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I was surfing around a few minutes ago and found a thread posted in the US forums by the Blizz rep Crygil, stating the beta realms were down as of 12 am PST. While it is true that beta realms have been literally deserted since 3.0.2 hit, I am very surprised that they brought the beta realms down so far in advance of the expansion launch. I am both surprised and saddened that there was no final event, like both of the prior betas. Vanilla WoW and TBC betas both had huge end of beta events! Deciding to test the waters, since it was about 3:15 CST(1:15 AM PST) I quickly updated the last beta patch and tried to login.

That was the point when I got the screenshot the to the right, a final farewell to the beta realms. While the beta realms are not yet down completely, I trust the blue in that they will have the realms down, but it saddens me that they could not take the Wrath beta out with their traditional, and beloved bang. No raid bosses in Shatt, not Lich King in Dalaran, no Magtheridon in Dun Morough. Just... *poof*. /mourn You will be missed, Wrath Beta Realms!

[Update: Apparently the 10 PM posting last night was meant to say that beta realms will be going down at 11:59 on the 4th, not 12:01 on the 4th, so they are still up as of 12:30 CST, but alas nothing notable going on, other than people spending all their gold on stupid stuff.]

Sorry for the tardiness on this post, but yesterday was a big recording day for me, getting some All Things Azeroth episodes pre recorded for the upcoming NaPodPoMo, and just ran out of time before bed that would allow me to write this post. If you'll recall the last couple of posts I have showed you the mods that went bad, the new mods I found to fill the roles I needed, and today I am going to go over the mods that, like a rock, stayed by my side like a good friend.

I wouldn't say WIM was a rock, more a strong tree, but still it's there, and it does work well enough. It feels like it's lost some of it's features, like tab to move to the next window, but for now it's working enough to be useful. One mod that remained strong, though feeling incomplete, is Titan Panel. Like it's bar based competitor, FuBar, Titan Panel allows mod authors to write plugins for it, and that is there I have found Titan falling short. Many of the plugins I most cherished have not been updated, and therefore do not work as well as I would like.

I was pretty sure when I saw Ark Inventory available for use in the beta, I would be able to upgrade to it when the patch hit, and I was dead on. The patch showed that AI was fully functional and ready to go on patch day, and I rejoiced in the knowledge I would have that small piece of comfort. Auctioneer is another one that works, though I have not spent much time in the auction house to do testing to ensure all of it's features are where they should be in the mix.

When it comes to raiding, Deadly Boss Mods was a mod I knew would need to be done, because many raid groups count on it to be polished and working or wipes can, and often do ensue. Thankfully DBM didn't even hiccup in the face of 3.0.2, in fact it did better than expected in game queues for boss events like the rain in Zul'aman. Omen, likewise, is essential to any good raider and was updated, with a new parchment look, for the patch, and hasn't showed a bit of hesitancy since. In fact, I like the new config interface better, as it clearly shows me how to change that horrid 'you're getting aggro' sound off.

Chatter is working, though it was copied from the old install, so I can't say it's a rock, since it hasn't stayed strong, just stayed functional. The quest log combo of DoubleWide and Lightheaded were updated within a few days, allowing for useful and happy questing throughout my WoW time. Pally Power is working nicely, though I am still grasping how it works and how to customize it properly. I am using AlphaMap again, which is a cute little map mod that shows on mouse over the current zone's map. Minimap Button Frame is also working, thought here is not a lot to the mod other than clearing up the minimap from the clutter of buttons that seemingly every mod tosses up there.

Gatherer was a mod that many in my guild were worried might not be fixed for the patch, and while it was not on day of, a couple days later it was updated and working, once again recording herbs and mineral spawns found in my travels. Lastly Statusbars, a mod I find essential for keeping my eyes on the action instead of wandering to the edges of my screen, was updated quickly, cleanly, and without any problems. I am loving the ability it gives me to see what's going on in front of me, and know if I need to run, heal, bubble, or push my DPS to the max in a fight if it is close.

