IP check does NOT work for Europe

[Kamiyobu Momoko]

Currently, you have an IP check in place that is based on the assumption that everyone playing the game has a static IP address that never changes. This might work for the US if everyone there has a static IP address (no idea if they do, but apparently that's the case, or you wouldn't have come up with this idea).

 

However, for Germany and most other European countries, this does NOT work. Pretty much the only ones to have a static IP address that never changes are companies and institutions. Private persons generally DON'T have a static IP address, because that would normally cost a hefty premium, and there's no need for them to have one, anyway. Therefore, 99% of people playing your game will have a dynamic IP address which changes all the time - normally once every 24h, but that can vary a little bit. That means that you have to verify your IP address EVERY SINGLE DAY, which is a major annoyance. You also have to add it to the list, because if you don't, you'll have to verify your IP address EVERY SINGLE TIME you log in, even if it hasn't changed in the meantime, making a big annoyance even bigger. This however is creating another problem. Since your IP address changes every day, the IP address you validated yesterday will become UNTRUSTED, because someone else will get it. That means, you IP check doesn't make things more secure, but it actually makes things LESS secure.

 

Please, at least for Europe, come up with a different system. Relying on people having a static IP does NOT work if everyone has a dynamic IP that changes every day. You could e.g. log the MAC address of the PC for the account, and if it changes, the user will have to re-verify their account. Or you could use a hardware ID, generated from the hardware in use: cpu, mainboard, vga card, memory, hard disk(s). If any of those components change, the user will have to re-verify their account. A system like that would actually WORK, instead of just creating a major annoyance for all users.

[Sparkfear]

There are a lot of people, including me who have a static IP, I actually don't even know a single person who has a dynamic IP. (Yes I'm from Europe.)

What NCSoft could do is register a hardware ID....

 

Also this is not a bug report.

[Arisha]

On 03.06.2016 at 8:33 PM, Kamiyobu Momoko said:

99% of people playing your game will have a dynamic IP address which changes all the time

Never seen anyone complaining about that problem and Im with NCSoft for a looong time now so, I doubt 99% of players has dynamic IP :p
But anyway, Im totally ok for an hardware based system but meh, we all know how lazy NCSoft is.

[Kamiyobu Momoko]

22 hours ago, Sparkfear said:

There are a lot of people, including me who have a static IP, I actually don't even know a single person who has a dynamic IP. (Yes I'm from Europe.)

What NCSoft could do is register a hardware ID....

 

Also this is not a bug report.

At least over here in Germany, I don't know a single person who DOES have a static IP, because, as I said, you have to pay a hefty premium for it. Here's an article that's mentioning it: https://vpn-anbieter-vergleich-test.de/fixe-statische-ip-adresse-kostenlos/

Basically, either you order a static IP from your provider, which costs an expensive monthly fee, or you order a very expensive premium tariff (directed at businesses) which already includes it. The only other alternative, also mentioned in that article, is ordering a static IP from a VPN service. Those come in two flavours: either they're cheap/free and horribly slow, or they're expensive, and even the expensive VPNs are still slowing down your internet speed a good bit, which is a BAD ideas with games like this one, where internet speed and ping are very important.

 

For people with a dynamic IP, which changes all the time, IP checking IS a bug, because it does NOT provide any security, only a major annoyance from having to validate your IP address every day. Not only that, but it even provides security HOLES, because the next day, your previously verified IP address becomes UNTRUSTED, as it's given to someone else. Not adding the IP address to the list is also a BAD idea, as you would have to verify your IP address EVERY SINGLE TIME you log in, making the already big annoyance even bigger.

[Kamiyobu Momoko]

Here's an example from the German internet provider "unitymedia" showing that static IPs are ONLY offered for business costumers (here for "Office Internet" and "Company Internet" tariffs):

https://www.unitymediabusiness.de/statische-ip-einrichten.html