I would like this thread to focus only on possible solutions that Funcom could implement after they fix the currently known exploits in AoC. If you want to bash/praise Funcom/AoC please take that to another thread.

Situation:
Due to programming errors in the handling of "realtime" transactions in AoC, exploits allows clients to duplicate items/gems/materials.
Some, if not all, exploits are known to a lot of players.
Funcom has been notified of the problem more than a month ago.

Impact:
Use of the exploits and subsequent trade and usage of "duplicated" items have (at least on some servers) seriously damaged ingame economy and are giving unfair advantages to players that use these exploits.
Rumors have it that some highlevel guilds have funded ingame buildings by creating accounts with the sole purpose of generating ressources/funding by duplications without the risk of main accounts being banned. This would put "honest" guilds at the same server in a seriously disadvantaged situation.
The implications of the exploits gets progressively worse as they are left unhandled over time.

Immediate action:
Funcom need to fix all known (reported) "duplication" exploits immediately.
If not already in place, Funcom needs to establish tracking features of all player-item-inventory transactions to be able to follow up on future (yet unknown) exploits.
Create and communicate a plan of action for handling of the implications of the (solved) duplication exploits.

Why do I care in the first place?
Simply because I do not want to play a game where the playingfield is determined by who was most actively using exploits on a wide scale.
In my opinion some players will leave the game and others will never (re-)join the game if it has a world where there is constant doubt surrounding every T3 guildcity. (Must be really hard for the honest guilds :()

So, in your opinion, what should Funcom do to ensure a feeling of a fair gameworld after fixing the exploits?

To be serious Funcom needs to openly admit that Age of Conan WAS NOT ready to be released and close it down. Take the time to fix it correctly as it should have been in the first place then relaunch it. As is now they have almost no chance for any success at all with AoC...especially with less than a month till WAR is launched.

It's been going on for a fucking month, the damage is done already.

This was the nail in the coffin for me.

The whole point of a "game" is interacting with people within a defined ruleset and creatively working it to your advantage.

When the ruleset is thrown out the window, and the devs don't address it, there is no longer a game.

I can't go back to AoC after this unless they do something really dramatic to address it.

I was shouting about this stuff a month ago on the forums, pointing out that the damage to the economy would get worse and worse if it was allowed to continue. Same thing with the epic mobs in Poitain, and many other bugs / exploits / etc.

I was even on forums 3 weeks after launch saying "look, if you don't change gems fast, loads of people will be making OP gemmed gear and it's going to make the entire game hard to balance at 80"

Result:

I got several infractions, even though I never detailed how to do any exploits (and the gem stuff was just feedback, no "exploit" in stacking +damage gems that were legitimately bought/created)

Eventually I was banned for providing a feedback list that got trolled non-stop by fanboys who are now still trolling any critical post and getting away with it because "they are on funcom's side"

Let's face it, did I try my best to prevent these exploits getting abused by pleading on forums for them to get fixed?

Yes.

Am I going to enjoy watching this dead game burn to cinders, due to being a mess of exploits and poor game mechanics, just because Funcom couldn't be bothered to fix it and censored the critics?

Definitely.

It will be extremely difficult to fix this. 

They've known about the duping for quite a while, and no hot patch has been forthcoming.  Banning dupers would be a big blow for Funcom financially, but I think it's the only right thing to do.  Not sure how what they will do about the dupped gems, probably leave them in the game and just end up nerfing +DMG gems.

This game is pathetic.

Originally posted by AlienShirt

To be serious Funcom needs to openly admit that Age of Conan WAS NOT ready to be released and close it down. Take the time to fix it correctly as it should have been in the first place then relaunch it. As is now they have almost no chance for any success at all with AoC...especially with less than a month till WAR is launched.

lol close it down?  Funcom would get more from people.

{ Mod Edit }

I REALLY want to hear Avery's feedback on this one. I mean I don't think anyone can defend having an easy to do duping bug in a game, at this day and age, and not have it hot fixed ASAP. Instead they let it still continue after a month.

Aside from a big wipe or rollback of some sort there is honestly nothing they can do. It's been so long that it'd be impossible to find these duped items and even if they did keeps have already been built, gear has been gemmed out, ect.

