Wiki / JSON Update

With this latest update, Dakota has encrypted the game data JSON, both the live version and the physical copy on your phone. This effectively means that I can no longer get mercs stats, skills, pictures, or any of that data we took for granted. From now on, there will be no more WIKI updates and my JSON Parser will not work. We can only guess at skill proc rates and damage modifiers. This is a huge blow to the loyal FF community, and it saddens me to have to report this.

I will keep my eyes and ears open to look for some way to get the info out to you guys in the future. But for now, they just kick-started the game's long slide into oblivion.

Perhaps it's another ID10T error that was rolled out with the recent update forced upon us. Maybe they will realize the error when the cash flowing in from the paying players slows to a trickle.

Can't see a business reason why that data would now need to be locked away in some ivory tower.  

legend, could you connect a legacy version (unencrypted) of the JSON to the parser?

That way we all won't feel as cut off from the information tit as we actually are.

I could, but I don't have a recent one. Does anyone have a recent un-encrypted version? I didn't bother saving physical copies because I could always get the latest online instantly.

I have an excel from the last couple weeks. Give me a few minutes to find it.

I have a json post last event that I have saved. I actually have quite a few which I have saved and date stamped.

Let me know if you want it/them and how you want me to get them to you. I am at work now so I won't be able to get them to you for another 9 hours or so....

How do I insert a file?

Ooh well, thanks for all the effort you put in it. It was nice while it lasted.
I wouldn't mind putting up the stats for mercs i own manually but i guess that would be a fruitless offer unless lots of people do it.

This is nuts. I hope hept is correct and this is a mistake. They've got to realize what a boon to their game the Wiki is....

Thanks to Sphynx I was able to link my parser to the last available json file. You can still use it for looking at mercs and skills if you want, but it is no longer up to date. This means it wont have the info for new mercs or reflect any changes to stats/skills made after January 20th.

Thanks Shynx and legend! At least this tool is somewhat available.

I guess if we don't know true modifiers anymore and now the percentage is unavailable. That's a huge gamble now to run for L. I see low point totals in the near future for ff. I can't believe how much comes and goes in just a years time.

Besides the modifiers, we won't be able to see future adjustments/minor nerfs either which is too bad.

As FF is usually following BB in such programming updates, does anyone know the situation at BB? Do they have access to an unencrypted json file or are they like us?

Idk kinda wishing I had kept my BB stuff up to date

BB JSON is encrypted and GIJ json is not available in hardcopy. Looks like both FF & BB using same method of encryption. As both have same structure. Lets crack the code   

We are currently attempting to work out a situation with the developers that doesn't force us to break the TOS just to provide simple and necessary information to the game community. I hate companies that cut off their nose to spite their face, and I expect FF devs to not just blindly follow BB when the decisions are incredibly poor ones.

The game community in FF is the only reason why this game still exists, for them to do this to us is shortsighted. I refuse to hack or break in. If they don't us to have the information, I'd rather shut down the wiki. If they don't support the community, then we can't support them.

Dont stone me for heresy but its not that bad that this kind of information is not so easily accessible.
Well... stats are still very easy to calculate when you know stats of R1. And mods on abilities? At least people will have something to think about between mindless clicking on GO/OK buttons .

People will actually have to 'parse' !

The problem with that is the wiki. I know for many people it is quite cavalier to say that "now we actually have to do some work, it's not that bad." But for me, for instance, Legend and I will have to do this for every merc that is released to put on the wiki, AND have to it accurately enough that people won't complain the wiki is inaccurate. Is there any information on the wiki that is considered exploitative? Absolutely not. It is just skill modifiers and stat totals.

The reality is they don't us complaining that mercs are broken, or calling them on their crap when they fix "metadata" errors. The wiki has always been a tool of accountability and I have been proud that they have set that bar for themselves. I don't care what BB does because BB abandoned being a game in favor of being a slot machine with fantasy characters on the spinners long ago. At least FF still retained some shred of the game that once was. If FF follows BB any more than it currently is then it will cease to be, because their big money pushy style won't work in a game this size. So let's hope that the devs realize this and make this a place where they can stand apart from the BB crowd and support their community and retain some level of accountability.

For those of us that don't have our phone embedded into our hand and can't play for the "next bright shiny new merc", the wiki is invaluable. Also, if you don't know the exact stats of the evolved mercs you might buy off the X, the X just becomes a clearing house for the r1's of the merc and the features given to us in recent enhancements to the X become nearly worthless.

So are we going to have to pay for the data on the mercs? In the hopes that they might be something we want to trade or buy from packs? That model won't work for the free players - they will just sit back and just "dink".

Think long and hard Dakota. Looks like you are overreaching, at your own peril.

The reality is that we don't know why it is suddenly encrypted. Everyone is always so quick to jump on the hate Dakota band wagon. We all know that they use BB code and they may have just merged some code in from the BB code base and this is a side effect of that. The reason for that might be to plug some security holes to prevent hacking.

At least they are responding, for now, in a positive way to mamoncrief and are considering his request on behalf of all of us. In the meantime, if you want to know the stats you are just going to have to calculate it yourself. Or post the min stats of the R1 and I will do it. I will be interested to see if I come up with the same thing as caya....

