Blizz to Exploiters "F U"

[murdoc]

No you aren't.  You're tissa.  You couldn't be arsed to use the shift key when coming up with a forum name.
[/quote]

Awwww... crap.

[Righ]

I didn't think our stringent capitalization standards applied to forum names. I imagine this comes as a surprise to apocrypha as well.

A lot of new sign-ups appeared unable to use the shift key on the first letter of their nic. That had a strong correlation with low quality first posts and ergo long-term survival.

Does anybody happen to have a copy of schild's first Waterthread post?

Oh, and I'm with Nebu on this - permaban the exploiters or it's a bunch of flowers.

[Reg]

Does anybody happen to have a copy of schild's first Waterthread post?

I bet it was great. He was a very advanced 12 year old after all.

[Cheddar]

Who the fuck are you? We've seen a lot worse in the very recent past. If you have a problem with what they said, respond to that rather than go with the "RAWRRR NEW MEAT" schtick.

Your right.  tissa, I apologize.   

[Nebu]

Almost like being instantly kick/banned from IRC upon joining the channel. Just cause.

Is this some sort of #hate reference?

[Signe]

[Nevermore]

It wasn't a particularly retarded first post.  Lowercase nick has precedent.  *giggles* is permissible depending on gender/orientation.

Judgment for the defendant!!

You're absolutely right.  What was I thinking?  I for one welcome our new shift key challenged, giggling overlords.

[Lakov_Sanite]

=^.^=

[WindupAtheist]

WHO THE FUCK ARE ANY OF YOU?!?!?!?

Cheddar, you can't talk after that horrible newb you brought in here from LOTRO or whatever, the one who was saying "hail" instead of "hello" and shit. 

[Merusk]

WHO THE FUCK ARE ANY OF YOU?!?!?!?

I'm Batman.

[Morfiend]

WHO THE FUCK ARE ANY OF YOU?!?!?!?

Cheddar, you can't talk after that horrible newb you brought in here from LOTRO or whatever, the one who was saying "hail" instead of "hello" and shit. 

Since we are giving out completely imaginary points.

+2 to WUA for the above.

Also, +1 to the giggler, cause he/she's post was much better than any of the new person posts we have got recently.

Hell, +5 to me for starting this amazing thread.

[Nevermore]

+10,000 points to Colin Mochrie, for being so lovably bald.

[sinij]

Seems I am late to "cannibalize our young" party. Can I have leftovers in the fridge?

[Signe]

We never get to eat anyone here, you know that.  They get run off too fast.  If we were nicer, the "what's in your fridge?" thread would be WAY more interesting.   

[Nebu]

R-U-N-N-O-F-T

[Morfiend]

R-U-N-N-O-F-T

[Tarami]

Also, +1 to the giggler, cause he/she's post was much better than any of the new person posts we have got recently.

Too eager on the womanliness and giggles...

[Paelos]

Blizzard made an error by putting in the "Realm First" achievements. It's a blank check for stupidity amongst your players. Of course they are going to cheat to get it when you put in a reward for speed.

[Valmorian]

Blizzard made an error by putting in the "Realm First" achievements. It's a blank check for stupidity amongst your players. Of course they are going to cheat to get it when you put in a reward for speed.

It's a clever ploy to find cheaters more easily.. and then BAN them!! 

[Paelos]

Oh, and anybody who got a "Realm First!" when I'm on got instantly added to my ignore list. Damn poopsockers.

[Morfiend]

My friend who works at Blizzard said to me: "those achievements are just an official badge for shitsack basement dwellers".

I laughed.

[Calantus]

My brother got first dwarf and first warrior on our server. He now "feels like shit" and thinks he came down with the flu. I was not surprised.

[tissa]

Who the fuck are you? We've seen a lot worse in the very recent past. If you have a problem with what they said, respond to that rather than go with the "RAWRRR NEW MEAT" schtick.

Your right.  tissa, I apologize.   

Hell no apologies necessary. I am a big girl and besides I thought it was funny as hell. It is a good way to keep out the dumb shits or at least find out who has very thin skin. Now as for the capitalization of my forum handle. Technically it should have had a ' in front of the tissa,  since it is not the whole name. Also it can be seen as submissive in certain internet circles and not to mention it can drive some people nuts.


I like to think that Blizzard put in the server first achievements in so they know which accounts to watch for "suspicious" activity or to find out who's life is centered around the game.

[Azaroth]

So they know whose account to threaten cancellation against when they need a free blowjob?

[apocrypha]

I like to think that Blizzard put in the server first achievements in so they know which accounts to watch for "suspicious" activity or to find out who's life is centered around the game.

I think rewarding different playstyles is something Blizzard have really been working towards for a long time now with WoW, imo they've resolved a lot of the tension that used to exist in the hardcore vs casual debate. You can get enjoyment out of WoW however hardcore or however casual you are, and this specific achievement is a small dinggratsepeen reward for the hardcore.

