The WoW Beta Downloader

[DeeBye]

I haven't seen this discussed yet, and I've found it quite interesting.

The method of distribution for the the WoW Beta client is based on a BitTorrent file-sharing system. You can get an idea of how BitTorrent works here. Since BitTorrent technology was developed under the MIT License, Blizzard was free to modify the source and develop their own proprietary client, which is exactly what they did.

The benefits of using BitTorrent as opposed to any other method of distributing the WoW Beta software becomes readily apparent when one considers just how HUGE the WoW client software is. It's over 2 gigabytes. Imagine the cost in bandwidth to Blizzard if it were a direct download, and imagine the mailing costs if Blizzard had to mail installation CDs.

Distributing the client via BitTorrent is a small fraction of that cost. The users downloading the software greatly subsidize the bandwidth charge by using their own upstream bandwidth to help distribute it to others.

Here's what the WoW downloader looks like from my end.



This is a portion of the worldofwarcraft.com website after creating a new beta account. Note the "download WoW" link.



That link takes you to this page. As you can see, another nice feature of BitTorrent is that you can resume a cancelled download at any time.



Here's the dialog box one is met with upon using the WoW downloader.



If you are resuming a cancelled download, the downloader checks the status of what's been previously downloaded. This is saved in a file called "Installer Tome.mpq".



Now I gotta enter my Authentication Key (which was mailed out with the beta invitation).


I'm not allowed to hotlink any more images (forum rules -- limit of five I guess).
Click here for a link to the payoff image.
Cool, now I'm downloading another chunk of the beta software!


As you can see, I have a horrible transfer rate. Even though I have cable, I'm only paying for a "lite" service that limits me to 128 kbps downstream and 64 kbps upstream. I've been downloading the software in chunks (mostly overnight) for the past few days and this is my progress. 56k modem users are out of luck using this distribution method, unless they want to tie up their phone line for a week or so.

An alternate distribution method (mail?) is hinted at by Blizzard for future phases, but for now this is how it's done.

I don't know is this post was of any interest to you, but I've been finding the whole process rather fascinating, especially considering the amount of time I've been having to spend with it :)

[Ruvanal]

I've been downloading the software in chunks (mostly overnight) for the past few days and this is my progress. 56k modem users are out of luck using this distribution method, unless they want to tie up their phone line for a week or so.

This is actually a very big problem with the system. I am limited to only a phone connection to get the download and with this BitTorrent system. I am lucky if I can get even a consistent 3 KB/s download that will last long enough to get more than about 4 Megs of data at a time. There are a great many end users out there that will be in the same boat as myself. At the rate that I have been able to sustain my estimate is that it will take me at least 3 weeks of putting up with this type of crap (constantly restarting the download every hour or two) to finally get this beta.

Typically I am ending up with doing more uploading than downloading each session (who is out there there that really needs the ~8% that I have managed to get?). Also in the time that it takes me to download about a 1.5 meg chunk, I could have downloaded a 6 to 8 meg file from some other more direct sources. With this kind of performance, I can see why some are complaining that the version that Blizzard is forcing us to use has some serious perfomance problems. One group that I saw listed that they used a different version of BT to do a faster download of a single copy amongst only six of them, than it would have taken if they had continued to use the Blizzard version.

An alternate distribution method (mail?) is hinted at by Blizzard for future phases, but for now this is how it's done.

Possibly, but they seem to have some vested interest in forcing this to work, so as of now there is no other method being supplied to users that are in the beta but cannot get to do a download. There appear to be quite a number of beta testers that also behind university firewalls that are also in position that they cannot take part in the testing due to having the download ports completely blocked.

Currently my best hope is that sometime next week I might be able to take my machine to a friends and use his cable connection to do the download.

[Guest]

MMORPS genneraly have a lot more patches then games like D2. I think DAOC has averaged about 1 noticeble patch every 2 weeks since it c ame out, with even more micro patches.

This could turn WoW into a boring headache for modem uses if they use Bit Torrent for patches.

[TaiDaishar]

On the other hand it could greatly reduce the mothly fee cost because you won't have to spend all that bandwidth on patches etc'...

[Kevin]

I thought dial-up users were being excluded from the beta to begin with. I guess I was thinking of a different MMORPG.

But I have heard the same thing about this implementation of the download client, it appears that it is assuming that most people have upload caps from the ISP (which is my case) so it just seems to chew all the upload it can and those who share up and down in their total bandwidth (I don't, I have 1.5Mbps dedicated for down and 256kbps dedicated for up) are getting screwed. I would like to get into the darn thing so that I could get first hand experience with the download though. :)

[SwissMercenary]

The problem with BitTorrent, is that some people's ISPs have strict limits on uploads... That generally means that they get slapped with a big fee at the end of the month...

[Ruvanal]

Currently my best hope is that sometime next week I might be able to take my machine to a friends and use his cable connection to do the download.

