GameSamba accounts issues.

[Frosk]

Dear users,

Since the recent issues with accounts being inappropriately accessed and items going missing was discovered last week, NGD and Gamesamba have been in close collaboration to resolve these issues.
We believe the situation is now under control, and the issue has been contained. During the investigation, we confirmed username and password files were not accessed and remain secure.
We understand those of you affected by this issue are waiting for a solution. We now have a plan to restore missing items related to this issue, and expect to begin the process early next week for those accounts affected.

If you feel your account was affected please submit a detailed support ticket to gamesamba.com/support.
Your account will be properly investigated using our internal game tools to determine if your account has been compromised. Once verified, we will begin the process to restore your items.

Thanks for your patience over this past weekend as well as this upcoming weekend.
We’ll be in touch soon.

Best regards,

[pauluzz]

Good news for the people involved!

Only the Title of this thread troubles me a bit. Afaik, NGD accounts got hacked as well.

Will their items be restored as well? One of them actually heard in a ticket that his items will not be restored...

But thanks for this message ;)

[Ricksa]

I too would like some clarification whether this is also directed towards the NGD accounts that were equally hacked...

[chilko]

to our knowledge, this incident is related to GameSamba accounts.
we have not recieved reports of NGD accounts being affected by this particular issue.

please elavorate.

[Tamui]

to our knowledge, this incident is related to GameSamba accounts.
we have not recieved reports of NGD accounts being affected by this particular issue.

please elavorate.


Please follow the link above about NGD hacked accounts:

www.championsofregnum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97570

The same user has made another thread in the General Discussion where you, yourself, have commented in. (Link: www.championsofregnum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97440)


:facepalm3:

[Frosk]

Good news for the people involved!

Only the Title of this thread troubles me a bit. Afaik, NGD accounts got hacked as well.

Will their items be restored as well? One of them actually heard in a ticket that his items will not be restored...

But thanks for this message ;)

I too would like some clarification whether this is also directed towards the NGD accounts that were equally hacked...

If you both are 100% sure about this, and thus, are 100% that these account were NOT accessed by other means (such as social engineering or any type of user-side responsibility issues) do not hesitate on opening up a ticket at www.championsofregnum.com/support providing every detail you're aware of.

Please keep in mind that mentioning such a delicate statement without any proof to back it up could end up being misleading for both NGD Studios and GameSamba users.

Onto items restoration, more info will be officially provided during the course of the week.

Best,

[Ricksa]

I have made an elaborate ticket twice now and I get no help at all....

I have made 2 threads talking elaboratly about this, and i got no help at all....

The first ticket all i got was "sry u screwed" type of response... stating that restoring items is impossible yet somehow for gamesamba accounts everything is possible.

First Thread on the day I found out.
http://www.championsofregnum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97440

Second Thread where i elaborate further.
http://www.championsofregnum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97570

First Ticket: RGQ-575339

Second Ticket: KNU-386910

I repeat for the 10000000000000000th time i have never shared info, through any means possible ..... out of or ingame.

I am not the only NGD acc with this problem.

[chilko]

there is no difference between NGD and GameSamba accounts.
we just didn't have tools to restore items before, now we do.

we still need help tracking how did this happen so please continue posting

[TheBarbarianAlsius]

hey guys, just a question.
Will you be able to recover gold, wmc, ximerin and others or just items?

[Ricksa]

Well like I said in previous threads, I have never in the almost 4 years of playing this game ever shared my information with anyone outside or inside the game, so how they got access is beyond me.

All my info that has to do with social sites (regnum facebook group etc), email are all different passwords so its impossible that someone used that to get access to my Regnum account.

I went out at 10pm friday night 29th March, I came back at 3am 30th March and logged in because friends of mine were saying that my chars were acting strange (expelling people from clan, insulting people, dumping all my gear in auction house).

So at 3am give or take i logged on...

All 6 of my chars were marked for deletion and had no gear on them on the selection screen. The hacker made 6 other lvl 1 chars with the same name so that i could not recover the original chars, all i got was "this name is in use".

I explained this to your support team, they deleted the lvl 1 duplicates and allowed me to recover the original chars that were marked for deletion.

After I recovered them I entered the game and all my chars were at the initiation zone with no gear, no gold, no quest jewlery, no magna, nothing.

Everything that could be deleted he deleted.

The next day i logged in and saw the commerce chat was full of low lvl chars (and some high lvl people) all showing my gear in the commerce chat.

They said they had bought my gear through the auction house for the lowest price possible.

So lvl 30s with epic lvl 60 gear, vesper gear, eve gear etc for dirt cheap.

I made various threads about this, I have sent 2 tickets about this.

I can´t make it any more clearer, this must be the 4th speech i´ve written about my case (nolifing pretty hard).

I repeat: never shared info, all my passes are different on social sites, emails etc.

[Wield_II]

>hacker logs in your account
>ngd tracks 2 IP's (1 from the hacker)
>your account is shared

:lol:

EDIT: Goodluck Rick, NGD pulled this joke on me too and I didnt receive any support what so ever.

[Kitsuni]

The funny part is there are legitimate sharing situations such as with a brother (families often share PCs) or a wife (you owe your significant other everything by law), yet NGD considers these to be "shared account" situations too even though there's 1% chance in such situations of the person ever causing harm.

I've seen people banned for having too many IPs access their account, when they travel the world regularly.

Just too much rules in this game now, without them being clearly written down, and always enforced haphazardly.
(And usually too extermely, for example wiping out years of work "just because".)

I really hope you get your stuff back.

[Krungle]

Guys restore RicksaR. However they got into the account is and will remain unknown but a one-time restore for him isn't going to hurt anyone. *If* he shared info with anyone, I am beyond sure he has learned not to now. That his account (and all the rest that were hacked) was targeted at the same time as the other accounts does leave a good bit of reasonable doubt to his being guilty of sharing info. If it happened at any other time, I would not be siding with RicksaR.

BTW we do need the GM crew back to work. There has been someone who keeps creating accounts and/or toons to try to get log-in info from unwary players and it would be much easier to shut him/her/them down if a GM was on. Also normal bugs that are not a problem with GM help are unresolvable now, like the Water Pendy going for a swim earlier today.

