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Tuesday Morning Post: Real ID ruckus edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. It's been a surprisingly busy and controversial week in WoW. The ill-fated Real ID forum integration has come and -- after extensive community outcry, rampant rumors and multiple attempts to explain themselves on Blizzard's part -- gone again, and we're all hopeful that we can go back to the carefree slaughter of internet dragons. In actual gameplay news, everything we know about our classes may be changing with the extensive new talent revamp that limits trees to the 31-point tier and gives level 10s signature abilities from their chosen tree. There's plenty more beta news and (for those of you avoiding Cataclysm spoilers) Ruby Sanctum guides to browse through, and since we have the usual 5-11 a.m. Pacific downtime coming down the pipe this morning, you'll have time to tackle it, I'm sure. Read on for all the latest from the past few days.
Tuesday Morning Post: The coming Cataclysm edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! With the closed beta beginning and the NDA lifted, the floodgate of information fresh from the Cataclysm beta servers continues to gush forth. There's plenty of analysis and opinion to be had on the changes as well. You can look below for the usual list of stuff, including a special beta information section. Of course, this beta, so expect things to change pretty quickly as the days and weeks go by, and expect us to be here, keeping abreast of it. Of course, if you have any burning questions we haven't answered yet, remember that The Queue is now taking your Cataclysm Beta questions. The usual 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific downtime will be upon this morning, so now's a good a time as any to catch up on the latest beta news and happenings. Read on for the roundup.
Tuesday Morning Post: Return of the 24-hour downtime edition
It's back! 24-hour maintenance day returns today, this time for a different batch of realms. Everyone else still has to deal with the normal 5 a.m.-11 a.m. Pacific downtime label. Whichever group you fall into, don't despair. It was a pretty busy week news-wise, so we have plenty of stuff for you to catch up on, and we'll have more fresh news throughout the day. Let's start the roundup. Hot news and features Still have trouble keeping up with Ahune? Check out our video guide. Patch 3.3.5 has hit live servers. Here are the patch notes. Getting errors with the new patch? You aren't alone. Patch 3.3.5, as you might expect, isn't bug-free. Check out this list of new and existing in-game bugs. Blizzard has announced its intent to begin throttling inspect requests from addons such as GearScore. The Ruby Sanctum isn't activated yet, but Blizzard has released more information, including the storyline. Director Sam Raimi's been talking about the upcoming Warcraft movie. Our Wrath retrospective series continues with some opinions on death knights.
Tuesday Morning Post: Burning for you edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! Rumor has it that Patch 3.3.5 may drop this morning, and with a 3 AM to 11 AM pacific downtime coming our way, the points are racking up in favor of such a conclusion. Either way, you'll probably know by the time you read this, and either way, the downtime's coming, so either way, you'll probably want to settle in and join me on catching up with the latest WoW news. It's been a relatively slow news week the past 7 days, but the Midsummer Fire Festival is in full swing, complete with a level 80 Frost Lord Ahune bearing new ilevel 232 loot -- and lacking his scorchling pet, sadly enough. There's more news to peruse as well, and you'll want to keep an on eye on the site throughout the day and coming weeks for more news and guides on the coming Patch 3.3.5 content.
Tuesday Morning Post: The press gang edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! The past few days have been pretty busy as far as shiny new Cataclysm news goes. First we saw the first few class talent previews go up for druids, rogues, priests, and shamans. We, of course, have analysis of all the ins and outs of the new trees, as you'd expect. But the big news of the week was, of course, the Cataclysm press event. We got a massive info dump of juicy information, including interviews with Ghostcrawler. Among some of the other highlights: New juicy lore tidbits, including information on the Archeology skill. New raid lockout mechanisms. A complete overhaul of the guild leveling mechanic. The complete scrapping of the Path of the Titans system, and some adjustments to glyphs to compensate. Video previews of the new Orgrimmar and Stormwind. Confirmation of a War of the Ancients raid. In addition to that, there's plenty of other awesome news tidbits to catch up on this morning. You'll have the usual 5 AM to 11 AM pacific downtime, so you'll have the time to do some reading. Read on for a list of the latest stuff.
Tuesday Morning Post: The long downtime of the soul edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! If you were part of the massive rush to get BlizzCon tickets this past week, I hope your luck was good, because they are now officially sold out. If you didn't get one, there's probably nothing left to do but hope you win one as a contest prize! Whether you were successful or whether your hopes were dashed, you will, alas, have quite some time to brood or celebrate if your characters are on a list of servers slated for a 24 hour downtime today. Of course, even if you dodged the bullet, we still have the normal 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific time maintenance period coming for all servers. Luckily, there's plenty of news to catch up on, including a good selection of official news on patch 3.3.5 and some of the new features of the Cataclysm expansion. Read on for all the latest, and keep coming back all day for the latest news, tips, and guides. Whether your server is down for the morning or down all day, we'll be here for you.
