Rampant unattended scripting for Treasures of Tokuno

[hawkeye_pike]

I paged for a GM 3 times. People were so obviously unattended that it could almost be called audacious. In certain locations of Tokuno (no details here), you see pets of hidden afk tamers being online 24/7, killing away creatures. You see archers afk killing tons of creatures, people casting EVs while afk.

If GMs were looking, they could ban like 20 people each day.

While honest players may be able to scrap together minor artifacts for maybe one or two turn-in rewards, those scripters will farm items like there is no tomorrow and get rich after this event by selling their masses of artifacts on overprized Luna vendors, ruining this already damaged player economy. The worst thing of all is, that honest players once again don't have a chance to compete. (We already know this from powerscrolls in Felucca etc.)

Now, EA has turned UO into a mostly item-dependent game with the introduction of AoS, artifacts, runic crafting and all this crap. But they forgot to think about countermeasures against those abusing the item-system of UO.Basically, I don't care much about who gathers what item and sells it for millions and millions a while later. But I can tell you that by allowing this, the entry barrier for new players in this game is rising higher and higher, and if you don't counter this, you will not get any new subscriptions, no matter how nifty your coming expansions will be.

Disappointed and annoyed,
Hawkeye Pike

(P.S.: I know that not everybody is unattended, and some people really spend the whole day in their keyboard hunting for items. This is totally legitmate! But alas, many of the item hunters cannot be counted amongst the honest folk.)

 

[Hunters' Moon]

The official EA Stance when addressing afk scripters.....

 

[Petra Fyde]

If I remember right, in the 10th anniversary items you have to be visible to get the drop? They did something about this with those, and I'm pretty sure they did something about it during the previous ToT events.

 

[Snakeman]

Sad but true, now watch at the spawns as the gold disappears 8 tiles away as certain people just walk by. Saw 8 piles of gold go poof all to once as 1 walked by on napa's tonight. Hordes get some, but the scripts get the most. All one has to do is sit & watch. They (EA) wonder why people are quitting this game, it from stuff like hawk says & script picking up. Most people are sick & tired of it, but it is these few that will ruin it for the rest.

 

[HillBilly]

*sigh*

KR doesnt have these scripts. SA probably wont either.

Stop playing 2d and we can stop these things from happening...at least for a little while.

 

[Snakeman]

If I remember right, in the 10th anniversary items you have to be visible to get the drop? They did something about this with those, and I'm pretty sure they did something about it during the previous ToT events.

I dunno about that, I do know even dead you will get one, happened to me tonight. Was dead for heck 30 sec's waiting for a bud to rez me when it cleared a lil. Saw the words "A special...." just a few seconds before he rez'd me. Looked in my pack once rez'd & sure enough the Chest was there.
Watched one tamer this am for at least 15 mins on my stealther as his drag killed stuff while he was invised in Dojo area. So I am wondering if that invised fix is working now

 

[Snakeman]

*sigh*

KR doesnt have these scripts. SA probably wont either.

Stop playing 2d and we can stop these things from happening...at least for a little while.

When 2d goes, I go with my 5 accounts. I tried KR many times, hated the interface & looks. As far as no scripts, don't count on it. The script writers are far ahead of us, and like they say, where there is a will there is a way. If they can make some $$ of it, you know scripts will be there . Sad but so true

 

[Omnius]

The guy who casts ev in the same spot every time... The archer who hasn't moved a single tile in 12 hours. The tamer thats been there for 19 straight hours(or so we can assume because his pets been farming at the champ spawn the whole time).

 

[Hunters' Moon]

The guy who casts ev in the same spot every time... The archer who hasn't moved a single tile in 12 hours. The tamer thats been there for 19 straight hours(or so we can assume because his pets been farming at the champ spawn the whole time).

How can an archer stay there that long? Arrows would run out,right?

 

[Nyte Doombringer]

I thought people where scripting. I was in some places in tokunos yesterday and there was a dragon killing and no person there? Guess he was afk hidden by his dragon. Only the dragon and tons of mobs. They go in the entrance to this really easy place and kill these really easy mobs so the dragon never gets damaged.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

*sigh*

KR doesnt have these scripts. SA probably wont either.

Stop playing 2d and we can stop these things from happening...at least for a little while.