There are also some people who are using the lack of GMs to grief entire realms in Realm/zone chat by spanning spamming.

But back to the topic: How has the GS restoring been going guys? You getting satisfaction yet?

[heev1x]

what ngd needs right now is a decent customer support that actually works, i mean whoever they got working for them in that area has one job, is it hard to read and answer the tickets? there aren't only spanish tickets needing to be answered, and it wasn't spanish accounts that got mass hacked... ngd needs a better english customer support serviçe

whenever i send a ticket it takes at least a month to get an answer it's pathetic

[Nekoko]

Good luck RicksaR, hope you get your stuff back (please don't shoot me with it).

[Ricksa]

there is no difference between NGD and GameSamba accounts.
we just didn't have tools to restore items before, now we do.

we still need help tracking how did this happen so please continue posting

Any news on the subject?, and by subject I mean NGD realizing NGD accounts have also been compromised and not just gamesamba ones.

I have elaborated as you asked.

My 2nd ticket posted on the 4th of april has not recieved any response so far and we are 2 weeks into the hacking events.

Any update is appreciated.

[Lebeau]

This was posted last week:...We understand those of you affected by this issue are waiting for a solution. We now have a plan to restore missing items related to this issue, and expect to begin the process early next week for those accounts affected.

If you feel your account was affected please submit a detailed support ticket to gamesamba.com/support. Your account will be properly investigated using our internal game tools to determine if your account has been compromised. Once verified, we will begin the process to restore your items.

Thanks for your patience over this past weekend as well as this upcoming weekend.
We’ll be in touch soon.It's now friday, the last business day (late, not early) of that week-for-repairs specified above. Uh, we STILL waitin' btw....
Any news on the subject? ...Any update is appreciated.

[Vadhir]

I could have writtten this in english, but since NGD unterstand spanish, I did it in spanish, plus, there is no topic like this in the spanish section.

Ya casi los restauran? Si a ese chavón no le quieren regresar sus items, me doy como caso perdido? En la computadora en la que juego juegan otros 3 hermanos, por lo que encontrarán más cuentas conectadas a un sólo IP... afecta eso. A veces jugamos en casas de familiares, así que habrá otras IP en nuestras cuentas, afecta eso?

[Jardik123]

I just wanna bump this a bit, because some people say they didn't get their items back yet while they were promised to get them last week. One well known trader and very active player even said he will quit the game if he won't get them by friday. I don't want that to happen. Haven is pretty empty most of the day (and going to steam didn't really help much) yet we shall lose another players. Maybe the affected players should at least get e-mail or something that you are working on it HARD, to be little bit more patient ... please, we don't need more players (and friends!) to quit the game.

[VandaMan]

One well known trader and very active player even said he will quit the game if he won't get them by friday. I don't want that to happen. Haven is pretty empty most of the day (and going to steam didn't really help much) yet we shall lose another players. Maybe the affected players should at least get e-mail or something that you are working on it HARD, to be little bit more patient ... please, we don't need more players (and friends!) to quit the game.

Well on the bright side, if they're gonna quit there's no need to bother restoring their shit. Seems like this problem has solved itself!

[_Enio_]

let traders quit, preserve the warring peeps!

[Checkit]

let traders quit, preserve the warring peeps!

I war a pretty decent amount, and I will also probably quit, if I dont get my gear back, unless they box me new items that were close to what I had, including the gems.

[Krungle]

If this is an example of NGD customer service then perhaps my vocality needs a new locality. Even though I am not involved in this hacking incident I was double billed for a 50-slot character stash and did not receive it on my toon. I put in a report right after it happened and have not received a response yet other than the auto-response so I have to assume the ticket has not even been read as yet. Also, Steam Xim purchases are not working and now two of my toons (including me knight, Krungle) are now mountless.

If NGD has to hire more CS personnel, even temps, then do so. Poor customer service can cause a massive backlash that can destroy any business.

[Lebeau]

I just wanna bump this a bit, because some people say they didn't get their items back yet while they were promised to get them last week.Uhhh, pardon me, but are you firmly stating that some actually DID get their items back, Jar? Your wording sorta' infers that some did & some didn't. I haven't gotten ANYthing back. I haven't heard of ANYone hacked who HAS gotten their stuff back yet. Not even a single one. IF someone actually has, then that IS good news & THEY SHOULD POST IT! ... but if not, then it's high time NGD either came thru on it's promise to "fix this sh*t" ... or at the least, give us a new statement of intent or some kind of progress report p & ty, since the last one is 2 weeks old now ... don't ya' think?

I do fully recognize that this isn't at all an easily resolved circumstance, but regardless of the fix itself, whether now or later on, the NEGLECT of NO direct response in 2 weeks is what is giving me the redass & making me far less sure NGD still intends to keep it's promise. Am I wrong to doubt? Really not sure imho, but it LOOKS more like they intend to ignore it all & us atm ... & hope we'll remain passively silent ... or just go away.

Maybe they just can't fix this prob via a newly-coded selective-rollback as stated. They may not know how ... oh, well ... fine ... BUT ... 'maybe' they CAN actually fix the issue tho, but are just UNwilling to devote all the necessary man-hours to get it done via a simple, but admittedly lengthy, process of spawning the replacement gears, gold, wm & chumpion coins, etc. directly to each effected users' accounts on Haven one by one after checking all the hack-ticket claims using the last pre-hack Haven server-backup installed on Amun as a guide, so that they can look & verify.

[_Enio_]

I war a pretty decent amount, and I will also probably quit, if I dont get my gear back, unless they box me new items that were close to what I had, including the gems.

Well, that was a lil sarcastic comment on that kind of traders who build their ego on magna and stuff, horde alot of items many could use and generally sell only for more than its worth. I dont mind these gone.

NGD already said theyll restore things that got lost, just have patience.

[NotScias]

let traders quit, preserve the warring peeps!

