37 replies to this topic

[BlueDevilspawn]

Responding to OP:
1. OP takes a break from the game
2. Top players keep playing
3. OP returns to game
4. Top players somehow better
5. Must be cheats!! Seriously?

Compared to any other shooter out there, MWO has very few cheats. It’s literally not worth it, and PGI does ban people still.

As for other things, I’ll list my take here -
1. user.cfg files - PGI does not view them as cheats but reserves the right to exert its muscle if it gets out of hand. While this isn’t definitive, it makes sense because the game (like many other games) is not optimized and the cfg file allows people with lesser PC builds to able to run the game at a playable frame rate.

2. I once saw someone post something along the lines of “switchable dpi mice is p2w” and “getting better at the game is unfair” to which I reply - no they’re not and get over it

3. Depending on when OP stopped playing before coming back, the initial balance patch back in April 2021 extended many weapon ranges. It is entirely possible to do damage that adds up over time at 1.5k, and minor chip damage with the right builds out past 2k.

4. If you’re getting pre-fired the most likely explanation is you were spotted and so the shared targeting data gave you away.

5. If you still feel like cheaters abound, plenty of others have said to report to PGI and you should do so. Just know that it’s entirely possible that it’s you and there were no cheaters. As I pointed out, PGI have been active banning a number of players thru the last few years.

[CFC Conky]

LordNothing, on 04 May 2025 - 03:28 PM, said:

...

then every now and again you encounter somone on your team who will snap-shoot at a the center of a targeting bracket even though there is an obvious obstruction in the way, like a giant mountain. i see this a lot. people cant be that stupid, but an aimbot can. and its not your usual match start weapon testing, but in the heat of combat. you dont fill up your heat bar by firing multiple alphas into a mountain at point blank range when the enemy could attack at any moment.

...

Funny, I ran into something like that yesterday. I was on Frozen City, assault mode. For part of the match my team was staying on our side of the map, waiting to see if the other team would push first. I was behind a building, out of los of the other side of the map and the building was being continuously hit by something, I suspect gauss rounds because I could see chunks of snow flying around and hear the sound of rounds hitting my cover. At the time I wondered if said cover was not visible to the other team due to invisible walls (graphics glitch), but I suppose it could have benn something more nefarious.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

Edited by CFC Conky, 04 May 2025 - 06:57 PM.

[cougurt]

BlueDevilspawn, on 04 May 2025 - 06:32 PM, said:

4. If you’re getting pre-fired the most likely explanation is you were spotted and so the shared targeting data gave you away.

another possibility is that you're exposing more of your mech than you realize when you go to peek. the stone rhino is a good example of this, as enemies can easily see the dorsal guns popping up over cover before you've cleared your cockpit.

[a 5 year old with an Uzi]

CFC Conky, on 04 May 2025 - 06:57 PM, said:

Funny, I ran into something like that yesterday. I was on Frozen City, assault mode. For part of the match my team was staying on our side of the map, waiting to see if the other team would push first. I was behind a building, out of los of the other side of the map and the building was being continuously hit by something, I suspect gauss rounds because I could see chunks of snow flying around and hear the sound of rounds hitting my cover. At the time I wondered if said cover was not visible to the other team due to invisible walls (graphics glitch), but I suppose it could have benn something more nefarious.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

Pretty silly to waste ammo on a wallhack but hey.

[LordNothing]

way i see it, these players are gimping themselves by using cheats as a crutch. they do not learn skills and they are not the top players. human aimbots exist and they also have the ability to exercise fire discipline, heat management, positioning, etc. an aimbot would probibly get in the way at the top level of play. its a known fact that most cheaters, in any game, are hyper-casuals and are barely a threat to even an average player.

[1453 R]

LordNothing, on 04 May 2025 - 04:57 AM, said:

...
even the suggestion that cheating exists is enough to get a plethora of "get gud" comments from the masses (many from cheaters).
...

What's more productive and conducive to long-term enjoyment of the game?

1.) Assuming the game is largely running fine without rampant cheating, that any time you go down you did something to deserve it, and trying to improve your game or alternatively accepting that you're simply not as amazing as you think you are.

2.) Having a screaming meltdown whenever you die MrMadGuy style, assuming that literally every other player in the game is running a dozen cheat tools all dedicated specifically to murdering you-in-particular, and otherwise exhibiting acute paranoia.

