Coming back after 3 years, maybe more. Help bring me up to speed please.

[shaddrach]

Hi everyone.

Well when I got the email on my phone about EQ being free, I was intrigued. Now I got three new accounts going and I really need to get some cliff notes on changes to EQ, especially with MQ2.

I am sure a lot if even any of you know me, I was more of a reader/behind the scenes talker.

So lets get started shall we?

I left EQ right when the level 85 cap was introduced. The expansion with all the clockworks lol. Its been so long I cant remember the expansion names.

How about I give you my list and you let me know if anything has been changed/nerfed?

WARP: I used warp A LOT. It was pretty safe so long as you were careful on where you and what zone you did it in. i.e. dont warp all over in POK. Is warp still about that safe?

PIGGYZONE (multi names): I also used this to go just about everywhere, again the worst thing to do was zone through highly populated areas ala POK. Is it still as safe as it was?

MM AA Grinding: I wrote three different macros for three different MM's that would utilize 3-6 toons. Two were warp heavy, one was not. I never got caught and this was grinding levels and AA's 24/7. I seem to remember reading here that MM's were heavily watched now and doing more than like two consecutive would almost always get a GM in there to check it out. Is this true? Or is it still semi-safe to afk or run them while I am sitting here?

INSTANCE FARMING: I had 4 or 5 different types of instances I could also automate, again warp heavy. This is a continuation of the above MM farming because I think I read both were being heavily watched. Is it still safe to farm instances until they collapse? Either afk or being at keyboard running a macro.

DOCRACKS: Is this plugin still working and available? Is it still as safe as it was? (Safe as it was meaning safety has not declined)
Do the following still work? (As of last compile anyways)
WeightLock
EnduringBreath
SeeInvis
NoFallDmg
AFewMountSkills
BardClicky
AlwaysDaylight
NoAccelOnMount
NoBlind
NoMelePush
UseAugSealer (OMG I love this one)
HotKEysWhileCasting (This one too)

COMMANDS: /target /instacamp /fade /speed /warp loc /zwarp /setgrav /zonelock

All these still work?

Finally, Zippzipp made a few plugins back in the day and I bought some from him. Ghost kill? NAHHHH Just kidding lol. He has a specific plugin that allowed ANY class to any clicky. Specifically what it did for example and from my own experience, I did the enchanter epic quest with my cleric to have the clicky haste, likewise did the cleric epic 1.0 quest with my shaman and druid to have rez.

In short is Zippzipp still around? Are these plugins still available? Well just this specific plugin anyways, I LOVE this plugin.

And thats it on MQ2. Got a few quick questions on EQ if anyone cares to read a little more.

I am liking the Mercs thing. Its a nice addition and I have been taking advantage of it. I got a couple questions with regards to Mercs.

1. Upgrading to higher teirs. I am reading the quests on them, but I do not know these zones at all, or the mobs in question. Is it possible for a MQ2 user to solo or duo these quests to unlock the higher tiers? If so is there a guide, writeup, or anything that can be linked?

2. Getting more Merc slots. I have only seen this available through the new station store and buying them, so I can have different types. Is it possible to do this in game without buying merc slots?

3. Is it possible to give my level 50 merc to say a level 20 and still have the meerc be level 50? Pipedream I know, but never know.

4. Last on Mercs. I see there are undead mercs with a red hue. I know I claim this through the rewards system. My question is, arethey any better than the normal mercs? Or are they the same thing just re-hued/skinned?

House:
I have tried using the plotting tool but its always saying need to be in a neighborhood zone. What does this mean and how do I do it?

Thats it for now unless someone can give me some tips on where to level 30+ in new zones and or a place to get great exp.

Oh last thing, anyone know the current hot zones? I cant seem to find a list anywhere and I am hoping City of Mist still is one because I love that zone. EDIT: Nevermind, seems it was right under my nose on Ahlla.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I also appreciate any replies and help you guys can throw my way. Again, I know it was long and if you read it all thank you.

 

[Lorekeeper]

The plugin listings should have a risk level, Warp will get you banned, even if its 1 step. You don't wanna use 'High Risk' plugins.

Welcome Back!

 

[shaddrach]

Thanks for the info. So warp is now 100% detectable? That blows.

 

[Kodilynn]

Thanks for the info. So warp is now 100% detectable? That blows.

Everything active will get you fucked. Most have been disabled with a warning where you have to force the command twice to use it (thus getting you banned, hey we warned you). Don't gate/warp/piggyzone/do anything active/high risk (including docracks). The plugin manager htw so tirelessly made has each plugin labeled with the amount of risk. Don't be stupid and you'll be fine with the low-risk one's.

There are a multitude of threads on this issue all over the boards and you're welcome to do 5 minutes of searching to find them. Everything you loved is dead and Zipp is retired.

 

[shaddrach]

Wow, so just using docracks is getting people banned? Dang!

When did they crack down on all this?

Heck I would comepletely unload warp piggy getmission ect. docrack is my absolute fav.

Edit: I just wanna cry

I got some reading to do...

 

[Zippzipp]

They nerfed the clicky thing and I'm not doing plugins anymore.

 

[caster66]

Wow. Glad I read this post. I am also returning after 3 years. HoT had just been announced but not released when I quit. Nothing active is gonna suck. I wanted to get mmobugs again because of the actives. Sure some of the passives are good and handy but I am REALLY gonna miss piggyzone and warp. Oh well. Played for years without them. Guess I can play again without them. Glad I have a shammy for potions since it looks like I am gonna need to start carrying gate pots again. Also gonna miss the rez.

 

[shaddrach]

Thanks Zipp for letting me know. Would I be out of line to ask how exactly that was done? Either here or in a PM? I was always curious because it was by far the coolest plugin to date.