Enio misses the times when he was the most ubergeared one xD

[Jardik123]

Uhhh, pardon me, but are you firmly stating that some actually DID get their items back, Jar?

No, no, not stating that. I don't know of anyone getting anything back, by some people I mean the people who were talking about that in game.

[Checkit]

If this is an example of NGD customer service then perhaps my vocality needs a new locality. Even though I am not involved in this hacking incident I was double billed for a 50-slot character stash and did not receive it on my toon. I put in a report right after it happened and have not received a response yet other than the auto-response so I have to assume the ticket has not even been read as yet. Also, Steam Xim purchases are not working and now two of my toons (including me knight, Krungle) are now mountless.

If NGD has to hire more CS personnel, even temps, then do so. Poor customer service can cause a massive backlash that can destroy any business.

Please dont get our hopes up and say you are going to leave, if you arent

[Krungle]

Please dont get our hopes up and say you are going to leave, if you arent

Naw, I still love the community of players and GMs. It is just the CS and Devs I am frustrated with and I have ways to put pressure on them to change. Maybe I can start a show called "Game Nightmares" on the model of Chef Ramsey ;)

Anywho, let's keep this thread rolling. You guys need your gears back. The game needs our high levels back during USA primetime to teach us RvR newbs how to war.

[Checkit]

Bumping

Char

[magic_gandalf_007]

Reading this item does not really give me the feeling 'glad, everything is safe and under control'.
As far as i know i am not affected at all.
Not a reply many will be waiting for, but let's all be glad this is just a game. What would happen in the world if this would happen in the 'bank area'.
Of course NGD should take action since security failed big time. That includes action to prevend this in the future and if it ever would happen to speed up reaction and solvation.

[Jardik123]

sight ^^
10 chars

[Aries202]

So...... Were GameSamba players abandoned...? Two weeks ago they said they should have their items back.

I'd be pissed if I was in their shoes, thing seems like it's gonna die down and be forgotten.

[Jardik123]

So...... Were GameSamba players abandoned...? Two weeks ago they said they should have their items back.

I'd be pissed if I was in their shoes, thing seems like it's gonna die down and be forgotten.

Word from gamesamba (http://www.gamesamba.com/forum/post38580.html#p38580) from 20th. At least they admit it's taking long, but still, the players should be better updated about this. I am noticing 2 players not playing anymore since this happened and since i am not much social, I don't know that many of them, so it might be more. But even 2 players are a LOT for Haven which is empty most of the day.

[_Kharbon_]

To be honest, I think that those matters solely depend on how many players are effected - if there are just handful of them, NGD will not focus on the problem, as it is not worth it to develop tools because of few players. It also depends, on how thoroughly the problem has to be solved & inspected.
I wouldn't be much surprised, if in the end the effected players just got some boxes, duel banner and a temp. mount ^^

Since GS was effected, they will probably urge NGD to solve the problem, and give the players items back. The problem is, that many of the items were lost to other players (through Auction House..) and the players who brought them will either keep them (which is unfair, since the items were often very good, and difficult to get for the original owner), or they will be taken away (which is unfair, since the players obtained them legaly).
A server roll-back would be devastating. I don't think even NGD would consider doing so three weeks after the happening.

Good luck to the effected players.

[Ricksa]

So...... Were GameSamba players abandoned...? Two weeks ago they said they should have their items back.

I'd be pissed if I was in their shoes, thing seems like it's gonna die down and be forgotten.

You say GameSamba players as if the NGD hacked accounts were resolved which they weren´t.

This is what worries me the most even after spamming this place so much, 1 week later Chilko n co assumed my account was a gamesamba one and asked me for the 1000th time to state my case as if I haven´t already. I feel as if people, especially the devs, read the title, 1st post, and little more.

After the so called "statement" Chilko asked for, which is still on the 1st-2nd page, we got 0 news since then.

My account was hacked 29th March, it´s now 24th April.

My second ticket was opened on the 4th April and has had 0 response so far.

All my items ingame are beyond untraceable at this point, sold, resold, resold, resold, resold, resold, resold, resold, resold, resold, resold, resold........

Server rollback 3 weeks after the event is probably out of the question for NGD. Simply returning the items to their original owners and gold/mag to those who traded them is so complex now that they have waited 3 weeks to move.
I´m told that best they will probably do is based on a backup give us a duplicate of everything we had, this way there will be 2 of the same set of items ingame, the hacked originals and the duplicates you received and or just compensate our loss with items of equal value through boxs or something (which would suck given how boxs work).

[trulyem]

Luckily you aren't banned for sharing your accounts with the hacker.

NGD could've thought it that way.

[Ricksa]

Luckily you aren't banned for sharing your accounts with the hacker.

NGD could've thought it that way.

Except I have made it clear since the first post and first ticket that I have never shared any info nor is it possible that they used usernames/passwords from elsewhere to gain access to my accounts (facebook etc) cause they are all different.

I have done nothing on my end that would lead to someone else getting access to my account.

[Recoil]

Some top quality customer service in here.

[Ricksa]

Some top quality customer service in here.

Tell me about it.

They can solve this:
http://www.championsofregnum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97987

in 1 day but they can´t for the love of god update us on the hacking events in the last 2-3 weeks....

I´m starting to think they are purposely trying to push this mess under the carpet as it were and hope the players affected will give up trying over time.

[Krungle]

Tell me about it.

They can solve this:
http://www.championsofregnum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=97987

in 1 day but they can´t for the love of god update us on the hacking events in the last 2-3 weeks....

I´m starting to think they are purposely trying to push this mess under the carpet as it were and hope the players affected will give up trying over time.

Completely different issue. But I do agree that these accounts need to be restored, by hand if needs be. In fact I think they have had plenty of time to do hand restoration by now on all those effected. Even though no Steam players have been effected by this directly it does show a lack of customer support, something that Steam is keen on, and I have contacted Steam about this situation. Hopefully pressure from NGD's new partner will get this ball rolling.

