If your Evoker keeps disappearing from World of Warcraft in the middle of a dungeon, Blizzard would like you to know two things.
Yes, they know.
No, it is not completely fixed yet.
Blizzard has now publicly described the ongoing Evoker disconnect problem as a high-priority issue, confirming that developers are actively working on a solution.
The studio has already pushed several fixes intended to address the problem, but Blizzard says those attempts have not fully resolved the disconnects.
That distinction is important.
There have been fixes.
The bug is still alive.
Much like some of the Evokers after they disconnect, apparently.
Evokers Have Been Reporting Disconnects Since Patch 12.1
Reports began appearing shortly after Patch 12.1 arrived, with some Evoker players describing disconnects every few minutes while other characters on the same account remained perfectly stable.
One Blizzard support thread contains players reporting disconnects every five to ten minutes, particularly while playing Evoker.
That is annoying in ordinary outdoor content.
In Mythic+, raids or a difficult Delve, it can destroy an attempt.
Players have reported being removed during active combat, during ability usage and at points where reconnecting quickly still leaves the group dealing with whatever the Evoker was supposed to be doing.
Season 2 has plenty of mechanics already.
"Will our healer remain connected to the server?" was not supposed to be one of them.
Blizzard Says It Is a High-Priority Issue
Blizzard has now directly addressed the problem.
In the response highlighted by Wowhead, Blizzard confirmed that the bug is on the team's radar and being treated as a high priority.
The developers also revealed that several fixes have already been deployed.
Unfortunately, they did not completely solve the issue.
Blizzard says work is continuing and apologized for the direct impact the disconnects are having on players.
So if you experienced another disconnect after seeing previous hotfix activity, you were not imagining things.
The first fixes were not the end of the story.
Players Are Looking at Battle Visage and Evoker Abilities
The community has spent the past week trying to narrow down what triggers the disconnects.
Several players have reported that disabling Battle Visage appears to reduce or eliminate the problem for them.
Others have noticed disconnects around abilities that switch the Evoker into Dracthyr form.
There are also separate reports involving Disintegrate, where visual beams can remain attached to dead enemies long after the spell should have ended.
Players in the Disintegrate bug thread have described multiple stuck beams accumulating during combat, with some reporting disconnects after several of them remain active.
That does not mean Blizzard has confirmed Battle Visage or Disintegrate as the definitive root cause.
At the moment, those are player-observed patterns rather than an official technical explanation.
Turning Battle Visage off may help some players.
It should not be confused with Blizzard announcing a permanent fix.
The Disconnect Bug Was Already Doing Something Much Stranger
The situation becomes even stranger because disconnecting has not always meant the character immediately stops participating.
Earlier this month, we covered reports of WoW characters continuing to fight after their players had disconnected.
One of the clearest examples involved an Evoker in a Mythic dungeon.
The player disconnected.
The character briefly stopped.
Then it appeared to resume moving and casting abilities despite its owner no longer being connected.
The group later deliberately tested the behaviour with Alt+F4 and reported seeing it happen again.
At the time, it was one of Patch 12.1's strangest bugs.
Now that Blizzard has acknowledged a broader Evoker disconnect problem, the story has become considerably more relevant.
We still do not know whether the two behaviours share the same underlying cause.
But Evokers are having an unusually complicated relationship with the logout screen.
Disconnects Are Particularly Painful in Season 2
The timing could hardly be worse.
Season 2 has just opened Mythic+, The Venomous Abyss, higher Delves and several other forms of progression where losing one player for even a few seconds can matter.
An Evoker disconnecting during an ordinary world quest is inconvenient.
A Preservation Evoker disconnecting during heavy raid damage is considerably more educational.
The same applies to Mythic+, where one disconnect can cost enough time to turn a successful key into a depleted one.
Evoker players were already heading into Season 2 with several unanswered class-design questions. We previously covered the growing Devastation Evoker concerns surrounding Patch 12.1, especially around Scalecommander, talent flow and the new seasonal set.
Whatever players think of the class tuning, however, staying connected remains a fairly important part of the rotation.
There Is No Confirmed Universal Fix Yet
For now, the most important takeaway is that Blizzard has not declared the Evoker disconnect issue fixed.
The current situation is:
- Blizzard knows about the Evoker disconnect problem.
- The issue is being treated as high priority.
- Several fixes have already been deployed.
- Those fixes have not completely solved the problem.
- Blizzard is continuing to investigate.
Players have suggested workarounds such as disabling Battle Visage, and some report improvements after doing so.
But until Blizzard identifies and fixes the underlying problem, there is no guaranteed universal solution.
If your Evoker is still disconnecting, reporting the circumstances through Blizzard's bug-reporting tools may also help the developers identify remaining triggers.
Blizzard Is Working on It, But Evokers Are Not Safe Yet
The good news is that Blizzard is no longer merely collecting scattered player reports.
The problem has reached high-priority status internally.
The bad news is contained in the same announcement.
They have already tried fixing it several times.
It is still happening.
So Evoker players entering Mythic+, raids or Delves this weekend should not assume the disconnect bug has disappeared just because previous hotfixes went live.
Blizzard is working on it.
Until then, your Evoker's most unpredictable cooldown may remain:
the reconnect button.
```
Post a Comment