S
Splup
Guest
I'm kinda sure that's not the case. That program has zillions of scripts made by thousands of people, they can't be choosing which ones they are monitoring, they most likely are monitoring the program itself.
-
Hail Guest! We're looking for Community Content Contribuitors to Stratics. If you would like to write articles, fan fiction, do guild or shard event recaps, it's simple. Find out how in this thread: Community Contributions
-
Greetings Guest, Having Login Issues? Check this thread!
-
Hail Guest!, Please take a moment to read this post reminding you all of the importance of Account Security.
-
Hail Guest! Please read the new announcement concerning the upcoming addition to Stratics. You can find the announcement Here!
A looting macro in the Enhanced Client that worked like some looting scripts do (i.e. give the ability to players at the simple press of one key to "custom filter" what items they want to be automatically picked up from the corpse and what left on the corpse....) is something I'd really like to see.
But I'd like to see it in the EC client, not have to use third party applications to use it....
First the bit that's way more important than the game - congratulations to Sylvana Lily and her parents.
Now, regarding the UO stuff, especially the 'anti-cheat' elements. I'd wondered 'why now' for a cheating crackdown, when EA is short of money and resources, and chunks of the UO staff had been sacked. Sure, there's a general 'we do not approve of cheating' line, but let's be honest - since when has that led to any sort of real action, especially actions that hurt the bottom line cash profits of the game? But if you also factor in the leader of EA pontificating to shareholders that the future of the business is online microtransaction, there's a pretty good explanation for what's being done, how it might be approached, and what the results for us might be.
The 'cheat' programs out there (other than the speedhacks, which are a huge problem but don't fit with what I suspect the EA mindset on this is at the moment) are mainly ways around repetition, whether it's resource gathering or skill training. Most people don't enjoy those as much as they do playing the rest of the game, so there's an appeal to them, both for the RMT money makers and the more general playerbase. There are realistically two categories of user for those, the 'casual', small scale that apparently quite a few players use them for, and the much bigger, almost industrial scale, RMT end of the spectrum.
As has been pointed out a fair few times, closing those programs down for everyone would have no financial benefit to EA, and would actively lose them accounts - probably not the catastrophic numbers some doomsayers predict, but whichever way you work it out the cash flow would reduce from those accounts that use the banned programs being shut off. Never forget, EA is about making money, and even if stopping cheating is 'nice' the accounts department will be more than happy to let it go on as long as it's a net profit in cash for the company.
But now, if they are to shift to microtransaction sales from UOGamecodes, basic sense says what they need to sell are things that people will buy - and the big target that they would aim at is the stuff that lets people avoid what most claim they don't enjoy doing, and would most likely pay a small amount for - repetition like bulk resource gathering and skill training. Items that speed those up would probably be good sellers, if they wear out in-game you also likely have a recurring market - but there's a problem. The 'cheat' programs let you do those things for free... and although you'll sell some on Gamecodes for the honest players, you miss a fair few potential sales to the people who don't object to what EA says is wrong, and use the 'other' programs because they are there, easy, and free.
So what do EA do? They go after the repeated use of those 'cheating programs,' which in some cases was on an almost industrial level, because those hurt profits - the 'normal' player using a couple of scripts is likely to slip under their radar, because entirely server-side they are a tiny blip and they can't manually investigate all of those, whilst an automated responder acting on them is likely to cause so much grief they may as well blanket ban people on suspicion and hope the game survives. What they CAN see server side, and act on, is quantity and repetition of resource gathering and gold farming. Stick stuff in Gamecodes that takes over from the 'functionality' lost by the anti-cheat campaign, which the more honest players won't mind buying if the price is low enough. They'll weed out the bulk quantity dealers, probably scare a few other script abusers into closer compliance to the rules, but not cripple the cash flow, and if they get it right make the game overall more profitable for EA. And that is really why EA keep the product running, for the cash....
