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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsVoid Reaver exploited, brought down in 53 seconds
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 1st 2007 at 2:29PM
Word's flying around about a Void Reaver exploit that involved mind-controlling a Tempest-Smith, and then blasting the heck out of him with the bomb ability. One guild, as seen above, has brought VR down within a minute-- apparently the ability has no cooldown, so VR can come down as fast as your mind-controlling Priest can click. However, Blizzard has said this is an exploit, and it is not recommended that you do this on the live realms. Blizzard will definitely be watching VR raids-- avoid the banhammer!
But still, a fix has got to be incoming as fast as possible. The question is: how? The most obvious answer is that they have to simply make the Tempest-Smiths not be mind-controllable, but I'm not sure how it works-- in order for the groups to go down right, most raids will sheep or trap these guys, so they do have to still be vulnerable to some kind of CC. The other option is to put the bomb on a cooldown, but even then, that kind of DPS will still help the raid against VR.
At any rate, Blizzard will think of something, and probably sooner than later. Interesting exploit, but an exploit just the same, and a definite no-no.
But still, a fix has got to be incoming as fast as possible. The question is: how? The most obvious answer is that they have to simply make the Tempest-Smiths not be mind-controllable, but I'm not sure how it works-- in order for the groups to go down right, most raids will sheep or trap these guys, so they do have to still be vulnerable to some kind of CC. The other option is to put the bomb on a cooldown, but even then, that kind of DPS will still help the raid against VR.
At any rate, Blizzard will think of something, and probably sooner than later. Interesting exploit, but an exploit just the same, and a definite no-no.
[ via WoR ]
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Fan stuff, Bugs, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Bosses
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 2)
Freehugz Nov 1st 2007 4:50PM
You can't just make up your own definition of exploit and expect it to be true. I believe blizzard has stated that an exploit is anything that goes against the intended game mechanics. Player's cant' decide what is and isn't considered an exploit seeing as it's up to blizzard's developers to decide
guesswho? Nov 1st 2007 4:54PM
It is an exploit in that you are benefiting from using the game's mechanics for which they were not intended due to a programming oversight.
In computer security, an exploit is defined as an unethical or illegal attack that takes advantage of some vulnerability. It may not be illegal but is clearly unethical.
That being said if people would just keep their mouths shut instead of showcasing their 1337 h4x0r skillz on youtube we could have kept profiting from phat lewts.
/sigh
Coherent Nov 1st 2007 4:55PM
So what if you don't read the forums or any message boards and someone tells you "Dude, I heard about this good way to take down Void Reaver, your guild should try it!" ...and your guild gets banned for it?
That would be first class bullshit. Does Blizzard want to make you click "Okay" to a massive list of "CURRENTLY BANNABLE BEHAVIOR" every time we log into the game? Because unless they do something like that, banning players just because some blue post appeared somewhere in the depths of their forums is NOT SUFFICIENT JUSTIFICATION.
Yeah, I get really irritable when innocent people could get punished because of someone else's laziness.
Rax Nov 1st 2007 5:02PM
@16:
Chess requires FAR more creativity than WoW.
nativebrown Nov 1st 2007 5:10PM
@22
lol. i was thinking the same thing when i read that.
brett Nov 1st 2007 5:16PM
... and a million raids full of nubs cried out. People who whine about this make me laugh. Void reaver is by far the easiest teir5 boss *without* this exploit. Maybe they should just learn how get out of the way of the GIGANTIC SLOW MOVING BALLS OF DEATH.
Anteia Nov 1st 2007 6:18PM
As a game master for a different online game, I have to deal with players whining about something not being 'abuse' all the time. We don't use the term exploit ourselves, but it's basically the same thing. Come on now. Tell me you guys aren't this stupid. You KNOW if something is this easy it was likely NOT intended by the developers. It was something they overlooked, an accident, and something they will fix. They are not threatening to punish those who have already done it- but those who continue to do it now that it has been acknowledged. I doubt Blizzard WOULD ban a group who can honestly say they did not know about it being exploitive (but even that's BS and you know it. If something is that easy to get loot from, you KNOW it wasn't intended so just stop trying to excuse it.) but they may take away the loot from the encounter if it's caught, and I really don't think the group has a right to complain if they do.
If you have a doubt about it being an exploit, the moral thing to do is to ask a game master and find out Blizzard's stance BEFORE you do it. I recently had to give a major verbal warning to a player who had actually -bugged- something and then continued to abuse the bug for experience while we GMs worked on fixing it. They knew it was wrong- they bugged it after all, and we thanked them for letting us know and did tell them it was in fact a bug. They proceeded to continue to gain experience in the bug even though the game rules explicitly state that abusing bugs for gain is a bannable offense. She had the audacity to complain when we took away the experience she had earned through her CONTINUATION of abusing the bug when we honestly could have just banned her. Blizzard has similiar rules about exploits.
