Is hacking even possible?

Makkir · June 2015

Had a discussion in teamspeak last night. My most recent MMO adventure outside of ESO was Archeage at launch and as I am sure some of you know...it wasn't called HackAge for nothin'! Folks in TS were talking about differences between client side and server side and how that affects the ability to hack a game.

If we separate Hacks from Exploits and define the latter as taking advantage of bugs for an unintended advantage, is it even possible to legit hack in this game?

Maybe understanding how difficult or not difficult it is to hack might help streamline reports on others players or help others understand how to recognize lag from speed hacks for example.

The discussion in Teamspeak was brought up because earlier in the week when I was in Chillrend PvPing, apparently the EP folks were spamming general chat to report me for speed hacking and teleport hacking because my character was evidently seen zipping in and out of a big rock where I couldn't be attacked. It was a very largely populated area (maybe like 70 vs 70) and on my side I wasn't lagging much at all, but maybe it was on their side and the animation was just catching up which made my character appear to be zipping around? I saw that in WoW a lot.

Anyway I am not very savvy when it comes to this type of stuff so any insight would be appreciated in regards to Hacking in ESO and if it's even possible.

Personofsecrets · June 2015

hacking in the way I think about it would require access to changing server side information or being able to send information to the server in an unintended way. Is it possible? sure.

The players in your example probably mean program or add on when they say hacking. lot's of people complain about macros, or programs that you can run to make something, such as key presses, automatic and faster than possible human key presses.

The teleporting sorcerer is something that players are really sour about at the moment because of how cheesy it is. I'm not surprised that something as cheesy as teleport seems like cheating. what appeared to be happening could have been anything from an unreliable report, to glitch, to game lag, or internet lag.

Also, if you want hacking tips, then this is obviously not the right place to ask... -_-

SirAndy · June 2015

Makkir wrote: »

is it even possible to legit hack in this game?

I take it you weren't around during the PC launch when the flying and underground bots where everywhere?

ESO is very much hackable. They have since moved some of the game decisions to the server side (where they ALL should be!) but there's still plenty done on the client side that is open to all sorts of unwanted manipulation.

ZOS left that door wide open. Many of us early beta testers repeatedly warned them about this but they didn't listen.

Short of completely re-writing the entire client/server code, all they'll ever be able to do is band-aid "patches" to the worst of the worst of their problems.

Makkir · June 2015

Yeah I was around at launch but didn't take notice, thanks for explaining. People are so quick on this hacking witch hunt I was just interested in reading some insight.

CriD · June 2015

Bro. Everyone hacks. Just go in PvP. Get about 4 kills in a row. Holy Crap....a hacker will pop up and kill you. In fact, anyone that kills you is a hacker, and anyone that got an assist on it is a hacker in training. C'mon man, its the ERA of gaming. Trust no one. Everyone is the enemy. Everyone hacks.

BigM · June 2015

@SirAndy said it right and I hope in the year(s) to come they do fix a lot of the holes they have in this game. We still have bots but not on the major scale we had back then. Heck a normal player had no chance to get any material for crafting. You see it you go to it you try and get it, boom it's gone. We had an addon that allowed us to capture the underground bots and do an auto report when we did get them.

Once ZoS put in the delete only 3 characters and taking a while to get the delete 3 back helped a lot plus am sure they closed a lot of those holes. We still need to report any we see, more that get banned the better for all of us.

Remember gold selling is bad and a billion dollar industry which one day I hope the companies put a final stake thru their hearts. I know it's wishful thinking but hey wishes have come true.

Pawkette · June 2015

Hey folks, and folkettes!

"hacking" in terms of games that have client and server side validation generally comes down to trying to tell the server that you did something that results in the server giving you something. So if you imagine, you walk up to a vendor and you remove the client side check for currency. Then you proceed to tell the server you bought 1,000,000 items and if the server isn't validating your currency expenditure then you might succeed in getting those 1,000,000 items.

Much of modern game implementation, as well as UI implementation relies on a client predictive model where assumed success is the default and a failure case is the non-standard path. If you imagine that the client generally knows if you'll be able to do something, then it can assume you will succeed in the action you just took unless the server tells it otherwise. This feels much more responsive.

However, if there's a case where the server's validation is more relaxed than the client and someone determines how to bypass some of the client's security, then it's possible to "hack".

Endurance · June 2015

Makkir wrote: »

Had a discussion in teamspeak last night. My most recent MMO adventure outside of ESO was Archeage at launch and as I am sure some of you know...it wasn't called HackAge for nothin'! Folks in TS were talking about differences between client side and server side and how that affects the ability to hack a game.

If we separate Hacks from Exploits and define the latter as taking advantage of bugs for an unintended advantage, is it even possible to legit hack in this game?

Maybe understanding how difficult or not difficult it is to hack might help streamline reports on others players or help others understand how to recognize lag from speed hacks for example.

The discussion in Teamspeak was brought up because earlier in the week when I was in Chillrend PvPing, apparently the EP folks were spamming general chat to report me for speed hacking and teleport hacking because my character was evidently seen zipping in and out of a big rock where I couldn't be attacked. It was a very largely populated area (maybe like 70 vs 70) and on my side I wasn't lagging much at all, but maybe it was on their side and the animation was just catching up which made my character appear to be zipping around? I saw that in WoW a lot.

Anyway I am not very savvy when it comes to this type of stuff so any insight would be appreciated in regards to Hacking in ESO and if it's even possible.

aside from people abusing animation skippin bug to stack dmg on someone in pvp, and less frequent botters compared to first week of PC launch.. i'd say its not as bad as in those other games

MCMancub · June 2015

Erock25 · June 2015

There may be a display of dmg mitigation hacking in my youtube channel which is in my sig.

wraithguknub18_ESO · July 2015

I JUST saw some guy run past me in Glenumbra DC side obviously speed hacking. HOLY crap he was gone before I could get his name. NB v14 begane with a K. I have a maxed out horse with retreating maneuvers and I wasnt even 1/4 of his speed

demendred · July 2015

More of a glitch here, but last night was in cyrodiil attacking a keep, and somehow said wall would be at full health again, even though we were attacking the wall.

