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About the Bot Report Function
Many of you are showing your concern on bots. Bots are a big problem to the developers as well because they interrupt game play and negatively affect the game's economy. The bot report function we added to the game can effectively ban bots if used properly, but we also have to consider the possibility of its abuse. Throughout time, we've been doing research on how we can minimize this abuse. We're going to explain our report feature in close detail and tell you what to keep in mind when reporting bots. First, not all reports hold the same validity. Each account has a value called "Report Influence Index." This value cannot be seen by players, but it increases whenever said account correctly reports a bot. If a user is reported repeatedly by others, that user is very likely to be a bot. In addition, if the reporter is an influential individual, their report is most likely valid so we can set a priority on which account to ban first. This is where the Report Influence Index (RII) comes in. In terms of numbers, a player with 10 RII has the same impact as 10 different players with 1 RII each when reporting suspicious users. Accounts with high report counts will then move to the next step of verification. Some have suggested using CAPTCHA, but that too, will be breached eventually. It puts needless restrictions on the players, so we are not considering its use. Instead, what we chose to use is a server-side classifier based on Machine Learning (ML) technique. The classifier uses the comprehensive activity log of a reported account to determine if it's a bot in percentages. We will not be revealing the classifier's exact mechanism, as it can be manipulated by violators to bypass the system. We train our classifier by constantly inputting new data. The fact that we can maintain its accuracy is its advantage, because we're going to manually determine which factors should be considered to identify bots. The classifier's accuracy depends on how we determine the behavior criteria, and we examine over 20 basic criteria. The machine showed 99% accuracy on our Korean server when we set the machine to output fewer false positives. If we set strictness value low, the classifier will detect more bot with lower accuracy and vice versa. An account that is deemed to be a bot becomes subject to restriction after a GM's additional confirmation. If that account gets banned, then all the users who reported that account gain one RII point. However, should the reported account be declared clean, the reporter's RII value will be negatively affected. The RII is not a simple difference between the numbers of accurate and inaccurate report counts, and the algorithm we use to determine the final RII value can be changed in the future. Therefore, you should not report bots if you're unsure of their offense. The system can backfire on you if you're not careful. For example, a player going afk while leaving a heavy object on the attack key has to be handled differently from regular bots. The classifier can deem the afk player innocent from looking at the honest play records, so afk players should not be reported using the report function as that will work against your RII. Lastly, if we're not absolutely sure the reported account is a bot, then it will not be banned and the reporter's RII will remain unchanged. We're going to keep examining and upgrading the system and do our best so bots will not ruin your play experience. Thank you for reading and have fun playing Tree of Savior.
For users experiencing a launch error after April 19 maintenance
Greetings, Saviors. It has come to our attention that some users are experiencing an error when trying to launch the game client after our weekly maintenance of April 19, 2016. We have provided a list of possible solutions to this error in our forums here: [LINK] The list will be updated as new solutions are found. SIncerely, IMC Staff [UPDATE] We have now patched in a hotfix that should allow you to play the game after restarting the client. Please let us know if you are still unable to do so.
Accounts Banned for Abuse (April 19th, 2016)
Hello, Saviors. We've identified and permanently blocked 1,394 bot accounts in the order from the most frequently reported. Additional 1,678 accounts that have manipulated the game client for exploiting purposes have also been banned. If you feel you have been wrongly banned, please report your case to us through the support page. Your reports will be used as important data for us. We do believe these bots are a major issue and will continue to do our best until the problem is solved. In addition, we are taking down the Founders Server : Exclusive Access 3 product temporarily until the bot issue is handled properly. Thank you for your cooperation. Sincerely, IMC Staff
DLC 3 Temporarily Off the Shelves
Hello, Saviors. We regret to say that our Founder's Pack : Exclusive Access 3 product has been temporarily taken down from sales due to abuse and exploit. This product will be available again once we resolve the bot issues. Thank you for your continued support. Sincerely, IMC Staff
Scheduled Maintenance and Patch Notes - April 19th, 2016
Greetings, Saviors!We would like to announce the details of our weekly maintenance. Make sure to check below for the maintenance schedule and patch notes.Please note that other issues and bugs are also being worked on even if they are not mentioned below.