[Lebeau]

...Even though no Steam players have been effected by this directly it does show a lack of customer support, something that Steam is keen on, and I have contacted Steam about this situation. Hopefully pressure from NGD's new partner will get this ball rolling.Hope springs eternal they say. Hack occurs. GameSamba reps (the GMs) are taken offline & largely remain so for weeks after. The daily boosts (2 per) & the boost schedule itself entirely changes (at NGD's insistence) even once GMs return. Along with other past 'resolutions' of policies the 2 disagreed about, this clearly shows who's wearing the pants, so to speak, in THIS business relationship. Steam will be different? Maybe, but don't hold your breath. Krungle.

My point is simple: NO amount of vocalized pressure, regardless of source, will EVER make NGD do ANYthing they cannot do or will not willingly CHOOSE to do. Historically, the ONLY pressures applied to this company (or ANY other for that matter) that visably produces an EVENTUAL response is one that targets their revenue stream & potentially threatens their livelihood & survival. IF it will make them $ or IF it's costing them $ or they THINK it is, or IF it will (or LOOKS like it will) do so in the near future, then ofc. they'll react....just like that dog that proved Pavlov's Response theory, it's all the very nature of the beast.

There's no fault or blame involved, it all is what it is. Cost-based risk analysis & the strategic planning responses that spring from it are the survival & coping mechanisms that corporations use. Just the way it is. (Still wish I would get all my stuff back already tho .... a month has passed .... this is REALLY getting old now).

[Recoil]

So let's see...

1) People with both NGD and GS accounts lose lots of stuff because of security screwup of NGD or their partners.
2) NGD is trying to tell us that only GS accounts were hacked.
3) It is obviously not true and confirmed several times.
4) NGD makes no more public statements, in an attempt to sweep everything under the rug

Pretty cool guys?

[Ricksa]

Bump.

I guess by the end of this working week if we get no response I´ll just start making new threads directing people to this one and all the other threads I have already made since the 29th of fucking March.

[Krungle]

HERE (http://www.championsofregnum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98046)
Dear users,

As most of you may have read already, one of the most criticized points of our service is related to the Support System.

We are aware that the main problem relies in the response speed from our side.

Due to this, we decided to perform some changes and internal improvements in the system that will allow us to solve tickets faster.

The mentioned change strictly requires that we perform an internal migration, which is why some very old tickets that didn't register any recent activity, or that do not contain the necessary information to be processed, will be automatically closed.

If you do not receive any automatic e-mail, it means that your ticket has perfectly migrated and that's on its way to be solved.

We hope that this improvement becomes notorious by the start of the next week.

Best regards!

'Answering tickets' isn't the problem here, the problem is in restoring these hacked accounts. In the Helpdesk world there is something called 'Hose & Close,' is that what is going on here or are these accounts going to be restored?

[_Kharbon_]

I get that, but we are working with NGD to get all of this resolved properly. Not just throwing items back in accounts without resolving anything. There are things that happen that we do not openly communicate to the public since it is not something that needs to be announced. When you hate on NGD about things that they are working with us to fix, it in turn is hating on us as well. Of course we understand you are mad and angry. I've tried my best to keep the situation calm while things are worked on. But to make it clear, no one is ignoring anyone, no one is pretending this didn't happen, no one is making up other things to do while nothing is done about this issue. As I have said in every single ticket, this issue is going to take some time.From Gamesamba Forum thread (http://www.gamesamba.com/forum/ro-general-discussion/dont-be-a-fool-hacked-or-not-hacked-plz-read-t6387-10.html). I hope, this helps a bit.
Posted by Lilliyan

[Krungle]

From Gamesamba Forum thread (http://www.gamesamba.com/forum/ro-general-discussion/dont-be-a-fool-hacked-or-not-hacked-plz-read-t6387-10.html). I hope, this helps a bit.
Posted by Lilliyan

"Takes some time"
...looks at watch...grunts...looks at calendar...flips page back
:facepalm3:

The issue of the mass hacking security hole that caused the issue in the first place seems to have been resolved: ie- no one has been hacked in this manner in weeks. I am sure you have server saves from during/after hacking that you can use to trace the culprit(s) down with. So how (censored) hard is it to take the server save of hackday -1 and restore those with tickets and continue your investigations with the save(s)?

Sounds like a Hose & Close to me.

[_Kharbon_]

"Takes some time"
So how (censored) hard is it to take the server save of hackday -1 and restore those with tickets and continue your investigations with the save(s)?

Well, I guess they simplly don't want to do that, since many of the items weren't just deleted, but traded to other players. If they simply restored the items of the players, the server would end up with dozens of duplicates of OP gear. If everything is to be done properly, the gear has to be tracked down, removed, and the current owner properly compensated. This would also decrease the game's revenue somewhat.
It's true, that it's taking quite a long time now. I bet, there are events behind the scenes, that are not relayed to the public. If Gamesamba can be trusted, I don't think they will allow the matter to simply slip away.

[Krungle]

If everything is to be done properly, the gear has to be tracked down, removed, and the current owner properly compensated.

:no: Which can be done from the saves.

[_Kharbon_]

:no: Which can be done from the saves.
They have to track down the items, remove them, and compensate the new owners for their loss. They can't simply roll-back all the characters, as legal gear, xp, and perhaps other aspects would be lost as well. That would be unfair for many players.
We know next to nothing how the backup really works, but it's probably not a simple matter. From what Gamesamba published (http://www.gamesamba.com/forum/ro-general-discussion/dont-be-a-fool-hacked-or-not-hacked-plz-read-t6387-20.html)it can be seen, that they are working on the matter, and not allow to "let it pass".
We are working on resolving the issues and tracing items, accounts, gold, trades, there is a lot to do. We don't expect you to understand what we need to resolve because you can't see what we can see.

[Krungle]

Kharbon, you take the hacked accounts look at the hackday -1 save on those accounts and look at the present items on those accounts. Next you manually put back the items they are missing from hackday -1.

Using saves you can trace items, gold, and trades. You DO NOT need to know where the items went to restore lost items to those who were hacked.

If a mistake is made later and a traded item is a legitimate trade then that can be deleted later but it's been over a month now and these old-time players should get back to playing, should have BEEN back to playing weeks ago.

