Another year is ending in the rich world of Azeroth. Countless battles have been fought, and numerous accolades achieved. It is time to laud victories and give remembrance to the fallen. In celebration of the old year's passing and anticipation of the new, skilled brewers and talented pyrotechnicians have brought their finest creations to the bustling cities; join the party underway and ring in the new year with your fellow adventurers!

• On World of War.net The Pig wrote an article titled The Cry of The Paladin.
• WoW IGN Vault present this Mage PvP video from the EU server Ravencrest.
• About speculation. We have posted this information on the European Forum. Please read it.
• Nightelves on parade! Funny videos FTW!

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring The Barrens. We have also updated our Blizzard Fan Art Section with three new pieces of artwork.

Warcraft Weekly, Merry Christmas!

To get rid of some clutter, we consolidated the migration stickies into one big one.

N.A.M.E. your character. Acronyms were never this much fun!

After Gamon, now it's Hoggers turn: Check out Hogger's day out.

Winter Veil 2005 - the mp3. Want some music with that? Have a look.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

In the quiet, early hours of the 25th of December, the industrious goblins of Smokywood Pastures are already awake. As a much-deserved reward for the noble adventurers throughout Azeroth, these generous harbingers of the holidays deposit gifts underneath the decorated trees in Orgrimmar and Ironforge. Keep a keen eye out for these presents, as they're there for the taking! On behalf of Greatfather Winter and Smokywood Pastures, we all wish you a most merry Feast of Winter Veil!

We have just added several new pages that will make for some enjoyable reading over the holiday season. Firstly, we have added a page, A Day in the Life of a Game Master. If you've ever been curious about what it's like to be in a Game Master's sandals, take a look at this page to find out. Secondly, we have posted the Warcraft history section, along with links to more information about Warcraft lore.

Good reading!

Spam getting you down? You're not the only one: GU Comics must have had similar experiences.

Dark Elves, not always quite what you expect... They.. no, no fun in spoiling the surprise; check out The Noob.

WoW Stratics would like to know: What is your favourite Christmas fun part?

Check out WoW Vault for 'Snowballs to Deal with Gold Farmers'.

WoW Warcry is asking 'What do you think of Arathi Basin?'

The Buffy Awards have spoken: WoW is the most appropriate acronym ever :)

Have a Very Flintlocke Christmas.

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper for Christmas.

Christmas is just around the corner and we at Blizzard Europe would like to wish each and every one of you a merry Christmas. As part of our seasons' wishes to you, we'd like to invite you to participate in our Christmas decoration contest. All you have to do is make a traditional Christmas decoration with a Blizzard theme, take a photo of it with a digital camera, and send the picture in to us via our Contest submission page. The best six decorations will receive free game-time. If you are interested in participating in this contest, please read the terms.

Happy Holidays from Blizzard Europe!

The powerful Defilers and the mighty League of Arathor are fighting for control over the resources found in the Arathi Basin. Do you have what it takes to claim these resources for the good of your faction? Check out this new Arathi Basin movie, then log in to World of Warcraft and go participate in this epic struggle!

Anvilbeard has posted episode 21 of his Warcraft Weekly

Schwick has updated his Q&A on upcoming patches and the expansion

We've shared some thoughts on migration in January

Warkha made an overview of last night's developer chat for everyone

One specific response from the developer chat we felt needed some extra highlighting is Tigole's word on the Nefarian encounter

And on the matter of uncertainties surrounding tough encounters, note that pulling and kiting Broodlord Lashlayer in Vaelastrasz's room is a no-no

The summary of the Priest class concerns has been posted

60 and beyond has been a hot topic lately, and we've shared thoughts and plans on the matter

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

We are pleased to announce the first world-wide World of Warcraft Movie Contest! This contest, sponsored by Xfire, is open to World of Warcraft subscribers both in the U.S. and Europe. Players may submit movies set in Azeroth in one of three main categories: Dance, Comedy, and Drama. A total of 39 prizes worth over $12,000 will be awarded to the best submissions! If you're interested in participating in this contest, click here.

Players can now listen to their favorite in-game music from the Warcraft series with just a few mouse clicks. The Warcraft MP3 player features many unforgettable tracks from the games, including: Arcane Echos, Orc 3, and Blackrock and Roll! Click below to check it out.*



*You must allow pop up windows in order to use the player

To continue to alleviate the queues on some of the most populated realms we move on to the ninth phase of migration. This phase starts Monday, December 19th and will last until and including Friday, December 23rd. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about the ninth migration phase.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CET (GMT/UTC +1) each day. We might choose to not allow migration on Wednesdays, due to the additional load when a huge amount of players login after the maintenance.

The following migration between English realms is part of this phase:

Warsong	–>	Emeriss
Skullcrusher	–>	Emeriss
Crushridge	–>	Mazrigos
Shattered Hand	–>	Mazrigos
Burning Legion	–>	Drak'thul (new realm)
Ravencrest	–>	Drak'thul (new realm)

Snowballs are zipping through the air; mischevious-looking little people in red and green are running all over creation; Greatfather Winter stands by a decoration-laden tree offering gifts to all. What does this mean? That the Feast of Winter Veil is here!

Take a moment to check out our new page about the Feast of Winter Veil and see what the season has in store for you!

Happy Winter Veil!

Should you want to migrate your character(s) any time soon, then please make sure you read this.

Send in your 1.9 Test Server screenshots over at World of War.net.

Players are adding new Interface Customisations every day over at UI.WorldofWar.net. Check it out and see if there's anything to your liking.

Azzor has announced a movie contest with 25 prizes to be won!

Great-father Winter looking a bit perturbed? GU comics explains why..

BlizzPlanet has published an interview with Luke Johnson, author and developer of Warcraft RPG books.

My! You're a tall one! Blanc managed to find Ironforge.

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Tirisfal Glade. We have also updated our Blizzard Fan Art Section with three new pieces of artwork.

Starting with the Warcraft Weekly. Episode 20!

Greetings to our oldest (as far as we know) WoW player: Forzatoro

Thinking of moving? find the schedule for Character migration until Christmas here. And specifically, phase 8, here.

Do you gank someone doing an escort quest? It's being discussed here, join in..

Greetings traveller. You come seeking knowledge do you not? Xarantaur's Lore Q&A can be found here.

To close off, here are some Open Role-Playing stories:

• Realm of Dragons
• Stonetalon Mountains
• Christmas in Moonglade
• Rise of the Gurubashi

*Links on this news post may expire over time.

Due to player testing on the Public Test Realms, some small adjustments have been made for the future paladin talents. Check the last changes in our Paladin Talent Calculator preview.

Amongst the corruption of Felwood, one tribe of furbolgs has escaped the taint which has ravaged their homeland: the Timbermaw furbolgs. Those adventurers, who seek out Timbermaw Hold and prove themselves to be friends of this shamanistic tribe, can learn from them the ways of crafting powerful armor and the secrets of their healing talismans.

Take a peek at the new Timbermaw Hold faction changes coming in our next content update "The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj" and see which rewards dedicated adventurers can gain by helping the furbolgs of Timbermaw Hold.

To continue to alleviate the queues on some of the most populated realms we move on to the eighth phase of migration. This phase starts Monday, December 12th and will last until and including Friday, December 16th. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about the eighth migration phase.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CET (GMT/UTC +1) each day. We might choose to not allow migration on Wednesdays, due to the additional load when a huge amount of players login after the maintenance.

The following migration between English realms is part of this phase:

Deathwing	–>	Talnivarr (new realm)
Stormscale	–>	Talnivarr (new realm)
Bladefist	–>	Emeriss (new realm)
Kor'gall	–>	Emeriss (new realm)

Something Awful has published a very interesting article on The Art of Warcraft: "A Year in Review"
And they didn't stop there. You may also find out How to Properly Enjoy World of Warcraft

Panda Hideout has a new poll. This week's question is: Do you usually gank players? Hot contenders, so far, are "Sometimes" with 48% and "No" with 34%.

World of War.net has added a lot of useful info on professions, be it blacksmithing or skinning, here's your stuff. And they have added a new Macro's section, which you will find here.

The Chalice of Silvermoon, "hot new segment of WoW Radio," now have their own site. Go here to find some very interestind tidbits and downloads.

Have a great weekend!

*Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Thousand Needles. We have also updated our Blizzard Fan Art Section with six new pieces of artwork.

We have just added a new payment option for customers living in the Netherlands and Austria: direct debit payments. To use this option, you must be a resident of one of these countries with a bank account originating from there. If you meet that criteria, simply log into Account Management and change your payment option to direct debit if you would like to use this method of payment. Please note that you can only select this option after setting up your account; it cannot be chosen when creating your account. If you have any questions about this new payment method, please contact our Billing Department for more information.

Purchase a World of Warcraft as a gift and get 20€* back! As part of getting into the holiday spirit, we have launched this special offer to World of Warcraft subscribers. In order to participate in this offer, simply read the email sent to the address associated with your World of Warcraft account and follow the instructions given therein. If you did not receive the email, please check to be certain that your email address is listed correctly in the Account Management section and that the email was not marked as spam and placed in your Junk email folder.

This offer applies to World of Warcraft subscribers living in one of the eligible countries, who had an account active on November 23, 2005. The eligible countries are: Germany, France, The United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Finland, Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Portugal, The Czech Republic, and Ireland. For more information you can contact our customer support team using this webform.
* Denmark: 150 DKK, Norway: 155 NOK, Switzerland: 30 CHF, Poland: 80 PLN, Hungary: 5000 HUF, The Czech Republic: 590 CZK, Bulgaria: 40 BGN, United Kingdom: 13 GBP, Sweden: 190 SEK.

Starting with the Warcraft Weekly. Episode Nineteen!

We have permanently banned more than 2,500 accounts during the last several weeks. Read more here.

Phase seven of Character Migration lets people migrate to two new Realms: Trollbane and Mazrigos.

Add-ons for every day rogue life

Honor, XP & Reputation, Hits and Crits... what colours at what level? Find out here

Ever get ganked? You know you’ve been ganked when...

*Links on this news post may expire over time.

Tomorrow's regularly scheduled maintenance will begin at approximately 3:00 AM Paris time in order to apply a minor patch. This patch adds content for the upcoming holiday festivities in Azeroth! You can review all of the changes contained in patch 1.8.4 here.

Please note: this patch is not The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, the content patch currently running on the public test realms. To read more on The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj, view the 1.9 patch notes located here.

All realms are expected to be back up at 11:00 AM Paris time. We greatly appreciate your patience and understanding in this matter.

To learn more about our patching methods, please read the information contained on our Patch FAQ.

We have just posted a sneak peak of the Paladin Talent changes that will be featured alongside many other improvements in our next major content patch, The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. So, take a moment to check out our special Paladin Talent Calculator to see what changes you might want to plan for your Paladin. Additionally, all Paladins will have their talents reset when the patch is released.

To continue to alleviate the queues on some of the most populated realms we move on to the seventh phase of migration. This phase starts Monday December 5th and will last until and including Friday December 9th. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about the seventh migration phase.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CET (GMT/UTC +1) each day. We might choose to not allow migration on Wednesdays, due to the additional load when a huge amount of players login after the maintenance.

The following migration between English realms is part of this phase:

Bloodscalp	–>	Trollbane (new realm)
Burning Blade	–>	Trollbane (new realm)
Daggerspine	–>	Mazrigos (new realm)
Stormreaver	–>	Mazrigos (new realm)

As part of our continuing commitment to keep World of Warcraft free from abuse, we have permanently banned more than 2500 accounts during the last several weeks which were involved in the use of cheats and/or hacks using third-party software or were otherwise violating our Terms of Use. We will continue to take an aggressive stance to ensure that the gaming environment remains an enjoyable place for our customers by actively pursuing those who would seek to violate the principle of fair-play, as well as breach our Terms of Use and policies in this way.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this matter. Should you have reason to believe that you have evidence of or information regarding the use of cheats or hacks, please feel free to send us an email at WoWAccountReviewEU@blizzard.com for us to investigate or submit a GM ticket in-game.

Interview with Vaneras! Wowi.dk interviewed Vaneras and you can find it here (it's in English!).

One of our players decided to take poor Gamon out of Orgrimmar and show him some of the world. Enjoy Gamon’s grand day out.

Some other interesting tidbits on Wowi.dk:

• Do the Danes play Horde or Alliance? Go here and find out.
• They have started a Christmas contest and winners will be picked on the 24th of December.

Questicles?! Ya rly, they exist, or at least Woody over at GU Comics says they do.

Leaked 1.9 Patch Notes on Penny Arcade. You'll find them here.

World of War.net has some goodies on their site:

• Heroes of WoW - Chapter 15
• Several new guides, among them guides for Druids and Warlocks.

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

As we were wrapping up Wednesday's maintenance tasks we detected an issue with part of our infrastructure and the network, which affected 20 English-speaking Realms and caused an unexpected delay to the maintenance process. After some troubleshooting we resolved the infrastructure issue, while simultaneously working with our provider to identify and solve the network issues. We were finally able to locate and replace the faulty hardware, restoring all the Realms to full functionality and allowing everyone to login again.

One full day of compensation will be added to each active account which had a playable character on the affected realms.

The English-speaking Realms concerned are:

• Balnazzar
• Bloodfeather
• Darksorrow
• Defias Brotherhood
• Frostwhisper
• Genjuros
• Haumarush
• Hellscream
• Kor’gall
• Laughing Skull
• Lightning’s Blade
• Magtheridon
• Neptulon
• Nordrassil
• Ragnaros
• Sylvanas
• The Maelstrom
• The Venture Co.
• Twisting Nether
• Vashj

We'll be adding this extra day to players’ accounts within the next week.

We would like to offer our sincere apology for this unexpected interruption to play time.

We are happy to announce the winners of this year's Hallow's End Contests! The winners of the Hallow's End Screenshot contest are: Naranana on Illidan, Brong on Skullcrusher, Karesh on The Venture Co., Kortvokst on Dragonmaw, and Thezón on Gorgonnash. The winners of the Hallow's End Recipe contest for the English language are: Thrartok on Argent Dawn, Moth on Sylvanas, and Dyth on The Maelstrom. You can view the winning screenshots and recipes for all languages on our special Hallow's End Contest Winners page. Congratulations to all of our winners and thanks to everyone who participated!

BradyGames has published a helpful new resource for World of Warcraft fans: the World of Warcraft Atlas. This book includes detailed maps of all of the regions in World of Warcraft, information about the NPCs found throughout the world, and helpful close-up maps of every town in Azeroth. Additionally, the World of Warcraft Atlas is available in French, German, and English. So, check your local game store or book store to find out where you can get this useful new book!

As always, the latest Warcraft Weekly can be found here.

Thundgot posted the Upcoming Armor Changes.

And more information on the latest character migration.

One of our faithful forum Tr... posters has left us. Wormsborough will be missed.

What do YOU do when you get ganked? Share your thoughts here.

On a similar note, share with everyone, your favourite gank stories. You may do so here.

Well well, an old thread just got bumped, check out 'You know you play WoW too much when...'

Share your Guild's accomplishments in the new 'EU Raiding Guild Progress Thread - II.'

Trying out the Public Test Realm? Share your suspected issues here.

*Links on this news post may expire over time.

Since World of Warcraft has been released, a lot of major content and many improvements have been added for the players' enjoyment. From Battlegrounds to the Dressing Room; Blackwing Lair to the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza; from Zul’Gurub to the Darkmoon Faire, there have been many additions to the World of Warcraft. If you think you might have missed some of these new features, check out our new Implemented features page!

• The Alliance Herald has released a new issue, number 7 this time. Be sure to check it out.
• WoW Azzor.com has added a Hunter guide.
• You can also find some new guides for the Alchemist and the Warlock on the guides page of WorldofWar.net.
• There's also a new map of Dire Maul in their cartography section, while the UI section has a new feature; you can now add notes for yourself on each mod. Also ever-growing, of course, is their World of Warcraft database.
• While over at WorldofWar.net, make sure to check out their poll about turning our game franchises into movies. Another interesting poll this week can be found over at WoW Vault, asking which class has the best looking tier 2 armor.

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Update: November 28 We have included migration from Emerald Dream to Kul Tiras in this phase. We apologize for the short notice and hope players on Emerald Dream will appreciate this chance to migrate.

To continue to alleviate the queues on some of the most populated realms we move on to the sixth phase of migration. This phase starts Monday November 28th and will last until and including Friday December 2nd. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about the sixth migration phase.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CET (GMT/UTC +1) each day.

The following migration between English realms is part of this phase:

Dragonmaw	–>	Executus
Dunemaul	–>	Executus
Silvermoon	–>	Kul Tiras (new realm)

Public test realms are now live! Players can now transfer characters over to the test realms and try out all the changes and additions coming in the next content patch, The Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. The highlights of this patch include new 20- and 40- player raid dungeons, linked Auction Houses in major cities, improved Battleground queues, Paladin class improvements, and a host of other exciting features. Click here to view the 1.9 test realm patch notes to learn more!

Players can participate in the test realms by creating a character or by copying pre-made characters to the test realms. Those who have previously copied their characters to the test realms will need to do so again, as all previous characters have been removed from the previous test realms. To copy your character, visit our Test Realm Character Copy page (French version, German version). During the first week of testing, only players who created their accounts before November 8 will be able to login to the public test realms. Also, players will not be able to log in to the public test realms if they have changed their password since November 8. All players will be able to access the test realms after next week's maintenance.

Please be aware that the test realms are there to allow us to test major content patches before the patch goes public. Therefore, some changes may be introduced to the public test realms before a patch goes live, and some changes may be introduced to the patch after the test realms have closed. To read more about the test realms, please review the Test Realm FAQ. We truly appreciate our players taking the time to help us test the latest changes to the game; thank you all!

Fantasy Flight Games has posted a detailed preview of World of Warcraft: The Board Game. This preview answers a number of questions that World of Warcraft players and board-game aficionados alike might have about the game. The boardgame will be available in Europe soon, so check out the new preview here. (The French and German translations of the World of Warcraft: The Board Game are planned for 2006).

We are proud to unveil our new Parental Control system for World of Warcraft which we have just added to the Account Management section. With the Parental Control system, you can determine when your World of Warcraft account is accessible. This system can be used to ensure that your children only play during pre-determined hours, such as after their homework is done or only on weekends. For more information on how to access and use these controls, check our Parental Controls support page or our Parental Controls FAQ.

Extra, extra, another Weekly! Warcraft Weekly - Episode 17!

A Guide to Mage Gear just got stickied in the Mage Forum, here.

So, who is this Anvilbeard? Find out - or discuss - here.

For your reading pleasure, here are some of the latest Open RP Stories:

• Peace Talks
• Christmas in Moonglade
• The Frozen Sea
• Afterlife in Moonglade

And, to close this week's Forum Watch: if you're looking for a RP partner, 'The WoW RP personals' is the post for you.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

Since the beginning of recorded history, Azeroth has seen the most terrible conflicts imaginable. The War of the Ancients and the Sundering of the World. The coming of the Tides of Darkness. The return of the Burning Legion, the Scourge of Lordaeron and the rise of the Lich King. Yet all this time, deep beneath the shifting sands of Silithus, an unspeakable horror has been lying in wait, ever patient, ever enduring. Evil is stirring where mortals were never meant to tread...

