I phone apps? and Multi-core support?

[Waruri]

<p>I was curious if you guys are planning to have any iphone apps.</p><p>It would be cool to talk with guild using the voice chat system linked up by my iphone. </p><p>Or even to have an app to send text chats to guild to whoever is online. WoW has something like this I think and it also has an armory where you can see your gear and look up other items etc</p><p>---------------------</p><p>Second topic: </p><p>Any more discussion on multicore support?</p><p>I have a quadcore and when I check the load one core is at like 80% and the others are at 5% or less even with the multicore checked in display options.</p><p>Intel is coming out with a 6 core (with hyper threading) processor 2010 - 1st quarter but EQ2 is the only game I play right now so there's no need for it. If multicore was supported more it might be nice to snag this and up my gfx from High to Extreme in game.</p>

[gi]

<p><cite>Waruri wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Second topic:</p><p>Any more discussion on multicore support?</p><p>I have a quadcore and when I check the load one core is at like 80% and the others are at 5% or less even with the multicore checked in display options.</p><p>Intel is coming out with a 6 core (with hyper threading) processor 2010 - 1st quarter but EQ2 is the only game I play right now so there's no need for it. If multicore was supported more it might be nice to snag this and up my gfx from High to Extreme in game.</p></blockquote><p>SoE have already off loaded some eq2 processes to other cores. And more will be coming Soon(tm). You need to make sure you have enabled multicore support in EQ2 options. </p><p>The issue is that the game was coded before 2004 and it was assumed that single processor speeds would keep increasing, multi-core became the way much after after this. If you know anything about threading applications for multicore support you will know that taking an existing application and changing it takes time. Give them time!</p>

[Ealthina]

<p><cite>Rlaal@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Waruri wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Second topic:</p><p>Any more discussion on multicore support?</p><p>I have a quadcore and when I check the load one core is at like 80% and the others are at 5% or less even with the multicore checked in display options.</p><p>Intel is coming out with a 6 core (with hyper threading) processor 2010 - 1st quarter but EQ2 is the only game I play right now so there's no need for it. If multicore was supported more it might be nice to snag this and up my gfx from High to Extreme in game.</p></blockquote><p>SoE have already off loaded some eq2 processes to other cores. And more will be coming Soon(tm). You need to make sure you have enabled multicore support in EQ2 options. </p><p>The issue is that the game was coded before 2004 and it was assumed that single processor speeds would keep increasing, multi-core became the way much after after this. If you know anything about threading applications for multicore support you will know that taking an existing application and changing it takes time. Give them time!</p></blockquote><p>Did you even read the post?</p>

[feldon30]

Yes, and gave a good response IMO. Sony has hired a graphics guy (Imago-Quem) who is working on these things such as Flora being handled on the GPU, GPU Shadows, and other core upgrades to the game graphics to use less CPU. Here's his latest project: <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=454116" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=454116</a>

[Yimway]

<p><cite>Waruri wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Or even to have an app to send text chats to guild to whoever is online. WoW has something like this I think and it also has an armory where you can see your gear and look up other items etc</p><p>---------------------</p><p>Any more discussion on multicore support?</p></blockquote><p>Eq1 had this service that you could IM with people in game.  It was a jabber clone and we wrote a client that worked from cell phones. </p><p>-------------------------</p><p>Forget about multicore support, lets just get the GPU utilization maxed first.  The client in the end shouldn't be using enough cpu to warrant being on more than one core.</p>

[feldon30]

<p><cite>Atan@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The client in the end shouldn't be using enough cpu to warrant being on more than one core.</p></blockquote><p>QFE</p>

[DeemonEQ]

<p>An Iphone app would be great ...there is already one for WoW.</p><p>Some ideas for funcionality are :</p><p>Chat in guild and tells to people</p><p>See recent guild events</p><p>Set Guild MOTD  (if you have the necessary rank)</p><p>Send in game email</p><p>View your character stats and armor ( like on eq2 players)</p><p>Armor search (like the one on ZAM)</p><p>View and modifiy your broker sales and see any cash you might have to pickup (this is all possible as its all on ZAM now)</p><p>Slayer status - How many of each creature type youve killed.</p><p>Character History - With the new Achievement system coming all that information could be available in the app too at some point</p><p>Maps of the zones.</p><p>I guess theres lots of things....would be interested in what other people think would be cool to have in the app..</p>

