‘Miserable’ Hardcore WoW player invents niche, twisted way to grief

Griefing and ganking are supposed to be a thing of the past on official Classic WoW Hardcore servers, but one player recently encountered a griefer who was able to completely bypass the laws of opt-in PvP.

In a post on the WoW Classic subreddit, a Hardcore player named Qualalam described an encounter they had with a griefer who ended their run in the most unique, sickening, and honestly kind of inventive way possible. By using the in-world mechanics attached to a very specific mob in the middle of nowhere, this griefer was able to turn PvP on for just long enough to kill a player who was simply trying to take down a rare mob. 

A rare enemy in the Arathi Highlands named Singer has an ability where she mind-controls unsuspecting players for a brief duration. Although this effect wears off, the window in which players are mind-controlled is theoretically long enough for high-level griefers and trolls to take advantage of it. In this particular instance, a griefer was waiting near the mob for a player to pass by, and when Singer used her mind-control ability, they pounced into the frame, killing the mind-controlled player. 

Since players who are mind-controlled are fair game to be attacked, the griefer in the post used the opportunity to take down the helpless quester and completely tank their Hardcore run. To make matters worse, Qualalam appeared to have a level 32 character in their post, meaning they must’ve invested about 40 to 50 hours of total playtime into this Hardcore run before they were kneecapped by a troll waiting in the bushes. 

“Just imagine what kind of miserable life you have to sit there waiting for MC all day,” a player in the comments replied. “That is someone who does not have anything.”

In Qualalam’s original post, they made it clear that once they got mind-controlled, they were forced to attack their Hunter pet, not the nearby griefer, meaning the high-level troll wasn’t acting in self-defense but was obviously an aggressor. Qualalam wrapped up their post by saying they “won’t continue” with another Hardcore run due to the “vile murder” that they encountered. 

Blizzard’s philosophy on griefing is very clear: Players who grief other players will be banned. The mission of the Hardcore devs is to ensure that only mobs and dangerous quests can be the source of your demise, not players with a motive to mindlessly kill. It’s possible, if not likely, that the griefer who ruined Qualalam’s Hardcore experience will be dealt with by Blizzard.