Super Spreader Debuff from Brackenhide Hollow Now Hotfixed

On the Moon Guard realm, a catastrophic incident occurred with an infectious debuff from a dungeon being released into the server for a couple of hours, but it has now been fixed.

What Happened?

Near the end of the Brackenhide Hollow dungeon, Vile Rothexer casts Withering Contagion on a player. When this player steps on top of any other player, the debuff spreads to them as well. Whether intentional or by accident, a Brackenhide Hollow debuff escaped quarantine and made its way out of the instance on the Moon Guard realm.

Withering Contagion
Unlimited range — 3 sec cast

Inflicts 43,218 nature damage and a disease that reduces damage done by 20% and inflicts 40,532 Nature damage every 1.5 sec. for 15 sec to all players within 5 yards of the target. The disease spreads to players within 5 yards.

Because of how long this debuff lasts, it caused quite the super-spreader event on Moon Guard for multiple hours. This debuff was spreading its way across both Silvermoon and Stormwind, in addition to the Goldshire Inn. As this is a high-level debuff from Brackenhide Hollow, any low-level players were quickly slain, and other players were able to spread the debuff quickly.

Many players took pictures of the "event" and posted to Reddit and also on social media as well.

The bug now appears to have been hotfixed as of 3:51 PM Pacific Time.

Corrupted Blood Incident 2.0

Players may remember the old Corrupted Blood incident where Hakkar's Corrupted Blood mechanic spread a deadly plague to players and pets. This plague was intended to be kept within the instance, but it could be contracted by pets who retained the Corrupted Blood debuff when they were dismissed. When they were summoned outside the instance, those little fluffies started spreading Corrupted Blood to the population at large.

Player characters and pets would contract the plague, spread it to others, and many would die. NPC characters became asymptomatic carriers, contracting and spreading the plague, but not dying. Although player characters can rez, they'd just recontract the plague as soon as they came into contact with carriers.

This happened again in 2024 with Corrupted Blood during Season of Discovery.

While Withering Contagion doesn't seem to be as infectious, it still very much caused quite the event on the Moon Guard servers today.