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353,892,967 - The Power Of A Developer Item

Stern But IMBAI first heard about the whole Karatechop case early this week.  I even ventured over to the forum thread that followed the "investigation," only to be dismayed at how unreadable the blues made it via deletions.  Due to the confusion, conjectures, and chaos surrounding the topic at the time I chuckled at the situation and decided to move on.  It wasn't until yesterday that a more reputable collection of information was gathered by WoWInsider's Alex Zeibart.

To summarize Alex's investigation, Karatechop appeared on the radar because of the way the toon exploded onto the raiding scene.  His guild and his character were previously a normal raiding guild, dressed in mostly Naxxramas loot.  All of a sudden they began dominating Ulduar's hard modes left and right, while scoring the achievements to boot.  A quick trip to Karatechop's Achievements list and it became obvious that something was up.  I don't care how overpowered you are, no one does ~354,000,000 damage in a single blow.  Since the report went live other team members have followed up with a full interview and confirmation of Karatechop's account closure.

The topic at hand has taken the greater WoW community by storm.  I'll admit, I would almost certainly use the item.  If I thought there was a remote possibility that I wouldn't get banned, I'd definitely go dominate everything.  But I am a realist, I know that if I didn't report the error Solidsamm would get hit with the banhammer.  My character is too precious to me, so I honestly believe I would have tried it out, reported it to a GM, and then abused it while I awaited a response.  It could elicit a ban anyways, but hopefully it'd be a temporary one.

In my opinion Karatechop was in the wrong and deserved what he got.  Friends and guildies who participated in the raids also deserve some sort of punishment, perhaps an Achievement reset and a temp ban, since they also exploited the game.  To me, the punishments and who deserves what is a secondary issue.

How did Karatechop get Martin Fury - a developer item - in the first place?  (In the interview he claims it came from Blizzard via an in-game mail as part of an account restoration to a friend's hacked account)

Blizzard needs to get their PR to tell us exactly what happened, and what has been done.  The community knows that mistakes happen.  Missed keys, a rogue keystroke, a ferret running across the keyboard, these are all common typing blunders.  The bottom line is that we need to be reassured that there wasn't any foul play.  The kind of stuff that we have heard about in EVE and Darkfall.  We want to know that Blizzard is on top of this, instead of swinging the hammer at a pinata while blindfolded and dizzy.  I doubt it'll happen though, and that is what I hate most about Blizzard.

I told you I couldn't hold back completely, what about you?  As the saying goes, "Power corrupts and ultimate power corrupts ultimately."  Do you think that Karatechop deserves the permanent ban he has been handed or should they have come up with some other solution?  What are the odds that Blizzard will make anything on the topic public?

Reader Comments (65)

Isn't the purpose of the permanent ban because the person is and will be a continued threat to the WoW community. w/o the item, Karatechop is harmless.

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterHenry

they should have known better... really... they used it like 14 times... honestly.. its making us all look bad in the WoW community because one person decided to do something that they KNEW was wrong

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterCrys

I think that the permanent ban is a terrible thing! Sure the guy did something stupid but does the account needs to be hang for it?? It's scarring the hell out of me! In RL stupidity is not a crime nor is it an excuse but in Blizz world they make the rules and it seamed that for them stupidity is a terrible crime!

Wouldn't a warning + revoke achievements + delete gear they got from Ulduar had been enough?

People are getting away with racist comments, hates and so much more which affect people in real life. The only entity affected by Karatechop is Blizz and now himself.

It's a terrible and scary ruling.

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBatzertzul

The ban is bs imo

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMac

Blizzard F'd up by giving the item to a player in the the first place.

He F'd up royally by using it and knowing it was wrong with some 20 other people knowing the same thing.

But Blizz is covering there asses on this situation and failing at it.

Either there hiding something, or some piece is missing from this whole story.

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterNextgener

i agree the perminit ban is terrible here whati whuld have done if i was in blizz shoes give him a temp ban and completly reset his account erease all the addon all the macros and all th char and give this guy a warning

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered Commentercocopuff

I would love to be GOD for a day, then report it.

It would be so much to taking out revenge on bosses that have given me grief in the past or run into Org and announce "I AM A GOD, I SMITE YOU ALL" Click.

So much fun to be had.

