Accounts banned (Jan. 25)

[Taj]

I think a lot of people are missing the point about the fishbots. Sure, Square is retarded for not banning the CGF that zombie Ulli all day. But I mean, what's the point in banning a Level 1 fish bot? They can just buy a new copy of the game and be set up in less than an hour. To fix the situation they should like, you know, fix the game. So it's not open to all sorts of exploitation. You know, what most MMOs do when an exploit arises. (Does anyone else find it hillarious that POS/FleeTool have been around for like two years and they still refuse to fix it?)

[Dezzimal]

you of all people should know that "fixing" fleetool is easier said than done due to the way game is programmed.

[Taj]

you of all people should know that "fixing" fleetool is easier said than done due to the way game is programmed.

I fixed FleeTool on Exodus.

[Dezzimal]

What else did you break? Was there a performance impact? Lastly, how does an emulated server populated with 2, maybe 3 people paralell square-enix hosting 1000+ people at once?

[Taj]

And how badly did you gut the game engine to do so, what else did you break? Was there a performance impact?

It's actually serverside, I added it as soon as I started parsing the movement information in update packets. There was no performance impact, because the server already has to calculate most of the information you use to determine whether or not they're illegitimately running faster than they should. Basically, you send your X/Y/Z/Heading every half a second to the server. Every time you get a location packet, you update the timestamp serverside that marks the last time you got their location. Then you check their distance over time, and if it's higher than what they should be running at, I force their client to log out.

What else did you break? Was there a performance impact? Lastly, how does an emulated server populated with 2, maybe 3 people paralell square-enix hosting 1000+ people at once?

The time it takes to make the calculations above is less cpu cycles than the time it takes to send a spawn node to everyone within 40 units of you. And let me just take a moment to rant about how inefficient SE's server is. They send update nodes for every mob around you, even if they haven't changed. So if there's a Lesser Colibri setting next to you, not doing anything at all, not moving, not hitting anyone, just sitting there. Every 30-50 milliseconds you're getting a huge node containing information about that Colibri.

[Ushallbeasgods]

By banning the bots and hackers instead of fixing the game SE makes more money. To fix a game's mechanic costs more money. When the accounts banned buy new copies of the game SE makes money.

[Dezzimal]

It is my understanding that they already do just that, minus the forced logout. Instead your account just gets flagged for review by the task force.

also - loleditfest

[Taj]

It is my understanding that they already do just that, minus the forced logout. Instead your account just gets flagged for review by the task force.

also - loleditfest

Right, but that doesn't stop people from POSing to Aery on Mule accounts, it just ensures they'll be banned. So why not just stop it from being possible altogether to get rid of the amount of cheating that's going on.

[Kingkai]

I just got Perma banned for "Illegal Packets" without using third party tools, the POL rep said it was usually for people trying to dupe items. I am thinking that since I play on a shared connection with 2 PC's linked thru one ethernet cable, it fucked up how things were sent. Made it look like 2 characters on the same PC. Mostly play on PS2, use PC when I need more than 2 people logged in at once.

In review atm, hopefully they remove thier heads from thier rears.


basic log of the chat:

Me>> So you are saying you can ban me without me actually doing something wrong?
POL>> Yes, if you look at your terms of service, you will see that we can ban you for any reason at any time.
me>> What if people quit as a result of you treating me unfairly?
POL>> We just lost 11k customers intentionally, why would it matter to us if a few more quit?
Me>> So, I should post that on my website, that you dont' care if people quit or not?
POL>> You can do whatever you want with your website.


Go figure.

My wife's account, banned for having the same CC info, not even the same name on the POL account, just same CC.

[Taj]

I just got Perma banned for "Illegal Packets" without using third party tools, the POL rep said it was usually for people trying to dupe items.

