Filed under: Realm Status

Blizzard customer service now has its own Twitter account

by Robin Torres Sep 1st 2010 at 5:00PM

Blizzard has just announced via its Warcraft Twitter account and the forums that the Customer Support team now has its own Twitter. The full text of the forum announcement is below:

Auryk

You can now follow all Blizzard Entertainment Customer Support news and updates on Twitter. Just head over to @BlizzardCS, (http://twitter.com/BlizzardCS) for the latest Support related news, events and more. We will be providing constant updates during Tuesday's maintenance and service outages. Additionally, you will be able to view updates to our Queue Times for Game Master interactions, account investigations and escalated tickets alike.

source

No word if the intermittent outages of the authentication system that were recently being experienced will be reported on this new Twitter account, but I think this is a step in the right direction for further increasing the communication from Blizzard to its customer base.

Filed under: Realm Status, Blizzard, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: Kawaii edition

by Alex Ziebart Aug 31st 2010 at 7:00AM

This past week was not the most exciting week ever. It was a week without a major patch on beta realms and a week without a lot of announcements in general! We still have plenty of great content that you may have missed over the course of the week, such our class columns, our worgen starting zone walkthrough and an assortment of other Cataclysm content. Head behind the cut below for links to all of our top content from the last week.

If you find yourselves especially bored today even after going through the backlog of posts you've missed this week, we have a fun little activity for you! Take the header image of this post, erase Deathy from the love-bubble, and insert other humorous things and link it in the comments below. Please, please keep it clean. You don't want to get banned, and I don't want to see your genitals. Really. I don't. I promise.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: Soon edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Aug 24th 2010 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. We have new news about the release date of Cataclysm: It needs a few more months. OK, so it's not a solid date, but since I have been doing a lot of beta testing lately, it's sort of nice to know I might still have time to get back to live servers and finish Loremaster before the expansion drops.

Okay, that's a lie. I want Cataclysm now. Well, not now, because it's obviously still sort of buggy and needs testing. But you get the picture. Of course, what we want and what we get are generally two different things. That said, this morning may be relatively unique in that there is, as of this writing, no anticipated downtime. That said, if you still need a little break from WoW, we have a lot of news for you to catch up on. You can catch up on the latest from both the live servers and the Cataclysm beta after the break.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: Revenge of the 24-hour downtime

by Daniel Whitcomb Aug 17th 2010 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! It's another 24-hour downtime for a new list of servers, including mine. The other servers will be getting a standard maintenance window of 5-11 a.m. Pacific.

Luckily, with all this downtime, we just got a new beta patch with a decent amount of content, including new loading screens (though I do hope they consider replacing the worgen and goblin models with something more fitting), a new character model for Thrall, and a bunch of pretty epic new music. Also included were class changes, including masteries and a new Holy Power bar for paladins, as well as guild vendors for new guild-only purchased rewards. There's plenty of other news to peruse as well, so whether your server is down for six hours or 24 hours, why not follow me behind the break to see what else you may have missed over the past few days while you wait for the server maintenance party to start?

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: Adventures in beta patching edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Aug 10th 2010 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The big news this week has the been the beta test of the new patch process and launcher, which allows you to play even when your patch is only partially done. I've tried it out myself, and I must say, it's quite a feeling logging into Acherus to see nothing but the Eastern Plaguelands spread out below you for miles as the hold itself shifts into being around you. It's sort of crazy. Still, I imagine most of the time I'll just wait for the download to finish.

There is, of course, plenty of other news to catch up on. If you're waiting out this morning's rolling restarts, why not check and see if you missed anything from the past few days? Our usual roundup awaits after the break.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: We make our own news edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Aug 3rd 2010 at 6:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. It's been a surprisingly sluggish week for WoW news. This may be because the dev team is recovering from the San Diego Comic Con, or because they're playing too much Starcraft II. Myself, I'm thinking that they may have spent all their mojo making the Maelstrom as epic as possible. Whatever it is, they're giving a pass on server maintenance this week as well, so if you play in the early morning hours (or rather, what is early morning on the west coast of the USA), you're in the clear to keep on playing.

Of course, not everyone can play right now. Some of us are stuck at work or school. For all of you, we bring the usual round up of news from the past week, and there's some pretty good stuff in there, including screenshots of some never before seen Cataclysm zones! Check it out after the break.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: Suspect timing edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Jul 27th 2010 at 6:00AM

Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! In what may or may not be a mea culpa for the massive amount of downtime, both expected and unexpected, last week, Blizzard's announced that there will be no downtime this morning. That's right, we won't even get rolling restarts. Now, usually I'd be pretty grateful for this. It's always nice to know the server's going to be up and ready for you when you get a chance to play. But today, of all days, is the day they chose? Honestly, I wouldn't even be phased if they put my server on the 24-hour downtime list for today, because I'm just going to spend all my free time playing Starcraft 2.

Actually, never mind. It's pretty clear to me now why they're keeping the servers up. Obviously, the server maintenance team would rather take the day off and play Starcraft II too. If you're still agonizing over whether to play Starcraft or log on and do your dailies, maybe you should stop by WoW.com while you think. We have a lot of juicy Cataclysm news for you to catch up on, and more coming throughout the day.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: Never tear us apart edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Jul 20th 2010 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! You know, I feel like I really should say something. Blizzard, despite all the rockiness, be it the Real ID fiasco or the huge 31-point talent tree changes, I still love you. I don't think anything can tear us apart. You know, except a 24-hour downtime. Luckily, my server's not in today's batch of downed servers, but Zangarmarsh, home of <It Came From The Blog>, is; yours may be as well, so be sure to check the list.

