NOTICE: NWN Authentication Server Down

[Legacy_MrZork]

               

Keviant wrote...

*signed
It's been long enough and even after a return from a long holiday, it's still not fixed. Typical EA, giving the cold shoulder to avoid responsibility for games. I'm not letting this die, not for this game. Not now, Not later, Not ever.

So, you actually know that "it's been long enough"? If you have some expertise in such matters, it would be educational for most of us to hear what you know about the attack and how you come to the proclamation that enough time has passed to have addressed whatever security issues may have been caused/revealed by the attack.

I have no idea what EA/Bioware plans to do about this and what the timeline is. And, I have no expertise in dealing with network security issues. I am anxious to see the old boards and the MP authorization server come back online. I don't know if it's been long enough to fix the problems, but I know that we could have gotten some sort of update, whether it had an estimate for things coming back online or merely said it was being worked on (or wasn't, as the case may be).

That said, in the interest of getting some sense of the time needed to deal with such issues, it may be worth noting that when the Playstation Network was hacked, it was down for ~23 days. Of course, PSN is certainly a bigger site and quite likely more complex than the Bioware legacy forums, but consider that: 1) Sony is a much bigger company than Bioware or EA, with more resources available to deal with such a problem; 2) PSN is a much higher priority product for Sony, making it likely that a full team was working nonstop to get it back online; and 3) PSN is probably based on newer software than the legacy forums, making it likely much easier to update with newer security features. So, in light of those things, it might be fairly surprising if EA/Bioware responded to this attack with the same speed that Sony responded to theirs, and PSN was down for the better part of a month.

As I said, I don't know what will be the ultimate resolution of this issue. But, particularly given that relatively long delays aren't exactly unheard of after such attacks, I would certainly believe it's possible that they are working on it and it just isn't done yet.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Knight_Shield]

               I agree with Sethan_1.

You  sound like someone who takes complaint calls for companies.

IMHO
(I have owned 2 small businesses.I would say communication is #1 priorty.If I didnt call a customer and let them know what was going on good or bad they would get furious as if they were not showed any respect.I called people regardless of the update.Only reason I wouldnt call back is because I didnt want their business.)


Im sure Bioware is doing something ...it would just be nice to have and update.A little PR goes aloooooooooong ways.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               

Knight_Shield wrote...

I agree with Sethan_1.

You  sound like someone who takes complaint calls for companies.

I reject the false dichotomy that either one is declaring that the sky is falling or one must be defending EA/Bioware. I certainly have not been defending Bioware or EA on their handling of this because I (like most of us here) don't know how they have been handling it (aside from the communication fail; more below). All I have said is that they may be working on it and they may not be working on it and it would be more helpful if people making this or that statement about the nature of what's being done would enlighten the rest of us with what they actually know. So, I can't control anyone else's perception of what I sound like, but I am trying to sound like someone who puts analysis and reasoning based on knowledge above speculation based on nothing and above venting based on quite understandable frustration with having been told nothing for so long.

If someone has some actual information on what is or isn't being done about this, or has some knowledge about what a reasonable timeline is, or anything else, I certainly hope they post it. Someone said it's already been long enough and I was curious how they knew that. Obviously, I would be happy if it were fixed by now, but in the interest of giving some context, I explained why it may be reasonable to think it can take longer.

IMHO
(I have owned 2 small businesses.I would say communication is #1 priorty.If I didnt call a customer and let them know what was going on good or bad they would get furious as if they were not showed any respect.I called people regardless of the update.Only reason I wouldnt call back is because I didnt want their business.)

Im sure Bioware is doing something ...it would just be nice to have and update.A little PR goes aloooooooooong ways.

It sounds like you and I have the same attitude about how to run a business and I agree 100% with the notion that this has been a communication fail for EA/Bioware. As I noted twice above, the lack of an update is disappointing. In my business, it's much better to let people know what's been going on - even if you aren't sure how much more needs to be done or how long it will take - than to stonewall while people make random assumptions in an information vacuum.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_zDark Shadowz]

               I'm just glad the master server lasted as long as it did. It's been a fun ride.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_aureliandragon]

               On another important point which has not been mentioned yet:

Will we still be able to even use our CD keys, even if we still have the physical printed record of them? The thing that occurs to me is that this revamp might require us to re-register the game, depending on whether the old NWN accounts are saved or if they are disabled/deleted for security protection (or if the whole thing is scrapped entirely for logistical efficiency and NWN will have to be registered under our EA accounts instead - indeed, that's a possibility I don't think anyone here has mentioned yet, and might even be a reason why it's taking so long, depending on whether NWN and NWN2 will need to be patched also in order to use the new account format).

