WoW’s First CRISIS: The Accidental Plague That Threatened To Wipe Out Azeroth | History of WoW

[@BellularGaming]

Why the reupload? We had to fix the exposure problem that was present in the upload that was present for around 30m yesterday. Apologies for the issue - it only appeared in the final export, not while editing.

[@Trazynn]

This is what we call 'double dipping' in marketing.

[@Ty-Dy]

I figured that's what happened. It's a good thing I like hearing about the blood plague in WoW so I guess I'll watch it again 😆

[@Azamous]

Didn't even notice lol

[@BellularGaming]

@@Trazynn Ayeeee, that 30m of revenue was totally worth having to delete a live video, something which the algorithm punishes you hard for doing

[@iainbarnett2175]

... and the thumbnail change 😏

[@boxhead6177]

It was about 3 days in, my guild cancelled raids due to the fiasco and I kind of let slip that I never got infected with Corrupted Blood... was doing farming runs and avoided population centres by default. Until the pet anti-corruption hot fix my guildies spent days trying to hunt me down and corner me, they zoned check me, watched flight points and tried to get the blood to me. 1 Druid trying to out race a 5 man team of hunter/locks. Turns out despite their tracking and stealth detection, cat form rules :P

[@WorgenGrrl]

"The Responce from Blizzard was not immediate or co-ordinated so players had to look out for themselves." Sounds like typical Government response to any crisis.

[@christinestroud7513]

Sitting here in June 2020 after corona virus shut everything down several months earlier. Can confirm Government response was not immediate.

[@r3v3rbs0ul]

@@christinestroud7513 hi, it's me. from the future.

[@RonOverdrive]

Arthas: This city must be cleansed. Hakkar: Hold my beer.

[@Scheldex]

Purged*

[@Scheldex]

twat

[@nillomat]

All jokes aside, Arthas was actually trying to stop the plague from spreading whenever he purged the city.

[@Arcantropolo]

Kazzak: Show me what you got.

[@sh3rocks01]

*Thanos enters the chat*

[@olorosen6031]

Actually quite fun. Blizzard have thrown Titans, Firelords, Dragons, The Lich King and so much more at us, and the races of Azeroth always survive.. But all it took was a tiny hunter pet to bring Azeroth to it's knees. Sargaras must be feeling so silly right now

[@PureHarry]

I dont think anyone is suprised that a hunter nearly killed WoW lets be honest. Its always the hunter

[@bonefetcherbrimley7740]

As a hunter myself, can confirm we're total scourges of society and azeroth. *Fires the gun in bilgewater harbor and hits stormwind just so I can loot anduin's sword as a hunter weapon*

[@jt5765]

@@PureHarry all the other classes exist only to support hunters

[@moch.farisdzulfiqar6123]

Hakkar the Soul Flyer: Ikr, I didn't even try back then.

[@Gkowi]

Perhaps after N'zoth is defeated, Sylvanas is dealt with, and the factions are united, the people of Azeroth will turn their attention to the true threat that has always been plaguing the planet: Hunters

[@henrysmith9725]

They actually wrote academic papers on this back in the day. This is the type of bug that keeps the game running but drastically changes the temporary gameplay that builds a community. Does this happen in games anymore? You have to take your hat off to such an epic and sophisticated failure like this. This isn’t a rush job by incompetent developers; this is an emergent bug that works because the rest of the game is so functional that a small mistake can enable a demographic effect.

[@OfficialJuke]

Henry smith

[@Xilith90]

Watching this during the Covid-19 crisis is kinda hilarious

[@pwilkinson93pw]

It still being the corona crisis is anything but hilarious

[@Mikasicki]

​@@pwilkinson93pwAfter it is funny again.

[@jdawg8427]

"Good news, everyone!I think ive perfected a plague that will destroy all life on azeroth!

[@luchesisuzana7643]

See, now, if Putricide had thoguht better, he'd have made it a dog disease. Hunters will sacrifice literally EVERYTHING for their pets.

