Login servers down, forums explode
by Matthew Rossi 
Nov 23rd 2007 at 4:10AM
People are reporting trouble logging onto the game tonight, and quite a few threads have hit the forums. Drysc reported at 11:41 pm PST that the problem was all solved, but I still had trouble logging on for a while after that, perhaps due to the volume of other players also trying to get on and play as well after taking most of the holiday off.What really amazes me, however, is the shocking level of vitriol you can witness over this. I guess Blizzard could take it as a compliment that if people experience even a few hours of login trouble, they get, well... extremely testy.
Now, I love WoW and I had trouble getting on tonight. But instead of, well, losing control of my temper I went and played Mass Effect for a few hours. I am awful at it, but it's still kind of fun. Then I managed to get my insomnia freak on once the servers finally came back up. (One level to go and my second shammy is 70! Woot!) I guess what I'm saying is, there's a right way to react to this kind of thing, and this is not it.
Filed under: Realm Status, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Forums
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
klink-o Nov 23rd 2007 4:23AM
Withdrawl is rarely a pretty thing.
hpavc Nov 23rd 2007 4:50AM
Its a feeding frenzy for people with very small lives and a soap box to be big upon.
I would take a day of downtime to avoid the load screens that LOTRO has. Welcome to the bank, load screen, get your stuff, exit bank, load screen, see the repair dude, load screen, exit the repair shop, load screen.
Wow is so fluid compared to other games, you can walk from undercity to booty bay without a load screen. You might be able to actually level to ~60 without seeing a load screen after the character it selected if you rolled right after server restart time.
Nothing to complain about on the server side of things imo. Not like the old days of loot lag freezes.
Hammer Nov 23rd 2007 5:00AM
Man, some people are total dicks.
And need to have some anger management therpy or something.
Exanimo Nov 23rd 2007 5:12AM
I'm pretty much a Wow addict (hell i even blog about it!) and when i come home from work and have planned to do something in-game... not being able to log in is very very frustrating.
Sure i could go do something else but it often ends in me going to bed early after spamming the login button for 3 hours before giving up.
I might spend a small blogpost on it but i won't go ranting somewhere, it's more that i feel sorry for myself for not getting my fix :P
Exanimo Nov 23rd 2007 5:29AM
Ow in case someone is interested in reading what keeps a wow addict occupied and you need to read something when the login in borked again:
http://fulltimewow.blogspot.com
Server better not be down tonight btw.. i need to kill Vashj :) (i hope)
dotorion Nov 23rd 2007 5:57AM
WAAAH WAAAH BABY WANT CANDY WAAAH WAAAAH.
Geez. Go play another game or go enjoy the fresh air or something.
Don't understand what people get so worked up about, really.
Medros Nov 23rd 2007 6:29AM
Yes, I have a pretty good reputation for rants against Blizzard, but even I know that they have no control over the reliability of technology. Believe it or not, computers do crash, hardware does fail, no matter how diligent you are. Did I like being out of game for most of the last hour before I had to go to bed before work this morning? No, but I also know Blizzard didn't intentionally do this. Sometimes folks need to step back, take a very long, deep breath, and gain some perspective.
-Medros
http://www.allthingsazeroth.com/
Jund Nov 23rd 2007 6:56AM
You can rant about game mechanics that are poorly designed. You can rant about poor customer service. You can rant when servers crash on a regular basis. You can rant about in-game bugs that are ignored. You can rant about server-side lag. You cannot rant about a problem precipitated by a hardware failure.
Having played AC, DAoC and Shadowbane extensively and this game since release, I have to say that in general, the WoW community is incredibly immature and the spoiled little dolts on their boards are even worse.
René Nov 23rd 2007 8:00AM
It's pretty scary. Comparisons to actual addictions aren't that far-fetched. I wouldn't be surprised if Blizzard has to employ psychologists in the future, just to cope with thousands of addicted players who threaten to kill themselfs when the servers go down.
Other than that, I can only say: poor Blizz! They are actually doing a good job, the servers are - overall - reliable, the service is up 95% of the time, the GMs are friendly and competent ... at least that's how it is over here in Europe. I suppose it's the same in the US, otherwise I couldn't explain the success this game had in the past three years.
