Login Lockout News Archive (04/03/21 - 18/03/21)

Hello everyone,

We have a few new updates to share today as we head towards the end of the week, including details of our next livestream.

Membership Time Covered

As our work to restore your accounts has continued, we've been increasingly aware of the impact to accessing your membership. We also know there is a genuine worry that your membership is ticking away or that the next billing cycle is right around the corner.

As an interim step, we're going to be covering any membership or RuneMetrics subscription on impacted accounts for the next 31 days. This will prevent any auto billing charges in the near future and, at a minimum, ensure everyone gets any lost membership time covered by us. This will go into effect tonight.

We hope this helps provide some measure of relief for your concerns, and please know this is just a small part of what we will do to make things right for those impacted.

New Information is on the Way

As of this evening, development has reached a point where we will be ready to bring you some of those meaningful updates we've promised. We'll provide all the latest news first in our weekly livestream, which will be held this Friday, March 19th at 17:00 Game Time.

We'll also provide more information about the Account Integrity Review Beta. Lastly, we'll answer your most pressing questions regarding the Login Lockout issue, our intentions to do right by impacted players, and the return of regular Game Updates.

More Accounts Protected

Earlier today, we disabled log in permissions for additional accounts impacted by the Login Lockout. All identified accounts are now protected and in the desired state for us to proceed with the Restoration work. If you are part of this group, you should now see an error message reading "Invalid email or password" and "Your account may currently be protected pending restoration". If you didn't receive an email before being locked out, don’t panic – we can assure you that your account is in safe hands.

From all of us here, thank you once again for your patience. We will be back tomorrow with further updates.

- The RuneScape Team

Hello everyone,

We're continuing our preparation work for the Restoration Phase. Tomorrow we will continue to disable log in permissions for additional accounts impacted by the Login Lockout. This will ensure these accounts are protected when we proceed with the restoration work.

We'll send an email and an inbox message to all players in this position over the next few minutes – please also check your Junk folder as we’ve had a few reports of emails winding up there. Please note that not every player impacted by the Login Lockout will have their log in permissions disabled – this is a precautionary measure for a limited number of accounts.

On the development front, we are continuing to prep for the Account Integrity Beta. We’re continuing to home in on the translation of telemetry data into account profile data as we bring more and more accounts into testing. We're seeing better results by the day, but things are still progressing steadily. That said, we do want to reassure you that both our livestream and the meaningful update we’ve been promising will come sometime this week.

Until then, take care of yourselves and we'll be back with more information as soon as we have it.

- The RuneScape Team

Hi 'Scapers,

We hope you are all doing well out there. We wanted to let you know that we'd had a late change in plans for today's Livestream and, as a result, we'll unfortunately be postponing it until later this week.

We've made this decision as we want to reach a point where we can provide a meaningful update beyond what we've already said. Out of respect for every player's time, we feel like going ahead today would be the wrong thing to do.

The Weekly Livestream will go ahead later this week, just as soon as we have that meaningful information to share. We'll confirm a date and time for that when we know for sure.

Working with this many moving parts within a system that's not really designed for it is challenging - and while we've made some significant progress and improvements already, there's still ongoing work to refine all the rough edges that can occur. The Beta is a quality check on all this work, and we need the focus of that to be on finding any further issues than ones we've already identified to fix.

Our sincere thanks go out to all of you for bearing with us through this stage of the project. The answers you seek are coming, but we just need a little more time to get there. We'll be back with more as soon as we can.

The RuneScape Team

Hello everyone.

Work on the Account Integrity Review Beta and the restoration of accounts has progressed as expected, which sets us up well for the week ahead. We're hoping to be able to confirm a start date for the Account Integrity Review Beta very soon.

As a reminder - we won't have a Game Update tomorrow, as we continue to put all of our development focus on returning players to game.

Thanks ever so much for your continued understanding. We'll be back tomorrow with more updates.

Hello everyone.

The team continues to make strides towards the Account Integrity Review Beta we announced yesterday.

Today, we've completed our initial preparation work on the 'Beta' servers that will be used - this will allow the team to begin testing and finalising the game environment ready for next week's launch. We'll be continuing this work over the coming days, alongside preparing all the relevant surveys and support channels needed to run the program effectively.

Alongside this work, we're also continuing to restore accounts using our telemetry solution, and readying those for further testing.

That's it from us today, but we'll be back with another daily update tomorrow. Thank you once more for the continued understanding and patience.

Hello everyone.

As we close out this week, we wanted to provide the latest updates of the Login Lockout situation.

The Restoration Phase

This process has two parts: the Account Integrity Review and the Full Restoration.

