Blizzard Hates Pirates!

[MongoJerry]

Blizzard Hates Pirates

With an undocumented change, the 1.10 patch demonstrates once again that Blizzard hates pirates. Six months ago, I and a group of friends decided to become Bloodsail Buccaneers so that we could each don the distinctive Bloodsail Admiral's Hat. We had a blast and the story of our adventures can be found at the Lurker Lounge:

The Adventures of Neriad: Yarrrr!

We went into this knowing full well what the immediate consequences would be. We knew that we wouldn't be able to enter any goblin towns, get quests from goblins, or buy any recipes or other items from goblins. It was a little annoying having to run for my life every time I landed in Gadgetzan and not being able to use the flight path from Gadgetzan to Silithus. (I could use the flight path if I was willing to kill the Gadgetzan bruisers who guard the flight master, but I would like to get my reputation with the goblins back at some point, so I want to keep what reputation I have left with Gadgetzan). But on the whole, it all seemed worth it to be able to wear the hat, and it was.

However, in the coming months, Blizzard has shown its bias toward goblin lovers and its bias against those loyal to the Bloodsail Buccaneers. The first step was the introduction of the Stranglethorn Vale Fishing Extravaganza. Goblin lovers everywhere could fish Tastyfish around STV and gain fabulous prizes from the accursed Baron Revilgaz for their efforts. Meanwhile, no effort was made to allow Bloodsail Buccaneers to participate or disrupt the contest. What's more, no quest was added to allow Bloodsail Buccaneers to hand in Tastyfish to the fleet. This seemed most unfair, since wouldn't pirates also appreciate the taste of succulent fish?



But the most aggregious step taken against the Bloodsail Buccaneers was slipped into the 1.10 patch without even a mention in the patch notes. Steamwheedle Bruisers were added to the top of all of the zeppelin towers in the game. Their only purpose seems to be to harass those loyal to the Bloodsail Buccaneers and attempt to keep them from using the zeppelins. And when I say Steamwheedle Bruisers, these aren't the pesky but largely harmless guards you see in Gadgetzan. These guys are elites who use nets and break out those annoying guns that send you flying into the air. One time, I rushed onto a zeppelin (after waiting several minutes below the tower) and got hit so many times by bruiser guns, I got shot completely off the zeppelin!

This addition seems to have no benefit in the game other than to harass Bloodsail Buccaneers, and I don't see how Thrall or Sylvanis could stand to have their loyal heroes harassed in this way while trying to use the major transportation device between their capital cities and the outpost of Grom'Gul. The following changes should be made:

1. The Steamwheedle Bruisers should be removed as a bad idea and replaced with orcs and undead guards. After all, it makes sense that Thrall and Sylvanis would want to guard their strategic transportation hubs even if the goblins are the ones running them.

2. Players friendly with the Bloodsail Buccaneers should be able to turn in Tastyfish to the fleet and get prizes and rewards.

3. More quests and rewards should be given out by the Bloodsail Buccaneers. Maybe even make a few recipes or patterns available such that guilds will want to have a few Bloodsail Buccaneers in their ranks.

4. Create a [Pirate] language that only those friendly with the Bloodsail Buccaneers could understand. All other players would see a random selection of "Arrrr...", "Ahoy, Matie!" and "Shiver me timbers!" Alternatively, an item could be quested (perhaps a pirate coat) that would allow the person to speak and understand [Pirate].

Finally, there may be some of you who have never become a Bloodsail Buccaneer and are saying, "Just get back to friendly with the goblins." If you're one of them, I don't think you realize what a time consuming task that is. All mobs that you can kill for faction only give 1 reputation to a given goblin faction and 1/2 point spillover reputation to the others. 42,000-84,000 mobs is a lot of pirates or wastewanders to kill just to get back to neutral. The fastest way to get faction back is to kill the low level pirates near Ratchet. (Yes, I know about the repeatable goblin quests in Ferales, but the reputation gain is too small for the time it takes to complete them). I and my friends have the system down, but 42,000 (84,000 if we want neutral with Booty Bay) is still a lot of pirates to kill over time, even if they are only level 15-17. All role playing and lightheartedness aside, I don't see why we should be forced to do that just to use the zeppelins unmolested.

[Zarathustra]

You did say you went into it knowing fully that the goblins would end up despising you, correct?

