full of bag balls, that made me laugh.

A the end of the day like it or not the rules are whatever Mesana says the rules are and how the double standards will be applied on a day by day basis.

 

[Cinderella]

maybe they started using bagballs after having an experience like mine.
I went to my usual spots and there were people there
so I wondered what it would be like at Yew.

I went to the carrot patch below the sheep pen on the Eastern side.
planted my thorn but when it popped up my pet didn't attack it right off.
And the bar didn't pop up so I had to chase it all over to pull its bar
and then I wasn't within range to target it.
by the time I did manage to attack it
It made it all the way to the moongate and then almost all the way back to town.
those rabbits can go.
needless to say, that is the last time I planted there lol

they should really make it to where they bounce back
when they get too far away

 

[S_S]

maybe they started using bagballs after having an experience like mine.
I went to my usual spots and there were people there
so I wondered what it would be like at Yew.

I went to the carrot patch below the sheep pen on the Eastern side.
planted my thorn but when it popped up my pet didn't attack it right off.
And the bar didn't pop up so I had to chase it all over to pull its bar
and then I wasn't within range to target it.
by the time I did manage to attack it
It made it all the way to the moongate and then almost all the way back to town.
those rabbits can go.
needless to say, that is the last time I planted there lol

they should really make it to where they bounce back
when they get too far away

There is this macro that has been mentioned a few times...

 

[Larisa]

maybe they started using bagballs after having an experience like mine.
I went to my usual spots and there were people there
so I wondered what it would be like at Yew.

I went to the carrot patch below the sheep pen on the Eastern side.
planted my thorn but when it popped up my pet didn't attack it right off.
And the bar didn't pop up so I had to chase it all over to pull its bar
and then I wasn't within range to target it.
by the time I did manage to attack it
It made it all the way to the moongate and then almost all the way back to town.
those rabbits can go.
needless to say, that is the last time I planted there lol

they should really make it to where they bounce back
when they get too far away

I do mine in Yew all day long.

If it does get a bit far from you, KEEP CLICKING IT! It does hurt after awhile (Your hand) lol but it won't ever go more then 2 tiles away.

Pets should always attack if you have it guarding you and you plant the thorn right in front of you.

They are fast little buggers though! I've had a few run but as soon as I get it's bar and start clicking it like mad, it always comes back and stays.

 

[OREOGL]

Now if they would do something about other cheats. Like all the blue beatles inside the IDOC barrels last night. Not just one account but 1/2 dozen.

Why is that a cheat? Are there no pets allowed inside?

I for one hope they never touch idocs again unless they revert it back to original mechanics.

 

[Cinderella]

There is this macro that has been mentioned a few times...

this was before I read about that.
And I have been doing that ever since I read about it.

 

[Tyrath]

Use the Yew Wheat field at the farm west across the water from where you were. Its a point blocked by water on 3 sides. Rarely does a runner bunny go South there.

 

[RockoNV]

IDOC beetles? Is this an exploit? I did notice one person with a beetle last night. Presumably this increases the number of items/weight you can get when the barrel is destroyed.

But, I digress. I spam attack on the running rabbit and it comes back for more.

 

[Laura_Gold]

always has been

Uh. no. Rules and tweaks and fixes came about because the developers didn't anticipate everything that could happen in this game.
My guess here is that Bonnie doesn't remember '97-'98. Monsters didn't have pathfinding. One flour sack could stymie a monster from following. Yup, every dungeon you might have visited had flour sacks in the hallways.
If there was a rule against that, it certainly was not being enforced.

We had large events using flour sacks to make an "arena." Monsters would follow a player through gate travel gates, so the monsters could be brought in for the events that way. I did not hear of anyone saying "don't do that." Eventually a change came in that monsters would not follow through gate travel gates.

This was the era where there was a 'sploit using gate travel to "push" a perp into a house. Instead of making a rule against using 'sploits, the developers at the time said that this was "a creative use of magic."
This was the era when houses and boats could be placed in dungeons, and as a result, the dungeons had houses and boats in them. There was a house where The Piper's altar is now in Despise. The waterways in L2 Shame were absolutely covered with boats.
Slimes would reproduce when hit with less than lethal force, with the new slime atop its parent. In short order, a shard-crashing number of slimes could be produced.

Fixes and adjustments came, of course. "Three fireballs could kill anyone so all the PKs were mages" got fixed... and then "Three arrows could kill anyone so all the PKs were archers" got fixed... and then "a half dozen hits with a quarterstaff would break anyone's armor and then kill so all the PKs were macers" got fixed... etc.

 

[Nyses]

I distinctly remember in the past, maybe 10 years ago, having a conversation with a GM regarding blocking. Players used to routinely block off dungeon entrances with rows of bagballs and block the entire star room with boxes of 100 candelabras, that were then axed, leaving the floor covered in stacks of 100 candelabras. That understandably pissed off a lot of people.

