tuesday
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Happy Tuesday, everyone!
Ah, Tuesday! And as usual, all US realms are down (extended maintenance this week -- it started a few hours early), the official World of Warcraft website is extremely sluggish, and the forums are jumping on and offline... What's a player to do!? (To European players in the audience, you're probably looking forward to the same on Wednesday.) The realms are scheduled to come back up in about an hour and a half (presuming maintenance runs as scheduled, but I suggest being prepared for the worst), but while we're waiting, it seems like a good time to chat about what we're all up to during these downtimes. Do you run to other MMOs? Pull out your copy of Starcraft? Take the dogs for a walk? (Sorry, cat owners -- I don't know what you would do.) Stare at the breaking news box in hopes that it will change? And maybe some of you out there have even better ideas... so tell us, how do you spend your downtime hours? %Poll-8785%
MacBook Air in stores Tuesday, empty pocketbook in your future
Just in case you were really, really anxious to get your hands on the MacBook Air, word on the street is that the little slivers are already in stores, and you'll actually be able to stroll up into the place and nab them this Tuesday. Of course, old Jobsy has already said as much ("two weeks"), but the Boy Genius is making extra-dextra sure that everyone knows they really will be on the floor come next week. If you're lucky enough to be employed by Apple as a "Genius," then you'll be getting some Air training tomorrow. Hey, it's never too late to sign up and instantly be accepted for a job... oh, wait, it probably is.
US maintenance extended
According to Blizzard's schedule, the realms should have been back online about 20 minutes ago. So it should come as no shock that today's maintenance has been extended for an extra hour. (Or, to be precise, an extra sixty-one minutes. Why the extra minute? We can't say.) This isn't exactly a surprise, as patch deployment usually takes a bit longer than a normal maintenance cycle (and it seemed odd, earlier, that the login screen announced only a normal maintenance window). And to the European players in the audience -- this is what you get to look forward to tomorrow!Update: Realms appear to be back online as scheduled!
Patch 2.3.2 going live
Is patch 2.3.2 going live today? Though there's no official word, signs point to yes. US realms, currently undergoing maintenance, have a generic downtime message on the login screen (as seen above) and no patch download starts for those attempting to log on. but if you try to log on, the patch 2.3.2 download (approximately 5MB) will start. However, European players, whose maintenance doesn't start until tomorrow, are getting a different login screen message:This Wednesday there will be an extended maintenance to apply patch 2.3.2. Please note that all European realms will be offline from 03:00 until 11:00, Paris time (CET).Since we've never seen a patch go live in Europe that hasn't gone live in the US, this is pretty strong evidence that today is patch day. Patch 2.3.2 will include some class tweaks (primarily for Hunters, Mages, Shamans, and Rogues), some UI changes which may mean you have to pick up updated addons, bug fixes and more. See the full patch notes (linking to the PTR notes, as the live notes aren't up yet) for official details.Update: The patch is now downloading for US players.
Why maintenance on Tuesday mornings?
I don't really think that Drysc has to justify downtime (seeing as it on Tuesday mornings for most players, not to mention that with all the changes we've seen come down lately, downtime has definitely been justified), but he does it anyway over on the forums. He's right-- things used to be a lot worse (I can definitely remember having a secondary realm to escape to when my main realm was down), and with the two week cycle Blizzard has going on right now, actual downtime is few and far between. Sure, it means that every Tuesday morning you've got to go for a walk rather than play the game, but that's definitely not a bad problem to have.Sure, if Tuesday morning is a time you usually play, it's not that much fun (I remember I always used to have Tuesday mornings off when I worked retail, and every week I forgot, and tried to sign on before realizing the realms were down). But until Blizzard figures out how to update the game while it stays live, the situation we've got now ends up being a pretty good solution.
Breakfast Topic: What are you most excited about in patch 2.3?
As you may have heard, patch 2.3 is hitting live realms tomorrow (at least for our US readers -- for the EU, I'm afraid you'll have to wait until Wednesday)! So over at WoW Insider, we'd like to celebrate our last pre-patch hours by going over what we're most looking forward to in patch 2.3. So, what can't you wait to see? Guild banks? Zul'Aman? Tweaks to your class of choice? The improved leveling curve for mid-level players? We're here, we've got chips and dip (the breakfast food of choice, right?), and we're listening. What are you looking forward to in patch 2.3?
