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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsStuck 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 2 of 2)
immo Apr 6th 2007 2:18PM
Correct, speaking to an Innkeeper gives you a new hearthstone for free. (hearth not health :p)
Ryan Apr 6th 2007 1:57PM
Drysc can suck my nuts because he's either 1) full of crap or 2) being lied to by the devs. The devs want it to feel more like a real world by making us take forever to travel? Bull crap. The Devs would hate long traveling just like anyone else, but they are pushed by people higher than them to place aspects in the game that require more time played... which equates to more money out of our pockets and into their's. Yes, it's all about making money and that's cool.. Blizzard is a business that is out to make money. But I still think the little peons they have (Devs, GM's, Forum moderators, etc...) are a bunch of d-bags. Just my two cents.
Ryan Apr 6th 2007 2:11PM
Many of you have obviously never tried deleting your hearthstone. Go give it a try, go talk another Innkeeper and see what happens... NO WAY! Rocket Science
moink Apr 6th 2007 2:52PM
Last night, I also noticed that leaving a group in an instance uses your hearthstone cooldown. I used to use that as a free hearth all the time.
Antenora Apr 6th 2007 2:57PM
@8:
I play a shaman, and yes, Astral Recall is amazing. But you're wrong on blizzard looking over the fact. It IS a class specific talent only for Shamans, and that makes it alright in itself. Complaining about Shaman's having Astral Recall is like complaining about Paladins having free riding skills and virtually free mounts, and the same for Warlocks. Every class has a class specific trait. What about mages, they can teleport themselves to any major city. Doesn't that act as a second hearthstone?
to wrap it up, Blizzard is not wrong in saying these things without looking into class specific traits. They know what they're doing. ;D
Antenora Apr 6th 2007 3:05PM
@11:
Here's a good argument: USING AUTO-UNSTUCK WHEN YOU ARE NOT STUCK IS EXPLOITING.
Using Auto-Unstick when you aren't stuck and can't get out is what Blizzard likes to call CHEATING. They didn't give it to you to use as a second hearthstone, they gave it to you to use in case of an emergency like getting stuck.
I think it's a pretty good argument, PLEASE dont confuse the issue with class specific abilities.
Savok Apr 6th 2007 3:21PM
Find a friendly high lvl Mage or Warlock.
Get a port to Shat.
Set your Hearthstone there.
You now have instant travel to every major city your faction has.
Or just get the Ruby Slippers from Kara.
Aladek Apr 6th 2007 4:00PM
@13 Pitt
So I thought about the math, and it made me giggle a little when I realized the math still seemed off to me.
Correct me if I'm wrong (let the math flames fly)
1 hearthstone on a 1 hr cool down
1 astral recall on a 15 min cool down
Breaking this down I seem to be coming up with a different number than 6...
Astral Recall has 5 possible casts in 1 hour (if we are ignoring the EXACT hour count down)
1 --- 2 --- 3 --- 4 --- 5
Hearthstone has 2 possible casts in 1 hour (again ignoring the EXACT hour count down)
1 --------------------- 2
I come up with 7... now if we use the exact hour count down we would have to eliminate 1 from each list since there is casting time to consider and 1:00:03 is technically greater than an hour... so... then we get 5 hearths...
I know, just a stupid nitpicky math problem, but then again maybe I'm missing something
Rebekka Apr 8th 2007 10:18AM
@19 : Chill out a bit. Since when do you pay by the hour to play WoW? Yeah, it was a bitch to walk until I hit Level 20 and got Ghost Wolf (yes, my new Alt is a Shammy). But, if I have to fly from one place to some place else, I use the free time to do something productive like wash a few dishes, use the bathroom, etc., etc.
Strongmark on Arthas Apr 9th 2007 3:26PM
You can use the auto unstuck as a ghost. Die, then jump off the damn island of teldrassil... try finding your coprse then. I used auto unstuck as a newb, worked fine for me. Only ever used it that one time. Makes me happy that the cheaters have no way of cheating anymore.
KitKatDruid Apr 10th 2007 2:03PM
@13
Mages: Portals have to be paid for
Warlocks: Need a group to summon
Hunters: No built-in tank; they need to tame one and do upkeep
Druid: Travel form comes at level 30, not level 20
Pallys: Not indestructible, and I would rather pay for my epic mount than do the convoluted quest chains they have to do, which includes spending a considerable amount (this goes for locks, too)
Priest: The priest shield isn't a travel time thing, it's a run without taking damage thing. Same speed to move.
"Warriors = Blizz's most hated class... No free anything, no fast forms early, no tranportation abilities at all."
No free anything? I mean, yes, Warriors need a bit of a leg-up, but don't be so emo about it. Even "free" mounts need some questing or monetary donation (or both).