Andorhal Realm Stability STILL an issue

Q u o t e:
As the topic says

Except that I can find no reports of players experiencing an issue. Andorhal has been up and stable since maintenance. Our technicians continually monitor realm issues but without a verifiable issue, Darkmaester, there really isn't much to look into.

Please visit our Technical Support Forums if you are experiencing connection, stability or latency issues.

Folks, from our Service Status forum:

Emergency Maintenance - Andorhal - 4/3/2009

We are currently performing some urgent maintenance on Andorhal to resolve some hardware issues. Currently, there is no ETA. We do apologize for any inconvenience, as well as the interruption to gameplay.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16137214419&sid=1

A bit of an update for you guys:

Q u o t e:
Andorhal will once again be offline for extended emergency maintenance. We estimate the downtime to be approximately 1 hour, however we will update the thread as soon as more information is available.

Thank you for your continued patience and understanding.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16137214419&sid=1#1

Please remain constructive and keep our Forum Code of Conduct in mind (http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/forum-coc.html?sid=1).

Thanks!

I'm terribly sorry that your gameplay has been interrupted once more, folks.

I've informed the appropriate parties of the most recent incident. It appears that the realm is currently back online and accepting player logins. I'll be sure to let you all know if any more information becomes available.

Thank you all for your continued patience and reports.

Q u o t e:

Any chance this is because of 'emergency maintenence'? We were fine for several weeks until yesterdays 'emergency maintenence'. After that Andorhal was completely out of whack.

I'm not quite sure yet, Epitome.

I'll do my best to report on information that becomes available to me, though.

Again, I'm terribly sorry for the frustrations you are experiencing, but there are two ways we can do this...

You can continue creating nonconstructive posts which will result in me locking the thread, dedicating most of my time to moderation and providing updates as they come available


-or-


You can observe our code of conduct which will allow me to dedicate my time to answering questions and acquiring information.

Those of you who were just disconnected:

Where were you when you were disconnected?

Q u o t e:
Undercity/Dalaran/anywhere. The whole server crashed, and showed up as offline when attempting to re-establish a connection.

Are you still unable to log in, Argin?

I appreciate your opinions, Araios; however, I'd rather you leave the moderation to me. You're welcome to provide information or ask questions, but please keep it pertinent to the topic at hand.

Under the direction of our Realm Technicians, Andorhal will be undergoing a rolling restart in an attempt to address the issues you all have experienced. This restart will take place at approximately 5 am PDT tomorrow morning, and downtime will be as minimal as possible. Should this change, we will update you here:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16137184809&sid=1

Thanks!

Q u o t e:


Decky.. it's 11:28 AM PDT... is the restart going to be tomorrow, then?

That is correct. :)

Greetings all —

You have my apologies for my delayed response regarding Andorhal this afternoon. I was catching up on all of the details regarding the issue, and unfortunately it took me some time to do so. As such, it would appear that our technicians needed to take a closer look at the realm after the restart and as such the realm has been down for some time.

I've requested some clarification regarding the situation at the moment, and I hope to have that for all of you here shortly. I can assure you that this issue is presently at the top of our list and we will continue to work to ensure that the issue is resolved and all of you are able to get back in the game without issue.

As a note, our Service Status forum was also recently updated:

We are still diligently working to resolve the issues with Androhal at this time. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we continue this maintenance.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=16137365058&postId=161359232779&sid=1#2

We will let all of you know when the realm is back up.

Q u o t e:
Maybe the blizzard guys could just tell us in plain terms why they can't just replace the server, that would atleast shed som light on this. I would guess that the lack of information is what is making everyone angry.

Considering the amount of data stored on any given realm, and the necessity of migrating all of that data to a different set of hardware it makes it extremely difficult to warrant a migration, especially if it's not the hardware causing the issue.

