Time to Ban Pack Animals at Idocs until Mesanna fixes things?

[jack flash uk]

We all know about this multi acct idoc cheater, looting with up to 6 accts and then friending his main char to all pack animals so on command they all follow him and he has up to 20+ packs to script fill.

No arguments we know it happens
There was talk of cancelling all idocs until the fix is in, which would negatively affect all players.

Until Mesanna can fix this absolute RAT, how about a complete ban on ALL pack animals at idocs

 

[Uvtha]

Just get rid of idocs, problem solved!

 

[jack flash uk]

that will affect quite a lot of peoples game play . but trying to level the playing field so one cheat doesn't hoover the lot into multiply animals has to be a good start

 

[Victim of Siege]

I agree and disagree at the same time. While it will help with the hoovering, it will only be a matter of time before the scripters figure a workaround and in the end only non scripture will be affected. But I suppose I will say this would be way to at least put a hitch in their stride

 

[Pawain]

Can't come up with something that does not affect non cheaters?

I only expect to get a stack of a heavy item. Now I will get nothing.

 

[jack flash uk]

If scripter cannot hoover up and dump in multiple pack animals then it down to personal storage. They either fill up too quick or have to pick up single items Surely we all get a chance then?

others things that annoy

osi idoc. 8 pack animals. 1 player. It fell today not full cycle. How did they know? They were not in attendance yesterday

something really STINKS. After 10 years of idocs I have witnessed many teams, methods, etc it is out of control or supported by the dev team. You cannot be this obvious without punishment You just can’t

 

[jack flash uk]

Time to walk away from idocs again. Not worth putting in the time to see the same crap so obvious no GM, no Mesanna. So just come out and say it’s legal to script now. And while you are at it add the cheat scripts to the EC Level the plying field if you do not have the balls to ban the cheats.

 

[jack flash uk]

Whilst stealthed at 2 idocs I wondered up behind several random players. Dropped a deed next to them and it gets Instantly hoovered up, literally vanished as soon as I dropped it. So scripting is rampant. All Mesanna has to do it do this simple test. See who it goes to. Drop some more good things and watch the script working and then just bin these people. I dropped the items a good half hour before it’s due to fall so I would guess they don’t know the fall time. Just camp, switch on script. Wait, run around in hoover mode. How utterly pathetic and sad. Get rid. Once and for all

 

[Meat Elemental]

Does using have a pet friend someone have any good purpose anyways beside how people are abusing it?

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[Lady Michelle]

limit how many packies your characters friended to per other persons account.
or
your character has 5 packies out then he will only be able to control those packies. if he tries to control a packy he is friended to a message will come up
your at your limit of packies to control. he would have to stable 1 to control 1 he is friended to.

 

[Uvtha]

that will affect quite a lot of peoples game play . but trying to level the playing field so one cheat doesn't hoover the lot into multiply animals has to be a good start

I've long been of the opinion that when houses fall everything in them should get added to the cavern of the discarded drop pool. IDOC's have in my opinion always been a toxic element of the game, no matter how exciting they may be.

If it all went to the CotD, it could actually be a fun way to create a new worthwhile and fair activity for everyone.

 

[Merus]

I've long been of the opinion that when houses fall everything in them should get added to the cavern of the discarded drop pool. IDOC's have in my opinion always been a toxic element of the game, no matter how exciting they may be.

If it all went to the CotD, it could actually be a fun way to create a new worthwhile and fair activity for everyone.

You would just end up with a horde of hidden characters covering every tile of the cavern auto set to script loot any item near them.

 

[Picus of Napa]

It's a old game and the rules are clear: pay cash for you subscription and do what you fancy.

 

[Coco_Zamis_DF]

Just kill all pack animals when idoc falls. Thoose who have none rider

 

[flappy6]

How about all the loot goes into locked chest , and some kind of spawn that reveals with damage like fire demons but make them paragon or those poison snakes paragon ,the najasaurus thingys
Must kill spawn first and need lockpicker

 

[flappy6]

Still say the house should have a count down time on house sign, the house times have been changed so much changing the time again only makes it a disadvantage for average players. If you put count down timer its equal for everyone

 

[GarthGrey]

sigh......

 

[Uriah Heep]

If they ban packies till it gets fixed, well
packies will be banned forever.

Y'all really have faith that they can/will fix IDOCs? After all this time, really?
lol

 

[Naxatilor Feluka]

Another post about greedy players being mad at other greedy players for not getting what they perceive to be there "fair share" of free ****?

I just logged in to say "NEXT"

 

[jack flash uk]

Another post about greedy players being mad at other greedy players for not getting what they perceive to be there "fair share" of free ****?