Ffastyl · July 2015

@wraithguknub18_ESO
If a nightblade has Concealed Weapon slotted, they gain a 22% increase to movement speed while stealthed or invisible. If the NB you saw was using an ability with Major Expedition such as Double Take or Shadow Path while also maintaining a Cloak active, that is likely the "how" of what you saw.
If not,

there is no explanation with ingame mechanics.

@demendred
While a wall is above 95% HP, it can be repaired while under fire. Colloquially referred to as "troll repairing" and "ninja repairing," it is a lesser known feature of destructible structures.
But again, if the wall was being repaired while under fire at lower than 95%, it was not done through legal means.

Psychobunni · July 2015

According to various websites via Google, it's not only possible but easy....

It's not worth losing my game for me to try. Well maybe, it would be my luck ZOS would suddenly care

Metal10957 · July 2015

Makkir wrote: »

Had a discussion in teamspeak last night. My most recent MMO adventure outside of ESO was Archeage at launch and as I am sure some of you know...it wasn't called HackAge for nothin'! Folks in TS were talking about differences between client side and server side and how that affects the ability to hack a game.

If we separate Hacks from Exploits and define the latter as taking advantage of bugs for an unintended advantage, is it even possible to legit hack in this game?

Maybe understanding how difficult or not difficult it is to hack might help streamline reports on others players or help others understand how to recognize lag from speed hacks for example.

The discussion in Teamspeak was brought up because earlier in the week when I was in Chillrend PvPing, apparently the EP folks were spamming general chat to report me for speed hacking and teleport hacking because my character was evidently seen zipping in and out of a big rock where I couldn't be attacked. It was a very largely populated area (maybe like 70 vs 70) and on my side I wasn't lagging much at all, but maybe it was on their side and the animation was just catching up which made my character appear to be zipping around? I saw that in WoW a lot.

Anyway I am not very savvy when it comes to this type of stuff so any insight would be appreciated in regards to Hacking in ESO and if it's even possible.

All I can say is be careful, hate to see you get banned.

Emma_Overload · July 2015

wraithguknub18_ESO wrote: »

I JUST saw some guy run past me in Glenumbra DC side obviously speed hacking. HOLY crap he was gone before I could get his name. NB v14 begane with a K. I have a maxed out horse with retreating maneuvers and I wasnt even 1/4 of his speed

There's a low level (30ish?) armor set that boosts your speed tremendously. I'm sure the reason they don't offer a VR version is because it's kind of OP in the right hands

Even though I'm VR14, I wear it from time to time for special purposes like farming nodes in Craglorn.

Sithisvoid · July 2015

It's very possible to hack the game. I'm not sure what all can be changed or if ESO has active recoveries yet but i do know it's possible. Next Gen consoles have been broken I follow certain forums and yeah, it's possible. I've seen GTA online accounts with unlimited ammo and snacks raining money out of a helicopter.

Xendyn · July 2015

Hacking is possible and very definitely done. I've seen a few with my own eyes. One time I was chasing a guy down a keep wall and he suddenly Flew all the way across the courtyard and I watched him land on the other side. No, it wasn't rubberbanding, he went at a right angle to the way we were going.

We even have one prominent poster that uses the same name on a well known hack website. (but we'll keep that on the QT

)

The issue isn't whether there are hacks or not, it's why ZOS doesn't seem to do anything about them.

Bromburak · July 2015

The issue isn't whether there are hacks or not, it's why ZOS doesn't seem to do anything about them.

Prove it or be quiet.

Xendyn · July 2015

Bromburak wrote: »

The issue isn't whether there are hacks or not, it's why ZOS doesn't seem to do anything about them.

Prove it or be quiet.

Nope

Bromburak · July 2015

Brilliant, thanks for confirmation.

Sithisvoid · July 2015

Bromburak wrote: »

The issue isn't whether there are hacks or not, it's why ZOS doesn't seem to do anything about them.

Prove it or be quiet.

Oh here, let me just set up my cyber terrorism prevention van.....

Bromburak · July 2015

You can be ignorant as much as you like, its silly to say ZOS is not doing anything.

Grow up.

F7sus4 · July 2015

Makkir wrote: »

If we separate Hacks from Exploits and define the latter as taking advantage of bugs for an unintended advantage, is it even possible to legit hack in this game?

It's definitely not suspicious when someone asks whether hacking a game is legit or not, at all.

Xendyn · July 2015

Bromburak wrote: »

You can be ignorant as much as you like, its silly to say ZOS is not doing anything.

Grow up.

I said they don't seem to be doing anything.
Reading comprehension ftw

When I see those people that are known gone from the game, I won't be saying it.

Bromburak · July 2015

Xendyn wrote: »

Bromburak wrote: »

You can be ignorant as much as you like, its silly to say ZOS is not doing anything.

Grow up.

I said they don't seem to be doing anything.

That implies that you think they are not doing anything. Hilarious.

cpuScientist · June 2016

LOL necro time. Did you all see it hahahaha. ITS BEEN PROVEN!!!

cyx54tc · June 2016

cpuScientist wrote: »

LOL necro time. Did you all see it hahahaha. ITS BEEN PROVEN!!!

should youtube eso speed hack. That was from 2014.

Rohamad_Ali · June 2016

I'm gonna ask Siri .

"Siri , is it possible to hack ESO ?"

Beebeep

Siri: "Checking...."

Siri: