Notes

Server Bugs Cause World Of Warcraft Expansion

Server bugs result in World of Warcraft expansion to be stopped by Leo Klion Technology desk Editor



17 November 2014



After the new expansion pack was released, World of Warcraft subscribers are experiencing issues with crashes and lengthy waits to play.



Developer Blizzard published a series blogs detailing their efforts to correct the issue from Thursday.



This included the servers in Europe in Europe unavailable for five hours on a Saturday to upgrade the hardware.



One company observer commented that it was shocking considering Blizzard's experience.



The fifth expansion for WoW's fantasy role-playing game Warlords of Draenor was released on Thursday. It lets players play on an entirely new orc-controlled world, called Draenor.



"While the majority of our players are in a position to play, we're very sorry that some are stuck in queues before they're able to enter because of a combination of demand and mitigating measures we've taken," a spokesman for Blizzard said to the BBC.



"We've been working round the clock to upgrade hardware and implement additional software solutions so that we can reduce the queues to get in, and we've already seen an improvement in the process."



Other titles that are having issues with servers include Microsoft's sci-fi shooter Halo: The Master Chief Collection. This title also was available on sale last Wednesday.



343 Industries, the company behind the development of the system, has admitted that there are "frustrating bugs" with its Matchmaking system. It connects players on the internet to participate in multiplayer battles. As a result, 343 Industries has delayed the launch of an associated esports league.



A Microsoft spokesperson said to BBC that they are working round the clock with the Xbox Live team to improve the situation.



"This is our main priority. We will keep everyone informed via Halo Waypoint."



Sony's multiplayer racing game Driveclub continues to encounter connectivity issues more than one month after its release. Evolution, the studio behind the title announced on Friday it would give away content in exchange for compensation.



"If you release products for sale, it's expected to work - it's basic retail etiquette" said James Batchelor, editor of games industry magazine Develop.



"I do not believe that server issuescan impact sales on day one, but it could damage a publisher’s reputation.



"EA still has this kind of stigma following Sim City, which was more than a year ago, due to the fact that it took it for so long to get the game to work."



Crashes and lag



Issues with the update to WoW were exacerbated by the distributed denial-of-services (DDoS) attack that caused Blizzard's computers to be overwhelmed with traffic from the internet last week.



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



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



Realms are versions of WoW's fantasy universe, each with different characters and the same content. Each is hosted by a distinct group of computer servers.



At the time of writing, nine of the game's 266 realms were offline and 24 were "full".



Blizzard stated that it had reduced the number of players that could be active in any realm at the same time to ensure stability, which led to delays in logging-in.



Other problems are:



Players are prevented from connecting to the game by receiving errors messages "Player not found".



Blocked access to dungeons



Characters get stuck while using Garrison zones. A new feature that lets users to build fortresses and manage their operations.



In-game lag: Certain actions in areas that are crowded are delayed, and some enemies attack early.



Blizzard stated that it was able to increase the number of players in each realm because of numerous technological and software enhancements.



However, it also stated that it needed "additional oversight and testing" to ensure other planned fixes, such as the addition of servers, did not introduce further problems.



Balance act



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



Piers Harding-Rolls (head of games at IHS) stated that "you would expect Blizzard to have a lot of experience in managing the workload of the numerous servers it has."



"It has dealt with larger amounts of users in the past."



He suggested that if the main problem was higher demand than expected, it could be a success if the company is able to fix the issue quickly enough.
wow-servers.co


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 added that the firm had faced a tricky "balancing act" when deciding on the amount of server infrastructure to offer.



"When an item is made available to the market, you need to anticipate the demand and the length of time people will be using it.



"It's not a exact science. If you don't have the basic assumptions right, you don't have the best results.



"And you have to do it in a commercial way, and avoid investing too much into the infrastructure and then not regaining the investment you've made."



Criticised Assassin's Creed glitches



13 November 2014



Pondering the possibilities for life after Warcraft



12 November 2014



Driveclub was hit by a last-minute setback



8 October 2014



Destiny is fighting for its sale



9 September 2014



Similar Internet Links



Blizzard Battle.net



Sony Evolution



Halo Waypoint



IHS



Develop



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Website: https://wow-servers.co/