[Yimway]

<p>The entire crafting process from writ to broker to fuel to station could be sumarized in a phone app...</p>

[Rijacki]

<p><cite>DeemonEQ wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>An Iphone app would be great ...there is already one for WoW.</p><p>Some ideas for funcionality are :</p><p>Chat in guild and tells to people</p><p>See recent guild events</p><p>Set Guild MOTD  (if you have the necessary rank)</p><p>Send in game email</p><p>View your character stats and armor ( like on eq2 players)</p><p>Armor search (like the one on ZAM)</p><p>View and modifiy your broker sales and see any cash you might have to pickup (this is all possible as its all on ZAM now)</p><p>Slayer status - How many of each creature type youve killed.</p><p>Character History - With the new Achievement system coming all that information could be available in the app too at some point</p><p>Maps of the zones.</p><p>I guess theres lots of things....would be interested in what other people think would be cool to have in the app..</p></blockquote><p>You might want to approach Zam with the idea since it's probably something they'd be more inclined to making, if they could realise a revenue stream from it.</p>

[Starman]

<p>I'd like to see an offline crafting app. You sync your iPhone with your inventory and craft while at lunch, in traffic, etc. Then the (signed) data gets uploaded back to the game. Inventory issues may have to be resolved if you don't have enough slots, but that's trivial.</p><p>Yeah, purists will scream "but you're not in a tradeskill instance" but it would allow people to keep their mind on the game while away from their computer, and build up their in-game experience while being out of the game.</p><p>A broker app would be nice too.</p>

[Zarador]

<p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'd like to see an offline crafting app. You sync your iPhone with your inventory and craft while at lunch, in traffic, etc. Then the (signed) data gets uploaded back to the game. Inventory issues may have to be resolved if you don't have enough slots, but that's trivial.</p><p>Yeah, purists will scream "but you're not in a tradeskill instance" but it would allow people to keep their mind on the game while away from their computer, and build up their in-game experience while being out of the game.</p><p>A broker app would be nice too.</p></blockquote><p>I could be 100% wrong in my thinking, but I beleive that such an application would allow 3rd party programs outside of the game to run which has pretty much always been against the policy of almost every game out there. Add to that the recent hacking of many iPhones with special scripting and the game may wind up with some serious exploits being introduced. </p><p>Yeah, I guess I'm one of those "purists" that also belive that "you gotta be in it; to win it" and feel that the actual game play should be limited to those actually logged into the game and engaging in the activity of the game actively. </p><p>Crafting "competes" with the other players in the game and should be done on an even basis.  Do we really need an outside application that allows even more spamming of the market with bulk goods? </p>

[Starman]

<p><cite>Zarador wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'd like to see an offline crafting app. You sync your iPhone with your inventory and craft while at lunch, in traffic, etc. Then the (signed) data gets uploaded back to the game. Inventory issues may have to be resolved if you don't have enough slots, but that's trivial.</p><p>Yeah, purists will scream "but you're not in a tradeskill instance" but it would allow people to keep their mind on the game while away from their computer, and build up their in-game experience while being out of the game.</p><p>A broker app would be nice too.</p></blockquote><p>I could be 100% wrong in my thinking, but I beleive that such an application would allow 3rd party programs outside of the game to run which has pretty much always been against the policy of almost every game out there. Add to that the recent hacking of many iPhones with special scripting and the game may wind up with some serious exploits being introduced. </p><p>Yeah, I guess I'm one of those "purists" that also belive that "you gotta be in it; to win it" and feel that the actual game play should be limited to those actually logged into the game and engaging in the activity of the game actively. </p><p>Crafting "competes" with the other players in the game and should be done on an even basis.  Do we really need an outside application that allows even more spamming of the market with bulk goods? </p></blockquote><p>As I said, the data can be signed. Blizzard does this with their iPhone Authenticator.</p><p>Also, if Sony built the app, how is it "third party"?</p><p>Sure, I could bring my laptop and MiFi just to craft, but it's much easier to just have the iPhone.</p>

[Yimway]

