New streaming launcher available soon
by Mathew McCurley 
Oct 11th 2010 at 2:00PM
If you haven't seen the new launcher yet, here's a quick rundown. The launcher allows you to download a critical set of data required to play the game, noted by the red stage. After that critical set of data is downloaded, you can play WoW but will potentially experience issues because the majority of the game content is not downloaded, noted by the yellow stage. Once a majority of the game content is downloaded, the downloader goes green, meaning you will still be downloading content but the game will be in a more stable, playable state. Hit the jump for the official announcement.
Lylirra -- New Streaming Launcher Available SoonWith patch 4.0.1, we will be introducing a new World of Warcraft launcher that will allow you to stream game data while you play. This will reduce the time you spend downloading, installing, and patching World of Warcraft.
Streaming Launcher Basics
We've redesigned the launcher to provide a visual update to your installation progress. You will see a new progress bar with sections (Red, Yellow, Green) that represent the amount of data you have currently installed.
There are three stages of download progress:
Setup (Red): Core game content is being prepared. You cannot enter the game at this time.
Available (Yellow): Major game content is not completely applied. You can play, but your game experience will not be ideal.
Playable (Green): Final game content is almost complete. You may experience a few issues with playing at this stage.
All World of Warcraft data will continue to download and apply whether you wait in the launcher or are playing in-game. If you find the play experience unsatisfactory, you may exit the game and allow the Launcher to continue the download. While the launcher should automatically adjust the download according to your bandwidth, this may improve the play experience for users with low bandwidth Internet connections.
Streaming Launcher FAQ
For more information, please refer to our FAQ: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=27188059042&sid=1&pageNo=1#1
Streaming Launcher Basics
We've redesigned the launcher to provide a visual update to your installation progress. You will see a new progress bar with sections (Red, Yellow, Green) that represent the amount of data you have currently installed.
There are three stages of download progress:
Setup (Red): Core game content is being prepared. You cannot enter the game at this time.
Available (Yellow): Major game content is not completely applied. You can play, but your game experience will not be ideal.
Playable (Green): Final game content is almost complete. You may experience a few issues with playing at this stage.
All World of Warcraft data will continue to download and apply whether you wait in the launcher or are playing in-game. If you find the play experience unsatisfactory, you may exit the game and allow the Launcher to continue the download. While the launcher should automatically adjust the download according to your bandwidth, this may improve the play experience for users with low bandwidth Internet connections.
Streaming Launcher FAQ
For more information, please refer to our FAQ: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=27188059042&sid=1&pageNo=1#1
Lylirra -- Streaming Launcher FAQQ. The new launcher streams data using Peer-to-Peer (P2P). Do I only seed when I'm also downloading something, or will I be uploading data to other players all the time?
A. As with the previous system, you will no longer seed once you've downloaded all the data.
Q. Will P2P be used to download data while in-game?
A. Eventually, yes. Not during this initial release.
Q. The background downloader currently allows me to continue downloading after exiting the game. Can you add that feature to this new system?
A. We intend to add this feature in the future. Until then, you can open your Launcher again after you exit the game if you wish to continue downloading game data.
Q. How is data assigned to each stage?
A. Data is assigned to each stage based on the relative need for that data. Red is required to get into the game, Yellow is data needed for baseline gameplay, and Green is for variants of base game data (higher-resolution graphics, alternate sounds, other flavor data).
Q. How do I know when the entire game is downloaded?
A. The progress bar will reach 100%, and then will not be shown on subsequent launches (until a new patch is released).
Q. Will I still be able to download patches from mirror sites?
A. Standalone patches will be made available again soon.
Q. Will the downloader still use P2P / BitTorrent?
A. Yes.
Q. Will large patches still be downloadable in advance through the background downloader?
A. Yes.
Q. Will it be possible to download the entire game before I begin playing it?
A. Yes.
Q. Is downloading game data in advance mandatory?
A. No. Users will have the option of playing before all game data is downloaded and applied. They may choose to enter the game, or they may choose to wait.
Q. On patch days, will I be able to start the patch download before the realms are back up?
A. Yes.
Q. Will I still be able to download a patch once and copy it to multiple machines?
A. Yes, as long as you have fully downloaded the entire patch. However, as with the prior expansions, patches from a previous major version (all patches prior to 4.0) will not work with the new major version.
Q. What if I have a low bandwidth connection?
A. Users with connections below 1 MB/sec will be required to download both Setup (Red) and Available (Yellow) data before entering the game.
A. As with the previous system, you will no longer seed once you've downloaded all the data.
Q. Will P2P be used to download data while in-game?
A. Eventually, yes. Not during this initial release.
Q. The background downloader currently allows me to continue downloading after exiting the game. Can you add that feature to this new system?
A. We intend to add this feature in the future. Until then, you can open your Launcher again after you exit the game if you wish to continue downloading game data.
Q. How is data assigned to each stage?
A. Data is assigned to each stage based on the relative need for that data. Red is required to get into the game, Yellow is data needed for baseline gameplay, and Green is for variants of base game data (higher-resolution graphics, alternate sounds, other flavor data).
Q. How do I know when the entire game is downloaded?
A. The progress bar will reach 100%, and then will not be shown on subsequent launches (until a new patch is released).
Q. Will I still be able to download patches from mirror sites?
A. Standalone patches will be made available again soon.
Q. Will the downloader still use P2P / BitTorrent?
A. Yes.
Q. Will large patches still be downloadable in advance through the background downloader?
A. Yes.
Q. Will it be possible to download the entire game before I begin playing it?
A. Yes.
Q. Is downloading game data in advance mandatory?
A. No. Users will have the option of playing before all game data is downloaded and applied. They may choose to enter the game, or they may choose to wait.
