WOW: Lich King sees its first level 80

By Oli Welsh Published 14 November, 2008

French player Nymh does it in 27 hours.

World of Warcraft has its first official level 80 on live servers: Nymh, a warlock on the European French-language server Drek'thar.

The anonymous player achieved the feat 27 hours after the European servers for the new expansion Wrath of the Lich King went online, according to an interview on MMO Champion.

The mystery levelling maestro is 21 years old and used to lead a raiding guild.

Nymh spent those 27 hours incessantly grinding monsters in a single crypt in the Grizzly Hills area, where the respawn rate is fast and the monsters are neutral, thus reducing danger and downtime. Nymh was kept alive by a healer throughout the process (but not in the same party, so Nymh kept all the XP).

Sounds fun.

Apparently Nymh beat a paladin called Darus to level 80. Darus was suspended by Blizzard at level 79 and eventually bumped back to level 70 after being found to be using an exploit.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (71) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • iokthemonkey #1 4 years ago

    FIRST!

    Hehe.

  • Dizzy #2 4 years ago

    No Nymh was first you monkey!

  • allywidd #3 4 years ago

    Darus --- Guted mate, spending all that time and then getting shafted back to 70.

  • Darkedge #4 4 years ago

    Sad sad person, must have a pretty empty life that getting to level 80 in WoW has that much importance to you to organise that sort of thing.
    Or
    WoW now that is dedication!

  • Steroyd #5 4 years ago

    Haha there was a news article on BBC news yesterday about gaming being an addiction and WOW was the example.

    *shakes head*

  • TurboBailey #6 4 years ago

    Make Love not Warcraft


    MORE HOTPOCKETS!

  • Inquisitor #7 4 years ago

    So what is the Secret of Nymh?
    Edited by Inquisitor at 14/11/08 @ 12:58

  • iokthemonkey #8 4 years ago

    But what is the Secret of Nymh?
    ---

    Good one.

    I'm looking forward to The Sun's "Nymh-phomania!" headline myself...

  • Nallen #9 4 years ago

    Stop posting this shit.

  • mashk #10 4 years ago

    In layman's terms please.

  • DFawkes #11 4 years ago

    In laymans terms, some ultra geek played popular video game World of Warcraft almost constantly for 27 hours, fouling themselves several times in the process, in order to have a number that represents how much they've playing incremented up to the maximum 80.

    I couldn't do that myself - spend money on a lovely new expansion then plow into it that much I'd be fed up and never touch it again.

  • Cronan #12 4 years ago

    Deeply, deeply sad. And I say that as a passionate gamer.

  • RedSparrows #13 4 years ago

    I think the story of Darus is far more interesting. The little leveller that...cheated and got screwed, ahahaha.

    One of the joys of WoW is exploring and seeing stuff. Nymh is the antithesis of that, eurgh.
    Edited by RedSparrows at 14/11/08 @ 13:13

  • Apologie #14 4 years ago

    WoW is really scary men... i see lots of teenagers and adults literally bruning enourmous amount of time with such a pointless/souless thing as a video game, they dont hang out with friends anymore, and stay at home hour after hour killing virtual monsters just to get one more point in armor etc...... really sad, i like video games, play everythng but these guy's are just sad.
    Edited by Apologie at 14/11/08 @ 13:17

  • jhs8swd #15 4 years ago

    For me half of the fun of WOW is levelling, exploring new areas, getting involved in the little sub-plots that are littered around - the concept of spending hours grinding in exactly the same spot sounds really un-fun. I remember the slight sense of deflation the first time I hit level 60 on my first char and the XP bar disappeared...

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #16 4 years ago

    iokthemonkey

    I see what you did there! he he!

  • The_Inquisitor #17 4 years ago

    Sad really.

  • rarebit #18 4 years ago

    total nerdfest. good god 27 hours in the same area, sacred blue.

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #19 4 years ago

    I suppose it is sad, I for one don't get WOW, can't be arsed, but if you look at some of the real world exploits that pass for world records its not surprising you get people doing this sort of thing just to be recorded in history for something. Darus must be gutted! Ha ha!

  • Benno #20 4 years ago

    god that must have been so damn boring

  • hula hoops #21 4 years ago

    @RedSparrows:

    True, one of the joys is that but there are many other joys to be had.

    MMORPG is a place where people can brag about their in-game achievements.

    For Nymph, probably getting his name quoted many times in internet forums is as good as any in-game achievements to brag about.

  • Iora #22 4 years ago

    I would never do this personally but i can imagine that this guy was gunning for the record... So forever more he will be that guy... the first one to get to 80. Some will admire it some will groan under the sheer geekiness of it.
    Regardless its a mile stone and people have been doing similar things for years with other pastimes. Often they are congratulated or envied for there passion just because its more culture friendly.

    The guy now has a gaming achievement to his name so I'll congratulate him on that.

  • SliderNL #23 4 years ago

    I used to play MMO's but never again. There is to much fun te be had in other games and real-life

    Luckily my friends stopped playing and for the better. One friend met a nice girl a week after he quit WoW his girlfriend now, and a other one finally found time to get a new (and more satisfying) job.

    I don't blame WOW for being addactive, it just a pointless game for many.....

  • RedSparrows #24 4 years ago

    'WoW is really scary men... i see lots of teenagers and adults literally bruning enourmous amount of time with such a pointless/souless thing as a video game, they dont hang out with friends anymore, and stay at home hour after hour killing virtual monsters just to get one more point in armor etc...... really sad, i like video games, play everythng but these guy's are just sad.'

    Coming from a rabid fanboy, that's hilarious.

  • andywilkie35 #25 4 years ago

    the boy needs to have a look at his life

  • anomagnus #26 4 years ago

    i bet hes super cool

  • Benno #27 4 years ago

    its a woman

  • Kalinin #28 4 years ago

    First Death Knight at 80 any minute then...

    I've so far just managed to finish the rather spiffy intro quest for a DK and nowt else, I'm such a pro underachiever.

  • Joco84 #29 4 years ago

    I used to be a WoW addict, managed to turn my head away from the screen for more than 10 minutes to actually realise that there was a life outside of the world Blizzard created

    Glad I did, coz found a missus and got a flat together now. Would still be living with my parents if I was still playing WoW

    WoW and other MMO's, whilst seemingly great to those who play them, are as addictive to any drug, legal or otherwise. Its easy to say that 'you'll limit your game time', but minutes turn into hours and before you know it, you can't get through the day without thinking about getting back to levelling up

    Some players can play MMOs and not get addicted, but I think there is quite a large percentage of people who do play them that are addicted and I think it goes unexplored by doctors and professionals because they don't understand.

    This Nymh person probably lives and breathes WoW, sad bugger!

    /rant

  • chrisjm #30 4 years ago

    jaco84: im sure if simply stoping playing was all it took there would be no wow players.

  • iokthemonkey #31 4 years ago

    Some players can play MMOs and not get addicted, but I think there is quite a large percentage of people who do play them that are addicted and I think it goes unexplored by doctors and professionals because they don't understand.

    ----

    Actually, I think it's the other way around: a LOT of people play MMOs and aren't unwashed, gibbering geeks with no social life. There's a small hardcore of gamers who DO spend a lot of time playing an MMO but that's not because the MMO has taken over their life: it's because they already lack any form of life and an MMO fills the void for them.

  • Riggers #32 4 years ago

    I love WoW, I lead a raiding guild...but bloody hell, why rush it? It's like wolfing down a meal instead of taking your time and savouring it.

  • mjhoward #33 4 years ago

    27 hours killing the same thing in the same place? This "Worlds of Warcraft" sounds like fun.

  • Planeswalker #34 4 years ago

    Apparently Nymh beat a paladin called Darus to level 80. Darus was suspended by Blizzard at level 79 and eventually bumped back to level 70 after being found to be using an exploit.


    ... there are exploits in WOW? Oh the infamy.

  • mfnick #35 4 years ago

    What a sad, lonely person that must be. *Feels sorry for them*

  • hula hoops #36 4 years ago

    @Orihalcon:

    Well, Nymph probably sees thing from a different perspective.