To learn more about the fate awaiting the inhabitants of Azeroth, take a moment to peruse the history of the War of the Shifting Sands. Additionally, you may want to take a moment to check out the Qiraji on our new Ahn'Qiraj desktop.

New on World of War.Net:

• A new section with many guides. Currently featuring the End-Game Priest Guide.
• Herb list update
• Cartography section has been updated with new maps and links to quests, plants, minerals and treasure

Go to Gamer.nl and take the opportunity to get the Benelux Exclusive look at Ahn’Qiraj.

WoWi.dk is hosting a Screenshot contest.

Books! Books! Books! Minabelle's Library brings you many literary works from Azeroth.

We have two new fansites! Go take a look at these two new sites, dedicated to WoW:

• WoW Blizzard-Rus.ru: http://wow.blizzard-rus.ru/
• WoW Azzor.com: http://wow.azzor.com/

Warcraft-World.dk has updated their Homepage design.

And in closing, here are some interesting Polls:

• http://www.warcraft-world.dk/news.php: Would you buy the expansion – Front page, right side(Danish)
• http://www.wownorge.net/: Do you think the expansion will live up to your expectations – Front page, right side(Norwegian)
• http://www.worldofwar.se/: What do you think will be the new race for the alliance in the expansion – Front page, right side(Swedish)
• http://www.warcraft.nu/: What would you prefer to see added to the game in the expansion – Front page, right side(Swedish)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj. We have also updated our Blizzard Fan Art Section with three new pieces of artwork.

The World of Warcraft Launcher serves as a portal to the game and the latest game-related news, as well as a tool that provides greater security for our players. Once you complete the client patch update, you can begin using the World of Warcraft Launcher immediately. To learn more about this utility, please visit the World of Warcraft Launcher page and check out the Launcher FAQ. For more information about the warnings that the Launcher provides about Trojans and hacks, check this section.

If you happen to be Horde and want to gain some Battleground experience, then you must have a look at this very extensive Alterac Valley Beginners Guide for the Horde. I'd almost say, "don't leave the Inn without it."

Another week, another Weekly! Anvilbeard's Warcraft Weekly, Episode 16 already, whoosh, time does fly.

We recently posted some must-read information on:

• Terms of Use violations
• The latest scam
• The new Realm: Executus
• We don't endorse Executable AddOns

What AddOn is that? Find out and post your info.

If your AddOn isn't working, check here to find some Troubleshooting tips.

Viper stepped up and, in no time, created this excellent 'little' AddOn for re-directing system messages.

Pirates! aka "A Sea Battleground." "What's this?" you may ask. Take a look at a very detailed suggestion, here.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

We have updated the In Development section with a brief glimpse into some of the features planned for the next patch.

• Ahn'Qiraj
• Linked Auction Houses in every major city
• Multiple Battlegrounds Queues
• Paladin Talent Updates
• New armor sets

Check this section often as we will be updating it with more information about the up-coming patch!

To continue to alleviate the queues on some of the most populated realms we move on to the fifth phase of migration. This phase started today Monday November 14th and will last until and including Friday November 18th. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about the fifth migration phase.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CET (GMT/UTC +1) each day.

The following migration between English realms is part of this phase:

Kor'gall	–>	Executus
Zenedar	–>	Executus

Please note that Executus is a new realm opened specifically for migration. It’s not recommended for new players to start out on this realm.

World of War.Net has provided a new Transport Guide, check it out.

How much time do you spend in the Battle Grounds? Panda Hideout wants to know. Just go here and look on the right.

Why are the Undead so thin? We don't know, but Woody thought it's funny :) Now all new: Stick Figures!

Night Elves overrun Azeroth! And we thought they didn't like snow... But they look good doing it.

Ending on a sad note, World of Warcraft ESP let us know this week that they wish to leave our Fansite program. We're sorry to see them go and wish them luck in the future.

Have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Tauren Racial Shield.

We have just added more information to our Factions section. So, if you're wondering just what is so special about:

• The Argent Dawn
• The Thorium Brotherhood
• The Darkmoon Faire

or are just curious about the various Battlegrounds factions, then you should take a moment to check out our new pages. We will be adding more factions so keep an eye on this section.

Want to win a whole month of free game-play? Then check your inbox to see if you have received our Recruit a Friend email! This offer provides you the opportunity not only to add to your faction's numbers; it gives you the chance to get a free month of World of Warcraft. If you are curious about this offer or have not received the email, take a moment to read our Recruit a Friend FAQ.

Don't miss out on your chance to win 30 free days just by convincing a friend to join you in the World of Warcraft!

The fourth phase of migration has been reopened after being suspended a while ago. This phase reopened Tuesday November 8th and will last until and including Friday November 11th. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about this.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CEST (GMT/UTC +2) each day.

The following migration between English realms is part of this phase:

Al’Akir	–>	Balnazzar
Shattered Hand	–>	Genjuros

Additionally, phase 5 of the migration (starting November 14th) is covered in this thread.

The World of Warcraft community continues to grow. To accommodate for all the new players joining we have opened a new data center and the first realms at this data center have been brought online. Each of these realms are "fresh" realms, meaning they will not be opened for migration but let everybody get a fresh start. See you on Azeroth!

The following realms have been opened:

English Realms

• Khadgar (Normal)
• Bronzebeard (Normal)
• Chromaggus (PvP)
• Dentarg (PvP)
• Moonglade (RP)

German Realms

• Ysera (Normal)
• Anetheron (PvP)
• Die Todeskrallen (RP PvP)

French Realms

• La Croisade écarlate (RP PvP)

Anvilbeards famous Warcraft Weekly has landed, now in the 15th Edition

The Mage Class Concerns that were gathered from the players have been summarised and forwarded to the developers.

Do not despair if you could not read the Danish version of the 'Arathi Basin Tactics for dummies' guide that was posted in last weeks community news. The English version of that guide can be found here.

What add-ons are good to use when you are a Role-Player? Find out in The Roleplayers Must Have AddOns List.

One of our players has made a great list containing the most frequently asked questions - including answers - regarding The Burning Crusade.

Have you ever thought about making a World of Warcraft movie of your own, but you have never really been sure about how to do it? The answer is here in this step by step guide on making a WoW movie.

If you are unsure what to do, to be able to afford a mount when you reach level 40, then have a look here to find some great tips for achieving this goal.

In the Hunters Class Forum you can find a great Hunter Epic Quest Walkthrough, which among other things includes Maps and FAQs.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

How far would YOU go for a Little White Kitten? Woody over at GU Comics went this far.

World of War.Net is recruiting once again. They are on the lookout for Forum Moderators and a Newsletter Editor.

Ramone shares his 'How I began WoW' Story on Panda Hideout, don't miss it.

BlizzCon aftermath! Warcraft Radio is also looking for new talent. Go here to find out more.

If you're Scandinavian, you might want to check out Warcraft-World.dk. They have an article about Arathi Basin strategies for Dummies.

And last but certainly not least, have a great weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Human Racial Shield.

No week goes by without the Warcraft Weekly. This week Anvilbeard treats us to a Special Edition.

The Burning Crusade is revealed! Join the discussions on WoW's upcoming expansion.

If this is your first time playing, you must know that up to level 40 the race is on to get a mount for those long travels. Go here to find out what to do if you want a mount at level 40!

To close off this week, check out some different Role-Playing adventures by our very own players:

• Life in Outland
• The Hidden Cave
• The Search

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

With the advent of Halloween today, we would like to remind everyone that our Hallow’s End Contests will draw to a close tomorrow night, November 1st.

If you have not submitted your screenshot or recipe yet, now might be the time to do so.
Good luck!

Thanks to the fact that most attendees got registration out of the way on the first day of BlizzCon, many of them were able to head right onto the show floor when we kicked off this morning at 10:00 AM (PDT). Also, because this second day of BlizzCon fell on a Saturday, the crowd was even bigger today than it was the day before. Whereas yesterday some attendees may have spent some time getting the lay of the land, today many of them headed straight to the areas they were eager to spend some time at.

One of the big highlights for many attendees today was the opportunity to check out some of the Q&A panels that they might have missed the day before. In these sessions, players listened as the developers discussed different aspects of our games, including the history and philosophy behind Blizzard's art design and cinematics, as well as specifics on StarCraft: Ghost's new multiplayer elements and World of Warcraft's classes, items, quests, battlegrounds, raids, and more. After each presentation, there was an opportunity for panel attendees to ask questions.

In the Art Design panel, members of World of Warcraft's creative development team and StarCraft: Ghost artists presented concept and 3D art to the panel attendees, taking time to explain how the pieces were created and fine-tuned to fit the themes of the Warcraft and StarCraft universes. The World of Warcraft Character Class panel was especially packed, as many of the visitors to BlizzCon have been extremely passionate about the issues related to the classes they play in the game. Blizzard developers Tom Chilton and Rob Pardo explained how each class came to be, describing the natural progression from Warcraft III to World of Warcraft. In their forty-five minute presentation, the two also expounded on the intended purpose of each class and the future of the classes as planned for future patches and for the Burning Crusade expansion set.

Beyond the panel discussions, many BlizzCon attendees hung out to watch the final rounds of the StarCraft and Warcraft III tournaments. At the time of this report, many are also eagerly awaiting the final showdown between the StarCraft Battle.net winners and the StarCraft Pro-Gamers. For more information on how the tournaments progressed up to the final matches, be sure to check out the coverage at the various tournament sites that had representatives here at the show.

The jousting booth also drew a steady crowd, offering players a chance to challenge their friends to a little real-life PvP action. With foam lances in hand, the jousters did their best to not lose their balance while trying to knock each other off of a three-foot-wide square platform. Near the Blackrock Spire rock-climbing wall, a handful of onlookers gathered to watch a few games of doubles Ping-Pong, played on one of the three Ping-Pong tables brought in for BlizzCon (factoid: a fast-paced match of Ping-Pong is a favorite stress-reliever at Blizzard's Irvine headquarters).

The sponsors' area was also crowded, with hundreds of attendees stopping in throughout the show to check out the NVIDIA, Intel, Games for Windows, Upper Deck, and other booths and to pick up a rubber bouncing ball with a blue light inside of it, which proved to be a pretty popular souvenir. Nearby, caricature and tatoo artists also kept busy, as attendees had their portraits drawn or got temporary tattoos to prove their allegiance to their favorite World of Warcraft race. Those not participating in these events were taking a chance to rest up for tonight's concert presentation, which was set to start at 6:00 PM. The concert will be featuring Level 60 Elite Tauren Chieftain in their first appearance outside of Kalimdor, as well as comedian Christian Finnegan, and none other than the world famous rock band, The Offspring!

This morning, thousands of excited gamers waited in lines stretching around the Anaheim Convention Center, eager to see the future of World of Warcraft and StarCraft: Ghost at BlizzCon. Many of them wore hand-made costumes, and the atmosphere was keyed up as they anticipated the opening of the convention center doors.

Blizzard president Mike Morhaime kicked off the show with a welcoming speech about Blizzard’s history and growth as a game studio over the years. He also touched on a few of the features in StarCraft: Ghost that attendees would be able to see for the first time at BlizzCon—namely the addition of Zerg as a playable multiplayer race and the fact that multiplayer games can now feature up to 16 players. The welcoming speech was followed by lead producer Shane Dabiri’s official announcement of the World of Warcraft expansion. As part of Shane’s announcement, BlizzCon attendees watched a trailer showcasing the new playable Blood Elf race that will make its appearance in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

People came from near and far to view the expansion, to see the latest version of StarCraft: Ghost, and to meet the other gamers attending the show. Many were also speaking about the BlizzCon Invitational tournaments, and the seats in front of the stage where the Warcraft III and StarCraft tournament games were taking place were often packed. Pro-gamers from all over the world have traveled to BlizzCon to participate in the Invitational. The winner will take home a very special (and very heavy) trophy.

Other popular events at BlizzCon have been the Battle.net tournaments and the art gallery, where a steady stream of attendees have been checking out artwork from Blizzard’s art department as well as fan art created by other gamers. Attendees are also enjoying the Battlegrounds Tournaments, both watching and participating in them. Many have also attempted to climb to the top of Blackrock Spire—the aptly named rock-climbing wall at BlizzCon. As of the time of this report, many people are enjoying the Q&A panels that they’re attending or just hanging out on the show floor, saving up their strength for tonight’s cocktail-and-contest mixer with the development team.

Last, but certainly not least, is the realm meetings. Many players have gathered to meet with those they’ve fought alongside (or against) in World of Warcraft, creating a communal feel that pervades all of BlizzCon. We’ll follow up with our continued report on the festivities tomorrow.

Several years have passed since the Burning Legion’s defeat at Mount Hyjal and the races of Azeroth have continued to rebuild their once shattered lives. With renewed strength, the heroes of the Horde and Alliance have begun to explore new lands and broken through the Dark Portal to investigate the realms beyond the known world. Will these heroes find friends or foes? What dangers and rewards lie in wait beyond the Dark Portal? And what will they do when they discover that the demons they thought vanquished have returned to renew their terrible Burning Crusade?

The first details about the expansion to World of Warcraft are now available on our official site! Check out some amazing concept art and screenshots and learn more about one of the expansion’s two new playable races, the arcane Blood Elves.

BlizzCon, the convention celebrating all Blizzard games, has officially begun! Gamers from around the globe are joining us in California today to take part in developer panels, battle with their fellow players, and indulge in the variety of entertainment available. Make sure to check back to this page often during the week-end, as we will continue to post updates from the show.

You can also watch video or audio coverage of all important events at the show on the sites below:
For video coverage: http://www.ggl.com/mediaplayer
For audio coverage: http://listen.radioitg.com/listen1.pls (WINAMP) | http://listen.radioitg.com/listen1.pls (WMP)

The Alliance Herald are holding a Fashion Show - Special Edition. Don't miss it!

In case you hadn't visited in a while, World of War.Net have a new layout. We like it, let's see what you make of it.

GU Comics go to BlizzCon. Can you find Woody?

Warcraft Radio are covering BlizzCon. Don't miss it here.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Now that Hallow's End is upon us and the denizens of Azeroth are disguising themselves and their buildings. So, dust off your cameras and your desks and join in the fun! As part of the celebration of Hallow's End, we are hosting two contests. The first one is a screenshot contest. As part of this contest, participants will work into one of the opposing faction's territories and snap a picture of themselves! The closer your screenshot is related to the theme of Hallow’s End, the better the chances of winning. Also, you may wish to disguise yourself and wear one of the Halloween masks available from Innkeepers throughout the country. Eligible participants will have a chance to win real-life prizes!

The second contest is a recipe contest. Using reagents found in Azeroth, submit your best Hallow's End alchemy or cooking recipe. The three best recipes per language will be featured on our website and will also win real-life prizes!

To read more about the rules of these contests, click here.

We added a new patch, patch 1.8.2, fixing a crash that could occur when rolling for loot. The patchnotes have been updated with the latest information on what was changed with the latest patch.

During this morning's maintenance, patch 1.8.1 was added, fixing a few UI problems and some issues in Arathi Basin. The patchnotes have been updated with the latest information on what was changed during this morning's maintenance.

Look left! Our site has a new navigation! Don’t hesitate to give us your feedback in this thread :)

Whatever you do, first always check the Warcraft Weekly. This just in: Episode Fourteen.
(Looking for an old issue? Check here for all back issues.)

We made a tiny, Small Enchanting hotfix:
It should no longer be possible to disenchant the Twilight Cultist’s Robe, Twilight Cultist’s Cowl and the Twilight Cultist’s Mantle.

There's no need to beg at low levels, just have a look here.

What is that one quest you just don't want to do again? Let everyone know in: Quests that drive you crazy.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

To continue to alleviate the queues on some of the most populated realms we move on to the third of several phases of migration. This phase starts Monday October 24th and will last until and including Friday October 28th. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about this.
To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CEST (GMT/UTC +2) each day.

The following migration between English realms will be part of this phase:

Al’Akir	–>	Balnazzar
Shattered Hand	–>	Genjuros

The Zandalarians were the earliest known trolls, the first tribe from which all tribes originated. Alongside the other tribes, the Zandalar defeated the blood god, Hakkar, and cast down his priests, the Atal'ai. However, as the Atal'ai priests have returned and the threat of Hakkar hangs once more, the Zandalar tribe has arrived on the shores of Azeroth to battle Hakkar once again. They offer what assistance they can to those who help them in their fight against the Atal'ai and Hakkar, including various patterns, plans, and recipes, as well as powerful equipment.

Take a moment to check out our new Zandalar Faction pages to see what you can get by helping the Zandalar.

World of War.Net has released WWNData Version 1.8.0.2! This should get rid of a lot of bugs from the previous version.

What happens when you take a rat, a stick and a very bored cat and throw them together? Xerjester provides The Answer.

Gone fishing at Panda Hideout. You can find me here.

Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3... Wow Radio is performing a LIVE Video Test.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring A Stroll in the Jungle.

Update: Final migration day for phase 3.
Update: Due to the migration being unavailable for most of the day Wednesday October 12th, the final day of migration from Ravencrest to Twisting Nether, we’ll reopen this specific migration for one day, Friday October 21st. The migration will be open between 03:00 and 15:00 CEST that day only.

To continue to alleviate the queues on some of the most populated realms we move on to the third of several phases of migration. This phase starts Monday, October 17th, and will last until and including Friday, October 21st. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about this.

In order to avoid an increase in the load on the database during peak playing hours, the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CEST (GMT/UTC +2) each day.

The following migration between English realms will be part of this phase:

Twilight's Hammer	–>	Neptulon
Stormreaver	–>	Balnazzar

Anvilbeard strikes again! Warcraft Weekly Episode XIII is out. Looking for an old issue? Check here for all back issues.

How to protect your Account and Computer from malicious intent. Protecting your Computer - Please Read!

A little snippet of information about the Darkmoon Faire professions turn-in quests.

We still have Character Migration open. Check here for - phase 4 Oct 24th More details on the next migration: Ravencrest to Twisting Nether - Friday Oct 21

After receiving all your concerns, we compiled and sent them to our developers. Here's what they have to say about the Paladin class.

And last, we continue to experience lag issues in some countries.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

This new gameplay trailer features a group of adventurers exploring the long forgotten city of Zul'Gurub. What ancient, unspeakable evil awaits our heroes as they move deeper and deeper into the trolls' cursed sanctuary? Download the trailer and see for yourself...

Recently we have witnessed a large number of World of Warcraft accounts that have been compromised. In order to protect your account from being compromised and possibly banned, please take the advice below to heart:

• Never give out your account name and password
• Only download add-ons from reputable sites
• Never download an add-on that requires you to run an executable (.exe) file
• Always keep your firewall up-to-date and running
• Always keep your anti-virus programs up-to-date and run them frequently.
• Never use a power-leveling or gold buying service
• Frequently change your password and use both alphabetic and numeric characters.

If you believe that your account has been compromised, please send all the details about the incident to WoWAccountReviewEU@blizzard.com.

Patch 1.8 was released this week, and for many that means it's time to update the interface mods over at WorldofWar.net's user interface page. For those who prefer patch notes in Italian, World of Warcraft Italia has provided a translation.

The very first issue of The Horde Watchman has been released! Pick it up here for the latest Horde news.

