Saturday, February 28, 2009

End of Week Odds and Sods...

Well, an interesting week in Vana'diel...

Sunday Dynamis:  Did not attend.  Over-slept.  Been various degrees of ill all week.

Wednesday Dynamis:  Sandy.  Win.  No other important stuff.  Put myself on AF (DRG) this week and THEN the damn Big Money drops.

Levels:  DRG 73, RDM 60, MNK 59, Sharlene 63

(2 more levels and Sharlene and I will have our little match...)

Threw down the Social Linkshell because of all the garbage going on.  If I wanted to hear half the crap on my former Social LS, I'd go listen to these little punks who want to punk out half of Riverside, because I hear it all the time from those idiots!

(And then we have it out during a Besieged too...  Assholes...)

Dropped about 600K on gear last night.  Mostly on a good DRG armor, though a Chivalrous Chain took up a nice amount for my 60+ melee jobs.

The Letter:  Having trouble finding where I want to put it -- I'd like it to go Sage Sundi-level, myself, but they aren't the most accessible people to find communication avenues to.

The April Update:  Yes, I saw it just before I went to bed Friday morning.  Looking forward to the expansion on Fields of Valor.  Not so much on Moblin Maze Mongers (until they can make it truly solo-able).

JP vs. NA:  Seen several discussions on that -- two on TTTO, another on the LBR forums.

Look, neither culture should be able to tolerate the other in game terms, because of the fact that their goals basically cannot co-exist.

I'll just say it like this:  The more Square-Enix can move their products toward Japanese-only markets, the more the possibility rises that they might have a future.  (Don't think FFXI in those terms, even though FFXI would be part of it, to start with -- think Rapture here.)

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

This is obviously the Vana'diel people want...

Make no secret... I understand why people are laughing out loud at me...

I am dealing with a bunch of little boys who badly need to be slapped.

Sadly, this appears to be what FFXI is made of these days... A bunch of me-first little boys who say"Fuck the game, the rules, and everyone else but me."

I can't understand why that's the case, except if these people (as my roommate has suggested to me after reading only some of the Zulu drama -- and there's more to that now that I'll get to) openly desire the destruction of Vana'diel...

They'll get it. There's no reason to believe that there isn't a reconsideration of FFXI's immediate future going on. Note: 4:10 PM PST 2/25/09 -- no version update news yet.

The version update, if it comes with normal "hype period", is going to be at least 2 1/2 weeks behind schedule. But, since we've heard nothing (even a statement of delay), it starts to make you wonder...

Especially how much the game has seemed to further deteriorate in the last month:

-- I just quit my social LS after continually hearing more blatant garbage, this time over /shout in Besieged. You can tell where that went. A few more names I can add to the list of people who only need to come to Riverside, CA if they really want to find out how much I hide behind my computer...

-- Zulu's drama on Fenrir has apparently exploded, almost as predicted: Sounds as if, the first time a really desireable item dropped, the LS promptly imploded as the LS leader bogarted everyone.

Welcome to the state of present Vana'diel.

Even my roommate is now calling on me to quit the game. Not for the same reasons a lot of the cheating bitches are, but because she now believes they have effective ownership of FFXI, Square-Enix powerless to stop them.

If Square-Enix doesn't get off it's ass and starts doing something, something's going to get done for them.

Keep laughing. There will come a day the laughing will cease.

(Unless, of course, like my roommate asserts, your final goal is the destruction of Vana'diel.)

Sunday, February 22, 2009

BG Zulu Drama Part 2: So what's the penalty for monopolizing an entire server's endgame??

Case in point #4,682 that Square-Enix had better get a lot of banhammers out or just pull the plug on a sham game...

I referred earlier to the BluGartr thread about an apparent RMT-ring possibility + major 3rd-party software allegations against Fenrir's Zulu Linkshell (who apparently had several members present, if not participatory, in last night's absolute farce against Pandemonium Warden).

http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/ffxi-advanced-player-discussion/70208-zulu-linkshell-fenrir.html

So, I decided to get an even closer look at the thread, and it sounds like the deal is the following:

This is straight from "Pinky and the Brain", crossed with a dose of "Survivor".  They want to take over Fenrir.  As in, you don't play FFXI at all on Fenrir unless you bend over, suck our dicks, kiss our asses, and play our way.  Anything else, and you're out of endgame, which means you're either off Fenrir or out of FFXI entirely beyond a certain point.

