Feldon It seems every year, thousands of bug reports are submitted to the EQ2 team during Beta. And it seems every year, a few highly visible bugs/exploits make it through. Last year, it was large encounters in The Hole that would respawn if all but one mob were killed. In The Shadow Odyssey beta it was widely reported that most of the dungeons could be completed when mentored down and greyed out.
So this year, so far we know of two:
Lord Doljonijiarnimorinar (Lord Bob) could be exploited to provide loot over and over. Lord Bob was fixed in today’s hotfix.
From Gninja:
The cache was not supposed to spawn that was the exploit. Since it spawns when you wipe to lord bob there is nothing stopping players from wiping over and over to get the loot over and over.
From SmokeJumper:
Just a quick note to let you know that we had to permakill Lord Doloni…ah heck, I’m not going to try to type that out again. Look at the title.
There was an exploit where folks could get infinite loot from him. We’re fixing it today and he’ll be back to party tomorrow after the hotfix.
And…
The big one is Flying Mounts. For those not familiar with the quest, after you have completed the ~6 requisite quests, you are given a baby griffawn who wants to do a variety of things — playing catch, feeding it, etc. There are 5 of these quests, and they can each be done once per 18 hours. As a result, it takes 4-5 days to get your Flying Mount.
As astute players discovered during Beta, there were a variety of exploits on how to accelerate this time. The most straightforward one was for 5 players to group up, each hail their griffawns at the same time, and each group member pick up all 5 quests at once. This bug was reported weeks before Beta ended, and yet still made it into the game. So not surprisingly, some players used it on live and have been spotted flying around.
From Waters:
There was an exploit with the flying mount quest that made it possible to do the quest much faster than intended. If you see someone flying already, this is the most likely reason for it.
Your Feedback
Some people have called for those who used the exploits to be banned from future betas, or have their flying privileges removed for 30 or even 60 days. Are you morally outraged by these bugs/exploits? Do you think they are hilarious? Do you think some day SOE will prioritize bugs/exploits like this one day? Give us your feedback!
I think it’s sad when you go and use exploits. But their choice only makes them get bored even earlier and leave within a month because they accomplished everything straight away the easy way.
Personally i feel it’s more fun have “earned” your loot / mount then getting it through an exploit. As for penalizing people that used the exploit … well i think that’s harsh since SOE dropped the ball in Beta by not fixing it. So i’d keep it to removing their mount / loot they got from the exploit.
That’s SOE’s problem entirely. It’s their obligation to code their content properly.
I don’t think Gaige is going to quit in a month. 🙂
Is there no empathy anymore? Is it more important to prove a point that SOE is slow at fixing bugs than it is to realize how certain players feel when they are trying hard to better their toons and get their cool flying mount and they look up and see someone already flying on one despite them knowing it shouldn’t be possible. Sorry that just sucks. Too much “I am entitled”
Whether it’s a big exploit or little, anyone who did it obviously doesn’t care about the regular player.
Never occurred to me to try that. My husband and I went down the list together and accomplished the quests one a day by working on the same quest. I personally think that the five day waiting period makes the griffon much more worth it.
So not only did SOE lock the players of Everfrost out of the game for nearly 12 hours while the other servers were allowed to go on they disable a zone and lock us out of 2 other zones for god only knows how many days it will be until the get it fixed and decide to put it live.
People who did this, knowingly exploited, they should have flying removed from their accounts til next expansion if not banned.
That ‘nothing’ will happen and I bet they get to keep the flying mounts shows that it pays to exploit with $OE.
Lol @ me getting my main account permanently banned & my main deleted for my first exploitation offense while more people continue to get off scott free as they did during SF.
Hypocrisy is beyond lame & ridiculous when mercy ought be evenly applied.
Restore my gnomeliness in 2011!!
I am frankly appauled that SoE had a beta in the first place, and then ignored fixing the obvious exploits that were brought to their attention, and is now contenplating penalyzing players that took advantage of the bad code.