Of course having a handy marker of which accounts to check for exploiting is an added bonus but I'm sure they were able to track server firsts and abnormal leveling speeds etc before they put the achievement system in place :)

[tissa]

I like to think that Blizzard put in the server first achievements in so they know which accounts to watch for "suspicious" activity or to find out who's life is centered around the game.

I think rewarding different playstyles is something Blizzard have really been working towards for a long time now with WoW, imo they've resolved a lot of the tension that used to exist in the hardcore vs casual debate. You can get enjoyment out of WoW however hardcore or however casual you are, and this specific achievement is a small dinggratsepeen reward for the hardcore.

Of course having a handy marker of which accounts to check for exploiting is an added bonus but I'm sure they were able to track server firsts and abnormal leveling speeds etc before they put the achievement system in place :)

Yeah I will admit that I do like the achievements especially now that I am not raiding. 

[apocrypha]

Yeah I will admit that I do like the achievements especially now that I am not raiding. 

Me too :)  I think it's a great system - they mean nothing but they're really cool when you get them. My girlfriend was so pleased when she accidentally fell off the zeppelin and got an achievement for it :))

[Numtini]

I'm actually very disappointed in the achievements. LOTRO and COX both give you titles for all of these, mostly amusing, and are one of my favorite parts of both games. When I first heard about the achievements, that's what I thought and was delighted, but achievements without titles or whatever are pretty pointless.

[apocrypha]

There's one that I know of that gives you a title...

[Merusk]

There's titles for several achievements.  However, they are gound-out by doing several OTHER achievements first.  For example, "The Hallowed" for doing all the requisite Hallow's End Achievement, "The Merry Maker" for the upcoming Winter's Veil holiday.  There's also "The Explorer" if you clear the map on all 3 expansions, and "The Loremaster" if you do all of the quest completions for all the zones.

Yes, it's another grind.. err. "Retention mechanic"   

[Gobbeldygook]

I'm actually very disappointed in the achievements. LOTRO and COX both give you titles for all of these, mostly amusing, and are one of my favorite parts of both games. When I first heard about the achievements, that's what I thought and was delighted, but achievements without titles or whatever are pretty pointless.

There are shitloads of achievements with rewards, including titles.  Here's a list someone else made:

General-
* Higher Learning -- The Schools of Arcane Magic - Mastery and Kirin Tor Familiar
* Shop Smart, Shop Pet...Smart -- Reeking Pet Carrier
* Twenty-Five Tabards -- Tabard of the Achiever
* Leading the Cavalry -- Albino Drake
Leeeeeeeeeeeeeroy! -- Title: Jenkins

Quests and Exploring-
3000 Quests Completed -- Title Reward: The Seeker
* The Loremaster/The Loremaster -- Reward: Title & Loremaster's Colors
World Explorer -- Title Reward: The Explorer
* Explore Northrend -- Tabard of the Explorer

Non-arena PvP-
100000 Honorable Kills -- Title Reward: Of the Horde or Of the Alliance
Battlemaster/Battlemaster -- Title Reward: Battlemaster
* For The Alliance!/For The Horde! -- Black War Bear
The Justicar/The Conqueror -- Title Reward: Justicar or Conqueror

Arenas-
* Brutally Dedicated -- Tabard of Brute Force
Hot Hot Hot Streak -- Title Reward: The Flawless Victor
The Arena Master -- Title Reward: Arena Master

Dungeons and Raiding-
Champion of the Frozen Wastes -- Title Reward: Champion of the Frozen Wastes
* Glory of the Hero -- Red Proto-Drake
* Glory of the Raider -- Plagued Proto-Drake
* Heroic: Glory of the Raider -- Black Proto-Drake
The Undying -- Title Reward: The Undying
The Twilight Zone -- Title Reward: Of the Nightfall
The Immortal -- Title Reward: The Immortal
Heroic: The Twilight Zone -- Title Reward: Twilight Vanquisher

Professions-
Hail to the Chef -- Title Reward: Chef
* The Coin Master -- Titanium Seal of Dalaran
Accomplished Angler -- Title Reward: Salty

Reputations-
40 Exalted Reputations -- Title Reward: The Exalted
Ambassador of the Alliance -- Title Reward: Ambassador
Guardian of Cenarius -- Title Reward: Guardian of Cenarius
The Argent Champion -- Title Reward: The Argent Champion
The Diplomat -- Title Reward: The Diplomat

World Events-
Brewmaster/Brewmaster -- Title Reward: Brewmaster
Fool For Love/Fool For Love -- Title Reward: The Love Fool
For The Children -- Title Reward: Matron/Patron
Hallowed Be Thy Name/Hallowed Be Thy Name -- Title Reward: The Hallowed
Merrymaker/Merrymaker -- Title Reward: Merrymaker
The Flame Warden/The Flame Keeper -- Title Reward: Flame Warden or Flame Keeper
To Honor One's Elders -- Title Reward: Elder
* What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been/What a Long, Strange Trips It's Been -- Violet Proto-Drake


Feats of Strength-
Avast Ye, Admiral! -- Title: Bloodsail Admiral
Realm First! Conqueror of Naxxramas -- Title Reward: Conqueror of Naxxramas
Realm First! Magic Seeker -- Title Reward: The Magic Seeker
Realm First! Obsidian Slayer -- Title Reward: Obsidian Slayer[/QUOTE]

[Ratman_tf]

I want the fishing achievement, but I don't want to be called "Salty" 

[DraconianOne]

I was disappointed that they didn't introduce some titles that were piss easy to get, a la LOTRO but in retrospect and on seeing how many fuckers run around with the "Jenkins" title, I'm not actually that disappointed.  I'll stick with "Stone Guard" for now.