Regular maintenance for US realms this week
Ah, I'm fondly remembering the days that we used to get quick rolling restarts instead of the 8-hour standard maintenance cycle. The past two Tuesdays have been patch days on US realms, and we're coming off of extended-patch downtime with a regular maintenance schedule this week. What does all this fancy talk mean to you? It means that all US realms are going to be down from 3:00 AM PST to 11:00 AM PST (or 6:00 AM EST to 2:00 PM EST) today for what Blizzard considers to be regular maintenance. Perhaps we'll get lucky next week with 15 minute downtimes for rolling restarts.
Rolling restarts this week for US realms
Happy Tuesday, everyone! This week's regular maintenance cycle for US realms will be performed via rolling restarts of all realms, starting at 5:00 AM PDT today. What this means, of course, is that we shouldn't expect more than 15 minutes of downtime while the realms are restarted -- though we can't say precisely when the restarts will occur for each realm. (Blizzard will be working their way down the realm list, so your realm could come up right at five o'clock or could be left for last.)In addition to the rolling restarts, Blizzard will also be performing some authentication system maintenance during an unspecified time period today. However, the maintenance shouldn't hinder our ability to log on to the game. So play on, everyone![via Breaking News on the login screen]
Regular maintenance for all US realms this week
Yep, last week most realms had rolling restarts, which means that this week we have a regular maintenance. This week all US realms (which means AU realms, as well) will have a regularly scheduled maintenance period, starting at 5:00 AM PDT and ending at 11:00 AM PDT. Sure, on good weeks, the realms can come back up early, but it's just as common for them to come back up late. So for those of you who usually play during this period of time, my apologies -- maybe you can join me in my downtime hobby of re-playing the original StarCraft![Information via the login screen -- nope, there's nothing on the official site, or I'd link it]
Some downtime, some rolling restarts for this week's mainteinace
This week in server maintenance, most realms will have rolling restarts instead of downtime (these restarts will be starting at 5:00 AM PDT, and such things usually involve around 15 minutes of downtime per realm), but selected realms will have a longer than usual maintenance cycle starting at 3:00 AM PDT and lasting until 1:00 PM PDT. No word on what the additional downtime is for (perhaps this particular hardware simply needed a regular maintenance cycle this week?), but if you're playing on any of the following realms, expect downtime during this week's maintenance cycle. The list includes: Agamaggan, Alexstrasza, Alleria, Azshara, Baelgun, Balnazzar, Blackhand, Cho'gall, Dark Iron, Destromath, Dethecus, Detheroc, Emerald Dream, Garona, Gorgonnash, Greymane, Gul'dan, Hellscream, Illidan, Kael'thas, Kalecgos, Kirin Tor, Lightninghoof, Maelstrom, Malfurion, Moonrunner, Nazjatar, Ravencrest, Sargeras, Spinebreaker, Staghelm, Stormreaver, Twisting Nether, Ursin, Whisperwind, and Wildhammer.For those of you without downtime tonight, grats. For those of you with extended downtime... well, I can recommend some good books.
Patch 2.1.2 coming this Tuesday!
You know the PTRs are up and running with patch 2.1.2, don't you? So far, patch 2.1.2 is a mix of bug fixes, minor tweaks, and Season 2 arena rewards (for full patch notes, check here -- though note, these are the PTR notes, and there may be some changes on the live realms). And it looks like we have an official release date for it on the live realms! When asked if we could expect the patch to go live this Tuesday, Nethaera replied:The Magic 8 Ball had this to say, "AS I SEE IT YES."She then clarifies:So far things look good. If there is a delay, we'll let people know.As of right now, this means US players should expect this Tuesday to be patch day, and EU players should expect the same on Wednesday.
Patch Notes: 2.1.1
Not *quite* as short as last time, but 2.1.1 is not a major patch by anyone's reckoning (unless, you know, you're all about "The Fel and the Furious"). Clocking in at 1.84MB on the PC and 3.45 MB on the Mac, here's what you'll be getting:World of Warcraft Client Patch 2.1.1Bugs Players will now be able to properly destory the infernals in the quest, "The Fel and the Furious" Gladiator's Plate Legguards: Fixed a graphical display error. Fixed a bug that caused some systems to see terrain holes appear in the distance. Stackable items retrieved from mail will no longer automatically stack in your inventory. This has been disabled pending a future patch fix. Players will no longer see the flickering terrain issues that were introduced with 2.1.0 when the LOD system is enabled. [Thanks to Kompost for the tip!]
