Got my account back, and Blizz also restored all my stuff, so they’re off my shit list. The hacker didn’t try to clean out the guild bank, but hit my bank for some really odd stuff…chaos orbs and whatever those frozen orb things from Wrath were called, soul bound gear from Wrath, etc. Ignored tons of enchanting mats, stacks of various metal bars. Hit about 8 toons all on my main server to grab every gold piece, which I suppose makes some sense…but he got relatively little for his efforts. Think I had maybe 40K gold total.
The GM that did the restore said I should get an authenticator if I have a smart phone…which I don’t. Do they still make authenticators that don’t require a smart phone?
I’m still baffled about how this happened. I do not buy gold, don’t share my account with anyone…even my wife does not know the password. Ran a virus scan on my gaming machine, and it turned up clean. Any ideas?
I guess I don’t understand how an account can be looted without there being some sort of record of transactions. The hacker would have mailed gold and items from one account to another account, right? So the identity of that account should be trivial to discover. And that hacker account would have transaction activity too, assuming it would be a cutout disposable account, even so it’s going to be selling and trading items and gold, otherwise what’s the point for the hacker?
Pretty sure they do, yes. Get one - it’s really easy and makes you basically hack-proof.
A few ideas. Did you log in from a different machine ever? Is your password simple enough to crack with a dictionary attack? Is it common to any other online accounts, particularly WoW-related ones (MMO-Champion, Wowhead, etc…)? Have you logged in to battle.net recently (or more accurately, a site that looked like battle.net)?
Oh, there’s a record I’m sure - but it’s probably too late to truly “catch” anybody, except perhaps the gold-buyer. As I understand it they move the gold to one of their hordes of gold-selling accounts and quickly move it to a buyer (who is already queued up). The whole thing is probably over in 30 minutes.
I’m guessing the stuff they took from Oak’s bank was the stuff that vendors for the most gold. It’s not much, but they don’t have time to wait for an auction to clear (hence ignoring the stacks of metal, etc, that is “worth” more but only to other players, not NPCs). They quickly vendor anything vendorable, move the gold, and then transfer it to a buyer.
ETA: Quick confirmation - chaos orbs vendor for 6g. Frozen orbs for 5g. A stack of ghost iron ore is under 1g, I believe, to a vendor.
Hmm. So the scenario is, the hacker has disposable accounts waiting. He gets the victims credentials, jumps in to the victim’s account, vends everything vendable, sends the gold to the disposable account. The disposable account sells the gold to a waiting buyer for dollars. He then pockets the cash and walks away from the disposable account.
The biggest loser, in every sense of the word, is the schmendrick who bought the gold. He paid dollars for gold, which normally would be under the radar, but because the gold was stolen from a hacked account he’s going to be banned, so he loses his dollars, his gold, and his account.
I’m pretty sure that buying gold - regardless whether it comes from a hacker or a gold farmer - violates the terms of Blizzard’s WoW agreement. So if you buy gold from any source, you have to realize that you’re setting yourself up to get your account banned.
Blizzard isn’t too thrilled about gold farmers in general, IIRC, even if they aren’t doing anything as illegal as a hacker.
Right, but if you’re buying gold from a gold farmer you’re not as likely to be discovered and banned. It’s like prostitution, both the hooker and the john want to keep things under the radar. Blizzard can’t track down every transaction, that’s how gold selling continues. But buying gold from a hacker means they’re gonna ban you, because they are going to track down all the transactions the hacker’s throwaway account made, and that’s how they find the chumps.
I saw a blurb about changes to the BG queue screen coming in 5.2, and if I understood correctly, we’ll be able to “blacklist” one or more battlegrounds. Hope I got it right, because I’d like to be able to queue for “any BG except Twin Peaks, Warsong Gulch, and sometimes Gilneas”. Not so sure it will really be a good thing though. I suspect many alliance players will simply stop queuing for the BGs we always lose…like Twin Peaks, WSG, and sometimes Gilneas. Silvershard Mines is another contender. If that happens, the Horde will probably stop queuing for the ones we have a decent chance at winning…AV, IoC, SoA, EotS…and the queues may get longer…
I have now discovered the lamest form of griefing. During the Darkmoon Faire, hang around the shooting gallery game. When someone goes to play, equip your largest mount and stand in front of them so they have a slightly harder time completing the game.
This has got to be the lamest example of griefing ever.
'Tis a shame that Baby Spice is soul bound, so it only helps if you’re high-level enough to have done Dalaran cooking dailies. Seriously, they should make the stuff purchaseable outright.
I’ve always been a bit puzzled about Baby Spice. I thought it was a non-dismissible “debuff”, but occasionally I use it on somebody, they shrink, and then immediately grow back to normal size. What’s up with that? Kinda defeats the purpose of the stuff when people can do that.