[@joshuabailey8538]

Hakkars like hold my beer.

[@NeoKailthas]

Blizzard didn't expect anyone to actually play hunter...

[@crimestick6648]

Does anyone actually play a hunter?

[@matthewgunther782]

It’s the most played class in the game by a fairly wide margin.

[@Draknalor186]

@@matthewgunther782 Currently the top list for most played classes at level 120 goes Druid, Paladin, warrior then Hunter. According to the realm pop website. That's for EU tho, For US it's Paladin, druid, hunter, warrior

[@EloquentTroll]

It's the most common class among all characters, but the conversation rate to max level characters is lower than most.

[@IBISMK1]

That is actually really cool how the community responded and fought back. Much love to all you healers out there!

[@Guildelin]

We did our best but sadly our best wasn't enough for many hahaha

[@The_Hylian_Likely]

It probably could've worked if you didnt have other hunters being dicks and purposely spreading it.

[@LordFanor]

It would be amazing if they would recrate that "event" for classic.

[@archvaldor]

Some people never stopped recreating it.....

[@Fr33mx]

They said they might, though they haven't really decided yet.

[@Matsmellwood]

I fondly remember being the one on my server to spread it throughout the Horde....../ Am i a bad person? :D

[@JPLOWMAN2]

I think I still have PTSD from those days 😖

[@RickySpanish12344]

In some ways it's pretty cool... Maybe they should have allowed Alchemists to create potions that make you immune for 2 hours. Or if you die from it, you become immune to it for 48 hours

[@shionrasenka]

I actually did a report on the Blood Plague event for my psychology class in college! It was fascinating!

[@torok4720]

Do you still have a copy? I'd love a read!

[@shionrasenka]

@@torok4720 Unfortunately, I don't, sorry =( But I'm flattered you asked!

[@hitmen99x]

@@shionrasenka I'm currently writing a paper for one of my college classes on how video games can help solve real-world problems... this event didn't hit me until this morning and I think will be the main focus of the paper! This is a great example of how video games can help solve real problems.

[@PacificViceroy]

Anyone else watching this in April 2020 during the Coronavirus Outbreak?

[@taliavanbeelen6162]

May, but yes.

[@JoseAnd97]

July, but yes

[@ShadowViewsOnly]

August, but yes

[@TheArthurkan]

“If I got corrupted blood, I got corrupted blood” “We need to open up the raid” “It is just going to go away” Don’t be a griefer just wear a mask...

[@michaeldonoghue9015]

October, but yes.

[@thetilla124]

By far, the coolest thing that ever happened in wow, seriously

[@DrewPicklesTheDark]

I liked the zombie plague a little more, but what made this one cool was that it was unintentional.

[@thetilla124]

Yah, that was great too, allowing players to spreand it by attacking others, guild had alot of fun with that one

[@joeomalley2596]

A knock-on effect of this was a big economic impact. Money was pretty scarce in Classic. Repair bills could add up quickly.

[@Roamingfirebat]

Joe Omalley very quickly

[@Roamingfirebat]

WoW retail should have more deactivating events like blood plague. It’s fun. I was with people cleansing and healing people. I watched as infected players ran into us and destroy our safe haven. It sucked but was so much fun.

[@CazaliEiben]

And then you have people complaining to Blizzard for loss of their paid time, demanding refund of those "unplayable" days.

[@CL-jq1xs]

And then you have players complaining about repair bills

[@Roamingfirebat]

Repair bills aren’t as bad as it was before.

[@tiffles3890]

@@CL-jq1xs It's virtual currency ffs.

[@CL-jq1xs]

@@tiffles3890 of course it is. What else would it be?

[@justine8398]

I remember this as I was lvl 37 at the time when the blood plaque happened. Another most memorable event like this one was the scourge event to pre-WotLK patch. The LK infected people with a plague turning them into undead for 1 min in the cities but within that min you would bit/attack as many player and non players as you could then you would die. The city was layered with corpses.....good times.