As for speedhacking - if they are right about wanting to raise the interest in PvP (and again, they are not doing that from altruism - if their market research and profit testing suggests there's money to be made in large amounts from a PvP customer base, they will work on it, otherwise they won't), then they will be working on detecting and blocking what those programs do, so we might see something move on that form of cheat too.
I reckon the first target, because it's more profitable and easier to address, will be large scale scripted resource and gold gathering though. And if their tools do work to cripple that - a long series of items on Gamecodes will follow pretty quickly, since player demand for bulk resources will go up, and where there's a market, there's profit.....
Now, regarding the UO stuff, especially the 'anti-cheat' elements. I'd wondered 'why now' for a cheating crackdown, when EA is short of money and resources, and chunks of the UO staff had been sacked. Sure, there's a general 'we do not approve of cheating' line, but let's be honest - since when has that led to any sort of real action, especially actions that hurt the bottom line cash profits of the game? But if you also factor in the leader of EA pontificating to shareholders that the future of the business is online microtransaction, there's a pretty good explanation for what's being done, how it might be approached, and what the results for us might be.
The 'cheat' programs out there (other than the speedhacks, which are a huge problem but don't fit with what I suspect the EA mindset on this is at the moment) are mainly ways around repetition, whether it's resource gathering or skill training. Most people don't enjoy those as much as they do playing the rest of the game, so there's an appeal to them, both for the RMT money makers and the more general playerbase. There are realistically two categories of user for those, the 'casual', small scale that apparently quite a few players use them for, and the much bigger, almost industrial scale, RMT end of the spectrum.
As has been pointed out a fair few times, closing those programs down for everyone would have no financial benefit to EA, and would actively lose them accounts - probably not the catastrophic numbers some doomsayers predict, but whichever way you work it out the cash flow would reduce from those accounts that use the banned programs being shut off. Never forget, EA is about making money, and even if stopping cheating is 'nice' the accounts department will be more than happy to let it go on as long as it's a net profit in cash for the company.
But now, if they are to shift to microtransaction sales from UOGamecodes, basic sense says what they need to sell are things that people will buy - and the big target that they would aim at is the stuff that lets people avoid what most claim they don't enjoy doing, and would most likely pay a small amount for - repetition like bulk resource gathering and skill training. Items that speed those up would probably be good sellers, if they wear out in-game you also likely have a recurring market - but there's a problem. The 'cheat' programs let you do those things for free... and although you'll sell some on Gamecodes for the honest players, you miss a fair few potential sales to the people who don't object to what EA says is wrong, and use the 'other' programs because they are there, easy, and free.
So what do EA do? They go after the repeated use of those 'cheating programs,' which in some cases was on an almost industrial level, because those hurt profits - the 'normal' player using a couple of scripts is likely to slip under their radar, because entirely server-side they are a tiny blip and they can't manually investigate all of those, whilst an automated responder acting on them is likely to cause so much grief they may as well blanket ban people on suspicion and hope the game survives. What they CAN see server side, and act on, is quantity and repetition of resource gathering and gold farming. Stick stuff in Gamecodes that takes over from the 'functionality' lost by the anti-cheat campaign, which the more honest players won't mind buying if the price is low enough. They'll weed out the bulk quantity dealers, probably scare a few other script abusers into closer compliance to the rules, but not cripple the cash flow, and if they get it right make the game overall more profitable for EA. And that is really why EA keep the product running, for the cash....
As for speedhacking - if they are right about wanting to raise the interest in PvP (and again, they are not doing that from altruism - if their market research and profit testing suggests there's money to be made in large amounts from a PvP customer base, they will work on it, otherwise they won't), then they will be working on detecting and blocking what those programs do, so we might see something move on that form of cheat too.
I reckon the first target, because it's more profitable and easier to address, will be large scale scripted resource and gold gathering though. And if their tools do work to cripple that - a long series of items on Gamecodes will follow pretty quickly, since player demand for bulk resources will go up, and where there's a market, there's profit.....
