Posts with tag realm-downtime

Last Week in WoW: Jaina is my hero edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Jun 5th 2012 at 7:00AM

Jaina Proudmoore casting a cone of fire spell from her hand.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! I would like to make a confession. I've been sort of in a huge fanboy mood lately. Legend of Korra has become sort of an obsession with me. I'm really getting into the whole Rory is the Master theory in Doctor Who. But honestly, what's got my little fanboy heart going the most is the new Jaina dialogue in the latest Mists of Pandaria beta build.

As a an Alliance diehard, I admit that I'm not really on board with the whole destroying Theramore thing, but Jaina's new dialogue still makes me pretty happy. I love that we finally have another leader that's speaking truth to power. Watch out, orcs. Jaina's coming for you, and this time it won't be Varian she puts on ice.

If you're not into the Alliance, don't worry -- there's plenty more faction neutral Mists of Pandaria news. Downtime this morning is just a series of rolling restarts at 5 a.m. PDT, but there's a lot of juicy stuff to catch up on, so why not take a few minutes and read on?

Hot news and features

Head enchants are gone in Mists of Pandaria, and you'll buy your shoulder enchantments from player scribes.
In Mists of Pandaria, you'll be able to blacklist your least favorite Battlegrounds when you queue for a random Battleground.
The new core abilities tab in Mists will help you learn how to play your class.
Forsaken now have a new racial ability that lets them drain health from the enemy.
Level 90 flight is now available in the beta, and we'll tell you where to get it and how much it costs.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week in WoW: Capped off edition

by Daniel Whitcomb May 29th 2012 at 9:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. This past week actually marked some pretty solid pieces of Mists of Pandaria news coming down the pipe. My favorite is perhaps the removal of the daily quest cap. No longer will you be stuck at 25 daily quests per day. Instead, the development team expects to have hundreds of daily quests available at level 90, and you'll be able to pick and choose what you want to do. More choice and flexibility is exactly what I want out of my endgame experience, and Blizzard looks like it's planning to deliver in spades with this expansion. I couldn't be more excited!

Realm maintenance this week starts at 3 a.m. PDT and lasts for around eight hours, so please read on. You should have plenty of news to catch up on and plenty of time to catch up.

Hot news and features

Want a copy of the new World of Warcraft Monopoly? We're giving one away, and you have until Friday to enter.
WoW Rookie answers a pretty basic question: What is Mists of Pandaria?
The Mists of Pandaria login screen has been uncovered.
The new pandaren mount has been revealed.
Mists of Pandaria allows you to become a master chef.
Wrathion now has new voice files in the Mists of Pandaria beta.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week in WoW: Error 37 edition

by Daniel Whitcomb May 22nd 2012 at 9:00AM

The big Blizzard news this past week, of course, is that the Error 37 boss dominated just about every Diablo III player, preventing them from even logging into the game. Blizzard issued a mea culpa for the issues, and to be fair, the servers seem a lot more stable as of this writing.

Don't think WoW's been letting its sister franchise hog the spotlight, though. Mists of Pandaria development does continue apace, including a few new beta builds, and we got all the news on what's changed and what's new. Downtime today is from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. PDT, so you should have some time to read up.

Hot news and features

We have a quick rundown of five things to watch out for in the Stormstout Brewery.
Matticus takes a look at the new Shado-Pan Monastery dungeon.
Check out some new voice emotes for male pandaren.
We take a look at some of the newest hunter pets in Mists of Pandaria.
Healers, rejoice! Spirit gear may make a comeback in Mists.
Check out Wowhead's preview of Townlong Steppes, a new Mists zone.
Engineers get some cool new toys in Mists.
Archaeology has seen some improvements in the beta, including improved digsites.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week in WoW: El Diablo edition

by Daniel Whitcomb May 15th 2012 at 9:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! As you probably know, Diablo III's release date is today. With over 1 million Annual Pass subscribers set to receive free digital copies of the game, chances you or a guildmate is going to playing this game. As someone who's been a huge fan of the Diablo series for over a decade, I can vouch for the series. If you need something else to keep your attention while we wait for Mists of Pandaria to go live, you could easily do worse, that's for sure.

If you're interested in checking out Diablo III, I'd suggest you look at the following articles we've published to get you up to speed.

Here are six blue posts that you must read.
We offer some tips on fixing common Diablo III installation issues.
We have a quick guide to the basics of Diablo gameplay.
Rossi gets you up to speed on the lore of the Diablo franchise.
My basic introduction to Diablo is a few months old, but it's a good read.
Alex explains why we're covering Diablo III on a WoW site.

If you're not into Diablo, don't worry. We still have plenty of the WoW coverage you expect. With new beta patches coming all the time, there's a lot of it, too. Downtime today is just a series of rolling restarts at 5 a.m. PDT, so that's at least enough time to read a quick article or two.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week in WoW: Monkly business edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Apr 24th 2012 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. With a new wave of 400,000 Mists of Pandaria beta invites having gone out this past week, everyone with an Annual Pass should now have their invites. If you have yours, you may want to read up on our guides to being a better beta tester.

