Ongoing World of Warcraft issues

[#1]

Please see my post at https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/17620032322, including links to other reports. Common theme seems to be Plusnet as the IP, let me know if you need more information.

[#2]

Would also like to add that I have experienced similar problems as Scruffster/samwalton describes in his Bnet post, particularly the top two issues.

I'm currently connecting via Wifi. I've been on to the tech team at Plusnet a few times now. We've tested the Master socket, tested the line several times (it always comes back fine), a new router has been sent out (issues persist). I've been told the next step is an internal wiring check (at my cost) but given the multiple posts on Bnet which point to issues between Plusnet users and WoW, I'm simply not convinced.

It's particularly bad at busy times. Last night after 9pm I played on multiple characters without a single issue. Now, I can't get in at all.

[#3]

To add to this:

Also heard some reports, particularly in WoW forums that Static IPs have fixed this. Of course, could be coincidental for those people but why would that work?

[#4]

Hi there.
Thanks for contacting us and for taking the time to post via our community forums.

Please could both of you run a traceroute via WinMTR here: http://winmtr.net posting up the results?

To answer @mov’s question about what a static IP does, it’d essentially means that the connection would take a different route across our network due to the way we handle the assignment of static IPs, however whilst this seems to improve things for a few users, there are other factors at play too which can cause the type of issue you’re experiencing.

Cheers.

[edit]

If you’re interested in knowing more, This post explains in a bit more detail. 

[#5]

Can you explain what I'm supposed to be doing with that software please?

[#6]

You'd type in the server address you're trying to connect to then click Start to run a traceroute.

Steps can be found Here. If you're unsure how to find the server address, This guide should help out.

[#7]

Ok, I think this was to the right IP:

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| dsldevice.lan - 0 | 337 | 337 | 3 | 7 | 28 | 8 |
| No response from host - 100 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| be3-3102.pcn-ir02.plus.net - 0 | 337 | 337 | 13 | 17 | 40 | 17 |
| 195.99.125.144 - 0 | 337 | 337 | 13 | 17 | 40 | 16 |
| peer7-et-0-1-4.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net - 0 | 337 | 337 | 13 | 18 | 44 | 16 |
| 109.159.253.189 - 0 | 337 | 337 | 13 | 17 | 41 | 15 |
| No response from host - 100 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 172.253.50.164 - 0 | 337 | 337 | 14 | 19 | 40 | 18 |
| 74.125.242.82 - 0 | 337 | 337 | 14 | 20 | 44 | 19 |
| 209.85.250.91 - 0 | 337 | 337 | 15 | 25 | 81 | 16 |
| 216.239.57.236 - 0 | 337 | 337 | 14 | 17 | 41 | 15 |
| 108.170.246.161 - 0 | 337 | 337 | 15 | 20 | 41 | 19 |
| 108.170.232.99 - 0 | 337 | 337 | 14 | 19 | 43 | 18 |
| lhr25s10-in-f14.1e100.net - 0 | 337 | 337 | 14 | 17 | 43 | 17 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

[#8]

Here's mine. Like samwalton, I think this was to right IP:

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| dsldevice.lan - 0 | 675 | 675 | 1 | 5 | 119 | 2 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 133.hiper04.sheff.dial.plus.net.uk - 100 | 136 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 25 | 25 |
| be3-3102.pcn-ir02.plus.net - 1 | 663 | 660 | 15 | 23 | 224 | 17 |
| 195.99.125.144 - 1 | 656 | 651 | 13 | 20 | 224 | 26 |
| 194.72.16.112 - 1 | 655 | 650 | 16 | 23 | 169 | 16 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ae1-br01-eqld5.blizzardonline.net - 1 | 663 | 660 | 17 | 26 | 749 | 17 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| be2-pe02-eqpa4.blizzardonline.net - 1 | 663 | 660 | 22 | 29 | 228 | 22 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 185.60.115.157 - 1 | 659 | 655 | 23 | 30 | 227 | 24 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

[#9]

Thanks for this.

I'm trying something here, which may or may not fix the problem but looks like it's going to be a bit of trial and error. I've made a change to the way both of your connections route across our network by adding a static IP address.

Could you post up another WinMTR and also (more importantly) let me know if you still experience problems when playing World of Warcraft?

I'd like to know if the issue is fixed too as ideally I'd like to investigate further because the change I've done is more of a workaround than a permanent solution.

Cheers

Anoush

[edit]

@mov I've having trouble making this work for you, could you power off your router for about 5 mins then back on? Once your connection comes back up it should be routing the way we want it. Thanks.

