Version 18: 2026 Systems & Bug Fixes

This is the first large public changelog of 2026, including the new AltBot system, Mythic and Mythic Plus work, and the bug-fix pass that followed the player reports. The previous public news did not cover the work done after January 1, so this Version 18 post collects the major server, bot, progression, website, database, and automation changes from the 2026 development period into one place.

The short version: bots are now part of the full group game loop, battlegrounds and arenas have real owned-bot support, dungeon and RDF attachment received major repairs, the website gained several new player-facing systems, and the server received performance and stability work across the live stack.

Core Server and Stability

• Large 2026 core update pass across world, map, group, LFG/RDF, battleground, arena, object update, movement, spell, transport, auction, reputation, player storage, SOAP, database worker, and session handling code.
• Added performance diagnostics for world updates, map updates, bot manager updates, and bot data work using high-signal log prefixes such as PERF_WORLD, PERF_MAP, PERF_BOTMGR, and PERF_BOTDATA.
• Improved map update pacing with player-first map update controls and configurable throttling for playerless maps.
• Added runtime guards and diagnostics for login, object update, spell handling, and world-session edge cases discovered during live and PTR testing.
• Improved service monitoring and status reporting so the system status report now includes Current Players and Today Player Max.
• Added safer crash and lag investigation workflows for worldserver, MySQL, logs, backups, and automation checks.

AltBots and NPCBots

• Major NPCBot and AltBot runtime work across bot manager, bot data manager, owned-bot roster handling, class AI, pet AI, gossip, logging, visibility, summon, and map-transfer paths.
• Owned AltBots and NPCBots now use the active owned-bot runtime roster as the authoritative source for dungeon, RDF, battleground, and arena attachment.
• Fixed cases where bots remained in party or raid UI but stayed on the wrong map, wrong instance, old phase, invisible state, or unable-to-update state.
• Added runtime repair for owner login, dungeon entry, RDF teleport, battleground entry, arena entry, delayed roster updates, and map-change finalization.
• Improved AltBot and NPCBot visibility checks for same map, same instance, same phase, visible state, hidden state, and can-update state.
• Added diagnostics for active state, summon state, visibility, resurrection state, hire errors, XP transfer decisions, bot brain reset, and runtime attach failures.
• Expanded AltBot XP transfer support for kill XP, quest XP, dungeon finder XP, exploration XP, and configured owner XP inheritance paths.
• Improved AltBot resurrection, resummon, restore, and active-state handling after death, owner relog, summon, instance transfer, and RDF transitions.
• Improved runtime bot hire error reporting so invalid hire attempts can return useful block reasons instead of silent failure.
• Added and tuned active bot limits and content permissions for dungeons, raids, LFG, battlegrounds, and arenas.
• Fixed a warrior spec and equipment abuse path where changing out of Fury could leave an invalid weapon setup behind.
• Updated many NPCBot class AI files, including Death Knight, Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, Archmage, Beastmaster, Crypt Lord, Dark Ranger, Dreadlord, Necromancer, Sea Witch, and bot pets.

Dungeon, RDF, Raid Group, and Visibility Fixes

• Owned bots now follow the owner into dungeon and RDF runtime maps more reliably instead of remaining outside in map 1 or a stale instance.
• Added repair paths for bots that are active in the owner roster but missing from the current dungeon map after teleport or login.
• Improved party and raid roster synchronization so greyed or hidden bots can be restored without forcing hide and unhide as the normal repair tool.
• Added logs for ALTBOT_ACTIVE, ALTBOT_VIS, NPCBOT_VIS, ALTBOT_RES, ALTBOT_BRAIN, ALTBOT_SUMMON, ALTBOT_XP, and BOT_HIRE to support targeted debugging without flooding logs.
• Improved dungeon and raid bot restore behavior after death, resurrection, summon, map transfer, and delayed group updates.

Battleground Bot Support

• Owned AltBots and NPCBots are now supported in battleground runtime rosters.
• Owned bots teleport into the correct battleground map and instance after the owner has entered.
• Owned bots are registered to the battleground, assigned to the correct battleground team, added to the correct battleground raid group, and repaired if they arrive late.
• Alliance-race owned bots can temporarily use the owner battleground team and faction during the match, then restore their normal team and faction after leaving.
• Filler and wandering battleground bots now coexist with owned bots instead of replacing, hiding, or stealing owned roster slots.
• Added battleground runtime roster verification logs for owned bots, filler bots, final roster counts, raid membership, map, instance, and phase state.

