Dear Blizzard : Server issues
by Adam Holisky 
Feb 24th 2008 at 4:00PM
Dear Blizzard,For whatever reason, your game has been experiencing multiple server related issues in the past few weeks. Many players have seen themselves offline an abnormal amount of time, and for no apparent reason. Some realms have been brought offline for emergency maintenance and stayed that way for nearly a day. Other realms are seeing themselves either reset or become sundered down with mass disconnects that make any serious play almost impossible.
Just the other night I was happily grouping with some friends over on Eldre'Thalas, when all of the sudden the server decided to boot me, and only me, from the game. Lo and behold, when trying to log back in I get stuck on authentication. My other two accounts would not work either. What makes this even better is that Eldre'Thalas wasn't even on the list of realms under emergency maintenance.
You've been giving us all this downtime lately, so I'm wondering, what are you going to do to fix it? Or baring a fix, at least make our $15 a month worth it.
I do hope that you can fix your servers. I'm not sure if it's your problem, or if the issues lies with AT&T or one of your other data center providers (because you've said that the PTR does not cause the issues... you were telling the truth, right?). Nonetheless, you can do something about this. When you start seeing thousands upon thousands of posts, you'd think that you would come out and say something about what you're doing to fix the issue, but no such luck. Perhaps you are fixing things behind the scenes and not telling all of us 10,000,000 subscribers. So please fix the servers, or at the very least, communicate with us. And communicate often.
Even if you do manage to fix the servers, I would ask that you do one other thing: give us some free game time. Maybe you can even call it "Free Game Tyme" to be cute in the way that only a large entertainment corporation can be cute. I'm sure that you can remember back in the day when you gave away a free day or two of game time when things weren't working. This would really be nice of you to do now, since so many of your loyal customers are getting quite upset with the constant disconnects.
I hope that you can find the time to address these issues. And hey, if you're a lowly Blizzard employee reading this letter, maybe forward this to your boss? There's an "Email This" link at the bottom of the post you can use, it's real quick and easy.
If you continue reading this online letter, I'm sure our readers, and your paying subscribers, have some very insightful solutions and comments on what they think you can do to fix the situation.
Yours truly,
Adam.
Filed under: Realm News, Analysis / Opinion, Realm Status, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Gogey Feb 24th 2008 4:11PM
Whenever an error happens a huge flashing message appears on all of the screens at blizzard saying exactly whats causing the problem and how to fix it.
NO SRSLY, I SWAR.
This isnt "my microphone doesnt work" troubleshooting.
JALbert Feb 24th 2008 4:23PM
There's nothing in the ToS guaranteeing that the servers will be up 24/7. If it's not "worth your $15", cancel your account.
Angry Joe Feb 24th 2008 10:01PM
Yeah, because we all know ToS are really fair to the end user.
"If you don't like it, don't use it"
Oh, please, gimme a break.
Merc Feb 24th 2008 4:30PM
Well, it should be really easier for a system where millions of people connect to servers for high traffic interaction for hours at a time. I mean, didn't everyone who works in Blizzard's tech department quite NASA because they found it unchallenging?
Really, I don't know why anyone expects 100% uptime and detailed error reports. I'm perfectly happy knowing they realize there's a problem and that they're working on it. Foaming at the mouth when you can't log in doesn't make you right. Go outside. And stop invoking the holy $15/month, every time someone does that it makes me want to smack them. $0.50 a day does not entitle you to having everything you want whenever you want it.
Merc Feb 24th 2008 4:35PM
And there shouldn't be an "e" on the end of "quit," obviously.
Darmichar Feb 24th 2008 4:36PM
Hey Adam,
Keep in mind World of Warcraft is a GAME and nowhere is it stated that for $15 a month Blizzard guarantees you 100% uptime. If downtime bothers you that much, cancel your account and go play one of the hundreds of other MMORPG's that DO provide 100% uptime, I'm sure they're much better games anyway.
outforprophets Feb 24th 2008 7:34PM
What's confusing to me is that your comment got down voted whereas the second response that had the same exact sentiment didn't.
Back on topic: Yeah, it's not in the TOS, I agree. People still want to complain though. It seems most people just want an explanation but aren't those often times in that little text box on the left of the log in screen? They're certainly not specific like our server cluster 4 went down because core 3 of the CPU went down. Quite frankly, I don't think it needs to be. It's probably a better use of time to try and fix everything than keep everyone posted to what's wrong.
outforprophets Feb 24th 2008 7:37PM
One quick thing too: In the past we've had worse server down times and Blizzard compensated all the subscribers with a day or two of play time added to our subscriptions. I'm not sure how bad it is in your servers (I haven't had any problems luckily) but if it's that bad maybe some free game time is to be had here.
Jagoex Feb 24th 2008 4:41PM
I think you guys missed the main point.
Blizzard has a right to downtime -- issues happen and are often unavoidable. But things have been unusually unstable lately, and that is what I believe Adam is taking issue with.
