World of Warcraft is full of errors – no wonder, a lot of things add up in 20 years. We present the 5 most absurd bugs and glitches to you here.
With its almost 20 years of existence, World of Warcraft has experienced a lot. From the good old “Vanilla” variant to the current “Dragonflight” add-on, the game has been constantly changed, developed and improved.
But these changes sometimes brought with them some problems. Bugs, exploits and glitches crept into the game from time to time and caused strange incidents that many WoW veterans still remember today with a broad grin or a nostalgic smile.
We would like to introduce you to five of these strange errors here.
1. XP loss – Character levels backwards
MMORPGs from the last few decades have often featured various punishment mechanics. One of the most annoying of this kind: the loss of experience points gained, which could sometimes even undo a level-up.
When it was released, World of Warcraft consciously decided against such punishing mechanics that spoiled the fun of the game. However, at least one player has already had the experience of his character suddenly losing several levels.
We’re talking about Saurzan and the bug appeared shortly after the launch of patch 8.0. Saurzan wanted to participate in some PvP Battlegrounds to level his character from level 98 to 99.
However, it didn’t quite work out that way. Because when Saurzan returned to Orgrimmar from the first battlefield, he couldn’t believe his eyes. His mage had not reached level 99 – but had fallen back to level 94.
This also led to the strange situation that the character was wearing clothes that he couldn’t use because they had a higher level requirement. The corresponding armor was marked red and therefore “inactive”.
Blizzard was able to quickly fix the error and restore the correct level – but this magician may be the only one who has ever actively “leveled backwards”.
2. Players could tame Druids
Another bug revolves around druids. While Shadowlands certainly won’t go down as the most popular expansion in WoW history, it did create some notable memories.
One of them was shortly after the launch of the first raid “Nathria Castle”. Here you could get a very special necklace from the boss “Hunter Altimor”.
The necklace allowed the wearer to mind control numerous wild animals in the open world and thus have a companion at their side for a few minutes to assist in combat. A fitting reward for a battle fought against a Beastmaster.
What the developers had apparently overlooked was that the piece of jewelry could be used on all animals.
“All animals” in this case also meant druids in animal form. So if you were in a duel with a druid or met a member of the other faction, you could tame those players. They then lost control of their character and loyally followed the necklace user.
Blizzard noticed and fixed the error a few hours after the raid opened. But for a few hours, players could make druids their subjects.
There are 3 more strange incidents and bugs on page 2.