Troubles on Shadow Moon
by Mike D'Anna 
Feb 28th 2006 at 9:58PM
On one of WoW's oldest servers, discontent is brewing. The players of Shadow Moon claim that they are facing
server issues such as crashes, long queue times, login problems, and a host of other obstacles that have made the game
all but unplayable for many of them.In this thread on the official forums, you can find endless testimony from scores of players detailing the issue. Yes, WoW is notorious for these problems, but Shadow Moon seems to be affected more drastically than most. The devs have apparently claimed to be looking into the problem, but, as of now, there has been no further official word.
While I've experienced all the problems listed on every server I've played on at one time or another, surely the concentration of complaints coming from Shadow Moon cannot be a coincidence. Are there any players out there from Shadow Moon who have been affected by these problems? Have you had any communication with Blizzard about it? We'll be keeping an eye on this subject, and seeing what develops...
Filed under: Realm News, Analysis / Opinion, Bugs, Realm Status, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Grumblefoot (Shadow Moon) Mar 1st 2006 10:48AM
Yup, i play on shadowmoon, and so does all my friends, and we all expierence everything posted in that thread. I havent bothered playing on other server's cause i want to play with my friends. But yes, that server is particulary messed.
Barjonah Mar 1st 2006 11:20AM
Proudmoore is in the same boat. The official nick name for us has become lagmore. :P
Timboo Mar 1st 2006 11:46AM
I've played on Shadow Moon since WoW came out, and the lag and log-in issues have only gotten worse. I went to log in last night for Molten Core, and it took 45 minutes at the "Retrieving Character List" until I finally said screw this because my guild replaced me with someone else. Something definitely needs to be done.
L'Emmerdeur Mar 1st 2006 12:59PM
There's a rising tide on pretty much every other server, not because their problems have gotten to this point, but because it is only a matter of time before we get there.
We started seeing small queues on Azjol-Nerub about 2 months ago (50-100), but now peak times see 600-700 in queue. In a few weeks, these will easily reach 1000, which will equate to hour+ waits. And people use work-arounds to avoid these queues, like logging in when they get home after work, and keeping the character out of AFK for 1-2 hours until they are ready to play. This makes the problem worse.
Even some relatively new servers are seeing big lag/crash problems, like Twisting Nether.
Gargoyle Mar 1st 2006 1:49PM
As a resident of Shadowmoon since day 1, I thank you for the recoginition on your site. Hopefully, this will force Blizzard's hand in using one of their 'new' servers (http://www.wowinsider.com/2006/02/09/blizzard-rumored-to-have-bought-1500-new-servers/) to test out on Shadowmoon!
GlennZilla Mar 1st 2006 2:23PM
As a resident of Twisting Nether and formerly Silver Hand, I can say the problems are getting worse.
I have had several groups wipe because the tank lagged and wasn't able to taunt before the priest healed him.
It happens at all times. I have been riding through Winterspring a relatively out of the way and low population zone and freeze.
There is a forum thread about Twisting Nether on the Tech Support Forums that appears to one of the largest threads there. I hear there is a "monitoring application" we can download from Blizzard to see what is causing the problem. But I can't wade through the forum long enough to find a link to it.
leiko Mar 1st 2006 2:35PM
I've been a member of the Shadow Moon community for a while now. Speculation would suggest that these problems would have never escalated to this point had they actually prepared for the "Boom" associated with Christmas, which they admitted to having knowledge of, and the promotions they offered.
They cut-off creation on certain servers as a Band-Aid-Fix for the increasing population which did not resolve the issues, it just helped to stop it from escalating more. This could have been done before hand to prevent it from escalating to this point.
Retrieving Character List takes anywhere from 5mins to 2hours in some cases during peak hours, then is followed by duplicated wait duration while attempting to load after connecting. This is an issue that is normally handled by creating a queue displaying your place in line to login to an overpopulated server.
After countless spam posts on the general forums, multiple forum bans for certain players protesting these conditions, and posts by Blizzard employees (namely ?Feathers?) directing threats to our community, they finally admitted to these said actions. They also promised hardware upgrades, but did not give us an estimated time in which we could expect this.
Since then, we have yet to hear any news on their progress on obtaining these upgrades, when they will be implemented, nor if it will actually resolve the growing issues plaguing our server and probably many others.
Do they plan to implement new hardware during the expected downtime for the expansion installment? Will these upgrades actually fix the on-going issues? Does Blizzard actually care about any of the server communities as a whole to the point in which we will ever receive positive attention? Only Blizzard can answer these questions and the fact that they go unanswered is the main reason for this uproar.
~Leiko
~60 Druid
~Shadow Moon
Catharsis Mar 1st 2006 2:45PM
The thing is ShadowMoon hs always been ROCK solid.. so being rock solid for a year or more straight and then having problems constantly.. it's noticed more and has a bigger affect
Adam Mar 1st 2006 3:40PM
Blizzard is flat out ignoring the plight of Shadow Moon. Even at the wee hours like 4AM, there are long lag spikes where simple things such as MOUNTING become impossible.
