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Posts Tagged ‘hack’

Newbs’ News for May 22, 2016

Posted on: May 22nd, 2016 by Obey

Lots going on now! The short version:

  1. TF2Newbs’ 2Fort Contest runs the entire month of June
    • Player with most active playtime for June wins an unusual hat
    • First player to first reach 30,000 and 50,000 points will win 10 keys each
    • Two server-starting players on #04 eligible to win metal or hats each day
    • Three server-starting players on #04 also eligible to win a key each week.
  2. HLStats reset June 1st
  3. LMAOBOX hack users successfully banned by VAC
  4. Plenty of Newbs are playing the Overwatch beta
  5. Terraria patch 1.3.1 is now live
  6. Steam Summer Sale 2016 runs from June 23rd to July 4th

1. TF2Newbs’ 2Fort Contest Starts June 1st

TF2Newbs’ six 24/7 2Fort servers (#01, #04, #05, #09, #19, #21) are hosting a series of contests during the month of June, with monthly, weekly, and daily prizes! See the forum post for questions and more information.

 

Monthly Points Race

TF2Newbs’ six 24/7 2Fort servers (#01, #04, #05, #09, #19, #21) will host a month-long points contest!

scout

The first player to reach a total of 30,000 points will win 10 keys!

The first player to reach a total of 50,000 points will also win 10 keys! (The player who wins the 30k prize is ineligible for the 50k prize.)

Note: These rewards are measured by HLStats’ points system, not the TF2 client points. Follow this link to see how points are awarded.

hats etc.

Longest Playtime Award

The player who has been actively playing for the most time on TF2Newbs’ 24/7 2Fort servers while HLStats is enabled (that is, a minimum of 4 players) for the entire month of June will win an unusual hat! The hat to be won will be announced at a later date.

 

Weekly Achievement Contests

Each week, three additional stats contests will be announced for achievements, such as Headshot Kills, Amputator Kills, or Buildings Destroyed. A little bit like a week-long Contract, the person with the highest number of points scored for that goal during the week will win. One Mann Co. Key will be awarded to each other the three winners (maximum one key per player, per week).

Note that this contest counts all credit across all five TF2Newbs servers for the entire week. “Weeks” in this case start from Mondays at midnight PDT through the next Monday at midnight PDT.

 

#04 Server Starter Awards

Server #04 will feature daily prizes awarded to random players who jump in to the server whenever an “server starting” announcement is made.

Once the server start announcement is made, the next time the server maintains at least 8 vs. 8 players for several minutes (not counting spectators), then admin {N} Wife will note a list of players credit with helping that day. Anyone in Spectate at the time the list is generated will be disqualified from the list of eligible players for this award that day.

soldierdemo

From that list, two random winners will be chosen. The prizes on weekdays are one refined metal, and the prizes on Saturdays on Sundays are a random hat!

Also each week, the three players who earn the most server starting credits for that week will earn a prize of one Mann Co. Key each.

Admins may give away other prizes at their sole discretion. |N| Koans has said that he may give away Steam games to those who start #05 on their own initiative.

 

Eligible Servers for the Contests

Copy-and-paste these commands into your TF2 console to jump straight to the server. Don’t forget to favorite them for later!

connect s1.tf2newbs.com 
connect s4.tf2newbs.com
connect s5.tf2newbs.com
connect s9.tf2newbs.com
connect s19.tf2newbs.com
connect s21.tf2newbs.com

 

2. Stats Reset June 1st

reset stats

The HLStatsX software, which counts server-side points and ranks users, will be reset on all servers on June 1st. Everyone will be reset to the base 1,000 points. This coincides with the latest TF2Newbs contest.

 

3. LMAOBOX Hack Users Banned By VAC

We’re all tired of having servers quickly empty when some jerk enters with an obvious hack: a whirlwindy-stormy audio, headshotting, shooting through walls, and running around indestructibly. The admins of TF2Newbs ban these hackers, a thankless, sometimes time-consuming task. And now, we can rejoice, as one of the worst scourges of the virtual world (especially Valve servers!) is now effectively blocked by Valve’s VAC system.

fry-can-t-tell-meme-generator-can-t-tell-if-bad-at-game-or-fighting-hackers-524037

PC Gamer reports that the LMAOBOX cheat is now detectable by VAC, Valve’s Anti-Cheat system, causing current and recent users to be permanently VAC-banned (meaning they can’t play on any Valve-owned server of any Valve game on that account). Such users are typically unwelcome on TF2Newbs’ servers also. Heck, the cheat has been so pervasive that spamming chat about the use of such a cheat is a bannable offense on Newbs’ servers, Skial, and other TF2 communities.