I just logged in to say "NEXT"

so if you don't do idocs you really don't need to comment do you. Not at all helpful

 

[lineman]

Just a thought and maybe a bad one lol, wonder if they could add into the idoc script where pets were not allowed kinda like when you go into Blackthorn's Castle EM section, It would need to throw in a perimeter zone near house as well like 4 paces or something. I used to be big into idocing years ago and basically everyone had a fair shake at everything. Stopped years ago because of the scripters and I agree its too bad because it was a fun part of the game. Sucks a few greedy people screw things up for evryone.

 

[Xare]

I think its cute that you really think Mesanna is going to do anything to "fix" this issue. Look at the history of the current dev team's fixes and tell me how you liked them.

 

[jack flash uk]

I think its cute that you really think Mesanna is going to do anything to "fix" this issue. Look at the history of the current dev team's fixes and tell me how you liked them.

I live in hope

 

[Luc of Legends]

I live in hope

Don't hold your breathe.

Quite frankly she embarrasses me as an IT professional. She'd rather run off 50 innocent paying customers, than ( GOD FORBID) actually bust one of her "special people".

Case in point: Clops. Its my understanding people tried to report to her his activities and she'd have none of it.

Just like her little "special people" that blocked our Luna house in May. She wasn't woman enough to ban them even though they were clearly violating the TOS.

She wasn't woman enough to ban them when one of them stood up and told her " you can't touch me. You can't do anything to me."

Sadly he was right. She griped out him and the rest of the "Special Ones" blocking our house. Then promptly threatened to ban Jirel and I. For what?

Its kinda like that stupid "Zero Tolerance Policy" back in High school.

See under that dumb policy if Mr. Bully decides to jump you and beat the crap outta of you, then you both get expelled.

Because of "zero tolerance", even though your only crime was your face getting in his fists way.

I never have understood the point of punishing the victim.

In UO's case its apathy, then punish everyone. One extreme to another.

 

[lineman]

It really is amazing that it is allowed, any other game would be dealt with almost immediately yet this had been years. This is a huge part of the game for allot of people, there are guilds based just for this part of the game. And I do agree with some of the above comments, what a shame.

 

[Innoxicated]

And yet despite sooo mannny threads about how much of a d**k this guy is for ruining idocs with his scripts, people continue to buy the stuff off his 3rd party sites.

I guess hes providing a service to the community, where players can return to the game and *buy* all of their stuff back! It's a dirty (very) job, but someone has to do it!! ... I guess

 

[Xare]

The lack of repercussions had essentially forced everyone into using services and tools that violate the ToS, of they're doing competitive activities.

One of the reasons I can't bring myself to have a paying subscription anymore. I can't, in good conscience, support the sheer incompetence of the Dev team. And it's a shame, because UO is a great game.

 

[Naxatilor Feluka]

I think its more likely the lack of collective intelligence involved when a post is made about "cheaters" renders your opinions irrelevant to the equation.

 

[Innoxicated]

While I agree that maybe creating a thread showcasing how fired up you got about it is probably going to fall on deaf ears, the problem is *all* of the threads fall on deaf ears. Any opinions becoming irrelevant is fine, because there just happens to be a LOT of factual evidence to balance that equation out.

I saw on the official site a shout out to people afk macroing skills in their houses, and how they're gonna really crack down on this blatant violation of the ToS. I don't think spamming nether cyclone in your house is a bigger issue to solve than the idoc scripts, but maybe it's easier.

 

[lineman]

And yet despite sooo mannny threads about how much of a d**k this guy is for ruining idocs with his scripts, people continue to buy the stuff off his 3rd party sites.

I guess hes providing a service to the community, where players can return to the game and *buy* all of their stuff back! It's a dirty (very) job, but someone has to do it!! ... I guess

Makes you kinda put two and two together. They allow it to go on for years after countless threads about it so if I was a betting man I would guess there friends of someone who makes decisions for this game,

 

[Xare]

I think its more likely the lack of collective intelligence involved when a post is made about "cheaters" renders your opinions irrelevant to the equation.

Someone pulled out the dictionary! Hope you at least looked up what all those words mean before using them.

Tell me, oh smart one, what do those with great intellect think about the overall state of cheating within UO? If you're not going to contribute anything useful to the discussion, you're as big a dumbass as you're claiming that the rest of us are.

 

[Innoxicated]

Makes you kinda put two and two together. They allow it to go on for years after countless threads about it so if I was a betting man I would guess there friends of someone who makes decisions for this game,

All of the suggestions I've seen about moving idoc loot to the cavern of the discarded or adding some of it to a global tmap chest loot pool (how about dungeon chests, that might be some interesting new content?) are very cool ideas, but perhaps difficult for the devs to implement.

