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Huge problem with duping and macroing within EQ right now

Started by concernedeq, December 04, 2005, 09:28:57 AM

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Kanan

jaeren, dun worry about the adds.

Scott Kurtz over at pvponline got himself a lil worked up over em when they popped up re: WoW gold sales... after a bit he gave up, bcs, again, of the massive amount of sites that post it.

We all know about em and if we had any inclination to use em, we could google it just fine.

The ads help keep this site running, and they're not that invasive, so meh to em.
Kez's Magelo 85 "Arch Animist" of Final Empire on Povar

Dummkopf

I dont worry much about the ads as long as this site isnt owned by yantis (or some other company of that kind). I dunno if you have a donate button, could probably help to raise a bit of cash to keep this site running without ads, no idea on return on those donate buttons though.


Jaeren

No this site won't be owned by Yantis or IGE. The whole forming of the site was because the old one was bought out from under the members. I host the website and Kash has the domain reg just because I've been too busy to remember to transfer it over yet. I'll be doing that when we both have the time and trust me, I won't be selling the domain. I haven't played eq in over a year personally but I know people still use the site and until such time as the site gets no traffic at all, it will be here.



EQ - Morell Thule / Erollisi Marr (Retired):
[75 Beastlord] Jaeren (Barbarian)
[72 Cleric] Velissia (High Elf)
[69 Shaman] Sotar (Vah Shir)
  
WoW - Medivh (Retired):
[60 Rogue] Draeven (Undead)
[60 Priest] Lifesaver (Undead)
[56 Rogue] Klaien (Human)
[51 Paladin] Keidian (Human)
  
VSOH - Flamehammer (Retired)
[34 Disciple] Daevien (Half Elf)
[33 Bard] Pastorius (Kojani)
[26 Dread Knight] Draeven (Kojani)


Kanan

Kez's Magelo 85 "Arch Animist" of Final Empire on Povar

Koullyn

Quote from: Jaeren on December 07, 2005, 05:30:21 PM
No this site won't be owned by Yantis or IGE. The whole forming of the site was because the old one was bought out from under the members. I host the website and Kash has the domain reg just because I've been too busy to remember to transfer it over yet. I'll be doing that when we both have the time and trust me, I won't be selling the domain. I haven't played eq in over a year personally but I know people still use the site and until such time as the site gets no traffic at all, it will be here.

Been since last November that I finally quit EQ. We still have this site and about 15 other EQ sites hosted on our servers. Yantis made an offer on a few of them, but I kept them and Jaeren is playing with them now in his spare time. I have always tried to get sites like this to come over to our servers and do a simple backlink to us in trade for free SP01 plans.
-- Retired Level 70 Beastlord --
http://www.wowgamers.com
http://www.wwm.net

concernedeq

I just wanted to give you all an update, since this does especially reinforce what I 'thought' was going on.

After this last patch, the resellers I mentioned were trafficing this duped platinum, went dry.  They had no auctions up, and none available for purchase at all.   Emailing them, and speaking with one of them as a buyer I found out that all of their accounts had been banned and they had none for sale at the moment, but they assured me if I checked back in a day they could fill my needs.   Emailing them as a seller they were not interested in buying any plat at all.  They said they have 'one supplier' they have an exclusive deal with and they assured they would have new accounts and full stocks of plat within 1 day's time.

Sure enough, the very next day they had millions for sale on every single server.   We're not talking about 1 million plat for sale, on a couple of servers, we are talking about 4 million and up for sale, on every single server.   Anyone know a way to make 4 million plat in less than 16 hours?   I don't care how good you are, or if you had 10 farm teams of characters, you can't do it.  You especially can't do this on all servers without any discretion.

