If DNS, which turns server names into addresses, is slow or fails, the game can’t find its login or patch servers.
Why ISP DNS outage or misconfiguration → Effect The login or patch server address can’t be resolved → On screen A long wait after pressing Connect, or no connection at all. Players already connected are fine
Primary owner External (External) · Also Game team (Client development)
Game team action items
Cache addresses (remember the last server address that connected successfully), set up multiple DNS resolvers (query another one if one fails).
External action items
Tell players to try switching to another DNS resolver, such as a public DNS.
On the graph
Outliers only · Login failures (by ISP), DNS lookup time
Where to look
Query the login server name against the ISP’s DNS and a public DNS separately with Resolve-DnsName -Server (or nslookup), and compare response times and results
Confirmed if
Only the ISP’s DNS fails to respond or takes a long time, and switching to a public DNS connects right away. Players already connected are fine
Ruled out if
Every DNS returns the address right away but connecting still fails: points to the route, a firewall, or the server
Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 Incident on July 14, 2025Cloudflare When a public DNS resolver stopped for 62 minutes, users who could no longer resolve names effectively lost access to all internet services