The problem with hack-trades is they so often go through so many hands, including other hacked accounts and non-active accounts plus accounts that have been deleted (or toons that have been) that you can never, ever trace 100% of the event and get a 100% solution. If that is what they are waiting for, then all those hacked accounts might as well either quit the game or start over, for a 100% solution is not possible.

The other problem they will encounter is somewhere along the line many of these hack-trades will have entered the legitimate trade stream which means every day that passes becomes one more day those investigating this issue are one more day behind. This means, mathematically, you have a parabolic curve: no matter how close one gets to a 100% solution you can never, ever reach that goal for the second your data is current is the second it is a second behind.

Best solution, only possible solution in reality, is to get those that were hacked playing again (by using the hack-day -1 save) and work the rest out over the next months as best as one can eventually calling off the incomplete investigation once a certain amount of time has passed.

[_Kharbon_]

Kharbon, you take the hacked accounts look at the hackday -1 save on those accounts and look at the present items on those accounts. Next you manually put back the items they are missing from hackday -1.
I seriously doubt that the databse works like this. Even if it would, it doesn't solve the problem I mentioned before.

Using saves you can trace items, gold, and trades. You DO NOT need to know where the items went to restore lost items to those who were hacked.
Yes, you do need to know where the items went. Simply duplicating the items would be terribly unfair to the original owners, who worked hard, and paid for the items. Now the people, who obtained them for next to nothing, are just to keep them? There is enough difference between well equipped, and normal geared players, Haven doesn't need the gap to grow even wider.
What about characters that were deleted/renamed/xim missing? They all need to be tracked down and restored. By this point in time it will take some effort & time to distinguish between the hackers interference and regular user ones. Many hacked players already acquired new gear, levelled up. etc. If they loose this progress now, they will just be even more upset.

If a mistake is made later and a traded item is a legitimate trade then that can be deleted later but it's been over a month now and these old-time players should get back to playing, should have BEEN back to playing weeks ago.
Continuous interference would be more frustrating for players, since nobody could be certain if their own gear didn't come from a hacked account. No, this is not the most efficient way. To have all the accounts fully restored (not reverted) is the best approach. Especially a month after the happening.

The problem with hack-trades is they so often go through so many hands, including other hacked accounts and non-active accounts plus accounts that have been deleted (or toons that have been) that you can never, ever trace 100% of the event and get a 100% solution. If that is what they are waiting for, then all those hacked accounts might as well either quit the game or start over, for a 100% solution is not possible.
The developers are trading these items. There is no reason why they couldn't trace them.
100% solution is not entirely possible, that's true, but from absolutely different reasons than you state.

The other problem they will encounter is somewhere along the line many of these hack-trades will have entered the legitimate trade stream which means every day that passes becomes one more day those investigating this issue are one more day behind.
A illegally traded item never acquires legitimate trade status. Yes, the users might be unaware, that the items are effectively stolen, however that doesn't mean they are allowed to keep them. Trades have to be undone.

This means, mathematically, you have a parabolic curve: no matter how close one gets to a 100% solution you can never, ever reach that goal for the second your data is current is the second it is a second behind.
I think, you mean an asymptote there?
Nevermind.

Best solution, only possible solution in reality, is to get those that were hacked playing again (by using the hack-day -1 save) and work the rest out over the next months as best as one can eventually calling off the incomplete investigation once a certain amount of time has passed.
That's by far not the only and not the best solution. As I stated previously, reverting the accounts will cause even more problems, as players DO manipulate their hacked characters AFTER the event. IE. they level up, gain rp, get new gear to be able to fight, perhaps even buy ximerin. if that all was to suddenly disappear, it could cause same uproar as the hacking itself.
The approach NGD took is to trace the hackers manipulation, and to revert not only trades, but premium manipulation, character changes and any other possible interference. I have no official information, but my guess is that they will restore the above, while keeping all the progress that the hacked characters have made after the hacking.
Fixing all the above in one step is the easiest and most efficient way of doing so.

[zeeph]

Well, that was a lil sarcastic comment on that kind of traders who build their ego on magna and stuff, horde alot of items many could use and generally sell only for more than its worth. I dont mind these gone.

NGD already said theyll restore things that got lost, just have patience.

agree on first part, for all the others wish you get your stuff back !

[Krungle]

...

:facepalm3:
:dumbofme:
:play_ball:

[Lebeau]

Someone above seems to 'think' that 1) those hacked getting all their stuff back + also keeping all they may have acquired since, & 2) tracking down EVERY last item, gold piece, etc. have to be part of the SAME process. So ppl hacked can WAIT however long such a 'fix' might take? BULLSH*T! Hopefully, NGD truly has the good sense NOT to think at all like that. 1) & 2) above are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE & need NOT be combined into just one VERY long & drawn-out single (& single-minded) process in order for folks to EVENTUALLY get their stuff back....someday....maybe....

NONE of those hacked can tell the difference if NGD re-spawns/duplicates our accounts/the stuff stolen. Ah, but we CAN at least PLAY if we get it back. Right, folks? Fix THE problem, sure, Priority-1: the security gaps are plugged. NOW fix OUR problem NEXT! Selfish? Maybe YES! Ah, but THAT is customer service. Doubts? Go ask ANY of those hacked/cheated STILL waiting what THEY want. All that is required is comparison of the last PRE-hack account save with the very 1st POST-hack save & then with the CURRENT save version of the account; adjust/spawn all that's been acquired since the hack onto the pre-hack save. Install. Presto.

After OUR problem is solved & we're ALL playing again, if NGD really wants to track down all that original stuff SOMEHOW over many additional weeks & months of effort, & then confiscate it, or whatever, then that's THEIR choice ofc. & best of luck with that. BUT, for all those hacked to possibly STILL be WAITING while NGD may be going the longest possible way around sorting this issue out for weeks & then months on end perhaps & during that ENTIRE time, to keep ALL those hacked/cheated DANGLING without any REAL need, would be COMPLETE TOTAL BULLSH*T!