Abolishing 2D won't solve anything and make even more people leave. All it would take is 1 GM per shard full time. That's all that we need.

 

[Cloak&Dagger]

Abolishing 2D won't solve anything and make even more people leave. All it would take is 1 GM per shard full time. That's all that we need.

You do know the current number of gms is more than 1 per shard? Of course this means nothing considering how many people page for useless things these days. Also I have been paged on for being afk when I wasn't and of course they checked on me, now if I have been paged on more than the number of times a gm has checked on me I guess I can not know but it doesn't matter. And abolishing the 2d client IS the cure, since the other clients have anti-scripting in them, also the 2d client is has so many holes and is unmaintainable its not even funny anymore, of course I can not get use to kr and am hoping sa "feels" more like uo else I will be using the 2d client but that does not change the fact that the 2d client is the problem, (why they didn't just redo the client with the same graphics and new code is beyond me )

 

[Bobar]

If you can see a pet killing and no tamer visible it will not always be a scripter. My tamer wears a luck suit and the resists are total crap. My answer to this is to have GM hiding thus I do not become a target to appearing spawn. If my pet needs healing I do have to appear whilst vetting but I hide as soon as this is done.

I agree that script farming by tamers can and does take place all I am saying is that if you cant see the owner he may not necessarily be scripting.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

...

Yes, you're probably right. Maybe during events like these, GMs should focus on scripters with first priority. I cannot imagine they get more than 10 scripter calls per hour, and those usually can be solved within a minute.

I don't like dragging along the old 2D technology either. I'm always up for some improvement. Unfortunately, many players seem to depend on 2D so much (I have no idea why!) that EA considered not removing this old client for now.

And yes you may be right, getting rid of scripting, macroing and cheating should have higher priority than holding on to a 10 year old client technology.

 

[Stratic Fanatic]

5 letters for the naysayers...P-F-F-F-T.

At least those that connot legitimately play KR (hardware, slow PC, etc.) have an excuse...all the rest...well, you must cheat IMO. Why not switch? What do you have to lose?

And no, script writers have no upper hand on anything macro related. If we all didnt play 2d it would take them AGES to have what they have going for them now.

And thats my personal challenge to the players and the devs. Switch over. If its got major cheats....then the Devs failed. But Nobody wants to switch so we are in this endless discussion. Gets old after a while...err, (1997)...ages.

2 clients...1 with cheats...one without....what do you choose?

 

[hawkeye_pike]

all the rest...well, you must cheat IMO. Why not switch? What do you have to lose?

I like KR much better concerning graphics. But it has several disadvantages, that's why I don't use it:

1. Several glitches (like targeting system) that give me disadvantages in PvP
2. Graphical issues (like house placement, house decoration, monster looting) that force me to use 2D
3. Other bugs.
4. KR won't run on my notebook, which I sometimes use to play UO.

I really tried KR several times, and the result was that I died thrice as much, and for certain tasks I had to switch back to 2D anyway.

But let's not discuss the already dead client. Let's look forward to the SA client and hope that it will be able to finally replace 2D!

 

[NewThunder]

*sigh*

KR doesnt have these scripts. SA probably wont either.

Stop playing 2d and we can stop these things from happening...at least for a little while.

KR can have scripts written for it using one of many programs out there; actually some of the Macro features make it easier to script with KR.

 

[Stratic Fanatic]

I like KR much better concerning graphics. But it has several disadvantages, that's why I don't use it:

1. Several glitches (like targeting system) that give me disadvantages in PvP
2. Graphical issues (like house placement, house decoration, monster looting) that force me to use 2D
3. Other bugs.
4. KR won't run on my notebook, which I sometimes use to play UO.

I really tried KR several times, and the result was that I died thrice as much, and for certain tasks I had to switch back to 2D anyway.

But let's not discuss the already dead client. Let's look forward to the SA client and hope that it will be able to finally replace 2D!

NoNo, I agree. KR is a dead client. Hasent been upgraded in over a year.

But there are those that say if its not 2d they will quit.
IMO...Good Riddence

 

[Stratic Fanatic]

KR can have scripts written for it using one of many programs out there; actually some of the Macro features make it easier to script with KR.

Wrong.

Cheater propaganda doesnt work with me.

