10 GENIUS Ways Players Beat Video Games
5. Reaching Level 110 As A Pacifist - World Of Warcraft
Though World of Warcraft is an ongoing game that's never "finished" in the traditional sense, hitting the level cap does nevertheless represent a significant triumph of effort and time investment - and none more than that by the player known as "Doubleagent."
Early on in the game, players are asked to choose a faction - Alliance or Horde - but Doubleagent decided to simply not do that, opting instead to become a pacifist pandaren shaman.
Instead of killing enemies to level up, he decided to grind mining and flower-picking to ascend through the game's ranks, a feat which after a stonking 8,000 hours of play spread across four years - that's almost a continuous year's worth of days - he indeed reached level 110.
In an interview with PC Gamer, Doubleagent claimed that he started his peaceful quest out of mere curiosity, and over time it became a relaxing activity akin to knitting - something passive he could do while watching Netflix.
His feat is so unbelievable that many players in the starting area have even reported him, believing him to have cheated his way to such a high level.
Though Blizzard initially tried to encourage Doubleagent to pick a faction, they eventually relented and even included an NPC in the game, "Venerable Shaman," in reference to his peaceful efforts.