Caution: Festival Prizes Scam

I dont know if I agree with that hypothesis, although I did not test it. I had 100k on my char and opened a few presents, on said 1,000g which obviously I did not get.... I think the same would apply to the gifts if you have not room for them

Funny that people are selling them for 1k when you could buy the prizes for 375gp.

People are not selling them for 1k, they are offering to sell for 1k. Quite a difference there.

So the real question is this:

Is the contents of a present determined when it's dropped, or when it's opened?

If you have one that you determine to be a 1K gift, move it to storage, try another, then retry the one you targetted as a 1K, is it still a 1K?

I see peoples selling the festival prizes at 1k or more. I thought that it is entirely random for getting prizes.. i don't see any pattern for peoples getting 1k inside their presents versus those who get red bean cakes, and wines.

Computers don't do true random numbers......

...

What the christ?

She.

The information I had came from a friend who had been teaming with a PuG and heard the details in conversation on Teamspeak. Because he didn't know whose voice was whose, we filed it as a bug / exploit report rather than as a specific violation. However, if Meerkats' information is correct, then I can stand corrected, and assume that these two folks' exploit didn't work the way that they were bragging it would.

As for my own trials, I couldn't get any 1k presents to open, but when I opened the 50 or so presents I'd collected over 5 appearances of the Emperor, none of them contained 1k as it turned out, anyway. I don't know if my friend tried to verify (I'll ask), I just posted on the basis that the theory seemed very sound to me, and I wanted to get the news out there ASAP.

Before yesterday, I'd always thought it was determined at the time of opening. It'd be easier to program and easier on storage space. But if there ever was any validity to the original claim from the discussion that prompted my post, even in it being an earlier exploit which has been closed, it would seem to indicate otherwise.

Just speculation, but I would think that the presents' results are determined upon opening. While I'm just a lowly SQL programmer, it'd be silly to store predetermined item information in stacks (like where in the stack each type of item is).

Ugh, the more I think about it the more I'm sure it's random. Anyone else comment?

^^

pseudo-random numbers are what are normally referred to as random numbers generated by computers. no matter how random they may seem (or what seed is used), they are still deterministic. with knowledge of the seed or the method in which the generator is seeded, the future line of numbers generated by most random number generators can be predicted.

This is a problem commonly found in cryptography. Some systems base their seeds solely off the clock, while others such as openssh base their input primarily on pseudo-random keystroke input provided by the user (though they can fall back to other means, making the seed less secure). There are even algorithyms that can make guesses on keyboard input used as a seed based on finger placement and probability of keys being hit.

Plenty of places concerning theory and practice are located on the internet, including wiki.

On topic, the reason some people are not surprised when people start to formulate theories about patterns in the game is that some generators and/or seeds are less 'random' and more predictable than others. If someone can find a pattern to a particular problem (determine what kind of seed is used as well as what kind of algorithm is applied to it), then one can predict with some success the outcomes.

the contents are determined at time of opening, and they're not set...
I opened a few and got the message about finding 1k inside. The package however didn't open because I had more than 99k on me (not enough room to fit 1k in). Dropping money into storage and reopeing the present didn't give me the 1k.

wow.. did it give you something else instead or did you just lose the gift contents altogether?

EDIT: here's someone else working with the odds..

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s....php?t=3071355

Not any more, you can't. And thats really the whole point. You stock up on some rare or limited time items, hold on to them for a while, to ensure that a majority are removed from circulation (through consumation or such), and then sell at inflated values. I have a stack of 250 prizes that I will hold onto for a couple months (only takes up 1 spot in inventory, unlike all those wintersday weapons/items), and then sell between 500-1000g each. I made a fortune off of Wintersday items than I held onto until May, and I guarantee I will be able to sell these.

And if someone is willing to pay that much for them, then obviously they are worth that much, even if only to the buyer.

yeah, ive seen this all the time, the funniest was this guy at lions selling for 10k each saying that they can drop minipets

I spent 4 days on a Rock Festival last weekend, and still got all my masks mwuhahaha! And got some gifts as well. Who cares about the amount. It's just a festival. I play the game for the RPG factor, not to get rich ingame. Whats the point of that anyway? I use my cash for nice upgrades / weapons / armor / guild hall / helping guildies. And got plenty to do so.

Very interesting thread.

A theory (untested). I am too lazy to follow thru on most of my ideas, but appears many folks here enjoy this kind of thing. Also, I am unable to get to guidlwars for another ~hours. Anyone care to validate or disprove this one??

If the chance of the 1 plat is random and determined at opening. Could you not just keep attempting to open over and over again with your inventory full? Eventually you could obtain 1 plat from each gift??? or am I missing something?

p.s. I have my stack of 150 presents (unfiltered/untested) up for auction at S/B 200 each; ****hurries off to close that crap and hope there were no bidders.

Even if it did work at the time when the OP was notified of this exploit, it sure did not work when I tested it.

The game checks to make sure there is at least one empty inventory slot before even attempting to open the prizes. If you have no empty slots, you cannot open a box, even if you have no gold on your person and you are carrying one of each type of items that can be obtained from it.

Anyone can easily verify this: Take several cakes, a few bottles of wine and a couple of orbs with you. Don't forget to take your prizes too. Make sure you don't have 100 plats on you (I'll hold onto those for you, during the experiment : ) and fill up the rest of your inventory with whatever junk you have.

If the "exploit" works, you should be able to open the prize by double-clicking it. If it contains gold, you should get the gold, and if it contains one of the items, they should merge with the stacks already in your inventory.

Bill Gates donates millions every year to charities.[/QUOTE]
It's called a tax shelter, it's not because he is so kind to the masses.

That's because there is no need, and most of the requests are scams. If they are not scamming, then they need to learn how to get 50g, aside from begging. You know give a mna a fish he eats for a day, teach a man how to fish and he eats for life...

Hmmm nice thought, unfortunatly assholes outnumber everything else, in all facets of life.

However, thanks for the heads up on the presents scam.

Bill Gates is giving up his Microsoft position so he can concentrate on his Charity (completely different than a tax shelter, look up the term). He's pretty close to a philanthropist, so don't discredit him so easily.

1k, Red Bean Cakes, Orbs and Rice Wine.

Wait. You got 50 presents from 5 emperor visits? Were you not trying or just in full districts? I personally got about 100 presents from one of the visits. Others I always got about 70-90. TEN PERSON DISTRICTS FTW!

I wish I could test this but I opened all my presents when I got them. Now I need to find a use for 75 Red Bean Cakes...

i think i got scamed oh good glavin

Yeah, I am sure the many lawsuites have nothing to do with it