And hopefully it does work in game...

 

[Bomb Bloke]

If I remember right, in the 10th anniversary items you have to be visible to get the drop? They did something about this with those, and I'm pretty sure they did something about it during the previous ToT events.

Apparently you get less "points" towards your next artifact while hidden, but by no means do you stop getting them completely.

 

[Whinemaker]

They should just give those item hoarders/traders a big F-U in the face by turning on ToT (both the drop and the turn-in) permanently, then just give it a minor tweak by drastically lowering the minor arties' drop rate and rotating the pigments.
No more gold rush, new players will find it easier to get something higher end without getting charged an arm and a leg, casual players with a life who can't play 24/7 won't really miss out on anything.

Oh but of course this is a bad idea because that means some of our elite Britannia citizens might end up making less money from these events and they might quit the game over it. Sorry my bad.

 

[CroMag1980]

That's the problem with these super-pets that just don't need vetting. A friend helped me get a Greater for my Archer Tamer (I've been away) I was horrified by its power even untrained. It's helped me decide to go on another little break from UO.

 

[Connor_Graham]

I thought people where scripting. I was in some places in tokunos yesterday and there was a dragon killing and no person there? Guess he was afk hidden by his dragon. Only the dragon and tons of mobs. They go in the entrance to this really easy place and kill these really easy mobs so the dragon never gets damaged.

I've paged twice on a hidden tamer and his dragon in exactly this situation. Both times I waited well over an hour for the GM to finally respond after the server had already gone down. I get an email saying I needed to be in game for him to do anything, even though the location was very specific in the original page. Instead of going to the spot I told him about, he was either too lazy or too stupid to look into it.

I expected the unattended farmers and the griefers as I do with any event, but it seems that there are even more this time around than in the past. I'm almost tempted to start resorting to some drastic measures myself to at least get rid of a few of the unattended farmers.

 

[guum]

If you can see a pet killing and no tamer visible it will not always be a scripter. My tamer wears a luck suit and the resists are total crap.

+1. I've been greater farming while hidden for this event, but I've been babysitting my dragon the whole time, as the lovely folks who occasionally drag half the dojo to my dragon find out.

That being said, there's no question that there's some scripting going on here -- hard not to notice it. But don't assume that long hours = scripting. I've been putting in some long hours the last couple of days with this event, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. It won't last. There are definitely some folks that are scripting it. But then again, there's *always* 3 or 4 people scripting weapon skill gain on golems in downtown Luna on my shard, so it's not like this is any different than anything else.

Look on the bright side: you *can* do well in this event even without scripting, even without long hours, and even without an epic'd out character -- my best drop rates are on monsters that any even remotely capable spec could handle. And with drop rates on the marties in the range of 3-5 an hour, an hour here and an hour there really can add up.

 

[Snakeman]

NoNo, I agree. KR is a dead client. Hasent been upgraded in over a year.

But there are those that say if its not 2d they will quit.
IMO...Good Riddence

So it's either your way or the highway the way you look at it.... Man seriously lucky you don't have a business for it sure would not last that long with that attitude. I can tell you for sure, 7 others of my group I play with have played for 9+ yrs, 2 since beta, one since 1 wk after beta, 3 others 11 yrs, myself & another 9. Ea of us with a min of 3 accounts, some up to 5. We all have enjoyed UO in 2D, we don't need fancy graphics, it isn't UO to us, so you Cx 2D and all those acct's go Adios.. 7 players a min of 28 accounts... Now how many others out there feel the same as we do & don't script as you claim we all do! Just because one likes the looks of 2D does not make them a scripter. I can tell you, there are scripts out there for KR & as well as scripts for getting around PB. DAOC had the same engine & there were scripts for it, doesn't take a genious to figure out how to chg it over to fit UO. These kids & adults cheat to make $$ of this game but I'd be willing to guess the biggest share of older players could give a rats behind about scripts. All they enjoy is the fun/enjoyment/relaxation it brings to them. I play to take my mind off my business, a lil relaxation, pass the time. The game is a GAME, nothing more. If you seriously have to cheat to enjoy a game, then it's pretty sad life one leads.

