28 replies to this topic

[Campitor]

During this restart limitations will be placed on the Test Subject Aura item to prevent it's use by monks/champions.
Restart is happening at 4PM Today

New Gear restrictions will be as follows:
Jobs: Swordman, Mage, Archer, Merchant, Thief Classes, Soul Linker, and Ninja

[Warnhal]

It has come to our Support Team’s attention that over the weekend, a bug was being exploited during Classic server, War of Emperium 2.0. Using the equipment, Test Subject Aura, and a combination of Champion skills, a player caused players to receive a Gravity error. This was used to in an exploitative manner to invade castles and bypass fights, thus leading to the eventual loss of a castle. Furthermore, the player responsible for these actions stated that this “error” can be bypassed by using an older version of our client. Knowingly abusing bugs in this gain for your own exploit is not acceptable.

 

Reviewing replays, videos and screenshots, our team has decided that this behavior is unacceptable and will come with sanctions. I would like to thank our community for your help in testing this, and reporting it to us as soon as you were able.  Please remember, if you find out how a bug is performed, please report it to us via ticket as detailed as possible. Please, please, PLEASE! DO NOT use it to harass exploiters in retaliation. This, too, will come with punishments.

 

Note: If you receive a message on login that you were suspended, please submit a ticket and we will be more than happy to inform you the reasoning why. I don’t feel it right if I name-drop players here.

 

So what ‘s happening during this short maintenance?

 

During this short maintenance the Valfreyja 4 Castle will be given to “iRO GM Guild.” Due to the exploit, there is no way for us to say who should have ended up with the castle. I know this may raise some concern for the last holders of the castle. The Asprika that was created will be removed and smelted down to its materials. You will be receiving those post-maintenance on the guild leader character.

 

This scenario has raised some concern of how our Support Team turns a blind eye to these matters. I can assure you this is not the case. While I may not be the most vocal presence here on the forums, I do know the matters that arise in the community and add my input in on the decisions to be made.  In this case, we did our best to keep the result fair for all.

 

 

 

 

[Xellie]

Warnhal, they did it last week too. We regained it and they were unable to take it back (the exploit was not used again) this cost us several days of this asprika creations.

Whilst I respect that you cannot determine the eventual outcome of WoE, I would like to draw attention to the fact that they were unable to penetrate the defenses without ever using the exploit in previous weeks too - at the very least our alliance has lost out on valuable creation time and guild dungeon access. (care not for treasure)

I understand this is a matter that may need to be handled privately, but this is not just a case of a single guild being wronged here; it is five and everybody is watching.

However I would like to thank you for looking into this and for dealing with the exploiters. I would much rather the WoE was neutralized and returned to it's previous state for both sides (I am not asking for treasure) as reclaiming a castle is dangerous and leads to losses of economy and rebuilds.

[teresias]

What about the one who did the exploits? What kind of sanction / punishment will he/she be facing? Or will be allowed to walk freely as if nothing happened?

Edited by teresias, 15 August 2016 - 03:01 PM.

[Campitor]

What about the one who did the exploits?  Will he/she be facing sanction / punishment for this? or will be allowed to walk freely as if nothing happened?

As stated by Warnhal appropriate sanctions were taken against those found to be purposefully crashing other users.

[Tolrin]

So, here it is, I have been suspended for doing absolutely nothing wrong, due only to being attacked repeatedly by the same group of players out for my blood.  I'll drop a real account of what happened on sunday here, and then I will be gone.

 

My first communication on the disconnect on Sunday was about 15 minutes into woe, a pm: "you're pathetic" no additional context.  I get 4-5 hate PMs from valhalla members every WoE, assuming this was the usual fare, I replied "I only died because I errored out" then blocked the usual suspects and continued playing.  Over the next half our or so, more of our players continued to disconnect, I'd been disconnecting on and off since I updated my client last about 3 weeks ago because of the new hats that went in, and decided that since I hadn't been getting any errors with my old client, it was time to fire it up instead.  I reverted to my old client and played the rest of woe happily, disconnect free!  Many players in my guild and alliance were still having issues, but there wasn't much I could do to solve them.  

 

About 90 minutes into WoE I got another PM, my blocks having worn off due to previous crashes.  This time they mentioned that their guild was having disconnect issues, I replied that I also was having issues with that, that it had started about 3 weeks ago with the new hats, and that reverting to an old client had solved the issue for me.  I was more than happy to share any information I had about the disconnects, and shared the full extent of my knowledge.

