Cheating Epidemic!

Cody · July 2014

ZOS_RobinsonE wrote: »

Hey everyone,

We are working hard to cleanse the game of any type of cheating, hacking or botting.

First, the best way to report a cheat, a hack or a bot is to report them directly in-game. Try to provide as much detail as possible. (Is it a speed hack, a bot, in what area, at what time did you notice it ..etc)

Note that this is not an automatic ban feature, when a report is sent, we will investigate and make sure that the reported player is effectively cheating, hacking or is a bot. This investigation is necessary to protect real legitimate players who may have been reported by mistake or maliciously.

In the case of cheating, we also have to make sure that the reported player is really a cheater, imagine a quest where you have a very large movement speed bonus for 10 seconds. A player who has not done this quest may think that he is looking at a speed hacker when he is only looking at a normal player doing quests and enjoying Tamriel as well.

This process can take time and it explains why a report can seem to have no effect on the "reporter"'s point of view, but these reports are really important to us and are looked at with a very special care.

We can assure you that we take cheating and hacking very seriously, our methodology to catch them and get them out of Tamriel improves day by day and we will do our best to make The Elder Scrolls Online the very best gaming experience possible.

We thank you for giving us feedback on the forums, and we wish you great adventures in Tamriel !

not trying to tell you how to do your job , but get some GMs in PvP! play it for a few days, you will see some of these cheaters. We cant always report these players because the cheat they may be using makes their names unseeable, or like the speed hackers, we may not have time to get and report their names. You guys had an EXCELLENT opportunity, when that patch just came that day, to catch and ban/ suspend all those spawn campers, cause im pretty sure all these speed hackers and emp farmers everyone complains about, were also part of that spawn camping group(s)

Mordria · July 2014

It's not easy to do but if you can quickly take a screenshot when you see a speed hacker you can sometimes get the name and report it.

naturn · July 2014

Zos's comment does in fact make me feel better. I hate to mention wow here but I saw very similar problems and user discussions in wow especially in the beginning. The hackers seemed to always be ahead of blizz and it was clear that kinds of hacks evolved and changed. It was very frustrating at times but it was clear that Blizz was working desperately to fight the hackers.
I have played regular and pvp in TESO (including BETA). There have been major problems at times in this game and there are still major problems, but I have to say I am impressed. ZOS does appear to listen and has made amazing progress in dealing with the problems. I am a mac user and am very frustrated by the constant disconnects in pvp for instance, but it has gone from every 3-5 minutes to every 10-15 minutes. I have also seen gold seller spam improve dramatically. I am optimistic about ZOS getting a handle on many of the problems we are experiencing. The hackers will always be there and there will always be hacker problems. Hackers are a constant pain. I still enjoy the game. Sometimes it means adjusting my play until ZOS catches up with the hackers that bother me. I do what I can to fight the hackers by making reports when I can. In the mean time this kind of discussion helps let ZOS and other players know the frustrations and problems players are having.

dennis.schmelzleb16_ESO · July 2014

You guys know the real hackers don't run at full speed, one shooting people!

They are running about 5-10% faster than possible so you think it's just someone with many speedbuffs and sprinting (although they don't have to use a slot for speedbuffs or need stamina)

They hit about 5-10% harder than a normal crit, or at the level of a high crit all the time, so that you think that they were just lucky with critting a few times in a row.

They mitigate so much damage, so that you think they put everything into defense, while they didn't and have as much magicka as someone putting nothing into defense.

1st rule of a smart hacker is to give you only so much advantage that you don't see exactly that they're hacking but they still have an advantage.
It's like beeing in hardcap on everything, not having the uber values.

During normal play you can never be sure that they have cheated.

That's where you need the things to be handled server side, anti cheat tools and so on.

Saying we should report them is just a big joke, as you had to report every player hitting you with a few crits, every player with much defense, every player running faster than you with speedbuff, cause you can never be 100% sure in most situations that he can do all of this at the same time.

XanadoX · July 2014

ZOS_RobinsonE wrote: »

This process can take time and it explains why a report can seem to have no effect on the "reporter"'s point of view, but these reports are really important to us and are looked at with a very special care.

