Booty Bay Bruiser's Buckshot: WoW Forever's knockback gun

The knockback is gone. On 6 October Blizzard hotfixed the beta and removed the knockback from Booty Bay Bruiser's Buckshot^[1]. The hotfix took the whole Use effect off the gun, so its tooltip no longer mentions a knockback either. Don't grind reputation for the effect. As a gun it's still decent: it's the third choice on every hunter list at level 30.

The item page follows the beta and this post doesn't, so if the knockback comes back, the page is where you'll see it first.

What the Booty Bay gun did

The card above is the gun as it is now. Before the hotfix it had one more line, "Use: Take steady aim and fire a round to knock your target away". The spell behind it is still in Forever's game files:

• Cast: 3 seconds, so you have to stand still and aim.
• Range: 10 to 40 yards. Anyone closer than 10 yards is too close to shoot.
• Target: anyone. An enemy player, someone from your own faction or an NPC.
• Effect: a push and nothing else. It does no damage.
• Cooldown: 10 minutes.

It also didn't work inside instances^[2], so battlegrounds and dungeons were safe from it^[3].

A toy for the open world

A gun that can shove anyone was always going to get used on friends. In Wowhead's words, "Naturally, chaos ensued"^[1]. The streamer Payo tested it on ship decks and knocked players over the railings into the sea^[4]. On the official forums one player wrote that they "farmed this gun for HOURS specifically bc of that effect"^[3].

Distance in world PvP

The other use was more serious. A ranged player or a healer needs room when a melee player runs at them, and a push gave them that room. You could also knock someone off a ledge or over a ship's railing.

But it was never an escape button. The 3-second cast and the 10-yard minimum meant you had to land it before the other player reached you. It worked best when something had already slowed them down, and once they were hitting you, it was too late.

What the hotfix changed

Wowhead's news post says it plainly: "this item has now had a hotfix applied, and the knockback has been removed"^[1]. The forum thread about it started the same evening, and the players there describe the effect as removed^[3]. Nobody from Blizzard has explained the change in that thread.

The hotfix was made on Blizzard's servers. Forever's game files still carry the same spell in every beta build the Codex has read, from 70205 to 70245, with the same cast, range and push. That's why the tooltip, in the game and on our item page, still shows the Use line, even though the server no longer does what it says.

Where to buy it and what it costs

Gezzy Gunkgear sells it in Booty Bay, at 28.2, 74.8 on the Stranglethorn Vale map. You need level 30 and Honored with Booty Bay. The full price is 3 gold 10 silver 88 copper, and Honored takes 10% off, so players report paying 2g 79s 80c^[4].

Honored is 8,500 reputation from where you start. Every character begins Booty Bay at 500 into Neutral, and the wiki puts Neutral at 3,000 points and Friendly at 6,000^[5]. Half of the quests that raise Booty Bay reputation are in Stranglethorn Vale: 36 of the 74 in the quest data the Codex reads.

Gezzy has more for the same reputation. At Friendly there are Deckswabber's Mitts, the Sea Giant's Toe Ring and Soggy Boots. At Honored there's the Souvenir Sea Shell next to the gun, and at Revered the cosmetic Tough Guy's Eyepatch.

Is it still worth buying?

For a hunter who already has Honored, yes, as a stopgap. Our hunter lists at 30 put it third for Beast Mastery, Marksmanship and Survival, behind Truthseeker's Bow and Nightstalker Bow:

Warriors and rogues can use guns too, but their lists rank enough bows above it that the gun doesn't make them. If you don't have the reputation yet, the stats alone aren't worth the grind.

What we don't know yet

• Whether the knockback comes back. Forever launches on 4 November. Blizzard hasn't said if the effect returns there, changed or not at all.
• Whether anything else changed. The game files match every earlier build, and a server hotfix doesn't show up in them. If you have the gun, try the Use line and tell us what happens.
• Whether Forever keeps Classic's discounts. The 10% at Honored matches what players paid. Whether Friendly or Revered change the price isn't confirmed.

The item page and the hunter lists update with each beta build, so check them before you spend your gold.