Tuesday Morning Post: Gnomeregan rising edition
Good Tuesday morning, everyone! It's been a surprisingly slow news week as far as new Cataclysm stuff goes, but luckily, we have the PTR to keep us busy anyway. With Operation: Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall active for testing on the PTR, now's the perfect time to go test out some fun new world events and show your own patriotism for your favorite refugee race. If you'd rather stay on the live servers, we do have a nice picture gallery of the Zalazane's event for your perusal. The PTR is also being used to test the new Real ID functionality, which makes it an excellent time to caution you: Be careful who you trust with your Real ID. Perhaps the most "surprising" news this week may be the fact that there is absolutely no downtime anticipated for today. That's right, early morning pacific coast Tuesday players, you can keep right on trucking. But just in case you need a break, or you're stuck at work or school and can't play, we've got the usual roundup of all the good news from the past 7 days or so after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: Ferengi are cooler than Goblins edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! This week has actually been pretty good for news that is not directly game related. BlizzCon ticket frenzy is nearly upon us. They'll go on sale June 2nd and June 5th, which means you only have around a week to get ready to click madly to get into that queue and get another chance to see Jay Mohr. In possibly even cooler news, Aron Eisenberg, better known to geeks like us as Deep Space 9's Nog, was the subject of this week's 15 Minutes of Fame and our special guest co-host on the podcast. The usual 5 AM to 11 AM pacific downtime is go, so you'll have plenty of time to join us in geeking out with Nog, or read the rest of the latest news. We have the usual roundup after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: Levee's gonna break edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! As you're probably aware, the family and friends alpha test of Cataclysm went up early last week. While there's still a Non-Disclosure Agreement on the whole thing, that hasn't stopped a lot of enterprising people from getting their hands on the client and disseminating all manner of information to the WoW community at large. I wouldn't say the leaks are coming out in a torrent quite yet, but there's still some pretty juicy stuff if you know where to find it. Of course, if you're one of those who's trying to keep pure about the spoilers and leaks, have no fear. In the list below we've placed all the unofficial leaks in a separate Cataclysm leak section so you can skim over them or pass them by. So read on with confidence. There's plenty non-leak stuff to read up on, including the new Patch 3.3.5 PTR notes. It looks like only a handful of servers will experience scheduled downtime this morning, and even then only for 2 hours starting a 5 AM pacific time, but Tuesday's good WoW news reading time anyway.
Tuesday Morning Post: We dislike NDAs edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. It looks like the wheels may finally be in motion, inexorably turning toward the release of Cataclysm. Community Manager Zarhym has confirmed that the family and friends alpha is under way, and signs of the beta have begun to crop up on the official site. Could an actual NDA-free beta be close behind? Speaking of NDAs and betas, now's a good time to remind people of a few things: First, beta invites have not gone out, so if you get an invite in your in-box, be careful. It's very, very likely a scam. Second, the family and friends alpha is under a Non-Disclosure Agreement, so it's likely we won't get much new information, if any, until that's released. Beyond that, there was plenty of other news dropping this week. Children's Week is upon us again, the night elf mohawk has returned and Cataclysm news continues to trickle out, among other things. We do have the usual 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific downtime window this morning, so since you can't log on to WoW, why not read on? Our usual weekly roundup of the news awaits.
Tuesday Morning Post: And live in harmony harmony oh love edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! By now, I'm sure you're all aware of the big news: The Sparklepony is here! The Celestial Steed went up for sale on the Blizzard store, causing massive queues and earning Blizzard hundreds of thousands of dollars in the first day alone. You either loved it or you hated it, but either way, it seems to have been a coup for Blizzard. While the pony talk refuses to die down, some people just want it to go away, and luckily for them, there have been other things of note to report. For example, there was also a bit of Cataclysm news this past week. Paladins got their day in the sun with their Cataclysm class preview (along with some extra blue clarification, of course), and we, of course, have analysis for all three talent trees. We also saw the release of a preview of Mount Hyjal, as well as a preview of Vashj'ir, a sunken city of the Naga. There was also a twitter developer chat, where we learned that we'll be able to learn 310% flight for all our current flying mounts in Cataclysm. No matter what type of news you prefer, you'll have some time to get caught up on it thanks to a 5 AM to 11 AM pacific downtime window. You can check after the break for a list of some of the other odds and ends from the past seven days as well, and, as always, keep it here for WoW news as it happens throughout the day.
