Project Lore

I remember back in EQ1, a friend of mine was a guildmate and friend of one of the EQ developers. This developer would flaunt his "powers" whenever we'd group with him, making stuff fall over dead if we were in a tight spot... and sometimes just because he could.

At some point, he gave my in game friend a weapon that would be instant right click and deal high amounts of damage to undead mobs. Ofcourse, this was used to level his characters in record speed and, before Bind on Equip/pickup was implemented in EQ1, I was allowed to use it for one of my characters that I was struggling to level.

In the end, no one was punished for it, but this case seems like a very similar situation where a game developer just wanted to show off their über powers, and probably went too far with handing an item they should not, to a player.

But, until Blizzard fesses up, we can only speculate. And, it is not the same game developer that I knew, 'cause he's working on Warhammer Online now...

Can anyone honestly say they would not have done the same thing? I mean really, if that thing showed up in my mailbox the first thing I would do is /g "Hey, who wants to see Ulduar?" I would call anyone who says they wouldn't do the same either a liar or Amish.

Everyone has spoken their two cents, some I agree with, others not. One point that I have YET to see by anyone is, in his interview with WoW-Insider, he said it was given to his friend's level 13 Warlock. Now please, explain to me how the heck it landed in his hands. Plus, he said it was all a joke. If you want kicks and giggles, go one shot Grobbulus or Loatheb in 25man Naxx. Not freaking FL in Ulduar. He even said he tricked, TRICKED, 3-5 members of the raid that were in his guild. I personally think that he deserves the perma-ban because he used it 14 times! If it was that he did it just 2-5 times, I would be more on his side.

And to put my two cents in about the "wouldn't you use it to?". NO. I would not. I love my account and characters to much to even contemplate losing it. Besides, if you need something like that to freakin' play a MMORPG, then YOU have no life.

I admitt, they're just a bunch of people having fun playing a game, but when you start even slightly interferring with other people's fun and gameplay, then you deserve a slight punishment.

That's my two cents, take it how you want. I've kept up-to-date with this burning issue, so I've waited for awhile to post on it.
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Ambassador Laeltis (NON CHEATER)
Illidan (US)
Relentless

In my mind, this seems like just a big joke. If this had happened around this time last month, i'd call April Fool's on it.

Maybe because i don't go to the WoW forums and play on a pretty event-less server where there's no widly known players(BRK, Nyhm, etc...) im oblivous to alot of stuff. I just play my hunter and try out new shot rotations and try to finally do something 99% of the WoW players have already done. Clear Naxxramas.

I hadn't even heard anything about this in the trade chat. But, it seems like a non-issue to me. Of Cours, im saying this without having been on the recieveing of of Karate's 354,000,000 hit. But im not going to lie here. Not even going to attempt to tell myself i wouldn't use this item if it found it's way into my bags.

I would totally use it. For everything and anything i can think of. Being able to hit over 350 million is enough to 1 shot anything in-game. Anything. Id finally to kill Kel and Malygos. They've given me so much grief it'd be nice to finally see them die so pathetically.

If i got banned. Oh well. Guess i just gotta start over. Bigger tragedys have happened in the world. Unless Blizz canceled my credit cards and destroyed my credit, i really don't understand the meaning of 'permanent ban' when it's talking about World of Warcraft.

" Besides, if you need something like that to freakin’ play a MMORPG, then YOU have no life. "

It's not a matter of need. This guy obviously didn't "need" it to level his character to 80 and casually raid Naxx or what have you. It's a game.....WoW is a game......

If that thing landed in my hands it would be fun to go out and play with it just for kicks. Game....game.....

If that makes me a WoW loser then oh well. Good thing I have that job thing to fall back on.

There are two glaring issues here:

1. Blizzard has allowed items in to their production environment that are only useful in a development environment. Considering that there is no case in WOW where a Blizzard employee would need to deal damage to anything, the fact that this item exists in the production database to be spawned for anybody is simply STUPID. The only other explanation for the item is that it was somehow hacked in to existence.

2. Karatechop has plainly, intentionally abused and exploited a game flaw by using this item. This opens the player up to whatever punitive measures Blizzard deems appropriate, via the player's agreement to Blizzard's Terms of Service for WOW.

In light of these issues, the severity of the punishment applied by Blizzard is solely at their discretion. If the item was hacked, a permanent ban is appropriate. If the exploitation of the flaw was extensive enough a permanent ban is appropriate.