I have to admit, when I am not testing my death knight, one of the things I have been doing is creating monks of various races to get a feel for whose combat animations look the coolest. Of course, none of them quite face up to pandaren just because they all have the whole issue of being old models, but you get some cool moves. I'm finding I really like Forsaken monks. They almost hearken back to the old ghouls of WCIII that they came from.

Whether you're in the beta or not, you'll want to keep reading. We have all the latest beta news you'll want to know about, as well as class news, opinions, and the rest. Downtime today is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have time to get caught up. Keep reading for more.

Hot news and features

Patch 4.3.3 is live, and with it, some changes to the customer support UI. We'll show you the ropes.
Check out the latest patch 4.3 hotfixes for April 17.
World bosses are coming back with a vengeance in Mists of Pandaria, and Matt has a quick guide to etiquette and expectations for taking them down.
Chase takes a look at three monk abilities that call back to classic fighting games.
Rossi offers a beginner's guide to WoW lore.
Anne offers some advice for dealing with in-game harassment.
Brian takes a look at what WoW players search for on Google.
We offer more transmogrification looks based off old Nintendo favorites.
Rossi wonders if flying mounts caused more harm than good.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week In WoW: Another day in panda-land edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Apr 17th 2012 at 12:00PM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. We seem to have settled into a nice, mid-beta groove with Mists of Pandaria. There's nothing earth-shattering going on, maybe, but we're still getting a steady diet of awesome news coming our way and the promise of even more as the beta continues. Overall, it's a pretty exciting time to be a fan of WoW.

Scheduled realm maintenance this morning is from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have plenty of time to get caught up the week's news. Keep reading for our usual roundup.

Mists of Pandaria news and features

Check out these awesome new jewelcrafting mount models. And if that's not enough, there's even a super-expensive version.
There are also new emote animations for female pandaren.
Here's a video of some more awesome new mounts coming with Mists of Pandaria.
Josh takes a look at five super-exciting new monk abilities.
When's Mists of Pandaria's release date? We took a look at past patch and beta development cycles for clues.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week in WoW: More than a feeling edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Apr 10th 2012 at 5:00AM

Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. As the week gets in full gear, we here at WoW insider are mostly still basking in the post-PAX afterglow. Alas, I was not among the attendees, but my coworkers who did make the trip to Boston had a blast, and the panel went well. If you missed it, why not use this week's downtime as an excuse to listen to the panel? We even have footage of the first 10 minutes.

If you can't make time to listen right now, don't worry. We still have plenty of news for you to catch up on. In addition to all the juicy stuff from the Mists of Pandaria beta, we have some pretty big site news. Yes, that is a new comment system you're seeing. Luckily, the world hasn't ended, as some were predicting, so you should still be able to use it. Downtime today is limited to a series of rolling restarts at 5 a.m. PDT, but with all this good stuff to read or listen to, you may want to stick around anyway. Read on for more.

Mists of Pandaria news and features

We have a spoiler-free overview of the Mists of Pandaria beta.
We take a first look at monk leveling in the beta.
Raid Rx has a basic guide to the mistweaver healing monk.

Last Week in WoW: All aboard the beta wagon edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Apr 3rd 2012 at 5:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The beta invite floodgates have opened. If you didn't get a beta invite yet (or even if you did), have no worry. Our tireless team is constantly scouring the beta, ready to bring you the latest news and guides to exploring the new areas, using the new features, and taking in the sights of Mists of Pandaria.

You can check after the break for a special Mists of Pandaria section, along with a roundup of the rest of the past week's news. Downtime is currently scheduled for 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have plenty of time to read through it all.

Mists of Pandaria news and features

In the latest Dev Watercooler, Ghostcrawler explains the new Mists of Pandaria loot systems. He also explained spec-specific quest rewards.
Have a look at our gallery of screenshots from the pandaren starter zone.
Check out our overview of Temple of the Jade Serpent, one of the first new dungeons in Mists.
Pandaren totems have been uncovered.
We also take a gander at the new Dungeon and Raid Finder UI.
Check out some of the awesome new archaeology items from the beta.
We have a gallery of pandaren male customization options. We also have a pandaren male facial hair gallery. Finally, we take a look at male pandaren hairstyles.
New quest markers should making questing pretty fun and easy. There are even quest markers for the world map.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week In WoW: Where's my beta invite edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Mar 27th 2012 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The Mists of Pandaria beta is now under way, but if you don't have an invitation yet, don't feel too bad. Blizzard hasn't even opened up the continent of Pandaria yet. That said, there's still plenty of stuff to uncover, both from datamining and from exploring changes to the system and to the old world. Even if your beta invitation never comes, though, don't worry. We have you covered.

