GM Malpractice, The Hand of Ragnaros, and Meatgrinder

[Kestrel]

This is a situation we had prepared for, but hoped would never happen.

We onboarded a new GM, Bushdoctor, on June 3rd. They were given the usual GM onboarding documents which include instructions on how they should interact with the community, explanations of our internal auditing procedures and policies, an explanation of our GM tooling/dashboard, and instructions to report anytime you need to use a command that may call into question what was happening.

Our internal auditing runs every 3 days to ensure things are clean, and is run manually more frequently after onboarding new GMs. Our last GM audit ran clean on June 6th and we went back to the 3 day audit schedule. Shortly after that last audit ran, Bushdoctor began to act much more generously (we use the word generously because it is accurate, not as a judgement positive or negative) towards players. In total the following items/gold where given out over the course of 48 hours.

Sulfuron Ingot x 5
Arcanite Bar x 10
Ironfoe x 1
Zebra x1
Blindweed x1
17.5g across 3 players

After reviewing the chat logs, all but one of these players were naive, their items/gold/mount have been removed. The Hand of Ragnaros that was crafted with these materials (along with the title) was also removed.

One of these players was not naive, Meatgrinder. This player knew what they were doing, requested the materials, crafted the hammer, then lied about it to the community and GM's. We have issued a 7 day ban on the account that owns Meatgrinder, and will not be restoring any materials used to craft the hammer (potentially a permanent ban, barring internal discussions and community feedback). Please find some of the relevant chat logs below.


*Originating Incident*
2026-06-08 09:50:10 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : I've got the Orange Eyes, but I'm short on materials. It's really frustrating
2026-06-08 10:03:51 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : I need iron ingots to craft the Sulfuron Hammer, and they're so hard to get.
2026-06-08 10:04:03 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : Realy?
2026-06-08 10:10:48 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : GM, could you spare some Sulfuron Ingots for me?
2026-06-08 10:11:04 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : How much ya need?
2026-06-08 10:11:39 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Six please
2026-06-08 10:12:00 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : I need six of them to finish crafting the Sulfuron Hammer.
2026-06-08 10:12:49 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Thanks! But I still need five more to make it.
2026-06-08 10:13:39 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Only one left.
2026-06-08 10:14:16 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Thanks a lot! Just one more and I'll be all set.
2026-06-08 10:14:26 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : Ill check in next week <3
2026-06-08 10:14:47 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : Take ya time with it. I could also get in a little trouble.
2026-06-08 10:15:01 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Thank you! I won't tell anyone.
2026-06-08 10:16:08 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Thank you. I won't mention this to anyone.

...

2026-06-09 04:00:02 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : hi
2026-06-09 04:00:50 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : What be good me bruddah!
2026-06-09 04:01:57 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : I only need 20 more Arcanite Bars to craft the Sulfuron Hammer.
2026-06-09 04:02:21 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : I believe in ya mon. This for the last bar?
2026-06-09 04:02:41 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : yes
2026-06-09 04:03:04 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : Niiice. are the nodes toublesome?
2026-06-09 04:03:07 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Could you help me?
2026-06-09 04:03:59 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : I gotta be careful with what I be doing too much of. Them beyond the Titans have access to the commands i use.
2026-06-09 04:04:22 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : you trying to farm arcanite nodes?
2026-06-09 04:04:34 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Could you give me ten?
2026-06-09 04:05:18 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : 10 Arcanite Bars
2026-06-09 04:07:06 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : I haven't found a single Dark Iron Ore today. What a bummer.
2026-06-09 04:07:15 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : I neva know which Loa could be watching...
2026-06-09 04:07:49 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Thanks a lot, buddy!
2026-06-09 04:07:54 [Whisp] Bushdoctor -> Meatgrinder : Ya bravery for this realm will be rewarded~
2026-06-09 05:35:52 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushdoctor : Buddy, got some bad news. All Arcanite Bars in the auction house have been bought up by our guild members. I only need two more to make the Sulfuron Hammer!

*Not realizing chat logs exist, conspiring to keep it a secret with the now removed GM*
2026-06-10 02:31:54 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushburna Hello GM, my Orange Hammer is missing!
...
2026-06-10 03:42:52 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushburna : You gave me 5 Sulfuron Ingots, which was exactly the final material I needed to craft the Orange Hammer! When I logged in today, my Orange Hammer was gone — I immediately knew it had been deleted.
2026-06-10 03:43:44 [Whisp] Bushburna -> Meatgrinder : Daaaaang bro thats rough. Yeah you can attempt to make the appeal. Sorry that it came down like that.
2026-06-10 03:44:00 [Whisp] Bushburna -> Meatgrinder : Like I said bro. Its out of my hands
2026-06-10 03:44:11 [Whisp] Bushburna -> Meatgrinder : Bushdoctor is no longer
2026-06-10 03:45:18 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushburna : Can I get my Orange Eye and all other materials back? Or is there really no hope for my Orange Hammer anymore?
2026-06-10 03:45:40 [Whisp] Bushburna -> Meatgrinder : You need to make the appeal with the GMs and Devs. I got fired bro
2026-06-10 03:45:52 [Whisp] Bushburna -> Meatgrinder : Thats what Ive been saying

*Trying to defend himself in public /s chat*
2026-06-10 04:40:54 [Say] Meatgrinder : We already had 3 Sulfuron Ingots ourselves. The other 5 Sulfuron Ingots and related materials were all purchased from a Warrior and a Shaman whose name starts with B, at 400g per Ingot. The deal also included 10 Lava Cores for 20g each. I was really happy
...
2026-06-10 04:44:12 [Say] Meatgrinder: That Shaman whose name starts with B sold me 5 Sulfuron Ingots for 400g each (2000g total), plus 9 Lava Cores for 180g. All of this gold was pooled for me by the Hunters, Mages and Warriors in my guild.

*Made a ticket about the hammer*
2026-06-10 06:52:18 [Whisp] Valette -> Meatgrinder : Hi again Meatgrinder, we are aware that Bushdocta gave you some of the materials, so a convoluted explaination of material sourcing is not required. Kestrel will reach out within the next day to give you some more information.


2026-06-10 09:57:53 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushburna : Bro, here's my plan. Tomorrow I'll tell the GM straight up we had a 1v1 duel and you lost. Then I'll admit I asked you for the materials and you gave them to me.
2026-06-10 09:57:59 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushburna : I hope he only takes away five Sulfuron Ingots and returns the rest of the materials. That way I'll lose the least.
2026-06-10 09:58:41 [Whisp] Bushburna -> Meatgrinder : Im praying to the most high for the best outcome.
2026-06-10 09:58:43 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushburna : Just come clean.
2026-06-10 09:59:40 [Whisp] Meatgrinder -> Bushburna : I don't think they'll give me another legendary hammer, judging by how your admins handle things.
2026-06-10 10:00:06 [Whisp] Bushburna -> Meatgrinder : lololol probably not xD

For those of you that have questions you feel the community deserves and answer to, feel free to ask below and I will do my best to answer. For those of you that have other questions, feel free to bring them to the Fireside chat this Sunday where I will be happy to offer my personal perspective on the situation where I can.

[Darktifa]

Sorry for what I ll write
But new GM's should pass an IQ test before accepting them

[Raerity]

Why only 7 day ban?

[Snack]

Why is this only a 7 day ban? You guys need to make an example of this situation.

The player who's begging a GM for items, knowing how wrong it is, is just as guilty as the GM who's giving them the items.

[Ziggler]

One week??? what a joke

[Witchysofia]

Why only 7 day ban?

Why is this only a 7 day ban? You guys need to make an example of this situation.

The player who's begging a GM for items, knowing how wrong it is, is just as guilty as the GM who's giving them the items.

Agree, why only 7 days? While I'm happy with the transparency, it should honestly be a permaban, no excuses for that behavior.

Also, if I might suggest anything Kestrel, when possible I think you guys should make this auditing script output publicly avaiable somewhere on the website. At least the part that involves item, gold and octotokens creation/trading by GMs.

This would show you're committed to being transparent and avoiding any kind of favoritism or RMT done by GMs, and also signal to any new joining GMs that they aren't free to do shady stuff, because the community will be looking at everything they do regarding items/gold/octotokens.

[Voodoo]

7 day ban is only encouraging cheating, not dissuading it. Absolutely crazy and short-sighted. Not to mention they let somebody GM that obviously has very little game knowledge. If they don't rethink this they are killing the server before it even truly gets started.

With leaked code running around it's not what you do with TWOW it's how you manage it, and this is their second swing and miss.

[Swift]

Unacceptable that he only gets a week long ban after such an insane slip from the staff at large.

This guild had a member who then applied and was accepted as a GM.

This GM saved them a minimum of 5 weeks by giving items to create one of the most coveted items in the game.

And all this player gets is 1 week off!?

His account should be banned or his character (Meatgrinder) should be deleted. Nothing short of that is acceptable.

Don't lose the good will you guys have now by making such a bad call.

This is now two GMs that have slipped in and caused issues. Wolfe and Bushdoctor. You need to make an example here.

[Kestrel]

We felt it appropriate given they are also loosing thousands of gold worth of legitimately acquired items along with an extremely rare drop in the Eye of Ragnaros. Internally we felt it should be longer but where worried that was coming from a place of bias given we view this as a failing on our part. I am sure the team would be happy to consider something more if the community is in agreement on how it should be handled. No promises but we will discuss internally about it.

[Swift]

I would also like to add that the GM (Bushdoctor) was known to come into people's dungeons and res them mid fight.

He did this in a Levia UBRS and we had to stop pulling until we made him stop interfering with us.

Check our logs if you want to see what we typed to him.

I'm sure he did more in PANDA's MC. I highly doubt any of their kills are worth anything.