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Our legacy Battle.net team is in the process of upgrading the hardware that runs StarCraft, Warcraft II, Warcraft III, and Diablo II. The new servers are of similar specification and ability, but running on a smaller form factor, and modern and more maintainable hardware. Before we roll these out we’ll first be testing the new hardware on a Public Test Realm (PTR) called Stratholme in Warcraft III, and US Test in all other titles. To ensure the latest data is available on the PTR to facilitate testing, we’ll be copying data from Azeroth/USEast which will mean an approximate four hour downtime the morning of May 29.

~9:30 a.m. PDT, May 29 – Azeroth/USEast unavailable for four hours to copy data to PTR
~1:00 p.m. PDT, May 29 – Azeroth/USEast returns, and Stratholme/US Test becomes available for testing with copied data

We anticipate an approximate one to two week testing period of the new hardware, and appreciate your assistance in logging in, playing a bit, and letting us know how it goes. We’ll be creating a new PTR Feedback forum (http://forums.battle.net/index.html?sid=3000) shortly before maintenance on May 29.

We’ll be rolling out the new hardware to Azeroth/USEast first, and will provide further information once we’re ready to begin transitioning over.