World of Warcraft i Danmark (wowi.dk) is back online and gathering questions for Vaneras, our Online Community Representative. They also had the chance to have a chat with Myst last weekend.

If you're about to embark on your first trip to Molten Core, OneMadOgre has some rookie tips for you.

WoW Vault has added a Warrior Stats Guide. They're also asking what you think about the patch 1.8 Druid Talent changes in their front page poll.

SkyMarshall has followed up his Raiders of the North with a new song: The Paladin. Read more about it in the news over at WoW Norge.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring A Night-Elf in the Forest. Lastly, we have updated our Blizzard Fan Art Section with four new pieces of artwork.

We are happy to announce the release of the latest content patch for World of Warcraft, patch 1.8! This patch features:

• Silithus Revamp: The shifting sands of Silithus shelter a world-shattering secret.
• The Emerald Menace: Dragons of nightmarish proportions are invading Azeroth from the Emerald Dream!
• Hallow’s End: The end of the month will bring surprises for all denizens of Azeroth.
• Druid Talent Improvements: Check out the changes to the Druid Talent trees!

Take a moment to read the patch notes for more information on all of the changes in patch 1.8.

Update (11/10): Migration from Ravencrest will change destination realm for the last two days of phase 2. Thursday October 13th and Friday October 14th the destination realm for Ravencrest players will be Balnazzar instead of Twisting Nether. Thus, if you are on Ravencrest and wish to move to Twisting Nether, you need to do so before Wednesday October 13th 15:00 CEST.

Note that any migration may still be closed down or redirected further due to population concerns. Stay updated on this post for news.

Update (10/10): Due to concerns about faction balance we are considering switching destination realm for Ravencrest migration over to another realm for the last two days of phase 2 (Thursday 13th and Friday 14th). The likely option is Balnazzar, already receiving players from Skullcrusher and Burning Blade.

This will be based on the migration and population numbers tonight, and we hope to be able to give you the final word on this possibility sometime tomorrow.

To continue to alleviate the queues on some of the most populated realms we move on to the second of several phases of migration. This phase starts Monday October 10 and will last until and including Friday October 14. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down or redirect any migration at any time based on the population of the involved realms. Please keep an eye on this thread for updates about this.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CEST (GMT/UTC +2) each day.

The following migration will be part of this phase:

Deathwing	–>	Twisting Nether
Ravencrest	–>	Twisting Nether (closes 12/10) / Balnazzar (opens (13/10)
Bladefist	–>	Genjuros
Crushridge	–>	Genjuros
Burning Blade	–>	Balnazzar
Skullcrusher	–>	Balnazzar

Genjuros and Balnazzar are new realms, and will open at the same time as the migration, at 03:00 CEST Monday. Twisting Nether already contains players migrating from Bloodscalp, Stormscale and Daggerspine in phase 1.

Enjoy your latest fix! The new Warcraft Weekly is out. Go here to read Episode Twelve.

Houston, we have a problem. Please read this Message from Allakhazam

Be careful what you post. Thundgot warns about posting Unconfirmed patch and expansion content.

You know, that one quest you really, really don't want to do... Vote for your Most hated quest.

Cloth, need more cloth! For good places to find your stuff, check out the Professions Forum.

The Undead have it easy! How to feign death as a Hunter.

WoW happiness is...

*Links on this news post may expire over time.

Now is your chance to become a member of Blizzard. Our Game Masters are looking for talented individuals with excellent teamwork skills to expand our English- and German-speaking GM Teams. Join Blizzard now and use your unique skills to help us make a great game even better! You can learn more about working at Blizzard and can also have a small glimpse at life on GM Island by visiting our new Recruitment section.

PvP Online explores the day-to-day life of 'Virtual Wealth Acquisition Managers'

Sharing the WoW experience. Watch out where you leave your ears.

Stratics wants to know: What are you looking forward to the most with Patch 1.8? Cast your vote here.

The adventures of Murloc Boy. To res or not to res.

Wow, Really? explains that Monkey Business can be a dangerous one.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring An Orc.

Anvilbeard's Latest Warcraft Weekly. We're already on Episode Eleven, don't miss it!

What do <My Little Pwny>, <Gnomercy> and <Cable repairmen of Azeroth> have in common? Find out here.

I know where you dinged last level! Share your best Ding.

Guilds wanted for Massive WoW battle movie casting on Runetotem and Dunemaul.

For lovers of the English language, who also happen to play WoW, have a look at the latest WoW Limericks and WoW Haiku.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

Today we will add a new English language Normal Realm in order to accomodate the increased number of players. The new realm, Nordrassil, will be a "fresh" realm, meaning there will be no character migration involved.

The Alliance Herald have organised a Fashion Show. Join in the fun on October 1st.

GU Comics explain why Tauren should avoid playing with simians.
And one more sign you play too much WoW: Microwave Adventures.

Fantasy Flight Games who offer the World of Warcraft Board Game now also provide the rules on-line in their Support section.

As usual World of War.net have much new content, for example check out their most useful professions and their Favourite WoW Quotes threads.

WoW Radio has a new schedule. Check out their radio shows and some of you 'hardcore' forum addicts might totally recognise one of the hosts ;)

We’d like to welcome two sites to the European Blizzard Fan Site Program!
Panda Hideout is an English language community site targeted specifically at European players, while Warcraft World.dk is a very nice looking site we’re sure our Danish players will enjoy.

Have a wonderful weekend!

*Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

There is a disturbance at the Great Trees. A new threat menaces these secluded areas found in Ashenvale, Duskwood, Feralas, and Hinterlands. Four great guardians of the Green Dragonflight have arrived from the Dream, but these once-proud protectors now seek only destruction and death. Take arms with your fellows and march to these hidden groves -- only you can defend Azeroth from the corruption they bring.

To learn more about the menacing invasion from the Emerald Dream, check out our new four dragons preview!

We have just updated our Downloads Section with four new Warcraft MP3s, Orc 4, Orc Death, Orc Victory, and Orc War Room. We have also updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Silithus. Lastly, we have updated our Blizzard Fan Art Section with six new pieces of artwork.

The Public Test Realms are live! Players can now experience, and help us test, all the changes and additions coming in patch 1.8 many exciting features. Click here to view the patch 1.8 test-realm patch notes to learn more!

To download the test client, visit the Test Realm page for your language (English, French, German). Only players who created their accounts before August 2nd will be able to login to the public test realms. Also, players will not be able to log in to the public test realms if they have changed their password since August 16th.

Please be aware that the test realms are there to allow us to test major content patches before the patch goes public. Therefore, some changes may be introduced to the public test realms before a patch goes live, and some changes may be introduced to the patch after the test realms have closed. We truly appreciate our players taking the time to help us test the latest changes to the game; thank you all!

Update: Phase 1 has now ended, and all migration shut down for the weekend. Phase 2 of the migration will start on Monday. See the above news to get the details on it.

Due to the population level on Magtheridon migration to this realm was closed Thursday afternoon (October 6), one day earlier than originally planned. We apologize for this message not reaching everybody and for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Update: We are closing migration from Warsong to Neptulon and changing the destination realm for Daggerspine from Neptulon to Twisting Nether.

Update: We will be extending this phase of migration for one week. Players on the realms listed below have until Friday, October 7 to migrate to the indicated realms.

To alleviate the queues on some of the most populated realms we will start the first of several phases of migration Tuesday, September 27th. This phase will last until and including Friday, October 7. Note, however, that we reserve the right to close down any migration at any time should the population on a destination realm approach the population cap on the realm.

To not increase the load on the database during peak playing hours the migration will be open only between 03:00 and 15:00 CEST (GMT/UTC +2) each day.

We aim to offer migration to all the most highly populated realms over the next month or so. However, due to technical considerations the order in which the realms are offered migration will not strictly reflect the population order.

The following migration will be part of this phase, all destination realms being completely new realms:

Daggerspine	–>	Twisting Nether
Bloodscalp	–>	Twisting Nether
Stormscale	–>	Twisting Nether

In two days, goblin vendors will arrive in Ironforge and Orgrimmar. These vendors will sell fireworks at discounted prices. The reason? So that everyone may celebrate the Day that was saved by the hard work of the mighty peon and the great peasant!

Long ago, the leaders of the two races: orc and human, each called upon a lowly worker and assigned him a great task. This task had to be finished by the end of the day, lest the world suffer grave consequence. Working diligently, both completed their task four minutes before the day ended. Thus, on the anniversary of that day, we celebrate in honor of them and of all peons and peasants everywhere.

So, take a moment to buy some fireworks and shoot them off! By this action, you will be commerating the moment when the two could rest; their work complete.

Mike Morhaime, President of Blizzard Entertainment made a statement about recent WoW issues. Make sure not to miss it, here.

The mechanics of most instant melee attacks will be modified to improve item balance upon the release of patch 1.8, read more details here.

Will your spell hit home? What are the odds? Stroll over to our +Spell Hit Chance post and read all about it.

In addition to the Forum Code of Conduct, here are some common courtesy guidelines to follow, when posting on the Forums.

Just can't find the answer you're looking for? If you're stuck, looking for support, or need help from Blizzard or other players, go here and see where you might be able to find your answers.

Glahrlalrlglarllalralllbleh! What's your favourite PvE Enemy? For some it's Murlocs; what's yours? Contribute here.

New episode this week! Warcraft Weekly - Episode Ten, don't log on without it!

Are you a Master? Or is Apprentice closer to your level? Find Teachers and Students on the English Realms. Whichever role fits you best, go to our Newcomers Forum and see not only what WoW-players can do for you but what you can do for WoW-players.

And last, but certainly not least, Warlocks rejoice! We've compiled our players' Warlock concerns in this summary.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

Since the beginning of recorded history, Azeroth has seen the most terrible conflicts imaginable. The War of the Ancients and the Sundering of the World. The coming of the Tides of Darkness. The return of the Burning Legion, the Scourge of Lordaeron and the rise of the Lich King. Yet all this time, deep beneath the shifting sands of Silithus, an unspeakable horror has been lying in wait, ever patient, and ever enduring...

To learn more about the changes coming to Silithus, take a moment to read the Introduction to Silithus and check out the new Silithus map.

We have updated the Druid Talent Calculator to showcase the up-coming changes that will take place with patch 1.8. Take a moment to check it out!

The Horde Watchman wants you! If you're into Role-Playing and are free to join their guild, go to the site and find more information.

GU Comics help you Watch for the Signs, USE the Battlemasters.

If you feel like a challenge test your knowledge of WarCraft Lore in Finnish over at Fincraft.net.

Is the Plague spreading? PvP Online provide an introduction and you can discuss it here.

And in case you hadn't discovered it yet, they also briefly discuss BlizzCon. For more details check out the official BlizzCon site.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our Downloads Section with a new Warcraft MP3, Orc 3. We have also updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Orcish Racial Shield.

This night we will be providing a minor patch to the client. This patch should not affect connections to the realms. Players who are connected to the realms when we release this patch will not have their game-play interrupted. Players who connect to the realms after the patch has been released will be prompted to download it before entering the realms.

Recently the European service has experienced some problems and interruptions. Mike Morhaime, the President of Blizzard Entertainment, has issued a message to players about the difficulties, their solutions, and compensation for playing time lost. You can read his message here.

This just in from Azeroth! Warcraft Weekly - episode Nine

What do you think of the priest class? What do you want to see changed?
For specific suggestions use this Class Concerns: Priest thread. However, if you want to discuss the concerns, you can do this in the Class Concerns discussion thread.

Read any good books recently? Discuss those tomes you've come across whilst travelling Azeroth in the WoW BOOK Chart top 100.

Get your Wildheart Boots here! Read through the Guide To Soloing Mother Smolderweb and you might be the lucky owner.

We recently opened RP-PvP Realms. Everyone thinking of joining or who has already joined should make sure to read our RP PvP policies.

We would like to know from you, our players, how you experienced game play this weekend. click your way here and let us know.

Will grind for schematics. Engineers gather round and check out this Engineering - Levelling Guide.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

We have just updated the Under Development section with a brief glimpse at the features planned for the near and not-so-near future. You can also find information about implemented features in this section. Check back often as we will be updating this section frequently with sneak peeks into the next content patch! We have also added some helpful information about player names to our realmtypes page.

For Romanian speaking players, World of Warcraft Romania has a new contest to win either a Gametime Card or a cool t-shirt. Send in your best WoW story, article, news, translation, basically your best WoW anything and you might be a lucky winner!

Ever wondered what you need to turn that Libram of yours into a neat Arcanum, and who can help you with it? Check out this Italian Libri/Arcana guide at WoW Gamesrider.it.

Polls, polls, polls!
WoW Warcry has a poll about Arathi Basin, what do you really think of this new Battleground?

Wow.Warcraft Greece asks you to vote for your favorite feature in Patch 1.7. Vote here.

Swedish players might want to check out the World of Warcraft event at Inferno Online, Saturday September 24th.

Wow Turkey has a collection of WoW Comics, which they have translated into Turkish.

Norwegian players may want to check out Ekstrem Oppussing (Extreme Home Makeover) on TV3 this Sunday to get some inspiration for their gaming room.

Goretusk has been spending too much time with Bo Peep. GUComics reports on his Dressing Room antics!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our Downloads Section with a new Warcraft MP3, Orc 2. We have also updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Night-Elf Racial Shield. Lastly, we have updated our Blizzard Fan Art Section with six new pieces of artwork.

We are happy to announce the release of the latest content patch for World of Warcraft, patch 1.7! This patch features the new, 20-man high level raid dungeon, Zul'Gurub, a new 15 versus 15 capture-and-defend style battleground, Arathi Basin, the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza, a weekly fishing contest along the coast of Stranglethorn Vale, the Dressing Room feature, RP PvP realms, Hunter Talents Updates, and much more! To see what all is contained in this content patch, check out the 1.7 patchnotes.

Tomorrow there will be an extended maintenance while a patch is applied to all European realms. This patch will include many new features, one of which is RP PvP realms. Due to this new realm type addition, we will be opening several new English realms.

Those who are interested in playing on an RP PvP realm should take a moment to check out our new realm types page which has useful information about all realm and game-play types.

The list of realms that will be opened tomorrow after maintenance are:
Laughing Skull (PvP)
Defias Brotherhood (RP PvP)
The Venture Co. (RP PvP)

We will also be adding new realms for German and French speaking players.

New Music from Azeroth. Players list their favourite tunes in the WoW Chart Top 100.

Last week we announced that we will be giving Two Days Compensation.

Regular as clockwork, we proudly present Warcraft Weekly - Episode Eight

If you're planning on visiting BlackWing Lair, make sure to read the Upcoming Chromaggus Changes in Patch 1.7.

On our travels we discovered a most interesting novel in the Role-Playing Forum, namely the Journal of Grahg - Smartesest Orc in land!

For all Warlocks out there who didn't find it yet, Thundie compiled the Warlock feedback in this fine post.

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The Treasure Hunt is on! check out Gamingeye to find out about the Chest of Gold.

Furbolgs, friend or foe? Either way, they're not happy. GUComics psycho-analyses our Favourite Furry Furbolg Friends.

How to get revered, ehm, quickly? Well, see for yourselves, over at Actiontrip.

WoWNorge.net have a new format! And that's not all. Join the competition, submit content and maybe you'll win a Gametime Card.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our Downloads Section with a new Warcraft MP3, Orc 1. We have also updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Dark Portal. Lastly, we have updated our Blizzard Fan Art Section with three new pieces of artwork.

Since the last World of Warcraft Battle Plan, much has happened in the Warcraft universe. We’ve launched Blackwing Lair, the highest level dungeon in the game, we launched World of Warcraft in China and Singapore with great success, and work continues on adding even more content for our players.

You can read the Battle Plan here and talk about it here.

Solving the network latency that some players are currently experiencing is our number 1 priority, and engineers at our European and US HQs are working diligently to identify the reason and eradicate the problem.

Despite the replacement of a part of our equipment last Friday evening a small group of players are still reporting latency but we have found no evidence that our hardware/software or our network is the reason for this. We suspect that it might be related to specific third party ISPs' network and this is currently being investigated with our partners.

Whatever the source of the problem, even if not related to our own operations, we would like you to enjoy your gameplay and therefore we have decided to extend 2 days compensation to all our customers in Europe. This will be implemented within a week from today.

Meanwhile our engineers will continue working on this high priority issue and we will update you as soon as we have more information.

No more walking in Lordaeron! Your faithful mount will soon be faithful a little while longer.

We added a New PvP Realm last week: Lightning's Blade.

We will be adding Full Rest Credit on all characters, during the maintenance on Wednesday September 7th, meaning all characters will have full rest bonus when they log in after the maintenance.

And, again this week, we have a new Warcraft Weekly. this week it's Episode Seven.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

First of all we'd like to introduce our new consultant. He should however not be confused with our new Online Community Representative, Vaneras. We hope both will help us reach this goal in the close future. Welcome!

WorldofWar.net has updated the list of Profession Trainers & Suppliers. Additionally their World of Warcraft database WWN Data continues to grow, and they've released a new version of the data gathering client.

WorldofWar.se has a poll up asking which class you enjoy playing the most. In other polls, WoW Stratics asks whether you're excited about the upcoming Arathi Basin Battleground, WoW Vault wants your opinion on the instance limiting, and WoW Warcry wonders what type of guides you'd like to see added to their site.

Finally, Woody over at GU Comics is musing at one of those comments that he (probably wisely) never made.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated the downloads section to add a new wallpaper and four new MP3s: Human4, Human Death, Human Victory, and Human War Room, selections from the Warcraft soundtrack.

We have just added a new dynamic web page: the PvP Ranking Page! Take a moment to check it out and see where you and others on your realm stand in the PvP Honor System. The ranking pages show the top 1000 players divided by realm and faction. Using these pages, you can see where you stand within your own faction and who you might want to target in the opposing faction. The rankings will be updated weekly to reflect the latest standings.

Late Wednesday evening, one of the European data centers experienced technical problems resulting in several realms and the login server being unavailable. The problems were addressed together with our network provider, and the realms brought back online after a restart some hours later. Due to the resulting traffic on the European World of Warcraft websites these were also unavailable for some time, and we were unable to provide information through other channels than the World of Warcraft forums. We understand the concerns expressed by our players and have taken necessary measures to allow our infrastructure to handle more Web traffic in the future.

We will be adding full rest credit on all characters as compensation for the inconvenience. This will be added during the maintenance Wednesday September 7th, meaning all characters will have full rest bonus when they log in after the maintenance.

We're much delighted to welcome our new Online Community Representative to the team. Vaneras, as he is named, comes from our Technical Support team. Now having joined our ranks, you will find him in the other forums working with the rest of the Community Team to keep you updated and involved in the World of Warcraft community.

We have just added a new English PvP realm in order to accomodate the increased number of players. The new realm, Lightning's Blade, will be a "fresh" realm, meaning there will be no character migration involved.

We have also added two new German-speaking realms, one PvP (Krag'jin) and one Normal (Sen'jin).

Darkmoon Faire Necklace goes Epic! Check out Thundie's post on Darkmoon Faire Ticket Turn-ins.

Here you will find an explanation as to how defense should work, and why the stats were lowered.