I had a stack of Baby Spice a couple weeks ago, but when I showed what it could do to my 6 year old daughter, she demanded that I use it on everyone in Dalaran. It works best on gnomes and pet dinosaurs. There was also some Old Spice involved.
Thing is, it doesn’t make the shooting gallery quest any harder, really, since you can still see the green arrow over the targets. I was just astonished that someone had nothing better to do than to try to annoy people on WoW, and in such a pathetic way.
Oh, and a couple weeks ago I ran into a straight-up beggar. Some random dude came up to me and asked me for a couple gold. I was like, “See those guys with the exclamation points on their heads? Ask them for some gold.”
With Patch 5.1 nerfs to oldsk00l raid mechanics, I’ve been trying my hand at soloing Classic raids on my hunter. ilevel 468, so not uber geared, but then again even blues and ghetto epics massively outgear stuff you outlevel by 30 levels.
I oneshotted AQ40 in a single evening. Almost never fell below 90% health. I was sad, in a way. A lot like when I realized I could defeat my Dad at basketball. A little more like when I realized my own sons could do the same to me.
I remember trying, and failing, repeatedly to get through Temple back when I was a n00b 60 huntard. It was HARD.
Now? Yawn. Kill stuff. Get annoyed when something stuns me, or bops me into the air and I take some falling damage. (Those are the only times I took meaningful damage: stuff done on a pure percentile basis. Those critters should have creamed their pants when they saw they inflicted over 100,000 damage to me.)
I mostly ran MM with a turtle pet, because MM is the build and rotation I know. For stuff I thought I may want some healing, I switched to BM with a spirit owl. (Fer instance, because of the constant healing going on, Twin Emps took a lot longer than their plain health pool would have dictated.)
Other than the loss of innocence, it was a good run. The red Qiraji tank dropped, as well as all of the new companion/battle pets that the AQ40 bosses can drop… and it’s all for me. MWA HA HA HA HA!
Most of the way to exalted now with whatever the dang raid faction is for that place.
Next stop? BWL, I think. I need some Elementium Ingots for one of the “make your epic weapon” quests.
Did they nerf the Engulf mechanic of the big boss (whose name I can’t remember at the moment)? I thought he, like the egg room in BWL, couldn’t be soloed.
There is one potential difference. I’ve discovered that the only way to score the Quick Shot achievement (or get the bonus points for getting the quick shot off) is to aim at the target you guess will be the next one to get the arrow before the arrow actually appears, and squeeze off the shot just as the arrow appears (lag compensated). So, if you can’t see any of the targets, you can’t aim your view with enough precision to take the guess shot as the arrow comes up.
Oh, yeah, big-time. I only had to put up with one stomach phase (probably because I already had C’thun down to like 15% before it happened). I didn’t notice any damage in the stomach, and two-shotted each of the two tentacles in there (the “escape mechanic”), so literally spent more time running to the escape point than fighting. And the specific Patch 5.1 nerf was a 15-second “grace period” to escape before the stomach starts hurting you, so apparently I spent less than 15 seconds in there.
As I said, anticlimactic. Twin Emps was more engaging. Bug Trio was more engaging. (Stupid knock-backs.)
ETA: Apparently, Razoregore in BWL has also been nerfed to be soloable. I’ll find out this weekend, I guess
Over in Stoneplow, near the wall? I’m looking for those 5 students that I’m supposed to help kill one each of those big bug things (“Students No More”). Checked WoWHead and they said I had to be patient and that they’re probably dead somewhere, but some of those bugs are elites and they killed Wolkie last night. I’m dangerously close to those guys looking for the students, so I expect to engage them, but they’re kicking the teetotal shit out of us. Any tips?
Hmmm…it’s been a few months since I did that quest, so I’m working with holes in my memory by now, but I remember kind of swinging wide around the funky-looking area until I got back by the wall, then moving in very cautiously to the infected area. I think all of those mobs off to the side are normal, not elite. I can’t remember how the students appeared, though…whether they’re like companions who suddenly appear when you enter an area or if they’re already out there fighting independently. I do remember that it didn’t seem all that difficult/dangerous to me, but then I did it as a Death Knight.
Hey, I’ve been wondering where you’ve been! I’ve been extremely embarrassed, because I should have been on Nouveus helping you out with those quests. But one of the problems with having multiple level 90s is trying to keep track of “have I already done those quests on this character?” In this case, it’s “yes” on my paladin and rogue, but “no” on Nouveus. But the last time I saw Wolkie online trying to do those quests, I was on my rogue, and got myself all mixed up about having done them already, and the phasing making me unable to help.
So anyway, I’m working this evening, but if you’re online Saturday I can get on Nouveus and help out. I think I’ll actually be free Saturday thru whenever I next have to work in the evening, which is indefinite.
The quest you’re currently talking about is kind of tricky, but once you can find the students it’s a relative piece of cake. It’s finding the students that is the hard part.