Well as far as I can tell from reading the new sticky at the top of this page and the various ban posts in the ban area, this is what I am getting as of right now.

1. At first everyone was thinking it was icamp and other active hacks.
2. htw found a good solution in the new LP4 and that could have been getting others suspended/banned just for starting LP4 with mmoloader/mq2 running.
3. SOE is actively tracking movement hacks, such as warp, fade, piggy, ect. Pretty much anything that messes with the way the client operates that is outside what is considered the normal field of operation.
4. At this time (and it seems to have been this way since the last 2-4 months of 2011) There is no for sure way to tell if other plugins are/can be/currently being tracked. Since all bans are subject to the banned user having a full 100% account of his usage and plugins and not many people can remember 100% accurately what they have or have not used or what was or was not even loaded.
5. But in addition to plugins that are clearly wrong, (warp, getmission, zone, ghost, stealth, ect ect we all know which are the real bad ones.) the other issue was in fact LP4 detecting and reporting to Sony that mmo/mq2 was in fact running. Then all they had to do was track that client for a little while and see exactly what they were doing. Not randomly logging this and that, they were and likely had software completely logging the clients of players that were reported by LP4.

So where we are standing now is finding out just how far the Sony Rabbit Hole goes? In short, htw has his work cut out for him, has to do a ton of packet logging and data scanning to find the issue. Which I would assume is the most difficult part of it. Since we have all personally seen the programming genius of your team, finding for sure what the issue is or issues as we can bet there is probably more than one. The best option right now is running only green plugins and loading EQ with WinEQ using the patchme command and then loading mmo mq2 and injecting?

Am I following this right?

Now after all that I do have a few questions as I write all my own macros.

What is safe to use in the terms of macros?

/goto x y z? /target ${GroupMember1} (assuming target is within allowable range)
/cast x y z?

/if $TargetHP < 50 /cast heal ?

I got some brushing up to do on my coding its been too long and deleted all my old stuff long ago.

But I had a rogue macro, always stays behind, evades, backstabs ect. No warps ect. I was going to rewrite it. I think it was mq2melee plugin? I am not sure the plugin it used. But are normal on the ground follow and goto x area (camp area) when no target, do these just put in normal mouse and keyboard commands or do they use an active hack? Forgive me if this sounds stupid but I never had to think about this before. It says mq2melee and mq2docrack are both medium level. I am pretty okay with that and let me tell you why.

1. I for the moment am only using FREE accounts until I level AA's, then its gold until I am done with AA's then back to free.

2. All toons are low level right now.

3. Helping to track all this down I would be happy to do since I have two PC's and can change my IP address at will and a clean windows xp/7/vista each time using free accounts would help with that using different keys/activation methods per copy of windows. Unless they are reading hardware serial numbers, all should be okay I would think. Unless its mac address

4. I am smart enough to know the reason docrack is medium is some of the docracks are completely clientside. Like always sunny, no fog, seeing clearly under water, ect. Those are all done client side. But others are not. And I would be 100% willing to help test this kind of stuff.

Finally, SOE made a HUGE mistake for hackers in giving FREE ACCESS. If anyone wants to test stuff, like all these plugins, even others, they need only do it on free acccounts. Obviously I know you should be changing your IP addy and not using the same machine you use your normal accounts through. Even a Virtual Machine would be great. Since VMWare using is a software based mac address if you wish. Then its just making a clean VM each time and only using VM's to do your testing and never from the same IP address.

Or I am sleep deprived lol. But do I somewhat have an understanding of where things are right now?

EDIT: I dont know what plugin did this, but is the gravity reversal active? Or is it client side changes? /setgrav -1

 

[SiegeTank]

Not only is MQ "more detectible" by Sony these days but I swear more vigilantes are out there trying to reporting suspected hackers. And the problem is even if they're just reporting a suspicion, if they're right and the Sony GM receiving the report checks your logs, then you're screwed. In other words, you can get away with a lot that could be confirmed via logs because they don't have automated methods of detecting "everything." But if the incriminating data can be found in a log, all it takes is one disgruntled non-hacker and you got a Sony "detective" examining your log file for offensive behavior.

And with fabled mobs, and the increase in spawn rates and drops, not to mention enhanced XP, there's a lot of competition for mobs and some players are touchy about being beat to a drop.

IMO, this is NOT a good time to get back into using MQ. I've been properly scared by all the horror stories on these forums about players losing a dozen accounts because "one of their accounts used warp once 5 weeks ago" and the like.

Not worth the risk at this time. But that's just me...

 

[htw]

Not only is MQ "more detectible" by Sony these days but I swear more vigilantes are out there trying to reporting suspected hackers. And the problem is even if they're just reporting a suspicion, if they're right and the Sony GM receiving the report checks your logs, then you're screwed. In other words, you can get away with a lot that could be confirmed via logs because they don't have automated methods of detecting "everything." But if the incriminating data can be found in a log, all it takes is one disgruntled non-hacker and you got a Sony "detective" examining your log file for offensive behavior.

And with fabled mobs, and the increase in spawn rates and drops, not to mention enhanced XP, there's a lot of competition for mobs and some players are touchy about being beat to a drop.

IMO, this is NOT a good time to get back into using MQ. I've been properly scared by all the horror stories on these forums about players losing a dozen accounts because "one of their accounts used warp once 5 weeks ago" and the like.

Not worth the risk at this time. But that's just me...

For active hacks, yes. For all the rest of mq2 (which is most of it), log file review won't tell them squat.

htw

 

[shaddrach]

Thanks htw, you guys keep up the wonderful work!