Stuck with the auto-unstuck cooldown
by Mike Schramm 
Apr 6th 2007 at 10:59AM
In the 2.0.12 patch notes, there was a little surreptitious note that seemed pretty tame: "Using the customer support 'Auto-Unstuck' will now trigger the one-hour cooldown on the player's hearthstone." Whenever your character model gets stuck in the world, you can enter the help menu, and choose an "Auto-Unstuck" option that was placed there early in the game's life (so that GMs wouldn't have to come along every time a player got stuck to fix the issue).What "Auto-Unstuck" actually does is (after a little tweaking to try and get you out close to where you are) port you back to your hearthstone city. I think I've used it once the whole time I've been playing the game. But apparently there was no cooldown on it at all, so what lots of players were doing is using it as a second hearthstone. I knew the possibility was there, but apparently I underestimated players' usage of it-- tons of people were "exploiting" the feature, and now lots of people, both here in America and in Europe, are angry that the hearthstone cooldown is tied to Auto-Unstuck.
If you ask me, it's nothing to get angry about-- the Auto-Unstuck, as Drysc says, is a support feature, and any constant use of it to cut down on travel time indeed "bordered on exploitative use." Players reply that a second hearthstone helped them save travel time (well of course it did), but Drysc says that the devs want the world to feel like a world-- though they've made steps (like Meeting Stones) to cut down on travel, they never wanted players to move around "without any thought to the distance they have to travel."
I gotta side with Blizzard on this one-- they gave you one hearthstone, and using Auto-Unstuck as a second one is against the rules. Some players say that the common cooldown means that if they get stuck twice in the same hour, they're screwed, but that's not necessarily true. A nice warlock could always summon you away, or you could do what one of my groups did to a guy who got stuck in Underbog-- we let him die and then rezzed him back out in the open.
Filed under: Patches, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Tricks, Cheats, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mord Apr 6th 2007 11:06AM
Didn't it do the same about a year or so ago (or more?)
I've had to use the auto-unstuck feature a couple of times, and on a few (not all) of those occasions it hearthed me and triggered the hearthstone cooldown.
Ragbar Apr 6th 2007 11:20AM
As I remember it, if your hearthstone was not on cooldown auto-unstuck would simply use your hearthstone, however if your hearthstone was on cooldown, it would simply port you forward several yards, about the same distance as Blink.
I only remember this because it was how some guildies and I got to Hyjal via Winterspring.
Heymish Apr 6th 2007 11:15AM
I'm an explorer. If there's a nook, I try to walk into it. If there's a cranny, I try to jump over it. The auto unstuck was great because I found myself getting stuck a lot. I NEVER used it as a hearthstone. Actually I usuall cursed the fact that it sends me back to my home inn because then I have to travel back to the area I was stuck in. All this did was kill my taste for exploration. So if I get stuck again within an hour does it mean that I can still use auto unstuck, and it'll just reset the hearth cooldown back to an hour, or can you use unstuck only once an hour?
Flit Apr 6th 2007 11:17AM
So, what if you destroy your hearthstone?
Savok Apr 6th 2007 11:18AM
Same here, Mord, last time I used it, it triggered the cooldown, that was ages ago. Severely pissed me off too, CoH/V the /stuck command actually just unsticks you, simply putting you in the closest "legal" location it can find.
MadCow Apr 6th 2007 11:22AM
It was that way not to long ago ... never abused it. Too bad something that wasn't exploitable in death ... corpse runs in the barrens SUCK.
immo Apr 6th 2007 11:27AM
If you destroy your hearthstone it ports you forward as someone already said. Can be used to get behind the Ogrimmar Auction House (standing next to the auctioneers then) but other than that I never liked that it uses your hearthstone. But on the other side it doesnt really affect me so whatever :)
James Apr 6th 2007 11:36AM
Hmm, Blizzard frowns on having what amounts to two hearthstones because they don't want players traveling "without any thought to the distance they have to travel."
Then why do shamans have two hearthstones? Astral Recall functions as a second hearthstone, and it is a great power to have. I understand that Astral Recall is one of the special, class specific powers available just to shamans, but, the argument listed by Blizzard doesn't hold up too well when one class gets to have two hearthstones. I'd have felt better if they had just said it was bugged and not working as intended rather than using the logic they did.
