Closure of streamer guild scares WoW into redressal of DDoS-affected hardcore players

Modified Mar 25, 2025 13:54 IST

WoW hardcore — The constant DDoS attacks of the WoW Classic Hardcore servers have finally been addressed (Image via Blizzard Entertainment)

The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks on WoW Classic have currently led to hundreds of in-game deaths in the Hardcore community. However, few guilds have likely been hit as hard as OnlyFangs, the streamer guild run by Sodapoppin. The massively popular guild has been creating content on the Classic Hardcore servers. But with a loss of characters in the Blackwing Lair raid, Sodapoppin announced that OnlyFangs was closing shop.

However, Sodapoppin did point out at the end of his message, whether there’s some kind of rollback to ignore the closing of the guild. However, on March 24, 2025, Blizzard Entertainment revealed that players who died as a result of these attacks would be restored, and the WoW Classic Hardcore characters would get their progress back.

OnlyFangs’ closure may have forced WoW to roll back DDoS-affected hardcore players

The WoW Classic Hardcore DDoS attacks have been a terrible experience, not just for the OnlyFangs streamer guild, but for viewers as well. Whether fans were keen on watching Nefarion being taken down in Blackwing Lair or hate-watching their least-favorite streamers being defeated, there’s a certain emotional attachment to the entire affair.

Whichever way, the content creators taking part have done a lot to drive content and attention to various WoW Classic Hardcore servers. Sure, many would play anyway, but thousands may not have tried it out unless their favorite streamers were doing so too. This also creates hate-watchers, who want these streamers to die in-game, which is a potential reason for the DDoS attacks.

In the past, Blizzard said it would not roll back the WoW Classic Hardcore servers, as that would set a dangerous precedent. Perhaps that has emboldened the attackers, giving them the notion that they were safe to harass the playerbase by not allowing them to get their characters back. It has since been confirmed that characters that died as a result of the attacks would be resurrected:

Blizzard Entertainment issued a statement on the situation:

"As we continue our work to further strengthen the resilience of WoW realms and our rapid response time, we’re taking steps to resurrect player-characters that were lost as a result of these attacks. Unlike the many other ways characters can die in Hardcore, DDoS attacks are an intentionally malicious effort made by third-party bad actors, and we believe the severity and results of DDoS attacks specifically warrant a different response."

These DDoS attacks have been going on for several days, although there was talk about it until after the OnlyFangs Blackwing Lair wipe/announcement that the guild was breaking up. Sodapoppin has yet to make an announcement about OnlyFangs, but they will likely resume creating content, considering Blizzard’s announcement.

The statement came from Clay Stone, Associate Production Director of WoW Classic, and was posted by Kaivax, Community Manager. They have decided to restore the characters lost, considering a mass DDoS attack causes character deaths that the players aren’t responsible for. However, their stance on character restoration and death appeals has not changed:

“In the future, Blizzard may elect – at our sole discretion – to revive Hardcore characters that perish in a mass event which we deem inconsistent with the integrity of the game, such as a DDoS attack. Our broader stance on character restorations or death appeals has not changed. To be clear, we do not intend to revive characters which have died due to server disconnects, lag spikes, gameplay bugs, or any other reasons. Blizzard Customer Support cannot assist with issues related to characters who have died on Hardcore realms.”

It remains unknown if the OnlyFangs deaths and the potential loss of content on the Hardcore servers pushed World of Warcraft’s developers to respond. However, it’s been about a week or so since the attacks and deaths began, and there was no response until Sodapoppin brought up the issue.

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Edited by Dinesh Renthlei