Loading and Login Issues

UPDATE:

We have received reports from some players that changing video settings to the minimum standards enabled successful log in. These Video settings are available from the log in screen via the Options button on the right.

When you alter these settings, please remember to change both the categories in the Resolution menu as well as the Effects menu. If you are confused about the effect that altering a specific setting is likely to have, then mousing over the setting should provide a brief description, as well as how altering that setting might affect performance.

Please note that this is not guaranteed to enable a character to be logged in, but is merely another troubleshooting step that may prove effective for some players. If altering these settings does not help, then you can merely use one of the dedicated buttons to reset your visual display settings to default, or restore your custom settings.

Please note: If your character remains 'stuck' despite attempting troubleshooting steps, then it may be appropriate to submit an in-game petition to acquire some assistance. While we're unable to resolve such issues via the forum, if you are able to log any of your characters in, then please submit an in-game petition from a different character on the same account, and a member of our staff will do their utmost to help as swiftly as possible!

When you submit such a petition, it's best to keep the following points in mind:

• Always use the ‘Character Stuck’ button when you submit this kind of petition.
• Include the word 'stuck' in your petition.
• Include the name and realm of the stuck character(s).
• Include where your character was before they got stuck
• Mention whether you are stuck at the loading screen, are unable to remain in-game, are trapped on terrain, are unable to find your body, or fell ‘through the world’

Windows Vista
If you are using Windows Vista, please try right clicking on your World of Warcraft shortcut or the patch file and select the Run as administrator option.

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Our staff are currently investigating the log in issues which are affecting the realms. We'll be concentrating threads here so as to provide updates in a single location, and we appreciate your patience as our technicians work to make your realm available once again.

As soon as any further information becomes available, we will endeavor to provide them here.

If you are experiencing issues logging into any of your play realms, please list them here (you can determine which Battlegroup your realm belongs to here (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/battlegrounds/battlegroups/):

Character Name:
Realm:
Battlegroup:

Description of log in issue or error message received:


Please note: For some players affected by log in issues, a full User Interface reset may prove helpful. Please be sure to move your Addons folder to a safe location prior to attempting this resolution for ease of re-installation or update after you've completed the process and tested it.

Q u o t e:

1) *IMPORTANT* Exit the World of Warcraft to your desktop by logging out of the game and exiting. If World of Warcraft isn't closed, then these steps won't have the desired effect.

2) If you used an "installer" for a custom UI, see if it has an "uninstaller" and use it.

3) Inside the World of Warcraft Program Folder, delete the "WTF," "Cache," and "Interface" folders.

4) Restart your computer.

5) Please do not reinstall Addons prior to testing the issue you were experiencing.

6) Make sure that you are using WOW.EXE or LAUNCHER.EXE to start the game. Please do not run any UI installers beforehand, as we want to eliminate them as part of the issue.

7) Upon launching the game, you should see the Intro cinematic movie and be prompted to agree to the Terms of Use. Once you authenticate past the login screen, the “AddOns” button should no longer be visible at the lower left corner of the character selection screen. Both points mentioned previously must hold true if you should complete the aforementioned steps correctly.

Q u o t e:
at least acknowledge that you know about the damn problem

The very fact that this thread exists, Dominare, is verification that we are aware of these reports. Unfortunately this isn't necessarily a simple issue where "X is happening which is preventing players from logging in".

This is more an issue where a fairly small number of players are unable to log in. The people posting here all appear to be from different realms and even different battlegroups and not all issues seem to be the same.

In some cases only one character is unable to log in, in others, more or even all. Some disconnect right away, some hang on the loading bar and others still are able to get in but everything is "Unknown" and then they disconnect.

Each of those symptoms can be caused by a variety of issues.

I highly recommend looking into some troubleshooting steps to see if they can help. Resetting your User Interface is one step. After a patch there are usually changes that are implemented that can cause an issue with outdated addons.

There are several troubleshooting steps found in the following support article, including making sure you have updated your drivers.

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=21014

If you are only experiencing this issue on one character it is likely that the issue is UI related or your character may just need to be moved. Submitting an in-game petition from an alternate character will notify our In-Game Support staff move to your character. Make sure you list the name of the character that is unable to log in and please also include the word "Stuck" in your petition.

