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Posts with tag bugs

Gamers on the Street: Burned on Bloodscalp


Gamers on the Street logs onto U.S. servers to get the word from the front on what's going on in and around the World of Warcraft.

This week, I decided to go visit Bloodscalp -- we've been hearing about problems with stability on Bloodscalp since patch 2.4, so I decided to get the word on what was happening straight from the people affected by it. Additionally, I wanted to talk about the upcoming Arena changes in patch 2.4.2, so I had that on the list to chat with players about as well.

I created a Troll Rogue named "Wowinsider," ran up to Orgrimmar, and started chatting with the Bloodscalpians. The conversations I had with three players on the server are after the break.

Continue reading Gamers on the Street: Burned on Bloodscalp

Around Azeroth: Glitchstravaganza

As you may recall, during yesterday's Around Azeroth, I requested submissions for today's Glitchstravaganza -- a celebration of all things glitchy in WoW. The response was so good that it was difficult picking out the top five. I gave consideration to UI placement, uniqueness of the bug, and overall visual impact of the picture. I cropped a couple, as we had some technical difficulties with the gallery on this one and had to rely on the smaller shots instead.

Finally, we had five photos that dealt with five different bugs. An honorable mention goes to Fulminate of Dragonmaw-US, who sent in the sixth-best bug: the arakkoa to the right of us, who appears to have mated with a member of the Consortium and gone into a sort of half-existence.

Ready to move on to the top five? Read on past the jump for the contenders, and the final poll, where you can pick your favorite of the featured glitches (including the first one.) Polling continues until April 24; the winner will be honored next Friday.

Continue reading Around Azeroth: Glitchstravaganza

Incgamers.com malware mixup fixed

Yesterday, I reported to you that Google (via Stopbadware.org) had marked wowui.incgamers.com (which redirects to wowui.worldofwar.net) as a bad site. Today, the site is reported as clean according to the same report (you can check it out here).

Rushter of Incgamers.com explained to us on the comments of the previous article that the problem was with a seperate attack on a different hosted site (which was quickly dealt with, and unrelated to worldofwar.net, says Rushster), but Google marked the whole site as bad. The worldofwar.net UI database was unaffected, he says, and after some back and forth, Google has now dropped the warning.

Of course, it's still always a good idea to check your computer for viruses, trojans, and keyloggers regularly, and realize that no website is completely safe (though having a good defense always helps). That said, at the moment it looks like wowui.incgamers.com, also known as wowui.worldofwar.net, is a safe spot to grab your addons from.

Wowui.incgamers.com invaded by malware?


Here at WoW Insider, we've noticed an unusual and disturbing glut of people having trouble with being keylogged or otherwise hacked soon after installing new addons lately (which wouldn't be a surprise -- lots of people were grabbing addons after patch 2.4, so that makes them a likely route for attackers). While it's too early to make any definite connections, It seems like there's one new lead that's just popped up: popular addon site wowui.incgamers.com (not linked for obvious reasons) is apparently passing off bad files, according to reports from Stopbadware.org and other anonymous sources.

If you've been using the site for your addons, especially in the past week or so, it might be a good idea to exercise some caution and run your favorite anti-virus or anti-malware program. The site has already been in trouble recently with reports that their UICentral addon updater (now discontinued) was using copyrighted code, and now it looks like there's more trouble abrewing for them.

Update: Wowui.incgamers not infested with malware. Full story here.

Hotfixes for the week of April 7th

Slorkuz, Mr. Blue Poster over on the European WoW forums, gave us a few hotfixes that have been pushed through this week: He also tells us the Power Word: Shield sound is a bug, and that it will be fixed in an upcoming patch.

Rolling Restarts this morning, April 8th, 2008

It's Tuesday, and you know what that means - Maintenance. Luckily, it's a a relatively pain free maintenance day today, as there's nothing but rolling restarts on the menu starting at 5am PDT. Each realm is expected to be down for no more than 15 minutes.

Of course, that still leaves you with 15 minutes of no World of Warcraft if this is your usual play time. And what's the easiest way to pass those 15 minutes than with a bit of WoW Insider?

Make some quick plans for what to do on server up by checking out our Sunwell daily quest guides. Whether you're on Phase 2 or Phase 3, we have all the guides you need to get started when your server comes back up, plus Phase 4 guides for when you get those last few percentage points worth of dead elves turned in to get it unlocked. Speaking of dead elves, we have guides for the new PvP dailies as well.

If you're a little tired of Sunwell stuff, how about a trip back to Zul'aman? Jennie Lees has written an in-depth guide to speed running Zul'aman that'll help you get one of the rarest and coolest looking mounts in game, the Amani War Bear -- if you can convince, cajole, or beat the other 9 people in your raid into giving it up to you, of course.