He's talking out of his ass, if anyone's going to get banned for illegal packets it's going to be me. <_<

[Goddess]

I just got Perma banned for "Illegal Packets" without using third party tools, the POL rep said it was usually for people trying to dupe items. I am thinking that since I play on a shared connection with 2 PC's linked thru one ethernet cable, it fucked up how things were sent. Made it look like 2 characters on the same PC. Mostly play on PS2, use PC when I need more than 2 people logged in at once.

In review atm, hopefully they remove thier heads from thier rears.


basic log of the chat:

Me>> So you are saying you can ban me without me actually doing something wrong?
POL>> Yes, if you look at your terms of service, you will see that we can ban you for any reason at any time.
me>> What if people quit as a result of you treating me unfairly?
POL>> We just lost 11k customers intentionally, why would it matter to us if a few more quit?
Me>> So, I should post that on my website, that you dont' care if people quit or not?
POL>> You can do whatever you want with your website.


Go figure.

My wife's account, banned for having the same CC info, not even the same name on the POL account, just same CC.

Ewwww /comfort

I wish I had taken heed into Senoska's premonition... or I wouldn't have this unnecessary strike on me. Bleh.

[Kingkai]

I use a DSL modem, with a router for all my connections, recently a connection on the router went out. So I connected my PS2 to my PC with a crossover cable, and shared the net connection. With a fucked up router, could that make it look like I was sending "irregular packets"?

[Taj]

I use a DSL modem, with a router for all my connections, recently a connection on the router went out. So I connected my PS2 to my PC with a crossover cable, and shared the net connection. With a fucked up router, could that make it look like I was sending "irregular packets"?

Up until this recently, did you ever experience a sudden and unexpected force logout? Like, you'll be doing nothing, and then all of the sudden the screen goes black and you're at Select/Create/Delete Character?

[LinktheDeme]

I just got Perma banned for "Illegal Packets" without using third party tools, the POL rep said it was usually for people trying to dupe items. I am thinking that since I play on a shared connection with 2 PC's linked thru one ethernet cable, it fucked up how things were sent. Made it look like 2 characters on the same PC. Mostly play on PS2, use PC when I need more than 2 people logged in at once.

In review atm, hopefully they remove thier heads from thier rears.


basic log of the chat:

Me>> So you are saying you can ban me without me actually doing something wrong?
POL>> Yes, if you look at your terms of service, you will see that we can ban you for any reason at any time.
me>> What if people quit as a result of you treating me unfairly?
POL>> We just lost 11k customers intentionally, why would it matter to us if a few more quit?
Me>> So, I should post that on my website, that you dont' care if people quit or not?
POL>> You can do whatever you want with your website.


Go figure.

My wife's account, banned for having the same CC info, not even the same name on the POL account, just same CC.

Ewwww /comfort

I wish I had taken heed into Senoska's premonition... or I wouldn't have this unnecessary strike on me. Bleh.

you could probably talk to a manager regarding this issue if that doesnt work you could go above his head and maybe even a court case (if your that serious about it).

This is pretty much discrimination and i dont think thats legal but im not a lawyer, worse comes to worse claim it as a prejudice based case might get you a hearing from a court?

edit: also where is the current terms of service so i can see that they can ban you any time they want?

[Kross]

Siste and Shinsei are still there, didn't get rid of the botters ; ;

[Melchiah]

Ulli RMTs still rocking strong on Titan. They will sell you Haidate for 15M, and Osode for 25M. Any takers?

I'm more than frustrated with this situation. RMTs piss me off because they provide a way for second rate players to be competitive. They really infuriate me because they aren't benign anymore. It's an active cockblock for legitimate endgamers.

As for detection: I am told that GMs and/or the task force can review your personal chatlogs. So if you rename the Ulli PH, or whatever PH for whatever mob, say to Aura statue, it can be detected yes? If this is truly the case, then is it not a violation of the EULA to do so? Since it provides you a means of detecting PH mobs? So if it's a nono, and it's detectable, why the fuck are the 3 different RMT groups who live at Ulli still there, and still never killing anything but PH mobs? Also why are they still warpclaiming Ulli?

