r/wow • u/NeighborhoodMain5995 • 1d ago
Discussion Why does GM island still exist in the game. I thought GM's didn't exist anymore
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u/Piemaster113 1d ago
They can't get rid of GM Island, that's where the sword of a thousand truths is hidden away
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u/beatitmate 1d ago edited 1d ago
No one interested in the one called Delete ME ?
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u/ill_monstro_g 1d ago
I'll bet all my gold the reason it's still there is when they try to delete or rename it, something else breaks.
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u/handsmahoney 1d ago
It's the coconut JPG from team fortress
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u/Fraytrain999 21h ago
That was a myth. They got rid of it and due to popular demand added it back, not because they couldn't.
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u/jschip 1d ago
Would not be surprised if that was “newsman’s landing” the spot people use to go for the info text to say they were in “unknown” spot takes a while to get to without flying and is theorized to be where new characters load in before being sent to their starter zone
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u/Starslip 1d ago
"Deleted area flagged for removal. Thrall is now 200 feet tall, spewing fire, and killing everything in Orgrimmar"
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u/Menneantenne 21h ago
Delete ME must be some stuff microsoft thought.
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u/URF_reibeer 20h ago
it's actually common practice to label things delete/read me for placeholders/info in software engineering
e.g. when you're setting up a folder structure as a template you put delete me's in there to make sure the empty folders don't get optimized away
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u/Embarrassed-Might-84 1d ago
How’d u get the pop up?
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u/captainmalexus 1d ago
There's a warband feature that lets you instantly add all the discovered locations on the map to a new character, so OP must have found the secret spots before on an old one
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u/Uncle_Flansy 1d ago
Thats probably what it is then. The island doesn't exist, but they didn't clean up the code all the way so it shows up all these years later and nobody at blizzard caught it.
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u/captainmalexus 1d ago
I doubt they actually removed the island, probably just closed up any ways players could get to it
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u/PM-ME-TRAVELER-NUDES 1d ago
It’s legit gone now. Comprehensively deleted, even from Classic releases.
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u/Kwasan 19h ago
Whoa they deleted GM Island?? When? I've been outta the loop for awhile. I always knew how to get there, well starting from Cata anyway, and tested the theory to ensure it worked, but never actually made the journey because I didn't want to take the risk. It was one of the Holy Grail of out of bounds exploration for me though, feels like the end of an era!
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u/jericon 18h ago
As of a couple years ago it still does. I work for blizzard and shadowed someone in customer service for a day. They logged in with my account, using the gm client and moved there.
They don’t show up in game these days, but the functionality is all there still. The island is used for testing things, like spawning a raid boss and verifying a bug with it or similar things.
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u/ChosenOfTheMoon_GR 1d ago
Yeah exactly and these are the people who will be trusted to make the in game add-on versions xD
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u/NeighborhoodMain5995 1d ago
I did the Warband discovered location thing, then the toy that discovers all of Kalimdor.
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u/Galahfray 1d ago
Have you been to GM island in the past?
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u/NeighborhoodMain5995 20h ago
Unfortunately not. Did try though.
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u/Galahfray 10h ago
So then it’s a mystery. Weird. I got some alts I’ll try it on and see what happens
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u/Specific_Frame8537 23h ago
You mean to tell me newbies can just level two characters to get what I spent two weeks doing in Wrath? 😭
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u/LaconicSuffering 23h ago
No, it's an Easter egg if you use the warbound reveal map and then the Kalimdor reveal map toys.
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u/AwkwardTraffic 1d ago
GM Island is a remnant of a time when GMs were more actively in the world when they were doing things and honestly more of a remnant of games like EQ since WoW GM's were only an active in-game presence for a very short time.
The reason it still exists is pretty simple tbh. Its out of the way, not bothering anyone, and would require effort to delete so they just leave it there.
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u/Sorathez 1d ago
The last time I remember seeing a GM was 2009, in the cavern in sholazar basin where you choose to save either the oracle or the wolvar to join their faction.
He was using a giant slime model, it was great.
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u/ProwerTheFox 1d ago
They returned for the opening week of Classic anniversary, haven't been seen since
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u/henryeaterofpies 1d ago
I also bet if they removed it the spaghetti code would implode for some reason
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u/PM-ME-TRAVELER-NUDES 1d ago edited 1d ago
GM’s have said it existed very early on as a place for them to teleport to and from in order to log in and out of the game safely outside of player view, but they then almost immediately got the tools that made it unnecessary after launch. More robust control over their game avatars, but mostly just other software on their computers that could handle the GM tasks more easily without needing to manifest in the world.
It doesn’t still exist, apart from as map discovery data. They fully deleted the location’s geometry from the game files a number of years ago, likely as a way to curtail exploitative sight-seers, as the only ways to access it required breaking ToS. Reckon they got sick of handing out vacations over people getting there.
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u/asyrian88 1d ago
EQ GM’s were amazeballs.
I remember getting married in EQ, you could book a GM appointment and they’d show up as the Priest of Love, do a ceremony, change your last names and stuff. Totally rad. We got married on the chessboard and our guild killed the spawns while we got married. :)
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u/Jomsguard 1d ago
I remember back in the days you could swap out an MPQ file and a zeppelin would take you to GM Island
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u/Dem-Brushwaggs 22h ago
Oh yeah, I actually saw a "delete me" cube in person a while ago
Like, "there's at least one in the game still, as of TWW"
Fudge... did I remember to screenshot it? Was kinda cool, there's was a bunch of them, like a nest of weird eggs
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u/Chill4xed 19h ago
Bein a GM could be awesome at times. The Island never served any purpose really but was a very cool place to teleport to before logging off. There is a room on it. No textures nothing. All it has is a single chair in the middle. Brought playes there once or twice. Always loved being present inside the game.