You should never use this hack, especially since the recently publicized source code has been found to be riddled with malware. Friends don’t let friends use LMAOBOX.

 

4. Got Overwatch?

It comes out Tuesday, May 24th, and it may just be the next coming of Team Fortress 2. We’re discussing it on the forums.

What is Overwatch? It’s a first-person shooter with character classes and short-term objectives, much like Team Fortress 2. Overwatch is by Blizzard, the creators the Diablo, StarCraft, and WarCraft franchises. Overwatch isn’t available on Steam, and is exclusive to Battle.Net, which is Blizzard’s proprietary gaming service. Nor is it free-to-play; the standard retail price of the game is US$59.99.

overwatch_versus_sky_wallpaper___1920_x_1080_by_mac117-d85xg5b

Overwatch is also a creative license, with digital comics and animated shorts–gee, also like TF2! Here’s a YouTube demo of some of the classes.

 

5. Terraria Patch 1.3.1 is Now Live!

Click here for the full patch notes. Gamepedia is very buggy, so here’s a summary of the PC version update:

  • Lots of upgrades to the wiring system, including wiring gates (AND, NOR, XAND, etc.), actuators, tools that can remotely and wirelessly trip actuators, and more.
  • Lots of new statues added, including many of the mobs/monsters in the game, that can be attached to wires to spawn their respective mobs.
  • Controller support for PC version.

Terraria, the 2D Minecraft-like digging and crafting game that just hit its 5th birthday, got its first patch since its mega-patch last August. Since modders continue to experiment with Terraria’s limits, developer ReDigit continues to apply patches that help with specific objectives. In this case, a logic system has been implemented in the wiring system to allow, for instance, a door to open only if two switches are both opened, for traps to be affixed to walls and ceilings, and to have remote controls and projectile-triggered buttons to trip your wired masterpieces. Geeky stuff to be sure, kind of like those mana farmers in the Minecraft modding community.

Terraria is an action game for US$9.99 with cute visuals and a robust crafting system, worth the price even when it’s not on sale…

 

6. Steam Summer Sale 2016 is Soon!

Speaking of sales, numerous reports link a source that seems to confirm that the twice-a-year Steam sale will occur at the end of June [June 23rd to July 4th, to be specific]. This is a good time to buy games, as most games sold by Steam go on sale at some point during the bonanza, often from 33% to 75% off. Terraria for $2.49 (75% off) is common, and any game that is at least a year old is often found for 50% off. Flash sales of perhaps twelve-hour duration feature the best sales, so users check in frequently for the favorite games.

Hail Gaben! (Please note that this is a different video from the old one.)

 

[N] Obey

New Steam Trading Rules–Mar 2 2016

Posted on: March 2nd, 2016 by Obey

TL;DR: Valve takes steps against the phishing and pirating industries; news at 11. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

Previously, I blogged in this space about changes Steam made to your trading options, which were made to combat virtual item piracy. Yesterday, Valve further restricted trading options as well as the marketability of newly-dropped items. Below are the changes in a was-versus-now format.

steamtrading_18943.nphd

Trading items with a Steam Friend (and one/both of you are not using Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator)

Was:

  • 1 day hold for trades to Steam Friends you friended over a year ago
  • 3 day hold for Steam Friends friended more recently

Now:

  • 1 day hold for trades to Steam Friends you friended over a year ago
  • 15 day hold for Steam Friends friended more recently

Trading items with a Steam Friend (and both are using the Mobile Authenticator)

Was: no holds

Now: no holds

 

Steam says that 95% of traders now use the Mobile Authenticator to expedite their trades (before the December client update, very few users used it). So using the Mobile Authenticator is becoming the new legit standard for traders of valuable Steam virtual items.

Why a 15-day hold? Steam says that less frequent users “need more time” to learn and respond to their compromised accounts. (Been hacked? Contact Steam here.)

Note: Games that you buy (or receive from other users as a gift or trade) that you assign to your gift inventory still begin a 30-day cooldown period before you can trade/gift it on to someone else. If you want to buy a game for someone else to play immediately, gift it to that person at the moment of purchase.

 

Putting your items on the Steam Market (not using the Mobile Authenticator)

Was: no hold

Now: 15 day hold before the item is listed

Did you pull a nifty new cosmetic weapon that you want to Market? Well, if you’re not using the Mobile Authenticator, you have to wait fifteen days for the item to hit the Market.

“But wait–don’t you have to input the price beforehand? …and isn’t it likely for the demand to change before your item lists? …and for you to change the price, you’ll have to re-list the item, and then it’s held for another two weeks?” Probably.

 

Steam Ends Duplication Policy

Steam will no longer restore a player’s hacked account by creating duplicates of missing items. You can argue your own case as to why; I said my piece after the previous change.