We understand that these issues are frustrating and our Technicians continue to gather data and investigate these reports. If we receive an update regarding these reports we will post in this thread.

Q u o t e:
Relating to my problem. It appears that I get disconnected when my computer is requesting my character list on the Skywall server. If I change my config file for the Argent Dawn which I have a toon on, then it works and I can log onto that toon. I have tried deleting the WTF, Cache, and Interface folders, and have tried rebooting with nothing working.

My wife which is on the same server is having the same problem logging on from her computer.

Just to be clear, Fyth, after you switch your config file you are able to log into your characters on Skywall or did you mean the one on Argent Dawn?

Please keep in mind, Krassus, that the issue may not be completely on our end. Please look at the advice I provided and try some of the troubleshooting steps.

Q u o t e:
I don't really know if it will help at this point, but, still can't log on with any of my characters on both the Drenden and the trollbane servers. I can select my characters but i get stuck with a full load bar. Tried to fix listed in the first post, but didn't accomplish anything.

Good luck getting it fixed.

I'm not certain what could be the cause, Erlind. I just tried logging into one of your characters and was able to. This can sometimes means there is either a regional issue (i.e. the route from your system to ours) or a technical issue preventing you from logging in (i.e. firewall, graphics, etc...).

Q u o t e:


I have tried resetting everything. It appears I'm getting this problem only with characters stuck in Dalaran. It also happened after I had over 1k ping and tried to relog. I was able to log in perfectly fine all day- it appeared that when the server got busy I seemed to have this issue.

It sounds like your system isn't able to load a graphically intense area like Dalaran while there are a lot of people online. You may want to try submitting a petition from an alternate character to have it move. You may want to look into your settings, Valectra, to see if any adjustments can be made to your graphic settings to allow you to log in.

Q u o t e:
Ok, I get that there are probably a wide array of problems as a result of the patch, but let's be honest, the response to this by Blizzard has been HORRIBLE. Look at the number of posts from people describing a problem with exactly the same symptom: Freezing with a full blue progress bar on the loading screen. Note the color: Blue. That means one thing: Northrend. Note how many of these posts point out that other characters in Azeroth are able to log in.

This isn't a problem on our end, we shouldn't have to go throwing away all of our UI settings, and Blizzard needs to respond with an explanation and an estimate for resolution. They have been aware of the problem for 12 hours now, and the ONLY response from customer support has been "throw away your settings and install new drivers" knowing full well as they type it that it's not going to do you any good. That's completely ridiculous, and unacceptable from a company charging retail plus subscription for its product.

Shame on you, Blizzard

We are asking you reset your UI - a FULL reset to at the very least rule that out as a possible issue, Hippocratess. That doesn't mean you need to toss anything, back them up.

We've had MANY reports this has helped and was indeed the issue.

It's far faster if you give it a try first, then contact us if it doesn't seem to help for further investigation.

There is a reason we highly recommend a full reset UI and updated addons after a patch. Even those folks that don't seem to be having any issues at all may be and just not realizing it yet.

The insidious thing about a misbehaving addons is that it can sometimes manifest in things you DON'T see, which is near impossible to know unless someone else happens to be with you and CAN see what you are missing.

Q u o t e:
Not all is working apparently. My wife's toons that are in Dalaran she cannot load into... just stuck on load screen. Deleted the WTF, Interface, and Cache folders and it didn't work. Restarted the computer and that did not work either. Madmine and Vardek are the toons that she cannot log into on Skywall.

Thank you for trying the troubleshooting steps Fyth, and for your patience.

We have received reports from some players that changing video settings to the minimum standards enabled successful log in. These Video settings are available from the log in screen via the Options button on the right.

When you alter these settings, please remember to change both the categories in the Resolution menu as well as the Effects menu. If you are confused about the effect that altering a specific setting is likely to have, then mousing over the setting should provide a brief description, as well as how altering that setting might affect performance.

Please note that this is not guaranteed to enable a character to be logged in, but is merely another troubleshooting step that may prove effective for some players. If altering these settings does not help, then you can merely use one of the dedicated buttons to reset your visual display settings to default, or restore your custom settings.