The extended maintenance cycle begins! [Updated]
Tseric greets us on this pleasant Tuesday afternoon with the news that today's maintenance cycle has been extended until 1PM PDT for select realms. There is, however, no news as to why the maintenance has been extended -- patch problems, perhaps? Though as far as "select realms" are concerned, I suspect the list of "non-select realms" would be shorter. So if you play on any of the following realms, the wait for uptime just got a little longer: Agamaggan, Aggramar, Alexstrasza, Alleria, Arathor, Argent Dawn, Arthas, Azgalor, Azjol-Nerub, Azshara, Baelgun, Balnazzar, Blackhand, Bleeding Hollow, Bloodhoof, Bloodscalp, Bonechewer, Boulderfist, Bronzebeard, Burning Blade, Burning Legion, Cho'gall, Crushridge, Daggerspine, Dark Iron, Darkspear, Destromath, Dethecus, Detheroc, Draenor, Dragonblight, Dragonmaw, Dunemaul, Durotan, Earthen Ring, Eldre'Thalas, Elune, Emerald Dream, Eonar, Eredar, Feathermoon, Firetree, Frostmane, Garona, Gilneas, Gorefiend, Gorgonnash, Greymane, Gul'dan, Gurubashi, Hellscream, Illidan, Kalecgos, Kael'Thas, Kargath, Kirin Tor, Laughing Skull, Lightninghoof, Lightning's Blade, Llane, Lothar, Madoran, Maelstrom, Magtheridon, Malfurion, Malygos, Mannoroth, Medivh, Moonrunner, Nathrezim, Nazjatar, Perenolde, Ravencrest, Sargeras, Scarlet Crusade, Shadow Council, Shadow Moon, Shadowsong, Shattered Hand, Silvermoon, Skullcrusher, Skywall, Smolderthorn, Spinebreaker, Spirestone, Staghelm, Stonemaul, Stormrage, Stormreaver, Stormscale, Suramar, Terenas, Thunderhorn, Thunderlord, Trollbane, Twisting Nether, Uldum, Ursin, Warsong, Whisperwind, Wildhammer, Windrunner, and Zul'jin. (Wow, that was a mouthful.)Update: Tseric informs us that all realms should be back online in a matter of moments. Huzzah!
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No maintenance this Tuesday
There will be no regular Tuesday maintenance this week. That would be Tuesday, December 26th for you calendar impaired folks. Is this a late Christmas present from Blizzard? Well...sort of. According to Drysc, the retrofits they have been doing to server hardware over the past year have made it possible to go longer than one week in between maintenance periods. Good news! For those of you behind a firewall at work, here is Drysc's post in it's entirety:"Since the game's release, one of our most important service goals has been to reduce the amount of time realms are down for weekly realm maintenance. The various hardware upgrades and retrofits we've done over the past year have put us in a position to begin testing the ability to go longer than a week between maintenance periods. In the upcoming weeks, we will be testing the effect of a live maintenance, where regular maintenance tasks are run during off-peak with realms live. On Tuesday, December 26 there will be no scheduled downtime for weekly maintenance. We will perform all necessary maintenance tasks while the realms are live. We are anticipating the possibility that we may need to perform rolling restarts off-peak if we find that a realm restart is necessary; however the downtime for each realm would be less than 10 minutes if it was required."It would be really nice if this holds and we can make the Tuesday downtime a thing of the past.
Greatly extended weekly maintenance for some realms
Do you play on one of the following realms? Azjol-Nerub, Bloodscalp, Bonechewer, Boulderfist, Bronzebeard, Crushridge, Daggerspine, Darkspear, Draenor, Dragonblight, Dragonmaw, Dunemaul, Eldre'Thalas, Feathermoon, Firetree, Frostmane, Gurubashi, Nathrezim, Perenolde, Scarlet Crusade, Shadow Council, Shadowsong, Silvermoon, Skywall, Smolderthorn, Spirestone, Stonemaul, Stormscale, Suramar, Terenas, Uldum, or Windrunner. Well, if so, I feel sorry for you, because your so-called Tuesday maintenance will be stretched out until 12:01 AM PDT Wednesday morning. They're down for hardware upgrades to -- hopefully -- improve server stability, but such extended downtime isn't exactly fun for those looking forward to logging on and playing Tuesday afternoon. As an additional downer, friend and ignore lists will be lost for those on effected realms, and paid character transfers will be offline for the duration of the maintenance period.