I once was of the opinion that Ulli was broken to keep the playerbase chasing the carrot while the new expansion content was being built and released. Apparently this is not the case, since the new content is out and Ulli is still very very broken. I just don't understand. I spent 5 hours in Ulli's Aery the other day, and he never popped. That is enough time to get every other trigger in sky.

No one gives a fuck about fishbots. I mean really, lets not pull pud here. What impact on our end game do fishbots really have? They introduce fluff gil into the game and drive prices up and gil value down. But this inflation goes across the board, so really, everything you farm or craft is worth more too. Their impact is not really an issue, in my opinion. Yeah it's a violation, yeah it impacts the economy, but it doesn't directly interfere with our ability to enjoy end game battles. I don't mean to sound as though I'm advocating fishbots, but I think they are small potatos compared to the bigger issue. I think they are being prioritized incorrectly.

[Kingkai]

Ok history lesson:

I had a 1.5m DSL connection, was having trouble with it randomly kicking me. It was "Accidentally" hooked up wrong by my phone company, and I was being routed thru another ISP. When they did maintnance (Other ISP) I would lose access to only sites outside the US/canada. I had them fix this, when they did they downgraded me to a 256k connection.

On a 256k, I had:

Laptop
PS2
PC
PC

All connected to the net. We would d/l anime while on windower on my wife's PC. I would dual box myself and another friend on my laptop/PS2. Third PC was linked to laptop to parse and look on internet. Ethernet router had one bad connection, so.. I connected PS2 and PC together linking the connection, laptop and PC were seperate. Needless to say this setup cause me to lag HARD when my wife was d/l anime. I would R0 for a min to 80% ish.. then pop back on..

While playing FFXI, the phone company changed me to a 1.5m connection again about 1.5 weeks ago. This "sorta" fixed the lag issue, but I "Think" that my router was bad and didn't know how to handle packets.

Things I have done in FFXI:

I got a program to cheat 3 months ago, I used it ONCE and scared myself to death. I was in VD, and looking at the map on it, hit my right mouse button and ended up at the outpost... logged out.. close the tool, never used again. That was 2 mass bannings ago.

I use windower with windower macro's while in merit usually.


That is the extent of my "Cheating" so it makes me think that I was popped for a fucked up router. Given this scenario, is it possible for a bad router to mess up your packets, or is someone fucking with my account?

[Jeryhn]

As for detection: I am told that GMs and/or the task force can review your personal chatlogs. So if you rename the Ulli PH, or whatever PH for whatever mob, say to Aura statue, it can be detected yes? If this is truly the case, then is it not a violation of the EULA to do so? Since it provides you a means of detecting PH mobs? So if it's a nono, and it's detectable, why the fuck are the 3 different RMT groups who live at Ulli still there, and still never killing anything but PH mobs? Also why are they still warpclaiming Ulli?

I've been planning on testing this, but I think changing the .DAT files to rename placeholders isn't detectable unless you say the placeholder's changed name using <t> or some other targeting script in party chat or whatever.

I'm pretty sure that when GMs check log data when it comes to specific fight information, they check it aginst the server's own log record (rather than the user's) to minimize errors due to lag or bias between users, which would cause the GM to see the normal name of the mob being fought (because its named correctly on the server), and its looking like its being fought legit.

I don't think I explained it well, maybe someone else can.

When I do this little thing, I don't really change the mob's name at all. I just add a period (.) at the end of its name so it looks a little more innocuous, e.g. Aura Statue., Damselfly., Rock Lizard., etc.

No one gives a fuck about fishbots. I mean really, lets not pull pud here. What impact on our end game do fishbots really have? They introduce fluff gil into the game and drive prices up and gil value down. But this inflation goes across the board, so really, everything you farm or craft is worth more too. Their impact is not really an issue, in my opinion. Yeah it's a violation, yeah it impacts the economy, but it doesn't directly interfere with our ability to enjoy end game battles. I don't mean to sound as though I'm advocating fishbots, but I think they are small potatos compared to the bigger issue. I think they are being prioritized incorrectly.

