Maybe It's Just Me

[Daggerpaw1]

I don't know how to quote cross-post lol, but I'll try.

 

From Community Manage Liinxy:

 

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As you may have noticed with a recent update, the previous nProtect anti-cheating/hacking software we used has been replaced by XIGNCODE3. As with any new feature we’re constantly collecting feedback, any reported issues, and working to address them as quickly as possible.

 

 

 

 

If you've experienced any issues with running or playing the game since the update, we ask that you visit a report thread and fill out the template we’ve created to collect more information. In addition, we do still want you to contact our Customer Support team so we can track your issue and work with you to try to find potential issues we can work to resolve on our end.

 

 

 

 

For those of you following along closely you may have been aware we were looking into alternate solutions to detect uses of cheats and hacks, and XIGNCODE3 is that solution. We take cheating in our games very seriously, and thoroughly tested and vetted XIGNCODE3 before implementing it.

 

 

 

Nevertheless, we've seen some concerns over what it is and what it does. There’s a lot about how it works that we won’t disclose as it’ll provide an insight for cheaters/hackers into our processes, but we can say is that it is run as a service at game launch and while playing (no software is installed), it does not collect any personally identifiable information we don’t already have from when you registered your NC account, it does not continue to run after the game is closed, and its only purpose (much like nProtect before it) is to monitor the Blade & Soul game client and any hacks or cheats that are attempting to be used with it.

 

 

 

 

We’re looking forward to continuing to refine our methods of detection, and your help and assistance to ensure Blade & Soul is a game that supports a spirit of fair play.

 

Maybe it's just me, but shouldn't the experience of the player come first? That is the reason to prevent hacking, after all. All you have to do to figure out that Xigncode3 is a problematic choice is google Xigncode3. People hate it in BDO, and have hated it since 2015.

 

Although, I get that NC might have wanted to experiment with Xigncode3 if they really thought it was the best, most reliable security answer for Blade & Soul, now that we have players complaining about ping issues with the system, isn't it time to start looking for an anticheat system that provides players with a more reliable experience, or a way to circumvent the current issues?

 

In a game where DPS is heavily based on latency from both your computer and the server, and you have people spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to make sure that their DPS is sufficiently high, it seems like a shaky decision to compromise that with a new update that introduces a new layer of ping that players cannot bypass. One of my friends from Singapore, who relies entirely on WTFast to be able to have any decent sort of ping, is experiencing numerous ping problems that were simply nonexistent before the introduction of the "next generation" of gaming security. On top of that, I was not aware of any immediate issues prior to the introduction of Xigncode3 that would prompt the need to switch to this new, invasive security system. 

 

Now that the issue is out, what measures, if any, should the community push for to get this latency issue solved?

 

Do you believe that Xigncode is here to stay, ping scandal and all, or do you think that the player base has the influence to change it? Or maybe this is a minority issue, who knows.

 

 

[Kami Sama]

Honestly there is no logical reason for them to implement these client-side "anti-cheats".

A great analogy I saw someone else say about NC's decision to switch from gameguard to XIGNCODE3, is that it's basically like choosing between which foot you wanna shoot.

 

All it does is cause problems for legitimate players and force them into using similar methods to hackers so that they can simply play the game.

That is literally the one single thing that we can say these anti-cheats 100% definitely accomplish.

Sure, there's lots of people who it might not cause issues for, but there is undoubtedly a LARGE amount of the playerbase who has had their game performance negatively impacted by XIGNCODE3, just as with gameguard.

 

Basically you have 4 groups of people in this situation:

 

Hackers/cheaters: these are the target of the anti-cheats, however they simply bypass it because it is client side and use whatever cheats they want, also in general will have a better game performance than many legitimate players due to not being bogged down by the anti-cheat doing its stuff.

