Exploiting for the win

KIAsan · 2004-10-24, 04:20 AM

From the OF:

Hi everyone,

We want to let you know that we have increased the frequency with which Monolith's spawn for the Sunday portion of the Event. They now show up every 45 minutes. Hopefully, this will allow for more than one crystal to be in play at a time and for all those who wish to be active participants to do so.

We on the development team have been playing this weekend and most of us had similar experiences to what I'm sure many of you did - waiting in a warpgate for a shot at getting onto a pop locked continent. All issues of circumventing population locks aside (I'll get to that below), that isn't very fun. Part of our aim is to keep PlanetSide as fun as possible (it is a game, afterall ) and hopefully more crystals leading to more fighting in more places will increase the fun factor.

Another aim is to keep things fair. Whether this is coding ways to prevent hacks and exploits or keeping weapons balanced, we strive for as fair of a playing field as we can. Unfortunately, some existing systems were a bit at odds with keeping population numbers even (like module running) for as balanced of fights for this weekend's activities as possible. While some will scream for the heads of the dirty, no good exploitiers, we have a hard time throwing the book at anyone who simply wanted a way to get in on some very intense and fun PlanetSide fighting. If anything, It strengthens our resolve to address the issues for the future. We weren't going to try and ninja in some more code to fix it this weekend, as without a proper development and testing cycle, such an action would likely have broken things more than it would have fixed things. So, hopefully everyone will find some great fighting Sunday with the increased crystals and we will be able to better address how the server handles population for the future.

From the PlanetSide Team to you, our customers, thanks for your understanding, participation and patronage.

Samhayne
PlanetSide Producer

This occured on Emerald (VS). They pulled it together and exploited the mod runner exemption to overpop locked continents by 10% or more troops than the other empires (who didn't use the exploit). Their success is noted in the current score. It was such a problem, that the devs have "fixed" it by dropping the timer to 45 minutes for the last day. However, they have already said they are not going to level the playing field. So, kudos to VS-Emerald. You saw how to exploit for the win, and it looks like you got away with it! Cheers.

Warborn · 2004-10-24, 05:25 AM

sup

http://img79.exs.cx/img79/3264/awesome6.jpg

edit: Oh, and apparently yesterday the VS CR5's were telling people over Global to explot that. But today they weren't. Either way, pretty unfortunate that the VS would cheat like this. Though to be fair, I did hear that the TR were exploiting their way past the shield protecting the capitol somehow. Don't know if it fixed anything, and it in no way cancels out that or the LLU bug/exploit from Forseral (VS insta-capped an LLU base), but the TR seem to be guilty of poor sportsmanship as well, just as the NC are guilty of exploiting the pop lock circumvention too from the look of it.

Lartnev · 2004-10-24, 05:57 AM

That's because the bug was supposedly fixed yesterday morning. What they ended up doing was http://www.planetside-universe.com/f...ad.php?t=26658

WritheNC · 2004-10-24, 08:25 AM

Yeah I stayed off the crystal continents during the latter half of the event last night. The lag was really, really horrible.

Even with the pop advantage half the time, the VS still have been using good strategy and forethought as for which subcaps to take. All the bases I've been at when we do there would be 6 AMS's, CE, and support in all the right places.

I hope we can at least spawn into sanc today though. Got kicked off Ishundar last night and was in limbo for 15 minutes on the spawn screen

Marsupilami · 2004-10-24, 08:43 AM

it`s sad if they get away with it. i don`t care bout the bfr`s but the random trooper thinks"hmm, cheating weins,no punishment= might"

the vs had on almost EVERY mono cont a higher pop then the other empires despite a poplock.

EXPLOIT FOR THE BAN

FearTheAtlas · 2004-10-24, 09:37 AM

Yeah, they flooded the mono cont, AND the next one or two..utterly retarded. I hope they get their BFRs taken away for a week and have them fall back down from orbit smashing their sanc to shit

Marsupilami · 2004-10-24, 10:20 AM

yeah make VS finish 3rd, and let nc/tr duke it out

Sentrosi · 2004-10-24, 12:12 PM

How wonderful. Empire cheats, get the benefits, and they win.

Kudos to all VS Emerald. Now go play with yourselves on the battlefield in your BFRs.

Just fuckin' sucks. Losing more respect for this game each and every day....And yes I would feel the same way if the TR had done it. Cheaters never win, except in Planetside.

Warborn · 2004-10-24, 01:52 PM

Originally Posted by WritheNC

Even with the pop advantage half the time, the VS still have been using good strategy and forethought as for which subcaps to take. All the bases I've been at when we do there would be 6 AMS's, CE, and support in all the right places.