    There is only once chance to be the world's first level 80 character and there are plenty of times for him to go out see the scenery in-game and out game.

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #37 4 years ago

    Heh by posting how they did it will have everyone jumping in the same area - With TBC yes it was exploited but with Wrath you would have expected Blizzard to learn from that and make sure their expected content length to be time spent AT cap not including the leveling time as that it techically a mute point, now they've made it easier to cap with Wrath...

    Lets just hope theres not a ton of bored players after the first few months or all those returned from other titles may be leaving to those titles again

  • mull #38 4 years ago

    One word: Poopsock.

  • Gearskin #39 4 years ago

    Reminds me of that South Park episode.

    "Killing Boars" lol

    "C'mon you guys. Are you going to go outside and play, or are you going to sit infront of your computer and do something that matters?"

    LIVE TO WIN!

    EDIT - And can I just say that I find it really weird that so many people on this talkback bemoan spending time playing this game... and yet say gaming is one of their main hobbies. Why is it wrong to play WoW for 27 hours in 2 days... but alright to play COD4, or some other FPS, for the same amount of time?
    Edited by Gearskin at 14/11/08 @ 14:51

  • rudedudejude #40 4 years ago

    I used to play MMO's but never again. There is to much fun te be had in other games and real-life

    +1

  • sneetch #41 4 years ago

    @Steroyd
    "Haha there was a news article on BBC news yesterday about gaming being an addiction and WOW was the example."

    I can't wait to see the follow up where they talk about the addictions people have with soaps, the private lives of "celebrities" and sports.

    The amount of people I know who seem to live for such things is far in excess of the amount of game-nuts I know.

  • ryohazuki1983 #42 4 years ago

    @Gearskin As others have suggested in previous comments, it seems like playing an excessive amount of time is the norm, or required when you play a game like WoW.

    For me, I play games in my spare time as much as possible, which isn't a lot as i work and have kids, so about 2hrs a day (if i'm lucky!) I'd consider it my main hobby as if I have some spare time i'd most likely play on my 360.

    I don't think anybody is saying WoW is wrong to play 27hrs in 2days but its ok to play other games for the same time. Fact is, if somebody spends 13hrs a day on a game, thats just wrong.

    I can understand somebody playing 10+ hrs for a few days on a highly anticipated title, but day in day out? and 27hrs of the SAME thing OVER and OVER. TBH I consider that insane.

  • sneetch #43 4 years ago

    @Kremlik
    "Heh by posting how they did it will have everyone jumping in the same area - With TBC yes it was exploited but with Wrath you would have expected Blizzard to learn from that and make sure their expected content length to be time spent AT cap not including the leveling time as that it techically a mute point, now they've made it easier to cap with Wrath..."

    Everyone? Do you really think so?

    I've bought it, haven't installed it yet and I'm in no rush to get to level 80, why would I be? So I can start standing around Ironforge MK III for an hour or two (whatever the new hub city is called) looking for a group to run some instance?

    Naw, my obsessive WoW days are over, I'll probably install it tonight to explore a bit of Northrend and I'll get to 80 over a month or two and probably let my subscription lapse shortly afterwards.

    "Lets just hope theres not a ton of bored players after the first few months or all those returned from other titles may be leaving to those titles again "

    Why should we hope that? :)

    I don't mean that to be rude or dismissive but if Blizzard haven't added enough new features to keep their players amused then it's entirely appropriate that their players leave to find new games. Most of the people I used to raid with back in the day are long, long, gone, I've no doubt some of them will resurface for a month or six and then drop out again when they've dinged 80 and run the instances a few dozen times.

    For example, WoW raiders have gone through the pain of gearing up for raids twice already both in vanilla WoW and TBC running and rerunning the same raid to get enough equipment for the raid to progress to the next raid which you run and rerun to get enough kit to progress to the next raid which you run and... well, you get the idea (the vast majority of the "difficulty" of raids was getting the kit after all) and if Blizzard still haven't learned their lessons yet, to allow progress without everyone in the raid needing X pieces of set Y then they deserve mass cancellations.

