As the battle for WotLK Classic world firsts rages on, Echo Guild member Naowh capped out in mere hours.
WoW Wednesday: Sacrificial Lambs & Infinite Zombies - How the WotLK Classic Level Cap Race Was Won
Written by Ollie Bradley at 09/28/2022, 04:54 AM
While RuneScape has recently been creating servers practically dedicated to achieving new "world firsts", the release of Wrath of the Lich King Classic has proven that sometimes, it's not even worth bothering. Because when you have the talented members of Echo Guild on the case, there's no competition.
Upon the release of WotLK Classic on Monday, a world-first race to level 80 - a feat that should take weeks in older iterations of WoW - was won in a matter of nine hours. As the aptly-named Naowh of Echo Guild wasted no time in attempting to pursue a now decade-old exploit to help them clinch one of the WotLK Classic World Firsts.
The feat saw Naowh taking full advantage of a "bug" that was present in the original WotLK. Though we wonder if the word "bug" is accurate given that it has remained unsquashed in Classic. Regardless, it involves farming millions in XP per hour from an Elite boss that simply won't stop spawning zombie hordes. By grinding said zombies, Naowh was able to reach level 80 in one sitting. Then celebrated his achievement by unceremoniously falling off a cliff.
Naowh did, of course, get by with a little help from his friends. By inviting a throng of level-one sacrificial lambs, Naowh was able to amp up his XP gain by having them die and claiming their share of the group XP. The rest, as they say, is history.
Though there are many who wish it wasn't. Classic players have been taking to social media to voice their dissatisfaction that one of the WotLK Classic world firsts was clinched in such a manner. To make matters worse, Naowh is typically a retail player, causing many Classic devotees to feel as though their rightful claims were snatched.
But, there are some that would argue that an unsquashed bug is kind of fair game. After all, if Blizzard aims to deliver a truly authentic experience of classic WoW, then fans should be happy to accept the product, warts and all.