The set-up:  This linkshell has apparently gained exclusive rights (paying upwards of hundreds of dollars, perhaps even thousands of dollars) to a claim-bot apparently called "NASA".  This is basically supposed to be a bot for "claiming against competition" (usually from other claimbots -- App, another illegal 3rd-party claimbot, apparently has approximately 5,500 users using it right now, as one example...), and is being primed for use by end-game RMT.  And it also makes itself essentially untrace-able by Square-Enix, effectively cock-blocking all remaining legitimate play off the server, should the cheaters choose to do so.

In fact, it would probably be safe to say that the end goal of the creators of this is to turn all end-game into RMT, where they control who, basically, can and cannot play Final Fantasy XI, for all realistic intent and purpose.

Mytiwar says it for me:  "Botting is already bad but paying that much to do it is bringing it to a whole new dimension imo."

Basically, this shit succeeds, and you're paying real money to ever see another major NM drop or anything real again.  Why would someone pay $2,000 (a reported price for this garbage) if they didn't intend to make that investment back several-fold...

Which see some of the RMT ads which basically run all over the place on FFXI sites and some of the monies involved.  (Apparently, the guy who ran the stream last night, Mojo, has sold two different characters of his for over $8,000 each, if his sig-line from BG is to be believed!)

There's a rumor on the board that an LS named Censura on Garuda already has the NASA bot, and basically now controls up to 80% of the NM claims against other claim-bot LS's camping NMs.

The fun really starts with Reyuma's page 3 post:  Basically stating information that the LS leader is going to fuck everyone else up the ass.  Believe me, if end-game goes completely RMT, you can bet that the leaders of these linkshells will defraud any and all they can sucker into the process.  Apparently, it sounds as if a lot of the players in on this crap have already been similarly cock-blocked by another LS on another server, and emigrated en masse to Fenrir.

(BTW, Reyuma, I reported this thread the first time I talked about it, and it's not even on my server.)

This is what FFXI is going to turn into unless Square-Enix castrates end-game as it is currently constructed.

Castrates it.

This is exactly what I've been talking about for the last month, now.  It's going pretty much exactly as I feared it would.  Players openly sabotaging other players' runs, botting and RMT running hand-in-hand and absolutely amok...

How much more of this are we as players (not to say Square-Enix) going to have to accept?

Square-Enix, fix your fucking game, shut it down, or I may have to start looking into some other options.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Quick week-end update...

Another week of dancing in the fire:

72 DRG
57 MNK

Sunday Dynamis was another snow run.
Wednesday Dynamis was a Jeuno run.

Won both -- though Wednesday was one of those nights I should've just aborted.

Haven't been playing as much.  The player base is literally making me sick.

Oh... My... Lord...

I think I am about to witness the greatest comedy act in the history of Vana'diel...

This disorganized LS organization from Fenrir is not only attempting Pandemonium Warden, but streaming the entire attempt over the Web.  It's taken them nearly 4 hours to properly set up and get everyone there.  They can't get everybody to shut up and stay organized for more than five minutes at a time...

... and, if all reports are to be believed, a GM is already witnessing the fight.

(There's really only two ways to interpret this:  Either to ensure a fair fight, or expecting it won't be...)

Judging by all these things, I expect from pop to wipe will be about 20 minutes.  Tops.

The pop should be imminent (about an hour behind schedule, at least!!), it's 9:50 PM EST now.  (6:50 out here)

They're streaming this over UStream, and I saw about 15 minutes of a bunch of pigs oinking in the chat on UStream before I basically decided to pull up the stream (and, yes, I expect either a cheat or a very quick wipe) in a popup and watch for my own entertainment.

If what I've seen before the fight (on the UStream chat, in-game on Fenrir, and on BG) is any indication, my questions about anyone playing this game legitimately at all (or knowing how!!) just redoubled again.  Egh...