"Git Gud" isn't what people say. "It probably wasn't cheating, this is a complex game and also not one anybody cares about cheating in" is more accurate. And even if you did die to a cheater? Oh well. Literally nothing anybody can do about it. Either you can keep playing anyways or uninstall and pack it in. Those are your options.

[Fitch Buckingston]

It´s okay, I knew what was coming upon me when I started this thread. It's always easier to assume OP is a noob, and in all honesty I am nowhere near as good as I used to be. But I play the game since 2013, back then excessivly enough to know what is possible and what not.

All I wanted to know was if PGI does anything against cheating, thanks for clarifying that.

Anyway, thanks to the people who tried to help and pointed out things I might have missed.

[1453 R]

There are maybe five actual PGI staffers working on MWO at any given time. Usually less than that. The only reason we're getting any updates is basically because PGI managed to subcontract most of the development and testing of those updates to the Cauldron. Piranha has largely written this game off as a relic of the Ages Bygone - they'll keep it going so long as it stays in the black, however narrow that margin becomes, but there's no interest in significant improvements in the system.

[Tarl Cabot]

cougurt, on 04 May 2025 - 06:57 PM, said:

another possibility is that you're exposing more of your mech than you realize when you go to peek. the stone rhino is a good example of this, as enemies can easily see the dorsal guns popping up over cover before you've cleared your cockpit.

This. And you had to have left right after the last PSR adjustment/reset to still be tier 1.

• Skill Tree - Radar Derp
  
• 7x zoom w/Advanced Zoom + Advanced Sensor Package (aka Advanced Command Module)
  
• Predictive Player Behavior
  
• Glitchy Terrain (intentional or unintentional) and/or part of mech sticking out / glitching through terrain
  
• And I have seen players who would force a player to stay in cover, simply with using one ERLL. If the covered mech is a long range equipped mech, preventing them from moving out also keeps their guns out of play.

[Swamp Ass MkII]

Sometiems it's like WTF! Other times, I deserved that! There have been very few times that I looks at what killed me, build it and realize, that holy **** that thing hits HARD! No wondere why I lost half my mech in a single alpha! PS: Been playing clans lately... Yep needed to step away! Many probably saying, ELL ABOUT DAMN TIME!!! LOL!

[Sneaky Snek]

CFC Conky, on 04 May 2025 - 06:57 PM, said:

Funny, I ran into something like that yesterday. I was on Frozen City, assault mode. For part of the match my team was staying on our side of the map, waiting to see if the other team would push first. I was behind a building, out of los of the other side of the map and the building was being continuously hit by something, I suspect gauss rounds because I could see chunks of snow flying around and hear the sound of rounds hitting my cover. At the time I wondered if said cover was not visible to the other team due to invisible walls (graphics glitch), but I suppose it could have benn something more nefarious.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

That honestly just sounds like the horrible LOD distance for a lot of assets on mwo maps.
With no user config you'll notice it a lot of Frozen City and Frozen City classic, parts of the buildings don't render at 900m+.

[LordNothing]

1453 R, on 05 May 2025 - 06:04 AM, said:

What's more productive and conducive to long-term enjoyment of the game?

1.) Assuming the game is largely running fine without rampant cheating, that any time you go down you did something to deserve it, and trying to improve your game or alternatively accepting that you're simply not as amazing as you think you are.

2.) Having a screaming meltdown whenever you die MrMadGuy style, assuming that literally every other player in the game is running a dozen cheat tools all dedicated specifically to murdering you-in-particular, and otherwise exhibiting acute paranoia.

"Git Gud" isn't what people say. "It probably wasn't cheating, this is a complex game and also not one anybody cares about cheating in" is more accurate. And even if you did die to a cheater? Oh well. Literally nothing anybody can do about it. Either you can keep playing anyways or uninstall and pack it in. Those are your options.

cheating is still a problem, mostly in lower tiers and especially with regards to new player retention. new players wont spend or even stick around if they feel like the game is rife with cheaters. especially since they have options of other games with better implemented anti-cheat systems. making it a binary choice of denial or neurosis kind of glazes over the fact that it erodes at the player base.

i can accept that cheating exists and that there isn't much that pgi can do about it. but im not going to deny that it exists. nor am i going to let it get to me. in all cases where i have observed suspicious behavior i have also observed a total lack of skill from the same individual. they cant position, they cant manage their heat, they cant trade, they aren't team players, and they shoot the terrain a lot.

