Yet another issue – no, I don’t. Other people do, but I had faith and trust in Blizzard that anything in something called a “bank” was safe. I don’t need or want the monetary value. I want the stuff, personally.
Others are missing personal letters sent to them through in-game mail, from long ago friends or even people who have passed away. Those are beyond compensation and it really breaks my heart to know such things have been lost.
Kurnmogh somewhat beat me to it re: timeline. A sibling asked me to put together an overview of the issue for reference, so I won’t post most of it here (just the pertinent parts).
P.S. I don’t know how to make real fancy posts beyond BBCode and using to insert extra spaces without showing anything. Apologies if it doesn’t come across all that cleanly, especially with the links as I didn’t want to take chances.
TIMELINE
2024-08-13
Patch 11.0.2 is released.
2024-08-14
Main bug report thread for issue posted by Vaelhaeyn-Wyrmrest Accord US. https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-missing-items-what-happened/1918643
2024-08-17
Support article created by Blizzard Entertainment acknowledging the issue, but no communication elsewhere.
2024-08-19
I added mention of the guild bank issue under “Known issues” on the “Patch 11.0.2 (undocumented changes)” page on Warcraft Wiki (WCW, formerly Wowpedia).
https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Patch_11.0.2_(undocumented_changes)#Known_issues
2024-08-18 — 2024-09-19
Other than an EU Customer Support rep that stated work was ongoing for the bug, there is absolute radio silence. https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/guild-bank-items-gone/528709
2024-09-20
Support article unpublished. Update announcement posted to the US General Discussion and pinned by Linxy. Find out Blizz knew the cause just a couple days after (but chose to not say anything). And it turns out it’s not just a bug but outright data loss.
Restoration system mail sent out to guild masters several hours later. It doesn’t go well (soulbound BoE bags, items with no charges, etc.), with no communication about its problems.
Other than Linxy stating in a follow-up that it was fine to use guild banks, the update post remains the first and only time Blizz ever truly said anything on the topic.
2024-09-21
I added a section specific to the 11.0.2 problem to the “Guild bank” on WCW. https://warcraft.wiki.gg/wiki/Guild_bank#Patch_11.0.2_issue
2024-09-23
Bug thread quietly closed by Kaivax. Any new threads on the matter from this point on are moved and merged into the GD thread.
GD thread has become a support group basically. Preferred bug report thread as it attracted way less trolls though.
2024-10-05
Still no clarification to questions regarding the blue post itself, such as whether there will be any more restoration “waves” or that the rollout on Sept 20 was a one-and-done deal.
Still no confirmation from any player posts that any guild received everything back, or even a majority of what was lost. Everyone has been stating that they either received a minuscule amount or nothing at all.
2024-10-07
This thread is briefly unpinned from the top of GD forum.
2024-11-13
Thread renamed from “Guild Bank Missing Items Update” to “Guild Bank Missing Items Bug – Aug/Sept 2024” and moved from the General Discussion forum to Bug Report. Remains pinned.
News coverage remains sporadic. Only started picking up at the beginning of October, it seems.
2024-09-20
https://www.mmo-champion.com/content/12691-Guild-Bank-Missing-Items-Update-Complete-Restoration-Not-Possible
2024-09-21
https://gamerant.com/world-of-warcraft-guild-banks-items-missing-gone-war-within/ – very mid article
2024-09-23
https://massivelyop.com/2024/09/23/world-of-warcraft-data-loss-fiasco-deletes-items-out-of-guild-banks-and-blizzard-cant-fully-restore-them/
https://massivelyop.com/2024/09/26/massively-overthinking-do-you-expect-compensation-for-mmorpg-trainwrecks/ – follow-up opinion & thoughts
2024-09-27
https://blizzardwatch.com/2024/09/27/495-wow-guild-bank-bug/ – podcast segment lasted ~5min IIRC, very disappointing takes
2024-10-03
https://www.ign.com/articles/world-of-warcrafts-latest-expansion-wiped-out-some-guilds-inventories-seemingly-for-good-and-players-are-furious – Probably the best so far, surprisingly
https://www.dualshockers.com/world-of-warcraft-expansion-bug-wipes-guild-banks/
2024-10-04
https://hothardware.com/news/missing-items-in-world-of-warcraft – skimpy read, but whatdya expect from an obscure website 
2024-10-05
https://dotesports.com/wow/news/wow-players-from-72-year-old-vet-to-decades-spanning-guild-lost-their-gear-and-it-may-be-gone-for-good
https://boundingintocomics.com/video-games/blizzard-offers-minimal-recovery-to-world-of-warcraft-players-whose-guild-banks-were-empited-by-recent-glitch
2024-10-06
https://www.fragster.com/wow-error-frustrates-players-as-guild-banks-suddenly-become-empty
Thank you, Kurn. Especially for those who weren’t here from the very beginning (started in the Bug Report forum) you’ve done a super job of condensing all that we’ve gone through.