If you're smart enough to figure out how to exploit something - aren't you smart enough to realize it is, in fact, an exploit? Just admit it. People are really just mad that they didn't find out and get away with it before it was declared an exploit. The nature of the beast in developing a game is that players are damn creative and no matter how much you want to believe they'll be honest, there's always going to be a few players who end up making GMs recode and redo situations because they couldn't play the game like intended and are more than happy to screw over both the GMs and other players by exploiting. I say it screws over GMs and other players because, ignoring the fact you may get loot more easily than the other players, you also make the developing GMs spend time on reworking a situation. This is less time they have for making new things. You're wasting a GM's time and you're also slowing down the progress of new developments. Plus, you're wasting all the time of the GMs who have to keep an eye on the encounter until it's fixed. Good going. Really. Come on. All of you who are insulting Blizzard because they're trying to stabilize the game? Grow up.
Wolfstalker Nov 1st 2007 6:30PM
If you have a doubt about it being an exploit, the moral thing to do is to ask a game master and find out Blizzard's stance BEFORE you do it.
So let me get this straight. Every time I mind-control a mob using my priest, and it comes up with ability buttons deliberately placed there by Blizzard developers, then I should open a GM ticket and wait an hour or more for a response before pressing the button?
You sir, are a moron.
Anteia Nov 1st 2007 6:56PM
@28
Ma'am, actually. Sorry, not all of us who know code and are game masters are male.
Secondly, I rather think there's a difference between using the buttons that pop up in a normal situation and using the buttons that pop up to down a boss in 53 seconds. If you have no reason to think it's an exploit because it's a natural thing on the creature and it is not amazingly overpowered, then no, you don't need to contact a GM. That would be silly. If you down Void Reaver in 53 seconds, why aren't you a little suspicious that this may, just maybe, be an exploit and contact Blizzard before doing it again just to make sure your account is safe? I'm not saying you should check with a game master at every little thing, but when something is this obviously odd, I think it's stupid not to check before you repeat it. So you lose an hour of your time which you can spend questing or doing something that is not even under possibility of being an exploit so it's not actually losing an hour... to help out the GMs and make sure you don't ACTUALLY lose something by having your account banned. Yeah. Real moronic.
nav Nov 1st 2007 9:07PM
Says 12:
"You can't give a customer (we pay for this service) tools, and then ban them for using those tools, not if you plan on keeping said customers."
Too right, what kind of company bans a customer and expects to keep them? Crazy!
Juju Nov 1st 2007 9:26PM
Blizzard is trying to redefine the word 'Exploit' here. Just because an authority figure says it, that doesn't mean it's true. They don't get to redefine our language. Is mind-controlling a mob really considered hacking? It's a bug, not an exploit.
Wolfstalker Nov 1st 2007 9:59PM
Anteia, do you even play this game? Mind Controlling mobs has always had the potential to be extremely powerful. Several heroic monsters were changed to become immune to Mind Control for this exact reason.
Forgive players for assuming that Mind Controlling monsters that have been unchanged in the game for nearly a year is a legitimate tactic.
The fact is that Blizzard should just hotfix the bug isntead of pathetically threaten to ban anyone for using it.
KScourge Nov 2nd 2007 7:45AM
I doubt this "tactic" is just coming to light, it's probably been in use for months, nevertheless, i put this down to nothing more than an oversight on Blizzard's behalf. Killing the raid boss in 53 seconds, sounds to me that it was 100% premeditated and i'm willing to bet they had a team of shadow priests doing it, i don't think one would do it alone.
Again killing a raid boss in 53 seconds, you'd have to be smoking something potent, not to realise this is "abuse", especially when everyone knows this boss has a 10 minute rage timer???
This is a definite score for Clever/Creative players/raid groups and a massive blow for Blizzard's game balance teams.
In short Blizzard will have to be more careful.
Zumwalah Nov 2nd 2007 10:55AM
it may not seem like an exploit.. but u have to remember, Bliz owns everything in wow.. they can say and do what evr they want.. were just paying for a service they provide.. you all agreed to the EULA.. facts of life kiddies
Ayalafatalis Nov 2nd 2007 12:27PM
A Warlock soloing Headless Horseman is an exploit.
This is not.
Game over. Blizz loses.
lirean Nov 2nd 2007 12:42PM
Blizz wins, they own it and we all agreed to what they said in order to play it.
Sad fact, move along.
JSG Nov 2nd 2007 1:09PM
And thus, Mind Control goes right back to being useless.
mulloar Nov 13th 2007 11:11AM
it doesn't really matter imo, not like a blue geared guilds gonna go there and kill VR becuz something is MC'able.
they won't be able to clear trash in the first place.
second if u can clear trash there's no doubt you can kill void reaver since he is alot easier than the trash.
Nester Nov 8th 2007 3:50PM
I don't believe the screenshot of VR killed in 50 seconds. Let's do some math.
4,750,000 health
Assume a raid can kill him normally in 8 minutes (480 seconds).
~9895 dps
Bombers do about 3k per hit, with lag at best I could imagine is 1 cast per second.
~3000 dps
4750000 - 12895t = 0, t = 368s or 6.1 minutes
If you use all 3 bombers, and they never break mc.
~9000 dps
4750000 - 18895t = 0, t = 251s or 4.1 minutes
Now take the most insane dps raid in the world that can kill him in 4 minutes with 3 bombers.
~19790 dps
4750000 - 28790t = 0, t = 164s or 2.7 minutes
So what would it take to kill him in 53 seconds?
4750000 - 53d = 0, d = 90,000 DPS. Or normal raid dps with each of the 3 bomb clickers getting 9 bombs in a second without MC ever breaking.