Smackdown.
Banned. Jailed. Shutdown. Broke Kalimdor.
Then the 300 or so Alliance people who were defending Stormwind – see the above pic, which was taken 30 minutes before 6pm – broke the Eastern Kingdom.
Then the GMs told us to just step off. So we stepped off. Everything canceled.
What was weird was that we were all just fine standing around the Tauren starting area. It’s when we ran to
Ratchet when things went kablooie.
Screenshots incoming. Complaints incoming. Apologies outgoing.
The GMs said that the 897 taurens, 55 level 70s, 30-40 level 50s, and the 300 or so Alliance toons gathered at Stormwind would’ve crashed any server, not just Argent Dawn. It wasn’t the server or time of day that was the problem, it was the fanatical and enthusiastic players that they just couldn’t accomodate.
More to come later. But it was cool while it lasted.
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It was awesome, glad to have been a part of it.
It was very awesome while it lasted, thanks for making it happen. ^_^
was amazing
even if we couldn’t do what we wanted to it was still amazing 
I went to watch. got bumped just a bit ago. cant get back into wow lol
BRK, this was freaking amazing. I enjoyed every minute of it, even if it did have to get cancelled. I was thrilled to see so many people show up to support the cause (and to sack Stormwind) and it’s just too bad we couldn’t complete it.
I’m also glad that you use your amazing powers for good (mostly) instead of evil.
And to any Argent Dawn regulars that may see this: We’re sorry we broke your world. We won’t do it again.
I’m glad you all were prepared to defend. The battle would have been über-epic! 
That was a ton of fun. I got hit with a dc a few minutes ago and now I can’t authenticate. Ah well, FOR EZRA.
And it’s not just Argent Dawn either. What we did effected ALL servers. That’s a dang fine accomplishment!
Now if I can just actually leave a message here, instead of it being considered spam by the messager.
I loved the part of it I was in. I’ll post some more screenies and hopefully a video.
And I’m an AD regular, and I was honoured to be a part of it.
Cant get back on any server,just to clarify. And BRK accused me of “pimping his site” lol
It was fine until Barrens. Then the server crashed every minute or so. But we kept going! We made it to Ratchet, got on the boat, and got to STV. Fine until about halfway. BRK tells us to cease and desist, crowd yells “NEVAR!”, we keep going. Sentinel Hill was chaos. Some people flagged, some kept going, but around the bridge to Elywnn, everything fell to pieces. Kaboom. There was this odd limbo where noone knew what was going on, and there was huge lag. For about five seconds, the Goldshire guards activated, and destroyed us. Then it was crashola. Now everyone is stuck at “authentication”.
FTW – my 4 box shammies made it to STV arena – but then after one death – no rez possible… Have pix of the BB assault.
The boat ride was AWESOME!
Thanks BRK
BRK, we love ya to death here, but now everything is broken. I can’t log on to any server. But it was so worth it.
No complaints from me and if my donation was the only thing that happened it would still have be a win so everything else was epic! Thanks BRK. You did a good thing for a great cause. No apologies needed. Period.
Saddened that with all the warning the servers could not take it but it was fine effort everyone
Hearing Ezra’s voice at the bloodhof bridge had me in tears… so very poignant. and I glad to donate to the foundation as well
Too bad we couldn’t do more, thanks to BRK, people helping, and all the people who showed up… I got some nice SS of a cow in SW.
Looking forward to the next event.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Well, I say it was a complete success. The turn out, the enthusiasm, the crash! Thanks for a great time! It was very cool seeing familiar names like BigRedKitty and Shifftusk. The best to you all.
Got most of it on video…will post to YouTube.
Man that was fun. I’m finishing…my toon is going to cross the gates of SW.
For Ezra.
Yah, can’t log in at all. I think we got their attention. Uhoh…
WoW website down too??
I still never got my BRK screenshot.
Oh well, at least my Kyle puppy is my new best buddy.
I can’t even get on to the wow website. Is iit possible that we crashed everything?
I only got to Booty Bay before it got stopped by GM’s, but was awesome fun!
Can’t even go to the WOW site now. oops
All the servers are down now.
Good job.
It was truely a pleasure to be part of this. I even got to be part of the “E” in the Tauren “EZRA”
it was a honor.
BRK you are a great hunter and a man with an even greater heart.
You are wonderful.
thanks for all that you did for EZRA and all that you do on a weekly basis to bring a smile all of us.
Blessings,
Kintara
NE Hunter
Here’s to you getting banned.
@Then
Get a life.
Apparently, Servers temporarily crashed due to too many Tauren War Stomping…
Ya makes me proud. So many Taurens. *sniffs*
Well, thanks a million for killing my server, guys. Real mature. I’m sure Ezra would be proud that you inconvenienced a few thousand people.