Of another note, I am not sure if I mentioned it, but there is an individual offering powerleveling and AA services, on all servers, with no server transfer needed.  Their pricing is about one third of what the other powerlevelers charge.   After the last patch, they too disappeared citing problems with their accounts when an inquiry was sent.   Though one day later they again had every single server covered with auctions for 1-70 or hundreds of AA points at rock bottom prices, and in record timing.   If the plat situation doesn't bother you, perhaps this will.  If someone is able to get level 70 and 400 AA in two to three days through exploit, does that not negate the hard work of every single player?   And no, monster missions are not an option for this kind of advancement, at this speed.  I figure someone will offer that as an option, but quite frankly monster missions will not take you 1-70 and 400 AA in 60 hours.

So it sounds like some good news, that Sony is banning these accounts.   But it doesn't appear that they have fixed whatever it is that is causing the problem.  If the people are able to just buy up another 20 or so accounts and be up and running duping plat again within 24 hours, or powerleveling folks up to 70 with hundreds of AA in two days,  that doesn't really fix the problem.  Yeah it puts them out some time and about $400, but they are sure to make that back within an hour or two.

It's the exact same situation as was going on two years back, and it will continue to go on.  As time wears onwards it will likely get much worse, too.   As they figure ways to optimize and streamline whatever it is they are doing, we may see 1 to 70 with 400 AA for a hundred bucks and done in 18 hours, or plat for $50 per million.   Price is the limiting factor for most.  If it gets that 'cheap' then you can expect to see many more people running around at the top level and maxed out on AA.  When something like that costs a couple grand, people think twice.  When it costs less than the cost of EQ itself, lots more will be able to 'justify' purchasing their level 70 maxed out character.   And yes, it will have impact within the game.  Sony needs to put a stop to this as soon as possible.  Simply banning the offenders once a month is not working.  They need to fix whatever it is that these individuals are using to exploit.  Make your voice heard, if you feel this is a problem.   Feel free to copy this and send it in to SOE.  The more people that do, the better.   Coverage on the SOE boards would help as well.


*Noting here that out of respect for the boards this is posted at, I removed any and all names of companies and individuals doing this.  This is not an advertisment.  It is my hope with this post to inform the EQ community so that people can make their voices known to Sony.   1 person bringing this up tends to get ignored.  It took many people with concern for the game two years ago to get it fixed.

Bulge

Quote from: Jaeren on December 05, 2005, 08:39:58 PM
The ads have been in place for quite a while.  I've added many of them to the list of ones not to show but I haven't had time lately to add the ones that are showing now.

Frankly, they have been up for months with the occasional one getting through and until today, no one even noticed so I hadn't put much effort into removing them with the large amounts of other things I have to do, it doesn't leave much time for removing ads that no one seems to see anyway.

Edit: Also, once Sony made their own forums, they stopped visiting or listening to any other forums anyway.

The last 30 times I went to this site, every single add was for some plat-selling site. When they refresh, just more of the same.  So it's sortoff hard to believe that they only make out a small percentage of the ads.   I was there when the old Beastlord site sold out  to Yantis and this site was founded, and the drama  from  people burning Yantis and IGE to the ground still rings in my ears.  I am only slightly bothered by the ads, it just feels wrong to see them on this website specifically. But if it pays the bills then I understand.
Bulge, 66 Beastlord of Third Era, Antonius Bayle(formerly Kane Bayle), temporarily retired.
Sterk, 45 SK of Indigo Skies, 6-box on Rathe server, and progressing through TSS.

JillieMT

concernedeq: what server are you on, and would you mind letting us know your character name?
Lady Jillianna Silversoul and Cody
71.181 Halasian Feral Lady - Morell-Thule... erm, Erollisi Marr
Faveo Sulum Ipsemet Ascio

Oiingo

Quote from: concernedeq on December 12, 2005, 01:51:02 PM
After this last patch, the resellers I mentioned were trafficing this duped platinum, went dry.  They had no auctions up, and none available for purchase at all.   Emailing them, and speaking with one of them as a buyer I found out that all of their accounts had been banned and they had none for sale at the moment, but they assured me if I checked back in a day they could fill my needs.   Emailing them as a seller they were not interested in buying any plat at all.  They said they have 'one supplier' they have an exclusive deal with and they assured they would have new accounts and full stocks of plat within 1 day's time.