I am going to take a side of this that I normally would not take. I was in beta and made several bug reports and some of them are yet to be fixed or are going in on hot fixes only now. Why even bother with the beta process if SoE isn’t going to bother fixing the code. The darned beta was so short as to make the process barely worth it.
Some things are clearly exploits in hind sight, like this, but the reward is easily removed and the players can be dealt with in a rational manner. Their actions were basically harmless, though very disapointing to those that did not take advantage of the bad code. I would suggest that they knew this was “not quite right” but took the reward anyways and taking the griffins away and withholding them for a week or two is suitable punishment. “Bad Gaige, BAD Gaige” (chuckle)
As for the OBVIOUS exploiting of Lord Bob (or however you spell that) … THESE players need to be suspended, the loot tracked down and removed, and the plat they FARMED by doing so removed from the game. I heartily believe that THEIR accounts should be suspended for a lengthy period of time. THESE players are doing obvious hard to their servers economy for their own benifit.
If there’s no punishment for exploiting, people will keep exploiting. The answer seems simple to me, but apparently many companies are more concerned with keeping the business of cheaters than with protecting the integrity of their game.
As with all games, someone will find a way ‘cheat’ or exploit a system. While I do believe that SOE should be a bit more responsible for bug fixes, especially when reported in beta, one needs to consider the amount of time that goes into weeding out the flawed code. It is not as if you report a problem and a dev goes ‘oh yeah I know exactly what to tweek’. One really needs to look at the over all, compaired to many of the past expansions, this one has come on line and remained on line in a pretty smooth manner. No matter how hard anyone tries, there will always be ‘bugs’ and those who will take advantage of them. Is it fair to everyone? No, but life itself is not fair either.
Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses folks, is it fair that a person with no job and no responsiblities gets stuff before me because I have to go to work and tend to my family and friends? Is it fair that there are folks playing the game per the rules 40 to 60 hours a week in an uber raid guild that has all the best gear and coin, while I can only devote maybe 20 hours a week and stuggle to make a living off of throw aways on the broker?
Is it fair that some folks got ahead of the curve because they beta’d and found an exploit? Sure they most likely were the ones who reported it, that’s why we beta. But it is also human nature to test the limits, they knew about it from beta, tried it out and it was still viable so they went with it. Is it right, I’m not saying it is, but let ye without sin cast the first stone; I’m sure that anyone playing any game has taken ‘advantage’ of a short cut, exploit or something that doesn’t fit the letter of the EULA.
Stop worrying about what other folks have, in the time it is taking you to rant about it and then write about it; you could have been on the path to obtaining it for yourself. There will ALWAYS be someone ahead of you, someone who has just a bit better. It is what drives our competitive nature, in the end it is just a game.
As with all games, someone will find a way ‘cheat’ or exploit a system. While I do believe that SOE should be a bit more responsible for bug fixes, especially when reported in beta, one needs to consider the amount of time that goes into weeding out the flawed code. It is not as if you report a problem and a dev goes ‘oh yeah I know exactly what to tweek’. One really needs to look at the over all, compaired to many of the past expansions, this one has come on line and remained on line in a pretty smooth manner. No matter how hard anyone tries, there will always be ‘bugs’ and those who will take advantage of them. Is it fair to everyone? No, but life itself is not fair either.
Stop trying to keep up with the Joneses folks, is it fair that a person with no job and no responsiblities gets stuff before me because I have to go to work and tend to my family and friends? Is it fair that there are folks playing the game per the rules 40 to 60 hours a week in an uber raid guild that has all the best gear and coin, while I can only devote maybe 20 hours a week and stuggle to make a living off of throw aways on the broker? Is it fair that some folks got a head of the curve because they beta’d and found an exploit? Sure they most likely were the ones who reported it, that’s why we beta.
But it is also human nature to test the limits, they knew about it from beta, tried it out and it was still viable so they went with it. Is it right, I’m not saying it is, but let ye without sin cast the first stone; I’m sure that anyone playing any game has taken ‘advantage’ of a short cut, exploit or something that doesn’t fit the letter of the EULA.