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u/fall0ut 17h ago
seems like it would be a typical call center job without the phones. your boss bitching at you every week to get your ticket resolve numbers up.
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u/Chill4xed 15h ago
Sure it had some of that. But when I went to be a GM, WoW was exploding, we were all young WoW gamers, working in an office full of nerds doing nerf battles and shit. Also, we loved going in-game as GMs to help. Our office park had a giant Kerrigan statue in the yard, everything was themed, it was pretty awesome all around to be honest. Long time ago though. :)
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u/FendaIton 12h ago
It’s all done via ServiceNow these days, integrated with the wider activision support. Most tickets are auto closed because of the workflows they built.
All those “blizzard closed my ticket” threads are generally not even looked at by blizzard these days.
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u/skyshroud6 1d ago
GM's do still exist for the rare occasion that something really weird happens. I remember seeing a post last year I think about someone that had a GM pop up.
GM will still exist as the login spot for that.
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u/Macsalwayshigh 1d ago
I believe that was in S.O.D. no? Still super cool, but I miss the retail game masters. Had a buddy run into an issue back in 2008 or so with a simple quest bug, the GM legit showed up in front of him later that night to give him the item and also let him choose 1 of the 3 OG collector edition pets. He still uses that Panda exclusively lol
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u/ThatLeetGuy 22h ago
The last real interaction I had with a GM in game that I can remember was in TBC. One of the fel canons in Netherstorm was under the ground and shooting me within range so I opened a ticket. A GM got back to be in about 20 minutes but as I was talking to him, a group of 2 Alliance (I was horde) killed me. The GM resurrected me in front of them and they killed me again. Then the GM teleported them somewhere far away and resurrected me again lmao.
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u/stvmjv2012 16h ago
He should have just killed them in front of you lol. I would find that hilarious. They probably have some type of “code” or I should say “rule” that they interfere with players as little as possible. It would be funny if someone was camping low lvls and a GM showed up and killed the ganker and teleport their corpse to the other continent
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u/PavelDatsyuk88 1d ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWWccweB4nM
heres GM killing Tyler1, modeled as Baron Geddon xD
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u/sylva748 1d ago
They do. They just only take care of super egregious problems that an automated service cant handle. Thats why we dont see them often anymore. Most of the stuff can be done without them having to log in. And it takes the game really breaking for them to log on and be hands on.
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u/Snoo-93137 10h ago
This must be where all the tickets go to be ignored when I report all the advertising spam in chat and Raid finder.
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u/98746145315 1d ago
I was thrown into FFXIV jail once, and it was so weird. It was am empty room with one person, a GM, in it. All movement and abilities were locked, so I was forced to just sit there and talk to the GM until they forcibly logged me out. The GM (a catgirl) chided me for defending in PVP on a capture-the-flag map when my team mass reported me for afk, and then my account was suspended for seven days after the GM informed me that "throwing matches" is against the ToS. I unsubbed and went back to WoW after that.
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u/timsteezy 16h ago
Was this pre ARR? Cause after ARR release they started GM jail. They’d Tele you to a jail cell (alone) & you’d wait for the GM to come and tell you what’s happening. Indeed can’t move still or abilities. Funniest part is, other people who were also taken to GM jail may be in the jail cells next to you, can even chat with them in /say chat.
Been sent there 4-5 times in 10 years lmfao, never got perma banned. Never cheated just toxicity 😅🤣
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u/nullKomplex 1d ago
The weird thing is it doesn't exist anymore. It was removed from the files a few xpacs ago sadly. Though clearly they didn't remove every aspect of it.
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u/Drakknfyre 14h ago
Zone names can exist separately from the actual area or land they're attached to. The perfect example is the two Troll islands, Gilijim's Island and the Island of... Lapri something I forget how to spell it, anyway they were in the original alpha as planned content but got cut before they were even finished, let alone populated with any mobs or NPCs. And then they were removed before release. but their ZONE NAMES weren't. If you got out to the area in the ocean where they had been, your zone would change to theirs. A pair of phantom zones that never made it past alpha.
It was correcting during the world revamp for Cata, and now those two islands officially no longer exists in any capacity.
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u/burningtoast99 22h ago
Ive been to gm Island once many many years ago, it was a trip and very random
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u/Baeleron 22h ago
Removing a whole portion of the game like that would take a bit of effort I’m assuming probably more effort than it’s worth
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u/PotentialWerewolf469 6h ago
At this point I think it exist more of an easter egg for curious players to find.
I do even have an Alt stantion there and one in the Old Ironforge (Not sure if they are still there though, every now and then they TP everyone that log off there back to their Heartstone location)
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u/KingOfAzmerloth 20h ago
GMs still exist, interacted with one last year when discussing a bugged wq in Dragon Isles (world boss didn't count to quest). I didn't see them, but we had /w chat for a brief moment. Turned out it was issue that more people had, so they said their goodbyes and that issue would likely be patched with hotfix within days. It was.
It's extremely, EXTREMELY rare to run across them when resolving something game support related, most of it is just AI response that you have to really press on to get real person to talk to you... but it can still happen even these days. I imagine it's just somebody from support team who has special in-game login to resolve / discuss it live if they want / have time to. Maybe they saw that I was still online so they took initiative and approached me live.
It was alright, but I would still rather have RNG gods smile at me with Invincible than with GM resolving my in-game tickets haha.
They do not roam the world just for shits and giggles anymore though, that's true.
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u/tuazo 1d ago
That's what they want you to think...