Q u o t e:
Me and a lot of other people are having much bigger problems because we can't even download the patch and the fixes that blizzard has suggested haven't helped and in fact made things worse.

That is an important issue, and one that our staff are interested in helping with. This thread is not dedicated to downloading the patch, however, nor is the Customer Service forum the appropriate locale via which to receive assistance regarding the patch download - that would be the Technical Support forum. If you were unable to receive assistance via the forum, please keep in mind that it is not the only means of contacting our Technical Support department. You may find that you can receive personalized attention by our Technical Support staff directly. Here's a link to their contact information:

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=21049

We are aware some players are still having issues logging in, and this can be from a variety of reasons.

A full UI reset (renaming your WTF, CACHE and INTERFACE folders and rebooting without any addons reinstalled) still seems to be helping some, but not all players. We've had reports of turning down all graphic settings on another character helping some as well.

If this is impacting a single character (especially if that character is in Dalaran) placing a petition on another character with the word STUCK and the fact that you need that specific character moved will allow our Game Masters to get to your request as quickly as possible and relocate that character.

We also have a very long thread in our tech forum that addresses many other issues. While this is still being investigated, it certainly can't hurt to read over this post to see if this may apply to your case.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=18971780462

Thank you very much for your patience and if you have details to add to this thread, please do.

Small Edit: For Mac users, you may wish to check out a similar thread on Mac specific issues related to the patch in our Mac forum.

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23767164215

Q u o t e:
the fact is that we shouldnt have to disable addons or change video settings, the people who worked on the patch should not let anything like this happen. above poster is right; not like they are running out of money.

We cannot control the quality of your system, nor do our developers code for addon makers - they code around OUR game - hence the name....addon.

I can certainly understand the frustration this causes, but disabling addons often works wonders with a variety of issues. Corrupted or outdated addons can cause latency, disconnections and other general mayhem and foolishness.

Q u o t e:


I've disabled all of my addons and still can't get in. Its funny, my raid team is on right now and no one in guild has had these issues. Why is this only affecting certain players? And why only certain times. I was on for a couple hours zoned got stuck and can't log back in. Earlier today I got on my bank toon once and then couldn't log back in. I don't think this is our bad here.

That is an excellent question, Anseis - one that our technicians are still looking into.

Q u o t e:


except when we still have issues when after the interface folder is deleted also. addons aren't the problem, and nether is being in dal or any major city... I have a toon in the barrens and it gets locked up, even after 2 or 3 times of trying. and that is after the dns flush stuff, deleting not only the interface folder but the WTF and cache, and reseting every piece of hardware on my end. The only thing that has worked is to grin and bare with the load bar of death, hit alt+f4 till it finally shuts wow down and retry it.

Not for everyone, Romolus - which is why our technicians are still working to address this.

There are several things that HAVE been reported to help, resetting of the UI being one a player can do themselves and has been shown to work in some cases.

Q u o t e:
The restart just now fixes the issue I have...
thanks Blizzard!!!

Fabulous, Zarazo.

Here's hoping it helps many others with this issue as well. Very happy to hear you got back in.

They are continuing to work on this issue Mirta.

We'd be remiss to not offer potential solutions that many have reported HAVE helped them.

Q u o t e:

We know for a FACT now, thanks to the process that I just went through, that it is not an Addon Issue, it is not a DNS issue, it is not a Video/sound issue...bottom line...it is NOT an issue with each individual's system...

Q u o t e:
Thank you all for looking into this. I was having the loading bar stuck at 100% issue with my one character who was in Dalaran, and deleting FuBar resolved the issue.

There are a variety of factors at play and there is no one root cause, unfortunately. While the origin of this issue is not always related to Addons or a player's system, there are a great many cases where those factors do play a role - and even after a resolution on our end is rolled out, those issues will remain unaddressed until those affected take the appropriate steps to do so.

We are currently investigating all aspects of this matter in hopes of providing relief to those who are experiencing log in issues, and we will continue to work until that resolution is in place. In the meantime, the priority is to get players back to enjoying World of Warcraft, and if it can help then it falls to our players to explore other potential causes that might be client side in nature.

Q u o t e:
Why don't you guys just tell everyone that they cannot play for a couple of days instead of pretending that it is everyone elses cache issue.

