Tuesday Morning Post: Premature Patching edition
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Nov 10th 2009 at 7:00AM
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:
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:
Hot News and Features
- Hungry for expansion news? Check out this roadmap for Cataclysm Zone Overhauls, as well as this more comprehensive list of what we know about the old world Cataclysm overhauls.
- There's also more guild leveling news from the Russian E3, IgroMir.
- But seriously, screw the pet store, the best new WoW pet is obviously the PuG pug.
- Warning! Major spoilers ahead. There's been some very interesting sound files found in some of the latest Patch 3.3 PTR files.
- The Patch 3.3 PTR notes have received a few updates. Here's one, and here's the latest.
- Tirion Fordring answers your questions in the latest Ask a Faction Leader.
- Meet everyone's "favorite" horse, Invicible, now appearing in Patch 3.3 as a flying mount.
- Encrypted Text helps you level your rogue through Outland.
- Scattered Shots covers Outland leveling for hunters.
- Shifting Perspectives reflects on being a reluctant battleground healer.
- Here's some thoughts on getting hit in the face for warriors.
- The official Tier 10 previews have been updated with priest and paladin, and finally, with Shamans.
- If you have a bunch of gold burning a hole in your pocket, Haris Pilton has a bag for you come Patch 3.3.
- Here's a deeper look at the Patch 3.3 PTR quest tracking feature.
- Still not sold on the Patch 3.3 random dungeon feature? Would a handy dandy buff convince you?
- Blood Sport continues to sort through the Patch 3.3 changes as they affect the arena.
- The Art of War(craft) has an absolute beginner's guide to Warsong Gulch.
- The Blues say they're happy with Hallow's End's randomness.
- WoW Rookie helps you find some rookie addons.
- The Stone Keeper Shard collection buff will be tied to your realm for purposes of the random cross-server PuG mechanism.
- Ready Check talks raid coaching.
- Sad news for machinima fans: plans for a BLIND sequel are on indefinite hold.
- Print Warcraft is now selling custom posters of your WoW character.
- Curse client v4 is now in open Beta.
- The Guild is up to episode 9 of season 3.
- The WoW 5th Anniversary Sweepstakes is on.
- The Mainstream Media is finally starting to notice the malignancy of gamer-focused malware.
- Amazon is listing the release date for the Cataclysm novel as August 2010. I'm honestly calling placeholder on that, for the record.
- The delays and roadblocks for WoW China may be the result of government turf wars, says the New York Times.
Filed under: Realm Status, Odds and ends, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
FifthDream Nov 10th 2009 7:16AM
Mmm, Dragon Age.
Betherian Nov 10th 2009 7:29AM
Warning: Excessive amounts of Dragon Age can cause ridicule, boredom and in extreme cases, a little bit of death on the inside.
LilBanshee Nov 10th 2009 7:41AM
You, my friend, have clearly not played the game. Dragon age is epic, it's the first game in two years to draw me away from World of Warcraft (at least the first to do so that held my interest for more than a day or two).
jealouspirate Nov 10th 2009 7:50AM
Dragon Age is amazing.
MusedMoose Nov 10th 2009 7:50AM
I'm with FifthDream and LilBanshee on this one. I've only played about 4-5 hours' worth of Dragon Age since getting it on Saturday, but I already love it. As someone who invested hundreds of hours in Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, as well as NWN and SW:KotOR, I can say it's a game that does what BioWare does best: epic party-based adventure. After so much Wow, it's been awesome to have a party again and get caught up in a massive storyline.
However, I can't play it with my friends, and I can't play a draenei in DA. So it all works out. *grin*
Llanwyllan Nov 10th 2009 7:54AM
heh i think i've logged into WoW maybe once sense i picked up Dragon Age
Hansbo Nov 10th 2009 11:04AM
I agree. I've been playing Dragon Age for only a couple of days, but despite the paradoxality of it, I'm still 2 weeks behind on my studies because of it.
LilBanshee Nov 10th 2009 2:23PM
Huh. Everyone's agreeing with me yet I've been downranked. It would appear that the people who click the rank up and down buttons aren't cut from the same cloth as the people that participate in the discussion.
Betherian Nov 10th 2009 11:53PM
Then why don't you just marry Dragon Age then.
Hmph
/cry
Darkshivers Nov 10th 2009 7:49AM
i am total agreement with you Lil. now that i havee Dragonage, tuesdays are not boreing while the servers are down, i even sit here playing WoW and feel the spirit of Dragonage telling me to come play it.
vertigobliss86 Nov 10th 2009 7:55AM
Lol it saved my butt, I forgot it was raid night :3
JFetch Nov 10th 2009 8:03AM
Dragon Age is so last week. Modern Warfare 2 came out today.
Rkaar Nov 10th 2009 8:09AM
What about Torchlight by Runic Games? Torchlight ftw! Make mine an Alchemist!
SithLlenniuq Nov 10th 2009 8:14AM
Just a note, again it is unsure what was downloaded, but there are some stability issues in what ever was downloaded. I have had wow crash on me 5 times since this download and I have never had wow crash on me before. I thought it may have been on my end, however when I was pugging AN this morning every one in our group crashed at the same time on the same boss. Not a disconnect but a full wow stopped responding and crashed.
I am curious to know what was downloaded...
Sleutel Nov 10th 2009 8:44AM
Locked me out of WoW in the middle of an Algalon run. Of course. Took me forever to get back in.
Othor_NL Nov 10th 2009 10:46AM
Funny to be "locked" out when your name means key in dutch ;-)
Sleutel Nov 10th 2009 6:52PM
@Othor_NL: HAH! I think you're the only person who's ever caught that.
thehoodie Nov 10th 2009 8:48AM
Definitely stopped my guild from getting an Algalon kill after our main tank DC'd and kept getting an error after logging back in.
jamevay Nov 10th 2009 8:56AM
My wow client is unable to complete the patch. Anybody else having problem?
Nadia Nov 10th 2009 9:01AM
I bet this patch has something to do with checking for battle.net accounts, since the deadline to convert is tomorrow.