Q. On patch days, will I be able to start the patch download before the realms are back up?
A. Yes.
Q. Will I still be able to download a patch once and copy it to multiple machines?
A. Yes, as long as you have fully downloaded the entire patch. However, as with the prior expansions, patches from a previous major version (all patches prior to 4.0) will not work with the new major version.
Q. What if I have a low bandwidth connection?
A. Users with connections below 1 MB/sec will be required to download both Setup (Red) and Available (Yellow) data before entering the game.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.Filed under: Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
wutsconflag Oct 11th 2010 2:05PM
Oh, good! We can wait until the data finishes downloading. I'd seen some beta videos where the downloader was still going while the person was in game, and that led to some interesting things, like not seeing certain NPCs or events.
Texicles Oct 11th 2010 2:41PM
Not to mention spooky blue walls that would keep you from being able to go places.
Awesome technology, but I'll likely be waiting until Green Phase or close to it before trying to play.
(cutaia) Oct 11th 2010 5:20PM
I actually like the spooky blue walls.
Erainag80 Oct 11th 2010 2:07PM
I thought this feature has been out for a while. I switched to the new updated launcher sometime last week after it was shown on the launcher while I was sitting around the 2 extra hours that WoW was down for last Tuesday. It's fairly simple to activate, just go to Options on the Launcher and click a box. You may have to turn the launcher on in the opening screen if you had it turned off like me. :)
wutsconflag Oct 11th 2010 2:17PM
Currently, the loader will download the patch, but it will apply it before you can play. The new launcher will apply the patch while you play, if you desire.
Oakraven Oct 11th 2010 2:25PM
whats been avalible for a while is the ability to preload a patch befor it goes live
What this does is allow you to play the game while its still installing.
(Red is the basic gamefiles that *YOU* need to play and includes all the starting zones, yellow is suposedly the files for the zone your toons are in followed by the zones "apropreate for your level" Green files are the High Rez files AND zone files for expansions you dont have yet.) Basicaly if you start off a new account with a new Orc Warior for example, it will bump the files for all linked zones to the top of the "Download ASAP" list
ithalaine Oct 11th 2010 2:17PM
if i previously had a problem with the old launcher downloader will this one work or not
Faar Oct 11th 2010 6:51PM
Impossible to tell. How could anyone know the answer to such a question?
You'll just have to wait and see.
Drakkenfyre Oct 11th 2010 2:19PM
I hope they fixed the problem with it.
It would frequently take forever to launch the game. It would vary from instant to up to 5 minutes later. Sometimes it would just fail to launch the game at all. Even repeatedly, it would fail to launch the game.
I am not talking about streaming, I am talking about once the patch has completely downloaded and installed. It also had the tendency to show the streaming loading in-game even after it had been completely downloaded and installed.
Arednel Oct 11th 2010 2:27PM
that's because they're forcing the beta users to test the streaming, our clients may say that it's completed but it's not to make it test for them.
very annoying on my laptop where I would much rather it was fully downloaded and the streaming cause it to heat up massively.
MaatJusticeTruth Oct 11th 2010 2:30PM
This was due to the fact that blizzard was withholding certain parts of the patch to everyone so that they could make sure testing of the steaming client was taking place
Leviathon Oct 11th 2010 2:27PM
That probably won't be fixed very quickly since it's a bug that is caused by a .Net upgrade Microsoft did.
KJP Oct 11th 2010 4:00PM
@Leviathon Interesting theory with one small problem: I saw the same behavior on my iMac.
Netherscourge Oct 11th 2010 2:23PM
I hope it's not like Guild Wars' streaming launcher - if an area or zone was not downloaded yet, you stared at a load screen for about an hour until it downloaded.
And that's with a direct HTTP connection. Not sure how ugly it might be with a Blizzard Torrent Downloader thingy.
Drakkenfyre Oct 11th 2010 2:31PM
You get a blue wall that stops you while it's loading. You see a little loading circle that tells you how far it's gone. Red means it's downloading core data, you almost never see that. Yellow means it's roughly halfway downloaded. Green means it's almost complete.
When it's done it lets you into the area.
Note, if you don't have a fast enuf connection (I think it's 500Mb/sec) you won't be able to play and stream at the same time. It simply won't let you start the game unless you do.
Drakkenfyre Oct 11th 2010 2:32PM
500Kb/sec*
MaatJusticeTruth Oct 11th 2010 2:36PM
From my experience as long as you wait for it to get to the green stage it is not the painful to wait for the loading...At the yellow stage you will see large sections that are surrounded by a Blue aura which indicates the data for that area is not available yet, and I recall one time I did some testing at the yellow stage and waiting for the client to load the data for Org was painful...It is a safe bet to just wait for Green unless you have some really nice internet
Netherscourge Oct 11th 2010 2:36PM
I wonder how certain ADDONS will function with some game data not loaded...
Like the ones that track locations of gathered items or other types of geography if stuff isn't installed yet.
wutsconflag Oct 11th 2010 2:38PM
@Drakkenfyre
I'd love to have a 500Mb/sec connection. *g*
Drakkenfyre Oct 11th 2010 2:43PM
If you hit the edge of the map, the wall will go up, and it will give you the red loading circle forever. It thinks there is more data to load, but it never does.
Of course in most areas to hit the edge of the map you will be standing in or on fatigue water, and about to die or taking damage.