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Tuesday Morning Post: Fear and Loathing edition
It was a fleeting dream, but a marvelous one, wasn't it? Attend BlizzCon all day, gamble all night, sleep never. The thought of a Las Vegas BlizzCon pretty much sent us here at the WoW.com into immediate spasms of joy. Unfortunately, they were quickly supplanted by howls of pain and anguish as we discovered that it just the Las Vegas Convention Center jumping the gun, and that we'll probably still be headed to Anaheim for the next BlizzCon. Don't me wrong, Anaheim's pretty cool and all, but it isn't Las Vegas, that's for sure. So unfortunately, I've had to cancel my plans to get a gonzo lawyer and rent an Impala, but what you gonna do? At least we still have the TCG. Maybe one of these years Blizzard will see the light. In the meantime, we'll just continue toiling away in the WoW.com salt mines here as we dream of the big city. This week, there's plenty of news to work through, and with a 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific downtime, you'll have time. Check out the latest gems we've unearthed for you after the break.
Tuesday Morning Post: Premature Patching edition
I honestly did not think there would be any story this week bigger than the microtransactional action of the Blizzard Pet Store (and it's totally going to ruin the game you guys, seriously), but apparently I thought too soon. This very night, as I write this, the servers are in chaotic disarray at the premature issuance of what appears to be a minor patch (sorry, it's not Patch 3.3), causing many people to be completely unable to log into the game. It has been sorted out as of this writing, or should be by the time the servers are back up this morning. Still, I know it soured a lot of people's gaming plans for the night. Oh well, that's what Dragon Age is for, I say. In the meantime, if you're stuck waiting for the servers to come back up and you don't have access to Dragon Age, might I suggest catching up on your WoW news reading? Here's a selection of stuff from the past 7 days or so:
Tuesday Morning Post: Identity Crisis Edition
So race changes are finally live, and with that, you can change your characters in just about every way possible short of class. Different faction? Go for it. Different gender? Change your face? Change your name? It's all good. Heck, you can do it every three days now. It's suddenly like we're all these crazy mutable nameless faceless blobs changing at will and at random, until we're practically a sea of shapeless shapeshifters. Or not. After all, there's still the whole money charge and stuff. Of course, that's not the only big news this week. Chill of the Throne, Icecrown's version of Sunwell Radiance, has been evoking a lot of discussion and a lot of unrest. Did Blizzard make the right choice in adding this much maligned dungeon-specific nerf back into the game? There's plenty of other issues as well, and as we have a nice 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific downtime, you'll have plenty of time to catch up with it all. You can start with some of the links below:
The Guild Halloween special
The Guild is on holiday vacation this week -- instead of the latest episode in the series (which is episode 9, and will come out next week, we're told), they've posted a Halloween special video, which you can watch over on MSN or right past the break below. It's more than just a chance to don their actual guildie costumes, too -- they go on a "socially acceptable real-world looting" run, with each guildie terrorizing one unlucky couple in their own special way. What's scarier than a Tuesday with all the servers down for maintenance? Vork showing up at your door. And while we're on the subject of The Guild, our good friends at Massively got a chance to speak with a few of the cast members at GameX earlier this week -- Jeff Lewis, Robin Thorsen, and Sandeep Parikh got cornered by Massively's cameras, and talked with them about Wil Wheaton, MMOs, and Sandeep's famous backflip. Have a happy Halloween, Guild fans, and we'll be back next week with the third-to-last episode of season 3. Like The Guild? We do, too! We chatted with all of the folks at BlizzCon, including Felicia Day, Sandeep Parikh, and Jeff Lewis and Michele Boyd. We also saw their panel, and the guys were nice enough to stop by our meetup as well. Stay tuned here every Tuesday for a brand new episode of season 3!
