I’ve been a loyal Blizzard subscriber for nearly 20 years, dedicating countless hours to your games and consistently supporting the community. Recently, I experienced something incredibly frustrating: my hardcore character with over 7 days of in-game playtime died due to what appears to be a DDoS attack or server instability—something entirely outside of my control.
On January 27th 2025, I encountered severe connectivity issues that caused my character to disconnect and die. After submitting a support ticket, I was informed that hardcore characters cannot be restored for any reason. While I understand the policy, this situation is exceptional. Losing a hardcore character due to external factors like server instability or a DDoS attack undermines the fairness and trust players place in this mode.
Here are some details about the issue:
Date/Time of Incident: 2025-01-27
Observations: Severe lag, disconnection, or inability to reconnect.
Impact: Character lost with significant in-game investment (over 7 days of playtime).
I kindly ask the team to investigate this incident, as it may indicate server-side issues or vulnerabilities impacting the player base. I’m happy to provide any additional details or logs to help with the investigation.
Hardcore mode is meant to reward skill and careful gameplay, but when you lose a character with over 7 days of playtime because of parasitical behavior—like DDoS attacks or server instability—you’d expect at least some acknowledgment or support from the team.
I want to clarify that this wasn’t a mere coincidence or typical “bad luck.” The evidence strongly suggests that my character’s death was directly tied to server-side instability or external malicious behavior that prevented the server from properly updating my actions.
Here’s what happened:
Lag and Disconnection Indicators
At the time of my character’s death, I experienced severe lag spikes, stuttering, and eventual disconnection from the server. These are textbook symptoms of server instability or strain caused by external attacks, such as DDoS activity.
No Kill Updates or Proper Syncing
During hardcore gameplay, the server is responsible for logging and updating every action in real-time—especially for combat. However, the server failed to register my actions properly at the moment of disconnection, leading to my character’s death while I had no control over the situation. This is evident from:
The delay in updating my inputs/actions before the disconnection.
The server likely processing outdated or incomplete data, which caused the game to misinterpret the events leading up to my death.
Suspicious Timing with Broader Issues
This wasn’t an isolated incident. I’ve seen other reports from players mentioning lag and connection problems around the same timeframe, which suggests broader server issues or even targeted attacks. These patterns indicate that this was a systemic issue affecting multiple players, not a random occurrence.
Blizzard’s Server Responsibility
Hardcore mode relies heavily on Blizzard’s server stability and integrity. As players, we trust that the server will accurately log our inputs and outcomes in real-time. When that trust is broken—whether by DDoS attacks, overloaded servers, or other network issues—it undermines the fairness of the hardcore experience.
Fairness Beyond Policy
I understand the “no resurrection” policy, but this situation highlights a larger concern: Blizzard’s lack of safeguards for extraordinary cases where players are harmed by factors outside their control. When external abuse or server issues cause character deaths, it’s no longer about player skill—it’s about a technical failure Blizzard should be accountable for.
The timing and behavior of this incident strongly indicate that my death wasn’t the result of in-game mechanics or personal error. It was caused by the server’s inability to handle external factors appropriately, and players like me shouldn’t be punished for these shortcomings.
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.
I understand that the policy is clear: Blizzard won’t resurrect hardcore characters under normal circumstances. However, this isn’t about a typical case of “bugs or DCs.”
The issue here is the lack of safeguards against external malicious behavior—such as a potential DDoS attack or server instability caused by something out of a player’s control. Hardcore mode is supposed to test skill and survival, not punish players for networking vulnerabilities or server-side problems.
I’m not arguing for an exception to the policy for personal gain—I’m pointing out how this approach alienates long-term supporters and undermines the integrity of hardcore mode. When a player loses a character due to factors beyond their control, and there’s no transparency or support from Blizzard, it damages trust in the system.
The question isn’t whether the policy exists—it’s why there’s no consideration for cases like this that directly impact the fairness of the experience for paying customers.
It says “for any reason”. You trying to interpolate “normal circumstances” into a clear and explicit statement isn’t going to change anything.
If you want the developers to change the rules for Hardcore to fit whatever circumstances you’re complaining about, you’ll need to provide feedback someplace where feedback is accepted. Which this forum is not. Your eloquence is wasted here. You’re arguing to people who absolutely no ability to change the rules or grant exceptions.
Hardcore characters will not be resurrected for any reason. Ever.
This has been the norm for hardcore in Blizzard titles for as long as I can remember. Diablo players have never had characters revived.
This is part of the implicit risk YOU take as a player. Blizzard provides the means, but the risk is entirely yours.
Furthermore, posting here will do nothing for you. The GMs are not going to read this and suddenly decide to buck tradition. If you feel that strongly about it, ticket it, and appeal until your account gets closed.
I appreciate the response, but dismissing my concern with snark doesn’t address the core issue here. This isn’t about misunderstanding Blizzard’s policy—I’m well aware of the “no resurrection” rule for hardcore characters.
What I’m discussing is the underlying systemic flaw in how external factors, like server instability or malicious networking behavior, can lead to unavoidable deaths in hardcore mode. This isn’t just bad luck—it’s a case where the server failed to maintain fairness and accountability, which should be a priority for any competitive mode.