Just seems logical to me that they'd have a little tighter security on their modes of transportation as a result. You've slain countless members of the Cartel... why would they allow you on their zeppellins? As for Thrall or Sylvanis... they do not run the flights. I could understand if the zeps were Horde property, but it's just not the case. The Cartel caters to anyone, regardless of allegiance, as long as you are in good standing with them.

In response to your proposals...

1. I disagree. If I were one of the trading princes in the Cartel, I'd have bruisers positioned on the flights/ships as well. This is part of the price one pays for siding with the pirates.

2. I agree completely, although the pirates should be running more of an underground market for the Tastyfish and not be announcing via a zone-wide /yell. There should be comparable (if not the same) prizes given for turning in Tastyfish on their ships.

3. That's a tough line to walk. The Buccs are a small group of pirates that's looking to assault one Steamweedle port. Perhaps some varied Swashbuckler's Shirts could be made available? Bird cages with exotic pets from around the world?

4. Had me laughing. Quality. If you were serious, though... I'll consider that when they give Druids a language.



Going back to my original point, a choice was made. You rebelled against the Cartel. There should be no "unmolested" rides for you on their behalf.

[lemekim]

You did say you went into it knowing fully that the goblins would end up despising you, correct?
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That's probably a bit misleading. Back in the day, there used to be almost no benefit to being friendly with any of the goblin factions besides some XP and a bit of gold. Also, Blizzard stated numerous times that they will not implement anything that could permanently "damage" the characters.

An interesting comparison would be to that of two centaur factions in desolace - you have to pick one or the other. What if at some point one faction suddenly became involved in some very important quest lines? And you happened to pick the wrong one?

Sure, the comparison is not exactly precise as we stand today, but back in the day the benefit of being friendly with either goblins or friendly with bloodsail pirates was pretty close to the benefits of the centaur factions - aka none.

[MongoJerry]

Just seems logical to me that they'd have a little tighter security on their modes of transportation as a result.  You've slain countless members of the Cartel... why would they allow you on their zeppellins?  As for Thrall or Sylvanis... they do not run the flights.  I could understand if the zeps were Horde property, but it's just not the case.  The Cartel caters to anyone, regardless of allegiance, as long as you are in good standing with them.

Keep in mind that it's only a few goblins who started up the zeppelin business and it wasn't a "cartel" operation. Plus, in the end, it's a contract to provide transportation between three Horde outposts. The goblins may operate the zeppelins, but it's the Horde powers who give their leave to let them keep operating. Role playing, you don't think that I who have done such service for Sylvanis that I've become Exalted with Undercity couldn't walk down to Varimathras and ask that this insulting behavior by a few pesky goblins on our land be made right? You think that Varimathras and a few minions (or Thrall on the other side) wouldn't walk to the zeppelin tower and say, "As long as you are in my lands, you will not attack any member of the Horde who wishes to use the zeppelin. What happens on goblin lands is your business. What happens on my lands is my business."?

[Arnulf]

An interesting comparison would be to that of two centaur factions in desolace - you have to pick one or the other. What if at some point one faction suddenly became involved in some very important quest lines? And you happened to pick the wrong one?
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If you picked the wrong faction you can very easily build up reputation with the other side. I have a NE warrior who did both quest-lines, and consequently had to kill the Maraudine khan twice. However, once you're hated with one faction you cannot bring back both to neutral, as it was at the start.

[Shriek]

This addition seems to have no benefit in the game other than to harass Bloodsail Buccaneers

Would this not allow unfettered (if not necessarily convenient) access to the zeppelins by the Alliance (non-pirates, anyway)?

[lemekim]

If you picked the wrong faction you can very easily build up reputation with the other side. I have a NE warrior who did both quest-lines, and consequently had to kill the Maraudine khan twice. However, once you're hated with one faction you cannot bring back both to neutral, as it was at the start.
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Well, technically you can also build up reputation with the goblins again... Except it's much harder than going the other way.

Oh yes, what you say is quite true, however simply getting a friendly rep with one of the centaurs is much, much easier then trying to get friendly with that faction after you are into hated from becoming friendly with their enemies (because your faction with the other side decreases much faster) - probably 4-5 times as much work to get the rep to friendly? It's not the best example, but it's the closest thing I could think of to the situation.

Oh and by the way, weren't some of the zeppeling operators non-goblins before? Does the name Hin Denburg ring a bell?