Tuesday Morning Post: It's not Las Vegas edition
Welcome everyone, to another news filled Tuesday morning. The big news, of course, is the official announcement of the next BlizzCon. It's happening, but unfortunately, not in Vegas. But hey, it's a blast wherever it's held, even if wherever remains Blizzard's backyard in sunny Anaheim. It's late October this year, which of course has set off tons of speculation about the Cataclysm release date, among other things. Whatever else comes with BlizzCon though, it should be fun and informative. Check out last year's coverage if you forgot just how crazy that whole thing gets. Go ahead, you have time. We'll be down from 5 AM to 11 AM pacific time this morning. Of course, beyond the BlizzCon thing, there's plenty of other news to speak of, especially with Patch 3.3.3 still relatively fresh and requiring hot fixes and even a minor patch. Read on for all the latest WoW Scuttlebutt , and hey, if all else fails, tune into NPR. Our intrepid Editor-in-Chief is on On Point today.
Tuesday Morning Post: Just the patch, ma'am edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. It's a beautiful near-spring morning here on the west coast, especially since, as of this writing, it looks like we'll finally be getting Patch 3.3.3. That means many things, including changes to raid buffs, new found usefulness for Frozen Orbs, abolition of battleground marks, and some pretty cool stuff data mined out of the patch files. It also means we're just a little bit closer to Patch 3.3.5, which promises a new raid dungeon among other things, and maybe even some gnome and troll love. Of course, we have an extended 3 AM to 11 AM pacific downtime to get this patch into place, which means you have time to read up on all this stuff. In addition to our Patch 3.3.3 information page, we'll have additional coverage throughout the morning, and you can read our usual roundup of the news from the past 7 days below:
Tuesday Morning Post: Beginning of the end edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! I name this week's post not in a negative sense, but in a sense that it does seem like we've officially started winding down Wrath. Specifically, we recently saw the addition of the first edition of the Icecrown Citadel raid buff. It has started at 5%, but will eventually rise to 30%, allowing more and more people to power through the dungeon and see Arthas fall at their feet. It's the end of an era, but I feel the start of a much better one. Of course, that's not to say we're completely out of Wrath yet. We have at least 2 more patches to go, and Patch 3.3.3 PTR news keeps rolling in, as does tons of other news. You'll have the usual maintenance break from WoW this morning, 5 AM to 11 AM pacific, so you have time to get caught up. As usual, here's our list of some of the major stuff from the past 7 days or so:
Tuesday Morning Post: It's raining again edition
Did you think things were getting slow in WoW news? Those might have been famous last words, so to speak. It never rains, but it pours. It started early last week with a stream of previews: Of the new battleground honor changes, of the new Ruby Sanctum raid, and a sneak peek behind the curtain of Wintergrasp's faction balancing mechanics. Then, Friday came, and bam. Here comes Patch 3.3.3, with tons of amazing information for everyone to drown in, both in the patch notes and in the game files. If you haven't had a chance to dive into all the Patch 3.3.3 news, now is as good a time as any, since the servers will be down from 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific. Before you ask, we have not heard that the patch is going live as of this writing, and I'd sincerely doubt it myself. It's a bit buggy as it is, and the devs have hinted there's more to be implemented and tested. So feel free to sit back, relax, and peruse the best news from the past week, both from Patch 3.3.3 and beyond, just below.
Tuesday Morning Post: In the Air edition
It's been a pretty busy week here in WoW. With Patch 3.3.2 live and the Frostwing Halls open, we quickly saw our first 10-man Lich King kill, followed by our first 25-man Lich King kill, followed shortly by a ban, followed a bit later by the first legitimate 25-man Lich King kill. But if you haven't managed to get him down yet, you're in luck. Blizzard's already making it easier to get to him by removing the limited number of attempts on ICC wing bosses in normal mode. Beyond Icecrown Citadel, we also saw some pretty interesting stuff in and outside the game: Blizzard's planning to offer a premium AH app for the iPhone so you can corner the linen market on the downtown bus. The Love is in the Air holiday is active and completely redesigned, with new achievements, easier existing achievements, and a new boss fight with new holiday loot. Check our Love is In The Air FAQ for information on all the new stuff. Arena season 8 is up and running as well. Unfortunately, even with all this activity, weekly downtime is still upon us. You'll have from 5 AM to 11 AM pacific time to take a break from all this new stuff. As always, I'll suggest that that's an excellent time to read about it instead. Here's a summary of some of our articles from the past 7 days.
