Filed under: Bugs

A quick note on our RSS feeds and iTunes issues

by Michael Gray Sep 20th 2010 at 12:30PM

If you haven't noticed, your intrepid WoW Insider team has been going through some ch-ch-ch-ch-changes lately. And sometimes, when you're undergoing such vital and overwhelming upgrades, certain pieces of the ship need a little more loving care than others.

Right now, our goblin-engineered RSS feed and gnomish iTunes systems are getting overhauled and fixed up. Both services are being cranky, but the stalwart code slingers at Aol are working on fixes. In the meantime, just hang in there with us a tiny bit longer. It'll be OK soon enough, and we can all enjoy our shiny new WoW Insider.

We'd like to thank those of you who have written us to make sure we know about the RSS feed, podcast and iTunes issues. Our community is a wonderful group of people whose feedback has helped us excel. We appreciate the time you took to write in. It shows you care, and we will keep trying to return the best content possible.

Filed under: Bugs, News items

Launcher update today causing problems, how to fix

by Adam Holisky Sep 18th 2010 at 5:00PM

An update to the Blizzard launcher and associated tools this afternoon has been causing problems for folks running various versions of Windows. The bug has a chance of occurring when you get stuck at a "Waiting for files to close..." dialog box when updating. Blizzard support staff was quick to announce a fix, which is pretty easy to do.

To solve this, go into the task manager (you can get to that by right-clicking on the bottom taskbar on your screen and selecting "Start Task Manager," or by pressing the control, shift and escape keys all at once) and end any and all of the following processes in the "Processes" tab:

WoW.exe
Launcher.exe
BackgroundDownloader.exe
Repair.exe
WowError.exe

After you make sure none of the above processes are running, you'll be able to move forward with the update and get WoW working again.

The full Blizzard statement after the break.

Filed under: Bugs, Blizzard, News items

Cataclysm Beta: Worgen race change issues and you

by Matthew Rossi Sep 15th 2010 at 8:00PM

One of the more interesting aspects of the most recent beta build was the implementation of random character service options for purposes of testing. It's interesting in an abstract way because it shows that Blizzard is thinking ahead about the volume of attempts to use these services when Cataclysm launches and we get tons of new race and class combinations as well as two whole new races. Granted, we won't be able to shift to goblin right away, but eventually. You know you're thinking about it.

I was not immune to the siren song of this option and its possibilities, and soon I had converted one of my level 80 warriors to a worgen. However, there was a slight catch: my new worgen had no racial abilities, meaning he couldn't transform at all. So rather than race-changing into an intimidating wolf man, I'd transformed into someone with a vague English accent and a tendency to talk about sniffing himself. As you can understand, I was mildly devastated, but resolved to soldier on.

And then our own Gregg Reece descended as if a being from Olympus, surrounded by shafts of light and winged cherubs, and bestowed upon me the answer: "Go drown yourself in a sewer."

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Bugs, Cataclysm

Patch 3.3.5's Out of Storage error

by Anne Stickney Jun 24th 2010 at 8:00PM

While some players are happily playing with the new features included in Patch 3.3.5, many others are unable to do so due to problems that cause the game to crash. Blizzard has noted this situation and is working diligently on a fix to this problem. In the meantime, a thread on the Technical Support forums addresses this issue and what players can do to make the game playable again. The issue appears to pop up as an Out of Storage error for players running World of Warcraft on a 64-bit OS. What can you do while waiting for a fix? Simple -- turn down your graphics settings. Blue poster Datth had the following suggestions to make:

Datth

Extremely low view distance settings (177 vs 1277) is more than enough to compensate for the extra memory being used in this patch by a few factors. A lot of people are able to get by with setting View Distance from max to about halfway using that alone. Using d3d9ex mode (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=21723843232&sid=1) can shave off another ~100-200MB from what it's currently doing right now too.

source

Blizzard hopes to have the game fully functional for all players at any level of graphics quality soon; however, there is no ETA currently on when this fix will occur. Keep an eye on the thread in the Technical Support forums, as they are sure to post more information as they learn more about the errors.

Filed under: Bugs, Blizzard, News items

New issues with Adobe Flash, Google search links could compromise your account

by Daniel Whitcomb Jun 7th 2010 at 8:30PM

We have news of two new tricks hackers are currently using to steal WoW accounts. First, from Curse, comes news of a Google sponsored link that claims to lead to the popular addon manager Curse Client, but instead leads to a malware download. To be absolutely safe, you should always only download the client from http://www.curse.com/client.