How to test your ping to the EU and SEA servers
Greetings, Saviors! Many of you have been wondering about the new location of our EU (Fedimian) and SEA (Telsiai) servers in regards to ping and how it will affect your gameplay. For this reason, we have set up an echo server in each region to allow you to test your network response time to each server with a simple ping test. Below are the details of each server: Fedimian region (Frankfurt) IP: 52.29.228.194 Telsiai region (Singapore) IP: 52.77.112.61 How to perform the ping test: 1) Open a Command Prompt window (press the Windows key + R) and type in `cmd`, then press Enter. 2) After C:\>, type in `ping 52.29.228.194 -t` or `ping 52.77.112.61 -t` and press Enter. You will see your network's response time to the server counted in ms. We hope this will help you with your decisions regarding server transfer applications. Remember that, if you wish to transfer to a different server, you can submit your application until the 24th of April, 2016, through our official Support page. Also, if you haven't yet, don't forget to read our announcements regarding the upcoming server transfers. Server Transfer - Now Taking Requetss: [LINK] Server Transfer Details and Conditions: [LINK] Sincerely, IMC Staff
On the State of Server's Economy
Hello. Today on the Developer's Blog, we would like to address a few rumors circulating the forum. While we were working on recent issues related to Steam's payment system, we came across a post with a screenshot of a user owning two or three hundred million silver. Some of you commented that it was demotivating. The payment abuse and that screenshot have been reported to a certain Korean website as well and an article came out stating that Steam server has serious problems. Some users even say a server wipe is needed. Is it necessary? You might wonder. A short answer would be ‘no.’ First, the screenshot is simply not true. We can look through our server database and figure out the actual amount of silver the account in question owns, what the user traded, and the movement of silver on each server. We can even identify which top 100 accounts possess the most silver. We can identify daily changes of total amount of silver. It turned out the user in the screenshot only owned less than a hundredth of the alleged amount. Due to the nature of MMORPGs, data in the game client can easily be altered. We believe that screenshot is also a result of such practice, and the change only appears on the user's own screen. This altered data doesn't get transmitted to the server that deals with monetary transaction, meaning the game's economy isn't affected. Contrary to what some users pointed out, the TP obtained through transaction exploit is irrelevant to the silver increase in the game. Even if abusers purchase and sell Tokens using the TP they unfairly gained, it does not generate new silver. The silver simply moved from one account to another during the transaction. During those transactions, actually total amount silver decreases due to 10% market fee. This may have influenced silver's RMT value or Token-to-silver ratio, but we have confirmed that it did not affect the total amount of silver circulating the servers. We take economical stability seriously, and our GMs monitor the statistics every day. Whenever we make systems related to trades, we make sure to check for possibilities of the damage they may do to the server's economy. We plan to explain the bot problem and the report system we made to counter it in our next blog post. Thank you.
Server Transfer Details and Conditions
Greetings and Salutations Saviors! The long awaited Server Transfer is upon us, and details about the service can be found below. Please read carefully to avoid any misunderstandings as the transfer process will not be reversed once it is completed. You must also consent to the 'Terms and Conditions of Service' in order to be eligible for the transfer. [Server Transfer Availability] [Terms and Conditions of Service] I have read, understood and agree to the conditions and policies of the service. I agree to perform the necessary tasks to meet the prerequisite conditions. I understand that I will not be eligible for the service if any of the prerequisite conditions are not met. I accept that I will not be able to make an objection to the service after the Server Transfer has occurred if the data warranted by the guarantee has not been corrupted or tampered with in any way. [Prerequisite Conditions and Policies] If there is a pre-existing team on the destination server, the pre-existing team will be deleted and replaced with the transferred team. Please keep in mind that the deleted team cannot be restored. You cannot apply for the server transfer service while logged onto the game. The transfer will take place after all the requests in a given time period have been sent to us and during the actual transfer, the servers will be down temporarily. At a laster date, the location of Fedimian (EU) and Telsiai (SEA) servers will be moved to Germany and Singapore respectively. Depending on where in NA, players playing from NA may experience poor connectivity if they decide to transfer to one of the regional servers. The transfer cannot be reversed nor cancelled once the process is completed. Friends list : Will be reset Guild / Party : Leaving or disbanding a guild is required to apply for the server transfer service Market : You need to retrieve all of your items in order to apply for the server transfer service. This applies to both items you listed to sell and items you bought from the market [Additional Details] The Server Transfer will NOT CHANGE the following Team Name Lodge Message Lodge Theme Character Slots Companion Name Level and EXP TP Token Benefits Class Quest Stat Skill and Attributes Map Exploration Rate Likes Adventure Journal Title and Achievement Collection Team Battle League Score Silver Equipped Items Inventory Team / Character Storage If you have any questions regarding the service, please let us know. As always, we thank you for your continued enthusiasm, support and love for Tree of Savior. Sincerely, IMC Staff
Changes regarding trading restrictions, bot policy
Greetings, Saviors! We’ve been listening to your recent feedback regarding trading restrictions and bot presence in Tree of Savior, and would like to announce some changes we’ll be making to improve your in-game experience. 1) Less Trade Restrictions As mentioned in previous announcements, the trade restrictions were implemented to address RMT issues. However, based on your feedback, we have determined that it may feel a bit too high-handed. As such we have decided to implement new measures to reduce the inconvenience of trading restrictions on non-Token users in order to reduce trading restrictions on regular users. We are planning on allowing Non-Token users to partake in 1:1 trading. However, we are not yet certain how we will implement this new system. More details will be released as soon as they have been decided upon. The changes are intended to remove restrictions to players who may not be Token users but wish to help out or give class restricted items to other players. We also hope this will dissuade bots from collecting items through farming. 2) Bot Report Function We wish to continuously strive towards reducing the bot problem and provide better gaming experiences for normal players. As such, we are working on implementing the much requested bot report function. Not only that but we’re also developing and testing a system to detect bots faster. Through the reporting system, you will not only able to select and report suspected bots, but you will also be able to report items in the market suspected of being part of RMT (e.g. low-value items sold at unusually high prices). Through this system, GMs will be able to catch more bots by prioritizing and reviewing cases reported by users. However, we know that this system can be misused or even abused and are in the process of polishing rules to regulate the system. We wish to provide merits to those who accurately report bots, and penalize those who misuse the system to report innocent users. This will most likely be a constantly updated set of rules since there will always be different cases. As always, we thank you for your continued support, understanding, and enthusiasm for Tree of Savior. Sincerely, IMC Staff