SOE doing more about hackers?

[SGOniell]

Not sure if anyone else has noticed it, but I just got out of an hour session on US East Jaeger and there were a lot of notification coming up Something like "System broadcast: Surveillance drones are watching (insert name here)" This is my first time seeing that since I've been playing PS2 (again, I play odd hours usually), and there was a lot of it. Probably 10-20 broadcasts. Is this usual around this time of day or what?

[IzBenerd]

Yes. This is unusual however there are hackers that are apart of the gameplay right now. I've seen two myself.

[SGOniell]

Yes. This is unusual however there are hackers that are apart of the gameplay right now. I've seen two myself.

apart of the game play? I'm uncertain what you mean. Don't they usually hack in game, like speedhacking and aimbotting? That's part of the gameplay.

[IzBenerd]

I suppose it was my use of poor word choice, I apologize. It was referencing that hackers are inevitable in any game you play and with planet side's MMO feature it's quite difficult to spot one unless they're oblivious that they're going to get banned eventually.

[SGOniell]

I suppose it was my use of poor word choice, I apologize. It was referencing that hackers are inevitable in any game you play and with planet side's MMO feature it's quite difficult to spot one unless they're oblivious that they're going to get banned eventually.

No worries, and I agree with you. Its very nice to see them doing more recently though. So long as this keeps up its possible we'll see very minimal hacking.

[Ritual]

There are a few things I don't like.

-The GM's are sitting around totally visible having pow pow's in the middle of fights. If they are sitting around they are not looking for cheaters. There must be 10 billion reports in the backlogs, there is no excuse for them having enough downtime to lounge around.

-It would be nice if they sent out system broadcasts about who was being banned. Like "XYZ DRONE has incinerated cheaterXXX with a hellfire missile". That way we can all cheer and know if our reports are being heard.

-While it is nice being able to send tell's to them, I have not personally seen any cheaters get banned yet.

Let's see how long this lasts. There are still a bunch on the leaderboards on Waterson that have not been removed yet.

[Beerbeer]

I have a biblical saying: pride before the fall, the haughty spirit before destruction.

Sony obviously underestimated this problem.

[SGOniell]

-It would be nice if they sent out system broadcasts about who was being banned. Like "XYZ DRONE has incinerated cheaterXXX with a hellfire missile". That way we can all cheer and know if our reports are being heard.

-While it is nice being able to send tell's to them, I have not personally seen any cheaters get banned yet.

Let's see how long this lasts. There are still a bunch on the leaderboards on Waterson that have not been removed yet.

I see what you're saying, real nice to see these notifications about them watching folk though. Makes me somewhat more confident you know? I just got out of another session and those broadcasts kept coming.

[Ghryphen]

Let's see how long this lasts. There are still a bunch on the leaderboards on Waterson that have not been removed yet.

Don't put a lot of faith in that as proof they are still around. We are currently not removing characters from our cached characters on the leaderboard as we don't have a way to know if someone was banned via the api. Doubt they even have a method for removing banned people from the api data atm. Only thing you might rely on is the last login date to know of they are still active.


Edit: I realize you meant in-game leaderboard. Might even be provided by a data warehouse as well.

[Beerbeer]

I'll be blunt, considering their scare emote tactics, I think they're losing this battle.

Why else would they put that crap in; talk is cheap: read behind the lines...

[Ghryphen]

I'll be blunt, considering their scare emote tactics, I think they're losing this battle.

Why else would they put that crap in; talk is cheap.

Agree, the amount of data they are
tracking for each person, it should be pretty easy to automate red flags on players. It all seems to be rather manual process at the moment.

[Beerbeer]

Yeah, there's no reason to put that emote in unless they're scared and losing this battle.

[Beerbeer]

The only good thing about this situation, is that as the population drops because of hackers (and other reasons), their interest (and customers) will obviously drop. So I guess it's not all that bad.

[Beerbeer]

One person reviewing tickets, manually?

[Hamma]

I highly doubt it's one person.

SOE is doing their best to be visible and let hackers know shit won't be tolerated. It was inevitable a game of this scale would see massive cheats. People need to feel powerful and hack, it's inevitable there will ALWAYS be hackers.

[Crator]

Are in-game operative GMs there to trap hackers? I have a hard time believing they need a trap though. I've seen an accused aim-bot hacker's stats and it definitely looked like he was a hacker, just from looking at his stats.

[ChipMHazard]

I don't actually know what the GMs are there for, in the sense of actively going around the world. I guess it's to catch obivous hackers? Or just as a show of force?

[SlotJockey]

I would love to see a number tally on how many hackers were caught per server this weekend.

I only seen a few so far, and it seems that the idiots that use the teleport hack is the easiest to prove.

I just don't get why a few players think they can fool the GMs. However it's F2P and that gives an open invitation to all those wonderful scum. This is also a great way to encourage those said hackers to try to get around SOE's defenses.