[@Roamingfirebat]

Justin Eual need more events like these

[@ChinchillaDave]

I was one of the aforementioned hunters and I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Still one of my most memorable moments in gaming.

[@zyraw5846]

This event was foreshadowed with the Molten Core Boss: "Baron Geddon". He too could place the "bomb" debuff on a pet, which could be dismissed, and upon resummon would explode inside the Auction House or Bank, killing dozens.

[@Roamingfirebat]

the pet bomb. One time I was at a AH and the next thing I know I’m dead. Even tho I was a victim I laugh like crazy.

[@Crass_Honey_Badger]

While raiding BWL, I set my hearthstone to the inn in Ironforge. If I got the burning adrenaline debuff from Vaelestraz, I would bubble/hearth and swiftness potion right into the IF auction house.

[@yoda0017]

@@Crass_Honey_Badger Interesting that Bubble didn't clear the debuff. I suppose it makes sense, that debuff functioned as a hard enrage timer on the encounter - being able to cheese it via bubble would break the encounter a bit. I love hearing stories about these kinds of unintended interactions.

[@diedaffy]

I really hope they replicate this in classic. An amazing experience

[@CazaliEiben]

There is just the problem that people valuing their time differently, would simply switch to retail WoW, causing it to be a much smaller experience.

[@sarttee]

Arthas : This City Must be Cleansed. Hakkar : Try and Cleanse Azeroth.

[@Ivanus59]

Purged*

[@razplop1110]

Illidan: NONE OF YOU ARE PREPARED !

[@luchesisuzana7643]

Hunter: I just wanted to save my poor doggy!

[@khai96x]

Imperial fleet arrives in orbit and prepares for Exterminatus

[@JordanAndTrazyn]

October 2020. I can't decide if I want to laugh or cry.

[@stormstrider1990]

This incident is also referenced in the lore, except here, the Blood Plague happened thousands of years ago and killed many Zandalari.

[@Icosiol]

“The Fall Of of Azeroth” reminds me of “Attack of the the Eye Creature”

[@rileyleal]

less zippers though

[@Icosiol]

Riley Leal, YES!!! MST3k represent!

[@Boxquests]

And now here we are.

[@borislavpetrov3361]

One of the best vids of 2020 year!

[@shaunmeldrum4302]

Thumbnail title: "The Fall of of Azeroth"

[@PabloEsc666]

Sometimes bugs can make the game more fun than hard-developed content, this was a good example. Of course it depends on how game affecting the bug is.

[@minimumoftwo99]

love this series. The fact that in a number of years I can come back and re-live all of this is great

[@mercs7849]

Heard this story a lot of times, but this is one of the most comprehensive and at the same time condensed looks so far. You have my sincere thanks.

[@nisx2012]

This reminds me of the pre Wotlk release event, probably the best event they created.

[@Iggypox]

Over 12 years of wow playing, that event is still one of the top five coolest things on my list. It was pure FUN.

[@madiis18account]

that would be because the scourge event was based on this

[@boges11]

This and kiting Kazzak into SW are 2 of my fondest memories of Vanilla

[@Crass_Honey_Badger]

I dont remember which green dragon it was prior to AQ release, Lethon, Taerar, etc, but 2 of them had really fun mechanics when kited to Ogrimmar or Stormwind, similar to Kazzak's supreme mode shadowbolt aoe spam that heals on kills

[@DarkCreed]

And the raid on Gamon by a group of level ones.

[@sunburntcasper]

as someone who is relatively new to the game (i started playing around when ToS came out in Legion), i'm really happy that you guys decided to make this series! it's a nice way for me to catch up on how the game worked and how people reacted towards different patches and such. i especially didnt know about this plague! this is super fun to watch and really cool!

[@liamwilson7549]

I want to experience WOTLK prelaunch scourge plague event again.

