Logging on to the Character Creation Screen

Support Technical Support
1
When I logon, I am not presented with the character selection screen for my server, Hellscream. Frequently, the game will display a dark, faint image of the Hellscream character selection screen and then presents a new character creation screen.

I am able to click on the back button and then the game presents my characters on Hellscream and I can proceed into the game. Unfortunately this happens a lot and has happened for a very long time. I have done numerous things to troubleshoot this issue to no resolve.

I tried all the recommended actions listed on the support page such as, deleting the WTF, Interface, and Cache folders over and over. I have deleted the cache folders in my Win10 User\appdata directories. I removed all of my addons. I even reloaded my OS and reinstalled the client and I still logon to the original create a new character screen (no allied race options). I have tried maxing the number of characters on the server and it still goes to a create new character screen.

I have created tickets for this issue and the problem could not be fixed, so the CS told me to report it as a bug. Does this happen to anyone else?

Please advise on anything else I can try to resolve this issue.
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11/02/2018 01:40 PMPosted by Kato
such as, deleting the WTF, Interface, and Cache folders over and over.

And you've done this with any addon managers you use disabled at the same time? Because if not, it simply adds those addons back as soon as those folders are recreated and puts you back at square one.
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I dont use addon managers. It doesn't matter if my addons folder is empty or not.

Ty for the reply.
4
Have you tried the Scan and Repair?

On the Blizzard Launcher, click the Options dropdown under the Blizzard logo and select that option, let it run.
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11/02/2018 01:47 PMPosted by Ekon
Have you tried the Scan and Repair?

On the Blizzard Launcher, click the Options dropdown under the Blizzard logo and select that option, let it run.


Yes. I tried the scan/repair a few times after reinstalling the game and after reloading the client post OS reinstall. No results.
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Why did this post get moved to the Technical Support forum? I believe this to be an account issue, so I posted in the CS forum. I already have post in the TS forum that got ignored for weeks.

WTF
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11/02/2018 01:53 PMPosted by Kato
I believe this to be an account issue

All things considered, if it were an account issue, you probably wouldn't be able to get as far as the character select screen at all. Getting beyond the actual account step puts it in game client territory, which makes it technical.

With any luck, people will have ideas. Have you asked GMs for help or simply posted on the forums for other players to chime in? Support Forum Agent interaction is not guaranteed.
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"I have created tickets for this issue and the problem could not be fixed, so the CS told me to report it as a bug."

I have another thread in TS that details each response from CS.
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https://us.battle.net/forums/en/wow/topic/20766797099?page=1

This post details the CS experience.

I dont think anybody at Blizzard has a clue how to fix this, so the forum CS reps just pass over the hard problems and post standard copy/paste replies to other posts.

*gauntlet thrown*
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11/02/2018 02:04 PMPosted by Kato
so the forum CS reps just pass over the hard problems

To be clear, the forums are not a direct communication method with Blizz. Only tickets are. The Blues over in the CS forums are not tech support members, which is what your issue is more likely to be. They are also not GMs and are limited in what they can do with regards to player accounts too.

Think of it this way, if it was a wide-spread issue, then we'd be seeing a lot more posts on it either here in TS or over in CS. But we're not. This means that no matter what it is, it's not likely to be a simple fix.
1 Like
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11/02/2018 02:25 PMPosted by Perl
11/02/2018 02:04 PMPosted by Kato
so the forum CS reps just pass over the hard problems

To be clear, the forums are not a direct communication method with Blizz. Only tickets are. The Blues over in the CS forums are not tech support members, which is what your issue is more likely to be. They are also not GMs and are limited in what they can do with regards to player accounts too.

Think of it this way, if it was a wide-spread issue, then we'd be seeing a lot more posts on it either here in TS or over in CS. But we're not. This means that no matter what it is, it's not likely to be a simple fix.


This makes little to no sense.

I am a Customer and I need Support, so I post in the CS forum. I have a Technical issue, so I post in the TS forum. I dont care who offers assistance, I am willing to try anything I haven't already tried. In this case, I am looking for exposure and hoping someone can assist to resolve the issue.
1 Like
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Here is an example...

https://imgur.com/a/IzBGCl2?

I start the game via the Blizzard game launcher.
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Hey, Kato! This is a very strange issue indeed, I checked over all of the issues submitted for a few months and the previous issue and there's a lot that's you've done already. Just to make sure, no steps are repeated and I'm not missing anything, there's a few questions I have. Apologies for any repetitive steps or questions that have been asked so far!

