The Lich King banned the WoW professional guild Ensidia back then. The “Lichen King” will remind us of this in Battle for Azeroth.
Anyone who has been following World of Warcraft for many years will remember the World First Kill of the Lich King, which was achieved by the guild Ensidia. However, Blizzard did not recognize the kill, as the developers believed Ensidia had exploited a bug. Now, this very exploit is returning in the form of an achievement in Battle for Azeroth.
What happened back then? In the fight against the Lich King, the platform occasionally shrinks when Arthas causes the edge of the battle area to collapse. However, this was not the case for the guild Ensidia. Their rogues used “Saronite bombs” as part of their fixed damage rotation. Where the bombs landed, the platform did not disappear. For Blizzard, this was a clear exploit, and they imposed account suspensions for several days, disallowed the first kill along with the achievement, and took the loot away from the players. Ensidia claimed they were unaware of any exploit – after all, their rogues had been using the bombs throughout the entire expansion.
The Lichen King wants to know: In Battle for Azeroth, the case is addressed once again in the form of a special achievement. There is the rare enemy “The Lichen King” – a living mushroom. This must be defeated as part of a world quest in Stormsong Valley. Players using a so-called “Sporonit Bomb” for the kill will receive the achievement “Clever Use of Mechanical Explosives” – a clear reference to many players’ arguments who describe exploits as “Clever exploitation of game mechanics”.
With many years of delay, the professional guild Ensidia receives a little bit of recognition, and Blizzard ensures that players will continue to talk about this incident.
Anyone who defeats the Lichen King can look forward to a stylish runeblade. Unfortunately, it is not the real Frostmourne, but the mushroom imitation “Fungmourne”.
In German, the ‘Lichen King’ is called ‘Pilzkönig’ – so this will be a joke that completely falls flat in the translation.