 

Unaware Players: usually are very casual players or ones who just don't put a lot of focus and effort into being a "skilled" player at the game. their game performance may be negatively impacted by the anti-cheat, but they just won't really notice since they don't try to push their usefulness ingame to the limits. Ignorance is bliss :)
 

Unaffected Players: these are players who are unaffected by the anti-cheat, it has no issues with their system and they see no problem with it. Truth be told though, that anti-cheat isn't doing anything FOR them, it's just not doing anything that hurts their game enjoyment either (unless they have friends from the affected group who are quitting). This group often seems to believe they live in some strange alternate reality where every other person who owns a computer has the exact same computer hardware/specs as they do, and frequently act like anyone who says they are from the 'affected players' group must be a liar.

 

Affected Players: these are players whos game performance is negatively impacted by the anti-cheat. If they are new to the game, they will most likely just find a new game to play. Players that have invested more effort and time into the game won't want to just leave all that investment behind due to a bad decision by NCSoft that might be reverted in the future (hopefully), so rather than quit, these more invested players will end up resorting to the same methods as the hackers/cheaters (bypassing the anti-cheat) just so they can play the game normally and enjoy it.

 

 

Out of those 4 groups, only one is really impacted by the anti-cheat, and it isn't the hackers/cheaters.

 

If they even have a way to detect it, NCSoft can't just ban anyone bypassing the anti-cheat, or they'd be banning a HUGE amount of otherwise legitimate players.

Players who would all be 100% legit if it wasn't for the anti-cheat in the first place, and are only bypassing it because they have to so that they can play the game, be it either people who have to for non-abysmal game performance, or people who literally can't even open the game at all unless they bypass the anti-cheat. 
"Hey we just put in this new feature that makes it so you can't play anymore. But if you do anything so that you can still play, then we'll ban you" yeahhhhhh no, that aint gonna happen.

I mean, why be afraid of being banned for bypassing the anti-cheat just so you can play the game, if the alternative is equivalent to being banned anyways (not being able to play).

 

Anyway, TL;DR, the anti cheat does nothing but cause problems for (some) legitimate players, no other group is affected by it.

like the thread poster said, the experience of the player should always come first, and NCSoft has either got it backwards or are just so ignorant to what their playerbase has been saying since beta with gameguard that they actually believe these client-side anti-cheats do more good than bad.

[BlueBunnay]

You may not be able to tell if you didn't read Bethy's post, the one you copied and pasted, but I believe the team is doing their hardest to give us players the best experince. That's why they made the decision to do something about it. Based on previous complaints they finally went with something else. Now if there is a problem with this one simply report it to them and Nico will have to sleep under his desk again. x_x rip in peaces nico

[Sinnaru]

To be honest, at least in my case, ever since XIGNCODE3 was implemented, my fps in BT raid has gone down to the point that its unplayable, with gameguard it used to be like 15-20fps~ during bursts at 1st and last boss, now with XIGNCODE3 it goes down below 10fps.

[tcodex1]

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Nevertheless, we've seen some concerns over what it is and what it does. There’s a lot about how it works that we won’t disclose as it’ll provide an insight for cheaters/hackers into our processes, but we can say is that it is run as a service at game launch and while playing (no software is installed), it does not collect any personally identifiable information we don’t already have from when you registered your NC account, it does not continue to run after the game is closed, and its only purpose (much like nProtect before it) is to monitor the Blade & Soul game client and any hacks or cheats that are attempting to be used with it.

They won't disclose? Please, XIGNCODE3 has been talked about since 2015 or before that. Its been problematic since that year and yet they went ahead and used a "FAULTY" so called anti-cheat program? It intrudes on peoples privacy, has the ability to scan file names on your PC (major privacy intrusion). Sure they claim it won't run after exiting the game but take a look around, multiple sources claim that it does.

 

Ever since XIGNCODE3 I have noticed frame-drops on my end as well. I have a beast of a machine but dam, XIGNCODE3 just kills the BNS experience. I won't quit simply due to some drops of frame-rate but NCSOFT needs to look elsewhere for a anti-cheat program.