Remote guild chat feature bugged for authenticator ranks
by Mathew McCurley 
Apr 21st 2011 at 8:00PM
The issue has been hotfixed and should not affect any more players with authenticator ranks, but players currently at a rank in guild that requires an authenticator will not be able to use the service until the big hotfix tomorrow.
Also, the guild chat feature has been added for every realm in the Ruin Battlegroup, so more people get to check out this really cool feature. For the full post, hit the jump.
Bashiok -- Remote Guild Chat Feedback and Bugs
We ran into a bug with the Remote Guild Chat feature earlier today which resulted in a few people being demoted within their guild. We've already applied a temporary fix to prevent this issue from affecting anyone else, and we have a full hotfix scheduled to go in the game around mid-day tomorrow. In short, the bug affected players whose guild rank required an Authenticator. When logging into Remote Guild Chat, the game assumed the player had logged in without an Authenticator, so that player was mistakenly demoted due to the security mechanisms in place in the game.
Until the full hotfix is implemented tomorrow, anyone who is still of a guild rank that requires an Authenticator will not be able to use the Remote Guild Chat feature and will receive an error message in the Mobile Armory app if they try. If you were affected by the bug, in order to be re-promoted to "Authenticator Required" ranks, you must first log in to either the game or website for the game to recognize that you have an Authenticator attached (you can do this now – no need to wait for the hotfix). 72 hours later, you will be able to be re-promoted to a rank that requires an Authenticator. We will unfortunately not be able to re-promote those who lost rank as a result of this issue. However, leaders should be able to promote guild members appropriately after the 72-hour timer has expired.
While we managed to catch and address this before it affected too many people, we apologize for any inconvenience or interruption this issue caused you or your guild. One of the reasons we're rolling out the guild-chat preview gradually is so that we can catch and address issues like this. We've worked hard to ensure that Remote Guild Chat is a solid and useful feature, and we want players looking to keep in touch with their guildies to have a great experience with it.
There is some good news! On the realm-support side, we've rolled out the feature to all of the realms in the Ruin Battlegroup today. We're happy with the stability of the service and the feedback we've seen so far, and if all goes well, we're planning to introduce the service on all North America realms within a week's time.
Until the full hotfix is implemented tomorrow, anyone who is still of a guild rank that requires an Authenticator will not be able to use the Remote Guild Chat feature and will receive an error message in the Mobile Armory app if they try. If you were affected by the bug, in order to be re-promoted to "Authenticator Required" ranks, you must first log in to either the game or website for the game to recognize that you have an Authenticator attached (you can do this now – no need to wait for the hotfix). 72 hours later, you will be able to be re-promoted to a rank that requires an Authenticator. We will unfortunately not be able to re-promote those who lost rank as a result of this issue. However, leaders should be able to promote guild members appropriately after the 72-hour timer has expired.
While we managed to catch and address this before it affected too many people, we apologize for any inconvenience or interruption this issue caused you or your guild. One of the reasons we're rolling out the guild-chat preview gradually is so that we can catch and address issues like this. We've worked hard to ensure that Remote Guild Chat is a solid and useful feature, and we want players looking to keep in touch with their guildies to have a great experience with it.
There is some good news! On the realm-support side, we've rolled out the feature to all of the realms in the Ruin Battlegroup today. We're happy with the stability of the service and the feedback we've seen so far, and if all goes well, we're planning to introduce the service on all North America realms within a week's time.
WoW Patch 4.1 is on the PTR, and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you -- from previews of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new valor point mechanics and new archaeology items.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
raingod Apr 21st 2011 8:16PM
So when are we going to hear about the billing issues and inability to log in for the last 24 hours or so?
Namssob Apr 21st 2011 8:18PM
Nice they caught this.
Prelimar Apr 21st 2011 8:21PM
wtb emberstorm battlegroup, pst.
Stuart Holdaway Apr 22nd 2011 5:05AM
Hey Blizzard, remember us uropeeuns? Here be dragons! We make up like a third or more of your playerbase. Could we get included in one of these rollouts for a change?
prairiedawg991 Apr 21st 2011 9:48PM
Awesome
chaos5061 Apr 21st 2011 10:56PM
Even though it's not on the webpage yet my Realm has been added to the app. Seems to be the Whirlwind and Retaliation BGs added. Don't know if it's all of them but Some of them have.
Ver7ig0 Apr 22nd 2011 12:56AM
I've been trolling guildies using prat with this while it's free. The icon that appears next to the name in the chat window when someone sends something from the mobile chat is a null pointer if you have prat installed, and lags the ever-loving shit out of anyone using it as they flood with LUA errors. They also can't see the incoming whispers at all, it seems, and thus have no idea who's freezing them up. You might want to disable prat if you've got douches like me in guild who think it's hilarious, at least until they update it.
Fun times.
chaos5061 Apr 22nd 2011 2:03PM
Prats issue has been fixed as of today.
tuttutt Apr 22nd 2011 1:21AM
today they added Whrilwind and Retaliation batter groups. Hope they add more over the weekend
Leafblighter-Madmortem Apr 22nd 2011 1:52AM
Unfortunately there is still no iPad version of the mobile armory app and the iPhone version looks too ugly to be useful. With a native iPad app I would be much more likely to subscribe to the service.
Prelimar Apr 22nd 2011 9:46AM
i agree -- i would love an ipad native version.
Nick Apr 22nd 2011 3:09AM
Don't call it a "smart" phone app, when its only available for iPoop users. A "Smart" phone app would be smart enough to be available on multiple platforms.
Nick Apr 22nd 2011 6:38AM
This.
Without starting a "my phone is better" subthread, this functionality needs to be brought on android asap. Couldnt care less about Windows Phone 7 or (lol) symbian.
SumDuud Apr 22nd 2011 7:31AM
Maybe on full release. This is still in beta so be patient and then maybe they'll give the lesser phones the app update. ;p. Just playing about the lesser part.
Nick Apr 22nd 2011 2:12PM
Except the armory has been out of beta for a long time and they haven't brought it out for the real phones yet.
Squelchy Apr 22nd 2011 7:31AM
So it appears to ignore the iPhone autocorrect, at least when it's the last word before you hit Return. I typed out, "Hello, drafobs" rather than "Hello, dragons" this morning. Never mind that I think "Council of Drafobs" would be a far better guild name than our current one.
Bruenir Apr 22nd 2011 8:08AM
72 hours!!! That is absurd. I have to wait 3 days to be able to be repromoted, which essentially gimps all the toons I have that were demoted. No Guild Bank for them for 3 days. All because Blizzard missed this patently obvious problem. Yes yes, nerdrage abounds, I know.
Freakprince00 Apr 22nd 2011 10:49AM
Tried this out yesterday. Was on my main (the guildmaster) and logged onto mobile using my raiding alt. Got a few funny looks from people seeing me talking to myself in gchat. Blizz customer service responded to my ticket in ten minutes (record time) and we chatted about the demotion.
Seems like only the toon that logs into mobile gets demoted. Anyone get multiple toons demoted from a single toon logging in?
Zeejay Apr 23rd 2011 7:24PM
Biggest issue I have with all this is that while blizzard say it's free to chat right now, here in the EU if I try and use it on my phone I've told I need to pay for it first.
Makes it even more upsetting noting that this "update" was released just two days after my mobile subscription had expired.
Was thinking I would see how this was, and that it might be a reason to re-subscribe to the mobile system. But if I have to pay to use in the EU when everyone else seem to be able to chat for free in the US, Blizzard can forget it.