World of Warcraft Mists of Pandaria Remix Frog Controversy Explained

Though the World of Warcraft Remix: Mists of Pandaria event is intended to give players a power trip that normally is not attainable in other game moves, a point of contention with players was how Blizzard dealt with the “frog farm” in the Timeless Isle. In the initial days of World of Warcraft Remix: Mists of Pandaria, players scrambled to find ways to reach level 70 quickly and farm resources. As one of the first known farms in WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria, the Gulp Frogs of the Timeless Isle are found on its southeastern shores. While this trek may lead to encounters with other creatures such as tigers, stone giants, and sprites, the Gulp Frogs’ lair is easily accessible.

The Gulp Frogs secrete a poison that will instantly kill a player upon reaching 10 stacks of a debuff that increases with each attack. However, that did not stop “frog farms” from popping up during the first days of the WoW Remix event. When killed, the Gulp Frogs originally gave high amounts of Bronze coins and Lesser Charms of Good Fortune that can be redeemed for reputation points with factions like the Shado-Pan and the Golden Lotus. The fast respawn timers on the Gulp Frogs led to players scrambling around the Timeless Isle and forming groups to kill the Gulp Frogs quickly and repeatedly before Blizzard caught wind of their deeds.

What Happened to the Gulp Frog Farm?

Though World of Warcraft players are encouraged to maximize their character’s power through various means, the frog farm was counter-intuitive to exploring and completing quests throughout Pandaria, which are the more accepted ways of leveling up. When news of the frog farm spread on social media, some players chose to take advantage of the situation, while others did not.

Days after WoW Remix went live, Blizzard nerfed the Gulp Frogs by removing Lesser Charms of Good Fortune from their loot table, but they still dropped Bronze when defeated. This meant that the frog farm was effectively dead, but players who took part in the farm got to keep their rewards, including threads for the Cloak of Infinite Potential to push the cloak’s statistics to levels beyond what could be reasonably obtained.

This led to players who did not take part in the frog farm criticizing Blizzard for not rolling back the gains made by frog farmers. However, the World of Warcraft development team had plans to make things right for those players who were not frog farmers. On May 21, some data miners discovered that Blizzard created labels behind the scenes that would identify players as either frog farmers or not. The purpose of this label was made clear in the days ahead, as Blizzard compensated players who felt cheated by missing out on a popular farm.

Blizzard Gives Non-Farmers Exclusive Rewards For Playing Fair

To undo the damage done by the frog farm, Blizzard released a two-fold solution to reduce the power of players who participated in the farm and reward players who opted against it. For the former batch of World of Warcraft players, their Cloaks of Infinite Potential had their secondary stats reduced to more reasonable levels that could easily be obtained through normal gameplay but did not touch any Bronze earned in the process. For the non-farmers, three exclusive quests that rewarded up to 40,000 Bronze were unlocked for them to complete at levels 50, 60, and 70.

While the middle-ground solution took days to develop, that did not stop Blizzard from making things right for World of Warcraft players who felt slighted by missing out on a dubious farm. While WoW Remix: Mists of Pandaria will stay active until August 19, it remains to be seen what changes Blizzard will make to it in response to continued player feedback.

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft is an incredibly successful MMORPG that has been going strong for almost two decades. It’s one of the highest-grossing franchises in history and is widely considered the most popular MMORPG ever made.

Released

November 23, 2004

Multiplayer

Online Multiplayer

Engine

Unreal Engine

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)

Expansions

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Classic

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