The fantasy MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online is now fully in the sights of hackers and exploiters. After a first exploit was fixed over the weekend, new reports emerged on Easter Sunday that it was possible to cheat in the game. The hackers themselves are calling for a rollback. This would mean that every player would lose what they achieved in the last few days.
Sharks in Bloody Water
Hackers, cheaters, and exploiters are a bit like sharks in the ocean. Once they smell blood, they go into a frenzy. A triple-A MMORPG that is likely played by over two million people is highly attractive prey. After all, virtual gold can be converted into real euros.
The loot is even more attractive when the game seems to be so vulnerable and hurt. The Elder Scrolls Online is considered, as discussed in forums, to be a “Client-Trust-Heavy” game. This makes it susceptible to all sorts of tools and tricks that no longer work in other games.
At launch, reports of speed hacks and bots were already piling up. Zenimax acted quickly against it.
Guild Bank Exploit Fixed
On Good Friday, an exploit was made known that allowed players to duplicate items at will, a so-called dupe exploit. They are feared because they can massively disrupt the in-game economy. An item is simply worthless if it can be created out of thin air. Interestingly, the exploit could be used to craft items that not only provide a gold advantage but also a gear advantage.
New Dupes Have Surfaced Over the Weekend
After the exploit was fixed and some players were hit by the ban hammer, one might have thought that the commotion had come to an end. One would want that for the game. After all, Zenimax has its hands full. Every day, they are dealing with new issues. Just this morning, a patch was deployed to address the most urgent problems of the fantasy giant. Numerous dead-end quests are being fixed. Furthermore, during the latest wave of bans, they seem to have gone a bit overboard and have now unbanned some players. So they have fixed the worst leaks for now and can now breathe a sigh of relief, right? Not at all.
On Easter Sunday, reports surfaced in relevant forums that additional bugs in the game were allowing item dupes. This time even easier and in a way that can actually happen randomly. Probably the exploit came to light due to a recent bug. It is related to the loading screen where many players were stuck recently.
Exploiter Calls for Rollback
The impact on the in-game economy and the game remains highly dangerous and seems devastating. How Zenimax intends to control this is completely unclear.
An exploiter has detailed in a forum post which mechanisms he used to “wash,” “distribute,” and conceal the gold he “earned” through the first dupe bug from the eyes of the GMs. Apparently, he has learned quite a bit from mafia movies and documentaries.
Ironically, the exploiter is now calling for Zenimax to roll back. In his view, the game would otherwise be worthless, as every achievement and success is tainted by the illegally acquired gold and items in the game.
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Mein-mmo says:
As ironic as it sounds and as much as it will upset many “honest” players: The hacker is not wrong. A rollback would be the only “clean” method to push so much toothpaste back into the tube.
The new exploits are so severe that Zenimax is faced with the question of whether to accept a rollback or damage the in-game economy for months. However, a rollback would likely alienate many customers. Here, one is faced with the choice between plague and cholera. In the short term, a rollback would certainly be met with a terrible shitstorm. Every player would lose what they achieved in the past days. The middle way will likely be to ban as many cheaters as possible, remove as much duped gold and equipment from the game, but it will be nearly impossible to catch everything or even a large part. Hopefully, the “duped” money will not turn out too negatively for the players.
A creative solution is also circulating on the internet: Forbes suggests introducing new “legendary” crafting materials and devaluing the old ones. This would hit the currently “rich” players, but would hardly affect many “normal players.”
The critical question remains: How widespread is this? How much does it really affect the in-game economy and how does it impact each individual? And who can be banned this time? The newly discovered exploits are so simple in nature that the defense for a ban is obvious: I knew nothing about it.
It is to be hoped that a really good game will slowly navigate into calmer waters. But when you hear reports about “Client-Trust-Heavy” games, that seems a long way off.
A statement from Zenimax regarding the recent problems is still pending, we will provide it as soon as we hear something.
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UPDATE on 22.04.2014: Zenimax has now confirmed that the server maintenance this morning is related to the exploit described here.
The maintenance this morning was to fix an issue with that was allowing unintended outcomes with crafting hireling mails.
