BLM Cast Speed Exploit

[haroldsaxon]

They talked about it during the JP Duty Commenced. They're aware of its existence and are investigating. The last thing they want and need is more people being aware that this exists, which I guess is why they purged the posts, as they did when exploits were discovered in the past.

I won't hold my breath.

[ebil]

I mean, it's not like it's going to affect me in any way so I don't care what they do (or don't). I was simply explaining what probably happened to the "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEM" person who posted before me, and why.

[Kipling]

Well, if the JP community team is aware of it that means there might be hope for some kind of fix, or at least the a clever ability to track people who use it in raid and stuff. However, I don't think this is going to be that big of a deal in 3.2 because most groups pursuing world first are going to be recording their kills so if anyone was doing this it would be obvious. And because this exploit has released, any groups with Black Mages who don't record are now instantly suspicious unless they provide fflogs for people to analyze and make sure they're clean.

Sure, some people will use it to help them clear later, but other than that I really don't think it's a big deal since it's a tool based cheat and not something people can do organically through some kind of glitch in the game (meaning no chance to do it on accident etc).

[solracht]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post3576473

Hello, everyone.

FFXIV Producer and Director Yoshida here.

First, I would like to thank those who reported and investigated this matter! However, these reports are based on unofficial data, and not from official data, so we’re carefully investigating cases such as these.

From the reports received from everyone, we were able to confirm players circumventing aspects of the game system to, among other things, deal higher than intended levels of damage. Also, we would like to assure you all that this is something we take very seriously.

We have conducted an investigation based on official logs that were accumulated within the development team, and we have already identified the cause. For security reasons I won’t delve into specifics, but there already exist several checks and balances in place for irregularities in output damage, as well as strict limitations that have been set on the system-side. However, in order to avoid players from experiencing unexpected lag, or severely lowered level of gameplay comfortability, the system allows a certain amount of room for the decision to be made. For the case at hand, we have decided to carry out a stricter measure for unjustifiably speeding-up within the boundaries that have been set.

As we are nearing the release of Patch 3.2 and the introduction of the next raid tier, the development team has already implemented a stricter log observation, as well as a stricter automated detection for any data irregularities on the server-side.

I would like to mention that should we find tools which unjustifiably control the client process speed, or tools which modify the packets, we will not hesitate to carry out punishment such as banning the offending players.

We thank you all for sharing this information with us!
Please continue to enjoy FINAL FANTASY XIV!

And, of course, please look forward to Patch 3.2.

[Kipling]

Now to stalk the dude's lodestone and see if we can tell if he gets banned.

[haroldsaxon]

RIP Stutter stepping after that. Combined with his comments about Midas requiring a lot more movement...

[Kipling]

How does that have anything to do with stutter stepping? It just says they're monitoring the logs and irregular data more closely. Really sounds to me like nothing is changing, they are just aware that people are abusing things in ways they might not have thought was an issue before.

[haroldsaxon]

How does that have anything to do with stutter stepping? It just says they're monitoring the logs and irregular data more closely. Really sounds to me like nothing is changing, they are just aware that people are abusing things in ways they might not have thought was an issue before.

When they fixed the infinite flare exploit, they ended up breaking something which became visible when we started using F4.

The person was abusing the time you get between your cast finishing on your end and the cast finishing on the servers end. He was using a third party program to force a cast during that period. That is the same period of time you have to stutter step (which is allowed by the client).

So if they fix it to make it not possible, they either have to make it so third party programs can't interact with the game (lol), or make it so that window is as small as possible. Or, knowing SE, leave it and do jack.

[Niiro]

If people really want them to fix it just spread the word on how to do it.

[Silenka]

Or everyone could start doing it and keep it under wraps until SE finds out. After all, they can't ban the entire endgame community, that would be absurd...

[Kipling]

When they fixed the infinite flare exploit, they ended up breaking something which became visible when we started using F4.

The person was abusing the time you get between your cast finishing on your end and the cast finishing on the servers end. He was using a third party program to force a cast during that period. That is the same period of time you have to stutter step (which is allowed by the client).

So if they fix it to make it not possible, they either have to make it so third party programs can't interact with the game (lol), or make it so that window is as small as possible. Or, knowing SE, leave it and do jack.

I don't read his post as saying anything is going to be implemented other than, "We're watching now, so don't do it." because they weren't looking for it before; but now the cat is out of the bag. I think his explanation is moreso saying, "We don't make it more restrictive so you can have room".

If people really want them to fix it just spread the word on how to do it.

They know what the issue is already.

[Niiro]

I know, what I'm saying is the more people that know how to do it the more impetus they have to fix it as it becomes a greater issue.

[haroldsaxon]

I don't read his post as saying anything is going to be implemented other than, "We're watching now, so don't do it." because they weren't looking for it before; but now the cat is out of the bag. I think his explanation is moreso saying, "We don't make it more restrictive so you can have room".

I read this as them making it more stricter:

"For the case at hand, we have decided to carry out a stricter measure for unjustifiably speeding-up within the boundaries that have been set."

[Hafa Nana]

I read this as them making it more stricter:

"For the case at hand, we have decided to carry out a stricter measure for unjustifiably speeding-up within the boundaries that have been set."

I think that in this sentence he just states the fact that they a taking a measure (nothing specific). And in the next sentence explains what this measure is (tuning their log monitoring). It's just PR language to make an impression that something is really being done.

[MisterBob]

They definitely monitor early raid attempts, particularly ones during the world first race. It's likely that they're just saying they'll add this to the list of things to check for.

If you remember, during SCoB there was a group with no raid experience and really shitty gear in the running for some very early clears, and they all ended up banned by SE. Turns out they were position hacking to beat T8.

[Kipling]

They definitely monitor early raid attempts, particularly ones during the world first race. It's likely that they're just saying they'll add this to the list of things to check for.

If you remember, during SCoB there was a group with no raid experience and really shitty gear in the running for some very early clears, and they all ended up banned by SE. Turns out they were position hacking to beat T8.

Yep! They were on my server. There was a dude wearing vendor gear and a high allagan casting body when only one FC had cleared week 1...

[fluffmode]

This thread is the reason I'm permanently banned from reddit The fear of witch hunting is too real.

I do hope the team is monitoring this closely though, I don't like the idea of wondering who is using exploits and who isn't when I'm considering progression.

[KCem]

Are there any tell tale signs of this exploit being used? I have a feeling that now this exploit is common knowledge that it's catching on a bit.

Yesterday my VA party kicked a guy for allegedly using it (I didn't notice myself, his dps was good but not astronomical good), and I just had a very awry experience with an i200ish blm parsing nearly 1.5k on each boss in A6, which aroused my suspicions. He had a few strings of 3-4 F4s in a row, but as we had an ast in the party so I can't discount the possibility that he's legit. Though he did a few 3x chains outside of leylines for sure.

[haroldsaxon]

FFLogs. Upload the parse there and it should be fairly obvious from their cast times.

[Kipling]

With the new Umbral Fire changes, it's totally feasible to land 3x Fire 4 even without Leylines. I can't comment on whether or not it's possible to do 4 using Leylines without Swift.