Dev Tracker

I forgot the offering. My apologies.

Crystalline has a cool tint and a lightening effect by design. This is intentional.

Escher's Tundra.

I assure you that the apparel is there... right over the back arm! You can clearly see it covering every bit of its back arm.

The future shines bright with new apparel!

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Augmented Dragons
Enhancements for dragons have been forged! Dragons can now wear metallic enhancements with a core of glowing crystal. The following pieces are available in the treasure marketplace.

The Azurite enhancement pieces can be crafted at Baldwin's Bubbling Brew by alchemists level 11 and above.

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Trickmurk Circus Skin Contest
The eleventh annual Trickmurk Circus will begin on February 25, 2024, and we're running a skin and accent contest in celebration Click here for more information!

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Additional Updates

• We have an update on the issue of Adobe ads and page freezing for our community. We have some good news, some not-as-good news, and a path forward!

Hi there, @Void62! Yes, that is something you can do if you want to and something that players are allowed to do on our site. We certainly can't fault players for turning their ad blocking extensions on when a conflict between scripts on ads is freezing pages and disrupting their experience.

We are actively working on addressing this problem alongside Hiveworks, communicating with Venatus and the company whose script wasn't working as intended. They've both been very responsive, especially once we sent them our findings. This issue is one of our top priorities right now; in fact, it's a top priority across four separate companies! I promise you, we all want this fixed ASAP. We are a free-to-play game that regularly provides free content updates and events; ads are part of how we keep the servers paid for, the Flight Rising site up and running, and our employees and contractors paid.

It's quite possible this may even be fixed before the weekend! Fingers crossed!

@KarrotTop, correct, that counts as an unwanted ad behavior. Please send what you can to tech@thehiveworks.com. Thank you!

@Self, please see our update on Page 8. Thank you!

Good news, everyone!

We have an update for you on the freezing ads issue. We've got some good news, some not-as-good news, and information on how we're moving forward for you.

Mutron was able to identify the cause of the lockups. For some context, you should know that advertisers can opt into services from third party companies that perform background tasks when their ads run. These can be tasks or services like ensuring that their ad views are organic (not being served to bots), parse data, cookies, etc. These services run their own proprietary code when their clients' ads are served on a site.

So what did we find? What we've discovered is that two separate services have been contracted to run on Adobe ads and when their background scripts are run at the same time? They run into conflict with each other. That means neither script can complete their task and the page that ad is on locks up.

The not-as-good news: As far as what Flight Rising and Hiveworks are capable of in order to fix this? Well, we can't. Or we could but the only options available to us would damage our site's reputation with advertisers in general and that's...well, that's not great. Opinions on the current state of the ad ecosystem and the internet in general aside, the fact remains that ads help keep the lights on.

So what can we do? We've already started the process of contacting the third-party companies providing these services and notifying them of the issue, in detail. We've also submitted our findings to Venatus and they've responded. They are making some changes to how the Flight Rising website is mapped in their system which will allow for custom blocklists. This will take some time, hopefully no more than a week but we can't guarantee the ETA.

As to why Adobe ads are still appearing even though they're also off? Our best guess is that Adobe is currently pushing an ad campaign across all platforms, across multiple vendors and networks. Which is why changes are being made on the backend to allow for custom blocklists until the third-party script issue is fixed.

Our sincerest thanks to everyone who has whitelisted our site to help us track down the source and cause of the freezing ads. To our players who whitelist Flight Rising in general, you have our deepest appreciation and gratitude. It's our hope that our next update is the announcement this issue is well and truly fixed.

As a note for everyone, this is not okay and the thread is now locked. Players are allowed to utilize the block feature for whatever reason, whenever they see fit. Posting it about it, having third-parties do recon and report back to you, followed by posting that report publicly crosses the line into harassment territory. Thank you.

Hello @hydezmuse, please be sure to email your report to tech@thehiveworks.com. Thank you!