 

[Quantum Ace]

+1 For Siege. Detect hidden afk player, dp shuriken, loot, rinse and repeat with the next afk scripter. Suffice it to say they are few and far between.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

[...]Just because one likes the looks of 2D does not make them a scripter. I can tell you, there are scripts out there for KR & as well as scripts for getting around PB. DAOC had the same engine & there were scripts for it, doesn't take a genious to figure out how to chg it over to fit UO. These kids & adults cheat to make $$ of this game but I'd be willing to guess the biggest share of older players could give a rats behind about scripts. All they enjoy is the fun/enjoyment/relaxation it brings to them. I play to take my mind off my business, a lil relaxation, pass the time. The game is a GAME, nothing more. If you seriously have to cheat to enjoy a game, then it's pretty sad life one leads.

Wile I understand your position, please consider two things:

1. Keeping the old UO 2D Client is like keeping a security hole in a software, and preventing certain enhancements/improvements to the game as such (meaning, all those things that are related to the client and cannot be done because it would not work with the old client anymore; I'm thinking especially of new code for ship movement).

2. The Stygian Abyss Client IS a 2D client. Did you look at the screenshots? Provided that the client is done well (without bugs and glitches like KR), I see no reason why someone would refuse to use it.

I assume that if the new SA Client turns out to be successful and used by the majority, EA will have to consider letting the old client die sooner or later. Reason: see topic 1.

 

[NewThunder]

Really.

Because they are not needed to run/play UO.
A simple check of the UO memory space will get of this problem.

There is nothing to prevent any of those programs to be used with the KR client; Until EA decides to take a more agressive stance, 3rd party applications will be used no matter what client is being used.

 

[Stratic Fanatic]

There is nothing to prevent any of those programs to be used with the KR client; Until EA decides to take a more agressive stance, 3rd party applications will be used no matter what client is being used.

KR died over a year ago. Its been obsolete.

I really hope people read the SA UA.

If you fail to do so and you are banned....you deserve it.



Most of us dont care to use 3rd party apps. Only those that wish to bypass/cheat.

 

[Petra Fyde]

RTLFC

Can we not turn this into a client v client rant please?

When all's said and done, cheaters will find a way to cheat, no matter what client, what game or what bunch of devs crack down how hard. There isn't a game out there that doesn't have it's share of saaad people who can't play any game, including real life, honestly.

 

[Stratic Fanatic]

*blushes*

Sorry. I get passionate about my "death to cheaters" agenda.

Certain things can be done in UO to stop 90% of them....its not that hard.

 

[Slayvite]

Their far to busy doing people for Golem Bashing to worry about something that actually affect's the game for others.

 

[GarthGrey]

If the guy on LA that's been camping the burning Luna plot for 22 days can get away with it, with not even a 10 second investigation, you can bet the ToT scripters will continue to go unopposed as well...

 

[Cyrah]

What bothers me the most is that the team knew this would happen.

Zombie...

 

[guum]

Personally, I'm way more annoyed with people acting like jerks during ToT than scripters. Twice this morning, I was minding my own business, camping a small, unobtrusive spawn in a corner of FDD, when two different people came up and started trying to take all my kills. No "do you mind sharing this spawn?"; not even "hi". Just EVs for one and arrows for the other, straight for stuff my dragon was heading for. Luckily, neither stuck around long once I invited a few fan dancers to come play with us, but you know, be nice to people. If you see me and my dragon hanging out in FDD and you actually take the 10 seconds to ask me if I mind sharing the spawn, 9 times out of 10 I'll be happy to have pleasant company, and I may even take a break and let you have it.

 

[Faeryl]

I agree that script farming by tamers can and does take place all I am saying is that if you cant see the owner he may not necessarily be scripting.

I agree with Bobar. I was farming Dread Spiders on Atlantic for 6 hours on Friday. I only have 14 hiding, so it takes me forever to hide, and I won't reveal myself unless I absolutely have to. I had so many people just assume I was afk that they were dragging multiple Kappas, Dread Spiders, and Tsuki Wolves onto my Cu or they would just jump in and kill the Spiders before they could aggro my Cu. Out of the maybe 15 people I saw there that day, only ONE had the courtesy to ask beforehand if anyone was actually there instead of jumping to conclusions.

At least those that connot legitimately play KR (hardware, slow PC, etc.) have an excuse...all the rest...well, you must cheat IMO. Why not switch? What do you have to lose?