The first wave of testing is underway, starting with the personal accounts of some J-Mods that were impacted. Our QA team will be checking these accounts on internal test worlds and identifying problematic areas that need further refinement. We expect this to take most of the weekend.

Next week we aim to start doing the same with player accounts, and that will involve the most important testers of all - you.

Account Integrity Review

The Account Integrity Review will begin with a Beta Test, where we'll invite a select number of players to give us feedback on their account post-restoration.

While we would love to give everyone this opportunity, we've only opened the Beta to accounts who we’ve identified as being most helpful for critical feedback. They’ll assess the quality of their own account restoration to help us improve the process and define our next steps for the Full Restoration. Please note, those who take part will not receive any special benefits for doing so. All affected players will be provided with a clear way to reach out to our support teams if anything is amiss after the restoration phase.

Our team have been hard at work on so many levels to make these tests possible, and we’re hopeful the end result will allow us to return your accounts as accurately as we possibly can.

Ideally, this phase will begin later next week – but this weekend’s work will help us narrow down the timeline for certain.

Game Updates

We know many of you are also missing our weekly Game Updates, so here’s a quick update on those.

Firstly, there’ll be no Game Update next week as our number one priority is resolving the account lockout issue. You’ve all been incredibly patient, and we’re continually thankful for that.

As we move onto the next phase, our technical resource needs will reduce, allowing us to get back to our planned content schedule without disrupting the restoration work. So, if everything goes smoothly with the Account Integrity review, we currently expect Game Updates to return from March 22nd. That’s a definite ‘if’ for now though, as all of this is contingent on continued good progress with getting affected players back into the game.

That said, there’s a jam-packed couple of updates to look forward to when those updates resume! We’ll kick things off with the Rex Matriarchs, closely followed by a brand-new Easter seasonal event and the eagerly awaited Pi-Mas Combat Fixes. We're also continuing work on addressing the Elite Dungeons exploit as soon as we can. Finally, for those of you who feel like you are missing out on Yak Track time and Vic The Trader, know that we intend to ensure extended availability for both of these events once accounts have been restored.

What's Next?

So, to recap: we’re moving into the Restoration phase with internal testing over the next few days and the Account Integrity Beta scheduled for later next week. Regular game updates will likely make a return on March 22nd, and both Yak to Basics and Vic the Trader will stick around long enough for everyone to spend adequate time with each event.

Before we get back to work, I want to leave you with one last message. We will do right by anyone who’s been impacted by this issue – and I want you to know that even if the Beta doesn’t get us all the way there, we’re going to keep moving forward, get you playing and continue offering support until we get this right. Please do keep an eye on RuneScape.com or any of our social media channels for daily updates on our progress.

Until then, know that we’re all very much moved by your continued understanding and support. Thank you, and stay tuned for tomorrow’s update.

- Mod Warden

Hello everyone,

As today comes to a close, we wanted to share a quick update on some key news which emerged this afternoon.

Within the next 24 hours, we will be taking our first steps into the restoration phase, as we test a few impacted accounts that have been restored with our telemetry merging solution. This is an internal test only, so no accounts in the live game will be unlocked or returned in any way, but it’s an important milestone on the road to getting you playing again.

In the coming days we’ll also share a bigger update on our test plans that will help us complete the process of validating the work. Please rest assured that we’re moving as quickly as we can while still being thorough.

Finally, following our notice yesterday, we have disabled access for a small number of RuneScape accounts as part of the Login Lockout - you can find out why here. If you are part of this group, you should now see an error message reading “Invalid email or password" and "Your account may currently be protected pending restoration. We will be providing updates on our home page and social channels." when trying to log in - this is expected. We will keep those account owners who are affected updated by email as we move forward to our next test phase. If you don’t receive an email, don’t panic – this group contains only a small subset of the impacted accounts.

Thank you again for your continued patience and stay tuned for another update tomorrow.

Hi everyone.

There has been good progress on bringing all the telemetry together needed to restore accounts, and we're moving towards the next phase of testing ahead of the restoration phase.

As part of this, we've identified players who were impacted by this incident but have since at some stage been able to log-in. While only a very small subset of those impacted by the Login Lockout are in this situation, these players may have data that's not correct or up to date.

We've sent a notification email to all players in this position, as we'll need to disable access to your account beginning tomorrow (March 11th). This is the simplest and best way for us to begin restoring your account, and we will email you directly with any key updates. So if you do receive an email, you will be part of the process of restoring everyone involved in the Login Lockout.

Thank you for your incredible patience whilst we work to resolve this issue.

The RuneScape Team

A quick update after yesterday's post from Mod Warden:

We're continuing to work on getting those affected back in game. Right now, work is underway readying telemetry data and your account saves ahead of the planned merge we spoke about yesterday.