This will sound rather like some of my early posts here on Stratics but it cannot be helped to be honest with you. :gun: I'll begin with an effort to "cushion the impact" for the conversation's sake; With all due respect - Though solely towards those who my reply concerns and towards whom any Forums respect(or Net respect as some put it) would even be applicable, at this point :
Posts implying, indirectly suggesting or out-right saying that a crack-down of any degree on cheating will have ANY, AT ALL, negative impact(or more ridiculously, no impact at all) on the game are reaching an un-precedented level of annoyance and arrogance in their tirade of those extreme theories and, complex in their falsehood as they are, thought-schemes they mention and use as a basis and, to use another fancy word, in their masquerade as "scientifically"(apparently in Ultima by now cheating has reached the point where it may be viewed partly as a form of science or education) proven facts.
This is now well beyond the level of honest curiosity or concern, healthy skepticism or reasonable doubt(and even reasonable distrust due to EA/M's past "efforts" against cheating). This whole affair is totally ridiculous and such posts should, IMHO, be removed from this point on, as one after the other all reasonable questions concerning the implications of implementing anti-cheating mechanisms have either been answered in the best, most direct way possible by EA/M or the answers are simply obvious... Unless one would actually try to "phish" information on their software and methods(as I'm sure a few might have attempted judging from certain posts here and there), this subject is exhausted.
Having gotten that out of my chest I feel it necessary to also under-line the important part(again only IMHO) of May's Letter.. In Cal's own words, this is only the FIRST STEP towards a cheat-free Ultima Online. I've been very skeptical(and vocal in my skepticism, and I take back nothing- Yet) myself regarding the effectiveness of this movement, its target prioritization and other factors that will make or break it but at the moment people should simply wait and observe. Now, more than ever, are my hopes and faith re-newed. I simply felt like sharing that.
Posts implying, indirectly suggesting or out-right saying that a crack-down of any degree on cheating will have ANY, AT ALL, negative impact(or more ridiculously, no impact at all) on the game are reaching an un-precedented level of annoyance and arrogance in their tirade of those extreme theories and, complex in their falsehood as they are, thought-schemes they mention and use as a basis and, to use another fancy word, in their masquerade as "scientifically"(apparently in Ultima by now cheating has reached the point where it may be viewed partly as a form of science or education) proven facts.
This is now well beyond the level of honest curiosity or concern, healthy skepticism or reasonable doubt(and even reasonable distrust due to EA/M's past "efforts" against cheating). This whole affair is totally ridiculous and such posts should, IMHO, be removed from this point on, as one after the other all reasonable questions concerning the implications of implementing anti-cheating mechanisms have either been answered in the best, most direct way possible by EA/M or the answers are simply obvious... Unless one would actually try to "phish" information on their software and methods(as I'm sure a few might have attempted judging from certain posts here and there), this subject is exhausted.
Having gotten that out of my chest I feel it necessary to also under-line the important part(again only IMHO) of May's Letter.. In Cal's own words, this is only the FIRST STEP towards a cheat-free Ultima Online. I've been very skeptical(and vocal in my skepticism, and I take back nothing- Yet) myself regarding the effectiveness of this movement, its target prioritization and other factors that will make or break it but at the moment people should simply wait and observe. Now, more than ever, are my hopes and faith re-newed. I simply felt like sharing that.
B
Babble
Guest
So this letter is the long version of soon?
Huge congrats on the new baby to whoever the happy, exhausted, and probably somewhat frightened new parents are (especially if it is the first). And 9 pounds? Ouch! Nothing like a new baby to put all things UO in perspective eh?
Congratulations on the new "Team Member"
Was hoping for an update on Gypsies. Any chance of that?
I just wanted to add, it's wonderful to see that the third party cheat detection is finally operational. I'm sure the data so far has been an interesting eye opener. As usual, I could say many things but at this point what with there being a baby in the thread, I'll just say good luck, and I hope the overall strategy is successful.
But most of all it is great to see that something is finally being done. At least the ball is rolling and where there is a working system adjustments can always be made if they need to be made. With no system in place all the discussion in the world is meaningless.
