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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSaronite 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 3 of 8)
PictoKong Feb 3rd 2010 9:41PM
yes, i think theyn always used the bombs on the fight (if it does more DPS, why not?), if the platform was rebiulding, would it really matters??
I mean, if my Top DPS rotation have thoses bombs in it, you would call em a hacker and tell me to do my Not top DPS rotation so we dont get QQ??
Its a bug they didn't fixed at patch day, ensidia just happened to have rogues use it to Boost their Deepz, that's it
Discount_Llama Feb 3rd 2010 9:57PM
@PictoKong If it was a tank and spank with a little/no movement, then yes, no one would care if they were using the bombs to boost DPS.
However, seeing as how the encounter in question revolves around the floor falling away, and you know, running out of room and wiping, then rebuilding the floor (and thus, making the encounter MUCH easier) is an exploit.
It doesn't matter if Blizzard didn't test the encounter "properly" and it turns out there is a bug, then guess what, using it to make the encounter easier is an exploit and should be punished
SamLowry Feb 3rd 2010 11:09PM
"It doesn't matter if Blizzard didn't test the encounter "properly"..."
I just wanted to see this again so I could laugh again.
n3ther Feb 4th 2010 8:09AM
At the risk of offending those who disagree with me, ( someone being offended cause I disagree with them *shocking*) It is very doubtful that Ensidia was exploiting this fight intentionally.
As many other have said and will continue to say, saronite bombs are part of an engineers dps rotation. Ensidia definitely noticed something was wrong with the encounter since the platform was growing back but that is Blizzard's problem. I highly doubt they could have pinpointed the bug to saronite bombs and purposely tried to exploit this. They didn't have any previous exposure to this fight except in 10man.
Had Blizzard not been monitoring Ensidia's combat then you can certainly bet this bug would have been "exploited" by other guilds unknowingly.
Sumanai Feb 3rd 2010 9:34PM
Here is the statement by Ensidia:
"Yes it seems this bug does relate to our kill. We had no idea that our Rogues using Saronite Bombs in their rotation (as they always do) was causing it and thusly it occured every try we did. Short version, we're not going to stop trying the boss when all we are doing is playing our normal game. It would be nice if these kinds of things, much the same as Holy Wrath on Anub, were tested before release.
It does make the fight easier, but we are 100% sure it would have died either way. It only affects one of the easier phases.
As a side note this only occured in 25 man."
Task Feb 3rd 2010 9:48PM
I read this as well on their site and I applaud them for saying that they (their engineering rogues) were doing it.
Mind you, that yes Blizz should have tested for this unusual variable but didn't.
As for taking away theirs and Blood Legion's world firsts, that's hard to say, but I don't think that either one shouldn't have it taken away because it happened in both versions but on separate realms respectively
chavis878 Feb 3rd 2010 10:03PM
Just sounds like a bullshit excuse to me.
"Oh our rogues JUST so happen to make the encounter bug"
Thats load of crap and they know it. They had to get the world first by any means.
Even if it means cheating.
But alas they will get away with it.
Discount_Llama Feb 3rd 2010 10:07PM
Because I'm completely sure that NO ONE NOTICED THE FLOOR REBUILDING ITSELF.
Because ignorance of your exploit makes it okay, right?
SamLowry Feb 3rd 2010 10:42PM
OMG, are you suggesting that Blizzard didn't actually test something out on the PTR?!?
Say it ain't so!
RogueJedi86 Feb 3rd 2010 10:50PM
To echo Discount_Llama, what did they think it meant when the floor rebuilt itself? That somehow you can reverse something that is specifically made to harden the difficulty of the fight? I have never done a single raid in WotLK and I still realized that the collapsing floor wouldn't be able to be rebuilt, just because it's supposed to be such a hard fight. The second they saw the floor rebuilding itself, they should've stopped and figured out wtf was causing it(even if it would result in a wipe). But no, Ensidia is a sponsored raiding guild, they can't NOT be the first at such a key raiding kill. If you're not #1, you might be the #2 or even #3 kill out of all the raiding guilds in the entire game. That's just not acceptable.
Arashikou Feb 3rd 2010 11:14PM
I could even understand the argument, if this was the first time they had done the fight, that they thought the tower was supposed to rebuild itself. I mean, we are playing a game full of magic where most of us are based out of a flying city. It's not TOTALLY unthinkable.
But as I understand it, Ensidia had already seen this fight before and knew the tower wasn't supposed to come back. So... ....yeahhhh....
Manadar Feb 4th 2010 6:55AM
"The second they saw the floor rebuilding itself, they should've stopped and figured out wtf was causing it(even if it would result in a wipe)."
Fair argument if we didn't have limited attempts. Guilds can't really do a trial-and-error research of the encounter, especially when they're judged by the community not only by when they down the boss, but how many attempts they have left.
Ratskinmahoney Feb 4th 2010 8:18AM
I'm happy that the kills were removed. World first is a big deal, and world first for an encounter which is essentially the climax of an entire expansion is a very big deal, even if it's only normal mode (HM will be a bigger deal). Whoever gets the first should get it by defeating the Lich King within the limits of the fight as was intended, an exploit like this cheapens the achievement somewhat, and does more for the trivialisation of WoW than anything else.
That said, as Ensidia claimed, they probably would have downed him anyway. I think Blizz should have said 'we've had to fix the encounter because it was exploitable, which trivialised it somewhat. We're removing the kill and related loot and achievements from guilds who overcame the encounter through this exploit, and resetting their instance locks to pre-encounter'.
The 3 day ban is IMO harsh and unwarranted.
Rainee Sue Feb 3rd 2010 9:36PM
Of course it wasn't cheating. Just like the Disgusting Oozeling on Cthun wasn't cheating, right?
I guess it was too much to hope that the world first wasn't yet another exploit on their part.
Al Feb 3rd 2010 9:54PM
Or Serpentshrine Cavern. Or Yogg+0. And so on..
Auryn Feb 3rd 2010 9:39PM
Thats like saying, yeah we knew after the fight that we had beaten the boss even thou the fight was bugged and it was not a fair kill...still we want access to hard modes over any other guild that has been forced to do the fight normally...because we are ensidia..
Shkam Feb 3rd 2010 9:49PM
What rogue would use something like that as part of their "normal rotation" bs I say
Paul Feb 3rd 2010 10:12PM
What melee dps who happens to be an engineer wouldn't use an item off the GCD to increase their dps? I personally used saronite bombs on my ret pally every fight. It's a good idea.
SamLowry Feb 3rd 2010 10:43PM
Especially since it's cheap and easy for an engineer to make a buttload of saronite bombs.
Why not use them?
Auryn Feb 3rd 2010 9:57PM
Some people are saying that they have had the kill revoked and have recieved temp bans. I dont know if this is true and i would love an offical statement from Blizzard to see if this kill will stand..