All item duplication exploit (do not name players please)

Oofus

Oofus

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2006

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Cold Hard [CASH]

New something fishy was going on when I saw someone in high end sell selling like 500 armbraces last week. Also have seen several people in game selling several hundred of their own. :/

I say faze out armbraces completely, make the collector accept something other then armbraces from now on then make it so you can only have 1 of the new item at a time, making it impossible to dupe it.

lyra_song

lyra_song

Hell's Protector

Join Date: Oct 2005

R/Mo

Anet,

We love this game.

You love this game.

Show us your integrity and dedication.

I trust you'll fix this. Don't let me down.

~love
~lyra_song

taiwf

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2005

i remember when playing diablo2 there often with huge lagging in game play whenever ppl doing duping... Not sure if this new exploit related to that too?

Kikuta

Kikuta

Banned

Join Date: Jan 2006

Western Australia

[ICE]

There will not be a rollback.

There will be no change, other than the duplication method being stopped. The tormented weapons where meant to be exclusive and rare items, but because of this it's been brought down to the common green.

What impact does this have? None. The prices of these weapons will go down the toilet along with armbraces, much like every weapon type does in the long run. This particular weapon set has just suffered a random drift in supply vs. demand, and is now in massive supply.

You also need to consider that Armbraces of Truth weren't the only items that could be duplicated. Black/White dye, Rubies, lock picks - ANYTHING, even req. 7 crystalline swords and mini kanaxai's could have been duplicated. A-Net can't know everything that was duplicated, nor can they track the items and delete them. It's just too impractical.

Guild Wars has just suffered a massive blow to it's economy, and the only blame can go to us, the users. There will be no rollback - the most you can expect is a colossal nerf related to acquisition of a lot of items for the sake of restoring the economy over time.

The Herbalizer

The Herbalizer

<3 Ecto

Join Date: Jul 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Gaile Gray
Here is what we know:
  • There was an exploit.
  • It was conducted through the reconnect feature.
  • We learned of it today and took action, today, to end the use of the exploit.
  • We will continue to test, and investigate, and then we'll look at outcomes afterwards.
Here is what we don't know yet:
  • What game changes may occur as a result of this exploit.
  • What will happen to those who used the exploit.
My comment about "avoiding armbraces" was more a joke than a fact, but if someone duplicated something and has a huge stockpile of that item, it's natural he/she may try to unload them, and frankly I wouldn't want to be the one to take the offer right now.

Lastly, stop and think: When did you first become aware of this issue? It's easy to leap to conclusions. But you can't say that because it was related to reconnects, the exploit was used since reconnects were added to the game. That's making a very large assumption. I'll make one in return: I'll assume that most of you heard of this exploit today. How likely is it, then, that it's been around for months? Even weeks? You know the Internet; you know the player base. How likely is it that it's been used for a long while without the word getting out? Before we talk about massive catastrophes, let's consider that the impact may have been quite minimal.

We'll share more info as we have it.
Well I started freaking out about the price of mini pets about a week ago. Then a member in my alliance over a week ago (maybe two weeks) obtained 80 million gold in armbraces from the sale of his Kanaxi mini pet. So I would say the dupe has been around for at least 2 weeks Im pretty sure I was complaining about randoms getting insane wealth out of nowhere along while before that though. At the time I put it down to gold buyers but when I added up what people own the numbers ran into the thousands of dollars but even then I put it down to rich people obsessing over mini pets.

I really hope Anet dont try to play down this problem like they pretended not a single person out of the hundreds scammed by at the time the most famous scammer in GW reported him even though thousands of ecto were stolen and numerous items and was as far as I know never banned...

Quote:
Originally Posted by joze
me and a couple of others saw this problem coming long time ago. as early as june i saw people getting excessive amounts of armbraces.
people popping up all of a sudden with tons of rare pets & armbraces isn't common.
the community would've known who they are. but we don't, they just pop up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by maraxusofk
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10185761

Heres someone who is most likely a duper from 2 days ago. regardless, i find it hard to believe someone farmed a full stack of armbraces legit, as that is about 15000 ectos worth, if each armbrace was 60e each at prices from 2 days ago.

Before u say anything, look at tile, it says WTS 250 Armbraces.
He had a Kanaxi. Chances are he sold it for those armbraces.

