Bioware opening the door to "Hackers" with combat log

[Ulmius]

Just as they caved with the dungeon finder, they'll cave with addons and full combat logs. Rift also didn't have addons in the beginning, they were against it. But now they have them. Why? Because mmorpg players enjoy them. Just as in that game there was a loud minority crowd that were against addons and all those goodies were eventually ignored, the same will happen in this game.

 

SWTOR will have addons and full combat logs within 1 year.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Ulmius

[Shingara]

Just as they caved with the dungeon finder, they'll cave with addons and full combat logs. Rift also didn't have addons in the beginning, they were against it. But now they have them. Why? Because mmorpg players enjoy them. Just as in that game there was a loud minority crowd that were against addons and all those goodies were eventually ignored, the same will happen in this game.

 

SWTOR will have addons and full combat logs within 1 year.

 

Sorry but who caved with what now lol.

[Ulmius]

Sorry but who caved with what now lol.

 

They used to be against dungeon finder tools. However in an interview given on march 14 at http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/03/13/epic-in-scope-swtors-james-ohlen-explains-plans-for-the-future/4 this is what they said.

 

--

Ohlens admits that after the game launched, BioWare changed "what we are focusing on over the course of the year based on the feedback the fans have been giving us." He put forward the level-50 content and tools as being the greatest example:

 

"The number of level 50s is a lot higher than we thought it was going to be. Therefore, our group finder has become a much higher priority. It's essentially our highest-priority feature that is not going in 1.2. If there is one feature that 1.3 will have, it will be the group finder.

 

"A lot of our feedback from the level 50s revolves around the dungeon finder. We have two operations, four level 50 flashpoints, and the hardmodes for all of them. We have a ton of PvE high-level content, but our metrics show that a lot of it hasn't been consumed by level 50s. Dungeon finder is the key there. That's one of the reasons that PvP is so popular because PvP is so much easier to get into than PvE. Once I started getting that data I was like, 'Oh, OK.' I knew that group finder was important. When leveling up, like we found during beta, you don't really need the group finder, but when you reach the max level, it becomes very important."

 

--

 

So to answer your question... "lol sorry who caved with what?"

"Who" = SWTOR devs and "What" = dungeon finder tools.

 

So back to what I was saying, they'll cave with other aspects and within a year there will be addons and full combat logs.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Ulmius

[Captain_Zone]

Yep Battle clinic rocks and this is one thing I love about EvE's community and TOR's Community needs to adopt this.

 

As brutal and unforgiving the game world is you hardly ever see anyone putting someone else down over their build or their damage. If you are in a fleet they will gather around you and help you get better. the few that do are n00bs that aren't long for the game anyway.

 

I've been playing EVE off and on since beta for it back in 03. Great game, and it's gotten so much better since then! I would love to see EVE style space combat in TOR, but chances are that won't happen.

 

Anyhow, you're completely correct. No such thing as paying back someone for the help. Pay it forward to the next newbie in the Corp. Help as you were helped. Constructive criticism on builds and advice on how to make them better. Also, EFT and EVE HQ are awesome for calculating DPS and anything else you need to know.

 

If BioWare and Battleclinic join forces, I would be down for actually doing PvP here. I enjoy it a LOT in EVE, tbh. Everything from 1v1 duels to solo and Corp gankfests.

 

Btw, all duels honorable, and all ransoms honored. o7 Fly safe.

[Blackardin]

Why would you go to a website and use your same info as your log in info? The parses don't give your account info. If you get hacked uploading this to a website, you can only

 

Blame yourself.

 

Exactly. Amazes me how skilled people are avoiding responsibility and blaming others for their mistakes.

 

The dev team, the "anti log" people have nothing to do with an individual getting his account hacked.

[Gerandar]

so if a feature is not in a game and you go to a third party website that installs spyware/malware/trojans onto your computer its the companies fault for not giving you that feature?

 

LoL

[Jett-Rinn]

Just as they caved with the dungeon finder, they'll cave with addons and full combat logs. Rift also didn't have addons in the beginning, they were against it. But now they have them. Why? Because mmorpg players enjoy them. Just as in that game there was a loud minority crowd that were against addons and all those goodies were eventually ignored, the same will happen in this game.

 

SWTOR will have addons and full combat logs within 1 year.

 

You have a lot to learn about the Dev team if you honestly believe that; with the amount of casuals pouring into this game if anything they will move farther away from such things.

[Gerandar]

You have a lot to learn about the Dev team if you honestly believe that; with the amount of casuals pouring into this game if anything they will move farther away from such things.

