Patch 5.4 patch notes
Virtual Realms feature revealed
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The latest patch 5.4 newsAsk WoW Insider: The ninja debuff
by Mike Schramm 
Nov 24th 2008 at 5:00PM
This week on Ask WoW Insider, a reader has a suggestion, not a question, to put forth to you readers. It's about a problem lots of folks are having lately, with the servers as full as they are:One thing that has been annoying most people is the ninjas who spend their time waiting for players to take down a pat so they have unobstructed access to the quest items or loot/ore. It happened to me even with the Oil-stained Wolf quest last night in the expansion. People waiting to steal poo! Sick! Why should the players who take down the pat be disadvantaged and lose out on the ore?
The rest of the question and your chance to answer after the jump.
How hard is it to put a little mechanism into the game where if you run up to a node, you automatically get all the threat of the pat? A debuff might be a good solution, too -- if you steal the ore, you get a debuff which turns you into a slug with a high threat range, or an inability to get gold or drops. That will stop the ninjas, right?
Shalyn
It's an interesting idea -- generally, Blizzard keeps out of game mechanics and ingame mechanics separate, but a few times they've mixed them up (i.e. the AFK "Deserter" debuff you get when you leave a battleground early). What if they did have a debuff or some kind of ingame penalty for ninja-ing nodes, kills, or even items in raid groups? I think the coding would be tough to do (how do you know when someone means to ninja a node or not?), but the question remains: would a debuff like this stop ninjas for good? What do you think?
Answer in the comments below, and if you have a question for our readers, send it to ask@wow.com (please send questions in -- we need new question fodder), and you might see it next week.
Previously on Ask WoW Insider...
Filed under: Mining, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Ask WoW Insider, Leveling
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 14)
ginka Nov 24th 2008 5:22PM
I have a theory, which I've developed over about 3 years of playing WoW.
Blizzard programs injustice and conflict into the game. It's a hook. It's one of the things that makes WoW engaging and addictive.
People aren't engaged when everything goes well. They're engaged when things go wrong, when people act poorly, when disasters are encountered and averted.
The developers aren't stupid, and they know quite well that some players use nodes and loot as an opportunity to grief other players, needing things they don't need, taking nodes and chests that have been cleared to, and training mobs on other players. It's part of the game play to them, even if it's annoying to most of us.
No matter how easy they make the game, and no matter how safe, griefers will find a way to sabotage things for others. Within reason, that's working as intended.
email Nov 24th 2008 5:45PM
This.
Arcaria Nov 24th 2008 5:24PM
Anyone who's running the Son's of Holdir dailies will understand when I describe the latest ninja problem.
One of the dailies has you kill mobs and then when they're dead you get into melee range, blow a horn and send their spirits off. It's sort of the same general idea as the Erratic Sentries in QD. The problem though is that Blizz didn't code in tagging. When the mob is dead anyone can blow the horn and get credit for the quest. They can do it even before you've had a chance to loot it. While this is less of a problem for melee it's really a big issue for casters.
I'd think that even as a melee though I wouldn't want my quest credit counter to be based on who can click the fastest.
The other quest that needs to be fixed is the one where you get the pieces of ice to drop and then you go over and freeze the metal near Fjorns Forge. The ice sprays all over the place, regardless of which piece of metal you're standing near. Then when it freezes the metal it's still able to be looted by any other player.
As more and more people approach 80 I'm starting to notice more "opportunistic" ninja's standing around "earning it" as Theostratus would call it.
Randy Nov 24th 2008 5:22PM
I can't say anything about someone getting to the node before you, its underhanded but its not really ninja-ing. Rogues vanishing mobs on you after you hit it once or othyer threat reducing things are complete BS.
Mobs can be "tapped" now (that seems to be new to me) where I can't attack it because its been tapped or tagged. I suggest something similar with nodes. That way once you get the first hit you are awarded the node. It kinda screws up a guild run with 3 miners where everyone might take 1 hit for the level up, but its better than nothin.
Rob Nov 24th 2008 5:22PM
I don't think this is that big of a deal. I haven't had any trouble pick'n flowers. Someone did this to me in a quest once... you had to blow up these rocks and pick up some gems in HF... I pulled the mobs he blew up the rock and took the gems.
I just waited for him to pull some mobs and did the same thing to him. After that he went one way, I went the other way and we both finished our quests. I guess if he was a total ass and kept doing it I might have reported him for harassment or something... most likely I would have just gone to my next quest and come back later.