Tuesday Morning Post: The long and short of it edition
I have to say, this is sort of interesting. Downtime today is only 7 AM to 9 AM pacific. 2 hours is slightly worse than plain old rolling restarts, to be sure, but it's better than normal maintenance, if a bit unusual. Of course, those of you who are still after those dumb toothpicks will have a few more hours to curse at Innkeepers for turning you into a ninja instead of giving you a dang sliver of wood so you can get a big purple dragon, so that's always a plus. And of course, for that 2 hour period, you'll need some reading material, which is where we come in. Here's a list of some of the latest and greatest WoW.com news from the Patch 3.3 PTR and beyond:
Tuesday Morning Post: Icecrown and Hallow's End edition
Happy Tuesday morning and happy Hallow's End, everyone. That's right, WoW's coolest holiday's in full swing. Or is when the servers are up. If you're going after the Hallowed title, we have a Hallow's End achievement guide for you. If you're thinking of going after everyone's favorite cackling headless holiday boss, we have a guide to the new Headless Horseman loot. Of course, maybe you just want to do some good old fashioned trick or treating. We have something for that too. Of course, while the revelry continues on live servers, the testing continues on the test servers, and there's been quite a bit of activity.
Tuesday Morning Post: Animal magnetism edition
So. Big news guys: The Three Worgen Moon Shirt is here. Seriously. The Shirt that will change your life, I kid you not. I ordered mine, and I have already sensed the presence of beautiful women gravitating toward the aura of self-assurance and wildness created around me by the very decision made to purchase the shirt.Nah, but seriously. There's been stuff going on this weekend. Mostly, Patch 3.3's been going on, and we've had crack teams poring over the data files and running through the dungeons getting all the latest for you. For example, here's some video footage of some of the team running The Pit of Saron. Also, you're going to need to convert your account to Battle.net pretty soon now.There's much more to peruse of course, so let's get to it. Here's a list of some of our best news and features from the past few days.
Tuesday Morning Post: The Icecrown Cometh edition
What a week for WoW news, eh? Not only did we get a very intriguing sneak preview of the Icecrown Citadel 5-mans, but we also got a fresh new PTR Patch. From there, the patch notes and game files revealed a lot of pretty juicy stuff. Newbies get it ever easier. There's craftable nature resist gear (resist boss fight, anyone?). There looks to be a pretty epic 5-man quest line for the Quel'Delar (Here's a picture of the blade, for the record. Yeah, it's sweet). There's new racial shaman totem graphics. It looks like a Valentine's Day holiday event boss may be in the works. In what may be my favorite development, there's new weekly raiding quests coming. Even the names of datamined NPCs offer their own intrigue.Yeah, anyway, there's a lot of stuff to digest, and with this 5 AM - 11 AM pacific downtime, hopefully you have time to do so. Follow the break for even more news:
Tuesday Morning Post: Cataclysm bombshell edition
So the biggest news from the past week was probably the Cataclysm preview article published in PC Gamer UK, in which more spoilertastic information was revealed about the new races and other storyline minutiae. I have to say, I was surprised. I expected there would be a lot more discussion about the newly revealed level 1-5 stories. Instead, everyone's focused in on one line about... well, some of you probably don't want to be spoiled, so I'll leave it alone. But suffice it to say, if you don't mind being spoiled and you haven't heard the hullabaloo yet, you might want to check out our article and see if you can figure out what has everyone talking. If spoilers aren't your bag, or you already know, don't fear, there's plenty more to keep you occupied as we wait out the 5 AM - 11 AM Pacific maintenance window. For example, you could read up on the week-old Patch 3.2.2 on our guide page. Here's a few more ideas for your browsing pleasure:
Tuesday Morning Post: A long expected downtime edition
Yeah, weirdly enough, we've been expecting this a while. They've announce this week's downtime pretty early, and it's extended: 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific. We still can't say for sure why they announced it that early. As of this writing, we haven't heard any peep on whether or not Patch 3.2.2 will go live today (and despite my gut feeling, there is that whole november thing that keeps going around). You'll know by the time you read this, most likely, but either way, it can't hurt to read up on the new patch while the servers are down, right? Of course, even if Patch 3.2.2 doesn't drop, there's plenty of other things going on. For example, Brewfest is in full swing. If you still haven't gotten in the spirit, check out our Achievement guide and Coren Direbrew loot list for inspiration. Plus, as always, we have even more news and views to get you through the downtime after the break:
Tuesday Morning Post: Philosophy Edition
I don't know what was in the air this week, but it seemed like everyone was doing a little philosophizing around the WoW webosphere. Chief among those, of course, was Ghostcrawler, who waxed eloquent about community reactions to balancing and the reasons for killing off 2v2 arena. We got into too, with Adam wondering if Blizzard's just a little too secretive, There's plenty more armchair quarterback philosophy where that came from, and you'll have plenty of time to experience it all, with downtime lasting... Wait. There is no downtime. But hey, it's cool. If you're stuck at work or school with no access to WoW, you might still like to browse. Here's our usual tuesday morning list of news and navelgazing:
Tuesday Morning Post: Not one, but two Heroic Coliseums edition
Good Tuesday Morning, everyone! While we are expecting an extended downtime this morning, Patch 3.2.2 is still in a holding pattern on the PTR and as of this writing does not appear likely to go live this week. But beyond that, We've still had some activity to speak of. With the Crusader's Coliseum's heroic raids unlocked, we've already seen various guilds, such as Premonition, For the Horde, and Paragon claim some of the top achievements. Oh yeah, and the Faction Change Service is up and running, kind of. Also, Blizzard reneged on previous statements and revealed that they do plan to offer straight up intrafaction race changes, eventually.There's more news to catch up on, of course, and with the 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific downtime, you'll have plenty of time to catch up on it. As always, we have a list to get you started after the break.
[Updated] Realm Status: All realms to be online by 10:30pm EDT
Happy Tuesday everybody! Maintenance has been extended to 2:00 p.m. PDT / 5:00 pm EDT. Check out the Tuesday Morning Maintenance post for some good things to read while you wait. And we'll keep you up to date, should anything change.With all of the hardware upgrading being done, there are bound to be some DNS issues. If you have trouble logging in when the realms are back up, try the solutions listed here.Update 5:00 p.m. EDT: The realms after the break will be down until at least 4:00 p.m. PDT / 7:00 p.m. EDT. Realms not on the list after the break should be up by 3:00 p.m. PDT / 6:00 p.m. EDT.Update 7:42 pm EDT: People who can log in are having severe issues and the realms after the break are still down. Isradun says they will give us an update in 2 hours.Update 8:18 pm EDT: All realms should be online within the hour.Update 8:50 pm EDT: No really. They mean it this time. All realms should be up by 9:30 pm EDT. Warning!: The ones that are up are sloooooow.Update 10:11 pm EDT: Now they are saying 10:30pm EDT. With all this extended downtime, Mashable has a list of thing you can do while Gmail is down (Gmail is down today too, if you haven't heard). They apply perfectly well to WoW as well.
Tuesday Morning Post: Remains of the BlizzCon edition
So BlizzCon 2009 is behind us by over a week now, but don't think its presence isn't still felt. This past week alone we had tons of wrap-up analysis and a few freshly transcribed interviews. We've dug a few new nuggets of news and impressions out our coverage too. Here's something for you: The new Battle.net will allow in game cross faction communication. We also discussed the BlizzCon team's first impressions of the new races. And don't forget our footage of the ultimate raidkiller: Hogger.Of course, in all this BlizzCon and Cataclysm tizzy, don't think we've forgotten about Patch 3.2.2 either. We got some pretty juicy news about that as well. Luckily, you'll have plenty of time to read up on it, since we got a pretty huge chunk of maintenance this morning. Let's take a look at some of the biggest stories from the past 7 days:
Tuesday Morning Post: Calm after the Storm Edition
So BlizzCon is over. We're wrapping up the last bit of fun stuff from the con floor, including a few galleries and interviews, and looking forward to reporting on the new Cataclysm expansion (Which may even drop in 2010) and Patch 3.3 in the coming weeks. We do have a pretty decent amount of maintenance to get through this morning, so if you missed any of our extensive BlizzCon coverage or any of the news to come down the pipe these past few days, now's a good time to get caught up. We have a few links below to get you started.