The Best of Luck!
But most of all it is great to see that something is finally being done. At least the ball is rolling and where there is a working system adjustments can always be made if they need to be made. With no system in place all the discussion in the world is meaningless.
The Best of Luck!
- Awards
- 1
Me to/
I agree with your conclusions, Aurelius. Now if EA could drop the subscription fees a bit, dream up ways to entice people into opening additional accounts, and reward them in a meaningful way for getting friends and family to play, maybe they will hit on a winning combination of ways to make even more money off UO.
O
Ole Cheapy
Guest
Cal: Disable faction arties on siege, that alone would triple the population! Do this and i guarantee you that you will see the subscription rate triple on siege. A quick fix for more revenue for EA. Can't beat that one!
H
HaHa
Guest
...lord know half of us already have. But srsly though, some of us who have are watching this.
That sorta depends, using a script to increase screen resolution would also be a script in violation.
Also completely depends on how the information is collected and from where.
This.Huge congrats on the new baby to whoever the happy, exhausted, and probably somewhat frightened new parents are (especially if it is the first). And 9 pounds? Ouch! Nothing like a new baby to put all things UO in perspective eh?
Well, once the measure is implemented, I have asked my friend to test the measurements on an untraceable independent account, starting with the EC scripts and programs, then CC.
Will be interesting to see how well it works and if it works for both clients or just CC.
Will be interesting to see how well it works and if it works for both clients or just CC.
What you and others don't understand about this is the fact that artifacts are not going anywhere. This isn't a "classic" shard, this is an all felucia prodo shard with harder skill gain.
This game has become based around artifacts, all the stat enhancements and modifiers. Back in the day you could play in gm gear because all you had was magery to use your mana on. Now days you have chiv, ninja, spellweave, magery, bushido, mystic and probably something I missed.
The game has changed, and taking artifacts away will not do anything to help it. What the shard needs is a tweek to the way skill is gained, more cursed arty drop (we didn't have thousands and thousands of people farming endlessly for the duration of the events) so what we have is very very limited and very costly each death.
I love siege, love the playstyle, the fact I can kill anyone, anywhere, anytime...but I find myself logging in less and less and less because of the lack of playability these days. No ones on, nothing to farm, discouraged from gaining skill because it takes a damn month to raise something to 120!
To sum things up, we cant have a 1999-2000 game mentality here in 2010. It just doesn't make sense. Back in '99 you could have ROT when all you were gaining to was 100 in any particular skill. Now, to get to 120 in 5 skills it takes 3 months. That's absolutely insane.
Cost to equip and overpowered arties are what has killed Siege PvP, for both faction and non faction players. If Doom arties, Tokuno arties, ML arties [okay, all arties] and Replica's were to drop at a higher rate, it would bring the cost to equp down to a more reasonable level and people wouldn't be so afraid to lose their gear. More arties would also = more fragments for imbued pieces.
On top of that, factioners would do just as well with their normal and cursed artie counterparts. Only cursed arties wouldn't have the ability to be Siege blessed. The only real differences would be that 1. they couldn't be purchased from a box and 2. factioners wouldn't have an advantage over non-factioners.
I like the item based game as much as you do, but faction arties could very well be removed if the devs see fit and only a handful of players would be against it.
B
Babble
Guest
Would that not be bad for crafting and also what about the risk of really having overpowered characters on Siege?
Does Siege these days consists of players who play without artefacts, or just a few who cannot get most of the artefacts?
Care what you ask for as it could be very unbalancing.
Does Siege these days consists of players who play without artefacts, or just a few who cannot get most of the artefacts?
Care what you ask for as it could be very unbalancing.
Many scripts don't repeat actions like that. And regular legal tools like macros of more advanced keyboards also gives repetitive actions like clockwork.
Sorry, Chaos. Taking one line out of context while obviously failing to grasp the entirety of the post means you fail.
Go troll elsewhere.
Go troll elsewhere.
