Children's Week Dalaran orphan quest broken [Updated]

by Dan O'Halloran May 2nd 2010 at 1:00PM

Reports on the official forums this morning are that those who completed the Dalaran orphan's quest (Oracle pet/Wolvar pet) last year are currently unable to start the quest again today. Blizzard has already chimed in with a response:

Aredek -- Children's Week not working

I'm terribly sorry about the delay in getting back to you all regarding this issue; however, this is an issue we are presently looking into. At this time, players who completed the Dalaran Children's Week quests will be unable to re-accept the quests. We hope to resolve this issue as soon as possible, but we do not have an ETA to provide at this time.

We will surely let you know as soon are more information becomes available.

Thank you all for your patience!

source

This annual reset glitch has happened a few times in the past with other seasonal events. This issue should not be affecting the Stormwind, Orgrimmar or Shattrath orphan quests. It should also not be affecting those who are doing the Dalaran orphan quest for the first time. More information about the current seasonal event can be found in our Children's Week guide updated for 2010.

We'll update this post when Blizzard announces the fix.

Update: Blizzard has announced that there is no fix this year:

Bashiok -- No fix for Children's Week this year

To clarify, this issue won't be able to be resolved for Children's Week this year. If you completed the quest previously you won't be able to complete it again for the other pet this year.

source

Tags: breaking, childrens-week, childrens-week-2010, childrens-week-quest, childrens-week-quests, dalaran-orphan-quest, oracle-pet, wolvar-pet, wow-childrens-week

Filed under: Events

Reader Comments (Page 2 of 3)

SamLowry May 2nd 2010 2:37PM

I agree with the OP--this is embarrassing. Doesn't Blizz test anything? Is the PTR just for sneak previews these days?

I'm sorry, but Blizz should have their own private TR where they can fast-forward the game to make sure it doesn't go kafluey whenever the game-state changes.

Thatacus May 2nd 2010 3:26PM

I think it should be understandable for the Dalaran one to be a bit bugged considering it was only started last year. It's not like they should anticipate there to be a problem considering both the Shattrath and Vanilla orphan ones work fine. Holiday bugs happen the following year (i.e. Elders and Fires not resetting) but they always fix it. The Dalaran orphan chain is no exception so there's no reason to get so upset about it.

If this had happened with the Shattrath or Vanilla orphan, it would be a bit more understandable to rage about.

Chrisamcnicholas May 2nd 2010 3:27PM

Because there was a ptr for the holiday event....
amiright?

SamLowry May 2nd 2010 10:30PM

Blizz should be testing EVERY change to the game, but obviously they're not. They just drop in a change, cross their fingers, and hope everything turns out okay.

SamLowry May 2nd 2010 10:36PM

And "Holiday bugs happen the following year but they always fix it" is an excuse? It makes the problem even WORSE, because they should obviously be anticipating these problems instead of waiting until after they go bad before they apply a fix. It's like saying "I always throw up after I eat worms, so the next time I eat worms I'll have a bucket ready."

Thatacus May 2nd 2010 11:22PM

Why would they assume something is broken? Again, like I've stated, both the Vanilla and Shattrath orphan quest chain has been working for couple of years now, why would they assume that this one would be broken?

Your example of eating worms is different from what I'm even trying to say. Your example is the equivalent of if the Vanilla orphan quest chain is continuously broken every year, then yeah it would be worse, and their own fault. If they just said "Oh, well we know it's broken every year, let's just push it out and fix it later," then yeah you'd be right. However, the Dalaran orphan quest is new from last year. There's no way of them to know it would be broken until they established it this year. That's the equivalent of eating centipedes and then thinking, "Oh crap, these make me vomit too, now I know."

Darkrose May 3rd 2010 6:25AM

Al said...
You aren't aware of how many lines of code are in this game, are you?

Oh boy, that one is getting old... I think it's a safe assumption that data about which quests you have completed already is stored in a database. Therefore it doesn't matter how many lines of code there are. All they have to do is properly reset the quest, eithet manually or by letting the 'completed' flag expire automatically.
And it just amazes me that this particular bug keeps popping up, as much as it amazes me that they apparently haven't taken a more proactive approach since the previous times.

SamLowry May 3rd 2010 3:01PM

But Thatacus, they're the same. Every annual holiday questline has to be reset, but apparently this isn't being done automatically all the time. Yet when it is done automatically, like when partially-achieved achievements are wiped clean, you end up with bugs like the one I have: though there's a Hallowed Helm in my bank, it isn't checked off on the "Sinister Calling" achievement because I still haven't won a Sinister Squashling. Do I have to contact a GM to get this piece of idiocy fixed?

Andrew May 3rd 2010 8:14PM

Don't know why Darkrose got voted down. He's right. Obviously the readers of wow.com are so in love with the game that Blizzard can do no wrong.

It has nothing to do with the number of lines of code. Some basic testing of each event prior to it happening would have uncovered these types of issues.

Is it really too much to ask Blizzard to have a few testers simulate characters of different ages and play through the game like a real person would? Considering the millions Blizzard reap from this game its a surprise that these problems occur again and again.

Riley May 2nd 2010 1:35PM

Oh, thank god, I was thinking they were only going to let you get one or the other no matter what

Roddythew May 2nd 2010 9:36PM

So did I. I thought since the Matron's dialogue says that if your friendly or friends with the Frenzyheart OR Oracles and to try talking to them to help an Orphan for Children's Week, it would be impossible to do it with both factions. I am Exalted with Oracles and Hated with Frenzyheart, so I thought that being Hated I couldn't, of course, be friends with them. As it is, they attack me on sight. In the earlier version, the Matron gave the Orphan quests, but in this version she wants you to talk to the factions yourself.

Hollow Leviathan May 2nd 2010 1:42PM

The Shattrath orphan quest to Auchindoun is also bugged, but not broken. She's supported to summon a Night Elf warrior using the meeting stone who thanks your orphan, but it doesn't spawn her and you just complete the quest.

Just a little sad, cause I love these cute quests.

RogueJedi86 May 2nd 2010 2:09PM

Hasn't that one been that way for years? The only time I remember her ever summoning the Night Elf Adventurer was the very first year. I remember Dornaa would help the Night Elf summon, and then the Night Elf would run into Mana-Tombs. Every year since Dornaa's just done the summon animation and then quest complete, no night elf.

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