The Devs can adjust and overcome the hackers.

[Hamma]

I think it's a show of force more than anything.

[Ritual]

I think it's a show of force more than anything.

Isn't that the same as doing nothing?

The only thing that matters is how many people they are banning. And I don't see ANY of the people I am reporting get banned.

[Hamma]

Yes the show of force means they are doing nothing :confused:

They are making everyone aware they are watching closely for hackers.

[Ritual]

Yes the show of force means they are doing nothing :confused:

They are making everyone aware they are watching closely for hackers.

But are they? The first day they were sitting around the base's invulnerable doing jack squat while everyone shot at them and sending out useless broadcoast's like "We are GM's hoho look at me, stop wasting ammo I am cheating while looking for cheaters".

I talked to one. Asked him to come watch this player aimbotting. Aimbotter goes on to kill like ten people. I ask him if he watched him, GM replies yes. So I send a tell to the hacker "Enjoy your ban". GM tells me, we can't tell you wether we are going to ban him.

An hour later, who do I see? That same aimbotter!?

Until I start seeing bans and less cheaters, no they aren't doing anything.

[DirtyBird]

I must admit it was quite amusing last night being spammed by the drone while an alleged hacker ran rampant.

Maybe the GM was busy looking into the report made by a new player about the "hackers" in the warpgate who dont die when he shoots them....:lol:

Probably going to take that some time for that one GM per server to action all of the reports for hacking, griefers and false reports.

[Beerbeer]

Yeah, got pissed last night seeing another hacker. I died just as that spam was screaming across my screen. I couldn't help but laugh at first, then I got mad.

Also, I kind of thought about this more, but I may stop reporting hackers. Not that I've run across many, but I have. Sounds horrible, right? Well, it's not my job to police their game and it's worrisome to me that we are seemingly their only "eyes" out there.

They need to change something, or add something, which should have been done a long time ago, before the cat got out of the bag.

[Mordelicius]

It has gone to texture and wall hacks now lol. One guy was either shooting from the wall or underground and killing us again and again, it's hilarious. For all his futile efforts, the NC still held the Crown :p. Players get frustrated and they switch to hacks :doh: I like it that since it's double xp, the NC decides to defend rather than leave outright.

And he doesn't seemed to be concerned all his accounts will be banned. Imo, hackers will eventually tire out because they won't be able to progress in-game.
There will be new hackers, but the older hackers will eventually tire out.

[SGOniell]

Imo, hackers will eventually tire out because they won't be able to progress in-game.
There will be new hackers, but the older hackers will eventually tire out.

Hope you're right

[Wahooo]

I think it's a show of force more than anything.

Its like the skyguard. Doesn't really do anything but they hope it will scare away the offenders.

Honestly from experience with PS1 how can the community NOT be cynical about SOE and hackers?

The thing with Planetside is and always has been the massive scale of the combat and the persistent world means that a single cheater has a bigger impact on more people than in a shooter with instanced combat. I sent PM's to Brewko several times about this years ago that adequate response to cheaters in other games is simply NOT adequate to Planetside.

I peruse several cheaters forums off and on to see what they are saying. I haven't checked this weekend but so far since release there has not bee a lot of anyone talking about being banned or even being at risk.

Now to say that the GM's "lounging around" means they aren't doing anything is silly. If GM's are in game I would expect them on this issue to have multiple monitors on and checking through data and stats more than actually running around and taking part in the game.

But um... yeah the broadcasts and even Smed's big tweet about banning the aimjunkies guy seems to be a LOT more bark than bite. Google search "Planetside 2 hacks" Page after page of hits about Smed's Tweet and "SOE's Hard Stance on Cheating". Well I guess that was a good thing, overload google search and bury the actual cheats, but the people that want them will find them.

[UrMom]

I played all weekend on Jaegar (till 2am saturday, and 4am sunday) and I saw two hackers. One guy was one shotting and two shotting me and a buddy of mine with an assault rifle from ridiculous range. He even shot me without his character even shooting or anything, just 180 turn on me boom dead. He seemed to be using it sparingly though, cause we ran into him later and he wasn't doing it anymore and we owned him lol.

The other one had the name "FamousxAA2" I'm assuming the AA means artificial aim or something. This guy was completely using it and not hiding it at all, speed hacking all over the place, looked like superman running all over the place, his guns weren't like over powered one shotting us, but def aim bot, he was landing every shot once you got in view of him.

One thing I have noticed, and i'm not sure if it's just me or slight hacking, but i'll see guys running normal and shooting normal but when you go toe to toe with them they'll strafe back and forth really really fast. It's like they are speed hacking but only during the engagement. I know people are good with the strafe but these dudes are over the top. I dunno.

Just my experiences from the weekend.

[Simokon]

I haven't seen one on waterson all weekend, anyone else see any?

[SixShooter]

Its like the skyguard. Doesn't really do anything but they hope it will scare away the offenders.