Been a little off your game since 2.4? Check Hortus' list to see if it's just a nasty little bug that's getting you down.

Hopefully, the rolling restarts go smoothly and we'll see you on the flipside. Either way, thanks for reading, and keep your browser here for all the latest news!

Known bugs in patch 2.4.1, 2.4.2 on the way

Patch 2.4.1 was rushed out the week after 2.4 hit, to fix some game-breaking errors, and we already know 2.4.2 is in the works; the hard-working Mac CM Tigerclaw, for instance, has mentioned that certain bugs are fixed in 2.4.2. It's a good thing they have another patch on the way, because 2.4.1 has its share of bugs. Hortus has posted a list of about 150 known bugs in the bug reports forum. Here are a few of my favorites:
  • "The /clap emote is not emitting sound if performed more than once." This is a feature, not a bug.
  • "Cloak of Shadows do not remove the curse Shrink." Ha! Where's your CloS now? You're little!
  • "Whirlwind has a new sound." This is a bug? Is it a bad new sound?
  • "The death emote voice-over for Kael'thas Sunstrider in the Magister's Terrace continues after he has already died." You just can't kill this one. Kill him in the Eye, and he comes back in MrT. Kill him in MrT, and he still keeps talking! Maybe we have to burn him.
  • "Abilities/trinkets that trigger after killing an opponent that gives experience or honor are being activated after killing mobs during bombing quests" True. I've gotten a heck of a lot of mana from my Power Infused Mushroom, not that it makes much of a difference.
  • "Using a Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuit does not initiate a global item cooldown." Biscuit spam!
For more exciting errors, visit Hortus's post.

Loot Reaver gets his revenge

Void Reaver, after 2.4, is apparently, "wrecking fools," according to Korin on the Silver Hand. We all called him Loot Reaver before 2.4 -- if your guild could finish off Karazhan, and survive VR's trash, he was basically a pushover. But a whole combination of factors, including addon problems (with DeadlyBossMods and VoidReaverAlarm) that killed the addons that made it cake, as well as a few bugs and other problems with the fight after the patch, means Loot Reaver is getting his revenge. He's back to being a real challenge in Tempest Keep.

The hardest part of the encounter is avoiding these orbs he shoots out at random spots where a guild member is standing. When he shoots one out, everyone in the guild has to move away from that spot and each other, since getting hit with one is instant death. Those addons were meant to tell you when an orb had been fired, as well as let you keep an eye on the proximity of where it was hitting (so you could easily dodge it). But without the addons, people are back to judging where the orbs might land, and guilds that haven't practiced the fight much aren't that great at judging. Not to mention that there are some bugs, apparently -- some of the orbs are invisible, and others may even be moving through walls and underground.

The fight is still doable, but apparently Blizzard wasn't happy with how easy it was to waltz in there with some addons and collect your loot. Whether it's bugs or addon changes, Void Reaver is currently back to "wrecking fools."

2.4 leaves hunters low on mana

Since patch 2.4, hunters have been having some problems. Aside from the outrage over the fact that our traps are now announced, we seem to be having issues with mana.

On the forums, hunters are not seeing much love from the non-hunter crowd, but I suppose that is to be expected. It is important to note however, that our mana efficiency is an intended attribute of our class. We are useful, not solely, but arguably primarily, because we can provide sustainable, long-term DPS. No, we don't crit like mages. In a boss fight though, we can keep going after mages short out.

Why are hunters all of a sudden having issues with mana? There are a few theories floating around, but we have yet to be graced with a blue response. Take the jump to learn more about why this might be happening.

Continue reading 2.4 leaves hunters low on mana

Undocumented changes so far in patch 2.4

Now we're to my favorite part of a new patch -- sussing out the undocumented changes. Everyone's really known about the patch notes for months, but it seems like every time Blizzard releases an update, there are always plenty of undocumented changes that don't quite make it in.

WorldofWar.net has a good set of changes so far: Troll offhands are small, Gruul's Lair's and Kara's reset display is off, and Shamans' Mental Quickness talent doesn't seem to be working. A few people have already noticed that there is no repair character on the Isle of Quel'danas yet, but that's only because the daily quests haven't moved forward yet -- with a bigger foothold, the Shattered Sun should be able to bring in a blacksmith or two.

Void Reaver seems to have been buffed a bit, the Shaman clearcasting ding is bugged, and I've heard that the Blood Elf mounts (a.k.a. Chocobos) will now squawk on demand (though I'm not sure that's new). Seen any other undocumented changes on the realms yet?

