Can we get an update on cheating?

"evoluza;c-1932913" wrote:

"StarSon;c-1932908" wrote:

"Erebus2017;c-1932901" wrote:

"StarSon;c-1932894" wrote:

"Kyno;c-1932886" wrote:

"tj5270;c-1932882" wrote:

"Bulldog1205;c-1932877" wrote:

"Ultra;c-1932874" wrote:

"Bulldog1205;c-1932834" wrote:

"Monel;c-1932822" wrote:
The problem with a program like that is there is no stopping it unless you find a way to block the program all together. All a cheater needs to do is create a new account after being banned and they can cheat their way right back to the top.

Adding defensive replays would stop the biggest part of it. While there could be subtle cheating line improving damage by 10% of something that people might not notice, it still means everything is right out in the open. Blatant cheating in PvP would disappear instantly.

I don't think defensive replays are a reasonable ask. You've got millions of players in Grand Arena, each doing multiple battles, from as low as 0 battles to 8+, some sending junk teams doing 0 damage so that one team can have a defensive score of 80 or something for reddit karma

Each video needs to be compressed and stored on the server and its very costly on space

I’d settle for a text recap. Team used, damage done by characters on both sides, time elapsed, maybe total number of attacks/turns for each toon.

Thanks for exposing this and bringing up solutions to the problem. Anything is better then nothing, and Cg has provided nothing to really put a halt to what is happening. I think it may be more costly, but the other side is to take down ANYTHING pvp related, as it has the potential to just be exploited and cheated on.

That is absolutely not true. Let's leave the baseless accusations out of this.

It may not be true, but it is not a baseless accusation. Bulldog spent two months proving their automated tools don't work at all. That's basis for claiming that "they are doing nothing."

It's more accurate to say that the actions they have taken have not had the desired impact of identifying and mitigating cheating in the game. Bulldog's experiment is proof positive that there are some fairly serious flaws in the anti-cheating solution implementation.

We have zero proof that there is any effort, though. So, sure, it's possible that they implemented the stuff they said and it just doesn't work. It's also possible they just nope'd right out of actually doing anything, and hoped no one would notice.

I could mention that you also have zero proof of anything.

I mean, we have proof that any tools they implemented don't work.

"Liath;c-1932916" wrote:
If you don't believe their posts about what they're doing there's nothing that would satisfy you.

I'm being optimistic today, remember? If they had something to show for it, I could believe them. And, in fact, until this video, I honestly did believe they did what they said. I may not be giving them my money any more but I am still playing, and I will definitely stop playing if I ever get to the point you think I'm at.

It's just that, as with so many other things, this is such an easy problem to fix. But as the years drag by, I find it increasingly difficult to believe that they care to fix them.

I’ve worked in cheat prevention in PC FPS games and I can tell you doing your proper due diligence to catch and justifiably punish cheaters takes more time than most people realize. Or are willing to accept. So I’m not going to complain about how long CG takes to deal with these things.

However, I think I have an issue with the severity of their punishments. I think (not sure) from evidence I’ve seen in my ship shard with a probable cheater, they only temp ban (and only for a few weeks) first time offenders. In my opinion all PvP cheaters should at least be perma banned from PvP (if that’s possible to do without banning the account completely) or just straight up perma banned completely.

I love this game. I've watched the videos with a mix of shock, intrigue, awe and horror. I don't like it, but I can also imagine how hard it is to defend against local code manipulation.

As a committed player of the game, I'd like to be part of the solution. If I can help, test, whatever, sign me up, I'm there.

If there's a way through this I want to be a part of it

"Fizzykitten1;c-1932714" wrote:

"Ambassador;c-1932712" wrote:

"Mfish;c-1932709" wrote:
@CG_Erik please say something to restore my confidence after the cheating being brought to light. I have spent $9k on swgoh because it is an enjoyable hobby for me. This new information makes me uneasy.

Seconded. Probably slightly less money spent, but same problem here : I’m starting to lose my trust.

Thirded (if that's even a valid word!) I've spent a little more than that and feel the same

Y'all know this has been a thing since the game was released, right?

"7AnimalMother;c-1932927" wrote:

"Fizzykitten1;c-1932714" wrote:

"Ambassador;c-1932712" wrote:

"Mfish;c-1932709" wrote:
@CG_Erik please say something to restore my confidence after the cheating being brought to light. I have spent $9k on swgoh because it is an enjoyable hobby for me. This new information makes me uneasy.

Seconded. Probably slightly less money spent, but same problem here : I’m starting to lose my trust.

Thirded (if that's even a valid word!) I've spent a little more than that and feel the same

Y'all know this has been a thing since the game was released, right?

Sure. That's why tournaments aren't a thing any more. But considering they said in June they had new fangled automated tools to catch this and there's video proof that those tools, if they exist, don't work... that is the news, not the fact that cheats exist.

"evoluza;c-1932932" wrote:

That's no proof that nothing is happening.
Also, easy problem to fix..
People simply don't understand cheating on the client side of the game.
If they could easily prevent it, they would do. They explicitly said they wanna create competition in GAC, this doesn't happen with cheaters.
The real GAC is also not live. They could still work on it.
Don't expect any response just because of that little outrage from unreasonable people.

I didn't say nothing is happening, just that their automated tools don't work.
I am aware that you can't prevent cheating on the client side when that's where all the combat happens. I never suggested you could. But you should be able to tell that it happened after the fact without relying on player reports. Supposedly, they could do that now. Except they can't.
And no, I don't expect a response, but people being upset by this video are not unreasonable. CG said they were doing things to keep cheaters out of GAC, and they have failed. Lots of people spend lots of money on this game, and it is perfectly reasonable for them to be upset that CG isn't following through with their promises.

Yeah I'd really like an update now on this issue myself. The guy who won my GAC only has 2.8 gp, no DR, and maybe like 8 viable teams overall and yet he somehow beat everyone else who are all at 3.5-3.7 gp, have G13 DR teams and heavy rosters...I did the math too and this guy somehow managed to 1 shot each of my defensive teams getting a minimum of 58 banners per team and yet those same teams held out against other players with larger & stronger rosters in the previous rounds...

Just remember. All those cheaters are getting all their personal information stolen by Russians and Koreans! So it all evens out in the end!

"Ralakili;c-1932945" wrote:
@CG_TopHat are you seeing this?

Well, they've had both videos pulled from YouTube, so I'd say that yes, he is seeing this.

So, basically CG is aware of cheating in GAC, and yet they are holding Darth Malak from returning, meaning not only they are favoring whales but also cheaters somehow.

With the current state of this game, F2P players are totally screwed.

I cannot wait to see they throwing another GAC before Malak show up.