No Man's Land debuff returns to haunt explorers
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Jul 2nd 2007 at 11:10AM
It looks like an old idea from the TBC Beta has returned to the game. Ever since patch 2.1.2, when you enter "unreachable" areas like Mount Hyjal, you receive a debuff called "No Man's Land" that tells you "You are where you should not be" and teleports you out. Rumor is that it also reports you to a GM for account actions, but that hasn't been corroberated with any evidence.
People who enjoy exploring unreleased/rare content are upset about this change, and have posted threads on both the US and Euro forums. The explorers make some pretty persuasive points. There are no mobs in the unreleased areas, so the players aren't getting any material benefit out of being there. And since most of these areas are found by cliff jumping and regular game mechanics, Blizzard could automatically make them off-limits by changing the terrain or putting in instance gates. It's not like explorers are removing walls to sneak into other areas. Plus, exploration gets us great movies from Noggaholics that help give us an insight as to what Blizz is planning for the future.
I'm a bit of an explorer myself -- I swam around both the bottom of Kalimdor and the top of Eastern Kingdoms before BC, spent a long time cliffwalking to get into Hyjal and see Archimonde's skeleton, and used to lead expeditions to the Caverns of Time and got to watch as certain reckless mages blinked themselves into the abyss ("Summon me quick! Summon me! Summon ... too late.") It makes me sad that you can't do that anymore. If they have to do something about exploring, can't they just bring back the Guardians of Blizzard? Then at least we'd get to watch poorly-informed raid groups attempting to take on invulnerable bosses.
What do you think of this change?
Filed under: Tricks, Bugs, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Aurendar Jul 2nd 2007 11:29AM
I don't necessarily want to explore areas that could potentially violate my ToS but I would like to see Blizzard quietly stick in some side content for us explorers.
Secret rooms or doors in Stormwind for example! Or a long forgotten passageway into the depths of Ironforge's old city. Cool little things like that would keep the interest alive during those 'lulls in the action' we all seem to face at one point or another.
Bring on the explorers league!
Pingmeister Jul 2nd 2007 11:39AM
As innocent as most explorers' intentions may be there are always gonna be a few working on some sort of exploit.
I think Blizzard is justified in cracking down on it.
therationalpi Jul 2nd 2007 11:49AM
I am somewhat weary of account actions, such as suspension or ban, for simply exploring. The "No Man's Land" debuff is a good idea so long as it is used as a preventative measure and not as a tool for punishment. I can see a lot of problems where a player that doesn't know where they are going ends up with the debuff, getting hearthed out of the zone and then suspended when they had no clue what was going on.
Ahoni Jul 2nd 2007 12:03PM
You went somewhere you weren't supposed to go and got kicked out. Is there news around here somewhere?
Corrodias Jul 2nd 2007 12:04PM
What i think of it is that it's crap.
James Jul 2nd 2007 12:07PM
I think an account action is overkill. Blizzard has alot more important things to do than try to ban accounts or, for that matter, edit terrain and zones so that they are unreachable by players. The No Mans Land debuff is sufficient in that it quickly removes the player from the area. If you start talking about account actions and terrain remodeling, you get into a whole mess because you're going to have to pull people off of other important things to deal with something that isn't as important as say, gold farmer spamming you several times an hour to join a party, or the next expansion.
Tigraine Jul 2nd 2007 12:15PM
Btw..
on exploring, something weird happened to me:
I went afk while on my Flying MOunt, flying towards the Netherwing Island in SMV.
When I returned, I was dead, far far far away from the Island.
So .. what happened, my Combatlog didn't even notice I died. I was just dead.
Even better: I tried it again and was stuck with a invisible wall...
any explanation why I died?
John Vilsack Jul 2nd 2007 12:17PM
Fact: Warcraft is a video game
Fact: Warcraft is a FANTASY video game
Assumption: Many people interested in fantasy video games can be construed as "Geeks"
Assumption: Many geeks like to "tinker"
Just based on these simple statements, its inevitable that you will find a subset of our community jumping up and down on some abandoned hillside trying to get to some easter egg the developer's left in.
Punishing this behavior, in my opinion, is somewhat ridiculous. If you have ever been to Old Ironforge, the Dwarven Airport, Old Hyjal, etc. then you would know that there is no exploitative activity you can do there. You can't grind mobs for special gear, get the leg up on others before content is released or anything like that.
What you can do is stare in awe of some of the things that Blizzard had or may have in store for us yet. The first time I tapped in COT, it got my adrenaline pumping to see all the cool things Blizzard had poured blood, sweat, and tears into...only to have it not released soon. I have laughed out loud as I stumble across the construction signs in Hyjal...clearly an in joke for those who dare to find it.
To me, this is a huge part of the game. By seeing these things, I grow a larger appreciation for the hard work that they all put into the game. Furthermore, it gives me insight into why some things come...and do not come to pass. If you have seen the clipping of Stormwind or the flat mapped plains behind it, you know what I mean.
