WoW Forever went down for a lot of players on November 12 because Battle.net was hit by a DDoS attack, and Blizzard said it was mitigating it for all games. The disconnects started around 00:50 UTC. By about 01:50 UTC the warning had gone from the Battle.net app and players were getting back in.
Key takeaways
- Blizzard Customer Support confirmed a DDoS attack hitting all of its games on November 12, and said it was working to mitigate it.
- Players were kicked mid-dungeon, stuck on “Logging in to game server”, or hit by the WOW51900319 disconnect error.
- The Battle.net app showed a red warning icon reading “We are currently experiencing a DDoS attack”. It had gone again by about 01:50 UTC.
- Nothing on your side fixes a DDoS. Wait it out, then fully close and reopen the game if it won’t let you back in.
Is WoW Forever down right now?
Not as of 01:53 UTC on November 12. The DDoS warning that had been on the Battle.net app was gone by then, and players on the official forums were reporting that they could get back in.
I had the app open from about 01:30 UTC, sitting in Thelsamar in Loch Modan. The warning was showing when I opened it, and it was gone by 01:53 UTC. It wasn’t lagging for me at all while it was up. If you can’t get in now, check the Battle.net app for a warning before you start changing settings, because nothing on your side helps during an attack.
What does the Battle.net DDoS warning say?
The warning appears as a red diamond icon at the top of the Battle.net app, next to the notification bell. Hover over it and it reads: “We are currently experiencing a DDoS attack, which may result in high latency and disconnections for some players. We are actively working to mitigate this issue.”
That’s Blizzard telling you the problem is on its end. Some players spotted it before anyone from Blizzard had posted. One of them told a forum thread there was a red triangle on the launcher saying they were under a DDoS attack, about half an hour after the first disconnects.
I’ve never seen that warning before. With WoW Forever only out since November 4, plenty of players will be seeing it for the first time too.
What happened to WoW Forever on November 12?
The trouble started at about 00:50 UTC, which was the evening of November 11 in the US. Within five minutes, five threads went up on the official WoW forums from players who’d just been thrown out of the game.
One player was disconnected mid-dungeon. Another was sitting in Stormwind working on enchanting. Others were stuck on “Logging in to game server” or on retrieving servers. The biggest thread passed 100 replies in under an hour, from players kicked once, kicked again after getting back in, and unable to log in at all.
At 01:23 UTC a member of Blizzard’s Customer Support team confirmed the attack in a WoW Forever thread: “we have been experiencing a DDOS for all games. We are in the process of mitigating it, so things should be improving.”
It wasn’t only WoW Forever. Players reported trouble getting into retail WoW at the same time, and one retail player lost a boss kill and its loot after being disconnected during it.
What does a DDoS attack mean for WoW players?
A DDoS, or distributed denial of service attack, floods a service with so much junk traffic that real players can’t get through. Nothing gets hacked, and your account isn’t at risk because of it. The servers just get swamped.
For you, that shows up as the symptoms in Blizzard’s warning: high latency, which is the lag and rubber-banding, and disconnections. On November 12 that meant:
- Getting kicked to the login screen mid-fight or mid-dungeon
- Getting stuck on “Logging in to game server” or retrieving servers
- The WOW51900319 disconnect error
- Getting back in, then getting kicked again a few minutes later
Not everyone came back where they left, either. One player logged back in halfway across the world from where they’d disconnected and had a 20-minute run back.
Why is WoW Forever so laggy this week?
The DDoS isn’t the only reason. Players were already complaining about lag and disconnects before November 12. One forum thread title from that night reads “DC’d again, 5th time in 4 days this has happened”, and another from November 10 asks why the servers were in worse shape than at launch.
It was laggy for me the day before too. I saw a lot more people the day before than I’d ever seen in WoW Forever. My guess is that Blizzard is moving players around between servers, putting more people in the same place, and that’s happening at the same time as the DDoS. That’s only my guess. Blizzard hasn’t said it has changed anything.
WoW Forever has also been busy enough that some rulesets lock a faction for new characters, which is where the “This faction is currently unavailable” message comes from. Some players in the forum threads blamed the attack on people angry about that lock. Nobody has shown any evidence for that, and Blizzard hasn’t said who was behind it.
How do you get back into WoW Forever after a DDoS?
You mostly wait. During an attack, these are worth doing, in this order:
- Check the Battle.net app for the red DDoS warning. If it’s there, the problem is on Blizzard’s side.
- Don’t reinstall the game or reset your network. A DDoS has nothing to do with your PC or your connection.
- Once the warning has gone, fully close the game and reopen it. One player who got back in said exiting completely and re-running the game is what worked.
- If you still can’t get in, restart the Battle.net app before you try anything bigger. Some players who got straight back in were kicked again within minutes.
- If you get a WOW51900319 error after the attack is over, treat it as a normal disconnect and work through the usual fixes.
If you lost loot or a boss kill to a disconnect during the attack, open a ticket with Blizzard’s support and give the time it happened. Don’t count on getting it back. Blizzard hasn’t said whether it will restore anything lost during the attack.
Has Battle.net been hit by DDoS attacks before?
Yes. Blizzard has posted the same warning before, word for word, during earlier attacks on Battle.net, including in March 2025. That attack hit logins and latency across Blizzard’s games, including World of Warcraft and Overwatch, which matches what happened on November 12 when Blizzard said this one hit all games.
Getting back in once doesn’t mean it’s over. On November 12, players who reconnected were kicked again within minutes while Blizzard was still mitigating it. So if you get kicked again soon after, check the app for the warning before you assume the problem is on your end. And if the crowds are what you’re worried about, I’ve written about how lopsided the factions are on the busy servers.
FAQ
Is WoW Forever down because of a DDoS? It was on November 12. Blizzard confirmed a DDoS attack on all its games, starting around 00:50 UTC. The Battle.net warning had gone by about 01:50 UTC and players were getting back in.
What does the red icon on Battle.net mean? It’s Blizzard’s service warning. On November 12 it said Battle.net was under a DDoS attack, which may cause high latency and disconnections.
Can I fix DDoS lag on my end? No. The attack is on Blizzard’s servers, not your connection. Wait for the warning to go, then fully restart the game.
