Tuesday Morning Post: It's Patching Again edition
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Apr 21st 2009 at 5:30AM
Welcome to Patch Day! Seems like we were just here, doesn't it? But anyway, it looks like we're headed for 3.1.1 today, which is mostly be bugs fixes that were a bit too involved to be applied via hotfix. That, of course, means we get an extended downtime again, from 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific time. When it rains, it seems it pours! This time, hopefully there won't be any free-playtime-worthy unexpected downtime.While you're waiting for the servers come up so you can continue work on that second champion title or de-arm Kologarn or get started on Season 6, I suggest one of two things:
First thing you can do go out and buy Arthas. Unless you won it from us or something. Otherwise, I'd say it's a good morning for catching up WoW Insider. Here's a few suggestions to get you started:
Hot News and Features
- As always, keep an eye on our guide to patch 3.1. It's constantly updated with all the latest news and guides for new patch 3.1 features and content.
- If you're still confused about some aspects of patch 3.1, see if our Patch 3.1 FAQ answers your problem.
- If you're wondering about some weird esoteric change you've noticed, it may have ended up on our lesser known patch 3.1 changes list.
- Yeah, Yogg's already down. To be fair though, it was the non-hard-mode version, and you don't even get better loot for that.. And yes, America wasn't far behind.
- By now, hopefully you've at least managed Valiant in the Argent Tournament. That means it's time to be the Enemy at the Gates. Of course, you may just be a Champion by now, which means you'll be starting in on the Battle before the Citadel.
- In case you were wondering, Casinos are banned. Or at least, the advertisements for them are.
- Sure, some male Dranei have new 'staches because of a wierd bug, but are they really that awesome?
- Encrypted Text discusses Rogue keybinding.
- Totem Talk continues to discuss Patch 3.1 Shaman Gear.
- Ghostcrawler explains why we may not see patch 3.1-style class previews in the future.
- Ghostcrawler also opines on nerfs and Death Knights.
- In this week's Care and Feeding of Warriors: One Dungeon's very like another when your head's filled with theorycraft calculations, brother.
- Ghostcrawler gave physical DPS theorycrafters a rare glimpse into the exact mechanics of the game, specifically how armor penetrations works.
- Spiritual Guidance discusses handling AoE damage as a Discipline Priest.
- Blood Pact is still having trouble remembering not to look for that Siphon Life button.
Professions, Items, Dungeons, and More
- Fashion junkies and role-swappers rejoice! Rumors of the death of Outfitter have been somewhat exaggerated. Speaking of gear-switching, we have a guide for combining gear-switching addons and dual speccing.
- Buyer's remorse or misclick on a badge purchase? Never fear, all is not lost. You can sell it back in 3.1, at least within a certain window of time.
- If that new turtle mount sounds awesome to you, we have a few pointers for grabbing it.
- Good-ish news for less than 350 cooks, sort of: Cooking is very slightly easier to level up.
- Arena achievers will have to do without the Flawless Victor title, at least for a while.
- On the other end of the PvP scale, many twinks are still soldiering on despite recent nerfs.
- If you're headed into the Vault of the Ancients, be careful. Emalon isn't quite a pushover.
- Guildox looks at Ulduar achievers.
- The Overachiever starts you on the path to Glory of the Hero.
- If you're looking to design a new spec or a dual spec, WoWhead has a robust new talent calculator to help you out.
- We have an interview with Dan Jolley, writer of the new Warcraft Death Knight manga due out later this year
- For better or for worse, You Play or We Pay's rocky ride is over, courtesy of Blizzard's legal team.
- The Blizzard Theme Park Design contest winners have been announced.
- Sure, it looks delicious, but how's the frame rate?
- BlizzCast 9 is available for your listening and/or reading pleasure.
- Are you having Frame Rate issues in patch 3.1? We have tips.
- The BBB doesn't like Blizzard.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Arivia Apr 21st 2009 6:04AM
All I will say is that I hated this morning's downtime worse of all. Here's why:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v324/arivia1/?action=view¤t=WoWScrnShot_042109_055754.jpg
kyle Apr 21st 2009 8:38AM
OFF TOPIC.
What mods are you using I like the look of your UI.
niko Apr 21st 2009 9:46AM
pretty sparse addons used on that UI....
you've got:
-X-Perl for unit frames
-Recount for meters
-Grid for the small grid
Dunno why you've got two raid frames up, tbh, but that's just a critique.
Teresa Apr 21st 2009 10:54AM
This patch will also fix the crashes in VoA & elsewhere for those running the old Geforce 2/4, and ATI 7000 series cards.
Mane Apr 21st 2009 11:14AM
Wow, talk about cluttered UI. Someone really needs to macro some key bindings, load up Bartender and reduce the scale of their bars.
But, that's just my opinion.
Sidenote, when is Blizzard going to nerf Ulduar. It's too hard...lol
Suzaku Apr 21st 2009 6:12AM
I, on the other hand, credit today's downtime with my fastest Baron run yet.
I'd been trying to farm up an oozling, decided I'd try a Baron run, having completely forgotten about the impending downtime. The 45 minute debuff hit almost simultaneously with the 14:00 until Server Shutdown. I hauled ass and plowed through everything (ran right into the Slaughterhouse when Ramnstein spawned) and managed to bring Rivendare down with a few minutes to spare!
Alas, no mount. My quest continues.
Lithar Apr 21st 2009 6:27AM
What time is this for the EU realms, wowinsider? As response from your EU posts have shown we're not a small insignificant following. A bit more focus on the EU side of things would be nice.
rosencratz Apr 21st 2009 7:34AM
It will be during our usual maintenance time... as always...
Which if you were somehow unaware will be tomorrow(wednesday)morning.
Warren Apr 21st 2009 7:33AM
my server didnt have a timer today odd
Matt P Apr 21st 2009 8:02AM
I wonder how many people are going to get the Supertramp reference, hehe. Nice try, though. ;)
coffee Apr 21st 2009 8:45AM
Is anyone else unable to log into wow forums during maintenance? I've only had this problem today ("This service is unavailable") and I see other people posting on the forums. Thanks for the help!
crontab Apr 21st 2009 9:26AM
Quote from Matt P
"I wonder how many people are going to get the Supertramp reference, hehe. Nice try, though. ;)"
I would venture to guess not too many lol. I had to click on the pic then when I saw who it was I put 2 and 2 together :p
Foxy Apr 21st 2009 9:38AM
Yeah, the delicate balancing act....
Customer Value versus Shareholder Value.
Jaxson Apr 21st 2009 10:30AM
Daniel needs a proofreader. Badly.
Jayrok Apr 21st 2009 11:01AM
Is anyone able to download the patch as of yet?
When I load the launcher, it appears it attempts to switch to the download bar, but quickly reverts back to the normal launcher screen.
Inzane Apr 21st 2009 1:51PM
Well. Extended downtime again. Maybe back up at 1pm PDT
Aurelio Pacla Apr 21st 2009 2:00PM
Maintenance is extended for another two hours.....
OOOOOOh THE PAIIIIINNNNNN
krazyP0nch Apr 21st 2009 2:06PM
so we should call this little event the Great Crash of 3.1
since everything pretty much screwed things up.
A few bug fixes and here we go with another 2-6 hours of extra downtime.
I love it when a month or so belfore WotLK, Blizz said that we would see less server maintenance days and more play time. Well for past few months it a rarity when u ever see a normal 6hr downtime.