Compensation for last week's extended downtime
by Michael Sacco 
Dec 4th 2009 at 11:00AM
Even after having worked at Blizzard, I'm unsure as to how the decision is made to or not to offer compensation for downtime, but I'm glad that it does get offered periodically. It's no fun to have a day off or a light workday and then discover that the realm that houses your main is down, again.
Regardless, if you were on any of the realms listed after the cut, you should see that a 24-hour credit has been added to your subscription on your Account Management page. Take this, your blue badge of courage, and hold it high to the heavens, your karmic reward for not pitching a fit. "We cool, Blizz. We cool."
- Antonidas
- Anub'arak
- Blackwater Raiders
- Bladefist
- Borean Tundra
- Cairne
- Cenarion Circle
- Cenarius
- Darrowmere
- Drak'Tharon
- Drenden
- Echo Isles
- Farstriders
- Fenris
- Garrosh
- Hydraxis
- Hyjal
- Korialstraaz
- Lightbringer
- Maiev
- Misha
- Mok'Nathal
- Moon Guard
- Nazgrel
- Nesingwary
- Nordrassil
- Quel'dorei
- Ravenholdt
- Rivendare
- Shandris
- Shu'halo
- Sisters of Elune
- The Forgotten Coast
- Tortheldrin
- Uther
- Vashj
- Winterhoof
- Wyrmrest Accord
Filed under: Realm News, Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Mordockk Dec 4th 2009 11:11AM
so its 15$ a month to play, and I'm getting a 1 day credit? OMFG THANKS FOR 50 CENTS BLIZZARD!!!
ZMES_Matt Dec 4th 2009 11:15AM
50 cents, multiplied by several thousand people, equal huge cut for Blizz. Be thankful you got 50 cents. :P
Danarok Dec 4th 2009 11:16AM
Those servers were out for 19 hours, so a free 24 hours compensation for all accounts with a character on those realms (I guess even for a random lowbie alt), whether you attempted to log in or not, seems more than fair to me.
Bella Dec 4th 2009 11:18AM
Like damn Blizz. You draw my $15/mo direct. Like 24 hours of credit is anything but a nuisance.
Wish they would be a bit more creative.....
E.G
Game Carders get hr credits
Direct Draw get a prorated G or emblem/hr outage compensation
If my toons were drawing gold or emblems for every hour of outage, I sure a hell would not be too worried about how long the outage was for - toons are at least getting some benefit. Some may say this would ruin the in-game economies ... I say not nearly as much as the server being down does.
zappo Dec 4th 2009 11:36AM
Or you could be thankful that the game is so cheap in the first place.
Mordockk Dec 4th 2009 11:41AM
@matt idc about 50 cents. I care about the fact we were on heroic faction champs when servers went down I didnt get my chance to get heroic justicebringer. Now that icecrown is out next week, a lot of raiders decided to chill out and not attend raids so my chances of gettin back in there are slim. since everyone will be focused on ICC 25/10
@all who downrated. As a player who pays a monthly fee, withdrawn automatically, how is this credit really affecting me? I pay monthly, not daily.
Last night I ordered a burger and they forgot to put cheese on it. If I ordered the burger from blizzard, the next time they'd compensate by giving me 2 pieces of cheese on my next burger. :). I don't need that extra piece of cheese, i wanted the damn cheese on my LASt burger!
^^probably a bad analogy, its close to lunchtime
ZMES_Matt Dec 4th 2009 11:51AM
So between compensation of any kind, and a stick in the eye, you'd prefer the latter...
Huh. *shrug* To each his own I suppose. :P
One day though you're going to quit WoW just like all of us will eventually in the long run. That one extra day may be after the day you quit, saving you your last $15 that otherwise would have gone to them a day earlier. Granted, there's really only like a 1/30 chance that'll happen, but hey, personally I prefer anything than the stick in the eye. :P
Mordockk Dec 4th 2009 1:03PM
well i guess does look like im QQing. something's better than nothing.
raspybunk Dec 4th 2009 1:40PM
Well, it's not the 24 hours I needed to finish the seasonal achievements, but it's fun to see them do anything about it. Sad I missed the achievement because of it, but it did get me to sign up for the wow.com guild.
artifex Dec 4th 2009 2:29PM
If you confused whiners would stop and think about the last dozen or more times they did this, the extra time means that prepaid time runs out later, direct withdrawals happen later, etc.
Check your account history -- you've probably had credits to your account before and didn't even know about them!
a guy Dec 4th 2009 5:13PM
If you have direct draw from your account, why are you paying 15$ a month? After playing for almost 5 years at 13$ a month I've saved 5*12*2=$120. Basically, I've saved enough for 8 months of free play time (at your 15 $/mo rate.)
Imnick Dec 4th 2009 11:13AM
I didn't even notice my realm was down and I still get a day for free. Sounds good to me.
damagex26 Dec 4th 2009 1:54PM
yeah rolling alts on five different servers to play with friends who get bored two weeks later has earned me over a week of free time over the course of my wow career. Add in all the times Blizz messed up getting my credit card info and the three day credits they give for that and I'm up over half a month!
ZMES_Matt Dec 4th 2009 11:13AM
Oh, that's some baby-back bullshit. Earlier this year my server and its battlegroup went down for a day, and the entire day after was still practically unplayable though technically the server was "up". We went two days without being able to play and got jack-diddly
Pausanius Dec 4th 2009 11:15AM
I don't see a credit yet; however, I wonder if there's any distinction made by Blizzard on the amount of time a person plays on a server in order to qualify for the credit (meaning credits in general, not necessarily limited to this one).
For instance, I regularly play on Eitrigg (not on the list) with my main and slew of alts; however, when Cairne (which is on the list) opened up, I created a mirror toon on the server to reserve my name as I was one-day planning to start an opposing faction character.
Now, I don't really think I need a credit as the toon is sub-20 and I haven't opened that toon for some time... but if I do get a credit, would it behoove the cheapskate in me to create single alts across various battlegroups to capitalize on what will surely be future outages?
Hoggersbud Dec 4th 2009 11:16AM
Normally you have to have played on the toon recently, not just have it around.
Pausanius Dec 4th 2009 11:29AM
I would assume/hope so as otherwise it seems they'd be an easy avenue to abuse their leninacy of 50 characters.
I know logged into the Cairne character within the past few weeks in order to get the Whelping 5th anniversary pet but didn't actually play beyond that. I do have another low level on Wyrmrest Accord that I haven't touched in months. Either way, I'm curious to see what they do.
Hoggersbud Dec 4th 2009 11:16AM
Look at the complaints roll in, can't even take a little compensation with grace.
Colin Dec 4th 2009 12:20PM
I agree. I really like wow, but some parts of the community drive me crazy sometime.
Why does Blizz owe you any more than one day?
You lost (roughly) a day of playing and Blizz gave you a day of playing. Why would they give you a week's worth of playtime, or free gear/emblems?
Colin Dec 4th 2009 12:22PM
Oh, and to all the people talking about not getting credit when their server was down, I really feel for you. It's happened to me a few too many times. :(
But yeah, I don't fret and whine.