Instead of doubling down on dismissiveness, I’d encourage a more constructive discussion about how Blizzard can improve safeguards and transparency to protect its players in situations like this. If the goal is to have a fair and enjoyable experience for everyone, ignoring legitimate concerns doesn’t help.
I have logs to show this and also a series of in game reports to the team letting them know what was going on.
I was DC’ed from the game with no mobs on me and in a freshly cleared area, when i logged back in, my character was dead in the grave yard and my guildies didn’t even know i was dead due to no register on the death log.
The only Blizzard employees reading the Bug Reports forum are QA, and they’re going to disregard this post because it’s not a valid bug report – the feature is working precisely as intended.
If you don’t see blue text, you aren’t seeing a Blizzard employee. We’re just your fellow players, trying to help you understand that you’re complaining in the wrong place and to the wrong people.
Read the Feedback support article I linked and post someplace your complaints will be heard, because I assure you, complaining in this specific forum (and to these specific people) will be fruitless.
I appreciate your input, but I’d like to clarify that I am posting here because a Blizzard GM specifically directed me to submit a bug report in this forum. If there’s a misunderstanding about the appropriate venue for this issue, that’s on Blizzard’s internal processes, not me.
This isn’t just a general complaint; it’s a valid concern about external factors (like potential DDoS activity or server instability) that led to the death of my hardcore character. While you’re correct that this may not fit the traditional definition of a “bug,” it does highlight a systemic issue Blizzard should investigate. If the feature is “working as intended,” then the question becomes: Why is there no safeguard in place to account for these extraordinary situations?
I’ll also note that while this forum may primarily be read by QA, that doesn’t invalidate the report. Feedback like this has the potential to inform future improvements, even if it’s not addressed immediately.
Again, I’m not here to argue with other players—I’m following instructions provided by Blizzard’s own GM team. If you feel this issue is misplaced, I suggest directing your concerns about forum policy to Blizzard directly rather than redirecting frustration toward me.
My word, the projection here. I only feel pity for you, not frustration. I don’t have any opinions on how HC Classic is being run but I hate to see someone with such strongly-held opinions wasting their time.
I’ll leave you to wonder why no one is changing the stuff you feel so strongly about.
I wish you the best wherever your gaming adventures take you.
I appreciate your well wishes, but your tone feels unnecessarily dismissive. I’m not here to convince you to care about my concerns, nor am I seeking pity. I’m here because I was directed by Blizzard to raise this issue in this forum, and I feel strongly that it’s worth pursuing for the sake of fairness and transparency.
Whether or not changes happen immediately is beside the point. Raising awareness about flaws in the system—especially regarding external interference that impacts hardcore gameplay—is valid and necessary. I’d rather make my voice heard and advocate for improvements than sit idly by assuming nothing will ever change.
You may not share my perspective, and that’s fine, but projecting your apathy onto others doesn’t contribute meaningfully to the discussion.
I understand their policy but I really think that Blizzard should implement some basic quality of life things to allow for player’s time investment to not be tossed aside so easily due to rare situations that are likely to occur to nearly everyone at some point while playing. Even when having a normally stable internet connection it is possible for your internet to die or for your computer to experience some sort of issue which causes the client to crash.
For example, my brother lost his level 38 character and he has no idea what actually happened that caused him to die. He was fishing in an area where there were no mobs nearby which were aggressive and while moving down the short to the next place to fish his computer shut down for some unknown reason. When he came back he died, so conceivably the only way he could have died was if when his computer crashed he somehow started running into the water or he travelled considerable distance and ran into a mob which could kill him.
I have heard that Blizzard has some sort of disconnect system in place for diablo 4 hc and I am shocked that they don’t have some sort of similar system for WoW. If it appears that you have been disconnected (i.e Blizzard is not receiving any response from your ip) there should be some sort of protection from things. If you were not in combat prior to the disconnect you should be protected from combat starting. If you were not already facing some sort of environmental “damage” (i.e breath bar, fatigue, etc) you should not be able to start taking that sort of “damage”. Additionally, there should be some absolutely basic AI for fighting mobs when dcing rather than just standing there and taking it. It would honestly take a minimal amount of time to code a simple ai response (or even better, allow players to create their own ability priority). It should be that if you were fighting something challenging you are probably going to die to avoid people from pulling the plug on purpose but people shouldn’t be dying to a single green mob when they dced if they were full on resources.
While there might be some room for exploitation I think that the amount of positive benefits would greatly outway the actions of some bad actors. Additionally, I think the protections should not be added to dungeons since you likely already have other people that can watch out for your safety and due to the higher difficulty mobs it is more likely that people would try to exploit the protection systems in a dungeon rather than in the open world.
There is nothing worse than someone investing 10’s to 100’s of hours in a character and then to lose it to a situation which they literally had no agency.
Are there any other topics on this? You’re making reference to an event that happened yesterday, I skimmed through quickly through the retail bug reports and classic bug reports and didn’t notice any topics about DDOS or server instability issues between the 26th and today.
If you want this discussion to continue in an appropriate section, you can edit the topic subject at the top which also allows you to move it to that forum on your own.
Thus is the most topically relevant General Discussion forum available.
The developers (or their Community Manager representatives) do see these discussions, so your point of view (and the entire discussion) will get in front of the people who set the policies and make the rules.
Was it within the hour(s) of yesterday’s maintenance? They put out a notification days in advance, saying the live maintenance may cause connection issues.