TiNkLeR

TiNkLeR

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2006

Portugal

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hyper.nl
Should I laugh or cry now? It took me a fricken month of in-game working (merchanting, farming) to obtain all the gemsets for an armbrace and now ppl get 150 armbraces for a stupid minipet. It feels so unfair...

PS. Nothing against you personally TiNkLeR, but this software error just sucks.
I agree with you dude. But it was tempting...

Obey The Cat

Obey The Cat

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2007

FFS

Rt/N

Quote:
Originally Posted by tpolisher
Pray for a rollback? Only a rollback of the armbrace trader and armbraces themselves would be fair. An entire rollback of the game would cost those of us who were completely oblivious to this until today a great deal in hours spent just playing the game. And I don't know about you but my time is a bit more valuable to me that 1,000's of armbraces.

I pray Anet has more sense of fair play than that!

you don't get it right? its NOT ONLY about armbraces. they could have 10000 of ectos in their storage too. just because prices of armbraces WILL 100% DROP when there are many tormented weapons in the game. that's why it's stupid to think, there are only duplicated armbraces. holy shit i dont care about any armbrace myself. think about the money they made to buy other stuff like mini pets...

lacasner

lacasner

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2006

Herb, I am sure I have seen it at least a month ago in ascalon id1, but I assumed it was just another ebayer and didn't pay much notice to it.

undeadgun

undeadgun

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2006

US

Its Rainning Fame Hallelujah[伞回伞], also as guild leader

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Herbalizer
Well I started freaking out about the price of mini pets about a week ago. Then a member in my alliance over a week ago (maybe two weeks) obtained 80 million gold in armbraces from the sale of his Kanaxi mini pet. So I would say the dupe has been around for at least 2 weeks Im pretty sure I was complaining about randoms getting insane wealth out of nowhere along while before that though. At the time I put it down to gold buyers but when I added up what people own the numbers ran into the thousands of dollars but even then I put it down to rich people obsessing over mini pets.
i can prove it, yes, 100k+1500e+80armbrace for mini kanaxia

Hyper.nl

Hyper.nl

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2006

Defending Fort Aspenwood

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Herbalizer
Well I started freaking out about the price of mini pets about a week ago. Then a member in my alliance over a week ago (maybe two weeks) obtained 80 million gold in armbraces from the sale of his Kanaxi mini pet. So I would say the dupe has been around for at least 2 weeks Im pretty sure I was complaining about randoms getting insane wealth out of nowhere along while before that though. At the time I put it down to gold buyers but when I added up what people own the numbers ran into the thousands of dollars but even then I put it down to rich people obsessing over mini pets.

I really hope Anet dont try to play down this problem like they pretended not a single person out of the hundreds scammed by at the time the most famous scammer in GW reported him even though thousands of ecto were stolen and numerous items...
So, at least that particular duper also has a rare minipet now. So it is quite likely that he/she made a (or a ton) of copies from it.

Evilsod

Evilsod

Banned

Join Date: Mar 2006

England

Lievs Death Squad [LDS]

Wouldn't a solution be to remove the Tormented Weapon collector in DoA for the time being?

The people who are part of this will be trying to quickly get rid of there armbraces. If there is no use for the armbraces, nobody will buy them. So they either keep them and run the risk of been found out of delete them asap.

jeffersons

jeffersons

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2006

[KH]

W/

who cares anyway, economy is already lost with ebayers, farming, then farming nerf, and that's why Anet has focused us on titles now.
Prices will always gets lower and lower, as people will continue dropping. So ther e has been an exploit, some people are insanely rich, well there have been some before wo have got rich with bots, insane farming, etc... so just forget armbraces, anyway everybody will have one one day.
Just no roll back and fix the bug then let it go

Oofus

Oofus

Forge Runner

Join Date: Feb 2006

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you.

Cold Hard [CASH]

This guy closed up shop yesterday. If this didn't tip people off that there was an exploit then I don't know what could.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10185761

sythmoi

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Nov 2006

W/

Point of the matter is...they'll fix the exploit..... and prolly have turn a blind eye to the 1000s of armbraces in the market..... the market will crash wit these cheap "asian replica's" <<<--- It's a joke OK, hell the world is full of em, GW is the same....

WTB Replica Armbrace 5k.... cheers torment weapon elitism....me thinks.

I actually feel for them they got this BEEG decision on the exploit and the release of thier first official expansion.....

