Think this topic deserves its own post don't you think @Fox?
Thanks to ***** I now know of this new hack/glitch people are using they can put Specials as normal attacks on ranked monsters, so 0 stamina and 0 cd maybe this is why some people think they get more specials against them in wars and pvp

@Marianne-van-Es said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

Think this topic deserves its own post don't you think @Fox?
Thanks to ***** I now know of this new hack/glitch people are using they can put Specials as normal attacks on ranked monsters, so 0 stamina and 0 cd maybe this is why some people think the get more specials against them in wars and pvp

I am not going to say how mad this makes me. It would get me kicked. The person that triggered this thread has an ENTIRELY hacked arena defense team. Their arena attack team is also hacked. I hope, I REALLY hope that SP can just ban the account. The player should be removed from the system if at all possible, so that these true abominations do not clutter up the arena or defend any islands in any future war.

I would hope that SP can come up with someway of identifying legit copies of their own game.

@Kaiju said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

I hope, I REALLY hope that SP can just ban the account.

SP have never done that in past for dealing with cheaters and hackers, why start now?

If I wasnt this mad I would laugh my head of, this hacker wants to get caught he has a Rasfeesh with Stamina Devoures and Charming Flutter, a Pandalf with Panda Wrath and Sabbat Ritual.

@Marianne-van-Es I have reported hackers twice with solid proof and nothing happened. One of the hackers I reported including his FB ID as he contacted us about joining our team. He is still out there and still has his roulette wheel hacked Lvl 130 Nexor....

... the sad truth is that SP doesn't care much about hackers and cheats, otherwise they would have long made some serious changes to the team race as well!

Edit: Guess what? ***** is one of the guys I reported 6 months ago to SP! Good luck getting rid of him now. I tried, believe me!

How is POSSIBLE that with all the proofs given SP does not ban him forever?????? The management is starting to be pathetic in this game.

@David-ML I think that most of the players agree with us that this is absolutely horrible and that this person(s) should be banned. That said I noticed that we all have different opinions about what is fair play, where do you draw the line and that is something we have to ask our selves (I had a small discussion with your lead about this on discord).
So maybe we have to ask the community what do it considers cheating, hacking, using glitches, gaming races or wars.

So ML gamers where do we draw the line

if sp didnt ban the player... it might be because they allow the bug to be exoloited by players for a while, until they fix the bug
just like :
pricing in team shop
misprice cells in dr viktor
duplicate warcoins, gold, food

@loony123 this cant be a bug this is a hack

@David-ML said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

... the sad truth is that SP doesn't care much about hackers and cheats, otherwise they would have long made some serious changes to the team race as well!

Unfortunately SP only cares when something becomes an absolute crisis and then their 'solution' is just about as bad as the problem. Does the last war coin issue ring any bells? As long as SP continues to push out untested crappy code, things like this will keep coming up and SP will always be in knee jerk reaction mode.

This is cheating pure and simple. I trust SP will work out how to stop it - and ban the cheats.

@C0ntr1v3d So how long does SP need to ban hackers 1 year, 2 years? They had over 6 months to find and ban this one plus the other that I reported back then. I can still supply the details of the other dude I reported. Still have his FB ID, even know which team he is in. He still has his hacked Lvl 130 Nexor from back then! You'd expect the minimum SP would do is remove that monster. The fact that these two guys are still in the game tells me that SP doesn't care and no sorry, they have lost my trust!!!

@Marianne-van-Es said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

So ML gamers where do we draw the line

I can live with minor glitches that don't give a game changing advantage, like say the birthday ticket glitch. An extra 200 gems for each player is bugger all in the great scheme of things. Creating new "race teams" to win the race with next to nothing resources and get 30 players a Lvl 115 monster again and again and again and again.... .....is unacceptable for me.

The war coin glitch that gave teams who exploited this several 10k's of extra war coins is another unacceptable glitch.

The cell shop glitch is probably borderline as you still pay a fair amount for your cells. It's like an extra discount and not a freebie.