The answer then was "as long as you leave at least a 1 tile path through, it was legal". I honestly do not know if that was just this one GM's call, or was the policy for UO then. I also get that things can change.

I do have a question regarding blocking though, if 4 players get together and stand in a circle, plant the thorn in the middle of the group effectively "blocking" a rabbit, will all 4 account be Suspended/jailed?

The statement they put out says "If you box in any mob with impassable items" - Players are "impassable items" to monsters

 

[Pawain]

I distinctly remember in the past, maybe 10 years ago, having a conversation with a GM regarding blocking. Players used to routinely block off dungeon entrances with rows of bagballs and block the entire star room with boxes of 100 candelabras, that were then axed, leaving the floor covered in stacks of 100 candelabras. That understandably pissed off a lot of people.

The answer then was "as long as you leave at least a 1 tile path through, it was legal". I honestly do not know if that was just this one GM's call, or was the policy for UO then. I also get that things can change.

I do have a question regarding blocking though, if 4 players get together and stand in a circle, plant the thorn in the middle of the group effectively "blocking" a rabbit, will all 4 account be Suspended/jailed?

The statement they put out says "If you box in any mob with impassable items" - Players are "impassable items" to monsters

Do that tonight and I'll page on you and we can see what they GM says.

 

[Nyses]

Do that tonight and I'll page on you and we can see what they GM says.

I only have 2 accounts, will you meet me with the other 2?

 

[Pawain]

I only have 2 accounts, will you meet me with the other 2?

If you are the Nyses on LS, I have only noticed you using 1 account so that's why I was wondering why you asked this question.

You seen to be doing fine, just don't put down bag balls and collect eggs like you have been.

 

[Nyses]

If you are the Nyses on LS, I have only noticed you using 1 account so that's why I was wondering why you asked this question.

You seen to be doing fine, just don't put down bag balls and collect eggs like you have been.

WTF, there is a Nyses on LS? I may have a char there named Nyses, but I play in ATL for the most part. so ATl,

 

[Pawain]

WTF, there is a Nyses on LS? I may have a char there named Nyses, but I play in ATL for the most part. so ATl,

Yup there is. LOL I only see him alone. I would think it is a uncommon name, unless I do not know about the origin.

 

[firstlast]

if you run debug programs on windows executables its interesting

 

[skett]

I remember the candelabra days !
What A pain in the &$$ that was

 

[Lore]

Blocking came up back in the early days too with taming white wryms.

 

[drcossack]

I could care less one way or another about bag balling the bunnies. I do find amusing that there are so many so bad at UO that they feel they have to bag ball the bunnies LOL. Where blocking annoys me is the A Hole that keeps putting crates on my house corner recall spots. Or the dickweed that didn't like me leading Lurg to cave entrance running out invising and going right back in to put the pet on Lurg. So they put a triple wall of bag balls at the entrance. I will give some humor credit to one house blocker though...... I chopped a crate on the house corner and it was full of bag balls, that made me laugh.

A the end of the day like it or not the rules are whatever Mesana says the rules are and how the double standards will be applied on a day by day basis.

It has absolutely nothing to do with being "bad at UO" and you know that. It has everything to do with making life simple and not having to chase a tiny monster all over the map...a tiny monster that is very difficult to get the bar for. Sure, I have ways around it (like "all guard me" before it actually appears), but, unless the vorpal bunny is occupied, I still have to deal with its speed and tiny hitbox.

 

[John Knighthawke]

When talking about all this stuff, I think there are various levels to it. You are comparing someone bagballing a rabbit in a field versus whatever happened to you which I know for a fact you weren't killed by a vorpal.

I think one thing that you and many others have forgotten is that Mesanna is also the same person that said something to the effect of "do what you need to do to win". I'm against 3rd party clients and to me it's black and white when talking about them in PvP because that's an unfair advantage but if we are talking about filling BODs, I don't really care because it's not really giving anyone some major unfair advantage (assuming it's attended); it's QoL and fine to me even though it's basically clicking things for you. So when we are talking about 3rd party clients which are used to "win" she is going to turn a blind eye.

Now let's compare that to the whole bagball issue. If someone is throwing down bagballs to impede players and harass them then sure I see the issue and it's not harmless and could be considered unfair; let the bans begin. But when we are talking about somebody in a field just boxing in a rabbit, then I don't see the harm in it. Basically what it's doing there is QoL so that someone doesn't have to double click a million times (or hold down a macro) to keep the rabbit in place... it's no different than my BOD example.

I think it's pretty easy to apply some logic to what's actually harming others and what isn't. This is just one more example of the Dev/GMs inconsistently enforcing some semi-defined rule.