I want to say they have their plates pretty full, but this kind of game-breaking scripting is much more dangerous than afk skill training, and is exactly the kind of thing they need to address. QoL for players and ToS violations for the scripters.

Another cool idea is to have an idoc explosion where the stuff falls over a large area like the gold at a spawn or the sand at corgul. That shouldn't be difficult to code in, would make for a fun and fair idoc experience. Or maybe a King Grubber peerless appears. How about a gold sink where the stuff goes into some sort of auction?

I'm starting to think if they cant move account-bound items like soulstones to a player's bank upon collapse then maybe they should just delete it all.


Or maybe just move all contents directly to IDOC Guy's bank.

 

[Johnny Black]

How about a gold sink where the stuff goes into some sort of auction?

Mesanna recently said that this is probably the direction that they will go for.

 

[jack flash uk]

Mesanna recently said that this is probably the direction that they will go for.

So the rich get richer and will price out the rewards from most player. So you go from the chance of picking up something to being able to buy nothing. Why can’t they just stop rear entry script programs?

 

[Innoxicated]

I thought the same thing at first, but if it was storage unit style auctions where the contents were hidden from the people placing the bids, that may put a cap on how high the bids go. Perhaps the size of the house plot could be listed, perhaps not. If so smaller plots may fall beneath the notice of the more wealthy players. If not an advantage is given to those who actually scouted out the idoc rather than simply bank sitting til one pops up.

Maybe the interface for the auction could exist as a post or something that appears 1 tile off from the house sign, or somewhere ideally to not block placement, but still giving people a reason to run around and scout out idoc's. Maybe one of the aforementioned poor players stumbles across a legacy small tower full of old rares, without needing to worry about a wealthy player cutting them out.

Just brainstorming and I'm certain there are rampant abuses possible, but that's the kind of scenario id like to see, even if the best idoc's go to the most wealthy. I

Any kind of encounter with mobs would have the same problem, the poor and undergeared would fall short of those who are well-equipped. So in these two scenarios it's either the richest win or the most skilled win... But I gotta say that beats letting the best script win, hands down.

 

[ShriNayne]

Wouldn't the scripters be better equipped to grab a loot explosion than the non-cheaters? They vacuum up everything in seconds already....

 

[MalagAste]

I would rather see a Lotto than an Auction since mostly only the rich would ever win an auction the little people wouldn't be able to afford anything...

But if anything I like the idea of some sort of Spawn that is a nice fight... like maybe the house contents turn into any super hyped peerless boss or champ boss in the game with small spawn at first going through some sort of stages and you fight the boss and all "loot" is then equally distributed to the top attackers... it would be like all the "loot" went into the moving crate and then the "chests" that are normally in the crate are distributed to the top damagers as some sort of token you can take to your house and open. You could win great stuff or get nasty junk... never know... would be like Christmas. Either getting an awesome haul or a 3 year old fruitcake. Never know. But it would be fun in Tram or Fel... would keep the IDOC alive and I can be certain won't be anyone rolling up with no 25 packies in tow to something like that. Now could they multibox there with a bunch of characters well yes they could... but that can be paged on and will get them banned. Supposedly... so I don't know... anyway it seems a viable option.

I don't' like the idea of it being one of those Giant horde minions because despite all the DEVs best efforts NO ONE in the EC can see that thing. Which is 100% unfair and until they fix that IMO that mob should NEVER be allowed in-game.

 

[lineman]

Lots of unique ideas, but still the easiest thing to implement would be to ban the cheating vacuum scripters.

 

[Xare]

Lots of unique ideas, but still the easiest thing to implement would be to ban the cheating vacuum scripters.

Great idea. Unfortunately, there is no way for them to detect it with any sense of ease. I asked point blank if they could detect script runners on the official forums one day and was essentially told that they can't answer that question. Based on that response, and the lack of enforcement, that leads me to believe that they need to have a GM see the act in person. It's not feasible for them to monitor everything at once.

 

[jack flash uk]

Great idea. Unfortunately, there is no way for them to detect it with any sense of ease. I asked point blank if they could detect script runners on the official forums one day and was essentially told that they can't answer that question. Based on that response, and the lack of enforcement, that leads me to believe that they need to have a GM see the act in person. It's not feasible for them to monitor everything at once.

