Tuesday Morning Post: Elemental extended maintenance edition
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Nov 16th 2010 at 5:00AM
That said, you won't be able to log on for a bit this morning, as the servers are going down for extended maintenance from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. PST. Personally, I'm blaming this on the fire elementals. I bet they got into the hardware. Luckily, we got your back with lots of good stuff to read from the past week while we wait for the servers to come back up. Keep it right here with us, and we'll get through the downtime withdrawal together, I promise. We have our usual list of hot topics and useful guides below.
Hot news and features
- Want to play a goblin on launch day but don't want to deal with the pain of leveling again? Race changes will be available immediately at Cataclysm's launch.
- No matter when or how you buy the expansion, you won't be able to play Cataclysm on the North American servers until midnight PST.
- Blizzard has posted screenshots of the upcoming Lil' Ragnaros and Moonkin Hatchling pets.
- Blizzard rolled out yet another account security tool this past week: the Dial-in Authenticator.
- BlizzCon 2010 livestream subscribers have started to receive their BlizzCon 2010 pets!
- Troll druids just got a very unique and very awesome flight form of their very own.
- If you're planning on going for Insane in the Membrane, here's some good news: It's not going away in Cataclysm, and it's getting easier.
- Denizens of Orgrimmar, beware: Gamon's beefing up for Cataclysm.
- Check out what's new in Azshara with Cataclysm.
- Totem talk answers more restoration shaman questions.
- Scattered Shots looks at hunter tier 11 gear.
- Arcane Brilliance discusses mage frost talents.
- The Light and How to Swing It talks avoidance for paladin tanks and the lowdown on Light of Dawn.
- Spiritual Guidance discusses the demise of Vampiric Embrace, the level 80-85 grind, and the latest beta priest changes.
- Encrypted Text interviews rogue spreadsheet maven Aldriana.
- The Care And Feeding of Warriors looks at mastery.
- The Art of War(craft) looks at paladin PvP talents.
- Raid Rx looks at the differences between 10- and 25-man healing in Cataclysm.
- Shifting Perspectives discusses tauren as a druid race and balance dungeon diving in patch 4.0.3 and beyond.
- Having trouble getting the Razzashi Hatchling? Don't worry, it'll show up again in Cataclysm.
- Cataclysm gets rid of the clown suits for all levels.
- Ghostcrawler talks Vengeance in PvP.
- Getting a new PvP teammate via realm transfer? There are some red flags to watch for.
- Insider Trader reveals some bad news about professions alts in Cataclysm.
- Gold Capped covers the Auctionator addon.
- Addon spotlight looks at some offbeat and amusing addons.
- Cryptozoic has announced a release date for the new WoW TCG expansion, Worldbreaker.
- 15 Minutes of Fame interviews Laura Shigihara, the Singing Sunflower.
- The Drama Mamas discuss choosing between family and fun.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Etcee Nov 16th 2010 5:38AM
The folks over at MMO-Champ seem pretty confident 4.0.3 is hitting today. That is to say, not the shattering, but the pre-patch. Any insight?
Acorania Nov 16th 2010 8:07AM
Looks like my downloader is pulling a patch labelled to be from 4.0.0.1 to 4.0.0.2...
So definitely an interim patch of some sort. We'll see what is in it...
Rei_zero Nov 16th 2010 10:01AM
4.0.3 is on the downloader.
logging in will net you an ~20mb tools update (4.0.2) then once you open your launcher you start the ~750mb 4.0.3 download (confirmed by opening the game when play is available)
my connection keeps dropping for the download though, which is a touch frustrating...
Olania Nov 16th 2010 5:42AM
Blah... that much less time to work on getting a few upgrades for my alts...
Count of Monte Christo Nov 16th 2010 6:00AM
The more I read about cata the more I hate it. Wish they would leave it alone its great as it is.
ZeroDesu Nov 16th 2010 6:27AM
If you hate the changes to the game, stfu and go away. You don't have to play it if you don't want to. They're not going to suddenly decide to undo all the changes the day before Cataclysm hits. It is what it is, so get over it. Srsly.
eenersumbrella Nov 16th 2010 8:06AM
As someone that has played for 6 years, I'm excited about the changes. I love the game as is and I love to level toons. However, they're giving a whole new flow to the zones, new quests, better quest rewards, and a whole new story. Don't think of change as a bad thing, think of it as exciting, like zomg new toys exciting!