Tuesday Morning Post: Leaving on a jet plane edition
That's right, it's just about that time. After I finish writing this article, I'll be right back to packing, and in a few days later, I'll be on a jet plane headed for Sunny Southern California and BlizzCon. Unfortunately, it's no Brood of Onxyia mount, but it'll have to do. Which brings me to one of the top stories of the week: Onyxia's going level 80 in Patch 3.2.2, complete with a 310% speed flying mount and some awesome buffed old school loot.And there's other news. Oh yes, there is other news. All we have to deal with today is some rolling restarts at 5 AM Pacific, but hey, there's new to be had, and that dungeon run can wait. Let's check out what's going in this, the last Tuesday Morning Post before the 2009 BlizzCon:
Tuesday Morning Post: Have I got a leak for you Edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! By now, I'm sure you've heard the biggest news of the past few days: That's right, we're putting our hat in the ring for the new races. They're coming in Cataclysm, folks. Now, I've already gushed before that I am pretty excited about one of them, but I have to admit, I've been sort of intrigued by the other lately, too. It would be pretty fun to roll up a Priest of Janeiro and have some fun with a Ferengi-like religion of greed that believes that he with the most toys is blessed by Heaven and that not only can you take it with you, you'd better take it with you so that you can bribe your way into a better afterlife.But anyway, leaks aside, there's plenty of other news to read up on this morning during the 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific downtime. Patch 3.2's been out for a week, and if you haven't been able to keep abreast of all the changes, you'll probably want to take a peek at a few of our guides. Check out those and more stories below:
Tuesday Morning Post: Down to the Wire edition
So this is it. A lot of people are saying it, and while there's no word one way or another, it seems like this morning is sort of the deadline. If they don't release Patch 3.2 today, pretty much everyone agrees we'll be lucky to see it before BlizzCon, since they're gonna need to get into gear to get all those special BlizzCon surprises ready for us. Now mind you, by the time you read this, you'll probably know for sure if it's going down. But me, here, on a warm Monday evening, I'm just finishing up some writing before I meet some friends for $2.50 beer night at the local microbrewery. So consider this, if you will, a message from the past, a past where the future was uncertain, but hope reigned supreme; Where we all looked forward to a pleasant evening and a bright tomorrow.Wait? What's that? It is coming out? Oh sweet. Okay guys. Be sure to check out our guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest new and guides on the new patch content.Also on the list of what is confirmed is that we have extended downtime. All servers will be down from at least 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific time, and a couple battle groups will be down even longer. Considering that, you will probably have some time to catch up recent WoW news, so let me lay it on you:
Tuesday Morning Post: The BlizzCon cometh edition
Good Tuesday morning, everyone! So it looks like we have at least one more week of Patch 3.1. But here's the good news: We're just about to hit August, and August is BlizzCon month! And of course, I know you're all looking forward to the premiere event of BlizzCon, the WoW.com meetup. That's right, we're back and better than ever, and we got a sweet new spot for the shindigs. You can see all the details here and then proceed to make your plans or be jealous as your ability to attend dictates.But seriously, we still got a ways to go until BlizzCon, and hopefully a shorter ways to go until Patch 3.2, but in the meantime, we have a few rolling restarts and a handful of short downtimes to get through. With that in mind, here's some news to keep you busy while you wait for your server.
Tuesday Morning Post: Howling at the maintenance edition
Good Tuesday Morning, everyone. While it seems like the news slowed down a bit this week as compared to the past few, don't think it's been a quiet week by any means. The Background Downloader has started up, which may or may not mean we're pretty close to Patch 3.2 going live, Blizzard is cautioning against wolf-related apparel, and... oh yeah, there was that thing with the Worgen and the Goblins. Could those masks be pointing to next expansion's playable races? Either way, the debate and discussion about them has been jumping all week (I'd totally roll a Worgen Paladin and I hope they keep the running on all fours thing, for the record).But don't be fooled into think that's the only news hitting the presses lately. With downtime coming from 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific time, you probably have time to do some more reading, so here's a few links for your perusal:
