Decided to take my character out of factions tonight...

[Mistura]

Be warned, this is a slight rant, but some things i've been thinking of for a while and wanted to get off my chest, feel free to add thoughts as appropriate

Tonight was the final nail in the coffin for me in terms of Factions and possibly PvP in general.

Tonight, a well known speedhacker from the number one speedhacking guild on my shard bounced onto the screen on a dog with orc brute in tow and attacks me, up until he arrived my connection was good, no real lag to speak of.

Here's what happened:

XXX Is attacking you
I attempt to move out the way of the Dog/Brut/Nerve Strike
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaag (1 or 2 seconds)
Computer catches up
You are dead

Note the huge lag spike, despite the fact my connection is running beautifully tonight..

To summarise, without even having a chance to defend myself, my all 70s dci/hci suit was completely negated by his overpowered template, combined with what I would describe as probably one of the most effective speed hacks i've seen being used on europa to date. Without exagerating the guy literally bounces on to the screen jumping 4 tiles at a time.

Not only does the speedhacker get a massive advantage in their own speed but it lags out anyone else on the screen, rendering the opponent, well defenceless...

If this was an isolated case and this guy was in the minority I might be able to brush it off and try my best to just avoid the dude, but unfortunately, Europa PvP revolves around speedhacks now.

The 2 Major Issues As I See It

1) Devs have displayed complete and utter impotence in dealing with speedhackers and cheats in general. There is nothing for cheats to fear, so players that don't mind cheating can do so with confidence that there will be no bannings and because of this they are becoming more and more obvious with it.

2) Many players see speedhacks and all the other cheats as just another power-up. You almost always find that the guys cheating already have all the gold they could ever need, they have all the items and powerups you can imagine and having a top end speedhack is to them, just another powerup. Thats the stage its gotten to. I can just imagine them all comparing notes and trading programs etc.

I am quite sure the majority of people using the cheats have absolutely no guilt when they kill someone in seconds and im sure they take just as much delight in the victory as they would have if they had done so without the assistance of illegal programs.

If you are in any doubt of the level of cheating currently taking place in fel, log on to one of the many PvP forums for a real eye opener. Europa's UCH forum is a great place to start.

So to sum things up, i'm not actually asking for anything to be done, because I really don't expect anything will be at this stage...

I love UO and will continue to play for the time being however the fact that I am unable to take part in what I see as the "End Game" means that I am somewhat less happy with the game overall than I used to be, and I would definitely say, at least one step closer to calling time on my UO career.

I want no further part in a PvP scene that is dictated by who has the best hack.

I'm out.

 

[wee papa smurf]

Europa has pvp'ers now? j/k, let them have there fun with any speedhacks or any other rubbish they run, it cant last forever

 

[Kat]

Same scenario happens all the time on Siege and its been happening for years. One would think that the devs would have smelled the coffee by now, but apparently not. I presume they are okay with losing paying customers over cheaters. Sad and pathetic.

And while we're talking about pathetic...here's another great idea! Lets ban all the folks in faction/non-faction alliances and continue to do not a damn thing about the rampant cheating!

/disgusted sarcasm

 

[MalagAste]

I know for a fact it happens on GL... they move so fast it's not even funny and I can be running along just fine and they come on screen and all the sudden it's like I just stepped into the Dreadhorn sands... almost rooted into the ground.... and being an archer my character will usually open fire but I can't even hit my bandage macro... and of course my character never even gets a shot off...

This has been going on for a long time. I'm not sure what they are doing to accomplish it but certainly is wrong.... they do it when in tram too doing Champ spawns and anything else.... you can always tell because it's the same few people all the time... every time they come on screen your frozen...

Thank goodness they aren't RPers and I don't normally have to put up with them.

 

[GarthGrey]

err...nevermind...I don't want a warning for detailing what I"m not even sure is happening...

 

[Mistura]

Any casual UO player could stealth around Yew gate Europa for a couple of hours and have a lengthy list of people who are 100% confirmed speeders, yet the devs/gms can't asscertain who these cheats are and action them over a period of years, in their own game? Something seriously wrong with that IMO.

Any comment on that Draconi or any of the other devs?