We're not able to give you a definitive timeline yet, but rest assured that we're moving as swiftly as accuracy will allow us. We want to deliver the best end result we can, and we're balancing that with getting you back into the game as soon as possible. 

For those of you who would like to understand more about the work we are doing and what caused the issue, we covered this and took community questions on today's livestream with Mods Hooli, Warden, ID0 and ZZ. If you missed it you can watch the VOD here:

Thank you for your continued patience while we're working to resolve this issue.

- The RuneScape Team

Hello everyone,

As many of you are aware we have been working around the clock investigating the Login Lockout issue over the weekend and would like to share more detail on what do we know so far and what to expect moving forward from today.

Now our investigation is complete, our focus moves to the solution phase and getting those affected back in game as soon as possible. As things stand, all Old School players and more than 99% of RuneScape accounts remain unaffected. While most of you are now back playing as normal, we will not rest until all of you are back in game.

Following the work this weekend, we are pleased to say all accounts are safe. All character progress before February 8th is intact. However, we have some data gaps for that 1% between February 8th and March 4th.

What if I am affected?

We are confident in a solution that is now underway, which involves taking your account saves from February 8th and merging them with telemetry data to fill the gap. Our telemetry system separately captures all game and account session information when you logout – this was not impacted and is fully intact.

It is a complicated beast with lots of variables to cross check and we’ll be as thorough as possible to make this work. However, this is going to take time, likely most of this week. Right now, we can’t provide further estimates on timings, but we will keep you posted.

Whilst we’re doing this work, we will additionally need to lock out a small group of players who are already back playing, but who have a known data gap, and we’ll contact those players directly.

Thank you

We’re on it, we’re working through it, and expect to know more information through the week together with an additional update tomorrow in our Weekly Live Stream.

Finally, there is nothing else we can say but thank you again for your patience. We understand how frustrating this must be to those affected. Our top priority remains getting accounts back in game. We are also committed to making improvements in our processes to prevent this happening again in the future.

We truly appreciate the kind messages of support we have seen from many of you – it’s fuelled the team through long hours even more than the coffee! Thank you so much for your continued understanding and stand by for more news tomorrow.

Mod Warden

Hello everyone,

As we discussed in yesterday's newspost, work to resolve the ‘Log-In Error’ situation has been continuing throughout today as our team works to find a solution to get everyone playing.

If you are unable to login, please only submit one report at https://jgx.game/UnableToLogin. Submitting multiple tickets will result in longer wait times. Thanks for your help in advance!

We're reading your messages and know some of you are concerned about accounts being lost. To be extra clear: this is a temporary issue - no accounts have been lost or will remain permanently stuck.

The coffee is flowing, and our teams are working throughout the weekend working on solutions, so please hang tight. We truly appreciate your continued patience and understanding. We'll keep you posted with any further news as we have it.

- The RuneScape Team

Hello everyone,

Thanks for bearing with us over the course of today as we worked towards getting a more substantial update on the Log-In Error situation that's still affecting some of you.

Our teams have been working through the night and today to get everyone playing again as soon as we can. Right now, this is the number one priority for the RuneScape team.

The Issue

If you are seeing the message 'Error loading your profile, please contact customer support' upon log-in, your account is currently impacted by a technical issue that occurred with one of our log-in servers.

While we've since been able to restore this server, we are not yet able to move impacted accounts out of this stuck state.

Timelines

Our team will be working around the clock and throughout the weekend to provide a resolution. We will communicate any key updates as they happen.

We want to be as upfront with you as possible: based on today's investigative work, we expect this to run into the weekend and early next week. We completely understand how frustrating this will be to those effected and we sincerely apologise.

We will do right by anyone impacted by this downtime, but currently our sole focus is getting those affected back playing.

What Should I Do If I'm Unable To Log-In?

If you haven't already done so, please visit this page and submit a ticket. This ensures you'll receive email updates on the status of the issue, and our Player Support team will be in touch as soon as possible.

https://jgx.game/UnableToLogin

Monday's Game Update

We have made the decision to postpone Monday's Game Update in order to pour all our efforts into resolving this issue.

To reiterate, our absolute priority is restoring access for all players. As soon as we have a new release date, we'll let you know.

A Final Note

Just to close, we really do appreciate your continued patience and understanding. Please know the team are working flat out to make this right, and we'll keep you updated.

Back with more soon,

- The RuneScape Team

Update @ 12:40 Game Time (05/03/21)

Hi everyone.

Ensuring everyone can play again as soon as possible is the biggest priority for the team and work is continuing to resolve this technical issue. We do not have a timeline to communicate right now, but as soon as we have any indications to share, we'll let you know.