Extra Extended Maintenance for US Realms
It looks like today's maintenance is being drawn out because of "concerns that have arisen with Cross-Realm Battlegrounds" (at least according to the current login message). So instead of coming back up at 11:00 AM PDT, we're looking at a 1:00 PM PDT uptime for all US realms. However, as of the time of this writing, several US realms have already come back online, so if you're wanting to play, it doesn't hurt to check. Online by the usual 11:00 AM are: The Forgotten Coast, Anub'arak, Cenarius, Lightbringer, Uther, Cenarion Circle, and Hyjal. The rest of us are just going to have to wait!Update: While numerous realms have come back online, officially, maintenance has been extended until 4:00 PM PDT.
Extended US Maintenance
After much waiting, the time has finally arrived. Patch 1.12 will be deployed on US realms during Tuesday's maintenance (and presumably on EU realms during Wednesday's maintenance). The maintenance has been extended by two hours to give time to apply the patch, so it should start at 3:00 AM PDT and end at the usual 11:00 AM PDT. However, in addition to the extended maintenance required for patch 1.12, a number of realms will be coming down tonight at 11:00 PM PDT for hardware upgrades - to come back online with the rest of the servers when maintenance ends on Tuesday. Servers coming down early for upgrades include the following: Aggramar, Argent Dawn, Arthas, Azgalor, Bleeding Hollow, Bloodhoof, Burning Blade, Burning Legion, Durotan, Earthen Ring, Elune, Eonar, Eredar, Gilneas, Gorefiend, Kargath, Laughing Skull, Lightning's Blade, Llane, Lothar, Magtheridon, Malygos, Mannoroth, Medivh, Shadow Moon, Shattered Hand, Skullcrusher, Stormrage, Thunderhorn, Thunderlord, Warsong, and Zul'jin.Update: Further proof that this is, in fact, a roll out of patch 1.12 is the fact that the public test realms have been closed.
Extended Maintenance for Many US Realms
Well, the maintenance window for numerous realms has been pushed back to 1:00 PM PDT. Some of the realms on this list were the ones undergoing hardware maintenance today, but not all of those are of those are still offline. Further, some realms that weren't having any sort of special maintenance today have extended downtime - so it's difficult to say what's causing the delay. Affected realms include Argent Dawn, Aggramar, Arthas, Azgalor, Bleeding Hollow, Bloodhoof, Burning Blade, Burning Legion, Durotan, Earthen Ring, Elune, Eonar, Eredar, Gilneas, Gorefiend, Kargath, Laughing Skull, Lightning's Blade, Llane, Lothar, Magtheridon, Malygos, Mannoroth, Medivh, Muradin, Shadow Moon, Shattered Hand, Skullcrusher, Stormrage, Thunderhorn, Thunderlord, Warsong, and Zul'jin.
Extended Maintenance for Select US Realms
38 US realms will be offline for an extended period during regular Tuesday maintenance. This additional time accounts for additional hardware and ISP maintenance. The affected realms will be taken offline two hours earlier, and thus will be down between 2:00 AM PDT and 11:00 AM PDT. The rest of the realms will be offline during the usual 5:00 AM PDT to 11:00 AM PDT maintenance window. The realms with extended maintenance will include the following: Aggramar, Argent Dawn, Arthas, Azgalor, Bleeding Hollow, Bloodhoof, Burning Blade, Burning Legion, Cenarion Circle, Cenarius, Durotan, Earthen Ring, Elune, Eonar, Eredar, Gilneas, Gorefiend, Hyjal, Kargath, Laughing Skull, Lightbringer, Lightnings Blade, Llane, Lothar, Magtheridon, Malygos, Mannoroth, Medivh, Shadow Moon, Shattered Hand, Skullcrusher, Stormrage, The Forgotten Coast, Thunderhorn, Thunderlord, Uther, Warsong, and Zuljin.
Extended Tuesday Maintenance for Select US Realms
This week, maintenance is extended for 22 US realms that need additional database and hardware maintenance. These realms will be going offline at 3:00 AM PDT, while the rest of the realms will be going offline at 5:00 AM PDT as usual. So if you play on any of the following realms, prepare to loose a couple of hours of playtime: Alexstrasza, Alleria, Balnazzar, Blackhand, Cenarion Circle, Cenarius, Cho'gall, Destromath, Dethecus, Garona, Gorgonnash, Gul'dan, Hellscream, Hyjal, Illidan, Kael'thas, Kirin Tor, Lightbringer, Spinebreaker, Stormreaver, Uther, and Whisperwind.