To decrease instance stability issues, we've implemented an instance limit, read all about it here.

If you ever wonder about how you are going to use the new hunter talent trees after the upcoming patch, here's where a hunter describes his experience of the 1.7 patch.

In our warriors forum, you can find a Reference Guide that may prove very useful if you play a warrior, or if you are going to create a new warrior.

Many World of Warcraft players like to tweak their User Interface, for some people it has even turned into an art form to setup a “perfect” interface that suits their play style. If you wish to see other players' custom interface setups, or show off your own, join other players in "Rate my Interface".

Did you ever do a quest that just made you laugh? If you did, and you wish to share the fun, then tell others about which quest you think is the Funniest Quest.

And don't forget to check out Anvilbeard's Warcraft Weekly - Special Edition.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

A new patch for the Test Realm has just been released. This patch should alleviate many of the crashes players have been experiencing while testing. Please visit the Test Realm Account Management Pages (English, French, German) depending on your client version. Please note that you will have to delete the "WoWTest" folder from your World of Warcraft installation before downloading and running this patch. Thank you again for your continued enthusiasm in testing the upcoming content!

WoW Radio is planning to add shows at times more convenient for the European community, and this might be your chance if you're interested in casting. If so, you'd better hurry though - they need your demos by tomorrow.

Also, while you're at the WoW Radio website, make sure to vote on their poll, asking what type of content you'd like to see next. WoW Stratics also has a new poll up, asking whether you'd buy a World of Warcraft expansion.

You can find a new Warlock guide in the strategy section over at WorldofWar.net.

GU Comics has taken a look at the Hunter beast taming from the other side of the fountain of hearts. Woody also shares some first thoughts on the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game.

And don't forget The Alliance Herald fashion show!

Have a nice weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We've just added a new Arathi Basin section for the upcoming Battleground which features new rewards pages. Arathi Basin is currently being tested by players on our Public Test Realm, and once testing is complete, it will be included in our next patch for World of Warcraft. See the Test Realm patch notes for an idea of what else players can expect with the next patch.

We have just updated the downloads section to add two new wallpapers and have added five new fanarts over at the Blizzard Fanarts Sections. We have also added , two new MP3s, Human2 and Human3, musical selections from the Warcraft soundtrack. Take a moment to check them all out!

We are happy to announce the winner and the three runners-up for the Battlegrounds Screenshot Competition that was held in June. Below are the four winning screenshots.

Overall Winner Submitted by: Mogtar of Söldnerbund Freiheit & Co
Runner Up Submitted by: Shakn of Manaburn	Runner Up Submitted by: Angrolosch of Wanderfalken	Runner Up Submitted By: Artturi of Yseras dream

The overall winner of this contest will be receiving a life-size night elf statue. The runners up will be receiving legendary World of Warcraft figurines. Congratulations to our winners and thanks to everyone who participated.

We first wish to direct your attention to some recent and coming hotfixes: Dire Maul chests and an instance limit.

Last week we opened a new PvP realm named Haumarush, and its corresponding realm forum. Following in the wake of this new realm there have been discussions on the number of English Role-Playing realms (more blue posts later in the thread) and merging realms.

For all those other news and updates, make sure to check out Anvilbeard's Warcraft Weekly, now in its sixth edition.

* Links on this news post may expire over time

We're pleased to announce that we've teamed up with Upper Deck Entertainment to bring our players a World of Warcraft trading card game. Visit entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow for more details on the card-based game.

As part of our continuing effort to keep World of Warcraft free from abuse, we have permanently banned more than 1500 accounts during the last several weeks which were involved in the use of cheats and/or hacks using third-party software or were otherwise violating our Terms of Use. We will continue to take an aggressive stance to ensure that the gaming environment remains an enjoyable place for our customers by actively pursuing those who would seek to violate the principle of fair-play, as well as breach our Terms of Use and policies in this way.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this matter. Should you have reason to believe that you have evidence of or information regarding the use of cheats or hacks, please feel free to send us an email at WoWAccountReviewEU@blizzard.com for us to investigate or submit a GM ticket in-game.

As part of our continuing quest to provide the best support possible to all players, we have just added a new FAQ support site. This site offers explanations and solutions to some of the most common problems players contact our Customer Service department for. We hope the new site will be helpful for you if you should experience technical, billing, or in-game problems.

Make sure to check our support site often as it is updated frequently.

A new interactive map is available! Prepare for your latest expedition by planning your flight path route. With detailed information about the level ranges and points of interest, you'll never wander into an area unprepared again!

Click here to check out the new map.

Issue Six of The Alliance Herald is out, covering the Darkmoon Faire, the Warlocks in society and a lot more. Remember to check your horoscope. By the way - Thundgot speaking - this robe happens to be very neat and practical, thank you very much Fuchsia. People had better not point, or that'll be one less finger on their hand!

Moving over to WorldofWar.net you can see their game database site WWNData growing. While you're there, make sure to stop by the player journals for some reading and maybe add your own.

Woody at GU Comics shows us that totems have feelings too. While the Shaman's best friends might not be too happy about seeing road markers, Tycho over at Penny Arcade seems to think Gabe (and probably others) could use some additional directions - if not, prepare for unexpected encounters.

Last stop on the road this week is Slashdot, who has secured a World of Warcraft developer Q&A. Please do note the request to keep it to one question per comment.

That's it for this week. Have a wonderful weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

The Public Test Realms are live! Players can now experience, and help us test, all the changes and additions coming in patch 1.7, including a new raid dungeon, a new battleground, and many other exciting features. Click here to view the patch 1.7 test-realm patch notes to learn more!

Players can participate in the test realms by creating a character or by copying their characters from existing realms to the test realms. Those who have previously copied their characters to the test realms will need to do so again, as all previous characters have been removed from the previous test realms. To copy your character and to download the test client, visit our Test Realm Character Copy page for your language (English, French, German). Only players who created their accounts before August 2 will be able to login to the public test realms. Also, players will not be able to log in to the public test realms if they have changed their password since August 16.

Please be aware that the test realms are there to allow us to test major content patches before the patch goes public. Therefore, some changes may be introduced to the public test realms before a patch goes live, and some changes may be introduced to the patch after the test realms have closed. We truly appreciate our players taking the time to help us test the latest changes to the game; thank you all!

Tired of spending time grinding for gold to buy a new piece of armor in the Auction House only to discover that, while the stats are great, the look leaves something to be desired? Some may argue that stats are the name of the game and the way your toon looks isn't anything to worry about, but why not have your cake and eat it too? With the Dressing Room feature in the upcoming patch, you can have both stats and a great look! Take a moment to learn more about this new, useful feature!

Once again, Blizzard Entertainment is present at Europe’s largest computer and video game show, the Games Convention in Leipzig, Germany (August 17th till 21st). This time, we are bringing even more to the showfloor than last year. Visitors of the Game Convention can check out two special sections at the Blizzard booth, one for World of Warcraft, and one for our upcoming console game Starcraft:Ghost. The futuristic Starcraft section features 12 consoles where visitors can try their hand at both the single- and multiplayer action of Starcraft:Ghost. World of Warcraft will be showcased on two big screens which will display the latest game-play trailer. There will also be 16 PCs from where visitors can dive directly into the fascinating World of Warcraft.

Visitors will be guided through the presentations and the hands-on parts of our exposition by members of Blizzard Europe’s staff, including the German-speaking Community Manager Vaneck, who will be more than happy to meet and greet players who wish to stop by and say hello.

The Blizzard booth is located in hall 5, D20. We are looking forward to meeting you there!

• We start this week over at the Paladin forum where we're currently collecting Paladin concerns. You'll also find a place to discuss the concerns with your fellow players.
• As the Role-Playing realms Argent Dawn and Earthen Ring are currently experiencing queues during peak hours we've also explained a bit about English Role-Playing realms, mainly why there are currently only two of them.
• On the technical side you might want to check out some improvements on six realms. Make sure to check the clarification that was added later too. Due to the recent disturbances in game-play we've also decided to give players a two-day time extension on your account while continuing to give these issues top priority.
• A hot topic lately has been the search for cheats and hacks of the World of Warcraft client. You can find both a statement on the scanning and a thorough explanation on the forums.
• For other tidbits and news, make sure to drop by the fifth Warcraft Weekly from Anvilbeard.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

We have just added several new fan-made wallpapers and a new Warcraft MP3, Human 1. Take a moment to check them all out!

The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with three new pieces of artwork.

To accommodate for the increased number of players, we plan to open a new English PvP realm, Haumarush, as well as a new German PvP realm, Terrodar, during the weekly maintenance on Wednesday August 17th.

Haumarush will be a "fresh" realm, meaning there will be no character migration involved.

WoW Radio is aiming to start European shows soon. No exact date given yet, but keep an eye on their site and forums. Those who want to do the talking themselves may want to drop by WoW IRC.

WorldofWar.net has reopened their WoW database site WWNData.

WoW Stratics has a new poll up, this time asking what's your favourite instance among the top level ones, while WoW MMHell is asking "what's your favourite race?" On their side, WoW Vault wants to know how excited you are about Zul'Gurub.

GU Comics takes a new look at fishing, and ctrl+alt+del suggests you use the meeting stones... or stay away from grumpy Taurens.

Good advice for the weekend. Have a good one!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

The war between Horde and Alliance has spilled onto a new arena. As resources are spent waging battle, both sides must find new territories to plunder in order to feed their ongoing war effort. The League of Arathor and the Forsaken Defilers have both been tasked with conquering the resource-rich Arathi Basin...and you have been drafted to help. Who ever takes the Basin will gain untold riches for their side and cripple the enemy. Find out how to win this all-new Battleground and discover what challenges await those brave enough to enter the Arathi Basin.

Click here to check out the preview.

We are continuously working hard to provide the best play experience possible. Therefore, due to some recent disturbances in gameplay all World of Warcraft players in Europe will receive a two-day time extension. In the next few days the two-day extension will be added to players' accounts that were active during the last weekend. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we once again wish you all good luck in your adventures in Azeroth!

Starting with class specific threads this last week, we've posted the concern summaries for the Druids and Hunters. Next in the line is the Warlock, with the concerns and discussion threads already receiving a lot of good input.

In addition we've shared some information about what's in the next content patch, like cat form changes for the Druid, and a new Paladin spell named Hammer of Wrath. We're also increasing the debuff limit.

Looking back on recent changes you may want to make sure you've read the 1.6.1 patch notes and the Blackwing Lair Hotfix notes, while more general nice-to-have information include guest account restrictions and the timing of the Darkmoon Faire.

And do make sure to check out Anvilbeard's fourth Warcraft Weekly. You don't want to go through the week without it.

And last but not least a small reminder that we now have realm forums for your in-realm chatting pleasures. Enjoy!

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Over a thousand years ago the powerful Gurubashi Empire was torn apart by a massive civil war. An influential group of troll priests, known as the Atal’ai, called forth the avatar of an ancient and terrible blood god named Hakkar the Soulflayer. Though the priests were defeated and ultimately exiled, the great troll empire collapsed upon itself. The exiled priests fled far to the north, into the Swamp of Sorrows, where they erected a great temple to Hakkar in order to prepare for his arrival into the physical world.

Take a moment to read more about the upcoming raid dungeon: Zul'Gurub!

The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with three new pieces of artwork.

  

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with two new wallpapers: one featuring Dustwallow and another featuring the Troll Racial Shield.

After reviewing the talent trees further and listening to player reactions, the upcoming Hunter talents have been updated to reflect their current status. Be sure to check out our talent calculator and preview the changes!

We are happy to announce that we have added realm forums. Now players may chat with other players on their realm in forums set aside just for discussion of realm issues. Please take a moment to read the forum posting guidelines and the Community Managers' message concerning the realm forums.

Football's my life, Coach, my life. It's all I know how to do. Leave it on the field, at PvP Online

Watch out for that first step; it's a doozy!

A-huntin' we go. Now where did I leave those spare bear parts..

For our Italian speaking community, there is now a translation of The History of Warcraft.

If you could be any NPC, which would you choose? Make your choice here.

What class is currently your 'main'? Vote here.

Have a nice weekend! Bon weekend! Schönes Wochenende!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

The Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza is a grand new event set along the coasts of Stranglethorn Vale. Aspiring anglers will soon be able to participate in this grand tournament when the next patch releases. At the appropriate time, the shout will ring out across Stranglethorn to bait your hooks and cast your lines!

Read more about this unique fishing event here!

We have released a minor patch for World of Warcraft. This small update addresses certain issues in Blackwing Lair and includes some improvements to the Macintosh client. To read the full list of changes, take a look at the patch notes here.

This Wednesday there will be an extended maintenance in order to make some improvements to the realms.

Please note that all European realms will be offline from 3 am until 11 am CEST. As a side effect of this maintenance, players will not be able to log into the forums or into Account Management. You can check the realm status page to get the latest information about when the realms will be back up.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

We have added the talent calculators for the remaining eight character classes to the game guide; you can check them out here.

This week's headlines:
Naga conspiracy uncovered
Dwarf contibutes to society
Aeus ganks innocents?
The Thundgot returns, is this a good thing?
Questing can be tough

This week we move on to Episode two and three of the Warcraft Weekly, by our friendly dwarf poster, Anvilbeard:

• Episode Two
• Episode Three

Naga suspected of introducing a vile creation into our midst, a Trojan that can spy out your WoW login. Remember to always keep your login data safe from strangers. Read more here.

Newly resurrected dwarf states "Aeus ganked me...", although these rumours cannot be confirmed, they have sparked some serious controversy.

Thundgot has returned from the dark place up north, quiet before the storm? Continued here. ("Free the Hamster!!!" )

Questing can be a tough business, share your experiences and ask other adventurers about theirs.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

We have just added a talent calculator for the Hunter class. You can check it out, as well as get a sneak peek at the upcoming Talent changes for this class here.

As we announced a month ago, the game developers have answered the questions gathered over at Judge Hype. You can read the questions and the developer's answers in English, French, or German.

Fanart, Rumours and the dark side of Guild life. It's not always easy being green.

Over at Warcraft Central you'll be able to find some new Fanart.
Check, it, out!

WoW OGaming have announced the winner of their Rumor Contest.
Discover a theory about the Burning Crusade here!

If you want to know how to get kicked out of a Guild, please follow these instructions to the letter.

Lastly, swing over to the Danes at World of Warcraft i Danmark and if you understand Danish follow The Life of Hollowheart from 1 - 20

Have a nice weekend! Bon weekend! Schönes Wochenende!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with three new pieces of artwork.

Another week has flown by, what do we have for you this time:
One of our players has started this most excellent Weekly collection of what's going on on the forums: Warcraft Weekly - Episode One.

Do you ever hear people talking about World of Warcraft in public? Here are other players' experiences.

This week we take a look at another profession: Herbalism. This [HER] Herbalism guide will help you get started and to advance with the Herbalism profession.

How would you handle a non-Role-Playing player on a RP-Realm? Please have a look here for a discussion about this. If you want to join the discussion, please do so in a nice manner.

Are you a troll? thought about being one? How would you Role-Play one?.

And last but not least, share with us where you quest after level 48, here.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring some Battleground action!

We have just added a new MP3 to the downloads section. Take a moment to check out Intro War II, Human, Orc, and Nightelf, some selections from the Warcraft soundtrack.

This week: Flamewars, mages and map changes

Peruro(r) ergo sum: GU Comics discusses: The pot or the kettle?

World of War.net has updated their map of Thunderbluff and has added post-1.6 flightpaths, here.

OGaming World of Warcraft has published a Strategy Guide for Mages.

Have a nice weekend! Bon weekend! Schönes Wochenende!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

The Mounts section has been completely redesigned and contains thumbnail pictures of each mount! Information such as requirement, availability and pricing are all detailed as well. Check out the new face of our Mounts section here!

Tickets to BlizzCon, Blizzard’s very first convention have gone on sale. If you are interested in attending, be sure to go here in order to buy tickets. If you would like more information about what BlizzCon is, and what players will be able to do at the convention, please be sure to visit the BlizzCon web site here.

Wanted: Billing Representatives.
For: Providing service to Blizzard customers.
From: Europe.

Blizzard Europe is currently seeking highly-motivated individuals who are looking to get into the gaming industry as Billing Representatives. If you have experience in the Customer service industry and are passionate about providing excellent support, then there may be a place for you at Blizzard Europe.

If you are interested in joining our team, please check out our job opportunities page to see what positions we have available. If you decide to apply for this position, please send in your C.V. and cover letter when you apply.

The Billing Representative position is based in Velizy, southwest of Paris, France. If you are accepted, accommodation assistance will be provided to you, as outlined in the Recruitment FAQ.

The Honor System Mini-Site has been updated to show the new artwork for the PvP Honor System Weapon rewards.

Take a moment to go check it out and see what weapons you can wield if you bring honor to your faction! Using these weapons, you'll be sure to strike fear into the hearts of all who dare oppose you.

Mining, who's an expert?
Stroll over to the Professions Forum and discover an excellent mining guide for both Horde and Alliance.

Three Warlock bugs are being scrutinised by our Quality Assurance Department.

When posting on the forums there are some rules to keep in mind. Both newcomers and hardcore posters are recommended to (re-)acquaint themselves with this simple little FAQ before posting. This is an easy way to prevent your constructive post from getting locked.

New PVP Opening moves this week! How to Kill a Warlock.

And last, but certainly not least, Realm Forums are coming soon.
Constructive discussions are welcome here.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with two new wallpapers featuring some Battleground Entrances.

The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with three new pieces of artwork.

What do we have in store for you this week:

Gamesrider.it has created a new guide about the Thorium Brotherhood faction (Italian).

World of War.net has a couple of new player journals today, both from Corvo. In the first journal entitled Choice of Maturity he explains why RP realms should be the realms of choice, and in Beauty is Simple Corvo gives his view on the end-game.

If you want to write your own journals, you can do so from the journals homepage.

WoWNorge.Net has found new staff and to celebrate they have posted a little FAQ.

Have a nice weekend! Bon weekend! Schönes Wochenende!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Friday morning we'll have an extra maintenance. This maintenance will start at 6:45 AM CEST. All updates about this maintenance can be found in the Realm Status forum.

The first maintenance will last two hours, from 06:45 AM CEST until 08:45 AM CEST. The realms that will be affected by this maintenance are Earthen Ring, Silvermoon, Skullcrusher, and Turalyon.

The second maintenance will last four hours, from 06:45 AM CEST until 10:45 AM CEST. The realms that will be affected by this maintenance are Bloodfeather, Darksorrow, Frostwhisper, Kor'gall, Ragnaros, Sylvanas, The Maelstrom, and Vashj.

Are you a gamer interested in helping with translation and localization? Or do you prefer testing for bugs? If you are a skilled linguist or are dedicated to helping create and maintain high-quality games, then Blizzard might have a place for you.

If you are interested in joining our team, please check out our job opportunities page to see what positions we have available. Also, you might want to read our Recruitment FAQ. Theses positions are based in Velizy, southwest of Paris, France. If you decide to apply for either of them, please send in your C.V. and cover letter when you apply. If you are accepted, accommodation assistance will be provided to you, as outlined in the Recruitment FAQ.