We pay(ed) everyday and problems that should have been solved day 2 are still online.
We pay(ed) everyday and there seems to be no solution to botters and cheaters. (well, bots are not useful as long as economy is broken)

You ask for time, and time in this MMO means money.

Leave the 2 megaservers, fix problems and relaunch other megaservers (one europe megaserver in europe would be fine). have you heard about final fantasy xiv?

Digiman · July 2014

Natjur wrote: »

The turn around time for ESO to 'ban' cheaters is too long, so they get away with it.
They had GM's in game for a little while banning bots. Why can't there be someone full time looking into theses cheats.

Because paying someone like that would cost money and satisfy loyal customers.

Fact is when it comes to addressing bugs and problems Zenimax really drags its feet despite the schedual maintenance and money they recieve. Yes I will keep pointing this out for anyone who has this problem because its fact. The money to pay to play this shamble is not worth the problems in this game.

Mud_Puppy · July 2014

Vis wrote: »

You're losing us ZOS. The cheating has become so rampant and blatant there are whole guilds dedicated to it.

I can put up with bugs, crashes, class imbalances, lack of content, and poor customer service...

But not this cheating.

The fact that it grows ever more obvious everyday (today a DC dog speed hacked with the scroll despite our reporting him for the same exploit earlier) is only further proof you are not doing what it takes to discourage and stop cheaters.

I am worn out trying to be the good guy who follows your dam rules when you show us no love.

I am taking a short break to decide what I want to do with what is left of this "game."

Agree, wholeheartedly.

demonlkojipub19_ESO · July 2014

ZOS_RobinsonE wrote: »

Hey everyone,

We are working hard to cleanse the game of any type of cheating, hacking or botting.

First, the best way to report a cheat, a hack or a bot is to report them directly in-game. Try to provide as much detail as possible. (Is it a speed hack, a bot, in what area, at what time did you notice it ..etc)

Note that this is not an automatic ban feature, when a report is sent, we will investigate and make sure that the reported player is effectively cheating, hacking or is a bot. This investigation is necessary to protect real legitimate players who may have been reported by mistake or maliciously.

In the case of cheating, we also have to make sure that the reported player is really a cheater, imagine a quest where you have a very large movement speed bonus for 10 seconds. A player who has not done this quest may think that he is looking at a speed hacker when he is only looking at a normal player doing quests and enjoying Tamriel as well.

This process can take time and it explains why a report can seem to have no effect on the "reporter"'s point of view, but these reports are really important to us and are looked at with a very special care.

We can assure you that we take cheating and hacking very seriously, our methodology to catch them and get them out of Tamriel improves day by day and we will do our best to make The Elder Scrolls Online the very best gaming experience possible.

We thank you for giving us feedback on the forums, and we wish you great adventures in Tamriel !

You made no mention of abusion obvious bugs in terrain or skills. Do you consider those abusing obvious bugs in the game as "cheaters", or is it a "gray area" in which nothing will happen to them?

Junkogen · July 2014

This is why I hope ESO is released on console. It's harder to do all this stuff. Yes, you don't get addons, but you also don't get all this other garbage either.

KariTR · July 2014

Slash8915 wrote: »

Well, apparently some of these hackers have been confronted by other players. Their response was, "ZoS wouldn't dare ban me."

So take that as you will.

Probably means they play from Connecticut.

Slash8915 · July 2014

dennis.schmelzleb16_ESO wrote: »

They hit about 5-10% harder than a normal crit, or at the level of a high crit all the time, so that you think that they were just lucky with critting a few times in a row.

This would make sense... If they weren't hitting a fully epic geared VR12 tank for 2k with normal weapon attacks. That must be one hell of a crit.

ZOS_RobinsonE · July 2014

demonlkojipub19_ESO wrote: »

You made no mention of abusion obvious bugs in terrain or skills. Do you consider those abusing obvious bugs in the game as "cheaters", or is it a "gray area" in which nothing will happen to them?

Abusing bugs and exploiting them to get an advantage over other players or to trivialize content is also something we fight against on a daily basis. However, these situations can be very different from hacks and cheats.

