The Elephant in the EK Room

[GenericUser25010]

Good Afternoon everyone! Many of you may know me from the EK server, and others may not.

Anyone unaware, there is currently a severe issue on the EK server with GM favoritism, and questionable ethics. In the following post, I intend to outline the evidence leading to the assumption that there are multiple players cheating in depth. 

1. There are multiple GM's who play on Elyos EK. While this in itself is not a problem, as I fully believe GM's and CM's should be allowed to enjoy the game they moderate, most other AAA companies require that their GM's do not disclose their status in-game. Many times during siege, I have had people informing me that on the Elyos server, the GM's are well known among their group, and that those players have used their roles in order to gain standing in-game. During Lakrum sieges, players that have characters on the Elyos side will come to Asmo and state that "even the GM's thought that was a bad idea"; and similar statements. The fact that the top legion also contains MULTIPLE employees of NCWest is a dangerous precedent.  While this alone does not prove wrongdoing, it adds fuel to the points to follow. There is also an argument to be made that Elyos bots have not been banned because the top elyos legion needs the mats, while elyos broker bots have been generally less active than Asmo by comparison - this argument is thin in evidence, but points out the danger the above situation can cause.
2. There has been illegal gear given to Elyos EK. While Cyan has stated that this is a single occurrence, the general perception is that it is not.  The original thread about the issue is below.In this thread, it was stated to be a one-time occurance, however EVEN ELYOS have stated they know of more than 1 player receiving this treatment. This was 4 days after the previous thread.
   Travis-EK - ". hahaha i dont really want to call the certain people out due to its not their fault its more of the developers fault. thoughts opinions?"
   Tohur-EK - " heard they getting sneaker about it so it doesn't spam the entire server with the upgrade..  @Cyan what are you guys doing about all these people on EK getting free Ultimate gear?"
3. The Primeth Forge runs completed have stats that are extremely dubious. Primeth Forge's last boss takes very high dps, and extreme output in order to defeat. There are a couple videos floating around of these runs, which compared to DPS available are simply not possible given gear listed below. In one video, there are a set of gladiators with 80k+ hit points. Even with artifact buff (4000 hp), Blessing of Stone (25%), AND the "cheer" luna buff (5000 hp, not 10% as it says), this amount of HP can only be achieved on a gladiator in mostly purple/red mixed equipment. For comparison, a full purple gladiator with no buffs has about 56k hit points. Fully buffed, that same 56k would become 65k with stone, up to about 75k with full buffs. These stats, while not unobtainable, require a severe amount of gear to reach. Every player in PF needs to have exceptional gear to even come close to reaching a kill within 7 minutes. Having done multiple runs myself of PF, using cheer, full buffs, stacked damage, with everyone playing exceptional - the damage is nowhere close to what is shown in these videos, even with a full purple PvE geared group.  The runs in question were made on the first 2 weeks of the server. I intend to offer the following points as to why this gear is extremely unlikely to get in that timeframe below.
   1. Elyos won 0 fort battles in the first 2 weeks of the server. Each loss awards 1 conqueror gemstone per person that attended. If we assume that Elyos fielded 150 players on average (a very high number, as they were typically around 100) for each of those, that would be a grand total of 1200 gemstones available to the entire faction. A full set of red gear takes roughly 780 gemstones (assuming a 20% proc chance, 2 handed weapon). It would take nearly an entire faction, coordinating gemstones, every single person offering their gemstones for sale - just to get 2 players in mostly red gear by the point of these kills. The amount of ultimate masterwork gear available would be extremely limited at the time these videos were made.
   2. Player Statements. At the end of one such video, one of the players in question states that he forgot to put on his "PvE Gear". At the time of the video, nobody would have had access to multitudes of ultimate PvE gear. Ultimate PvP gear would outclass any Legendary PvE gear by such a margin that Legendary PvE gear would not be used. What gear was he talking about putting on? If it was only Legendary, how would he have had the HP and stats as mentioned?
   3. The "MVP" players on the Elyos side are well known - players talk about getting destroyed in seconds in pvp against the same subset of [removed] players. [removed], [removed], and [removed] simply run over players in purple/red gear in PvP. [removed] and [removed] have been seen surviving in the middle of Ancient Temple for 5+ minutes with 10 or more guards on them on week 2 of the server. These are the same players that must be "extremely" geared as above. These players are notorious for destroying players in full Purple, or even partial red crafted gear in seconds. Anyone who has PvP'd extensively will tell you that attempting to hit somebody that overgears you significantly would result in almost no damage. These players must be in mostly red gear, or at least nearly full purple. Other players regularly seen in the same group have publicly lied about their gear in forum threads, twitch, and in-game.
   4. The players in question always have details disabled, except when they don't. These same players have had details off for the majority of playtime. Occasionally, when they have extreme stats from other sources, they enable details, such as during the most recent Lakrum siege. These players could be inspected wearing CoE, Mirash, and GC ancient gear. Many of them had only 1-2 purple items, if that. The gear shown during these times is not viable to do Primeth Forge successfully. The gear shown during these times is not viable to 100-0 someone in full purple masterwork conqueror's gear in 2 seconds. The gear shown during these times IS NOT THE GEAR THEY NORMALLY WEAR. Why would top players feel a need to show details only occasionally, intentionally saving and using old gear? You can fight these players (as well as others, no point in pasting 15+ profiles that have been gathered by the community) and see the damage they do. Have a character with this gear hit you, test the numbers - you will find that they DO NOT MATCH. Immediately following these times which they reveal details, they disable them once again. I have personally been attempting to /inspect every single encounter with these players, and have seen a noticeable damage difference when they have details enabled with poor gear, and when it is disabled. In addition, why would a player like [removed], who has a +15 Anomos weapon (extremely expensive P2W or insanely good RNG) have only Ancient gear?
      