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterGrido

Most likely Blizz will not address this problem publicly, hopefully they will fix the internal problem and keep better track of their 'meant for GM' items so the they don't fall into random hands.

As for Karatechop, the item was a cheat (it says it on the item itself) meant for GM's, whether or not he understood that he should've known that Blizz wouldn't give him Ultimate power just because a friends account got hacked. And taking it to Ulduar where some world firsts are still going underway was asking for a ban imo.

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterbatmunkh

i can't see how it was wrong. I mean if YOU got the martain Thunder you would probobly use it. Maybe not to the extent of Karate, But you would still use it. Karate should only be banned if he did something that would enable him to get that item.

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterHund

So they closed his account? Did they ban his credit card or something too? I don't see how you can be banned for life from wow. Either way that was far too harsh, remove the achievements and any loot he got but that seems a bit too far.

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSnaggly

FYI not ALL of us have ferrets running across our keys.

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterRhev (Koopa's GM)

That's just craziness. If given the GM Weapon, I'd use it for one "what the hell" run then delete / report it. Maybe sell it to a vendor for major cash :D

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAzurko

I think that this is the coolest thing ever happened in wow.
Gives a whole new depth to the game. See at the GMs as the gods of wow... by mistake they dropped a god-like item in azeroth, some mortal used it and now they are furious with him.

I find this amazing you?

May 1, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLuigi

Kids these days... You probably play all your games with god mode cheats.

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLemur

Thanks guys, Big Fan of the show.
Let Me Know if you Need an Interview, I've already been called on wow-insider :)

I think part of the fault lies on blizzard's side. If i was given the item after having my account hacked I'd just think its a way of Blizz' saying "there you go, help urself and get your stuff back with this".

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBraindead

They're just people playing a game. Plain and simple. Blizzard was too harsh on the ban. So what they got world firsts and whatnots? Those kinds of things can be taken back (along with the achievements). It's not like they sold/bought a character on eBay or actually hacked the game

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterHark the Herald

It's hard to tell aferwards, because you know the consequences.
I think I would've had some fun with it in Naxx or Sarth, but not spoil it for guilds like Ensidia and go to all of the new content.
I agree with iTZKooPA that I like my account to much to risk getting banned so I would probably report it.

BTW: If you really want Godpowers, go play on some Private server with Kill-commands or something.

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAggrø

i see him as a modern promethous who found fire that the gods had created and decided to cook with it and now they are pissed and punishing him for it

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBrandon Hugg

I do not agree with the long term ban. I think Blizz is setting an example. I am sure they feel if he had not tried for a world first Karatechop would not have been caught. Perhaps down the road someone would have finally caught on but what would you do then? How long has he had the item what all have he done with it? Can you be sure what achivements are his and what are from the item?

For PR reasons they should come out and give a note about there feelings on the situation. So many people are talking about it.

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterRedaurora

Ultimate power comes with ultimate ROFLPWN, that`s all that matters, ban or not, it must feel good to 1-shot Ulduar :D

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterShamtastik

i think that if he had used it on anything but ulduar, the ban would be too far on Blizzards part. Since they knowingly downed ulduar with the the item, they would have kept doing it over and over and over. If no one caught that, blizz would have had to change the instance for a guild so easily able to clear it. It is the same thing as playing a fps online and someone going around with hacks and ranking up and killing everyone.
If it was a private server, who cares, but it's the blizzard servers. I agree that something else blizz wont talk about occured in order for karatechop to get the item. They should release something stating how they feel about the issue, and set more standards on something like that.

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterfriskydingo

the bastard got what he deserved,he ruined the fun for the real top guild trying for world firsts.

Its like finding a gun and shooting someone with it and saying "hey its not my fault, its the fault of the guy who lost it in the first place"

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAmidaman

Did anyone else happen to notice that karatechop himself has left a comment for us?

Anyway, I think Blizz was definatly harsh on the perma ban, but I dont think it was right for the guildies to be punished too. They were enjoying the game as any of us would, they cant help 1 members stupidity. Permanent ban is a little harsh, but I dont think a temporary ban would have done a whole lot of good either. IMO, he f***ed up, delete the character and let him get on with his others.

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterSoroth23

Perm ban is rediculous, I would have used it, you would have used it. Everyone would. They should punish him yes, achieve reset and lose all his equip seems appropriate

May 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterTenTonApe

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