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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsParagon: We're sorry we cheated
by Fox Van Allen 
Dec 6th 2011 at 1:00PM
Paragon had come up with a plan to run the Raid Finder multiple times, once for each raider. While executing the plan, they noticed and exploited a bug that allowed the raid the ability to loot passed gear -- a violation of Blizzard's rules. The exploit has since been hotfixed.We acknowledge that using this unintended behavior, which was quite clearly a bug, to our gain, was wrong. The fact that others were using it as well is no justification for doing it ourselves. We apologize for doing it, and accept whatever consequences follow.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Filed under: Cheats, News items, Raiding
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 11)
MattKrotzer Dec 6th 2011 2:42PM
I think you've got them at least a little confused with Ensidia, who've had more exploit-related issues.
Applecider Dec 6th 2011 1:26PM
The punishment is not fitting of the crime in this instance. This was not just 1 guild exploiting this loophole, this was basically every top guild in the world. To not do the same thing would have been foolish because there was a very good chance Blizzard would not have taken such a hardline stance on this issue.
While I feel that deliberately cheating a game mechanic is bad, and deserves to be punished, taking away an entire week of progression from the worlds best guilds devalues it for everyone.
Srslyyeswai Dec 6th 2011 1:34PM
I would think that being the world's best raiders would mean they would know better. It's funny to me that the same people that would say WoW is too easy now and for casuals, would resort to cheating. Easy game, huh?
Taking away the gear and the bans are absolutely the right thing to do to every toon that employed this method. Top guild or not. Sponsored or not. They are not above the rules.
Perhaps next time, they'll show us how good they really are and not resort to cheap tactics like this.
(cutaia) Dec 6th 2011 1:42PM
"this was basically every top guild in the world."
If that's true, then we won't see any world first heroic boss kills in the next three days, will we?
Fortunately, there are most definitely guilds out there that didn't do this, so it'll be interesting to see who still gets to start downing bosses.
Awesome McAwesome Dec 6th 2011 1:26PM
Am I really the only one who doesn't think this is a big deal? I mean really, why do you care?
mintyfreshj Dec 6th 2011 1:36PM
seriously, everyones acting like cheating in a game is like a felony. As if none of them have ever used a cheat code in a video game..
(cutaia) Dec 6th 2011 1:38PM
I personally don't care what happens in football, but I'm sure people who follow it might be interested in a story related to steroids or something.
I think the more apt question, then, is why do *you* care if people care? That seems like an even more confusing level of interest than people who just happen to like knowing about certain -- perhaps uninteresting to you -- aspects of their hobbies.
Awesome McAwesome Dec 6th 2011 1:45PM
But it's not like that at all. I raid as well, and I just don't see how this affects any of the people posting. My question stems from curiosity, seeing all these people's reactions, and I just wanted to understand the reason behind it.
(cutaia) Dec 6th 2011 1:48PM
But it is like that. My example of football usually doesn't "affect" the people who discuss it around the watercooler either, any more than this incident "affects" people discussing it on forums. It's just people enjoying the closest thing we get to a "news story" in this little world of ours.
vocenoctum Dec 6th 2011 1:57PM
While you might not care about Paragon's apology, they weren't the only guys that cheated, nor were all the cheaters from top guilds. The article probably should have been more about the ban/punishment that is being sent out, rather than just Paragons apology, but meh.
Plenty of guilds that COULD field a 25 man and were "serious raiders" probably exploited this and got banned for a week.
Also of note, all the gear they scammed got revoked of course. I wonder if we'll see posts about "what about refunding my enchants/gems!" :)
loop_not_defined Dec 6th 2011 2:13PM
Vocenoctum, WoW Insider already did an article on the exploit and bans, and it wasn't just about Paragon.
vocenoctum Dec 6th 2011 2:25PM
I saw an article about the exploits, but that was long before there was any punishment decided. May have just missed it I suppose?
Tirrimas Dec 6th 2011 2:35PM
@mintyfreshj:
The big difference here is that these people play for MONEY, and they're doing it in a MMO environment. So yes, this affects other people plenty.
I don't care if you use a cheat in a single-player game like Oblivion, or use a God mod in a game like Unreal Tournament where everyone's got the same mod. This is using a unintentional bug in Blizzard's code, even after being warned not to, in order to "game" the system.
THAT's what people care about. The fact that there was NO honesty or integrity shown by these super-guilds, and that they thought they stood a chance of gaining from it.
Minor Magic Dec 6th 2011 1:28PM
"We're sorry we got caught..."
There, fixed it for you.
iceveiled Dec 6th 2011 1:32PM
They're only apologizing because they got caught.
Jon Dec 6th 2011 1:34PM
Where's Blizzard's apology for leaving the bug in the game and for having to ban people who took full advantage of it?
(cutaia) Dec 6th 2011 1:39PM
Blizzard never signed an agreement that stated they would never have a bug. These players signed an agreement that stated they wouldn't abuse said bugs if they appeared. It's a pretty simple difference.
Philster043 Dec 6th 2011 1:44PM
Figures. Weren't you the one wanting an apology from all parents for playing the game when they had kids?
Al Dec 6th 2011 3:00PM
It's a bit rough for Blizzard when the people hunting bugs on the PTR don't report them so they can exploit them when content goes lives.
AdamAldaine Dec 6th 2011 1:39PM
In my opinion, if it's in the game, it's fair, "exploit" or not. I don't like seeing people get banned for stuff like this. By definition, the game is what they program it to be -- it's not like cheating at, say, poker. We play within the confines of a system Blizzard programs. Failure to program correctly shouldn't result in players getting banned.
I do see both sides, though. I get it. Just my two cents.