Last Monday, July 21st, many European realms apparently underwent thirteen hours of additional maintenance. Players were understandably upset. Blizzard understands this too, which is why they're giving players with characters on any of those realms a one-day playtime credit, like they do. The battlegroups Cyclone, Nightfall, Conviction, Ruin, and Rampage were affected, which is to say the following realms:

Anachronos, Balnazzar, Blade's Edge, Bloodfeather, Bronze Dragonflight, Burning Steppes, Darkmoon Faire, Darksorrow, Darkspear, Defias Brotherhood, Earthen Ring, Frostwhisper, Genjuros, Hakkar, Haomarush, Hellscream, Kor'gall, Laughing Skull, Lightbringer, Lightning's Blade, Magtheridon, Molten Core, Neptulon, Nordrassil, Quel'Thalas, Ragnaros, Ravencrest, Runetotem, Scarshield Legion, Shadow Moon, Shadowsong, Shattered Hand, Silvermoon, Skullcrusher, Spinebreaker, Steamwheedle Cartel, Stormrage, Stormreaver, Stormscale, Sylvanas, Terenas, The Maelstrom, The Venture Co., Thunderhorn, Turalyon, Twisting Nether, Vashj, and Xavius

Anyone with an active account and a character on any of those realms will get a free day. That must have been some technical difficulty, since well over half the English-speaking European realms are on that list. Enjoy your playtime credit, my friends across the Atlantic.

A bit over a month ago, all the realms in the European battlegroups Crueldad, Hinterhalt, Némésis, and Nightfall suffered some extra downtime, and players on them received a credit for a free day of playtime to compensate. Looks like it's happened again. In exchange for for six hours of downtime on April 6, members on those battlegroups will once again get a free day. Here's a list of the affected realms:

• Crueldad: C'Thun, Dun Modr, Los Errantes, Minahonda, Shen'dralar, Tyrande, Uldum, Zul'Jin
  
• Hinterhalt: Arygos, Der Mithrilorden, Dethecus, Forscherliga, Norgannon, Teldrassil, Todeswache, Un'Goro
• Némésis: Arak-arahm, Confrérie du Thorium, Eitrigg, Garona, La Croisade écarlate, Medivh, Uldaman, Vol'jin
• Nightfall: Alonsus, Anachronos, Bronze Dragonflight, Burning Steppes, Darkmoon Faire, Darkspear, Kor'gall, Lightbringer, Molten Core

Enjoy your free day, folks. I'm just glad I get to use my "1up" image again.

Apparently there was some extra downtime (7 hours!) for some of the European realms on Wednseday. To compensate, Blizzard is giving a one-day playtime credit to anyone with an active character in the affected battlegroups: Crueldad, Hinterhalt, Némésis, and Nightfall. That's one of the things I like about Blizz -- they may mess up, but when they do, they try to fix it (except when it comes to Life Tap).

In case you're not sure what battlegroup you're in, here's the realm listings. If you have an active character on any of these European realms, you will be credited a day of playtime.

• Crueldad: C'Thun, Dun Modr, Los Errantes, Minahonda, Shen'dralar, Tyrande, Uldum, Zul'Jin
  
• Hinterhalt: Arygos, Der Mithrilorden, Dethecus, Forscherliga, Norgannon, Teldrassil, Todeswache, Un'Goro
• Némésis: Arak-arahm, Confrérie du Thorium, Eitrigg, Garona, La Croisade écarlate, Medivh, Uldaman, Vol'jin
• Nightfall: Alonsus, Anachronos, Bronze Dragonflight, Burning Steppes, Darkmoon Faire
  Darkspear, Kor'gall, Lightbringer, Molten Core

So are all the Spanish realms really in that one battlegroup? The things you learn researching blog posts...

To go along with the set of free North American character transfers that started yesterday, Blizzard Europe has seen fit to open the following free character transfers:

• From: Al'Akir, Crushridge, Grim Batol, Outland, Stormscale
• To: Burning Blade, Laughing Skull

The transfers are scheduled to be active from today until next Tuesday, March 4, although the standard disclaimer applies that the transfers may be shut down early if the desired population levels are reached.

Since Blizz bases their transfer decision off of their stats for what realms need it most, this should be the appropriate set of servers, but I'll ask you anyway: if you're on one of the "from" servers, are you overcrowded now? If you're on one of the "to" servers, are you glad to have some new company coming? And if you're on another server altogether, do you need some transfer loving? Sound off in the comments.