Item Restoration with .webs Verification

Upon losing an item from my inventory that I farmed ingame after a server restart and receiving zero support from Warmane because of it. Here's a suggestion.

Allow the restoration of inventory + equipped items based on the .webs backup file on site.

This will encourage players to back up their data regularly and in case of a scenario where items randomly go missing they can restore it via their .webs file. I hate the fact that there is zero support for such scenarios for items that you've farmed in game. Only if you've bought an item with coins can you get the item back.

1) The file is encrypted by Warmane so it can only be decrypted by its entities.
2) Players will never have to deal with the loss of a random item from my inventory ever again that was not their fault and be given ridiculous responses about how you "cannot restore items that are farmed ingame" but if you bought an item with coins you can get it restored.
3) Players will actually have up to date backups if there is a Molt-Down 2.0.

There needs to be some way for players that lose items in game via server issues to get them back. You cannot basically give them the finger and make them farm it over again.

I look forward to the responses.

It would open room for exploits and duplications. Limits would either be too difficult, too encompassing or too loose (how often? once a day? a week? a month? how many items? one? two? all? there's no automated rule to cover every case). Manually checking every claim would require possibly checking multiple logs (some that might not even exist) to track if the item in fact vanished and wasn't just given to someone else or sold. On top of that it was never the purpose of the system at all, so I'm not sure I see this happening.

Also, you aren't "basically given the middle finger," as being a player in an emulation of World of Warcraft you are expected to understand - and, most importantly, accept - that you are under the risk of that sort of unfortunate event happening.

The .webs file contains a list of all items on every character per account i assume. In order to restore all players characters and items in case of a wipe. If this is the case it would not open the door to exploits and duplication. The .webs file possibly has some sort of checksum/MD5 or whatever with the server as well to verify authenticity. So IF it was tampered with, it would not match with the non localized version therefore you could not restore from that tampered .webs file.

As I see it, you can only make a backup once every 7 days. You could create a rule that allows restoration from the .webs file every x days/weeks/months as well. That would be up to Warmane's discretion. What you're talking about, specifically LOGS to track items that have vanished would not be necessary as I'm assuming the .webs file contains a list of everything on the player's account.

Creating a system where the .webs file could be uploaded, decrypted (Server Side ONLY), and an option to restore would be great. Obviously this would be limited to soul-bound gear items and not Primordials etc.

Also

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Originally Posted by Obnoxious

Also, you aren't "basically given the middle finger," as being a player in an emulation of World of Warcraft you are expected to understand - and, most importantly, accept - that you are under the risk of that sort of unfortunate event happening.

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Everyone is subject that that in the emulation environment, but there is support for donated items disappearing but not for farmed items. The solution I have suggested could fix that issue. You already have a system to track purchased gear/mounts/etc. You can implement a system that reads the backup, checks the inventory + bank to see if the player has the item there already and restore it if it has disappeared. Whatever constraints you choose to add will be up to management.

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Originally Posted by Xanaria

The .webs file contains a list of all items on every character per account i assume. In order to restore all players characters and items in case of a wipe. If this is the case it would not open the door to exploits and duplication. The .webs file possibly has some sort of checksum/MD5 or whatever with the server as well to verify authenticity. So IF it was tampered with, it would not match with the non localized version therefore you could not restore from that tampered .webs file.

As I see it, you can only make a backup once every 7 days. You could create a rule that allows restoration from the .webs file every x days/weeks/months as well. That would be up to Warmane's discretion. What you're talking about, specifically LOGS to track items that have vanished would not be necessary as I'm assuming the .webs file contains a list of everything on the player's account.

Creating a system where the .webs file could be uploaded, decrypted (Server Side ONLY), and an option to restore would be great. Obviously this would be limited to soul-bound gear items and not Primordials etc.

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It has nothing to do with tampering.

- Player gathers costly/rare materials from every friend/whole guild, saves a WEBS, sells everything/gives it back, restores the file saved with everything.
- Player gives all transferable items to an alt he wants to gear up after saving a WEBS, then restores and repeats it for every alt and finally auctions the items he doesn't plans on keeping on his main anyways.