Doing so now at a speed of ~155KB/s for about a 3hr download. I may actually be able to play a little this weekend after all.

[Guest]

I can afford to play any MMORP on the market right now, as can almost any adult in the US with a job.

My time is valuable.

[FoxBat]

Bittorent is an interesting new technology, but Blizzard's implementation is not so great. I'm guessing they are only using this for the beta, and didn't spend a whole lot of time tweaking it for that reason.

On my computer, the downloader caused intermittent temporary freezing after a while, and the freezing continued even after closing the downloader. Had to do a system reset several times before I used a different computer in the house, and had no problems there.

[Drak'Tzul]

An alternate distribution method (mail?) is hinted at by Blizzard for future phases, but for now this is how it's done.

I don't know is this post was of any interest to you, but I've been finding the whole process rather fascinating, especially considering the amount of time I've been having to spend with it :)

Very interesting indeed, thanks for pointing it out! :)

If Blizzard is looking for a CD release at a later date that would accomodate people who had problem with their subscriptions (like me for example).

Here's the problem:

When I registered for the Beta, in the 2nd or 3rd day, Blizzard had mentionned, more than enough, that the email address used to register should be a permanent one, meaning no Yahoo! or Hotmail. I had an account in both of those, so I used the address of my familiy's computer thinking that it would be stable and permanent enough to receive the notification in the event I was chosen. So I sent my application and waited a few weeks. On the second day after I registered, Blizzad decided that they had been too harch for the Yahoo! and Hotmail users and decided to let them use their accounts...

Then the cable company came. Where I live there had never been anything else than Dial-up, so we all got rid of the old system and installed the cables in our homes pretty quickly. I lost my old email address in the process, and the company asked a fee to have a simple redirect link to my new address, how cheap from them!

Since I registered as a dial-up user, and won't ever receive any email notification, my only hope lies in Blizzard sending Beta CDs. Alas! I hear they send them on an individual basis to needy users.

My only hope is to have the CD sent in a later phase (or have a friend who's very generous).

[DeeBye]

Bittorent is an interesting new technology, but Blizzard's implementation is not so great.  I'm guessing they are only using this for the beta, and didn't spend a whole lot of time tweaking it for that reason.

Well, it is only version 1.0. This is also the first time that bittorrent has ever been used on such a huge scale from a commercial company. There's always bound to be a few bugs to work out.

I bet that bittorrent as a means to mass-distribute large files will become more commonplace in the future. It already is pretty popular among the warez-traders, and it looks like commercial companies are just now starting to see how well it can work in completely legitimate instances such as this. Blizzard is saving a MASSIVE amount of money here, which will cause other companies to take notice.

On my computer, the downloader caused intermittent temporary freezing after a while, and the freezing continued even after closing the downloader.  Had to do a system reset several times before I used a different computer in the house, and had no problems there.

I haven't noticed any severe problems, just a few barely irritating ones.

One thing that I would have liked to have seen was a "pause" feature. The WoW downloader uses as much bandwidth as possible, and with my puny 128/64 connection it takes me a few minutes to just access my e-mail while it's running. That never happens when I download files the olde-fashioned way.

I can't even browse the internet while it's running. Doing so is like browsing with a 4800 baud modem. I always have to stop and restart the downloader when I need to use my computer for internet-related tasks, which takes way too much time IMO. Resuming the beta download takes upwards of 5 minutes right now for me (most of the time is spent checking what's already been downloaded, about 80%), and I have to sit there and wait to click on the license agreement, select the proper folder, and enter in the key.

I wish I could just leave the software running and have the option of pausing its usage of bandwidth. Otherwise I'd like to see a "one-click" method of resuming a download, but I can understand why this is hard to implement due to having to verify a key first.

[DeeBye]

Since I registered as a dial-up user, and won't ever receive any email notification, my only hope lies in Blizzard sending Beta CDs. Alas! I hear they send them on an individual basis to needy users.

My only hope is to have the CD sent in a later phase (or have a friend who's very generous).

Hasn't Blizzard always sent an invitation e-mail first, before mailing out beta CDs? I might be talking out of my arse here, but I always thought one had to receive the invitation e-mail first, and verify the acceptance (with proper mailing address etc) before Blizzard would mail the CD. If that's so, then Blizzard would not mail you an installation CD when they receive a bounced invitation e-mail.

Sorry to squish your hopes, but I might be wrong here.

[yangman]

The "generic" BitTorrent client, version released by the creator, and the version adopted for Blizzard's use as far as I can tell, has a known problem of hogging both in- and out-bound traffic.

There does exist several different implementations of BitTorrent where this is not an issue, such as Azeureus. I currently use this client exclusively for my torrenting needs, and I'm able to surf the web and check my email as usual even when accessing several torrents in the background.