Stop worrying about what other folks have, in the time it is taking you to rant about it and then write about it; you could have been on the path to obtaining it for yourself. There will ALWAYS be someone ahead of you, someone who has just a bit better. It is what drives our competitive nature, in the end it is just a game.
I think that they should thow in a few lvl 250 EpicX4 dragons that permanately destroy all of your armor if they attack you and let them police the skies for the next few days. Then those of us safetly grounded could all point and laugh and call them a dumbtush.
I think the exploiters should have their flying modified so that the mount randomly despawns every few minutes for the next two weeks as a punishment, whether they are 1000 foot up or on the ground.
I’d call that giving something back to the community 😀
I love how people seem to think that bad coding = okay to exploit. That’s like telling Mom it’s not your fault you smoked a cigarette because it’s too easy to get hold of one, even if you stole it.
I normally do not think “bad coding” equal an excusable reason to exploit, but in this case there may be persons who did not realise that the reward was supposed to take 5 days to get. There are people who can get lost in a tunnel. Gaige however KNEW he was exploiting … “Bad Gaige, BAD Gaige”. I just don’t think cutting their dicks off is an appropriot punishment for something that SoE was SUPPOSED to fix and TOLD to fix. THAT is the purpose of beta.
I do think that with these two cases of exploiting that there are clear differances.
It amazes me that everyone is soooo upset with a couple guys flying before them, but I am the only one that is pi$$ed that people were plat farming off chests that were spawning on wipes. Not only is this an OBVIOUS exploit, clearly against the most basic of game mechanics, and so clearly wrong (getting a benifit from dying something that should be a penalty), but so very callous of the servers economy and the cash supply of the player base … taken over a long time it creates mud-flation. It is a clear slap on the face to everyone who plays.
I want you to know that the opinion of Feldon’s audience matters to me. After today’s hotfix, as I was flying my Tundra Gryphon over, around and through Thurgadin progressing the solo quest line of the beautiful Great Divide I felt a sorrow I’ve never felt before. I immediately came to EQ2wire and read this post and I knew that the sorrow was an anguish of all of these players I’ve never met being concerned with what I do.
Luckily for me, the gentle flapping of my gryphons wings as we soared through the heavens and the exhilarating rush of speeding towards quest updates on the ground consoled me, as only a player with a flying mount can be consoled.
ILU.
Gaige, you dog.. You should be ashamed of yourself for what you just said.. Shame on you! Shame on you!
“Bad Gaige … BAD Gaige … B A D Gaige !” !
i surprised that same ppl get in to beta year after year and thous same ppl are year after year breaking NDA or using beta to sploit. i’v talked to a few of such ppl who can tell they where in first EQ2 launch beta and get privilege to play beta expancions for the first day of it.
it took years before i first got accepted to a beta and then where selected in last end of it. i felt it was a shame that beta get to an exclusive group that can advance be far ahead of everyone else. at this beta i didn’t even apply to as my dyslexia put such sever disadvantage for me that it isn’t realistic to attempt doing quests if there isn’t a easy walk through.
still beta cause unfairness and advantages to ppl who get to be in it. and add to it that some beta players are breaking the NDA and using beta knowledge to sploit.
i don’t doubt that majority of beta players isn’t breaking NDA or using sploits. i’m happy that beta player might have contributed to less bugs for me. even tho one beta player is good i still think there should be rotation, one person shouldn’t be able to play on ever beta!
SOE should take the discovery from the cheaters, but other than that it’s no drama. I used the exploit for my third toon to get it ON BETA, but figure playing by the rules is a little less crappy toward others playing the game.
I’m all for banning Gaige and others like him from future Betas, but that’s not going to keep them from using an alt account. Now, funny would be forcing Gaige to complete the tradeskill questline to fly. THAT would be funny! 🙂
Everybody playing the game has agreed to this whether they realize it or not. You have to accept these terms in order to play the game. “I didn’t read them, I just clicked “I Accept” is not an excuse. You still agreed.
