Blizzard Makes Unprecedented Move To Restore WoW Classic Hardcore Characters Slain In DDoS Attacks
World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore characters who permanently died during recent DDoS attacks will be restored, Blizzard says, citing the disruption as “a cut above anything we’ve faced before.”
The attacks happened multiple times over the weekend and affected a large number of players, but in particular seemed targeted at the WoW Classic Hardcore streamer guild OnlyFangs, a group that has made a name for itself on Twitch playing WoW Classic’s high-stakes permadeath mode. During a boss fight against Ebonroc in Blackwing Lair, many Onlyfangs players were disconnected as a result of the denial-of-service attack, resulting in a large number of guild members dying.
The guild leader, a player by the name Sodapoppin, announced what amounted to the end of the guild shortly after. He cited the targeted attacks as making the continuation of the guild difficult unless Blizzard decided to restore killed characters, something he said he believed was “highly unlikely.”
But that is, in fact, what Blizzard is doing. In a post on the WoW Classic forums, associate production director Clay Stone said Blizzard would resurrect characters that died as a result of the attack, which goes against the developer’s broader stance on how it treats WoW’s Hardcore realms.
“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 the DDoS attacks specifically warrant a different response,” Stone said.
Blizzard’s overall stance on character deaths in WoW Classic Hardcore hasn’t changed, Stone continued, stating that characters who die due to random lag spikes, bugs, or occasional server disconnects will not be restored. Stone said in the future, Blizzard may elect at its sole discretion to revive characters that die in a mass event it deems “inconsistent with the integrity of the game,” including future DDoS attacks.
In a post on Bluesky, WoW Classic senior game producer Josh Greenfield said it had been a “gut wrenching few days” and called the scale and scope of the DDoS attacks “a cut above anything we’ve faced before.”
“It’s a tough call, but the only alternative is letting the losers behind these DDoS attacks win, and honestly, f*** that,” Greenfield said.