Notes

World of Warcraft Expansion Hit by Server Bugs

World of Warcraft expansion hit by server bugs by Leo Kelion Technology desk editor



17 November 2014



Following the release of the latest expansion pack was released, World of Warcraft subscribers are experiencing crashes and long waits to play.



Developer Blizzard released a series of blogs that detail their efforts to fix the problem from Thursday.



This was due to servers in Europe being down for nearly five hours on a Saturday as servers were upgraded.



One company watcher commented that it was quite shocking considering Blizzard’s experience.



Warlords of Draenor released to sale on Thursday is the fifth expansion for WoW's fantasy-based game for 10 years. It lets players play on Draenor which is an orc-controlled world.



"While most of our players are able to play, we're sad that a few aren't allowed to play before they're admitted due to a mix of demand and the mitigation steps we've taken," a spokesperson for Blizzard told the BBC.



"We've been working around the clock to upgrade hardware as well as to implement new software solutions so that we can reduce the wait times to enter and have already seen significant improvement."



Other titles currently experiencing server problems include Microsoft's sci-fi shooter Halo: The Master Chief Collection that went on sale last week.



343 Industries, the company behind the development of the system, has acknowledged that there are "frustrating bugs" in its Matchmaking system. This connects players over the internet to compete in multiplayer battles. This has led to 343 Industries delayed the release of an esports league that is associated with it.



"We're working round the clock with the Xbox Live team, to improve the situation," a Microsoft spokesman told the BBC.



"This is our main priority. We will keep everyone up to date via Halo Waypoint."



Sony's multiplayer racing game Driveclub continues to experience connectivity problems more than one month after it went on sale. Evolution the studio that developed the title announced on Friday that it will offer content for free.



James Batchelor, editor at Develop and Development, said that "if you release an item for sale it is expected that it will work - it is an essential retail behavior."



"I don't believe that [server issues] damage day-one sales, but it could affect a publisher's reputation.



"EA continues to be a target after Sim City, over a year ago due to the fact that it took so long for the game to be successful."



Crashes and slowdowns



Problems affecting the update to WoW were made worse by the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack, which affected Blizzard's servers with traffic from the internet last week.



The US-based company admits that it has experienced an unexpectedly high volume of people trying to log on however, it's not at all surprised.



Common complaints include "realms going offline" or huge queues to join one.



Realms are versions of WoW's fantasy universe, each with different characters , but the same content. Each is hosted by a distinct set of computers.



Nine of the 266 realms that comprise the game were not functioning at the time of writing. 24 realms were "full" at the time.



Blizzard announced that it had reduced the number of players that could be active in each realm simultaneously to increase stability, which caused delays in logging-in.



Other problems include:



"Player not found" error messages, which prevent players from connecting to the game



Access to dungeons is blocked



Characters are stuck while making use of Garrison zones, a new feature that gives users a a fortress where they can manage their activities



In-game lag: Some actions in areas with a lot of people are delayed, and certain enemies begin attacking early.



Blizzard said a number of software and hardware fixes had led to it being in a position to increase the maximum number of players in each realm.



It also said that additional monitoring and testing was needed to ensure that future fixes, like the addition of servers, do not cause further issues.



Balance act



Despite the fact that a number of video game launches are affected by similar issues, one expert was shocked witness World of Warcraft struggle.



"You would expect Blizzard to have a huge amount of experience in managing the demands on the servers it has," said Piers Harding-Rolls director of games at the consulting firm IHS.



"It has dealt in the past with greater numbers of users."



He also said that if the main reason for the problem was indeed more demand than anticipated this could prove to be beneficial when the firm is able to fix the issues quickly enough.



Blizzard announced that WoW had 7.4 Million players in October, down from 12 million in 2010 but a significant improvement over August's 6.8 million.



Mr Harding-Rolls said that the firm was faced with a difficult "balancing act" when deciding on the amount of server infrastructure to offer.



"When a new piece of content comes onto the market, you need to be aware of what kind of demand there will be and what time people will be using it.



It's not a precise science. You won't get the most effective results if you don't have the right assumptions.
server list


"And you have to do it in a business manner. Beware of investing too in infrastructure and then not recouping the investment you made."



Assassin's Creed glitches criticised



13 November 2014



The thought of life after Warcraft



12 November 2014



Driveclub hit by last minute setback



8 October 2014



Destiny battle tests its way to sale



9 September 2014



Similar Internet Links



Blizzard Battle.net



Sony Evolution



Halo Waypoint



IHS



Develop



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