Some clever use of game mechanics or skill combination can be seen by the community as an exploit when it is not technically an exploit. If some combinations of skills, items or synergies impacts the game experience, we encourage players to share their thoughts and experiences about the game on the forum or directly in-game in a constructive manner. When players provide good feedback, our teams can better understand the causes, implications and possible solutions to address players concerns in future patches or hotfixes. And if those are known by our teams, gathering more datas from the players can speed up the process of fixing those problems.

A bug is, by definition, something that does not work as intended, using it to get an advantage over other players is unfair and we work very hard to identify and fix bugs. (As demonstrated by the amount of bug fixes contained in the patch-notes we publish when an update gets released.)

If you see a bug, reporting it in-game is the best way to speed up the process of fixing it. As always, providing as much information as possible (especially if the bug is prone to be exploited) is very important.

Note that these can be tricky, an exploit that makes your character run 10% faster for 2 seconds after using a very mana-consuming spell is not going to be approached the same way as a bug that makes your character invincible forever, and we won't deal with players abusing these 2 situations with the same severity.

Vis · July 2014

ZOS_RobinsonE wrote: »

demonlkojipub19_ESO wrote: »

You made no mention of abusion obvious bugs in terrain or skills. Do you consider those abusing obvious bugs in the game as "cheaters", or is it a "gray area" in which nothing will happen to them?

Abusing bugs and exploiting them to get an advantage over other players or to trivialize content is also something we fight against on a daily basis. However, these situations can be very different from hacks and cheats.

Some clever use of game mechanics or skill combination can be seen by the community as an exploit when it is not technically an exploit. If some combinations of skills, items or synergies impacts the game experience, we encourage players to share their thoughts and experiences about the game on the forum or directly in-game in a constructive manner. When players provide good feedback, our teams can better understand the causes, implications and possible solutions to address players concerns in future patches or hotfixes. And if those are known by our teams, gathering more datas from the players can speed up the process of fixing those problems.

A bug is, by definition, something that does not work as intended, using it to get an advantage over other players is unfair and we work very hard to identify and fix bugs. (As demonstrated by the amount of bug fixes contained in the patch-notes we publish when an update gets released.)

If you see a bug, reporting it in-game is the best way to speed up the process of fixing it. As always, providing as much information as possible (especially if the bug is prone to be exploited) is very important.

Note that these can be tricky, an exploit that makes your character run 10% faster for 2 seconds after using a very mana-consuming spell is not going to be approached the same way as a bug that makes your character invincible forever, and we won't deal with players abusing these 2 situations with the same severity.

I am very appreciative of the ZOS team for responding to us. I know these policies are stated elsewhere but after a full day of seeing exploiters it is always reassuring to hear from mods and devs that you hear us and are working towards better solutions.

Again, thank you for your time. Personally, I am feeling a lot more patient than I was yesterday.

demonlkojipub19_ESO · July 2014

ZOS_RobinsonE wrote: »

demonlkojipub19_ESO wrote: »

You made no mention of abusion obvious bugs in terrain or skills. Do you consider those abusing obvious bugs in the game as "cheaters", or is it a "gray area" in which nothing will happen to them?

Abusing bugs and exploiting them to get an advantage over other players or to trivialize content is also something we fight against on a daily basis. However, these situations can be very different from hacks and cheats.

Some clever use of game mechanics or skill combination can be seen by the community as an exploit when it is not technically an exploit. If some combinations of skills, items or synergies impacts the game experience, we encourage players to share their thoughts and experiences about the game on the forum or directly in-game in a constructive manner. When players provide good feedback, our teams can better understand the causes, implications and possible solutions to address players concerns in future patches or hotfixes. And if those are known by our teams, gathering more datas from the players can speed up the process of fixing those problems.

A bug is, by definition, something that does not work as intended, using it to get an advantage over other players is unfair and we work very hard to identify and fix bugs. (As demonstrated by the amount of bug fixes contained in the patch-notes we publish when an update gets released.)

If you see a bug, reporting it in-game is the best way to speed up the process of fixing it. As always, providing as much information as possible (especially if the bug is prone to be exploited) is very important.