 

Please note that the above changes begin on Wednesday, March 9th. Expect a Steam Client update sometime that day.

ICYMI: A previous Steam Client patch now prevents you from starting/receiving a chat (text) message in Steam from users who are not friended, currently playing in a server with you, or currently joining a group chatroom with you.

[N] Obey

 

(start of Valve blogpost)

Recently we walked through our thinking on account security and trading [http://store.steampowered.com/news/19618/], and introduced some new tools for users to protect their accounts. Now that we’ve had some time to gather data, we’ll be making a few more changes to account security, market transactions, and our account restoration process.

Below are the changes that will take place on March 9th. If you are already protected by the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator (or if you add the security feature to your account today), the first two points below will not impact you:

  • Trade hold duration will be increased to 15 days (for long-time Steam friends the duration will remain 1 day)
  • Listing on the Steam Community Market will have a hold of 15 days before an item can be sold
  • Steam Support will no longer restore items that have left accounts following a successful trade or market transaction (a process that previously created duplicates of original items)

To help understand these changes, we wanted to walk you through the results we’ve seen so far and our reasoning behind these next steps.

First, it’s worth revisiting our goals behind the two main ways customers interact with in-game economies on Steam: Trading and the Steam Community Market. Our primary goal for Trading is to allow customers to easily exchange items with their friends. Our goal for the Steam Community Market is to provide customers with a way to sell any unwanted goods to other players. Both systems work well for these purposes, but they can be a source of pain if the security of your account is ever compromised.

 

Account and Item Theft

In December we took steps to improve account security by adding more security features, including the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator and trade holds.

Since then, we’ve seen lots of users adopting the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator (two-factor authentication) for trade and market confirmations, and now roughly 95% of daily trades use the mobile authenticator, with trade volumes as high as ever. The authenticator is the best tool that users have to protect their accounts, and the fastest and most secure way to trade items.

 

Trade Holds

For users who have yet to transition to the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator, trade holds provide a way to continue to exchange items. Items in a trade hold are held by Steam for a period of time before delivery. This allows users whose accounts have been compromised to quickly cancel any fraudulent trades to recover their items. Trade holds are effective, but unfortunately the current three-day hold fails to protect users who log in less frequently and who need more time to identify a problem. So we’ll be adjusting the system to accommodate the majority of customers by increasing trade holds to 15 days.

If you’re exchanging items with a friend, and you’ve been friends for more than a year, don’t worry – the trade hold duration is still one day.

 

Market Holds

Trade holds have been successful, but until now they’ve been limited to trades. If the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator was not enabled on a user’s account, it was still possible for a hacker to quickly liquidate a user’s inventory through the Steam Community Market. To further protect users who haven’t enabled the authenticator, holds will now also apply when you list items on the Steam Community Market. Market listing (like trades) will still be instantaneous if you’re using the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator.

 

Item Duplication

Since the last account security update, we’ve made significant progress in protecting accounts. In addition to significantly increasing the size of Steam Support to improve response times, individual accounts protected by the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator on a separate device turned out to be even more effective than we’d hoped. For customers who have yet to add the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator, trade holds have been helpful in keeping items secure, and we expect that the added duration and extension of holds to the Steam Community Market will further improve security.

Our work isn’t finished, but we’ve seen enough progress in account security to finally address an old problem: item duplication. Currently, if an account is compromised and items have been lost through a successful trade or market transaction, we would manually restore the items, creating duplicates of the original items in the process. That process of manual restoration and duplication has the negative side effect of changing an item’s scarcity – as more copies of the item are created, the value of every other similar item is reduced. In addition, it created a method by which users could be rewarded for faking account hijacks.

While we’ll continue to assist users with the recovery of their account if they encounter an issue, beginning March 9th we will no longer be manually restoring items that have left the account due to a successful trade or market transaction.

 

Balance

There’s a delicate balance between account security and the convenience of interacting with the market or trade. Any time we make changes, there’s the risk of significant disruption. We recognize that today’s changes will be inconvenient for users who have yet (or are unable) to use the Steam Guard Mobile Authenticator. But if you’re a high volume trader (who our data shows is likely using the authenticator already), or a trader who likes to exchange items with friends, these changes won’t really affect you at all. We believe these steps are necessary to ensure that accounts are made more secure, that users are empowered to identify and solve problems, and that the economic systems enjoyed by millions of customers are not compromised by people with malicious intent.

Account security is an issue that affects everyone, and we hope this post has helped to explain our goals and reasoning as we move forward. Please continue to provide your feedback and account security ideas in the Steam forums and elsewhere on the web.

(end blogpost)