 

[JC the Builder]

1) Devs have displayed complete and utter impotence in dealing with speedhackers

They've done all they can without lowering the speed at which all characters can run at. It only takes a second to be on someone who is standing still normally.

You point out an overpowered template and then say speedhacking is the reason you died. If you get hit with a brute, cu sidhe, and Nerve Strike or Dismount, you are likely to die anyway.

 

[GarthGrey]

But players should not be able to bring their own "death dealing" lag with them. Which is the case...

 

[Mistura]

They've done all they can without lowering the speed at which all characters can run at. It only takes a second to be on someone who is standing still normally.

You point out an overpowered template and then say speedhacking is the reason you died. If you get hit with a brute, cu sidhe, and Nerve Strike or Dismount, you are likely to die anyway.

So you would deny me the chance to at least move out of the way?

 

[Alezi]

Mistura, that's nothing new.. their whole guild apart from 1 person uses stumphack, fieldhack and speedhack

 

[Cetric]

Any comment on that Draconi or any of the other devs?

haha yea right, i have sent FoF letters, pmed devs, it doesn't work. They just turn the other cheek and act like there is no problem. Its a joke really.

 

[JC the Builder]

So you would deny me the chance to at least move out of the way?

It is of course possible they are using some type of bug or hack to lack out opponents. I have not seen or heard of any such in a long time now.

 

[Restroom Cowboy]

It is of course possible they are using some type of bug or hack to lack out opponents. I have not seen or heard of any such in a long time now.

You havent? CE has been doing this now since it came out. Admitted or not, it should be obvious to you that CE and its likenesses are indeed the culprit. The only way to avoid the lag caused by the interruption in the data stream is to run it yourself...

It does little good to slow down the possible speed IF the 3rd party proggies used lag out your ability to move.

 

[SevenFaith]

What are you guys talking about? I PVP on atlantic, the home of speedtards, and NEVER experience these "lag spikes blabla he crashed my pc" that you guys are talking about...

I smell anger blocking the true story.

 

[JC the Builder]

Yeah, I also don't experience an issue with other people lagging me out every time they come on my screen.

 

[Mistura]

I smell anger blocking the true story.

I can now reveal that I was owned fair and square last night by the nice chap on Europa who clearly had superior skills. He was not using any third party program, of that there can be no doubt, because the player himself and the guild he is part of are the very epitome of integrity and good sportsmanship.

The only way I could recover from the embarassment of being fairly beaten was to come to stratics and make a false claim that he was using a cheat. Like someone said, i was angry, so thought a bit of make believe would help.

Coming here and pretending that I lost only due to a cheat made me feel good about myself again, but it was wrong. There are in fact no cheats in fel.

Speedhacking is a myth fabricated by noobs and trammies who can't PvP.

 

[Tina Small]

Mistura, for whatever it's worth, I share your concern regarding the lag spikes. I have experienced them myself on a couple of shards while playing on a stealther. Certain characters show up on the scene and it feels as if you just got buried in a lag tsunami. Not being a technological wizard, I really don't know what might be causing such an effect. However, it does seem unusual that you can have two nearly identical situations where the only apparent difference is which guild some characters are from and yet in one situation lag is not a noticeable problem and in the other everyone in your group regardless of where they live and who their ISP is notices it at the same time. When things like that happen on a regular basis, it's difficult to not believe something out of the ordinary is happening.

 

[RichDC]

Believe it or not, with the introduction of SA you agree to allow EA/Mythic to scan your RAM(i think thats it) and any ITPP being operated in conjunction with UO will flag the system and result in a ban.

This as laid down in the Beta sign up clauses...we can hope they take that forward to the release.

 

[Mistura]

Believe it or not, with the introduction of SA you agree to allow EA/Mythic to scan your RAM(i think thats it) and any ITPP being operated in conjunction with UO will flag the system and result in a ban.

This as laid down in the Beta sign up clauses...we can hope they take that forward to the release.

Well, all I can say is, if they do SA could turn out to be the best expansion in UOs history.

 

[RichDC]

IMO it already is! Dont think i can say why too much apart from, its undoing all that was wrong with AOS.

I hope they continue the "punkbuster" style monitoring...no i PRAY they do!

 

[Omnius]

I play 3 east coast shards, drachenfels and pacific. I have never been lagged out by anyone on screen ever. some folks run faster than others. There may be cheats out there but their effectiveness is highly limited. I see little difference in speed between 99.9% of players in UO.

