Posts with tag realm

Maintenance for Tuesday June 2nd

by Adam Holisky Jun 1st 2009 at 10:00PM

Maintenance, you say? Unheard of! After all, what is wrong with a Paladin standing upright while riding her horse? Or what's wrong with constant errors telling intrepid adventurers additional instances cannot be launched?

Well, okay. Something might be wrong with those things. Hopefully tomorrow's maintenance will bring fixes to them. But more importantly based on all account it'll be bringing patch 3.1.3 with it as well.

Maintenance will last from 3:00 a.m. PDT until 11:00 a.m. PDT. Unless, of course, you on one of the few dozen realms listed after the break. For those special realms, maintenance will last from 12:01 a.m. PDT until 12:01 p.m. PDT. Why is it starting at the :01? Because Blizzard wants you to have an extra minute to complete raids tonight. That's how much they care. And you know what? So do I... (Click it... I dare you.)

The full list of realms under the extended maintenance after the break.

Free EU character migrations

by Adam Holisky Apr 8th 2009 at 2:00PM

There are a handful of free EU character transfers to report on today, all focused on the faction differences on the realm Magtheridon.

Now Magtheridon was always a pain in the butt in the days before his colossal nerf. It was a big challenge when BC was released to coordinate a couple groups of five people to click on cubes all at one time. I'd always say on vent very calmly: "Three, two... one... click-click-click. Good work. Break." Or "Three, two... one... click-click-click. Terrible. Wipe it."

Does that obnoxious and repetitious pattern which still haunts me in my dreams have anything to do with the character migrations? Probably not.

The full list of realms after the break.

A guide to shutting out the world (of Warcraft)

by Amanda Miller Apr 8th 2009 at 1:00PM

WoW is a very social game, and you might think that there is no getting around it. Fortunately for those who relish their alone time, there are several ways to minimize contact with other players and have some quiet time.

While some people will argue that you should stop playing social games like MMORPGs, there are plenty of solo activities, and if that is what you want to do, more power to you.

Today, I will be answering some reader mail from Heidi who desperately wants some peace and quiet.

Realm maintenance for Tuesday March 31st

by Adam Holisky Mar 30th 2009 at 10:05PM

The winds swept across the frozen plains making swirling geometric patterns in the snow laden prairie grass. This was a cold day in the northern land, both in weather and in heart. For it wasn't only the snow, but the chilled waters which were causing the kingdom concern; up and up they went, rising over the rivers banks. The land's people thought they could hold them at bay but none could be sure.

The engineers flew over the homesteads of their countrymen, working diligently in their flying machines to hold back the mighty waters. And while things were quiet now, it was predicted by those with foresight to not be quiet for much longer. More movement in the waters was coming, and it was something that no man wanted to see.

The kingdom was under the protection of the councilmen and councilwomen, yet they were impeded in their efforts at every turn by the maniacal Lich King, laughing and taunting them with his powers over the frozen wastes.

"Petty mortals, do you really think you can withstand the power of the mighty Scourge?" he chided the citizens who dared brave the cold north. Sitting atop his ice crowned citadel there was nothing he couldn't see, nothing he couldn't do. For the domain of the north was his and his alone.

Except upon this day the voice of the gods and the wizards of Dalaran opened up their mouths and spoke in unison.

Realm maintenance for Tuesday February 24th

by Adam Holisky Feb 24th 2009 at 12:01AM

"I'm not looking forward to this," Fargor grumbles as he rests his heavy two-handed Paladin mace on the side of his legs. "I know that when I awake tomorrow things will not have improved." He shuffles his chest plate around, getting more comfortable for the forced sleep ahead of him.

"And damned if I do even wake up!"

Fargor slams his hairy Dwarven fist down on the wooden table, angry at the ruling Wizards of Dalaran for their impositions on him and everyone else.

All Osull and Marcella can do is look back and nod in acknowledgement, as they too feel more and more angst at the Wizards for their mysterious ways.

"At least it will only be part of a day," Osull offers up in comfort of the Dwarf. Marcella lays a supportive hand on the Osull's shoulder and nods her head in agreement, "Indeed kind Dwarf, it's only for eight hours."

The platitudes seem to do nothing for Fargor, as he shakes his head and says "Eight hours or eight years, it doesn't matter lass. No one should have a right to tell a Dwarf what to do!"

