Saronite Bombs and similar items disabled [Updated]
by Alex Ziebart 
Feb 3rd 2010 at 9:10PM
We just made a hotfix that disables the siege damage dealt by Saronite Bombs and the Global Thermal Sapper Charge. The siege damage of the bombs was causing the Frozen Throne platform to rebuild, which greatly decreases the difficulty of the encounter.It is a longstanding tradition for end bosses to be exploited in the most hilariously awful of ways, so seeing something like this isn't all that surprising. Here's hoping nothing else like it crops up.
We'll reenable the siege damage in a later update when the issue with the Frozen Throne is fixed.
Update: Ensidia has released a statement regarding their use of this bug.
Update, take 2: Ensidia's raiding crew has received a 72-hour ban from the game (as well as loss of loot and achievements) for using Saronite Bombs to "bypass The Lich King fight mechanics."
Filed under: Raiding, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 8)
Auryn Feb 3rd 2010 9:13PM
If confirmed..ensidia should have their world first removed..it would be unfair to those guilds who have attempted arthas without the use of this bug..
Superthrust Feb 3rd 2010 9:18PM
^^^ THIS THIS THIS THIS!!!
Seriously! Anyone remember the Yogg no lights? Some guild did the some glitch (can't remember which), got banned and had their world first removed...THEN, Ensida came along, did the same damn thing (but "slightly different" they described, trying to cover their asses like the did tonight) and they got to keep it with no repurcussions? AND GOT TO GO TO BLIZCON!?
Wtf bliz...Why are all the other guilds being singled out yet the "sponsered" ensida gets all the glory, EVEN IF they use their exploits?
Can i get a WoWinsider person's view on this?
Zuelajinda Feb 3rd 2010 9:19PM
indeed
Al Feb 3rd 2010 9:29PM
Ah, Ensidia. Long list of exploited bosses, with zero action.
Clydtsdk-Rivendare Feb 3rd 2010 9:58PM
Um, it wasn't Ensidia, it was Exodus, or did they have the illegit one? Either way, Ensidia didn't world-first yogg+0.
Let the downvotes commence.
Carson Feb 3rd 2010 10:52PM
What the hell are you talking about, Superthrust?
It was EXODUS who exploited Yogg-0.
It was STARS who got the legit world-first.
ENSIDIA's only involvement in the whole affair appears to be as the target of your own foaming-at-the-mouth nerdrage.
Snark Feb 3rd 2010 10:53PM
Yep yep yep, never had any respect for Ensidia after that whole fiasco. If they exploited they should be called on it just like they whined back when.
DAWG Feb 3rd 2010 11:34PM
Seriously man, Ensidia fuckin deserves the kill, its not like they weren't going to get it first anyways, and like someone else said, what if using Wild Magic potions put the stage back together, then would you stop using them???
And its not like they deliberately did this, this is much different than evade bugging mobs like was done on Yogg-0
If you really dont think Ensidia deserves it, how bout blizz takes away the loot they got from that kill, and place the raid back in front of LK, they are still going to beat him, and they still deserve First
Reps Feb 4th 2010 3:01PM
I would call it an exploit... I would call it unforseen use of game mechanics. If you have an item that does siege damage to a siege encounter, I fail to see why it is considered an exploit to use that.
By the same logic, wouldn't using a disc priest for Saurfang be considered an exploit? Or using BoP on Anub HM?
Thinking outside of the box =/= Exploit.
Reps Feb 3rd 2010 11:48PM
I wouldn't call it an exploit*
Uugh, WTB edit button.
elainesy2009 Feb 4th 2010 1:52AM
You guys frothing at the mouth about 'cheating' need to calm down.
If they were the world's first, that means there was no precedent for them to follow. If there was no precedent, how the hell were they expected to know that such a bug existed, and therefore deliberately exploit that bug?
Knowing that something is a bug requires prior knowledge of the fight mechanics, in order to see the difference between how it *should* work and how it actually *is* working, and then pinpoint the thing that made the change and say, "Aha! This is the bug."
They simply went and did the fight and, if they noticed the throne was 'rebuilding', how were they to know this wasn't 'working as intended', and furthermore--assuming they did figure out it was a bug--which particular element in their entire fight was causing this? For all they knew, it could have been caused by a cow deciding to wear the black and white skin that day.
Bonestorm Feb 4th 2010 2:12AM
Look at this scenario: You're Mr nice guy. You enter a shop to buy some stuff. You ask the shopowner for something special and he says he needs to get it out back. You take 2 steps closer to the counter and suddenly the cash register opens (it later shows its because you are wearing some new electronic device). All the money are now easy for you to grab without anyone noticing. So do you take the money and say: "I thought it was working as intended" or do you say: "Nah, I'm not gonna touch them it's clearly a bug"?
I'm not saying Ensidia should have known, just saying sometimes you come across something new and you have to make up your own mind.
Nagrim Feb 4th 2010 2:33AM
Sorry but that's a terrible metaphor for what happened. Say you walk into a shop and buy a bunch of stuff. One of the newest items, for whatever reason, didn't scan properly and you got half price on it. That would be ok if it happened once and you didn't notice. But if you kept coming back and buying the same item for half price, that would be abuse.
Now I don't know if Ensidia found out and began to abuse it, but they say it was in an easy phase and the Lich King would have gone down anyway.
Superthrust Feb 4th 2010 3:24AM
@Carson - Awhile back, and i will find the post to prove this, But awhile back, after Exodus admitted to using the exploit, Ensidia did the SAME THING, except, they said "we used a different method of the exodus exploit".
So, while they didn't do the exact exploit motion for motion, they still exploited in a manner, thus making it illegitimate.
But who the hell are ANY of us kidding. Endsida and Nihul are Blizzard's personal "raid people"...they practically design the raids around them and they are the poster boys of endgame...So, blizzard won't do anything about it. Hell they could prolly run around with speed hax on and bliz wouldn't care.
loop_not_defined Feb 4th 2010 6:36AM
Seriously?
Let them keep the kill. It's just normal mode, for christ sake. Not that big of a deal.
epic Feb 4th 2010 6:52AM
@ superthrust...Ensidia got banned and everything reverted..they knew...blizz found out...banned...LOL
epic Feb 4th 2010 7:03AM
o and to prove the knew ...they suddenly got a buncha new engs really fast...just look at the armory...seems that profession became suddenly popular in Ensidia
acharenus Feb 4th 2010 7:51AM
They knew it was an exploit. the encounter does indeed have siege dmg but siege dmg is supposed to...wait for it...destroy parts of the pinnacle not repair the damn thing.
Grow up fan boys your heros dropped the damn ball on this one.
loop_not_defined Feb 4th 2010 8:17AM
Haven't seen any evidence of an engineer exodus, yet. None of their 80 Death Knights are Engineers. I was going through the 80 Druids when EU armory went to crap (no longer loading profiles), and of the two I saw, they had always been Engineers.
BTW, how do you level Engineering from zero to a usable level in the span of 24-48 hours? While attempting raids?
Tridus Feb 4th 2010 8:29AM
Ensidia was given a 72 hour suspension, and likely will have their kill taken away for exploiting.
So yeah, Blizzard finally came down on them for something.