I can't help but find it odd that they would so freely give up the fact that they were banned.  I question this statement in its entirety.  It may have indeed happened, but I suspect you simply guessed at the reason.

Quote
Sure enough, the very next day they had millions for sale on every single server.   We're not talking about 1 million plat for sale, on a couple of servers, we are talking about 4 million and up for sale, on every single server.   Anyone know a way to make 4 million plat in less than 16 hours?   I don't care how good you are, or if you had 10 farm teams of characters, you can't do it.  You especially can't do this on all servers without any discretion.

I'm still loooking for a way to make that much plat that quick. If anyone knows the secret, hook me up.  My druid needs some DoN crystals.  :)

Quote
Of another note, I am not sure if I mentioned it, but there is an individual offering powerleveling and AA services, on all servers, with no server transfer needed.  Their pricing is about one third of what the other powerlevelers charge.   After the last patch, they too disappeared citing problems with their accounts when an inquiry was sent.   Though one day later they again had every single server covered with auctions for 1-70 or hundreds of AA points at rock bottom prices, and in record timing.   If the plat situation doesn't bother you, perhaps this will.  If someone is able to get level 70 and 400 AA in two to three days through exploit, does that not negate the hard work of every single player?   And no, monster missions are not an option for this kind of advancement, at this speed.  I figure someone will offer that as an option, but quite frankly monster missions will not take you 1-70 and 400 AA in 60 hours.

Actually, it was monster missions that folks were using for AAXP.  The Guk ``train them out'' mission was being scripted so that it was completely automated, hence the reason they altered how it worked in a recent patch.

Quote
So it sounds like some good news, that Sony is banning these accounts.   But it doesn't appear that they have fixed whatever it is that is causing the problem.  If the people are able to just buy up another 20 or so accounts and be up and running duping plat again within 24 hours, or powerleveling folks up to 70 with hundreds of AA in two days,  that doesn't really fix the problem.  Yeah it puts them out some time and about $400, but they are sure to make that back within an hour or two.

It's not that they don't have problems fixed, it's that new ones keep popping up.  Money is a powerful motivator, and as long as they are making money, they'll keep finding ways to exploit the game in their favor.

Quote
It's the exact same situation as was going on two years back, and it will continue to go on.  As time wears onwards it will likely get much worse, too.   As they figure ways to optimize and streamline whatever it is they are doing, we may see 1 to 70 with 400 AA for a hundred bucks and done in 18 hours, or plat for $50 per million.   Price is the limiting factor for most.  If it gets that 'cheap' then you can expect to see many more people running around at the top level and maxed out on AA.  When something like that costs a couple grand, people think twice.  When it costs less than the cost of EQ itself, lots more will be able to 'justify' purchasing their level 70 maxed out character.   And yes, it will have impact within the game.  Sony needs to put a stop to this as soon as possible.  Simply banning the offenders once a month is not working.  They need to fix whatever it is that these individuals are using to exploit.  Make your voice heard, if you feel this is a problem.   Feel free to copy this and send it in to SOE.  The more people that do, the better.   Coverage on the SOE boards would help as well.

Why would you think Sony doesn't wan't to stop this?  It certainly doesn't work in their favor, that's for sure.

While many of your points are basically right, you fall short everywhere else.  It's definately an issue, it's actively being worked on, and it's never going to be resolved as long as the game remains as dynamic as it has been; with so much new content, people will continue to find exploits.
Predator Oiingo Boiingo (80 beasty) of <Triality> on Maelin Starpyre

concernedeq

Jillie,  It wouldn't be in my best interest to disclose my server or character name as I've stated I have sold plat.  If you wish I'll not post on these boards if you have a no anon poster rule.  If there are other reasons you wish to know feel free to email me and we can talk.


I wanted to add

I know some have been shrugging this off saying "well I don't twink out in the bazaar or I just raid so this doesn't affect me at all."  But it affects the raider eventually, just like it affects almost every other player.