For those not yet affected or those only affected in a minor way though, the above should be worrisome. That they are willing to lost (and not restore) data, and that they are not willing to keep/win back the trust of many players - a good number of them who have been playing for a decade or almost two. They have very likely made the DECISION that it was OK to lose data (at no fault of the playerbase), to not communicate for over a month, to give a less-than-sincere-sounding apology accompanied by phrases that SOUND as if they are going to put some effort into restoration (and would TECHNICALLY be correct) while seemingly doing VERY little to nothing for the affected guilds. I have yet to hear of anyone here say that they got a LOT of stuff back or the most important stuff back. But you are right - people can QUOTE them on their “Some” guilds getting “incomplete” restoration (when the truth is, SOME guilds have gotten VERY LITTLE restoration and others have gotten none) and yeah, we’ve seen some articles QUOTE them and take them at their word.
Thank you again, for your videos as well. ANY word out there to the community of what’s REALLY going on is appreciated.
Thank you, Alayea as well!! Glad to see some coverage out there. (Quite a few that I wasn’t aware of too!!)
It is called a cost benefit analysis.
The cost of doing something vs not.
Perfect example: Ford Pinto. They did a cost benefit analysis and determined the amount of people who would be killed from exploding gas tanks from being rear-ended was cheaper to settle than to recall the car.
Extreme example but it points you to what companies will do to get out of doing the right thing because it is cheaper. Some bean counter determined it was cheaper to lose 100K subscribers that 95% of them will return and the whales will make up for it by more tokens and mounts, etc.
They use Oracle databases. Here’s job posting from 3 years ago:
Team Name:
World of Warcraft
Job Title:
Software Engineer, Database (Server) - World of Warcraft
Requisition ID:
R004825
Job Description:
Blizzard Entertainment is seeking a skilled software engineer to join the World of Warcraft Server team. The ideal candidate is someone with a passion for databases and putting the player experience first.
In this role, you will collaborate with other engineers to build and maintain World of Warcraft’s Server ecosystem, with a specific focus on our Oracle database layer. Our game’s data has grown massively since its launch in 2004, and you will get to work on challenging and rewarding problems that accompany such scale.
We’ve worked hard to foster a deeply collaborative and creative environment, a diverse and inclusive culture, and an opportunity for professional growth.
COVID-19 Hiring Update: We’ve transitioned to a work-from-home model and we’re continuing to interview and hire during this time. This role is expected to begin as a remote position. We understand each person’s circumstances may be unique and will work with you to explore possible interim options.
Responsibilities:
- Implement backend C++ and Oracle components to support game features or the live service
- Create PL/SQL, DDL, and SQL code and scripts
- Provide guidance on schema design and database performance optimizations
- Troubleshoot live issues, resolve defects, and support patch releases
- Deliver clean, efficient code and clear documentation
- Design systems with scalability, availability, and performance in mind
- Participate in and contribute to a culture of inclusion and diversity
Requirements:
- Professional experience with C++, SQL, and relational database technology
- Prior client-server application development and a strong understanding of distributed systems
- Passion for implementing complex coding solutions with simple, elegant, easy-to-maintain code
- Comfortable working within a large, established codebase
- Enthusiasm and adaptability to work on a variety of initiatives
Pluses:
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field
- Significant experience with Oracle
- Previous engineering role focused on database development
- Broad experience in any of the following: Linux, Lua, Jenkins, Git, SVN, JIRA
Send us:
- Resume
- Cover Letter
Blizzard Entertainment is a global company committed to growing our employees along with the business. We offer generous benefits and perks with an eye on providing true work / life balance. We’ve worked hard to foster an intensely collaborative and creative environment, a diverse and inclusive employee culture, and training and opportunity for professional growth. Our people are everything. Our core values are real, and our mission has never changed. We are dedicated to creating the most epic entertainment experiences…ever. Join us!
Dear Blizzard database dev, please see sentence #2 about “putting the player experience first” and do something to restore our faith in your company.
Nice to know how much they value that kind of job now, huh?
According to a recent Massively Overpowered article on the nearly 400 ABK worker layoffs . . .
“The layoffs in question will be focused in California, affecting 140 employees in Irvine, 110 in Santa Monica, and 143 in Playa Vista. As Spencer’s memo noted, the cuts are [directed at what Blizzard terms as “corporate and supporting roles” according to a statement from spokeswoman Delay Simmons, including accountants, software engineers, World of Warcraft’s HR director, artists, and game producers, among others.”
Don’t know if that includes Software Engineers associated with working with the Database though.
It cracks me up that people were expecting Microsoft to improve things. Phil Spencer is worse than Bobby Kotick in almost every way. Microsoft is where companies go to die. They’re nothing but a corporate graveyard. FAR worse than EA.