Now it's 10:00 PM Eastern, and still no PW pop.  Four hours now, Mojo???  I mean, if it's this elite of a fight, why didn't you spend about the last week to coordinate everything and get people to -- oh, I don't know -- research what PW does and try to formulate something beforehand???

I should have to pay a cover charge and minimum drinks.  This appears to be a massive embarrassment, one way or the other.

10:02 PM EDT:  Sounds like the pop should be imminent -- just setting up their meds for the 2-hour showdown with PW, in all its forms...

10:04 PM EDT:  Snoken has officially Rickrolled the attempt.  Saddest part:  He's got it macro'ed.

10:08 PM EDT:  Why people are dying to resident mobs while setting up for this is beyond my comprehension.  Why they are fighting the resident mobs at all, even more so.  Yeah, boredom boredom boredom...  But with even a modicum of organization, you'd be started and probably through the entire two hours.

10:10 PM ET:  Number of people watching:  Almost 1,000.

10:15 PM EDT:  Logging hate appears to be the order of the day here.  Blazedd announces that logging out at form #9 -- unless they truly are doing something administrative on it (doubt that seriously).  Watching closely, guys...  I want to know which GM is watching this...  Watchers:  Now over 1,000...

10:20 PM EDT:  POP!!  Game on!!!

First form appears to be a Chariot.

10:21 PM EDT:  At least one player has already used their two-hour.

10:24 PM EDT:  But PW is clobbering them!!

10:26 PM EDT:  All lamps down for form #1.

10:28 PM EDT:  I'm getting the Vince McMahon theme in my head, as PW is largely unclaimed and basically running roughshod everywhere.

10:29 PM EDT:  Bickering all over the place.  "You got...  NO CHANCE...   NO CHANCE IN HELL!!"

10:31 PM EDT:  Still on form #1 -- "Zombie holding" it while the entire fight recovers from being reamed.

10:32 PM EDT:  At least one player appears to be thisclose to getting thrown out of the fight by the leaders.

10:34 PM EDT:  PW form #1 at about 50%.  At this rate, they don't clear more than about 4 forms.

All my worst fears are being confirmed.  Does anybody know how to play this damn game without Windower, exploits, hacks, cheating, etc.?

10:37 PM EDT:  Reading BG:  Someone appears to be actively attempting to sabotage the attempt (first death of the DD party may have been a deliberate MPK from someone outside the LS).  And they're succeeding well.

10:40 PM EDT:  Yep.  It appears to be abject sabotage now.  Someone from outside the LS has decided to go into business for themselves with the abject role of killing this run, and it sounds like they've won.  PW is not going down here.

10:42 PM EDT:  "Blizzit:  Woot!  We win..."

And the run has been destroyed.  PW has DE-POPPED!!!

STREAM AND FIGHT OVER!

SABOTAGE!!!  

Congratulations, you dick-fucking cock-sucking motherfuckers.  You just destroyed how much work (whether or not the run was actually going to be legit - how long does it take one to get a Pandemonium Key?) - and four hours of set-up, so that you could cock-block their run and destroy their run, embarrass them on the Internet, and all that shit...

Unbelievable.  You are an absolute embarrassment to all of Vana'diel, you freaking idiots!!!  And you made them an absolute embarrassment to all of Vana'diel.

Something I once told my therapist applies here:  "I hope you motherfuckers are satisfied."

(I was thrown out of the session.)

Edits:

10:58 PM EST:  Within 15 minutes of this sorry episode, the person who was asked to leave the fight (and was probably, at least partially, responsible for the sabotage) was reported on BG to be thrown off his or her HNM LS.  Fenrir players, avoid Katrinka.

11:04 PM EST:  Sounds like someone is going to be having some explaining to do . This run has been GM'ed, according to a leader of this aborted fight.  (Reported on BG)  Let's see:  MPK, Kill-stealing to cause the deliberate sabotage of a PW run...  Yeah, I'd say that's bannable.

Now I understand why people were thinking I was trolling to add to BG...

... and vice versa.

http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/ffxi-advanced-player-discussion/69638-blogger-attacking-apathy-pw-kill.html

Seven pages before the mods locked it, eh?

FWIW, I have an account on BG, but never chose to post there.  Figure I probably would last about two weeks before I got banned, but...