If you’re on a flying mount right now, you obviously broke these rules and should be punished. What should the punishment be? Personally, I think they should take back the quest reward (flying mount) and reset the quest series so you have to start over again. But that’s just me. 🙂
I have two 90 tradeskillers Strinnger! Besides, the tradeskill mount looks way cooler.
I guess they are going to have to ban me from the game, I gave enough info to figure out how to sploit it.
They fixed it today anyways.
Nah Feldon, you communicated the existence of a “previously” exploitable bug, not a current one. 🙂
Whiners win. Guess I’m playing Rift afterall =x
Karma sure can be a real pain some days 😀
Gaige –and anyone else currently banned as a result of this exploit — I would suggest you take the time of your suspension to reconsider exploiting obvious flaws in the game and instead inform the devs of said flaws, to work with them to create a better game for the enjoyment of everyone.
Or you can keep on exploiting and gloating and just get banned some more.
Your choice. 🙂
I will take the time to buy Rift, play it with all my old friends there and bring as many players from EQ2 as I can with me while working with LFG and Niber to turn Flames into the best Rift fansite on the net.
EQ2 isn’t good enough to wait to come back to.
As for this horseshit:
“instead inform the devs of said flaws, to work with them to create a better game for the enjoyment of everyone”
I – and my guild – did. We spent 24 hours a week raiding beta with a developer in order to get it as polished as possible for launch.
A guildmate of mine REPORTED THIS FLYING MOUNT QUEST EXPLOIT TO SOE VIA THREE BUG REPORTS AND TWO PMS TO DEVELOPERS.
What did you do in order to work with SOE to make DoV a better game for everyone?
Ahhh, so since it wasn’t fixed in a timely manner you decided to exploit it. Because if it’s not fixed, that makes it OK, right? Yeah. Have fun in Rift 😀 Don’t let that door hit ya on the way out.
Since it wasn’t fixed I assumed it wasn’t broken. Go figure, eh?
Oh, you “assumed.” Now ya know firsthand about that whole assumptions thing. And knowing is half the battle!
Not being a smarmy idiot and using an obvious exploit would likely be the other half.
One out of two is… well.. it’s still a fail. And you’re still banned. Because you failed. At cheating. Oh well! 😀
Now you expect me to know better about the intentions of SOE than they do? I should second guess them? I thought they were professionals paid to do a job?
If I think something is broken, I report it during beta testing (which is what beta is for) and it goes live the same way, I’m supposed to immediately assume that its still broken but they were too busy to fix it? Despite this same scenario occurring over and over in EQ2 before, others taking advantage while I scream exploit only for it to fall on deaf ears and nothing to ever happen?
I’ve played this game six years, I quit holding up that flag years ago. I report it, if it goes live in the same state I assume its working and do what I did.
The *only* reason I and others got punished is because I refused to back down on the forums when the whine thread was created. That is because I was not wrong.
The Lord D exploit was way worse and I know people who did that and who are still playing right now. That is because the Lord D thing went under the radar.
I know all my haters will relish in me getting punished, but all it does is further empower my voice and give me more leverage than I normally have anyway. Probably the opposite effect of what SOE was looking for.
So, something that you apparently clearly recognized as being broken (enough so that you claim to have /bugged it in Beta) goes live… and rather than /bug it again or discretely inform someone at SOE (you’re always claiming to have all these “contacts” on the “inside,” after all), you just decide to intentionally abuse it. And then, just for giggles, you snub your nose at both the Devs and the community in general by *bragging* with malicious glee about abusing an obvious exploit.
Yeah. Real class act, that. Frankly, I’m surprised they just slapped ya with a suspension instead of a full permaban. I suppose they were intimidated by your mighty “leverage.” Yeahhh. 😛
And to be perfectly blunt, I also rather doubt you ever even reported this bug — I’d wager you kept it all hush-hush so you could be “first.” Congrats! Yous gots its! 😀 I guess you win EQ2 or something. Enjoy Rift! 😛
Just because I recognize something as being broken doesn’t mean it is, especially if it makes it from beta to live despite being reported.
I also did discretely inform SOE that it was possible to do all the quests in a row after I did it, in case it wasn’t intended so they could fix it before the abuse became widespread.
