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UO Newsletter #17

PawainPawain Posts: 9,993
edited November 2023 in General Discussions
Lots of info here:

https://mailchi.mp/broadsword/uo-newsletter-17
Focus on what you can do, not what you can't.
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Comments

  • Lord_FrodoLord_Frodo Posts: 2,421
     B) 
  • TimStTimSt Posts: 1,866
    edited November 2023
    I wonder how they define One IP. My 5 computers are behind a NAT (Network Address Translation) firewall. Depending on how one looks at the network traffic my computers are either seen as 1 computer or 5 computers.

    I might have to upgrade one of my EJ accounts that I use to get a level 6 SW focus to a paid subscription.
  • GrimbeardGrimbeard Posts: 2,265
    edited November 2023
    Kinda wondering if people who can write a script that ignores paragons might be able to mask ip....and we can't give the slightest info on afk anti stuff but announced this to the world? 
  • Lord_FrodoLord_Frodo Posts: 2,421
    @TimSt it looks like you may be seen as 1 IP and as long as they are all paying accounts then you should have no problem.
  • Arroth_ThaielArroth_Thaiel Posts: 1,060
    TimSt said:
    I wonder how they define One IP. My 5 computers are behind a NAT (Network Address Translation) firewall. Depending on how one looks at the network traffic my computers are either seen as 1 computer or 5 computers.

    They set the anti-afk code to be pretty aggressive. Wouldn't be surprised if IP restrictions were aggressive as well.


    Having said that, I applaud them for initiating some type of action. The use of EJ's to exploit game mechanics was clearly spiraling out of control (and this from someone who really enjoyed playing multiple EJ accounts!).

    I doubt Bonnie wants to deal with even more email, but Broadsword might want to publicly acknowledge whatever they are doing won't be perfect and implement some type of dispute resolution pathway.

    That would be better PR / image control than a bunch of customers complaining bitterly here, on other fan sites, and on reddit about incompetence and unfair treatment. 
    -Arroth
  • TimStTimSt Posts: 1,866
    @Arroth_Thaiel, Other than the inconvenience when creating a level 6 SW focus I have no other issue with the One IP so far.  Subscribing another account just means I can get another house to store my pixel crack and another 5 characters to get pixel crack to fill up that pixel crack house.

    Pixel Crack


  • WhitewolfWhitewolf Posts: 222
    finally some positive changes, but i cant see how they goin to be able to pull this off with all the programs out there now days that mask people ip address's. course im no where near to being tech savvy maybe they can i dunno, i for one hope so.
  • PawainPawain Posts: 9,993
    TimSt said:
    @ Arroth_Thaiel, Other than the inconvenience when creating a level 6 SW focus I have no other issue with the One IP so far.  Subscribing another account just means I can get another house to store my pixel crack and another 5 characters to get pixel crack to fill up that pixel crack house.

    Pixel Crack


    It sounds like accounts will get kicked off.  Log out at the circle, change accounts, log out at the circle, you should have time to get a Focus before the EJs go poof.  We shall see.
    Focus on what you can do, not what you can't.
  • TimStTimSt Posts: 1,866
    Whitewolf said:
    finally some positive changes, but i cant see how they goin to be able to pull this off with all the programs out there now days that mask people ip address's. course im no where near to being tech savvy maybe they can i dunno, i for one hope so.

    They mention VPNs in the newsletter and VPNs are the primary way to mask a person's IP address.  As long as the VPN uses a unique IP address for each computer that connects to it there should be no problem.  Some fly-by-night VPNs may end up sharing the same IP address among different computers connected to it.  That could cause problems for EJ accounts because UO may see just one IP, the VPN's, address in use.


  • PlayerSkillFTWPlayerSkillFTW Posts: 619
    Thing is though, since the drops from "Treasures of " Events are all Account Bound for EJs, most of the bots you're seeing at this event are actually paid accounts (asides from maybe the Bards running Bard Masteries in the bot huddle).
  • Arroth_ThaielArroth_Thaiel Posts: 1,060
    edited November 2023
    TimSt said:
    @ Arroth_Thaiel, Other than the inconvenience when creating a level 6 SW focus I have no other issue with the One IP so far.  Subscribing another account just means I can get another house to store my pixel crack and another 5 6 or 7 characters to get pixel crack to fill up that pixel crack house.

    Pixel Crack


    :)

    I'm wondering how they are going to handle large networks. They are talking about university's having problems. Some of the schools in the US are pretty big. I think Texas A&M is like 70k students? You can't use an EJ because one other person in a 70k person network is using an EJ? Ouch.

    It's not like there's a bunch of young college students playing UO anyway. Broadsword will certainly make sure there won't be with this change.

    It's fine, the 18-24 demographic isn't coveted by any business on the planet anyway. 'Buncha whiners.
    -Arroth
  • TimStTimSt Posts: 1,866
    edited November 2023
    TimSt said:
    @ Arroth_Thaiel, Other than the inconvenience when creating a level 6 SW focus I have no other issue with the One IP so far.  Subscribing another account just means I can get another house to store my pixel crack and another 5 6 or 7 characters to get pixel crack to fill up that pixel crack house.

