When AFK attacks redux
Matthew Rossi's triumphant tale about his wife's taming of the elusive Loque'nahak, otherwise known as the Death Star pet, reminded me of a similar scenario that happened with a guildie. This time, it was nowhere near as peaceful, nowhere near as innocent, but every bit as triumphant. See, my guildie, a Shadow Priest, had been looking for the Time-Lost Proto Drake in the Storm Peaks for almost a month. Every day, he'd log on and spend a few hours circling the rare mob's known path hoping to get the Reins of the Time-Lost Proto Drake. As the mob is guaranteed to drop the mount, he wasn't the only one on the hunt.
One day, though, he got lucky and finally spotted the fantastic creature... except that it was already tagged by a Gnome Death Knight. Instinctively, he did what any red-blooded member of the Horde would do. He Mind Controlled the Gnome, used him to tank the drake, and when the drake was low on life, tossed the Death Knight off the edge of a cliff. One Shadow Word: Death and a hearthstone later, the priest was in Krasus' Landing sitting atop his pretty green drake.
Unlike the unlucky but restrained Orc that Matt's wife encountered, however, you can just imagine the rage of the unfortunate Death Knight. With the rarity of the Time-Lost Proto Drake, rumored to have a long respawn timer and known to blink across the map, it was like winning the lottery and getting held up on the way to the bank. But see, we play on a PvP server. Flares and unintelligible emotes are the least of anyone's worries. It's an environment where players will kill for something as simple as a mining node or an herb. Heck, players don't even need a reason.
I'm not sure I'd have done the same thing myself. It's hard to say. Was it an incredibly rude thing to do? Oh, absolutely. Was it cruel considering the Death Knight had probably been on a similar month-long search? Definitely. These were the questions that popped into my head when I heard the tale. In the end, I told myself that it was the only thing to do. PvP server + opposite faction + extremely rare mob = everything is fair game. I had nothing to do with it, but I found myself sympathizing with the Death Knight. That sentiment lasted for all of two seconds, though. I mean, come on. It was a gnome.