Hi @SamuelMaybird! Thank you for your report. Remember to email your report to tech@thehiveworks.com. Thank you!

@cyxxie, @Zalva, @SilverStarSheep, @softsylveon, @NovaChrome, @VolatileMatter, @GrimKeeper64, @Azabelle, @CobaltSkye, @RandomCheese, and anyone I've missed, thank you for your reports. As always, please remember to send what you can get directly to tech@thehiveworks.com

Now for today, as far as we know, Adobe ads are still set to OFF for the site. If clearing cookies isn't addressing this, something else is going on.

For clarity, there are now not one, not two, but three companies actively investigating this issue. Your submitted reports and willingness to troubleshoot these rogue ads is making a difference, and we appreciate truly your time and effort.

Hello everyone! We've heard back from Venatus. While they continue to investigate (thank you for the HAR files, links, and screenshots!) they are recommending anyone who is experiencing these freezing ads to clear their browser cookies. Please let us know if this works for you!

Hey everyone, this is a topic for the Suggestions Forum, not the advertising report thread. We're currently trying to troubleshoot the freezing issue, and taking the thread off topic like this makes it difficult for us to keep track of reports. Thank you!

(@Breakcore, @NBW, @Muttsmutt)

@khe, turn in what you have. Screenshots help, too!

@Azabelle, what happens when you press F12 on your keyboard?


If you are on a mobile device, the following applies for your situation:

@Azabelle, Xeyla, to the best of your ability, please follow the instructions in the first post of this thread and report these instances to tech@thehiveworks.com. The HAR file and screenshot are critical to tracking down the source of the ads, because there aren't supposed to be Adobe ads on the network serving our site right now. Thank you!

@Xeyla, your screenshot shows a suicide prevention hotline for veterans? I'll double check the category for ads focused on suicide prevention and crisis support.

@SkykidNadir, Google Ads are still on the network. Even if you've opted out of personalization in your Google settings, Google Ads will still serve region/location specific ads from time to time.


Everyone else, please keep this thread on topic. Suggestions for features should go in the Suggestions Forum, suggestions for policy changes should go through Contact Us, and game/feature bug reports should be posted to the Bug Reports Forum. Thank you!

Hi @AntimatterBee, yup, that's an ad that's mislabeled, either due to human error or an advertiser trying to expand their network options inappropriately. Those are not ads we want on our site.


@Sparrowgale, HA. Of course. The irony is delicious. But on a more serious note, that is hopefully the tail end of what was already on the network before the Adobe ads were shut off. We were told they were off while the problem is addressed.

Update February 02, 2024: Adobe ads, ad categories, and HAR files

1. We've confirmed that all Adobe ads have been blocked from the Flight Rising website; they will remain off until the freezing issue is fixed.
2. We've confirmed that the ad category for Flight Rising is child-friendly; this means any inappropriate ads that show up have been miscategorized or mislabeled by the advertiser.
3. We've confirmed that HAR files are extremely helpful in tracking down and removing bad ads.

We hope this information helps to set your mind at ease about allowing ads, and with taking the steps needed to report bad ads. Thank you!

@Phanerozoic, at this time HAR files on mobile aren't really possible. According to the tech team at Hiveworks, mobile users can take screen recordings and those can help with tracking down a bad ad:

• Instructions for screen recording on Android.
• Instructions for screen recording on iOS.

@Phanerozoic, I've sent your question over to Hiveworks. We may not have an answer for you until next week, just FYI.

@Shirarisun, you can highlight the link with your mouse and then clear the actual hyperlink part so all you're sending is plain text. Don't click the link! Just highlight it and clear the formatting.





@AtomicCosmos, thank you for your feedback. As we noted in the FAQ above, the network parent company is apparently working on in-ad reporting infrastructure and we've communicated our interest in participating in any beta testing should that become available. In the meantime, this process is what is available to us for tracking down and removing bad ads that are slipping into the network served on our website.