Oh I agree dev teams over the years have made things worse -- this one included in spades. I'm just saying this isn't new either.

I actually would never page on this if I saw it, even if I hadn't sworn off paging. Not in a million years, for just the reason you say. Tiny impact relative to other things.

 

[Keven2002]

Oh I agree dev teams over the years have made things worse -- this one included in spades. I'm just saying this isn't new either.

I actually would never page on this if I saw it, even if I hadn't sworn off paging. Not in a million years, for just the reason you say. Tiny impact relative to other things.

Likewise. Previous event where the scripters were using bots to auto attack everything which limited my drop rate, I would page since it was directly impacting my drops. This event is a little different... someone off in a field unattended or using bagballs doesn't impact me.

Instead of paging on someone that was obviously scripting unattended to get them banned, I took alternative measure that I thought were more funny. After I verified that he wasn't attended by trying to steal arrows in his pack (like 200 arrows I had no chance at successfully stealing) and him not calling guards, I decided to grab a bola and dismount him to kill his mount but keep him alive. Thought it would be pretty funny for this guy to come back dismounted with his ghost mount wondering around but not being able to report me for murder.

 

[Lore]

Oh I agree dev teams over the years have made things worse -- this one included in spades. I'm just saying this isn't new either.

I actually would never page on this if I saw it, even if I hadn't sworn off paging. Not in a million years, for just the reason you say. Tiny impact relative to other things.

When I played, and to be clear I don't play, I wouldn't page either. The things you can page for are so far inferior to the things they should be able to catch automatically and don't what even is the point? I just lost the ego and moved on about my day when someone was doing something I wouldn't personally do.

Plus, I grew to appreciate the scripting miners. I certainly didn't want to mine my own ore.

It's just not fun to play with all the time. That's my only problem. I can't stay in this world as long as you all do because I just don't have the tolerance.

 

[Tyrath]

It has absolutely nothing to do with being "bad at UO" and you know that. It has everything to do with making life simple and not having to chase a tiny monster all over the map...a tiny monster that is very difficult to get the bar for. Sure, I have ways around it (like "all guard me" before it actually appears), but, unless the vorpal bunny is occupied, I still have to deal with its speed and tiny hitbox.

Seriously from the guy complaining about it being to easy and saying you kill them to fast............ Yeah if you can't efficiently kill Vorpal Bunnies then yes it everything to do with being bad at UO.

 

[drcossack]

Seriously from the guy complaining about it being to easy and saying you kill them to fast............ Yeah if you can't efficiently kill Vorpal Bunnies then yes it everything to do with being bad at UO.

I farmed 600+ eggs in the opening few days of the event (in various locations), all of it done by hand, but yes, I'm bad at this game

 

[Tyrath]

I farmed 600+ eggs in the opening few days of the event (in various locations), all of it done by hand, but yes, I'm bad at this game

Your supposed to be some kind of elite PvPr but can't get a bunnies health bar up???????......... Just saying. Only 600??????? After telling me that I don't understand powerful pets LOL I have literally collected thousands of eggs Using 3 slot Mongbats and 2 slot Purple Rabbits. Just a very simple macro pulls their health bar and targets them with ALL kill with one key stroke. And yep if you can't get a bunny targeted and killed without chasing it around the world.......................

 

[Anon McDougle]

Your supposed to be some kind of elite PvPr but can't get a bunnies health bar up???????......... Just saying. Only 600??????? After telling me that I don't understand powerful pets LOL I have literally collected thousands of eggs Using 3 slot Mongbats and 2 slot Purple Rabbits. Just a very simple macro pulls their health bar and targets them with ALL kill with one key stroke. And yep if you can't get a bunny targeted and killed without chasing it around the world.......................

Maybe pvp scripts only work vs other players and miners..

 

[Pawain]

I like the way Tyrath said Cossack can't get it up.

That's gonna live in infamy on LS

 

[GarthGrey]

I farmed 600+ eggs in the opening few days of the event (in various locations), all of it done by hand, but yes, I'm bad at this game

My favorite reply of all time will always be "all of it done by hand"...

 

[skett]

My favorite reply of all time will always be "all of it done by hand"...

I wonder if he scripted it !

 

[Pawain]

I wonder if he scripted it !

Nope, you hear him in Chat. His typing would mess up a script.

 

[drcossack]

My favorite reply of all time will always be "all of it done by hand"...

Started with 3 clients, one tamer in a luck suit. Transferred most of my luck suit from Atlantic over to LS, it turned into 2 tamers in luck suits with 3 accounts popping thorns. I have characters on Atlantic and LS, feel free to watch me play sometime if you think I don't do all my pvm content by hand.

