15 Minutes of Fame: More dings, less killing

15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.
The diminutive subject of 15 Minutes of Fame's inaugural profile, back in January of this year, spent a good chunk of change longer than a mere quarter-hour in the limelight. The life and times of Noor the Pacifist, who levels without experience from kills, garnered widespread attention not only here at WoW Insider but in an onslaught of hits from Digg, Stumble Upon, Fark and even the very cool people at Boing Boing. It seemed like everyone wanted to talk about the guy who plays World of Warcraft without actually killing anything.
Naysayers opined that Noor would give up the ghost of the tedious task of leveling without killing long before he reached level 70. But lo and behold, here we are just post-Wrath launch – and Noor's ticked right past 70, plugging steadily along toward the new max level cap of 80. 15 Minutes of Fame caught up with him to see how he was holding up on the long, slow climb to the top.

Noor: A long campaign. I've pretty much played every day. Some levels took a month, if I had to do most of it by doing Battleground dailies. Leveling this way is really daily-limited -- I can't decide to go out and push for XP because I can't kill mobs for XP, and I've done every quest that I can do at my level.
What was Noor's total time played to get to level 70?
To get to 70, 59 days and 6 minutes played.
Did you find the going any easier or more difficult once you reached Burning Crusade content?
Easier, as there were new quests with much more XP available. However, there were some easy quests I couldn't get due to reputation. I can't get to Friendly with Honor Hold, which means I can't do their daily quest and a number of other quests. I can't even get to Neutral with the Kurenai.
What became the main methods of advancing your xp once you reached BC content?
Fishing was a main method. Catching a Strange Engine Part gets me 12,650 XP each time (an Alliance-only quest; Horde catch a Broken Engine Part instead, which is just a vendor item). I started fishing in Zangarmarsh around level 49, but couldn't turn in the five parts I'd caught until I hit level 55. When Blizzard announced the reduction in XP per level from 60 to 70 pre-WotLK, I started saving Engine Parts so I could turn them in after patch 2.0.3, and I turned in 21 parts -- over half a level at level 65. Overall, I've fished up 99 Strange Engine Parts, for 1,252,350 XP. With the new dailies I can do at level 70, I don't need to fish for them anymore; they only get me about one-sixth of a bar now, anyway.
Two seasonal event helped enormously: the Midsummer Fire Festival and Hallow's End both had new dailies that awarded a lot of XP. The Fire Festival got me levels (and new quests) so fast I went from level 49 to 60 in less than two weeks, instead of being stuck at level 49 for a month doing Battleground dailies.
I also changed professions a fair amount to do profession quest chains at various levels. I did Leatherworking for the wild leather chain in the 30s and Blacksmithing in the 40s.
Did your strategies in PvP change any as you reached higher levels?
Not really. What I really missed was level 47-49 Warsong Gulch. I was wearing Green Whelp Armor and two Freezing Bands, so any player hitting me while I was running the flag had a better than one in 15 chance of freezing or sleeping.
What about player reaction to you in BGs -- any changes there?
No. Some people think it's neat, some hate it. I've actually stopped doing Battleground dailies (except AV) after patch 2.0.3, as fishing for Engine Parts is generally faster leveling. After the first 3.0 patches came in, Alliance stopped winning AV, so I stopped that, too.
I still build my talents and equipment as a WSG flag runner, though. I was pretty well-liked as a level 49 WSG flag runner. I also use non-weaponish weapons: Mug o' Hurt (with the built-in proc to slow runners) with Icy and Crippling Poison is good for WSG, and now that I have Shiv, I can apply Crippling Poison to an enemy WSG runner with Last Month's Mutton. If I ever catch a Steelscale Crushfish or a Rockhide Strongfish, I'll use that instead of the Mutton.
Did you do any quest lines involving fights that don't kill anyone?
Yes, I just did the Repurposed Technology quest in Borean Tundra, where I have to destroy a Harvest Collector and reprogram it. I couldn't reprogram Harvesters that other players had destroyed, so I used my Gnomish Universal Remote to have one aggro the others and get destroyed that way. That's one of the 20 or so movies I have up on my blog.
Some past quests like that have been Save Techbot's Brain! (which I justified because he, too, would be reprogrammed, according to the quest text); Sunken Treasure, where I let the two Water Elementals beat on me so Professor Phizzlethorpe could work; and some quests like The Deserters and The End of the Deserters, where you beat someone up until they surrender.
Filed under: Features, Leveling, Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jack Spicer Nov 18th 2008 8:17PM
The the developers give him that title specially? Or is that something that can actually be earned in-game?
Adesworth Nov 18th 2008 8:20PM
Isn't it his guild name?
Connor Murphy Nov 18th 2008 8:25PM
Looks like a 1-man (woman?) guild.
Trippleye Nov 19th 2008 12:12AM
Whats an absolutely unimportant guy gotta do to get interviewed in this one horse town.
I mean I've done some interesting....a couple....umm things.
....
Trippleye 72 *Blood Furnace*
-Ready when you are
Justin B Nov 18th 2008 8:21PM
That's a guild, not a title.
And this guy is a poser. I actually play on Maiev, and when he was doing the Terokkar PvP daily he stabbed me with a dagger. What kind of pacifist stabs somebody?
Ugkul Nov 18th 2008 8:33PM
Not possible with her weapon skill.
zappo Nov 19th 2008 10:02AM
It is possible. Weapon skill is maxed in pvp combat.
Meowshi Nov 18th 2008 8:31PM
I didn't know pacifists hit people with old meat.
Noor Nov 18th 2008 9:49PM
Justin, did I have either the Evil Twin or the Split Soul:Evil teleporter debuff? I attack horde during the Terokkar tower daily if I do, but if I hit you, it was with my Mug o' Hurt, I haven't used a dagger since level 41. But in any case, I typically hit players to interrupt casting, or to try and apply mind-numbing poison, I can't do a great deal of damage. I usually run around, throw ice grenades (or flash bombs for druids), use my gnomish net-o-matic, or blind/sap/gouge people.
Ugkil, it's possible for me to hit other players, because in PvP, actual weapon skill is not used. Don't ask me why.
Trippleye Nov 18th 2008 11:49PM
Wow
Gunnar Nov 18th 2008 10:01PM
Your an Inspiration Noor!
Skjede Nov 18th 2008 10:46PM
Sounds... Utterly Boring.
BooDizz Nov 18th 2008 10:48PM
But killing is the best part of WoW!
This sounds like having sex using your elbow
Aurix Nov 18th 2008 11:10PM
Hotter than it sounds.
:innocent:
hiphophomies Nov 18th 2008 11:59PM
crazy! i'm on maiev... i'll look for noor sometime and try to gank her!
Nobby Nov 19th 2008 12:48AM
gnome powa!
schläggan Nov 19th 2008 5:06AM
Awsome achivement, I'm am honestly impressed
Axolotl Nov 19th 2008 2:11AM
To go 100% pacifist, you'd have to stay out of Battlegrounds AND not have someone/something else do the killing for you.
Strictly speaking, Noor fails at perfect pacifism, that doesn't take away the fact that it's an achievement in its own :-D
Eddy Nov 19th 2008 11:51AM
Yeah, I was wondering about that. Really, at this point, if its okay for other people to kill in your company but not you, why not roll a healer and level through instances? I have heard of several people never training DPS skills and just leveling priests while grouping with others for roleplay reasons. If any combat is okay, why isn't that a fair way to do it? This just seems to me like a slightly shoddy collection of rationalizations (which I'm sure were necessary to do anything at all, but..)
Vorust Nov 19th 2008 4:53AM
Well done haha, great effort Noor. :)
Sam