We haven't informed "everyone" that they are unable to play because, simply, neither everyone nor a majority of players are affected by this issue. That aside, this is an extremely high priority issue and our staff is working feverishly to address it as soon as possible. As those who have attempted to contribute analysis and resolution have discovered, it is by no means easy to identify or isolate a cause, let alone a resolution.

It has never been suggested that this is exclusively a cache issue, and we recognize that there are potentially both realm and client side factors in this case. As I stated in a previous post, we've provided a set of resolutions for players to try because some of these issues are entirely client side and are resolved after one or another of these steps is completed properly.

Clearly the resolutions implemented this morning have not been effective for all players, and we will continue to investigate in an effort to employ a resolution that will be effective for those who are still unable to log in. If you feel that compensation is merited for this situation, please feel free to create or contribute to a constructive thread on our Suggestions forum to that effect.

Thank you for remaining as patient as possible while these log in issues are being worked on.

Q u o t e:
Doubtful.

WoW is threatening to come undone over this.

While this is a serious situation and a high priority for us, it is not the situation that you present. I will treat further hyperbole of this sort in any Customer Service forum thread as trolling.

Q u o t e:

Classic example of how to mishandle a situation. Keep your customers in the dark, don't communicate, put out useless and worthless information, boilerplate responses... it's a catastrophe... you could even call it a "cataclysm." ;)

The very fact that the thread you are posting in exists proves that we haven't ignored the situation, and that it is still under investigation.

Merely because the information or resolutions that we've provided are not useful to you, does not mean that they have not been useful to many other players. Make no mistake, they have and your assumptions, are, I'm afraid, simply incorrect.

I am truly sorry to hear that log in issues persist for you or any other player, though, and I want to reassure you that this situation is still being worked on.

Q u o t e:


Well, now we know what it takes to get a response.

Post before mine said there hadn't been a "blue" response in four days. Then I post my comment and get slapped with a "trolling" accusation.

That a thread exists doesn't prove that the situation is being addressed. This and the 80+ page thread in tech support show the customers are desperately looking for aid, and for the vast majority, not getting any, or anything useful.

Actually, I've simply returned from my weekend. I responded to your post because you seem frustrated, and I wanted to provide you with the information you need to continue taking advantage of the forums without running afoul of the forum code of conduct, while at the same time reminding you that this issue isn't being ignored merely because this thread hasn't been updated.

Updates are generally provided when something has changed, and regular 'blue' posts by themselves are not necessarily innately valuable. Thus far, work toward a resolution is proceeding, but there haven't been changes notable enough to comment on just yet, that's all.

Q u o t e:
Hey Mal this might be a little premature, but I think this mornings restart issue fixed the loading screen. I've done nothing but log in and out for the last hour and am unable to duplicate getting hung on the loading bar.

That would certainly be ideal, but I suspect that there are still those who are finding themselves stuck at the loading screen.

I have received reports that this log in issue should be resolved.

If you are still stuck at the loading screen, please feel free to contribute a post here describing the issue you are still experiencing.

Q u o t e:
Characters: All
Realm: Dragonblight and Blades Edge
Battlegroup: Cyclone

I tried to login and hearth when i got some strange lag spike so i exited wow and havent been able to login after. Please help.

Please do not bump old threads. It can help to avoid this to select 'Latest Reply' from the Sort By drop-down menu on the upper right of the forum index.

In this case, it is likely that you are experiencing an individual issue, rather than a realm wide issue. If you find that you experience connectivity issues consistently, then you are likely best served by visiting our Technical Support forum. In the short term, it sounds as though your character might be stuck. While we're unable to resolve such issues via the forum, you can certainly submit an in-game petition from a different character on the same account, and a member of our staff will do their utmost to help as swiftly as possible!

When you submit such a petition, it's best to keep the following points in mind:

• Always use the ‘Character Stuck’ button when you submit this kind of petition.
• Include the word 'stuck' in your petition.
• Include the name and realm of the stuck character.
• Include where your character was before they got stuck
• Mention whether you are stuck at the loading screen, are unable to remain in-game, are trapped on terrain, are unable to find your body, or fell ‘through the world’