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Patch 3.0.2 Issues Galore

RAWRWow.  What a mess the Echoes of Doom patch has been.  I do not know about the rest of you, but I have had a hell of a time with the latest content patch.  Blizzard Entertainment warned us that the maintenance would be extended, but my main server experienced over 12 hours of down time. Then it was hit with shoddy performance when the realm finally came up.  In fairness, I would rather take the downtime now, than when all the new content from Wrath of the Lich King goes live.  Of course, that is the exact reason Blizzard does these patches ahead of time, to work out the kinks.

My server being down was only half the battle though.  I don't think I have mentioned this before, but I actually play World of Warcraft on three separate computers.  Keeping the WoW installations on the myriad of computers I have is difficult enough for common play (no, I don't want to carry around my WoW installation on an external harddrive).  So you can imagine how annoying it is to go through the motions of patching and reinstalling addons on three computers for a major content patch.  Tools like  the BLASC Client can only do so much.

My two Windows XP boxes patched up nicely, although I had to transfer the patch from one box to the other because a download was corrupt.  Thankfully, Blizzard's repair tool managed to revert the MMORPG to 2.0.0 rather than having to reinstall everything.  Things went smoothly after that.

My Windows Vista 64-bit box has been, and continues to be, a bit more difficult though.  I have the User Access Controls disabled - because they suck - and still get harassed by Blizzard's installer telling me to move the files to a public directory.  I told it to do what it wants and it failed to copy data from the original installation location into the public area.  I figured it was a PEBKAC issue and tried again, this time not moving the files.  Failed again with much the same error, unable to copy data.

I then did a whole bunch of dumb things like copied the patch files into the installation folder, ran it as administrator, ran it as administrator while on one foot and ran it as administrator while I played The Witcher.  At this point I was worried about the installation as a whole, thinking that the failures may just cause a chain reaction of destruction.  Double-clicked the repair tool (as admin, while I prayed to Pagan gods) and got reverted to 2.0.0 on the Vista box.

It took me awhile, but I finally gave up in frustration and began to download a new copy of the patch.  Hours later, in fact, it ended up being early this morning, it completed and installed correctly.  Looks like I was blaming Vista for another corrupted download.  Sorry Microsoft!

Things are up and running on all of my computers now, and I have begun taking a hard look at which specs to select for my Rogue and Priest.  I think I am going to roll with a healer Priest from now until level 80, so that should be different.  How did the conversion to the Wrath of the Lich King's launch screen - which rocks by the way - go for all of you?

Reader Comments (74)

Awful day, my server has been down for the most part, was so bored i had to make a toon on another server :O, also lag issues have been crippling.

As for the additions, they are truly brilliant making the game fun to play (when i get on that is lol)

Project lore FTW you guys are really making a big difference to the way i play the game.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMightyGibbon

I have an XP box and I had no troubles at all. Everything went smooth. And for that I am really glad cause when it comes to my pc, when something doesn't work I expect the worst.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterTheOneHeath

Oh and now it turns out that the whole cyclone battlegroup servers are down for another hour (europe servers)

got excited just from seeing the loading screen, awesome job blizzard !!

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterMightyGibbon

I'm frustrated that the amount materials needed for inscription have increased so I'm having to run around STV picking some. Well I would be, if my server would work :)

Also most of my mods are broken, including the ones updated today. But hey, its probably the biggest patch since wow was releases so I'll let Blizzard off.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterYender

Sadly its not going to well for me, i think the loading screen looks awesome, but since i patched, its like the server data base wiped my username and password, i can log onto Account Management with my user + pass, but not onto the servers, im really confused.

Hope you guys are enjoying it me than i am.
( PS if any1's got a Solution to my problem ide be glad to know)
(PPS im on EU servers if its any conselation)

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterNuffer

I was worried that the second half of the patch install (3.0.2) would take forever like the original 800 megs did (3.0.1), but the DL was incredibly fast and pain free.

Installation went smooth, and I was looking forward to playing for a few hours... but it wasn't in the cards for me. Our server (Kael'thas) finally came up by around 10:30 EST, so I managed to see the sights (SW Harbour is beaut!) and get my first acheivement (shave-n-haircut).

Highlight of the evening... respec and new spells for my Druid. My first /tell was a general request for Duel so I could root them indoors!! I'll also be rezz'ing every corpse I see in my travels.
All in all... GG Blizz, I love it.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJeff

I think the thing that pisses me off the most is that every single time there is a patch, and something goes wrong or all the servers go down, every website with any info *poof* magically disappears. Talk about a total information shut down!

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterFrench

Instalation.... check.....
server.... wait, who ate up my servers?
It's been forever now, I can't get on any of my mains so I just ended up making another toon, on a RP server...

It's funny to see crazy gnomes roleplay in SW harbor, really.. Love /cower.. hate the lag

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterFidel Castor

No problem for me on Ubuntu. Mods are broken but it's not that much pain in the ass. And still i was happy to have some free hours while servers were down.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterIvailoMinkov

Just like digg has the infamous "digg effect", WoW has the "WoW effect".

