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It seems Blizzard have been having some issues with World of Warcraft and the newer WoW Classic with them coming under a DDoS attack. Their countermeasures (well, whatever they've done recently) seem to have blocked Linux players in Wine but there's a fix.

You will be able to load the game and bring up the server list but once you click to join a server, it just doesn't work. If you find this happening to you, changing your networking TTL can help. First, run this command in your terminal to find what your current default is:

sysctl net.ipv4.ip_default_ttl

Make a note of the number it shows in case you need to change it back for whatever reason. As for the actual fix, set it to something different like this:

sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_default_ttl=128

128 is the default in Windows 10.

What does the command do? It changes your "Time To Live" and that's all. As always though you run such commands at your own risk, just here to provide information that might be helpful.

Another possible solution is to enable IPv6 support in the WoW Login screen options, although that won't work for everyone and depends on your ISP and Router.

While you're not supported by Blizzard playing on Linux, people have enjoyed WoW for many years thanks to Wine. Sometimes there's blips like this but thankfully the workaround does work for myself and a number of others who also tested it.


If you use a game launcher like Lutris, it can run commands or scripts you set before launching a game and after you close it, so it's handy for stuff like this where you might not want a permanent change. If you wish to try it through Lutris using that method, you will need to open the options for it: right click -> Configure -> System Options tab, tick the Show advanced options box at the bottom and then scroll to find this:

I've just setup two tiny little scripts to put TTL up and down again on launch and exit. Here's my "upttl.sh" script as a rough example:

#!/bin/bash
[ "$UID" -eq 0 ] || exec kdesu bash "$0" "$@"
sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_default_ttl=128

You will likely need to replace kdesu with gksu if you're on a GNOME based desktop, which is what will show an actual prompt to ask for your root password since it's needed to change the TTL. Make sure the script is set as executable too. You can use the same for when the game closes, with a lower number than 128 or whatever you wish to set. This is just an example though, whatever way makes it easier for you.

Hat tip to Jaco.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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andy155 Sep 9, 2019
thx
14 Sep 9, 2019
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Thanks a lot for this info! I struggled to get online for hours yesterday. It started to feel like a Linux blocking problem after I tried the wife's Mac and got in no problem. Also, my Windows buddy in town with the same ISP didn't have a problem. Really nice to see this posted this morning. :)
Liam Dawe Sep 9, 2019
I've added an example working (tested myself) script for those that use Lutris.


Last edited by Liam Dawe on 9 September 2019 at 1:22 pm UTC
lejimster Sep 9, 2019
Quoting: PieOrCakeI played WoW for over a decade, but thankfully managed to kick the habit before the BfA xpac was released. I've been WoW-free for a couple of years now, and holding steady!

I played it for a 2 week trial thingy years ago and I barely left my room during that time. When the trial expired I decided against buying it for my health lol.
Caenth Sep 9, 2019
Ow, this saved my evening! Had problems connecting since yesterday!
Xpander Sep 9, 2019
WoW Classic is the best thing ever happened to WoW :) Really enjoying it. WoW kind of died for me with Cataclysm. Though i have played all the expansions until the last one, they were just good for getting the story line and then quiting. Cause the modern WoW imo is just a buttonsmash through the content. Classic is amazingly frustrating yet rewarding :)
Snowdrake Sep 9, 2019
Quoting: julkipI love you!
Me too, love you so much guys !
Thanks for the tips.
iwantlinuxgames Sep 9, 2019
i shall have to try this when i get home this evening. i haven't had a sub for quite awhile...many months now...decided yesterday i would pick up some game time. activate my game time card, install classic, and i notice a notification about a ddos attack going on. tried for about an hour to get logged in, but never could get ingame.
sigz Sep 9, 2019
prefer the ipv6 setting in first place if you can, it's never the good choice to have to modify the system to fix a program.
Liam Dawe Sep 9, 2019
Quoting: sigzprefer the ipv6 setting in first place if you can, it's never the good choice to have to modify the system to fix a program.
As I understand it, ipv6 doesn't work on all servers so the TTL fix is likely the better option.
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