Hackers and combat loggers, the demise of ED

duanedibly · Jun 23, 2015

Regardless of the countless reports I submit, regardless of the amount of video evidence to support my claim, the half measures of FD with regards to hacking and combat logging are destroying this game. I report hackers and combat loggers and see them the next day doing the same thing.

What does this mean for Xbox release? It is very bad news. Hacking in xbox has traditionally been worst than PC gaming because of the age of said gamers, and whilst there is no server architecture, this game remains one of the easiest to hack games on the market. The hacks are free and there is little to zero repercussions for hacking; with this policy, FD is destroying their own games longevity. Remember Dayz? because thats whats going to happen to ED at the current rate.

Group play, the functionality of the block list (being able to block known pirates from potentially being in your instance) means that the game experience that was sold to me, is simply not on offer any more.

I urge, I plead... FD do something, do something more, and make it public to clear combat loggers and hackers from this game, you said you guys were working on it, well time is up, your first paid content is not far around the corner and unless you fix these absolute burning issues, there is no way I am going to be sold a product that doesnt work as intended. I would be happy if no content whatsoever was delivered in 1.4 but it fixed these 2 things alone....

Your forums are moderated with an iron fist, and your game is policed by captain feathersword. It is time to switch that around.

Brandon31 · Jun 23, 2015

Hear hear......... but I have played many many multiplayer games in my lifetime, and have yet to find one that is not full of hackers, cheaters, botters, spammers, gold sellers, griefers, loggers, and all manner of other bottom feeding lowlife who seem attracted to mmo,s and the internet in general.

dayrth · Jun 23, 2015

Action is being taken. There have been warnings, shadow bans and outright banns. FD often post on these forums telling us the sort of action that is being taken. They will never make public the numbers or who the action is taken against and are quite right not to do so. They will also not take someones word and take action against someone just because they are reported, (even with video), which is also quite right.

Keep reporting though. FD will not be ignoring your reports and those people will be watched and when they have the evidence FD will act.

Hurricane Moon · Jun 23, 2015

how can ed be hacked? i thought everything was stored server side like money values and all that jazz?
im all for expoiting in game mechanics though....thats fair game imo.

I and I Redeye · Jun 23, 2015

FD are not on the side of the open player. They don't defend open or help it.
We're not wanted. By FD or the playerbase.

Just the fact that they put in a combat log timer tells me everything.

duanedibly · Jun 23, 2015

Hurricane Moon said:
how can ed be hacked? i thought everything was stored server side like money values and all that jazz?
im all for expoiting in game mechanics though....thats fair game imo.

there is no server, it is peer to peer only...wherein lies the problem.

Muzz UK · Jun 23, 2015

I'm always skeptical about the word "hacker" because so many people are quick to brand someone a hacker or glitcher because they are losing. That's not to say Elite is hack proof but we're all capable of ill judgement after a bad day or stress. I've yet to see anyone who I consider a clear cut hacker in this game. Sure there's combat loggers but that's going to happen until FD put in a 1 minute log out cool down on disconnect/end process where your still in the game.

Elite is a very one sided odds stack against you in many situations I've run so many times after being outnumbered and thats why others choose to log.

I honesty think the OP is over reacting a little!

Theres more hackers in games like BF4, CS and WoW than Elite!

duanedibly · Jun 23, 2015

dayrth said:
Action is being taken. There have been warnings, shadow bans and outright banns. FD often post on these forums telling us the sort of action that is being taken. They will never make public the numbers or who the action is taken against and are quite right not to do so. They will also not take someones word and take action against someone just because they are reported, (even with video), which is also quite right.

Keep reporting though. FD will not be ignoring your reports and those people will be watched and when they have the evidence FD will act.

With all due respect, their responses are little and late. A Cmdr T***** (redacted this myself) was hacking for weeks killing people on purpose, hacking very very obviously, countless reports were submitted, countless videos submitted to strengthen the reports and this guy got a warning, a warning for possibly causing billions in repair bills and causing people to go to solo or group play, which then robs the rest of the community of another player, and robs the player of a rich gaming experience. The only way forward for this is a no strike policy, you get caught hacking and you lose openplay; shadowban for you permanently unless you appeal at which point there should be a probation period.

Unless this is done, ED will go the way of DayZ, popular for a long time, then plagued by hackers and then ultimately the community stops playing completely because of it.

FD..dont become a statistic, a laughing stock, dont become a precautionary tale of how not to police and run your online game...be more strict.

Nicodemus · Jun 23, 2015

There are plenty of "hackers" out there, they usually are the ones who have shields that do not budge at all, when you have 4 people firing relentlessly at them. The only thing that you can do is to report it, and let FD sort it out.

duanedibly · Jun 23, 2015

steve_muzz said:
I'm always skeptical about the word "hacker" because so many people are quick to brand someone a hacker or glitcher because they are losing. That's not to say Elite is hack proof but we're all capable of ill judgement after a bad day or stress. I've yet to see anyone who I consider a clear cut hacker in this game. Sure there's combat loggers but that's going to happen until FD put in a 1 minute log out cool down on disconnect/end process where your still in the game.

