Why do some cheats even need to be reported?

[HalfBeast333]

Leaving aside for a moment whether EA actually does anything with the reports, any reason why cheats like someone using a (normally) unplayable character or boss attacks can't be automatically detected?

I mean, in PvP modes, that information goes through EA's servers. The server knows which character has killed whom, and with what attack. They show you that when you get shot.

So why not just log it? I don't even mean every attack or anything, just the event that's sent when you get killed: who killed whom, what characters were they playing, and with what attack.

I mean, most games would log this kind of thing even just for checking the balance and such.

Then just have some periodic job that looks through that log for any characters other than a whitelist of the hundred or so playable characters, any attack that doesn't belong to that character, any any damage value for that attack that is way outside the normal value for that attack (allowing for debuffs like the staff of jinxing).

There we go. Now not only it would catch most of the blatant cases, but it's objective. You know it's not just someone reporting random people.

Well, not sure if GW2 is getting any more updates where that could be done, but maybe future games could have something like this implemented.

[TheSprinter85]

I have seen a lot of reports on the cheating issue on this forum @HalfBeast333 and I must say that it is no good that cheaters are rampant and not that much is being done about it.

I am guessing that many players are reporting these characters, but not many account actions are being taken against these cheaters, which is why they are continuing to cheat this way and whatnot.

I have moved on to Battle for Neighborville now (mostly, I still play GW2 from time-to-time) as it is getting more support at this point, and less cheaters. They also (potentially) removed my favourite event from the Mystery Portal, Boss Hunts, which is not good at all. And where are my community challenges? No, I know they are removed, but I wish they were still in game.

Because of this lack of support, it means that cheaters can run rampant as the cheaters are not getting any actions taken about them, when they probably should. I mean a 30-foot tall corn? What on earth? Surely something should happen to this, especially if someone records this firsthand and sends it off to the appropriate teams for review.

It’s no good. Now while I do want to play this game more often and everything, it is no good that the game is getting no more support. It would be cool if a small team continued to develop the game, especially since many players (including hackers and cheaters) continue to play the game, but I think we need to face the facts, unfortunately.

I am still going to check on this forum regularly, and sometimes post stuff, and continue to play GW2 occassionally.

[HalfBeast333]

Well, nothing against BFN as such, but it's got some key gameplay differences that personally I'm not really into. If other people like them, though, more power to them.

Well, on the bright side, if EA is policing that one better, maybe there's hope for when GW3 comes out. So, here's to hope.

[TheSprinter85]

I think they should still give a decent amount of support on this game. Many players have returned to GW2, including many YouTubers, because they were dissatisfied with Battle for Neighborville. 

Players who still play GW2 (I and my brother are included to an extent) should still have support for this game from the developers, even if there are just small balance patches every few months, and more importantly, take account action on or ban cheaters, so that that less players decide to use hacks.

Why the lacking support, PopCap and EA? A small team should continue to work on this game because it is still a popularly played game and it’s very enjoyable. It’s really beginning to lack support due to the removal of Community Challenges and the potential removal of Boss Hunts and Cats vs Dinos.

If the developers do not want to keep working on this game, they should add more of the content onto Battle for Neighborville.

[HalfBeast333]

IMHO, if someone took the time to implement what I wrote in the OP, namely just automatically detect illegal characters and attacks server-side, it would need an even smaller support team and make a lot of people happier. I mean, it might cost some dev time to implement in the short run, but it should be pretty much a win in the long run.

Oh well, let's hope they do something like this for GW3, whenever that comes out.

[HalfBeast333]

That said, yeah, bit of a shame about the removal of community challenges and whatnot. I mean, I can understand that they don't want to put much dev team budget into a game this old, but that too is IMHO something which should be easy enough to just automatize and leave running. I mean, they presumably have the code for past events and whatnot, right? They could just have a job that picks a random one from a list every week, and there we go.

[TheSprinter85]

Your idea @HalfBeast333 about adding an anti-cheat into the game could really help with combating the large amounts of hackers that I have heard about on GW2, especially on PC?

If this was implemented, I reckon it would not be a flawless option, because others may get kicked for “cheating” from the anti-cheat, even if they did not actually cheat, but it would most likely be worth it.

If Community Challenges are not returning to this game, I would at least like to see Boss Hunts (or Cats vs Dinos) make a return as they were really unique game modes and they were a lot of fun, also I cannot see any reason why they got (potentially) removed in the first place? 

If the game did not continue to get supported but there were not very many cheaters prowling around, then it wouldn’t hurt the game as much, the lack of support, but all of the rampant cheaters do not make this any easier.

I still have some hope that the devs will continue to support GW2 at some point, but it is not likely. If they do not continue giving the game support, they should do something about cheaters in future titles that the developers make.

[HalfBeast333]

Since what I proposed is just detecting server-side if someone is playing something like Baron Von Bats or Super Bean or whatnot, I don't think it would cause that many false positives tbh. The list of playable classes is fixed for each mode, and for most of them it's the same 101 classes you can pick in the booth. If someone is playing something else, they have to be cheating.

I mean, I can see how if you go by stuff like "this guy has too high hit rate" or whatnot, you could theoretically ban people who just have insane skills. Fair enough.

But there really is no amount of mad reflexes that could even theoretically allow someone to play as Baron Von Frikken Bats legitimately.

[TheSprinter85]

I think you are absolutely right. While some actions a player does can be confused between a highly skilled player and a cheater, like getting tons of vanquishes quickly, it’s unlikely that an anti cheat is often going to catch them out.

But obvious forms of cheating, such as players playing as bosses or a 30 foot tall corn (how can you even do that - only by cheating), would be easily detectable as even highly skilled players are not able to play as these characters at any time.

Having an anti cheat would save the developers time and money, in the long run anyway, benefit the game and possibly keep the game going (fairly) strong for at least a little while longer. 

C’mon devs and EA, don’t let cheaters destroy the game!

[pandareno1999]

Well from what I'm hearing lately, they're not even dealing with problems with BfN (chomper rapid fire glitch) or updating it any further.  So I wouldn't hold your breath.