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(THIS WAS REPOSTED, SO THAT THE POLL IS FIXED TO AVOID MULTI-VOTING)
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I would like to start by introducing myself. I am an avid player of DBOG, having played both retail and the resurrection of the game, with hundreds of hours on my characters. I am truly grateful that the DBOG Team has brought the game I enjoyed back in 2013 to life once more.
Leading onto my topic of discussion, I will be discussing why we should have a wipe of DBOG's servers as previously done. I really hope this thread can catch the attention of the staff and that they feel free to put in any input. I don't wish to attack anybody on a personal level with this thread - my intent isn't to cause any drama, and to anyone who reads this or comments on this, I would wish for you to read the forum rules which can be found by clicking here.
My goal is to advocate why and how a wipe is crucial to DBOG's survival.
Once you have read the thread, here is a poll for a wipe or no wipe. Don't be ignorant - read the thread first (ITS IN TWO POSTS).
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The five main topics of discussion will include the following (although there are many more):
- Problems with the initial wipe on March 1st, 2018.
- Duplicators.
- DBO Black Markets.
- Evolving Botters.
- Unpunished Players.
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Let me start with problems with the initial wipe. When the wipe occurred on March 1st of 2018, content revolving the Level 70 cap were still accessible to players. This included BIDs, Recipes, Stones etc etc. Now, a solution to this was thought to have been put in place, by replacing all stones and other obtained items with boxes; but this has proved insufficient. I am not criticizing the actions of the staff, but for instance, take a look at the screenshot provided below:
Yes, this is from the current server. And no, it is not the only example.
This is an item that should not be obtainable until Level 70 is released, but as you can see in the image a player has their hands on it - because of the reason mentioned above. The item is of almost max stat, and is of a high upgrade of +13 which provides a 1000 defense bonus for both energy and defense. Keep in mind this is armour is for Namekians, who have won Budokai with +11 armour alone. Imagine how much of an advantage +13 would be!
Stats aside, it implies that once the server implements level 70, several players who have already unfairly prepared themselves before hand have an advantage on all sort of level 70 content. With a full-set akin to that, players will be able to win Budokai, run all the BIDs with ease all because the recipes were made readily available to them on accident.
This is not their fault, and because they may've invested resources such as upgrade stones and boxes into evolving this equipment it would be unfair to simply remove it from their accounts. We need a wipe to correct this unfortunate mistake, as the impact this will have on Level 70 will be devastating. Instead of trying to compensate those players if you were to remove these items, it would be much easier to provide a wipe, so everyone starts on a fair term.
As aforementioned, this is not the only example. Human gear of similar stats already exist in-game, and there was a Dex Level 70 jacket being sold on the auction house months ago.
Therefore, a wipe is necessary as players already have access to level 70 items. Items that are heavily upgraded and boxed too at that.
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Let me start by saying yes, this is indeed patched now, and has been for quite some time.
This probably had the biggest impact on DBOG, both at the time and for the future to come. Even though the bug is gone in the present day, the impact it has had is a stain on the current server and will continue to do so in the future. The only way to clean or get rid of this stain, is through the use of a wipe. Let me explain why:
During the summer months, specifically July-August there was a popular method of cheating within the Chinese DBO community. Not to say that all Chinese players are bug abusers, but this was specifically within that group of players. The bug involved a player putting an item into a Private Shop, using their alternate account with some sort of method which would then duplicate the item they have.
This essentially meant that the players could have an infinite amount of items, ranging from Dogis to CC Tickets to Stones.
A clear example is the image below, showing a banned player's private shop:
In the screenshot alone, that player could've made those 30 stones into 60, then into 90, then into 180 stones. And all it would take is less than 5 minutes of their time to produce what is now worth over 360kk (the hypothetical 180 stones).
This bug is the sole reason there is an increasingly large number of low prices and highly upgraded gear on the server at the moment. The upgrade system for example, is all mathematics. Everything comes down to percentages and chances. If you have 1000 stones, you have more than enough 'chances' to get success on an item, and the use of the duplication bug made that a reality. It resulted in the emergence of several, highly geared players overnight. You don't believe me? Take a look for yourself:
This is another banned player, whose name I have no use in mentioning. The thing about this player, is that thanks to that duplication bug their end-game gear was produced over night. That is how easy it is for the use of such bugs to absolutely destroy the game's worth and its economy - it is extremely unfair to all of those who have grinded for their gear, and the excessive amount of materials duplicated meant that things have/are being sold for extremely cheap.
I mentioned earlier that this is a irreversible stain on the server's future. I say this, because although several perpetrators have been banned for this act; the staff team aren't super human. Although I admire the hard-work and effort the staff team go through, they cannot catch every single one of these players with the use of the current client's monitoring system. As a result of this, several people who have used the duplication bug have items stashed away on alternate accounts, using VPNs and extensive methods to cover up their trade logs. Do you really want to grind your way up to having any worth in the 70 cap, just for abusers and buggers to come along and obtain months worth of work in an instant?
If we do not wipe, thousands of bugged items/accessories that have been duplicated over and over will make their mark on the 70 cap.
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Unfortunately, there are black markets within the game that have existed back even during the days of retail. These black markets have indeed been thwarted by the efforts of the DBOG Team, but it is not too hard to imagine that they still exist. Typical trade within these black markets include:
- Selling/buying of in-game currency.
- Selling/buying of in-game items using real-world currency.
- Selling of in-game accounts for real-world currency.
- Distribution of plug-ins.
All of these are forbidden by the DBOG Game Policy. For this reason alone, the existence of these black markets are a threat to DBOG's economy and stability, and have damaged it in both the past and the present. These businessmen can simply use game-breaking methods to obtain valuables in-game, sell it for real currency and then repeat the process. They have no regard for how DBOG's economy or playerbase is affected, and as a result we have several illegitimate accounts and items that have been made widely accessible to those who can afford or will risk it. If we were to wipe, they would lose all sell-able material such as items and accounts, and because they cannot reproduce these items their trade would be destroyed.
Do note that regarding this section, I cannot obtain concrete evidence myself as I am not involved in such business, so the rest is up to the DBOG Staff.
Here is an example of group chats where illegal trade occurs:
Worst of all, these illegal trades are not limited to outside applications, but can also be found in the main DBOG discord itself. This makes it evident that, once again, the stability of DBOG is threatened by such groups. I do not wish to target the following individual, so I have amateurishly edited out their username. However, it has become apparent to me that they are involved in the illegal trade within the DBOG Discord, and if staff were to go over their deleted messages it would be clear that they have said messages in the market place such as 'Selling Zeni! DM me' or something along those lines.
This screenshot is how they are offering to sell more zeni to a recent client whenever, after just doing so. To further iterate they are involved in illegal trade, here are screenshots of them attempting to buy several valuables. One may think that they are just wealthy, but if DBOG staff went over deleted discord messages by this user they would see how they have advertised their business in the marketplace channel. Furthermore, note how the timestamp when these messages were sent aligns with the peak of illegal activity during July-August:
To reiterate, a wipe is essential because of these DBO Black Markets. If we wipe, because the new client would be able to strictly monitor these players activities - and their methods of bugging have been patched, it would mean that markets such as these would be disintegrated and would no longer be able to effect DBOG.