Our technicians are working to find the cause of the issue, and resolve it as quickly as possible. Regrettably, there are sometimes situations where — such as this one — the realm needs to be brought live periodically to see if the steps taken alleviated the issue or not. This can cause the situation to appear to be hectic, and make it look like we are not paying attention to it, or working to resolve it. It's quite the opposite.

We definitely understand that these types of situations are frustrating, especially if you had been planning to do something at the time of the occurrence. It's truly a regrettable situation, and we are working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.

When I receive additional information regarding the matter at hand, I'll be sure to provide an update accordingly.

Q u o t e:
Huh? Migrating data is a problem? That doesn't make a bit of sense.

My apologies, I've added some clarification.

Q u o t e:
I believe I saw a gm in another thread write that it was a hardware issue...

It is quite possible that it is, however, our technicians still need to verify the cause of the issue.

I realize what you guys are asking for, but it's like asking for a whole new bike because you have a flat tire. =/

Q u o t e:
are they taking the time to read it... or do they just autoresponses????

Just because my avatar is a robot doesn't mean that my responses are automatic. ^_^

Folks, just quoting someone else is going to get your post deleted. Please stop, it's not needed.

Q u o t e:
are you, Blizzard, saying that we just have to deal with the server constantly crashing?

Nope. That's why our technicians are working on it as we speak.

And you guys really do like to take things out of context, don't you? =)

Q u o t e:
lol 2 time in row he delete my post cause i said don't try to change subject

So much for a subtle hint, Frawrs. Let's try it this way:

Q u o t e:
Spamming and Trolling

This category includes:

* Excessively communicating the same phrase, similar phrases, or pure gibberish
* Creating threads for the sole purpose of causing unrest on the forums
* Causing disturbances in forum threads, such as picking fights, making off topic posts that ruin the thread, insulting other posters
* Making non-constructive posts
* Abusing the Reported Post feature by sending false alarms or nonsensical messages
* Numbering a thread, IBTL, TLDR, or any other fad statements

If a player is found to have been spamming or trolling, he/she will:

* Be given a temporary or permanent ban from the World of Warcraft forums, depending upon severity

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/forum-coc.html?sid=1

Q u o t e:
From the complaints and such, I am assuming that they no longer follow this policy? If not, why?

I'll answer all of your questions with this: if it is determined that the downtime caused by these issues warrants a reimbursement of time, then it will likely be provided. Should you believe that we should provide a reimbursement, please feel free to post on our Suggestions forum. The Game Master department is not the one that makes these decisions.

Q u o t e:
Animal control has been called to remove the squirrels, but their bikes got flat tires on the way.

And people wonder why I hesitate to use metaphors/analogies. >.<

Please do not make me lock this thread.

Folks, please be aware that the first post that was made in this thread was likely at the start of the most recent issues that we are currently working to resolve. That post was made on Wednesday.

Q u o t e:
if you happen to still be reading, is there any update available for us? (Assuming you'd be told, or be allowed to tell us anyway.)

Beyond that they're still working on it? I'm afraid not.

I went ahead and asked for an update again, for you guys however. =)

If I can make a recommendation for all of you, if/when the realm does happen to come back up... try not to flood the realm as soon as it comes up. ^_^

I realize that all of you want back on, but give it a few moments to stabilize. =)

And like I mentioned previously, just because the realm has been made live does not mean that it's ready to go. We'll be sure to let you guys know when it is.

Q u o t e:
So... Reythur. How is your day going??

Well, I can't say that it hasn't been interesting. =)

Q u o t e:
i bet he wishes he worked in a diferent department right about now

I love what I do, and I wouldn't change it. I understand that you guys are frustrated, and for the most part, I'm willing to let things go. It's just when it gets to the point where it's crossed the line that I'll step in.

So, please just keep things appropriate and we won't have any issues. =)

Update time!

I've received word that our technicians believe they have alleviated the issue, but will continue to monitor the realm to be sure.

The realm should be coming up at this time.

Please be aware that instances usually take a bit of time to populate after a realm has come back online, so those of you trying to zone in, or who were in an instance previously will likely need to wait about 10-15 minutes.

