The Shrinking Population and the Disappearing Servers

Gazimoff explains how Blizzard is invisibly shrinking the servers and predicts how this will play out in-game as WOW's player base shrinks.  This is a must-read for players interested in the mechanics of networking MMOs.  It starts out with a history of how Blizzard organized their servers (and realms) in 2005 and continues through today with the "random" battleground and dungeon finder systems which allow Blizzard to balance their servers.  This is why you end up in the same dungeon or Battlefield over and over again, by the way.  Blizzard is putting folks where they need them.
http://www.manaobscura.com/2010/07/the-growing-yet-shrinking-world/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Cataclysm's Region-Wide Battlegrounds (Plus Wargames)

In other words, you'll get to meet every idiot in North America if that's the region you play in.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/11/cataclysm-to-bring-region-wide-battlegrounds/

UPDATE:  Something called "war games mode" will be added to Battlegrounds.  It seems to be a way to invite groups to challenge other groups to battle in a specific Battleground.
http://www.wow.com/2010/06/12/war-games-mode-coming-to-cataclysm-battlegrounds/

UPDATE #2:  Gordon is starting to wonder why Blizzard and other game developers have a new emphasis on PvP recently.
http://blog.weflyspitfires.com/2010/06/11/pushing-pvp/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Preparing for Patch 3.3.3

Since it is very likely Patch 3.3.3 and its new Battlegrounds finder (available to Level 80s only), changes to the Auction House and characters, etc. will appear either tomorrow or next week, I've reposted WOW Head's list of the changes you can expect.
http://ptr.wowhead.com/?patchnotes=3.3.3-ptr

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Patch 3.3.3 Changes UPDATED

UPDATE #2:  WOW Insider is keeping a list of expected changes to the game from Patch 3.3.3 and updating it as more information comes out.
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/20/patch-3-3-3-ptr-what-weve-seen-in-the-last-24-hours/

Blizzard is announcing upcoming changes to the game thick and fast.  Patch 3.3.3 has a public test realm that is up and running now, or about to be.  I think the link below is where you access the PTR (public test realm).
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/ptr/

Here is what to expect from it.  Note that the random Battleground system is included in this patch.  You can't use this unless you are wearing a Level 80 character.
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/19/patch-3-3-3-ptr-patch-notes/

A more complete explanation of the changes to Battlegrounds, as well as a list of other changes.
http://mmorpgs.pvpee.com/patch-3-3-3-ptr-notes

Patch 3.3.5 apparently has a new raid called Assault on the Ruby Sanctum.
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/19/assault-on-the-ruby-sanctum-coming-in-patch-3-3-3/

There is going to be some tinkering with Wintergrasp specifically in the "next minor content patch" which I suppose means Patch 3.3.3.  WOW Insider is excited about the mechanics of Wintergrasp which Blizzard explains here.
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/19/wintergrasps-hidden-balance-mechanics-revealed-minor-changes-c/

More details on the Wintergrasp changes.
http://mmorpgs.pvpee.com/upcoming-wintergrasp-changes

Note this about the authenticator from WOWHead's blog entry about the 3.3.3 patch notes--
"Authenticator Frame: If a player has a Battle.net Authenticator attached to his or her account and selects Remember Account Name at the login screen, the next time that player logs into World of Warcraft, a field to input the Authenticator code will be displayed below the password field."

http://www.wowhead.com/?blog=145532

The Auction House will have major changes and there will be profession changes, too.
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/19/patch-3-3-3-ptr-major-changes-to-the-auction-house-and-game-eco/

Changes to the dungeon finder.
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/20/patch-3-3-3-ptr-random-dungeon-finder-changes/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com