That's my two cent worth on the recent glitches and exploits!

@David-ML I suspect it is an idiomatic misunderstanding. When I say "I trust that xyx", it means, I expect. In the sense of: this is what should be done. It is distinct from my saying "I have trust in xyz" which would reflect a degree of belief.

But in this instance, I am confident the issue is being actively looked into, right now.

@David-ML Spot On! I've reported a guy with no hatchery & epics/rares/commons/uncommons in his legendary habitats, 2 days later, lol, he's back playing again...@Marianne-van-Es , unfortunately, it's got nothing to do with what we, in the ML community consider to be acceptable as cheating/hacking, lol, it's SP's! If SP wanted to ban them, they'll ban them...these hackers/cheats are not just stealing from SP, but they're ruining the game for most of us. The only thing I see happening of late, is that SP seems to be rewarding cheats/hackers for the "great work" they're doing in all aspects of the game! Good luck to SP! Hope SP are thoroughly happy with themselves! SP rather carry on with their extremely popular "balancing changes"...easier to curb the honest players than ban the cheats/hacks, right...

Would be interesting to run a database query "Where not special slot skills = special skills"

@C0ntr1v3d LOL Contrived, I know what you were saying and I understand the meaning of "I trust that something will happen". I was just playing on the word 'trust' as SP have just about gambled away every last bit of it recently. And therefore I do not share your confidence that something will happen about this hacker, although there may be a glimmer of hope now that he has been named and shamed in the forum....

....just think about it. Remember when I first contacted you about this dude? In our war two of us got hit by these hacked skills. We both reported him with screenshots of him taking out X runed bases with 3 coins with his Lvl 5 and 6 runes (unfortunately I missed screenshooting his special move). I suppose you passed on my info, too. That's three reports. He kept on playing for over 6 more months. Do you think we would have been the only ones getting wiped by his 'special moves' since then. There must have been others reporting him since then. But he is still here. His PvP defence is 34/47. What are the chances that a few of the 34 ended up reporting him? Even if only one of 50 players encountering him ended up writing to SP, he would have a few dozen reports accumulated by now. So why is he still here??????????

@David-ML I believe it is understanding the mechanism so that it can be shut down that is more imperative than just banning. A watch and learn brief. And once the crack has been shut down, the cheats will be banned. I truly believe they are on it. I wish it were faster, but...

...I shall hold onto my glimmer of hope then ;) @C0ntr1v3d

@David-ML said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

@C0ntr1v3d So how long does SP need to ban hackers 1 year, 2 years?

My vote is permanent ban, but I understand that SP does not really want to turn away players. So what they should do is "Fix" the offending monsters. I think a random selection of skills would be a suitable punishment.

That said they also have to stop the exploit. There needs to be some way for the game to check that it is dealing with a validly defined monster. It will probably slow down the loading of the game, but so be it.

@Kaiju said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

My vote is permanent ban, but I understand that SP does not really want to turn away players. So what they should do is "Fix" the offending monsters. I think a random selection of skills would be a suitable punishment.

If you do that, you might as well as give them a couple hundred gems for the inconvenience.

@Keith-Romberg said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

If you do that, you might as well as give them a couple hundred gems for the inconvenience.

I am trying to suggest a possible solution that is fair but also is in line with their bottom line of making money.

On the other hand, your pessimism may start rubbing off on me. It would seem that if they are SO willing to tolerate cheaters, then there is little point in my trying to help them. I test software for a living, so I know at least a little about this. I would hope that they take serious, non-confrontational constructive criticism in a good way. That is my hope and why I continue to post here.

However, your other team-mate who reported the other person with a hacked account and they have NOT dealt with it in 6 months that DOES send a signal that they don't care.