Grow up.
I am proud to have been a part of it. Servers down, forums in an uproar, hopefully Make-a-wish had a great take.
When the GMs asked us to stop (yes, they asked me as the Guild Leader of “Run for Ezra” to assist), both me and BRK did everything we could to stop the crowd…they understand we didn’t intend to crash the servers (hell, we told them ahead of time it was coming so they could bolster the servers just in case) and we did everything in our power to comply with their efforts to stabilize the servers.
And I have the video to prove it…I’m sorry we crashed WoW, but I’m glad we had such strong support for a good cause…maybe Bliz will take notice and figure out how to prepare for events like this (when they know they’re coming), instead of trying to blame BRK.
And BRK doesn’t lie…Epic.
server is back up. what a horrible few minutes without wow that must have been. get some methadone.
I think this may be qualified as overwin? Anyway, awesome event BRK, Ezra would be proud.
An amazing attempt at a tribute, this was amazing. I logged shortly after seeing the GM warning, but seeing the mass of tauren, I’m not surprised we crashed the server (servers?).
I hope that even a tenth of the people participating took the time to donate to the Make a wish foundation. If they did, this was all worth it.
Sorry it ended on an unfortunate note, but I’m glad I was able to be a part of it for a little while.
~Wolgan
p.s. Did you really get banned BRK? >.>
I didn’t participate in this “race” to SW, but I supported it 100%.
To those of you that are acting immature, and are angry about their WoW being interrupted, you need to grow up and maybe go outside for a breath of fresh air. WoW was only interrupted for 15 mins for a kid who was in the fight of his life, show some respect.
Continue to do all you do BRK, it is for the greater good.
You think Ezra would’ve been happy to see scheduled raids fall apart in his name? To see thousands of people get upset over his memorial? To have people /yell obscenities about him because you decided to take down the servers in his name?
Think again. The kid didn’t even want the flavor text on the crossbow because he didn’t want preferential treatment. I can’t imagine the poor guy would’ve approved of this.
I think he would have been happy (maybe a little embarrassed…modesty does that, ya know) to see so many people gathered to honor him…and he’d be sorry that it led to the disruption of so many people…but that couldn’t be helped. We tried to warn Blizzard ahead of time so they could prepare their servers, and none of BRKs other events have EVER had a problem like this…we assumed this one wouldn’t either.
The fact is that this event blew up bigger then any before it…because the cause was a good one…and anyone upset that 1000 thunderstomps nearly make Kalimdor look like the Outlands needs to take a breather.
I am linking some more personal screenshots I took:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/32284515@N08/
Thanks for doing this, and to all the crybabies.. get over it. He would have been laughing so hard!
Freklic couldn’t have said it any better.
You guys should probably go to rehab or something if you can’t live without WoW for 15 minutes. This was for a good cause.
why would you march taurens to their deaths in rememberance of Ezra is a good thing? honestly this worse then the serenity funeral bomb, gg horde you just made yourself look foolish
[...] was a short-lived event, called early by Blizzard GM’s concerned the server wasn’t up to such a large [...]
Oh the DC’s, the conga lines, the wonderful conversation in vent…
It was fun; glad to have been a part and glad to have (virtually) met you.
I had a great time… so current technology doesn’t support events like this… I expect it will in 5 years or so. You glass half-empty people have got to lighten up!
It was an awesome and memorable evening.
Last night on Oceania’s Caelstrasz realm, a call of ‘horde massing in Goldshire, I think they’re going after SW’ popped up in the Vigilantes guild chat… Being one of only a few lvl 70 hunters in the guild, I explained about BRK’s efforts to honour Ezra, and championing the Make a Wish Foundation and Blizzard’s efforts to make a lasting memorial for this little champion. This was done as I hopped a flight to join the action, and defend SW in the name of all that is… well… FUN.
At 6pm Australian EST, the horde flooded through the gates of SW and, my oh my wasn’t it impressive! I hadn’t flagged and the whispers from a number of my friends gathered nearby told the story… ‘Wow did you see that’ from my buddy Frog… ‘that was all I could see, bud… horde and yellow names everywhere… that was awesome’.
I followed the horde to the king’s chamber and joined the fight. Alas, we alliance were far too strong and smashed the horde after an epic and glorious battle. A few horde were slow to release and the /love was shared freely, allowing me to collect my achievement (tyvm).
BRK /pat on back, for you efforts to raise awareness and honour this child and his family. /Pat on back for everyone who did or tried to join in the festivities. MaWF is one of the few charities I will donate to without second thought, the next time I will think of Ezra when I do, and I will channel my karma to you BRK. Good work big little man.