Note that these can be tricky, an exploit that makes your character run 10% faster for 2 seconds after using a very mana-consuming spell is not going to be approached the same way as a bug that makes your character invincible forever, and we won't deal with players abusing these 2 situations with the same severity.

one mod called abuse to the terrain bug a 'gray area', but in this case are the people who abused the silver bolts bug, the Cyrodil terrain bug, and the speed boost with twin slashes bug going to punished in any way? Will any future bug exploitation be punishable in any way?

Because right now it seems like people will just get off scott free by abusing these bugs and making other peoples game experience less enjoyable. People were reported constantly especially for the terrain exploit, Probably not so much with the silver bolts bug, but... "Gray area".

Arsenic_Touch · July 2014

demonlkojipub19_ESO wrote: »

one mod called abuse to the terrain bug a 'gray area', but in this case are the people who abused the silver bolts bug, the Cyrodil terrain bug, and the speed boost with twin slashes bug going to punished in any way? Will any future bug exploitation be punishable in any way?

Because right now it seems like people will just get off scott free by abusing these bugs and making other peoples game experience less enjoyable. People were reported constantly especially for the terrain exploit, Probably not so much with the silver bolts bug, but... "Gray area".

They won't do anything. MMOs rarely do in these cases.
There's nothing to be done about the silver bolts issue because it was just an over powered skill that got fixed, the terrain exploits on the other hand should've been punished and it was a slap to the face of every legitimate pvper when they said "that's not an exploit, that's a grey area"

demonlkojipub19_ESO · July 2014

I don't think even the silver bolts issue should not at least come with an account warning attached. They were still bugs, they still got abused by players who knew they were bugged.

But I guess it all depends on their and our individual levels of integrity.

Sabin1269 · July 2014

I've played on all three factions so far and have to say that AD and DC are the worst for speed hackers/gathering bots. When I played EP they were still present but not to the degree they are in the other two factions. So far between yesterday and today I've had 3 chest and 2 aspect runes that were claimed by someone moving faster than a horse at full gallop. Not to mention the several things of Jute that "dissapeared" as I was pressing (E), the only problem was once they were collected the toon would appears for just a split second like a ghost and was gone again. I really hope it does get fixed.

KariTR · July 2014

Boundless storm skill?

jelliedsoup · July 2014

No it had been firmly established that only EP and DC cheat as I'm in AD.

zScars · July 2014

clouding swarm, and run in a volcanic rune, time it w/ cc break, your movement speed goes up like 600% until you die,

LrdRahvin · July 2014

zScars wrote: »

clouding swarm, and run in a volcanic rune, time it w/ cc break, your movement speed goes up like 600% until you die,

gg...Tell cheaters and exploiters exactly how to cheat and exploit.

Doing this publicly in most games will get your post deleted at minimum and some will outright ban you under the philosophy that you are as bad as the cheaters as you're telling others how to cheat.

Of course, given ZOS' record thus far, god only knows how they view this.

Honestly, best thing to do with info like this is to pm one of the community people...preferably the community manger if possible. Otherwise you're just helping to spread exploits.

nerevarine1138 · July 2014

XanadoX wrote: »

ZOS_RobinsonE wrote: »

This process can take time and it explains why a report can seem to have no effect on the "reporter"'s point of view, but these reports are really important to us and are looked at with a very special care.

We pay(ed) everyday and problems that should have been solved day 2 are still online.
We pay(ed) everyday and there seems to be no solution to botters and cheaters. (well, bots are not useful as long as economy is broken)

You ask for time, and time in this MMO means money.

Leave the 2 megaservers, fix problems and relaunch other megaservers (one europe megaserver in europe would be fine). have you heard about final fantasy xiv?

You know that botting/hacking is a problem in every MMO, right? The developers don't have a magic switch that breaks hacks instantly.

Cody · July 2014

jelliedsoup wrote: »

No it had been firmly established that only EP and DC cheat as I'm in AD.

lol

zScars · July 2014

LrdRahvinb14a_ESO wrote: »

zScars wrote: »

clouding swarm, and run in a volcanic rune, time it w/ cc break, your movement speed goes up like 600% until you die,

gg...Tell cheaters and exploiters exactly how to cheat and exploit.