      [removed images]
       
   5. Anomos - In addition to the above information, the EK server has had multiple questionable moments. Asmo has not reliably killed Anomos in almost 2 weeks. Every single time recently that Asmos have got Anomos into their camp, it has randomly reset and instantly teleported back to the middle.  During these resets, Anomos is aggroed on a tank that is standing in the middle of the camp, and does not die. When Anomos spawns, there is almost always the [removed] waiting to take it to their camp; most recently with [removed] being ON TOP OF THE SPAWN when it spawned. Players that regularly farm the Frigida camps in that area have reported seeing no [removed] players, having it spawn, and before they can move the 100 feet to reach it, [removed] already has it in the camp.By no means is this full proof of wrongdoing, but when combined with the above information, it simply adds kindling to an already raging inferno. I've heard debate on the Anomos spawn timer, but the general consensus is that it is randomly within a 12 hour window. To be standing randomly on top of where it spawns, at 4AM, by raw chance, multiple times in a row is very, very lucky.
   6. Odin - After the recent debacle with compensation gear, a member of NC's Quality Assurance department was seen hanging around the Asmodian faction for a short time. I spoke with Odin briefly, explaining my severe distrust in the gear that was shown by the players above, and the fact that something was amiss. Odin affirmed that he would need "more information" to investigate. While we can only guess at the internal workings of NC, we can assume that Odin's presence was to gauge the reaction to the P2W thread's response made only slightly before, and determine the overall state of Asmodian side of the server. Unfortunately, most of the people that have come to me about these issues have done so in various Discord channels, as discussing it in-game generally simply induces unnecessary drama with limited evidence.

 

To be clear, I do not think that a majority of Elyos have cheated. I believe that a small group of Elyos (likely 3-10) received gear they should not have. I believe this gear was used to propel a larger group thru content that should not have been viable at the time (easy Anomos aggro, PF, IDD). This "boost" of gear has simply accelerated the overall pace of the entire extended circle around those players to a drastic amount.

I believe that the Asmodian side of EK deserves a proper and full investigation into the effect of having multiple NC employees playing publicly within the #1 legion on the Elyos side, while that same legion is consistently the center of the above evidence. I believe that Asmodians on EK deserve a conclusive report on HOW the compensation gear reached Elyos on this server, the exact details of every single piece that was mistaken and who it went to, what allowed that to happen, and what will be changed to prevent it happening in the future. 

For many, Asmodian-EK trust is at an all-time low in NC, with multiple players I have spoken to already feeling like quitting simply because they feel slighted due to the perceived impropriety of NC employees. Many of these players are players who pay significant amounts of cash into the cash shop and have purple/red gear already, and see others who they feel it likely that it was acquired unfairly. The only way to restore trust is for NC to actively work with the community as a whole, something that has not been happening.

 

As a quick reply, I want to reiterate that this thread was designed to open up a civil and direct discussion with the NC team. Please refrain from harassing or attacking any players listed or mentioned.

While the evidence listed above is only a portion of the amount I have received by those that have been investigating, it is not conclusive of wrong-doing of any single person or character.

This thread is an attempt to air out some concerns that have been brought to me repeatedly in hopes to receive a proper response.

[ThunderSpank-KT]

Been gone a while.  Nice to see that theory-crafting, completely clueless forum posting still exists.  Ahh, consistency.

[GenericUser23375]

Lose to balaur then lose divine and the conspiracy theories start flying 

The glads have 62k hp for that PF kill, a CM (not a GM) plays on ely side, glads with red zerk are braindead damage for 5 seconds and people who don't suck at pvp can pvp. We know the window for anomos so people camp it.. asmos have 1000x more bots and a better economy. We have like 10 legendary craft stones on our broker at 300k.