I suspect the OP experienced legit lag or is plainly lying because he died to an overpowered template.

 

[Mistura]

There may be cheats out there but their effectiveness is highly limited. I see little difference in speed between 99.9% of players in UO.

I suspect the OP experienced legit lag or is plainly lying because he died to an overpowered template.

hehe - Like I say, there are no speedhackers in UO, its a Myth fabricated by noobs who get onwed.

Deep down everyone knows UO is made up of 99.9% honest PvPers that don't cheat

 

[Violence]

I wouldn't ask for the Devs to reply to any question but these;

- Will SA actually offer any kind of anti-cheating protection or is this another rumour? At least confirm or squelch it before you TRICK people into paying to try out the new expansion by offering no comments.

- If yes, will people be able to actually evade this measure LEGALLY by continuing to use the 2D Client?

And my thoughts on this:

Should I be glad or sad that more and more people begin to understand how rubbish this game is at its current state- A state that has lasted years now.. Regarding cheats.

All of us could live happily with the same UO we had before AOS even now with AOC, WAR, WOW and everything else. THE ONLY THING THIS GAME REALLY LACKS IS A WAY TO STOP CHEATING. Then we can talk about "Ideas" to improve it, and additions to make it shinier... Even PVP balance means nothing compared to cheating.
It's ridiculous, especially now. I have completely stopped playing and paying for the same reasons Mistura mentions.

Scripts, hacks, cheats, dupes. You mention it. Home-brewed, public, shared among "friends".. It's all in here. I can't be with my friends and join them on their adventures, fights nor fun because of cheaters. I respect myself enough to not pay to play UO, nor to pay the Devs' incompetence.



That recent poll about PunkBuster? Clearly showed that more or less, half the people in the game CHEAT. If I were EA, I'd dump them even if it would half my profit.

'Till next time.

 

[RichDC]

5.5 Consent to Monitor. DURING ITS OPERATION, THE GAME MAY MONITOR YOUR COMPUTER'S RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) FOR UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS RUNNING CONCURRENTLY WITH THE GAME. AN "UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM" AS USED HEREIN SHALL BE DEFINED AS ANY THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY "ADDON", "MOD", "HACK", "TRAINER", OR "CHEAT" THAT IN EA'S SOLE DETERMINATION: (I) ENABLES OR FACILITATES CHEATING OF ANY TYPE: (II) ALLOWS USERS TO MODIFY OR HACK THE GAME INTERFACE, ENVIRONMENT, AND /OR EXPERIENCE IN ANY WAY NOT EXPRESSLY AUTHORIZED BY EA: OR (III) INTERCEPTS, "MINES", OR OTHERWISE COLLECTS INFORMATION FROM OR THROUGH THE GAME. IN THE EVENT THAT THE GAME DETECTS AN UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM, THE GAME MAY (A) COMMUNICATE INFORMATION BACK TO EA, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION YOUR ACCOUNT NAME, DETAILS ABOUT THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM DETECTED, AND THE TIME AND DATE THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM WAS DETECTED; AND /OR (B) EA MAY EXERCISE ANY OR ALL OF ITS RIGHTS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE TO THE USER.

Taken from the Terms and conditions laid down by EA/Mythic

At the moment this is for Beta but i cant see why they would change it.

 

[Tina Small]

Yeah, I also don't experience an issue with other people lagging me out every time they come on my screen.

When reading JC's posts, I often have to ask myself if he is perhaps being deliberately provocative. After all, U.Hall has been rather quiet lately.

 

[Mistura]

Perhaps Tina, or maybe despite his bluster doesn't PvP often at all so hasn't noticed the effects of speedhacking or maybe he is using a speedhack himself and hasn't noticed how they lag up the people around him... Could be anything really

 

[Tazar]

Based on the original story here... and speedhack issue aside for the moment... How can one person control a Cu (4 control slots) and a Brute (Spellweaving, but I think more than one control slot)? Would that not put any player over the 5 slot limit?

