OwnedCore Report #123 - Interview With a Top WoW Exploiter >Sponsored by RPGStash<

[Kenneth]

We have interviewed the man before and this probably won't be the last. Advanta has made time to answer a bunch of questions going over some of his most recent exploits and what he thinks about exploiting TBC whenever that relaunches. On top of this we have some WoW news including PvP vendor in Shadowlands not being well designed + a free mount vote!

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Interview with Advanta

Let's talk Classic first and foremost. As somebody who breaks World of Warcraft for a living was Classic something you were able to monetize now that we're approaching its 1 year anniversary?

Initially I was doing quite a bit of classic content on my patreon and there was some blowback from retail loyalists, as well as support from classic afficianados. Classic content is really tough to come up with though-there's just not enough content compared to retail and it takes a lot longer to test stuff. Since January I had a massive amount of extra sign-ups because of a retail video and interest in classic seems to have died away. I'll always publish anything interesting I can discover with classic but it seems that in general the exploit community has largely drained the swamp-there are probably still secrets to uncover but they are well hidden.

Did you expect to be able to break Classic more or less than what you did?

It was pretty much exactly what I expected. You can calculate the expected number of exploits to be found in a given game as a function of its complexity, and classic is just less complex than retail. I think people were expecting more because exploits from the original classic era had a much higher media profile than in retail later.

Do you think Burning Crusade will be next up after what you have seen Classic accomplish?

I thought it was confirmed? I'd be very surprised if they don't do BC and then wrath. It is just money trees.

If Burning Crusade does come out again is that something you will dabble in as far as guides/exploits?

Definitely. BC has more of the core mechanics I use for exploiting in retail with fewer countermeasures.

Very interesting. I know this is a big ask but could you go into a bit more detail?


It wouldn't be in the interest of either me or ownedcore to go into too much detail here, but if you look at my most successful exploits you'll see the plays are disproportionately based around mobs, buffs and class abilities that were introduced in BC. I'm a little concerned that Blizzard may have someone competent when dealing with exploits on their classic team now-there are some broken things I was expecting to re-emerge during ahn'qiraj which didn't - so I'm being more reticent than usual.

Is it good for retail WoW that these old expansions are doing so well?

I think so. I think they complement each other.

Speaking of retail, a lot has happened since we last spoke. One that jumps to mind is just 8.3. In your mind was 8.3, a patch with all of its unbalances, something you were able to find a lot of success in as far as guides and exploits?

I felt like they designed this patch for Rextroy. It just seemed perfect for someone who wants to go to extraordinary lengths to one-shot raid bosses or multiple players in world. To me all that stuff was fascinating but less interesting from a commercial point of view because you can't really monetize that stuff cool as it is-most people just haven't got the time to grind up multiple corruptions. We did have a truly fantastic couple of months on patreon in 8.3 due to some major gold farming glitches, but it was legacy content we were exploiting.

From your perspective has Blizzard made it harder or easier to break the game as of late?

Easier. Much easier.

Has the inflation of currency in WoW diminish the craving for gold making exploits and guides in retail?

No. In fact I think the brutosaur and its imminent demise made demand for gold making exploits much higher.

Speaking of currency. What are your thoughts on the Gallywix community shutdown ?

I think Blizzard should probably stop interfering with people who are providing a service people want to their game.


Shadowlands is coming. Any guesses on when it will be released?


Generally these things take longer than any one expects, but its any one's guess.

Have you dabbled with the PTR?

Yeah I got into beta last week-which never happened before. This was my account-surprised Blizzard allowed me in there. I found it a bit underwhelming to be honest. I will probably do very little there in case I tip Blizzard off somehow.

The new leveling system seems to be one of the biggest changes to WoW in a very long time. From the perspective of a casual exploiter it seems like all of this experience tuning could be something super abusable. Am I wrong for assuming this?

You must remember that leveling is in the most broken state I can remember ever. For the last few months its been possible to level up in 2 hours or less using various exploits. They nerfed some of that but not all of it. So I can't imagine it get much better from an exploiter's point of view. That said it does look like they haven't learned much from bfa and are continuing to use lazy-arsed algorithmic solutions to problems that aren't really reducible to a formula, so I expect a ton of shit to be very exploitable.

