Blizzard technical support teams have just recently announced the discovery of many problems occuring within the realms, and are setting a 2 day period of shut down on several of the realms. Though as tradgic as spending time with real people during the wait period is, remember, you can always make a sign that says "AFK" and hang it around your neck to avoid annoying conversations.

Server Alert
2005/08/16 7:00pm

We've identified an issue we believe has been causing the majority of the problems that have been affecting certain realms over the past couple of weeks. Resolving this matter requires a minor upgrade to our infrastructure whiched is planned for select realms August 17 at 5:00 am, and the remaining realms on Friday, August 19 at 5:00 am. The down time will last approximately 2 hours. In the meantime, we ask that you please remain patient should you encounter latency related issues. Please check the realm status forums for a list of affected realms.