Upcoming patch and last downtimes
Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2015 8:14 pmDear community,
Here is a more complete list of what is going to be added and changed for the next upcoming content release:
The PTR server has been used to stress test server performance & simulate attacks. As a consequence, it will stay closed to players for now. Black Wing Lair will be available on the PTR server in 2 weeks; an announcement will be made on this specific topic.
As some of you may have noticed recently, the server experienced unexpected lag/crashes since last weekend.
This was caused by a lot of massive and complicated DDoS attacks.
* Our current protection
Our host provider, OVH, has very good experience in mitigating DDoS attacks. They usually block all the attacks Nostalrius receives (about 5 per day). Before last week, all the DDoS attacks had been successfully mitigated, allowing our players to enjoy the realm without any issue. This time, the attackers managed to get through that protection (also increasing the number of DDoS attacks by a factor of x2).
* Our solutions
A fulltime analysis of this new kind of attack started last Sunday. Each analysis resulted in an enhancement of server's resilience against this new threat. Yesterday the Nostalrius staff reached a new understanding of how to stop this thanks to traffic analysis. We forwarded all this information to our provider, allowing them to upgrade their protection. At the same time, we also worked on our side to improve the server's resilience, based on the data gathered (i.e. server maintenance from last night EU time). Nostalrius is now able to monitor what happens to the server anytime, making the server stronger with each DDoS attempt. To illustrate this, after the last security enhancement was applied, the server was attacked hard 7 times with the same attack without impacting the performance (last one was 1 hour ago).
As a consequence, you may need to attempt logging in and connecting more than once when you access your account/character if your first attempt does not work; it's part of the security system we created.
No one is aware who is behind the attack, since Nostalrius has thousands of IPs attacking our system.
This is not the first time, and will certainly not be the last time where people try to bring our server down for their own interest/benefit: that's our job to protect our community.
What we do know is that, in this kind of situation, Nostalrius never negotiates.
PS: No impact on the delivery date of Alterac Valley, prepare to fight
Best regards,
Nostalrius
United we stand, divided we fall.
Aesop.
Here is a more complete list of what is going to be added and changed for the next upcoming content release:
- Alterac Valley release, including reputation items & quests,
- Global rework on existing items,
- New items for the following instances: Stratholme & Scholomance,
- New items for the following raids: Molten Core, Onyxia, Azuregos & Kazzak,
- Epic class quests for Priest & Hunter.
The PTR server has been used to stress test server performance & simulate attacks. As a consequence, it will stay closed to players for now. Black Wing Lair will be available on the PTR server in 2 weeks; an announcement will be made on this specific topic.
As some of you may have noticed recently, the server experienced unexpected lag/crashes since last weekend.
This was caused by a lot of massive and complicated DDoS attacks.
* Our current protection
Our host provider, OVH, has very good experience in mitigating DDoS attacks. They usually block all the attacks Nostalrius receives (about 5 per day). Before last week, all the DDoS attacks had been successfully mitigated, allowing our players to enjoy the realm without any issue. This time, the attackers managed to get through that protection (also increasing the number of DDoS attacks by a factor of x2).
* Our solutions
A fulltime analysis of this new kind of attack started last Sunday. Each analysis resulted in an enhancement of server's resilience against this new threat. Yesterday the Nostalrius staff reached a new understanding of how to stop this thanks to traffic analysis. We forwarded all this information to our provider, allowing them to upgrade their protection. At the same time, we also worked on our side to improve the server's resilience, based on the data gathered (i.e. server maintenance from last night EU time). Nostalrius is now able to monitor what happens to the server anytime, making the server stronger with each DDoS attempt. To illustrate this, after the last security enhancement was applied, the server was attacked hard 7 times with the same attack without impacting the performance (last one was 1 hour ago).
As a consequence, you may need to attempt logging in and connecting more than once when you access your account/character if your first attempt does not work; it's part of the security system we created.
No one is aware who is behind the attack, since Nostalrius has thousands of IPs attacking our system.
This is not the first time, and will certainly not be the last time where people try to bring our server down for their own interest/benefit: that's our job to protect our community.
What we do know is that, in this kind of situation, Nostalrius never negotiates.
PS: No impact on the delivery date of Alterac Valley, prepare to fight
Best regards,
Nostalrius
United we stand, divided we fall.
Aesop.