<p><cite>Zarador wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I could be 100% wrong in my thinking, but I beleive that such an application would allow 3rd party programs outside of the game to run which has pretty much always been against the policy of almost every game out there. Add to that the recent hacking of many iPhones with special scripting and the game may wind up with some serious exploits being introduced.</p></blockquote><p>There are already more than a dozen apps that do crafting in the game as you suggest might be exploitable via a phone app.  That really isn't a valid reason to not provide it for legit players.  If someone wants to exploit, I think its likely much easier to use one of the many available resources to do it already vs trying to create yet another eula violating piece of software.</p><p>Certainly the applet could have some controls on no more than x items per day/session, whatever.</p><p>But the ability to interact with the game and feel a sense of progress and interest in it from a much lighter client will only serve to up the engagement level of players which I believe contributes to the health of the game.  If exploiters chose to exploit, its rarely a good reason to kill an idea, unless they determin they can't put reasonable controls on it.</p>

[DeemonEQ]

<p>Im not sure i would go as far as crafting...interacting with the game is one thing....playing it is another.</p><p>As for a revenue stream.....it would be the same as any other ipod/iphone app.....through the itunes app store</p><p>Id pay a reasonable price for that kind of functionality...its something i would use a lot.</p>

[Kotomi]

<p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'd like to see an offline crafting app. You sync your iPhone with your inventory and craft while at lunch, in traffic, etc. Then the (signed) data gets uploaded back to the game. Inventory issues may have to be resolved if you don't have enough slots, but that's trivial.</p><p>Yeah, purists will scream "but you're not in a tradeskill instance" but it would allow people to keep their mind on the game while away from their computer, and build up their in-game experience while being out of the game.</p><p>A broker app would be nice too.</p></blockquote><p>If they decided to do this they might as well just make crafting automated and instant, since any player would be able to sign data saying they crafted 10 000 items and send it to the server and it wouldn't be possible to verify if it was legit or not.</p>

[Akien]

<p>I think an Iphone app would be awesome!</p>

[Landiin]

Why just iphone.. the code needed to do such things is simple so any java client could handle it.

[Waruri]

<p>On a side note I'd be happy if I could post on the EQ2 forums from my Iphone. The text editor here doesn't work with my I phone for some reason only the subject line does. </p>

[Ahlana]

<p><cite>Toran@Oasis wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Why just iphone.. the code needed to do such things is simple so any java client could handle it.</blockquote><p>True story would like this for my android phone or blackberry... java universal (mostly) for the win</p>

[Midsong]

<p><cite>Kotomi wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>...</blockquote><p>If they decided to do this they might as well just make crafting automated and instant, since any player would be able to sign data saying they crafted 10 000 items and send it to the server and it wouldn't be possible to verify if it was legit or not.</p></blockquote><p>There would be the same server/client interaction during crafting that occurs with the normal game client. It would just be the game client stripped down to the crafting and chat interface (character-to-world interaction would be quite a feat).</p><p>As far as cheating goes...</p><p>A player right now can set up their PC to craft, fight, and manage their inventory 24/7 with little chance of being detected as a automated (ie cheating) system. The possibility of cheating is a terrible reason to not do something.</p>

[Thunderthyze]

<p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>A broker app would be nice too.</p></blockquote><p>Hahahahahaha!</p><p>Zam can't even get that to work online. Not much hope of any meaningful Apps until SOE sort out datafeeds generally. Of course, look-ahead companies such as CCP actively work with App designers....</p>

[Kotomi]

<p><cite>Midsong wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kotomi wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>...</blockquote><p>If they decided to do this they might as well just make crafting automated and instant, since any player would be able to sign data saying they crafted 10 000 items and send it to the server and it wouldn't be possible to verify if it was legit or not.</p></blockquote><p>There would be the same server/client interaction during crafting that occurs with the normal game client. It would just be the game client stripped down to the crafting and chat interface (character-to-world interaction would be quite a feat).</p></blockquote><p>Please do tell how you can make an OFFLINE client interact with the game server.</p>

[Haze]