The latest patch has gone live! This patch includes such things as Blackwing Lair and Darkmoon Faire, among other things. You can check out all of the changes in this patch by reading the latest patchnotes. Also, as this patch is now live, the test realms have been closed. However, the test realms will be reopened later for the next round of testing. Please check back here for future updates about the next round of public testing.

Looking for something to listen to while questing? Are your guild-mates' voices getting a little annoying? Want to hear the latest news and tips for World of Warcraft? Then tune in to WoW Radio!

If you want to know what to expect, just visit their website. They have a schedule of shows, a bit about the guys who run the station, and forums where you can post your thoughts about the station.

WoW Radio also recently held their WoW Idol contest. The winners have been announced. You can see who won and hear more about this competition by downloading the file here.

There's a vast number of exciting, scary, awe-inspiring or simply fun encounters on Azeroth for characters on all levels. Amongst all these, or at least the ones you've encountered so far, what do you think is the coolest boss in World of Warcraft?

The crosshairs of the PvP opening moves threads have reached the Warriors. Share your tips on how to take them down with your class and talent build, and also drop by the opening moves bonus level.

In other PvP related news, there's some new information to be found about the Alterac Valley queues. We're also continuing to answer questions on how the Honor System works. Please make sure to read through the honor System guide and past answers before posting questions.

Ever wondered where others find all that precious metal? Whether you need materials for Blacksmithing or Engineering, or just want to make some cash by selling them off to others, some tips about mining might come in handy.

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

Blizzard today unveiled the BlizzCon™ Web site, presenting many new details about the upcoming gaming convention. Set to take place on October 28 and 29 at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California, BlizzCon is open to gamers of all ages.

• Q&A panels with the World of Warcraft and StarCraft: Ghost developers
• Playing World of Warcraft Battlegrounds live with friends
• 1st public hands-on gameplay of Blizzard’s StarCraft: Ghost, Blizzard’s highly anticipated stealth-action console title
• BlizzCon Invitational Tournament, featuring top Warcraft III and StarCraft professional gamers from around the world
• Contests for die-hard gamers to compete in for great loot
• A special closing-night concert featuring a to-be-announced band

Please see the BlizzCon Web site for further details on the event, including hotel and travel information, an extensive FAQ, and more.

We have again updated our Battlegrounds information pages. This time, we provide you with additional information about Alterac Valley, such as the major quests, enemies, and also an interactive map of this battleground.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

World of War.net has three new Warlock Quest Guides.

If you feel you have what it takes to be a writer check out WoW Gamingeye, they are looking for writers (Swedish).

Want to be in the gaming business and not quite sure what area suits you most? Looking for a change? If so, check out WoW Norge. They are looking for staff (Norwegian). Also, they have updated their FAQ.

And now for some pure and simple WoW-Fun:
We, the Undead, are simply misunderstood.
Mining, FtW!
There are strangers in our midst...

Have a nice weekend! Bon weekend! Schönes Wochenende!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Blizzard Europe is looking for a few good humanoids to join the ranks of the Gamemasters. If you are a highly-motivated individual looking to get into the gaming industry and have experience in providing customer support, then Blizzard wants you to join their customer service department as a Gamemaster.

If you are interested in joining our team, please check out our job opportunities page to see what positions we have available. Also, you might want to read our Recruitment FAQ. The Gamemaster position is based in Velizy, southwest of Paris, France. If you decide to apply for this position, please send in your C.V. and cover letter when you apply. If you are accepted, accommodation assistance will be provided to you, as outlined in the Recruitment FAQ.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring the Gnome Racial Shield.

The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with three new pieces of artwork.

We are happy to announce that the Screenshot of the Day feature has returned to our website! You may now view and submit new screenshots to the Royal Photography Society of Azeroth.

How often do we stroll the forums and see someone asking: "What profession should I take?" Ever wonder what the wonderful world of leatherworking has in store for you? Check out this comprehensive guide to Leather specialisation.

To give our developers better feedback, we have provided you, our community, with a template for providing us with your Druid concerns.
Should you want to further discuss and/or comment, then this is the place to go.

After many, MANY, wonderful discussions about the Honor calculation, Thundie was so kind to provide a brief explanation of when the calculations take place.

New PVP Opening moves this week! Let us all know how you would deal with coming face to face with a Druid.

We want YOU on the realm that's best suited to your needs. Click your way to RP PvP, RP PvE, migration and new realms. (Remember, Role-Playing is not for everyone, find out if it is for you: Roleplaying FAQ: What is RP, how do I do it?)

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

World of Warcraft recently launched with amazing fanfare and success in China. Partnering with Blizzard to usher in this blockbuster launch was iCoke, Coca-Cola's name-brand presence in China. In the weeks leading up to and after the launch, iCoke led the way in promoting World of Warcraft, celebrating the game in real-life replicas of Stormwind Castle and Thunder Bluff, creating a joint World of Warcraft and Coca-Cola televised commercial featuring Chinese pop sensation SHE, and unveiling an iCoke-branded World of Warcraft site. The site is in Chinese, but even if you can't read it, it's well worth checking out. We also have photos from the recent launch in China so you can see the excitement as Chinese gamers joined the World of Warcraft.

The Battlegrounds screenshot competition announced in the last World of Warcraft Insider ended yesterday. The screenshots have been sent to the judges. We will be announcing the winners here soon. Thanks to all who participated!

We have created a new page with some basic information and screenshots about the fast-paced Battleground, Warsong Gulch. Keep an eye on our Battleground section; we have much more on the way!

The Alliance Herald just published their latest edition: Issue 5.

WoW Gamingeye published an interesting article about Battlegrounds.
So if you speak, or would like brush up on your Swedish, check it out.

World of Warcraft Romania want your input for their forums, and they are starting a section for character screenshots. So, all you Romanian fans out there, don't miss out on your chance to have yourself heard.

And last but not least, to all budding web developers, a reminder to check out our Fansite Program.

Have a nice weekend!

Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

aving proven their might by overcoming worthy foes, the characters listed here have been gifted with a special tabard. This tabard will announce to all around them, friend or foe, their vast power and their steadfast dedication to bringing ruin upon their opponents. Congratulations to all the winners of the Test of Honor Contest! May your deeds win you further acclaim!

The winners of the Test of Honor Contest were the top-ranked PvPers on May 25th. This contest was announced in the first World of Warcraft Insider.

Throughout the morning we have been experiencing intermittent problems with the authentication server. Due to these problems, the realms and forums have been inaccessible sporadically during the morning. We have been performing an emergency maintenance to correct these problems, and will be monitoring the authentication server in the next hours. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

We’re happy to announce that the second round of public testing for the next content patch has begun. Players who wish to test the upcoming patch content should follow the appropriate instructions in English, German or French, depending on their language version of World of Warcraft.

All World of Warcraft accounts active before June 21st are eligible to copy characters to the Public Test Realms. For this phase of testing, you will again be able to copy two pre-made characters to the Test Realms which you will then be able to play. Characters copied during the first phase of testing have been wiped. Please keep in mind that these are the only two copies you get so please do not delete your characters.

In order to log on to the Public Test Realms, you will need the latest Test Realm Client. Instructions on how to download and install the client and how to copy characters to the Test Realms can be found on this page. We’re excited to welcome everyone to the next phase of testing, and we look forward to hearing your feedback and thoughts on the new patch.

Blizzard is proud to announce the very first Blizzard Convention, to take place on October 28 & 29 in Orange County, California. BlizzCon is a celebration of our Warcraft, StarCraft, and Diablo franchises and the players who have helped make them so popular around the world. To learn more about this first in Blizzard history, please check this press release.

They had a nice dream... If you could change three things in World of Warcraft, what would they be? See what other players came up with here.

Spotted a Rogue before they saw you? How would you handle the situation? In our "Opening Moves" this week we ask for your ideas on how to kill a Rogue.
Part 4a - Get the jump on that Rogue
Part 4b - Rogue's first strike

Check out what WoW has done for you so far, and take a peak at what's next, in our World of Warcraft Battleplan.

And finally, Thundgot just posted the Public Test Realm Patch Notes - 1.6.0. Check out what we have in store for you!

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

Character migration for people who wish to move from Argent Dawn to Draenor or from Earthen Ring to Runetotem is now open. If you are interested in moving to a different realm, please read this FAQ. Also, please remember that you will be transferring to a different realm type, one on which the Roleplaying Realm Policy is not enforced.

A gathering of the exotic from around the world and beyond, Silas Darkmoon has brought together the Darkmoon Faire as a celebration of the wondrous and mysterious found in Azeroth. While the Faire spends most of their time in parts unknown, they do stop from time to time in Mulgore and Elwynn forest. Anyone interested in catching this traveling menagerie should peruse this flyer.

Beyond just adding information about the Darkmoon Faire, we have updated the Under Development section. You can now find information about previous patches in addition to features that are coming soon.

The first World of Warcraft Battle Plan by Shane Dabiri, Lead Producer of World of Warcraft, has just been posted in the forums. This announcement reviews the first seven months of the game and gives a sneak peek of what's to come!

For those players who have chosen to create characters on a roleplaying realm but no longer wish to remain on that realm-type, we will be opening a special character migration from RP realms to Normal (PvE) realms. If you wish to transfer to a non-roleplaying realm, you will be able to do so starting on Thursday, June 23 at 20:00 CEST. This migration will remain open until the following Thursday, June 30.

Should you choose to transfer, please remember that you will be going to a different realm type where the Roleplaying Realms Policy is not enforced. Please bear in mind that the migration is one-way and cannot be reversed.

PLEASE NOTE: Your character's Honor system rank (calculated each week during the Wednesday maintenance) will transfer to the designated realm. However, if you participate in PvP prior to transferring your character to the new realm, you will lose the honorable kills and contribution points you earned for that period prior to the transfer. For example, if you log back on to your original realm, earn 40 honorable kills, and then decide to transfer to the new realm, then when you log on to the new realm you'll find that you've maintained your Honor system rank, but you'll have lost the Honor points for the 40 kills. To avoid losing any of your progress toward the next Honor system rank, please be sure to transfer your character to the new realm before you participate in PvP again.

The official European World of Warcraft website now includes a new feature, the Tip of the Day. The Tip of the Day is a collection of short hints and tips that may prove to be useful on your journeys in the World of Warcraft, things like simple gameplay tips as well as devious PvP tricks. There will be a new Tip of the Day each day, so be sure to check back often. If you have some tips yourself that you’d like to share with your fellow players, feel free to post them to the Suggestions Forum. We read this Forum and will make sure that useful tips find their way into the Tip of the Day list.

The monthly fansite Q&A moves forward, the rotation between the three language communities this time bringing us to France. The site to collect and submit questions for the developers this time around will be JudgeHype, a very valued member of the Fan Site Program and a complete site with extensive content, including talent simulators, a profiler, and very active and friendly forums.

If you’re familiar with the French language, visit JudgeHype to participate in submitting questions for the World of Warcraft developers.

As we announced a month ago, the game developers have answered the questions gathered over at WorldofWar.net. You can read the questions and the developers' answers in English, French, or German.

This week we start over at WorldofWar.net, who have (among other updates) revamped their User Interface site and added chapter 13 - Concentration of Heroes of WoW. Issue 4 of the Alliance Herald is out, featuring a war report as their main story, while over at WoW OGaming Electromancer is asking have you been backstabbed today?

In other news, GU Comics has made a suggestion for some new Gnome epic mounts that we, of course, forwarded to the developers, and finally, please make sure to stop by Warcraft Tavern to vote on their poll asking which Battleground is your favorite.

Have a nice weekend, and remember to stay on the correct side of the road with your mount.

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

World of Warcraft is on its way to Taiwan later this year. As part of that process, the Taiwan World of Warcraft website is now live! You can visit this site by clicking here!

Microsoft Games for Windows has just released a new skin for Windows Media Player 10 that will help bring out your inner warrior/rogue/druid/you-get-the-general-idea while watching videos or listening to your favorite songs online (such as one of the many World of Warcraft MP3s we've posted on the World of Warcraft community site). Grab the new World of Warcraft Windows Media Player skin here.

We now have a very helpful Honor System/Ranking Guide that will help clarify how ranks are gained and lost in the Honor System. If you have been wondering just how Honor is calculated, where you can get Honor points, how Battlegrounds and Racial Leaders work into the Honor System, then this page will answer all of your questions and then some! You can read this guide here.

The contest announced in the latest World of Warcraft Insider is now open to our subscribers! To enter the contest, take the best screen shot you can within one of the Battlegrounds Zones and submit it.
We will run them through the gauntlet of expert scrutiny, and will announce the winners soon after. So train your photographer's eye on the Battlegrounds.

You can submit your Battlegrounds screenshots here.

Good luck and happy hunting!

Bring World of Warcraft onto your Windows desktop with this specially designed Windows XP desktop theme created by Stardock. Using their Object Desktop technology, the World of Warcraft Desktop will change your title bars, Start menu, icons, push buttons, borders and much more to reflect the user interface from the game.

You can download this program here. Please note that this downloads a PC-only program which changes your theme. You can use the program to remove the theme as well.

Patch 1.5.1 is now live. This patch includes minor bug fixes which do not require a restart of the Realms. To download the patch, simply disconnect from the game and reconnect; the patch download should start automatically. You can find the latest patch notes here.

As part of our on-going quest to provide the best gaming atmosphere possible, Blizzard Europe is looking for a few motivated, creative individuals to join the ranks of their web team! If you have good writing skills, speak and write in English fluently, have a passion for MMORPGs, then there may be a place for you at Blizzard Europe as an English Web Editorialist.

Please check out our job opportunities page to see what positions we have available. Also, you might want to read our Recruitment FAQ.

Don't just sit there! Join Blizzard Europe today!

Another look at the forums to find some threads you might want to stop by even if you don't visit every day.

• On the Role-Playing forum you can find a nice role-playing FAQ, and also look up guilds on the two role-playing realms Argent Dawn and Earthen Ring
• Players are sharing their opinion on the best and worst instances in the Raids & Dungeons forum
• In the PvP forum we'd like to know your opening moves when fighting a Priest - this will be done with all classes in turn, so keep an eye on that forum and share your tactics
• Also in the PvP forum, a few notes on battlegrounds wait times
• Mosh has supplemented his FAQ on the Warlock forum with some additional data

Enjoy!

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

Blizzard Entertainment announced today that World of Warcraft has surpassed two million paying subscribers worldwide. Already the largest MMO in North America, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe, Blizzard expects to see even greater growth with the recent commercial launch in China on June 7, 2005. You can read more by checking out this press release.

This new gameplay trailer (PC or Mac) features two teams battling it out in Warsong Gulch in a capture-the-flag throwdown. Watch as the blue team powers its way to the all-important flag and brings it home. Is that a Tauren doing a victory dance?

Blizzard is always looking for talented and motivated individuals to provide our players with the best level of support possible. As part of our ongoing search, we are now recruiting among others new Game Masters and also a new Web Editorialist for the German-speaking part of the official European World of Warcraft site to join the existing editorial team.

As Web Editorialist, you will be responsible for keeping the content of the website up-to-date with the latest information from the game and also help create specific local editorial content for the website. If you have excellent writing skills in German and English combined with strong knowledge of all the tools needed to work on a website, then there may be a job waiting for you at Blizzard Europe. Make sure to read our job description and send us your CV and cover letter today.

Last month, Blizzard Entertainment showed its games at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, where we gave demonstrations of World of Warcraft Battlegrounds. Some publications have already run articles, and with the Battlegrounds having gone live earlier this week, more are sure to come. Check out some of the recent coverage of World of Warcraft's Battlegrounds so far!

• Hands-On by Kikizo
• First Look by Games Radar

Have you made or seen some great articles on Battlegrounds that you think deserves to be mentioned on the World of Warcraft webpage? Send us a link at: press-eu@blizzard.com.

* Links on this news post may expire over time and are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

The third issue of the Alliance Herald is out, the main story being the wedding of Saul. And once again we visit WoW OGaming and Electromancer's ramblings, this time arguing that everybody's a farmer.

More polls on the fan sites again. Worldcraft Central asks what you do or will spend most of your time on in World of Warcraft. Svenska WoW ask what Rank you have attained in the Honor System, and WoW i Danmark wants your opinion on the battlegrounds.

Tycho and Gabe of Penny Arcade have shared some of their thoughts on the Battlegrounds both in their recent news and in their latest comic. GU Comics continue to visit Azeroth, this time covering one of those conversations, while Ctrl+Alt+Del take a look at the drawbacks of being a night elf.

Have a nice weekend. See you in the Battlegrounds!

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

The long-awaited Battlegrounds are finally here! You can read about all of the changes that this patch brings by checking the latest patch notes. Also, as this patch is live, the test realms have been closed. However, the test realms will be reopened later for the next round of testing. Please check back here for future updates about the next round of public testing.

Update: The extended maintenance has finished. All realms can now be accessed.

Due to unexpected complications while applying the latest patch, the maintenance downtime will be extended today. We will be updating this announcement as soon as we have information regarding when the realms will be available again. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

On Wednesday morning there will be an extended maintenance downtime due to the release of the latest patch which will include the long-awaited Battlegrounds. After this patch, players will be able to take on the opposing faction for control of Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch. Much honor will be gained and many songs will be sung of those who are able to hold these grounds. Don’t miss your chance to make a mark on the world! Read more about Battlegrounds by checking this Press Release and the new Battlegrounds section of the Game Guide.

Para bellum!

As part of our on-going effort to provide a safe and fun environment for our customers, we at Blizzard would like to urge our customers not to give any information about their accounts, their CD-keys, or any information of any kind that could be used to verify account ownership unless they are asked by Blizzard employees. Blizzard employees will never use any email address outside of the blizzard.com domain in communication with customers. Blizzard employees will also never ask you for your password. For further information on how you can contact Blizzard, please check our Support Site.

If you are unsure of a person asking for your account details or suspect that you have come in contact with a person who is impersonating a Blizzard employee, please send all the information you can about the incident to WoWAccountReviewEU@blizzard.com.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Here are some links for you who do not spend a lot of time on the forums.

• Guild name Spring cleaning message from the GMs
• The latest update on the Hunter skill cooldown bug
• What is the coolest looking weapon in the game?
• Solidify has updated her thread about how the honour system works

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

Since the last patch, characters all across Azeroth are doing battle in pursuit of fame and honor. Now we have put together a comprehensive interactive website for all players who are not yet familiar with the details of the honor system where you can learn everything you need to get started on your quest for honor and glory. But even if you're already a grizzled veteran of the Honor System, the detailed information this new Flash site has to offer is still worth checking out. Thanks to the Korean World of Warcraft team for this informative mini-site!

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that World of Warcraft has officially launched in China. Players in China can now experience the epic adventure of the Warcraft series in an immersive and continually-evolving online environment. The commercial launch of World of Warcraft follows a highly successful open beta period in China during which the game reached a peak concurrency – the total number of subscribers playing simultaneously – of more than 500,000 players. You can read more about the Chinese release of World of Warcraft by checking this Press Release at Blizzard-Europe.

First stop this Friday will be over at WorldofWar.net, where you among other updates can find a new Priest guide and a map of the Deadmines. And make sure to check out chapter 12 of Heroes of WoW.

Xestion over at WoW Gamingeye (Swedish) has shared his opinion on what's the top 5 World of Warcraft movies. You can add your own favorites in their comments section.