[#10]

Hi,

I reset my router and waited ~5 minutes as requested. Re-entered the game and re-ran the trace:

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| dsldevice.lan - 0 | 676 | 676 | 1 | 4 | 118 | 2 |
|410.xe-2-2-0.central10.pcn-bng02.plus.net - 0 | 676 | 676 | 11 | 16 | 143 | 13 |
| 411.be6.pcn-ir01.plus.net - 2 | 649 | 642 | 12 | 16 | 189 | 13 |
| 195.99.125.136 - 1 | 668 | 666 | 12 | 15 | 135 | 19 |
| peer2-et0-1-4.slough.ukcore.bt.net - 2 | 649 | 642 | 12 | 18 | 182 | 14 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| ae1-br01-eqld5.blizzardonline.net - 1 | 649 | 643 | 13 | 37 | 2638 | 14 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| et-0-0-67-pe01-eqam1.blizzardonline.net - 1 | 665 | 662 | 18 | 23 | 149 | 39 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| No response from host - 100 | 135 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 37.244.54.10 - 2 | 645 | 637 | 19 | 22 | 142 | 26 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

At the moment, no difference from performance earlier (as in, initially it's been fine tonight apart from a WoW connection drop before I got back on to you here), but to be honest it does tend to be better as a rule at quiet points.

The real test will be tomorrow between 7pm and 8.30pm. That's when it usually does all kinds of crazy. I'll report back and maybe between myself and sam we can provide a clue.

[#11]

Just signed up as I've been having trouble with this for weeks, very intermittent, can happen at any time of day or night so doesn't seem so load related as the last time we had WoW problems; I've even had it happen at 3am. I haven't tried anything on my end as it's very clear from the number of reports on Blizzard's forums that it's not at my end; far too many different people have the exact same problems ("world server down", "transfer aborted: instance not found", or just completely lagging out on trying to change to another instance). 

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|                                      WinMTR statistics                                   |
|                       Host              -   %  | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
|                                  DD-WRT -    0 |  206 |  206 |    0 |    0 |    1 |    0 |
|                           192.168.1.254 -    0 |  206 |  206 |    0 |    1 |   22 |    2 |
|                   No response from host -  100 |   41 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |
|                   No response from host -  100 |   41 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |    0 |
|              be3-3102.pcn-ir02.plus.net -    0 |  206 |  206 |    7 |    8 |   30 |    8 |
|                          195.99.125.140 -    1 |  203 |  202 |    7 |    8 |   30 |    8 |
|                          109.159.252.80 -    0 |  206 |  206 |    7 |    9 |   30 |    8 |
|                         109.159.253.209 -    0 |  206 |  206 |    8 |   10 |   29 |   29 |
|                  lag30.fr6.lon.llnw.net -    0 |  206 |  206 |    8 |    9 |   26 |    8 |
|                           178.79.195.90 -    0 |  206 |  206 |    8 |    9 |   26 |   11 |
|                    cds1218.lon.llnw.net -    0 |  206 |  206 |    8 |    9 |   27 |    8 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
   WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

I HOPE that's the right IP, it's a bit hard to tell. If it is then I've been in a "world server down" situation for the last 25-30 minutes, so this might reflect the problem as it's happening. Worst thing is it's so intermittent; it can be fine for ages then other times it won't do anything at all for a bit, but most times it's just one failure then works ok at the 2nd attempt.

Edit: formatting was a mess, trying again

[#12]

Just checking something, can you make sure you don't have the battle.net client updating in the background?  There is a big patch being downloaded I think which might affect the line?

[#13]

The update has fully downloaded on my system; in any case it has only been available for a few days, while this problem has been ongoing for several weeks for me. It's annoyingly intermittent, I can go several days without encountering it, and there's no obvious pattern to when it hits - it can happen in the middle of the night just as much as at peak times.

It's hard to test it as usually it's a one-time failure to move from one zone to another ("transfer aborted: instance not found" error message), and works the next time I try. But sometimes I get "World server not found" on trying to enter the world and that lasts longer, sometimes as much as 30 minutes, so I learned a little more:

1. It usually seems specific to realms; I play regularly on two different realms and if one is not working, I can often access the other one.

2. Last night for the first time I tried a different account while it wasn't working: I found only one account had this problem at that time. I tried simultaneously logging in two characters located in the same city on the same server, using the same computer for both (this would usually work) to ensure same conditions; the account I'd initially had the trouble with failed and the other succeeded. A few minutes later the first account started working again, but there was a distinct period of 5+ minutes where I had one working and one not. It is not specific to one account though; both my accounts have experienced this problem at different times.

[#14]

I'm also having issues. Only with WoW.

Heres my Blizz post with all the ip info: https://eu.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/17620212283#post-3

Can i get a static IP assigned please. It seems to fix other plusnet user issues with this game.  I just signed up about a month ago, im already having regrets.

[#15]

Just to clarify: I'd agree completely with Tairbh on this. The problem IS intermittent and hard to pin down. My comment was just an observation on when I've commonly experienced the issue.

The issues Tairbh describes are exactly the types if issues I experience.

As I've said above, I have 're run the trace and I think it is fair I report back once I've had some opportunity to see what happens. Which I will definitely do.