[@nickolayvlachkov7781]

They re-released this event but this time on a much larger scale

[@haruhisuzumiya6650]

the funny thing is that covid 19 started mere 2 months ago from reupload.

[@Musslewhite]

Watching this during lockdown is funny when he talks about the plague

[@LuanaRola]

Learning about this during covid pandemia is really something else

[@wraithburntheleader7497]

One word: Yes. Best accident ever

[@RB-jf5ww]

I remembered this. It is one of my favorite RP moments. I logged, was in IF where I always logged.... then... dead. WTF!!! Dead!!! Bones everyplace. It was amazing. Sucked at the time but amazing. I was 100% sure it was done by blizzard.

[@Roamingfirebat]

R B same lol

[@AnlStarDestroyer]

We’re role playing this event irl

[@wanderingaceminecraftandmo8034]

The relevance of this has once again arisen greatly

[@Ceiling_Gato]

6:00 lol I did this on my lock, wiped out many uninfected communities. I made the Lich King proud :3

[@disruptive_innovator]

Some men just want to watch the world burn.

[@FairbrookWingates]

Imagine being that hunter and belatedly realizing what you started...

[@luryknadel]

To this day I don't understand why there is no yearly plagueweek event on calender. Would LOVE such an event

[@Roamingfirebat]

Luryk Nadel I would log in every year for that event

[@CazaliEiben]

Because people would complain too much about loss of paid time. Locking down almost the entire game with such stuff is not going to be beneficial in any way.

[@jduncan459]

Cause the snowflake players would cry rivers of tears....

[@CazaliEiben]

@@jduncan459 Especially, if the special snowflakes are the ones who want these events, just so they can get off of harassing others.

[@themightyparthos]

Exactly!! Blizz could even make temporary portal zones (like they do with the DMF) and designate them clean zones with NPC healers. Player who want to cry about a plague could all go there for a week if need be.

[@robertsharp1511]

This event is one of the most interesting events in human history. This event in video game history is just so special. something that happened completely on accident and ended up with so many real world concequences that its truly fascinating.

[@ViewTube_Emperor_of_Mankind]

Bellular and Team, this is really an awesome video!!! Well done!!!

[@Guildelin]

My guild set-up camp outside of IF away from NPCs and we would run to the AH / mail in groups of 5 with at least 4 healers when we needed to make pre-raid purchases. It was a very annoying and frustrating time... but also looking back very fun and funny.

[@alphaxion]

I wish Blizz had taken the same attitude that Kingdom of Loathing had to bugs in that they made content out of it. There should have been some in-game tributes to the event, maybe even a bunch of items that directly reference it.

[@sindraalthewolf9256]

But they did. The pre event to WotLK saw them unleash an undead plague.

[@iitim2152]

This high level healer hid in a tiny unused cave in the night elf starting area... Lol

[@sydniusalminia5364]

This and the baron gheddon bombs were the best things that ever happened in wow

[@charleswinters9567]

Check out the Bloat exploit from the Stormstout Brewery

[@gleadr6869]

I don't remember this happening. Been playing since Dec '04, maybe my server wasn't hit as hard as others. But miss the days of Kazzak coming to SW or myself kiting Teremus around clearing towns out. Great video man, love these History of WoW vids

[@Psychodorf]

you had me with that title, I was like " Wtf has Blizzard done now !?"

[@Roamingfirebat]

Socks lol

[@Psychodorf]

@@Roamingfirebat :D

[@anthonylazz]

weird timing for this to be recommended

[@lookwaticando909]

weird timing for this to have been made

[@JustAnOldPyro]

Oh man this brings back memories, I have co-workers who asked me about World of Warcraft due to them seeing the study on this in their circle of peers in their field of epidemiology... one of which is in his 70s now.