We have some new polls on the fan sites this week too. WorldofWar.se (Swedish) wants to know what level your highest level character is by now, while WoW Norge (Norwegian) is asking how much time you spend on World of Warcraft each day. I hope I was allowed to count my work hours for the latter one.

Brent and Jade of PvP Online seem to need to sort out some aggro problems. And GU Comics has had no less than five comics about World of Warcraft in the last week. Click the image for Woody's thoughts behind the comic.

Enjoy!

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Character migrations will be available for the realms listed here starting at 19:00 CEST tonight. This option will be available to players from this evening until next Wednesday, June 8, at which time we’ll review the migration to the destination realms and decide on whether to close, extend, or open additional migration to low-population realms.

PLEASE NOTE: Your character's Honor system rank (calculated each week during the Wednesday maintenance) will transfer to the designated realm. However, if you participate in PvP prior to transferring your character to the new realm, you will lose the honorable kills and contribution points you earned for that period prior to the transfer. For example, if you log back on to your original realm, earn 40 honorable kills, and then decide to transfer to the new realm, then when you log on to the new realm you'll find that you've maintained your Honor system rank, but you'll have lost the Honor points for the 40 kills. To avoid losing any of your progress toward the next Honor system rank, please be sure to transfer your character to the new realm before you participate in PvP again.

The Downloads section has been updated. We have added several new wallpapers as well as two new exclusive gameplay trailers straight from the E3 showroom floor! The movies are available for both PC and Mac users.

We have added a language package for European players to use if they wish to play the game in other languages. It can be downloaded by going to the Account Management.
More information about this feature can be found in this FAQ.

We'll be collecting a few links every week for those who do not spend much time on the forums. This first week we'll focus on some Important blue text Blizzard posts during the last week and a half. These threads are all open for feedback and discussion, so feel free to add your thoughts.

• Revised naming policy for characters, pets and guilds
• A clarification about the spoken languages on the English servers
• Developer feedback on the Paladin and the Rogue

*Links on this news post may expire over time.

Our thanks to everyone that has participated in the Honor System since its launch. The Contest of Honor announced in the WoW Insider ended last Wednesday. We’re now in the process of tallying the results and will announce the winners in the near future. The top player from each faction on each of the realms will receive a special in-game tabard proclaiming their victory. Stay tuned for the complete list of winners.

Recent updates on the fan sites

• WoW Danmark, recently added to the fan site program, has started collecting Danish guilds
• Electromancer over at WoW OGaming shares his opinions on Moonglade
• Questkeep.com are still gaining new quests, and have a poll up asking why you use their site instead of other quest information sites
• WorldofWar.se (Swedish) have a poll up asking whether you consider yourself addicted to computer games
• Another poll can be found at Into Warcraft (Dutch) asking what you think should be in an expansion for World of Warcraft

In other news PvP Online's Cole and Brent ran into some fellow World of Warcraft players, with the following results.

Have a nice weekend, and be nice to the fellow World of Warcraft players you might meet out there!

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

As the population on Kor'gall and Turalyon is leveling out, we will be closing migration to these realms Friday, May 27th at 18:00. Anyone from Silvermoon, Bloodscalp, Burning Legion, Shattered Hand, Skullcrusher, or Stormscale who wishes to transfer to these realms should do so within the next day.

Details about the next step of character migration will be announced soon.

We have just completed an overhaul of the Support Section. Should you ever run into a problem with your account or with your character, please read this section to know exactly what to do!

The Naming Policy and the Role-Play Realm Policy have been updated. You may want to take a moment to read the updated policies to avoid violations. Please read this post about the changes and the reasons for them.

Several changes have been made to the Public Test Realms. You can read about these changes by checking out the 1.5.0 Supplemental Changes on the Test Realm Patch Notes page.

This Wednesday morning the weekly maintenance will start earlier than usual. All European realms will be offline from 3:00 to 11:00 am (Paris Time, CEST). The purpose of this extended maintenance is to improve our network hardware to try to reduce lag spikes in the game. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

We're happy to welcome WoW Turk and WoW Danmark to the fan site program.

Recent updates on the fan sites

• WoW OGaming has opened an atlas on the site
• The second issue of the Alliance Herald is available
• WorldofWar.net has added a map to Blackrock Depths
• World of Warcraft Belgium (available in English and Dutch) has a poll up asking whether you think the Honor System has improved the game
• WoW Norge has pictures, more pictures and a movie from the celebration of Norwegian Constitution Day in-game
• WorldofWar.se has posted an interview with some unimportant Blizzard guy - no need to look at it too closely (English version)

Test realms

• New forum: Test Realm
• Opening a second test realm
• Limited character copying Thursday and Friday
• Alterac Valley temporarily disabled

Other reading material

• Shaman information
• Free month and cancelling the account
• Guest pass and gamecards
• Tom Chilton on PvP in World of Warcraft (at Gamespy)

Have a nice weekend. See you in the Battlegrounds (on the test realms)!

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Character copies to the public test realms have been temporarily disabled until Saturday of this week. The public test realms should not be affected by the downtime. Players who have already copied characters also should not be affected by this maintenance. We apologize to players who have not yet copied their characters over and would like to remind everyone that character copying to the public test realms will be re-enabled on Sunday. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Update: Character copies to the test realms will be enabled today (19th) and tomorrow (20th) between 03:00 am and 16:00 pm CEST.

In order to facilitate the feedback process on the test realm, we have added a Test Realm forum. Please post all suggestions or comments about the Test Realm and its features in this forum.

More secretive than the Burning Blade; more powerful than the Shattered Hand. Though you may have never seen them, you have probably already heard about them. They move unseen, hidden by a layer of secrecy shrouded in shadows which are veiled by anonymity. They are our first, last, and only line of defense against the forces of Chaos. And Blizzard Europe is looking for a few brave men and women to join their ranks! Who are "they?" They are the Customer Support Department.

The Game Masters, the Billing Department, and the Technical Support Department are looking for enthusiastic, driven men and women with a passion for gaming and helping others. Do you have what it takes? Is there a way to find out for sure? If you would like to join our Customer Support Department and work with a young and creative team as part of Blizzard Europe, then head over to our jobs page, read the job descriptions, and send in your CV and cover letter.

What on Azeroth are you waiting for? Join Blizzard Europe now!

We're delighted to welcome three new employees to Blizzard Europe and the European community team. Vaneck joins us as Associate Community Manager for the German community, having several years of community management experience from the gaming business. Aeus is our new Community Representative for the English-speaking community, bringing with him both technical and customer relations knowledge. Finally, joining us later this week as Community Representative for the French community is Daghorn, having two years behind him in the MMO business, and coming from our own GM team.

You will get to meet each of them on the respective World of Warcraft forums very soon, working with the community managers and other teams at Blizzard to continually keep you updated on everything World of Warcraft.

We're happy to announce that we have just deployed the first round of public test realms for Europe and Korea! Players who wish to test the upcoming patch content should follow the appropriate instructions in English, in German or in French, depending on the language version of World of Warcraft that they use.

Only World of Warcraft accounts that have been active since April 15 are currently eligible to participate in the public test realm. If your account was not active during this time, you will not be able to log in to the test realms. In addition, accounts created after May 9, are not eligible to participate on the public test realm. Please note that the test realms will be updated each week during this public testing phase, so check back next week to see if your account is eligible to participate in this round of testing.

We're excited to see players from around the world on the test realms, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the new PvP Battlegrounds content!

The calm over Ashenvale was pierced by the shriek of goblin shredders grinding into motion, tearing into trunks. Gorshaka grinned as she wheeled the worg around and gestured to two others with her spear. Together the trio rode confidently across the plain toward the enemy base.

A quick look around the entrance ramp confirmed it was deserted; with weapons ready, the attack party followed warily behind their leader as she strode into the lair of the night elves...

Soon you will be able to participate in lightning raids like the one Gorshaka experienced. Read the latest news about Battlegrounds: Warsong Gulch to learn more about this soon-to-come feature.

This is the start of a new monthly event in the European World of Warcraft community, where one of the European fan sites will gather and submit questions for Blizzard. Early each month the fan site to host the month’s Q&A will be announced, and the site is given a week to collect and submit questions which will be responded to two weeks later. We will rotate this between the three language communities and make sure the questions and answers are available in all three languages.

The first site out is WorldofWar.net, an English language site that has virtually everything a World of Warcraft player needs: forums, extensive class sections, maps, player journals, UI addons and more. It’s one of the most complete World of Warcraft sites, and we’re very happy to have them in the European Fan Site Program.

Head over to WorldofWar.net for more information on how to participate in gathering questions.

The Patch Notes for the up-coming International Public Test Realm are available. You can read them here. We are working on opening test realms for European and Korean players as soon as the hardware setup and configurations are completed.

The platform which includes part of the French and half of the English speaking realms went down approximately one hour ago. The relevant datacenter is now back online, however we'll benefit from the Wednesday weekly maintenance to check all the network fibres. The main cause has been identified and we are checking all other, possibly related, issues to prevent future occurrences.

We have identified the problem to be a bug in the software which runs on some of our main network equipment and are now testing an optimised version of this software. Once the optimisation is verified to be working correctly, we will upgrade our system.
Thank you for your understanding.

We're happy to announce that we are now just a few days away from being able to deploy the first round of public test realms for our international audience. Due to the need to conduct as much testing of our initial Battlegrounds content as we can, the schedule calls for the next major content patch to go live on the US public test realms shortly. We will then roll out the public test realms for Korea and Europe as soon as the hardware setup and configurations are completed.

To conduct a targeted test of specific character classes for the Battlegrounds, we will be providing testers in Europe and Korea with access to a variety of high-level, fully equipped characters to choose from. More information on how players can access the test characters and the public test realms will become available as we get closer to launch. Assuming everything goes smoothly for this round of testing, we plan to deploy public-test-realm content for future patches simultaneously in Europe, Korea, and the US. We're excited to see players from around the world on the test realms in the days ahead, and we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the new PvP Battlegrounds content!

We would like to remind you that our new weekly maintenance window is now every Wednesday morning from 5:00 AM to 11:00 AM (Paris Time, UTC/GMT+2). Please note that all realms will be offline during maintenance; you can check out this page to get the latest information about the realm status. Thank you for your understanding.

As Twilight's Hammer is filling up, the migration to this realm will be closed on Monday May 9th. We have no plans to open future migration to this realm. If you want to move there from one of the five eligible realms this is your last chance.

The following realms will be open for character migration from Wednesday May 11th until Wednesday May 18th:

Silver Moon (PvE) --> Turalyon (PvE)
Bloodscalp (PvP) --> Kor'gall (PvP)
Burning Legion (PvP) --> Kor'gall
Shattered Hand (PvP) --> Kor'gall
Skullcrusher (PvP) --> Kor'gall
Stormscale (PvP) --> Kor'gall

Kor'gall will be opened especially for this migration. While it is also possible to start new characters on this realm, please be aware that you must expect it to be populated by higher level characters very quickly.

This week we'd like to mainly point you to some important information we've published throughout the week.

First of all, another reminder that starting next week maintenance is moved to Wednesdays. Our Technical Support Lead has also given a word on why this was done.

Second, half the English language community probably knows the recent lag issues we've been working with. You can find the latest update on the lag issues on the forums, and we're still gathering lag reports to help in the continual work on these matters.

And last we'd like to point you to some developer's words on future instances while also reminding you to drop by WoW Stratics for the weekly poll. This week they're asking how many times you've reset your talents.

Have a nice weekend!

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

As some of you may have noticed, there is a new person posting news and updates on the English website. That would be Daliniya, our new web editor for the English language section of the European World of Warcraft site. From now on, she will make certain that you always get the latest information about the game posted on this site. She will also work on seeing that all of the information posted already is brought up-to-date.

Welcome, Daliniya!

In response to player input, the European weekly maintenance hours have been changed. Starting May 11th, Europe's new maintenance window will be on Wednesday mornings from 5:00 am until 11:00 am CEST (Central European Summer Time). If a patch is applied during maintenance, then the window will be from 3:00 am until 11:00 am CEST.

This week's maintenance will go ahead for the last time on Friday morning from 5:00 am until 13:00 pm CEST.

World of Warcraft Insider interviewed Blizzard designer Tom Chilton about the latest addition to World of Warcraft: the Honor System. If you are curious about how long it will take to become a Grand Marshal or are a casual gamer wondering just what the Honor System has in store for you, then read this discussion of the various aspects of the Honor System.

World of Warcraft has reclaimed the #1 spot on game charts across much of Europe this week, following the release of additional boxes into European retail stores on April 15th. World of Warcraft is the #1 game on the PC charts in Germany, France, UK, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Benelux. Read complete media alert here.

This last week has had most attention on the Honor System. If you're still not entirely sure how it works, have a look at the Honor System FAQ. You might also want to read up on Solidify's explanation of the Honor System.

Other interesting forum threads

• Kremlik has posted some advice on leveling on a PvP realm
• We've given a report on the Priest class
• Zarek has made a Warrior guide to tanking
• We've split up the General forum FAQ into realms and characters FAQ and a forum FAQ (now found in the Newcomers Forum)

Recent updates on the Fan sites

• Electromancer over at OGaming WoW has followed up his guild politics article with a look inside an uber guild
• WorldofWar.net has the two latest chapters of Heroes of WoW up, titled Wipe and Tired
• WoW Stratics is asking for your opinion on the Honor System in their weekly poll

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have published two new pages that should help you make the most of the new PvP Honor system: the Game Guide now features a page containing valuable tips on how to survive on a PvP realm, and we also have expanded the FAQ section with a special Honor System FAQ.

As part of our continuing effort to keep World of Warcraft free from abuse, we have permanently banned more than 500 accounts during the last week which were involved in the use of cheats and/or hacks using third-party software. We will continue to take an aggressive stance to ensure that the gaming environment remains an enjoyable place for our customers by actively pursuing those who would seek to violate the principle of fair-play, as well as breach our terms of use and policies in this way. As stated previously, we have a zero-tolerance policy for cheating or hacking of any kind. Players caught using cheats or hacks will have their characters removed and their account banned. They will not receive a warning.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in this matter. Should you have reason to believe that you have evidence of or information regarding the use of cheats or hacks, please feel free to send us an email at WoWAccountReviewEU@blizzard.com for us to investigate or submit a GM ticket in-game. Thank you again for your continued support.

The Honor System is live!
The PvP Honor System has now been implemented in Europe, and we're very much interested in your hands-on feedback about it. You can find both additional information and discussions and post your own feedback in the PvP forum.

Recent updates on the Fan Sites

• Electro over at OGaming WoW has posted his thoughts about girl gamers, closely monitored by TucksMa.
• Warcraft Tavern has a poll up asking what you look most forward to in World of Warcraft.

If you prefer reading and talking about World of Warcraft in other languages, make sure to stop by the many excellent fan sites and their forums.

Some interesting forum threads

• A message from the President of Blizzard regarding the coming European test realm
• Some useful links for newcomers
• Tips for gentlemanly conduct
• And make sure to drop by the Blizzard Archive forum to find some official information that might have disappeared from the discussion forums as time has gone by

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Soon, European players will be able to reap awesome rewards: during Friday's maintenance, the long-awaited PvP Honor System will be implemented on all European realms!

Put on your finest suit of armor, ready your noble tools of conquest, and become the most respected (or feared) fighter on your realm as you ride your trusted mount into battle and earn your place amongst the legends. This coming patch will also include other new features.

In order to apply this latest patch to all European realms, Friday's regular maintenance window will be extended; it is currently scheduled to begin at 05:00 and end at 13:00 (UTC/GMT+2, Paris time).

As more and more players find their way to Azeroth, the World of Warcraft forums become even busier. To better accommodate for the many questions and discussions we've decided to open three new forums.

• Newcomers Forum, where new players may get help from the more experienced
• Raids and Dungeons, for discussion and sharing of raid and dungeon stories and tips
• Blizzard Archive, where you may find permanent copies of important posts made by Blizzard on other forums

We hope you will enjoy these new forums, and would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your participation in the World of Warcraft community also outside the game.

Over this last weekend we have seen a huge number of players online, many exploring the vast richness of Azeroth for the first time. Unfortunately, on Sunday we experienced unscheduled downtime at one of our hosting centers due to a network switches failure which caused realms in this particular hosting center to go offline. This also made the authentication servers unavailable for some hours, thus while players on other realms could continue playing, it was impossible to log in and join them.

We realize the amount of frustration such downtime during the most active playing period of the week causes and therefore decided to give all players a one-day time extension on their accounts. We are working hard to avoid unscheduled downtime in the future.

Welcome!
250,000 new boxes have been made available and we'd like to welcome all new players to World of Warcraft. We hope you'll enjoy your stay with us on Azeroth and also join us on the forums where you may ask questions, find hints and tips, make suggestions and engage in discussion and role-playing with other players.

Some other recommended links for newcomers are

• The Beginner's Guide
• The Realm Status page and the Realm Status forum
• The FAQ
• Fan Sites in 16 languages

Recent updates on the Fan sites

• OGaming WoW have a new article named Onyxia Unmasked!, and their resident Electro is rambling about guild politics.
• WoW Stratics have put up a poll asking what you would like to see in World of Warcraft in the future.
• WorldofWar.net have a new low to mid level solo Hunter PvE guide posted. Also note that their forums have moved to a new domain.
• WoW Italy has completed their WoW Italian Herald feature, and the database has grown to include thousands of characters. Follow the Gilde W.I.H. and Araldo W.I.H. links in the Community section of their menu to check it out.

A couple of threads for week-end enjoyment

• Agility, Strength, Defense and Attack Power explained by the developers.
• If you're looking for a small group to role-play with, you might want to check out this role-playing group thread.
• Famous last words.

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

World of Warcraft has received numerous accolades from international gaming publications and websites, all of whom are praising the endless adventures possible in Azeroth. See what awards we've won and what the reviewers have to say in our new awards page!

With more World of Warcraft boxes becoming available across Europe from this Friday, we are preparing to welcome a massive new wave of players to our realms. To this end, our European technical team will open a first new set of realms tonight. These are:

English:		French:		German:
Hellscream (Normal)		Khaz Modan (Normal)		Dun Morogh (Normal)
Ragnaros (PvP)		Rashgarroth (PvP)		Aman'Thul (Normal)
The Maelstrom (PvP)		Throk'Feroth (PvP)		Anub'arak (PvP)
Sylvanas (PvP)		Les Sentinelles (RP)		Onyxia (PvP)
Vashj (PvP)				Wrathbringer (PvP)
Bloodfeather (PvP)				Der Rat von Dalaran (RP)
Darksorrow (PvP)
Frostwhisper (PvP)

If you are planning to acquire a copy of World of Warcraft once the new boxes are available, you can rest assured that there will be enough room to accommodate all newcomers. We suggest that new and existing players chose the 17 new or low population realms when creating new characters to avoid overpopulation and queues. You can find a list of realm populations here. If the need arises, we will open additional realms.
Good luck, and may our paths cross in Azeroth!

The World of Warcraft all-access open beta test, set to begin on April 29th, was announced in China on April 10th. The game is scheduled for release in China later this year. Last Sunday, fans in selected cities had the chance to purchase copies of the game in advance. Thousands of people waited in line for this opportunity, and most locations sold out within a few hours. Check out pictures of the events here!