:rofl: Best analogy ever! :rofl:
:cheers:

[RobUK]

As a friend of mine mentioned on Sunday, the in-game messages and warnings about hacking during the weekend seemed laughable considering the fact that some absolutely blatant cheaters were still playing on Sunday evening having enjoyed a ban free aimbot and speedhack filled Saturday and Sunday.

It's hard to take those messages seriously when you see that happening.

[Wiifi]

I would love to see a number tally on how many hackers were caught per server this weekend.

I only seen a few so far, and it seems that the idiots that use the teleport hack is the easiest to prove.

I just don't get why a few players think they can fool the GMs. However it's F2P and that gives an open invitation to all those wonderful scum. This is also a great way to encourage those said hackers to try to get around SOE's defenses.

The Devs can adjust and overcome the hackers.

307 were banned this weekend.

[Exmortius]

i think it's better that they are upfront, all your accounts will be instantly wiped if found out. it also shows they are serious. after seeing how many hackers ran rampant on mw2 and bf3 i welcome the up front and no nonsense approach. i can't even play those games anymore cause of how many people get through the protection. it's also sickening when in one match of bf3 you can still see 5-10 people instant banned for common hacks just in that one match. it's pretty telling of the gaming community today. it's filled with a bunch of low life hackers. props to soe for maintaining a level playing field as much as possible. i definitely did not see too many people on connery this weekend where i was thinking they were hacking as opposed to the previous couple days logged in. i reported one guy cause he was moving super fast but it could have been lag or so he claimed. i just figure when in doubt report em. the past week or so i probably reported 1-2 per session that seemed pretty obvious they didn't have something like radar speed hacks or aimbotting. i played a lot on sat and sunday so only seeing one was definitely an improvement. people could have also turned off their hacks too with the active gm visible and monitoring. would be interesting to know just how many people so far they have given the boot.

and after i post someone gave a number to my question good deal 307 made an example of wooooo

[Rolfski]

Its like the skyguard. Doesn't really do anything but they hope it will scare away the offenders.

Loooool :lol:

I've yet to encounter my first hacker in this game so I never understood all fuzz about this game "totally being ruined" by hackers.

And scaring away can be just as effective as eliminating.

[Sturmhardt]

307 were banned this weekend.

And you think that's a lot? :lol:

[UrMom]

after reading this tread i just did some googling and went over to [Name Removed]...it's pretty sad the stuff you read over there. The guys on that forum don't care about stats, certs, xp, etc. They could care less if they get their account wiped and banned. They just make another account and get back in there. They get off on the fact knowing they're making people rage (which honestly i find pretty sad). It's weird they talk about the game, and how its awesome and how they love it...yet they hack it to shit and ruin it. I just don't understand some people.

I also read a post about a guy that got banned and he got a new ip but couldn't get back into the game. They head dude of the forums told him to join the private section to find out how to get around the ban...so it looks like the bans aren't doing shit.

I'm going to be honest...i wish PS2 wasn't a F2P.

[SGOniell]

after reading this tread i just did some googling and went over to Artificial Aiming...it's pretty sad the stuff you read over there. The guys on that forum don't care about stats, certs, xp, etc. They could care less if they get their account wiped and banned. They just make another account and get back in there. They get off on the fact knowing they're making people rage (which honestly i find pretty sad). It's weird they talk about the game, and how its awesome and how they love it...yet they hack it to shit and ruin it. I just don't understand some people.

I also read a post about a guy that got banned and he got a new ip but couldn't get back into the game. They head dude of the forums told him to join the private section to find out how to get around the ban...so it looks like the bans aren't doing shit.

I'm going to be honest...i wish PS2 wasn't a F2P.

Yeah, some people are weird. And I think it should be F2P, just need more support. If it wasn't F2P, I might not subscribe. If there was a one time fee then sure, but if it was subscription based only then screw it.

[Beerbeer]

I'm no computer expert by any stretch of the term, but there has to be something that can actively scan and monitor everyone, all of the time. People should intervene to verify if this process flags someone and/or people report someone.

Sony should actively be a part of these hacking communities as well, under false pretenses of course, and reverse engineering everything.

This may be enough to at least deter the most well known and widely available hacks.

[UrMom]

Yeah, some people are weird. And I think it should be F2P, just need more support. If it wasn't F2P, I might not subscribe. If there was a one time fee then sure, but if it was subscription based only then screw it.

yeah thats what i meant, a one time purchase. I could see this game being priced at like 19.99 or 29.99. I would gladly pay that if it deterred cheaters.

[SGOniell]

yeah thats what i meant, a one time purchase. I could see this game being priced at like 19.99 or 29.99. I would gladly pay that if it deterred cheaters.

Hell yeah, I'd pay $30 for this game in a heart beat. I'd want them to make weapons and gear more accessible to certs for that though, rather than just SC.