Stabu Nov 23rd 2007 8:10AM
We all know the total f-wad theory it does not bear repeating.
Zumwalah Nov 23rd 2007 8:24AM
that was just bullshit lastnight had netherspite at 42% and the entire raid Dc's and no one could get back online... balls!
Nordenmeln Nov 23rd 2007 9:05AM
I am still confused by SECOND shaman to level 70.
kihaji Nov 23rd 2007 9:11AM
Funny, wasn't to long ago where it was the now lead devs for WoW (Tigole & Furor) ranting against SOE for being "incompetent because they can't even create stable servers"
The circle, she is full.
Matthew Rossi Nov 23rd 2007 9:54AM
I love Shamans, what can I tell you? I'm the guy that leveled three warriors to 70 and rolled another three besides.
Ahoni Nov 23rd 2007 10:17AM
@kihaji
Yes, because Blizzards servers for World of Warcraft have had a total of maybe 3 hours of unscheduled downtime this month. Lets go out on a limb and say they were down for 10 hours of unscheduled time in the past 30 days. 30 days * 24 hours is 720 hours. 10 / 720 is 0.0138 or 1.38%. Thats IF we assume 10 hours of downtime, which I certainly don't recall. Next time you have a week in which you actually work for 98.6% of your week, you can complain.
WoW is incredibly stable by any reasonable measurement.
Badger Nov 23rd 2007 11:24AM
Someone mentioned earlier that Blizzard might need to employ psychologists to assist when players started threatening suicide. I believe that, in the game's design phases, they likely had to speak with psychologists in order to determine the most effective way to get players hooked - that is, on a Variable Reinforcement Schedule.
Anyone who has ever participated in one of the original Raids (e.g. Molten Core) and received even the most rudimentary training in Psychology will recognize the idea of a "Skinner Box," the tiny controlled environment in which a subject (usually a lab rat) is rewarded based on specific schedules. Variable Reinforcement is the most effective way to get a living thing addicted; that is, the subject never knows when he/she/it will be rewarded, so he/she/it continues to press a bar (e.g. the left mouse button) until a treat (e.g. phat lewtz) appears.
Tell me this doesn't sound familiar. It's the exact same premise behind loot rolling and - yep, you guessed it - quests with variable drop rates.
With that said, even an addict can act like an asshole. Many of the Forum members in question really, really need to come to terms with the fact that no technology in the world features reliability of 100%. Any play-tester in Blizzard's employ can probably think of any particular incident during development when changing a single model's texture, for example, would suddenly cause players to randomly fall through the floor in Warsong Gulch. Even the smallest tweak or the shortest hiccup can bring a server to its knees.
As Ahoni said, "WoW is incredibly stable by any reasonable measurement." (Maybe they could teach a thing or three to Comcast. Money-grubbing little bastards with a network infrastructure that farts itself to death every ten minutes ...)
Zeplar Nov 23rd 2007 11:46AM
There's rehabilitation clinics for Blizzard games in South Korea. I sense opportunity.
mrderekt Nov 23rd 2007 12:00PM
I ourchased a new computer today and after downloading and installing WoW, the patches, addons, vent, etc. WoW wouldn't load. I spent a long time cursing this new waste of machine until I realized it was WoW that was down.... not the new computer.
Fortunatly my rage bar wasn't full yet or the computer would have gone out the window.
Thingy Nov 23rd 2007 2:55PM
Keep in mind that this happened just as many of the Aussies were getting home on Friday night and wanting some serious raiding to curb our fears that lil' jonny howard may somehow be voted back in the following day (ie, today). Eep, time for me to get to the polling booths and do my part to kick his ass to the kerb!
specs1832 Nov 23rd 2007 3:11PM
What some of you missing is the fact that alot of the complaining wasn't about the servers being down, but the lack of information being passed on to the customers. By lack of, I mean none, for the first 1-2 hours. There was no type of post until right before they were fixed (for the most part).
I can live with servers going down sh*t happens, at least pass some information along.