Please forgive me for the vomit of the mouth that is about to come, I want to start by saying I have no issues with this platform as it is and I love it.
I also understand it is a new platform and that it will take time to build up to a certain level of maturity as a platform.
I’ve had a bunch of discussions with other members of various stances related to box difficulty and the divide between entry level (people who may have never completed a vulnerable virtual machine) versus people who have spent a considerable amount of time developing basic fundamentals. (I believe basic fundamentals should be learned outside of HTB, personally)
This is stressed further by the number of boxes and not topics that go on – especially on reddit. I wake up to 15-20 PM’s a day on reddit requesting help and while most people are okay with just a hint, some are far less clued in as to what they are doing and literally want to be spoonfed.
I propose introduction of brackets to solve the issue of both the divide of easy versus harder difficulty boxes, as well as a more open platform for new comers.
I also believe there is a desire for more pivoting mechanics as well as less retiring of quality machines to make more room for new ones that may or may not match the same difficulty level as those lost.
A lot of people don’t think that there is a need for machines that don’t actively engage creative thinking or difficult concepts to further our individual experiences. However I can see that there is a great portion of the user-base that would perfer to use HTB as a stepping stone into the harder concepts rather than learning with virtual machines they host from vulnhub.
While I don’t agree that HTB needs to cater to this. I enjoy the community as a whole and would like to see it thrive and continue to grow in an organic and constructive manner.
Just my opinion feel free to point out why I’m wrong if I have a misguided interpretation of what it is the platform is intended to be.
At the end of the day this is just an idea to get the ball rolling, it may not be a viable solution due to any number or reasons such as development cost, infrastructure, etc.
Happy Hacking,
dostoevsky
Basic rundown of what I’m talking about:
Brackets{
"subnets":{
// Entry network
// Easy difficulty, tutorials allowed
// ranked bracket 1
"10.10.10.0/24":{
"title":"Entry Level",
"bracket":1,
"tutorials":true
},
// Only accessible via pivoting from bracket 1
// Medium Difficulty
// ranked bracket 2
"10.10.20.0/24":{
"title":"Experienced",
"bracket":2,
"tutorials":false
},
// Only accessible via pivoting from bracket 2
// Hardest Difficulty
// ranked bracket 3
"10.10.30.0/24":{
"title":"Pro Level",
"bracket":3,
"tutorials":false
}
}
}
HallofFame{
"ranked":{
// excludes you if you are in a higher bracket
bracket3:"Top 100 - Pro Bracket"
// IE: if you are in bracket 3 you won't show up in bracket 2
bracket2:"Top 100 - Experienced Bracket"
// excludes you if you are in a higher bracket
bracket1:"Top 100 - Entry Level"
}
"unranked":{
// open to everyone
// unranked
// retired machines
}
}