PS I still cant solo margonite gems with my 55/Ranger/Ele/Warr... pppffttt

Brain

Brain

Academy Page

Join Date: Jul 2007

Tallinn, Estonia

Army Of Masks [AoM]

R/Me

people selling armbracers for 20k everywhere...this really is screwed up..

Martin Alvito

Martin Alvito

Older Than God (1)

Join Date: Aug 2006

Clan Dethryche [dth]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Evilsod
Wouldn't a solution be to remove the Tormented Weapon collector in DoA for the time being?
While it's a start, no one except the dupers knows what all actually has been duped. Since the method worked on anything, there's no telling how many ersatz ectos/shards/diamonds/rubies/sapphires/minipets/weapons/shields are out there right now.

More to the point is whether or not ANet should delete items and, if so, what actually should be deleted. It should be fairly easy to verify counts on the minis since the number of them that should be out there is known. Weapons/shields should be traceable.

With ectos and other stackables, this is a much more dicey proposition.

Hyper.nl

Hyper.nl

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2006

Defending Fort Aspenwood

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Evilsod
Wouldn't a solution be to remove the Tormented Weapon collector in DoA for the time being?

The people who are part of this will be trying to quickly get rid of there armbraces. If there is no use for the armbraces, nobody will buy them. So they either keep them and run the risk of been found out of delete them asap.
I think most armbraces have been converted to tormented items by now. It's better imho, shut down the game, rollback to startdate of this thread at least, and hunt down any tracable duped items before relaunching a 'somewhat fixed' game.

And again, not only armbraces could be duped, everything could be duped. Also things like minipets, ecto's and maybe even gold.

trielementz

trielementz

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

Spectra Sg [SpcA]

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brain
people selling armbracers for 20k everywhere...this really is screwed up..
um are you sure? it's mostly WTBs from what i see. and mostly in ascalon IDs.

lacasner

lacasner

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2006

Oofus, if uve ever been in ascalon id1 ud have seen it more often, like going back to july from the first time ive ever noticed it there.

undeadgun

undeadgun

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2006

US

Its Rainning Fame Hallelujah[伞回伞], also as guild leader

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oofus
This guy closed up shop yesterday. If this didn't tip people off that there was an exploit then I don't know what could.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10185761
that's a friend of Mine who sold mini beetle

Obey The Cat

Obey The Cat

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Mar 2007

FFS

Rt/N

i guess there are also some panic-sellers now who are selling their non-duped armbraces for ~50-150k.

Uber Mass

Uber Mass

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Oct 2006

The Netherlands

retired from gw [agro] still ftw

W/

I was pretty bummed to hear this...... Lots of people putting real hard work in the game and saving money where they can.... Kinda hoping Anet has a fitting solution for this matter.... no doing the DoA for me now anymore =/

emoxcore

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2006

No Guild

N/

well i just got a message im gunna be dc'd in 60 mins..possible rollback?

Evilsod

Evilsod

Banned

Join Date: Mar 2006

England

Lievs Death Squad [LDS]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hyper.nl
I think most armbraces have been converted to tormented items by now. It's better imho, shut down the game, rollback to startdate of this thread at least, and hunt down any tracable duped items before relaunching a 'somewhat fixed' game.

And again, not only armbraces could be duped, everything could be duped. Also things like minipets, ecto's and maybe even gold.
A rollback is completely out of the question now. The furthest they could go back is right to the end of the festival, otherwise you would piss off alot of people who spent there time sat on a ring of afk, farming tokens, etc.

Quote:
While it's a start, no one except the dupers knows what all actually has been duped. Since the method worked on anything, there's no telling how many ersatz ectos/shards/diamonds/rubies/sapphires/minipets/weapons/shields are out there right now.
Well yeah but other than the rare minipets, which are probably gonna be easy to track, the armbraces are worth the most. The rest of them can be sorted out later (hell they could just stop all Rare Material Traders too for a few days till they sort this out).

Tijger

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Sep 2005

Mo/E

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brain
people selling armbracers for 20k everywhere...this really is screwed up..
Eh, that depends how you look at it, doesnt it?

People will buy them and exchange them right quick for a torment weapon or shield. So, folks with torment weapons or shields will feel their e-peen shortened a bit but fear not, in 2 weeks they can grind to their hearts content for new elite stuff in EN.

Yes, thats the cynical view I'm taking now but lets face it, 99,9% of players dont even know what armbraces or torment weapons are and generally they dont much care either.