Rob Nov 16th 2010 8:22AM
Its great as is? We have no CC, the current content is a joke, much of the world hasn't been touched in 6 years...have you seen the vanilla content lately? Its horrid in comparison to Wraith quests and rewards. Let alone the dungeons. There is a reason they broke up so many of the older dungeons. People just don't have 5 hours at a time to sit through BRD.
I've been playing for 6 years. It's evolve or die in MMOs, and this is a change for the better and well keep subs lasting until...well whenever SW:OTR comes out.
Bronwyn Nov 16th 2010 9:53AM
Thank you for your unconstructive criticisms, Count. Now, I can only assume that you just started playing the game, and thus have not had a chance to experience everything. I understand the bitter feelings at missing out on things, I really do- I had them too, when I started playing and missed out on things I didn't know about, or mourned for the loss of things I just hadn't been around to experience. I even got a little upset- like you're doing.
But in the end, WoW has gone a long way toward teaching me to cope with change, even when I don't like that change. So far, Blizzard has never disappointed me in making the game experience good enough that I only miss the old things a little bit. I don't agree with everything they do, but I still find enjoyment in the new things, otherwise, why would I still be subscribed?
And remember, even though you haven't been able to experience everything, there are people who have been playing WoW since launch who have, and just think how boring the game would be if Blizzard wasn't changing things, adding new content, and yes, IMPROVING old content? The point of WoW, for Blizz, is to keep people interested and to constantly improve the game. In order to do that, they must change things.
Coldhearth Nov 16th 2010 6:09AM
Servers won't be up at 11am PST if they are rolling out a patch. I don't know who've they've been trying to fool for the last 6 years on patch day, but it sure isn't any paying customer lol.
ZeroDesu Nov 16th 2010 6:29AM
I dunno. I think it's possible. The last couple of patches went down pretty quickly. We got a surprise patch here a couple months ago. Nobody knew we were getting hit with a patch until maintenance was over.
eenersumbrella Nov 16th 2010 8:07AM
This is just a data patch. The only thing you'd notice is bug fixes and a few new tools.
Wayne Nov 16th 2010 6:42AM
After all the fighting in the major cities last night it's no wonder the down time is extended, the smoke elementals probably escaped the servers.
Kurtis Nov 16th 2010 7:11AM
Yeah, you just haven't lived until you've seen a dogpile of mammoths and another dogpile of bears in front of the Orgrimmar bank and auction house. Somebody said they counted more than 90 bears in the pile. (Mixture of different bear mounts and druids...)
I didn't have any lag to speak of, but the fans in my PC were running as high as they go... For a little bit I worried that it might let the smoke out too.
Koriael Nov 16th 2010 8:48AM
Hahaha Magic Smoke! XD
SpaceGoatPriest Nov 16th 2010 10:18AM
Elemental Smoke, don't breathe this.
Count of Monte Christo Nov 16th 2010 6:45AM
Zero if I wanted your opinion I would ask for it. So sick and tired of kids talking shite on this site
Squiggy Nov 16th 2010 6:51AM
Well I'm giving you my opinion whether you want it or not. I think you're an annoying troll. Like he said if you hate the game so much then don't play it, no one is forcing you. I'm sure that no one wants to hear you whining about it though.
ZeroDesu Nov 16th 2010 6:51AM
1) I'm not a kid, I'm 23.
2) I'm sick of people like you bitching about things changing, when you knew the changes were coming months on. Either get over it, or stop complaining.
3) Learn to reply right, okay? :)
Calaana Nov 16th 2010 7:05AM
Trolling or not, the game is shockingly bag as it current stands - runescape stands out as a better game in many aspects when compared. Surely, as someone who obviously likes the game, you would rather it be about skill not "who spent 5 minutes every day for the past month"?
Unless your a wrath kiddy, then you aren't really qualified to speak on inc cata changes.