Monday, November 16, 2015
Friday, October 23, 2015
Sunday, September 27, 2015
Friday, September 11, 2015
Saturday, April 19, 2014
Duplication Bug Hits The Elder Scrolls Onine
On Thursday April 17th Zenimax Online Studios announced they had identified an item duplication bug. Using the guild bank, players were duplicating stacks of items. The most popular of these items were legendary crafting materials such as Tempering Alloy and Dreugh Wax. Because of their high value and that they have a maximum stack size of 100, made these ideal for exploitation. This bug has since been fixed, and the damage looks minimal to the average player. But what does this mean for the economy going forward? How was a bug like this even possible? That, and more, will be explained.
Along with the bug being fixed, many accounts have been banned. ZOS hasn't yet stated just how many accounts have been banned. But they did have a large round of bans earlier this month. Jessica Folsom from ZOS made this statement last Wednesday "Today, we made our first major strike against those who choose to cheat in ESO, permanently banning thousands. This is only the beginning of our ongoing efforts to keep the game free from botters, speed hackers, and gold spammers." I didn't see a large impact in the past week, but I did see a large impact yesterday. Each bank I walked into (both yesterday and today) had about 20-30 less players than before this latest round of bans. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that is only one phase (instance) at a time, not to mention all the other banks I didn't visit. Doing some mental math here, hundreds of accounts were banned, possibly thousands (I halved my estimate on account of this being Easter weekend). I think its safe to say we won't be seeing a large impact on the economy. Anyone who dodged the ban bullet is going to be careful not to attract the attention of ZOS.
So, just how DID this exploit come to pass? There isn't a simple answer. Lets start by looking at the engine used in the Elder Scrolls Online. Originally ZOS used HeroEngine, the same engine used in Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, they used this engine only to help get themselves off the ground. Eventually they made their own engine, from scratch. This way (in theory) they would be able to do much, much more. By using a completely custom engine instead of using an engine built by ENGINE DEVELOPERS there is bound to be a few bugs and glitches. My favorite is falling through the map and landing on a test model for terrain and different objects. Unrelated glitches aside, past Elder Scrolls games have been riddled with bugs and glitches, including item duplication.Bethesda and Zenimax have worked on other games with very few bugs, so what makes Elder Scroll games so special? Well, they almost always change engines, or modify them. If you didn't expect to encounter such a significant glitch in ESO, I have three words for you: Prepare for more.
The other large contributor to how this glitch was allowed to be exploited, lies in when it was originally reported. If you think it was originally reported sometime in April, please sit down. The answer may make you lose your balance. This bug was first reported in February. Yes, February. Some people are claiming it existed in the ALPHA build of the game. It wasn't a widespread or well documented bug at the time, and we have the NDA to thank for that (along with the fact that of course, there were far fewer people playing the game at the time). I wish I had a copy of the NDA to refer to, but I do believe we were bound to be vague in regards to late game content, and prohibited from bad publicity. Don't quote me on that.
The reason it took so long for this issue to be resolved is because it wasn't pressing at the time. Major bugs that have a widespread effect are top priority. Easy fixes and less widespread bugs are secondary. Publicity as well. Anyone else remember that bug where a few players got Veteran Rank over the course of a Beta Weekend? Yeah, well, they fixed that a few days later. While I don't encourage or condone exploiting Elder Scrolls Online, or telling others how to exploit in such a fashion, sometimes a demonstration gets the ball rolling.
Many players are calling for a server wide rollback. While this is a bit of grim news,I don't think such rash action is necessary. Any gold or materials still in the system will either be distributed through buying and selling in the coming weeks, or hoarded for later. Those hoarding for later won't be driving the economy down, and are more likely to spend over the market price for goods (since they have so much money to throw around).
This bug could have been triggered by accident. If you were banned, and feel it was unjust, you can petition an appeal by following the steps found here.
The next article I plan on writing is in regards to alchemy reagents. More specifically, the rarity of them. If you'd like to share your insights with me, drop a line in the comments below, or hit me up in-game (@SoyezFerme). I've also been known to frequent the Tamriel Gold Goblin Teamspeak.