Like I said, "Hopefully, NGD truly has the good sense NOT to think at all like that." The hacker has already did enough damage & that WAS their intent imho. NGD need not & should not aid the hacker's intentions & add ANY more waiting, pain &/or suffering to the resolution of this matter than is absolutely necessary. Good luck & keep at it, coders....we NEED that rollback tool.

[_Kharbon_]

Someone above seems to 'think' that 1) those hacked getting all their stuff back + also keeping all they may have acquired since, & 2) tracking down EVERY last item, gold piece, etc. have to be part of the SAME process. So ppl hacked can WAIT however long such a 'fix' might take? BULLSH*T! Hopefully, NGD truly has the good sense NOT to think at all like that. 1) & 2) above are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE & need NOT be combined into just one VERY long & drawn-out single (& single-minded) process in order for folks to EVENTUALLY get their stuff back....someday....maybe....
Why would 1 & 2 be mutually exclusive? Tracking down the items and moving them back to their original owner is possible. Then, of course, you need to revert the traded items. From all the information that is available, it seems that this is the approach that NGD has chosen. It it not the fastest way, but we know how things end up, if NGD rushes.

NONE of those hacked can tell the difference if NGD re-spawns/duplicates our accounts/the stuff stolen. Ah, but we CAN at least PLAY if we get it back. Right, folks? Fix THE problem, sure, Priority-1: the security gaps are plugged. NOW fix OUR problem NEXT! Selfish? Maybe YES! Ah, but THAT is customer service. Doubts? Go ask ANY of those hacked/cheated STILL waiting what THEY want. All that is required is comparison of the last PRE-hack account save with the very 1st POST-hack save & then with the CURRENT save version of the account; adjust/spawn all that's been acquired since the hack onto the pre-hack save. Install. Presto.
Perhaps some of the hacked would like to keep the items that they got after the hack. They might have borrowed good items from friends, looted, levelled up.. Not everyone, but someone would. It would not help nor Realm situation (where some realm(s) would just get a boost of great gear), or NGD's revenue through boxes.
The customer service has never been great with this game. I think we all know that.


Since there is only very little communication between the developers and community, it is difficult to see what really will happen. Gamesamba stated that things would get solved, and the matter was not going to get "swept under the carpet". All the community can do is complain and hope.

It is taking a long time, as most of the things in this game. I'm just pointing out, that the methods suggested by community are not always the best, and might lead to further frustration.

[andres81]

I still remember when they erased the Lefan/Darlud rings in some update during autumn 2012. Compared with the current situation here this was much easier because the fault was clearly NGDs and there were no tradings after it.
They promised to restore this rings after making a ticket request and guess what I am still waiting since 8 or 9 months now :cuac:

[Evangeline]

http://i.imgur.com/vI4zMwX.jpg

[Lebeau]

Why would 1 & 2 be mutually exclusive? Tracking down the items and moving them back to their original owner is possible.Uh, I truly thought I (& common sense) had ALREADY answered this, Kharbon...

So the DOZENS of hacked/cheated could play NOW .... NOT months from now, & thus, they would feel somewhat LESS cheated the sooner they can play again. Ye gods, POSSIBLE-SCHMOSSIBLE, I was talking about the best overall way to approach & solve EACH problem ... for EVERYONE involved. It's "possible" to do corrective hemorrhoid surgery thru the patient's ear canal, but it's REALLY not recommended. 1ST: fix OUR accounts as I outlined in my last post (people GET all their stuff back lost in hack & KEEP all stuff gained since then too); 2ND: track down all the ORIGINAL stuff & do w/e with it that NGD decides is right & fair to the new owners. Simple.

The issues ARE related, but are 2 separate problems with 2 separate solutions. It's NOT rocket science, it's cost-effective COMMON sense ffs. Fixing our accounts by moving thousands upon thousands of items, & gold, etc. one-by-one & respawning the lost xim & wm/champions coins to each affected account after searching & researching each & every lost thing down over months & months is SO anal-retentive & time-consuming & TOTALLY negligent/insensitive to the hacked/cheated customers, it borders on complete mindless insanity. Those cheated GET cheated even MORE? WTF, dude?!

Like I said 3 times now, "Hopefully, NGD truly has the good sense NOT to think at all like that." NGD promised a NEW single account/toon rollback tool, & that they would fix this sh*t, hopefully during the 2nd week of April (hey, better late than never, but the clock is still ticking & the calendar has turned 2 pages so far since the hack). Such a fix is what I fully (& have a right to) expect. NOTHING less will do. They SAID it, now they must DO it. A man is ONLY as good as his word....best of luck & keep at it, coders.

[_Kharbon_]

...

You still didn't explain, why tracking down items and restoring them (while keeping the ingame progress) is impossible. You just explain what you would prefer.
As I repeat, it doesn't seem that NGD decided to do a simple roolback, because that would take place right after the hacking. Instead they ARE tracing back the trades & any damage done, as you can read on Gamesamba forums.
Since nothing was done for several weeks after the event, characters did make progress. Since they didn't have the equipment to war properly, they grinded/borrowed items. A simple roolback, as you suggest, would negate any effort they have made since.
Tracking all the trades could be done after the character restoration (too late for that now, as I explained), but NGD simply didn't choose to solve matters in that way. They seem intent on tracking down the items/trades.

[Lebeau]

You need to READ what NGD & I have actually said. I have NO further need to explain. It's ALL there in black & white. I NEVER said it's impossible. I SAID it is a related, but SEPARATE issue. Irrevocably tying these 2 issues entirely together is a numbnuts, fuck-all, dipshit methodology.

FIX the accounts 1st, THEN worry about investigating the ORIGINAL stuff later. PERIOD. They NEVER said they intended to rollback the ENTIRE server as u wrongfully ASSume. They DID say they intended to create a NEW rollback tool that allows them to rollback just a single account/toon. After they do so, they will fix our accounts. This INCLUDES spawning onto said accounts ALL things gained SINCE the hack as well. NOTHING would be lost. THIS is the official story.

