The XP potion drama is a byproduct of Blizzard's inability to communicate properly

[Unholyground]

they should have kept it to like a shorter ban though, you don't leave a bug in the game like this for as long as they did with a live service game.

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At this point they should give everyone who didn't exploit a free char boost since they didn't roll back the cheaters

Or a couple months game time for free.

[sam86]

or take the responsibility and stop deflecting the blame

i'm not playing right now so this didn't effect me, i just don't understand as someone who actually worked as software programmer, how can ppl defend a software problem on the client and not the programmer!

[niztheundead87]

its like the saronite bomb again people cant take the blame and find shity excuses to deflect the blame

[ThiagoTorres]

All this mess just because they answered nothing when ppl asked if this potion work as intended or was a bug

[sam86]

While I applaud your dogged determination and your gold medal mental gymnastics trying to excuse the scumbag cheaters, your analogy is bullshit. Every single person that used that exploit knew it was an exploit and deserves their ban. Blizzard's fuck up is not permabanning them.

how the f8ck can they know that when they literally asked blizzard and blizz stayed silent for over 30 hours ? even if i was playing i'd probably used it the next day, wait 24 hours just to be safe, blizz waited for around 1.5 day since it was publicly reported, who knows how long was it in-game prior, and it won't be first time they do something similar (but it was far weaker), if u old player u remember when wow anniversary token was one time consumable, they changed it who knows when, and ppl even in legion still think it was one time consume only and save it, not knowing that they losing the bonus every single minute they are logging in the 2 weeks anniversary just because blizz was too lazy to report it or even change the text on it (remember when we got the yearly bag reward exact same for 2 years, with even congrats msg about prior exp in it?)

[Aphrel]

In your dream world cheaters/hackers/exploiters don't get banned for their wrongdoings, and also communism works somehow too I guess.

And in your dreamworld a healthy communication between developers and their playerbase arises not from openly commmunicate intentions but from silence and punishments delivered weeks/months later.

Also what does communism have to do with anything here? What does the economic model of commerce and ownership of production have to do with how blizzard handles communication with their playerbase?

[sam86]

its like the saronite bomb again people cant take the blame and find shity excuses to deflect the blame

again u giving an example that backfire, anyone who was hardcore raiding in wrath - and i was - know that literally every single warrior/rogue dps had engineering profession for the saronite bomb dmg, and it wasn't something small it was up to 2-3% increase of his dmg - and back then rogues specially were top dps by miles from others
I remember our warrior in guild was puzzled why blizz banned Nihilum for that and was 'happy' that we were stuck at Sindragosa back then and didn't reach Lich King, because there was no way he wouldn't done exact same thing

[Beerbill Society]

Blizzard surely could make a better approach to it, the CMs and the "team" are so off reality that it's scary, I'm sure they could've addressed this early, by hotfixing or by explicitly saying it a bug, this was not even a secret and the decrepit state of the game induce people to use those shady tactics.

Still this won't excuse who knew it was not intended and abused it, it was obviously a bug.

TL;DR: Don't blame the player, blame the game.

[rhorle]

Was it a bug? Nope, because system allowed to do so without some shady tools. Without hacks.

A bug in a computer program does not require shady tools or hacks in order for it to be a bug. Pretty much all of the exploits in WoW haven't required tools or hacks in order to do. Because things happen. You can't catch every bug. Of course blizzard is at fault for having a bug. But Blizzard is not at fault for players using that bug.

Stop trying absolve players of blame. Take responsibility for your own actions. Be an adult.

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i'm not playing right now so this didn't effect me, i just don't understand as someone who actually worked as software programmer, how can ppl defend a software problem on the client and not the programmer!

Because it requires a client to abuse and exploit it? As an adult I don't get why another adult would shift blame from a person who willingly choose to do something. No one is saying Blizzard didn't make a mistake. Bugs happen. If you actually worked as a software programmer you know bugs happen. That still doesn't make it acceptable or right that people abuse the bug.

[kaminaris]

i'm not playing right now so this didn't effect me, i just don't understand as someone who actually worked as software programmer, how can ppl defend a software problem on the client and not the programmer!

Exactly my point. Developer fucks up, he gets consequences. Fucks up badly, he gets fired. End of story.

Imagine banning online shop customers (who orders a lot) because they used multiple coupons at once ))))))

[rhorle]

how the f8ck can they know that when they literally asked blizzard and blizz stayed silent for over 30 hours ?

