Breakfast Topic: Patching!
by Elizabeth Harper 
Nov 24th 2006 at 8:00AM
Ah... the patch distribution system. You know it and... er... love it? Well... maybe not on that last part. Blizzard has a unique system of patch distribution that I often find problematic on patch day. If you can jump on and start downloading early in the day (out of prime time), you'll often find the download quick and painless. But if you get off work, drive through traffic, come home, and login? You're much more likely to be met by a screen similar to the above. The workaround to this scenario for many seems to be grabbing patch files from 3rd party sites, but I always wonder why the patching process has to be such a headache. Of course, the background downloader application was introduced to solve some of these problems -- by allowing you to download the bulk of the patch in advance. However, it doesn't always seem to make the experience any better. But that's just my opinion -- what do you think of Blizzard's patching system?
Filed under: Patches, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Terry B Nov 24th 2006 8:44AM
Once I opened up the proper ports in the firewall and fwd them to my box, I have had zero problems with the installs. But I can see where some folks wont have access to change certian firewall and port forwarding settings which would cause a headache.
Derek Nov 24th 2006 8:54AM
Mine always goes super smooth and super fast. I'm on a Mac... wonder if that has something to do with it. Since I imagine there are fewer people downloading the mac version of the file maybe it goes more smoothly or something.
Pinqvin Nov 24th 2006 9:32AM
Well you would think that the later you start downloading the patch the better, since its a torrenting system they are using. Wonder what's up with that. Maybe many ppl block the upload so people can't get the data fast or probably blizzard trackers getting hammered and giving bad rates to everyone.. Dunno
dur13l Nov 24th 2006 8:55AM
Buy an account from Fileplanet....its cheap and it solves headaches like this!
No company can seem to patch its game proper. Its better to just get them from a place like Fileplanet yourself.
my .02
Tigraine Nov 24th 2006 8:59AM
I love the downloader.
I get download rates I normally would need to pay for (Fileplanet) above the 300k and have never had any problem downloading.
greetings Tig
Sylythn Nov 24th 2006 9:10AM
It's interesting all the complaints you hear - because I don't have an issue either...and I'm behind a router, wireless bridge, and firewall.
Bartholemues Nov 24th 2006 9:11AM
For a company that makes millions of dollars a month from subscriptions I think it's a absolute disgrace. We pay for this service and we get bit-torrent.. WTF is that!?!?!? *pops a blood-vessel*
Even SoE, who's MMORPGs people looove to complain about and ridicule compared to WoW, don't stoop that low and their games make far less.
For me personally, this is the only major issue I have with Blizard and Vivendi.
Yeep Nov 24th 2006 9:18AM
The problem is that the Blizzard downloader doesn't support UPnP, so it can't ask the router to open up some incoming ports for it.
I always look in the backgrounddownloader.log to see where it got the .torrent file from (and last time I noticed it had the .torrent file sitting in the Cache directory) and open it with my own BitTorrent client (BitComet). That client does use UPnP and maxes out my download easily.
Quagmar Nov 24th 2006 9:30AM
Yah when you open the correct ports on your router/firewall there tends to be no issue with the download. But even if you open the correct ports come patch day i still run into issues downloading the final part of the patch...especially if i dont get home from work till late and have to download the rest of the patch during primetime.
-Quag
PS: Who is having fun working on black friday:) WOOT 16 hour shift for me lol! Keep those topics and posts coming, it helps with the boredom /sleepy
Ken Nov 24th 2006 9:29AM
There've been very little topics lately that are more than just news.
What we need is a topic that promotes a little more discussion =]
Faar Nov 24th 2006 9:45AM
#7 nailed it right on the head. Blizzard REALLY needs to support uPNP in its downloader, especially as they decided to be obnoxious and not use the standard bittorrent port and rather use TWO of their own ports instead. That's just too much for normal users to keep track of, they can't handle it.
The likely reason that the download experience sucks for so many people is that tons of WoWers - undoubtedly the vast majority - sit behind firewalls with closed ports, thus gimping the experience for everybody by not being able to make proper connections to other users.
Also, for those who feel their work get in the way of their patch download speeds, you need to configure your Blizzard Downloader to stay active after you shut down WoW. That way it will download the patch while you're at work and hopefully have it all done by the time you get back. :P Just start up the launcher application on patchday so that the downloader is activated, then go to work. It should take care of itself from then on...
Seltor Nov 24th 2006 9:58AM
15 bucks a month from 7 million subscribers, that's more than enough money for Blizzard to get a decent download server.
This whole P2P crap is just them being CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP.
Shakina Nov 24th 2006 10:18AM
Guess I am one of the guys who will complain about it...I have all ports open while I download the patch. I configure my router and firewall correctly. I started downloading around 6:00pm last night. At 6:30am this morning I had a whopping 146MB downloaded. I have Uploaded 138BM. A tad on the slow side. I have an account with Fileplanet, but I guess they are having the same issue, since as of right now, they don't have the patch available.
Meliv Nov 24th 2006 10:38AM
I took #7's advice about using my own torrent program to download patches, Turned a 10kb/s rate into a 250kb/s rate
Thank you #7 :)
Nikoss Nov 24th 2006 11:02AM
The reason the download is so slow at least for the background dloader is because it purposely throttles itself so it does not interrupt your internet connection so much. There is no rush to dload the patch quickly because it wont be applied for a while.
Magnarussa Nov 24th 2006 11:10AM
I never seem to have very many problems with the downloader. Granted it's a bit on the slow side, but I just go about my business and let it do its thing. My fiancee on the other hand has a horrible time with his downloader and we're both on the same router and everything. My downloader is twice as fast as his, and sometimes even faster! He moans, groans and complains about it, and gets pissed off about the whole thing. All of the correct ports are open, but it just does its death crawl. And it doesn't matter what time of day he starts the download. I'm going to check into #7's advice and see where that gets him.
:)
PsyClerk Nov 24th 2006 11:57AM
The downloader hardly ever works for me. I have no problem opening ports, as I have done that many times for other applications. But for whatever reason, the Blizzard downloader just doesn't work well. The current patch actually worked fine until it had around 33% of the file, then it was downloading maybe 1MB an hour.
I'm with those that say it's shameful for any company, especially Blizzard, to make as much money as they do and not offer a proper download server. I bought a sub to Fileplanet so I could get the patch the day it dropped, rather than going without WoW for a week or two while the patch downloaded.
Kosch Nov 24th 2006 4:05PM
I found the blizz one very slow yesterday evening so I just used my bit torrent client.
If you check the cache folder theres a bit torrent file you can open in your favourite client.
I did it this way I had the patch downloaded in 1 hour. After that you just need to make sure to copy the part files back to the patch folder and re-run blizzards patch client to check the integrity and then it works fine )
Undying Nov 24th 2006 12:53PM
In my case, it work but it's most of the time extreamly slow. Instead, I download the patch from gamespot.com. You don't have to pay, just create an account, and the download is much faster than the Blizzard downloader.
Matt Nov 24th 2006 2:59PM
I have done everything to try to get my downloader working, opened ports, disabled my firewall, connected directly to my cable modem instead of through a router, and I still can't use the downloader. It just stopped working one day. Even when I turned off my firewall on my computer and the one on my router, it still said "It appears you are behind a firewall". WTG, Blizz.
I paid for a sub to Fileplanet. But I honestly don't know where my 15 a month goes. Unbearable lag, 4 hour waits on GM tickets, broken downloaders.