Although I could play on KR, and I love most of the graphics, I have my reasons for playing 2D. One being that I switch characters a lot. And I mean A LOT. I found that the more I had to switch characters in KR, the slower it would run until I finally just crashed, which gets somewhat frustrating. Also, being so used to how everything works in 2D, KR was just to confusing for me to even really bother attempting. I have more reasons, but those are the two main ones.

So no, those who COULD play KR legitimately and play 2D instead are not necessarily cheating. Some of us are just more comfortable with the 2D client than learning how to play all over again.

 

[Foolio the Bard]

Wow, you KR deadenders never quit do you?

KR is pure trash. It's dead. Nobody uses it. SA client will be out soon, and we'll all give that a try, but for now 2D is the only viable client.

 

[GarthGrey]

Wow, you KR deadenders never quit do you?

KR is pure trash. It's dead. Nobody uses it. SA client will be out soon, and we'll all give that a try, but for now 2D is the only viable client.

You were dead on with your Username selection...congrats..

 

[StifledArgument]

They should just give those item hoarders/traders a big F-U in the face by turning on ToT (both the drop and the turn-in) permanently, then just give it a minor tweak by drastically lowering the minor arties' drop rate and rotating the pigments.
No more gold rush, new players will find it easier to get something higher end without getting charged an arm and a leg, casual players with a life who can't play 24/7 won't really miss out on anything.

I agree with this completely, make the event a permanent situation, the area would be more populated more often and it would drive down the price so it isn't an ,"OMG money!" situation.

The worst part is I don't even want money from this, I wanted to get some dyes for a nice suit I finally put together

 

[Nyte Doombringer]

If you think someone is scripting, take their kills. We did that so many times in wow because they have bots that are run by a program and they are not there. If someone is mistaken for scripting and talks to you, you can always say oh sorry didt see you or oh sorry, thought you where afk.

 

[Faeryl]

If you think someone is scripting, take their kills. We did that so many times in wow because they have bots that are run by a program and they are not there. If someone is mistaken for scripting and talks to you, you can always say oh sorry didt see you or oh sorry, thought you where afk.

Then of course there are those few who decide to do it anyways even when they know a person is there to try and drive them out of the area in annoyance...

 

[Wenchkin]

Well, for those who find themselves feeling harassed or paged on, how about a wee suggestion. Don't stay hidden all the time or act like a camping bot Stay by your pet, maybe even say "hi" when someone arrives and make it clear you're not a cheat. If trouble comes your way, hide. If you lack the skill, well simply ensure your pet stays between you and the spawn. Or train it up.

If you can't hide when someone drags over spawn, just recall out and leave them with it. Or use invis potions etc. Even if you just recall to a safe spot nearby to get a laugh at said lurer.

Though right now I just feel it's a pity that EA decided to give tamers pets that require little to no vetting when camping spawns. At the very least commands should be necessary often enough that a player can't simply park, hide and acquire arties. Or turn off the ability to get an arty when you're hidden...

Wenchy

 

[Dermott of LS]

...

Let me first say that I have little overall "love" for tamers. That being said, they aren't the ONLY ones who would need such a change in terms of AFK/hidden camping for ToT drops.

A LOT of places can be camped the same way with melee templates simply allowing auto-defend to do the job.

Every template in the game can find a spot to abuse ToT.

While I agree that no-maintenence uber-pets are a problem, they aren't the only ones AFKing ToT spawns.

 

[ElRay]

People please,

These so-called programmers have let cheaters run this game for years, and you think it would be any different now?

This thread is a joke. As are the devs.

 

[ElRay]

RTLFC

Can we not turn this into a client v client rant please?

When all's said and done, cheaters will find a way to cheat, no matter what client, what game or what bunch of devs crack down how hard. There isn't a game out there that doesn't have it's share of saaad people who can't play any game, including real life, honestly.

Whatever helps you sleep better at night.

I dont think ANY game has as many cheaters or is as blatantly ignored by the actual game developers as UO has. Why, people here seem to think that the only way UO is staying afloat, is if we dont BAN the cheaters!!!

Great mindset.....someone posted monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

Petra dont be the monkey.

