After the false alarm a few days ago, premade characters are available for copy to the US Wrath beta PvP realm Murmur. (Apparently, the realm was called "Murmer" up until a few hours ago. I guess Blizzard decided on a last minute spell check.) I have firsthand knowledge that the character copy now works because I copied three toons this morning and less than two hours later they are now playable. If you have a beta key and you want to play on the PvP server, keep in mind a few things:

• You can only choose all Horde or all Alliance toons because it's a PvP server.
• You can copy up to three level 80 characters, stacked with top-notch PvP gear.
• This server is designed to test Wintergrasp. Other PvE areas like Azeroth and Outland may not be available for play on this server.
• If you like Night Elves, you're stuck playing a Druid. Dwarves, on the other hand, get a choice of three classes (Hunter, Priest, or Warrior). Every other race gets two classes each.
• Right now the wait time is only a couple of hours. It will get longer as more people copy toons. So go over there ASAP.

Commenters have (sad to say, rightly) accused me of a US bias in my posts so I did some extra research on the this topic for our EU readers. The EU servers do not have premade templates available because -- at the moment, at least -- there is no Murmur-equivalent beta realm available to them. Sorry, folks. We'll keep you posted if that changes.

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.

The option was just opened up to create premade level 80 characters on the LK beta realms. Up till now in the beta premades had not been available, and we don't know exactly what kind of gear they'll have, but my guess would be blues. None of the high-end content has been implemented yet as far as I know; however, Daelo did say that Naxxramas, the first raid, will be open "soon" in both 10- and 25-man editions, and will have loot in. So hopefully we'll be able to see just what they're planning on doing for the different gear in 10s and 25s. If you're in the beta, you're eligible for three premades, so get cracking if you want to play in the deep end.

[Thanks, Kenzi]

Here's a nice tidbit from the Games convention at Leipzig, Germany in the form a bundle of Wrath news. Tom Chilton and J. Allen Brack gave a pair of interviews to Getbuffed.de and Gamona.de. In the Getbuffed interview embedded above, they discuss the future of the lore and raids, most notably Icecrown Glacier, the home of Arthas.

With the Wrath Beta Opt-in available, we're one step closer to the expansion. We're all anxiously awaiting the time when the expansion is ready. I'm still having fun with the existing World of Warcraft, but I'm a bit antsy. There is a lot of frustration over existing conditions, especially when it comes to PvP.

Chloroform of EU-Magtheridon isn't interested in waiting. He listed his grievances in the EU-PVP Forum, "Balance issues, queue times, destroying premades, AFK problems, uneven teams, world pvp screwed by 9000yd aggro range ultra guards." Like many others, Jasse of EU-Bronzebeard blames the arena for the death of PvP.

Blizzard forum poster Hortus has announced that premade characters are now available for copy to the PTR for patch 2.4.3. The Character Copy page says that the average wait time for copying is five days, but I've never waited as long as the estimates for my copied toons. I copied mine to the PTR tonight and will let you know how long the transfer takes.

The eighteen premades are all Level 70s, two of each class (one Horde, one Alliance). Undead comprise the largest race (5), followed by Dwarves (4), Gnomes (3), and Orcs (2). There is one character each for Tauren (Druid), Night Elves (Druid), Blood Elves (Paladin), and Draenei (Shaman). They are all specced with gear made for PvP, judging by the character names. So what are you waiting for? Maintenance starts soon! Get out there and copy a premade character -- or four -- for yourself.

[Thanks, Josh and Philip Stetson.]

In case you were wondering, there will be premade characters for the 2.4.3 PTR before all is said and done, according to Hortus. There's no word for sure on why they're needed, what gear they'll have, or when they'll come along, but they'll be here. You'll need an account that had Burning Crusade activated before these PTRs went live, and when the time comes, you'll be able to sandbox it up with a fresh new premade while you help test the patch.

This phase, says Hortus, is also not intended for testing Season 4 gear, since it was already tested on a previous PTR. Besides, with 4 days left until Season 4 goes live, the 2.4.3 patch won't be on live servers until Season 4 is well underway. That said, it looks like most (but not all) of the Season 4 gear is still on the PTR right now, so if you want to go check it out, you can fly up to Area 52 on the PTR and check out Big Zokk Torquewrench's wares. Of course, you can also expect us to give you all the Season 4 news you need in the next few days here at WoW Insider as well, including gear guides.

Also, Mages and Warlocks are reporting that their self-buff armor spells are now no longer dispellable on the PTR servers. That's a nice chunk of mana you won't have to waste recasting after a stray Purge in PvP. We'll be watching the PTRs for more undocumented changes, oddities, and happenings, so be sure to keep it here for the rest of the testing cycle for all the news and analysis you'll need when the patch goes live.

Laij of Laughing Skull believes that the new battleground matching system is a blow to PvP guilds. He said, "The new patch and matchmaking system has just nerfed the hell out of any pvp guild. Why run BG premades anymore? All you do is get matched up with other premades that are going to drag games out extremely long." Unsurprisingly, this was not particularly well received.

What is notable is that the thread has elicited a response from Drysc who said "Fair and challenging gameplay? The horror..." This comment opened Drysc (as a Blizzard representative) up to both criticism and support from readers. Some cheered him on for calling out the whining of the original poster, others said that class imbalance makes battlegrounds imbalanced.

