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Tuesday Morning Post: Mad science edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! We got a new patch in the beta this past week, which has led to much rejoicing, as goblins are playable again. Of course, as one bug is squished, a few thousand more pop up -- but the bug in the screenshot above? I rather like it. My worgen is not only a ferocious werewolf, but also a twisted Victorian mad scientist, his visage forever corrupted by his own experiments, dooming him to stalk the night bereft of love and companionship forever. Never fear, though, the latest patch blitz from the beta servers has bought also brought the good stuff. There's a veritable cornucopia of new goodies to pore over, including new racial character introductions, new guild achievements and updates to archaeology and inscription. There's much more, of course, and you can read all about it here on WoW.com. You'll have plenty of time do so, too, as realm maintenance is scheduled for the usual 5-11 a.m. Pacific time today. And thus, dear reader, read on, for the tragic cautionary tale of Dr. Worgenstein -- I mean, more WoW news.
Tuesday Morning Post: Kawaii edition
This past week was not the most exciting week ever. It was a week without a major patch on beta realms and a week without a lot of announcements in general! We still have plenty of great content that you may have missed over the course of the week, such our class columns, our worgen starting zone walkthrough and an assortment of other Cataclysm content. Head behind the cut below for links to all of our top content from the last week. If you find yourselves especially bored today even after going through the backlog of posts you've missed this week, we have a fun little activity for you! Take the header image of this post, erase Deathy from the love-bubble, and insert other humorous things and link it in the comments below. Please, please keep it clean. You don't want to get banned, and I don't want to see your genitals. Really. I don't. I promise.
PSN undergoing maintenance until 12:30pm PST
The PlayStation Network is down today, August 30, for maintenance until "approximately 12:30pm Pacific." So, don't bother trying to buy anything from the store or attempt to access account management. Also, users "may encounter difficulty while signing in to PSN."
MobileMe to go down for scheduled maintenance
MobileMe customers who use the web apps will experience some down time later today as Apple performs some scheduled maintenance. Expect the web services to be offline between 10:00 PM and 12:30 AM Pacific Time. Apple doesn't mention if other services will be affected, so we assume you'll still be able to send and receive email via Mail for the Mac and iOS, as well as manage events with iCal. If you're restricted to using the web apps, get your work done early and enjoy a little forced down time later tonight. For the latest MobileMe news and status updates, you can look here (the closest Apple has come to maintaining a blog). You'll find a history of recent status updates here.
The extra special TUAW TV Live all-Mac episode, version 2.0
Welcome to another episode of TUAW TV Live, the weekly livestreaming video show where you can join in on the conversation. Today, I'll be presenting another all-Mac episode, where I try to avoid using the i-words (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch) and showcase the venerable Apple computer line. Some of today's topics include: Upgrading older Macs to bring back some of that new-Mac speed Ideas for regular maintenance of your favorite Mac Backups Boot Camp How to prepare an old Mac for "repurposing" (i.e., sale or donation) Places to sell an old Mac I'll also give you a peek at a few Mac apps that I've been playing with lately. Now it's time to get on with the show! To join in from your Mac or PC, just go to the next page by clicking the link at the bottom of this post, and you'll find a live stream viewer and a chat tool. The chat tool allows you to join in on the fun by asking questions or making comments. If you're driving somewhere and would like to watch TUAW TV Live while you're stuck in traffic, please don't -- keep your eyes on the road! However, if someone else is doing the driving, you can watch the show on your iPhone by downloading the free Ustream Viewing Application. iPad users haven't been forgotten, either, as you can tune in to TUAW TV Live on your iPad! That link will send yo to a non-Flash page, although you won't have access to our chat tool.
Tuesday Morning Post: Soon edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. We have new news about the release date of Cataclysm: It needs a few more months. OK, so it's not a solid date, but since I have been doing a lot of beta testing lately, it's sort of nice to know I might still have time to get back to live servers and finish Loremaster before the expansion drops. Okay, that's a lie. I want Cataclysm now. Well, not now, because it's obviously still sort of buggy and needs testing. But you get the picture. Of course, what we want and what we get are generally two different things. That said, this morning may be relatively unique in that there is, as of this writing, no anticipated downtime. That said, if you still need a little break from WoW, we have a lot of news for you to catch up on. You can catch up on the latest from both the live servers and the Cataclysm beta after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: Revenge of the 24-hour downtime
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! It's another 24-hour downtime for a new list of servers, including mine. The other servers will be getting a standard maintenance window of 5-11 a.m. Pacific. Luckily, with all this downtime, we just got a new beta patch with a decent amount of content, including new loading screens (though I do hope they consider replacing the worgen and goblin models with something more fitting), a new character model for Thrall, and a bunch of pretty epic new music. Also included were class changes, including masteries and a new Holy Power bar for paladins, as well as guild vendors for new guild-only purchased rewards. There's plenty of other news to peruse as well, so whether your server is down for six hours or 24 hours, why not follow me behind the break to see what else you may have missed over the past few days while you wait for the server maintenance party to start?
