Missing Mail - Ongoing Issue

We're already aware of this concern and are investigating it presently.

Thank you, however, for your updated feedback. As more information becomes available, it will be provided herein. :)

Q u o t e:
I can confirm this is happening on Terokkar(US) as well. Mail sent now will still arrive, but anything that was already in the mailbox has disappeared.

Correct. Newly-sent mail is arriving appropriately; it's articles which were shipped prior to maintenance that are presently under investigation.

As an update, this information is now reflected on Breaking News:

Q u o t e:
SERVERALERT:
November 11th, 2008 11:00AM PST

We are investigating an issue with the mail system and continuing maintenance on all realms. We currently have no estimate on when realm will be playable. Thank you for your patience.

With that said, we are able to view many of the missing mail articles within players' inventories. Though this is promising, we've still neither ETA nor confirmed resolution available.

Please stay tuned. As more updates are announced, I'll provide them herein. :)

This issue remains a priority for our technicians, database administrators, and in-game staff at this time. We've no ETA available, though work is hard underway.

As a result of these efforts, we are continuing maintenance on all realms. Though we are loathe to limit your available game time, we also want to ensure that this issue is addressed to the fullest extent possible.

Thank you all for your continued feedback and responses. As more information becomes available, I will provide it herein.

New update, all:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12454631234&sid=1&pageNo=1#2

Q u o t e:
Update: 12:10 PM PST

Hello Everyone,

At this time, Realm Maintenance is expected to be extended until approximately 3:00PM PST. We are still actively investigating the issues with player mailboxes and we hope to have the situation resolved and realms up as soon as possible.

We'd like to thank you in advance for your continued patience and understanding as we work to make sure that World of Warcraft is fun and playable to all users.

We're very sorry for the frustration that this extended maintenance may cause.

Q u o t e:
so thats 5pm EST.

Should be 6pm, actually. 5pm CST, though. :)

Heads up, folks: In effort to keep this thread as streamlined as possible, off-topic or poking-other-posters-with-pointy-sticks posts will be deleted.

Also, as a small correction, previous information provided has been amended slightly:

http://launcher.worldofwarcraft.com/alert

Q u o t e:

SERVERALERT:
November 11th, 2008 12:20PM PST

We are continuing to address the issues with players being unable to access their in-game mail. The process will run for several more hours, and we will provide another update on when the servers will be playable within the next 2 hours. Thank you for your patience.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12454631234&sid=1&pageNo=1#2

Q u o t e:
Update: 12:10 PM PST

Hello Everyone,

At this time, Realm Maintenance is currently extended. We will be posting with an update in a few hours with a time as to when the realms should be back up. We are still actively investigating the issues with player mailboxes and we hope to have the situation resolved and realms up as soon as possible.

We'd like to thank you in advance for your continued patience and understanding as we work to make sure that World of Warcraft is fun and playable to all users.

We're very sorry for the frustration that this extended maintenance may cause.

Q u o t e:
So, if I'm reading this right, the 6pm EST is out, replaced with it will be up soon, soon to be defined in another two hours?

Correct.



Edit: As an aside, as well, please pardon any delay in my posts. We're experiencing technical difficulties on our end, too, so immediate responses are a bit difficult at this time.

I will continue to try to relay the most current information as it becomes available, though.

Q u o t e:
Maybe Syndri could inform us what exactly is happening,,are they retrieving everyones mail from the back-up before maintenance or something else.

I believe that is what I am doing presently, Bismarck. :)

I am relaying what information we've available, albeit as general as it may be. As further efforts are made, more detailed updates—specific processes, attempted resolutions, etc—may be forthcoming, though are not guaranteed. For any frustration this may cause you, I sincerely apologize.

At this time, though, please know that every effort is being taken to ensure the availability of mail times. Although no ETA is yet confirmed, we are working to have this resolved ASAP.

Small note:

Though this thread is dedicated to keeping you all up to date on this missing mail issue, general realm stability concerns and discussion can be found here:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=12454392018&sid=1

You're welcome to post within either thread (civilly, of course!), but we're giving you the option if you wish. :)

Q u o t e:
Syndri, I fail to see why the servers can not remain up while you folk to try identify the problem and come up with a solution for it. Once the solution is found, then the servers could be brought down for the update and brought back up again with minimal down time.

Though it's a reaching analogy, not all car-related troubles can be remedied while the car is running. In fact, investigation and resolution may be completely voided (or worse: corrupted) if maintenance is not conducted while the car is powered down.

Same holds here. To avoid further complication, we are instead keeping all realms offline while work continues.

Q u o t e:
Fixt :-)

How dare you bring up death and dismemberment in this fine, pure thread. Blasphemer. :(

Q u o t e:
Is there anything in the user-end license agreement about reimbursement for time that is taken away from us by Blizzard's fault? If not, I would like to not be ignored.

On the contrary, the Terms of Use notes that availability of the game is not guaranteed.

For credence, this section may be found here (sections 11 and 12):
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/legal/termsofuse.html

That said, we are not averse to rewarding reimbursement for time lost. Should you feel that such a measure is merited for those outages experienced today, I encourage you to construct a post within our Suggestions Forum so that our Development and Design teams may fully consider the possibility.

On this note, please keep all such discussion of reimbursement to the Suggestions Forum. As the Game Master department possesses no purview over such decisions, I will be unable to assist or comment otherwise.

Thank you. :)


Edit: I apparently said "that said" twice. Unacceptable, must revise.

Q u o t e:
All the technicians running around like its Grand Central Station.