 

What other tinfoil hat ideas do u got?

[Zoe-KT]

"The fact that the top legion also contains MULTIPLE employees of NCWest is a dangerous precedent.  " after reading that stupid comment i couldnt continue reading this book.

[GenericUser27233]

17 hours ago, WaDa-EK said:

1. [removed]

hi wada,

although we're completely flattered by your accusations, other players who are very familiar with pvp can inform you and confirm that gear isn't everything, lol. in regards to primeth forge, grab yourself a good pve group and learn the mechanics for the boss. stop blaming you and your faction's incompetence by trying to low key blame cyan and let the dude play

[GenericUser27773]

get gud wada :^)

[GenericUser25010]

4 minutes ago, dog-EK said:

hi wada,

although we're completely flattered by your accusations, other players who are very familiar with pvp can inform you and confirm that gear isn't everything, lol. in regards to primeth forge, grab yourself a good pve group and learn the mechanics for the boss. stop blaming you and your faction's incompetence by trying to low key blame cyan and let the dude play

Firstly, PF doesn't really have "mechanics" - its a fairly simple fight that involves simply having enough dps and heals to handle the add phase and make timer.

Secondly, Gear in PvP isn't everything, but a large enough difference will negate all skill in 6.2 - simply put, a large gear differential will make it nearly impossible to deal reliable damage to the target - you would know this.

Third, I made it clear in my post that I was not blaming Cyan, or any other person directly - I actually don't believe Cyan is in any way at fault for the issues (though I do believe there was a severe failure in communication around the compensation gear that would be related to him/her).

I've provided quite a bit of evidence that was given to me by multiple people who wanted to make tons of posts, I simply have tried to put it all in one place.

 

If you believe the statements about gear are false, I implore you to meet with me, leave inspect on, and test some numbers. I'd love to get a copy of a combat log from a PF fight, with a couple of screenshots of the gear used (assuming its the gear as is linked, if its not, and that gear shown is simply trolling, then my point remains as above). 

[Zoe-KT]

3 minutes ago, WaDa-EK said:

Firstly, PF doesn't really have "mechanics" - its a fairly simple fight that involves simply having enough dps and heals to handle the add phase and make timer.

its clear you dont know what everyone else is doing but i wont tell you how its done thats your job if you have enough time to write a wall of text you should look up videos and see how its done.

[GenericUser23153]

To the guy who said that Pvp gear was not as good as pve gear, because he tested it on dummies. 

[GenericUser25010]

10 minutes ago, Zoe-KT said:

its clear you dont know what everyone else is doing but i wont tell you how its done thats your job if you have enough time to write a wall of text you should look up videos and see how its done.

Stack up, cleave adds, win. Its not rocket science.

There are actually mechanics that most groups in videos and the like DON"T do, such as the portals.

Instead of attacking my person, why don't you try attacking the evidence I have placed forward instead?

[DrBlake-KT]

16 minutes ago, WaDa-EK said:

Firstly, PF doesn't really have "mechanics" - its a fairly simple fight that involves simply having enough dps and heals to handle the add phase and make timer.

 

I was going to reply and try to explain why this all sounds ludicrous, but then I read that line and I was confident you have no idea what you're talking about.

[GenericUser25010]

10 minutes ago, Pookiooki-DN said:

To the guy who said that Pvp gear was not as good as pve gear, because he tested it on dummies. 

Legendary PvE gear will be better in PvP than Ancient PvP gear, correct. You can test the numbers yourself. Equal grade gear, obviously pvp/pve stats matter, but going between grades, the difference in raw stats is significantly more powerful. This has always been my statement, and remains true - it can be tested as well.

1 minute ago, DrBlake-KT said:

I was going to reply and try to explain why this all sounds ludicrous, but then I read that line and I was confident you have no idea what you're talking about.

Oh, don't get me wrong, there ARE mechanics, but they all don't require any specific actions to counter. You outheal all the cleave damage, stay stacked so you remove the debuff, and cleave adds down on spawn, all within timer for boss. Its extremely basic, compared to any other fight in the game currently.

[Zoe-KT]

3 minutes ago, WaDa-EK said:

Stack up, cleave adds, win. Its not rocket science.

There are actually mechanics that most groups in videos and the like DON"T do, such as the portals.

Instead of attacking my person, why don't you try attacking the evidence I have placed forward instead?

o im attacking you? isnt that what youre doing attacking "ncsoft gms" lol... ofc im going to say stuff to you when you have no idea what youre talking about XD!