 

After WoE, I came back from dinner to a slew of PMs from various players filled with hate and accusations, saying they had figured out what I was doing, and were spamming reports on me.  I was not concerned since I had done nothing wrong, and had in the past even reported several game breaking exploits to the GM team without even considering abusing them.  Since there was no exploitation involved in my activities on Sunday I had no expectations of anything bad happening.

 

Long story short, you have been seriously mislead by players that specifically dislike me.  I did absolutely no intentional exploiting of any kind, and have in the past reported and solved many similar issues.  It is unbelievable to me that you would punish me for this, when certain other players who maliciously abuse bugs and refuse to assist in solving things get to talk about how they are in the right and are always doing the right thing.  The way the GMs have dealt with this is disgusting, especially given that at no point was I ever even contacted (i was online all day and available) which tells me that no real investigation was done, you simply took a few players at their word for it all.

 

If the GM team wishes to apologize to me over this, they have the opportunity to do so today, immediately.  I have been a long time supporter of iRO, and have never, ever exploited, cheated, or done anything even remotely questionable.  To be treated like this after 14 years playing this game makes me sick.

 

Sincerely,

Rory 'Tolrin' Forsythe

[Xellie]

Rory,

It may surprise you that I don't hate you. I've considered you a playmate / rival and someone worthy of opposition. Some of us even reached out and wanted to play with you in a friendly way in the other game.

People that Valhalla/I really hate get avoided during WoE.
So no matter what happened - I hope one day we can move past everything and actually be friends. We've had some good chats in the past. I'm not going to get into the drama of this event or play he said / she said, but I wanted to genuinely extend that to you and perhaps one day there's a resolution waiting.


- Nicola

[Myzery]

One thing that I can do here is attest that Tolrin has solved many issues in the past.
There were times on Valk where people couldn't log in, and he or Doddler were always there to offer help of some sort.
If what he's saying is true, then there should be chat logs to verify what went on. As far as I know, the GMs don't accept videos as evidence anymore.
On Renewal, we have sent in countless videos of blatant cheat and nothing has come of it, or a warning was given.
If this was a case of something being out of context, then this is undoubtedly wrong.


Everyone wants to play the game and have fun, not have a war on who can cheat or exploit harder.
It's also more than obvious that Xellie and her guild want this fixed.
Someone was doing it on purpose for sure, but this feels a little like a witch hunt at this point.
The game can't exist without friends and enemies alike.

Edited by Myzery, 15 August 2016 - 03:15 PM.

[Kimmy]

What about the people who abused the bug in towns?

[Themes]

None of the crashes were done intentionally and it was causing havoc as much for us as it was for other people. The fact that one group of players can get another banned after putting their own spin on events disgusts me. Never mind the fact that the player never got an opportunity to defend himself.

 

I'm all for banning players who are intentionally exploiting bugs and cheating. However this is not one of those situations, despite what people have convinced themselves. Who would have thought that an item that has been in the game for actual months now was crashing players and not the recently added hats? Definitely not me, that's for damn sure.

[Undying]

The tough decision is deciding if somebody actually knows the intentions from another person. Part of that would become mind reading or assumptions, since it is impossible to know other people's intentions since intentions are never 100% "good" or "bad", but are rather comprised of good+bad+grey+millions of other things. 

 

I guess the decision comes down to was this 100% no doubt confirmed intentional or not? Was it 100% no doubt ill intended or was it accidental?

 

If it is not 100% beyond any doubt in the entire world confirmed as the offender intentionally trying to disconnect his own guild, along with the other guild then do what you have to. However, if somebody was going to cheat, why would they hurt their own guild? 

 

Idk, I just personally think that we can't honestly know intentions 100%.

[Shomaye]

When we tested after WoE to find the cause of the gravity errors, the skill Summon Spirit Sphere was involved in causing the crash.  I record every WoE and never remembered seeing the person using Summon Spirit Sphere after Guillotine Fist, only Zen.  During the two WoEs where people were experiencing gravity errors, the person was wearing the bugged item and always using Summon Spirit Sphere after a fist.  This is what led me to think it was intentional.  I'll review the rest of my vids.