The list of European retailers selling pre-paid game cards is now available on this page.

To help test the future content of the game the Blizzard development team has once again opened the Test Realm. This allows North American players to get involved in our testing process of upcoming features in World of Warcraft. You can read a list of the features currently being tested here. Please be aware that any feature on this page may be removed or changed before the next patch goes live, depending on the results provided by the Test Realm.

We're starting off this week with highlighting some nice player-made FAQs in the class forums for Druid, Hunter, Shaman, and Warlock.
Other interesting reads on the forums include

• A small Battlegrounds Q&A
• Common suggestions
• Guide to getting a Priest

Fan site updates

• Warcraft Wars have opened a guild management page.
• Chapter 9 of Heroes of WoW can now be found at WorldofWar.net. For more reading, make sure to drop by their Player Journals section.
• WorldofWar.se (Swedish) has reviewed both the official World of Warcraft strategy guide and the Zboard.

Have a nice weekend!

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Curious about next patch content? Our Under Development page update offers you a sneak peek of what you will find soon in World of Warcraft.

New mounts

New weapons

Starting with tomorrow's scheduled maintenance, we're operating under a new maintenance schedule which will begin at 07:00 and end at 13:00 (Paris time, UTC/GMT+2). This will allow us the window of time we need to perform the necessary (weekly) maintenance tasks to our infrastructure, as part of our continued efforts in improving realm stability and performance.

Blizzard Entertainment announced today that an additional 250,000 standard box copies of World of Warcraft will be available in retail stores across Europe on 15th April. Additionally, new realms will be opened to match with the increasing number of players. You can read the complete media alert here.

We've collected some interesting reading material for you from the World of Warcraft fan sites and the World of Warcraft forums. Be sure to stop by the fan sites and their game guides, interface mods and forum discussions regularly too.

• You can find a new Hunter talent guide over at Warcraft Central.
• We've posted an update about realm forums
• PvP honor system Q&A - some answers from the developers about the coming honor system
• When to roll for loot? - an interesting question with differing opinions
• Hidden jokes and real life references in game - remember to add any not yet mentioned
• GMT +1 / +2 and "Paris time" - the everlasting Daylight Saving Time confusion

And for those who wish to write something for others to read, and can do so in Swedish, head over to GamingEye to check out their new Community News feature.

Also, check out how Blizzard Europe rewards its employee of the month.

* Links on this news post may expire over time and some are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Staying at the top spot in the new PvP honor system will not be easy. If you ever had to quit a raid on an enemy capital early because your frail human body forced you to bed, then you know what we mean. But fear not – a solution is at hand in the form of our new PvP honor bonus program called Warbucks, an exclusivity for our European players!

When you vanquish another character in honorable PvP combat, the player dealing the finishing blow will be able to loot the corpse of his fallen enemy and pick up a special token called a „Warbuck“. All inns will have their own Buckmonger-NPC who will provide players with powerful coffee potions that will bestow extremely useful buffs when consumed in exchange for their hard-earned Warbucks.

But wait, that's not all! For each fifty Warbucks that you turn in you will receive a special reward. The Buckmonger will send you an in-game mail containing your exclusive Coffee Code. Using your Coffee Code, you will be able to claim a real medium-sized coffee of your choice at a participating café near you (We will be providing a list of participating cafés for each country on this site shortly). Not even sleep will be able to stop you now, thanks to Warbucks!

In a similar vein as the European Warbucks program, the North American players will be able to use a special in-game service that is every gamer's wish come true. The World of Warcraft development team today announced the new Pandaren Xpress. With this unique feature, players will be able to order Chinese food in-game using the brand new /panda command. After making a selection from the large and varied menu, a helpful panda will run off and fetch the order. The food will be delivered to most US locations in less than 30 minutes (availability not guaranteed everywhere). Blizzard Europe is working hard to bring this great service to European players very soon. You can find a more detailed announcement here.

We have updated the World Dungeons page with new graphics and text. A dream come true for any adventurer from either Horde or Alliance, this page features the name, description, level range, historical background, and screenshots from all instanced dungeons in Azeroth.

During the past two weeks, we experienced extended downtime during regular maintenance hours. Part of it was because of the patch released last Friday, which contained many new features, content, and improvements to World of Warcraft. However, it also contained a few bugs which caused interruptions in play time for some users. These bugs were quickly identified, and most of them have already been hotfixed. We plan on implementing fixes for the remaining bugs during this week's scheduled maintenance.

Therefore, all World of Warcraft players in Europe will receive a two-day time extension. We are continuously working hard to provide the best play experience possible, and we realize that extended, unscheduled downtime is frustrating. The two-day extension will be added to players' accounts later this week. We apologize for any inconvenience, and we once again wish you all good luck in your adventures in Azeroth!

All European game realms have been patched with new content this morning during the weekly maintenance. Lots of new features have been added to World of Warcraft through this patch, and are described in this new page. Some of the major features include:

• New Dungeon: Dire Maul
• UI Improvements, notably additional action bars
• Chat Bubbles
• Class Improvements
• Meeting Stones
• New Outdoor Raid Encounters

If you would like to read further, you can also read the detailed patch notes.

This week we'll point you to some threads on the forums, for information and entertainment.

• The General forum FAQ - for some common questions
• Gold/Item Farmers Account Closure - play by the rules, please
• Guild websites - if you're looking for a guild, or just want to show us your site
• 'Oh Crap' Moments - we've all had them, haven't we?
• Funny PVP stories - much in the same spirit as the ones above
• World of Warcraft Movie Thread for your viewing pleasures
• Draw your character for everyone to see

Enjoy!

* Links on this news post may expire over time.

We have added two new pages to the Game Guide: auction house tips and dungeon tips.

Our European technical team is currently testing the Character migration process. The service will open after all tests have been proven successfull. In the meantime, you can already read our new Character Migration FAQ page.

We are aware that some of you are currently experiencing problems with your accounts. Please visit our Tech Support forum to learn more about the nature of these problems and what is needed to resolve them.

The 60-Days Pre-Paid Game Card for World of Warcraft is seeing impressive demand in a lot of European countries; some retailers have already reported that they will soon be sold out. In order to make sure that every player will be able to continue playing with his or her preferred method of payment, we will be releasing a new wave of Pre-Paid Game Cards across Europe. The availability dates for the respective regions are:

• End of March: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands
• Early April: UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain

We will continue to issue new waves as soon as possible to keep the Pre-Paid Game Cards available, so that everyone can enjoy World of Warcraft without interruption.

Recent updates on the WoW fan sites

• The Warlock is getting some guides this week. Warcraft Central has added an Ultimate Warlock Guide, while WorldofWar.net has a guide to Playing with your Warlock on their forums.
• World of Warcraft Italia have added several new sections and given the site a new look.

* Links on this news post may expire over time and are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Some players are currently experiencing billing problems. Due to some banks' processing requirement, some credit cards were rejected. We have modified our account management pages to help those players encountering issues with their credit cards. If you are experiencing problems, please make sure that the following information have been entered correctly:

• Name and address
• Credit card details, especially the CVV code (which are the 3 digits on the back of the credit card)
• E-mail address (the preferred method to contact you)

If you experience any problems after entering your correct details please do not hesitate to contact our billing support hotline.

You can find the account management page through this link, which is also found on the game log-in screen and in the upper right corner of this website: www.wow-europe.com/account/

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that World of Warcraft has surpassed the 1.5 million subscriber mark, underscoring the game's continued success around the world. Building on its record-breaking debuts in North America, Korea, and Europe, World of Warcraft has reached global peak concurrency of more than 500,000 players. In Europe only, it has reached over 500,000 active subscribers, and 230,000 peak concurrency to date. You can read the complete press release here.

Realm population imbalance has resulted in players on a number of realms experiencing login queues, while other realms have lower-than-average populations. Character migrations are now being offered in North America, and after localization testing is complete, we will offer the same service to our European community shortly.

Please be aware that while these character migrations are optional, each realm selected for migration will have only one designated realm to which characters will be moved. Once character migrations are ready for deployment, we will announce a rollout schedule for the migrations to take place.

The Web Team has updated the Game Guide section with some new banners which should help you navigate through the various pages of the Game Guide more easily. You can check out the new banners under each subsection: New Players, Basics, Player Interaction, World, and Advanced.

We've also compiled some other pages into one new section called Requirements which is intended to tell interested players who haven't entered the World of Warcraft yet about the game's system requirements, subscription details, and Game Cards.

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce that we will be bringing World of Warcraft to Taiwan in cooperation with our Taiwanese partner, Soft-World International Corporation. For full details on this announcement, please refer to our official press release here.

Almost one month after its European launch, World of Warcraft is dominating the No. 1 spot of PC games sales charts across Europe. Not only did World of Warcraft manage to become the biggest MMORPG in Europe on its first day, the game now also claims the top spot in overall PC game sales charts in more than 10 countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. Meanwhile, the growth of the game's European community shows no signs of stopping and we would like to thank you for joining us in Azeroth.

To make good our promise to the European community that we would provide them with the best playing experience possible, we are extending our existing data centre in Frankfurt to accommodate the growing number of European players.

We are also expanding our staff to ensure that all the players can enjoy an unparalleled level of customer support. If you want to be part of Blizzard Europe, then take a look at our job opportunities and send us your resume and cover letter today.

Once again, we would like to thank you, the players, for making World of Warcraft a truly global success. You've more than supported our belief that the online gaming market in Europe is thriving and growing.

May our paths cross in Azeroth.

The first month of World of Warcraft will soon be over for the players who registered during or shortly after the European launch on February 11. We're happy to inform players who registered their account during February that as a thank you for joining us during our successful launch period, and to balance the fact that our first month was a short one, an additional 3 days extra playing time will be added to their account prior to the start of billing. So for those players who registered their account on 11th February, the billing process will begin on Monday, 14th March.

Please note that the subscription period is measured in months, not in increments of 30 days. If you register your account on the 31st of a month you will be charged on the last day of the month payment is due. Pre-paid cards, however, will add exactly 60 days to your account.

To avoid unexpected account closures, we urge all players to go now to their account management page to verify their account information and ensure the following details are correct:

• Name and address
• Credit card details or ELV details (pre-paid cards are verified when submitted and thus need no additional verification)
• E-mail address (the preferred method to contact players)

If you experience any problems after entering your correct details please do not hesitate to contact our billing support hotline.

You can find the account management page through this link, which is also found on the game log-in screen and in the upper right corner of this website: www.wow-europe.com/account/

This is our final in-depth look at the upcoming player-versus-player systems planned for World of Warcraft, and it deals with the new Honor System and Rewards.
When these systems are deployed, there will be many more incentives for players to fight each other than just the thrill of the kill.
And honorable PvP players will receive just rewards for fighting players that are of appropriate levels. We're in the midst of testing these systems, but there is already a lot that we can share with you.

The next patch will feature many useful additions to World of Warcraft, for example

• Meeting Stones, which will make it easier for you to find a group for a dungeon
• Four additional action bars, giving you a total of 48 action buttons
• New flightpaths all across Kalimdor

You can read the full patchnotes here.

Two new public test realms are being introduced in the U.S. to help us test future changes that are going into World of Warcraft. These realms will supplement the ongoing QA process already in place internally. We are deploying these test realms so that we can gather valuable feedback on various test issues in a closed environment without having these issues adversely affect our general audience.

Among the elements we want to test are: new hardware configurations, database configurations, and experimental server-side and client-side changes. Due to the experimental nature of the new test realms, initially we will be opening them only in the U.S. in order to monitor any stability issues or possible impact they might have on the entire service. Once the setup and use of these test realms are optimized, we will roll implement additional test realms in all live regions.

The long term goal of the public test realms is to facilitate the introduction of any changes to our global audience so that new service optimizations and content updates can be tested, analyzed, and then presented to our customers with the shortest delay possible.

The World of Warcraft development team has put together a preview of the new dungeon, which will be added in the next patch. Read more about the haunted ruins of ancient Eldre'Thalas, the fate that befell those who used to dwell within the shelter of its walls, and the new occupants of this lightforsaken place, which the people of Feralas know only by this one dreadful name: Dire Maul.

Even in China, World of Warcraft is seeing an incredible demand. During just the first hour of the recent sign-ups in China, 100.000 gamers registered to take part in the Chinese World of Warcraft Beta Test, which is scheduled to begin in about two weeks.

On Friday morning, all realms will be taken offline for the weekly maintenance. Our technical team is currently planning an extended timeframe for this maintenance, from 7:00 to 15:00 (GMT+1) instead of the usual 7:00 to 11:00. Please note that some realms will probably be back online before 15:00, check the Realm Status page for continuous updates.
We thank you for your understanding.

Since the overwhelming success of the European World of Warcraft launch, both our in- and out-of-game support teams (Game Masters and Technical Support) have been working overtime to match the demand for customer support. We are aware of the fact that our response time has not been as quick as we want it to be, and we are working on improving our performance as we are growing with the community. To this end, we are now looking for applicants willing to join the European support team. If you want to work in a young and creative team and be a part of Blizzard Europe, then read our job offers and send in your application today. Before submitting your resume, please check out Blizzard's job FAQ, jobs intro page, and application tips to help you give the best impression possible.

Good luck, and may our paths cross in Azeroth!

We have revamped a part of our website. The improvements are:

• A Realm Status page to help you know what realms are up or down
• A new Quest Levels page in our game guide to help you find quest in game
• A revamp of our basics section, renamed Game Guide, to help you find information about the game faster
• In-game casinos are forbidden in World of Warcraft: see the update of our Scam Policy

It has come to our attention that certain individuals are selling Blizzard's in-game property for cash on auction sites such as eBay and on personal websites. The World of Warcraft Terms of Use clearly state that all of the content in World of Warcraft is the property of Blizzard, and Blizzard does not allow "in game" items to be sold for real money. Accordingly, Blizzard Entertainment will take any and all actions necessary to stop this behaviour. Not only do we believe that it is illegal, but it also has the potential to damage the game economy and overall experience for the many thousands of others who play World of Warcraft for fun. In order to promote a fun and fair environment for all our customers, we are actively investigating those individuals who engage in this inappropriate activity and reserve the right to take legal action against these individuals to protect World of Warcraft for all those who "play by the rules." If you are found to be selling in-game property (such as coins, items, or characters), for real money, you will lose your characters and accounts, and Blizzard Entertainment reserves its right to pursue legal action against you as well.

We also want to remind potential buyers in the game to please refrain from buying in-game property with real money. We understand the temptation to purchase better items, but Blizzard, and not the seller, does own all in-game property. In addition, we feel that characters can find ample equipment and money within the game through their own adventuring and questing. Please understand that if you do purchase in-game property from sellers on eBay and personal sites, we may temporarily suspend your account, and at the very least, delete the offending items.

Since the start of the beta Blizzard Entertainment Europe have followed up on our zero-tolerance policy for this type of activity, and all of those individuals found to have breached our terms of use have lost their characters and accounts. We will continue to take such action against all such transgressions to protect the sanctity of the game environment.

Thank you for understanding our position. Blizzard Entertainment is committed to maintaining the atmosphere of fair play and fun in World of Warcraft.

Are you a motivated individual who knows MMO games inside out? If so, then you might be interested in a position on our Community Management team. We're looking for a Community Representative to work with our English-speaking community. Please take a look at the job description to learn more.

The European pre-paid game cards will be in stores very soon. The official date for their availability is March 4th, but it's likely that some retail outlets will have the cards a few days earlier so keep your eyes peeled over the next few days.

Each card will provide a 60-day subscription to the game and will be available at a suggested retail price of 26.99€/£18.49 through the same retail outlets as the full game.

Please note that the World of Warcraft pre-paid card code can only be used once. We therefore strongly recommend that you check that the packaging is secure, and/or that the scratch-off strip on the back of the card is intact, before purchasing. As well as the game card, a full version of World of Warcraft and Internet connection will be required to play the game.

The Under Development page has just been updated with a few of the features being implemented next patch! This content patch focuses on high-level content, class improvements, UI features, and bug fixes. This post does not list all of the additions, changes, and bug fixes going into the next patch -- we will be releasing more information as the patch draws closer. Click here to take a look.

We also wanted to give you an update on two of our most highly anticipated features. These features are currently the development team's highest priorities.

Player vs. Player Honor System
The PvP Honor System is in its final phase of testing. We are currently running stress tests with data taken from live realms. These stress tests allow us to catch any unforeseen problems that can occur when the system begins calculating data from hundreds of thousands of players at one time. As soon as we gather enough information and are comfortable with the performance, we will activate the Honor System in a patch.

Battleground System
Battlegrounds are currently undergoing extensive internal testing. Once we are happy with our internal playtests, we will open up an external test realm so we can begin testing Battlegrounds in a live environment with existing players. Please note that we are still working out the details of the test realm and we will release more information as soon as it becomes available.

Instead of holding back already-finished content and necessary bug fixes for a combined patch with these systems, we decided to split them into separate patches. This lets us present new content immediately while still allowing us to refine these two new systems. The Honor System and Battlegrounds will be introduced in a later patch in the future, and might not be unveiled at the same time. We will reveal more information as it becomes available. Thank you for your patience. Once again, we thank all of you for spending your time with us, and we wish you luck on your adventures in Azeroth.

On Friday morning, all realms will be taken offline for the weekly maintenance, which is scheduled for the timeframe from 7:00 to 11:00 (GMT+1). During the maintenance, a patch will be applied that should improve the lag in crowded zones. This patch requires a small automatic download.
Thank you for your understanding.

When a major new game launches, there are usually some nice decorations for the shops, some props, and quite often there are queues of players eager to get a copy of the game. For World of Warcraft, we went a little beyond that: there were midnight openings in Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden, entire storefronts were covered by gigantic World of Warcratf banners even on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, hundreds of authentic night elf mannequins infiltrated shops all over Europe; outside of many stores you could see people camping all through the night, and in some places the queues grew to more than 700 people! Don't believe it? See for yourself:

Thank you all for making the European launch of World of Warcraft a truly remarkable event.

The Game Masters now have a dedicated forum where they keep you informed about the latest news concerning our in-game support.

Since the launch of World of Warcraft in Europe two weeks ago, we have received a lot of feedback from the players. We have compiled a list of the most common questions into this newly updated FAQ section:

• General FAQ about World of Warcraft in Europe.
• In-Game FAQ
• Billing & Account FAQ
• Technical Support FAQ

In order to meet the increasing number of players in Europe, we have expanded the list of available realms. The following realms are now open for you to play on:

• Zenedar (EN PvP)
• Garona (FR PvP)
• Zuluhed (DE PVP)
• Perenolde (DE Normal)

The list of recommended realms is updated 24/7 on the Realm Status Forum.
The portal beckons...

We'd like to welcome several new World of Warcraft sites to the Blizzard Fan Site Program.

• World of Warcraft Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
• World of Warcraft.sk (Slovak)
• WoW Forge.sk (Slovak)

Recent updates on the WoW fan sites

• World of Warcraft Italy have notified us of their current contests sporting World of Warcraft merchandise as prizes, including a trivia contest starting at 9 pm Sunday February 20th.
  