Arena Bot Support

• 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 arenas now support teams made from real players, owned AltBots, owned NPCBots, or any mix of them.
• Rated arena and skirmish queues now count eligible owned bots as real roster members through the normal arena queue path.
• At least one real player is still required. Bot-only arena queue entries are not allowed.
• Full-human arena behavior remains unchanged when the real players already fill the selected bracket.
• Rated arena uses owned roster bots by default and does not silently fall back to anonymous temporary fillers.
• Skirmish can use match-local practice fillers only when enabled and only for missing slots.
• Temporary filler bots are isolated from owned bots, are not stored as permanent characters, do not count as owned roster members, and are cleaned up on cancel, abort, leave, and match end.
• Added arena queue and runtime diagnostics with ARENAQ, ARENART, and ARENACLEAN logs.

ArenaBotAI

• Added arena-specific AI for NPCBots, AltBots, and temporary enemy/filler bots.
• Bots now enter arena combat mode after gates open, clear stale passive or stay blockers, acquire valid enemy targets, and begin role-based behavior.
• Added target scoring with low-health pressure, healer value, owner-assist bonus, line-of-sight and reachability checks, retarget hysteresis, and a strong pet/minion penalty.
• Added healer triage so healer bots prioritize self survival, owner and teammate rescue, critical healing, and safe positioning before damage.
• Added peel logic so bots can react when the owner, healer, or low-health teammate is being trained or controlled.
• Added cooldown spacing so major defensive cooldowns are not stacked instantly unless an emergency threshold is reached.
• Added formation and spread movement so bots do not all pile on the owner or rush as a single PvE blob after gates open.
• Added ranged, healer, melee, and support-style positioning rules for chase, kite, line-of-sight recovery, healer line movement, and stuck recovery.
• Rated arenas use stronger coordination settings than skirmish while still using normal visible arena state instead of impossible information.
• Added ARENA_BOT_AI logs for stats, target choices, heal decisions, heal blocks, peel actions, movement, cooldown decisions, and idle blockers.

Progression and Content Modules

• Individual Progression received a major 2026 update pass across progression manager, player progression, PvP and battleground awareness, commands, and content scripts.
• Individual Progression content work touched Vanilla, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Naxx40, AQ War Effort, Molten Core, Onyxia, Blackrock Depths, Blackrock Spire, Stratholme, Maraudon, Karazhan, Serpentshrine Cavern, Tempest Keep, Caverns of Time, and Archmage Timear scripting.
• Accountwide systems were updated for achievements, currency, money, mounts, pets, playtime, PvP, reputation, taxi, titles, session coordination, scripts, configuration, and database support.
• Mythic Plus, Heroic Tree, War Effort, Dungeon Respawn, Reusable Potion, Stat Booster, Stat Booster Reroller, Transmog, Tanados Journey, Emblem Transfer, Reagent Bank Account, Starting Pet, Random Enchants, Guild Funds, Attunement, Reward Played Time, Bug Report, Anticheat, Beastmaster, Gambler, Solo LFG, Raid Ladder, and related custom modules all received 2026 source and data work.
• Heroic Tree runtime support and mage runtime support were updated.
• AQ War Effort and individual progression scripts received continued support work.

Raid and Encounter Work

• Naxxramas Thaddius received targeted repairs for Feugen and Stalagg linking, reset handling, add restoration, Tesla coil state, gate state, and Thaddius attackable state.
• Naxxramas Four Horsemen received combat-link repair so pulling one horseman links the encounter instead of allowing one-by-one kills.
• Naxxramas Sapphiron script files were included in the 2026 encounter update pass.
• Blackwing Lair scripts received targeted work around Razorgore, Broodlord Lashlayer, and instance handling.
• ZulGurub Hakkar script files were included in the update pass.
• Custom Timewalking, Large Cage opening, Gilneas, Murky, Chesticles, city bots, and player XP selection scripts were updated during the 2026 work period.