Hello @Shirarisun! Please be sure to email your report to tech@thehiveworks.com! We're trying to streamline the reporting process until we have access to in-ad reporting. Thank you!

Hello everyone! We've updated our reporting process and made a new advertising report thread to reflect that. If you're looking for information on how to report bad ads, please visit the new stickied thread at the top of the Flight Rising Discussion forum!

Thank you!

A new year, a new thread, and a new way for our players to report bad ads!

Table of Contents

1. Ads, Flight Rising, & You
2. How to report a bad ad
3. FAQ & Clarifications

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Ads, Flight Rising, & You

Flight Rising uses a series of ad networks to serve advertising to the website and help support the site. Our ad partner and ad manager, @Hiveworks, manages these networks and keeps things running smoothly. From there, the ad network parent company, Venatus, handles the deeper tech issues and infrastructure development such as in-ad reporting.

However, sometimes a bad ad or series of ads will slip into a network that we use. When that happens, reports from our players can help us track down the source of the ad so that we can report it to appropriate network and have it removed.

Ads that do or serve the following are not ads that we want on our website:

• Contain inappropriate content; this list includes but is not limited to:
  • Politics
  • Religion
  • Hate groups
  • Sex toys
  • Adult media (erotica, erotic games, etc)
  • Guns
  • Gambling
• Autoplay video or sound.
• Occur anywhere but the ad units to the left and bottom of the site.
• Expand out of the Skyscraper area to the left or bottom banner without a player choosing to hover over the ad to trigger this action.
• Redirect our players to another site without them clicking on the advertisement.
• Completely freezes or locks up the Flight Rising website

In other words, we don’t want ads on our website that are disruptive to our community’s experience or are inappropriate to serve to our 13 to 17 year old players.

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How to report a bad ad

The wonderful tech team over at Hiveworks have recently implemented a way that will allow you, our community, to report bad ads directly to the folks who fix them!

Be sure to visit the Hiveworks Report Ads page to learn more about their process!

To summarize it for you here, what Hiveworks (and Venatus!) need is what’s called a HAR file in order to squelch bad ads like the Adobe ads that have periodically locked up the site for players. From their Report Ads page:

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FAQ & Clarifications
(Up to date as of February 01, 2024)


What are you doing to improve the accessibility of the ad reporting process?

Flight Rising and Hiveworks have no control over the ad framework and ad UI. Our understanding is that the ad network parent company, Venatus, is working on an in-ad reporting feature that will improve the accessibility of reporting ads. We’ve communicated our interest in a beta version of this framework should it become available. Should that happen, we will provide you with more information about the framework and what you can expect.


I keep getting a consent pop-up that won’t go away when I clear it.

That’s the GDPR data collection consent pop-up served to players from the EU and UK regions.

Our understanding is that if the pop-up is completed, either through accepting all cookies or customizing your cookies through “Manage Options” that will prevent the pop-up from returning for two weeks. Customizing in “Manage Options” is supposed to also include rejecting all cookies.

Once the pop-up is completed, it saves (or should save) a single cookie to your browser that tells the ad network that they have notified you of your rights under GDPR and creates the record indicating that they are compliant under the data protection regulation. You shouldn’t see the consent pop-up after that for two weeks unless:

• You clear your browser cookies and cache
• You’re using an incognito or private mode browser
• You access the site on a different device or browser
• Your IP changes

Why is it taking so long to fix a disruptive ad?

First, as with all things engineering, we need reproducible reports. If your report can’t be reproduced by the engineers, it’s going to be difficult to diagnose the problem and fix it. Once we have reproducible reports via the HAR files, links, and screenshots, Hiveworks will investigate and if they need to send it up to the network parent company, they will.

In the case of the Adobe ads, this is a peculiar and complicated issue that is taking time to fix. We’ve requested that Adobe ads be turned off on our website until it’s fixed.

Venatus does have filters in place that are supposed to prevent ads of certain categories from showing up on Hiveworks sites; however, sometimes ads are miscategorized or misrepresented, and it takes longer to track them down and block them.


