There was a time in the beta of Wrath of the Lich King that Warriors everywhere were excited little special snowflakes. They had not one but two, count 'em two, special talents: Heroic Leap and Titan's Grip.

While the dual wielding goodness/badness that is Titan's Grip continues today, Heroic Leap was removed mid-beta with Warriors everywhere screaming and crying. Yours truly shed a tear. I loved leveling through the Howling Fjord and Dragonblight with Heroic Leap at my side. One press of a button and bam – I'd be raining down upon my enemies with my plate shining and dual two-handers blaring.

Its demise has always been speculated upon. Many thought that the skill just provided one too many ways for a warrior to quickly move about the world. Others thought that it was due to it being too over powered in PvP. Still others thought it had to do with exploitation of the terrain.

Bornakk and Maaven posted a thank you note to everyone in the Public Test Realm (PTR) forums this afternoon. The PTRs are now closed since patch 3.0.2 is coming out tomorrow. It was an interesting note in that it made sure to mention all of the feedback that they've gotten.

The feedback for this patch (and Wrath of the Lich King in general) has been different from previous times. There has been a ton of constructive, well thought out posts on the official forums about all the changes. Often times they've attracted the attention of Lead Class Designer, Greg Street (aka Ghostcrawler), and the discussion that results from such series of posting are quite enlightening and entertaining.

So no more PTR, a nice little thank you from Blizzard, and a whole lotta patch to look forward to tomorrow.

Patch 3.0.2 will bring with it major changes to the way the game is played, all in preparation for Wrath of the Lich King. Mechanics for virtually all aspects of game-play will change somewhat, and all classes will get new talent trees and spells. The patch notes are long and extensive, and they're not even done.

The notes give a clear warning "The current patch notes are incomplete, but will be progressively more comprehensive in each patch." Things are not done. Indeed, these notes even go on to mention that Blizzard is still modifying and balancing the classes.

Read below after the break for the complete PTR 3.0.2 patch notes. Sit back with a drink and read over them all, it's going to be an interesting patch!

(Psst! Looking for the short version? Check out the TLDR version here.)

Blue poster Tyren made an announcement on the PTR forums this afternoon that those of us who have an account in the Wrath of the Lich King beta cannot participate in the 3.0.2 PTR. This is most unfortunate news for the numerous people in that situation.

If you have more than one account, your second account could probably work with the PTR (assuming it is not enrolled in the beta). I haven't been able to test this yet with my other accounts, but will update this post when I get the chance to.

Tyren does say that they are working to resolve the issue, and that it should be fixed early next week. In my opinion, it can't be resolved fast enough.

You can now begin downloading the PTR (Public Test Realm) client for patch 3.0.2. We reported earlier today that character copies have been made active, and those are going along nicely as far as we can tell (my Warrior copied across with no problem). To download the client and copy your characters over to the PTR, login to your account administration at worldofwarcraft.com.

We are expecting a lot of out of this patch. From new talent trees, to class and raid mechanics changes, to the removal of the Amani War Bear. We'll have a lot more on this as we get more information in. Patch notes are not available yet – though we expect to get our hands on them soon.

Stay tuned!

According to Tigole, Blizzard will "try to patch" the Wrath of the Lich King beta today. Storm Peaks will open back up and should not crash the sever. No word yet if Naxx will be introduced in this patch. The servers should be up between 4:30 p.m. PDT and 6:30 p.m. PDT.

The XP required to level will also be reduced by 10% this beta patch. Things should go faster for all you playing around with leveling.

Finally, there will be a new beta realm opening up named Murmur. Tigole mentioned that the premade characters should not have been made available on the existing realms. He tells us that "they are being removed." There is no indication as to whether or not current premade characters will be moved to the new realm or just outright deleted.

There is a new addition to the login screen for Wrath of the Lich King tonight. A large dragon, which was previously just a white mesh, swipes down from the sky and roars at you as you log in. It is a very cool addition to the otherwise bland login screen.

I was able to capture the video above, and the audio you hear is just as I hear it. I expect there to be a "roar" or something else eventually inserted for the dragon. Nonetheless, it's quite a neat feature. You can also watch a high quality version via YouTube.

The new beta build just came out tonight, so stay tuned for more info and analysis as we get it all collected together.

Fresh from the new Beta build today: new Death Knight starting screens and our first look at the Death Knight flying mount – a skeletal gryphon! The starting screen pictured above is pretty cool. The Death Knight is standing on a terrace surrounded by Northrend. Neat. Be sure to click on the picture for a hi resolution image.

The gryphon that we're seen, which is pictured after the break, is about the same size as a normal flying gryphon – but a complete skeleton. The actual name of the flying mount item is "The Winged Steed of the Ebon Blade." It is something that I'm really looking forward to picking up now, and I'm pretty sure most of you will be as well.

