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Wryxian just announced a new Patch 3.2 PTR build is on the burner for tonight as the PTRs go down for maintenance this afternoon.

This will bring Patch 3.2 up to build #10083 for those of you keeping track.

Now, it's interesting that Wryxian notes that fansites often don't credit the EU folks appropriately. However I'd like to take a moment to reassure him that yes, when we can we do give the EU as much love and credit as possible.

You all are across the pond! You're like the big brother to all the chaps here in the States. Whenever we can, we give you guys transatlantic high fives and milk and cookies (or is it tea and crumpets?). Either way, dear Wryxian, this one is for you.

With love,

The Colonies.

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Patch 3.2 will bring about a new 5, 10, and 25 man instance to WoW, and usher in a new 40-man battleground called the Isle of Conquest. WoW.com will have you covered every step of the way, from extensive PTR coverage through the official live release. Check out WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2 for all the latest!

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Filed under: Patches, News items

A little surprise on the Patch 3.2 PTR was discovered this evening. The Cold Weather Flying training, which previously had to be purchased for each character that wanted to fly in Northrend is now available as a Bind on Account book purchasable at the exotic mounts vendor in Dalaran.

The Use text is a little odd in that it notes the "tome is consumed when read." To me that means that the book is only a one use thing, which is a departure from current BoA items. And why have a level 68 requirement on this and not the normal Cold Weather Flying training? If you're 68 you're likely to be able to get to Dalaran anyways these days.

But wait Did you see it? You might have missed it.

It shows level 68 being the required level, not level 77.

Read more →

Filed under: News items

Maintenance came and went today, and many people were initially pleasantly surprised to see their realm up early. However this quickly became a thing of disappointment as they found the instance servers were laggier than normal, and the realms themselves were rather unstable.

While there were a series of quick restarts to correct many of the problems, several issues still existed. And of course another maintenance period has gone by without any fix to the dreaded "Additional instances cannot be launched, please try again later," error.

Those words are nearly burned into my monitor now.

Tomorrow morning from 5:00 a.m. PDT / 8:00 a.m. EDT until 8:00 a.m. PDT / 11:00 a.m. EDT the following realms after the break will be down for additional maintenance and hardware upgrades. These short downtimes usually mean that nothing too special is happening, but in case there's a cataclysmic event we'll be sure to let you know. (See what I did thar?)

The list of affected realms after the break!

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Filed under: Realm Status, News items

• Big Hit Box covers the Best In Slot Emblem Gear in Patch 3.2 for the Enhancement Shaman.
• Twisted Nether Blogcast episode 51 is up and ready for listening.
• Lorecrafted has a good bit of speculation on the possibility of WoW: Cataclysm.
• BlizzPlanet is getting in on the Cataclysm speculation, too. A new playable race?

Filed under: The Daily Quest

World of Warcraft has been around for a while now, and the game has changed significantly. Back in the day, way back in the day, things were so different you probably wouldn't recognize it. A couple times a week WoW.com will look back at old patches, lamenting on what once was.

Welcome to the first post in our Patches of Yesteryear series. We're going to take a look at old patch notes (listed after the break) and point out some of the ridiculous, and not so ridiculous changes that have gone through the game the past five years.

To start off with, let's look at Patch 0.6. This patch was released on April 13th, 2004. That's about seven months before WoW hit the retail shelves and became a hit. This beta version of WoW had a few important parts of the game that began their life in this patch:

• Scarlet Monastery, the level 30 dungeons near the Undercity
• Blackfathom Deeps, the cave maze dungeon out in Kalimdor
• Druids became available for play
• You had five states of rested that affected the gain of your experience gains: well rested, rested, normal, fatigued, and exhausted

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Filed under: Druid, Mage, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Guilds, Odds and ends, Leveling

Patch 3.2 is out on the PTR, and every day seems to bring new surprises. From raid lockouts to tier gear and heirloom pieces.

For Patch 3.2 we've been steadily updating WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2. with everything we've written about the Patch 3.2 PTR. Included in there are links to the latest patch notes, class changes and analysis, and tons of galleries of the new gear and quests.

Check out the guide and all its updates for Patch 3.2 goodness!

Filed under: Patches, Guides

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.

This queue is certified Panadaran free.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Today's reading music The Crossroads by Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. Every time I'm in the Crossroads I think of that song.

Yokumgang asked...

"Why can't we bandage while bleeding?"

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Filed under: Warlock, Instances, Raiding, The Queue

That hot time of the year, the Midsummer Fire Festival, has now ended. Once again the denizens of Azeroth go about their humdrum lives without any brilliant fires and spirited naked flame-ladies dancing to and fro on the bridges of Ironforge. Life is boring. The Ice Stone Has Melted.

But alas, not for I and my tabard! After a good half day of solid grinding I trekked my Paladin throughout the dunes of Kalimdor and the lush forests of the Eastern Kingdom, extinguishing the flames of the bastard Horde and honoring those of the blessed Alliance. All was done well, so say we all.

It didn't take long though for me to realize that I didn't want to do this on more than my main. However I found myself exerting as much discipline as possible to finish the dailies every day on my dual boxing Recruit a Friend alts, pulling in about 50% of a level each day just from the daily quests alone. It was quite a nice XP bump.

All in all I accomplished with the Fire Festival I wanted to, and it wasn't too bad of a time. Although I can definitely wait a year to extinguish another flame.

Did you accomplish everything you wanted to with the Fire Festival? Are you satisfied?

Filed under: Polls, Analysis / Opinion, Events, Achievements