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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsEnsidia temporarily banned for exploits
by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 4th 2010 at 10:40AM
The story is that Ensidia made use of Saronite Bombs to "bypass The Lich King fight mechanics" (Saronite Bombs and similar items were disabled in a hotfix last night). In addition to the temporary ban, all items and achievements they gained from downing Arthas have been revoked. Before the ban (but after the hotfix), Ensidia put up a post claiming that they didn't think the bombs were an exploit; Blizzard obviously isn't buying it.
Meanwhile, Muqq, the Ensidia player who posted about the ban, has taken this as an opportunity to quit WoW (and rant a bit at Blizzard about "half-assed encounters"), saying "to ban people when they do not know what's causing the bugs is just a [expletive] joke."
Update: It's worth a mention that the language Muqq used at the end of his post is identical (save places and names) to this post by Tigole (scroll to the bottom -- it's the last thing on the page), written of EverQuest in 2002. Be warned, neither of these are safe for work.
Filed under: Guilds, News items, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 20)
Falcon6 Feb 4th 2010 10:57AM
That's not the point at all.
If I had no idea what was causing my car to not brake all the way, and I run over someone accidentally, I'm still held accountable for running that person over. It's not the car's fault. It's mine.
If Ensidia wants to look like the victim here, that's all fine and dandy. But in the end, if you used an exploit, you used an exploit. You either didn't know how it worked or you knew and used it anyway...but you still used it and you should still be given proper punishment.
And now we get into the argument on whether Blizzard was being too strict on it or too lenient. That's really Blizzard's call. It's their game, not ours.
Falcon6 Feb 4th 2010 11:01AM
@myself:
Also, just in case Muqq himself is actually NOT trying to make Ensidia the victims here and it's all a ploy to out-troll us Trolls, that statement can go for anyone that tries to defend them seriously.=P
outdps Feb 4th 2010 11:12AM
I don't know, but I think intent is actually the difference between murder and manslaughter in US law. If they accidentally created a situation where every time you hearth, you gained 1 gold, how would you feel if you got a ban for hearthing?
Falcon6 Feb 4th 2010 11:24AM
There are two situations that could be possible here. Either:
Ensidia knew of the exploit and continued through the encounter using the exploit.
Or:
Ensidia had no knowledge of the exploit and, instead of stopping, continued on with the encounter.
The problem is, Blizzard has no reason to believe anything Ensidia claims. Unlike the justice system, it isn't "innocent until proven guilty".
Haro Feb 4th 2010 11:27AM
@Falcon6
In this issue, the problem is: what is an exploit and what is a feature? How can we tell them apart? How can you know you are using an exploit the first time you do it, without previous warning? Quite possibly, the developers didn't know this "exploit" could happen. It's not our job to know if a certain mechanic is an exploit or a feature. It's the game owners job.
Honestly, how are you supposed to know that you are not meant to use a certain item that is completely legit in a certain encounter? It's a completely legit game mechanic.
But when the developers realize an encounter has a decreased difficulty than they expected because players are using regular mechanics they didn't anticipate, it's their call to disable it. It's their call to remove even the achievements and the loot.
But it's completely unfair to ban them, or stigmatize them as cheaters.
Jardal Feb 4th 2010 11:38AM
@Haro
When the floor begins to collapse then suddenly pops back into position... what do you think happened? Must be a feature.
Daedalus Feb 4th 2010 11:49AM
Which kind of cuts to the heart of the matter: Blizzard isn't going to take a step like this lightly. Banning one of the most famous guilds for 3 days? Rescinding their rewards and titles? Blizzard doesn't want that kind of press.
However, thanks to server logs, Blizzard basically has it in their power to examine every moment of the fight, every cast, every line of guild chat, every whisper, etc. I have to believe that if they took this step, it was because they had some pretty damning evidence against Ensidia.
As to Ensidia not knowing what was going on, it just doesn't fly. In order to get all these world firsts, in order to clear things with the speed they do, they have to have an amazing amount of situational awareness, and a lot of skill at learning the intricacies of new fights. They don't win through dumb luck, and to claim it was dumb luck that let them use this exploit seems disingenous.
Res Feb 4th 2010 1:11PM
Exactly, they should be happy it's just a 3 day ban. Not really a big deal. Like everyone else in his position, I think the WoWimportant guy who ranted and "quit" will be back once he realizes he's not so important anywhere else.
DoctorFate Feb 4th 2010 10:47AM
Blizz did the right thing.
Ricohardt Feb 5th 2010 8:54AM
Agreed totally. Even if they didn't know what caused the bug, they had previous attempts showing a rebuilding floor, which they didn't report til they got the kill.
revan Feb 4th 2010 10:47AM
LOL?
Chris Anthony Feb 4th 2010 10:47AM
I like the end of Muqq's post. "You've got one week to move EVERYBODY over to fixing ICC, or... I will emo at you some more!"
I also enjoy how he says at the beginning "one player out of 11 million is nothing" and still feels entitled to give them an ultimatum.
Golfclaps all around, Muqq.
Killchrono Feb 4th 2010 10:51AM
I still think the best part of the post is when he claims that Blizz isn't perma-banning them because it will take a hit on the game's subscription numbers.
Most of the people I've spoken too in-game don't even know who Ensidia are, so I'm sure whether they stay or quit isn't going to impact their choice to continue playing.
Aedilhild Feb 4th 2010 11:12AM
But wait, there's more! Muqq complains about a lack of challenge and buggy encounters, when in fact forgoing the exploit would have made the Lich King significantly more difficult. It's on the order of an arrested burglar blaming safe manufacturers for vulnerable locks.
The pottymouthed harangue is puerile stuff. Totally unprofessional. If Muqq remains representative of Ensidia, WoW players owe it to themselves to no longer take that guild seriously.
ish Feb 4th 2010 11:17AM
Loud Noises!
Aedilhild Feb 4th 2010 11:23AM
. . . and if Muqq really is trolling, he's a poor winner and even more of an arse.
Hollow Leviathan Feb 4th 2010 11:34AM
You realize he's parodying an ragepost by Tigole, lead game designer, in his everquest world first superstar years, who is now, in turn, banning him for nearly identical circumstances?
Curzen Feb 4th 2010 1:20PM
Hollow Leviathan: Everquest raiding was significantly more hardcore (annoying) than WoW ever was. Tigole's complaint was also about an encounter which was set up to be virtually impossible to beat. Compare to Ensidia whining about how easy WoW is, how the encounters are doable, their use of an exploit which started this and their retarded "they won't permaban us, derp" remark which is more idiotic than the forum posts every few months how this or that new MMO will totally kill WoW.
George Knight Feb 4th 2010 10:49AM
Wow, i am extremely upset by the stance blizzard has taken with this. Whether they did know it was an exploit is neither here nor there. The fact that they have received blame for exploiting something that is so easily done is a joke.
Just when i thought Blizzard were finally getting somewhere with there customer service.
Tridus Feb 4th 2010 11:04AM
Exploiting is against the rules, it doesn't matter if its an easy exploit or a hard exploit.
If they knew it wasn't supposed to work that way (and it's pretty obvious that it wasn't), then they're guilty.