[@chintemur]

So well narrated! Keep this series going! Also for someone who never played on actual blizzard servers it is still fun and interesting, seeing how the retail game had issues but at the same time delivering real lifelike issues. (like in this studying how ppl would react if epidemic would spread) I've played wow since tbc on private server till legion. Even private servers have a good community, we still enjoyed the game with bugs. Private servers do encounter bugs and issues like this and, it just makes the game so much fun, for example a boss would do two or three spells at the same time making the private server players really communicate and tackle spells and maximize the raid potential. Also for private server haters, just don't hate the idea of private server, these servers allow us to enjoy such a great, immersive and community driven game. Just looking back i have a lot of fun memories with so many players i've encountered throughout my journey.

[@srymybad3548]

That is freaking awesome!!! Players having to unite to defeat a plague is what WoW needs!

[@drunkenprayer8390]

Dude I watch all your videos but barely ever comment. This is one of the highest quality videos I've ever seen on The Blood Plague that actually explains it for people that weren't there beyond "Yeah there was a bug and people died." I remember people hiding in remote areas and setting up mini communities just to find out someone else snitched and someone with a pet would turn up and wipe everyone out and that area would be unsafe. It didn't just affect the cities and hardly anyone ever mentions that.

[@lullabychannel5400]

15 years later, curropted blood event happens irl

[@SwagimirPutin]

Things like this are what made the game so good.

[@TheOmegaAlfa]

Watching this again few months later and observing similarities at the beginning of countrywide coronavirus preventive measures. Bellular looks much more rested though than on recent videos. ;)

[@mogshot]

I remembered this from a lowbies perspective. The constant deaths sucked but it was really investing to hear trickles of news in-game. You got to remember it was all word of mouth for most. We didn't have youtube channels to listen to news. You just had the forums and ppl in game. Once the fixes we're implemented it was gone just as quick, but it really made the world alive. This, kzarka attacking stormwind and the AQ invasion really stoodout in my longtime playing WoW. The scourge plague was nice, but these unexpected moments really made it for me.

[@PandaWolf525]

This was such a great time to be alive. And remember that Emergency and Plague Control Groups around the world still use this entire situation as a basis of what would happen if an IRL Plague were to happen. And if a real Plague happened. Something just like this would happen. Some people would help. Others would take advantage. And many would die. Then those lucky would get away and live in the wilderness as long as they need to. But man what a great time to be playing WOW during this. It was so fun.

[@madiis18account]

welp

[@PandaWolf525]

Madeleine H ya...

[@matthewl312]

It was so much fun when it was happening, I remember the refuge communities and ppl being paranoid of getting the debuff. Seeing the barren city's was quite a sight to behold and the amount of dead was something i'll never forget. Nostalgia at it's best :)

[@nealsandy4873]

Thank you so much for doing this series! Lore nerds like me are happy!

[@techguy9062]

Great Video Bellular! I loved this organic event!

[@Anne231154]

I remember. Hakkar one shot my Paladin so many times, then my baby priest trying to "heal and not die" in Stormwind. Then the occurrence was used in medical research on virus epidemiology I believe.

[@MaryKing13]

This was actually really interesting. I had no idea about this original plague, but the zombie invasion during the Lich King launch is still my favorite event of all time.

[@HavocParadox]

watched it yesterday in full. So i am here again to give you another view :) was a good video

[@Moon-el4hv]

Amazing video. I love how you told it like a storyteller using the interactive language of the player, rather than just describing what happened like a newsreader

[@selenamassolini1940]

I remember that I remember hiding out in the middle of nowhere and using hunter tracking while fishing and running every time someone got close... man talk about memories

[@shaunalbert7681]

It’s so infamous even major news sources compared the incident to real life pandemic, thanks Blizzard for the troll

[@deanfaulk2924]

Are we ever going to continue this series? This is what got me into your channel.

[@thearmourboy3254]

Agreed, it's mainly why I keep an eye on the place

[@johnathangolden6288]

oh boy this was one hell of a challenge for my pally back then so much healing

[@themightyparthos]

I had a tree, bloom rolled everyone and I personally saved the world.. Of warcraft.