Most of our regular PvPers are artied out. Then we have those who would like to PvP more, but aren't yet skilled enough in PvP to keep replacing expensive suits. Heh.. That would include players like me [I stink at PvP, but would like to get better], non-factioners and newer players. Now, I wouldn't ever show up with a 1 or 2 mil suit, but with 1 or 2 faction arties and imbued pieces and jewels, I'd lose about 300-500k per death, depending on template and how I equip. My learning experience would be pretty costly if I died 3 times a night.. or more! I've got a little gold, but it wouldn't last terribly long at that rate! Even the better PvPers who are running 1 and 2 mil suits aren't so willing to lose theirs either and it shows in their PvP as well.
-Faction items simply complicate things for Siege Players-
Consider that there may be a fight for say, 20 or 30 minutes, then a couple people or more die and everything comes to a grinding halt for 30 minutes or longer, while ppl get out of stat, find out if anyone is willing to sell back equipment, then search the likely vendors to purchase said items, which are never on 1 vendor because its rare that only 1 person loots. Toss in sworn enemies copping an attitude, not selling back, global chat e-peen fight, a few from one side or the other log off in a huff. One side is now outnumbered... Game Over. Thats PvP on Siege.
The current situation isn't conducive to fun and constant PvP.
Increased artifact drops would probably be a mixed bag for crafters as far as armor goes. They would likely sell less or very little GM crafted armor, but there isn't much of a market for simple GM crafter now anyway, with imbuing in the picture. It would, however increase the availability of relic frags to make entire suits, filler pieces, weapons and soulforges, making those items lest costly to make. The latter would be great for crafters. Relic Frags are going for 30-35k atm. Its pretty likely they would become cheaper with more arties to unravel. IMO, thats a win for crafter business and a win for those who are currently spending 200k to 2 mil to re-equip or buyback their suit. Plus, imbued items can be used by anyone, so those items are rarely available for buyback. Its typically faction arties that fall under the "buyback program" on Siege.
Plus, when Siege has a healthy amount of action [and not just from PvP], crafters can barely keep up with demand for potions, petals, apples, dp shurikens, smoke bombs, bolas, PoF, repair deeds, etc.
It seems to me like crafters would fair pretty well with that proposed change, but I could be missing something.
"There is a new UO team member. Sylvana Lily, she was born Monday at 4:41 pm. She was 9 pounds 10 ounces and 21 inches long. We’re going to have her write some fiction next week, so if all of Britannia is covered in Gerber baby pink with duck wallpaper, you’ll know why."
Big baby! My youngest was 9 pounds 13 ounces, lol.
You don't say who the parents are, so I have to assume it's your daughter.
Regardless whose she is, CONGRATS!!!!!! And at the the same time, in regards to the sleepless nights, the doctor visits, the school events, the chauffeuring, the cleaning up, the "Daddy/Mommy, buy me this!" the "no you CAN'T date yet, you're too young!", the loud music, "Don't you DARE wear that out in public!" and "She got caught doing WHAT?!?!?!", my condolences.
Girls can be a challenge in my experience, much more so than boys, but the rewards are so much sweeter.
Big baby! My youngest was 9 pounds 13 ounces, lol.
You don't say who the parents are, so I have to assume it's your daughter.
Regardless whose she is, CONGRATS!!!!!! And at the the same time, in regards to the sleepless nights, the doctor visits, the school events, the chauffeuring, the cleaning up, the "Daddy/Mommy, buy me this!" the "no you CAN'T date yet, you're too young!", the loud music, "Don't you DARE wear that out in public!" and "She got caught doing WHAT?!?!?!", my condolences.
Girls can be a challenge in my experience, much more so than boys, but the rewards are so much sweeter.
Already looking for ways to crack the cheat detection are we? Well, I'd say good luck, but I hope you and your friends fail miserably...
Y
Yalp
Guest
/ agreed.
So does this mean that if you can see the extra rubble/goza floors outside your house you have to take it down?