I'm guessing we all know that patch 2.3 is hitting the live realms tomorrow. (And if you don't... where have you been hiding?!) What you may not realize, however, is that with all major patches come addon issues. When Blizzard changes the game's code (as they do in a patch), some of the functions addons are trying to access might not be there, which causes things to break in horrible and unpredictable ways. Some addons might give nothing but an error message (while working perfectly), others may appear to work perfectly but cause seemingly unrelated problems, others may fail completely, and yet others may function perfectly. In short: the process tends to be a complete disaster.

So what's a WoW player to do while waiting for the patch to download
So, while you're waiting on the patch to download (or the servers to come back up)? WoW Insider offers this to-do list for your convenience, right after the jump.

1. Check which addons you're currently running by logging on to WoW and clicking the addons button on the character selection screen. It will give you a handy list of everything you currently have installed. Yes, this may seem incredibly obvious, but when you have a dozen addons, it's not always easy to remember the names of every one of them. (Yes, we speak from personal experience.)
2. Head to your favorite addon site to download updates. You should check to make sure your addon has been recently updated (all of the listed addons sites should have an updated date -- if it's more than a month old, your addon may not be updated yet). You can easily search for any addons WoWInterface, Curse, and WoWUI. If you use Ace addons, it's may be easier to access Ace's site directly. Popular addons CTMod and Auctioneer can both be easily found on their own sites.
3. If there are any addons you can't find updates for, you can try checking the "load out of date addons" box in the upper right in your in-game addon list. This will force any addons, even old ones, to load. Sometimes you'll find that your outdated addons work perfectly -- but other times they'll break terribly.
4. If your addons still don't work, you may give it a few days -- the author could update it after the patch goes live. Keep an eye on your favorite addon site! However, sometimes addons do get tragically abandoned, and you may need to find an alternative. Just search your favorite addon sites for similar mods -- you can usually find something that will fill your needs.

Have any useful patch day advice for our readers? Please share it in the comments!

Filed under: Patches, Tips, Tricks