Anet has already made it impossible to repeat the cheat/exploit and I'm sure they'll ban/delete any account they can find that has engaged in duping, what remains is that armbraces will probably becomes less valuable for a while or maybe even permanently but I highly doubt thats an issue except for a very small minority.

Lady Ana Stacia

Lady Ana Stacia

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Jun 2006

Germany

Beware of our Temper [BooT]

Me/

Honestly, it sucks! I just know that I earned my armbraces and will just hold the gems I have for my next one until this blows over.

joze

joze

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jul 2006

After some research, together with others we've come up with some interesting thoughts.
The majority of the dupers seem to have problem with speaking english, and they all seem to be coming from one and the same country.
The core of the dupers have been seen pushing up prices on minipets in turns, as one offers 100 armbraces, the next one 150 and so on. Just to make the seller even more tempted to sell.

As to those who have had contact with the dupers, it would help alot if you could throw me a PM either here or in-game. We will try and collect as many names as we can & try and nail them.

garethporlest18

garethporlest18

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

[HiDe]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by emoxcore
well i just got a message im gunna be dc'd in 60 mins..possible rollback?
I didn't get any such message...

jeffersons

jeffersons

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2006

[KH]

W/

NO ROLLBACK PLEASE, don't piss off nice people who just spent their week end doing titles.
Find another solution

undeadgun

undeadgun

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2006

US

Its Rainning Fame Hallelujah[伞回伞], also as guild leader

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by joze
After some research, together with others we've come up with some interesting thoughts.
The majority of the dupers seem to have problem with speaking english, and they all seem to be coming from one and the same country.
The core of the dupers have been seen pushing up prices on minipets in turns, as one offers 100 armbraces, the next one 150 and so on. Just to make the seller even more tempted to sell.

As to those who have had contact with the dupers, it would help alot if you could throw me a PM either here or in-game. We will try and collect as many names as we can & try and nail them.
already send many names

trielementz

trielementz

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Dec 2005

Spectra Sg [SpcA]

W/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by garethporlest18
I didn't get any such message...
neither did i. how long have you been logged on exactly? heh.

emoxcore

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Jun 2006

No Guild

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by garethporlest18
I didn't get any such message...


Boo

Boo

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Mar 2006

Spain

IGN: Rose Mincrisar / Black King

E/Mo

Quote:
Originally Posted by Evilsod
A rollback is completely out of the question now. The furthest they could go back is right to the end of the festival, otherwise you would piss off alot of people who spent there time sat on a ring of afk, farming tokens, etc.

the rollback to the end of the festival is not fair either, cuz i've spent all my weekend collecting tokens (making quests with my 3 chars, killing, playing games) and almost sold all my firewaters and cremes by now (made like 60k: 200 items x 300g ea). it takes me a lot of time making that amount of money because i dont farm anywhere, just make quests and missions, and selling all the crap items i get from that

ibex333

ibex333

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2005

Brooklyn, NY

[EYE]

Rt/A

I feel like a moran... I bought an armbrace 2 days ago for 350k!!!

I grinded for this gold for months... ANET give me my 350k back!

Holz

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Sep 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by undeadgun
that's a friend of Mine who sold mini beetle
Yep. A high-end trader that has traded most of his ecto-/armbracestack, had nothing to do with duping .

garethporlest18

garethporlest18

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

[HiDe]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by emoxcore


That could have been from way earlier..like around 2am cst.

Evilsod

Evilsod

Banned

Join Date: Mar 2006

England

Lievs Death Squad [LDS]

Quote:
Originally Posted by emoxcore


Thats probably the update to remove reconnects. I came back from afk'ing and rebooted my pc and i think i downloaded a tiny update. Which explains why i haven't had such a message.

mr_groovy

mr_groovy

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2006

Netherlands

No Inherent Effect [NiE]

Quote:
Originally Posted by emoxcore


Me thinks you are still playing with the duped gw build ^^. Update gw and you should be fine Now don't dupe anything you hear

Dronte

Dronte

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Sep 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brain
people selling armbracers for 20k everywhere...this really is screwed up..
Those are mostly buyers/fake sellers, just try to get one.

FoXanthar

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: May 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by emoxcore


Dupers probably weren't logging out, and thusly didn't get the anti-disconnect patch. Kicking everyone out will force them to load the update.