[HotoCocoa]

So about that lunatic hat

[Xellie]

So about that lunatic hat

You sir, understand the true meaning of Ragnarok.

Hats.

[Hametomo]

I too enjoy exploiting bugs for my own benefit and then writing a heartfelt explanation of how the guilty mind isn't present in order to get away with it.

Because you can never prove intent can you. Not from behind a screen. Not if you explain it away well enough and use misinformation to your advantage.

 

#graverrorgate

[Themes]

When we tested after WoE to find the cause of the gravity errors, the skill Summon Spirit Sphere was involved in causing the crash.  I record every WoE and never remembered seeing the person using Summon Spirit Sphere after Guillotine Fist, only Zen.  During the two WoEs where people were experiencing gravity errors, the person was wearing the bugged item and always using Summon Spirit Sphere after a fist.  This is what led me to think it was intentional.  I'll review the rest of my vids.

 

In an effort to help clear it up, here's what he said about that:

 

[12:44 PM] Tolrin: They don't usually have a paladin breaking my zen through sac with GD

[12:45 PM] Tolrin: Sss can't be interupted, they probably don't know that

 

Edit: That probably explains why it happened a lot more yesterday than last week, that Paladin was definitely going in.

 

Edited by Themes, 15 August 2016 - 03:48 PM.

[Xellie]

I was spellbreaking him actually (cuz you know ... GTB)

edit: him and the LK, the gans weren't exactly coming thick and fast.

Edited by Xellie, 15 August 2016 - 03:54 PM.

[squirreI]

One of their paladins was GDing really fast

[Campitor]

For all users affected by a suspension I am sorry if this has caused any distress. This is not a situation I think any of us wished to be in. Please submit a ticket and PM Warnhal. Warnhal and his GMs have promised to keep an open mind regarding this investigation.

[ttaggong]

어쩐지 게임이 졸라 팅기더라...

[Undying]

For all users affected by a suspension I am sorry if this has caused any distress. This is not a situation I think any of us wished to be in. Please submit a ticket and PM Warnhal. Warnhal and his GMs have promised to keep an open mind regarding this investigation.

 

Thank you. 

[CastleDrops]

One of their paladins was GDing really fast

 

There were 2 of us with exactly the same gear (190aspd), exactly the same hair and exactly the same name, probably why it seems fast. Check the videos
 

[lyndel84]

None of the crashes were done intentionally and it was causing havoc as much for us as it was for other people. The fact that one group of players can get another banned after putting their own spin on events disgusts me. Never mind the fact that the player never got an opportunity to defend himself.

 

I'm all for banning players who are intentionally exploiting bugs and cheating. However this is not one of those situations, despite what people have convinced themselves. Who would have thought that an item that has been in the game for actual months now was crashing players and not the recently added hats? Definitely not me, that's for damn sure.

The crashes happened repeatedly towards the end and it was usually Tolrin moving in by himself, meaning that only one side (Valhalla) really suffered from it towards the end. Luckily I also happened to be using an old client so I was able to see what was going on. The whole thing definitely put Valhalla at a disadvantage and in all honesty, the frequency in which it suddenly happened towards the very end of WoE speaks volumes. 

 

I highly, HIGHLY doubt that it was not intentional. But even if it really was an accident then a FAIR guild would have relogged and started the fight anew, especially in cases were Tolrin snapped in and ONLY Valhalla was affected by the dc's. It was pretty easy to see too, so obviously you either made use of the exploit OR the "accident".

 

Furthermore I commend that we did get some reply from the management, however we will need to be much more strict in enforcing rules. From small griefplay to huge exploits the community needs to learn and understand that this toxic behaviour is not the right way to go about things. We need to establish an environment of respect because the community is THE ONLY THING that will hold this game together. 

 

Ragnarok is an old and small game at this point. EVERY player is important and driving them away with disrespectful behaviour or unfair methods is NOT the right way to go about it.

Edited by lyndel84, 15 August 2016 - 04:08 PM.

[Hametomo]

<Callout>

 

He was just delirious. In a bad state of mind. Overcome with the vapours. He's good for it I swear. Normally the nicest guy you've ever met. He just had a bad day.

 

Oda: Back again, huh?

[squirreI]

There were 2 of us with exactly the same gear (190aspd), exactly the same hair and exactly the same name, probably why it seems fast. Check the videos
 

 

You're not the one who was GDing really fast.