Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. This morning, we're coming to you earlier than we would have been last week. Or is later? Honestly, this whole time change thing is just making me confused. And sleepy. There's a reason I was never a math major. Luckily, there's nothing like an invigorating round of WoW news to get the blood pumping in the morning. Okay, so technically a cup of coffee would also work, but the machine isn't done percolating yet. Regardless, there's plenty of news to catch up on. There's been some interesting news trickling out of the Game Developer's Conference over in San Francisco, as well as the usual round of Patch 3.3.3 PTR news. Luckily, you'll have time to read it all while the servers are down.
With realm maintenance clocking in at only 6 hours today (from 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific), though, I wouldn't expect to see Patch 3.3.3 actually dropping this week, so you'll have to console yourself with the news and wait at least one more week to cash in all those Frozen Orbs. Check out our usual roundup after the break.
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! I name this week's post not in a negative sense, but in a sense that it does seem like we've officially started winding down Wrath. Specifically, we recently saw the addition of the first edition of the Icecrown Citadel raid buff. It has started at 5%, but will eventually rise to 30%, allowing more and more people to power through the dungeon and see Arthas fall at their feet. It's the end of an era, but I feel the start of a much better one.
Of course, that's not to say we're completely out of Wrath yet. We have at least 2 more patches to go, and Patch 3.3.3 PTR news keeps rolling in, as does tons of other news. You'll have the usual maintenance break from WoW this morning, 5 AM to 11 AM pacific, so you have time to get caught up. As usual, here's our list of some of the major stuff from the past 7 days or so:
If you haven't had a chance to dive into all the Patch 3.3.3 news, now is as good a time as any, since the servers will be down from 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific. Before you ask, we have not heard that the patch is going live as of this writing, and I'd sincerely doubt it myself. It's a bit buggy as it is, and the devs have hinted there's more to be implemented and tested. So feel free to sit back, relax, and peruse the best news from the past week, both from Patch 3.3.3 and beyond, just below.
There will be realm maintenance this Tuesday from 3:00 a.m. PDT / 6:00 a.m. EDT until 11:00 a.m. PDT / 2:00 p.m. EDT. The maintenance should not be any indication that patch 3.3.3 is going to drop, as it just went on the PTR -- so don't expect anything.
The full blue announcement is as follows:
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We will be performing scheduled maintenance on Tuesday, February 23. Maintenance will begin at 03:00 AM PST and conclude at approximately 11:00 AM PST. During this time, all realms and many web services will be unavailable.
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. Right now, we're sort of hip deep in holidays. Not only is Love Is In The Air winding down, but the Lunar Festival is in full swing. As always, if you need help getting acclimated, we're here for you with an Overachiever guide, which itself includes an elder finding guide.
There's been other things going on in and around WoW, of course. The biggest buzz has been from the past few days: Yes, Upper Deck is losing the WoW TCG license, but Blizzard says the game is not going away. Unfortunately, the exact form the new version will take, and who will run and distribute it, are still firmly in the realm of conjecture and rumor as of this writing.
Unfortunately, even with all this activity, weekly downtime is still upon us. You'll have from 5 AM to 11 AM pacific time to take a break from all this new stuff. As always, I'll suggest that that's an excellent time to read about it instead. Here's a summary of some of our articles from the past 7 days.
Happy Tuesday Morning! And yes, it is pretty happy, because it looks like we're getting the long awaited Patch 3.3.2, and with it, season 8, some nice little class changes, and of course, Arthas. We've already seen a leak of the promised final cinematic that occurs after the Lich King battle. Don't click on the link if you don't want to see it, it's a pretty big spoiler.
Of course, a new patch means a lot of downtime. So, While you're waiting through the 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific downtime for the servers to come up and the patch to download, have a serving of some of the hottest news and best articles from the past 7 days, and be sure to stay tuned for lots more Patch 3.3.2 news in the coming days.
It looks like there will be realm maintenance for all US realms this February 2nd. Since it seems to be somewhat extended (3 AM PST to 11 AM PST) and we're waiting for the 3.3.2 patch to drop in order to start Arena Season 8, I'm willing to go out on a limb and suppose that there will most likely be the next minor content patch at this time. This will also most likely open the last wing of Icecrown Citadel.