Many of the "usual suspects" are on there -- in fact, I think that's part of why things have degenerated so badly.  TormentorMike is on there, so are a lot of other people from the comment pages.

But it does give me a chance to explain a few things which came up in the thread:

If "using game mechanics in manners not intended" is illegal and bannable, then logging hate IS illegal.  (Logging hate through sleeping the mob is similarly so.)

Logging out is an administrative function of the game.  It is no more a part of the game itself than logging in.  Logging out to gain an in-game advantage is not legal, and is an unfair advantage under Q12652.  Square-Enix' silence on this and similar subjects (especially since the January 22, 2009 bannings) leads to questioning every tactic in the game (even those as elementary as zoning hate and kiting).  I can no longer be 100% sure that the former is even legal.  The latter probably skates by (and only as such) since the monster has the opportunity to attack if the kiter is within its range.

Nothing, basically, is now beyond suspicion.  I mean, look how proud these jokers are about the release of the illegal third-party software Windower 4.0:

http://ringthree.blogspot.com/2009/02/i-am-not-unique-snowflake.html

It really appears as if the game cannot be played without complete abrogation of the rules, isn't that right, Ringthree???

And that's kind of why I'm so pissed.  I feel spat upon and insulted for trying to play the game by the rules Square-Enix sets, knowing that, since I do, I will never see a Mythic Weapon or half the gear that you guys stroke your e-penii over.  I have learned a lot over the course of the last 90 days, none of it good.

Frankly, watching a lot of you in the Final Fantasy XI community literally makes me physically sick.

Oh, by the by, unless something else comes up in the next couple of days, the letter is done, as I said -- and I'm just trying to formulate who it gets sent to.  Once it gets sent, you guys see it too here on the blog.

Before I go to the rest of the thread about my post, here's my take on BG:

Many of them (though not all) are the same bunch of little children I speak of (those who are know who they are).  It specializes (and in a very exclusive manner) on high-level endgame.  The type of high-level endgame which I have had one other person already admit to me (and several others assert) that no one plays fairly.

But now I can see why Millionsknives (IIRC) said that I and BG fed off each other.  Because a lot of the more reasonable people on there (what few non-2chan/4chan-ers exist) actually do make some valid points about just what appears to be required to have a large enough e-peen for some of these punks to stroke.  But I never saw this thread until about 20 minutes ago, and decided to take a look just to see how much flamage these dorkusses could come up with...

So, diving in, asbestos suit on...

The Stig questions: Pretty soon doing anything in game will be illegal.

Don't be quite so flippant, Stig.  It's clear that much of endgame cannot function without Windower, illegal plug-ins, claimbots, RMT indications, and all sorts of abuses and exploits.  I will say this:  If Square-Enix wants to seriously continue this game (and it's no longer clear they do...), then everything will have to come into question.

I was not the first person to start questioning fundamental tactics of FFXI.  Square-Enix is going to have to be clear as to what is allowed and what is not.  If they refuse communication in this regard, the game is a sham.

Talint (who they thought it was at first) asserted:  "But I'm sure Starcade is going to appreciate the exposure, regardless of how stupid/insane/"QQing sandy vagina faggot" everyone here thinks he is."

Well, I can see why you'd say that, and I guess I at least am glad that people are reading and that this is going to be thrust into the forefront whether the cheating bitches like it or not.  Square-Enix will have to throw me out of FFXI to stop that.  Of course, doing that exposes their agenda, and, at that point, the game is really a sham.

(Oh, by the way, it's now February 21.  Where's the news about the March update?  You know, the one with the two new large summons you promised and the first mini-expansion?

Or is there not going to be a March update?  Get on the ball, SE...)

As for a lot of the cheating bitches, they disrespect me as much as I disrespect them.  They only respect the leet gear and the stroking of their e-penii.  That's it.  Nothing else matters to them.  And, to that end, all ends justify the means.  They respect nothing but a punch in the mouth (online or literal).

This is why I don't take this as just an in-game matter.  You're showing me who you really are.  And I don't like it.