Along with the bug being fixed, many accounts have been banned. ZOS hasn't yet stated just how many accounts have been banned. But they did have a large round of bans earlier this month. Jessica Folsom from ZOS made this statement last Wednesday "Today, we made our first major strike against those who choose to cheat in ESO, permanently banning thousands. This is only the beginning of our ongoing efforts to keep the game free from botters, speed hackers, and gold spammers." I didn't see a large impact in the past week, but I did see a large impact yesterday. Each bank I walked into (both yesterday and today) had about 20-30 less players than before this latest round of bans. It doesn't sound like a lot, but that is only one phase (instance) at a time, not to mention all the other banks I didn't visit. Doing some mental math here, hundreds of accounts were banned, possibly thousands (I halved my estimate on account of this being Easter weekend). I think its safe to say we won't be seeing a large impact on the economy. Anyone who dodged the ban bullet is going to be careful not to attract the attention of ZOS.
So, just how DID this exploit come to pass? There isn't a simple answer. Lets start by looking at the engine used in the Elder Scrolls Online. Originally ZOS used HeroEngine, the same engine used in Star Wars: The Old Republic. However, they used this engine only to help get themselves off the ground. Eventually they made their own engine, from scratch. This way (in theory) they would be able to do much, much more. By using a completely custom engine instead of using an engine built by ENGINE DEVELOPERS there is bound to be a few bugs and glitches. My favorite is falling through the map and landing on a test model for terrain and different objects. Unrelated glitches aside, past Elder Scrolls games have been riddled with bugs and glitches, including item duplication.Bethesda and Zenimax have worked on other games with very few bugs, so what makes Elder Scroll games so special? Well, they almost always change engines, or modify them. If you didn't expect to encounter such a significant glitch in ESO, I have three words for you: Prepare for more.
The other large contributor to how this glitch was allowed to be exploited, lies in when it was originally reported. If you think it was originally reported sometime in April, please sit down. The answer may make you lose your balance. This bug was first reported in February. Yes, February. Some people are claiming it existed in the ALPHA build of the game. It wasn't a widespread or well documented bug at the time, and we have the NDA to thank for that (along with the fact that of course, there were far fewer people playing the game at the time). I wish I had a copy of the NDA to refer to, but I do believe we were bound to be vague in regards to late game content, and prohibited from bad publicity. Don't quote me on that.
The reason it took so long for this issue to be resolved is because it wasn't pressing at the time. Major bugs that have a widespread effect are top priority. Easy fixes and less widespread bugs are secondary. Publicity as well. Anyone else remember that bug where a few players got Veteran Rank over the course of a Beta Weekend? Yeah, well, they fixed that a few days later. While I don't encourage or condone exploiting Elder Scrolls Online, or telling others how to exploit in such a fashion, sometimes a demonstration gets the ball rolling.
Many players are calling for a server wide rollback. While this is a bit of grim news,I don't think such rash action is necessary. Any gold or materials still in the system will either be distributed through buying and selling in the coming weeks, or hoarded for later. Those hoarding for later won't be driving the economy down, and are more likely to spend over the market price for goods (since they have so much money to throw around).
This bug could have been triggered by accident. If you were banned, and feel it was unjust, you can petition an appeal by following the steps found here.
The next article I plan on writing is in regards to alchemy reagents. More specifically, the rarity of them. If you'd like to share your insights with me, drop a line in the comments below, or hit me up in-game (@SoyezFerme). I've also been known to frequent the Tamriel Gold Goblin Teamspeak.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Little bit of history
I woke up one early Summer day, in June, the 6th as I recall. I rolled out of bed, jumped in the shower, and found my Dad sitting out in my Mother's van waiting on me to go to Walmart with him. It was the year 2001, I still remember my Dad's excitement for the release of a game called World War II online. It was strange because my Dad had never been excited about any other game release, nor would he ever be excited for another. You see, my Dad was a business man turned history teacher. He owned his own restaurant for much of my young life, he struggled to keep food on the table while he worked and went to school for his teaching degree. History is really the only hobby he had at the time. Everything revolved around his degree, and for that level of intensity for him to be excited about a game, was thrilling to me.