As @C0ntr1v3d I also have hope this will be resolved strengthened by a couple of upvotes I noticed ;).
But I also hope we could get some more response on what's been done and maybe some more clearness on how they handle these kind of things like why is it taking so long, manpower, legal issues...Because maybe I'm naive (still) but I still think they want to ban this kind of things.
My naivety can be cured by this issue though but I really hope not

Here are a few shots from our first encounter with that dude. This was his base:

(screenshot removed)

This is Keith's base:

(screenshot removed)

And that's his battles against us:

(screenshot removed)

Just a wee bit suspicious!

Let me chime in and support this thread... I, as others have been, have been a victim of this cheater. I do believe SP want to fix it, but I think it needs this kind of attention to get it done... so well done guys.
Let's all hang on to Contols belief and see what happens...
Fingers crossed!
Swag

@David-ML His commons surviving when they are much lower than the defense team is close to impossible. I don't think I ever kept my common alive even if it was level 50 or 60.

Anymore I am going to keep an eye out for the names of the moves that are used. Normally I ignore that stuff and focus on what is happening to me, but I want to see if I can recognize a hacked monster when I attack it.

In case anyone was in doubt about what SocialPoint's official statement on cheating can be found in rule 7 of the forum

https://forums.socialpointgames.com/topic/4/forum-rules-and-guidelines

I think that can be safely extended to how they feel about players that use such hack and I hope that disciplinary action is coming quickly.

@Fox Can you please make sure that the appropriate people in SP are aware of this and in particular of the player ****** :{" who currently is fighting for *******...

...and it would be nice to get an update on this at some stage ;)

@David-ML said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

@Fox Can you please make sure that the appropriate people in SP are aware of this and in particular of the player ***** :{" who currently is fighting for *****...

...and it would be nice to get an update on this at some stage ;)

Yes I have to say I did some investigation (LOL) and he is new to that team so they are probably not aware yet about his "special" monsters

This is one reason why I think teams should be able to message each other, talk to his lead and possibly get him kicked. About all we can do now is privatize our teams and reject anyone using that name.

I am not ok with any of the Glitches, hacks, exploits or anything else that takes advantage of the game. It steals from the game and hurts other players no matter what way you look at it.

I skimmed through most of the opinions, and I'm pleased to see the community knows where to draw the line, I expect/wish SP does as well. Whatever my vote is worth, it goes for Sp to start erasing accounts. Individuals willing to hack and exploit game breaking (not changing, breaking) glitches deserve ban at minimum. Hackers are a disease, as such, should be eradicated.

Update on ***** :{ after one war he is out of *****, hope they kicked him before war ended. so lets keep an eye on him if he pops up again

I'm sure he'll find an open team and sneak in the back door unnoticed.

@Bruce-Hamilton said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

I'm sure he'll find an open team and sneak in the back door unnoticed.

We're Open Bruce! Maybe he will show up and we can give him a piece of our mind!

Thanks everyone for the feedback and the concern about this topic.

This player was banned and he won't be able to fight against anyone for long time.

About this hack, we are monitoring it and will do our best to keep outside of the game any user that take advantage of it.
If you encounter other players that might be using unfair battle systems, please report it to us!

I suggest to do it through the Support section in the game to avoid witch hunting in the forum :).
With the report try to include more info as possible, like nickname, team name and the details of the battle.

Thanks!

So is SP going to take a more active involvement with hackers? From past experience it seems that deal with them has not been a priority. The entire account should be deleted rather than banned for some period of time. If the consequences are not painful, there is no motivation for the hacker to stop or not try it again. Harsh public punishment is really going to be the thing that will curb this trend.

@Kaiju said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

My vote is permanent ban, but I understand that SP does not really want to turn away players. So what they should do is "Fix" the offending monsters. I think a random selection of skills would be a suitable punishment.

Not banning will turn away other players.

The one, fundamental, unbreakable rule in those games is: Players will spend money only if they get value for their money. If other players get the same stuff for free, players will be pissed and leave, or at least spend no more money. Thus, allowing cheaters to continue will drive off honest players.

@Tyroz I just fought another, name is ***** from team ***** He has at least a hacked Alex Bone. Used special skills only and got 10 extra turns and wiped my team, please ban him.

