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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsExodus punished for exploiting Yogg-Saron encounter
by Zach Yonzon 
Jun 29th 2009 at 10:47PM
Contrary to some reports, however, Exodus released a statement on their website that members of their guild were not banned, clarifying that Blizzard meted out a 72-hour suspension for their abuse of game mechanics. They argue that the encounter wasn't beatable to begin with, similar to the C'thun fight in Ahn'Qiraj before it was fixed, prompting the exploit. In the same statement, Exodus also points at Ensidia's arguably hypocritical stance of complaining about the abuse considering Ensidia used similar questionable methods to achieve other World Firsts. Serennia mentions this behavior in his column at wowriot, as well, bringing into question Blizzard's apparent double standard when meting out punishment.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Guilds, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 8)
jjcoola998 Jul 6th 2009 5:40PM
All we can do is pray Orrine doesn't vote.
jorik.janssens Jun 29th 2009 10:56PM
Ouch!
Magresda Jun 29th 2009 10:57PM
The post on Exodus' homepage is quite funny - when in doubt, always start flaming. The funny thing is Ensidia was dead on, I'm sure I'm not the only who thought they had a mild case of jealousy/nerdrage.
Andrew Jun 29th 2009 11:07PM
To be perfectly honest I think it was jealousy and nerdrage. Jealousy that they didn't think of it first. And lets be honest with each other here, were the roles reversed and Exodus cried foul over Ensidia's use of this exploit, Blizzard would have let it slide.
Ensidia are given preferential treatment by Blizzard, it isn't fair, but it isn't terribly important either, in the grand scheme of things.
Scott Cabot Jun 29th 2009 10:59PM
If anything atleast Exodus got the fight hotfixed to ensure that doesn't happen again. What annoys me is that Exodus says it was unbeatable so they are justified in exploiting the encounter. The whole idea I thought was that they didn't want the encounter beaten within months of it coming out, in any event sucks to be you Exodus haha.
flawless Jun 29th 2009 11:07PM
More like "Ensidia went in and found how Exodus had exploited it, causing Blizzard to investigate and fix the problem."
Not saying I like Ensidia, cheating is cheating. Considering the bans others have received for "creative use of game mechanics" in recent content, Exodus got off lightly. Ensidia have gotten off scot-free with this, for whatever reasons Blizzard wants to conjure up.
"Creative use of bullshit", I call it.
I'm still enjoying the Ulduar encounters, hard modes and normal alike. Sans cheats.
Zachary Pruckowski Jun 30th 2009 1:18AM
"atleast Exodus got the fight hotfixed to ensure that doesn't happen again"
No they didn't. They claimed that their kill came through great luck and epic skill, and that the exploit either didn't exist or they didn't know about it.
skogsturken Jun 29th 2009 11:01PM
Ensidia is the best guild by miles, if it would have been killable without exploits they would have done it - and way before this no name guild. Anyone actually thought an american guild got wirld first?
offday Jun 29th 2009 11:05PM
At least Americans know how to spell "world."
Agerath Jun 30th 2009 12:09AM
@Offday: Pity they don't know what it is, though.
Stuntman Mike Jun 30th 2009 2:24AM
@skogsturken: Wake up and smell your own bullshit. Ensidia are a bunch hypocritical epeen cheaters. Most of Ensidia's world firsts are obtained through exploits. But Blizzard seem to think that Ensidia are offering a service by "discovering" them, hence nothing happens to them.
thegreatheed Jun 30th 2009 3:13AM
this is no no name guild. world 2nd muru kill. many other top ten kills. educate yourself before openings your trap next time.
Andrew Jun 29th 2009 11:02PM
Exodus' response is exactly what I expect, could use a little less euro-trashing but they're angry and in my book they have a right to be.
Ensidia in its various forms has been well documented to use exploits, or in their doublespeak "creative use of game mechanics" to achieve their ends, they seem to feel that they are entitled by birthright to world firsts, and they have never, never been punished. In fact they've been rewarded. It is well known that during testing for Black Temple, Blizzard developers escorted Nihilum through the content, showing them the mechanics, and specifically showing them how to beat the content.
Nihilum famously steamrolled through Black Temple in under a week. The only difference between what Exodus has done and what Ensidia has done is that Ensidia are licensed cheaters.
If "world firsts" count the exploits of one guild, they should count the exploits of another. Good on you Exodus for finding a way to kill an unkillable encounter. Your accomplishment should be lauded even by the people at Ensidia for your very, very creative use of game mechanics.
elfennau Jun 30th 2009 8:09AM
Of course they feel entitled. Getting paid to play the game does that to you, I'd guess.
Bob Dewane Jun 30th 2009 10:33AM
"It is well known that during testing for Black Temple, Blizzard developers escorted Nihilum through the content, showing them the mechanics, and specifically showing them how to beat the content."
Really? I started playing the game about 3 months after BCs release and although I have never been in a raiding guild myself, I enjoy following the races for kills. This is something that is new information to me and I would like to read more about it. Are there links to any blogs on the subject or is this just more of an accepted "urban legend" regarding Nihilum/Ensidia?
Everyone's nerd rage aside there is a difference here, albeit a slight one, regarding what Ensidia did on Hodir vs. what Exodus did on AITD. Ensidia took a game mechanic that worked the way it was intended and employed it in a way that was not considered it would be. Exodus admittedly abused an evade bug. Evade has never been intended to be used as a combat mechanic. I don't say this because I love Ensidia (like I said, I just like following the action), only to show that there IS a difference.
jam Jun 29th 2009 11:03PM
What Ensidia did with Hodir is in no way comparable to this exploit.
Kaywarrior's little rant on their website was pathetic, they really make themselves look bad in this, especially by throwing some baseless accusations at Ensidia's direction.
Cheaters (the fact that the guild is full of misogynist scumbags only makes it sweeter) got punished, hooray for that.
wow Jun 29th 2009 11:23PM
Both were exploits, full stop. There is no argument you could make to defend Ensidia here. Now I realize that in your world, they are the greatest people on earth. Fortunately history and the evidence tells us a different story. The accusations on their website are FAR from baseless. There is plenty of proof around the net to back up each of their claims.
jam Jun 29th 2009 11:34PM
Lulz, causing monsters to evade is a well known reason for ban. Again, if you can't see the difference between these two cases I feel sorry for you.
And you can stop with the condescending crap, I'm not an Ensidia fanboy, far from it.
You don't realize how feeble the "plenty of proof around the net" argument sounds, do you? Teh internet is a well known source of the ultimate truth, afterall.
Verit Jun 30th 2009 12:00AM
In order for Ensidia to pull off the hodir exploit they would have to spell steal the buff, go invis to drop combat and immediately be summoned by a warlock back to hodir for an immediate pull. I don't have to remind any of you hardcore players that spell-stolen buffs are 2 minutes MAX, and hodir hard mode is 3 minutes.
I REALLY doubt that was how it was intended to be played... So yeah - its just as much an exploit as Exodus's.
Evade is just as much a game mechanic as all the mess above - it just means the mob couldn't hit you for whatever reason.
jam Jun 30th 2009 12:06AM
I don't think they used summon, they probably pulled the mobs to Hodir's room. Not that it really makes a difference in the "right or wrong" debate.