Last updated June 23rd 2009


Contests

Q: Why can't players from all countries participate in your contests?
A: Unfortunately there are restrictions outside our control that apply to contests of this kind, and we as well as our sponsors have to abide by the laws and regulations of the different countries in Europe. Some restrictions apply due to the value of the prizes, some due to the nature of the contest - wherein the definition of "game of chance" is a tricky one. We do our best to work with (or around) this and adapt our contests to the different regulations, but we will not gamble with the law and must therefore exclude some countries from our contests. We will continue to adapt our contests, gather additional information and look into the fine details of national lottery and contest laws to try include as many countries as possible in the future.

Q: Why can people who don't play the game participate?
A: Requiring that participants own the game is in some countries defined as a promotional contest, i.e. a contest encouraging you to buy the product to be able to win. The rules for such contests are very strict. Between excluding more countries from our contests and allowing people not playing the game to participate, we usually choose the latter.


Realms

Q: Are you planning on opening any new realms very soon?
A: Unless there's a sticky thread about it in the General forum or news about it on the website; no.

Q: When will you open new realms?
A: New realms are opened as other realms of the same type (PvE/Normal, PvP, RP, RP PvP) fill up. The goal is to always be able to have the Recommended tag on a given number of PvE/Normal and PvP realms, and avoid having all RP and RP PvP realms tagged as Full.

Q: What does it mean when a realm is listed as Recommended, Low, Medium, High or Full?
A: A Recommended realm has a lower population during peak playing hours than other realms, and is thus recommended for creating new characters. A Full realm is very highly populated, and it is advised that you avoid them when making new characters.

Low, Medium and High are relative realm population tags. They indicate the current population on the realm compared to all other realms. They do not represent absolute numbers, thus theoretically even a Low population realm can experience queues.


Queues

Q: Why are there queues on some realms?
A: Queues happen when realms reach their maximum number of concurrent users. Each realm has a population cap that we’re unable to break without the possibility of experiencing lag, which would damage the game play experience. All realms operate with the same cap, with the exception of recently opened realms.

Q: What should I do to avoid queues?
A: We recommend that those players wishing to create new characters do it on a realm with the Recommended tag and avoid realms with the Full tag. You can check which realms are Recommended or Full on the realm selection screen in-game and on the realm status page: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/serverstatus/

Q: What's Blizzard doing about the queues?
A: The cap on the realms can not be raised without the risk of experiencing lag. We're adding more realms and recommend that players create characters on low-population realms. We also have a Paid Character Transfer service (PCT) and sometimes offer Free Character Migration (FCM) if a realm continues to experience long queues.

PCT: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/faq/paidcharactertransfer.html
FCM: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/support/charactermoverealms.html


Characters

Q: How long will you store my characters if I close my account?
A: You can count on them being stored for at least 6 months after the account is closed, also on guest pass accounts. We have no intention to delete any characters, even on closed accounts. However, as this might become necessary in the future we can’t guarantee we’ll store them forever.

Q: Can I move my character to another realm?
A: Yes, but with some restrictions.

We offer a Paid Character Transfer service (PCT). You can read about this in the dedicated FAQ here: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/faq/paidcharactertransfer.html

From time to time there will be very specific but Free Character Migration (FCM) between realms. Currently eligible realms can be found on this page: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/support/charactermoverealms.html

Q: Can I transfer one of my characters to a different account?
A: This is part of the Paid Character Transfer service. It's subject to several restrictions. You can read more about it here: http://www.wow-europe.com/en/info/faq/paidcharactertransfer.html

Q: Can I play on the US realms with my European account?
A: Our current focus is still on maintaining excellent realm stability for each region in which the game has launched, and of course on providing even more content for our player base. Also, on the technical end, we just launched in China and are working steadily toward launching in Taiwan later this year. With all that in mind and with us making the most of our resources to provide a high-quality overall game experience for players, it’s unlikely that we will be able to open realms to transatlantic play anytime in the near future. It’s extremely important to us to ensure that the populations on each realm remain manageable, which in turn translates into smooth gameplay for our players. With the worldwide player population having so rapidly grown to the immense size that it is for World of Warcraft, this must take priority.


Maintenance

Q: How often do you have realm maintenance, and when?
A: We currently perform weekly maintenance, between 5:00 and 11:00 CET (UTC +1)* on Wednesdays. If a patch is applied during maintenance, or there are other very time consuming operations involved, the maintenance window will be from 3:00 am until 11:00 CET*. Due to extra maintenance some realms may be offline longer. Notification will be given on the login screen.

Some weeks we will perform a "live maintenance", usually between 5:00 and 7:00 CET*, where realms are only restarted. This will be done with a few realms at a time until all realms have been restarted, each realm getting a 15 minute notice in-game prior to the restart.

To find the time in Paris without having to do time zone calculations, have a look at this page:
http://timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=195
*) CEST (UTC +2) when Daylight Saving is active (Summer).

Q: Why is there weekly maintenance?
A: The weekly maintenance includes database optimizations and server-side improvements, and is done to ensure a high quality game experience for the players. We aim to have shorter and less frequent maintenance periods in the future but currently prefer the weekly 6 hours to ensure the best possible performance.