• Some new guides have been added, the Rogue being especially popular. You can find new Rogue guides at both Warcraft Tavern and WorldofWar.net. The latter also has a new Warlock guide.
• WoW Stratics have opened a Euro Servers Forum, dedicated to the European realms, and Questkeep.com has passed 700 quests in their database.
• Finally, World of Warcraft GamesRider.it (Italian) has a tool for creating some very neat-looking forum signatures. Take a look at the instructions and check out Busker's own signature in that post for an example.

Other news
The World of Warcraft community has great appetite and creativity for interface modifications. If you're interested in this, please have a look at the introduction to UI customization on our forums and drop by the UI section of such sites as WorldofWar.net and Curse Gaming.

* Links on this news post may expire over time and are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

As many new players from all over Europe are eagerly entering the portal of World of Warcraft, some realms are reaching their maximum capacity. We are aware of queues on some highly populated realms and we recommend that players wishing to create new characters should do so on a lower populated realm. The following realms have now reached their maximum capacity and are for all practical means full. We strongly recommend not creating any new characters on these realms. Furthermore, if you recently created a new character on these realms, we advise you to remove your low-level characters, and continue playing on one of the less-populated realms. This aims to relieve the queues at peak hours and improve the game for everyone.

• Burning Blade (EN PvP)
• Burning Legion (EN PvP)
• Crushridge (EN PvP)
• Ravencrest (EN PvP)
• Shadow Moon (EN PvP)
• Stormscale (EN PvP)
• Warsong (EN PvP)

• Destromath (DE PvP)
• Eredar (DE PvP)

• Archimonde (FR PvP)
• Illidan (FR PvP)
• Kael'Thas (FR PvP)
• Ner'zhul (FR PvP)

The list of recommended realms is updated 24/7 on the Realm Status Forum.

We'd like to thank you in advance for helping to achieve best possible game experience for everyone.

All realms, which have been taken offline this morning for weekly maintenance, are now back online. This technical maintenance is a regularity which is scheduled for every Friday morning. From now on, we will try to keep it in the time frame starting from 7:00 to 11:00 (GMT+1) every Friday morning.
Thank you for your understanding.

Recently, there have been an increased number of reports of night elf sightings all across Europe. According to several eyewitnesses, a female night elf has been spotted at various stores using her shadowmeld ability to hide among the shelves. Now, you can meet this mysterious night elf as she and hundreds of her kind are inviting European players into the World of Warcraft. Even though the exact motives of the reclusive Night Elves are still unknown at this time, we suspect that they will also make appearances at European World of Warcraft events and special fan fairs. Here are some snapshots that agents of the Royal Photographic Society of Azeroth managed to take of the nightelven visitors:

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that World of Warcraft has become an overnight success in Europe, achieving record-breaking sales in its first 24 hours since the game launched on Friday, 11th February. World of Warcraft has sold-through an estimated 280,000* copies at retail on day-one, selling more units in one day than what was previously thought to be the overall cumulative size of the European MMORPG market. This figure rose to more than 380,000 units being sold-through by the end of the first weekend. You can read the rest of the Media Alert here.
* Based on internal company records and reports from key retailers in Europe.

The maintenance is finished, all realms are now back online. Thank you for your patience.

Due to technical difficulties, you may have trouble connecting to certain realms. Our technical team is working diligently to resolve the issue. You can find the list of affected realms on the Realm Status Forum.

English: Earthen Ring, Ravencrest, Runetotem, Shadow Moon, Shadowsong, Shattered Hand, Silvermoon, Skullcrusher, Spinebreaker, Stormrage, Stormreaver, Stormscale, Terenas, Thundertotem, Turalyon;
German: Aegwyn, Alextrasza, Alleria, Antonidas, Arthas, Azshara, Baelgun, Blackhand, Blackmoore, Blackrock, Destromath, Die Silberne Hand, Eredar, Frostmourne, Frostwolf, Gilneas, Gorgonnash, Gul’dan, Kargath, Kel’Thuzad, Khaz’goroth, Kil’Jaeden, Lothar, Madmortem, Nozdormu, Mal’Ganis, Mannoroth, Proudmoore, Zirkel des Cenarius

We will inform you as soon as the realms will be back online. We apologize for the short notice and for any inconvenience this downtime may cause. We will notify you on this page when the realms are back up.

As new players from all over Europe are eagerly logging on to our realms in great numbers, those realms are showing the first signs of reaching their maximum capacity. We are aware of queues on some highly populated realms (as Illidan (FR), Eredar (DE), Ravencrest (EN)); these queues happen when a realm reaches its maximum number of concurrent players. We recommend that those players wishing to create new characters do it on a lower populated realm. In addition, if you are planning to create a guild, please ask your guild’s members to join you on low populated realms.
You can find the currently recommended Realms below.

PvP Servers: Dunemail, Dragonmaw and Deathwing.

PvE Servers: Any server

We'd like to thank you in advance for helping to achieve best possible game experience for everyone. We are already working on expanding the current number of available realms to further reduce waiting times and improve the situation.

The account creation pages are now back online! Players with Authentication Keys can now create an account and join online the players who registered before the downtime. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this service interruption may have caused. Thanks for your comprehension and continued support.

We are aware that some players are facing problems when creating their accounts, especially with regards to the process of payment validation. Due to the heavy load on the system, we are therefore forced to take those pages down temporarily. While the pages are down, those players who have already created an account can continue playing the game. We are investigating the situation and will come back to you with more information as soon as we have it.

We are aware that some players are facing problems when creating their accounts, especially with regards to the process of payment validation. We are currently investigating the issues and will provide further information here shortly. In the meantime, we'd like to apologise for the inconvenience this may cause.

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce that the portal to World of Warcraft in Europe is open!

Beyond the gates of mighty kingdoms lies a vast, unexplored world. A world of honour. A world of mystery. A world of danger. This is the World of Warcraft. Blizzard Entertainment proudly invites you to join arms with thousands of brave heroes in an online world of unlimited adventure.

Be sure to check back often, as we'll be updating the news regularly moving forward. In the meantime, we've posted some tips below to help you get started on your adventures.

To register your account, find your World of Warcraft authentication key, which is located in your game box under one of the four discs (Standard Edition) or on the front cover of your game manual (Collector's Edition), and go to our Account Creation pages.

To start playing World of Warcraft, you must first create your character. To learn more about how to get started go to the game guide and the FAQ where you will find information about the various races and classes in the game as well as how to create your character.

May our paths cross in Azeroth!

- Blizzard Entertainment

As an alternative way to download the latest patch, you can head over to Fileplanet and start downloading from their site. You will not need a Fileplanet subscription to download the patch.

There will be a number of payment methods available to European players wishing to subscribe to World of Warcraft. At the end of the one-month free subscription period, which is included with the retail version of the game, players will be able to continue playing using a variety of payment methods. Payment in euros and English pounds will be accepted and will include the following methods:

• Major credit cards: Visa (including Electron), MasterCard, American Express.
• Local cards: Carte Bleue (France), Switch, Solo and Delta (United Kingdom).
• Electronic Direct Debit: ELV (Germany).

Players in Europe will be able to subscribe to World of Warcraft using a pre-paid game card, which will be available from 4th March 2005. Costing 26.99€ / £18.49, each card will give a 60-day subscription to the game, accessible via this website using the scratch-off code on the reverse of the card.

The cards will be sold in DVD-sized boxes, localised into English, German, French, Italian and Spanish, and will be available through retail outlets where the game is sold. A full version of World of Warcraft and Internet connection will also be required to play the game.

We have a special treat for you that both experienced beta testers and newcomers alike should find quite interesting. Our Web designers have created an animated Flash intro page as part of our current online campaign, featuring the European TV spot for World of Warcraft Launch and a comprehensive overview of what World of Warcraft is for new players. You can find the intro page here.

The fires rained down on innocent and guilty alike as the Burning Legion took over Azeroth. Creatures of unimaginable power stormed the major cities of both the Alliance and the Horde, bringing ruin and chaos where order and peace had so briefly flourished. The ancient trees of the elven land, Teldrassil, burned like a funeral pyre, their smoke rising to the heavens, shrouding the land in darkness. The great stronghold of Orgrimar lay in ashes as the dark Dreadlords and the gargantuan Infernals raged over the continent of Kalimdor. Ironforge, nestled in the mountains of Dun Morogh faired no better, the dwarven stronghold melting back into the magma that gave it birth.

In the end, none were left alive. Only the fires still lived, and soon they would die down as the world itself was consumed by the flame, for the Burning Legion had returned, and none were able to face it. A few held out for hours only before being slaughtered, their souls rising to join their brothers' in the realm of death. Then came the long night, darkness falling; darkness eternal. The Day of Judgment had come and passed and none had survived.

And so, the European Beta Test has finally come to an end. Once again we'd like to thank all of the testers who participated in World of Warcraft's Beta Test. Your contributions helped create a fun and exciting game that will entertain players for years to come!

As previously announced the European servers have now been taken offline. We'd like to say a warm thank you to all those players who have spent many hours helping us to test the game and server performance. We look forward to seeing you all in game at the start of the real adventure on 11th February!

With the commercial release of World of Warcraft coming on the 11th of February, we will be taking all our servers offline on the evening of Monday, February 7. This event is currently scheduled to take place at 21:00 (GMT+1). The subsequent days will be used to prepare the servers for as smooth a launch as possible. We will be conducting a complete wipe of the forums and erasing all beta accounts and characters to allow all players to start the game on an even footing. All servers and forums will be back online again on the 11th of February.

To celebrate the end of the beta test, we will arrange a gigantic Day of Judgement event on all realms a few hours before they are all taken down. You definitely won't want to miss this! While this will mark the end of the European Beta Test, it will also usher in a new dawn for World of Warcraft in Europe. We would like to thank all you testers for your support and look forward to welcoming you back on the 11th of February.

The release of World of Warcraft is coming closer and of course a lot of preparation work has to be done. For that reason we had to shut down the forums and we are now preparing them for their re-opening at release day. We apologize for this extended preparation time. Thank you for your patience.

We'd like to welcome three recently added sites to the Blizzard Fan Site Program:
- Into Warcraft (Dutch)
- WoW.Warcraft.gr (Greek)
- WoW Latvia (Latvian)
In addition, WorldofWar.se (Swedish) – previously found at www.worldofwarcraft.se – has changed domain and can now be found at…well… www.worldofwar.se.

Recent updates on the World of Warcraft fan sites

• WorldofWar.net has opened a new UI customization section which is already bustling with updates. Also in the spirit of creative UI tweaking WorldofWar.se (Swedish) has opened a UI customization forum.
• GamingEye (Swedish) has posted an article about the Rogue, and a newbie guide to an Undead Rogue class can be found over at Warcraft Tavern.
• A new editorial can be found at OGaming, covering how players can make the gaming environment better for everyone.
• We'll also mention that Questkeep.com now has more than 600 quest guides, before finishing off with a small treat for the Norwegians who should visit WoW Norge to find the latest hit from the Norwegian World of Warcraft rap scene. It might be something for other Scandinavians to check out too – did we hear a glove being thrown down?

* Links on this news post may expire over time and are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Blizzard Entertainment today announced that World of Warcraft will officially release in Europe on Friday, 11th February, 2005. The game will be available for Windows 98/ME/2000/XP and Macintosh in English, French and German. There will be a standard edition, containing the game on four CD-ROM disks, and a collector's edition with a plethora of included World of Warcraft memorabilia. Both versions will be fully localised into English, French and German, and will also be available with a Spanish or Italian box and manual.

With the launch less then two weeks away, the European infrastructure is in the final stages of preparation. The second phase of the Final Beta has been launched, more than doubling the number of players in the game, making World of Warcraft bigger than the current and entire European MMORPG market. In addition, just prior to launch, the existing servers will be taken offline and wiped clean, which will erase all current accounts and characters. This will help us to ensure that the game launches in the best possible conditions and also means that all players will start afresh on an even footing.

Blizzard Entertainment would like to thank all those players who are currently testing the game and would appreciate your continued support of the Final Beta up until launch!

Click here to read the official press release concerning the European street date.

We are aware of queues appearing on some highly populated servers, as follows:

• English: Beta, PvP, Final Beta 1 to 10
• German: Final Beta 1 to 8
• French: Final Beta 1 and 2

We therefore strongly recommend that those players wanting to create a new character do it on a lower populated realm. In addition, if you're planning to create a guild then please ask your potential guild members to join you on low populated realms to avoid worsening the queues.

We'd like to thank you in advance for your help to make the best possible game experience for everyone and we look forward to seeing you back in the official forums later this week. Sorry for any inconvenience this forum downtime has caused.

Blizzard Europe is proud to announce the start of the second phase of the Final Beta Test. We are now adding more players into the game based on current registrations. Everyone that has been able to create an account for the second phase of the beta may now log in and start enjoying the very latest version of World of Warcraft, including the latest patch. The official forums are also back online.

In addition to the existing data centre near Paris we have opened our new centre in Frankfurt to support the increased number of players. You will be able to play in your preferred language and Realm regardless of the location of these data centres. If you have not already downloaded the game client you may use the link below. We look forward to meeting you in-game soon.

The servers will be taken down in a few minutes for maintenance and patching. You will find the patch notes here. The newly patched servers and official forums are expected to be back online early Saturday morning. Please stay tuned for updates.

We would like to thank all those players who have registered to join the second phase of the Final Beta Test. As a result of your overwhelming support we have now reached our current server capacity and account creation for the second phase has been disabled. All those people who have successfully created an account will be able to join the game at the start of the second phase, which will be announced here shortly.

The servers will be taken down this evening at 10pm (Paris time) for maintenance and patching. This process is expected to take a few hours and the servers and official forums are currently scheduled to be back online early Saturday morning. Once the servers are back up, existing testers will be able to download the patch and play. At the same time those players that have been able to successfully create an account for the second phase will also be able to access the game.

The Account Creation pages for the second phase of the Final Beta Test are now open for the whole European Community. To create an account, please visit our Account Creation pages with the following generic authentication key

EUROPE-BETA-BLIZRD-DARK-PORTAL

which you need to create your account. Please be aware that you will not be able to use your account before the start of the second phase. The number of new accounts will be limited based on server capacity and will be distributed on a first come, first served basis so we recommend players to register early. Existing Beta testers do not need to re-create an account.

To make sure that everything is ready for the commercial release of World of Warcraft in Europe we appreciate and need your help for a massive test of our game and account creation infrastructure. Please note that there is no fee whatsoever to play in the Final Beta.

We have taken the official forums offline. We will inform you as soon as we will bring the forums back online.

You can now reach Blizzard Europe's technical support by telephone Monday through Friday. Our dedicated team of support specialists will be able to assist you with any out-of-game problems concerning World of Warcraft: You are having problems connecting to the server? Your computer keeps crashing when you play? Our Tech Support can help you with these problems. There is an Orc with a really big axe, called Moe, who keeps saying you still owe him thirty gold? Well, that's probably a situation that is best left to the Game Masters.

Currently, telephone support is available for these 12 countries: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. However, this list of supported countries is only indicative and may very well evolve in the future. Players from countries that are not supported by phone can use our webform to contact technical support.

The phone numbers and also the working hours for each country can be found here. Please note that both our telephone support hardware and teams are still in the process of being fine-tuned. Feel free to report any recurring problems concerning our telephone support through our webform.

The weekly maintenance, which normally takes place every Friday morning, will this week take place a little later than usual. It is currently scheduled for Friday evening but we will let you know in advance as soon as we have an exact time.

In addition, we're very close to opening the Account Creation pages for the second phase of the Final Beta Test so please check this page for updates.

We are finalizing the preparations for the second phase of the Final Beta and will soon update the Account Creation pages. A large, limited number of players will be added into the game on a first come, first served basis when the second phase starts. To register an account, you will need a generic authentication key, which we will supply on this page, so stay tuned for updates during this week.

To support even more players, we are pleased to announce a new data centre in Frankfurt which will be ready for the start of the second phase. This new centre, together with the existing centre near Paris, will be dedicated to World of Warcraft and will enable us to provide additional Realms for the European Community.

Check our newly updated Employment Opportunities page for more details on these two new job positions: "Lead Web Designer" and "Web Editorialist - English"

A few weeks ago, we gave you a hint of what a Battlegrounds experience would be like, and also introduced you to some new concepts for player-versus-player combat, such as a slightly tweaked death system and capture-able graveyards. Now let's explore in greater detail how the battle for Alterac Valley can truly be won.

Since the beginning of the Final Beta Test, both our in- and out-of-game Support teams (Game Masters and Technical Support) have been working overtime to match the increased demand for Customer support. We are aware of the fact that our response time has been slower than usual with the arrival of new players, and we are working on improving our performance as we are growing with the Community. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Our Game Masters can help you with any kind of in-game problems. From stuck characters to bugged quests, they can solve almost every kind of problem. Learn how to contact a Game Master on our GM information page.
The Game Masters are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

With the start of the European Final Beta, each server has been assigned a preferred language. These preferred languages are either English, French, or German. While you are able to use any language client on any server, we strongly encourage you to use a client of the server's preferred language, as your communication options in general channels will be limited if you use a client of a different language. Also, please keep in mind that all communication with the Game Masters is required to be in the server's preferred language.

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce the start of the Final European World of Warcraft Beta Test. The first group of new players to be added to the current Beta testers during the first phase of the Final Beta are those who obtained their Final Beta keys through the official European pre-order campaign. In its second phase, the Final European Beta Test will be opened up to an even bigger number of players. We will be announcing more details about each phase here. For full details please click here. We are looking forward to seeing you in-game very soon.
Blizzard Entertainment

In preparation for the start of the Final Beta, you can start downloading the game installer in your preferred choice of language (English, French or German), using the links on this page. As a reminder, the first phase of the Final Beta will be opened to those who attained an authentication key through the official Blizzard pre-order campaign, as well as current Closed Beta testers, who will maintain their existing account and characters. More testers will be included in the near future.
You do not need to download the file if you already have the latest version of the client software installed. This download is intended primarily for new players entering World of Warcraft for the first time.

With the opening of the Final Beta, the official European World of Warcraft website is undergoing some changes. While most of the site's pages are still accessible, we have deactivated some features and reduced the file sizes of some pages for stability reasons. However, you can still access the most important features directly from this page, like game installer download and Support section. We are also providing you with regular news updates on this page about the Final Beta while maintenance continues. So stay tuned! Thanks for your understanding; we are working diligently to fully restore service to this site and we expect it to be back up soon.

In preparation for the imminent Final Beta Test of World of Warcraft, we will be shutting down the Closed Beta servers for maintenance and temporarily suspending the official forums within the next few hours. We regret the short notice, but are doing our utmost to roll out the Final Beta Test as quickly as possible. The downtime between the close of the current Beta and the start of the Final Beta Test will be kept to a minimum, although we are unable to reveal an exact start date at this time. However, we anticipate that this maintenance will only last a few days, whereupon the Final Beta Test will begin.

We will provide initial access to the Final Beta to those who attained a beta key through the official Blizzard pre-order campaign, as well current Closed Beta testers. These testers will maintain their existing account and characters. Additional testers will be included as the Final Beta moves forward.

More details regarding the Final Beta, including the start date, will be announced here shortly, so please stay tuned. We are working hard to bring you the next exciting phase of World of Warcraft as soon as possible.