Creative use of game mechanics

[Concillian]

From one of the Blizz forums:

You can also keep one of the legioneers before drac sheeped; then mind control him to tank drac .. they do a decent job.. well as good or better than most pug tanked.

Yeah, I never even would have considered that, but having one of those guys conflagged instead of your MT, would be kind of an interesting idea at least to buy some time to get a guard down if you're short on tanking. I imagine Curse of shadows would ensure the MC has a decent chance of not breaking.

[Kevin]

The earwig in Kurinnaxx in AQ20 can be stationary tanked without getting any debuffs on the MT. The bug, like players, can be in auto-attack range but not in range to use his cleave, which is what the debuff on the tank comes from. So if the warrior moves so that his autoattack and sunder can hit, but his taunt won't reach the bug, the bugs cleave won't reach the warrior and the debuffs will never never land.

Now wether that is an exploit that can get you in trouble or not, I don't know. I figure since it can happen to my toon, making it happen to the mob is fair as well. :)

[Artega]

The earwig in Kurinnaxx in AQ20 can be stationary tanked without getting any debuffs on the MT. The bug, like players, can be in auto-attack range but not in range to use his cleave, which is what the debuff on the tank comes from. So if the warrior moves so that his autoattack and sunder can hit, but his taunt won't reach the bug, the bugs cleave won't reach the warrior and the debuffs will never never land.

Now wether that is an exploit that can get you in trouble or not, I don't know. I figure since it can happen to my toon, making it happen to the mob is fair as well. :)

It's not an exploit until Blizzard says it is. Until that point, it's Creative Use of Game Mechanics™:)

[Zarathustra]

There was controversy about the Blackrock Spellbinders in the Spire. You can Mind Control them and have them cast major fire resistance buff on your entire party/raid if you like. In time, Caydiem came out and said something along the lines of "Don't you think it's funny that we put such a readily accessible buff right next to two instances where you'd need that resistance?"

By that token, the Scarlet spellcasters that roam the Western Plaguelands can be MC'd to cast the arcane equivalent of this buff. Makes me wonder if there's going to be a heavy arcane fight in Naxxramas. Either way, grab the buff and enjoy the arcane resistance.

* * *

In Blackwing Lair, Flamegor and Ebonroc can be pulled through the trash. Send a hunter's stealthed pet in and attack one of them. When the pet dies, his aggro transfers to the hunter. You still need to clear the trash to move on to Chromaggus, but this means you can do Firemaw, a few trash pulls, then Flamegor and Ebonroc in quick succession.

[castille]

There was controversy about the Blackrock Spellbinders in the Spire. You can Mind Control them and have them cast major fire resistance buff on your entire party/raid if you like. In time, Caydiem came out and said something along the lines of "Don't you think it's funny that we put such a readily accessible buff right next to two instances where you'd need that resistance?"

That buff, plus normal resist gear is so AWESOME when you're going to be doing firemaw/flamegor .. I never, ever had to leave because of the debuff stacking too high. I would, at most, get 1 or 2 on me, and resist everything else.

400 FR ftw

[vor_lord]

The earwig in Kurinnaxx in AQ20 can be stationary tanked without getting any debuffs on the MT. The bug, like players, can be in auto-attack range but not in range to use his cleave, which is what the debuff on the tank comes from. So if the warrior moves so that his autoattack and sunder can hit, but his taunt won't reach the bug, the bugs cleave won't reach the warrior and the debuffs will never never land.

Apparently this does not work if you are a troll. Krytis (who discovered the, um, strategy) is Tauren. On our AQ20 runs we normally have Wolfete, a troll warrior in full Might. She does not tank Kurinaxx however since (rightly or wrongly) she has been completely unable to make it work. Neither Krytis nor Otheo (both Tauren warriors) have had any trouble, it's a matter of inching around until your sunder button lights up but not your taunt.

This has to be unintended for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that it completely trivializes the encounter (which wasn't that hard in the first place).

[Concillian]

Now wether that is an exploit that can get you in trouble or not, I don't know. I figure since it can happen to my toon, making it happen to the mob is fair as well. :)

The reports are that patch 1.11 fixes the player range issues with cleave / sweeping strikes. I would assume the mob issues will also be fixed.