Whenever there's a widespread problem, every single source of information or help gets inundated with thousands and thousands of frustrated and/or angry players looking for an answer. That's why the forums always shut down whenever there's a server glitch. Too many people at once all trying to access the same pages.

Cenarius-US was total drek last night. Wasn't able to get past the character screen until around 9pm, and wasn't able to actually log on and run around until 11pm. Even then, the server kept booting me every once in a while and I'd have to respec again. There are missing mounts and pets, people have been stranded mid-portal to IF... hopefully Blizz has all the kinks worked out today.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterPeter

Just got my new pc and imagine it when the installedwow game on my old pc actually goes corrupt meaning i have to completely reinstall on both computers GAY! took for ever especially the patches annoying i blame internet speeds and my new pc has vista :( but i am gonna upgrade it to xp woot

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterAnanun

Today has just been complete BS so much lag. It said i didnt have enough money to use mangle and i was drowining in IF was weird. and server keeps going down when all bugs are fixed i will prob enjoy the new stuff

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterwootlore

That patch was rough.

I got on and immediately started learned all my vanity pets and mounts. I then tried to log off with my main, which didn't work. I manually closed WoW and eventually got back onto the server, and then the world server went down shortly after.

This morning I'm one of the many that's missing mounts and pets (half of my mounts and all of my pets) - hoping to go home and see they're back.

As ITZKooPA mentioned, better now than the release of Lich King. Blizzard has a reputation for having trouble with patches, but they were rock solid when Burning Crusade released - the only server problem was the fact that so many people were playing in the same areas. I'm confident they can give us another good release like that.

Anyway, haven't been able to check too much of the new stuff out yet. I haven't respecced, but I did get a great beard (it's about time my hunter had a beard). I also checked out Stormwind harbor which is quite the site!

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterCloudbearer

I went from 40fps and max settings to 4 fps and lowest setting on my laptop

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterFrost

I'm getting a better framerate than ever.. shrug.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered Commentermonkeystick

On Fenris Server patch was as stated 12 hours but after we came back up about every 15 minutes the world server would go down reset and I would be back about 2 minutes later in a section I was in 6 or 7 minutes prior having to do over what ever I was doing when I was forced logged out
boo Blizzard Booo!

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterOpius

yea i got the short end of the stick, got on WoW ater the my severs was down for an extended 10hrs then got some major clipping and about 2-3 mins in found out that my patch was corrupted and had to reinstall WoW.
so im back reloading WoW and im still on the (OMFG) 2.6g 3.0.2 patch thats going to take close to another 10nrs on top of my other patches >.<

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered Commenterreaper7767

i have an odd problem. anyone else?

I hit "enter world" on any one of my toons and it takes about 20-30 seconds to start loading the world. The bar doesnt start to fill up i mean. after thta everythings normal, but its still a little annoying.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDavid

Won't Install Properly And Am Currently Re-Installing ALL My Wow Files. Tonight And Tomorrow Are Going To Be So Much Fun!

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterJordan

How long does it fucking take, i started at 3 (GMT), still going strong now at 8:40.....

now i wouldnt mind but it has installed once already, then something failed because i had google running (didnt understand that one at all) and now there is another 600MB patch on top of that.

not impressed!

have been on thott to look at the talent calculator and got some pretty funky spec for my resto shammy and my frost mage.

has anyone else been looking at the talents and thinking hmmm if only i had a few more points i would really like that talent or is that just me??
:)

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterTulka

Love the new screen, love the new exotic pets. Had to deal with a ton of lolnubs in Trade "OMG WHAR R MAH MOUNTS!?" ...you know, stuff like that. <_<;

Gotta admit some of these achievements are fun. I'm wanting to try the Leeeeeeeeeeroy! Achievement in LBRS.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterRothos(Kargath)

well..what should I say,been downloading the damn patch for 10hours... and still at 88%,hate that blizzard downloader,always says my pc's behind a firewall,even if I've let it ignore the downloader

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterReyson

I am actually surprised that so many people had so much trouble downloading and installing the patch. My computer is only about six months old (W/ Vista ::YUCK!::), but it's specs aren't that great. I had to upgrade just to 2GB memory myself! I had the patch (All 2.6GB worth) downloaded in about six minutes and installed in another five.

I did have trouble logging on after Blizzard's promised 6:00 Pacific time, but only for about 30 minutes.

As for the login screen, I love it! Pretty sweet. It does not play well on my comp, though, and skips horribly. The BC screen was seamless. Hopefully, the new graphics upgrade will be worth the 30% frame rate loss I experienced.

Favorite part about the new patch so far: Thunder Clap actually does damage!! Can't wait to see what Consecration will do...

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterDaMOTh

Besides waiting 7 hours to download the patch.... I have since been kicked three times from my server, then it says "world is down"

Pretty annoying when you are not in an inn and in the middle of solo questing.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered Commentergoliath553

Also wanted to add... The shadow effects are really cool. My computer isn't quite good enough to run full screen glow and full shadows comfortably, but even with some shadows it looks great.

I did see a better framerate than I'm used to after the patch as well. I'm hoping to upgrade my computer in the next year... I'd love to run WoW at full settings.

October 15, 2008 | Unregistered CommenterCloudbearer

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