If so, would we be allowed to re-register our keys under EA accounts if they were registered under the classic NWN site? Or would they still be registered to the old, inaccessible legacy accounts (indeed, given the fact that the NWN1 forums are now located under Bioware Social, and that there isn't even a "sorry, we're down for the moment" message on nwn.bioware.com - it just forwards you to the main Bioware site now, it seems likely that the old NWN site as such isn't coming back at all), thus resulting in us being slapped with a "this CD key is owned by another user" message and forcing us to buy the game again in order to obtain a usable key?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_UrkOfGreyhawk]

               Zork, you're full of it. My grandmother could have fixed a simple authentication server by now. And I'm not buying the "forensic evidence" line either. They need to replace the server whether or not the authorities are examining the data. Replacing old servers is just a cost of doing business. My company replaces all their servers regularly. We never have a server online more than 6 years old, and most of them get rotated out after 4. In the unlikely event a server does fail we work day and night until it's back up, and we stay in continuous touch with our customers to keep them appraised as to our progress.

It's been a MONTH and still not a peep. THERE'S NO EXCUSE FOR TREATING CUSTOMERS WITH THIS KIND OF DISRESPECT. We're being blown off. Maybe on planet Zork it's OK to treat your decade old loyal customers like this. Maybe you're just one of those really apathetic consumers that allow companies like EA to continue to do business. Personally I can't believe that my beloved Bioware is treating me like crap.

I'm completely pissed off.

The server isn't fixed yet because they don't care. The server isn't fixed yet because this is EA. Bio is dead and this is just the way EA does business. "We'll get to it when we get to it, if we bother to get to it at all, and if the customer doesn't like it they can swap emails with some clueless support drone who's incompetant to take any real action other than send an endless string of FAQ links that the customer probably already found before."

I'm pretty sure the Bio staff didn't even realize how lost they were until now.

Well they know it now. And so do we.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par UrkOfGreyhawk, 30 juillet 2011 - 04:31 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_FunkySwerve]

               

UrkOfGreyhawk wrote...

Zork, you're full of it. 

If by it, you mean common sense, then I completely agree. He's one of the sole rational voices in this thread. But clearly, whining and harping has been a very effictive strategem for eliciting responses to your inquiries from Bioware/EA thus far, so by all means, don't let a little rationality stop you. '>

Funky
               
               

               

                     Modifié par FunkySwerve, 30 juillet 2011 - 06:21 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Tremayne7]

               I've had experience with EA via Sims 2. Currently the Sims 2 forum and exchange site is down as well. That site has needed maintenance since March 1st of this year and they just took it off line about a week or so after the Bioware Master Server went offline as well. At least their website has a message saying they are working on the issues and it's taking longer than they thought. http://thesims2.ea.com/ if you're interested.

It would be nice to be afforded the same courtesy, but I'm hoping it's all interrelated an everything will come back soon.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               I for one do not need to witness the Weather Channel touts tell me it's going to rain or that it IS raining.  Empirical data is only necessary if you do not have enough instinct to discern cause and effect.  Neither optimism nor pessimism can cloud the events themselves and allow one to extrapolate a most-likely consequence based on the events themselves.  Handicappers do it all the time.

I feel most sympathy for those builders/designers of PWs and utilities who have vested so much effort, passion and drive into a pasttime that they have come to rely on for gratification.  There are always other games to satsfy our leisure but none so compelling (to me, anyway) as this game.  I can't help but wonder what exactly might be going on in the minds of the EA designers trying to replicate the phenomenon somehow, in some way... the magical allure that NWN had on the gaming world.  Lotsa luck, EA!  There is likely no recipe for such serendipity by regimented product evaluation.

I really believe, whole-heartedly, that all of us were priviledged to experience one the greatest abberations of D&D electronic gaming ever.  It should be interesting to see if the anomaly ever repeats itself in the future (well, in MY future anyway).
               
               

               

                     Modifié par HipMaestro, 30 juillet 2011 - 06:27 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Keviant]

               

MrZork wrote...
I have no idea what EA/Bioware plans to do about this and what the timeline is. And, I have no expertise in dealing with network security issues. I am anxious to see the old boards and the MP authorization server come back online. I don't know if it's been long enough to fix the problems, but I know that we could have gotten some sort of update, whether it had an estimate for things coming back online or merely said it was being worked on (or wasn't, as the case may be).

I get what you mean and I agree but we're talking about Bioware. They set high standards for themselves overall and they've always given us an update of even a little progress or describe thoroughly about whether things are bad or et cetera before people start worrying or make it a big deal.

I don't think that the damage is simple to fix. In fact, I know it's a straight kick to the shin or worst. But this time, just silence for a long while which is very unlikely of Bioware and the last update was "Hey, we got hacked. We took down the master server to retool a new server. Thank you for your patience.". Also, as how EA been rubbing on what it owns; I wouldn't be suprised if they did told or forced everyone at Bioware to start giving the cold shoulder. Besides, I recall reading old posts about they would update us if they progressed.