    Pixel Crack


    :)

    I'm wondering how they are going to handle large networks. They are talking about university's having problems. Some of the schools in the US are pretty big. I think Texas A&M is like 70k students? You can't use an EJ because one other person in a 70k person network is using an EJ? Ouch.

    It's not like there's a bunch of young college students playing UO anyway. Broadsword will certainly make sure there won't be with this change.

    It's fine, the 18-24 demographic isn't coveted by any business on the planet anyway. 'Buncha whiners.

    I noticed your edit to my comment. :smiley:.  The real number is either 24 or 28 new characters considering I have players on 4 shards collecting pixels. `

    I would hope UO would eventually have the ability to white list or black list individual networks. Although, colleges networks do appear to be easy to hack into. In my daily black listing of hacked email servers used by scam e-mailers I have noticed that e-mail servers on colleges networks are used a lot of the time.

  • RadstRadst Posts: 106
    Scripting is so profitable that scripters already paid subscriptions for their "EJ bots". 350M gold for 6 months code. CHEAP investment/protection when you know GMs DO NOT ban Sub Accts.
  • ThrakkarThrakkar Posts: 46
    TimSt said:
    I wonder how they define One IP. My 5 computers are behind a NAT (Network Address Translation) firewall. Depending on how one looks at the network traffic my computers are either seen as 1 computer or 5 computers.
    Simple:
    It is the IP address, which the shard sees, when you connect. Basically what every other server in the internet sees, when you connect to it.

    there are a plethora of sites in the net, with which you can check that. I.e. https://whatismyipaddress.com/

  • Max_BlackoakMax_Blackoak Posts: 648
    I'm a bit worried about the disconnects for VPN users they mention. As far as I understand their announcement this means that VPN users will suffer disconnects every now and then, no matter what account they play (subbed or EJ).
    This will put VPN users at a huge disadvantage. Playing from Europe I use a VPN to improve my connection to US servers which is essential in PvP. While on normal shards disconnecting means you die and lose some insurance money, on Siege Perilous disconnecting means you lose your entire suit.
    If the disconnects affect VPN users regardless of whether they use an EJ account to play or not it will make it near impossible for them to PvP on Siege.
  • TimStTimSt Posts: 1,866
    Thrakkar said:
    TimSt said:
    I wonder how they define One IP. My 5 computers are behind a NAT (Network Address Translation) firewall. Depending on how one looks at the network traffic my computers are either seen as 1 computer or 5 computers.
    Simple:
    It is the IP address, which the shard sees, when you connect. Basically what every other server in the internet sees, when you connect to it.

    there are a plethora of sites in the net, with which you can check that. I.e. https://whatismyipaddress.com/


    I was thinking of a more thorough IP detection such as detecting to see if the client's PC is behind a router using something like https://whatsmyrouterip.com/ and if it is then have the client PC send the server the client PC's private address during login.
  • ThrakkarThrakkar Posts: 46
    TimSt said:
    I was thinking of a more thorough IP detection such as detecting to see if the client's PC is behind a router using something like https://whatsmyrouterip.com/ and if it is then have the client PC send the server the client PC's private address during login.
    First, it would not work with just the private IP in your LAN, because multiple people could easily have the same IP address. (Most, if not all private routers have their subnet set to 192.168.0.0, so overlap would be inevitable). So you would in any case need your public IP anyways.

    Second, if they would do that, it would be super easy to circumvent the whole thing. If I would multibox & RMT for a living, I would just buy 10 cheap PCs and run each client on a separate PC behind a router.

    So I absolutely cannot see, that they would implement it like that.

  • RinerRiner Posts: 379
    I think this is a great change and step in the right direction. I'd limit EJ accounts even more as they are suppose to preview the game not be a means to be competitive in it. But nice to have more limitations placed on them.
  • GrimbeardGrimbeard Posts: 2,265
    Simply limiting EJ accounts to haven would have been much easier..
  • TimStTimSt Posts: 1,866
    Thrakkar said:
    TimSt said:
    I was thinking of a more thorough IP detection such as detecting to see if the client's PC is behind a router using something like https://whatsmyrouterip.com/ and if it is then have the client PC send the server the client PC's private address during login.
    First, it would not work with just the private IP in your LAN, because multiple people could easily have the same IP address. (Most, if not all private routers have their subnet set to 192.168.0.0, so overlap would be inevitable). So you would in any case need your public IP anyways.

    Second, if they would do that, it would be super easy to circumvent the whole thing. If I would multibox & RMT for a living, I would just buy 10 cheap PCs and run each client on a separate PC behind a router.

    So I absolutely cannot see, that they would implement it like that.


    I did not say just use the private IP.

    They would combine both the public IP and the private IP.  For example 73.140.182.148+192.168.1.2 which would a different IP than 73.140.182.148+192.168.1.3

    A bit of a flex here because you keep trying to one-up-me: I've written and tested networking stacks and at one point did not need the network capture device to decode the raw data because I could decode it in my mind.

  • ThrakkarThrakkar Posts: 46
    TimSt said:
    I did not say just use the private IP.
    Sure, using both will keep it unique.