 

you would think that the casual player would want the addons for training wheels while the hardcore "pro" players wouldnt need addons for the joke of difficulty the operations are right now

[Sernon]

Just as they caved with the dungeon finder, they'll cave with addons and full combat logs. Rift also didn't have addons in the beginning, they were against it. But now they have them. Why? Because mmorpg players enjoy them. Just as in that game there was a loud minority crowd that were against addons and all those goodies were eventually ignored, the same will happen in this game.

 

SWTOR will have addons and full combat logs within 1 year.

 

 

I can make predictions as well, and I predict guys like you disappear as soon as you get your stuff, if not sooner, and move somewhere else to endlessly create threads about the same "issues" once again. And they will be just as fun to read there, as they have been fun to read here. Or elsewhere. All the way from beta and up until now. And you will not make the game better, just more like something else, and the players will see the similarity and seek something more different, and thus the circle is complete. Again.

 

Yep, the future is a fun place to look into! Great to have the ability!

 

---

Edited March 26, 2012 by Sernon

[Ulmius]

You have a lot to learn about the Dev team if you honestly believe that; with the amount of casuals pouring into this game if anything they will move farther away from such things.

 

You confuse the term "casual" with the term "purist".

 

A casual is someone that plays a few days a week, maybe 8 hours a week and doesn't strive to complete the hardest challenges in the game, but likes to experience content. Which is why they put normal or story mode difficulty in the game. It doesn't mean they are against addons or looking for dungeon tools, it just means they don't want to play the game on hard mode.

 

A purist is someone who is against addons and dungeon finder tools. They think the game should only have default UI's that the devs put in the game, and they think the game should be about community which is why they are against dungeon finders. You can be a purist yet still be a hardcore player that likes to complete all the hardest encounters.

 

A purist would be against an addon that made an enemy cast bar nice and big so you can see it fairly easily. A casual wouldn't care either way.

 

So please, do not confuse the terms casual with purist. Those two terms are not interchangeable because they are different. However for some reason, people believe they are.

[Melacon]

You confuse the term "casual" with the term "purist".

 

A casual is someone that plays a few days a week, maybe 8 hours a week and doesn't strive to complete the hardest challenges in the game, but likes to experience content. Which is why they put normal or story mode difficulty in the game. It doesn't mean they are against addons or looking for dungeon tools, it just means they don't want to play the game on hard mode.

 

A purist is someone who is against addons and dungeon finder tools. They think the game should only have default UI's that the devs put in the game, and they think the game should be about community which is why they are against dungeon finders. You can be a purist yet still be a hardcore player that likes to complete all the hardest encounters.

 

A purist would be against an addon that made an enemy cast bar nice and big so you can see it fairly easily. A casual wouldn't care either way.

 

So please, do not confuse the terms casual with purist. Those two terms are not interchangeable because they are different. However for some reason, people believe they are.

 

 

I think his definition of casuals are "people that can care less if spec'ed or geared correctly" _ I don't want to wear pants!!

 

Or people that are unfamiliar with MMOs and just aren't very good at them

 

At least that's all I see left playing this game atm.

[Kendakon]

People get their info stolen numerous ways but one of the top ways is via malicious web pages.

 

People are now going to be checking web pages that are offering ways to parse the offline combat log. It's a pretty safe wager not all of those web pages are going to have honest intent.

 

I am not sure why Bioware does not offer an in game version of combat parse so we can just check it right there. Instead we are going to have to rely on external sources. Sadly many players do not practice good web safety and they will get their accounts stolen.

 

This impacts us all because now the customer service people are even more tied up dealing with an issue that would have been very simple to avoid.

 

 

quit going to malicious websites? no can't blame ourselves now can we....

 

If you're so damn awesome in game because now you can up your numbers a little with the feedback from a combat log (as opposed to actually learning the game WHILE playing it), How about you take the 15 minutes it would take to actually learn enough C++ or C# to write your own parser. Seriously, it's not that complicated and would only take maybe 15minutes to learn the few commands needed to do it by anyone that's not 'a bad' IRL.

 

It's no wonder the MMO communities suck anymore, they're the same communities as the real world that sues McD's for making them fat.

 

Take responsibility for your own damn actions.

[MasterKayote]

blame the anti combat log/meter brigade.

 

Yes, lets blame the anti-combat log/meter brigade who have no "need" of combat parsing for all the hacks that "MIGHT" happen to all the pro-combat log users for downloading malicious software.

 

Oh wait, no one actually NEEDS parsers so I guess I worded that wrong. Um ...

