Sunwell griefing runs rampant
by Alex Ziebart 
Apr 6th 2008 at 2:00PM
Patch 2.4, much like most other things in WoW, has managed to bring the worst out of some people. The mask of anonymity strikes again!No, I don't mean the node-stealing, ninja-tapping, mob-training stupidery(which is a word as of right now) you see all over the Isle of Quel'Danas. I refer to the standing-on-NPCs-while-PvP-flagged griefing. If you're lucky and haven't seen this happen on your server, what most servers are seeing is a bunch of Blood Elf and Draenei players standing directly on top of Shattered Sun Offensive NPCs, so players accidentally, unknowingly, right click on them instead of the quest NPC. This results in inadvertently hitting the player, and then getting destroyed by the SSO guards.
Sure, this can be circumvented by hitting Shift+V to see friendly nameplates, which you can click on to talk to the quest givers. More often than not, though, you've fallen victim to the griefers at least once before you even realize they're there, leading to repair bills and wasted time. After the first death, this is pretty much a non-issue because you know what's up, but it's still frustrating to watch so many other people get killed in that way. You just know the person on top of the NPC is laughing like crazy in real life, too.
So what do I do? Report, report, report! I imagine this is the case across most servers seeing this sort of activity, but as far as I can tell, it isn't doing much good. After seven straight days of the exact same person griefing in this way, and seven days of reports from a plethora of people on my server, they were still there. Considering I am on an RP-PvE realm, this activity is very much against the Harassment Policy on the Blizzard website. It's this portion in particular:
Zone/Area Disruption:
- Disruption of player sponsored events or gatherings
- Excessive use of in-game sounds or visuals
- Excessively casting spells with noticeable effects in crowded areas
- Impeding or blocking access to an NPC, doodad, doorway, or any other area of the world that a player would normally be able to access
So what does this policy apply to, if anything? Is this a case of policy misinterpretation, on the side of the players or the GMs? Is there a difference in this policy between a PvP server and a PvE server, and if that's the case, why would it be okay to do on a PvE server?
Yeah, I know. QQ moar and all that!
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Tyranor Horus Apr 6th 2008 2:09PM
Report? Nah, you don't report. YOU MIND CONTROL! Mind control them, then throw them at the guards, whilst you use this distraction to escape!
Fight fire with fire I say:P
No, you probably should report them. But mind control, then report:P
Nick S Apr 6th 2008 3:21PM
MC will bring the guards down on you, if my observations are correct.
Tyranor Apr 6th 2008 3:49PM
It will, which is why you have to make sure your unwilling conscript to the cause keeps enough attention for you to run off and hide somewhere, or pop invis. Thanks to the wonders of engineering, now even mages like me can mind control!
Verit Apr 6th 2008 7:01PM
Nick S:
Nope - I used to spend many hours in booty bay on my naked horde priest getting various players (and myself) killed by guards.
The guards would always go after whatever I mc'd first and then me.
Ikarus Apr 9th 2008 6:50PM
K, this is a bit late and no one will probably read it but...I ran into this the other day. As a mage i open a portal to shatt, then you by handy-dandy macro to trinket/AP/PoM/Pyro followed up with a fire blast. then i click the portal and im home free. I easy walk across the room in shatt and i can be right back on the Isle. If the guy is still there i do it again :P
Imogynn Apr 6th 2008 2:10PM
Oddly.. haven't seen this on Proudmoore. O.-
Siha Apr 6th 2008 2:46PM
I have. (Retsmah, hordie, and boasting of it on the official realm forums too.)
Matt Apr 6th 2008 4:15PM
thats because your server is leading the US, the allies and horde are probably hardly ganking each other...unfortunatelty on my server the allies kill horde when they are in big groups, and vice versa... WE ARE ALL WORKING TO GET THE BADGE VENDOR YOU MORONS!!! god it drives me nutz...
jumb Apr 6th 2008 7:19PM
Are you kidding me? When we were at 99% of P2, every hand-in npc had atleast one flagged alli standing on them.
Lars Apr 7th 2008 2:34PM
I saw it on Feathermoon the other day. It's even more annoying than people running around quest areas while flagged, which I often accidentally attack because my mob's sometime die right as I'm clicking a spell and it seems to always auto-target the nearest flagged PC.
I haven't seen blood elves or draenei do it though. Seems to be mostly rogues and druids. They keep clicking in and out of stealth, hoping to catch someone clicking the NPC right as they pop out of stealth.