Questionable decides to ask two points:  "Why are people like this clown so hung up on others and hung up on being fair or whatever? Are they getting WTFPWN in life so they want justice in a video game? Jesus Christ, I bet this guy thinks talking on the phone with a friend to communicate strategies on FFXI is "against the rules""

First:  I pay good money to play this game, and I demand it be adjudicated fairly.  If it is no longer possible to do it (see second point), then pull the plug.  If it basically comes down to losing one customer vs. losing a thousand, then you're at the point where the rules of the game are decided by mob vote.

That's anarchy, at that point.  That's no game.

Second point:  Not quite what the person said, but it raises a point I've heard:  More and more people (including some in my social LS) are now using voice chat/Ventrillo to do all their work for them.  (I refuse, not necessarily on rules questions, but because I can't really talk that loud with my friend sleeping in the next room at hours like this.)

Legal?  Maybe.  Does it render the rest of the rules unenforceable?  Quite probably.  (And then go back to where I pointed you here...)

Melios points out:  "Wait...this IS that guy who kept throwing tantrums during Besieged."

*Starcade takes a bow.*

Welcome to Vana'diel's Most Hated, starring Starcade.

Frankly, you guys would defect to the Beastmen (spoken for both Besieged and Campaign (we get to that later) if they bribed you well enough.  You don't care about anything but yourselves.  Therefore, you damage my play and the play of everyone who doesn't think as you do.  So those "tantrums" will continue, and, if you don't like it, then you can make sure that the Astral Candescence is never recovered and then see if you like it.

Besieged and Campaign are large-scale *TEAM* events.  Get that through your head and get out if you can't live with that.  Perhaps Square-Enix made a major mistake when they allowed skill-ups during Besieged - I have a feeling most of the idiocies would not want to even be there if they couldn't skill up.

My healing is capped at current RDM level.  Why?  I heal people in Besieged as RDM/SMN.
My dark magic is similarly capped.  Why?  I cast enfeebling spells on the Beastmen, the role of a Red Mage.
My enfeebling magic is similarly capped.  Why?  Ditto.

What a lot of you don't get is that the benefits you seek will come to you with victory, as well as without.

Okan contradicts himself, but makes my point:  "Nah, not cheating, but I'm 100% sure that isn't how the fight was designed to be fought."

The reason that I want them banned is exactly your second half of the statement.  Since it was not how the fight was designed to be fought, logging out was being used in a manner not intended.  Hence, it is cheating by Q12652.

And, in fact, to DAKPluto:  The fact that Pandemonium Warden is forced to delete players from the hate list after they log out and PW can't find them is the function of logging hate.  That's why they usually were out of the game for 2 minutes, to allow PW to wipe the hate list before logging back in and reforming.  So they clearly logged hate, exploiting the functions of PW, logging out, and the hate list by using the administrative function of logging out to gain an unfair game advantage.

Daedalus hits it square on the head:  "With such a stupid move as Astral Flow x8 (or however many lamps there are) I can see why people would do it. I'd endorse my LS doing it if I lead an LS that had a shot at PW like Apathy, but I do share the Bloggers feelings when comparing it to the recent bannings for exploiting the game. SE will ban 450 people permanently for duping Salvage drops, but then publicly declares Apathys win as legitimate. I do find that slightly concerning, mainly because, in the future, how are we supposed to tell whats illicit behavour and what isn't? 

How far can we push the rules?
"

I have said, and continue to maintain, that the Salvage bannings should be reversed if the Apathy "win" stands.

I'll take you one final step further:  The only reason I would even go after RMT is the illegal sale of Square-Enix proprietary virtual property.  As a game mechanic alone, if they're going to be this ambiguous about the rules and bullshit, then even RMT should be allowed to stand, except as a function of that everything in the game is Square-Enix' property to begin with.

drwaffles brings up a point:  "But yeah, if none of this effects you in any way then why the hell would you send them a complaint?"

You miss the point:  Can this game be played legitimately at all?  I'll let you stew on that one, as I've already commented on how I feel (and have felt since I got wind of the tip of the iceberg of illegal activities on FFXI, before I even started down this road about a month ago now).

Yugl has a point to add:   "By now SE knows about logging for hate and if they were adamant about people not logging out, they would have implemented a mechanism to prevent logging out from affecting the battle."