[Quicksilver Aberration]

LordNothing, on 05 May 2025 - 02:38 PM, said:

new players wont spend or even stick around if they feel like the game is rife with cheaters.

It's players in general, not just new players. Look to CoD:Warzone for a great example of that.

[a 5 year old with an Uzi]

Does terrain shooting count if it's the stupid rocks on Tourmaline?

That's a joke. Sort of.

They're kind of annoying. Invisible walls suck. Especially when they don't seem to line up with the rock line.

Edited by a 5 year old with an Uzi, 05 May 2025 - 05:42 PM.

[Mayhem Lewis]

1453 R, on 05 May 2025 - 06:04 AM, said:

What's more productive and conducive to long-term enjoyment of the game?

1.) Assuming the game is largely running fine without rampant cheating, that any time you go down you did something to deserve it, and trying to improve your game or alternatively accepting that you're simply not as amazing as you think you are.

2.) Having a screaming meltdown whenever you die MrMadGuy style, assuming that literally every other player in the game is running a dozen cheat tools all dedicated specifically to murdering you-in-particular, and otherwise exhibiting acute paranoia.

"Git Gud" isn't what people say. "It probably wasn't cheating, this is a complex game and also not one anybody cares about cheating in" is more accurate. And even if you did die to a cheater? Oh well. Literally nothing anybody can do about it. Either you can keep playing anyways or uninstall and pack it in. Those are your options.

I used to get furious and assume people were cheating because the games was kicking my butt. Then after I got over that I was getting angry at people tweaking their config files for better visuals and the whole epic drama of how that got a pass from PGI, which I eventually just learned to live with. Lately I get angry, not irrationally (but close lol) at the hit boxes on lights and the damage shedding from artful Jumpjet feathering, but it's kind of that empty 'get off my lawn' anger because I finally understand that its stuff built into the game and I have to compensate for it instead of being abusive to the pilots just doing their thing.

a 5 year old with an Uzi, on 05 May 2025 - 05:28 PM, said:

Does terrain shooting count if it's the stupid rocks on Tourmaline?

That's a joke. Sort of.

They're kind of annoying. Invisible walls suck. Especially when they don't seem to line up with the rock line.

I shoot terrain because of a target box all the time because I run mostly energy builts and in madness of battle its better to shoot if I have a shoot when I'm on the move, because I don't tweak config files so it maybe just visual and not stopping fire.

It took me foever to learn to move my reticule back and forth, a little shimmy to check distances before trying to shoot past some rock spires on Tourmaline. The worst part about hitting invisable walls isn't the wasted shot so much as the enemy seeing that I was trying to shoot them and the flashes being a arrow pointing right where I am!

[a 5 year old with an Uzi]

Realizing I rely a lot on red box range or eyeballing/guesstimation in LoS now

Edited by a 5 year old with an Uzi, Yesterday, 08:31 AM.

[LordNothing]

the only time i shoot blind at a box is if there are a lot of trees in the way. looking at you luthien. i even upgraded an engine so i could rush in and clear all the trees in the area i wanted to trade from. i dont really have the time to figure out how to turn them off in the user.cfg.

Edited by LordNothing, Yesterday, 02:06 AM.

[Bassault]

I've played more games than most people and I'm a competitive player and I've never noticed cheaters except for this one time. I don't know what you guys see or do to see so many cheaters.

CFC Conky, on 04 May 2025 - 06:57 PM, said:

Funny, I ran into something like that yesterday. I was on Frozen City, assault mode. For part of the match my team was staying on our side of the map, waiting to see if the other team would push first. I was behind a building, out of los of the other side of the map and the building was being continuously hit by something, I suspect gauss rounds because I could see chunks of snow flying around and hear the sound of rounds hitting my cover. At the time I wondered if said cover was not visible to the other team due to invisible walls (graphics glitch), but I suppose it could have benn something more nefarious.

Good hunting,
CFC Conky

This is simply a rendering glitch. On many maps the wall looks bigger than it actually is or vice versa, especially if you don't have a cfg. The further you are the worst it gets. Many times on frozen city classic I shoot at the far south side of the map and it ends up hitting an invisible building until you walk closer then it appears from thin air.

Edited by Bassault, Today, 07:45 AM.