An update on Matt's post from yesterday - we've learned that some World of Warcraft realms are currently still down, and while Blizzard have identified the problem, and are working on it - they don't know when the realms will be coming back.

It seems that, following standard maintenance last night, Blizzard encountered "a serious error" on certain realms - plus running into issues with the launcher not updating game clients to 3.1.3..

However! Don't freak out too much - Blizzard have gone on the record as considering "appropriate compensation" for gamers affected by the additional downtime.

Update! Blue poster Nethaera explains:

We are continuing to work on the maintenance and patching for these realms. Once we have completed those procedures, we will be able to evaluate whether or not there are any lingering issues. We currently have no estimate on when these realms will be available for play...

As of now (9:40 Pacific), they're starting to bring the realms live again - "We anticipate that the whole process should take no longer than 2 hours."

Affected Realms (Oceanic realms in bold)
Aegwynn Akama Aman'Thul Arathor Azjol-Nerub Barthilas Blackrock Bloodscalp Bonechewer Boulderfist Bronzebeard Caelestrasz Chromaggus Crushridge Daggerspine Darkspear Dath'Remar Draenor Dragonblight Dragonmaw Draka Drak'thul Dreadmaul Dunemaul	Eitrigg Eldre'Thalas Feathermoon Firetree Frostmane Frostmourne Frostwolf Garithos Gundrak Gurubashi Hakkar Jubei'Thos Khaz Modan Khaz'goroth Kil'jaeden Kilrogg Korgath Kul Tiras Malorne Mug'thol Muradin Nagrand Nathrezim Ner'zhul	Perenolde Proudmoore Rexxar Runetotem Saurfang Scarlet Crusade Sen'jin Shadow Council Shadowsong Silver Hand Silvermoon Skywall Smolderthorn Spirestone Stonemaul Stormscale Suramar Terenas Thaurissan Thorium Brotherhood Tichondrius Uldum Vek'nilash Windrunner

Apparently what happened is that network improvements intended to update all realms prompted a connection error, which took some time to identify, and then more time to fix. Good news: This error has now been fixed, mainly. Bad news: The affected realms will still need to undergo regular scheduled maintenance and patching, so you're still in for a bit of a wait.

Nethaera continues:

We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding.

Also, we're now learning that even if your realm is not one of the ones listed, you'll be subjected to rolling restarts as they sort out some Talent issues.

We're crossing our fingers for a speedy resolution - and should receive a further update from Blizzard in about an hour.