VenusGaming

Last night, Blizzard launched a new Scourge event in all capital cities (including Shattrath). Scourged crates can be found all around the cities. It seems Arthas is eager to spread his influence early. Players who use these crates become infected with a disease that, if not cured (by another player, or by Argent Dawn representatives), will turn them into a zombie after 10 minutes.

So what’s cool about being a zombie, besides the look and the chance to yell “Braaaaaaaaains”? Zombies get their own abilities ala WotLK, and can attack any player or NPC regardless of faction. Doing so will spread the disease, making even more zombies for the good old Lich King.

Since the event’s launch, there has been a ton of QQ’ing on both sides of the fence. Zombie players are, for obvious reasons, having a fun time being free to chase, attack, and infect anyone they want. I don’t blame them. So when noble players come by and cure them of their disease, freeing them from the zombie curse, the zombie players cry foul. They’re being griefed.

But on the other hand, players who aren’t tossing their hats in with Arthas are annoyed. Flight masters, Battle Masters, vendors, trainers, and quest NPCs are all being destroyed intentionally by the zombies, and respawns on some of these are long. Not only that, some zombies have been chasing down lower-leveled players who cry foul at the interruption of their questing. And (on PvE servers at least), zombies cannot be attacked until they have ‘flagged’ themselves by engaging in combat first. Players only defense is to cure them (if they have the proper abilities) before they become a zombie, or to kill them after they’ve already caused some damage. Oh, and dying to a zombie causes durability damage.

In short, it’s PvP mayhem in the cities.

Arguably, the one to blame for the griefing on both sides is Blizzard, who designed the event poorly. They should know (from countless wailing from RP servers) that PvE’rs don’t like having their quest givers et al. slain in PvP, and should have instituted protection against certain NPCs from being killed. They should also let people deal with disease on their own - if they want to be cured, they’ll go to an Argent Dawn representative. And durability loss for PvP should never come into play (especially when the PvP is forced on a party who would otherwise be safe.)

I give Blizzard kudos for the idea. It’s a lot more fun than the last Scourge invasion, pre-Naxxramas. But please, fix the growing concerns, lest we come to hate our fellow zombies.