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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Cheating and anti-cheat software
syl
Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
Greetings!
I recently read a topic about the exploiting of ingame systems and bugs. While there is a concern about those topics, I also have concerns about the use of cheating software like chams, wallhacks et cetera and the combating of those wrongdoings.
Has there been any information given by Intrepid in how they are going to combat cheating and if they are going to use anti-cheat software?
As a second and third question to the community: What is your opinion of the use of anti-cheat software and the data that it may collect? And what punishment should people get for being caught in the act of cheating?
I recently read a topic about the exploiting of ingame systems and bugs. While there is a concern about those topics, I also have concerns about the use of cheating software like chams, wallhacks et cetera and the combating of those wrongdoings.
Has there been any information given by Intrepid in how they are going to combat cheating and if they are going to use anti-cheat software?
As a second and third question to the community: What is your opinion of the use of anti-cheat software and the data that it may collect? And what punishment should people get for being caught in the act of cheating?
Come take a look at ashesofcreation.wiki!
1
Comments
https://totalwararena.com/en/news/latest-news/cheaters-never-prosper/
Here is an FAQ detailing how it works. Assuming this information is correct I personally have no problems with it. As for punishments, I will leave that up to Intrepid to decide.
I see. Yes, I found the link to EAC's Ashes page: https://www.easy.ac/en-us/support/ashesofcreation/
The problem I have is anti-cheat software reacting to innocent software like Discord overlays et cetera.
If EAC only scans the game's folder and saved files as they say they do on other games, that is fine. (Since code is usually injected to the game's files)
If EAC goes the BattlEye route of gaining access to all files, that would be a concern for me.
Come take a look at ashesofcreation.wiki!
There was a stream way back where they talked about exploits and measurements they are taking against it. One point, amongst others, they adressed was in game heatmaps that record every player actions and match it against "normal" behaviour.
I am pretty sure that goes beyond the capabilities of easy anti cheat, which is crap anyway.
I can be a life devouring nightmare. - Grisu#1819
Come take a look at ashesofcreation.wiki!
And the penalty for breaking the rules, cheating, duping, exploiting etc are serious....
...as in permaban.
Per Steven
Nice
Come take a look at ashesofcreation.wiki!
In my opinion this is something that the community will handle in their own. Since there won't be any kind of cross-realm functionality, assholes who do stuff like that will quickly be identified and blacklisted by the community.
Well lets just say that the dude will have it comming for him... Also: How will he continueto do that? "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!"
I would bet that he will someday try to join groups and everyone will then know what kind of asshole he is tbh.
To a point team killing can be a joke, I remember in WoW before the mimiron fight in ulduar there were attackable bomb npcs. A rogue in my guild found that he could use "tricks of the trade" to misdirect aggro of the bombs at other group members and get them killed during a break. It was fun for a while, but at some point it turns into griefing and that's when I think the problem could arise.
This is so wholesome I'm hesitant to point out that this isn't ever the case.
They just band together with the other malcontents and basically form the bad behavior version of Vultron.
The community will handle that themselves. Intrepid could take action on repeat offenders, but at the end of the day it is only 'just another use of game mechanics', which I don't think should be bannable. At least not in this context.
Come take a look at ashesofcreation.wiki!
Hack Shield should die in a fire.
It didn't work in 2002, why should it working in 2012 or 2022?
Almost definately not - and that is ignoring the question as to whether they even change their anti-cheat between now and launch.
One of the main things anti-cheat software does is prevent people using virtual machines.
Now, it may be possible for Intrepid to set some exceptions for known services like Shadow - but I would be very surprised if they did.
If you are debating trying to use Shadow as opposed to building your own computer, and you want a safe answer today, build your own computer.
TLdr; (summary of the post, for those who don't want to read it in full):
- Shadow does not have 2-factor authentication (an absolute no-no for a cloud PC!).
- Shadow sessions persist even if you've changed your email address and password multiple times. Once logged in, the attacker can stay logged in no matter how many times you change your credentials.
- There is no way to log out from all devices. Even via shadow support a multi-day/multi-week(?) endeavor.
- Anyone who temporarily gains access to your email address can hijack your Shadow indefinitely without you being able to do anything about it.
- When recovering the password, there is no compulsion to change the password, someone can gain access to Shadow through your email account without you even noticing, because the old password remains.
- There are no notifications about unusual or suspicious activity in your account, probably they are not even recorded.
- Shadow support is not able to help you after a compromise, except to ban your account and forward the case internally, which means very long waits during which you will not be able to use your shadow.
- Opened tickets will still be sent to the old (in the worst case compromised) email address instead of the new one. This way, attackers can intercept your tickets and prevent you from stopping the accessing of the shadow through the Shadow support.
- Conclusion: for being an entire PC in the cloud, Shadow is worryingly unprotected.
I found that just removed the unsavory types from the high end content and grouped them with the new players, which may not be the best place if you want longevity.
2k CAD is over by budget
It has 2FA now.
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If you are willing to shop around, and consider last gen and/or second hand parts, that is plenty enough to build a computer more than capable of running Ashes when it launches.
This is assuming you know a little about computer hardware though, and are able to spot a good deal.
I recently built a friend a computer with an AMD 5800X3D, 64gb ram, RX6800 and 4tb SSD for well under 2k Canadian - that will be more than capable of playing Ashes when it releases. Factor in the Shadow subscription you are paying, and it will pay for itself in a bit over 3 years (I predict I will replace his computer in 5 years).