We headed out that morning to purchase a game. That's a strange concept these days for kids. Now you can just visit a website, enter some credit card information, buy any game you want, and download it. It's even getting now where console kids don't have to leave their houses for a game. When you think back to the long-long ago, to the before time, you need to realize how far we have come. The other day I was reading about how a part of cannabis called (CBD) can heal people with Tonic-Clonic seizures. This treatment was unheard of 20 years ago because of fear. We live in a technology world. Every day, that old saying "Technology ain't what it use to be," is growing ever more clear.
World War II Online's release, was the last time I had played a game for 15 hours straight with no breaks. Until this weekend that is. Although I have had my moments of game marathons, I have always taken a break in between raids, or in between PVP matches. Sunday morning at 5:51am, I sat down to play Elder Scrolls Online, when I stood back up, it was 4:32pm. I had to get some laundry done for work the next day, so I took advantage of that fact, filled my water, and grabbed a few pizza rolls for the road. I sat back down at 5:00pm and played again until about 10:00pm or a little after.
By the time I was done playing for the evening, my back, elbows, butt, hands, feet, neck, all ached, as if I were the one actually swinging the sword, and not my character. I had truly been to battle, rode a horse, hopped off the horse, jumped back on the horse, sometimes involuntarily. I had to decipher German phrases. I had to recall beta experiences to make it through a few quests that were in German too. I grouped, I died, I crafted, I explored. It was a full day. I did find some money loopholes, and I plan to experiment more with those when I reach max level.
I guess you could say I had the full experience. Though, I did not have the full 44 hour experience like some of my apparently unemployed friends did. How those guys made it 44 hours to level 50, without an IV of Red-Bull I will never understand. They must be a lot younger, and must have a lot better computer chair than I.
My experience was good. Like with many other games bugs are many at launch. The game doesn't officially launch until the 4th, so there is still time to hammer out those broken quests, and fix the secondary weapon bugs, where you switch to the other weapon involuntarily in the middle of a fight. There is still time! Right Right!
I leave you now with only one phrase.
As the late, Vipper von Vipperson would say, "Never go full carrot."
-CB
We headed out that morning to purchase a game. That's a strange concept these days for kids. Now you can just visit a website, enter some credit card information, buy any game you want, and download it. It's even getting now where console kids don't have to leave their houses for a game. When you think back to the long-long ago, to the before time, you need to realize how far we have come. The other day I was reading about how a part of cannabis called (CBD) can heal people with Tonic-Clonic seizures. This treatment was unheard of 20 years ago because of fear. We live in a technology world. Every day, that old saying "Technology ain't what it use to be," is growing ever more clear.
World War II Online's release, was the last time I had played a game for 15 hours straight with no breaks. Until this weekend that is. Although I have had my moments of game marathons, I have always taken a break in between raids, or in between PVP matches. Sunday morning at 5:51am, I sat down to play Elder Scrolls Online, when I stood back up, it was 4:32pm. I had to get some laundry done for work the next day, so I took advantage of that fact, filled my water, and grabbed a few pizza rolls for the road. I sat back down at 5:00pm and played again until about 10:00pm or a little after.
By the time I was done playing for the evening, my back, elbows, butt, hands, feet, neck, all ached, as if I were the one actually swinging the sword, and not my character. I had truly been to battle, rode a horse, hopped off the horse, jumped back on the horse, sometimes involuntarily. I had to decipher German phrases. I had to recall beta experiences to make it through a few quests that were in German too. I grouped, I died, I crafted, I explored. It was a full day. I did find some money loopholes, and I plan to experiment more with those when I reach max level.
I guess you could say I had the full experience. Though, I did not have the full 44 hour experience like some of my apparently unemployed friends did. How those guys made it 44 hours to level 50, without an IV of Red-Bull I will never understand. They must be a lot younger, and must have a lot better computer chair than I.
My experience was good. Like with many other games bugs are many at launch. The game doesn't officially launch until the 4th, so there is still time to hammer out those broken quests, and fix the secondary weapon bugs, where you switch to the other weapon involuntarily in the middle of a fight. There is still time! Right Right!
I leave you now with only one phrase.
As the late, Vipper von Vipperson would say, "Never go full carrot."
-CB
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