Re: Summer SotA Telethon part 2 - Exploitation Banning

I heard on the Summer telethon part 2 that exploiting without reporting it would result in a ban.

I have a few questions regarding this:

1) What qualifies as an 'exploit'?

2) Is there a warning prior to banning? I don't want to suddenly get banned when I wasn't aware I was doing anything wrong.

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I recognize that they own the game and its their prerogative to run it how they wish, but this stance scares me a little because it sets up the idea in my mind that I'm a Bug Tester who is paying them and I'll get fired if I don't do my job- as opposed to someone paying for a game that I want to play for fun.

That said, I totally get that they don't want people ruining the balance (and thus the experience for players) of the game- I just wanted to ask some questions and point out something that I saw.

Thanks ahead of time for any responses.

 

Basically, if you can tell this is not something that is intended, which should be fairly easy to tell, and you do not report it as a bug but instead continue to use it to advance yourself, you can be banned. 'Nuff said.

 

My guess would be if it seems questionable it probably is, so you might want to report it.

 

So if it's really obvious you can get banned- but if it isn't obvious you won't be?

 

What do you think you are going to be doing, repeatedly, which isn't obvious enough that it will be bannable? If you can do it repeatedly, and its worth doing repeatedly (beyond simple grinding), thats probably not working as intended. Report it.

 

That's a bit wishy-washy, I was looking for a specific explanation of what qualifies as 'exploiting' because there's apparently a threat of being banned for it.

What qualifies as 'simple grinding'?

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EDIT: Let me re-iterate I'm only bringing this up because DarkStarr made such a hardline stance against it that I really want to know what I could do that would risk being banned.

EDIT2: I actually only just noticed that you quoted Wikipedia! I totally skimmed that quote because I thought it was something I typed! Thank you for that reference.

 

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...g-exploiting-policy-update.58914/#post-624716

 

Thank you!

The "Cheats and Exploits" section is exactly what I was looking for. You answered my question explicitly.

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Copying here for anyone who comes across this thread:

Cheats and Exploits

While we do allow some configuration of the game client, we do NOT allow exploiting or hacking of any kind. Any modification of the game client needs to be approved by Portalarium first.

Some examples that will be cause for immediate and permanent ban from the game are:

• Gold/item generation via automated systems (Ex: BOTing, increasing spawn rates)
• Generate accelerated experience (Ex.: Instant max skills)
• Working around gameplay (Ex: Flying through barriers, reducing damage)
• Edit client memory (Ex: change character stats, increase skills)

Also per the CR&G, severe offenses are open for all of your accounts being banned, which include the above cheats and exploit examples. Other examples:

• Displaying pornography
• Violent personal threats
• Real-life threats
• Threats of legal action
• Accusations of malfeasance against the developers

 

If you have a question, then err on the side of caution and report it via email/PM to the devs and then you're always covered.

 

I also think that taking advantage of a bug instead of reporting it is considered an exploit. For example, if I find a bugged silver node somewhere in the wilderness that immediately respawns when harvested, I am expected to report it as a bug. If instead, I spend the next week harvesting thousands of silver ore from my secret node to have an advantage over other players, I am guilty of exploiting the bug. Is this correct?

 

why don't you just tell us what you're doing exactly

 

I haven't even been playing the game recently, my current computer doesn't run it super well.

Honestly this kind of big brother, condescending (I know you're joking, lol, just roll with me here) viewpoint is what scares me the most, like I can't even ask questions.

 

asking questions too much makes you pretty good pretty fast, and might be considered a sploit..

I'll be keeping my eye on you

 

I use an exploit called "auto attack", makes battle a lot easier! BUT DON'T TELL ANYONE.

 

Uh-oh D: I've been EXPLOITING that too! Need a ban shield!

 

He was very clear there was a line between "optimized gameplay" and exploiting. For example of what is acceptable, I found a vendor that willbuy drops for a good rate (not all vendors pay the same price for stuff, and she still pays less than listed value, so the mechanic is working) and then I found a zone where I can round up 5-8 mobs at a time that drop an item that vendor likes. So I make rounds of that zone collecting that item and then when i'm encumbered by 100lbs, I waddle over to the vendor (who isn't close BTW) and sell and then return. 10k-15k gold an hour. Thats grinding (and to be honest, its not all that interesting)

An exploit would be finding that the vendor pays 1000 gold for each of those item (list price 225 and especially if you can buy that item off another NPC for less), or finding a way to cause those mobs to instaspawn (in reality the first round of the map fully spawned provides about half the loot I'm going to get, then I spend the next 20 minutes killing them 2-3 at a time as they respawn), fail to fight me, or kill them instantly or even finding a way to instawarp (for free) from the adventure scene to town and back, thus cutting down my travel time.

Starr said that the game will block or at least report if your earn rate is over a certain threshold (he said 25k an hour, I would think that would have to be sustained as its certainly possible to have a big offload of stuff from your bank).

If you find a way to earn money that seems too good to be true, it probably is. You can likely get away with running it for an hour to get a metric, but after that you should probably report it.