Some more flavour titles would be good though - things like <yournamehere> The Feared or <yournamehere> The Cowardly.  Or perhaps one for doing the quest "Bring me another shrubbery" umpteen million times which could be "Brave Sir " <yournamehere>

[Fordel]

I want the fishing achievement, but I don't want to be called "Salty" 

That's like the best damn PART!


Salty Bob at yer service!

[ClydeJr]

A guy in my guild was our server's first 80 (elemental troll shaman). Here's what he posted about it:

The plan was to get ahead of the curve to avoid ganks and get server first shaman.

I prepped a full set of 20 dailies in the days leading up to launch, so I logged in and was 1/4 of the way to 71 within 10 mins. I'd been in the beta and gotten my mage and rogue up to 72 through Howling Fjord, so I knew the quests there. I started at 2AM PST when everybody in ABS was in bed (seriously, there were like 2 people on), so I wound up connecting with the Ars RS guys for the entire northern part of the zone. I was finishing up the zone around the time that people started getting back on, so I moved to Dragonblight instead of Borean in order to stay in an empty zone. Dinged 73 there and took my planned 4 hour nap.

From Dragonblight, went to Grizzly Hills (the zone starts really slow but the last half of the zone is well paced and interesting) till most of the way through 74. It was late night hours by that time, so I hopped over and did about half of Borean Tundra (the starter zones are the fastest for pure leveling speed) while everybody was asleep, which put me most of the way through 75. I got my only gank around 10 AM server in Borean, so I popped back over and finished up Grizzly Hills and moved to Zul'Drak.

I had planned on sleeping again when I hit 77, but I got excited about the flying mount and wasn't that tired, so I decided to push on. Kami loaned me 4k gold for the mount and getting a flying mount upped my leveling speed by 40% or so. Burned through 77 and 78 in Zul'Drak and Shalozar and popped over to Storm Peaks because I'd done the quests there on a premade 80 and it's my favorite zone. Decided that I couldn't hit 80 in peaks without getting severely slowed down with the heavy lore quests at the end (which are awesome but not conducive to fast leveling) so I popped over to icecrown and did the initial 3 hubs then back to Storm Peaks to finish.

The finish part was fun because I told you all I had 5k to go. At the time I was in an area where the mobs don't give XP (it's for the aforementioned lore quests) but I didn't realize it, so I said like 5k to go and ground through 8 or 9 mobs before I realize they weren't giving XP. When I dinged I had about 600 people whisper me grats, which was awesome. My chat box basically continuously scrolled for about a minute and a half.

Chatting as a whole was pretty entertaining. I had transfers talking to me about every 20 minutes from 76 onward and had several dozen people whisper me during 79 asking me "How close are you to 80?" to which I'd reply a percent and they'd respond "cool" and drop the conversation. I also had a bunch of "how u lvl so fast?" for the last two levels. All in all, I was whispering fairly continuously from the time people got up this morning.

So that's the story. Took around 40 hours and I wound up being about 45 minutes slower than I expected I'd be when I made my guess at 77. Leveled specced 30/0/3X which is nice because it makes me really tough while keeping most of ele's dps. I died about 15 times and corpse ran once.

I have a couple things going for me.

First, going so fast lets me treat it like a pve server. I went running around at 1/3 health, no mana, or whatever and didn't have to worry about getting ganked because I was literally the only person in the zone. I similarly didn't have to wait on respawns or escort mobs to appear and didn't have to worry about getting mobs tagged out from under me. More or less all the quests worked for me since I was the first one doing them while others had problems with mobs/objects respawning. In short, going first lets you go faster.

Second, ele shamans have really nice burst. My slowest level was 74 (about 4.75 hours) because I got lava burst at 75, which is a guaranteed 4k crit. So the kill pattern was Bolt->Bolt->FlShock->Burst->Bolt, which is 9 seconds per mob with basically no downtime. I maybe went through 2 stacks of water. This is slower than a ret pally can go (I know, buddyshrews really was faster than me, mostly due to aoe) but noticeably faster than a priest. I spent a lot of time chatting with the leading horde priest after I accidentally fell into his battle for undercity and he mentioned it was taking him about 5 hours per level and that his leveling had slowed when he could no longer tab dot targets to death. I really do think prests are faster with spirit tap/surge of light/rest disc than with a shadow build for leveling.

Third, I didn't really do anything besides level. No professions, only a few instance runs, few group quests, etc.