Website and Account Systems

• Added and expanded the Boss Kills website module with boss kill pages, rankings, admin tools, models, assets, and install SQL.
• Added and expanded the Raid Ladder website module with raid, boss, encounter, guild, player, trash, API, admin, model, CSS, and SQL support.
• Added and expanded the Bug Report website module with player-facing report creation, admin handling, models, CSS, JavaScript, seed SQL, and upgrade SQL.
• Updated character pages, armory search, item pages, spell pages, PvP statistics, store pages, recruit-a-friend pages, news pages, and account UCP behavior.
• Improved registration, password recovery, validation, settings, launcher event admin, backups admin, Defender admin, events, downloads, and launcher-related website areas.
• Improved item/database page performance by avoiding expensive empty bag-family lookups and adding lookup indexes for common item, quest, spell, loot, vendor, creature, object, and AoWoW search paths.
• Added crawler protection rules for expensive database paths and tuned PHP-FPM request limits and slow request logging for website stability.

Database, Data, and Tooling

• Added targeted rollback-backed SQL repairs for smart script links, transmog acore_string rows, orphan creature outfits, auction house house-id indexing, and website lookup indexes.
• Improved auction house lookup support and async auction listing code paths.
• Updated database worker and character database implementation files during the 2026 stability pass.
• Updated DBC tools, promotion tools, Tanados sync tools, extractors, mmap generation, vmap extraction, and build metadata scripts.
• Updated launcher and monitoring automation, including autochecker status output, scheduled jobs, cache tooling, backup support, crash guard, and local playbook integration.

New AltBot System

• Added the AltBot system as a major new server feature, separate from classic NPCBots.
• AltBots can be owned by real players and used as persistent roster companions across normal gameplay.
• Added AltBot manager, runtime roster tracking, active-state checks, summon and restore handling, owner mapping, XP transfer support, group and raid integration, and content access configuration.
• AltBots now support dungeons, raids, LFG/RDF, battlegrounds, and arenas through controlled server configuration.
• Added AltBot equipment, talent, appearance, name, class, spell, XP, bank, and runtime state support work.
• Added AltBot debug and repair logs for active state, summon state, resurrection, XP, visibility, hire failures, and brain reset conditions.
• AltBots are now integrated with owned-bot roster logic so they can be counted and restored alongside NPCBots instead of being treated as unrelated temporary summons.

Mythic and Mythic Plus Systems

• Added and updated the Mythic Plus module as a major PvE progression system.
• Mythic Plus work includes dungeon state handling, boss hooks, event handling, rewards, vault support, scripts, configuration, and database support.
• Added supporting DBC and spell data work used by custom Mythic Plus and related progression features.
• Improved integration with other custom systems so Mythic and progression content can coexist with bots, dungeon scripts, accountwide systems, and website tracking.
• Updated related reward and progression modules, including Heroic Tree, Stat Booster, Stat Booster Reroller, Reusable Potion, Dungeon Respawn, Emblem Transfer, and progression scripting.