@Frunobulax I agree with you. That is why my vote is for a permanent ban, but it reality I have no vote. I just have an opinion. SP can do whatever they want and I don't think the opinion of a F2P player means much. I agree that people that pay money, their opinion REALLY matters, because they are the ones likely to stop spending money on the game.

@PredakingX said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

@Tyroz I just fought another, name is "[redacted]" from team "[redacted]" He has at least a hacked Alex Bone. Used special skills only and got 10 extra turns and wiped my team, please ban him.

I checked a couple of his arena defense and offense team and assuming the wiki is correct, it looks like ***** has at least the following monsters with skills that are not a part of their normal skill set:

His Alex Bone with the skills Mysterious Protector and Kyro's Vengeance.
His Totem has the skills Mysterious Protector and Final Judgement
His Exo Skeel has the skills Mysterious Protector and Static Shocks
His Pandaken has the skill Mysterious Protector.
His King Daeron has Paradox and Magicus Speculus

@PredakingX said in "New" Hack found for monsters specials used as normal attacks with ranked monsters:

@Tyroz I just fought another, name is ***** from team ***** He has at least a hacked Alex Bone. Used special skills only and got 10 extra turns and wiped my team, please ban him.

again Team is probably ignorant, fairly new to the team

@PredakingX
Thanks.
We are checking right now.

There is a Facebook page called Monster Legends Wall of Shame. I am going to try and encourage them to report to Social Point as well.

I am not sure how it got overlooked, but glancing through this thread I have seen player names and team names that can identify potential hackers. It is against the forum guidelines to post user information that can be used to identify a player and I will be removing that info.

There are several reasons for this guideline.

1. Someone innocent can be potentially labeled as a hacker when in fact they are advancing through the game through purchasing / spending...pay-to-win player.
2. Someone can be reported as a hacker out of spite launching an unnecessary "witch hunt".
3. (Most important) By publicly posting hacker information, you are putting yourself at risk of having your account hacked in retaliation.

Please, in the future, if you suspect someone of hacking, submit the information to Social Point via your in game link. You can find information on submitting bug reports in my signature line.

@LilCricketPa i agree with this for the most part but you ** away a name i thanked because he made us notice that this was a problem also because this post made a name public it helped to made people aware if you read al of the posts SP was already notified of the first player more then a couple of weeks ago also the second player who was mentioned was reported I agree absolutely that there most be no witch hound but I also want that we can be warnt and teams can be warnt of these kind of players because in both cases the teams weren't aware f these players so I suggest I somewhat public naming here

@LilCricketPa I see what you mean, I was unaware of the fact that that was not allowed. However, SP rarely writes players back with anything but an "Ok", Is it ok if we PM mods and managers as they are the people who we on the forums actually witness getting things done ?

@LilCricketPa Submitting the info to SP does zero good. Only until now when things have been brought to the obvious light for all to see, SP has taken notice. Things posted here where backed with obvious proof and not just some wild *** speculation. Everything posted here was well within reason.

@Marianne-van-Es The FORUM RULES AND GUIDELINES actually say spreading any personal identifying information about a player is not allowed. Even if you are giving thanks.

I understand that you would like to be warned about adding players to your team but look at it from other angles. From a company standpoint, you allow others to publicly list hackers. A hacker becomes angry and retaliates against those who identified them. Then the company bears some responsibility for the stolen identity or damaged computer system.

You also have to consider the implications of someone incorrectly identified as a hacker. P2W players are CONSTANTLY being accused of hacking, cheating, etc. Simply because their pockets give them an advantage.

There are also players who simply get a vendetta going against another player for whatever reason. What if you were the person being wrongly accused?

Someone on Facebook has created a group to identify the hackers. The information is out there. It just isn't SP publishing it.

@Keith-Romberg catching a hacker is not as easy as people think it is, and I have seen numerous times that SP has banned people for hacking. It is stealing from their company so to say they don't care is just not true. You may not see the results, but things are being done.