 

"Yes, lets blame the anti-combat log/meter brigade who have no desire for combat parsing for all the hacks that "MIGHT" happen to all the pro-combat log users for downloading malicious software they never actually needed in the first place."

Edited March 26, 2012 by MasterKayote

[ferroz]

so if a feature is not in a game and you go to a third party website that installs spyware/malware/trojans onto your computer its the companies fault for not giving you that feature?

 

LoL

No, I think the argument is more: if a feature is in the game but the way that it's added means that to use that feature for the intended purpose you need 3rd party software, that causes the amount of hacked accounts to rise.

 

So Bioware's implementation is indeed going to cause more accounts to be hacked (ie, "opening the door to hackers").

Edited March 26, 2012 by ferroz

[Ruuprect]

http://advancedcombattracker.com/

 

solves the hacker problem

 

Im excited to see ACT is going to be trying to parse swtor, I used it in Rift and it worked great.

[Luckorforever]

blame the anti combat log/meter brigade.

 

With no combat log there wouldnt be such problems, so blame the pro combat log/meter brigade.

[Stupiddrummer]

People get their info stolen numerous ways but one of the top ways is via malicious web pages.

 

People are now going to be checking web pages that are offering ways to parse the offline combat log. It's a pretty safe wager not all of those web pages are going to have honest intent.

 

I am not sure why Bioware does not offer an in game version of combat parse so we can just check it right there. Instead we are going to have to rely on external sources. Sadly many players do not practice good web safety and they will get their accounts stolen.

 

This impacts us all because now the customer service people are even more tied up dealing with an issue that would have been very simple to avoid.

 

It's not going to be an issue, because the people still playing at 1.2 wont be bothered to look at combat data or download parsers.

 

Bioware has picked their target market.

[ThiborF]

No, you don't.

 

There is no need to log on to anything, you can get hijacked simply by visiting a malicious web site.

 

Bioware could prevent at least this one issue by making the data parse in game. Very simple solution since the data is already there.

 

So you're saying that if these logs in were in game then no players would be visiting potentially malicious websites?

 

Get a security key.

[Iandayen]

Advanced Combat Tracker

 

Works great - already has a swtor plugin

 

no need to upload a parse to a website.

 

Gives absolutely the most detailed parse out of anything currently out (including websites)

 

So all of your points are pretty much moot.

 

/thread has been won

[Entropicus]

Why would you go to a website and use your same info as your log in info? The parses don't give your account info. If you get hacked uploading this to a website, you can only

 

Blame yourself.

 

Until I becomes mainstream there's really nothing to prevent someone from putting a key logger into a trusted parsing program and throwing it up on a website.

[Vahzl]

So you're saying that if these logs in were in game then no players would be visiting potentially malicious websites?

 

Get a security key.

 

Im trying to but they don't offer them for the Windows 7 Phone yet.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yes BW/EA, there is a subtle hint in this post for you guys.

Edited March 26, 2012 by Vahzl

[Jederix]

You need a reading comprehension check. if we had real meters and not these feel good abominations were getting we wouldn't need to go to external websites.

 

I realize the tool we are getting makes it very difficult for you to use it to ridicule those around you and reinforce your own self-worth, but that's no reason to go on a tirade about the evils of external websites.

[Iandayen]

The better question.

 

Why is the OP (who seems to be so internet savvy) worried about it?

 

If he was savvy he would know about ACT and be promoting that for people to use instead of websites.

 

I have yet to see a website break down encounters.

 

I have yet to see a website break down each ability by hit/miss/crit%

 

I have yet to see a website break down ability usage percent (37% tracer 33% unload, etc..)

 

I have yet to see a website do all of that with damage taken either.

 

So again - tell me why people will be going to websites at all for parsing, when they can use ACT and get much better information?

[Reevax]

So you're saying that if these logs in were in game then no players would be visiting potentially malicious websites?

 

Get a security key.

 

 

Yes I have seen the argument several times now. You are arguing people should be smart online, such a fatal flaw in that logic.

[Balrizangor]

No, you don't.

 

There is no need to log on to anything, you can get hijacked simply by visiting a malicious web site.

 

Bioware could prevent at least this one issue by making the data parse in game. Very simple solution since the data is already there.

 

 

Wait, you are trying to hold BW responsible for people logging in to untrusted, possibly malicious websites? Seriously?

 

 

If someone logs into some bad website, that is their problem, not Biowares.

 

What you are saying would be the same thing as saying google should be held responsible for people clicking links that take them to malicious websites because Google showed the link to them in their search results.