Exploits: Single Player Online/Friends Mode is Grandmaster Stealth for Free

Recently I was crafting inside the home of Wilfred in Brittany Alleys. I was in Friends mode so he surely did not see me because he decided to unclaim his house lot, switching from a taxed deed to a tax free. When he unclaimed his lot I was ejected out of his house and put directly next to his house sign in the perfect location to claim his lot from him.

Single Player Online/Friends mode could be more effectively exploited against home sales and transfers because the location of the home and a general time of sale can be witnessed in the marketplace forum. After a sale in the forums someone wanting to steal a lot could go into Single Player Online/Friends mode go to the sold lot and then run a lot claim macro to swipe the lot the moment it is unclaimed.

Players in Single Player Online/Friends mode do not show up when pressing Num+0 to view nearby players, they are completely invisible with no way to detect them.

So far this Single Player Online/Friends mode scheme appears to have been a detriment to the game in that it results in an apparently empty game world too. It's simply more advantageous to play in Single Player Online/Friends mode, so people do. This 'feature' needs some serious development and design consideration.

 

This is something you should be sharing with the development team privately.

 

It should be public because they're the victims...
Good call @Bom ! ~Time Lord~

 

Once again I want to remind everyone. Swapping a lot in a sell is never 100% safe due to this nature. Port needs to develope a safe way to transfer a house spot with or without the lot deed! Would fix a lot of possible scams and prevent a lot of people from becoming unknowing victims!

 

Yes I know of one instance where someone was gifting a lot to their son and both of them were on the same network connection and sitting next to each other at the same table each on their own computer.

The mother said, I'm clicking unclaim. The son was not able to click it faster than someone lurking in the area.

The person that claimed it was not willing to give it up.
So they lost it.
Luckily the house and all contents went back into her bank and was not stolen.

 

If Port is designing the game to be property based... Sooner or later they will have to make a way to securely transfer a lot (UO did after enough complaints). And paying for the in game service is not a way to do it as of now as I have already asked and was denied that, that was a service they provided so believe me they are well aware of this issue (saved the email) Even using a trusted broker can not help prevent this from happening as that was their recommendation to me which did NOT help to fix the problem

 

You cannot make it so that items can be removed from normal containers by the general public. The only container that can do that is the public cache chest (which is always publicly accessible).

 

In my travels I have come across multiple other containers besides the public chest that I could access without being granted any sort of access; trunks, regular looking chests, cabinets, and dressers. Maybe I couldn't take anything from them though? I didn't try.

 

There should simply be a "Transfer Ownership" option, or something along those lines. Clear the lot, transfer ownership. No need to 'unclaim,' preventing accidental lot ganking

 

Yes. That would revert the current owners lot deed to their inventory but would require the buyer to possess a lot deed in their inventory OR give them the option to unclaim another lot the currently have claimed to be able to claim the lot.

 

You can make it so that anyone can open it and add items to the container but there's no way to make it so that just anyone can remove items.

 

How about a 10 minute cooldown timer after a lot is unclaimed that must expire before lot can be claimed again? Or an option for the current owner to set a time limit before the property can be re-claimed (realistically, 1-10 mins). Just spitballing here

 

that would only add to the problem.. once someone sees the lot unclaim and could have time to set up the script right there for that sign. That would not make trading a lot more secure.

 

Or, since we can set co-owners already, why not an option to just transfer ownership to a current co-owner in the lot permissions screen when you highlight and edit their permiasions. It could transfer all ownership (including posession of the deed, even without the physical deed present). Boom.

 

Did he actually unclaim his lot or just switch his house?

 

If I remember correctly, being able to transfer a lot directly to another player is on the radar but I don't remember when they said it would likely be done.

 

Completely wrong, sorry. You think this way because you see SotA as a MMORPG but it isn't a MMORPG. I said it many times before and I know I will get criticized for saying it again but SotA is a Selective Multiplayer game. All of the game modes are equally important.
The devs have not yet officially said that the MMO part is the focus or the main feature of the game. People think it is because it was the first mode to be developed and which is playable for a long time - this is a huge negative side effect of Early Access. It shows the game as something it isn't because other parts are not finished yet.

As others tell me over and over again: SotA is not finished yet. It it is not a MMORPG altough right now in its unfinished state it looks like one. The single player and friends modes are equally important as the MMO part.

Maybe it is some kind of an "exploit" for those obvioulsy few people who think SotA is a MMORPG. But for those who see the game as the Selective Multiplayer RPG it was announced to be it is the game mode they want to play in. Simple as that. That is the premise of the game. Play alone, play with friends or play in an open mode with strangers. People have to accept that. If you want a MMORPG only, then this is the wrong game for you. Sorry.

Nerfing the other modes would be absolutely wrong and would lead to even more conflict in this community. You cannot annouce a Selective Multiplayer Game and then nerf three of four game modes because a few people (yes a few because obviously there are not many playing in OPO mode which is absolutely ok with a Selective Multiplayer game) want others to play the game the way they want them to play it.

 

Why not just 'trade' like you do with anything else you want to give to another player?
Allowing a trade to take place assumes the giver gets their lot deed back and the receiver has a lot deed for that property. The trade could include the lot only or any combination of things on the property.

This would be a simple fix and only require the trade (software) flag removed from the lot.

 

Quite a lot of my containers are accessible by the public. There is an option to make items private to prevent this. There is no option to make the public able to remove items from containers, except for the public cache chest. I set containers I use as mailboxed to be able to receive items from the public though.

TL;DR: Even if you can look inside, you as "the public" (and not trustee, etc) can only take items out of public cache boxes.

To the actual topic: I think it is a very rare occurrence that you'd be *just* inside the spot being sold, I hope no one wants to waste the time camping a lot 24/7 until a deal takes place and I hope no one is stupid enough to announce the exact time of the trade publicly. I think the current system is likely to be changed at some time to allow for easier rental of property, etc.

I'd still be happy with towns being forced multiplayer *if* performance allowed for it ^_^

 

I didn't think it would be that likely that someone would be standing next to a claimed lot at the exact moment someone tries to do a what, 5 second transfer and happen to have deeds on them of the appropriate size. What are the odds of that?
I mean, don't they have anything better to do?
I could see if a particular lot was flagged as being imminent due to forum discussions of it but we're talking a hell of a 'right place right time' scenario here....