I’m reminded of the opening of the Insomniac Spider-Man, where Kingpin is arrested, and he says within a month people will be begging him to come back.
Read the end too: “Our core values are real” what an empty meaningless statement. Even 3 years ago, couldn’t say what their values were other than they exist.
I felt like most people had tabs full of Wirts legs from the initial comments. My theory was that banks full of old transmog and items that were no longer available seemed to be targeted. Just my observation.
If they told us, “sorry we accidentally hired a North Korean remote worker and he added some code that sent your guild bank to Kim Jong Un and then deleted the backup” I would have believed them over the alternative scenario of “we screwed up deleted your data, and we don’t feel like restoring it…”
LOL if they keep it vague, they can say they’re not lying. We’ve learned that first hand.
Over the years they’ve shown countless times that they’re not able to read the room and sometimes don’t have a single clue what the consequences of their decisions would look like. Just like with other things they might have thought “Nah that’s fine, they will get over it. It’s no big deal”.
Maybe they didn’t try to make customers mad on purpose, but looking at Linxys statement this reeks of “Yeah, it’ll be fine, this is good enough shrug”.
I’ve already experienced how reluctant the team can be when data goes missing. I think I even told the story in this topic here. Lost the reputation of a certain Vanilla faction for an achievement during MoP and was told that there’s literally nothing in the data logs and they didn’t have any way to verify I ever had the reputation. Tough luck, I should just grind it again, ticket closed. Only after me being persistent in CS forums and stating that I would leave the game, one GM managed to help me and said that it took them some time and effort, but they found the logs in question.
This leads me to believe that this situation is the same case. The data might still be somewhere, it would just be extremely time consuming and therefore very expensive to retrieve everything - and after ongoing layoffs it’s possible that there are not even enough ressources for such a project. So of course they would lie about that and even should. They have no other choice. Forums, social media and gaming news sites would probably explode if Linxy came in here and said “While it may be possible to restore everything … we won’t, because it’s not worth it and we don’t have time for that, sorry”.
Another update from my ongoing series of tickets,
First ticket I was told “all items will be restored soon”
Second ticket I was told “There’s a bit of miscommunication… Indeed there are items that could not be recovered, and unfortunately cannot be recovered”
Third ticket now saying “it’s a matter of time until all the missing items are restored again”
So I guess each time you ask you just get the opposite answer until eventually one day you give up and forget any of this ever happened…
By the way, to those who don’t see the fuss about our “lost pixels”, let’s just remember that we can approximate the dollar value that represents the time and effort that went into securing those pixels for our account.
At 200k per $20 balance for a WoW token ($100/Mil), and with some extrapolated estimates (few thousand banks losing an average of a few Mil each) this means that Blizzard have literally just deleted -Millions- of REAL DOLLARS worth of value from their customers’ accounts.
(I know Blizzard does not owe the dollar value of the gold to anyone, but this represents the monetary damage they have caused; we could have cashed out gbanks our for wow tokens before this happened, now we can’t)
Imagine reading in the news that a data error at a bank erased millions of dollars from customer’s accounts, and the official response amounts to “it’s gone, get over it”.
Of course to many people it’s about a lot more than the gold/dollar value, but maybe converting the scale of the loss into a currency people can relate to will help them see why this is a big deal.
This is the goal right here. It’s why there’s been so little communication, it’s why it’s been buried in all news feeds, etc. The sooner this is swept under the rug and people stop complaining the better.
I had a similar situation with the Arena trinket from Gurubashi, I think I did grind that around WOTLK or MOP days, which was tough as it was still contested and you had many high level folks camping the spot.
I wanted it for twink pvp, which was the one thing I did pre transmog farming so I went there with my level 19 char…
When I had all together, the achievement and quest bugged out, so I did contact CS about it if they could unlock it.
I tried it in three different languages and all I got back was that they do not see me ever doing it. But I did, I even had the 12 quest items in my inventory, but the achievement was just bugged and the quest npc not accepting it.
Here I fixed it for them…
Our core values are real unless it hurts the bottom line, corporate pay, executive bonuses or we have to actually spend time, money or resources on customers.
Oh no, Microsoft won’t make things better, the game will get worse along with (is it possible??) the customer service. The game, the service, etc will eventually get lost inside of MS’s machine much like everything else.
I fully expect the game to shut down within the next couple years, and then Blizzard to be completely closed. Just wait, people will be saying “Wow, Bobby really wasn’t that bad after all”.
For me, it’s time.
The time to refarm everything I lost is almost overwhelming to me. I log on to do some mining or herbing or whatever and I just… can’t. There’s no motivation. Not to mention all the rare transmog/stuff I’ve collected over the years that I wouldn’t even begin to know where to get now.
To think this might be a viable future for us. /sigh
yes, there are liars and trolls in this world, congrats for showing your true colors and preventing blizz from trusting players!