22 Million Gold and 59.000 World of Warcraft Accounts banned!

As Eyonix stated in the US World of Warcraft Forums. Blizzard enforces harsh politics versus cheater, goldfarmer and user of 3rd party software. 59.000 Accounts with a total of 22.000.000 Gold have been banned this June.

As part of our efforts to eliminate cheating from World of Warcraft, we recently banned approximately 59,000 World of Warcraft accounts in the month of June, and with that removed well over 22 million gold from the total economy across all realms. While we regret having to take such extreme action, these accounts were participating in activities that directly violated World of Warcraft’s Terms of Use, including the use of third-party programs to farm gold and items. Such behavior not only negatively impacts the economy of a realm, it diminishes the achievements of those who play legitimately. We will continue to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and our players from the harmful effects of cheating.

I merely wonder why the European World of Warcraft Team is not as rigorous. They have more players, but ban much less Accounts.

Blizzard opens 20 more realms for the paid realm transfer service

36 Realms are now eligible for Realmtransfer. Read the list of available Realms here.

„The Paid Character Transfer feature allows you to move characters to other realms as well as between two accounts where you are the original registered owner, subject to certain restrictions. The cost of each paid character transfer is 19.99€ / £14.99.“

More Information about the restrictions can be found here.

Extended Weekly Maintenance

Due to technical issues the maintenance for the realms listed below will be delayed. We do not, at this time, have an ETA on when these realms will be up. We apologise for the inconvenience we know this is causing.

Ahn’Qiraj
Bronzebeard
Chromaggus
Dentarg
Drak’thul
Emeriss
Executus
Hakkar
Khadgar
Kor’gall
Kul Tiras
Mazrigos
Moonglade
Scarshield Legion
Steamwheedle Cartel
Talnivarr
Trollbane
Xavius

Read the Posting here.

Realms are still unreachable

Since around midnight a lot of Realms went down and were unreachable. They seem to be back now, according to Realm Status Page but players are still stuck at connecting.

The login screen gives some hint at an emergency maintenance, but of course „Realm Status“ Forum gives no hint. Why do they have the forum if it does not get used? Just because they hope to have the realms back up before the majority of Players gets up today to avoid another reimbursal of play time?

Update: Loginserver is back online and Realms are available since around 09:30

Paladin goes Horde and Shaman becomes available for Alliance

The new Classes introduced in the upcoming Addon Burning Crusade will make it possible for the Bloodelves, the new Horde race, to become Paladin. At the same time the Draenei will be able to become Shamans.

Read all about „Stealing the Light“ and „Velen’s Visionhere.

Personally, I do not like this step at all. But I think its Blizzard’s way to make sure there will be enough characters of the new race available.

Jewelcrafting and Socketing Preview

Blizzard published more information about the upcoming new professions Jewelcrafting and Socketing. They also included a web based example of how it will work.

Jewelcrafters can learn several types of cuts for each kind of gem: the Azure Moonstone, for example, can be cut into a lustrous, stormy, solid, or sparkling Azure Moonstone, and each one of these cuts offers different bonuses when used in a socketable item.

Take a look here.

Rogue Talent Review for Patch 1.12

Here is some information and links about the upcoming rogue changes in patch 1.12.

Finally there is a little buff for us rogues, but I am not 100% sure how I will finally set my talents. The changes are less than I expected, since they left out a buff for Sinister Strike and I am not happy at all with Vanish, Blind and Adrenaline Rush.

Paid Character Transfer F.A.Q.

Blizzard is beginning to offer a paid Realm- and an Accounttransfer service for 19.99€.
Due to high population and other restrictions not all Realms will be available as target from the beginning. Also the account-to-account transfer service is severely restricted. You can read everything here.