Maintenance for Tuesday July 21st
by Adam Holisky 
Jul 20th 2009 at 9:58PM
According to the in-game announcement there will be downtime for tomorrow, Tuesday July 21st. Tuesday also marks one month before BlizzCon 2009, where we're expecting to hear lots of major announcements from Blizzard. Something cataclysmic, hopefully.
The downtime will be happening from 5:00 a.m. PDT / 8:00 a.m. EDT until 11:00 a.m. PDT / 1:00 p.m. EDT. Unlike previous weeks, there are no additional "special" battlegroups that are being taken offline for an extended period.
If there are unexpected going ons with this maintenance, you'll see additional information posted here. And for those of you wondering, we're not expecting Patch 3.2 to drop just yet.
Pic for this article is unrelated, but I wanted an excuse all day to use it – and now seemed like the right opportunity.
The downtime will be happening from 5:00 a.m. PDT / 8:00 a.m. EDT until 11:00 a.m. PDT / 1:00 p.m. EDT. Unlike previous weeks, there are no additional "special" battlegroups that are being taken offline for an extended period.
If there are unexpected going ons with this maintenance, you'll see additional information posted here. And for those of you wondering, we're not expecting Patch 3.2 to drop just yet.
Pic for this article is unrelated, but I wanted an excuse all day to use it – and now seemed like the right opportunity.
Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
papermoonshine Jul 20th 2009 10:13PM
I wish Blizzcon would just be now so I could quit hearing about it. I'm not bitter than i'm not going (I really don't have any desire to go), i'm just tired of hearing about it (Not aimed at wow.com, just a general statement.)
On a side note, I was just wondering if anyone thinks the PTR is kind of hurting the game? I understand the importance of testing, but i'd be in favor of more internal testing instead of a test realm. There's no fun of discovery of stuff in game anymore, it's all about data mining now which takes a bit of the fun out of things. That and people complain that the content is too easy. Yeah, it's only easy because people spend time on the test realm to learn the strat just so they can try for a world first. I'd be in favor of removing world firsts so people don't blow through the content so fast. (And don't give me the, "Well it should be harder" stuff. It doesn't matter how hard it is as long as it's available on the test realm; people will figure it out.
flaskamel Jul 21st 2009 7:16AM
I agree with the "PTR ruining the game thing". I know it's necessary, without it the boss' would be bugged and all that but..
What ruins it for me is a completely stupid reason, and I'm aware of that, but I'm allways looking forward to explore the new content, but for some reason I can't help but keep on reading after the "Spoiler Alert" warning, because it's so damned interesting, so if it's like "Check out the new boss form PTR" I'd love to wait for the "REAAAL Version", but I can't. I have to read the stuff, and that ruins the whole experience for me.
And please don't act like YouTuber's and write "WTF nobody carees".
/sigh
Artificial Jul 21st 2009 1:51PM
Here's an idea: Don't use the PTR if you don't like it, and don't read spoilers about what's in it if you don't want to hear it.
Asking the rest of the world to change so you don't have to modify your own behavior to get what you want is, well... you DO know you're not the center of the universe, right?
People who like the PTR should get the change to use it, people who don't should be allowed to skip it, and not read about it if they don't want to read about it. I just don't get this weird attitude of, "I don't want it, so *nobody* should get it." Get over yourself...
galla Jul 20th 2009 10:28PM
if 5am PDT = 8am EST, shouldn't 11am PDT = 2am EST and not 1am EST
Tovo Jul 20th 2009 10:29PM
2 "PM"
ragingkittai Jul 20th 2009 10:31PM
11 A.M. PDT is not 1 P.M. EDT. Needs to be one more hour in between.
Crazymarc Jul 20th 2009 10:37PM
Yeah, man hit the moon yesterday.
Crazymarc Jul 20th 2009 10:39PM
Oh shoot, my bad, today.
Andrew R. Jul 20th 2009 11:08PM
I wish Blizzard weren't so cryptic and would tell the public more of what went on behind the scenes. It's not like it's going to send their stocks into the toilet or crash the game if they told us what a Tuesday maintenance day consisted of.
Ah I can always dream.
Karl Jul 21st 2009 10:43AM
Bliz post about maintenance day (link expired)
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx?fn=wow-general&t=7211411&s=blizzard&tmp=1#blizzard
Tseric wrote:
Weekly maintenance is to provide time to run backups, clear out logs and basically clean the slate for the realms.
Processes are run which are to empty memory, because over the course of the week, player action fills up the databases with a lot of "stuff". Logs of actions, events, chat, etc. can essentially contribute to slower performance if they are not backed up and cleared out on a regular basis.
Due to the large number of realms, associated hardware and total data recorded from player interaction, this process takes time to complete for all of our realms.
Other performance issues have to be dealt with seperately, due to the fact they occur for various reasons at different times. If a blade fails, it will likely do so at an unscheduled time and is therefore dealt with when the situation arises.
While I understand the desire to have better performance and fixes for some realms, it is important not to jumble or confuse the tasks being performed. Weekly maintenance is not the time when "we attempt to solve any and all problems which may be associated with the network, servers, etc.". It is a time when we execute necessary functions of realm maintenance. Other functions or work may be done during that time, but in the past we have specified such and maintenance may be extended.
Grissum Jul 20th 2009 11:10PM
Oh hey look. That's back when America did awesome stuff like land on the freaking moon.
Walter Jul 20th 2009 11:25PM
And when real men drove real cars! 1969 FTW.
Notsuoh Jul 20th 2009 11:49PM
actually, man landing on the moon was pretty cataclysmic in itself. good choice of pic!
shenron Jul 21st 2009 1:30AM
Some EU servers did also get a reset yesterday (07/20/2009) at around 23:00. Maybe this was because some dungeons were not available...
Claq Jul 21st 2009 1:42AM
I love how the flag is waving in the wind, oh... shoot. there is no atmosphere on the moon so no wind. hmmm
zenaber Jul 21st 2009 1:49AM
correct you are sir, there is no atmosphere on the moon so there would be almost nothing to slow down momentum. hmmm
Jordan Jul 21st 2009 1:53AM
The flag is waving from the momentum transferred by the act of planting it in the moon's surface. In the vacuum of space, with zero atmospheric resistance, the momentum from the little jiggle of digging the flagpole into the dirt keeps it moving a looooooong time.
(Pardon me, I just saw a sweet Mythbusters on the subject.)
remy2k3 Jul 21st 2009 2:01AM
how exactly does momentum make a flag wave like wind is blowing it? If the astronaut was to wave the flag and let go, the flag would not continue to "wave", it would simply move in the direction it was going when he let go of it. therefore it would not look like it was waving, it would simply move off in one direction or wrap around the pole from the momentum. and before you say it, the flag was not "just let go before the pic was taken", it would take the astronaut too long to get to his position and turn around before the flag moved from the position. so claq you are right.
My question is, why doesnt the flag pole have a shadow?
Jordan Jul 21st 2009 2:14AM
Basically, the flagpole had a rod running the length of the top of the flag, so it would stay "stiff" and recognizable in low gravity/zero atmosphere.
If you're planting the pole with a "screwing" motion like you might put the stake for a volleyball net in the sand at a beach, the rotational force gives the appearance of the "flapping," factoring in the stiffening rod running the length of the top of the flag.
Make sense?
Claq Jul 21st 2009 2:24AM
I apologize, I have no idea why I am being a troll.... anyway, I watched a show the other day about the moon landing. The truth is, there is wire sewn into the flag and planting the light weight poll caused a bit of a "springing" effect.