Trion strips World First ID from exploiters

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http://forums.riftgame.com/rift-general-discussions/dungeons-raids/328986-maelforge-world-first.html

Hey guys,

Over the past few days, there has been a lot of discussion on the official RIFT forums and other active raiding communities about a possible exploit that allowed raiders to overpower the mechanics in the Laethys and Maelforge encounters.

While we can't turn back the clock and fully rewind what happened several weeks ago, I'm here today to clear the air and let you know what's been going on here in the studio about this issue.

First: We are certain that there were exploits in 1.8.

About two months ago, the team was alerted to an exploit that could be used to gain more power than what should be possible. We spent a lot of effort investigating and reproducing it and we fixed what we found. While we did address the primary issue as rapidly as we could, we weren’t aware of the full severity of the situation as it pertained to finishing the Maelforge encounter.

One of the side effects of the bug was a world first granted to a very small number of players who chose to abuse it. In short: those achievements were not legitimate.

I don't think it's necessary for me to tell you that it sucks when something is won unfairly. These kinds of situations undermine the hard work and camaraderie that is the backbone of the RIFT community.

Second: I want to thank everyone who stepped forward and helped us identify and address these problems. Whether you are posting on the forums or reporting a bug in game, your participation is essential to ensuring that RIFT continues to be awesome and that our team knows what's going on: you are our front lines for information about the good and the bad in the game. Please don't stop reporting issues as you come across them, and please never hesitate to reach out to any of us with a question, concern (or maybe, sometimes, a compliment!) Without you, we wouldn't be here.

Finally, I want to highlight the guild Special Olympics on our EU shard Blightweald. This crew took on Maelforge and were the first in the world with a legitimate victory. If you want to check out the fight in its entirety (and all its glory) you can find it here on their YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyWRMLsPlRA We are also in the process of correcting our logs so that Special Olympics receives recognition as the first guild to triumph in this encounter and will be taking away the world first designation from the group who previously held the title but earned it through an exploit (these changes will go into effect next week.)

The internet can be a rough place sometimes and the raid game can be fiercely competitive. We want to make RIFT the best raiding experience possible for everyone, be it a guild vying for a world first or a guild who sets foot into Infernal Dawn for the first time. Without your dedication, we would never have uncovered everything, and more importantly, wouldn't have been able to set the record straight and give you the full story.

From all of us, thanks for your honesty and persistence. Please, never stop talking, and we'll never stop listening.

-e.