It’s back! One of WoW’s most famous moments, possibly even the most famous, has made a comeback! Players have found a way to bring back the Corrupted Blood incident, which sparked some very real research into how pandemics spread. Let’s first see what exactly happened originally, in case you’re not familiar with the infamous event.
Crafty Players Bring the Pandemic
Let’s take a trip down memory lane, back to 2005. When the Zul’Gurub raid was introduced, one of the bosses, Hakkar, had a Corrupted Blood debuff, which spread around to others in close proximity. Thankfully, it expired when he was defeated.
But crafty players quickly found out that pets can be targets, and if you dismissed them with the debuff, they kept it. Now imagine them being summoned back in capital cities, and spreading the debuff to NPCs who couldn’t die, but spread it around indiscriminately. Chaos ensues. Also, laughter and tears.
It all erupted into a real pandemic situation, with varied player responses. Some helping to stem it, some revelling in the plague. Due to the bug, Blizzard had to hammer down a hard reset to fix it, later patching the pets to not be able to contract the debuff. The entire situation and player responses even attracted the attention of epidemiologists, who had an interest in individual responses to disease outbreaks. That’s some notoriety gained, and an achievement unlocked moment. You can read more on the incident here.
The New Classic Plague
Fast forward to late 2024, Season of Discovery, and the plague outbreak reborn. Perhaps the bug got reintroduced again with the latest Classic patch? Maybe Blizzard decided to live vicariously through the players and reminisce about the old days? Or it’s been there since Zul Gurub came back in Phase 5 and no one’s been able/interested in recreating it.
It’s actually unclear how this was pulled off, as Blizzard’s original safeguards that arrived post-original plague still seem to be in place. It may be a different Blood Plague, as some speculate, from the Avatar of Hakkar in the Sunken Temple raid, instead of Zul Gurub. That Blood Plague does not have the limitations the original has, but it lasts a shorter time and is harder to spread. The below plague happened on the Living Flame EU server.
The video was shared on Reddit by AedionMorris and Lightstruckx, showing the debuff doing its work in Stormwind. The responses and comments are overwhelming, as many remember the original outbreak. And it seems the fun it caused?
Community Reactions
One of the commenters perfectly encapsulates the overall player reactions to the new outbreak.
Here’s a few more choice words and feelings about the new incident. It would seem many just want to watch the world burn. Or are terrified or this being introduced on Hardcore realms.
- It’s even funnier a second time!
- WE ARE SO BACK
- God if this was on HC itd be the most glorious thing of all time
- Nice 😀 it’s things like this making the game worth playing
If you’re interested in the real world epidemiologists study, with some insightful comments by players, follow this thread discussion. There’s also a link in there to the entire research. Perfect for some light holiday reading.
And let’s round off this new pandemic report with ardent_wolf‘s on point comment about the duality of man. A deserved top voted comment on this holiday season.
