One of World of Warcraft Hardcore’s most watched guilds, OnlyFangs, has officially disbanded — not because of in-game failure, but due to repeated DDoS attacks. The group, made up of streamers and creators like Sodapoppin, Tyler1, and Zizaran, decided to call it quits after players repeatedly lost characters and raid progress because of connection issues caused by targeted server overloads.
The decision came after several attacks interrupted gameplay, including a failed Blackwing Lair run where random disconnects during boss fights left players vulnerable. In Hardcore mode, where character death is permanent, technical disruptions don’t just mean frustration — they mean hours or weeks of progress lost in an instant.
What actually happened
Starting early March, a wave of DDoS attacks hit Blizzard’s infrastructure. These types of attacks flood servers with traffic, causing lag, disconnections, or full downtime. In WoW Hardcore, the stakes are uniquely high: the game mode offers no revives, no retries. When your character dies, it’s over.
The OnlyFangs guild wasn’t just any group, it was made of top creators streaming their journey to thousands of fans. That visibility likely made them a high-value target for trolls hoping to disrupt content. And it worked. Sodapoppin, who founded the guild, eventually stated that ‘it’s a terrible ending, but that’s the ending we got.’
The fallout: Blizzard responds
In an unusual move, Blizzard has now announced that it may selectively revive characters killed during mass-disconnection events, which is something the studio has never done in the Hardcore mode before. They stressed this would be a rare decision, based solely on whether they believe the deaths were tied to events that compromise the integrity of the game, such as a DDoS attack.
While some players applauded the change, others weren’t convinced. Many argued that smaller players who lost characters during similar events in the past were offered no support, and that Blizzard only stepped in when high-profile streamers were affected.
Why DDoS attacks keep happening
At its core, this is a security problem. DDoS attacks have become increasingly cheap and easy to execute, especially with the rise of DDoS-as-a-Service platforms that let anyone pay to flood servers with fake traffic. Gaming platforms, particularly those hosting high-stakes or public-facing content, have become frequent targets.
Streaming guilds like OnlyFangs draw a lot of attention. With that attention comes a higher risk of disruption, either for clout, trolling, or sabotage. And since even a second of lag can be fatal in Hardcore, the consequences are steep.
What can be done?
DDoS attacks weaponise the very infrastructure games rely on. That makes mitigation a different kind of challenge. Real-time traffic monitoring, adaptive filtering, and layered defences like scrubbing centres and rate limiting are all part of the modern toolkit.
Still, as the situation with OnlyFangs shows, even major studios can struggle to respond quickly enough, and players are the ones who pay the price.
For gamers, especially those streaming high-risk content, the takeaway is clear: internet visibility cuts both ways. For developers and platform providers, this is another case that shows just how disruptive modern DDoS attacks can be, not just to services, but to entire communities built around them.
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