Player-Reported Bug Fixes and Repairs

• Fixed battleground cases where owned AltBots and NPCBots stayed outside the battleground on the old map or old instance after the owner entered.
• Fixed battleground runtime-map and phase mismatches that left owned bots invisible, not in BG state, not in the BG raid, or still stuck in map 1 instance 0.
• Fixed owned bots disappearing when wandering or filler bots spawned to complete a battleground team.
• Fixed filler bots not being added to the correct group or becoming invisible after late runtime attachment.
• Fixed battleground side assignment problems for owned bots, including temporary team and faction remap during the match and restore on leave.
• Fixed arena queue entries getting stuck when a real player queued with owned AltBots or NPCBots.
• Fixed arena cases where the queue disappeared but players and bots were not teleported into the arena.
• Fixed 3v3 and 5v5 owned-bot arena registration paths that were still behaving like only human arena teams were valid.
• Fixed rated arena roster admission so eligible owned bots can fill 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 team slots when at least one real player is present.
• Fixed arena runtime attachment for owned NPCBots, AltBots, and temporary fillers so they enter the correct map, instance, team, and arena state.
• Fixed arena bots entering the arena but standing idle by directly starting arena AI at the proven runtime attach call sites.
• Fixed early ArenaBotAI behavior where bots stacked at the gate, rushed as one blob, targeted pets too strongly, failed to peel, and used defensive cooldowns too close together.
• Fixed dungeon and RDF cases where AltBots and NPCBots were still in party but were not teleported into the active dungeon instance.
• Fixed several bot visibility desync cases where group UI showed a bot but the bot was missing from the world or wrong map, wrong instance, wrong phase, hidden, or unable to update.
• Improved AltBot relog restoration where owned bots could be missing from the party or active runtime roster after owner login.
• Improved AltBot resurrection and brain reset diagnostics for cases where bots disappeared, refused resurrection, or returned with stale AI state.
• Improved raid summon repair so summoning greyed bots does not incorrectly remove already active bots unless a real active limit is reached.
• Improved owned bot active-state repair for reports such as owned bot is not active and stale runtime or database mismatch cases.
• Added Runtime Bot Hire block-reason logging so hire problems can be diagnosed instead of failing silently.
• Fixed warrior spec and equipment abuse where a Fury setup could leave invalid weapons equipped after changing spec.
• Fixed NPCBotInventory equipment UI behavior around weapon unequip paths for AltBots.
• Updated NPCBotInventory tactics and equipment addon handling from the 2026 bug-fix pass.
• Fixed NPCBot spread and pull behavior paths that could leave bots in bad movement or response states.
• Added global pet summon and warlock pet repair work from the pet bug-fix pass.
• Added login, character, auth, miscellaneous handler, Warden, WorldSession, and WorldSocket diagnostics and rollback cleanup from the March connection-stability investigation.
• Added object, unit, spell, and login crash guards from the May live stability pass.
• Fixed Accountwide money and login sync edge cases with anchor, login sync, and money restore guard repairs.
• Fixed AutoBalance and RDF leader interaction work from the group and dungeon bug-fix pass.
• Fixed auction and website lookup performance issues that caused very slow database pages.
• Fixed expensive empty bag-family item lookups on the website database pages.
• Fixed search and lookup speed with database indexes for item, quest, spell, loot, vendor, creature, object, and AoWoW lookup paths.
• Fixed and tuned worldserver console warning noise, GDB console behavior, live log tuning, and noisy debug configuration.
• Fixed or repaired SQL data issues for smart script entry 4507, transmog acore_string rows 11100 through 11116, orphan creature outfits, and auction house house-id lookup performance.
• Fixed Naxxramas Thaddius add-link and reset behavior so Feugen and Stalagg can properly link, restore, reset, disable coils, and unlock Thaddius.
• Fixed Naxxramas Four Horsemen pull behavior so the encounter links instead of allowing one horseman to be killed alone.
• Updated Sapphiron, Blackwing Lair, Broodlord, Razorgore, ZulGurub Hakkar, Large Cage, Timewalking, Gilneas, Murky, Chesticles, city bot, and custom script files during the bug-fix pass.
• Added transport handoff diagnostics and repair work for playerless or bad-state transport handling.
• Added live player-lag investigation tools and safe pacing changes for playerless maps, wandering bots, bot data, and map scheduling without disabling gameplay systems.

Website Bug Fixes and New Web Features

• Added the Boss Kills system with rankings, boss pages, admin tools, models, styles, and database install support.
• Added the Raid Ladder system with raid, encounter, boss, guild, player, trash, API, admin, style, and SQL support.
• Added the website Bug Report system with report creation, admin review, models, JavaScript, CSS, seed SQL, and upgrade SQL.
• Updated armory search, character profile, item pages, spell pages, talent and model viewer paths, store pages, PvP statistics, account settings, password recovery, registration, downloads, launcher, Defender, events, and admin pages.
• Improved website bot and crawler handling for expensive database paths.
• Tuned PHP-FPM limits and slow request logging for long-running website requests.

Important Notes

• This changelog focuses on the major player-visible and admin-visible systems changed since January 1, 2026. Many smaller internal cleanup commits, diagnostics, config syncs, and backup files are not listed individually.
• Several systems remain under active live monitoring, especially performance under low population, raid encounter edge cases, website database page speed, and old player bug reports that require retesting on the current build.
• Bot support is now part of dungeons, RDF, battlegrounds, and arenas, including mixed real-player plus AltBot plus NPCBot gameplay for supported brackets and modes.

Thank you for testing, reporting bugs, and helping push Tanados forward.