Filed under: Realm Status

Patch 5.3 is here. As you read this, the servers should be down to apply the patch. This means you'll want to use this time get caught up on all the latest patch 5.3 news, which, as always, you can find right here. Start off with our patch 5.3 roundup for an overview of everything. You'll also want to check out our exclusive interview with Lead Systems Designer Greg Ghostcrawler Street. Gamebreaker TV also did an interview with Ghostcrawler and Senior PvP Designer Brian Holinka.

You can also check the roundup below for more of this week's WoW news, from patch 5.3 and elsewhere. Realm maintenance begins at 3 a.m. PDT today and is expected to last 8 hours, so you'll have time.

Hot news and features

• Here's what WoW newbies should know about new patches.
• We have a guide to the lore and story of patch 5.3.
• Patch 5.3 will allow you level mining and herbalism exclusively in Pandaria.
• We have a roundup of patch 5.3's battle pet changes.
• We have a preview of some new patch 5.3 scenarios, including The Secrets of Ragefire and Battle on the High Seas.
• Blizzard has posted some patch 5.3 interviews of their with Tom Chilton.
• Check out the final patch 5.3 PTR note updates for March 14.
• Ghostcrawler outlines some Vengeance changes coming to the patch 5.4 PTR.
• Convert to Raid interviews Blizzard's Lead Encounter Designer Ion Hazzikostas.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. We continue to wait for patch 5.3, with official confirmation coming in yesterday that it won't be going live this week. In the meantime, the test server continues to be updated, and the big news stories are often outside the game, from the news that WoW is down to 8.3 million subscribers to the news Diablo III had to shut down the auction house due to massive gold duping bugs. They've since announced that all money from the illegitimate auctions, including their cut, will be donated to charity.

All this news and more awaits you with our usual roundup below. As of this writing, there is no announced downtime, but even if there isn't, you deserve a break right? Relax and read on.

Hot news and guides

• Check out the latest patch 5.3 PTR patch note updates.
• Blizzard's released an official guide to preparing for patch 5.3.
• Check out this preview of the patch 5.3 Battlefield: Barrens event.
• The Unborn Val'kyr battle pet continues to mystify. It's been captured on the PTR, but no-one can quite figure out how and why it spawns.
• Today is the last day to change attendee information on your BlizzCon ticket.
• Ghostcrawler confirms that the developers have no plans for a talent system overhaul any time soon.
• The new Dark Riders graphic novel is out, and we have a review.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. We continue to be in a holding pattern of sorts. Patch 5.3 is still going strong on the PTR, but we have no word on a release date. Luckily, patch 5.2 is still going strong as well, with new secrets being discovered as early as just last week. There's also new stuff outside of WoW, from new short stories, to new merchandise, to some interesting viewpoints on the function of gear in the game.

Our usual roundup, featuring all these stories and more, can be found below. Scheduled maintenance today is expected to begin at 3 a.m. PDT and last for 8 hours, so you have plenty of time to read. Keep it tuned here as well. Whenever the patch lands, we'll be here to report on all the details.

Hot news and features

• The latest patch 5.2 hotfixes include nerfs to the Lei Shen encounter in Raid Finder.
• Firecat form has made a secret return in patch 5.2. We'll show you how to get it.
• Blizzard has published an official preview of patch 5.3.
• Heirloom shields may be coming as soon as patch 5.3.
• Patch 5.3 comes with new achievements for collectors.
• Do you feel pretty? Patch 5.3 brings with it the chance to obtain the Gorgeous title.
• We have a temporary fix to that gold seller calendar invite spam.
• Adam believes gear should be abolished. Rossi argues gear is far too important and useful for it to be removed.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Today's header is bought to you by the fact that Azure Water Striders have a pretty cool mount special animation. Now, on to the news. The past 7 days have been remarkably busy on a lot of fronts. It's Children's Week, which means you have one more chance to hang out with some cool kids and get some awesome pets in return. We have a guide to doing the achievements as well, of course. Both rounds of BlizzCon tickets sold out pretty quickly, as expected.