    Edit: clarified the raid comment.
    Edited by sneetch at 14/11/08 @ 15:11

  • Gearskin #44 4 years ago

    @ryohazuki1983

    Whatever floats your boat. I spend a lot of time playing games, but rarely the same game for an extended period. When I was unemployed I used to spend 6 hours a night on Chaos Theory 0_o.

    But then I got a job and ran out of time.

    I do have a WoW account, and it does suck the life out of you... probably why I never got past level 25. And even that took me over 100 hours back during the initial launch period.

  • jamespo #45 4 years ago

    Sounds like one helluva guy

  • Kremlik Verified Co-Founder, Crash To Desktop #46 4 years ago

    @snee

    I see your point but for a game still mostly built around the requirement of gear and instance raiding if players CAN cap out that easily without exploit the instances NEED to be either hard to get to once cap or one hell of a instance to stop players from chewing through Wrath's content - Blizzard's issue has always been there hasn't been enough meaningful content past the 'got everything' point, the new open world pvp is a good start however it still wont be enough to stem the bordem past that..

    Bottom line is that late-WOW and TBC took the war away between Alliance and Horde to fight a pve enermy, Wrath hasn't really changed that, as much as Blizzard try to put content in theres nothing in like a faction war between players to stem that bordem..

    Hence why I see many dual subbing to another MMO or leaving WoW yet again as Blizzard are good at drawing players in but havn't really sorted out keeping players besides the truly deadicated or the very casual playerbase.. Like I said before WoW needs somthing more then the quest for better gear as a reason to login each day

  • dnbuk #47 4 years ago

    lol sad times.

  • Emth #48 4 years ago

    People like him give MMOs a bad reputation.

  • captainrentboy #49 4 years ago

    I bet this Nymh character is an absolute hit with the opposite sex. Doing things like that is really living life to the full. Brilliant!

  • iokthemonkey #50 4 years ago

    I bet this Nymh character is an absolute hit with the opposite sex. Doing things like that is really living life to the full. Brilliant!

    ---

    Unless "he" is a "she" in which case fanboys across the world will be in raptures right now...

  • Morte66 #51 4 years ago

    So, how many people on this thread are subconsciously bothered by their nerdy gamer (self-)image and kicking a bigger nerd to validate themselves?

    Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Nymh: sin eater for the videogame age.

  • Frumper #52 4 years ago

    I can't believe how sad/geeky this story is, yet it's not the saddest thing I've read today:

    A woman divorced her husband because she caught his MySpace character having sex with another MySpace character. WTF is going on with the world!

  • Coughthulu #53 4 years ago

    @Frumper:

    Yes, except apparently she spent all her time on WoW and they hardly ever spoke anyway.

  • Corben_Dallas #54 4 years ago

    LOOOOOoooooooooooooooooosssssssssssssser!

    That is all :)

  • sneetch #55 4 years ago

    @Kremlik
    "@snee

    I see your point but for a game still mostly built around the requirement of gear and instance raiding if players CAN cap out that easily without exploit the instances NEED to be either hard to get to once cap or one hell of a instance to stop players from chewing through Wrath's content - Blizzard's issue has always been there hasn't been enough meaningful content past the 'got everything' point, the new open world pvp is a good start however it still wont be enough to stem the bordem past that..

    Bottom line is that late-WOW and TBC took the war away between Alliance and Horde to fight a pve enermy, Wrath hasn't really changed that, as much as Blizzard try to put content in theres nothing in like a faction war between players to stem that bordem..

    Hence why I see many dual subbing to another MMO or leaving WoW yet again as Blizzard are good at drawing players in but havn't really sorted out keeping players besides the truly deadicated or the very casual playerbase.. Like I said before WoW needs somthing more then the quest for better gear as a reason to login each day"

    I agree completely m8 :)

    They do need to provide something to keep players interested but I don't think that "impossible" raids will do it (as in unless everyone has full tier X then they cannot even hope to win), if you have very difficult raids then the more casual people will become annoyed that there's nothign for them to do, the open RVR - oops I mean PVP - area is a good start but I believe they need more. The fact that you need a group for most of the end-game content and the long set-up time normally required to get an instance group is the biggest problem IMO, the split between heroics further reduces the likelihood of players getting an instance group (I levelled my druid up to 70 a month or so before TBC and couldn't find a single group willing to do non-heroic instances at that time).