Don't punish us that dare go to these ends. We know when we are doing it that we are possibly breaking the rules of our "immersive reality", so a few unfinished things here and there do not bother us.
If you embrace this community, they will not only love you, but they will open collaboration with you to alert you when things are MORE than just a pretty view (exploits, etc.).
- John
Nogun Jul 2nd 2007 12:44PM
It's like officially saying that they are very ashamed of how horribly unfinished Azeroth is (also the reason for never being able to allow flying mounts without rebuilding it) and instead of hiring a couple extra artists to finish it up they are just going to lock people out of it.
Blizzard sure loves to promote private realms
Michel Jul 2nd 2007 1:43PM
exploring is my favorite thing in Wow.
Nogg aholic movies was fascinating too and I spend many hours to find my own path.
and never it was an "exploit".
I never cheated with the game
never found secret pathway to the ragnaros secret treasure
or whatever.
>8. Fact: Warcraft is a video game
>Fact: Warcraft is a FANTASY video game
>Assumption: Many people interested in fantasy video >games can be construed as "Geeks"
NO.
>Assumption: Many geeks like to "tinker"
NO.
-
I do think to block people to access content not finished is CRAP.
to block Actual Hyjal is CRAP. it's beautiful to see, it's nice to see the skeleton of Archimonde, and there are nothing to gain, just fun.
not the same fun than past hyjal, so nothing is lost.
>2. As innocent as most explorers' intentions may be
>there are always gonna be a few working on some
>sort of exploit.
NO I don't agree. it's not the same thing than exploiting a weird spot in Alterac or Arathi. Blizzard can correct that and sanction people.
>I think Blizzard is justified in cracking down on it.
NO. I do not agree
deviationer Jul 2nd 2007 2:10PM
I wish noggaholics site was still around, they were doing some sweet stuff pre-BC and BC beta.
Heraclea Jul 2nd 2007 3:03PM
I hope Blizzard realizes that one likely effect of adding this teleportation effect will be for the player base to begin compiling a list of every location in which it can be experienced.
Siorra Jul 2nd 2007 4:37PM
Well, as previously said, if they were that concerned about it then wouldn't it make sense just to make it impossible to get there? And with easter eggs like the Blizzard construction sign, people WANT to get in to see them. Why put things like this in if no one can access them? I guess my times of wandering around Hyjal with friends playing pass the heavy leather ball are over.
Preston Jul 2nd 2007 4:46PM
These so-called "explorers" are just whiners who want to explore forbidden test areas that are incomplete. Find something else to do and stop crying.
Gurei Jul 2nd 2007 5:28PM
LISTEN TO THE EXPLORERS.
They got good points,most people arent really gona be just messing around that content so why make it offlimits if it wont provide any mat or loot?
And anyway,if anyone was SERIOUS about getting there,server hacks have been here for a long time(T4,5,6 and BC stuff riped of code anyone?).
In the end it just harms those few that enjoy the "FUN" of these game,exploring and enjoying simple things.
Krick Jul 2nd 2007 11:35PM
In the original beta, you could climb mountains if you walked against it at just the right angle. I spent the better part of my week-long beta test exploring locations and terrain that I couldn't otherwise get to. Of course, I climbed a mountain or two, only to end up in searing gorge as a level 10 gnome rogue getting repeatedly killed by giant spiders.
I have a cool screenshot somewhere with me standing at the intersection of the white, brown, and green grid tiles below Dun Morough. It kinda looks like something out of the movie Tron when you're standing there in person.
robodex Jul 2nd 2007 11:55PM
I think this is crap personally. I've been to Hyjal, IF Airport, Old Ironforge, Deeprun Tram Water, under SW... And I didn't do anything that would be considered beneficial to myself. (Actually, that isn't true. I killed a shark in the Deeprun Tram Water and got a green that sold for 50s!!! OMG Exploiting the economy!)
Considering all of these places have been in the game, completely finished aside from mobs since release two and a half years ago and nobody has ever benefited from them it seems kinda pigheaded to me that they add this now.
Jiazu2 Jul 5th 2007 10:06PM
Has no one thought that maybe they're actually starting to do something with those areas, and this is just to keep people from seeing them before they're ready?
RogueJedi86 Jul 3rd 2007 9:09AM
And what could they possibly be doing with the Hyjal zone? The one in Kalimdor, non-CoT isn't instanced, so it'd have to be a Raid Content zone, if anything. Most likely the zone after the defeat of Archimonde would be peaceful, maybe home to a Celebration to celebrate the greatest victory against the Burning Legion yet. Surely putting up a grand festival isn't something they'd hide from us.
Can anyone verify that it's only Hyjal? Can we still get to the Dun Morogh Airfield? I've always wanted to see it, and I'd hate to know I lost my chance of seeing it.
Juliah Jul 3rd 2007 12:44PM
Blizzard, why remove a harmless "carrot" like this? It's yet another reason for people to spend time paying you money.
You have:
Crafters
PVPers
Raiders
Altaholics
Auction House players
... and so very many other interest group subsets. Why not let the explorers be? They're not doing any harm.