WoW Classic Hardcore will be restoring characters lost to DDOS attacks
@awaymessageclub
Over the last month or so, World of Warcraft has found itself on the receiving end of several DDOS attacks. These attacks, in which malicious attackers attempt to derail a server’s normal traffic patterns, often cause extreme lag (to the point of unplayability) or difficulty logging in when they strike games like WoW. This most recent round began cropping up during the Liberation of Undermine Race to World First, leading some to speculate that (much like RaOV Quality Assurance’s shenanigans) it was some kind of attempt to derail the race. But attacks continued after the race, and due to the timing some began to speculate that they were targeting the fairly prominent WoW Classic Hardcore raiding guild OnlyFangs (who experienced a catastrophic wipe in Blackwing Lair due to the DDOS and seemingly retired as a raiding guild due to the number of deaths caused by the attacks). While none of this can be proven one way or another, what is undeniable is the impact: the number of characters being lost permanently on Hardcore servers due to DDOS attacks led to a large amount of public outcry.
While Blizzard does not usually respond to death appeals or requests for character restoration on Hardcore servers, in this instance, it appears that they have decided to intervene.
Greetings,
Recently, we have experienced unprecedented distributed-denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks that impacted many Blizzard game services, including Hardcore realms, with the singular goal of disrupting players’ experiences. As we continue our work to further strengthen the resilience of WoW realms and our rapid response time, we’re taking steps to resurrect player-characters that were lost as a result of these attacks. Unlike the many other ways characters can die in Hardcore, DDoS attacks are an intentionally malicious effort made by third-party bad actors, and we believe the severity and results of DDoS attacks specifically warrant a different response.
In the future, Blizzard may elect – at our sole discretion – to revive Hardcore characters that perish in a mass event which we deem inconsistent with the integrity of the game, such as a DDoS attack.
Our broader stance on character restorations or death appeals has not changed. To be clear, we do not intend to revive characters which have died due to server disconnects, lag spikes, gameplay bugs, or any other reasons. Blizzard Customer Support cannot assist with issues related to characters who have died on Hardcore realms.
Thank you, as always, for your feedback.
Clay Stone
Associate Production Director, WoW Classic
In essence, because these characters died due to circumstances outside of their control, Blizzard has decided to restore them — a fairly big move for Hardcore servers, where a single death means that character is inaccessible unless they are retired to a non-Hardcore server.
This definitely feels like the right move, given the circumstances of the attack; hopefully, mitigating these attacks in the future is also on Blizzard’s radar, meaning they won’t need to step in to manually roll back the efforts of malicious actors.
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