You remember that 3v3 Arena tournament we told you about? The one with $200,000 worth of prize money, that's going to be played on private servers full of premade characters and paved with free epics? Well, today Blizzard announced which items you're going to be able to choose from, should you decide to cough up the $20 entrance fee. Let's take a look.

First off, there's high-quality ammo, reagents, bandages, poisons, food, and water. Boring enough. In case you feel the need to look really bad-ass, or to get from place to place faster, you can grab Reins of the Black War Tiger/Horn of the Black War Wolf. All that is fine, but what about actual gear? All the Season 2 Merciless Gladiator gear is available, and all the Tier 5 class sets. There are also selected other items from the tier 5 raids (SSC and TK), as well as some badge loot to fill in the gaps. I'm even seeing the odd T4 raid item, like the Eye of Magtheridon and of Gruul, and some Heroic drops like the Scarab of the Infinite Cycle (these seem to be limited to the accessories).

Once Patch 2.4 goes live, we will most likely be able to queue up for all of the major battlegrounds as premades. There will always be PUGs, since even the three battlegrounds that allow premade groups to play have them. Sideways of Korgath posted a thread on the official forums on the most annoying PUG player archetypes. The original list included:

• The Aloof - This guy appears to be guarding a flag or, but the chickens at the farm in AB are actually doing a better job. It's hard to say whether he's AFK, chatting in vent, or just didn't get enough sleep last night, but a guy caps the flag behind him and he doesn't even notice. If he's in gulch and the enemy flag carrier runs by, he just keeps on doing whatever it is he's doing as if nothing happened.
• The ADD - This type of player just can't live with less than continuous action. The concept of defending a flag is foreign and distasteful to him. Therefore if he is defending something and no enemies show up within 30 seconds, he moves on despite the fact that he is leaving the flag unguarded for a friendly neighborhood rogue to ninja.
• The Instance Mob - This type of player makes you swear aggro generation applied to players. He simply cannot understand why he hasn't been able to kill anything despite the fact that he put forth his best damage attacks against the protection specced shield wearing warrior that had 2 priests, a paladin, and a druid healing him. Much like I expect Rend Blackhand or Nefarian would, he attributes his ineffectiveness to inferior gear.

Our own Zach Yonzon is putting together some great guides to the battlegrounds (WSG is the last one, and Arathi Basin is being worked on as we speak), but just in case that's not enough for you, Digo of Hyjal has written up a great (and succinct) guide to how the premades win battlegrounds. From WSG to AB to EotS to AV, he's got a terrific writeup of what needs to be done and how to do it to walk away from the BG with more marks than the other team.

He markets the guide as one for casuals, but it's got great tips for everybody: fight on the flags, not on the road. Make sure you've got something held before moving on. Send a druid after the flag and control WSG's midfield. Stick together and assist and heal. This is all stuff every single person who queues up for a BG should know (and unfortunately, it's also the same stuff that's yelled in every /bg channel because lots of players don't listen).

Great post, and a must read for anyone routinely going into the battlegrounds. If you aren't doing this stuff already, take the lesson, and do it from now on.

Patch 2.2.2 is coming to the Public Test Realm later today according to Hortus. Instead of Zul'Aman or more Voice Chat testing, Blizzard is putting their October Holiday content up. The first event, Brewfest, is a new holiday for Azeroth. Early reports hint at attack kegs, signalling Dark Iron dwarves, racing rams, and even sausage eating. Sounds suspiciously like the annual German event, Oktoberfest.

After Brewfest, Blizzard will test the Hallows End festivities. Considering this long held event is on the Test server hints that Blizzard may have some new tricks or treats in store for us. Mountable flying brooms have already been spotted in the Test files. Hallows End is scheduled to start October 18th on the Live servers.

I have a short attention span when it comes to games. I want something new and exciting on a fairly regular basis. Anything that stinks of grinding or monotonous play sends me running the other direction (i.e daily quests, faction grinding, key grinding etc.). This is one of the reasons I rolled a Druid. A quick trip to the trainer for a respec and I have a whole new play style to explore.

The problem is, I can't stop respeccing. A couple of weeks of playing one spec, I start fondly remembering how much fun my last one was and before I know it, I've teleported to the Moonglade Druid trainer and find myself digging into my Epic Flight fund for a chance to experience the game from a different play style perspective.

Now I'm on the PTR on premade L70s not only playing an entirely new class, but respeccing those classes as well!

What about you? Are you a respec addict? Why do you change your spec so often?

Premade level 70 characters with "high level raid dungeon equipment" are now available to be copied to the US Public Test Realms.

There are two catches:

1) You have to have The Burning Crusade in order to copy and test these characters because they are level 70.

2) There seems to be a 3 day wait time.

Do you want to play with Patch 2.2 sporting some free epics? Go here and start the copy process. Blizzard asks that you allow the copy process to finish before logging into the Test Realm. There is a Copy Status page where you can check your progress.

This is an excellent opportunity to not only play with the new features (and bugs) in 2.2, but also to try out a class/race combo you may be considering rolling -- all tricked out in purples.

Have fun! ... in 3 days...