Cheater Account Purge

GrizzoMtGPQ

When are the cheat accounts going to get purged? What could possibly take this long to investigate?

Can @brigby or @alve please get a status update? Yet again the cheating name removed account denies prizes to legitimate players. This is seriously threatening the legitimacy of this game.

Or at least we know that there are only 4 Mythics up for grabs from now on. Soon 3 as the cheaters proliferate.

Edited // Alve

Alve

Please, refrain from pointing fingers in public. Any accusations against a specific person should be discussed with an appropriate person in private.

I cannot provide you with any information regarding any anti-cheat solutions, not being a part of the dev team and all that.

losdamianos

what about posting screenshots of qb leaderboards where individuals are gaining over 300+ per hour without pointing fingers at any particular nickname.
Is that also prohibited or allowed ?

Morphis

losdamianos wrote:

what about posting screenshots of qb leaderboards where individuals are gaining over 300+ per hour without pointing fingers at any particular nickname.
Is that also prohibited or allowed ?

Pointing fingers at anyone on the forum is strictly forbidden.
Especially pointing fingers at developers lack of skill.

Alve

losdamianos wrote:

what about posting screenshots of qb leaderboards where individuals are gaining over 300+ per hour without pointing fingers at any particular nickname.
Is that also prohibited or allowed ?

I don't see anything wrong with just posting screenshots - you scored X and that's a fact, not an insult. I'd argue that posting a screenshot with a question about the legitimacy of some scores still gives players an opportunity to defend themselves (or to be defended), but that'd be judged on a case-by-case basis, depending on the situation and the direction the discussion takes. But anyone can come here and say 'losdamianos, that cheat'.

Plenty of legit players have been accused of cheating at some point, simply because their scores are difficult to comprehend by less skilled or less hardcore players. It brings nothing to the discussion and will only lead to unnecessary witch hunts. I try to avoid censoring posts, but publicly posting in the forums is not a way to report cheaters and such threads will be removed. If you feel that someone is being accused of cheating or any unfair practices, please, report that post. I read everything in MtGPQ forums, but things can escape my attention.

It's difficult to take any actions based on circumstantial evidence (screenshots), since the estimates of maximum possible score for a human player vary from around 150/h to as much as 300/h, depending on whom you ask (I've asked around). What one person reports as an obvious cheat might seen legit to someone else. If there's any chance, even a slim chance, that a player is legit, banning them would be unacceptable.

I'd like to remind you that Brigby recently confirmed that an anti-cheat system is being worked on. I wouldn't expect an overnight solution though. I understand your frustration (we'll all frustrated), but try to be more patient.

Morphis wrote:

Pointing fingers at anyone on the forum is strictly forbidden.
Especially pointing fingers at developers lack of skill.

Morphis, your comment was inflammatory and unneeded. Constructive criticism is always welcome, insulting others, be it devs, other players or people from outside of our community - is not. Please, watch your tone and avoid publishing unnecessarily provocative posts that can only lower the quality of a discussion. Thank you.

Morphis

Alve wrote:

Morphis wrote:

Pointing fingers at anyone on the forum is strictly forbidden.
Especially pointing fingers at developers lack of skill.

Morphis, your comment was inflammatory and unneeded. Constructive criticism is always welcome, insulting others, be it devs, other players or people from outside of our community - is not. Please, watch your tone and avoid publishing unnecessarily provocative posts that can only lower the quality of a discussion. Thank you.

Thanks for proving my point

The user received an official warning for lowering the quality of this thread with inflammatory posts. Since it was his second warning in a 90-day period, he was also given a one-day ban. //Alve

losdamianos

Alve wrote:

to as much as 300/h,

pic or didnt happen

ErikInVegas

Please compare wins needed to top the leaderboard to possible games given how long it takes to display just a few animations per game.

Ahem.