What are some red flags you have if any at all with what you've seen with Shadowlands?

It probably wouldn't be wise to go into too much detail here but the covenant stuff looks like a series of disasters waiting to happen. Torghast looks very interesting. But with all xpacs the best exploits come with the neglected legacy content and how the systemic changes affect all that stuff-its something Blizzard have never done properly.

What would you consider your biggest exploit to date in BFA (Fixed or Not) and why?

Biggest exploit I came up with personally was a one-shot technique for mages early in BFA. You spellstealed certain specific blood elf mobs who had a fire shield which increased fire dps - the scaling on the ability was messed up by the BFA stat squish, and you can stack them. You could do over one billion damage. I was REALLY tempted to make a vid of me one-shotting all the raid bosses in current content. Rextroy is getting a ton of hits with that type of thing at the moment-it does significantly grow your youtube presence. But I figured I had to make something that good exclusive to my patreons - if you make a play like that public it gets hotfixed pretty quick and doesn't give much value to any one.

Do you have any big exploits in the works that we should keep our eyes open for?

New expansions are very exciting for exploiters. There will likely be dupes, major damage glitches etc. I have some ideas, yes, but it would be unwise to reveal too much at this stage


Let's back up from WoW for a second and just talk future. Games like New World and Ashes of Creation as far as MMORPG's go are on the horizon. Is it in the cards that you ever dabble in other games and expand the business past World of Warcraft?

Yes. Problem is time. It is possible if it as good as we all hope that Ashes attracts a significant amount of interest from wow players and I can justify doing the odd video. But exploiting wow retail/classic is a full time job in itself, so I can only do so much. I'm not complaining at all, I loove doing this, but I already work a lot more than most people and there are only so many hours in a day.

Are MMORPG's the king when it comes to communities wanting to break or exploit the game on a consistent basis for an edge?

I'm not sure there is any one with sufficient knowledge of multiple games to answer that question. For example, breaking wow doesn't give you much of an edge when learning how to break, say, fortnite, its a fundamentally different game requiring a different mindset. My guess would be that since the number of exploits in a given game is a function of its complexity that MMORPG's are the most breakable of games generally.



PvP is something that has been adjusted a lot since Legion. First the addition of scaling and removal of gear. Then they added gear back but kept the scaling leaving major imbalances. In Shadowlands many PvPers were very hyped at the thought of PvP gear coming back in its old form like Wrath, MoP, WoD, and many old expansions. But it turns out they still found a way to make it terribly imbalanced and not rewarding. The video above goes over this in great detail.




Blizzard is adding a mount of our choice! It is our time to vote for this unmade and free mount. Here are our options.

Wandering Ancient – Not all ancients are interested in war or lore, some just want to travel the world! A large and leafy mount, the Wandering Ancient invites you to climb aboard and grab ahold of its branches as you embark on a lumbering expedition.

Soaring Spelltome – In the forgotten depths of the Dalaran library, this oversized tome was found flapping madly around the room. Open the pages of this arcane-infused book and hitch a ride to magical adventure.

Nerubian Swarmer – When the Helm of Domination shattered, the Nerubians under the control of the Lich King were unleashed. Some were captured by the Argent Crusade and turned by their allies in the Ebon Blade. Now their spidery claws are put to use as mounts, skittering through the frozen tundra of Icecrown in pursuit of the rampaging undead.

Curious Caterpillar – A curious caterpillar found its way to the Heartland in Valley of the Four Winds one night and gorged itself on the oversized vegetables. The Pandaren of Halfhill awoke the next morning to find the crops half-eaten and an enormous, slumbering caterpillar among them. Too large to become a butterfly, this friendly worm is just the right size to train as a mount.

Gooey Slimesaber – From the slime pools of Plaguefall emerged all manner of jellied creature, including this sticky kitty. A slimy saber cat that’s dripping with ooze, it’s the kind of mount that you’re going to want to wear gloves for.

Votes can be submitted HERE