Saturday, April 23, 2011

Starcade = "Threatening and does not contribute to the discussion.", SE. Your move!!

The above was how one of my posts to the forums was deleted by forum officials.

The post was in response to several of the "tags" on a post talking about the concept of "brew holding".

My understanding of the concept is that players are using the "intended" action of the timers for stuff like the time limit for the Primeval Brew's "Transcendency" effect (3 minutes) while working with NPC's and the like (the clocks stop!) to hold NMs infinitely (the effect basically makes you the equivalent of a God -- 9999 HP and MP, +999 to all stats, etc and so forth).

So basically the Cheating Bitches of the English Forums are trumpeting the "intentional intended" motif, completely ignoring the fact that they are going far above and beyond the intention.

(Not to mention that holding the NMs themselves can also be declared illegal in certain cases -- which see the likes of King Arthro and his pops...)

But never let the facts get in the way of a good story.

But it's your move, Square-Enix. If this is the way you want this game, ban me from it. Plain and fucking simple.

As I later said on the forum:

So when is Square-Enix going to get it and understand that my presence in FFXI is probably:

"Threatening and does not contribute to the discussion."

Hey, Square-Enix... I've been banned from basically everything in this game but these forums and the game itself.

If the social nature of this game is THAT important to you that you are going to deliberately turn your back on fair play to keep "the customers" happy, then you have but one alternative: My removal from FFXI.

I will not "contribute to the discussion" of a playerbase hell-bent on the creation of a cheat-fest.

I would be far more "Threatening" in that concept than anything said here so far.

If you are that dead-set on allowing these people to run over your game, then you don't want me on it.

Your move, Square-Enix. I pay my money with the expectation the rules be upheld for all parties. Anything short of that is fraud.

ON EDIT: I think I know what they didn't like: The fact that I said that my posts wouldn't be considered "psycho" unless law enforcement and the police were involved. There's a reason I became the first blog banned from the TTTO.

2 comments:

Ivve said...

Your understanding of the concept of "brew holding" is completely incorrect. It is simply entering into dialogue with an NPC (box, character, martello) in order to make the brew last longer. It has nothing to do with "holding" NMs in the sense you mean it, or somehow being invincible. Additionally, if any kind of effect touches you while you're in dialogue with an NPC, you will be booted from it. That includes all friendly effects (buffs/cures) as well as AoE damage or statuses from the mobs in question. This is not a new idea, either. It's been used in various low man camps to preserve EXP chains, using NPCs and FoV books.

Anyway, this practice actually leads to killing NMs faster, not slower. People proc various types of !! as normal, and then the person with a brew active will kill the mob. It just amounts to pausing the brew effect until you actually want to use it. I honestly am not sure how you arrived at the conclusion that this somehow amounts to holding NMs for extended periods of time. I think you should be properly informed if you're going to go making grand statements like this though.

Really, you don't think you sound self-important here? SE (or more accurately some very low-level, poorly paid employee in a department not even remotely related to the one you're endeavoring to reach) will probably continue to remove and/or ignore your comments while gladly taking the money you give them every single month. Eventually, you may be banned for generally being kind of nasty rather than anything that actually deals with the content of your message.

The chances of you actually making any sort of impact on this game in this manner are megamillions lottery kind of slim. If you really have a problem with this, you should try a) being properly informed so that you can b) report it to the proper department and potentially actually have it reviewed.

Be aware though, the likelihood of them actually removing your posts because of your message is pretty low. The intent of a forum is to facilitate discussion. Being rude and abusive toward other posters, using excessive language, etc is what will get you banned and it will accomplish nothing. You won't change peoples' minds to see your point of view by being abrasive like that, and your opinion will be obscured by your demeanor. I'm surprised a 41 year old man could behave this immaturely on the internet.

Starcade said...

Bonefish: I disagree entirely. I think I've got a pretty good idea. You admit yourself that it makes the Brew last longer (which is illegal) and can be used to hold NMs if the party gets scattered (which, using an illegal mechanism, compounds the illegality).

This is NOT a new idea, and has been exploited (and I choose my words carefully) in all of the ways you describe. It is being done in a manner in which the game's people did NOT intend to exploit code errors (or designs), and that's illegal under the Terms of Service.

You are NOT entitled to "pause the brew effect until you actually want to use it". That's an exploit of the brew's code, through the deliberate action of why the player enters into the dialogue. It's another example of the players exploiting the system for their own ends.

You could do this with multiple NMs, if you wanted to, holding an NM pop area (as one example) for several NMs on one brew. Illegal, illegal, and illegal again.

You can use this to hold a single NM (if you can keep from getting hit) or an NM pop area (by continually stopping the Brew clock when it's not necessary to have it on, by your own admission).

The fact is that Square-Enix is either going to have to remove the cheaters, or they're going to have to remove me. The only reason other parties are not involved yet is that I have other things in my life than FFXI.

I have put numerous requests to have things reviewed through the proper channels, and it is clear to me that Square-Enix does not desire these things to be reviewed, for a proper review under their written rules probably ends FFXI, in one form or another.

I've made clear over two years now what needs to happen then.

The forum (as I am about to write in another post) is basically turning into another form of that BluGartr shit that Square-Enix should've smacked down years ago.