In addition, Blizzard is warning that Adobe Flash version 10.0.45.2 contains a critical vulnerability that could be used to install a keylogger on your computer in order to steal your WoW account info. You can avoid this issue by installing Adobe Flash version 10.1 Release Candidate 7, which does not appear to have the same vulnerabilities.

Filed under: Bugs, News items

Patch 3.3.3a should fix issues for some Mac users

by Allison Robert Mar 26th 2010 at 7:00PM

A heads-up for our Mac users, although there's a good chance you've already been painfully aware of this if you play on one of the affected systems -- patch 3.3.3 has been causing major issues for some PowerPC and Tiger users, which have (hopefully) been fixed by the mini-patch 3.3.3a.

S4d1K -- 3.3.3 Known Issues for Mac players

We are aware of 2 critical bugs that are affecting users with specific configurations.

#1 PowerPC G4/G5 users get disconnected after login.

#2 Users with a MacBook Pro GeForce 8600M and 10.4.11 crashes after entering the world.

We are very sorry and we are working on these issues and hope to fix them as soon as possible.

UPDATE 5:10pm:
We have a fix for both issues but it will require a client patch. We don't have an ETA for now.

UPDATE 3/24 12:15pm:
We are currently testing a patch. We want to make sure that we do not break the game for another group of people. We are doing everything to release this patch as soon as possible.

source

The patch in question is (we think) 3.3.3a. With the patch, many of the affected users are now reporting that WoW is playable again, but while monitoring the official thread on the issue, it's apparent that a lot of players are still having problems. We had several people drop comments on Adam's earlier post on the mini-patch -- did 3.3.3a work for you?

Filed under: Bugs, News items

Patch 3.3.3: Bugs with old gear, missing gems reported

by Anne Stickney Mar 25th 2010 at 11:35PM

As of patch 3.3.3, some people have noticed that some of their level 70 gear is now missing gems and enchants -- they've simply up and disappeared. It only appears to be affecting gear and equipment acquired prior to Wrath, so level 80's shouldn't have too much to worry about -- but for leveling alts, or mains that are taking their time, it's definitely a concern. This has been reported, and there is a blue response on the issue:

Bornakk

There is currently an issue that we are aware of where gems and enchantments are missing from items that had them before we released patch 3.3.3 this week. This appears to be affecting some equipment that was acquired before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. We are planning to resolve this during the next maintenance on Tuesday, March 30th, and recommend that you do not try to gem or re-gem any of this gear until after that time. We will provide further updates if this situation changes.

source

So for now, if you've noticed your gear has significantly less sparkle than it did prior to Tuesday, sit tight and don't do anything to it -- it should be fixed next Tuesday with the regular weekly maintenance. If there's any changes to this information, we'll let you know.

Filed under: Bugs, News items

Patch 3.3.3: New pet bug on live realms

by Anne Stickney Mar 23rd 2010 at 10:00PM

Patch 3.3.3 is live, and players all over are checking out all the new features -- I myself was busily exchanging battleground marks for honor points on all my various characters when I noticed something... odd. My level 70 pet had a new buff. Not just any buff -- Hellscream's Warsong, the buff from Icecrown Citadel. Upon further investigation, it appears that all player pets are currently running around with this buff -- demons, hunter pets and ghouls are all currently affected, although I didn't get a chance to peek at a mage water elemental. Alliance players are seeing the Alliance counterpart, Strength of Wrynn, also on all pets. While only the 5% version of the buff, players of every level are being affected -- I'm sure the level 42 hunter I saw running around with it was pleased. This is most assuredly a bug that will be fixed at some point in the near future, but pet classes? Enjoy it while you can. I know I will!

Filed under: Bugs, News items

Editorial: Thoughts on the Ensidia ban

by Dawn Moore Feb 5th 2010 at 7:00PM

Are you wondering what has caused all the ruckus in the raiding community the past few days? Have you been typing your fingers to the bone since Wednesday night, arguing for one side or the other in forums and chat channels? Whoever you are, or whatever side you're on, in the still-burning aftermath of Ensidia's ban, I feel some reflection is needed. Thus, I am going explain, to the best of my ability, what happened to cause such uproar in the raiding community this week. I am also going to, as the title implies, offer my speculations.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Cheats, Bugs, Guilds, Raiding, Wrath of the Lich King, Achievements

In-game fixes for February 3rd

by Alex Ziebart Feb 3rd 2010 at 9:30PM

In addition to Saronite Bombs being disabled, there are a number of other hotfixes being rolled out on live realms this evening. You can find them in Bornakk's forum thread or continue reading them below.

Blood Queen Lana'thel will now begin her flight phase a little earlier in 25 player mode, Vampiric Bite is no longer mitigated by armor, and the damage of Vampiric Bite has been reduced.
Toravon will now be affected appropriately by Area-of-Effect damage spells.
The Frost Orb corpses in the Toravon encounter will now despawn faster.

