'Due to the complex nature of massively multiplayer games like 'World of Warcraft,' technical issues such as the ones some of our players have experienced recently may occur on occasion,' Blizzard spokeswoman Lisa Jensen, said in an e-mail to CNET.

It also argues that online games like WoW that have to manage hundreds of thousands, or millions, of accounts, are simply prone to network issues. (AT&T did not respond to a request for comment.) What I do know is that if I kept performing 'urgent maintenance' and taking the service down without warning for eight-hour periods, I would be out of a job.'īlizzard blames some of the problems-such as the disconnection, for several hours on Friday, of players linked to several servers-on AT&T, its network provider. 'Being a system administrator myself, I have some understanding of what goes on in a corporate data center,' said Evgeny Krevets, a sometimes-frustrated WoW player. But some players say that ever since then, they're routinely encountered 'urgent maintenance' that can result in being booted from the game at any time. At that time, the company acknowledged it had some temporary server problems but said they'd resolve themselves within hours. Complaints have also surfaced about long lag times and frustrating waits to even play.ĭespite Blizzard's contention that it's been keeping WoW customers informed of system problems at all times, some players contend that the company has been slow to react to complaints and reluctant to offer support when problems arise.Īccording to players, the problems have been especially acute since Blizzard implemented its last major patch to WoW, in late March. Some players are angered by ongoing server problems that have led the game to crash without warning while they were playing.

Now comes the hard part: Making sure WoW is always up and running. With 6 million subscribers, each of whom pays $15 a month, Blizzard Entertainment's online game 'World of Warcraft' has become a billion-dollar enterprise.

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