[Couture-KT]

17 hours ago, WaDa-EK said:

[removed]

I heard you quit @WaDa-EK 

[Ymad-DN]

WaDa tears streaming.  EK flooding as we speak

[PlumbCrazy-DN]

MOMMY, they ate my meatloaf

[GenericUser26041]

Honestly, you're blaming others for actually trying at the game and crying for them being geared at it, most of your post actually shows you do not do the necessary info gathering and instead just fall right on the "This is suspicious/dubious, please investigate!" 

pf is easy, just hit the proper numbers, pretty sure i've seen asmo pt's passing it too

if peeps use $ to spam dredges and get stones, doesn't mean they got it illegally, wanna call them p2w? go ahead.

[GenericUser25010]

10 minutes ago, Zoe-KT said:

o im attacking you? isnt that what youre doing attacking "ncsoft gms" lol... ofc im going to say stuff to you when you have no idea what youre talking about XD!

I've provided legitimate questions and concerns that many different members of the asmo side community have approached me with over the past week. I've provided documented information to back up some of these concerns.

I've stated multiple times that we DO NOT KNOW anything specific, and in fact, this very post has called for an actual investigative response to the GM gear incident that happened, more than just a "we fixed it" type response. 

[PlumbCrazy-DN]

Just now, WaDa-EK said:

I've stated multiple times that we DO NOT KNOW anything specific, and in fact, this very post has called for an actual investigative response to the GM gear incident that happened, more than just a "we fixed it" type response. 

Congress have the FBI look into it.  This is serious business

[GenericUser18117]

1 hour ago, WaDa-EK said:

 

1. Elyos won 0 fort battles in the first 2 weeks of the server. Each loss awards 1 conqueror gemstone per person that attended. If we assume that Elyos fielded 150 players on average (a very high number, as they were typically around 100) for each of those, that would be a grand total of 1200 gemstones available to the entire faction. A full set of red gear takes roughly 780 gemstones (assuming a 20% proc chance, 2 handed weapon). It would take nearly an entire faction, coordinating gemstones, every single person offering their gemstones for sale - just to get 2 players in mostly red gear by the point of these kills. The amount of ultimate masterwork gear available would be extremely limited at the time these videos were made.

This makes sense...  then how they got it? 

[GenericUser25010]

Just now, Silverin-EK said:

Honestly, you're blaming others for actually trying at the game and crying for them being geared at it, most of your post actually shows you do not do the necessary info gathering and instead just fall right on the "This is suspicious/dubious, please investigate!" 

pf is easy, just hit the proper numbers, pretty sure i've seen asmo pt's passing it too

if peeps use $ to spam dredges and get stones, doesn't mean they got it illegally, wanna call them p2w? go ahead.

PF is all about the proper numbers. That said, in the gear that was shown above, those numbers are not achievable with normal play. Period. Anyone who believes otherwise, I implore them to send me a combat log that is legitimate from a PF run where that is done. I openly offer to look at any evidence given to the contrary, but simply put, something is fishy.

This post is not just about PF - many people here are glossing over the point - Asmo-EK faith in NC is completely destroyed after the compensation item, and people come to me constantly with concerns, many of which are pretty sketchy, and some of which seem legitimate. The problem isn't the PFs, its that NC has failed to reassure its community as a whole of the legitimacy of the EK server.

[GenericUser26019]

Hey it's me Luigi. As a clueless blowhard I don't know much about this games pve mechanics, can someone honestly explain useful PF boss mechanics other than clearing mobs and stacking? Honestly asking.

Also, this post misses a very BIG thing that is going on in EK, which is cross-server PF runs being paid for and carried out by players from DN. If we're talking elephant in the room, I feel that's one of the bigger rumors I've heard. From both factions.

[PlumbCrazy-DN]

Just now, Luigi-EK said:

Also, this post misses a very BIG thing that is going on in EK, which is cross-server PF runs being paid for and carried out by players from DN. If we're talking elephant in the room, I feel that's one of the bigger rumors I've heard.

Logic 101, they doing bad stuff, MOMMY stop them........

[GenericUser25010]

1 minute ago, Luigi-EK said:

Hey it's me Luigi. As a clueless blowhard I don't know much about this games pve mechanics, can someone honestly explain useful PF boss mechanics other than clearing mobs and stacking? Honestly asking.

Also, this post misses a very BIG thing that is going on in EK, which is cross-server PF runs being paid for and carried out by players from DN. If we're talking elephant in the room, I feel that's one of the bigger rumors I've heard.

Cross server runs are absolutely happening, whether they are simply friends in a legion or paid, who knows. They have happened on both sides of the server, and are definitely a problem.

PF, there really aren't strats other than to stack up and dps, with a focus on killing the wizard and then cleaving the soldiers while focusing the boss. There are various AoE damage abilities the boss does, but all of them are basically "stack and heal". There is also a portal mechanic that isn't really viable to use.

[ThunderSpank-KT]

Theory crafting 101: you're never wrong even when you're wrong.

https://tenor.com/view/conspiracy-theory-gif-10587157