So! Are you excited? I'm excited! Well, also I'm kind of hoping I'm right, but then I'm excited. We'll have the Tuesday Morning Post for you to obsess over while waiting for the realms to come up, not that I compulsively refresh the realm status page or anything myself. No no, not me.
I'll be honest though, the big story for me this week was the release of the Invincible music. Seriously, this is some amazing music and I can't wait to hear it in game. That said, it better not be about the horse. Seriously, Arthas. I love you and all, but that horse is just dumb. You gotta let it go. It was years ago. No-one liked that horse but you. And seriously, naming it Invincible was just thumbing your nose at fate. No, this had better be a plaintive hymn to the fall of Lordaeron, the loss of innocence, and the beloved prince that you once were, played as the Argent Crusaders and the Ebon Blade carry your body off on a bier while Varian, Jaina, Muradin, Thrall, Saurfang, and Bolvar Fordragon watch solemnly.
Yes, I may have put too much thought into this.
Anyhow, you didn't come to hear me rant, you came to catch up on your WoW news during the downtime. As such, please find our usual summary of the last 7 days or so below the cut!
I think at this point it is absolutely safe to say that Blizzard has taken on a stance of giving us more notice about maintenance periods, and everyone here at WoW.com is very appreciative of it. Blizzard representative Draocel hit the forums Sunday evening to let us know that tomorrow's maintenance period will begin at 5:00AM PST and last until 11:00AM PST.
As usual, we will be here throughout the maintenance period doing our whole "write blog posts until our fingers bleed" deal. The Tuesday Morning Post will be waiting for you as well, rounding up our best posts of the last week should you need to play catch-up.
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. As of this writing, the big news of the week is probably the latest Twitter developer chat. If you missed it, we have the transcript. Topics included the fate of Crystalsong Forest, pet scaling buffs, new warlock pets, personal guild banks and other storage issues, and more. Be sure to check it out, it's good reading whether you're focused on Patch 3.3 or on Cataclysm. Coming up, we have the opening of the Crimson Halls, the next wing of Icecrown Citadel. That means lots of vampires. They're blood elf vampires, sure, but blood elves are awesome, so it's all good. And hey, if you dislike blood elves, at least take comfort in the fact that these vampires don't sparkle.
Finally, it looks like advance notice for downtime may be the name of the game after all, as we've know about today's downtime for a few days now. It's 3 AM to 11 AM pacific time, if you haven't heard, which means you should have plenty of time to catch up on WoW news. Check out a list of some of our content from the last 7 days below the cut.
In more immediate news, the Plaguewerks have opened up, and people have had a chance to face the new bosses. If you haven't delved in yet, or even if you have, you may find some helpful hints for taking them down right here. Regardless, you have around 6 hours to browse WoW news while you wait for the servers to come back up, so I have the usual list of good stuff to read after the break.
So here we are. It's been a while since Patch 3.3 started, and we've had a suspiciously early downtime announcement to boot. The holidays are winding down, and most of us, including, one would assume, the Blizzard devs, have finished our eggnog and put our noses back to the grindstone. As of this writing, there's no official word either way, but I'm feeling pretty optimistic about waking up to news of a new section of ICC being opened, or at least a nice mini-patch full of some bug fixes -- say, to certain borked class cooldowns. We can't say for sure, though. All we can say for sure is that the realms are down, and will be for a while, until at least 11 AM pacific time.
With that in mind, it's a good time to catch up on the news. As usual, we have a roundup of some of the best articles from the past 7 days or so. We're shaking off the holiday drowsiness and getting into full gear to help you get through the next phase of ICC, find out when we'll see more Cataclysm news, and more. Join us in the server downtime vigil and read on.
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Winter Veil is winding down, and as we here at the WoW.com offices fight over the last carton of eggnog, we've been taking a lot of time to look over the past year and celebrate. Of course, here in the Tuesday Morning Post, we generally look at the past 7 days or so. So yeah, there's plenty of the navel gazing stuff, but there's a good smattering of news too. Nothing too major, I suppose. Even the dev team likes to see their family over the holidays, I guess. But it's there. And in the meantime, a little bit of a navel gazing never hurt anyone. Our navels are pretty awesome anyway.
Join me for the last Tuesday morning of 2009 and catch up on your WoW reading. The usual list is after the break.