Something doesn't have to be acknowledge by Blizzard for it to be an exploit. You don't have to have Blizzard tell you that one potion working unlike every other potion is likely a bug. Nothing in WoW allows you stack a buff by using the item individually versus from a stack. Stop trying to blame Blizzard because players are idiots and can't accept their own actions.

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Exactly my point. Developer fucks up, he gets consequences. Fucks up badly, he gets fired. End of story. Imagine banning online shop customers (who orders a lot) because they used multiple coupons at once ))))))

You are aware that places ban people all the time for things like that? What naive world do you live in?

[Zerach8]

Why wouldn't someone do it? Leveling is horribly awful nowadays. BfA is a pretty "empty" expansion. Just do the reasonable thing. Re-subscribe for a month, rush to 120, get another alt to 120 with the exploit and then get your ban and return for the next expansion :P

pre .5 patch id say it was horrible, at least 110 to 120...but with heirlooms it takes almost no time at all, its very fast, and add one potion to that its quite good. not sure why, but i find a lot of people, even in my guild people feel obliged having many classes or all classes at max lvl and we dont even force alts.

[kaminaris]

A bug in a computer program does not require shady tools or hacks in order for it to be a bug. Pretty much all of the exploits in WoW haven't required tools or hacks in order to do. Because things happen. You can't catch every bug. Of course blizzard is at fault for having a bug. But Blizzard is not at fault for players using that bug.

Stop trying absolve players of blame. Take responsibility for your own actions. Be an adult.

This is logically incorrect. Game mechanism allows multiple application of the same buff. End of story.

Bug is when you blink and fall thru textures to the core of earth.
Bug is when your pet refuses to attack target because terrain does not have a valid path.
Bug is when you avoid some mechanic by cheesing it.

Applying multiple buffs is not a bug.

Anniversary tokens working after a years - thats a bug - nobody got banned.
Skipping tortolan by killing it on M0 - exploit, noone got banned
Skipping all bosses on Temple of Setralis on M0 to skip them on M+ - thats exploit, no bans.
DH flying thru the invisible walls on MDI - LOL, nobody got banned.
Ulduar dropping 3k Gold from trees - ??? bug? no bans

Blizzard is inconsequential about bugs. Some of them are STILL in game, everyone knows about them, uses them, and no bans.
This is pure chaos. Developers are the ones to blame because there is no reaction to bug reports.

[Triceron]

Sorry, but I can't find common ground here. You're insinuating that people actually thought they could stack potions and get absurd bonus to XP, getting levels in mere minutes, and that this was normal and okay?

On that same note, I have a island to sell you in the pacific.

Seriously, no one thought it was right. Everyone was aware it was a bug, and would get fixed. THEREFORE, how about you just don't do it? Problem solved.

I think the OP knows better but wants justification for their own bad deeds. Thats how these threads usually start.

[Garymorilix]

And in your dreamworld a healthy communication between developers and their playerbase arises not from openly commmunicate intentions but from silence and punishments delivered weeks/months later.

Also what does communism have to do with anything here? What does the economic model of commerce and ownership of production have to do with how blizzard handles communication with their playerbase?

A healthy communication does not require the developer to announce exploits and be like "pretty please don't do this". You as a player have a responsibility (and you also agreed to is in the terms of service) not to use exploits or if you do you get banned. It's simple as that. No other developer announces their bugs to players to advertise them while working on a fix.

Healthy communication =/= Using exploits and expecting not to get banned unless the developers make a tweet to me personally asking me not to do stuff.

This is just beyond insane and pathetic.

The communism thing was that you probably think communism works too, it just hasn't been done well yet. Which is just as pathetic an argument. Not my fault you don't get the reference.

[Huntingbear_grimbatol]

I didn't participate in the bug and I just thought I'd mention that before I continue. I don't think really anyone is actually arguing what you're saying. The team was watching as hundreds and hundreds of people were messaging them about a massive bug, and then watched as the bug spread like wildfire. Shortly after big streamers started broadcasting the bug and essentially advertising it and Blizzard STILL chose to not say anything about it. I'm not defending the actions of the people, I'm saying that Blizzard could've stopped this by actually communicating.