“Then the 300 or so Alliance people who were defending Stormwind – see the above pic, which was taken 30 minutes before 6pm – broke the Eastern Kingdom.”
Oh god, are you really trying to pin this on the people defending SW? You wouldn’t have that number in a low pop server. BMC should be foreced to transfer off AD for supporting the idea.
@Grum
No one broke any part of the ToS. No one is getting banned, no one is getting force-transfered.
Deal with your hour of non-WoW by reading a book.
A shame that it got cut short, but I can’t say that I’m surprised.
I can say that it’s awesome to see so many people supporting a good cause!
Now, everyone who was involved, read about it, or just thought about, go to Make-a-Wish and make a donation!
And for all you Nancy-naysayers out there, grow up.
Nobody broke any of the terms of service.
Your WoW was down for maybe an hour, if you can’t survive that, do yourself a favor and drop your computer out a window.
People rolled baby cows in remembrance and respect of a brave kid who had a great story. The run to stormwind was simply for fun and comraderie, a way for people to say “I did this, and it was for a good cause.”
I salute you, BRK, for your efforts.
So I’ll repeat, go donate to Make-a-Wish!!
Guys..read this. Bloggers 10year old son writes about the efforts of BRK’s memorial run.
I forgot the link : http://bravepidge.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/the-race-for-ezra/
Thx for organising,
Sry to others it was a pain for that 10-20 mins or so.
This is an MMO amirite.
Fairly hesitant about next weekend if thats how stable the servers really are (nothing like real load testing).
All done for the right reasons.
Vale Ez
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No one broke the TOS? Are you sure?
Under Limitations on Your Use of the Service.
You may not disrupt or assist in the disruption of (i) any computer used to support the Service (each a “Server”); or (ii) any other player’s Game experience. ANY ATTEMPT BY YOU TO DISRUPT THE SERVICE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE PROGRAM MAY BE A VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS. You agree that you will not violate any applicable law or regulation in connection with your use of the Program or the Service.
-
Carrying on with the event after warned by many members of the community about what was going to happen, causing the server to go down multiple times is indeed against the TOS, it doesn’t matter if your intentions were noble (wich they were at first), you still disrupted gameplay to the rest of the server.
I’m not saying that Blizzard will ban or do anything, but what happened was indeed against the TOS as it’s written.
@ Grum2
Those rules are designated for people trying to hack the server, please stop trying to sound like you are smart… its just pitiful
[...] down go boom [Updated x2] – WoW Insider BigRedKitty: An open apology to everybody – WoW Insider Smackdown. __________________ [...]
No one was attempting to disrupt or undermine the legitimate operation of the program. Even the GMs agreed. I hope your corncob removal is successful. ^_^
Video is up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ImHrUXIgo4
Or see it at my blog, along with my comments on the event.
Well you tried, BRK. Sorry it was a bust… Maybe next time ; – )
Just let us know when the next one is and you know that some of us from “The Kaldorei” will be there.
For EZRA!!!!
PS did we crash this site too?
Just a reiteration on what should just be common sense to whiners: Consider the precious fifteen minutes of WoW that you didn’t get today your moment of silence for Ezra.
I’m still laughing so hard. Thankyou BRK. Last October my Dad passed away due to Cancer. When I was 3 my mum died in a car accident so It was up to my dad to raise me. I think he did a good job, though him being the joker that he was would no doubt say somthing like “Yeah but you don’t have my looks”. Anyway. He fought the cancer for a good 5 years but during that fight he would also fight alongside me in WOW. We both a Tauren Hunters and we would do everything together Raid, Quest, PVP. Sadly as time went by he became much sicker and soon couldn’t play anymore. After he passed away I couldn’t do much. I just shut down completely. I eventually composed myself. Got back to living my life and returned to WOW. I’ll never truly get over losing my Dad but let me say today helped. It helped alot.
I ran for Ezra. I ran for BRK. I ran for my Dad. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in this. I’m sure that around the world today many of those Baby Cows themself have had or do have someone they know with this goddam awful disease. No tears were shed for me today, well maybe one or two but those tears were from laughter. Not becuase we brought a server down. More becuase we brought many servers together. To Honour a young Boy taken from his life far to early.
I /salute you BRK. I /salute all of you who took part in this.
Awesomely EPIC event BRK
Don’t listen to those jerks who are QQ about this. It was for a good cause and you did all in your power to end it when asked. It was an honour to take part in this. Thank you!
My husband had a comment: “So, (about the baby Tauren), it’s like the Children’s Crusade with steak sauce?”