And as he says that the Wizards can suddenly be heard throughout the city, "The realms will be down from three to eleven in the morning, as the mighty pacific clock tells time. Sleep well now citizens of Azeroth, for when tomorrow you awake things will be fresh and new..."

The voice trails off into nothingness and across the realms everyone stops what they're doing and falls asleep as they are.

The Wizard's maintenance has begun.

One week ago...

Some realms are up [Updated]

by Adam Holisky Feb 17th 2009 at 2:40PM

The wispy voice from the previous evening greets Osull as he begins to regain consciousness. "The realms... are up... the realms... are up..." it says over and over again.

The mantra becomes stuck in his head like a mind worm as he wipes the sleep from his eyes. He looks around in a daze and realize that he's back near his home in the neighborhood's bar, A Hero's Welcome, sitting at table being served a drink by Marcella.

"What time is it?" Osull ask the waitress. His voice is rough and it's evident he needs a drink to wash away the night's forced sleep.

"It just rang 11 not a short time ago, mighty Warrior," she replies. Placing a large flagon of mead in front of Osull, the smell of the hops fills his nose with a promise of further adventure tonight. But something doesn't feel right; it's almost as if the wizards of Dalaran have not released everyone from their sleeping spell.

"Marcella!" Osull yells franticly. "Where is everyone else?"

Breakfast Topic: Would you join an "Anything Goes" realm?

by Robin Torres Jan 15th 2009 at 8:00AM

Some of the commenters in yesterday's Breakfast Topic talked about how we were all adults and shouldn't be bothered by adult content. But we aren't all adults. Kids play this game -- and often it's teenagers who are the ones with the adult oriented chatter.

We've discussed the concept of age restricted servers before and many have expressed that they would join them in an effort to escape what is perceived as underage offensive behavior. But what I'm proposing here is not an adult only realm to avoid adult content, but one that is age restricted because of the adult content.

Roll a Death Knight (almost) anywhere in 3.0.8

by Michael Sacco Jan 13th 2009 at 7:00PM

Oh, you poor unfortunate souls! Forced by the cruel silver hand of fate to roll a Death Knight only on realms on which you already have a level 55 character. You've cried out in pain as the lashes of this restriction struck you, and through the anguish you've yelled "Yo Blizz! Lemme roll my DK anywhere, aight?"

Word. Big Blue's got your back.

Starting with the launch of 3.0.8, you'll be able to roll a new Death Knight on any realm as long as you have a level 55 character somewhere. The normal restrictions for character creation are still in place, though--can't make an opposite-faction DK on a PVP server, can't roll a DK on a server closed to transfers unless you've got a 55 there already, etc. All fair!

Before you ask why this feature wasn't implemented from the get-go, remember that it wasn't even very long ago that the developers were deciding "how is dk formed?" (though they did say that the restriction would be lifted soon after Wrath launched).

So fret not, ye oppressed. Soon, your chains (of ice) will be broken.

New PTR build incoming

by Adam Holisky Jan 8th 2009 at 6:30PM

Maaven posted a short time ago that the 3.0.8 Public Test Realm (PTR) servers are being taken offline for an update tonight. There is no ETA when the PTRs will be back up.

There was a recent update to the PTR patch notes, and there has been a lot of activity on the PTR forums from the blues. It should be noted that Ghostcrawler once again today reiterated that dual spec will not be unveiled in 3.0.8.

There's a few of us here that will be up tonight, so check back and see what the new build brings. I'm placing my gold on more clam updates.

Free transfers and a new US realm

by Adam Holisky Jan 8th 2009 at 4:30PM

There was a ton of free transfers announced last night, hopefully some of this will have the effect of freeing up the long queues we've become used to lately.

In addition to the normal transfers, a large block of PvE servers have the option to get a free transfer to a new realm, Garrosh.

Garrosh is a PvE EST based US realm. It's been placed in the Emberstorm battlegroup.

Blizzard's announcement lists next Wednesday, January 14th, at 6:00 p.m. PST as the cutoff date for the transfers. However they will close the transfers early if they meet their internal quotas. Transfer early and transfer often. You can begin the transfers via your account management page at worldofwarcraft.com.