 

[Petra Fyde]

I'm not a monkey. I dislike cheats as much as any other, however I realise that it is not the role of Stratics boards to police EA's game.
I also do not blithely ignore the measures that have been taken to curb cheating, nor forget the promise that has been made that there are future measures being developed.
As and when I come across blatant and unmistakable cheating I report it, either by paging or by sending in a feed back sheet, whichever is applicable. However I never berate the GM's or send offensive pages, I simply say something along the lines of 'the dragon named ** at ** spawn appears to be unattended, could you please check?'

 

[Omnius]

I have never scripted in UO. I simply never needed to. I've had tons of finished chars for ages on 2 accounts, and ridiculous sums of gold through legit play. This said, if they abolished the 2d client today. I could script tomorrow in SA in an undetectable fashion. I run an intel mac. I can have 2 os's run simultaneously and with a small degree of know how could run a program in osx that would impact windows activity.

I would be shocked if less than 60% of the college age population of UO players did not have intel macs and played the same way.

get rid of 2d and the only cheaters who will be slowed down will be the younger kids and then its really only a matter of time until they are cheating too.


Unfortunately, not even Punkbuster can detect everything. And as for GMs being lazy. I've been in ventrilo talking to several guildies on 2 shards ATL and Legends and in both cases every person in ventrilo has spoken to a GM at least once.

I believe the GMs are doing a great job, the best they can do. Alot of the scripters are probably just sitting there like the rest of us but not pressing any buttons lol.

 

[Lynk]

Personally, I'm way more annoyed with people acting like jerks during ToT than scripters. Twice this morning, I was minding my own business, camping a small, unobtrusive spawn in a corner of FDD, when two different people came up and started trying to take all my kills. No "do you mind sharing this spawn?"; not even "hi". Just EVs for one and arrows for the other, straight for stuff my dragon was heading for. Luckily, neither stuck around long once I invited a few fan dancers to come play with us, but you know, be nice to people. If you see me and my dragon hanging out in FDD and you actually take the 10 seconds to ask me if I mind sharing the spawn, 9 times out of 10 I'll be happy to have pleasant company, and I may even take a break and let you have it.

lol, who do you think you are that people need to ask your permission to work spawn? If I decide to PvM over PvP I will equip my char with the gear to kill one specific monster in mind. If someone else is there, it's not going to stop me.

 

[JoO]

Personally, I'm way more annoyed with people acting like jerks during ToT than scripters. Twice this morning, I was minding my own business, camping a small, unobtrusive spawn in a corner of FDD, when two different people came up and started trying to take all my kills. No "do you mind sharing this spawn?"; not even "hi". Just EVs for one and arrows for the other, straight for stuff my dragon was heading for. Luckily, neither stuck around long once I invited a few fan dancers to come play with us, but you know, be nice to people. If you see me and my dragon hanging out in FDD and you actually take the 10 seconds to ask me if I mind sharing the spawn, 9 times out of 10 I'll be happy to have pleasant company, and I may even take a break and let you have it.

lol, who do you think you are that people need to ask your permission to work spawn? If I decide to PvM over PvP I will equip my char with the gear to kill one specific monster in mind. If someone else is there, it's not going to stop me.

Choice farming locations are at a premium. Competition for it should be expected. That's why they developed instanced corpses. What the other player did is perfectly acceptable what you did however purposely luring excess spawn on a tram ruleset facet with malicious intent however is not. I would have paged and laughed as you had to take a 24-72 hour timeout because I hear the ToT drop rate in jail is pretty terrible.

 

[Lissa Eldi]

lol, who do you think you are that people need to ask your permission to work spawn? If I decide to PvM over PvP I will equip my char with the gear to kill one specific monster in mind. If someone else is there, it's not going to stop me.

It may be legal, but what an attitude. Yes, luring is wrong, and yes, its illegal. But if the other person geared up for something specific too, found the little corner unoccupied and is working the spawn, you think its acceptable to just barge in and attempt to take over without even basic courtesy?
Unless there is enough spawn there to support more than one hunter, legal doesnt mean its really ok in my opinion. Guess I'm old school enough to value some kind of manners. Personally I'd just go away, rather than deal with people like that, and I suppose that would be your objective. Congratulations, you'd win....and I guess that is everything.