The only way they could do that, sadly, is to not wipe the hate list on such matters, which could get to the point that LS's could use that exploit to cock-block NM's and the like -- it was probably what Square-Enix wanted to do to address some of this, but they couldn't find a way that you players wouldn't rape the game further because of it.  Does that mean that the other exploit then becomes legal by default?

Fridell sums up the bitch community well:  "The guy who wrote this on his blog is a supreme super retarded idiot and needs to die."

Riverside, CA, then...  Bring your guts and whatever weapons you can spare.  Oh, and get in that line over there -- the one stretching to at least Los Angeles.  Some have waited over a decade for their shot.

I feel sorry for the Japanese players who try to play with honor and have to suffer you shit-heads.

Sho:  "Sad but true. I have a friend that doesn't do much in game, but can be semi mad at those who actually get things done endgame wise. I mean if you want to avoid endgame it's fine and all, but just need to realize you'll forever be sub-par vs those that go out and grind to get theirs."

The problem is that no one has to grind anymore.  No one wants to grind anymore.  This is why you have the Windower this and the exploit that and the claim-bot the other.  No one wants to play the game anymore -- just game the system.

TormentorMike is hilarious.  He basically exposes himself as an idiot by his name to begin with.  Then he tries to invalidate the whole discussion by posting that I'm a 59 RDM.

Two points:  If you take it that seriously that only 75's should be heard from, then, frankly, all non-75's should be gone, in your eyes.  Second, I find that laughable for another reason:  You try to invalidate it using my fourth highest job.

Nice, real nice.  Enjoy your permanent place on my blacklist.

(BTW, unless I get banned in the next, oh, two weeks, 75X2...)

Correction:  "People have no right to be pissed at a broken, unkillable mob finally dying. It's been repeatedly pointed out that 'in game mechanics' are bullshit. On hp% triggered Rape-gas can only be anticipated if you have windower telling you the mob's health%. Without it, people would still be wiping to Bahamut v2. No existing in-game mechanic lets you recover or prevent 9 simultaneous Astral Flows, and if there's some rubik's cube of emotes and ra/ex consumables that stops it nobody wants to figure it out because it's not fun."

First, if you can't handle a wipe or two, how the Hell did you get to The Wyrmking Descends in the first damned place?  Welcome to CoP.

Second:  So that gives you the right to rip up the rulebook, eh?  Because it's not fun otherwise.  That'd be kind of like "Let's go knock over the liquor store, because paying for the stuff...  It's not fun..."

Welcome to why Square-Enix is walking away from FFXI.  It's no longer fun for them to cater to idiots anymore, like it's player-base.

One more:  Max and soloing the Campaign mobs.

Same shit with Besieged, moron.  You'd probably suit up for the Beastmen Confederate if they paid you enough.  While you're off stroking yourself by maximizing your XP and Allied Notes, you're tying up the NPC resources which the Allied Forces of Altana could use to keep and take other zones.  Hence, come Sunday, we lose those zones they can't defend.  What, you want the Beastmen in Bastok like they used to be until SE came back a bit on Campaign?

Of course, you don't care...

---

*sigh*  That's enough for now.  But I do want to make clear that I never saw this thread on BG until this morning.  Hence, nothing I posted here was in direct response to that thread.  Have fun, I'm sure the laughter will be heard.

Friday, February 20, 2009

A couple of pieces of early Friday administrivia...

1) The letter is done.  The only reason it took so long is that a fair portion of it had to be rewritten after getting the news of Square-Enix and what they plan to do with Rapture...

2) I was happening across the TTTO today, and saw somebody posting about a little drama regarding the Zulu LS on Fenrir.  Let's give The StarOnion some love for blowing the whistle here:  http://www.staronion.com/maiev/nfblog/?p=1076

Well, if what they are posting is right (and be on notice:  The Special Task Force has been notified (may have been before, but I just did) -- especially because the first post on that BluGartr thread (link can be found on the StarOnion blog -- as I said, let's give that blog some love for blowing the whistle) has supposed screenshots which apparently have both botting AND RMT implications.  If it's false, I've asked them to look into who posted it on BluGartr...), sounds like no one will be doing Zulu shortly.