Do we have partnerships with any advertiser shown on our site?

No.


Do we choose specific groups or invite specific groups to advertise on our site?

No.


Why are you showing me inappropriate ads?

You shouldn’t be seeing inappropriate ads on our site because we’ve opted the Flight Rising website out of certain advertising categories that include but are not limited to:

• Politics
• Religion
• Hate groups
• Sex toys
• Adult media (erotica, erotic games, etc)
• Guns
• Gambling

We’ve also requested that certain online storefronts be blocked as we do not want scams or security risks being served to our community either.

If you are seeing an ad that would fall into one of these categories, one of two things has happened: Either a setting was flipped by a network update or the advertiser mislabeled, miscategorized, or misrepresented their ad. We want these ads off our website as soon as possible and your reports will help Hiveworks track them down and block them.


Why am I being served personalized ads?

Google ads are on the network and they will be served from time to time.

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Thank you for your time, your patience, and your diligence in reporting the bad ads to us and to Hiveworks! It’s our (Flight Rising and Hiveworks) hope that the new Hiveworks Report Ads page and instructions will empower you, help us resolve the bad ads with greater efficiency, and overall improve your Flight Rising experience!

Thank you @Achaius!

@Torchii, what we look at is the activity data of accounts suspected of multiple account use. If each account is genuinely playing for themselves, you're fine. If an account solely exists to benefit the other (funneling, accessing different elemental nests, accessing different Flight Forums, circumventing the block feature, etc), that's when there's a rule violation that can lead to account closure.

IP is not the sole determining factor, nor is it enough. We've had instances where one individual on an IP was multi-accounting but the other household members were not. The data was clear that not only were they not engaging in multiple account use, they were wholly unaware the other individual was actively breaking our rules. The uninvolved household members didn't lose access to their accounts. We've also had instances where a player was diligently maintaining different IPs via VPN services for their side accounts in order to protect their main—the data still showed multi-accounting behavior despite all accounts logging in on different IPs. This is also why posting disclaimers or submitting tickets to inform us of your family members or roommates playing isn't really necessary.

Now, we are but human and we know we can make mistakes. Which is why when an account action is issued players are welcome and encouraged to submit an appeal to review the account penalty or closure. An appeal is not a guarantee of penalty reversal. An appeal can be successful or unsuccessful, depending on what the data says when your case is reviewed by a second and sometimes third team member.

Finally, we have an article in our Knowledge Base that walks you through our account penalty process. It may help set your mind at ease about everything!


Moderation & Housekeeping Notes

I've offered the above information in good faith to ease everyone's concerns. This thread can stay open so long as it doesn't head in the direction of discussing specific penalties or attempts to litigate our rules because a team member replied. Feedback regarding our rules, policies, and application of them should be sent to us through Contact Us.

Some comments discussing specific account penalties/actions have already been removed in accordance with both our Terms of Use and our Non-Gameplay Feedback policy. Thank you!

Hi there @StaticSteampunk! We're sorry to hear you aren't a fan of the more recent festival offerings.

In general, we're going to try new ideas as well as provide players with a variety of options because—as you can see in this thread alone—everyone has a different aesthetic and preference!

Art is subjective and everyone has different tastes, preferred themes, looks, etc. And that's okay! In a community as large and diverse as ours, though, these preferences can vary widely. So much so that the likelihood of hitting the mark with 100% of players 100% of the time is pretty low. We understand that not everyone will be a fan of what we offer in any of our free content updates.

Either way, your feedback has been documented and hopefully our next content update will have something more exciting for you!

@mechanomorph, the next time you see these ads, can you grab the information listed in the Hiveworks ad report page and submit that info directly to them? Thank you! https://hiveworkscomics.com/report-ad

@CoyoteFlowers, huh. I know that's a category of ads we've opted out of in the past. If you can grab that HAR file too and report it here, that will help! Thank you! https://hiveworkscomics.com/report-ad