I'd agree with that. A lot of the times the TR would have 90+ spots left on the next monolith continent until it all went neutral, at which point the CR5's would begin asking for support on that continent. We'd fail to get a decent foothold, and have hardly any chance at victory because of it. Conversely, the VS and sometimes NC would have the next continent filled up in very little time, and would get a whole slew of hacks going right away, while we're busy zerging on foot from a tower somewhere.

So yeah, hacks aside, I am none too impressed by the leadership of the TR on Emerald this weekend.

Majik · 2004-10-24, 01:47 PM

Well as a VS on Emerald, unless they managed to send these globals while I was up going to the john, they didn't happen. If you look at the totals, the TR aren't winning on any server. So if saying some bullshit about the ALL the VS exploiting on emerald makes you feel better about your empire, have a ball.

MadMerco · 2004-10-24, 01:53 PM

those globals were never sent and the exploit was fixed the next day.

The mod thing is not an exploit it is a feature put in place by the devs on purpose, just because we are using it for a different purpose than it was intended dosen't make us cheaters , assholes maybe, cheaters no.

Warborn · 2004-10-24, 01:59 PM

Originally Posted by MadMerco

those globals were never sent and the exploit was fixed the next day.

The mod thing is not an exploit it is a feature put in place by the devs on purpose, just because we are using it for a different purpose than it was intended dosen't make us cheaters , assholes maybe, cheaters no.

If you're referring to what I said about VS CR5's telling people to exploit, yeah, they were. That's what people on the VS were saying (although they didn't do it Saturday, only Friday). Plus, the exploit was not fixed. The screenshots above showing the population distributions on the monolith continents were taken on Saturday. The VS had a large population advantage over every other Empire the entire time, even when all sides were pop locked.

As for using the modules to circumvent the pop cap, that's exactly what exploiting is. That feature was never meant to be used to give one side an unfair population advantage, and yet that's what you were using it for. Assholes is pretty much synonymous with exploiters though, so you were more or less right in labelling what your actions made you.

Magnus49 · 2004-10-29, 10:17 AM

if im not mistaken i thought that the devs allowed people with mods to enter a cont. so they could get the mod in......

KIAsan · 2004-10-24, 03:24 PM

I don't agree with poor TR leadership on Emerald comment. I was there at the start of day 2, we had initial success. Later, we started to notice a terrible trend, we would have an excellant setup, only to watch VS flood into the continent, then overtake the population, then wipe us and the NC out. It only took this happening 3 times (and watching the total pop suddenly drop as the 4th empire went VS), before I got disgusted, our outfit got disgusted, and many in our alliance too. We all just tuned out at that point and quit caring (I know many just quit). Hell, it just wasn't fun to see that many people on TR, work together to get a plan, set it up, only to have the hoard of VS sweep in and blow it. It got to the point, that the only way for TR or NC to get a crystal, was for the other guy to hit the VS. And half the time, this didn't work either when they had anywhere from 35 - 45 percent population of a 3 WAY POP LOCK.

Now, after this crap started, everyone got discouraged and it became completely disorganized. I know of many of us who appealed the situation, with quick replies from CSR-s who agreed that it was a problem and was being looked at. The disappointment I have, is that they acknowledge the explotation, but won't even level the playing field. So, unless we also exploit, we can't win. What kind of precedent does that set? It's ok to exploit, as long as everyone else is doing it?

I'm just disappointed at SOE. If they had moved in early, they could have stopped this. But, now the results will be tainted and 2/3rds of the player base pissed off. Oh well, what can I say, it's what I have come to expect from SOE.

Warborn · 2004-10-24, 06:04 PM

Originally Posted by KIAsan

I don't agree with poor TR leadership on Emerald comment. I was there at the start of day 2, we had initial success. Later, we started to notice a terrible trend, we would have an excellant setup, only to watch VS flood into the continent, then overtake the population, then wipe us and the NC out.

I was there for most of Saturday, and Friday. On Friday, yes, we had a few good setups. On Saturday the only good setup was on Forseral, the third or fourth monolith, where the VS somehow capped an LLU base instantaneously. Apart from that, no CR5's were making an effort to inform people of the next target, and people would only start calling for people to go to the monolith continent once it was already neutral. Many times I would run to a warpgate, see swarms of VS waiting to go in, and once I zone in, see the TR have 90+ slots left, and something like 15% population compared to 40% for the NC and similar population for the VS. We dragged our feet time after time and never even got a respectable foothold on the continents. Ceryshen, Cyssor, Solsar and others were places that I can remember vividly how the entire continent was being hacked by the NC and VS while the TR zerged from a tower somewhere.

So no, I'd say the exploiting aside, it's really not that unusual that we're doing so badly. The VS obviously wanted to win a lot more than we did.