Just thought I'd mention it so there are no surprises come patch time =)

[ima_nerd]

Apparently this does not work if you are a troll. Krytis (who discovered the, um, strategy) is Tauren. On our AQ20 runs we normally have Wolfete, a troll warrior in full Might. She does not tank Kurinaxx however since (rightly or wrongly) she has been completely unable to make it work. Neither Krytis nor Otheo (both Tauren warriors) have had any trouble, it's a matter of inching around until your sunder button lights up but not your taunt.

This has to be unintended for a number of reasons, the most obvious being that it completely trivializes the encounter (which wasn't that hard in the first place).

Doh! My co-op raid did one AQ20 run and we got owned by Kurrinaxx. The problem wasn't on the tanks end but still, everything helps. Yet again, I regret making a Troll ...

[Kevin]

Doh! My co-op raid did one AQ20 run and we got owned by Kurrinaxx. The problem wasn't on the tanks end but still, everything helps. Yet again, I regret making a Troll ...

I'm not sure it has to do with the race as it does with the players ability to take advantage of the situation. We couldn't get him to go into walk mode, as I recall, to do the backing up, so he was moving too far I think. But I wasn't watching that closely. It could be a racial deal as well, but that just doesn't seem right. It is also possible it was weapon type having different ranges as well.

[Olon97]

A troll MT can tank Kurinaxx without exploiting a bug in attack ranges just fine, it's an easy encounter that I've seen defeated even with chaotic PuG groups and undergeared warriors.

I personally prefer keeping him moving in a small circle so you're already halfway off a sandtrap by the time you notice it - reducing the chance of offtanks getting silenced. My warrior is a troll.

Standing still in an ultra-precise static position and using a "game mechanic" not available to all races comes across as extremely cheap excuse to not learn how to execute the encounter as designed. I really hope that gets fixed just as GY zerging and 45 minute rajaxx without NPC help strategy loopholes have been closed off.

[Kevin]

A troll MT can tank Kurinaxx without exploiting a bug in attack ranges just fine, it's an easy encounter that I've seen defeated even with chaotic PuG groups and undergeared warriors.

I personally prefer keeping him moving in a small circle so you're already halfway off a sandtrap by the time you notice it - reducing the chance of offtanks getting silenced. My warrior is a troll.

Standing still in an ultra-precise static position and using a "game mechanic" not available to all races comes across as extremely cheap excuse to not learn how to execute the encounter as designed. I really hope that gets fixed just as GY zerging and 45 minute rajaxx without NPC help strategy loopholes have been closed off.

No I'm saying I'm pretty sure a troll could exploit at as well. I don't think the troll had problems because of the race, I think the troll in question had problems because they just couldn't move right.

And for the record both servers I've killed him on can do it without the exploit just fine. It just makes it that much faster and easier. But yes it trivializes an pretty simple encounter.

I actually prefer to just go back and forth (not in a circle) becuse the straight lines are just easier to deal with for me. It does the same thing.

[vor_lord]

Standing still in an ultra-precise static position and using a "game mechanic" not available to all races comes across as extremely cheap excuse to not learn how to execute the encounter as designed. I really hope that gets fixed just as GY zerging and 45 minute rajaxx without NPC help strategy loopholes have been closed off.

I agree. It's laziness, we've killed him plenty of times before learning the, um, secret. But I'm not the raid leader and I understand the laziness too.

I believe it will be fixed in 1.11 as part of the cleave range fix.

[oldmandennis]

What's the walk thing, and is that the exploit?

The whole thing is fairly trivial with or without the exploit.

My guild was fairly convinced (and I believe it) that a Tauren and only a tauren, if he positioned himself so he could just barely hit him, would avoid the debuffs. This is without moving. Somebody said they fixed it, and we didn't have any tauren tanks that day anyways, so the last time we did it we just ate both debuffs and sand traps. Is the walking thing to avoid sand trapping people? It seems like if the trap was aimed at the MT and he is walking backwards, it would hit everybody anyways.