During approximately 6PM - Midnight the login process takes anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes and that does not include queues!
Disconnections are too frequent. I've lost literally dozens of "marks of honor" because of getting booted before a BG ends. Oh, and every time you are disconnected you return with a deserter buff (even if you return right into the same battleground).
I believe the thread has reached 42 pages so far, and no Blizzard response.
Jesse Mar 1st 2006 4:31PM
I'm yet another one of the ignored Shadow Moon players. The lag has become such an issue on our server that end game raiding is near impossible with the random DC's and the incredibly long login process. This lag started around the holiday times and has not gotten better and there has been no response from Blizzard at all. Our realm forum lacks any sort of blue posting except when they come in to ban spammers. Character transfers would be wonderful but I would even be willing to settle with queues being enabled on our server. At least with queues you know roughly how long the wait is going to be before you can login.
Orberice
Level 60 mage of Betrayal
Shadow Moon
Jesse Mar 1st 2006 4:39PM
I'm yet another ignored Shadow Moon player. The server problems make end game raiding near impossible with the random DC's and the incredibly long login process. It sucks not being able to progress in the game because we end up waiting an hour for our raid to get back online.
I would love character transfers but it would suck to leave the friends I have made on Shadow Moon. I would even be willing to settle with queues being enabled on our server. At least then we would roughly know how long it will take to login instead of staring at "Retrieving Character List" or a full blue loading bar for an undeterminate amount of time.
Blizzard please stop ignoring Shadow Moon!
Orberice
Level 60 mage of Betrayal
Shadow Moon
Kyle Mar 1st 2006 5:00PM
The server issues are more than just a queue and/or periodic lag spikes. Item creation, zoning, RCL(2hrs is a bit of an exaggeration, I havent ever seen it top 1hr). There is apparently no queues, but the lag can get horrific at times.
On the weekends, particularly Sunday, the problems escalate and often times simply crash the server.
As a warlock I have to create shards to play, but there are times when it can take 2+ minutes to create a shard which destroys the gameplay.
Queues would actually be an improvement believe it or not.
So far SM remains unrecognized, at this point its likely cheaper for Blizz to lose customers than upgrade hardware so their stance on it is likely "Why bother?"
Frylock
60 Orc Warlock
Shadow Moon
Jason Mar 1st 2006 5:44PM
I have personally played on Shadow Moon since opening, played both alliance and horde, geared up 3 60's.... the server has some of the best players and some of the best guilds. I am sad to say though that lately 3 horde guilds have fallen apart and many alliance have changed as well. The server seems to be on a downhill track and a good amount of it can be blamed on blizzard. Right now I was playing in WSG and got DCed 5 times in one round.... The lag is rediculous and latency gets into the 500s during peak times. RCL is rediculous and if you get DCed during peak times expect 50 minutes to reconnect. Blizzard needs to do something about it but there seems no way to voice it to them.
Wish us luck.
Ironwheatbag
60 Undead Mage
Guildless
Shadowmoon
Graham Nov 12th 2006 10:50PM
Hey Guys, it's Indalam, the OP of the thread on the General forums and GM of the guild Betrayal on Shadow Moon. I've played on Shadow Moon for over a year now, my character was created right after I rerolled off a PvE server after my Christmas Break last year. And it bugs the crap out of me that this server that i have come to love, and have made so many friends on is going to hell. Lately I have had connection issues because of my ISP, so staying connected to WoW has become a problem and last night I went over the top and got myself banned from the forums for spamming and trolling for a few days. But it is absolutely ridiculous to see the lack of customer service and acknowledgment that here is a problem with our server from Blizzard. As a paying customer, I obviously expect more than that. Even a response that it is known that our server has a problem. But when Blizz released that statement with problem realms and I saw Shadow Moon was still going under the radar, I lost a ton of respect for Blizzard. But in the end, it probably wont change, they are already loaded with money from 5 million subscribers, but I'd at least like to feel that my word is being heard by Blizzard.
Anyways,It's awesome to see all the support that my post has gotten from the Shadow Moon community, the WoW Community, and now you guys at WoW Insider. I have had countless times in game recieving in game tells from random lvl 1's saying they had my back, etc. Thanks for helping use out WoW Insider, mad respect.
Indalam
60 Warrior
GM of Betrayal.
Zabbo Mar 2nd 2006 12:39PM
I also have been playing on ShadowMoon since Day 1, and currently this server is the worst server you could possibly imagine. Raids being cancelled because 5 or 6 members disconnect and can't login for another hour... items not able to be looted because of lag ... 1000+ ms ping ... the list goes on and on
word of advice : DO NOT COME TO THIS SERVER AND MAKE A NEW CHARACTER ( you'd think Blizzard would have stopped character creation, but no, they're too fucking stupid)