Yesterday, the Classic Hardcore realm “Doomhowl” (NA) was hit by a malicious DDoS attack, which caused severe server instability and unfortunately led to the death of multiple Hardcore characters.

Given the nature of Hardcore mode — where death is permanent — the incident sparked strong concern across the community.

Blizzard’s Response

Blizzard’s Community Manager Kaivax confirmed today that the team has completed a full restoration of the affected characters:

“We’ve restored the dead player-characters who were lost during the DDoS timeframe and remained on the Doomhowl realm. That work is now complete and players who fit the above criteria should be able to log back into their character on the Hardcore realm.”

This means that all characters who died due to the DDoS and remained on Doomhowl during the incident have now been recovered and are playable again.

Why This Matters

Hardcore mode is built on the idea of absolute consequence — one life, no mistakes.
A death caused by external server issues breaks that contract, and Blizzard’s decision to intervene here is widely seen as the correct move to preserve the integrity of the game mode.

Source

Official Blizzard post by Kaivax:
👉 “Restorations of Hardcore Characters Lost to DDoS on January 4”

This incident is also a reminder of how fragile Hardcore experiences can be when infrastructure is attacked — and how important fast, transparent communication is in moments like these.