As our investigations have continued, it has become clear that more players are impacted than initially estimated. If you are trying to submit a report, we want to assure you that your reports are being received - if you receive an error, please keep trying. Note that we expect to be able to support anyone impacted, regardless of having a ticket submitted, but having a ticket is the best way to ensure your issue is tracked.

If you haven't already, please do submit a ticket via this link if you are unable to login: https://support.runescape.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360018273338--04-Mar-Unable-to-access-the-game-UPDATE-

We'll be back with more updates later today. Thank you for your continued patience and we'll get you playing again as soon as we possibly can.

Update @ 09:20 Game Time (05/03/21)

Good morning everyone, and thank you for your ongoing patience while we address the outstanding issues from last night's events.

Our team stayed late into the night and are still continuing their work even now. Our core aim is to get anyone who is unable to play as intended back online as soon as possible.

While we don't have any further progress to report as of right now, we will be continuing to communicate regularly throughout the day and will deliver more news as soon as we're able to.

Thank you.

Update @ 23:00 Game Time (04/03/21)

Thank you to everyone who's submitted a ticket if you've encountered the 'Error loading your profile' issue or your account isn't as expected. If you have encountered these issues and haven't submitted a ticket, please do so here: https://support.runescape.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360018273338--04-Mar-Unable-to-access-the-game-UPDATE-

For those of you still unable to connect, we just wanted to let you know that this is our upmost priority to address. Due to the complexities of the issue, we wanted to let you know we won't have any further updates to share for the remainder of this evening - our investigations are going to continue and we expect that work to carry over to tomorrow. We want to get you playing as soon as we can, and we truly appreciate your patience as we work this through.

We'll be back tomorrow with more updates as soon as we have them.

Update @ 22:00 Game Time (04/03/21)

If you are encountering the message 'Error loading your profile, please contact customer support', or your account isn't as expected when you do log in, we have set up a direct support form for any impacted players.

Please visit https://support.runescape.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360018273338--04-Mar-Unable-to-access-the-game-UPDATE- and click the "Report Issue" button for further assistance.

Apple and Google login issues should now be restored too.

If you are encountering either of these issues, thanks so much for your continued patience while we work to get you playing again.

Update @ 21:30 Game Time (04/03/21)

If you are encountering the message 'Error loading your profile, please contact customer support', we will provide a specific support destination shortly to provide help for this issue.

If you are seeing this error, the account is part of a very small number of accounts we referenced as likely being still unable to log in at this time - our team are continuing to work on anyone impacted by this to get you playing again as soon as we can, but this support form will make sure we are aware.

For anyone reporting their account not appearing as expected, we're also continuing to work on this issue. We will also be providing a specific support destination to resolve this issue for you as well.

Stand by for links as soon as have them.

Update @ 20:35 Game Time (04/03/21)

We are happy to report RuneScape login services are now coming back online and services should be restored for the vast majority of players.

We are aware there may be a very small number of accounts still unable to log in at this time - our team are continuing to work on anyone impacted by this to get you playing again as soon as we can.

Thanks you everyone for your patience and understanding as we got our services back online.

Update @ 20:05 Game Time (04/03/21)

Work is still continuing to restore our login services - we have no significant milestones to report just yet, but good progress is being made. We hope to have more substantial news to share soon.

Update @ 19:35 Game Time (04/03/21)

We are still working to restore services as soon as possible - we are making good progress but we have no specific updates to report just yet.

For those of you who logged in during the window where you account didn't appear as expected, we are aware of these reports and part of our ongoing work is ensuring this isn't the case once services return.

RuneScape.com is now available, though please note we are still unable to update the News section at this time - until we can, please do keep returning to this thread or our social channels for further updates.

Update @ 18:25 Game Time (04/03/21)

Our team is investigating new reports of login issues. For players currently in game, we recommend avoiding world hopping and any high risk activities until further notice.

Thank you for your patience, again!

Update @ 17.30 Game Time (04/03/21)

We're aware of reports of incorrect rollbacks and are investigating this mistake. We will share more news when it becomes available.

Update @ 16:40 Game Time (04/03/21)

Our teams are now in the process of bringing the login servers back online. However, in order to fully address the issue we will need to rollback progress for a small portion of players.

We estimate this rollback to happen at 17:00 GMT, at which time a handful of users will have their saves restored to a state from earlier today (2:15pm to be precise).

Our apologies for the inconvenience, and thank you for your ongoing patience.

ORIGINAL (04/03/21)

Hey all,

We are aware of an issue currently preventing players from logging into the game.

Our teams are investigating. We will keep you updated with any developments as soon as we're able to.

This issue does not impact players already in-game, you should be able to continue playing as normal - though we advise against changing worlds.

Thank for your patience and understanding.