BRK… Your efforts were not all in vain.
A rag-tag adventurous group of us was tenacious enough to soldier on in the face of trepidation. And then we died in front of a guy with wussy hair.
Behold, comes face to face with King Varian Wrynn.
http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b21/dachandecol/?action=view¤t=HoovingstonWrynn.jpg
^^ “Behold, RUN FOR EZRA comes face to face…”
BRK’s desire to organize and event like this and the hundreds and hundreds of people that turned out to honor a child that dealt with things that hopefully none of us will ever have to deal with is inspiring.
/overwin @ BRK
What concerns me is not Blizzard’s shutting this event down, but their inability to handle an event of this size. What’s going to happen Thursday when 5 million death knights spawn into existance?
epic!
and for a good cause!
It was a lot of corpse runs but worth it. Hoovingston made to the king and was going to hit him with Arcane Shot, but discovered that his equipment was all broken! I made it just after he did, that is my corpse a few feet from the throne in his linked picture. Much fun, and thanks to the Alliance who understood and waved and cheered and danced as we came to Stormwind.
Amazing BRK, couldn’t make it myself but a picture is a thousand words
It does disturb and depress me that servers cant handle that many people though…
Might I suggest that next time it’s hosted across multiple servers?
It was a great event and I am proud to have been part of it. I wish it could have made it all of the way to Stormwind with the server holding up, but ah well. It was for a good cause and no one will be forgetting THIS anytime soon. I think it is a good accomplishment just getting so many people together and cooperating.
Good job guys!
/cheer /bow
I feel this situation causes a whole new problem
BLIZZARD gave us achievements to not only kill the other factions leaders, but to kill opposing factions players in our own home cities….
if that leads to its logical end, and what I THOUGHT Blizzard wanted, then we will have pvp events in major cities in the 400-400’s sometimes. All fighting, rezzing and fighting some more.
If they want MOAR World PvP…they better PLAN for it
The frustration of the non-participants that got their experience disrupted is understandable. I would certain not be happy… Well I wouldn’t be angry to be honest, but a crash is never really fun.
However, even those that got pissed must, deep down, know and understand that none of this was planned to happen, nor was it intended. Those who are angry at BRK are barking at the wrong door. Blizzard should in all honesty be able to cope with this…. REALLY!
Zebbis is right. What we saw was only around 1k players messing it all up for an entire battlegroup, or so it seems. That’s not much. How many are on an entire server, 60k players? My own realm is around 18k (obviously not all at once). Are the servers really running that close to their limit at peak hours that an influx like that can topple it that easily? That’s just bad planning. It’s bad because they have let it stay like this since the game started up. I still hear people moan about the launch of TBC, and it seems that we will see an even worse repeat of that. That is what we can learn from this.
If you want to complain, complain at Blizzard (not the GMs though, they seemed mighty understanding). I understand your frustration as this should never have happened. It is wrong when outsiders get affected that negatively by something they have no control over.
Anonymous, do us all a favor and walk west till your hat floats!
Thurday will be interesting.
Brk, Thanks for bringing about the opportunity to honor the memory of an extraordinary young man by a group of wonderfully enthusiastic people.
I’m betting Ezra was watching and tickled by the entire event, including the server crashes.
It was EPIC!
Anonymous, dear…
Time for bed. You need your rest. You’re a tad cranky…
I am very upset that I missed this event, and hope that something similar happens at a time when I am able to show up.
I sure hope that the naysayers don’t get to you BRK. you have done a great service on this day!
[...] BRK For The Servers Crashing Posted on November 9, 2008 by bacclor BRK is saying that he is the one who caused the servers to crash. I, personally, find that hilarious. BRK was doing an event he called “BRK’s Running of da [...]
It doesn’t matter that you broke the internet, BRK, and it doesn’t matter if you did or did not know that the Event would cause things to crash.
Beyond server crashes and people missing raids and the like… what you did was gather over a thousand people to honour the memory of just one.
Strength And Honour, BRK.
Shim = Fail
Now if only you guys could bring down the servers for even greater causes, such as forcing class balance, this be made of 100% pure win.
I had so much fun, not only were tabards available so we really could look unified, but there were people coordinating, generally being helpful, and it was an awesome environment. I love that, not only did fun ideas get thrown out while in waiting for the run, but they got listened to. Hurray for Tauren spelling and trains! And, especially the electric slide, when I said it should have happened — I didn’t actually think anyone would organize a tauren female raid to do it.
Altogether, the event was for a good cause, brought many together in somewhat harmony (oops, Blizz!) and renewed my faith in Ye Olde WoW community in general. Yay for the Running of the Bulls.
See you guys next year?