Took me a minute to think up two scenarios. How many other ways to exploit it do you think thousands of players could come up with (like repeatedly selling items, if we went with your limitation to soul bound)? About limiting it to soul bound, what happens to people who legitimately lost non-soul bound items or Primordials or whatever? They deserve what you call "basically a middle finger"?

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Originally Posted by Xanaria

Everyone is subject that that in the emulation environment, but there is support for donated items disappearing but not for farmed items. The solution I have suggested could fix that issue. You already have a system to track purchased gear/mounts/etc. You can implement a system that reads the backup, checks the inventory + bank to see if the player has the item there already and restore it if it has disappeared. Whatever constraints you choose to add will be up to management.

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Donated items are done manually, one by one, after checks for the item being bought as well as previous Support tickets opened by that player. It's a whole different thing - like, on top of the different scale, people actually donated money and used the coins received to get them.

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Originally Posted by Obnoxious

It has nothing to do with tampering.

- Player gathers costly/rare materials from every friend/whole guild, saves a WEBS, sells everything/gives it back, restores the file saved with everything.
- Player gives all transferable items to an alt he wants to gear up after saving a WEBS, then restores and repeats it for every alt and finally auctions the items he doesn't plans on keeping on his main anyways.

Took me a minute to think up two scenarios. How many other ways to exploit it do you think thousands of players could come up with (like repeatedly selling items, if we went with your limitation to soul bound)? About limiting it to soul bound, what happens to people who legitimately lost non-soul bound items or Primordials or whatever? They deserve what you call "basically a middle finger"?


Donated items are done manually, one by one, after checks for the item being bought as well as previous Support tickets opened by that player. It's a whole different thing - like, on top of the different scale, people actually donated money and used the coins received to get them.

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Gear that you farm ingame is not guaranteed to drop. The fact that you're treating BoE's and Mats like gear that has been farmed is abysmal. You're trying to equate RNG Raid drops to items that you can literally obtain in minutes. They are not in the same category at all. This is purely a system to help players recover an item in case of random disappearance. It is not meant to be spammed. You're trying to fault the suggestion I've provided based on a general outline of what can be done. Obviously there will be measures put in to prevent your "scenarios". The disappearing items is not something that happens regularly. The only other time I can think of this happening is when Molten released Void Storage on Cataclysm realms or when there used to be realm rollbacks. Items were disappearing from Void Storage and nothing was done about it.

I know you're not a Dev, so you probably don't know that all of this can be done with an automated system and be essentially great. If you would not like it to be automated then that's fine as well. Morph it into whatever you choose. You basically have half of it done already, with elements in the Trade/Marketplace/Support system. But don't pass it off as being exploitable straight off the bat because you thought of two scenarios that Warmane would never allow to happen if the system or something like it was implemented.

Lastly, you can use the .webs to check if the character actually possessed the item. It is not a whole different thing lol. The only different thing is that people used real money to buy the items. Therefore it would seem adequate to provide them with a professional service no? :) This would be a blizzlike solution, since Warmane strives to be as blizzlike as possible. Right?

At the end of all of this, I have provided an idea with a general outline. I have not gone into the nitty gritty of how the system works, what checks need to be implemented. If you would like an elaborate description. Please let me know.

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Originally Posted by Xanaria

Gear that you farm ingame is not guaranteed to drop. The fact that you're treating BoE's and Mats like gear that has been farmed is abysmal. You're trying to equate RNG Raid drops to items that you can literally obtain in minutes. They are not in the same category at all. This is purely a system to help players recover an item in case of random disappearance.

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You got that upside-down. I'm not "trying to equate," because items affected by "random disappearances" are items affected by random disappearances - they are equal in what happened to them. You're the one who's trying to create a differentiation based on what is important to you subjectively. Someone who lost some rare farmed materials still got hit by a loss just the same as you, and they wouldn't be faulted for not accepting you receiving better treatment just because your loss was "more important" than theirs.