Mike Schramm Apr 6th 2007 11:39AM
Warlocks get to summon. Mages get free food and water. Paladins and Warlocks get a free mount. Druids get a free flying form.
Two hearthstones for Shaman is nothing special, and hardly gamebreaking.
Heymish Apr 6th 2007 11:41AM
And lets not forget the extra hearthstones engineers get from transporters. Plus mages get hearthstones to all major cities by way of portals.
James Apr 6th 2007 11:56AM
I am not saying that shamans having two hearthstones is gamebreaking. Every class has something special for it--feign death, bubble-heal, porting, summoning, etc. My argument is that Blizzard is stating that players using the /stuck to get a second hearth is somehow taking away from their gaming experience, when in fact other classes already have this functionality--specifically shaman's Astral Recall and a mage's portals.
At best one could argue that using /stuck to act as a second hearthstone detracts from the unique class abilities of shamans and mages. The idea that it is preventing players from experiencing the world through travel does not hold up when there are classes that already exist who have abilities that mimic a second hearthstone. By Blizzard's logic, that would mean that a shaman or mage is moving around "without any thought to the distance they have to travel."
In other words, fine if they fixed it. I understand its broken. But come up with something else to explain why they fixed it rather than nonsense about players not experiencing the world and travel. It was broken and needed to be fixed, period. If travel times were so important, then they wouldn't have introduced portals and astral recall in the first place.
wowtard Apr 6th 2007 12:08PM
Blizz enjoys working players over with travel times.. it's just another way to waste your time and rack up more monthly fees. Don't like it? Too Bad.
Pitt Apr 6th 2007 12:26PM
All classes get something special that to other are considered overpowered.
Mages = free food and water... and portals... blink
Warlocks = Summons and built in tank... free mounts
Hunters = Built in Tank... fast run at 20
Druid = free flight form... fast run at 20
Pallys = free mount... indistructablity
Rouges = sprint (although it does have big cooldown)
Priest = able to bubble and run out of range of mob
Shammys = fast run form at 20... two Hearthstones (astral Recall is on a 15 minute cooldown, so in one hour you have 6 hearths... think about it before complaining about the math!)
Warriors = Blizz's most hated class... No free anything, no fast forms early, no tranportation abilities at all.
Todd Apr 6th 2007 12:34PM
Blizzard should make the Hearthstone indestructible, or otherwise if you do destroy one another Hearthstone mysteriously gets mailed to you. Lots of first time players destroy the stone without realizing the impacts.
brodie pomper Apr 11th 2007 2:25AM
I feverishly used this feature. It was the only thing that made the game bearable. Fuck this. I haven't played in months, but this is just asinine. I have a daughter, school, and work, so I can't be bothered to play World of Jogging.
Nibuca Apr 6th 2007 3:18PM
Add to that, auto-unstuck doesn't work if you're a ghost.
I was running through a mine as a ghost.. and I got stuck. The game command informed me that I cound't do "that" since I was a ghost.
I ended up having to group with someone and explain to them where to find my body to rez me.
Vince Apr 6th 2007 12:59PM
leveling jewelcrafting had me running back and forth between Exodar, Shattrath, and eventually Ironforge constantly. no way would i have done that without my trusty autounstuck.
Karl Apr 6th 2007 12:58PM
Instead of port the person back to the Hearthstone inn, how about Blizz makes it offset to a nearby location? Doesn't seem to tough a choice to me...Hearthing back is ignorant. If you get stuck while nearly completing a difficult quest(speaking from experience here) and have to get hearthed back, that can really make you a little upset. I would have loved to have been moved to a "Last Known Good" location. Blizz could even make it a pointer effect, similar to the Mage's Fireblast spell on where you are ported to. Put that on a one hour cooldown. Of course, I guess that could be exploited too. I still think there is a middle ground there...
Friggas Ring Apr 6th 2007 12:59PM
To the best of my knowledge, if you destroy your healthstone, talking to any innkeeper will give you an option to receive a new one free of cost. I'm only 85% sure on this one, though.
Chad Apr 6th 2007 2:38PM
I think most Shamans would gladly give up their extra "hearth" for some of crowd control or aggro dumping ability.