I did buy Dragon Age for the exact same reason as you did even though it was a complete cracked bust of former glory and I will wait for the old boards and the servers to be back as much as all of us blokes. However, it just seems all too coincidental and Mass Effect 3 is taking too much spotlight. Regardless, I wish all of us a good life. I'll be checking constantly.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               HipMaestro, I have no problem with opinions informed by intuition and experience. Oftentimes, a guess or assumption based on what we've seen happen before or an instinctive evaluation of what someone has said (or not said) is all we have to go on. However, when someone claims to know this or that particular thing, to me it implies a level of confidence that should be supportable by something a little more concrete.

That's why I don't say that I know EA/Bioware is working on fixing any of these things. I don't have any idea. They've said that they are and I'd like to believe that, but without at least some verbal indication of progress after such an interval, it's perfectly reasonable to doubt it and consider the possibility that they aren't and perhaps don't even intend to. It's also a possibility that they are working on it and making great progress, but that it is simply a more involved task than we here are used to seeing and they've decided not to say anything until it's done. And, it could be anything in between. If this thread were full of people declaring that the server is about to come back online and proclaiming the glorious accomplishments of EA/Bioware in dealing with the attack, I would be questioning how they know that, too.

That's the situation as I see it: We really just don't know. I would love it if someone with some information or expertise that lends some confidence to any of the speculation we've seen here were to post their knowledge or expert evaluation. But, we haven't seen a whole lot of that. When someone makes a solid claim, I think it's generally a useful habit to step back and ask, "How would this person actually know that? Is this really a pretty solid conclusion that I should count on, or is it a guess, possibly reflecting a mood or bias as much as anything else?" Particularly when someone makes a statement that reinforces our own gut instincts (and, believe it or not, I am generally very sympathetic to the skepticism expressed in this thread), it's important not to take someone else's equally (un)informed opinion as an extra solid data point that confirms our own. Standing in a room full of people with the same opinion that I have doesn't actually make my opinion any more likely to be correct unless they are basing it on better information or analysis than I am.

Anyway, it's frustrating not to know and I think it's a poor decision by EA/Bioware not to keep the lines of communication open. I agree entirely that people running PWs and playing on them are hardest hit by the server problem and probably most put out by the lack of an update from EA/Bioware. Right now, IMO, it's best to focus on workarounds to the authentication issues and other problems and hope that the people who actually know what's going on decide to cut us in on the scoop.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par MrZork, 30 juillet 2011 - 11:28 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_MrZork]

               Keviant, I agree that Bioware has set impressive standards for support and that can make loyal fans feel all the more betrayed when a situation arises when there is little indication they are dealing with it. I also recall some mention in the thread regarding the legacy forums that they would let us know when more information was available.

FWIW, I actually have enjoyed DA:O (I knew going in that it wasn't really going to be a D&D game) and I pretty much think my trust that Bioware would develop a good game was justified. But, I just haven't had enough time to finish it. I wish Bioware/EA good luck with Mass Effect, but I really haven't developed a taste for shooters and, because of similar time-constraint issues, I don't know when I would be able to try them out.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_UrkOfGreyhawk]

               

FunkySwerve wrote...

UrkOfGreyhawk wrote...

Zork, you're full of it. 

If by it, you mean common sense, then I completely agree. He's one of the sole rational voices in this thread. But clearly, whining and harping has been a very effictive strategem for eliciting responses to your inquiries from Bioware/EA thus far, so by all means, don't let a little rationality stop you. '>

Funky

If we were dealing with Bioware I'd agree with you. But...

1. We're not dealing with Bioware. This isn't Bioware any more. It's EA now, and EA is notorius for it's unresponsive support. When dealing with crappy support the squeaky wheel gets greased. I realize that I alone cannot influence this issue, but I submit to you if this entire community dedicated itself to the matter by "harping and whining" a little more publically we might be able to get some answers. As is the lord high mucky mucks at EA are being perfectly reasonable in assuming that if they just ignore us long enough we'll just go away (FYI... Not happening).

2. I'm not a man that easily contains his anger. When I'm pissed off I express it. If I don't I'm prone to venting at innocent people arpund me, so my policy is to directly confront whatever's pissing me off. I have no intention of venting elswhere. Bio is pissing me off, Bio gets to hear about it.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par UrkOfGreyhawk, 31 juillet 2011 - 03:22 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               Well they shoved this game under "legacy" games right.

So I guess no one is getting much payed to deal with this game.

Just hoping the master server will get up sooner or later...or another explanation on the situation ASAP(!).

We might have to wait a bit more as many are having their summer vacation now.

Just a side note: At my work no work has been able to be done because the network has been down for a week and maybe will be more...lol...summer times...
               
               

               

                     Modifié par SuperFly_2000, 31 juillet 2011 - 01:19 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Gregor Wyrmbane]

               So, how many PW's have gone down permanently because the master server no longer exists? With all the anger and frustration being exhibited in this thread, you'd think there weren't any left.