Blizzard EntertainmentBlizzard will help WoW guild OnlyFangs resurrect its Hardcore characters after DDoS attacks ruined the group’s Blackwing Lair run.
On March 22, Blizzard servers were targeted in a DDoS attack that cut short the Hardcore raid being undertaken by popular WoW guild OnlyFangs. The group gave the game another go the next day, only to be thwarted once again during an encounter with Classic’s Flamegor boss.
OnlyFangs members weren’t only disconnected as a result of the attack. Because they were in the middle of a Hardcore run, many players also lost their Hardcore characters.
Leader of the guild Sodapoppin said that if Blizzard wasn’t able to restore the lost characters, OnlyFangs would be put to rest. “I’m not gonna have people prepare and get ready just to die to a [disconnect], when it’s inevitably going to happen again,” he explained. Now, Blizzard has vowed to help recover the unfortunate losses.
WoW devs will revive OnlyFangs characters after DDoS attacks
In a Blizzard Forums message authored by WoW Classic’s Associate Production Director, Clay Stone, the team addressed how the attacks impacted many of its game services, including Hardcore realms.
Because of the “malicious efforts” of bad actors, Stone said Blizzard will take steps to “resurrect player-characters that were lost as a result of these attacks.”
The developer wrote in part, “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.”
Blizzard EntertainmentStone went on to note that this does not change the studio’s policy regarding Hardcore character restorations.
However, at Blizzard’s sole discretion in the future, Hardcore characters may be revived if they happen to perish during a “mass event which we deem inconsistent with the integrity of the game, such as a DDoS attack.”
Getting Hardcore characters prepared for a raid is no easy feat when considering how long the grind can take even the most dedicated players. It’s good, then, that Blizzard has expressed a willingness to resurrect characters lost at no fault of the user.
