Quote:
World of Warcraft cities hacked
Hackers have massacred all the virtual characters in some of online adventure game World of Warcraft's major cities.
They appear to have created a character able to destroy those of other players and those controlled by the game.
Game creator Blizzard Activision has appealed for information, but added: "This exploit has already been hot-fixed, so it should not be repeatable."
More than 10 million subscribers play World of Warcraft (WoW), almost half are believed to be in China.
Numbers had dipped from a peak of 12 million in 2010 to 9.1 million at the beginning of 2012, but have swelled since the release at the end of September of an expansion called the Mists of Pandaria.
Writing in an online forum, Blizzard said it was taking the action "very seriously".
"Earlier today, certain realms were affected by an in-game exploit, resulting in the deaths of player characters and non-player characters in some of the major cities," wrote a representative going by the name of Nethaera, on Sunday.
Olivia Grace, contributing editor of website WoW Insider, said: "It was a significant hack.
"They discovered a method to roll a level-one [beginner] character, which ran to the major cities.
"We don't know exactly what they did, but somehow they were able to kill every single player's character in that city and every single computer controlled character - and they were doing this repeatedly."
Ms Grace said she believed the same hackers had attacked WoW before but not to this extent, with characters being destroyed again after "reincarnation" as is normal within the confines of the game.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19869466
Hackers have massacred all the virtual characters in some of online adventure game World of Warcraft's major cities.
They appear to have created a character able to destroy those of other players and those controlled by the game.
Game creator Blizzard Activision has appealed for information, but added: "This exploit has already been hot-fixed, so it should not be repeatable."
More than 10 million subscribers play World of Warcraft (WoW), almost half are believed to be in China.
Numbers had dipped from a peak of 12 million in 2010 to 9.1 million at the beginning of 2012, but have swelled since the release at the end of September of an expansion called the Mists of Pandaria.
Writing in an online forum, Blizzard said it was taking the action "very seriously".
"Earlier today, certain realms were affected by an in-game exploit, resulting in the deaths of player characters and non-player characters in some of the major cities," wrote a representative going by the name of Nethaera, on Sunday.
Olivia Grace, contributing editor of website WoW Insider, said: "It was a significant hack.
"They discovered a method to roll a level-one [beginner] character, which ran to the major cities.
"We don't know exactly what they did, but somehow they were able to kill every single player's character in that city and every single computer controlled character - and they were doing this repeatedly."
Ms Grace said she believed the same hackers had attacked WoW before but not to this extent, with characters being destroyed again after "reincarnation" as is normal within the confines of the game.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19869466
Quote:
Entire cities dead on some World of Warcraft realms
by Olivia Grace Oct 7th 2012 at 3:18PM
This afternoon, Paris time, something very strange happened on various realms. Argent Dawn's forums have a long thread about it, but to cut a long story short, everyone in Stormwind and Orgrimmar was killed, NPCs included. It's also been happening on Tarren Mill, Ragnaros, Draenor, Twisting Nether, and no doubt other servers.
Of course, rumors abound as to just exactly what happened. Most people point towards it being a hack, and there's some videos out there floating around that give credence to this theory. Has it happened on your realm? What on earth is going on? And what do you think is causing it?
Update: Blizzard has posted on the forums, informing us that this exploit has now been hotfixed.
More screenshots as they come in after the break.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/07/reports-entire-cities-dead-on-certain-realms/
by Olivia Grace Oct 7th 2012 at 3:18PM
This afternoon, Paris time, something very strange happened on various realms. Argent Dawn's forums have a long thread about it, but to cut a long story short, everyone in Stormwind and Orgrimmar was killed, NPCs included. It's also been happening on Tarren Mill, Ragnaros, Draenor, Twisting Nether, and no doubt other servers.
Of course, rumors abound as to just exactly what happened. Most people point towards it being a hack, and there's some videos out there floating around that give credence to this theory. Has it happened on your realm? What on earth is going on? And what do you think is causing it?
Update: Blizzard has posted on the forums, informing us that this exploit has now been hotfixed.
More screenshots as they come in after the break.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2012/10/07/reports-entire-cities-dead-on-certain-realms/
Quote:
Earlier today, certain realms were affected by an in-game exploit, resulting in the deaths of player characters and non-player characters in some of the major cities. This exploit has already been hotfixed, so it should not be repeatable. It's safe to continue playing and adventuring in major cities and elsewhere in Azeroth.
As with any exploit, we are taking this disruptive action very seriously and conducting a thorough investigation. If you have information relating to this incident, please email hacks@blizzard.com. We apologize for the inconvenience some of you experienced as a result of this and appreciate your understanding.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/6794031758#1
As with any exploit, we are taking this disruptive action very seriously and conducting a thorough investigation. If you have information relating to this incident, please email hacks@blizzard.com. We apologize for the inconvenience some of you experienced as a result of this and appreciate your understanding.
http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/6794031758#1