That's about it. There was a couple of new mods I forgot to mention yesterday, like Class Bars v3, The Collector, and Mapster. The first I find invaluable to my play style, giving me more of my bars with which I can use for more critical abilities. The second helped with the pet and mount achievements by easily showing you what you do not yet have. the last is a replacement for the MetaMap mod, which I always found hogged my resources more than I liked. And there we have it, my mods in a nutshell. Below you can see a peak at my UI.

After the popularity of my last posting, I thought I would give you all a peek at the latest screen shots I have taken in the beta.

   
   

As many of you know, my character Telaan, a level 70 Draenei Paladin, recently got married in game to Eilana, a level 70 Night Elf Rogue. It was a spectacular occasion with many friends and allies in attendance, and fireworks to celebrate the occasion. Below are the photos.

    

A few days back I saw an entry from Siha, over at the best Paladin blog around, Banana Shoulders, that Pike made a challenge to folks to show their banks. Well, I have 4 level 70 characters, and a mule with his own 3 tab guild bank, so I am not going to show all of them. I will, though, show a couple of my level 70 banks. First we have my main, Medros.
So what we have is the bank on the right, and bags on the left. The bank has a fair number of pets/mounts(the section I am calling the 3.0.2 consumables), but the bags have the most. I count about 45 pets or so and I am still working in live on getting more. The next section over is random soulbound items, ones that I pick up from mobs, stuff like the Picnic Basket, and so on. The far right section at the top is my gear. Weapons or armor that I get, make, or buy. Yeah, there is a lot. A few pieces are sentimental, like the first Blue I got in Outlands, the mace given to Med by Tirion Fordring, and Uther's Strength, all which are connected to the back story of Medros.

Bottom row we have the quest items, like the warbeads, insignias, and so on. Some of these and some from the top middle will be turned into currency in a special tab come Wrath. Next over we have food, and as you can tell, I have some of the top of the line. Next we have consumables. Potions, elixits, temporary weapon enchants, all of these will go right here. Lastly we have trade goods. The stuff that falls into this is stuff like the Primals, motes, ore, bars, and, in other professions, herbs, gems, and so on. Your cloth goes here, and apparently so does my Pumpkin Bag from 2 Hallow's End ago.


Now for Telaan's bag and bank. I have a couple of different rows for this toon. The top row, which I will one day set up on all my toons(likely post Wrath), is his RP gear, I will likely set up 'sections' for each of my toon's possible specs. For Med, Telaan, and Arita it would be one section for DPS, Tank, and Heal, just so I can keep these straight. When I post the wedding photos(coming soon I promise) you will see that Telaan has all of the gear up there on, except the ring, which his beloved gave to him. There are a couple alternate pieces, but otherwise it's all original. Next to that we have the enchanters stuff, a section set up for my enchanting toon.

Otherwise everything is set up the same as Med. On Telaan there is a Miners bag and a gem bag, which allows me to stock the plentiful ore and powder, as well as the decent number of gems. Until we had a date for Wrath, there was more than 40 of each rare gem, and more of the uncommon gems. I do not keep epic gems in stock, as they are too unpredictable to risk. Last thing I wanted to point out was the gold that Telaan has. 11,325 gold at time of screen shot, and has almost 12,000 now. He is the stores for my pre Wrath stock piling, and all excess gold goes to him.

To answer a few questions I expect to get, the bag mod is Ark Inventory, which allows you to look at the keyring, bags, bank, wearing, and guild vault of any toon you have on any realm. The mod that shows the gold in the red line there, that is called Simple Gold. It easily, on mouse over, shows your gold on every character, and without mouse over it shows the gold on your current one. It's a handy mod to have, especially when you want to know where you can snag gold from in a pinch. Enjoy my bags, and let me know what interesting things you have!

I am tired from renovations and a lot of stuff in life, but I have had time to look in at the beta, and I figured I would give you all a few of my favorite sites from the beta. Just click on the thumbnails for larger versions.