However, Kurn of Kurn's Corner had a post this morning about what she's calling The Great Blizzard Bank Heist. She also posted a video on YouTube describing the situation and what she'd lost out of her own personal guild bank. A lot of items you simply can't get anymore, such as the various dragonscales that would drop from drakes throughout the pre-Cataclysm world and in Blackrock Mountain instances/raids.
Being a bit of a packrat myself, I can feel for her and for all of the others who'd been squirreling away rare and no longer obtainable materials/gear/patterns only to find them all wiped out by the data changes made by Blizzard in prep for The War Within.
Yeah, it's all just pixels. I get that. And yes, I'm sure that Blizz has hidden away in their Terms of Service some language meant to protect themselves from problems such as this, describing it as "Best Effort".
That doesn't mean you are immune to the emotional impact of the loss of items you'd been collecting for years --or well over a decade, in Kurn's case-- and being without any recourse other than maybe getting a few items back really sucks. That's the real tragedy here: the accidental reveal by Blizzard that you really own nothing, and despite what we may believe and what attachments we have to in-game items and achievements, they're all just a misclick away from it all vanishing into nothingness. Blizzard pulled that curtain back, and we can't unsee what they showed us. Even if people were to get everything back like they ought, nobody will ever forget that Blizzard could take it all away again in the blink of an eye.
*To be fair, I didn't know the names of many raid bosses at all until I started raiding in Classic WoW.
I'd suggest taking screenshots or in-game video of any irreplaceable items. These things only exist as images in any case so if you have a visual record of them, all you lose in a situation like this is the ability to take them in and out of storage (Assuming they no longer have any in-game purpose, which is usually the case with obsolete items.)
ReplyDeleteBetter yet, write a blog post about it!
I'm glad Kurn did write a blog post about it, or I'd never have heard about it.
DeleteBhagpuss, I would if I could, but it never dawned on me that they wouldn't make it right, so I never thought I had to screenshot/video my banks! Data integrity is SO important in a game like this, I never once thought Blizzard wouldn't make it right.
DeleteI really feel for others who are way more affected than I am. Some tales are really heartbreaking. :(
Interesting, I noticed this bug in our guild bank immediately after Warbands came out, found the forum thread about it and upvoted it, but I wasn't too worried as our guild bank is mostly full of junk. It seemed to get restored at some point, as tabs returned from being empty to containing some stuff, but since nothing was that valuable it's not like I kept a detailed log of everything. Kurn's example of things like dragonscales is a bit odd since those are still available in the game, but some of the comments on the video are quite touching, like someone who kept letters from friends in there. Agree that Blizzard should be trying harder there.
ReplyDeleteI have letters from friends stored in OG Cardwyn's bank, and while I haven't looked at them in a couple of years I'd hate to lose them. I might have to take some screenshots of the letters so I have a more 'permanent' record of them.
DeleteShintar, you're right, the dragonscales ARE still available but from one mob on a weekly lockout. It would take years to get my stash of 200+ of each colour dragonscale again.
DeleteI'm sorry that you've been affected too, albeit not too badly and you've been at least partially restored. The people who have lost letters from people who are no longer in touch, or, worse, have passed away, is what breaks my heart the most. :(