The bragging thing was stupid, I guess. I don’t apologize for it though, as I felt strong in my convictions based on previous actions by the SOE team. Of course all of that was pre-SJ and I’m paying for my assumption.
However, I still feel I’m right and feel like this is a huge overreaction by the EQ2 team that only serves to give me more leverage than I had prior, and I’d glady endure a five day vacation for that – especially since I can just get a toon to 50 in Rift while I’m waiting.
Permabanning over a solo quest everyone will finish anyway, especially when it was done as intended, is beyond extreme. I can’t even believe you’re bringing something so silly up.
I can screenshot my email from Wednesday morning that I sent to a developer at SOE, except you’re not worth my time. Why would I lie? I was already caught? I always send exploits directly to SOE. Just like the one involving ToFS that I reported about 15 mins before getting suspended…
So far, all I’m seeing is a stream of doublespeak excuses and white noise spin from someone who turned out to be nothing more than just another lame lying cheater who got busted on his little exploit.
You showed your true colors. Now you get to pay the piper. Was it worth it? /shrug… I won’t even pretend to care.
Except you didn’t do it as intended. The intended way was to have to wait 18 hours between each quest, for a total of 90 hours. You got all the quests at once. That clearly was not intended. It was stated in multiple formats many different times that it was supposed to take a few days, you can’t play ignorant. Then you go to the forums, rub everyones nose in it, act like your entitled to exploit and then practically dare the devs to ban you. And even now you don’t see you were wrong. Have fun in rift, maybe you’ll stay there and exploit.
If the wait was intended then how come the numerous ways to circumvent it went live, despite being bug reported in beta?
To be clear the exploit we used wasn’t the only one that went live, and as of my suspension yesterday the one I used was the only one fixed, so there are still ways to get it early, which of course will go unpunished once people start getting them today.
Also 18 x 5 = 72 = 3 days. Not 90 hours. Welcome to math.
18
5
—
90
welcome to math .. better check yours
stupid formatting..
18
05
—
90…
use a calculator if you don’t believe me.. 72/5 = 14.4
Except you’re not locked out from the first quest, you can do it immediately. You’re only locked out from the remaining four starting 18 hours from the finish of the previous quest which means you can complete it 72 hours from finishing the first quest from the pet, which is three days, not five days.
Damned … Gaige is going to Rifts ? I WAS going to play Rifts … now I am going to have to do something else … DAMNED !
You are very entertaining Gaige, hope you enjoy Rift enough to never come back to EQ2 🙂
It continually amazes me that people care so much about what I do. People I’ve never even heard of =x
Flaming gaige, i dont like you ! I was happy half second to see you got punished for cheating! and that’s a good thing they punish people who cheat… (i dont beleve that, i saw a harvesting bot for almost one years and even with 5 petition he was not punished)
But but…
have you cheated ? i diseagrea on this, from what i have read you have not cheated. Have you used 3rd party program to change the integrity of EQ2 i beleve not.
So you have used a trick, a simple easy trick, like the xp potion one by toon.
It’s clearly a developper fault, they have not well think there job, i dont blame them totaly i assume they got lot of wark to do with a smaller team, i blame SJ and SoE lead with the more profit with smaller team, that end with result that look nice if you dont look too close, lot of tricks inside. And that’s not the job to player, even beta tester, they here for help, not for doing the job.
Why not make the mount feel angry about being exploited for a few weeks of player in game time? At random times it could attack the player. Once killed it stays dead for four hours of the player’s in game time. Or it could land the player right in the middle of some high level angry mobs. There are all kinds of ways that you could make owning an angry mount an unpleasant experience. Let the mount punish the player for being dishonorable. Make the exploiter wish that he had taken the honorable path instead but keep the punishment reasonable in it’s duration.
I used to have a business attitude about exploits but time has changed that opinion. It’s not all about beating the game. It’s also about showing respect for the other players. Like kids making up rules for jump rope games, it’s not fun for everybody unless everybody is playing by the same rules.