Can somebody explain to me what is the point of the 20s log-out delay? Or: Why would I choose the 20s-log-out option instead of Exit? I get to my alt faster by exiting and relaunching the game.
Not an issue, but feels awkward. If the log-out penalty was 10s or so, it would make more sense.
Having a 20 secs logout stops you logging out if in PvP and wanting to escape without penalty.
Yes, as the wizard chap above me said, it’s mainly to do with PVP. You can always choose the log out now option if you don’t want to wait, but your character remains in the world for that 20 seconds just so you can’t log out to cheese people out of a valid PVP victory.
OK, thanks for the replies. I’m not PvP, so I wasn’t aware.
But, still, the fact that exiting the game and relaunching it is faster than logging-out / loggin-in, feels a bit … not right.
It happens when you’re not in a rested area. PvP can still be active in rested areas, and unflagged characters also have to suffer the delay. And, as noted, you can say Exit Now and exit… now.
It feels more like an inconvenience to make people log out in rested areas.
In that case they should just have the 20sec log out happen if your pvp flagged or in a BG etc. If your anywhere else then it should be insta log out.
SSD makes it pointless.
This doesn’t actually log your character out until the 20 seconds are up though, even if your game closes.
doesn’t matter tho, it still takes 20 secs for your character to log out of the server, despite the fact you may be back at the launcher…thats why it says ‘Game is still running’ when you do.
Oh! Didn’t know that, thanks.
No Game is still running means you didnt quit the game fully, Try alt tab delete exit wow that way, relog on an alt, works just fine? Am within 5 seconths on my alt… not 20.
Exactly. Much faster. Thanks for getting the point of this post.
What i don’t see can’t hurt me!
Yeah, it does feel kind of irrelevant in a non PVP context. I guess you could argue though that it could also be used to unfairly prevent negative outcomes in PVE. For example if you were in a raid, the boss was at 10% and knew you were just about to explode and cause a wipe, you could use an instant logout to prevent this outcome.
I’m not sure if maybe we’re talking at cross purposes here 
I guess 20 seconds is just the value that Blizzard thought was reasonable to ensure that the logout couldn’t be used to cheese out of negative consequences
Whatever the time delay, it doesn’t really make any difference in terms of relogging to another character. Whether you force disconnect (Alt F4), logout, or just exit the game, that character stays in the game world for at least 20 seconds. If you want to quickly switch to another alt, you can choose to log out, select the log out anyway option, and then you’re back on the title screen and can log in a different character straight away.
Personally for me that is much quicker than exiting the game and logging in again but I guess it may depend on computer related factors
Just an example:
I have several toons in Icecrown (for the rares). I have my AH toon in BootyBay, for doing its daily bussines.
BootyBay already has a logout of 20s. As well as my ICC toons.
It’s way faster to get out of my AH toon and into my ICC toon by exiting the game, than as it would be by logging out /in regularly. That’s what I mean.
I usually alt+F4 out unless I’m feeling lazy, it gets you to your character select screen quicker.
This isn’t just for pvp, log out delay is so you can’t enter combat then just poof out of existence to stay alive, like pulling a large group of mobs by mistake and then just alt+f4ing out of it.
This should not be changed.
Doesn’t mater, when you quit and relaunch like that you’re still in the game for 20s and can still be killed.
I think the general point is to actually get faster to the char menu then a log out timer. I dont understand why theres no logout now button and it must be a count down.
You can just add a logout now button like you can when you exit.