Your supposed to be some kind of elite PvPr but can't get a bunnies health bar up???????......... Just saying. Only 600??????? After telling me that I don't understand powerful pets LOL I have literally collected thousands of eggs Using 3 slot Mongbats and 2 slot Purple Rabbits. Just a very simple macro pulls their health bar and targets them with ALL kill with one key stroke. And yep if you can't get a bunny targeted and killed without chasing it around the world.......................

That's NOT what I said. If it's, y'know, MOVING, it's a pain for me to get its bar, because, once again, I DO IT WITHOUT TARGETING MACROS. When it's occupied by a pet, it's a lot easier to grab the bar, given the size of the object. When I went to open fields (like the one outside of Britain), the bunny DID run all over the area.

If I were sticking to one client to farm this (or letting each luck suit tamer kill their own bunnies), I wouldn't even need to pull its bar. "All guard me" gets the job done. But it's a horribly inefficient way to farm when I can multi-client it.

 

[Tyrath]

Started with 3 clients, one tamer in a luck suit. Transferred most of my luck suit from Atlantic over to LS, it turned into 2 tamers in luck suits with 3 accounts popping thorns. I have characters on Atlantic and LS, feel free to watch me play sometime if you think I don't do all my pvm content by hand.



That's NOT what I said. If it's, y'know, MOVING, it's a pain for me to get its bar, because, once again, I DO IT WITHOUT TARGETING MACROS. When it's occupied by a pet, it's a lot easier to grab the bar, given the size of the object. When I went to open fields (like the one outside of Britain), the bunny DID run all over the area.

If I were sticking to one client to farm this (or letting each luck suit tamer kill their own bunnies), I wouldn't even need to pull its bar. "All guard me" gets the job done. But it's a horribly inefficient way to farm when I can multi-client it.

So you can only get it up if it just stands there, but can't when it moves. Gotcha.

 

[drcossack]

So you can only get it up if it just stands there, but can't when it moves. Gotcha.

Something you're not telling us here, Tyrath?

 

[Tyrath]

Something you're not telling us here, Tyrath?

Hey you are the one talking about not being able to get it up. I am just questioning and trying to understand why you have so much difficulty with something so simple.

 

[Keven2002]

I've only gotten maybe 500 eggs? I did this event the first weekend before rewards were up but once I saw that literally everything was a repeat there was no longer a reason for me to do it. I also see people with just 1 char planting thorns in non max luck suits too (as I stealth around with my thief). I don't think the total amount of eggs is a great measure at someone "being good" at the game.

Honestly, the argument of exploiting/"being good" should really be applied to PvP, not rabbit hunting. People are literally running a non-sanctioned client to perform activities that cannot be done (wall script) because they aren't "good enough" to fight fair and press a macro / select a target. BTW This goes unaddressed or not actioned by GMs.... but people that are using items in the game as a strategy to maximize eggs get 72 hour bans. One directly impacts others game play while the other does nothing to anyone else's gameplay. Seems a little ass backwards to me.

 

[Laura_Gold]

So how about other exploiting of game mechanics?
Ghost cams.
Sheesh, we'd all get more scrools if the d-bags would just come out of hiding and help with the spawn instead of waiting 'til their ghost cams tell them the boss is up.

How the Devs could fix this:
make ghosts be visible all the time
AND
put Exorcism into all the spellbooks and have it castable at like 1 skill, or maybe combine its effect with something like night sight

Why the current system isn't working: Someone has figured out the "every twenty minutes" timing.

 

[Merus]

So how about other exploiting of game mechanics?
Ghost cams.
Sheesh, we'd all get more scrools if the d-bags would just come out of hiding and help with the spawn instead of waiting 'til their ghost cams tell them the boss is up.

How the Devs could fix this:
make ghosts be visible all the time
AND
put Exorcism into all the spellbooks and have it castable at like 1 skill, or maybe combine its effect with something like night sight

Why the current system isn't working: Someone has figured out the "every twenty minutes" timing.

I think your claim about ghost cams is based on a faulty assumption. Ghost cams can be used to keep an eye on spawn entrance and exist points, but ghosts without a body already get teleported to a shrine. I think many spawn cams these days are using wraith form stealth bots to monitor the alters. They can move in and out of the spawn zones without worrying about push through and don't get teleported away.

 

[The Black Smith]

Not quite, wraith form is too slow, use ninjitsu animal form unicorn which is immune to poison traps and use shadow mastery so no push through.

if you’re going to cheat, cheat properly.

but I hope they ban all you trammel rabbit fencing mofos.

 

[The Black Smith]

By the way, if you want a whole day of farming champs without being raided. Either do terra sanctum. Or work fire up to level 3 then leave it and go work some other champ. The smouldering gargoyles will damage and reveal the bots and then all the spawn will kill them.