Mind you, we're all equipped with rolling chairs. And we've a habit of bursting into song.

Adjust your mental image accordingly.

Q u o t e:
Do you guys have any job openings?

Many! Check here for more information (should you be curious):

http://www.blizzard.com/us/jobopp/

Q u o t e:
Blue, is this going to take as long as the PCT/PCNC?FCT fiasco? Thanks in advance for your response.

While nothing in life is certain, Amitiel, I do believe we should have this issue resolved in a much shorter time frame. Regardless, we'll be providing updates throughout this entire process; should anything change, should further maintenance be required, you will know.

Q u o t e:
What about mail issues that occurred just before the maintenance?

Mailing within characters on the account occasionally produce a error messaged in the mail to the sender and no item returned. It is lost in WOW space.

By "prior to maintenance," are you referencing articles of mail which seemingly never arrived or were sent before today?

Apologies for the rather blunt question. :)

Q u o t e:
Can Blizz just get the servers up and handle the mail issue on the side? Get some people levelling before WOTLK.

We've extended maintenance (and so, following, brought realms offline) in effort to resolve this issue. This was done to prevent any further interference to game play, as the investigation and resolution process are quite complex.

As I noted earlier:

Q u o t e:

Though it's a reaching analogy, not all car-related troubles can be remedied while the car is running. In fact, investigation and resolution may be completely voided (or worse: corrupted) if maintenance is not conducted while the car is powered down.

Same holds here. To avoid further complication, we are instead keeping all realms offline while work continues.

Q u o t e:
Syndri,

Are we approaching an announcement in regards to ETA or has one been made already within the forecasted 2 hour time frame?

Thanks

One should be forthcoming, yes. I'll post it herein as soon as it's available.

http://launcher.worldofwarcraft.com/alert

Q u o t e:
SERVERALERT:
November 11th, 2008 2:20PM PST

Maintenance Update
We are continuing to investigate the issues affecting players' ability to access their mail in order to resolve the situation. We are actively working to provide a specific ETA and we will provide another update within the next 2 hours. Thank you for your patience.

Q u o t e:
Check back in 2 hours, check back in 2 hours. Is this the message we will be getting all night?

Although this must be incredibly frustrating—a fact for which I do sincerely apologize—the complexity of this issue has prevented us from establishing a reliable ETA. Instead, we are reevaluating our progress and status every two hours and proceeding from there (in terms of providing updates).

Until we believe this issue completely under control, we will continue to do progress evaluations in hourly intervals. We will be happy to provide an ETA and more detailed information once we're absolutely certain of their accuracy.

To relate this, ever started working on a project at home and had it take a lot more time to complete than you first thought? Ever had that project interfere with plans you had later on in the evening? Ever thought, "Man, I wish I'd not told Cindy I'd meet her at 4pm. I'm going to have to cancel our dinner date now and she’s going to hate me"?

As we're uncertain how this long issue is going to take to resolve, we're not going to get ahead of ourselves and provide time frames that may prove later to be incorrect.

Q u o t e:
why do maintenance when everything is working fine, then mess everything up?

It's unfortunate that an error occurred during this week's maintenance, Dizeazed; there is no disputing that. We are aware of the severity of this issue, as well as the impact extended maintenance is presently placing on our players.

That said, without weekly maintenance—specifically in light of an upcoming release—processes which need continuous fine tuning would go unaddressed and larger issues may develop as a result.

Q u o t e:
Interesting - why does my toon show up here as lvl 65 when i'm lvl 66? Another defect?

Completely separate subject, but:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=9679802928&sid=1&pageNo=2#21

I should have more information available shortly regarding our desired plans for the next few hours.

I realize that Breaking News has not yet been updated within the specified time frame listed (2 hours), as well, and for this I do apologize. This page should, too, be updated shortly.


PS - Curse ye, Forum login devils! How you spite me. :(

Q u o t e:
Not for nothing, but in the ToS as Blue has been throwing in our faces....IT DOES NOT GIVE BLIZZARD THE RIGHT TO LIE TO US!!

As the question was asked where such information may be available, a link was provided. There's been no throwing, flinging, tossing, or pitching of the Terms of Use.

Downtime of any form is unfortunate, and though we do not guarantee that our realms and lateral services will always available, it still remains our goal and our desire to ensure that they are.

Issues arise, though, and errors occur. That is why we are working right now to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

Hey, folks. I apologize for being unable to provide this information to you sooner, but this here’s the scoop:

http://launcher.worldofwarcraft.com/alert

Q u o t e:
SERVERALERT:
November 11th, 2008 5:20PM PST

Maintenance Update

The servers are currently being brought back online and should be playable by approximately 6:00PM PST. Additionally, information will be sent shortly to all characters through the in-game mail system. This message will provide further details concerning today's mail issue.

Thank you for your understanding.

We're still formulating and finalizing our workflows at this time, so I've minimal information about what to expect in-game. Though we do hope to bring all realms live by 6pm, the referenced in-game mail may not be immediately available.

Q u o t e:
What time would that be in central?

6pm PST
7pm MST
8pm CST
9pm EST

Hope that helps!

Q u o t e:
But, you have 14 minutes to bring them all up, and there are over 100 realms, you are going to smash them all up?

We're still evaluating this time frame as we continue to work. Should it change at all (based on new data), we'll provide an update ASAP.

Actually, I spoke too soon!

Q u o t e:


The servers are currently being brought back online and should be playable by approximately 7:00PM PST.

We're presently conducting internal testing before bringing all realms live.