[...] fell apart. BigRedKitty: An open apology to everybody – WoW Insider – WoW Insider Post by BRK Smackdown. – BRK’s own blog post, with screenshots Can’t Be Said Better Than This – Email to BRK, very [...]
Just to say to everyone who took part and managed a huge server crashola……………………………WELL DONE!!!!!!!! It was in a fantastic cuase and you all deserve a huge cheer
/CHEER
And you Mr BRK, all I can say to you you naughty boy is
YOU’RE AN ABSOLUTE STAR!!!!!!!
/HUG /CHEER
Nice one
thank you for doing that and sorry the servers crashed .. could have been really really fun
Keep it up xD
Good job crashing the server. Your influence over stupid people is truly astounding BRK.
Now use it to teach hunters to find their MD button so I won’t have to.
there is always a troll everywhere…..
anyway i wasnt there but i think it is awesome what you did BRK …
Last night was SO much fun, and I saw so many good people along the way.
Hiefera, thank you for the beautiful tabards and your unending patience with everyone who wanted one!
Malystryx and Mortius, thanks for clearing the way in front of my group of baby cows.
Eliane, thanks for also clearing the way for us despite not being able to understand what we were saying! (Eliane’s a NE Druid!)
There was also a human paladin in STV who was helping clear; I wasn’t able to get his name because a gorilladin came out of nowhere and smacked me all the way over to the graveyard, lol; and there was an undead mage with a female human pirate suit on helping through Duskwood, I couldn’t get her name either. (Too busy trying to avoid mobs and stay in the center of the group at that point!)
I have a couple of screenshots here:
http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa59/deathbydesignguild/Run%20For%20Ezra/
With a lot of DCs, help, and only 1 death I was able to make it all the way to the Stormwind gates where I /kneeled in honor of Ezra in front of a crowd of cheering and dancing Alliance.
BRK don’t you apologize, there’s nothing to apologize for. This was a great event, Blizz was warned beforehand, and like others have been saying – the servers should have been able to handle it (doesn’t bode well for the 13th, indeed). Next time we do something like this, we’ll just organize it across 5 different servers or so to spread folks out a bit, eh?
-Druanna of Madoran
aka Goldyneye the baby Tauren druid
That looks like it was made of pure win. There’s nothing to apologize for – and I bet the Make a Wish Foundation has gotten a good many donations from this. Great job!
Youtube video of the gathering masses about 10 minutes before the start of the run and the start of the run.
It wasn’t the film I intended to make, but maybe it’s best that the film says it for me instead of me trying to make it into something else.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZx4F1mW5JY
BRK is not really to blame for the server crashing.
Actually we should thank BRK for showing us exactly what is going to happen when 1000 people roll death knights at the same time or when 1000 people try to do battle in Wintergrasp. I hope Blizzard is ready but just incase I think I will go buy a new game for my DS.
Edited film, new version at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42S4sKS_Bys
Earlier last week I rolled my Tauren Hunter then realized I had to take my son to a birthday party Saturday afternoon, but I still leveled my Hunter up so he could do Ezra’s quest in his honor.
I’m not ashamed to say that when I approached Ahab Wheathoof and heard Ezra say, “I miss my dog so much.” I was unable to hold back the tears and I had to stop playing for a minute or two.
I’m sorry I missed this. Not sorry that I wasn’t part of crashing a sever, because that’s not what this was about. Blizzard had fair warning of what was planned, they really should have expected this. The server crashing is not because of what BRK did, it’s because of what Blizzard did NOT do. And I’m sure we’ll see a replay this Thursday when Wrath comes out.
Ironically, I find Burning Crusade’s slogan very fitting at this point in time:
BLIZZARD! YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!
[...] Da Bullz! I was THERE! [...]
I lost my mother to cancer 9 years ago ( the anniversary of which was friday)
I /salute the BRK and all the others that took the time to make such a wonderful tribute.
To all the TOS, Nay-sayer (omg couldnt play for like ZOMG a whole hour!?!?) – Get Real Life 1.0 – its free and there is no download, you might find it a nice break from WoW.
BRK = Epic/Overwin
BRK, I am mad. Very mad. You were disbanded for having 1300 people in one area, and what does Blizzard do? They give us the next step of the Scourge Invasion, where 1300 Alliance and 1300 Horde each gather in their invasion point (SW Harbor, Valley of Honor) and does Blizzard disband them? NO! It’s atrocious!
thanks for fucking everything up for us. i hope you all get banned.
[...] is saying that he is the one who caused the servers to crash. I, personally, find that hilarious. BRK was doing an event he called “BRK’s Running of da [...]
That was amazing!!