Thank you all for your continued patience while we worked to correct this issue, and please let us know if any further issues are experienced.

Q u o t e:
no they must of got a larger faster animal!

I believe the problem may have been they were replacing the hamsters with a cheetah, but the cheetah ate the hamsters before the replacement could take place.

<.<

On a serious note, I am not aware of the specifics of the situation that transpired; that information usually isn't necessary and is flooded with various techno-babble and as such I'd likely be unable to accurately describe the issue to you anyway. =/

Hey all,

My apologies for the delayed response. Unfortunately, I am the only one available to post on the forums this evening and as such it's possible for me to be unable to respond to issues immediately.

I did make sure that the appropriate parties were aware that the realm is still experiencing issues, however.

Q u o t e:
Wow! 11 million people play this game and there is only "ONE" person available to respond? LOL that explains it all....customer service is not a priority

I said on the CS forums. =)

Don't take that to mean that there aren't other members of our staff available. There are only a limited number of us that are assigned to this forum.

Q u o t e:
So you're saying its a prioritizing issue?

Nope.

Virt, the Customer Service forum exists as an extension of our In-Game Support department (Game Masters); we are here to supplement the service that we are able to provide via in-game petitions and e-mail.

As this is the case — and normally, there is more than one of us here — we have enough people assigned to the position in order to provide as much coverage as possible. It is actually rare that there comes a time when our attention needs to be given to one specific issue.

Should you believe that we should hire more staff to be utilized on the Customer Service forum, please feel free to post on our Suggestions forum. ^_^

Q u o t e:
This is the CS forum, this is where customers should be coming with there issue and what they want to see done about them.

You have my apologies, Virt, but it's a little bit of a Misnomer; we are still members of the Game Master department, and as such are only able to make the same decisions and calls that the rest of our department is able to make. What you are asking for is not part of what the Game Master department is able to assist with. From our "Welcome to the Customer Service Forum!" sticky:

Q u o t e:
As such, visitors of this forum can expect to find a host of information pertaining to in-game issues, including (but not limited to):

• Identifying common quest, profession, loot, item, character, or interface-related issues, as well as resolutions for them wherever available.
  
• Information on the most recent issues which have been brought to our attention, as well as some indication of their status as we work to resolve them.
  
• Further insight into the functionality of the Game Master Department for our player base, so that we may demystify how we operate.
  
• A regularly updated and comprehensive list of the most common issues at any given time, based on the reports we receive in-game.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=965509092&sid=1

Beyond that, we understand that all of you are looking for an outlet to vent your frustrations regarding the issue at hand and as such we do our best to not only allow that, but to provide what information we have available. Please be aware that at no point does the Game Master staff work on the realms, we simply are an asset which distributes the information that we receive from both our customers, and our Technical staff.

As this is the case, I hope that you can understand that we can't simply make up information that we don't have. If we do not have an update to provide, we are unable to provide one. If situations continue to get out of hand due to inappropriate posts, or posts with inaccurate information that we wish to clear up confusion regarding, then that takes time away from our ability to address every other issue that comes to our attention as well as request information from our technical staff.

You have my sincerest apologies that I do not necessarily have the answers to some of your questions as they are outside of my purview; I will do my best to see if there is any information regarding them, however, I'm not likely to receive it immediately.

Any and all decisions regarding game time reimbursements, free character transfers, and other similar requests must go through an authorization process in order to ensure that everything falls into place accordingly. One of the first steps to achieving that end goal — if that's what your goal is — is to post on our Suggestions forum so that those in charge of making such decisions are able to see the responses given regarding the matter. If the requests are continued to be posted here, they're likely to get lost in the ebb and flow of this thread.

I hope that all of you can understand our position on this matter. We are continuing to monitor the realm, and this thread accordingly. If you do not have any additional information regarding the situation at hand, I'd recommend posting your requests on our Suggestions forum.