Death by Boat – in World of Warcraft, that happens. Boats can quickly turn into dangerous melee attackers that show no mercy.
In World of Warcraft, there are quite a few strange ways players can lose their lives. Fall damage, killing elevators, or bizarre mechanics often come into play. In many cases, boats are also involved. They are primarily used as means of transportation, carrying players across the continents. However, sometimes players can get stuck so oddly in the boat that they are left behind in the ocean and drown.
But in the following case, very few would have been killed by a boat.
What happened there? In the World of Warcraft subreddit, the user ponjo38 asks if anyone has ever been hunted down and killed by a Zandalari boat. He provides some screenshots showing the incident. With his Death Knight, ponjo38 was at the harbor of Zuldazar and could hardly believe his eyes. One of the Zandalari boats sailed directly from the sea onto the dock and then across the stone ground, directly at him, to attack. A few seconds later, the Orc Death Knight died.
In the death summary, it is also stated that the Zandalari boat beat him to death with several “melee attacks”. However, the boat had no paddles at all.
Other players also confirm such an incident at the harbor of Zuldazar and report that they too have fallen victim to this sailing assassin, for instance during the completion of the “Call to Arms” quests.
How does this error occur? It is not completely clear. Moving objects are often treated by developers similarly to mobs, allowing them to move freely in the game world. Here it seems a setting was simply forgotten in the code to make boats untargetable. If any threat is built up, they attack the player and pursue them, just like other mobs would. Accordingly, it looks quite “absurd” when the boat glides across the ground and mercilessly chases the player to send their attacker to the hereafter.
In WoW Classic, you can particularly often die to dragons – especially since a player has been terrorizing Stormwind for 4 months.
What has been your most absurd death in World of Warcraft? Have you ever experienced something similar?
