custom textures are great, but staff shouldn't allow it.

[supermonk]

first off, this isn't a knock at all to those community members who created the high res texture files because well, they're great. and the reason it was great is because it benefited the whole community in a positive way.

on the flip side, anyone can use that same creative freedom to make custom textures for personal use since these textures are on the client side, not the server side; essentially only you can see them, not anyone else. making custom textures probably sounds like it's difficult, but in reality it's actually pretty simple and all you have to use is MS paint once you figure out where the embedded files are.

this idea of mine was conceived accidentally - a guild mate of mine mentioned his apprehension towards getting a custom velious helm on his iksar because he saw a post from a player who showed his iksar wearing a black version of that helm. I quickly told him that what he saw on a thread was based off a custom texture file, when in reality everyone else on the server sees the white helm as intended, without a black tint.

i don't think people have thought twice about it since it's only a client side change. it sure as hell ain't classic, and I was told that back on live it was policed. now i'm not pointing fingers at this user, but when I thought more about it I realized the potential this can have to give certain users an unfair competitive advantage if used for the wrong reasons.

here's a good example at how a simple change can be used to cheat:

1. Picture 1 - did you know that on p99, the magician epic pet is basically an enlarged air pet in terms of the texture? what you probably didn't know is that the correct texture for the classic epic pet has scars and a "mustache". here's the youtube link
2. Picture 2 - here's my attempt to recreate it once nilbog confirmed it can't be fixed since it's a client side issue. pretty good job i'd say
3. Picture 3 - in less than a few minutes, I did a messy pink shade and voila...you now have a hot pink air elemental.

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so how can a hot pink air elemental be considered cheating? well if you use that texture in Western Wastes, you would have a hell of an easier time spotting a bright pink air elemental against the white snow when racing to find Guardian Kozzalym. this is just the simplest example I easily thought of. who knows if something like this is already going on?

I just want to bring awareness that perhaps users have too much freedom to customize their UI, textures, sounds, etc. it's self explanatory how dangerous this can be if in the wrong hands. I really hope devs can detect this type of 'customization' and flag accounts that use it to gain a competitive advantage.