Blizzard Entertainment recently unveiled its upcoming World of Warcraft expansion Dragonflight, but fans of the ongoing MMO continue to explore Shadowlands while they anticipate its release. One World of Warcraft fan has confirmed that they were able to bring Ji Firepaw with them through the Shadowlands content thanks to a glitch.
Reddit user ElderSchnelle explained a few days ago how they were able to bring Ji Firepaw with them through much of World of Warcraft since the release of Mists of Pandaria, which relied upon the Recruit a Friend system. Blizzard added Recruit a Friend to the game several years ago, but included with some of the free rewards for bringing another player are some potential glitches. Although ElderSchnelle may have been able to get this glitch fixed with a ticket, the player decided to keep Ji Firepaw with them for their leveling experience.
According to ElderSchnelle, the World of Warcraft fan brought Ji Firepaw from the Wandering Isle to Orgrimmar during Mists of Pandaria using the "Teleport to Friend," skill from the former Recruit a Friend program. This creates an unintentional issue in which Ji Firepaw is able to come to Azeroth before he's supposed to, causing the character to perpetually follow the player and their referred friend. ElderSchnelle has confirmed that this is the case throughout Shadowlands' content which offers six new zones, Torghast: Tower of the Damned, raids, dungeons, and more.
I used the refer-a-friend "teleport to friend" feature back in Mists of Pandaria when I made my first character. Well, it glitched Ji Firepaw out back then and he followed my character around any time I was in Orgrimmar. He's been with me all the time even in Shadowlands. from wow
Ji Firepaw does eventually make it to Orgrimmar in World of Warcraft when fans play through the Pandaren campaign and make the ultimate choice between Alliance and Horde. Most World of Warcraft players will find Ji Firepaw in the Orgrimmar Embassy, but because of a glitch affecting their playthrough, ElderSchnelle can't shake the NPC. ElderSchnelle's screenshot showing the strange Ji Firepaw also shows a quest to the side "The Call for Allies" which revolves around allied races added to the game since Mists of Pandaria was released, suggesting there are two Ji Firepaw's in their client due to the glitch.
While ElderSchnelle doesn't fully explain the process that allowed them to keep Ji Firepaw indefinitely, it's likely that their friend was in the Horde capital city when the player teleported to them during a quest in which Ji Firepaw is already following the Pandaren around the Wandering Isle. Because ElderSchnelle's screenshot shows their active quests, it's unlikely that the following NPC is tied to a quest in their log and the glitch may have to do with something else regarding the Pandaren starting zone. Since ElderSchnelle posted their Ji Firepaw story, many World of Warcraft fans have lamented that the character doesn't follow them like he does ElderSchnelle.
World of Warcraft is available now for Mac and PC.