Lodema Nov 24th 2008 5:23PM
Nothing makes me angrier than some druid coming along in flight form and stealing the herb I am standing on top of while I kill some mob that attacked me when I had to demount to pick it. I think Blizz was way off on allowing them to stay in flight form to pick/mine ect, it is one thing if they are in bear/cat/moonkin form but it is an unfair advantage for them to be allowed to pick while "mounted".
Wulf Nov 24th 2008 5:43PM
Sorry, Druids could only gather herbs in Swift Flight Form in the first month of BC, and could never mine in it.
This has since been changed. We can only herb/skin in non-flying forms and could never mine in anything but bipedial form.
Pfooti Nov 24th 2008 6:02PM
Wulf is wrong. My druid herbs in flightform all the time. Maybe it's because it's normal flight and not swift flight. Can't mine in forms, though.
Murdock Nov 24th 2008 6:44PM
While druids can herb in flight form, they must "land" to do so, this will agro any mobs in the area. Of course, they simply fly up and try again. When it first came out they could in fact herb without landing and that quickly got nerfed.
starbane Nov 24th 2008 5:30PM
Sadly, this isn't a new problem.
Happily, it's not a serious one. If you are over level 70 and having nodes stolen from you, rethink your strategies and your priorities.
Dracula Jones Nov 24th 2008 5:38PM
Uh... ok... go on...
What strategies are working for you? What strategies and priorities would you suggest for, say, a warrior who is clearing a couple mobs to get to a node and someone strolls by and starts picking away? How should he or she be rethinking his or her priorities? Do please enlighten us.
starbane Nov 24th 2008 6:04PM
Yeah, you're right, I didn't consider Warriors, who are required to kill all mobs before mining a node, picking a flower, or putting on their hats, when I made my argument.
I concede. Blizzard, save us.
Xeren Nov 24th 2008 6:10PM
no, seriously, you didn't finish your argument. no one is sure what you're getting at here
Aislingi Dec 1st 2008 2:53AM
Gee Starbane, it's almost as if you thought you could get away with a completely empty and baseless accusation to justify your douchebag attitude, were called on it and failed to back up your bullshit with anything but lame sarcasm.
GG tool.
havitech Nov 24th 2008 5:35PM
It's very simple. I'm pretty sure it's already been suggested, but nodes should be taggable just like mobs. If you touch the node and have the proper skill the gather it, it becomes tagged and only you can pick it up. If you don't pick it up within a minute or you get too far away, the tag drops and it is fair game again.
Erixx Nov 26th 2008 1:20AM
Yeah, except now all the ninja has to do is see you running toward the ore, swoop in and tap it once, and /lol /dance at you while you're stuck with a mob still on as you just arrive at the ore.
That solved a lot.
Oh wait.
It didn't.
havitech Nov 26th 2008 2:25AM
If somebody "swooped in" and tagged the node before you... then it's their node. They got their before you did, so they get the spoils.
What the tagging system would do is guarantee the node to anyone who got there first, even if that person has to fight some mobs before they can gather from the node uninterrupted. If someone has a faster mount then you and can fly in faster, then it's time to invest in a higher riding skill.
My idea isn't perfect, but for level 80 gatherers with epic flight training (arguably the majority of gatherers) it's better compared to any silly debuffs or other quirky system. And, get this: It's already in the game! It's called mob tagging, and it works pretty well.
Juneau Nov 24th 2008 5:36PM
I've never had this problem with mining, most miners seem to be very respectful, even horde leave me if I'm near the node. There's a kind of etiquette that goes with mining, but I don't think it should be coded into game mechanics.
Agent StanSmith Nov 24th 2008 5:38PM
The worst is when its your own faction that does it. You say something about it and they mock you.
A lot of people that play this game are really cool.
A lot, the ones you tend to remember the most, are total dickh*ads.
as for the "someone fighting in the radius of the node is the only one who loots it", that might not work so well. For instance, my wife and I always play together. When there's a node to mine/herb/etc, the one that can't use it will ride around and gather up the mobs that might interrupt the other one. So my wife grabs all the boars or whatever while I mine, and later I grab all the rabbid bears while she herbs. Works out rather nicely.
Doeg Nov 25th 2008 9:19AM
For your own faction, put them on your ignore list first, then call them out.
That works quite well.
I have had some nodes stolen.
But I will not steal a node.
It's a minor annoyance, but it's part of the game.
I see it as an interesting test of character.
Some pass, some fail.
Your choice.