Truly pitiful.

Originally posted by Arthousesig

I was shouting about this stuff a month ago on the forums, pointing out that the damage to the economy would get worse and worse if it was allowed to continue. Same thing with the epic mobs in Poitain, and many other bugs / exploits / etc.

I was even on forums 3 weeks after launch saying "look, if you don't change gems fast, loads of people will be making OP gemmed gear and it's going to make the entire game hard to balance at 80"

Result:

I got several infractions, even though I never detailed how to do any exploits (and the gem stuff was just feedback, no "exploit" in stacking +damage gems that were legitimately bought/created)

Eventually I was banned for providing a feedback list that got trolled non-stop by fanboys who are now still trolling any critical post and getting away with it because "they are on funcom's side"

 

Let's face it, did I try my best to prevent these exploits getting abused by pleading on forums for them to get fixed?

Yes.

Am I going to enjoy watching this dead game burn to cinders, due to being a mess of exploits and poor game mechanics, just because Funcom couldn't be bothered to fix it and censored the critics?

Definitely.

So you got banned and now you want revenge. Just like the WoWRiot guy - are you the same person? So in all the petitions and PM's to devs and community managers on the official forums you didn't get one reply back? Obviously you felt sooo strongly on the issue you did do this right? Or was you one of the "lecturer" poster saying how you would do it is the right way and any other is wrong?

I'm all for constructive feedback, but when you don't get an answer first time, its not the time to start crying.

I first heard about the gem issues about 10 days or go. Since then I have seen responses here:

forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php

and

forums.ageofconan.com/showpost.php

What about taking the time to fix the issue - just like many people moaned that every patch broke something when fixing something else. Is it not what you asked for, for them to fix things properly? Or is it a case that you guys don't sub anymore and you just posting for the sake of it?

August 13th, 2008, 07:27 PM       #71 Famine vbmenu_register("postmenu_1855553", true); Community Manager       Quote: Originally Posted by wotantheterrible And on top of that, I guarantee, yes you heard it here first, that whatever fix/change/botch/debacle they do with gems, it will be the most ass backwards fix you've ever seen. They'll ignore the problem completely and break a dozen other things in the process. This is why we are taking time to look at the concerns rather than rushing it. We can't have it both ways of course (i.e.: speed change this or look at the system and make the correct changes if needed). The information supplied is not something to explain "this, this and this are changing next week so be ready!" it's explaining that we see the concerns, we are looking at it and hopefully more information will come out of it. In the end, it's up to the developers to make the best change needed for the game. It's not always instant but we are trying to take in feedback when changes occur or concerns arise within the game and within the community. Thanks,

Then again there has been more hate posts here then on the actual thread with regards to gem issues, that I might add is open. Remember the money dupe on Daoc? took them 3 weeks to fix but they did, Mythic let me and the guild I was keep the plat. Remember the party hat dupe in RS that went on for one year or so? They made pinks into purple and untradable until they could delete all the traces of then dupped ones. Remember Guild Wars? came out in May, in the Autumn Sorrows Furnace came out as a free update, I farmed so many greens there they dropped  more than regular items, I made several million but nothing happened to my items or money made. Did you see the last patch for Guild Wars with reference to the "Hero's" > www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/193507  Take a look at those that most should of been done over a year ago. Point is, it will get fixed, PvP system is coming and its pretty obvious they want it done right. We have to wait and see what happens with the gems though and actions taken from Funcom.

Oh and I am really pissed off with the gem issue too, as it is a craft im learning, its messed completely up and the sooner its fixed the better. Its one more list to a number of under par issues still remaining.

Originally posted by Sevensodd

Originally posted by AlienShirt

To be serious Funcom needs to openly admit that Age of Conan WAS NOT ready to be released and close it down. Take the time to fix it correctly as it should have been in the first place then relaunch it. As is now they have almost no chance for any success at all with AoC...especially with less than a month till WAR is launched.

 

lol close it down?  Funcom would get more from people.

{ Mod Edit }

Sevens, I've sparred with you a few times here, but that isn't my intention this time. What do you suggest then? Ok, we see you like the game and you've said that forums ruin games.