Doing this publicly in most games will get your post deleted at minimum and some will outright ban you under the philosophy that you are as bad as the cheaters as you're telling others how to cheat.

Of course, given ZOS' record thus far, god only knows how they view this.

Honestly, best thing to do with info like this is to pm one of the community people...preferably the community manger if possible. Otherwise you're just helping to spread exploits.

or, ultimate troll

LrdRahvin · July 2014

zScars wrote: »

LrdRahvinb14a_ESO wrote: »

zScars wrote: »

clouding swarm, and run in a volcanic rune, time it w/ cc break, your movement speed goes up like 600% until you die,

gg...Tell cheaters and exploiters exactly how to cheat and exploit.

Doing this publicly in most games will get your post deleted at minimum and some will outright ban you under the philosophy that you are as bad as the cheaters as you're telling others how to cheat.

Of course, given ZOS' record thus far, god only knows how they view this.

Honestly, best thing to do with info like this is to pm one of the community people...preferably the community manger if possible. Otherwise you're just helping to spread exploits.

or, ultimate troll

Well played...very well played...fell right into it as I didn't even look at the abilities in question.

+5

dracobains_ESO · July 2014

Just to be clear about this speed hack. I know that it exists, but there is a bug that will increase your speed an insane amount. I know this for fact as it occurred 2 days ago on my character and went away right after I was killed. For about 5 minutes defending a keep I was running around like speedy gonzales and it was crazy. I wouldn't know the first thing about hacking and despise cheating, but let's be careful accusing people of cheating when it may in fact be one of the plethora of bugs.

KitLightning · July 2014

ZOS_RobinsonE wrote: »

Hey everyone,
... that the reported player is effectively cheating...

I'm not entirely comfortably numb on that wording, does this mean that if I'm really bad at cheating its still O.K.?

Gilvoth · July 2014

ZOS_RobinsonE wrote: »

Hey everyone,

We are working hard to cleanse the game of any type of cheating, hacking or botting.

First, the best way to report a cheat, a hack or a bot is to report them directly in-game. Try to provide as much detail as possible. (Is it a speed hack, a bot, in what area, at what time did you notice it ..etc)

Note that this is not an automatic ban feature, when a report is sent, we will investigate and make sure that the reported player is effectively cheating, hacking or is a bot. This investigation is necessary to protect real legitimate players who may have been reported by mistake or maliciously.

In the case of cheating, we also have to make sure that the reported player is really a cheater, imagine a quest where you have a very large movement speed bonus for 10 seconds. A player who has not done this quest may think that he is looking at a speed hacker when he is only looking at a normal player doing quests and enjoying Tamriel as well.

This process can take time and it explains why a report can seem to have no effect on the "reporter"'s point of view, but these reports are really important to us and are looked at with a very special care.

We can assure you that we take cheating and hacking very seriously, our methodology to catch them and get them out of Tamriel improves day by day and we will do our best to make The Elder Scrolls Online the very best gaming experience possible.

We thank you for giving us feedback on the forums, and we wish you great adventures in Tamriel !

awesome

Vis · July 2014

dracobains_ESO wrote: »

Just to be clear about this speed hack. I know that it exists, but there is a bug that will increase your speed an insane amount. I know this for fact as it occurred 2 days ago on my character and went away right after I was killed. For about 5 minutes defending a keep I was running around like speedy gonzales and it was crazy. I wouldn't know the first thing about hacking and despise cheating, but let's be careful accusing people of cheating when it may in fact be one of the plethora of bugs.

Did you join a group to ninja a keep on the other side of the map and then run a scroll back to your base with the bug?

Gilvoth · July 2014

i saw a video yesterday that showed the person was not speed hacking but that he was just experiancing a glitch and he had no intention of making his character go that fast. it was only by a glitch that was making him move that fast. just like some times we see our glitches happen ingame to our own character, and by no means does this mean the person is hacking.
altho i will admit that if you are experiancing extreme speeds that you know are not intended then report it instead of trying to use it to gain scrolls and get unfair advantages.

oh, and just by the way, i have never had the speed glitch or any other type of glitch like what is mentioned here by others. so it is posible it's a hack but we wont know till zenimax finds out whats making people speed that fast.