You know how you always say that you want developers to try new things? Be creative. Live on the edge. Show you stuff you’ve never seen before. Yea? Well, you’re full a shit.

You don’t want that — you want to feel at home, comfortable, and in command — and you’re not the only one. Many residents of the Azeroth, in the popular MMO World of Warcraft, are not the least bit amused by Blizzard’s attempt to transition into the Lich King expansion.

A simple sign on was all it took for me to feel like I’d been transported to a war torn section of Beirut. Seared flesh, battered bones, and suicidal exploding mad men running in my direction. What the hell’s going on you ask? Well, in the process of preparing gamers for Northrend, Arathas, and his massive scourge army, Blizzard designers decided to unleash a plague of undead zombies on their achievement happy community.

Crates, placed throughout the world, containing contaminated insects were opened by curious gamers. In a matter of moments, the infected individuals transformed into zombies capable of zombifiying others at will. Brain biters lurking around every corner may sound like the perfect compliment for Halloween at first, but listening to the complaints of several frustrated players may change your mind.

I hate this event. I hate this event so desperately that I’m having to talk myself out of canceling my account until it’s over. The game is becoming unplayable. Important NPCs like auctioneers, bankers, innkeepers and questgivers are almost always dead before I can use them … can’t go to major cities because I’ll get attacked by other players (and I’m on a PvE server for a reason). I can’t do dailies because most of the NPCs are permanently dead. – Saboruto

I’m frustrated beyond belief. I cannot understand why Blizz didn’t make this a voluntary event on PvE servers. Wherever I go into a city, I can count on being infected, becoming a zombie, and dying… just so that I can respawn, come back, and pay to have my gear repaired. – Nefetyra

The entire event should be optional…if you’re not flagged pvp then you should not be able to be zombied. Furthermore, if you do get infected, it should be a player removable debuff. – Balduun

I have never ever before considered canceling my subscription.. have loved everything about it.. but now.. well.. I am seriously considering [canceling] my pre-order for the expansion and going to other worlds for my fun.– Bridee

The root of the problem is not necessarily the content itself, rather the mindset of the individuals abusing it. However, it’s common knowledge at this point (thanks to games like GTA) that if you give gamers the ability to do something evil, they most likely will. In that regard, Blizzard must shoulder some of the blame.

One moderator on the game’s official forum shared the following with irate members:

We do appreciate the feedback; if threads are being deleted, it’s because the moderators are trying to keep things consolidated and constructive, not because they seek to stifle dissenters.

As I have stated, if this was planned to last any longer than it is, we would have been a great deal more leery of the wide-reaching effects of the plague. This has been anticipated; I respect the concept that some people dislike it and we’ll certainly take that into account, but this was an event meant to impact players in all walks of life and routines. I am in no way stating it was perfect, and should we do something like this again the feedback both for and against will be taken into account when changes are made, particularly pertaining to lower level players. This event absolutely was meant to shake up the status quo of the average WoW day, and in that it’s been successful.

It will still continue as planned, but for those of you less than fond of the plague, you don’t have much longer to wait.

Afterthought: What do you think? Are you a fan of events that mix PVP with PVE or do you think Blizzard made a mistake by making this content unavoidable?

Source: forums.worldofwarcraft.com