 

[RichDC]

Perhaps Tina, or maybe despite his bluster doesn't PvP often at all so hasn't noticed the effects of speedhacking or maybe he is using a speedhack himself and hasn't noticed how they lag up the people around him... Could be anything really

I put it more down to the fact that when he pvp's theres around 30people in his own guild with him, so lagging it up. Plus people cant really move much when they get hit by a 20man witherstack!

 

[RichDC]

Based on the original story here... and speedhack issue aside for the moment... How can one person control a Cu (4 control slots) and a Brute (Spellweaving, but I think more than one control slot)? Would that not put any player over the 5 slot limit?

Grammer of orcish talisman(summoner)

Summons and orc brute.

 

[Winker]

hehe - Like I say, there are no speedhackers in UO, its a Myth fabricated by noobs who get onwed.

Deep down everyone knows UO is made up of 99.9% honest PvPers that don't cheat

You and I both know that this guild has destroyed the PvP on Europa. They use every single cheat/script they can get there hands on. It is win at ANY cost with this guild. The PvP is now down to 20-30 people on Europa due to this guild. But nothing will be done about it and they will continue to cheat

 

[RichDC]

You and I both know that this guild has destroyed the PvP on Europa. They use every single cheat/script they can get there hands on. It is win at ANY cost with this guild. The PvP is now down to 20-30 people on Europa due to this guild. But nothing will be done about it and they will continue to cheat

Do what a group of us have done on a different shard, make a group of stealth archers...for the simple purpose of gank grief killing.

All hide and bam ar ignore one target(if you can get 10people to ar ignore if half hit that 175hp!Instant!)

Or, another option...leave, when you see them just leave, dont stand and fight kill them with boredom

 

[Yalp]

I can give you a concrete example NOT in pvp but in Doom. Our shard does a regular Sunday doom run. It's become very popular (for baja), brings out anywhere from 20-30 peeps at a time, add in an additional 1/2 that for pets. Even with this many peeps, I have no lag at all. I run dsl, with nothing more special than a Best Buy off the shelf graphics card and hard drive (old one crashed 2 years ago, got new guts then).

Then one day the lag monster hit me, hard and hard and hard. I noticed when it did, 2 individuals from a certain guild on our shard had shown up. They didnt come in with the party, but ran in afterwards.

Immediately I got messages from players all over that they were lagging like no one's business. No one had been prior to these 2. Many of us crashed immediately. Many left the dungeon because they couldn't move again.

Well here's the thing. I took notice of who these people where. I've been watching for them. And week's where they don't come, no one has lag, at all, all day long. When they do show up, lag hits the majority of us. It isn't sometimes when they show up, it's EVERY time they show up. I've started watching for them in places outside of Doom too. If they show up, the lag does too.

It may be an odd coincidence for them. But I am too old to be so gullible to believe they are not running a speedhack program.

 

[CatLord]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Ultima_Online


I have been reading how this problem was fixed on other "shards"...

They added some code that would report abusive speed... with several effects:
- character losing connection,
- character dying,
- character froze.

"Fixing speed hacks server side requires a few lines of code. Hopefully they can fix it in the next patch. The server should be doing a simple distance vs duration check using the following params.

- Previous Location x,z (assuming Y is elevation)
- Current Location x,z
- Time Elapsed

If 1 second passes and the distance between the previous location & current location is too great disconnect that $%$%! Problem solved!

(But who knows I could be entirely wrong.)"

 

[Omnius]

pitr first off x,y with z as elevation in UO. Second. That would disconnect everyone with good computers and high speed internet. UO is a game designed to allow players to move at several speeds. there is no fixed speed and there really shouldn't be.

Unfortunately, some folks have really bad computers and when they get on screen with people who are fast, doing a lot, or just multiple people, those players experience lag. They experience lag because their computer can't handle it.

I experienced some lag a when people came on screen before upgrading computers. frankly, since running UO on my new intel mac, I rarely experience lag of any sort. I'm faster than most people but not all.

 

[Mistura]

my new intel mac

What does intel mac rhyme with?

 

[CatLord]

FYI: speedhacking is a fact... not a myth.

I find it weird that some of the folk that I shared Vent with and use it on a daily basis come to these boards posting the opposite.

 

[WildWobble]

JC GET A CLUE~!

