Taboo topic: Will Guild Wars 2 get infested with hacks ?

[Romeo83x]

First of all, no links to any hacks in this thread !


It can be assumed that given a big enough player pool and popularity of the game, if hacks are possible, they will become available.

The basic concept behind whether or not hacks are possible directly depends on how much of the gameplay is server side and how much of it is client side.
Having as many actions as possible being made/controlled/calculated on the client side considerably lowers server burden and from the business perspective is a lot cheaper. After looking into it, it didn't come as a huge surprise, that in Guild Wars 2 most of the gameplay is indeed clientside. Since Guild Wars 2 doesn't employ a subscription based business model it's understandable that they would try to minimize maintenance costs postrelease.

What does this mean for the players ?
For example, player positions aren't a server kept secret, they're clientside - means wallhack is possible once client is cracked
Player movement and movement speed isn't serverside - speedhack is possible (actually already available), this also makes a teleport hack technically possible

---

Added:
There's a GW2 speedhack already available that lets you add a percentage of your choosing to your movespeed (obv not gonna link it)
So you can add 15% and move slightly faster than everyone else, but noone else would probably even suspect anything.

[dgkiller]

Most game have the same thing, it's not about if they can do it, but more about if they can detect it and react quickly enough to ban.

[Malthurius]

Most game have the same thing, it's not about if they can do it, but more about if they can detect it and react quickly enough to ban.

This. Controlling hacks is a reactionary practice, not necessarily preventative.

[Deleted]

Most game have the same thing, it's not about if they can do it, but more about if they can detect it and react quickly enough to ban.

Pretty much.

Oh and yeah, I've seen that hack - it does cause some serious DCs issues if you use it though.

[DrakeWurrum]

I never understood why anybody enjoyed hacking a game rather than actually playing it.

[Badpaladin]

Luckily I don't see it as that big of an issue. The community as a whole is likely going to be less competitive in PvP.

[Deleted]

I never understood why anybody enjoyed hacking a game rather than actually playing it.

I have to agree, i really don't understand the concept of cheating to win. We pay for these games and play them to enjoy ourselves. /nab

[Zeek Daniels]

I dont know why anyone would hack a game you have to pay $60 to play. If you get banned you have to buy another copy. Alot of F2P games get hackers all the time because you can just make another account.

I did see 1 hacker the last beta weekend in WvW. He had a speed hack. Im going to assume they will put in a report function. As for the PvE side it doesnt really matter unless he can Vac.

[purefury]

Having as many actions as possible being made/controlled/calculated on the client side considerably lowers server burden and from the business perspective is a lot cheaper. After looking into it, it didn't come as a huge surprise, that in Guild Wars 2 most of the gameplay is indeed clientside. Since Guild Wars 2 doesn't employ a subscription based business model it's understandable that they would try to minimize maintenance costs postrelease.

it also greatly lowers the lag for clients, so you cant have everything serverside. wow is heavily client side too, but wallhacks are years out of game.

[iCandy]

I never understood why anybody enjoyed hacking a game rather than actually playing it.

The same reason people hit the dislike button on every video they watch on youtube. Some people hate their lives so much that they feel the need to bring others down. Some are just total trolls.

I just assume every person that cheats in a video game was brought up the same way. Spoiled brats that never got disciplined and always got what they wanted from mommy and daddy. They lack class, discipline and most likely skill.

[Woebegone]

Not much of a specialist on the matter, but given that the client has to communicate the player position information to the server on regular time intervals, checking that the player doesn't move too much within said intervals shouldn't be a very resource-intensive task. Certainly it could atleast highlight potential teleporters or speedhackers, even if you don't get outright banned based on an automated tracking system.

But I might also be talking out of my ass here.

[DrakeWurrum]

Luckily I don't see it as that big of an issue. The community as a whole is likely going to be less competitive in PvP.

Why do you say that? Less competitive than what? One of ANet's main goals with GW2 is to make the PvP side of the game into an official e-sport, with sPvP.

Which, of course, means ANet is likely going to work very hard on preventing hacks as much as possible, or else that goal will never be met. Can't have an e-sport with a high amount of cheating.

[styopa]

The maturity of the engine and Arena's LONG experience with MMO's in general would suggest that they'll have good tools in place to catch this.

Not really a concern.

[Drakhar]

Speedhacks already eh... that's slightly disheartening.

[Bathory]

Because trolls love to make people angry, that's why they cheat. Hopefully GW2 is on top of things. How was GW1 in regards to this issue?

[Delias]

Because trolls love to make people angry, that's why they cheat. Hopefully GW2 is on top of things. How was GW1 in regards to this issue?

If nothing else, seeing the GW2 version of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lf5urf-QVzY will be nice.

[Deleted]

Because trolls love to make people angry, that's why they cheat. Hopefully GW2 is on top of things. How was GW1 in regards to this issue?

You were dhuumed if you'd try cheating in GW1.

[Deleted]

would only be bad in sPVP or WvWvW - in other world i dont care

[Lucky_]

Why do you say that? Less competitive than what? One of ANet's main goals with GW2 is to make the PvP side of the game into an official e-sport, with sPvP.

Which, of course, means ANet is likely going to work very hard on preventing hacks as much as possible, or else that goal will never be met. Can't have an e-sport with a high amount of cheating.

Less competitive then GW1. There's no argument that this will be so regardless of "intentions" of arenanet. Reality is a harsh mistress, and between massive lack of competitive modes, actively driving away competitive players and not even launching in South Korea at the same time as elsewhere, their chances of actually ever getting close to "e-sport" level outside pretty speeches are near zero.

[Malthurius]

Less competitive then GW1. There's no argument that this will be so regardless of "intentions" of arenanet. Reality is a harsh mistress, and between massive lack of competitive modes, actively driving away competitive players and not even launching in South Korea at the same time as elsewhere, their chances of actually ever getting close to "e-sport" level outside pretty speeches are near zero.

It sounds like you're suggesting they will never add to PvP.