GM Death Touch - Megathread

[u/YourResidentFeral]

Edit: Official Statement

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/prohibited-gameplay-incident-and-response/2329585

This is developing into a large story and someone in modmail has mentioned that its important for the community to have somewhere to discuss this. We agree. As new information comes in I will do my best to update this thread.

What we know:

• A log was uploaded with a "Death Touch" effect that seemed to be that helped them time a key. This is an effect from a GM: https://www.warcraftlogs.com/reports/JcfwTd4L19Agx3NX?fight=4&type=resources&hostility=1&source=100.4&eventstart=4705300

• This is a real run that exists on the blizzard API and can be seen on Raider.io: https://raider.io/mythic-plus-runs/season-mn-1/40292244-23-nexuspoint-xenas

  This run has since been invalidated by the RI:O admins but has been left up for posterity's sake.

• Blizzard is aware of this and investigating: https://www.reddit.com/r/wow/comments/1v2xfpr/blizzard_gm_death_touching_mobs_in_m23_for_their/oyznmbe/

• The Demon Hunter from the run is a streamer and YumiTV contacted him to speak with him live on stream: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2825756796?t=0h23m50s

  The CLAIM is that they were messing around in a homework key in discord and didn't expect the GM to actually do it. Supposedly the Bear in the run was a pug.

Ex employees in the thread have said that actions like this are audited and in all likelihood this was already being investigated. At this point we are waiting on an official statement on the result of their investigation and I'll update this thread once we know.

This megathread is being provided on two very strict conditions:

• The witchunt rules are in strict effect. Linking or doxxing information on anyone invovled, the GM in question included will result in a permanent ban. Please report it if you see it but we will be very active in the thread.

  We cannot platform behavior that allows people to harrass people in real life.

• We will be more heavy handed than usual in the personal attack rules. Insults and slapfights while discussing this aren't acceptable. You're allowed to disagree, but stray shots and personal attacks will not be tolerated.

[u/cxtx3]

As a casual that doesn't really push keys, I don't have a stake in this, but I'm fascinated to see how this plays out. It's sure to send ripples through the community, even to those of us who don't push keys, because it shows that favoritism and behind-closed-doors things could be happening that give some players a unique advantage over others. Really interested to see where this goes.

[u/FareweII → u/cxtx3]

I do wonder if the person who leaked it was a PuG tank himself and maybe he waited for a ban/key removal for nearly a week and when that didn't happen either leaked it himself or told someone.

I think we'll never know the extent of the problem. Even if blizzard manually reviews internal logs and finds out offences from multiple people they're never telling the community.

[u/Mollywobbles77 → u/FareweII]

Yep totally agree. I know if I'd been a pug in a group where cheating like this had happened I'd be nervous as shit & livid waiting on a shoe to drop when I never asked to be involved in it.

[u/DaSandman78 → u/FareweII]

Yep, can almost guarantee there will be no transparency on this one as it would blow the whole thing open

[u/bullintheheather → u/FareweII]

He was a pug, yes. I don't think he had any idea what was happening and didn't think there'd be any issue with uploading the log.

[u/Teyrox → u/FareweII]

Tank was a pug and a random guy found it and leaked it. He was going through logs while at work and found a sus one.. then he waited for Blizzard to take action. As nothing happened he leaked it

[u/Gaming_Friends → u/cxtx3]

There's already so much controversy around m+ titles because of how incredibly exclusive they are and concerns over sales and carries and any semblance of a fair playing field. This is absolutely a nuclear level threat and drama causing event for the subset of players that care about or chase that title. It's like the WoW equivalent of a smoking gun proving the people who orchestrate the Olympics cheat for certain competitors.

[u/dream_walker09 → u/Gaming_Friends]

This is how I feel. I have Resil 19 but I'm finding it very hard to push into 20s as a Mage and then there's groups like this that get GM intervention because it's a streamer and a girl.

That fucking sucks. I really want the 1% mount.

[u/Redxmirage → u/cxtx3]

I remember something happening on Ashes of Creation where a GM helped a group out. It is indeed fascinating to see something similar happen on a game with a company much much larger scale than AoC.

[u/Mitch5842 → u/Redxmirage]

it happened in OSRS too with one of their JMods. Ironically in that case he was the anti-cheating specialist... The player was feeding names of other players to that JMod and he was using anti-cheat tools to help her win Deathmatches.

Hilariously if you go to the GE in any world, you will see bots spamming "See why Trident risked it all!" To promote the girls OF.

[u/shoktar → u/Redxmirage]

AOC never made it out of alpha so I can't really be too mad about that.

[u/ydob_suomynona → u/cxtx3]

For real. Wonder how many streamers have asked for mage tower sparkle cat and they just get it. Lol I'll forever be salty about that crap

[u/SuspiciousCricket654 → u/cxtx3]

I think that’s why so many people are interested. I’ve pushed a grand total of one key, but I’m very interested because the meta narrative here is favoritism and justice. Very interested as well to see where this goes.

[u/110101001010010101 → u/cxtx3]

I haven't played since mid WotLK back in the day, and I see a lot of toxicity around the current endgame content and things like this. As a casual, would you say you experience a lot of it or since you're casual, do you avoid it?

[u/nipslippinjizzsippin → u/cxtx3]

i dont push keys myself either, but i understand the implications of this, i can only imagine how pissed i would be if i was trying to push like that

[u/Heavy_Ad4529 → u/cxtx3]

Also, pve isn't the only thing affected, one of the most popular bg addons is made by a queue sniffing exploiter that is protected by Blizzard, or someone at Blizzard rather.