SPEED HACKS THAT CAUSE LAG EXIST

Many a time my guild mates and i have been doing our thing to all of a sudden get a massive lag spike followed by some dc's then low and behold the known and Confirmed speeder shows up. Skipping many frames jumping about like a mad hatter. Don't even try the kr explanation if you know anything about kr its that your put in the global chat room when you log in on it and this player is never in that room.

I play a small low pop shard and most everyone knows who is who and who runs what scripts / hacks and though many have paged and complained over the time i have played the game no action is ever taken against them.. Well almost never, the new em events the jerks got a good scolding and were warned to behave.

I would love to pvp more i dabble mainly due to lag issues but even when lag is not a factor aka when i play on a shard that is close to home. The speedy freek show turn up and ruin it.

And To MR YOU MUST HAVE A CRAPPY PC~~! umm no that is not my issue my comp is a little older but i am a comp freek and a little old to me is like brand new to most. I can run top end games with no comp lag. So it is not an issue of processing power!. SPEED HACKING IN UO EXISTS plain and simple if you do not believe then try google i bet you can find 100's of places with it or at least discussion of its use.


I am hopeful that the new sa cheet scanner thing will eliminate 99% of this crap for us and we can all go to ea/mythic and find our devs and give them shoulder rides saying hip hip... While we are the champions plays on some killer system in the background.

 

[Lynk]

On my old laptop I used to get bogged down horribly when people running a certain speeder showed up.

With them off screen I ran fine but when they came on I couldn't do **** and died every time to their pets because I would lag out 3 seconds at a time.

I've since replaced my desktop and laptop and I no longer have the issue.

They are still faster than me but I don't lock up like crazy.

 

[Splup]

Yeah the whole guild is using all cheats there is. Stumphack, fieldhack, speedhack, jewerlyslothack etc.

I'm logging in kinda rarely too nowdays since I feel disgusted about the state of PvP... Nothing but cheats, pets and bugged quiver or rages...

 

[Hanna]

pitr first off x,y with z as elevation in UO. Second. That would disconnect everyone with good computers and high speed internet. UO is a game designed to allow players to move at several speeds. there is no fixed speed and there really shouldn't be.

The z really isint that important in this game for detecting distance traveled, and there is a MAX speed cap, as there should be. Checking against that cap would not in any way hurt people with good computers, as they are just running at the capped speed.

 

[Mook Chessy]

Taken from the Terms and conditions laid down by EA/MythicQuote:
5.5 Consent to Monitor. DURING ITS OPERATION, THE GAME MAY MONITOR YOUR COMPUTER'S RANDOM ACCESS MEMORY (RAM) FOR UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAMS RUNNING CONCURRENTLY WITH THE GAME. AN "UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM" AS USED HEREIN SHALL BE DEFINED AS ANY THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION ANY "ADDON", "MOD", "HACK", "TRAINER", OR "CHEAT" THAT IN EA'S SOLE DETERMINATION: (I) ENABLES OR FACILITATES CHEATING OF ANY TYPE: (II) ALLOWS USERS TO MODIFY OR HACK THE GAME INTERFACE, ENVIRONMENT, AND /OR EXPERIENCE IN ANY WAY NOT EXPRESSLY AUTHORIZED BY EA: OR (III) INTERCEPTS, "MINES", OR OTHERWISE COLLECTS INFORMATION FROM OR THROUGH THE GAME. IN THE EVENT THAT THE GAME DETECTS AN UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM, THE GAME MAY (A) COMMUNICATE INFORMATION BACK TO EA, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION YOUR ACCOUNT NAME, DETAILS ABOUT THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM DETECTED, AND THE TIME AND DATE THE UNAUTHORIZED THIRD PARTY PROGRAM WAS DETECTED; AND /OR (B) EA MAY EXERCISE ANY OR ALL OF ITS RIGHTS UNDER THIS AGREEMENT, WITH OR WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE TO THE USER.


At the moment this is for Beta but i cant see why they would change it.

Can you imagine if this really works, OMFG!

I just hope that they get a warning before a ban, the reason, to kill them!

How many times are you fighting 1v1 and you have them almost dead and they blink of the screen. Then when they finally get the advantage and you try to get away they run you down like a dog!

Well every dog has his day!

It will be short lived as most of these payers have Huge Ego's and will quit when the "god" mode is shut down.

This might actually bring a few people back, geez imagine that!