After DDOS Attacks, Blizzard Rolls Back Hardcore WoW Deaths For the First Time (arstechnica.com) 21
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: World of Warcraft Classic's Hardcore mode has set itself apart from the average MMO experience simply by making character death permanent across the entire in-game realm. For years, Blizzard has not allowed any appeals or rollbacks for these Hardcore mode character deaths, even when such deaths came as the direct result of a server disconnection or gameplay bug. Now, Blizzard says it's modifying that policy somewhat in response to a series of "unprecedented distributed-denial-of-service (DDOS) attacks" undertaken "with the singular goal of disrupting players' experiences." The World of Warcraft developer says it may now resurrect Classic Hardcore characters "at our sole discretion" when those deaths come "in a mass event which we deem inconsistent with the integrity of the game." WoW's Classic Hardcore made it a hotspot for streamers, especially members of the OnlyFangs Guild, who embraced the challenge that one mistake could end a character's run. However, as Ars Technica reports, a series of DDOS attacks timed with their major livestreamed raids led to character deaths and widespread frustration, prompting streamer sodapoppin to declare the guild's end.
Blizzard responded by updating its Hardcore policy to resurrect characters lost specifically to DDOS attacks. "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," WoW Classic Associate Production Director Clay Stone wrote in a public message. "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."
Blizzard responded by updating its Hardcore policy to resurrect characters lost specifically to DDOS attacks. "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," WoW Classic Associate Production Director Clay Stone wrote in a public message. "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."
Respect for blizzard, but.......yea (Score:1)
Re: Respect for blizzard, but.......yea (Score:2)
Unfortunately it was his urine
Re: Respect for blizzard, but.......yea (Score:2)
Fortunately, he didn't pee on the carpet.
Re: Respect for blizzard, but.......yea (Score:1)
Good intentions, perverse incentives (Score:4, Insightful)
I don't know if WoW players are quite so unhinged, but I remember plenty of stories from EVE where rivals in a battle would find out where the captain of an important ship or alliance lived so they could cut his power and knock him out of the game.
Official hardcore mode wasn't something that WoW was ever really designed for and it's kind of impressive that players managed to progress as much as they had.
Re: (Score:2)
Blizzard knows when your character died, and when a DDOS attack starts. If you have enough time to launch an attack imperceptibly close to your death, you probably have enough time to not die.unless I'm missing some nuance here... death in WoW hardcore usually comes as a surprise. :)
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Can Blizzard servers still be DDOS'd? You'd think they would have a deal with one if the major clouds/CDNs to use their end points to redirect traffic to their server from a huge pool of IPs (with some round robin and fail over coded into the client).
Then the server would be as hard to DDOS them as the cloud/CDN, very.
Of course doxxing the streamers to DDOS them is harder to fix.
Diablo 2 has had hardcore mode for years. (Score:2)
How are permanent deaths new, exactly? Diablo 2 has always had a hardcore mode since its inception and it's been great to play - full of commitment, innovative, careful strategies as well as endless amounts of cries and despair from its players. Just what you'd expect from the deepest levels of hell.
Re: Diablo 2 has had hardcore mode for years. (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
No one said it was unique. It's just that WoW has such a mode as well, which when you consider it's a subscription online service, raises the stakes somewhat since if your internet disconnects, you can lose thou
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It's not. But it's relatively rare in the MMO universe.
I'm told that WoW permadeath servers are super cool. Very dedicated players that are actually helpful and communicative - as those that are not those things get weeded out pretty quick.
Never tried it, myself.
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Diablo 2 has always had a hardcore mode since its inception
And Diablo in turn got it from the much older roguelikes, where drew its inspiration from. In Moria, Nethack, Angband, etc. deaths were always permanent, making for a much more intense playing experience, even in ascii only. Get your character to a high level and impressively geared up, then get ambushed by a poison breathing ancient dragon from around the corner, instant game over, start again. That's life (and death) in traditional roguelikes.
But MMORPGs are fundamentally different from solo games.
Wow and South Park (Score:2)
WoW stories always make me think of the South Park episode Make Love, Not Warcraft [wikipedia.org] about a "griefer" killing innocent players who is so powerful he can kill the admins. The President of Blizzard and other Board members think it may be possible to kill him with the "Sword of a Thousand Truths" *if* they can get it into the game, but none of them have WoW accounts because they, "have a life". Full transcript. [fandom.com]
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There's probably more truth to that episode than fiction. The real surprise for me here is that anyone on Blizzard staff even noticed their shit was being DDOS'd. This has been happening to ranked PvP matches for years now without even a whisper of evidence the admins care. In fact I think in some cases their staff may be directly responsible for carrying out the attacks.
a worthless move (Score:1)
Doesn't matter (Score:2)
It's still a stupid policy for an already stupid game mode in an MMO.
Re: (Score:1)
Then don't play it. /me looks around for the guy holding a gun at your head
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I won't. But I will continue to mock its very existence and those who ever thought it was a cool, interesting, or good idea.