Dragon Army - a WoW article.

Posted: 5639 days ago

Edited: 5639 days ago

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World of Warcraft dogged by server issues ahead of launch
Technical problems meant some players lost gold and weapons, just hours before Wrath of the Lich King went on sale

Last Updated: 2:02PM GMT 13 Nov 2008

Some World of Warcraft fans who logged onto the online game ahead of the launch of the Wrath of the Lich King were dismayed to discover that a technical glitch meant the virtual weapons and gold built they'd amassed over hundreds of hours of gameplay had been deleted.

Blizzard Entertainment, makers of World of Warcraft, said that routine server maintenance on Tuesday, just hours before last night's midnight launch of Wrath of the Lich King, had caused some problems, including the loss of all in-game mail sent between players in the last fortnight.

The message network is crucial to the game, as it's the most common method used by players to transfer items between themselves. The game's in-house auction system also relies on the mail network to deliver items that players have won or earned.

To compound problems, a second bug affected the game when the servers went back online again, allowing players to buy some armour and weapons without needing to redeem points or honour ratings against the purchases.The glitch led to thousands of players flocking to in-game cities to take advantage of the free equipment.

Blizzard Entertainment told Detroit Free Press that it had taken the servers down again for a total of about five hours to iron out the problems and to delete weapons and goods players had erroneously obtained. It stressed that the servers were back online in time for the launch of Wrath of the Lich King, and the company also said it would refund players any items or virtual cash that had been lost as a result of the technical issues.

The problems couldn't have come at a worse time for World of Warcraft fans, who were desperate to prepare their game characters for the fresh battles and challenges that would be found in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion pack.

Last night, more than 2,500 people flocked to HMV's flagship store in Oxford Street to ensure they would be among the first to get their hands on the game.

And World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, is tipped to be one of the biggest selling video games of the year.

Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/technologyreviews/videogamereviewsandpreviews/3452511/World-of-Warcraft-dogged-by-server-issues-ahead-of-launch.html

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