Starting Monday, March 29, 2004, our North American GM staff will start working during peak play hours from 2:00 p.m. PST to 11:00 p.m. PST - 7 days a week.

We are in the process of hiring a morning shift and will eventually gear up to 24/7 support before World of Warcraft is released.

Thanks!
/kat ;)

The Beta Test servers will be brought down this Thursday, March 25, 2004 at 9:30 a.m. PST for maintenance. We anticipate having them back up in just a few short hours.

We have posted our official rules for character naming. For now, you can find our policies under the support section.

Since last week’s beta release, news and fan sites alike have been posting World of Warcraft news and information. Check out a few listed below::

A Few Previews:

GameSpot

XPD8

Graffe’s Wizard Compilation

A Few Fan Sites:

WoW Warcry

Kingdoms of Azeroth

WoW Stratics

Inside WoW

WoW Strategy

United Legions

Tirisfal Aura

WoW Vault

The Maelstrom

World of War

A World of Warcraft Comic

GU Comics

Have a mug of ale in one of our many taverns; adventure the wide world; meet friends or form a guild: the choice is yours.

To those joining us for the first time, we are currently in the middle of our All Alliance push. This means that you may play any of the Alliance races (i.e. Human, Dwarf, Gnome and Night Elf) and can choose one of the following six classes: Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock & Warrior (as each race allows). More races and classes will become available in the next few weeks.

Please be sure to check the Readme documentation supplied with the download. To further help you get settled in, I've included a few links below to help you establishing yourself in the new World of Warcraft community:

• Beta General Forums
  
• Basic Instructions

Last but not least, I wanted to thank all of our Alpha Testers for their many contributions to WoW's development thus far. Your help has been invaluable to the development team! All of your characters are still available; feel free to continue where you left off yesterday.

Thank you all for participating... See you in Azeroth!

Katricia
Community Manager
World of Warcraft

The first round of emails has gone out, and the North American and Korean World of Warcraft beta tests have officially begun. If you didn’t receive an email, don’t worry; we’ll be adding more testers at the start of each upcoming beta-test phase. Keep an eye on www.blizzard.com for news on when we’ll be opening up the additional phases, because that will be your clue to check the email account you used to sign up. Also, anyone interested in tracking the progress of the beta test can visit our World of Warcraft Community Site, which will contain regular updates as well as general information about the game.

The beta tests for certain languages in Europe and some additional languages in the Asia–Pacific regions will take place at a later date. Please stay tuned to www.blizzard.com for more information.

As you all know, the World of Warcraft beta test is just around the corner. While we plan on having several ways available to distribute the files to everyone, our primary method will be through the Blizzard Downloader program, which uses BitTorrent technology.

To ensure that your system works with the Blizzard Downloader, please try downloading the World of Warcraft Cinematics: Sneak Peek or the Gryphon Ride Movie. If you encounter any problems, please check the BitTorrent FAQ or contact wowsupport@blizzard.com for help.

A fraction of our testers, who are behind firewalls, will not have access to the BitTorrent download method. If you fall into this category, an alternative download method will be made available to you within a few days of the initial Blizzard Downloader release.

With the World of Warcraft beta test right around the corner, we are in the process of setting up our new World of Warcraft Community Site. During the beta test, this site will be a resource for the testers, as well as serve the community as a place to follow what’s happening in the game.

Detailed game information and forums are currently available for viewing. We encourage you all to stop by often to learn more about World of Warcraft. Please note that the Community Site will evolve throughout the beta test.

The beta is coming soon!