Tuesday Morning Post: Adventures in beta patching edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The big news this week has the been the beta test of the new patch process and launcher, which allows you to play even when your patch is only partially done. I've tried it out myself, and I must say, it's quite a feeling logging into Acherus to see nothing but the Eastern Plaguelands spread out below you for miles as the hold itself shifts into being around you. It's sort of crazy. Still, I imagine most of the time I'll just wait for the download to finish. There is, of course, plenty of other news to catch up on. If you're waiting out this morning's rolling restarts, why not check and see if you missed anything from the past few days? Our usual roundup awaits after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: Suspect timing edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! In what may or may not be a mea culpa for the massive amount of downtime, both expected and unexpected, last week, Blizzard's announced that there will be no downtime this morning. That's right, we won't even get rolling restarts. Now, usually I'd be pretty grateful for this. It's always nice to know the server's going to be up and ready for you when you get a chance to play. But today, of all days, is the day they chose? Honestly, I wouldn't even be phased if they put my server on the 24-hour downtime list for today, because I'm just going to spend all my free time playing Starcraft 2. Actually, never mind. It's pretty clear to me now why they're keeping the servers up. Obviously, the server maintenance team would rather take the day off and play Starcraft II too. If you're still agonizing over whether to play Starcraft or log on and do your dailies, maybe you should stop by WoW.com while you think. We have a lot of juicy Cataclysm news for you to catch up on, and more coming throughout the day.
Tuesday Morning Post: Never tear us apart edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! You know, I feel like I really should say something. Blizzard, despite all the rockiness, be it the Real ID fiasco or the huge 31-point talent tree changes, I still love you. I don't think anything can tear us apart. You know, except a 24-hour downtime. Luckily, my server's not in today's batch of downed servers, but Zangarmarsh, home of <It Came From The Blog>, is; yours may be as well, so be sure to check the list. If your realm is listed, that just means you'll have plenty of time to look back all the big news from the past seven days, such as the new 31-point talent trees or the massive Twitter developer chat. And anyway, we do have normal downtime at the somewhat early time of 1-7 a.m. Pacific, so you may still have a bit of a time to read up regardless. With all that in mind, we have the usual roundup of news, opinions and guides from the past seven days ready for your perusal. Once you're done reading those, you can prepare to join all the 24-hour downtime refugees on Shadow Council.
Choose My Adventure: Maintenance and music
Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in <It came from the Blog> on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H). Zangarmarsh is on the list of realms that are going to be down for a day, so that changes the schedule a bit this week: Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the level 45 tauren druid, will be on Monday at 11 p.m. EDT Anne Stickney as Annephora, the level 41 troll warrior, will be on Friday at 1 a.m. EDT (which is Thursday at 11 p.m. Zangarmarsh time) Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the level 22 blood elf paladin: Friday, 8 p.m. EDT Michael Sacco as Sahko, the orc warlock; Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, the level 15 blood elf warlock; Elizabeth Harper as Faience, the level 24 troll shaman; Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the level 17 troll mage; Michael Gray as Grayfields, the level 17 tauren hunter; and Gregg Reece as Sandwichdoc, the level 13 troll shaman, will be making appearances as they can. Robinemia won't be adventuring this week, but we will be having a Refugee Party on Shadow Council (US-RP-A) during the downtime. We'll talk about the polls after the break.
24 hour maintenance for select servers on Tuesday
Blizzard has released the next list of servers that will be unplayable for 24 hours. Starting at midnight PDT (3 a.m. EDT) tonight and ending around midnight PDT tomorrow, a large number of realms will be down for extended maintenance. Included on that list is Zangarmarsh, the home server for WoW.com's guild <It came from the Blog>, which means we'll be hosting our downtime party elsewhere. I'm thinking a Refugee Party (RP) on Shadow Council may be in order. Stay tuned for details coming later today. Click on the link for details. The full list of realms is after the break.
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.
Breakfast Topic: Where were you on your day off?
When your server is down for extended maintenance or just down for no reason how do you handle it? Being one of the players on the realms which was stuck with 24-hour realm maintenance when Ruby Sanctum came out, I was stuck on a different server for the day. I headed over to our WoW.com guild "It Came from the Blog" and played on my Choose My Adventure character Sandwichdoc and got his fire totem quest finished up and wrote an article my paladin article for today. How do you handle your server downtime? Do you pop over to another realm or just return to real life for the day and head to the park?
Servers are coming back up [Updated]
Blizzard has announced that the realms that are not down for the entire day are down for an additional two hours. They expect realms to be up at 4 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. PDT). This means that you will have less time to level up a character for the Server Maintenance Party we're having tonight. But that's OK because all levels are welcome. We'll update this post with any more server maintenance news. Update: Servers are up or on their way -- except the ones that are down until at least midnight of course.
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.
Early maintenance announcement includes 24 hour downtime for select realms
Blizzard's already let us know the scheduled downtime for Tuesday, June 29th, quite a bit ahead of their usual late Monday night announcement time. Right now, most realms can expect a normal downtime window of 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific time on Tuesday, June 29th. However, it is time for the next batch of US servers to go down for 24 hours, from 12:01 AM, June 29th to 12:01 AM Wednesday, June 30th. As with the first batch, the 24-hour downtime will likely be used to get the servers in shape for Cataclysm's launch, and if we're lucky, should mean less downtime in the first few days and weeks as everyone comes in to check out the new content. Check out the full list of servers with extended downtime behind the break:
Patch 3.3.5: Servers coming online
It looks like the long wait may be over, as US servers appear to be slowly coming back online from a lengthy extended maintenance. For now the list of servers up is small, and there's been no official confirmation from Blizzard as to whether or not the downtime is over -- however most servers that are up and live are experiencing queues in the thousands and are locked from further character creation at this time. We'll update this post when the servers are officially back up and running -- until then, why not check out the Tuesday Morning Post for reading material you may have missed? Update #1: The official Warcraft Twitter just noted the following: #WoWInfo - We are continuing the process of marking realms live. We will provide an update on our progress at approximately 7:00PM PDT. Also, all servers that are currently live appear to be locked. Update #2, 7:21PDT: The official Warcraft Twitter just noted the following: #WoWInfo - We anticipate all remaining realms will be brought online within the next hour and appreciate your ongoing patience.
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.