And quite honestly, he has a point.
Tereth Feb 24th 2008 4:43PM
I rarely say this, and often dislike the people who say this often in the comments of WoW Insider, but this seems like it's coming from the forums. Honestly, you even have the "Dear Blizzard" at the top. I respect the writers of this blog so very very much, and it hurts me to see lower grade stuff written here.
Now as an interesting side note, I could see "Dear Blizzard" as a segment on this blog. On a weekly basis, it could take the average random "QQ ramblings" of the forums and put it in a calm, well written and polite manner. Now, seen as a singular blog post, this is little more then complaining 2.0. However, if it was some sort of series it would be seen as a lens into the community.
Anyways, just a thought.
Tereth Feb 24th 2008 4:46PM
I'm sorry, I meant to add that what he's trying to say is not that he's angry about the massive downtime problems, I think he's more upset about the lack of communication from Blizzard on the subject. Considering this is such a widespread problem, he would like to know why (or at least why they think it is) and if they have any clue if/when they'll be able to fix it.
Ollej Feb 24th 2008 5:22PM
Actually, I think the "Dear Blizzard" weekly column idea is a great one. Kudos to you, sir, and hopefully WoW Insider will pick up on that.
And, to your reply, I don't even think he's "angry" as you stated, unnerved, perhaps, inconvenienced, definitely, but I don't think this "letter" has an angry tone at all.
And I agree with those people who say "don't spend your 15 bucks if you expect 100% server functionality, it's not in the ToS or EULA". But, I also think that since Blizzard is providing a service to a paying customer, if that customer is not getting what he believes to be fair quality for the 15 bucks, then he/she has a right to speak out. (In other words, both sides have a point, neither point without merit, and we all know both points very well, so the argument should end, no further comment needed on that subject.)
Tereth Feb 24th 2008 6:49PM
I agree, while paying 15 dollars a month does not necessarily mean you get what you demand, it also does provide some sort of promise that the provider will try to keep you happy. This entire point could be avoided if Blizzard would just say "We know we have a problem, we understand that you are frustrated, and we're trying our damnedest to fix things for you" that many people would be much happier.
alanray Feb 24th 2008 4:48PM
This reminds me of back when so many of us were plagued with the 132 error.
Nick S Feb 24th 2008 4:52PM
blizzard has an implied obligation to provide reasonable uptime to their subscribers. it doesn't have to be written down to be true. and even if there is no legal issue here, they have an ethical obligation to provide the best service they can.
these server problems are a rare point of frustration with a company who i otherwise have enormous respect for. i hope they can resolve the issues quickly, but it really would make me happy to see even a "we don't know what's wrong but we promise we're working on it" post.
Sneakstar Feb 24th 2008 4:56PM
oh noes, teh $15/month line!
So i don't know who works at wowinsider, or who is new from the recent recruitment drive. But imho whenever someone mentions "i pay my $0.50/day or $15/month" or w/e. They get disregarded by majority of readers, amirite?
Is it just me or are we seeing a lot more of this sort of drivel coming out of wowinsider? Usually it is Mike tho?
Therefore WTB - /bloggerinvite
And i pay my absolutley $0/month to QQ here
KKTHXBAI
Jagoex Feb 24th 2008 5:14PM
Sneak, it's just that kind of reasoning that takes power away from the consumer and puts it into the hands of corporations. Why should anyone paying for a service be okay with a lack of quality and even availability, even during difficult times?
To many of us, our money, as small a quantity as we are considering here, is incredibly important. Keep that in mind the next time you wish to insult someone with the standard "oh not the $15/month argument again," because quite frankly, it's a good argument any paying customer should make when their expectations of a service are not met.
Sneakstar Feb 24th 2008 5:37PM
point taken,
and thanks for the headsup. I have to agree with you on the whole consumer power thing mate. However, when i get frustrated (and it happens, ie about to pull a boss then bam server goes down and you have to reclear all the way back to them) i get aggro, i get upset, and i think wow this is really crap and all that. Then i have to remind myself. "hey 90% of the time the servers are pretty good. Its a game, calm down etc". Don't start a boss fight at honor roll time and the rest of it is a cakewalk. Maybe i am on one of the "lucky servers"?
And as i said $0/month to QQ here
Zaknafeiin Feb 24th 2008 5:03PM
Silvermoon server (eu) has pretty bad latency for some reason..i tried seeing if it was the same on other servers and it seems fine.....i've asked a GM about it and got the usual fob off which i get everytime i put in a ticket.
Rocnroll Feb 24th 2008 5:05PM
I have been fortunate to not have a lot of downtime like this. I did not read the wall of text on the forums, but I did hear that the last patch left out support for some routers. Maybe this is totally false (and it should be), why would a game have specific coding for a certain type of router? All they do is provide connectivity to the Internet and provide some security.
My .02.