If your realm is listed, that just means you'll have plenty of time to look back all the big news from the past seven days, such as the new 31-point talent trees or the massive Twitter developer chat. And anyway, we do have normal downtime at the somewhat early time of 1-7 a.m. Pacific, so you may still have a bit of a time to read up regardless. With all that in mind, we have the usual roundup of news, opinions and guides from the past seven days ready for your perusal. Once you're done reading those, you can prepare to join all the 24-hour downtime refugees on Shadow Council.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

24 hour maintenance for select servers on Tuesday

by Robin Torres Jul 19th 2010 at 1:00PM

Blizzard has released the next list of servers that will be unplayable for 24 hours. Starting at midnight PDT (3 a.m. EDT) tonight and ending around midnight PDT tomorrow, a large number of realms will be down for extended maintenance.

Included on that list is Zangarmarsh, the home server for WoW.com's guild <It came from the Blog>, which means we'll be hosting our downtime party elsewhere. I'm thinking a Refugee Party (RP) on Shadow Council may be in order. ~~Stay tuned for details coming later today~~. Click on the link for details.

The full list of realms is after the break.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: Real ID ruckus edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Jul 13th 2010 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. It's been a surprisingly busy and controversial week in WoW. The ill-fated Real ID forum integration has come and -- after extensive community outcry, rampant rumors and multiple attempts to explain themselves on Blizzard's part -- gone again, and we're all hopeful that we can go back to the carefree slaughter of internet dragons. In actual gameplay news, everything we know about our classes may be changing with the extensive new talent revamp that limits trees to the 31-point tier and gives level 10s signature abilities from their chosen tree.

There's plenty more beta news and (for those of you avoiding Cataclysm spoilers) Ruby Sanctum guides to browse through, and since we have the usual 5-11 a.m. Pacific downtime coming down the pipe this morning, you'll have time to tackle it, I'm sure. Read on for all the latest from the past few days.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Servers coming back up

by Robin Torres Jul 6th 2010 at 2:40PM

Maintenance has been extended until 4 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. PDT). This will give us all more time to debate/rage about the upcoming official forum changes.

We'll keep you up to date with any changes to the realm status.

In the meantime, let's talk about something nice and calm and not controversial. Which character are you making first? Goblin or worgen? I will be making a goblin shadowpriestess first thing. I haven't decided on a name yet, though. Any suggestions?

Update 4:05 p.m.: Servers are being brought up in batches, according to the login screen and all should be up in 15 minutes.

[Thanks for the tip, Brandon!]

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: The coming Cataclysm edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Jul 6th 2010 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! With the closed beta beginning and the NDA lifted, the floodgate of information fresh from the Cataclysm beta servers continues to gush forth. There's plenty of analysis and opinion to be had on the changes as well. You can look below for the usual list of stuff, including a special beta information section. Of course, this beta, so expect things to change pretty quickly as the days and weeks go by, and expect us to be here, keeping abreast of it. Of course, if you have any burning questions we haven't answered yet, remember that The Queue is now taking your Cataclysm Beta questions.

The usual 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific downtime will be upon this morning, so now's a good a time as any to catch up on the latest beta news and happenings. Read on for the roundup.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Servers are coming back up [Updated]

by Robin Torres Jun 29th 2010 at 3:10PM

Blizzard has announced that the realms that are not down for the entire day are down for an additional two hours. They expect realms to be up at 4 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. PDT).

This means that you will have less time to level up a character for the Server Maintenance Party we're having tonight. But that's OK because all levels are welcome.

We'll update this post with any more server maintenance news.

Update: Servers are up or on their way -- except the ones that are down until at least midnight of course.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: Return of the 24-hour downtime edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Jun 29th 2010 at 7:00AM

It's back! 24-hour maintenance day returns today, this time for a different batch of realms. Everyone else still has to deal with the normal 5 a.m.-11 a.m. Pacific downtime label. Whichever group you fall into, don't despair. It was a pretty busy week news-wise, so we have plenty of stuff for you to catch up on, and we'll have more fresh news throughout the day.

Let's start the roundup.

Hot news and features

Still have trouble keeping up with Ahune? Check out our video guide.
Patch 3.3.5 has hit live servers. Here are the patch notes.
Getting errors with the new patch? You aren't alone.
Patch 3.3.5, as you might expect, isn't bug-free. Check out this list of new and existing in-game bugs.
Blizzard has announced its intent to begin throttling inspect requests from addons such as GearScore.
The Ruby Sanctum isn't activated yet, but Blizzard has released more information, including the storyline.
Director Sam Raimi's been talking about the upcoming Warcraft movie.
Our Wrath retrospective series continues with some opinions on death knights.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Early maintenance announcement includes 24 hour downtime for select realms

by Daniel Whitcomb Jun 26th 2010 at 5:00PM

Blizzard's already let us know the scheduled downtime for Tuesday, June 29th, quite a bit ahead of their usual late Monday night announcement time. Right now, most realms can expect a normal downtime window of 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific time on Tuesday, June 29th. However, it is time for the next batch of US servers to go down for 24 hours, from 12:01 AM, June 29th to 12:01 AM Wednesday, June 30th.

As with the first batch, the 24-hour downtime will likely be used to get the servers in shape for Cataclysm's launch, and if we're lucky, should mean less downtime in the first few days and weeks as everyone comes in to check out the new content.

Check out the full list of servers with extended downtime behind the break:

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

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