You know that it’s illegal to steal, right? So if you find a loophole or poor security somewhere does it make it okay to steal? No, obviously not.
Okay lets say you didn’t know if it was working as intended that you could do the thing you did at the store, is the sensible thing to wait for a response or to keep taking advantage of the situation?

Yes Blizzard failed to communicate (again) and are extremely slow to change something reported months ago, but that doesn’t excuse people who took advantage. You can’t say to the police "well you didn’t do anything before so you can’t do anything now!

[niztheundead87]

again u giving an example that backfire, anyone who was hardcore raiding in wrath - and i was - know that literally every single warrior/rogue dps had engineering profession for the saronite bomb dmg, and it wasn't something small it was up to 2-3% increase of his dmg - and back then rogues specially were top dps by miles from others
I remember our warrior in guild was puzzled why blizz banned Nihilum for that and was 'happy' that we were stuck at Sindragosa back then and didn't reach Lich King, because there was no way he wouldn't done exact same thing

bunch of nonsense i remember people from ensidia themselves said they knew it was a bug and yet they used it for their benefit

[Ielenia]

Applying multiple buffs is not a bug.

It is when the only way to stack multiple instances of the buff is to go out of your way to make it happen, and reaching upwards of 500% extra XP that is not reachable by anything else in OR out of the game.

[kaminaris]

You know that it’s illegal to steal, right? So if you find a loophole or poor security somewhere does it make it okay to steal? No, obviously not.
Okay lets say you didn’t know if it was working as intended that you could do the thing you did at the store, is the sensible thing to wait for a response or to keep taking advantage of the situation?

Yes Blizzard failed to communicate (again) and are extremely slow to change something reported months ago, but that doesn’t excuse people who took advantage. You can’t say to the police "well you didn’t do anything before so you can’t do anything now!

You dont get it do you? If you put a brand new TV next to trash on the street and someone will take it, it will be hard to consider it as stealing.
It is your own fault.

We had +300% xp potions back in mop and wod. Equivalent of 30 * 10% xp pot. Not to mention you had to pay 150 service medals in order to buy it.
So I dont even know how can anyone feel bad by doing it?
To earn 30 pots you have to spend rougly 5-10 hours of gameplay. Pretty similar to leveling time without potions from 110-120

[Jazzhands]

This is logically incorrect. Game mechanism allows multiple application of the same buff. End of story.

Bug is when you blink and fall thru textures to the core of earth.
Bug is when your pet refuses to attack target because terrain does not have a valid path.
Bug is when you avoid some mechanic by cheesing it.

Applying multiple buffs is not a bug.

Anniversary tokens working after a years - thats a bug - nobody got banned.
Skipping tortolan by killing it on M0 - exploit, noone got banned
Skipping all bosses on Temple of Setralis on M0 to skip them on M+ - thats exploit, no bans.
DH flying thru the invisible walls on MDI - LOL, nobody got banned.
Ulduar dropping 3k Gold from trees - ??? bug? no bans

Blizzard is inconsequential about bugs. Some of them are STILL in game, everyone knows about them, uses them, and no bans.
This is pure chaos. Developers are the ones to blame because there is no reaction to bug reports.

Blizzard deemed the exp potion thing a bug that people exploited you can't argue that. I mean, you can and likely will, but that won't change anything, Blizzard called it a bug in their game, so it's a bug. Being able to stack potions through an unintended method is clearly a bug, when has a potion ever suddenly been stackable when it's not in a full stack? When has that ever been a thing in the game?

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You dont get it do you? If you put a brand new TV next to trash on the street and someone will take it, it will be hard to consider it as stealing.
It is your own fault.

We had +300% xp potions back in mop and wod. Equivalent of 30 * 10% xp pot. Not to mention you had to pay 150 service medals in order to buy it.
So I dont even know how can anyone feel bad by doing it?
To earn 30 pots you have to spend rougly 5-10 hours of gameplay. Pretty similar to leveling time without potions from 110-120

In most states, once you put something on the curb to be taken by the garbage people, it's no longer considered yours, otherwise people would probably try to sue the garbage company for stealing from them (Welcome to America). So, you're right in that it wouldn't be stealing, because the person no longer owns it once they set it out there, because laws.

The MoP bonus was stacking different bonuses iirc, not the same one by using a weird method. Big difference. The potions could only be stacked through a weird method, which is why it's a bug, and if you use a bug to gain an advantage that you normally couldn't, you exploited.