WoW Classic Hardcore player decides the terrifying climb to 60 wasn't hard enough, commits to using two DDR mats just to feel something

Rudeism, embarking on a masochistic journey to level to 60 in self-found World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore, wears a joyful smile as he busts some moves on a DDR mat.
(Image credit: Rudeism on Twitch.)

World of Warcraft Classic isn't necessarily hard, it's just punishing—requiring, as many old MMORPGs did, a huge amount of patience on behalf of the player. It's easy to accidentally pull too many mobs or wipe on an ill-fated dungeon run, forcing you to make a long jog back to your corpse. Adding permadeath to that equation, though? Yeah, that's scary.

Not scary enough for one player, though: A Twitch streamer by the name of Rudeism has, beyond all good sense, decided to tackle the harshest version of WoW armed with nothing but his feet and two DDR mats next to each other.

As spotted by Gamesradar, Rudeism began his two-stepping journey through Azeroth yesterday, making it to level 6 after nearly four hours of grooving. That's despite the fact that, around 25 minutes after starting, Rudeism realises that he "didn't program a jump button."

You'd think Rudeism would choose a simple class that has minimal hotkey management, but he's opted for a druid—which has multiple shapeshifting forms, each with their unique array of abilities. Granted, druids used to spam moonbeam so much it became its own meme, so that may be the play he's going for here, and the ability to heal himself will be helpful.

In addition, Rudeism's using WoW's new "self-found" mode, which restricts players from sending and receiving mail, buying or selling anything on the auction house, and any form of trading. So no help from fans—and unless he wants to get really into leatherworking, he'll be doing this in questing greens and greys. 

Speaking of quest rewards, he's been navigating to his inventory by slowly, agonisingly shifting his mouse with the pad's directional buttons. It took him almost a full minute to accept and equip some gloves from a grateful NPC—which seems like its own form of psychological torture.

This isn't even the first time Rudeism's tackled the task of dinging in World of Warcraft with his soles. About eight years ago, he hit level 100 in retail WoW via the same control method, a feat of feet that took him nearly five and a half days of playtime. Considering his progress can now be reset with an untimely death, I'd wager this challenge will take a lot longer than that. 

Rudeism's also known for making bizarre controllers—like this two-ditto fighting pad, a jury-rigged toy controller, and, uh, this goose cosplay, which I don't like looking at more than it was required to link it here. I can't help but admire his dedication—and pity his hubris. Godspeed, Rudeism, you are braver than most.

Harvey Randall
Staff Writer

Harvey's history with games started when he first begged his parents for a World of Warcraft subscription aged 12, though he's since been cursed with Final Fantasy 14-brain and a huge crush on G'raha Tia. He made his start as a freelancer, writing for websites like Techradar, The Escapist, Dicebreaker, The Gamer, Into the Spine—and of course, PC Gamer. He'll sink his teeth into anything that looks interesting, though he has a soft spot for RPGs, soulslikes, roguelikes, deckbuilders, MMOs, and weird indie titles. He also plays a shelf load of TTRPGs in his offline time. Don't ask him what his favourite system is, he has too many.

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