(this problem stands out in many games)

Alve

losdamianos wrote:

Alve wrote:

to as much as 300/h,

pic or didnt happen

Killwind (who agreed to be my official source on that btw) routinely scores 220/h, a few others can achieve 250/h. That's players who we know are human and legit. It's reasonable to assume that someone can go faster - if we're talking about banning people solely based on scores, we can't just say that he's a cheater because he scores more than we do. So when I talked to Killwind we established that 300/h is a reasonable upper limit for a human player (as if - anything above that would be conditioned cheating, period). Other people have decided that around 150/h is the maximum and reported scores like 264/h. I'm not trying to judge who's right and whether the upper limit should be 150, 250 or 300, just saying that opinions differ and banning a player is a serious thing. So just sending scores, unless they're completely out of this world, is sometimes not enough.

I will not comment on any other tools that can be used to track cheaters, whether they exist or are beingn created - mostly because my area of expertise is banning Russian spamers, giving warnings, moving threads and telling people to calm down. Not resolve technical issues

bk1234

Morphis wrote:

losdamianos wrote:

what about posting screenshots of qb leaderboards where individuals are gaining over 300+ per hour without pointing fingers at any particular nickname.
Is that also prohibited or allowed ?

Pointing fingers at anyone on the forum is strictly forbidden.
Especially pointing fingers at developers lack of skill.

There's a tactful way to do this and an abrasive way. Constructive criticism is always going to take your further.

losdamianos

Alve wrote:

losdamianos wrote:

Alve wrote:

to as much as 300/h,

pic or didnt happen

Killwind (who agreed to be my official source on that btw) routinely scores 220/h, a few others can achieve 250/h. That's players who we know are human and legit. It's reasonable to assume that someone can go faster - if we're talking about banning people solely based on scores, we can't just say that he's a cheater because he scores more than we do. So when I talked to Killwind we established that 300/h is a reasonable upper limit for a human player (as if - anything above that would be conditioned cheating, period). Other people have decided that around 150/h is the maximum and reported scores like 264/h. I'm not trying to judge who's right and whether the upper limit should be 150, 250 or 300, just saying that opinions differ and banning a player is a serious thing. So just sending scores, unless they're completely out of this world, is sometimes not enough.

I will not comment on any other tools that can be used to track cheaters, whether they exist or are beingn created - mostly because my area of expertise is banning Russian spamers, giving warnings, moving threads and telling people to calm down. Not resolve technical issues

Thanks! finding a human limit is only a step one as potential cheater could quickly grind 250pts and rest for the next 45 minutes in an hour when others are genuinely grind QB
I suggest pinging D3 server while in battle to verify legitimacy of apk, when you start battle everything is processed offline hence hacking is possible...

I've faced Killwind few times and its possible to keep up with him
especially if you know him personally and can distract him in real life while grinding QB so you can overtake him, not that I know him but it would be good idea to gain advantage

Also just because you can win a match in less than a minute it doesnt mean you can keep it doing it consistently sooner or later you will face liliana/jace2/kiora lock down decks and you get stuck for 10-20 minutes sometimes

James13

I really don't like QB in general. The investment to place toward the top doesn't feel worth the nonstop playing. I'm usually happy with a 150+ when I do go for it toward the end of a bracket, but depending on luck it's not doable sometimes.

The only reason I'm commenting here is because when I DO "go for it" I use an android emulator on the computer and don't use my phone. It speeds up performance subtly, but quite noticeably overall. Probably shooting myself in the foot by sharing it, but there you go. Allows you to eke out a little better "pph" or whatever the term is people are trying to coin here than if I were trying to do it on my phone.

madwren

losdamianos wrote:

Also just because you can win a match in less than a minute it doesnt mean you can keep it doing it consistently sooner or later you will face liliana/jace2/kiora lock down decks and you get stuck for 10-20 minutes sometimes

That's what the Quit button is for.

bk1234

madwren wrote:

losdamianos wrote:

Also just because you can win a match in less than a minute it doesnt mean you can keep it doing it consistently sooner or later you will face liliana/jace2/kiora lock down decks and you get stuck for 10-20 minutes sometimes

That's what the Quit button is for.

