Blizzard's mobile authenticator updated recently, and as soon as it did, we started getting tips on the tipline saying there was a major issue. Apparently the update reset the code associated with your authenticator, which meant that if you applied the authenticator update (and had the authenticator connected to your account), there was no way to actually get a code to login to your account. In short, if you apply the mobile authenticator update, you won't be able to log in to your account until you take the authenticator off completely (I'd assume you can then reinstall and reuse the authenticator, though people will probably be a little more trigger-shy about that one). There are instructions for how to do all of this over on the forums.

Of course it's a major issue, and in response, Blizzard has acknowledged the problem and apparently pulled the Authenticator from the App Store. So if (like me) you haven't updated yet, you won't need to worry about it, and hopefully the next version will fix the issue. But yes, if you have updated, you'll need to go through the steps above to remove the app from your iPhone and account, or just call Blizzard customer service at 1-949-955-1382 and they should be able to help you with the issue.

Update: So far we've only heard about problems with the iPhone version, and of course the issue is when you go from the old to the new version. If you use another phone, or have only used the new version, you shouldn't have any issues.

People who put way too much energy into watching the flickering messages that scroll past when you log in to WoW, as well as people with slow connections, may be familiar with the message "Submitting non-personal system information." Basically, Blizzard wants to know things like what kind of CPU and GPU you're running on and how much RAM and VRAM you have.

Aguilar (who?) has made a blue post letting us know that they're going to start another round of collecting such data "in the very near future." If you're not on a Battle.net account yet, you'll see that message about non-personal information. Battle.net users, however, won't see the message, but they will be sending info up the line.

Yet another in a long line of injustices for us B.net account holders: no flickering message! I demand a free month of WoW in compensation.

Today is a Wednesday, and that means that there has to be some sort of Battle.Net authentication/login/game-version issue today. And guess what? There is!

There is a long thread in the support forums about it, and the only blue response so far is that Blizzard is aware of the problem and they're working on it. Many, if not all, Battle.Net users are seeing an error stating the client cannot validate the game version (even after they've patched to 3.1.1).

There is no known fix yet. We'll update this post when there is more information to report.

Update: According to Neth everything is working now.

Having problems getting patch 3.1.1 to download? Thinking that WoW Insider is crazy for announcing a patch without the download happening?

Well, we might be insane, but we're not crazy.

If you've converted to a battle.net account, you cannot download the patch via the traditional log-in-and-it'll-start method. To get the patch to download, enter your old non-battle.net username and password and the game will begin downloading patch 3.1.1. It's about 10-megs.

You can't log-in and play the game with that user name and password anymore, but you can get the patch with it.

Seems that Blizzard hasn't worked all the kinks out of the battle.net account system. But at least there's a way around the problems this time.

Update: Articles goes up...and 45 minutes later it's fixed!

Many thanks to our twitter followers who let us know about this!

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Welcome, O WoW rookie, to patch week madness. If you thought run-of-the-mill maintenance and minor patch days could be dicey, here's your chance to enjoy the epic-level chaos wrought by epic-level content patches.

World of Warcraft has evolved considerably since its launch in what's now been almost a handful of years ago. Blizzard regularly releases downloadable updates, called "patches," to add new content and features, fix problems and tweak game play and balance. Through patches, players have gained access to new quests, instances, Battlegrounds, events, items and tools.

This week's Patch 3.1 is known as a content patch – a nice way of saying "a ton of new stuff we've added to the game that's going to make all hell break loose." The realms go up, the realms go down. The realms go up. Did we mention they also go down? You may log in only to find your characters nowhere in sight ("Oh #%$&, my characters are all gone!"). You may experience disappearing mail or auctions, random disconnections from the game and insufferable lag. You may find yourself merrily rolling along only to find the NPCs have disappeared, you can't zone in or out of instances or log out of the game, and you and every other player who's trapped in your zone are left with nothing to do but chat about the whole thing. (Almost makes you wonder if the Ice Stone has melted yet.)

We're not out of the woods with this patch yet. I'm seeing this message on a North American realm, and lots of other people are seeing the same thing. At least one of our bloggers is still in the game, though, and Blizzard is saying the Authentication servers are still up and running, so this should be fixed soon.

We'll keep you updated, stay tuned.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Update: A login server died. If you try signing in with a Bnet account, you should be able to get in. Otherwise, everybody PANIC hold on and they'll be back up soon.

Update 2: Everything seems back up. That was relatively painless. Thanks for playing, everybody!

The opening announcement on the login screen has just let us know that there is urgent maintenance being performed on the authentication servers. The maintenance will continue until 1:00 p.m. PDT / 4:00 p.m. EDT.

During this time you may or may not be able to log into the game. Pretty much the luck of the draw and beyond your control.

Account management and posting on the forums will be offline during this time as well, so the troll's trolling will have to terrifically terminate 'till temporally soon.

We'll update this post when things are back to normal, or if there are additional issues.

There have been a lot of login server related issues lately with Battle.net accounts, and from all indication they don't all seem to be for the same reasons. Tom may not have the same issue as Sally who isn't necessarily getting the same error message as Jimbo. As much as the problems are annoying me, the more widespread problems tend to clear up pretty quickly. Usually. For some of the odd, lingering issues you may run into, Blizzard's Support page has added a section for Battle.net connection issues within World of Warcraft with some common solutions. Note that these won't necessarily fix every issue that crops up with the login servers, but it should solve some of them!

The most common solution that seems to work out for people is the suggested edit to the realmlist.wtf file, using something like Notepad. Look for the Data folder within your World of Warcraft folder, open it up, then open Realmlist.wtf with a simple text editor. Check to be sure all four of these lines are contained within:

It's 10:40 p.m. EST on my server and there is a 30 minute wait to login with a queue of over 300. Oh me oh my, time to get out my BlizzCon goodie bag and head for the QQ n00b tissues.

Many users across most of the servers, both in the U.S. and E.U., are reporting long queues again. While the population always seems to uptick around this time of year, one has to raise an eyebrow at this happening a second time in as many months.

November was understandable. Wrath was a big deal. But after a week or so the queues died down. Is this just the second insurgent of Wrath's wrath?

One can surmise that a large number of people received Wrath as a Christmas gift. The assumption is probably correct. Another popular theory is that with all the vacation time on folk's plate right now, people are using it to log into the game and enjoy a bit of Northrend adventuring.

There is a new addition to the login screen for Wrath of the Lich King tonight. A large dragon, which was previously just a white mesh, swipes down from the sky and roars at you as you log in. It is a very cool addition to the otherwise bland login screen.

I was able to capture the video above, and the audio you hear is just as I hear it. I expect there to be a "roar" or something else eventually inserted for the dragon. Nonetheless, it's quite a neat feature. You can also watch a high quality version via YouTube.

The new beta build just came out tonight, so stay tuned for more info and analysis as we get it all collected together.

It can't be too long now -- people are getting let in the Wrath beta from BlizzCon last year, and everyone's opt-in registrations are in, so it's only a matter of time before the invites go out and the floodgates open. And when they do: what's your plan?

Are you going to step right into a Death Knight first to see how the new Hero class works? Which of the classes has got you most interested in trying new things? I'm excited to see all the Shaman changes, and I've got a Shammy waiting at 70, so that's probably what I'll do first. As for the Death Knight, I kind of want to see that stuff on the live realms, though by the time the beta ends, the call of a new class may be too much for me to ignore.

What's up first for you when you log into the beta realms?