World of Warcraft's pacifist panda just hit level 60 by picking millions of flowers
World of Warcraft is all about killing stuff—heck, it's in the name—but one player has been defying that mandatory violence for years. His name is Doubleagent, and he's a pacifist pandaren monk who just reached the new level cap of 60 by picking millions of flowers. What's even more impressive is that he's done it all without ever leaving the Wandering Isle, a start zone only meant for players below level 10.
The reason Doubleagent never left the Wandering Isle is because he'd have to choose one of Warcraft's two factions to enlist in: The Alliance or the Horde. That'd mean becoming a pawn in two military regimes responsible for the slaughter of millions. So while most players level up by stabbing dragons, eviscerating boars, and murdering each other in PvP, Doubleagent was picking flowers.
It's hard to overstate just how tedious this accomplishment is. The Wandering Isle is a zone meant for brand-new characters and only rewards a paltry amount of experience for killing creatures there or, in Doubleagent's case, picking flowers used for the herbalism skill. Every hour that Doubleagent spends playing, he simply runs in a circle, clicking on flowers as they respawn.
I interviewed Doubleagent back in 2016 after he had spent 8,000 in-game hours to reach what used to be the maximum level of 110 during the Legion expansion. When Battle for Azeroth launched in 2018 and increased that level cap to 120, Doubleagent spent an estimated 240 hours picking flowers to level up. Now that Shadowlands has launched (and also squished the level cap down to 60), Doubleagent has done it again.
Level 60 @ The Wandering Isle! @WarcraftDevs #Shadowlands #Warcraft #ForTheNeutral pic.twitter.com/rIbzZyznJtDecember 11, 2020
Thankfully (for his sake), Doubleagent's latest flower-picking extravaganza appears to have taken significantly less time. Shadowlands only came out just over 18 days ago (going from 110 to 120 took Doubleagent roughly 77 days), but it also made leveling significantly faster. He did not share how many hours he's spent playing since Shadowlands' launch, however.
Unlike previous expansions, Doubleagent appears to have not livestreamed his slow journey to level 60. It's not like it would have been a riveting watch, but in previous years players have gathered to to celebrate his achievements in-game, which was always fun to see.
Doubleagent is one of a few WoW players notable for his unique playstyle. There's also DesMephisto, WoW's best speedrunner who also is famous for leveling 49 separate warrior characters all to max level.
If you want to know more about Doubleagent, check out our full interview. I've reached to Doubleagent for more details on this story.