Artisan Archive

The changes on the Test Server to deter AFK sampling are nothing more than just a deterant and not a real stopper. WIthin about 5 minutes I had a simple macro created that had my character on the Test Server AFK Sampling just fine.

First of all ... the issue to deal with is the event dialog boxes that pop up at random times during sampling. You cannot continue sampling till you click on the dialog box. The events occur anywhere from the very second sampling pulse (had a couple that happened that fast) till about15 some minutes at the longest I went before one.

So I made a quick infinite loop macro that pulses only one Sample take and then stops ... then recycles right away. Since I never had the event dialog pop up on the very first sampling, I was able to go for a few hours without any problems before I got tired of the test.

Here is the macro .... you may need to tweak it to have your rest pause longer if you regen action/mind slower than I do.

/sam;/pause 2;/st;/pause 28;
/ui action toolbarSlot23;

Put the icon for this in slot 12 of row 2 of your icons. (Or change the slot number to match what you want).

The only "problem" with this macro is you are now a character that is just standing there with the occasional kneeling every 30 secs to grab a sample ... I felt like a Whack-A-Mole

Anyway ... thought I would mention this for those folks like me that like to fill out resources with AFK Sampling.

I hope you're wearing flame-proof clothing.

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Ghartan wrote:

The changes on the Test Server to deter AFK sampling are nothing more than just a deterant and not a real stopper. WIthin about 5 minutes I had a simple macro created that had my character on the Test Server AFK Sampling just fine.

First of all ... the issue to deal with is the event dialog boxes that pop up at random times during sampling. You cannot continue sampling till you click on the dialog box. The events occur anywhere from the very second sampling pulse (had a couple that happened that fast) till about15 some minutes at the longest I went before one.

So I made a quick infinite loop macro that pulses only one Sample take and then stops ... then recycles right away. Since I never had the event dialog pop up on the very first sampling, I was able to go for a few hours without any problems before I got tired of the test.

Here is the macro .... you may need to tweak it to have your rest pause longer if you regen action/mind slower than I do.

/sam;/pause 2;/st;/pause 28;
/ui action toolbarSlot23;

Put the icon for this in slot 12 of row 2 of your icons. (Or change the slot number to match what you want).

The only "problem" with this macro is you are now a character that is just standing there with the occasional kneeling every 30 secs to grab a sample ... I felt like a Whack-A-Mole

Anyway ... thought I would mention this for those folks like me that like to fill out resources with AFK Sampling.

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You're being far too paranoid Ghartan, the intent of the changes to Sampling is to make it more "fun", by making it more interactive so that it is not such a boring activity to do. They are not specifically "out to get" AFK macroers. If they were, it would be gone. :-)

Game Developers are all power-gamers to begin with - you can be sure they are familiar with all the basic macroing tricks available out there.

Bushwa

So you another one of the new kids who focuses on making things easier or looking for exploits?

Ya know, my kids do that.. they can't play the big boy games as intended so they make up their own rules to make it suit their abilities.

Sorry if it hurts.. but I'm just tired of the types who spend more time trying to cheat the game rather than playing the game AS INTENDED. It's because of people like this that the make the Dev's extra work, and cause changes to things that are GOOD in the game.

Thanks.

Hehe, my friend's kid has an Xbox, she says every time he gets a game the very first thing he does is go online and find cheats for the game. Before he even turns it on! I guess he practically cried when he found out there were no cheats for Halo. Is this off-topic? Yeah it is...but this is going to turn into a flame war soon enough so my post will get lost in the shuffle.

Don't be so quick to attack him. He's merely pointing out that if Sonys intent was to break the Sample Macro, they didn't do so. What ever the origional posters intent was, be it to just find a new way to keep macroing, or to point out Sonys flaw in their fix, it's this kind of information that Sony needs to eventually fix the problem.

There's a security mailing list called BUGTRAQ. Tons of exploits are posted daily to it. Some by wannabie hackers, some by real security professionals. Forcing developers to make a real fix is sometimes the only way to do it.

Fine, since you AFK macroers are going to get sampling nerfed for all of us (hey you're only doing it because the devs haven't specifically said that it's against the ToS) I am going to start training mobs across you until the Devs post specifically that it is against ToS.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Bianca Minola

First of all ... my intent of posting this was to make sure no one is surprised when AFK sampling continues after the change is made. WIth the simplicity of the workaround, I am convinced that the devs don't really intend for this to stop AFK sampling but rather provide something for folks to do while present during sampling.

And for the record, I have all the normal harvestors and such getting my main stuff. I mostly AFK sample for the odds and ends that I need since I feel the prices being charged on the bazaar do not warrant the price. But I do buy crates of some items (like metal fasteners) since I found someone that charges a reasonable price for them (Although most crates I make myself ).

Finally .... not sure you can train me while I AFK sample. The Devs wanted to make the game as "un-trainable" as possible so we tried very hard to train folks in beta to help the Devs put in measure to prevent training. Not saying it's impossible but the way the Hate List of mobs work in SWG is MUCH different than in games like EQ , AO or DAOC. Once a mob engages on a certain person, it will not switch targets due to proximity ... and once the person gets out of range, it should not reaggro on anything till it gets back to its starting place which will of course be very far from me. And with the auto-combat mode that kicks in when you are attacked, even being attacked doesn't scar me ... I don't think enough newbie mobs can attack me at once to even make a dent. *shrug*

Anyway ... already got the new macro programmed in for when this goes live. Biggest thing I don't like it is there is no way to do ANYTHING once it kicks in. Before, I could start my old macro and if I look in on my toon and see someone needing me to make something for them, I could stand and take care of business. But this would be a pain dropping to my knees every 30 secs

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Deef wrote:

So you another one of the new kids who focuses on making things easier or looking for exploits?

****

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Forgot to thank this person for the smile it brought my face ... I think I have socks older than most players of SWG ... heck I wasn't even a "kid" when the very first SW movie came out in '77

Seriously though ... my intent is NOT to cheat the system since AFK sampling is not a cheat (eg when I see someone banned for AFK sampling ... then I will change how it is classified). Right now it is a valid (but not desired) event that occurs in the game. I put this in the same category as the devs not like folks that grind to level but have some to accept that is will just be a fact of life in the game.

Bianca - you must really hate AFK-Samplers

Here's a bunch of people who are doing something that has not been indicated as being illegal activity, although many players frown heavily on it. And you would go so far to try and stop any of us from doing this that you would train mobs on us - a widely known, officially illegal activity in any MMORPG!

Just my opinion, but that is a pretty poor way of trying to prove your point.