Creating this tool IS taking longer than they originally had forecast, but since they have NOT put out ANY additional statements since then to contradict what they said b4, it is speculative ASSumption of the WORST kind to infer they quit THAT approach & NOW, intend instead to make all those cheated wait for months-&-months on end while they investigate this, audit here, reseach that, debit there like a bunch of mindless neurotic bean-counters.

I repeat, for the 4th time, "Hopefully, NGD truly has the good sense NOT to think at all like that."....

[HelpMeHelpYou]

You need to READ what NGD & I have actually said. I have NO further need to explain. It's ALL there in black & white. I NEVER said it's impossible. I SAID it is a related, but SEPARATE issue. Irrevokably tying these 2 issues entirely together is a numbnuts, fuck-all, dipshit methodology.

FIX the accounts 1st, THEN worry about investigating the ORIGINAL stuff later. PERIOD. They NEVER said they intended to rollback the ENTIRE server as u wrongfully ASSume. They DID say they intended to create a NEW rollback tool that allows them to rollback just a single account/toon. After they do so, they will fix our accounts. This INCLUDES spawning onto said accounts ALL things gained SINCE the hack as well. NOTHING would be lost. THIS is the official story.

Creating this tool IS taking longer than they originally had forecast, but since they have NOT put out ANY additional statements since then to contradict what they said b4, it is speculative ASSumption of the WORST kind to infer they quit THAT approach & NOW, intend instead to make all those cheated wait for months-&-months on end while they investigate this, audit here, reseach that, debit there like a bunch of mindless neurotic bean-counters.

I repeat, for the 4th time, "Hopefully, NGD truly has the good sense NOT to think at all like that."....

i thINK youR shIFt bUTton iS bROken YOu seEM to noT kNOw WhAT itS meANT foR.

[_Kharbon_]

You need to READ what NGD & I have actually said.
You are just contradicting yourself there, you still didn't explain anything. Here is the post, where you state, that the two "steps of restoration" are simultaneously impossible:
1) & 2) above are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE & need NOT be combined into just one VERY long & drawn-out single (& single-minded) process
Let me remind you about some posts on Gamesamba forums (http://www.gamesamba.com/forum/realms-online/), who cooperate with NGD on the issue. I noticed, you are participating in the discussions there as well.:

(...) we are working with NGD to get all of this resolved properly. Not just throwing items back in accounts without resolving anything. There are things that happen that we do not openly communicate to the public since it is not something that needs to be announced. When you hate on NGD about things that they are working with us to fix (...)(...)We are working on resolving the issues and tracing items, accounts, gold, trades, there is a lot to do. We don't expect you to understand what we need to resolve because you can't see what we can see. (...)We are going through all characters in all accounts affected.
You should not lose anything you do to your account right now

All of this supports my claims made here.

[Lebeau]

You are just contradicting yourself there, you still didn't explain anything. Here is the post, where you state, that the two "steps of restoration" are simultaneously impossible:There is no inconsistency or contradiction whatsoever & I've more than adequately expressed myself & explained everything. English isn't your native language is it? You are still densely making ASSumptions that ... just ... aren't ... there. While my suggestions are indeed personal preference, they are also just good business practice based on critical thinking & a common sense approach to customer service.

I never ever said the 2 things would be impossible to resolve together as one big single issue. I did say however that the 2 shouldn't be done together, that such was impractical, & that the 2 should be treated as if they are completely separate problems, each with it's own separate solution. That's simply because those hacked/cheated shouldn't have to wait any longer than necessary to play again. After the hack, present & ongoing security was/is primary, restoration of the hacked/cheated players' accounts was/is secondary, & the investigation of lost stuff (who has it all now & summary confiscations/whatever) was/is of tertiary importance & concern.

Any plan-of-'action' that keeps the hacked/cheated all waiting for far .... far .... far .... longer than what is absolutely required is as I said before, certifiably & needlessly "one VERY long & drawn-out single (& single-minded) process", "neurotic", "COMPLETE TOTAL BULLSH*T!", "a numbnuts, fuck-all, dipshit methodology" & "so anal-retentive & time-consuming & TOTALLY negligent/insensitive to the hacked/cheated customers, it borders on complete mindless insanity". I firmly stand by these assertions & think exactly the same now as I did then.

Concerning the GameSamba forum quotes, maybe, just maybe u r 'right' & the 'solution' u seem to have been insisting on (from your 1st post in this thread) as if it's the only possible way, has perhaps become what the official (yet unannounced) fixplan actually is now: to tie the 2 together as if they are but a single issue & eventually resolve both together .... someday .... maybe. I just don't know, but I repeat for the 5th & final time, "Hopefully, NGD truly has the good sense NOT to think at all like that.".

As u seemingly aren't able to grasp most of the finer points of nuance & distinction in the totality of what I'm really saying & also due to the very real possibility u r just feigning ignorance & goading me at this point, this will be my final answer to your 'questions' on this matter, Kharbon. Consider yourself fully answered with a full & fully logical explanation. Cheers....

P.S.: Oh, btw, did I do better this time with the shift key, HelpMeHelpYou? I do routinely & habitually capitalize for emphasis. Forgive the capitalization included in this post as well p & ty, but ALL (heh) of it is part of established "quotes", so I SHOULD (shoot me now) be held blameless for it this time, right? ;}

[_Kharbon_]

...
No, my native language is not english, no need to pick on that. Your English is far from perfect as well. After rereading what you said regarding the mutually exclusive events, I think I might understand what you attempted to say. You meant that you would like the events to occur one after the other (although that's what NGD is doing- they are first tracking down all the items, then proceeding to restore them, not the other way around as you suggest). The other way around it might be effective only if taken into effect right after the hacking. I don't see any advantage from the perspective of NGD or community right now. My reasons were stated before. Furthermore, NGD decided to solve it in a different manner, and that's my point. Although it might not be the fastest solution, it is better than any other one at this point in time. I would also like to assume, that it's the solution that NGD seemed to be the best.

I grasped all your "answers" and gave an according explanation why they are not entirely plausible. I also explained what steps NGD is most likely taking and why. Your "logical explanations" were not very clearly stated, and not quite logical, but I agree that we derailed this thread enough, and it's time to end this argument.