<p>Attempted running EQ2 from the IPhone 3G.. lets just say.. its horrid, very horrid. Can't even craft.. just MAYBE chat if you're lucky, heh.</p><p>VNC Server + the VNC app, lets you control your desktop remotely, but the framerate is about 1-2 frames a second.</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>Waruri wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>On a side note I'd be happy if I could post on the EQ2 forums from my Iphone. The text editor here doesn't work with my I phone for some reason only the subject line does. </p></blockquote><p>Iphone does not support a graphical editor, if you can turn it off, it will allow you to post. Have to look in the profile prefences to see if there is a option for it</p>

[Waruri]

<p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Waruri wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>On a side note I'd be happy if I could post on the EQ2 forums from my Iphone. The text editor here doesn't work with my I phone for some reason only the subject line does. </p></blockquote><p>Iphone does not support a graphical editor, if you can turn it off, it will allow you to post. Have to look in the profile prefences to see if there is a option for it</p></blockquote><p>Profile preferences on Eq2 forums or on the phone?</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>Waruri wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Waruri wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>On a side note I'd be happy if I could post on the EQ2 forums from my Iphone. The text editor here doesn't work with my I phone for some reason only the subject line does. </p></blockquote><p>Iphone does not support a graphical editor, if you can turn it off, it will allow you to post. Have to look in the profile prefences to see if there is a option for it</p></blockquote><p>Profile preferences on Eq2 forums or on the phone?</p></blockquote><p>It is on the forums, unfortuantely cannot seem to find the option on the profile unless I am missing it. The ATT and apple forums are the same way, once you turn off the graphical editor it works</p>

[Starman]

<p><cite>Kotomi wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'd like to see an offline crafting app. You sync your iPhone with your inventory and craft while at lunch, in traffic, etc. Then the (signed) data gets uploaded back to the game. Inventory issues may have to be resolved if you don't have enough slots, but that's trivial.</p><p>Yeah, purists will scream "but you're not in a tradeskill instance" but it would allow people to keep their mind on the game while away from their computer, and build up their in-game experience while being out of the game.</p><p>A broker app would be nice too.</p></blockquote><p>If they decided to do this they might as well just make crafting automated and instant, since any player would be able to sign data saying they crafted 10 000 items and send it to the server and it wouldn't be possible to verify if it was legit or not.</p></blockquote><p>And how would "any player" be able to do this?</p><p>Seriously, if you don't understand how the technology works, don't talk about it.</p><p>It can be done, and has been.</p>

[Starman]

<p><cite>Kotomi wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Midsong wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kotomi wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>...</blockquote><p>If they decided to do this they might as well just make crafting automated and instant, since any player would be able to sign data saying they crafted 10 000 items and send it to the server and it wouldn't be possible to verify if it was legit or not.</p></blockquote><p>There would be the same server/client interaction during crafting that occurs with the normal game client. It would just be the game client stripped down to the crafting and chat interface (character-to-world interaction would be quite a feat).</p></blockquote><p>Please do tell how you can make an OFFLINE client interact with the game server.</p></blockquote><p>Your use of "offline" is a bit wrong. The iPhone app would have to interact with the game server at SOME point. The iPhone app would be a client/server app just like the game itself.</p><p>You create a standalone crafting app on the iPhone. Maybe you have a restriction that your toon has to be in a tradeskill instance for this to work (so that people don't start crafting when their toon is logged out in the middle of Kylong, you know). The app reads the inventory from your toon, and send it to your phone's app. You can then do your crafting inside the iPhone app based on your inventory.</p><p>When you're done crafting, the iPhone app uploads your crafted item(s) to the server (probably one at a time).</p><p>What needs to be done is the data needs to be signed so that some iPhone dev doesn't make an app to instantly create a ton of items and then upload them to the server. Care needs to be taken so that communication between the iPhone app and the server is locked.</p><p>So it's just a minigame that communicates with the server. It's no different than the game itself. It's JUST a client-server app just like the game itself is, but it only does crafting.</p>

[MurFalad]

