Greetings, all—

We are currently experiencing intermittent authentication issues which may prevent you from logging into the game at this time. We are aware of the issue and have notified the appropriate parties of your difficulties. Unfortunately, we do not have an ETA to provide at this time; however, I can assure you that we will take every step necessary to address this issue as quickly as possible. The forum reports brought to our attention are being compiled here, on our Customer Service Forum:

Authentication Issues - 07/23/09

Please be aware that we have received several reports that players using Battle.net accounts are not experiencing authentication issues and that signing up for a Battle.net account may get you into the game immediately. That said, signing up for a Battle.net account is entirely optional; we encourage you use your own discretion to determine whether or not creating a Battle.net account is right for you. Should you have any additional questions regarding the Battle.net service, please review the following thread:

Helpful Battle.net Resources - Read Me!!

Again, we consider this our highest priority issue and will update here with any additional information as it becomes available.

Please accept our humble apologies for this interruption.

Shortly we will be bringing down the authentication service to allow for continued troubleshooting and anticipated problem resolution. Thanks again for your patience as we move through this process and we apologize for the frustration and inconvenience this has caused.

At this time, we will be bringing the Authentication servers offline for a reboot. Thanks again for your patience and understanding as we move through this process. I will update this thread when the servers are back online.

The Authentication servers are back on line at this time and accepting logins. Thanks again and enjoy your time in Azeroth and beyond!!