Our lethal pull rate from pacts is higher then in bb. Tbh ff is more of a slot machine focused game now then most games I can think of. Its their best decorated and functional page. The pact menu lol

Actually Dan, I do know why it was encrypted, and I am trying to work something out with our Dev's for the good of the community. They have not yet responded to me, but they assured me that they are trying to figure out a way to make the wiki usable but also make sure that it is used fairly and accurateluy

Are you able to share with us why they did it or is it something that they want to keep mostly under wraps?

I think they might struggle with that last one. Whatever data they release needs to be available to all, in a format to make it easy to update the wiki from, but clearly it needs to be cut down in detail from what is in the json. In the end I think they just need to put some effort in and host their own.

Maybe Dakota could take on the population of the wiki with a direct data feed rather than having legend & mammon twirl like the Dervish to have something even usable.

If they took on the maintenance of the wiki as part of their goodwill outreach efforts, I think that olive branch would go a long way toward growing the level of trust and belief that this game is more than just a money-grubbing, time-sucking vortex, demon-spawned from the sick minds of ...

... and now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast ... beep ....

Problem is that goes against the very nature of a wiki. If it was ran by the devs it would be a manual, or an encyclopedia. The idea of having a wiki in the first place is allowing the community run it's itself so the devs don't have to waste time doing it.

That is the definition of Wiki, but what the community needs/wants is information and I doubt anyone really cares who is maintaining that source as long as it is correct. The Devs have to make a decision on how that comes about or they are going to risk some sort of backlash from players. Then again people might just accept that the info is no longer available and just get on with it...

Speaking of the community, this forum feels like it is dying a bit of a slow death. Seems like the number of posts in all the sections is way down. I am betting that people are using team chat a lot more and just not bothering to post here at all.

Did someone delete my msg? I can't see it in the thread anymore   

I actually saw your post the other day as well Nuclear, and cannot see it anymore either.......strange

nucleargenome thats the guy with 3 v2 lethal angels and 2 hellcats right....even though the angels arnt even tradeable right? hmmm

So? He could easily have gotten them during the hellcat circular tier packs. I'd say $1,500 or so would be enough to get you that many pay-to-win lethals. Nothing wrong with people wanting to drop their money on the game. Although dropping an entire mortgage payment on it seems a bit excessive to me.

fozziev wrote:

nucleargenome thats the guy with 3 v2 lethal angels and 2 hellcats right....even though the angels arnt even tradeable right?  hmmm

I think foz was referring to the 3 CXB Archangels that were "awarded" to only something like 10 lucky winners during the facebook giveaway or some such nonsense.

Seems fishy to me ... time to call down the "BAN HAMMER"??

Pretty sure the archangel was in the packs at some stage.

Ya but having that many...think you have a better chance hitting the lottery!

Infinite amount of money means 100% chance of getting one.....

Ok

legendslayer wrote:

So? He could easily have gotten them during the hellcat circular tier packs. I'd say $1,500 or so would be enough to get you that many pay-to-win lethals. Nothing wrong with people wanting to drop their money on the game. Although dropping an entire mortgage payment on it seems a bit excessive to me.

Actually around 3000$ for these shiny angels in christmass pact. And around 1500$ for hellcats in pact before. You want them to ban me   

But what happened to my comment. I can still see the json data properly now. But the wiki is not updated . . .

Dude, lighten up. I was just kidding and didn't realize that you are single-handedly paying for all of us free players to continue enjoying this game we love.

So, apologies and thank you for keeping the lights on at Dewey, Cheatum & Howe - more commonly known as DAKOTA!

Sinking 4500$ into this adventure is a bit extreme, but we each have our own budgets to play with, mine is very close to zero (for those mathematicians in the crowd, remember "limits"?). hehehe

Lol that is so much money for a game that's barely got its lights on. I need screen shots or it didn't happen. My guess is stolen credit card, hacking, devs creating their own funzziez account, OR an alt account......

There are billions people in the world. Hundreds of millions with internet access. Dozen of millions playing on-line games. Statistically, there has to be positive number of those whose wallet has no limits and who will spend such amounts in something as crazy as FF. However, I always thought rich people had other things to do than clicking one button 10 hours a day.

If only it truly only took button clicking to be good at this game. There's a lot of guys who have paid 0 dollars with squads full of lethals.

caya wrote:

I always thought rich people had other things to do than clicking one button 10 hours a day.  

Too funny caya! Actually, many of the rich specialize so much so that they really only click 1 button 10 hours a day. It's the "Show me the money!" button.

HEY M:

Any word from the other side of the curtain on what their intention is regarding the data on the mercs that used to be available via JSON?

Are we to be blind for evermore?

... said the raven - nevermore or evermore ???

Still waiting.

You guys should actually contact RPStrelke and his Pirates about this matter. They have the devs eating out of their proverbial hand (both literally and figuratively with the money they drop on this game)... so they would probably be able to get a response in a timely manner.

Good idea legend!

So, who has a relationship with them that isn't tied to heated topics?

Hatch, Duavae, Dan, others?

legendslayer wrote:

You guys should actually contact RPStrelke and his Pirates about this matter. They have the devs eating out of their proverbial hand (both literally and figuratively with the money they drop on this game)... so they would probably be able to get a response in a timely manner.

This made me laugh realizing the irony that group of players calling themselves pirates would actually pay for their wins. YARRRR!

Hatch is no longer a pirate! ....he has turned to the fff side~!

quote the raven, nevermore

Somehow someone from BB is getting the info that we seek for FF before events are over. Mods, skills, evo and pope stats, are all available for the current event pvp rare on wiki. So they are able to get the info somehow. Unless it's just a guess they hope is correct lol