The big happenings don't end there, of course. Read on for the usual roundup of all the major news and guides from the past week, including new patch 5.3 PTR news. Realm maintenance starts at 3:00 a.m. Pacific time this morning and is expected to last 8 hours, so you should have time.

Hot news and features

• The developers held a live chat last Thursday. We have a transcript of the questions asked and their juicy, succulent answers.
• The official BlizzCon 2013 contests have been announced.
• Did you miss out on getting a BlizzCon ticket? We have a guide to other ways to experience BlizzCon.
• Check out the latest patch 5.3 PTR notes updates for April 22.
• Check out the latest patch 5.2 live server hotfixes for April 22.
• Patch 5.3 will see a massive nerf to the scaling of PvP power.
• Select pet types may get new passive abilities for pet battling.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Patch 5.3 continues to be on the PTR, and the changes keep coming. We still have no actual ETA for when the patch will hit live servers, but it's certainly not slowing down. On the other hand, the live servers are hopping too, with Raid Finder finally opening its doors to all comers, allowing us all to take down the notorious Lei Shen. As always, our intrepid team has been out covering it all.

Downtime today is just a series of rolling restarts at 7 a.m. PDT. The process is expected to take about an hour, which is more than enough time to skim our usual roundup of the last week of news. Read on to see what you may have missed.

Hot news and features

• The World of Warcraft community team will be hosting a live Q&A with the developers on April 25.
• Aiming for a BlizzCon ticket? We have a few tips to help you nab yours.
• Check out the latest patch 5.2 hotfixes for April 16 and April 18.
• The Answers to the recent PvP themed Ask the Devs are now up.
• Throne of Thunder Raid Finder is now completely open. We have a quick 5-second guide to each of the new bosses.
• We preview the new patch 5.3 battleground Deepwind Gorge.
• Engineers will be able to make a Bad Robot pet in a future patch.
• Fs, the original world first level 90 who was later rolled back to 87, has had his world first achievement reinstated.
• As of patch 5.3, carrying a flag in battlegrounds will cause a tank to take more damage.
• Legendary metagems are restricted to Throne of Thunder helms only.
• The Shado-Pan Assault trinkets have been hotfixed to be a bit less effective in PvP.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. It's been an undercurrent for a while now, but a pressing question seems to be sweeping the WoW world lately. Is the Alliance getting a bad deal in lore right now? A lot of people think so. Our writers got in on the discussion too. Anne talked about reactive vs. proactive storytelling, while Alex advocates a return of some Alliance heroes and more equality for the Alliance player character, among other things.

I won't lie, I side with those who are disappointed with Alliance lore lately. I've tried to console myself with cinematics of our glory days, including that one at the top of this article. The other option was ice cream, but I'm trying to lose weight.

Luckily, no matter what you think of Alliance lore, the rest of game is still pretty awesome. For proof, read on. We have a roundup of all the latest news, including some of the good stuff coming with patch 5.3. Realm maintenance starts at 5 a.m. Pacific time and lasts 6 hours, so you have time to read up.

Hot news and features

• Read up on the latest PTR changes for April 11 and April 15.
• Check the latest patch 5.2 hotfixes for April 8, April 9, and April 10.
• Bashiok recently clarified the Durumu hotfixes.
• We have a listing of the new Darkspear Rebellion quartermaster rewards.
• We have a preview of two of the patch 5.3 scenarios, Dark Heart of Pandaria and the Blood In The Snow.
• You can now choose which specialization loot you'll get from Raid Finder and bonus rolls in patch 5.3.
• We take a look at the Darkspear Rebellion faction on the patch 5.3 PTR.

Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. The news keeps on coming fast and hard from the patch 5.3 PTR, and while there's no sign of the patch coming to live servers quite yet, there's plenty of stuff to keep us all salivating.

Downtime is limited to a series of rolling restarts at 7 a.m. Pacific time, but you have time to take a break and read up. You'll want to know what's happening so you can start patch 5.3 off on the right foot.

Hot news and features

• BlizzCon tickets will go on sale April 24 and 27.
• Check out the latest patch 5.3 PTR patch note updates and datamined info for April 2.
• Read up on the latest patch 5.2 hotfixes for April 2 and April 4.
• The developers are taking questions on the upcoming patch 5.3 PvP changes.
• We have data-mined pictures of some new patch 5.3 mounts.
• The new scenarios will be available for testing soon on the PTR.
• Patch 5.3 will let you transmogrify gear straight from your bank or void storage.
• Garrosh's goons are putting the pressure on the trolls in patch 5.3.
• Pet battles are getting some damage and accuracy adjustments in patch 5.3.
• The Halls of Flesh-Shaping are open, and we have a 5 second guide to its bosses in Raid Finder.
• Someone's downed Ra-den, but there's a slight catch.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. It's a busy week in WoW. Not only has Noblegarden begun, but the patch 5.3 news keeps rolling out. Don't worry though. It may April, but we are not fools. We're keeping up with it all and reporting it to you. Downtime this morning is limited to a series of rolling restarts at 7 a.m. PDT, but there's a lot of news to catch up on. Read on for the usual roundup.

Hot news and features

• You still have a week left to win The Art of Blizzard Entertainment from our contest.
• The Overachiever has a guide to Noblegarden 2013.
• Check out the latest patch 5.2 hotfixes for March 27 and March 29.
• There's some new scenarios and some new content with Lorewalker Cho coming in patch 5.3, and we have a rundown for you.
• We have a look at the new Shado-Pan Arena coming in patch 5.3.
• The Barrens and Durotar are undergoing major changes in patch 5.3 as Garrosh's troops take over.
• Even more battle pets have been found on the PTR.
• We take a look at some of the new mount models and achievements in the PTR files.
• We've run some the Heroic Scenarios on the patch 5.3 PTR, and have a report for you.
• These epic cloaks could be part of Wrathion's patch 5.3 legendary storyline.
• Ghostcrawler clarified the meaning of that tri-spec achievement discovery in the patch 5.3 PTR files.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. We're to that period in the new patch where we haven't quite finished the content, and there's still hotfixes every other day, but things have simmered down a bit and a lot of us have our daily routine down again.

That said, there's still plenty of cool stuff going on, and we have the usual roundup of all the news from the past 7 days, along with more guides to help you get the most from Patch 5.2's new content. Scheduled maintenance starts at 5:00 a.m. PDT today and is expected to last for 6 hours, so you should have time to get caught up.

Hot news and features

• Check out the latest patch 5.2 hotfixes for March 11, March 12, March 14, March 15.
• There won't be any more 5-man dungeons in Mists, but they will be back for future expansions.
• PvP season 13 has begun.
• If you're delving into the Raid Finder for the new raid, you'll want these 5-second guides to the bosses of the Last Stand of the Zandalari.
• We have a guide to running the new single-player Troves of the Thunder King scenario.
• Blizzard is offering free server moves for select servers until March 21.
• If you're visiting from a different realm, you won't get loot from an Oondasta or Nalak kill.
• Do you hate the CRZ system? It turns out some realms my be exempt from it.
• Want to keep track of your Isle of Thunder tasks? There's an addon for that.
• The Call to Auction podcast recently got a chance to ask some questions of Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street about the economy and professions.
• WoW Archivist suggests 11 great moments in WoW history that should return as scenarios.
• Rossi speculates on the possibility of scaling old raids to max level players.
• Is WoW too easy? Blue poster Draztal disagrees.
• Blizzard may allow you to get off-spec gear in Raid Finder in the future.

Happy Tuesday morning everyone. We're a week into the new patch, and with a new patch comes new bugs. Among the biggest bugs to crop up in the wake of patch 5.2 so far were a pet leveling XP bug that let you level from 1-89 in a matter of hours, and a monk DPS bug that let them do massive damage. Both have been hotfixed.

Bugs are to be expected of course, and I find it sort of fun to see what crops up. Blizzard, of course, is pretty good about smashing them down, so in the end, I just like to sit back and watch the show. If bugs aren't your thing, there's plenty of other cool things going down with the patch. Downtime this morning starts at 5:00 a.m. PDT and is expected to last 6 hours, so you have time to catch up on the news. Read on for a roundup of patch 5.2 and the guides you'll need to get the most out of all the new content.

Hot news and features

• Check out the official patch 5.2 patch notes.
• With a new patch comes new hotfixes. Check out the latest patch 5.2 hotfixes for March 5, March 7,
• Want to know when you get to kill Lei Shen? Check the Throne of Thunder raid release schedule. While you're it at, review our Throne of Thunder boss guides as well.
• The Isle of Giants isn't as well known as the Isle of Thunder, but you may want to head out there anyway.
• Wondering if patch 5.2 is worth getting back into WoW? Here's 5 reasons why it's worth it to resubscribe (or just log on again).
• If the new patch enticed you resubscribe, Blizzard has a returning players guide.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Patch 5.2 is confirmed for today, and downtime's starting at 1 a.m Pacific time. With that in mind, we're digging back deeper than a week and bringing you all the biggest hits of our patch 5.2 coverage.

In our roundup below you'll find plenty of guides to new features, new class changes, new raids, and new loot. Whether you're waiting to patch, waiting for the servers to come back up, or just waiting to get home and play, you'll want to read up and jump on the servers with some extra knowledge under your belt.

Hot news and features

• Read up on the latest PTR patch notes.
• Want to get your hands on the new patch 5.2 mounts? We have a guide to getting them.
• Check out our preview galaxy of the Isle of Thunder, the main questing zone in patch 5.2. We also have a look at the in-game introduction to the zone.
• Before you ask: No, you will not be able to fly around in the new zone.
• We also have an early looks at the Isle of Giants, another mysterious new area opening in the patch.
• Want to get to the Throne of Thunder raid zone? We have a guide to getting there.
• Check out Blizzard's official preview of the Throne of Thunder raid. They also have an official patch preview blog covering the new daily area and more.
• The development team has been busy discussing patch 5.2 all around the web, and we have a roundup of the interviews.
• Blizzard's released some pretty awesome trailers for this patch, including the early preview trailer and the finalized official trailer.
• Stormwind and Orgrimmar will see some minor changes and repairs in patch 5.2.
• A new world boss, Oondasta, will roam the land, and he has some uniquely named loot.
• Patch 5.2 will feature some new spell effects.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. This has been a week of intrigue and drama, oddly enough. Between senators, surprise console announcements by Chris Metzen, and the triumphant return of BlizzCon, it's almost more news that you'd know what to do with, right?

Luckily, we've been keeping on top of it all, and we've been continuing our patch 5.2 PTR coverage as well. As of this writing, there's still no announced downtime for this morning, but whether there is or not, you'll want to get caught up on all the crazy stuff that happened over the past 7 days. Read on for our usual roundup.

Hot news and features

• Blizzcon is back, baby. This year it will be on November 8 and 9 in Anaheim, CA.
• PVP season 10 ends March 5.
• House Majority Leader Eric Cantor claimed a WoW study was siphoning $1.2 million in federal grant money. It turns out, he was wrong. It only cost $5,000, none of which was from the US government.
• Check out the latest patch 5.2 PTR patch note updates for February 19.
• Our patch 5.2 bosses previews continue with a look at the Council of Elders and at Primordius.
• Diablo III is coming to Playstation 3 and Playstation 4. Not only that, it may have an offline play mode on those consoles.
• Blizzard has just released part one of Richard Knaak's new serial novel, Dawn of the Aspects. We have a review.
• Rossi discusses the warning signs of player burnout and what you can do about them. He follows it up with a psalm to those days when it gets better.

Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. We're still at least a week away from the patch dropping, but don't think that means there's a lull. We have plenty of news pouring from the test servers.

Maintenance is extra long today, slated to start at 1 a.m. PST and last for 12 hours. While you're waiting through the drought, why not read on? Our usual roundup of all the latest news awaits.

Hot news and features

• You won't lose your valor points after all in patch 5.2.
• You will be able to cross-realm raid patch 5.0 raids in patch 5.2.
• We have a guide to getting those cool new patch 5.2 mounts.
• Patch 5.2 dailies will come in two alternate flavors: PvE or PvP.
• There's some PvP healing changes coming to patch 5.2.
• Those annoying gold bags in LFR raids will have a chance to contain new bonus items in patch 5.2.
• We preview more of the patch 5.2 Throne of Thunder raid bosses. This time, the target is Ji-Kun.
• Strength Polearms are back in patch 5.2, and they're even working on allowing warriors to duel wield them.
• Fishing and leatherworking may be getting revamps (or at least leveling aids), but not in patch 5.2.
• Want to PvP in patch 5.2? We have a guide to get you prepared.
• The Ra-Den encounter will have limited attempts in patch 5.2.
• Alex lays out the problems with valor points in the Mists era.
• Has your guild fallen apart? We have some advice. To start, don't panic.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Certainly, lots of people are getting a little impatient for patch 5.2, and while the recent background downloader activity is a good sign, we still have a while to go. Bashiok's told us that Blizzard's aiming for the end of the month to release the patch, and there's always a chance of delays with Blizzard. A few more weeks of PTR is a good thing, though. There's still reports of some much needed LFR tuning, and the Isle of Thunder hasn't been completely unlocked for testing either.

In non-patch 5.2 news, this is a good season for in-game holidays. Love Is In the Air is around again, and we, of course, have a guide. As of this writing there's still no announced downtime, but whether you're waiting out some downtime or just making your morning rounds, why not keep reading for more informative articles and the latest patch news?

Hot news and features

• Check out the latest patch 5.2 PTR notes for February 5.
• Yes, it's confirmed. Your valor and conquest points will be rest for patch 5.2.
• Yes, Tabard storage is still in development. Don't expect it for a while though.
• We have previews of some more Throne of Thunder bosses: Check out Dark Animus and the beholder boss Durumu the Forgotten.
• The patch 5.2 Isle of Thunder War Effort progression will be weighted by faction balance.
• Direhorn Mounts are coming as exalted reputation rewards in patch 5.2.
• Current raids will get a 10% nerf in patch 5.2.
• Find out how to own Sunsong Ranch in patch 5.2. Me, I'm just relieved Yoon isn't giving up his dreams after all.
• Patch 5.2 brings new fishing events and pets.
• Ol' Grumpy has a few things to say about the idea that WoW's been dumbed down.

Happy Tuesday Morning. It's been an eventful past week. In addition to more stuff from the patch 5.2 PTR, we've had major twitter shenanigans from the dev team and we've welcomed some new (and returning) writers to the fold here at WoW Insider. In addition, the Lunar Festival is underway in game. Finally, Blizzard has revealed the new Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm Cinematic. Call me a sap, but I'm still rooting for a happy ending for Jimmy and Sarah. That said, this cinematic might be one of my favorites yet, if for no other reason than we finally got our gnome.

Maintenance today is scheduled to start at 5 a.m. PST and last for 6 hours. Luckily, while you wait out the downtime, there's a lot of hot news to catch up on. Read on for the usual roundup.

Hot news and features

• Check our achievement guide for the 2013 Lunar Festival.
• Want to get prepared for patch 5.2? We have some tips for you.
• Thunderforged Items will drop in patch 5.2's normal raids, providing a higher item level and possibly a new reason to raid 25-man style.
• Check out our preview of Lei Shin, the final boss of the patch 5.2 raid. We also have a play by play of the Jin'rokh the Breaker encounter.
• Elder Charms of Good Fortune now stack to 20, but can only be used for patch 5.0 raids. Patch 5.2 raids take a new type of charm.
• New legendary meta gems have made their appearance on the patch 5.2 PTR.
• Blizzard offered some clarification on the upcoming patch 5.2 reputation changes.
• The Dungeon Finder tool will help you choose a faction to champion in patch 5.2.
• The PvP interface is also getting a makeover in patch 5.2.