[@kodybrentzel2554]

Has this series been stopped I mean there's 1.6, a private one then this and it's a been a while I thought it was nice and I was just curious

[@naomif.8254]

Love these series. Thanks Bellular ❤️

[@etikilam]

I actually wrote on the impact of MMORPG's in the real world, with a major focus on the blood plague, to a lesser extent the auction houses of each city before they were made global, for my senior thesis. I still remember my professor rolling her eyes at the topic initially and begrudgingly allowing it. It wasn't a long thesis, just enough to get it done between raids and patches, ending with 98 pages plus the 8 pages for the sources. Thanks for the trip down memory lane 😁🤓

[@crimestick6648]

I remember this; it's stuff like this that made Vanilla special.

[@nab-rk4ob]

Thank you for the in-depth video.

[@dakotaloven1362]

I've heard about this event so many times but knew nothing about it and you went into some crazy details like I thought it was a player who started it not a players pet wow thank you for this information

[@ivandovranic1001]

This is terrific. A series of books should be written about this from the lore point of view, not to mention integrating the entire thing into the mythos. - this coming from non-player, just so you know. But i like a story a lot

[@Tigrion]

this plague and the World Boss Kazzak events was the most unique unintentional events in this game

[@mrsanity]

I was part of the damage control team basically spamming cure disease on as many as possible for the brief period my work schedule allowed and we had the plague on my server. We used the Deeprun Tram as the safe zone, with hunters and warlocks isolated until they had summoned all their pets to be cleansed :)

[@mike.delia26]

If only something remotely interesting and fun like this could happen in modern WoW.

[@Trygvar13]

I remember that. And it was actual interesting. Not fun but interesting. It made the world feel alive.

[@Roamingfirebat]

Patrick Marchand good times.

[@elchugilito]

Covid 19 brought me back to history

[@thedorsetbumpkin]

And fast forward to 2020, the world is gripped in an actual global epidemic ... could Azeroth have been giving us a warning? Was it perhaps prophecy from a High Priestess of the moon?

[@masterbonesly3640]

Just a great video outstanding job Bellular team!

[@AuthorWorldbuilder]

I kinda hope they let this happen again when the raid is released in Classic.

[@AVigortsson]

Oh I remember this event! And also kinda cool that a plague in a game actually had some use for medical purposes IRL :)

[@potcupcake]

This was great. Can’t wait for more!

[@Spankey360]

was very glad to see them bring it back as the scourge plague in pre-wrath launch :)

[@samxsappo]

I'm laughing so hard at "the response" recap! Couldn't have recalled it any better myself.

[@Troopertroll]

I loved this one (saw it before it was taken down lol). I really hope you guys cover the Menethil Harbor Holdout on Emerald Dream during the WotLK launch event! All the big RP and PvP guilds defended lowbies hiding in the fortress for weeks.

[@DeagleGamesTV]

Any links to relevent videos of that? sounds interesting but i couldn't find anything myself :/

[@Roamingfirebat]

I remember that awesome time

[@piediddly]

WoW Players: We'll just cleanse this blood plague & it'll be fine. Zoonotic Plague: I'm about to end Azeroth's career. =P I missed this event when it happened, but some of my favorite memories in-game, are from the Scourge Invasion. That was SO much fun! If Blizz decides to bring this event back in Classic, I will be sure to participate this time around.

[@EclecticianG]

Very informative, well researched!

[@MMT399561]

Dude, with Covid going on, this is incredibly ironic.

[@sejannus877]

Excellent formating

[@WadeAllen001]

I really hope they recreate this intentionally for classic, if only for a week. Especially if they say they won't. It would take everyone by surprise again.

[@DagothDaddy]

I remember leveling and we just see this Orc running at us and it becomes like the bomb scene in helms deep with everyone trying to kill him before he gets to close to spread it to us

[@84jesterx]

It's funny that a blood-plague bug did more actual damage to players than a Scourge or Burning Crusade invasion based expansion. Hell, Deathwing wished he had this power to inflict.