Considering that if WOW players get any idea that they'll get a slap on the wrist for abusing flawed game mechanics, the future abuse of said flawed mechanics is guaranteed. Blizzard has to set the example for swift and severe punishment now to put the fear of casual abuse of future flaws in WOW. I fully believe that Blizzard has made the correct choice in the severity of it's punishment, especially considering how many of the replies here indicate that the posters would freely and carelessly abuse a flawed game mechanic if they found one. Those of you who are scared by this have every reason to be, because you have show a terrible disregard for the integrity of the rules of WOW. Take to heart the punishment that Karatechop received, and expect the same if you find a game flaw and exploit it.

@Cozmus

If you take things so lightly in life, you're never going to get anywhere... but whatever, we all have our opinions.

I agree with the point that CappyG brought to the people that say Blizz went to far. If you look at the back of the box for the game it says in small print "developed by" BLIZZARD. We BOUGHT something that they invested to create a product for the world at large. We abuse something of THEIRS, then WE get punished how they deem fit.

I completely agree with kalgorn, i apologize for being so short on my opinion, but i believe he said it perfectly

First off . . . Karate can say whatever he wants as to how he got the item, he has no proof one way or the other only his STORY of how it happened. He can keep his story going forever as it is Blizz's well known policy to NOT release any details of investigations of player misconduct, findings in those investigations, and details of their rulings. For everyone crying foul over Blizz not saying anything, this has been the standard since day one and this issue is not going to change that position nor should it. So Karate can keep saying he was totally innocent and Blizz won't openly contest him.

As such . . for him to have received an account deletion, there surely must be a LOT more to this than a complete idiot using this obvious GM item in game, regardless of the content on which it was used. Karate is not going to change his story, lie or truth, and Blizz is never going to tell us. So basically get over that part of all the ranting, its all conjecture and a waste of typing.

As far as did poor Karate deserve getting harshed on by the man? Yes. Read your EULA . . . he engaged knowingly in conduct utilizing an error in the game which resulted in an exploit to the game. ALL players have agreed to be deleted from the game for doing what he did. For those who have never bothered themselves to read the EULA, ignorance is no defense.

IF Karate is telling the truth as to how he got it . . yes he still deserved deletion for how he chose to handle having the item. However, his story is not credible without proof and again, Blizz is not going to provide anything.

What the community is left with is simply Karate violated the terms of use in such a capacity to, in Blizz's opinion, warrant deletion.

It has been in my many year of playing a games (MMO s included) that when you break the rules willingly there is going to be consequences even if this item for what ever reason is part of this game it is mark for GM use only (MEANING THAT PLAYERS ARE NOT PROMITED TO USE THIS ITEM UNDER ANY SITUATION)

Karate violated both common sence and game rules by useing the item but also by useing it in NEW content. If give the chance to have said item, my first reaction would to have been to contact a game master to report a major error in game mecanics.

THE BOTTOM LINE IS USE THE 10% OF YOUR BRAIN THAT MOST PEOPLE ENGAGE EVERY DAY AND PROCESS THAT WHAT KARATE DID WAS WRONG AND HIS PUNISMENT WAS THE VERY LEAST HE COULD HAVE GOTTEN !

blizzard had every right to the actions they took and have the same right to keep there information from the general public. We are talking about not just one person here we are talking about a multi-billion $ company here they could have tanken futher actions but did not and as such i feel that the punishment both fit the crime but also set example to thos that would otherwise not follow the rules

Well, like i said before, if i were in Karate's position, i honestly don't think i'd have done anything different. It's a game. A fun past time, but not a life. If Blizz feels the need to delete your account for this, then they have every right to do it. WoW is their game, and Azeroth is under their laws. Blizz is God in terms of WoW.

But, until i figure out how Blizz intends to permanently ban people from their game, i don't see why everyone freaks out when they hear 'permanent ban'

Couldn't you just use a different credit card? Or if, like me, you pay with game time cards, how do they block those? Seriously, does this not seem like a big joke to you guys?

There is no permanent ban from the game. If the emails he forwarded to wowinsider are legit, his account was closed with no posiible reconsideration later (as they put it) for reopening, and that's the extent of it. IF he choses to play again it will simply have to be with a new account and starting all over with new toons.

Okay. Big deal. lol. Sounds worth it to me. :)

If he was going to abuse it he should have done a little PvPing. That would have been a much better story to tell once he got banned.

If Blizzard made the stats of a character 100000% better, would he/she still get perma-banned? It's not their fault..