So what do you suggest FC do? Let people run rampant exploiting? Close servers for an emergency hot-fix? Do you think it's good for the game to allow exploits and screw any new player who joins? How about the guilds that now have everyone in full gemmered out gear (many sets even)?

BTW, calling us morons is against the forum rules of conduct.

@Amazing Avery, your post is far more baiting than you usually do. I think you may be as pissed off as the "haters" you respond too.

Don't stoop to baiting and insults Avery, as a GC, you're above that.

Originally posted by Die_Scream

Originally posted by Sevensodd

Originally posted by AlienShirt

To be serious Funcom needs to openly admit that Age of Conan WAS NOT ready to be released and close it down. Take the time to fix it correctly as it should have been in the first place then relaunch it. As is now they have almost no chance for any success at all with AoC...especially with less than a month till WAR is launched.

 

lol close it down?  Funcom would get more from people.

{ Mod Edit }

 

Sevens, I've sparred with you a few times here, but that isn't my intention this time. What do you suggest then? Ok, we see you like the game and you've said that forums ruin games.

So what do you suggest FC do? Let people run rampant exploiting? Close servers for an emergency hot-fix? Do you think it's good for the game to allow exploits and screw any new player who joins? How about the guilds that now have everyone in full gemmered out gear (many sets even)?

BTW, calling us morons is against the forum rules of conduct.

The game is decent.  Far better then what everyone says.  I agree, funcom dropped the ball on a lot of things.  Duping in particular.  I suggest they do hotfix it.  But shutting down the entire game until its polished, free of bugs and whatnot, would be the end of the game. Period.  So combine them shutting the game down for a bit with the constant AoC bashing threads on the internet, and you have the death of a decent game.

What should Funcom do? Well not listening to random postings on the internet would be a good start.

What will Funcom do? Your guess is as good as mine but why don't  we all wait and find out Hmmmm?

Originally posted by Sevensodd

Originally posted by Die_Scream

Originally posted by Sevensodd

Originally posted by AlienShirt

To be serious Funcom needs to openly admit that Age of Conan WAS NOT ready to be released and close it down. Take the time to fix it correctly as it should have been in the first place then relaunch it. As is now they have almost no chance for any success at all with AoC...especially with less than a month till WAR is launched.

 

lol close it down?  Funcom would get more from people.

{ Mod Edit }

 

Sevens, I've sparred with you a few times here, but that isn't my intention this time. What do you suggest then? Ok, we see you like the game and you've said that forums ruin games.

So what do you suggest FC do? Let people run rampant exploiting? Close servers for an emergency hot-fix? Do you think it's good for the game to allow exploits and screw any new player who joins? How about the guilds that now have everyone in full gemmered out gear (many sets even)?

BTW, calling us morons is against the forum rules of conduct.

 

The game is decent.  Far better then what everyone says.  I agree, funcom dropped the ball on a lot of things.  Duping in particular.  I suggest they do hotfix it.  But shutting down the entire game until its polished, free of bugs and whatnot, would be the end of the game. Period.  So combine them shutting the game down for a bit with the constant AoC bashing threads on the internet, and you have the death of a decent game.

I agree, shutting it down until it's ready for prime time is silly, I do. However, when it is well known that an exploit exist this severe, when the instructions to do so are posted many places and is common knowledge...this requires an emergency off-line and fix. It requires that the team fix the problem immediately!

This has been going on for weeks! Do you not see how serious an issue this is for an MMO? An exploit like this is H5N5 (Bird-Flu) for an online game with competition like PvP.

A junior team of noobs know this! We all know this to be true! What is FunCom's excuse?!?

Originally posted by zymurgeist

What should Funcom do? Well not listening to random postings on the internet would be a good start.

What will Funcom do? Your guess is as good as mine but why don't  we all wait and find out Hmmmm?

Yes, keep paying $15/month in the hopes that the one developer still working on the game 'fixes' this bug.  You know.. they should just prevent the bug from now on..  that way the guilds/people who exploited it to no end will always be OP.  

Sevens, I've sparred with you a few times here, but that isn't my intention this time. What do you suggest then? Ok, we see you like the game and you've said that forums ruin games.