I Do believe, that NGD will solve everything in the best intention, and I hope it will be soon.

[magic_gandalf_007]

Reading a bit in this thread does disappoint me.
Two reasons for me to be disappointend:
- players attacking each other. Why ? NGD/GameSamba should fix this, who cares about who is right or wrong on what the approach should be.
- seems it is still not fixed 100%.

Problems are known for a month now and NGD/GameSamba did not fix it yet. Life is all about 'priorities' so to me it seems that NGD/GameSamba do not really care (otherwise priorities would have been different). A shame to my opinion.
Could have been really simple. Calculate costs/time to investigate an account. Cost for an account to high: give an account (a customer) the benefit of the doubt, treat them as a customer. Further, longtime (more then 1 week), investigation needed for investigation then give the customer the benefit of the doubt and make correction if the longtime investigation tells you the 'benefit of the doubt was not correct'.
The current attitude of NGD/GameSamba is, to my opinion, an attitude of 'I do not care about it'. It's a game players pay money for so responsibility by NGD/GameSamba should be in place.
For the record: perhaps i was lucky but my account was and is ok.

[Krungle]

News: Hater Slayer got his stuff back today. Watch out! He has taken names and now is going to take numbers.

The rest of you, please post when you get restored.

[_Kharbon_]

This (http://www.gamesamba.com/forum/post38788.html#p38788)was posted by Lilliyan on the official Gamesamba forum today:

Accounts have been restored that were affected by this case. I will be sending a ticket to everyone that submitted a ticket with us. Thank you all for being so patience and understanding.

So it seems, the problem is solved? :)

[Ricksa]

I got nothing back. I´m guessing NGD only put in the effort of getting GS accounts items back but not NGD ones.

[_Kharbon_]

I got nothing back. I´m guessing NGD only put in the effort of getting GS accounts items back but not NGD ones.
Yep, I heard a player saying the same - he didn't get his gear back on a NGD account.
As you say, it might be that GS accounts got sorted first..
I apologise for spreading false hope :/

[Lebeau]

Uhhh, pardon me, but are you firmly stating that some actually DID get their items back, Jar? Your wording sorta' infers that some did & some didn't. I haven't gotten ANYthing back. I haven't heard of ANYone hacked who HAS gotten their stuff back yet. Not even a single one. IF someone actually has, then that IS good news & THEY SHOULD POST IT! ... but if not, then it's high time NGD either came thru on it's promise to "fix this sh*t"GOOD NEWS!!! I, for one, got my hacked items back today & am now POSTING IT!

The fix turns out to be a spawn of all pre-hack items of all kinds into one's char. stash. If it got stolen, you got it back, & if it wasn't, you now have two of that item.

THIS took over a month?! .... Nevermind, my belated thanks regardless .... just glad to finally have my sh*t back .... well, most of it anyway.

No gold or wm coins lost were replaced, so GameSamba will be handling those issues. They said to submit a ticket if you had not recieved an email response informing you that your account has been restored btw.



/me is back in the saddle again, fully armed & operational... "FEAR ME!" (mount takes a spraying-monster-dump, gasps are heard & everyone steps back a pace or two & goes around an oblivious Lebeau).

:rolleyes: :what: :facepalm: :horsey: :eek: :huh: :rolleyes2:

"THAT'S RIGHT! GIMMEE' ROOM! ARRGGGHHHH..." (sees a target still backing away & notes to self) "...now if I could only kill at this range with ma' breath alone ... like Kang".

:viking:



P.S.: sorry RicksaR & other hacked NGD customers. I truly wish this hadn't been just another rainy-day-Monday for you.

[Recoil]

if it wasn't, you now have two of that item.
Jesus christ NGD just outNGD'd itself :facepalm3::facepalm3::facepalm3:

[andres81]

Awesome, like during 6 weeks they explained that it is taking soo much time because they can not just duplicate the items and have to track down any commercial activity and so on....
and now they just duplicate everything even if it was not robbed? :huh::facepalm3:

[Linuxmage]

Awesome, like during 6 weeks they explained that it is taking soo much time because they can not just duplicate the items and have to track down any commercial activity and so on....
and now they just duplicate everything even if it was not robbed? :huh::facepalm3:

Well, i guess they gave up on attempting to track the trades and working out compensation, the issue had gotten too urgent. So, they did the next best -- duplicate spawn the items back into inventories.

[Lebeau]

FOLLOW-UP: All pre-hack items that were in toons' inventories as well as in their character stashes got respawned into toons' character stashes. I noticed however, that none of the pre-hack contents of my account stash were respawned. I'm not sure if this was just in my case or if it was the overall methodology used for everyone affected.

POSSIBLE RESULT: If stuff got stolen from your account stash, u may not have gotten it back yet. Check & think....

(Nothing was missing from my account stash, so I'm good, but others may not be. I therefore post this to inform u all).

[Frosk]

GOOD NEWS!!!
The fix turns out to be a spawn of all pre-hack items of all kinds into one's char. stash. If it got stolen, you got it back, & if it wasn't, you now have two of that item.



I know you may be happy, but that's not a reason to start spreading incomplete info, since it may be misleading.

What has been done is basically back-up the inventories of those characters that, according to GameSamba, got affected by this issue.

Since directly applying the items to the character's inventory would end up overcoming its weight capacity, they've been added to the character's personal stash.

Regarding "duplicate" items, and those not understanding why would someone now have 2 items if it didn't got stolen, please understand that it would've been impossible to discriminate the "stolen" items from those that remained in the inventory, as well as those that got traded/destroyed.

This is because there's no possible way to actually make a difference between what was stolen and what was simply traded/given away, since the method to transfer the item from one character to another is by simply trading (/trade).
Imagine what would've happened if you traded something (say, 300 mags) to someone who got "hacked" and now that the victim got his items back, your hard-earned item just popped-off just to go back to its owner's inventory (and you don't get your mags back).

Anyway, since it has been confirmed that it affected mostly GameSamba users, and it was announced by GameSamba that this issue is over, I'll proceed to close this thread.

Best,