Damnit Blizzard!!!

[mcvickj]

WTF is going on here? Monday I logged on to play my new Druid. Everything seems to be going fine for the first 5 minutes and then my ping jumps through the roof! We're talking like 5000+ ms. So I log off and I reset my cable modem and router. Signed back in and had the same problem.

I didn't realize until I alt tabbed out that there was a new icon in the system tray. Blizzard was making me download a 127Mb file while playing?!?! GAHHHH. I have cable at home but it isn't the greatest. So there I sit at the inn in the Barrens while this damn file finishes downloading. I figured this was a one time deal. WRONG! It happened again. It downloaded another large file while I was playing.

WTF Blizzard. Either make me download the file or let me play the game. Not both. I would post this on Blizzard's forums but it seems they are having issues.

Anyone else notice this?

 

[FlasHBurN]

It's not mandatory. You can open up the downloader and disable it. I do think it is lame to add that and not even give the user a message though. I didn't have any problems with it however.

 

[Bateluer]

Blizzard has really gone down hill as a company is the last few years.

 

[TGS]

How is a backround downloader app, put on by default a bad thing? It takes you about a minute to alt-tab out and find that new shiny icon in your tray.

Or... *dramatic music* read the damn patch notes

New Blizzard Background Downloader added to World of Warcraft. For more information regarding the Blizzard Background Downloader, please visit: http://www.blizzard.com/support/wow/?id=aww01954p

 

[Thraxen]

Originally posted by: TGS
How is a backround downloader app, put on by default a bad thing? It takes you about a minute to alt-tab out and find that new shiny icon in your tray.

Or... *dramatic music* read the damn patch notes

New Blizzard Background Downloader added to World of Warcraft. For more information regarding the Blizzard Background Downloader, please visit: http://www.blizzard.com/support/wow/?id=aww01954p

It's bad if it spikes your ping as badly as the OP says. And, yeah, there's always the release notes... but in the real world most people don't read through those things completely (if at all). It simply wasn't a wise choice to have it on by default if it impacts gameplay.

 

[Lazy8s]

Man when will people learn if you quit paying them ever month they will fix it. Paying to play and complaining is such a girl thing to do (i.e. they flirt with you but "just want to be friends").

If it really buggs you then cancel your subscription until they fix it like I did. They say casual players don't pay the bills? Fine I stop paying and all they're left with are hardcore players whining about performance and hogging server time. Eventually they will realize they need to cater towards the casual player because we pay the same but complain less and their server load is lighter since we're on like 2hrs per day.

 

[JBT]

I would think they would be smart enough to make it not max out your connection while playing. I guess not.

 

[Looney]

Well, if you actually read the notes, it says it SHOULDN'T interfere with play... obviously it is affecting people though.

 

[NeoV]

cry babies like the op make the internet about as fun as walking on hot coals sometime - much like all the warez "anti-steam" crybabies.

I ASSURE you that as a WOW player, if you aren't reading the patch notes, you suck as a WOW player.

Alt-tab, cancel the downloader, continue playing, save us all from reading your stupid rant

/thread

 

[CKent]

1) I've read about this and heard guildies & friends complaining. I don't get it; I don't have this. Maybe I have a faulty copy of WoW Or maybe it's some kind of IE thing, autoinstalling if you surf their site using IE? (I use FF). I'm utterly confused about this. It's not in my system tray, it's not in running apps, it's not even in running processes (I scoured through all of them looking for it). I have no latency issues because of it; it's not there ...

2) Assuming it's like the patch downloader, it affects latency because it offers no way to throttle the upstream bandwidth it uses and will use all it can get. By saturating your upstream it clogs the upstream bandwidth required by the game itself and required even for the overhead on downloads, thus bogging your entire connection. I go through this every 2-3 months when they do a major patch - but only then.