There is a bug currently affecting the creation of Death Knights after you have installed Wrath of the Lich King.

If you get an error when creating the Death Knight, and you have met the requirements of having a level 55 character on the server in which you're creating the Death Knight, just make a new level 1 character first.

After that character is created, you can then create your Death Knight without any more problems.

I have to wonder how the bug came to be, and why they weren't able to fix it. We probably won't know either of those answers. But at least we have a quick and dirty fix.

Happy Northrending!

I can't say I quite understand the ultraportable thing (why not just use a real computer?), but I have to admit that the Eee PC from Asus is a slick little device. Not as slick as the Macbook Air, but not nearly as pricey, so still pretty slick. And now it's even slicker- Dan from UltraMobileGeek has figured out how to install World of Warcraft on an Eee 701.

You can see in the video above that it's just barely playable-- you couldn't raid Black Temple (or even Karazhan, I'm sure), but for logging in and grinding or checking mail, it would probably work just fine. The process, unfortunately, isn't exactly simple-- you have to run modified drivers, overclock the PC, and run experimental code (plus, memory might be a problem, as you need an 8gb SDHC card and probably more RAM than you've got now)-- but if you're interested in pushing your Eee to the limit, it might be for you. One suggestion or Dan (and anyone else messing around with this): would the Wine version of WoW let you skip installing XP, since the Eee is Linux-based? Just wondering.

At any rate, sounds like a fun Saturday afternoon project if you've got an Eee to play around with and want your WoW ultraportable.

Rejoice! Now we North American types can also upgrade and download the Burning Crusade! I was heading over to www.worldofwarcraft.com just now and was hit with the following message:

• You can now buy account upgrade keys and download the game client for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade directly through the account management section of www.worldofwarcraft.com. With this new direct online upgrade method, you don't even need to leave your desk if you decide to upgrade to The Burning Crusade and join more than two million players who are already adventuring beyond the Dark Portal.

Pretty sweet, eh? Head over to the account management page to get your upgrade on.

I was chatting with Elizabeth Harper about why they might choose to offer direct download now, and not at launch. Here's what I came up with:

• Offering direct download at launch might irritate retailers.
• Offering it now might get a few people to buy who weren't motivated enough to go out to the store.
• It probably costs them relatively little to do this.

What do you guys think? Was it a sensible business move to wait until now for this? And how many of you are going to buy, now that you can do it without moving more than five or six muscles?

[thanks also to Doug for tipping us off]

Well, this should cut down on forum spam. Blizzard his posted a pretty extensive FAQ on the ins and outs of installing BC, upgrading your account, et cetera. Points of interest include:

• What time will I be able to log in and play BC?
  
  You will be able to log in and play as soon as you have purchased your copy of the Burning Crusade, installed it, and activated your key. Many retailers will be open at midnight. Please check with your local store for more information.
  

• Will I need to install from the CD? Why?
  
  It will be necessary to have a Burning Crusade CD and a Burning Crusade authentication key in order to play The Burning Crusade expansion. There is content on the Burning Crusade CD that will need to be installed that was not included in the patches we recently released. Each account (in the event multiple are played by one person) will need its own copy of The Burning Crusade expansion to install the additional content, and be upgraded with the included authentication key.

• If I have the beta already, do I need to delete the beta and install fresh?
  
  When the game goes live, you will need to uninstall your beta client before installing the expansion. Use your computer's Add or Remove Programs function to remove it. If you do not see the beta listed there, just simply delete the Burning Crusade Closed Beta folder. Remember to back up any screenshots or UI settings that you may want to keep.

The whole FAQ is reposted after the jump, for those of you reading from work.