[lfd]

Woah. I hit "edit" on lfd's post rather than reply and ended up deleting lfd's post. I apologize profusely. I haven't made that mistake in a while. Yikes! -- MongoJerry

Nub - learn2reply! :) -- lfd

My post, now attributed to lemekim:

I'm not sure why people are saying "you knew what you were getting yourself in to", unless you're suggesting Mongo had some premonition of the fishing contest, the AQ scepter quest line, the tier 0 upgrade system - all of which are inaccessible to pirates - and now the elite goblins on the zep towers to further hamper them and, it seems, to dissuade anybody in the future from going for the hat+parrot.

[MongoJerry]

I'm not sure why people are saying "you knew what you were getting yourself in to", unless you're suggesting Mongo had some premonition of the fishing contest, the AQ scepter quest line, the tier 0 upgrade system - all of which are inaccessible to pirates - and now the elite goblins on the zep towers to further hamper them and, it seems, to dissuade anybody in the future from going for the hat+parrot.

For full disclosure, I knew the fishing contest was going to be added and suspected that goblin reputation might be important in the future. That's why I was always careful not to kill the Gadgetzan bruisers whenever I landed there. At the end of the killing spree in Booty Bay, my Booty Bay reputation was 0/36k hated but my Gadgetzan, Everlook, and Ratchet reputations were about 23k/36k Hated. My plan all along was to eventually get my Gadgetzan reputation back to neutral so that I could use the bank there and maybe do some of the quests that I figured would be added later to the game. I'm at about 31k/36k Hated with Gadgetzan and am Hostile with Ratchet after a number of evenings spent running around throwing low rank SW:Pains on the pirates near Ratchet. I figure getting my Booty Bay reputation back was a long lost cause or at least something to be retrieved in a distant future.

But this situation is different. First, the bruisers are "Steamweedle Bruisers." At this point, I don't know exactly what reputation I'm going to need to not get attacked by them. Is it possible to still be Hated by Booty Bay and not get attacked by these guys? If so, how high does my reputation have to be to not get attacked? Or, do I have to get back to at least Unfriendly with every faction of the cartel?

Second, we're talking about the zeppelins here. Yes, I had a good notion that some quests would be added to the game that I might not be able to participate in or that I knew I'd have to bust my hump and kill a lot of pirates if I *really* wanted to do those quests. However, quests in the end are optional, and I could always choose to skip them. The zeppelins are different. They are an important transportation device whenever I want to head off to the plaguelands, go to Zul'Gurub, or want to get to Blackrock Mountain. This is not a matter of, "Oh, well. I don't get to see new content." This is a matter of, "It's going to be a lot harder to participate in the content I've already seen."

[MongoJerry]

Good news! Varimathras decided to have a little chat with the goblins running the zeppelins, and now the Steamwheedle Bruisers who so maliciously attacked Neriad a week ago are acting like they're her best friends. Even mockingly donning the Bloodsail Admiral's hat and summoning a Blood Parrot didn't get a rise from them.

It's nice to see that Blizzard developers are sometimes willing to listen to the community and make quick changes, even when a problem only affects a few hundred people scattered across all servers. Way to go, Bliz!

[MongoJerry]

Tigole has posted another upcoming change that will affect pirates in 1.11:

You'll be able to more easily repair your Goblin Factions in Patch 1.11. We're adding a few quests for people who became unfriendly or lower so that they can more easily get back to neutral with the various goblin towns associated with the Steamwheedle Cartle.

We won't be giving a "bloodsail" path for the new armor quests, because, well, we won't be giving pirate hats to the people who stayed in the good graces of the goblins. But we will make it easier for you to repair your faction if you wish to do those quests.

[Occhidiangela]

Tigole has posted another upcoming change that will affect pirates in 1.11
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On a modestly related note, it is possible, though not likely, that this antipathy to pirates is related to their very real activity on the East African coast in the past few years.

Like the Royal Navy 200-300 years ago, [url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/01/AR2006040101306.html]the US Navy is playing an increasing role in combatting piracy on the high seas.

Not to give Blizzard too much credit in the current events department, but perhaps they have decided it is not PC to give pirates a free pass.

OK, I am reaching. ;)

Talk Like a Pirate Day is 19 September, start planning your party now, ye Bucaneers and Freebooters of Azeroth!

The month be September, spelled "Ess Eee, Pee Tee Eee Emm Bee Eee AaRRRgh!"

Occhi