<p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kotomi wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Starman wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I'd like to see an offline crafting app. You sync your iPhone with your inventory and craft while at lunch, in traffic, etc. Then the (signed) data gets uploaded back to the game. Inventory issues may have to be resolved if you don't have enough slots, but that's trivial.</p><p>Yeah, purists will scream "but you're not in a tradeskill instance" but it would allow people to keep their mind on the game while away from their computer, and build up their in-game experience while being out of the game.</p><p>A broker app would be nice too.</p></blockquote><p>If they decided to do this they might as well just make crafting automated and instant, since any player would be able to sign data saying they crafted 10 000 items and send it to the server and it wouldn't be possible to verify if it was legit or not.</p></blockquote><p>And how would "any player" be able to do this?</p><p>Seriously, if you don't understand how the technology works, don't talk about it.</p><p>It can be done, and has been.</p></blockquote><p>I remember one of the EQ2Daily podcasts mentioning offline EQ2 games in their Christmas wish list. </p><p>Personally I would be a bit wary here with anything being able to be done offline though since as an MMO its game breaking if someone exploits it, and if there is an exploit you could guarantee someone somewhere would write some software to perform it and others would use it.  Some sort of encoding unique to each hand held jumbling the data around a bit could foil it I suppose.</p><p>For me it would make more sense then if they produced more minigames for crafting (something I think would make it more fun anyway) if they kept updating the client fast enough with even trivual code changes it would be practically pointless to try and hack it, especially if there was an items per a week limit added to this method.</p><p>Alternatively an app that you can run limited parts of EQ2 on while connected would be good for me, that option would be a no brainer for security, just log on normally and get all the materials you need questing and set yourself up to craft anywhere on your portable device, sounds neat if the crafting is made more of a fun set of mini games you want to play because they are enjoyable rather then something you want to do to progress.</p>

[Paddyo]

<p>WoW has a newer app that accesses their version of EQ2players for ipodtouch/iphone too.  When they get EQ2players straightened out, I'd love to see something like this.  Of course, I'd love for Eq2players to have the WoW armory's functionality of showing me all the possible upgrades to my armor (as I guess I am supposed to be able to do with a premium Zam account.)</p>

[Kotomi]

<p><cite>Voliska@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Your use of "offline" is a bit wrong. The iPhone app would have to interact with the game server at SOME point. The iPhone app would be a client/server app just like the game itself.</p><p>You create a standalone crafting app on the iPhone. Maybe you have a restriction that your toon has to be in a tradeskill instance for this to work (so that people don't start crafting when their toon is logged out in the middle of Kylong, you know). The app reads the inventory from your toon, and send it to your phone's app. You can then do your crafting inside the iPhone app based on your inventory.</p><p>When you're done crafting, the iPhone app uploads your crafted item(s) to the server (probably one at a time).</p><p>What needs to be done is the data needs to be signed so that some iPhone dev doesn't make an app to instantly create a ton of items and then upload them to the server. Care needs to be taken so that communication between the iPhone app and the server is locked.</p><p>So it's just a minigame that communicates with the server. It's no different than the game itself. It's JUST a client-server app just like the game itself is, but it only does crafting.</p></blockquote><p>In the example above there is still nothing that prevents the client from batch generating 100s of successful combines and then sending them to the server, as you let the client decide that a combine succeded. This is the problem with allowing the application to work offline, which by the way is what you are suggesting.</p>

[Starman]

