Would you exploit on a boss to kill it?

[Brigandier]

Let's say that a certain Naxxramas boss has an exploit which you can achieve through reasonable gear. This totally trivializes the boss and he turns into a loot pinata. There are zero reprocussions, Blizzard will not ban you for this, they will just fix it.

Would you (and your guild) take advantage of this exploit and kill the boss for free epix, or would you take the moral route and stray away from it?

[Ameraves Loyalheart]

Originally Posted by Brigandier

Let's say that a certain Naxxramas boss has an exploit which you can achieve through reasonable gear. This totally trivializes the boss and he turns into a loot pinata. There are zero reprocussions, Blizzard will not ban you for this, they will just fix it.

Would you (and your guild) take advantage of this exploit and kill the boss for free epix, or would you take the moral route and stray away from it?

How is it an exploit if there are zero reprocussions? Is it bugged and they know it, and told you you are allowed to kill it that way? If so then yes, of course I would do that.

[James]

Yes. Duh.

[dak]

Of course.

If it took other people knowing about it to do (I.E. Still takes a full guild) anyone who blabbed how it was done would risk castration.

Since nobody is getting hurt other then people who are trying to out E-Peen you and maybe yourself for getting screwed out of content I have to go with the old saying "It's only cheating if you get caught".

[Cybsled]

To answer your question, I need a detailed explanation of the "exploit" and a chance to try it out to determine for myself if it is cheap. It may take many kills to get a solid feeling for this.

[Murr]

Have you killed it legit before or are you just cheesing it entirely?

[Brigandier]

Cheesing entirely. You would be able to kill it after some work, but this is just for epics so you can kill other things easier.

[Arbitrary]

Ok, here is your example then.

Arch Lich chain dispells himself so debuffs are nearly useless. One day while you are still learning the encounter a patch is released that gives Tash poison counters and Slow disease counters. Now you can slow and cripple him and he's a little bitch.

There is only an eventual fix to worry about. There will be no warnings, no bannings, no GM popping in and /killing your mob at 3%, nothing.

Kill or no kill?

[Brigandier]

Err.. not exactly. This is more like "clever use of game mechanics" rather than mathematical debuff counter miscalculation.

Just for example, with Golemagg (imagine you're wearing full greens), you were somehow able to despawn his dogs making the fight somewhat trivial (for your 3000 HP tanks and 4000 mana healers). Would you do it?


[Edit: Replying below to Angrier: It would be for your guild to gain more epics to kill things "better" in Naxx, and to even learn the encounter when they fix the sploit.]

[Zierain]

Is your server lagging so bad every single day that you go there, making any progression in naxx nearly impossible? ^_~

[Angrier]

Why would someone want to exploit in an online game??? I just don't understand! It's like [horrible analogy]. [Insult].

In EQ my guild used exploit to beat one of the Omens of War trials in MPG. I was glad, because everyone else was doing the same thing. Funny part is when we couldn't beat the trial after the exploit was fixed... ever.

[Yermum Onceme]

Didn't conquest get axed for splitting golemagg from his dogs?

[Etadanik]

Does it involve just me or my entire guild?

If it were just me, damn right I'd do it. I loved soloing instance bosses in WoW back in the day by discovering a loop hole either in their AI or the game mechanics. For example, kiting Herold in SM up and down his stair case at level 40, FD'ing/Vanishing to take a break in-between the Mograine/Whitemane fights, splitting groups by "exploiting" evade and pet vanish, etc. I don't consider it "cheating" just because Blizzard didn't intend it to be fought that way - what would be the fun (ie creativity & problem solving skills) in playing exactly as you were "intended" to do? I'd much rather pull a Faxmonkey, if anyone gets the reference.

If it comes to my guild, it'd depend much more on whether I think the exploit is a documented bug. If it's simply an oversight, I'd probably be fine with exploiting as a guild - just so it could be fixed and we could get some first dibs on loot. If it were a documented bug, though, I probably wouldn't risk it with a whole guild simply because it might affect the guild's reputation, as that recent pissing thread between FoH and Triton showed.

OTOH, I am very much against using third party programs to do the same thing in either circumstance. Funny, but I consider an oversight on the dev's part fair game, but a hack/third-party program just plain shady. That's just the way I judge gaming ethics.

[Zierain]

Oh, if I'm thinking of the same one.. its fixed now ^_~

[Angrier]

Agree with Etad. 3rd party programs are blatant cheating though, and if you are caught then you should be out of the game. Pathing bugs? Bring them on, make my exping easier and faster.