Elite is a very one sided odds stack against you in many situations I've run so many times after being outnumbered and thats why others choose to log.

I honesty think the OP is over reacting a little!

Theres more hackers in games like BF4, CS and WoW than Elite!

If you like, PM me and I will provide you a lot of footage encountered by either myself or my clan mates. I encounter hackers on average once a night, I encounter this because I want to pvp, I seek it out and sometimes you can nuke a guys shields down fast and other times, they sit on 1% forever...tonight I encountered a commander in a FDL with 5 beams, 5 shield boosters and an unlimited capacitor, also the ability to refill his shields completely with 1 shield cell bank (impossible with a4 shield cells and that amount of shield boosters) and having no heat issues either! with 5 beams!

This is not an over reaction, the more people realise that they can hack and get away with it...the more people will, and the game will be like dayz.

Stigbob · Jun 23, 2015

Given most cheats are doing it for quick in game cash how about an automatic CMDR reset instead of a warning or a ban. Take away the motivation give them a starter sidey and a warning that next time its a starter sidey in the naughty universe.

Arindor · Jun 23, 2015

The best way to enjoy ED is the same way one enjoyed the original, and that is to play solo because, IMO (and I still feel miffed about a lack of offline), Elite has always been a solo experience.

zombieapocalypse · Jun 23, 2015

CMDR Ross said:
Ha Captain Feathersword. Gotta love those wiggles. yeah if for nothing else would be great not to see the "he combat logged on me" posts on the forums, and I agree with the xbox thing. I'm not having a go at xbox users each to their own, but my son moans continually about cheats on there.

No offence, but a lot of people accuse legit players of cheating when they get owned. I play a lot of BF4 on PC, and I am regularly accused of cheating and I'm not even that good, but I know what I'm doing and I have a very good understanding of the game mechanics. My experience with online games is that the perception of cheating is always far greater than the actual level of cheating.

Robert Maynard · Jun 23, 2015

duanedibly said:
there is no server, it is peer to peer only...wherein lies the problem.

The game uses a P2P/Server-Lite network model where each player is connected to a server and all other players in the instance - particular transactions are moderated by the server.

Nauht · Jun 23, 2015

Robert Maynard said:
Each player is connected to a server and all other players in the instance - particular transactions are moderated by the server.

That's not the whole picture though is it?

It's a bit disingenuous to make a statement that implies that this is a server based game as most gamers know server based games to be.... when it's not.

Robert Maynard · Jun 23, 2015

Nauht said:
That's not the whole picture though is it?

It's a bit disingenuous to make a statement that implies that this is a server based game as most gamers know server based games to be.... when it's not.

Apologies for not including "P2P" in my post - I will amend it. However, if the game was Server/Client then I would not have stated "and all other players in the instance" as players would not connect directly to each other....

Scudmungus · Jun 23, 2015

Mi rememba wen hacker be meanin someone wo actually hack

ZeeWolf · Jun 23, 2015

Nauht said:
That's not the whole picture though is it?

It's a bit disingenuous to make a statement that implies that this is a server based game as most gamers know server based games to be.... when it's not.

It's a hybrid system. The server is used for financial/status transactions. The P2P system handles instancing.

If it's "disingenuous" to say what something is because of preconceptions then how can you have a discussion about it?

Hurricane Moon · Jun 23, 2015

Arindor said:
The best way to enjoy ED is the same way one enjoyed the original, and that is to play solo because, IMO (and I still feel miffed about a lack of offline), Elite has always been a solo experience.

im with you on this....im from the 80`s `home computer era,and we didnt have online multiplayer back in the day...we played alone mostly.
elite is a single player "escape life" game to me....tried online,but prefer to be in my own world and be god.

i know ED isnt a xbox pew pew kiddie game and most peeps are sound minded and dont fart down the headset...but i get enough interaction with people t work and with my family......so elite is my quite little safe haven.

Jethzk · Jun 23, 2015

Stigbob said:
Given most cheats are doing it for quick in game cash how about an automatic CMDR reset instead of a warning or a ban. Take away the motivation give them a starter sidey and a warning that next time its a starter sidey in the naughty universe.

Logged in just to + rep this. Warning's generally tell people that your aware they cheated and they shouldn't do that. The response is generally not to stop cheating, but to try and find new cheats that are harder to catch. Make the warning harsh enough that people think twice about doing it again.

Ultimately I think ED will need to pony up and have dedicated servers if they wish to truly resolve hacking. Dedicated servers cost money, which can be hard to manage without a subscription basis, but games such as GW2 have shown that it can be done successfully. Sadly this is not something that is easy to change and I'm surprised it wasn't addressed earlier in the design phase.

Ultimately ED plays like a single player game with multiplayer tacked on. When I finally accepted that and switched to solo play, I felt much better about the game.