For instance, if the rate of plat entering the game triples over 6 months because of a dupe, and development determines that plat must be drained out of the game in some fashion, then it is usually through higher level quests that this is done.  Two excellent examples are POP Ornate and Elemental armor, as well as OOW armor.   Notice to complete a piece of OOW armor, after the dupe 2 years back, costs around 10k per piece.   Compare this with elemental armor completion which was, I think, 500 plat each piece?   Huge difference, and you can thank the macroing and duping done 2 years ago for such a massive increase.

It affects everyone eventually, when individuals are allowed to counterfeit money for so long and push it into the system.   When things are put in place to try to remedy the situation (and once the money has changed hands beyond the seller / buyer and into the bazaar stream, it is impossible to just yank the duped plat) everyone will feel the pinch.  When the next armor pieces cost 50k per piece, or the next item required for raid progressions or high end tradeskills costs exhorbitant amounts of money, you are paying the price for these exploiters.  Something to chew on a bit, if you don't think the effects of such activity will reach you.  I can almost guarantee you, they will.

Nusa

Quotewouldn't be in my best interest
QuoteI've sold plat

So what you're saying is that you're whining because your business model doesnt work anymore? Seems like you're part of the problem...

Personally, I really only use plat for fixed game-imposed costs, like moving augs around or buying that 10K component for qvic armor. It's been a long time since I've had less than 100K sitting around for that sort of thing.

Otherwise, as a general rule, if I don't win and loot it myself, I do without. So the real-world value of plat and what's happening in the bazaar really doesn't matter to me.

concernedeq

Since it has now been fixed, the combine I was talking about was :

Tinkered Catapult

To make this required an investment of around 30 platinum and sold back to vendors for over 36 platinum.

http://www.rpgexpert.com/4078.html

This worked as of last week, but in one of the patches this week past, it was fixed thanks to one of the class board moderators (one of your community correspondents) passing on the information I gave to them to the dev in charge of tradeskills.  Thank you Saroc of eqclerics.

The patch after this was fixed, the platinum has started drying up.  We'll see if this fixes the problem, but for now it appears it has.   It may not be because of the tradeskill combine but also may be due to other things within SOE I certainly am not privy to.  I did forward what information I had to the current EQ Producer as well as the head of SOE CS, and will continue investigating the issue as far as is possible on my end.

I appreciate the mods allowing me to voice my concern on these boards, and I also appreciate those who have kept an open mind about this and not merely brushed me off with a "go away spammer" post.  Spam was certainly not my intention.  I love this game as much as any of you do, despite that we may have differences in opinion on the sale of coin, items and or services for real life money, and my concern for the game is as real as my concern for my income.

Oiingo

Seems to me that the easiest way to bring attention to an exploit is to let the world know about it.  Otherwise the developers are apt to give it a lower priority.  If this is indeed the exploit that was being used for what you suggested, then it's a trivial fix.  Five minutes, perhaps, yet you have been moaning about it for how long?

Regardless, I'm glad to hear it's been fixed and you may once again sell your platinum. 
Predator Oiingo Boiingo (80 beasty) of <Triality> on Maelin Starpyre

Jaeren




EQ - Morell Thule / Erollisi Marr (Retired):
[75 Beastlord] Jaeren (Barbarian)
[72 Cleric] Velissia (High Elf)
[69 Shaman] Sotar (Vah Shir)
  
WoW - Medivh (Retired):
[60 Rogue] Draeven (Undead)
[60 Priest] Lifesaver (Undead)
[56 Rogue] Klaien (Human)
[51 Paladin] Keidian (Human)
  
VSOH - Flamehammer (Retired)
[34 Disciple] Daevien (Half Elf)
[33 Bard] Pastorius (Kojani)
[26 Dread Knight] Draeven (Kojani)


Chickennuggets

The next time you find an exploit like this... simply copy and paste a How-to on all the class boards... should get it fixed pretty quick.
Chickennugets  http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=1226640
Lvl 70 Beastlord
Steel and Honor
Saryn server