Filed under: Bugs

Elemental Shaman Tier 10 bug causes 7-day lockout

by Zach Yonzon Jan 4th 2010 at 1:00PM

A nasty bug with the 2-piece Tier 10 bonus for Elemental Shamans reared its ugly head recently when a player attempted to use Elemental Mastery. The bonus, which is supposed to reduce the cooldown on Elemental Mastery by 2 seconds each time Lightning Bolt and Chain Lightning is used, instead puts the 31-point Elemental talent on a whopping seven day cooldown. This is akin to the bug found with the Hunter ability Call Stabled Pet, which puts the ability on an even more staggering 25-day cooldown.

Ghostcrawler immediately responded to the concern as raised on the official forums, stating that the problem happens only in cross-server instances and that raiding shouldn't be affected. Elemental Shamans sporting two pieces from the Frost Witch's Regalia would probably do well not to activate Elemental Mastery while in a dungeon using the Dungeon Finder until a fix is found. Ghostcrawler stated that Blizzard is working on the issue.

Filed under: Shaman, Bugs, Odds and ends

In-game fixes for December 15th

by Adam Holisky Dec 15th 2009 at 10:40PM

Another day, another round of in-game hotfixes. This time the most interesting one of the bunch is the increase in Battered Hilt drop rate (the Battered Hilt leads to the Quel'Delar). Of course it could mean that the hilt drop rate was increased from 0.001% to 0.01%, but hey, at least that's one whole decimal place! Please note however that we don't know what the actual drop rate was nor what it is now. All we know that it's very low.

In actuality, one could surmise that the drop rate was increased to combat some of the outrageous prices that we're seeing on the AH. 20,000 gold or more for a weapon that will be outdated in less than a year is a bit much.

Quel'Delar in now unique equip.
Naxxramas can now be cleared in any order for the Immortal and Undying achievements.
The drop rate for the Battered Hilt has been increased.
The Skeletal Slave in the Pit of Saron has had the ability to drop the Battered Hilt and other random drop epics removed.

The entire list of in-game hotfixes from the past seven days after the break.

Filed under: Patches, Bugs, News items

Recent in-game fixes for 12/14/2009

by Daniel Whitcomb Dec 14th 2009 at 11:33PM

Bornakk has just posted a new round of in-game hot fixes, some bug fixes, some actual quick balancing fixes. They include some relief for Affliction Warlocks after that last hotfix nerf, as well as a nerf to 10-man Lord Marrowgar. For a complete list of hotfixes, check after the break.

Filed under: Druid, Warlock, Patches, Bugs, Odds and ends, News items, Death Knight

Additional instances cannot be launched, please find something else to do.

by Adam Holisky Dec 9th 2009 at 2:00PM

After a long bit of extended maintenance last night for patch 3.3, and after fighting with add-ons and general instability, many players were greeted with a familiar and disappointing message from sever.

Additional instances cannot be launched, please try again later.

Heads exploded, babies cried, and anarchy ensued as people once again saw this dreaded error. We've been told for months that the cross-server instances and other solutions were supposed to fix this, that they would be the salvation to all our problems.

Not so. At least, not yet.

We are told by our sources that the central problem likely lies in there being too many players attempting to run instances. Before, if you had a server-wide instance capacity of say 1,000 instances open at any one time, you now have a battlegroup-wide instance capacity of over 10,000 instances open at any one time (just making these numbers up for the sake of argument here).

Last night, in the rush to try out the new dungeon finder and cross-server mechanics, the battlegroup-wide instance capacity was reached and destroyed in a blink of an eye. You had literally tens of thousands of people running instances in each battlegroup, entirely overwhelming the system.

Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Bugs, News items

Patch 3.3 known issues

by Adam Holisky Dec 9th 2009 at 1:18AM

Patch 3.3 obviously is having its share of bugs, some more severe than others. People are reporting inability to zone into instances, often times met either with the dreaded "Additional instances cannot be launched" error or just flat out lagging out so long that they're ported back to Dalaran or wherever the system decides to drop them, entirely unable to enter the instance.

Some of the issues have been addressed, some haven't.

Blizzard has released the first part of the list of known issues with patch 3.3. It will be expanding in the future, so don't get too upset when you don't see a bug on it. Remember that it typically takes a couple days for a patch to get all its kinks worked out. Just hang tight, enjoy some some lore and trailer action, and things will be fixed before you know it.

The full list of known issues after the break.

Filed under: Bugs, News items, Wrath of the Lich King

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