    Nevertheless, my second point is the important one. Including your private IP from your LAN will make the change completely obsolete, since anyone with multiple devices behind their rounter can circumvent the restriction.

  • TimStTimSt Posts: 1,866
    edited November 2023
    Thrakkar said:
    TimSt said:
    I did not say just use the private IP.
    Sure, using both will keep it unique.

    Nevertheless, my second point is the important one. Including your private IP from your LAN will make the change completely obsolete, since anyone with multiple devices behind their rounter can circumvent the restriction.


    That would be just like multi-boxing using multiple public IPs.

    Although to combat multi-boxing behind a router the UO client could also send the router's IP so the combined IP would be something like: 73.140.182.148+192.168.1.1+192.168.1.2

    In anticipation of your next thought: router behind router.  That can be handled as well. The entire route map between public IP and final private IP can be sent from the client to the UO server.  For example: 73.140.182.148+192.168.6.1+192.168.5.1+192.168.4.1+192.168.1.1+192.168.1.2
  • OreoglOreogl Posts: 431
    They need a like button.

    if EJ accounts were used as intended there wouldn’t be any complaints.  

    The “wut ifs scoolz r uzing LANS” is a stretch.

    There’s probably a few exceptions but let’s be real, this isn’t a widespread issue.
  • ThrakkarThrakkar Posts: 46
    All I am saying is, that taking anything else than your public IP as criteria would render the whole feature obsolete or at least very insecure.
  • keven2002keven2002 Posts: 2,257
    Max_Blackoak said:
    I'm a bit worried about the disconnects for VPN users they mention. As far as I understand their announcement this means that VPN users will suffer disconnects every now and then, no matter what account they play (subbed or EJ).
    This will put VPN users at a huge disadvantage. Playing from Europe I use a VPN to improve my connection to US servers which is essential in PvP. While on normal shards disconnecting means you die and lose some insurance money, on Siege Perilous disconnecting means you lose your entire suit.
    If the disconnects affect VPN users regardless of whether they use an EJ account to play or not it will make it near impossible for them to PvP on Siege.

    I don't think so Max. I took it as if you use a subbed account then regardless of VPN or not (or same IP) you are fine. Again if you are subbed (without a VPN) and use 10 accounts with the same IP address you are good... not sure how that would change when using a VPN. My very limited knowledge guess to the possible coding would probably start with something like:

    Is account subbed?
         If yes --> next
         else --> check IP address.
  • Garth_GreyGarth_Grey Posts: 1,459
    Max_Blackoak said:
    I'm a bit worried about the disconnects for VPN users they mention. As far as I understand their announcement this means that VPN users will suffer disconnects every now and then, no matter what account they play (subbed or EJ).
    This will put VPN users at a huge disadvantage. Playing from Europe I use a VPN to improve my connection to US servers which is essential in PvP. While on normal shards disconnecting means you die and lose some insurance money, on Siege Perilous disconnecting means you lose your entire suit.
    If the disconnects affect VPN users regardless of whether they use an EJ account to play or not it will make it near impossible for them to PvP on Siege.

    **starts following Max in stealth**..I think I can take you if you're completely disconnected....I think :-P
    You and Several Others like this.


    Please make the Grizzled Mare a 5 slot mount, it's incredibly rare and deserves it. Some of us have been waiting a long time for this simple addition.
  • CovenantXCovenantX Posts: 991
    edited November 2023
    Some potentially good news on the EJ abuse front, I'm looking forward to it.

    Though I gotta say, I was disappointed to read some of the "Bugs Updates" where things are listed as "Currently working as intended"... but clearly they should be corrected and/or made consistent with the rest of the game.

    just a few examples of what I'm referring to:
     and this last one, which I don't know what's broken about Male>Wraith Form in EC.
      It's interesting that they chose this line of phrasing though..

      "Male wraith form broken in EC - This is currently working as intended".   I lol'd, seems like something you'd only ever see coming from UO. no matter how meaningless (or not) the issue might be, it's still amusing.
     
     

    Remove or change casting focus & poison immunity it reduces the need for "Player Skill" it's garbage. rant2 Bring timing back and eliminate chance in pvp!
    ICQ# 478 633 659
  • SkettSkett Posts: 1,476
    ya this is lame



  • Garth_GreyGarth_Grey Posts: 1,459
    I call BS on the Customer Service actions: 5 cases of Solicitation. I just created a new character and immediately get greeted with Avatars add for Gold sales. I don't believe these numbers, I don't believe the real people who SHOULD be getting actioned are actually getting actioned.
    You and Several Others like this.


    Please make the Grizzled Mare a 5 slot mount, it's incredibly rare and deserves it. Some of us have been waiting a long time for this simple addition.
  • SethSeth Posts: 2,926
    edited November 2023
    Wow finally bug fix... which should be included in every update, not once in 10 years.

    I cannot even remember what I submitted before.  :D
    If it ain't broke, don't fix it. 
    ESRB warning: Some Blood. LOTS of Alcohol. Some Violence. LOTS of Bugs
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