Lok'Tar!

This is just a general reminder for everyone regarding security programs. It is important for folks to have an updated security program on your computer so as to limit potential network threats. An up-to-date anti-virus/anti-malware program is ideal, and a firewall may also be a good idea to have. For Windows users that may wish to consider a free solution, I would personally recommend Avast! or AVG. Both come with not only anti-virus protection, but also anti-malware as well.

Regarding firewall programs, I'd suggest to take a look at this link. I've used both ZoneAlarm and Comodo (and recently reinstalled Comodo, as I haven't had a firewall program for quite a while). Windows users have the Windows Firewall enabled already, and for the most part the coverage is sufficient for incoming connections. A separate program may be ideal for those who wish to monitor or control outgoing connections as well.

Do you use Chrome or Firefox? One addon I would highly recommend is MaskMe, which can automatically generate random emails and passwords for you to use when registering new accounts at various sites online. The emails it generates can be used at any particular site (you can create an email per site if you wish), so it not only keeps your actual email address private but also is easy to track if that email ends up being sold to marketers or the like. If a particular generated email starts getting spammed, you can remove that address. As I mentioned before, it's also quite helpful in generating strong passwords and can assist you with pasting in the generated email/password on a particular site so you don't have to remember what email/password you used somewhere.

As a related note, if you don't want to do something like above, I highly recommend you do not use the same password for any two different accounts somewhere! And definitely do not ever use the password you have for your email address for any other account, either! I can't believe how often I hear of accounts being 'hacked' or broken into, and whether it's a result of the password being used at more than one site or a result of malware or the like, try to use stronger passwords! This is imperative considering how relatively commonplace it is becoming that even big companies are getting hacked and usernames/emails/credit card info/passwords/etc. are being accessed.

Do you have other suggestions for folks (or other recommended programs, such as Malwarebytes, HijackThis (and its use), Ad-aware, etc.)? Feel free to post a reply!

Just as a note, something that I enabled a while back was a status page showing connectivity of the web site. I didn't really think it was very useful considering it only showed the site and not my server computer, so I didn't share the link. Recently, however, I discovered a workaround of how I could make it work for the server as well.

So, for anyone interested (there's a link in the left menu as well), you can visit the systems status page here. The web site one can be useful if you're unable to connect or if you're getting errors and want to see if it's just you. The server one will be the same thing, though it's really only useful to tell whether connectivity to the server is impacted (since it's not technically checking the server connection port), so when the server program itself crashes, it won't reflect that. It will, however, reflect things such as power or internet outages on my end.

Just for folks that may be interested!

Add: I should note that it usually takes a couple minutes or so for that page to reflect outages!

So, for now, Cataclysm is the 'official' server of the... well, server. Community. However you want to refer to it as! As folks have noticed, all characters start at level 60. Approved characters of Grunt players still get their level-up (to 85 now), and they can still do the quest in the OOC zone for monies (though less than before). One potential use for the money is to be used to purchase a mostly-complete set of gear for your class/spec, and you can use .addrp items as sources for displays to put onto your real gear. Unfortunately, the client has restrictions built-in, so even if I change it in the code we cannot feasibly change how it works.

For folks that may have gotten a Winter Veil Gift this past year, feel free to submit a ticket and we'll re-add the item/title/etc. when possible. We're still in the process of opening up some new RP locations, so keep an eye out in the Custom RP Locations subforum for news regarding them.

I would suggest to check the world and see what quests or dailies are possible. If there's no reliable income sources available (such as the AT dailies), I may create some myself.

The 'official release date' for the Cata server should be sometime on Wednesday! This is mostly because that will be my other day off from work, and the rest of the week I'll have to be working! Therefore, I figured it'd be better to be sooner than later!

I'd highly recommend to get a Cata client if you haven't already! Check the Downloads section of the forums for assistance with that. On Wednesday, at some point I'll bring down the Cata server, wipe the characters database, then bring it up in a locked state as I look for any last changes needed (that I can find). Later on in the day, I'll unlock it and we'll begin the craziness of First Day Shenanigans!

As before, I must stress that the TrinityCata code is still considered to be in an Alpha state. However, because people have been so insistent on Cata, we're going with it anyway! If anything though, this can be an opportunity to provide potential bug fixes for the developers. I also need to remind folks that I cannot change existing prices for items (but I can add a currency requirement on vendors), nor can I otherwise edit normal items (they're all stored in data files now instead of in the database). Also, any custom things with characters (CMCs, potential half-breeds (character/'NPC'), etc.) will not be touched for now.

Remember that characters will start at level 60 on the Cata server! This means bronze tokens are a thing of the past! Once leveled up (with an approved profile), you'll have access to a couple vendors in the GMI manor on the bottom floor to get yourself geared up with a fair amount of ~il333 armor/weapons.

So, I believe the server is in a good enough state to be sufficient for RP. There will still be bugs, and I again stress that the Trinity Cata code is still considered to be in an Alpha state. This means there will be spell and other mechanics bugs. However, as I mentioned, I believe that the stage is ideal for our purposes, so to speak.

Enough gabbin'! Unleash the flood of profiles for Cata! Remember that this will be a "soft reset," meaning a profile rewrite for existing characters is completely optional! You may wish to take this opportunity to change something about an existing character (such as race or class), or perhaps start a character anew (such as one that died or the like). Anyway, now's the time!

The server itself will experience a character wipe before officially "going live," which I anticipate to be sometime next week (or, at latest, the following week).

When creating profiles for the Cata server (for now), BE SURE to select the "Cataclysm" thread prefix!