Keep on reading for a roundup of all the juicy beta info we've uncovered over the past week, and stay with us in the weeks to come as we keep you abreast of all the panda news that's fit to print. Downtime today is scheduled for 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have plenty of time to get caught up.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week in WoW: Pandas everywhere

by Daniel Whitcomb Mar 20th 2012 at 10:30AM

I'm sure by now, everyone's heard the biggest news of the week. With the NDA expired on the press tour, we've been hit with a glut of information the new Mists of Pandaria expansion. I'm not sure what my favorite part is. Is it the identity of Mists of Pandaria's final boss? Is it the fact that I'll get to play some Team Fortress? It's hard to choose, really.

But don't let me decide for you. After the break, we'll have our usual roundup, including a section devoted to all the new expansion news you can handle. You'll only have to deal with rolling restarts this morning at 5:00 a.m. PDT, but expansion news is worth a few extra minutes, right? Keep on reading for the full rundown.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week In WoW: Reapers edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Mar 6th 2012 at 4:00AM

Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. If you're reading this, congratulations. You're one of the lucky few to survive the reaper onslaught. Alas, you cannot take comfort in WoW, as it's going to be down for an extra-long maintenance from 1 a.m. to 11 a.m. PST. That's fine, though -- I'm sure quite a few of us are going to be too busy taking back Earth anyway. I know I am. I owe Emily Wong that much.

WoW news is still a little sparse as we wait for the Mists of Pandaria press event, but don't think we're in a drought here. Ghostcrawler gave us some inside info on new stat changes coming to the game, Dave "Fargo" Kosak talked about Cataclysm quest design, and as always, we had lots of analysis and information of our own to do. Read on for a roundup of the good stuff.

Filed under: News items

Last Week in WoW: Yak it up edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Feb 28th 2012 at 12:00PM

Happy Tuesday, everyone. As we inch closer and closer to the Mists of Pandaria press event, the Mists news still continues to come out in a small trickle. This week, hot on the heels of Mat's mount speculation, Blizzard announced that we'll be getting yak mounts in the upcoming expansion. Whether those will be the pandaren racial mount or come from some other source hasn't been clarified -- but hey, yaks are cool.

We should also repeat the warning here that patch 4.3.3 may be dropping this morning, and when it does, it will break the 64-bit client, so beware if you've been trying that out. Luckily, a new version is expected soon. Other than that, it may be a slow news week, but that doesn't mean that we've slowed down. Stay with us for our usual roundup of news, features, and opinions, including more analysis of the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator changes from last week. Maintenance this week is from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. PST, so you'll have plenty of time to catch up.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week in WoW: Talented panda edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Feb 21st 2012 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Well, things may seem deceptively lull-like, signs seem to point to the idea that the Pandaria train is building up steam. This week bought us an update to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator. You can check the class news section below to see if we've dissected the updates for your favorite class yet. If we haven't, it's coming soon (maybe even today!).

Scheduled maintenance this morning is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PST, so you should have time to catch up on all the latest WoW news while your realm's down. Read on for a list of some of our best articles from the past seven days.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week in WoW: What is Pandaria edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Feb 14th 2012 at 10:30AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. As expected, we marked yet another week without any significant Mists of Pandaria news, but it's all good. We did get some gaming news about another pretty huge upcoming release, including a glimpse at the girl I'm spending Valentine's Day with. So I'm fine. Pandaria can wait.

That said, there was still some prime WoW news in the pipeline over the last week. We had the Activision Blizzard investor conference call, where we learned that WoW lost only 100,000 subscribers since last count, mostly on the strength of the WoW annual pass. Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street held a discussion on class roles. We also got a new Blizzard representative on the story forums, Nyorloth, who's already starting things off we a bang with a shipping thread. Heck, we even heard that a Warcraft Monopoly game is in the works. There's a downtime filler for you.

Downtime this is week is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PST, so in lieu of Warcraft Monopoly, we have plenty of stuff for you to read, both in the paragraph above and in our usual roundup below.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Last Week In WoW: The cruelest month edition

by Daniel Whitcomb Feb 7th 2012 at 7:00AM

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. This week, we were treated to an update about an update about an update, as Zarhym first tweeted about the announcement of an upcoming press event for Mists of Pandaria and Nethaera posted about it the next day. The gist of it all, though, is that we have to wait a whole month for any major amount of expansion news. However, once that goes down, the floodgates should open. Still, because of this, I am officially declaring February the new cruelest month.

Don't worry about the meantime, though -- we here at WoW Insider will continue to keep you informed and entertained as we wait for the next big thing. Right now, we've got all the news about the recently released patch 4.3.2, as well as end of Cataclysm retrospectives, guides to avoiding the most common mistakes your class makes, and much more. In addition, there are three world events going on right now, and we have guides to them all. Downtime today is a quick series of rolling restarts at 10 a.m. PST, so while you wait for server to stabilize, why not see what we have to offer?

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