wow-eu
Latest
Character service pricing going up for those paying in pounds
Though character service pricing has always seemed high, if you're paying for WoW in pounds sterling then soon you're going to have to pay a bit more. Presumably, this is to bridge the difference in value between the pound and the euro, but Blizzard's description of the price change as an adjustment to ensure they're offering the "best entertainment value" doesn't really sell it -- as pages of unhappy commenters can attest to. If you're in the market for character services, here's the new pricing, in effect April 30th: Takralus Name Change .................................................... Current Price: £6 | New Price: £7 Pets ....................................................... Current Price: £9 | New Price: No change Helms ................................................... Current Price: £10 | New Price: No change Appearance Change ...................................... Current Price: £12 | New Price: £13 Guild Name Change ....................................... Current Price: £15 | New Price: £17 Character Transfer ........................................ Current Price: £15 | New Price: £17 Race Change ................................................. Current Price: £15 | New Price: £17 Mounts ................................................ Current Price: £17 | New Price: No change Faction Change ............................................. Current Price: £20 | New Price: £22 Guild Transfer ..................................... Current Price: £25 | New Price: No change Guild Faction Change ......................... Current Price: £30 | New Price: No change Level 90 Character Boost .................... Current Price: £40 | New Price: No change Guild Transfer and Faction Change .... Current Price: £50 | New Price: No change source
Free Character Migrations available for EU players
If you're a European player looking for a new home, the search may just have gotten easier -- or at the very least, far less expensive. Blizzard is now offering free Character Migrations for players on certain EU realms. This process has been opened based on realm population tracking and analysis, and isn't available for every EU realm on the list. However, if you're on one of the lower population realms that has been listed, you can find yourself a sunny, higher-populated new home for free. Keep in mind that this offer is for European realms only -- US realms are not open for free transfers at this time, although that might change in the future. Also note that this is a Character Migration only -- Guild Master Realm Transfers are still available, but they remain a paid service. The full list of eligible realms, as well as the full post by Community Manager Takralus, is available after the break.
15 Minutes of Fame: From Romania to Korea via World of Warcraft
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. This is the story of Apathius, a Romanian student of languages who's made World of Warcraft her entree to the Korean language and culture. "A year ago, I used to be a slightly hardcore raider on the EU realms," she writes. "Being a big fan of anime and all that stuff, I opted for a chance to study abroad in Korea. (Japan was out of the question, sadly, but Korea was pretty close, culture-wise.) So at the start of 2010, I hopped on a plane and came here to start a 'new life,' so to speak. But still, there are huge cultural differences between the Asian world and the west, and for fear that I might not adapt to this new environment, I decided to make WoW one of my mediums for permeating Korean society." "I thought I knew WoW well enough to get the hang of things quickly, but I ended up having to re-learn a lot of things, especially PVE-wise," she continues. "'Korean Style!' my guildies told me when I first asked them why almost no one raids as a guild here. I was surprised when I heard they PUG heroic raids like Alone in the Dark and Lich King 25-man. But that doesn't mean they're hardcore, as even the casuals do very well. For example, people who had never seen Putricide before went from a 80% wipe to a 5% wipe after three tries. Also, if you're a top-end raider, you can earn about 5,000ish gold per week from raids, because the DKP here is gold, and only gold. The weirdest part about it though, I really get the feeling they take the PVE side of WoW as fun, not as competition, not as something to be taken seriously, just as a means of getting imba gear and seeing new fights." Join us for one player's quixotic journey through an American game on a European realm from her Romanian homeland to a new home and new realm in Korea.
Cataclysm launches in Europe, servers currently down [Updated]
In what may be the least surprising event of the year, Europe's World of Warcraft servers have gone down almost immediately after the expansion's launch in that region. Even Europe's Battle.net web resources appear to be down for maintenance (or are merely offline due to overwhelming load). How long will this downtime last? We're not sure, but we will do our very best to keep you updated on European server status. European players, if you have any tips or updates on your server's status, don't be afraid to contact us via our tip line. We love to hear from you! Update: It appears the culprit is the login/authentication server. Once you beat the login boss, the game realms themselves seem to be running just fine.
Emergency European maintenance this evening
A little while ago, 2 am Paris time, servers went down in the EU for emergency maintenance. More specifically, "emergency database maintenance." They're estimated to be down until 4 am Paris time, which by my estimate is another hour or so. Should that maintenance be extended any further, we'll be sure to let you know right here on WoW.com. Many thanks to our followers on Twitter for alerting us of this downtime, because our European staff members are apparently off doing silly things like sleeping. Thanks a lot, guys. Because of that, I'm now inflicting cultural stereotypes on you all in the form of the picture at the top of this post. Don't take your rage out on me, take it out on the warlock.
EU Battle.net problems
Many folks this afternoon playing on EU servers have tipped us to the issues going on with Battle.net. It seems that they are unable to logon, with all accounts being stuck on the "Connecting" phase. This is really bad timing for this to be happening, as it was just announced yesterday that on November 11th in the US and November 12th in the EU all accounts will have to be converted to Battle.net accounts. Many people are concerned that these problems will persist through the conversion, although it's important to remember that these issues have existed before Battle.net came about as well.There has not been any official word from Blizzard on today's EU problems, but that hopefully be coming along shortly -- along with an idea of when it all will be fixed.
Blizzard EU & NA comic and lore contest
I enjoy lore, and I enjoy comics. And if you're reading this, you're also probably like me and enjoy the World of Warcraft. So why not combine all those into a nice little contest?Blizzard EU is running a lore contest for their European customers, with the winners receiving a signed action figure. And sorry North American folks, right now this contest appears to be EU only.The quiz is a series of 10 questions, and while I won't give away the answers, the answer to number ten, "Who slays Onyxia?" is clearly "You and 39 friends, or just you." Because my solo warrior skills are just that leet.Head over to check out the rules and enter the contest, after all, you've got nothing to lose!Update: I wrote this article late yesterday evening, and at the time there was no North American version of the contest. However since then, Blizzard has posted a similar contest for North American residents. Enjoy!
Official World of Warcraft websites feature Spring Festival gallery
Earlier this week, the World of Warcraft community sites (multi-regional) updated with a gallery from WoW China. Chinese WoW players participated in an event called, "I Love World of Warcraft, I Love Spring Festival" that combined a passion for WoW with the Lunar New Year celebrations. Chinese players submitted pictures of themselves that incorporated both of these things and the community picked their favorites. This is, by far, one of my favorite galleries that any of the official community teams has ever done. As a blogger here on WoW Insider, I see every day just how much community has been built up around this game, and I know very well that there are faces behind the characters. I've met many of my guildmates in person, and I hear similar stories every single day through WoW Insider's tipline. I love seeing the faces behind the characters, and that is exactly what this gallery does. Sure, they posed for these things and they're not exactly candid, but it still shows that the game is very personal.We're all players, but we're also people. I much prefer galleries that display that, rather than yet another mount gallery. Mount galleries are cool and all, I just like this better. Go on, check it out!
The Queue: I love London
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.One of our questions today comes from a reader who's moving to London for a couple of months, and I just wanted to take a moment to say that I've always wanted to go there. Consider yourself very, very lucky! London has all kinds of great things I've always wanted to see, like Big Ben, Stonehenge, the Eiffel Tower, the Parthenon, and Papah?naumoku?kea. One day, hopefully, I'll get to go myself!Let's get started, hm?SithVicious asked a pair of questions..."Will Blizzard ever allow cross server chat?"