Lots of great bits of information coming out from this beta patch – stay tuned for more

There's a new Beta build out on the testing servers tonight, numbered at 8681. The patch notes themselves only have two changes from the other patch notes in them. However there are a ton of new glyphs which are going to be useable via inscriptions, and a lot of undocumented patch changes.

The two main changes have to do with the calendar system and the mount / vanity pet interface. You can take a look after the break for the exact text, and also keep an eye out on WoW Insider for the latest on both of these new interfaces.

One interesting thing to note: Elizabeth Harper is reporting that the mount interface isn't working. If you have a mount in your inventory, you cannot successful "train" it into your spell book, which means you can't cast or use it. This means those in the beta can't mount unless they already have their mount as a spell. An interesting tid bit that we'll keep you updated on.

Updated July 29th, 2008 at 5:35 p.m. EDT: Elizabeth Harper has reported that the mounts are now fixed in the beta. Mount up!

Elizabeth Harper managed to get onto the latest beta build of Wrath of the Lich King tonight and snap us a few screenshots of the new calendar system. It looks quite nice, and to me appears to be a step up from current in game calendar options.

Blizzard has mentioned that they've been working on one of these for a while, and it's nice to see the results. If you look closely you'll see things like when the Darkmoon Faire is coming, and when the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravagenza is happening. It doesn't show what PvP weekend it is, but I have to believe that's something they'll be working on.

Check out the screenshots below for the new UI. I'm sure you'll be happy!

Update 12:57 a.m.: There is a way to add user events in the calendar. It also appears there is a way to share the calender items among individuals. More information incoming.

Jeff Kaplan, the lead game designer, posted in the forums under his username Tigole that Blizzard will be speeding up leveling in the 60 to 70 bracket just as they sped up the 20 to 60 bracket. This has long been rumored and it's great to see this get implemented.

Initial reports tell us the amount of experience points necessary to progress to each level has been decreased by 30% (for the 60 to 70 range only). Additional posters are reporting that mobs which give 500xp on the live server are now giving 600xp on the beta server. There doesn't seem to be any increase in the XP rewarded by quests yet, but this might be a future change.

Kaplan asks everyone to provide feedback on the change (if you're in the beta), and it looks like they've got his ear for the time being. So if you're in the beta and want to weigh in on the subject, now's the time.

Many thanks to the various users who submitted this news tip.

Wrath of the Lich King information is really flooding in. For the latest bit, let's take a look at some of the new maps in the game. These were obtained through a variety of sources and are 100% real, all right from the beta. Click through our gallery to see them all – including nice high res versions. You'll notice three maps missing - The Storm Peaks, Icecrown Glacier, and Dalaran. Those maps are not done yet. There are some composites that other sites have put together via the mini-map from the data files, but they're neither finished nor "normal" maps.

I like the Stormwind Harbor one the best, if only because the Stormwind map hasn't changed in all these years and it's odd to suddenly see it different. The one I enjoy the least is the Borean Tundra, the color scheme doesn't sit well with me. It looks like...well...I'll let you all draw your own conclusions.

Enjoy the maps! And stay tuned to WoW Insider all weekend, we've got some great content lined up for you.

While we've had some fake Wrath of the Lich King login screens before, this one is the real deal. It's being reported on by numerous sites, and several people have confirmed its authenticity. The image itself is of a ice fortress. You can see the version, 3.0.1, along with the latest build number and date: July 15, 2008.

Many people will notice that you have to sign in via an email address. This is part of a new system that Blizzard has put into place for the Wrath beta. Essentially, you'll have to create a new "Blizzard Account" to log into the beta. This account is separate from your retail WoW account, however you still have to have a retail WoW account and a beta key to get one. There's not a ton of information out on the new account system they are using for this, but when we have more information on it we'll post it.

For now, enjoy your new login screen!

Now that the NDA has been lifted from the official Alpha testing, and Beta is beginning, there's some real information out there about what the various classes' talent trees might look like. Of course, anything is subject to change, but it seems as though some classes, hunters and paladins in particular, are getting a much-needed overhaul.

If you'd like to play around with your could-be future talent tree, both Wowhead and MMO Champion have updated their talent calculators to reflect the information revealed from the Alpha once the NDA lifted.

When you're bored with that, you can head over to the official Beta forums and surf around.

If you're like me, you're constantly refreshing your email box right now waiting for a beta invite. Also if you're like me, you'll probably get bored eventually and go find some Horde to kill in a Batteground. After all, taking out your aggression on Orcs is what it's all about. But after that PvP session, you'll probably go right back to checking.

There's a few key things you can do to constantly check your email and make sure you know when the beta key comes. Let's take a look at them.

Press F5

That's the magic refresh key. It works on all browsers, and is a throwback to the old days of computers.

Press Control-R or Apple-R

Does the same thing as F5.

Auto check your email every minute

Most email programs allow you to "grab" email off the server as often as every minute. This is how I have my clients setup, and it will more or less let you know as soon as you get an email.