Today morning the servers of the fantasy MMORPG The Elder Scrolls Online were taken down to stop an exploit that could harm and impair the game for months.
Some fan sites suspected an extensive patch during the server maintenance this morning, aimed at fixing bugs in individual quests. However, instead of resolving issues, the guild banks were temporarily disabled. This was because it enabled scammers to duplicate items at will. One of the biggest disasters that can befall a young game.
With the help of a third-party tool and the guild bank, it has likely been possible for a while to “dupe” items, meaning to duplicate them. This allowed players to earn an enormous amount of money by duplicating items and then selling them to vendors. However, the method is much more serious when valuable items, such as armor or weapons, are duplicated. In The Elder Scrolls Online, these are often not bound on pickup and can be freely traded.
Legendary items affected
Moreover, the method seems to have been primarily used to duplicate the legendary upgrade items. Because with them, some of the best items in the game can be crafted. In the current game design, they were intended as the most important trade goods. In The Elder Scrolls Online, it is possible through crafting professions to create always better versions of an item until they finally reach the quality level “Legendary”, the highest in the game.
This innovative concept could now become TESO’s undoing.
To bring an item to the highest quality level, a lot of upgrade items are necessary. Because with each one, the probability of the upgrade process succeeding increases. If it fails, the item and the upgrade materials disappear. This was supposed to make the items a coveted and rare trade good for years, which craftsmen could obtain from items or raw materials with great effort.
Criminal intent required
This means that for scammers, it was not only possible to cheat massive amounts of gold but also to craft the best gear in unlimited quantities and permanently destroy the economy. We do not want to go into the exact circumstances of the exploit here; as can be seen in corresponding videos, a certain criminal intent was necessary. Such a thing does not happen by accident.
Is a rollback coming?
At the moment, it is still unknown how Zenimax intends to remove the duped items from the game. In English discussion forums, there is even fear of a rollback. In this case, the server would be reverted to an earlier state, and each individual player would lose the progress they have made in the game since then.
How extensively the exploit was used and what measures Zenimax will take is not yet clear at the moment. We will keep you updated.
UPDATE: Statement from Zenimax at 11:30 PM. This is freshly from the official forum. The German community manager Kai Schober has posted this:
Measures against exploiters
Yesterday we were able to identify a bug in ESO that allowed items to be duplicated and that was abused by some players. We reacted quickly and have now fixed the bug. We show no tolerance when it comes to the deliberate exploitation of exploits; the accounts of all involved players have now been permanently banned.
We thank everyone who reported this problem to us. If you find any further exploit in the future, please let us know via /help in the game or through our help center: https://hilfe.elderscrollsonline.com/app/ask.
If you believe that you have been wrongly banned, you can appeal the suspension of your account. Here is how to do it: http://hilfe.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/8541