That type of crap just makes me want to quit WoW. I just don't want to associate with those type of people.
Nati Apr 6th 2008 3:29PM
Of course it's griefing, and I've reported it every time I've seen it.
J0ust Apr 6th 2008 2:18PM
Seems the Dev team had a brainfart putting together 2.4, what with this and the whole Kazzak pulling thing in Hellfire Peninsula (currently levelling my alt through HFP, and man does that voice grow old fast).
As for the NPC in the article, they could maybe make them mounted, or otherwise elevate them (A'dai springs to mind) above ground level so the problems are alleviated.
As to the griefing thing...no action would ever be taken re. any "harrassment", because you'd never be able to prove the intent of the obstructing player.
Blizz dropped the ball on this one, the problems are very much of their own making.
mensrea Apr 6th 2008 3:29PM
"As to the griefing thing...no action would ever be taken re. any "harrassment", because you'd never be able to prove the intent of the obstructing player."
Wrong for so many reasons. First, it's Blizzard's game and it doesn't need to conform to the rules of American courts. Blizzard can (and routinely does) decide that a violation of their rules has occurred without irrefutable proof.
Second, the first time a player is reported they might be able to say "Oops, I didn't realize what I was doing"... but the second time? Not going to fly. Besides, the odds of running up to an NPC and standing exactly on top of them oriented exactly the same way by pure chance are almost zero... so it's pretty safe to assume that anyone doing this knows precisely what they're doing.
Besides, intent can never be "proven" since it's all in the person's head, but somehow the American criminal justice system survives just fine despite that.
G Apr 7th 2008 12:05AM
I'll say it: The voice acting and audio effects for Kazzak are amateur at best. Kid in a bedroom quality. Aside from the gross repetition, this makes it get old even faster. Blizzard needs to reinforce audio department staffing with someone who knows how to do more than a simple pitch-shift and DDL.
Regarding the griefing, I haven't seen it happen yet on my realm, but it wouldn't surprise me. Actually, I did see a dead orc last night on the top floor of the armory, right in front of the quest giver, and wondered how someone could possibly die there.. oh.
John Apr 6th 2008 2:28PM
I see this everywhere. But I live on a PvP server where I'm outnumbered 2-1 or more. It's almost all horde who do it, I think I've seen an ally do it once, and the horde does it constantly, I've only misclicked once, because I wasnt paying attention, but is it really a problem of Belfs and Draenei trying to trick people, from my experience it's almost always tauren sitting right on top of the npc, not to get you to right click them, but just to be a total d-bag and block your access to the npc. I just show nameplates and/or zoom in all the way if I encounter this kind of grief, but if I just use Howl of Terror to disperse them, will I get pwned by the guards?
arilasWL Apr 6th 2008 6:04PM
Yes, you will. After getting constantly ganked by a particular group of five horde, i happened to run in to them as they were turning in the dailies. So, I shot of a howl of terror, and managed to get a couple actual fear spells off, before the guards had their way with me. It was fun, and since repair bills are a part of life in wow, there wasn't much to QQ about.
Aichon Apr 6th 2008 2:35PM
Yeah, I've already had this problem as well on a PvP server. I was about to report the guy that I clicked on since I saw him doing it to others too, when I remember the age-old PvP server rule: if there's a PvP solution, then there isn't a problem. Since it's technically possible to kill him, as annoying as it is, I don't think it's against the rules on a PvP server.
As for PvE servers, it may actually be the same for the same reason. Since the person has to PvP flag themselves, you have a way to deal with the situation: kill them. Of course, killing them isn't really feasible since there are guards all around, but that's the way PvP works oftentimes. It's stacked against you.
I wouldn't say it's QQing at all, since it really isn't a fair situation and SHOULD be remedied. At the same time, if we look at the letter of the law, I don't think a rule has been broken, as much as I might like to think otherwise.
insomnifox Apr 6th 2008 3:20PM
The NPC's in the first area were put up on a raised area to prevent misclicking and players huddling around them. Why they didn't do this for the other NPC's I don't know, but they do seem taller, so you could click over other players.
For now, my advice would be to click carefully. Laziness causes durability loss.
anonymoose Apr 6th 2008 4:05PM
Actually if you approach it from the aspect of an exploit--suddenly it does look a little different.
Irian Apr 6th 2008 3:21PM
Haven't seen this on my server... well, I bet now I will. :/