Idocs are a major issue. To answer you point I know players have given GM and Mesanna location times and dates of idocs. All they have to do is actually get off their arses and go to them. Then they can see how ridiculous it is. They can’t or won’t even do that
Which leads me to start agreeing with the general idea that the idoc guy is or was involved with the dev team. Or a friend or one of them. Or something along those lines. You cannot possibly take the piss so obviously without being banned. You just can’t

 

[Thermo83]

Threads like this are just an exercise at futility. If you get to hear stories from people who have been playing this game from the beginning you start to realize that fixes have been known years, are simple to code and will never be done as the Devs consider the IDOC roombas invaluable for a series of reasons. Yes, it is illogical from any other perspective.

Which to me really sucks. I like scavenging but the whole concept of running all the scripts kills it for me. Only by happenchance of my going to an IDOC no one else shows interest in because it is too small and is dropping near the time of a larger one do I ever get anything. For some reason when things drop and there is a herd around me my client lags out and I can't even grab anything until it is all gone. I think to overcome that I need the same or better roomba code as everyone else that is vacuuming that stuff up so fast, as my **** visually lags out due to the game not handling what is going on very well. Maybe EC won't do that, but I can't stand it and use CC.

 

[MalagAste]

Sadly if they ban them there is nothing to stop them from starting right back up you can't erase the scripts off their computer... stopping how they do it is more important IMO.

 

[Innoxicated]

I agree with this ^ ... And perhaps the difference between now and all the previous threads made about the issue is the devs sudden apparent interest in combating scripting. God knows how effective it will be. Putting more restrictions on EJ accounts chaps my ass a little, but I also realize more EJ accounts likely belong to paying subscribers than new/returning players. Certainly some of which are used for things most people wouldnt risk being caught doing on their subbed accounts.

Preventing EJ from doing trade deals I understand, but what restriction could be made to keep an EJ account from scripting at an IDOC. The pack animals would be a good start, but I think the only real solution is a complete overhaul.

 

[Cymidei]

Just ban IDOCs and come up with a fair and compassionate system for accounts that go unpaid for awhile. I think the house should drop and the player’s items should go in a warehouse or bank. No more lost soulstones, etc. It will encourage our friends and community to keep playing UO if they don’t lose it all.


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[Keeper]

Easiest solution is to just delete all items when a house falls, the longer I play the more I think that might be the best solution.

 

[Naxatilor Feluka]

@Keeper Has it right. "Ban all cheaters" is an massive undertaking with tons of grey area. Much better to remove game design flaws that make cheating profitable. Content that is removed from the game just means older items and resources will retain their value.

 

[MaryForUo]

this has always been the big problem of this wonderful game. The solutions are there, but they have never been applied. Personally I closed my account a few years ago for this reason, because I saw many players make "too much" money easily and get things that required a lot of time, money and resources for me to have them.
Just remember this:
"the solutions are there, but it is originally the problem ... they don't want to apply them"
ask yourself a question, and give yourself an answer!
I have been back for almost a year and I have very little money and few resources, but that's okay, as soon as I get tired of it I'll close everything again.
The game has enormous potential, but obviously to them, the producers and those who manage it all, that's fine.

 

[Arcus]

@Keeper Has it right. "Ban all cheaters" is an massive undertaking with tons of grey area. .

Don't even need to do this and MaryForUO ha it right. A simple daily, bi weekly , whatever patch to break "that scripting program" so often it becomes unmanageable to fix IS the solution. This solution has ALWAYS been there. They refuse to employ it. The only question is why they don't.

 

[TheGrimReefer]

I always thought that idocs should have been GM run from the start. Get rid of the timers and all that crap. If people want timers or like searching for them, check the shard website, there they are. Announce them in General Chat. Once a week GM's would open gates to the houses and drop them. Get GM's more involved with this sort of feature.They could record everything that happens and wok through it. Have fun and find all the scriptors at the same time. If you force them or give them a reason to use the scripts, they will and you can catch them in the act.

The community has given them many ways/reasons to do something with them, they just WILL NOT do it. But I have said it before. it has nothing to do with subscription numbers or resources, they just dont care. The numbers in the news letters should tell them that there is a problem (if those numbers are suppose to be Real) and there need to be a change. And not just to idocs but everything that scriptors are doing, PvM or PvP.

 

[jack flash uk]

Don't even need to do this and MaryForUO ha it right. A simple daily, bi weekly , whatever patch to break "that scripting program" so often it becomes unmanageable to fix IS the solution. This solution has ALWAYS been there. They refuse to employ it. The only question is why they don't.

2 patches a day. even 12 hours I thought would kill script programs, o another thread that idea was kicked into the long grass as I was told a certain illegal program self updates almost as fat as game patches, no idea how true that it, but it depressed the hell out of me