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Originally Posted by Xanaria

It is not meant to be spammed.

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So what happens if the server crashes right after you recover the item and it's gone again? Will you suck it up?

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Originally Posted by Xanaria

You're trying to fault the suggestion I've provided based on a general outline of what can be done. Obviously there will be measures put in to prevent your "scenarios".

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Of course I am, because it's faulty. It works in the case of items received with coins because of all the limitations surrounding that. It can't be abused by essence of it being done manually.

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Originally Posted by Xanaria

I know you're not a Dev, so you probably don't know that all of this can be done with an automated system and be essentially great. If you would not like it to be automated then that's fine as well. Morph it into whatever you choose. You basically have half of it done already, with elements in the Trade/Marketplace/Support system. But don't pass it off as being exploitable straight off the bat because you thought of two scenarios that Warmane would never allow to happen if the system or something like it was implemented.

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I'm not a Developer here, no, but I do have a degree in Computer Programming and one in Computer Networks. True, I haven't made use of either in over a decade, but the fundamentals of computer logic don't change all that much. As I said previously, it would likely either have to be too loose or too strict (barring Edifice giving birth to an AI). The straightforward way to avoid that is doing it manually, as happens in the limited case of items bought with donated coins, and which I highly doubt would be expanded to include items lost due to bugs (and "bugs").

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Originally Posted by Xanaria

Lastly, you can use the .webs to check if the character actually possessed the item. It is not a whole different thing lol. The only different thing is that people used real money to buy the items. Therefore it would seem adequate to provide them with a professional service no? :) This would be a blizzlike solution, since Warmane strives to be as blizzlike as possible. Right?

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See my last line. And we strive to be "Blizzlike" in our terms, mainly in game content and mechanics (or did you pay your monthly subscription for June already?). Feel free to call this "not Blizzlike" as much as you like, it won't change anything. Rest assured the Staff won't go into a panic to "be more Bizzlike" on this. Still, Blizzard has no automated system to read backups of characters, so your suggestion is "not Blizzlike" in itself already.

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Originally Posted by Xanaria

At the end of all of this, I have provided an idea with a general outline. I have not gone into the nitty gritty of how the system works, what checks need to be implemented. If you would like an elaborate description. Please let me know.

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Yes, you provided an idea, and you aren't the first to suggest or question about the same thing, with different words or not, with more details or less. Our stance has remained what I said in my first reply: you are expected to understand - and, most importantly, accept - that you are under the risk of that sort of unfortunate event happening, as crashes and other situations that lead to item losses can happen.

Just to clarify;
Blizzard has a system for every item to be returned to character (1 use per month) even if it was disenchanted (thus you need to have mats to equal the return).
If the item was sold/de-ed or in any way lost you can use the service to return it to your character provided you have equal means of deducting the profting from it.
It is fully automated and does not require any interaction from Gms.
Also I think from what I can remeber it only referes to a gear,not items.

I play on retail, Peregrine, I know that. But 1. retail has no "WEBS" or anything similar that is kept in the players hands and is the essence of the suggestion; and 2. I'm pretty sure their system doesn't covers items that aren't saved in the character's inventory because of a bug or crash as I assume is the case described here, since I can't think of any other case for items to vanish (I'm not counting a "brother" or "girlfriend" deleting the item, the player trashing the wrong item, the player selling and then regretting it too late, etc).

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Originally Posted by Peregrine

Just to clarify;
Blizzard has a system for every item to be returned to character (1 use per month) even if it was disenchanted (thus you need to have mats to equal the return).
If the item was sold/de-ed or in any way lost you can use the service to return it to your character provided you have equal means of deducting the profting from it.
It is fully automated and does not require any interaction from Gms.
Also I think from what I can remeber it only referes to a gear,not items.

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A system like this sounds alright and easy to implement.

WEBS stores everything related to account, all account, website and character information, it's only suitable to use it in such cases where we've screwed something up immensely and are unable to recover from it ourselves (never going to be the case again), something that is wide-spread, but i can't forsee that happening.