How a quirk in the game can steal your loot

There is a mechanic in game that we are all aware of, and one that exists for a good reason: when we attack a mob, we get the mob's loot. That's the mechanic. If you're solo grinding mobs out in Shadowmoon Valley for some Primal Fire, you want to be sure you're the only one that can get the loot. The same goes for groups – if you're grouping and killing Murmur in Shadow Labs, you want to be sure that everyone is going to get his pretty blues.

But what if the mechanics of the boss fight dictate that you won't hit the boss? In fact, what if successfully killing the boss means that you have to stand on the opposite end of the playing field the whole time? You don't hit the boss, you don't get the loot – but you've done everything right. In this, the game mechanic does not represent fair play, nor does it encourage success. In fact, the mechanics are a complete contradiction of each other.

I've recently encountered this problem, and it's a real pain. Read on after the break for what happened, and what can be done to solve it. It's rather long, but this is a serious problem that Blizzard needs to fix, and all the facts need to be laid out completely and in a way that is full of thruthiness.

Continue reading How a quirk in the game can steal your loot

Tournament Test Realm: The good, the bad, and the bovine


The Arena Tournament Test Realm (TTR) has been live for a few days now. It seems there have been some hiccups, which is to be expected during a stress test. Hortus has popped up in a few instances on the TTR forum to address some of the major concerns that players have brought up.

Lag is far and away the biggest issue on the TTR. Hortus indicated that one of the main functions of the TTR is measuring the best way to handle the massive number of contenders on the official tournament server. Blizzard currently has no plans for opening up any new TTRs to relive the stress. Logging into the server, I find the term "laggy" to be an understatement. Movement is dizzying, and players crowd around.

Continue reading Tournament Test Realm: The good, the bad, and the bovine

Phat Loot Phriday: Hortus' Seal of Brilliance


Haven't done an offhand in a while, so while this one isn't exactly at the top of the heap, it's a nice item for your newly-70 alt to pick up, and it has a fun nod to a guy who's been working hard lately. Also, have a suggestion for a piece of phat loot to cover? Share it in the comments below or drop us a note on the tipline.

Name: Hortus' Seal of Brilliance (Wowhead, Thottbot, WoWDigger)
Type: Off-hand Accessory
Armor: N/A
Abilities:
  • +18 Stamina, +20 Intellect
  • Increases spell damage and healing by up to 23
  • The stamina on this says Warlock, but if there aren't any warlocks around, this wouldn't be a bad pickup for any damage caster (Elemental Shaman, anyone?), especially one looking to head into PvP. For most casters, odds are that even if you grab this, it'll be replaced pretty quickly with either a better offhand or a 2h weapon.
  • But on the other hand, it does look cool, and it's named after one of the most beloved CMs (if you can believe that CMs can be universally beloved) on the forums, the hypno-gnome Hortus. He's the bug guy, so many times (especially when a big PTR is being tested like this), he'll be the one to show up with answers to players asking about whether something is bugged or not.
  • And he's brilliant. Hence the seal.
How to Get It: It drops from the Fel Horde's Warchief, Kargath Bladefist. We've talked about him before on PLP, so suffice it to say that he's a mean SOB with blades for hands. No idea why he's carrying around Hortus' seal, but if you are able to grab it from the guy (it drops pretty often, in both normal and heroic modes) , you might want to see about getting it back to Hortus -- he'll probably need it for all the PTR testing going on.

Getting Rid of It: Sells to vendors for 2g 20s 45c, and disenchants into a Large Prismatic Shard.

Tiny ogres in the PTR make me happy


Blizzard's bugs continue to confound. This was the sight on the PTR this weekend (Mania saw it too) -- miniature ogres and Taurens and oversized pets (including warlock and hunter pets and even some noncombat pets). We have no idea at all why Blizzard would be tweaking sizes (although this isn't the first time, and nor will it probably be the last that this happens), but whatever they're messing around with is weirding out the size factors all over the places.

The good news is that this is exactly what the "Public Test Realm" is for, and these problems are more amusing than anything else. But the bad news is that this definitely means that Blizzard is still monkeying with the code pretty hardcore. If your guess for the patch 2.4 release is in the first week or so of March, you might be a little early.

PTRs down for new build

About three hours ago, Hortus announced that the patch 2.4 PTR would be going down for four to six hours to apply a new build. So they ought to be down for another one to three hours. In the mean time, we all get a break from beta-testing the patch to get some food, watch a movie, do some homework or -- let's be honest -- gripe about the patch.

What will this new build contain? Well, since they haven't updated the PTR patch notes yet, we can't be certain, but it would be reasonable to guess they'd be fixing two outstanding bugs: huge stats and huge NPCs. Other than that, we'll have to wait and see what Blizz brings us.

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