Have you tried a fresh reinstall? Does this happen when launching from the WoW(.exe/) in the World of WarCraft folder? Have you tried resetting the in-game settings yet?
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Thank you for the reply.

Yes, I previously did a fresh install and a scan/repair numerous times. Recently, I reinstalled Win10 64bit Home, on a formatted drive and then the Blizzard launcher and the WoW client with no addons. I still logon like the video shows.

The issue also occurs when launching from the default directory. I have also tried launching WoW with the "Run as Admin" option.

I have tried resetting the in game settings. Yesterday, as a test, I went from an NVIDIA GTX960 to an older AMD 7950 to see if the Graphics drivers/software might be impacting the client. This action also reset the hardware settings. It didnt matter, I still logon to the create new character screen.

It is unusual that I dont have the Allied Race option on these screens. If I select create a new character from the Hellscream character selection screen, I do have the option of selecting the Allied Races I have unlocked.
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Thanks for following up, Kato :) Looking over the past contacts, I'm not sure if we tried or verified if the issue was able to be replicated on a different network.

Have you tested this on another network through a mobile hotspot or tethering, if possible?

I'm curious to if we can try and isolate the issue, since it is very consistent even after a Windows reinstall and a game reinstall. If the other network does work and you have a separate modem and router, does it help to try bypassing the router?

Since the issue has been consistent for so long, there will be a lot of questions, but I'd like to check what we can. Let me know how it goes, Kato!
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Caterpepi,

My apologies for the delayed reply.

I tried bypassing my router and connected my PC straight to my cable modem. The first time I launched the game, it launched right into the create a new character screen.

This issue typically occurs the first time I launch the game after booting my PC. Although it does happen intermittently after subsequent logons, I can always count on it happening the first time I log on each day.
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Another dead end.

It's ok if you can't fix this, I'm just a casual on and off again customer.

I'm so used to clicking the "Back" button, that if you DID fix this issue, I would end up logging myself out if I didn't go to the New Character Selection Screen every day.

Cheers y'all
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Hey, Kato! Sorry for the delay had to try and track this down ^.^ I’ve never seen anything like this where we had trouble recreating it and it persisted on different networks and only impacted one realm. It is a very odd situation, especially since it mostly occurs on the first launch upon reboot.

However, I wanted to check, have you tried a New Admin account yet? A new admin account should reset the registry, settings, and permissions for Windows if any of those may be causing the issue upon a reboot.

While on the new admin profile could a System File Checker, ScanDisk, and Defrag be done?

My best guess for why this is happening and why we were unable to replicate it is, there may be some sort of caching issue upon a reboot/relaunch whether that be with the hard drive or something else.

Again, sorry for the delay, Kato! Hopefully, I’m not repeating anything that has been done so far, if you’d like to continue troubleshooting, let me know if either of these helped the situation! :slight_smile:

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Yes, I tried a new Admin account about a month ago and it had no affect on this issue. This was before I reloaded Win10. I also suspected disk issues, so I did the file checker, scan disk, and defrag. Also, with no resolution. I even downloaded a Western Digital " Data Lifeguard Diagnostics for Windows" application and ran that. Again, no problems with my HDD. Not a single bad sector.

This week, in another attempt to try something new, I added the Blizz Authenticator to my account and that didn’t make a difference either. I know it was a shot in the dark, but at this point, nothing really makes sense to me. I am running out of ideas.

As the video shows, my system is trying to connect to Hellscream, then goes away from that screen and goes to the new character creation menu.

Something that is different this week is, on occasion, the Allied race option is present. Before this weeks maintenance, that button was never present previously.

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Thank you, Kato! It’s strange that the Allied races option just came up on Hellscreen. The issue is definitely odd and persistent. I’d like to try and gather as much information. I am curious to if this issue occurs on other computers on the home network on this account if that’s been done or if the issue is persists on a completely different network?

The HDD and Windows is a great place to start, with the persistence of the character select screen, I would assume it may be some sort of caching or data storage maybe in the systems memory or network cache that may require flashing or factory resetting.

Please let me know if it persists on another system or network, and if either helps with the issue. I appreciate you working with me on this one, Kato! It’s a frustrating and strange issue that I’d like to figure out :slight_smile: Hopefully, we can isolate the issue somewhere and figure out where the problem.