WoW players from 72-year-old vet to decades-spanning guild lost their gear, and it may be gone for good

Errors in WoW saw hordes of players taking to official community forums and social media channels to complain about their guild banks being empty for no apparent reason, and it still seems likely that only a partial item restoration is possible.

First reported in mid-August, many players lost valuable collectibles and cosmetic items, while others had their hard-earned collections from decades of play entirely wiped out. In the following weeks, it became apparent that something larger than a potential guild thief was afoot, and the online community has been on fire with stories about the apparent bank robberies ever since.

In one heartbreaking story, a 72-year-old guild member could no longer run events for new players as her collections disappeard. Previously, she’d been running games and events for new players and giving them rare pets, mounts, and toys to welcome them to World of Warcraft.

Another player noted that their guild of 13 years had a suddenly barren bank while sharing a snap of a support ticket referencing item restoration that read, “Regrettably, there are limitations in what can be provided back due to the lack of logs.” Yet another devastated player in the thread revealed that their guild had been together since the beginning of the game and that the group had been left with nothing except gold.

A community manager made an official forum post to update players on Sept. 20, diving into the topic further and informing the community that only a partial item restoration would be possible.

They explained that the disappearing items were a result of a bug that popped up during an update relating to cross-realm guilds. Many impacted items were profession materials from past expansions, but other items were affected, too. They shared, “Due to how some of the data was lost, we’ve reached a point where the result will be an incomplete restoration for some guilds,” elaborating that Guild Leaders would get sent the available items and that they were sorry for both the wait and the incomplete restoration.

The response to this post was seething, with many players lamenting the loss of their collections and calling for further action from Blizzard. One frustrated player exclaimed, “What an absolute NIGHTMARE this is going to be.”

Blizzard has not made any further comments about this subject since, but stories continue to explode across community channels from affected players who feel let down by the response and want to see further action.

Dot Esports has reached out to Blizzard for comment, and we’ll update this post if there are any further developments in the story.