Greetings Wizards,
As many of you know, I am a Wizard101 housing decorator. When I learned of the harvesting bug, I quickly reported it to KingsIsle. I, for one, do not stack plants, but I support those who use it decoratively. The exploit allowed players to harvest without limit, bloating their Mega Snacks and reagents into the near-thousands. As a result, many innocent players were punished when they were not allowed into their homes yesterday, while KingsIsle was repairing the issue. I am happy KingsIsle took proper measures, as it could have escalated further (beyond the game). I just hope that true fans of the game have not lost trust or hope in KingsIsle. I also hope KingsIsle has not lost hope and trust in us.
Now that being said I'll post the message from ravenwood news from Prof. Lydia Greyrose.
I want to take this opportunity to clarify what occurred to cause us to close all the Wizard Dorms and Castles & Lands for a day. Players found a way of exploiting a gardening bug in their houses which allowed for infinite harvesting of elder plants.
Players who obviously exploited this bug have been banned, and we will continue to investigate others who may have also taken advantage of something that was clearly not intended.
I obviously won't go in to the details of how the infinite harvest worked, but part of this exploit exposed a larger implication in another bug that our community affectionately calls 'stacking'.
This 'stacking' bug allows you to stack rugs, tables and other furniture pieces in your home to create new levels and interesting structures. This has been a long standing bug, and every time we bring up whether or not to 'fix' it, we realize that this stacking bug is a harmless bug that in fact allows our community to be very creative. We're always delighted to see just how much our players enjoy being creative and we feel that removing the functionality to stack housing items would stifle that creativity, and we obviously don't want to do that!
While we have fixed the gardening exploit that relied on this 'stacking' bug, at this time we do not plan to remove the ability for players to stack their housing items. However, should other exploits be discovered that use this 'stacking' bug, we will have to reassess whether the harm outweighs the creative freedom.
- Lydia Greyrose
Even though I do , as I call it floating furniture, I would be more than happy to remove any floated items. I do this to make the items stand out more or to create new and fantastic looks. This style is by no means needed to create a fantastic looking house. All I ever want is a safe and fun while I play Wizard101, oh and many many houses :P . So until next time,happy house decorating.
Your friend,
Paige MoonShade
I didn't even know about the bug, or exploit until it blew up and people were being banned. However, if I had known about it, I know I wouldn't have participated. Just like with the buying of crown stuff, with gold (I didn't do) and the Wayfinder Scheme (I didn't do). Basically anything that makes me think "am I sure this is okay to do??" I don't do. It's sad many people are being banned, but they had to have known on SOME level that it wasn't right. I would be sad to see floating furni (despite I have yet to figure out how to do it and actually get it to work) go, just because I know so many people do do it, and it's amazing what they manage to create using it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what "bug" you are referring to. In the test realm there is a bug on 2 elder plants that won't go away - that can be harvested infinitely. I have reported it to KI. However, I have never seen this in the real realm. Is that what you mean? Stacking plants doesn't result in infinite harvests - because the plants have to be tended the same as if they are all on one level and elders go away once harvested. So I guess I'm unsure - what was the bug that shut down the housing?
ReplyDeletehaha i dindt either. i new ppl were stacking, but not THIS. i ust want you to know that i tried stacking and it never worked for me. to much weird clicking LOL.
ReplyDeleteall of my stacked plants are now dead. none ever got to elder.