Tuesday Morning Post: Not the horse edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. With the 5 AM to 11 AM pacific downtime coming our way, it's probably safe to assume we aren't getting Patch 3.3.2 this week. Luckily, that didn't stop Blizzard from releasing the 3.3.2 patch notes over on the Korean WoW site. You'll probably want to give those a look, especially if you're a shaman, warrior, or warlock. On the bright side, the extra week's wait means that means you have at least one more week to master the recently opened Crimson Halls. Be sure to check out our raid boss guide for tips and strats. I'll be honest though, the big story for me this week was the release of the Invincible music. Seriously, this is some amazing music and I can't wait to hear it in game. That said, it better not be about the horse. Seriously, Arthas. I love you and all, but that horse is just dumb. You gotta let it go. It was years ago. No-one liked that horse but you. And seriously, naming it Invincible was just thumbing your nose at fate. No, this had better be a plaintive hymn to the fall of Lordaeron, the loss of innocence, and the beloved prince that you once were, played as the Argent Crusaders and the Ebon Blade carry your body off on a bier while Varian, Jaina, Muradin, Thrall, Saurfang, and Bolvar Fordragon watch solemnly. Yes, I may have put too much thought into this. Anyhow, you didn't come to hear me rant, you came to catch up on your WoW news during the downtime. As such, please find our usual summary of the last 7 days or so below the cut!
Tuesday Morning Post: Vampire morning edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. As of this writing, the big news of the week is probably the latest Twitter developer chat. If you missed it, we have the transcript. Topics included the fate of Crystalsong Forest, pet scaling buffs, new warlock pets, personal guild banks and other storage issues, and more. Be sure to check it out, it's good reading whether you're focused on Patch 3.3 or on Cataclysm. Coming up, we have the opening of the Crimson Halls, the next wing of Icecrown Citadel. That means lots of vampires. They're blood elf vampires, sure, but blood elves are awesome, so it's all good. And hey, if you dislike blood elves, at least take comfort in the fact that these vampires don't sparkle. Finally, it looks like advance notice for downtime may be the name of the game after all, as we've know about today's downtime for a few days now. It's 3 AM to 11 AM pacific time, if you haven't heard, which means you should have plenty of time to catch up on WoW news. Check out a list of some of our content from the last 7 days below the cut.
Beta realms down tomorrow for maintenance
The Wrath beta realms are down as I type this. Not news, I know, for those who are actually in the beta. The realms seem to be unavailable frequently. I chalk this up to the nature of beta testing. However, today we actually got a heads-up on planned maintenance downtime, scheduled for tomorrow at the same time the live realms will be offline. Now, this is news to me because so far the patches to the beta have been released without any announcement. In other words, the only way I've found out updates were coming was that when I try to log on, and then I end up waiting an hour for everything to download and install. So now I'm intrigued. Will we need to install another beta patch after maintenance? Will the beta now move to planned maintenance instead of spontaneous crashes? (Okay, wait, that last question was just crazy-talk.) Or -- maybe the announcement of planned maintenance mean that the beta realms are ready for the release of patch 3.0.2 and all of its dreamy barbershop and achievement goodness! Oo, I can't wait!UPDATED: According to the beta forums, the beta realms will be offline starting at 9:00AM Pacific time September 9th 2008 for one to two hours.
Rolling Restarts this morning, April 8th, 2008
It's Tuesday, and you know what that means - Maintenance. Luckily, it's a a relatively pain free maintenance day today, as there's nothing but rolling restarts on the menu starting at 5am PDT. Each realm is expected to be down for no more than 15 minutes. Of course, that still leaves you with 15 minutes of no World of Warcraft if this is your usual play time. And what's the easiest way to pass those 15 minutes than with a bit of WoW Insider? Make some quick plans for what to do on server up by checking out our Sunwell daily quest guides. Whether you're on Phase 2 or Phase 3, we have all the guides you need to get started when your server comes back up, plus Phase 4 guides for when you get those last few percentage points worth of dead elves turned in to get it unlocked. Speaking of dead elves, we have guides for the new PvP dailies as well. If you're a little tired of Sunwell stuff, how about a trip back to Zul'aman? Jennie Lees has written an in-depth guide to speed running Zul'aman that'll help you get one of the rarest and coolest looking mounts in game, the Amani War Bear -- if you can convince, cajole, or beat the other 9 people in your raid into giving it up to you, of course. Been a little off your game since 2.4? Check Hortus' list to see if it's just a nasty little bug that's getting you down. Hopefully, the rolling restarts go smoothly and we'll see you on the flipside. Either way, thanks for reading, and keep your browser here for all the latest news!