    As for dual subbing, definitely: I'm still loving WAR (the main reason I've not been too bothered to install WOTLK).

  • Apologie #56 4 years ago

    sneetch

    I agree m8... WAR is amazing, what's your server????
    Edited by Apologie at 14/11/08 @ 18:43

  • SentientNr6 #57 4 years ago

    'sounds fun'

    lol

  • vane101 #58 4 years ago

    andiewilkie35 said "the boy needs to have a look at his life"

    Yeah me too! :( :D

  • butler` #59 4 years ago

    for all the jelous people, like oli, who say how is that fun and how he misses all the content - that's what alts are for. He beat 11 million people to 80 and you can't take that away from him. Good on him i say.

  • butler` #60 4 years ago

    and the no life comments are equally retarded. 21 hours is less than 5 days played that it wil ltake most people...

  • Andytails #61 4 years ago

    Being powerlevelled in an MMO is not newsworthy...

  • LFace #62 4 years ago

    Can anyone clarify what the difference between these two people are? The guy who got knocked back to 70 for "cheating" and this guy who grinded up to 80. Am I missing something or did they both grind but one was penalised and one wasnt>

  • MaxHughes #63 4 years ago

    Glad I quit...

  • butler` #64 4 years ago

    One exploited.

  • Katsumoto #65 4 years ago

    I love how with every article about an mmo comes a glut of superior self-righteous twats. Shit, they play games obsessively! Shit, so do you! but you play SHOOTERS and not ROLE PLAYING games so you're AWESOME and they're SAD. Good work.
    Edited by Katsumoto at 15/11/08 @ 00:10

  • Avaloner #66 4 years ago

    Oh just shut it most of you! He made an achievement. He got there first. He got mentioned in Eurogamer. Moreover he will be forever remembered as the guy who hit 80 first which is quite impressive. It has nothing to do with being a nerd. It is more akin to being dedicated and competitive... wanting to be there first and having the balls to get it done. Just watch the top 100 Guinness book of records. Most people on that list are totally focused at what they do because they make it a point in their life to excel at that one thing and they do things which have no use at all in life. How is this different? And what does this have to do with girls? I am sure he did not accomplish this to hit it with the girls. And since when do we judge all forms of entertainment depending on how popular it will make you with the opposite sex? As for the guy not having a life - is that because he used his brains and dedicated 27 hours of his life to get this kind of exposure?

  • MightyMouse #67 4 years ago

    @Morte66

    Very well said. Couldn't agree more.

  • Gearskin #68 4 years ago

    I bought Lich King, patched everything up and have started a new Night Elf Warrior on Thunderhorn.

    I started playing yesterday.

    I've clocked 11 hours and 20 minutes, killed hundreds of baddies, reached level 13 and completed 51 quests.

    It is addictive. But oddly enough, I've been sitting here playing the game on my laptop. My Dad has been sitting on the sofa for most of that time too, we talked, had drinks, watched the Haye Vs. Barrett fight... So WoW addiction doesn't always mean sitting in a darkened room alone for hours.

  • CouldntResist #69 4 years ago

    Geeks taking the piss out of slightly geekier geeks.

    Nice one guys.

  • iokthemonkey #70 4 years ago

    Moreover he will be forever remembered as the guy who hit 80 first which is quite impressive.

    ----

    Yup. Ranks right up there with being the first person to set foot on the moon or inventing the lightbulb... /rollseyes

  • sikes442 #71 4 years ago

    I think it's cool. Nymh sounds like the same Nymh on youtube.com with some pretty cool WOW videos. He has a lot of talent and so does his girlfriend who sang on another of the videos. Check them out. If you like Enimem then you'll like these videos.