The complete list of eligible transfer realms after the break

PTR character copy is up...for now

by Adam Holisky Dec 11th 2008 at 2:00PM

If you want to copy your characters over to the 3.0.8 PTR I would do it soon, as in the next few minutes. The copy is currently up and working via the account management page at worldofwarcraft.com (go there yourself and navigate to account management as to ensure there's no trickery involved in links, etc...)

The PTR client is not available to be downloaded yet, but we'll let you know when we hear that it is. Expect that to be anytime, probably before the end of the business day on the west coast.

There's a good bit of changes to check out over at the PTR 3.0.8 patch notes. Be sure you do so and stay tuned to WoW Insider for more analysis of specific class changes.

Realms up after extended maintenance

by Adam Holisky Dec 2nd 2008 at 4:00PM

Realms are back up after a bit of extended maintenance this afternoon. There has been no communication from the blues or other Blizzard sources as to why the downtime was extended.

But with that said, all the realms are working and things appear to be going smoothly. And by smooth I mean I still have the mail in my in-box from when the servers went down this morning.

So that's a good thing, right?

US transfers now available

by Eliah Hecht Nov 13th 2008 at 9:00PM

I like to think this is in response to Jose here: Nethaera has announced some free realm transfers for North American players, to complement the European ones. In addition, the list of eligible realms for migration to Fizzcrank, the new transfer realm, has been expanded. The transfers to Fizzcrank are currently active, and are scheduled to run until Monday, 11/24, 12:00 PM PST. Realms newly eligible are in italics.

Source: Aggramar, Alleria, Alextrasza, Argent Dawn, Arygos, Blackhand, Doomhammer, Greymane, Hellscream, Hyjal, Medivh, Thrall, Silvermoon, Whisperwind, Zul'jin
Destination: Fizzcrank

These moves, on PvP servers, are just your run-of-the-mill free server transfers. They are currently active, and are scheduled to run until Thursday, 11/20, 4:00 PM PST.

Source A: Arthas, Magtheridon, Mal'Ganis, Kel'Thuzad
Destination A: Dentarg
Source B: Burning Blade, Cho'gall, Illidan, Mannoroth, Skullcrusher
Destination B: Haomarush

So who's switching homes? Those are some extremely popular realms in the source sections there; denizens of Dentarg and Haomarush, are you up for the influx?

Realms are being brought back online [Updated at 11:50 pm EST]

by Adam Holisky Nov 11th 2008 at 8:25PM

The opening announcement just told us all that realms are coming back online now. All the realms will be completely back up by 10:45pm EST / 7:45pm PST. Realms have been down today for an overly-extended maintenance period.

There will be an in-game mail sent to all players concerning the mail issues today. For those that are unaware, all mail that was in the mailbox prior to the downtime today was gone when the servers came up for a brief time today. We have covered everything we currently know about this. The mail will be reimbursed.

Let's all say a silent prayer that this is not how the next couple of days look. I don't know about all of you, but I actually want to play Wrath of the Lich King when it's released.

Update 11:50pm EST - All the realms are coming back up. We'll have more on fallout of this tonight and tomorrow.

Update 11:30pm EST - We've sent word to our contact at Blizzard asking for more information about today's issues. We'll let you know the response we get.

All previous updates are being kept after the break, check there to see a log of what's been going on.

Are you ready for the challenges that await you in Northrend? WoW Insider has you covered with our 8-day guide to Preparing for Wrath. Also, check out our feature on AddOns new, old and outdated and Essential AddOns for Wrath written especially with the expansion in mind.

Realms offline until at least 6:00pm EST [Updated]

by Adam Holisky Nov 11th 2008 at 3:33PM

Breaking news from the service status forums:

All realms will be offline until at least 6:00pm EST / 3:00pm PST. They are having to keep the realms down for this extended period due to errors in the mail system.

Essentially, every piece of mail that was sent prior to the realms going down at 8:00am EST was lost when the servers came back up. Blizzard has said that they are actively looking for a solution to the problem. We're keeping our mailbox post updated with the latest information on that front.

Hopefully this extended downtime is not foreshadowing things to come when Wrath of the Lich King starts to enter circulation tomorrow evening at midnight*.

Update: Please see this post for more information concerning the downtime.

Stay tuned to WoW Insider for more updates.