So what do you suggest FC do? Let people run rampant exploiting? Close servers for an emergency hot-fix? Do you think it's good for the game to allow exploits and screw any new player who joins? How about the guilds that now have everyone in full gemmered out gear (many sets even)?

BTW, calling us morons is against the forum rules of conduct.

 

The game is decent.  Far better then what everyone says.  I agree, funcom dropped the ball on a lot of things.  Duping in particular.  I suggest they do hotfix it.  But shutting down the entire game until its polished, free of bugs and whatnot, would be the end of the game. Period.  So combine them shutting the game down for a bit with the constant AoC bashing threads on the internet, and you have the death of a decent game.

I agree, shutting it down until it's ready for prime time is silly, I do. However, when it is well known that an exploit exist this severe, when the instructions to do so are posted many places and is common knowledge...this requires an emergency off-line and fix. It requires that the team fix the problem immediately!

This has been going on for weeks! Do you not see how serious an issue this is for an MMO? An exploit like this is H5N5 (Bird-Flu) for an online game with competition like PvP.

A junior team of noobs know this! We all know this to be true! What is FunCom's excuse?!?

Anyone could see how serious this is for any multi-player game, let a lone a MMORPG.  As for funcoms excuse for not fixing this ASAP is beyond me.  Same can be said about the week or so where epic items were dropping from certain mobs like candy. 

Who knows why they didn't just step in and fix it?  The only explanation i can come to, as far as duping goes, is they are relying on the players moral values.  And of course the threat of a ban.  Which is laughable.  Moral values online?  Behind the safety of your computer screen?  Right.  And for the threat of a ban?  Most people simple just do not care anymore with WAR insight.  Maybe if WAR sucks (I'm hoping it doesn't) people will care, seeing as these are the only 2 major mmorpgs coming out anytime soon.

BTW calling someone a noob is against the forum rules of conduct. <- LOL had to add that in to be a smartass

You missed the real reason they didn't fix the duping bug.

Its the same reason they didn't properly fix the female swing speed issue.

They simply don't have the manpower needed.   The management of funcom knew 2 months ago how bad the numbers were going to be, do you think there haven't been huge layoffs?
 

look at the patches in the last 2 months.  Have they done anything substantial ..... NO..    has the work they did do come with a ton of bugs... Yes.     It's obvious there are very few devs working on this game and probably no internal QA team.   The current patch has been delayed 3 times now and reall contains nothing substantial.  The real pvp patch is now off the radar again and isn't even talked about.

nipples will come, and nipples will go, but anything that requires real coding isn't going to be done.

Originally posted by Azrile

They simply don't have the manpower needed.

Perhaps it's also a lack of awareness, motivation, desire, skill, prioritization, diligence, and follow-through, too.

There is no quick fix, there is no hot fix. If they had fleshed crafting out properly in beta this would have never happened, but the truth is that it wasn't. Gemcutting itself was broken at launch. Trade exploits where there at launch, which is proven through the 3 weeks it took them to put traders into the game. This is a trickle down effect of the hacking/exploiting groups slowly teaching their tradeskills to the populus. It's happened in many games, most notably for me was Pre-CU SWG. They didn't care at the time because they were changing their game soon with the CU, so they didn't bother enforcing rules or fixing it live until then. They kept subscriptions they needed to pay for production. Frankly, its the same thing here. They're holding subscriptions right now through these bugs, exploits, etc. in order to pick up the tab for the PvP update that is already close to 2-months behind schedule.

As for Avery, he is a member of The Acolytes. Why would AoC's hand fed guild ever be critical of the game? You and your guild are as  corrupt as Erling and Gaute.

It's Anarchy Online all over again.  Patches that create more bugs than fix.  Duping.  And don't think the billing thing is new either.  I had a horrible experience with them back at AO's release and my 6 month renewal.  When I changed it to monthly before my original 6 month plan was up, they billed me for another 6 months anyhow AND the monthly rate as well.  I was told "we don't issue refunds"

I warned all my friends to wait for 6 months to wait and see what happened with AoC.  I expected no less than this from FC.

Maybe they'll fix the duping and open up some new servers, kinda like they did with AO.  Good luck with that.