Speed or streaks-- you can't have both. (Hashtag 85%4Life)

madwren

bken1234 wrote:

madwren wrote:

losdamianos wrote:

Also just because you can win a match in less than a minute it doesnt mean you can keep it doing it consistently sooner or later you will face liliana/jace2/kiora lock down decks and you get stuck for 10-20 minutes sometimes

That's what the Quit button is for.

Speed or streaks-- you can't have both. (Hashtag 85%4Life)

Word, sister.

losdamianos

madwren wrote:

losdamianos wrote:

Also just because you can win a match in less than a minute it doesnt mean you can keep it doing it consistently sooner or later you will face liliana/jace2/kiora lock down decks and you get stuck for 10-20 minutes sometimes

That's what the Quit button is for.

quiting is for losers

madwren

losdamianos wrote:

madwren wrote:

losdamianos wrote:

Also just because you can win a match in less than a minute it doesnt mean you can keep it doing it consistently sooner or later you will face liliana/jace2/kiora lock down decks and you get stuck for 10-20 minutes sometimes

That's what the Quit button is for.

quiting is for losers

While I admire your pluck and willingness to spout cliches in response to my helpful explanation, it doesn't change the fact that I provided an accurate reason why people can, indeed, keep doing it consistently (although you insisted otherwise.)

Mainloop25

Here's a cliche to match his cliche: Lose the battle, win the war

DuskPaladin

I'm also a QB regular, constantly facing other "speed demons" like Grizzo, Yunnnn, Adman, Summonghost, Morphling, etc. In my experience, we are all at about the speed of 150 pts/hour. Usually, who wins is due to better luck or persistence at this point. We're usually toe-to-toe for most of the race. I find it really difficult to believe that some people are going at 220 pts or more/hour.

I know that I consistently win QBs against other speed demons at that speed of about 150 pts/hour. (and we're talking "sprints here, not marathons) I can't any players able to race someone going at such insane speed as 220-300 pts/hour.

Maybe other speed demons can confirm or deny that claim?

I'm not saying that like "hey, it's impossible to go at twice my speed, while there could be other explanations like I'm a newer player and haven't personally won any QBs". I've won plenty of QBs with this speed, against other well-known players going at that speed.

If Killwind can go at that speed, congratulations for him. That's really impressive, he must be the fastest legit player that I know of, but then, his very top speed should be set as the maximum speed humanly possible, that's really unlikely that after that, it could be possible to reach even more pts like 250-300 pts/hour. You shouldn't add more "possible achievable pts" to someone who's already the fastest.

Could we get some screenshots, though? And how constant was it? During how long? Or was it more of an extrapolation?

Because then, this could raise another question, should emulators be allowed, if they permit you to go at twice the usual higher speed. (I'm only playing on my phone, which I suppose is the case of most players.)

I described in another thread already some ways to spot the cheaters. And If was going at 200 pts or more/hour. I would understand why others would think that I might be cheating, and I wouldn't mind the devs investigating my case, knowing that I'm legit. But hopefully, they'll be able to catch real cheaters that way.

Brigby

Hi Everyone. I've brought this topic up in our most recent discussion with the team in regards to a course of action for this situation.

For those of you who believe you have encountered a potential cheater, please send in a support ticket to report them. Customer Support will be able to work with Hibernum on investigating those accounts and applying appropriate action. Thank you!

James13

DuskPaladin wrote:

Because then, this could raise another question, should emulators be allowed, if they permit you to go at twice the usual higher speed. (I'm only playing on my phone, which I suppose is the case of most players.)

I don't think an emulator lets you change the app speed, does it? I'll admit I never looked into it.

The main advantage I find is that loading times seem a bit faster, animations smoother, no stuttering and pausing like I see on my phone. I think it's a factor of the computer hardware being extremely better than even higher end phones. I'd estimate it gives me maybe a 3/4s of match time I get on my phone doing the exact same thing, just with better hardware.

Since I don't really go for QB that often anyway I guess making this general knowledge will actually hurt my chances a bit, but oh well. No modifications needed to go faster, just better hardware for the app itself.