AoC Demonologist exploit fixed in recent patch

by Shawn Schuster May 26th 2008 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Fantasy, Age of Conan, Bugs, Classes, Exploits, Forums, Game mechanics, New titles, Patches

How long has Age of Conan been out? Like 3 hours? Okay, it's been a week, but still. Players have already discovered a way to exploit a bug and powerlevel their Demonologists to level 80 in that brief time. This is both a testament to the genius of MMO players, and a sign of our complete lack of anything better to do. Apparently, the problem lied in the player's ability to stack certain spells repeatedly and insta-kill mobs. The first person to claim this feat reportedly posted screenshots, a movie and several emails to the GMs explaining his procedure, in hopes of getting it fixed soon. He claims it took him 4 days and 12 hours of in-game time to reach level 80.

So now that we have this update fixed by Funcom, the real question is, what will they do with those who exploited the bug and have level 80 Demonologists running around already? Should they delete those characters, bump them down a few levels, or resort to something more severe like temporary or permanent account banning? I'm sure not all players who are level 80, or even in that vicinity have exploited this bug, so it will be interesting to see how Funcom decides to handle this one.

Tags: age-of-conan, aoc, bug, bug-fix, demonologist, exploit, funcom, patch

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Malixu said on 4:43AM 5-27-2008

Leaving the characters is NOT an option. If Funcom can determine where they started exploiting the bug, then reverting them back to that point would work. Failing that, deletion is probably the best answer. A week ban would probably also not be out of line.

Ghen said on 6:49AM 5-27-2008

This question has been asked before in just about every game you can imagine. The reality is there is only one good answer, delete the hacker's characters. Make them start over. Yes they will bitch and complain and moan but if they like the game they will continue to play. If you leave the 80's in game not only will it piss off the rest of the community but soon the 80's will be screaming that there's no high level content and that they're bored. This will piss off the community as well as make those high levels leave the game entirely.

It takes balls but its the only way. Proven time and again with other MMOs.

GRT said on 8:45AM 5-27-2008

Agreed. It seems pretty trivial to compare character level with /played time and make a determination of who used the exploits.

Leaving them in the game will be a PR nightmare, and give the guilds who they belong to a strong upper hand in early-days PVP stuff.

Vrykyl said on 1:40PM 5-27-2008

If it was allowed by the game design (aka all class spells, abilities etc) and NOT by some external"hack" then it's jsut MMO players being hyper efficient. The slow response on Funcom's part should jsut illustrate to the community where their priorities (and lack thereof) lie. As such the players should not be penalized for power leveling in the msot efficient way possible.

And it's way to early in the game lifecycle to start banning. Even short term. Everyone is suffering from the new gamegleam and chasing people off is a good way for them to realize the turd underneath.

Ghen said on 5:31PM 5-27-2008

Most developers consider hacking as playing the game the way it is not intended. It does not mean that they have to use a 3rd party utility to hack the game code, just that they are using an exploit intentionally to play the game in a way it wasn't designed.

slackbheep said on 9:09AM 8-20-2008

Another example perhaps not quite of nails being driven into the top of the coffin, but what they're building is starting to look more and more like a box.