Blizzard Entertainment has apologized to World of Warcraft players for the troubled launch of patch 12.0.5 earlier this week. The company acknowledged that the update fell short of its standards and disrupted gameplay. Blizzard pledged to improve communication and prevent future issues.
World of Warcraft's patch 12.0.5, part of the Midnight expansion, launched on Tuesday amid widespread player complaints. The update introduced bugs affecting core features, including the new Decor Duel mode where cheating was rampant, a non-functional bonus loot roll system, an unbeatable final raid boss, classes able to cast spells while moving, and an item that disabled players' strafe controls. Blizzard's World of Warcraft Team issued a statement on the official website, saying, “The 12.0.5 patch launch was not up to our standards, and we know this disrupted your time and caused justified frustration.” The team noted it has been working around the clock on hotfixes, with updates posted for issues like bonus rolls and raid problems. Affected players who used broken bonus rolls will have them restored, and more fixes are planned. Blizzard committed to learning from the launch, stating it will “work harder to communicate openly, early, and often” about known issues and fixes. Players have expressed frustration that many bugs were reported weeks earlier on the public test realm but went unaddressed before release. Some attribute the problems to Blizzard's rapid eight-week patch schedule.