BBB, I agree with you that the concept was excellent. Brilliant even. But the utter stupidity of permitting players to control zombies and “raise armies” with which to terrorize members of their own faction is almost too incredible for words. My deepest contempt is for the players I was forced to fight against who not only feel that this was all “fun”, but attack me for my not loving the event. The most ludicrous argument offered by the more rational of them is that this “inconvenience” was a good thing, as it brought a jolt of real tension to the game… a game they are apparently bored with, so I’m at a loss as to why *they* stay. The argument is flawed, however, because their actions make no sense in the context of the event they love so much.

Consider: why would a healthy and able-bodied individual actively seek to become infected with a disease that will turn them into a zombie? He wouldn’t, unless he knew there was a benefit to him. That benefit… the *only* benefit… that these players were seeking was the ability to grief other players in the game, those belonging to a faction that would be otherwise off-limits: their own.

No, Blizzard should have implemented this idea exactly as they did, with one exception: no player-controlled zombies. If you get infected, and die, a mob is spawned that is the same level as the area’s guards. The player would be then forced to run back to his body to rez. That would remove the incentive to seek to become Scourge, and would encourage fighting against them instead.

People coming in the front gate, portal room, and FP were greeted by 5-man groups of hunters with the following statement:

“WARNING: Ironforge is a CLEAN ZONE. Teams of Hunters are using Track Undead & are treating all zombies & infected as KOS. If you are infected, get to the Argent Healer in the Throne Room or by the Flight Master, or YOU WILL BE KILLED WITHOUT MERCY.”

Infected incoming were escorted, or terminated immediately on turning. The front gate was bum rushed several times, but there’s only so much that a group of zombies can do once a chain of frost traps go off and keep them crawling for 200yds. When 5 hunters and thier pets choose to lay into you from that distance, zombie or not, you’re going to die.

We caught a lot of howling from the griefers, but for just a little while, maybe 6 hours or so, Ironforge on Bladefist (US) was a class A clean zone.

Like B^3, I like, and would have enjoyed, the concept of the scourge invasion, had Blizz not done the equivalent of handing the car keys to the belligerent drunk with an inferiority complex.

I have to believe it’s the former, but either way it seems clear (forced PvP zones on PvE servers, anyone?) that this is rapidly becoming a Griefer… er… PvP game.

But I remember the first “Invasion”. The undead hordes basically had a picnic outside the main cities and did nothing at all to affect the world. The build up and payoff for this very, very brief event was fantastic. I remember logging on the first day and seeing these healers in the main cities speaking cryptically about the Lich King. Then a few zombies appeared and the citadels were sited outside the gates. Mysterious boxes appeared at BB and diseased rats and roaches started streaming into the capitals. Then it got worse…

It was an epic event that allowed the players to ‘play’ along. You could raise up your army of very slowly walking minions (with a new skill set) or you could play Bruce Campbell and cut down the hordes of walking dead. It made the game feel alive, at least for a few days. I don’t even role play or do much PvP, but when I was a shambling zombie, I played the part. When I was defending lowbies from other revenants, I felt like I was doing something special. We had groups stationed at Xroads and TM among other places defending against the Scourge. And when we got infected and zombiefied, we turned against our teammates…because that’s what mindless zombies do.

There was no way to make this event memorable and worthwhile without inconveniencing some players. I feel bad that everyone wasn’t able to get into the spirit of this one time event for a few days. I hope the next phase is even better. Think about the storyline and the lore for once instead of your dailies and the AH. You’ll have the grind, the instances and the Achievements to do for the next 2 years until the next expansion.

Suffice it to say, no only is it annoying to be unable to participate in this fully, but I’m level 46. I’m trying to get higher level, but every town I go to, someone thought it would be a good place to plague. I know that RP-wise I should fight the plague, but being only 46, I can’t even get the QUESTS.

I won’t complain; The 70s played for longer, and I’ve mostly gotten over the fact that I’ve missed the chance for a lot of things (Spirit of Competition achievement? In my dreams), and the fact that the Hallow’s End event might be different this year, so I might not get the chance to fight the Headless Horseman.

If people are having fun, great. I’ll try and let them. But GOD STRIKE ME DOWN if it doesn’t annoy the hell out of me.

Now my biggest complaint about this event is the timing. Yes Hallow’s End is a celebration spurned by the forsaken’s break from the lich king… and what better time then now to spurn an attack. However to overlap the two was just a massive overload. They could have launched the attack at then end of this week at the height of the festival after had our chance to beat up the horseman, and get all the achivements and so forth… the slap us with feelings of dread and doom.

I found this whole event to be great fun, I found I was excited with the game again. I hope blizzard plans more events like this in the future because these unexpected events are what really make this game a RPG to me. Lets just hope next time Blizzard takes the time to pick up it’s Nerf bat and start swinging it hard for the PvE folks out there. After all it would be a shame for you all to have to go get new keyboards cause the old ones are friend from all the QQ tears as your blog about the injustice of forced PvP. ;-D

Southshore, if anything, was in worse shape. And, naturally, a hordy ?? was waiting to gank you as you got zombied.

Luckily, Most of my play time was “off tour”, so less ganking than it could have been. Unluckily, most of my guildies weren’t online. :(

Basically put big brakes on my leveling/questing when I had limited time to play as it was. As a result, it was not an experience I’ll remember fondly. But I’m cool with people who enjoyed being zombied, I just didn’t have that same fun as perhaps I could have if not strapped for time.

As in the multitude of options to play, i don’t like PVP, but great for those that get big kicks out of it. Different strokes, different folks.