<p><cite>Kotomi wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Voliska@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Your use of "offline" is a bit wrong. The iPhone app would have to interact with the game server at SOME point. The iPhone app would be a client/server app just like the game itself.</p><p>You create a standalone crafting app on the iPhone. Maybe you have a restriction that your toon has to be in a tradeskill instance for this to work (so that people don't start crafting when their toon is logged out in the middle of Kylong, you know). The app reads the inventory from your toon, and send it to your phone's app. You can then do your crafting inside the iPhone app based on your inventory.</p><p>When you're done crafting, the iPhone app uploads your crafted item(s) to the server (probably one at a time).</p><p>What needs to be done is the data needs to be signed so that some iPhone dev doesn't make an app to instantly create a ton of items and then upload them to the server. Care needs to be taken so that communication between the iPhone app and the server is locked.</p><p>So it's just a minigame that communicates with the server. It's no different than the game itself. It's JUST a client-server app just like the game itself is, but it only does crafting.</p></blockquote><p>In the example above there is still nothing that prevents the client from batch generating 100s of successful combines and then sending them to the server, as you let the client decide that a combine succeded. This is the problem with allowing the application to work offline, which by the way is what you are suggesting.</p></blockquote><p>Sure there is. If each item made is signed and uploaded to the server, you can't hack the communication.</p><p>And the items have to be in your inventory so you can't make these things out of thin air.</p><p>It's NO DIFFERENT than using a PC for making these fictionous combines. The iPhone and other smartphones are still compact computers. Your fears are just as bad as what you could do on the PC.</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p><cite>Voliska@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kotomi wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Voliska@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Your use of "offline" is a bit wrong. The iPhone app would have to interact with the game server at SOME point. The iPhone app would be a client/server app just like the game itself.</p><p>You create a standalone crafting app on the iPhone. Maybe you have a restriction that your toon has to be in a tradeskill instance for this to work (so that people don't start crafting when their toon is logged out in the middle of Kylong, you know). The app reads the inventory from your toon, and send it to your phone's app. You can then do your crafting inside the iPhone app based on your inventory.</p><p>When you're done crafting, the iPhone app uploads your crafted item(s) to the server (probably one at a time).</p><p>What needs to be done is the data needs to be signed so that some iPhone dev doesn't make an app to instantly create a ton of items and then upload them to the server. Care needs to be taken so that communication between the iPhone app and the server is locked.</p><p>So it's just a minigame that communicates with the server. It's no different than the game itself. It's JUST a client-server app just like the game itself is, but it only does crafting.</p></blockquote><p>In the example above there is still nothing that prevents the client from batch generating 100s of successful combines and then sending them to the server, as you let the client decide that a combine succeded. This is the problem with allowing the application to work offline, which by the way is what you are suggesting.</p></blockquote><p>Sure there is. If each item made is signed and uploaded to the server, you can't hack the communication.</p><p>And the items have to be in your inventory so you can't make these things out of thin air.</p><p>It's NO DIFFERENT than using a PC for making these fictionous combines. The iPhone and other smartphones are still compact computers. Your fears are just as bad as what you could do on the PC.</p></blockquote><p>On a jail broken Iphone it would be easy to alter the data stream, incoming or outgoing. You are right, if it can be done on the IPhone, it can be done on a PC - but then you notice there is no application of this type available or mentioned for the PC either.</p>

[Starman]

<p><cite>Wingrider01 wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Voliska@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Kotomi wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>Voliska@Nagafen wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Your use of "offline" is a bit wrong. The iPhone app would have to interact with the game server at SOME point. The iPhone app would be a client/server app just like the game itself.</p><p>You create a standalone crafting app on the iPhone. Maybe you have a restriction that your toon has to be in a tradeskill instance for this to work (so that people don't start crafting when their toon is logged out in the middle of Kylong, you know). The app reads the inventory from your toon, and send it to your phone's app. You can then do your crafting inside the iPhone app based on your inventory.</p><p>When you're done crafting, the iPhone app uploads your crafted item(s) to the server (probably one at a time).</p><p>What needs to be done is the data needs to be signed so that some iPhone dev doesn't make an app to instantly create a ton of items and then upload them to the server. Care needs to be taken so that communication between the iPhone app and the server is locked.</p><p>So it's just a minigame that communicates with the server. It's no different than the game itself. It's JUST a client-server app just like the game itself is, but it only does crafting.</p></blockquote><p>In the example above there is still nothing that prevents the client from batch generating 100s of successful combines and then sending them to the server, as you let the client decide that a combine succeded. This is the problem with allowing the application to work offline, which by the way is what you are suggesting.</p></blockquote><p>Sure there is. If each item made is signed and uploaded to the server, you can't hack the communication.</p><p>And the items have to be in your inventory so you can't make these things out of thin air.</p><p>It's NO DIFFERENT than using a PC for making these fictionous combines. The iPhone and other smartphones are still compact computers. Your fears are just as bad as what you could do on the PC.</p></blockquote><p>On a jail broken Iphone it would be easy to alter the data stream, incoming or outgoing. You are right, if it can be done on the IPhone, it can be done on a PC - but then you notice there is no application of this type available or mentioned for the PC either.</p></blockquote><p>So if nobody's done it on a PC, who's going to take the time and effort to do it on an iPhone?</p>