I'd say locking down Ulli is a cockblock for sure, but it's only blocking two monsters. Fishbotting generating massive amounts of gil which floods the economy cockblocks anyone who wants luxury items off of the Auction House who can't/won't RMT or cheat to generate their own gil.

[Septimus]

If you dont send the email thing to task force rmt less chance of rmt being banned so if everyone has the lawl gms wont do anything motif wont matter if you keep posting about it emo if your not trying pretty much. Not saying to do gm calls send leetter through POL and say what server names etc. more details the better. If your doing this then dunno what to say but sorry ;/

There is no reason why we should have to tell square to watch certain RMT-tastic spots. If they can't figure out that if RMT are crawling all over Ulli, Bune, Sea Serpent Grotto, etc on one server but obviously they wouldn't do the same on others, what the hell are they smoking?

Well if someone points a un and starts shooting you, you would tell the police . . . or at least the average person would. They wouldn't say oh i'll just wait the police to figure out a random guy on their own. The police get paid way more than GMs and still need help. Fact of the matter is no one is jesus and can watch 100s of thousands people at once. When someone just randomly rants GODAMN GMS DO NOTHING BECAUSE ALL RMT STILL BAN IS FAILURE and they've done nothing but be negative toward GMs deserve to have rmt on their server.

edit: Also my friend tried to get himself bannd one time when he was quitting and it wasnt working, he ported himself on crag of mea (the top) and said he got stuck there and called GM. GM brought him down and did nothing so he said I POS HACKED UP THERE. . . GM still did nothing <,<

OK, the difference is that if the police raid a house with a big neon sign on the top that says "Crack House", maybe they should investigate all of the other houses that have big neon signs on the top that says "Crack House". Just a thought.

[Melchiah]

I've been planning on testing this, but I think changing the .DAT files to rename placeholders isn't detectable unless you say the placeholder's changed name using <t> or some other targeting script in party chat or whatever.

I'm pretty sure that when GMs check log data when it comes to specific fight information, they check it aginst the server's own log record (rather than the user's) to minimize errors due to lag or bias between users, which would cause the GM to see the normal name of the mob being fought (because its named correctly on the server), and its looking like its being fought legit.

I don't think I explained it well, maybe someone else can.

When I do this little thing, I don't really change the mob's name at all. I just add a period (.) at the end of its name so it looks a little more innocuous, e.g. Aura Statue., Damselfly., Rock Lizard., etc.

I'd say locking down Ulli is a cockblock for sure, but it's only blocking two monsters. Fishbotting generating massive amounts of gil which floods the economy cockblocks anyone who wants luxury items off of the Auction House who can't/won't RMT or cheat to generate their own gil.

I had had that same thought about the name change, and I would assume that the server-side name would remain on the up and up. So yeah I get what you are saying. And it makes more sense for a reviewer to check SE's logs rather than my own or another player's, so I guess we are just boned there.

As for the fishbots, yeah it's gay what they do. However when mass gil comes into the economy everything goes up in price. I remember DSO selling for 50K, so really the impact is only in appearance. Again I'm not advocating it, RMT is bogus I agree totally, but I think cockblocking content is more an issue than fishbots. Either way, both seem fairly easy to point out so I don't understand why one problem gets fixed but another is just ignored.

The thing with Ulli is twofold though. First you have RMTs who know people want Haidate and Osode, so they cockblock by warpclaiming and never leaving the shrine. Second, the Ulli "Fix" where Ulli can pop upwards of 10 hours only strengthens the RMTs position. Those people camping Ulli 24-7 are at work. When I go to work I don't even have an internet connection. Legit people who have to work or go to school every day can't really compete with something like that. I have limited amounts of time to devote to Ulli, whereas the RMTs do not. Legit shells don't even camp Ulli anymore on my server, and that makes me sad.