I have currently patched to 3.1.3, I have the realm lists set to the correct listings. It connects right but before I get to the character screen it tells me I need to download a patch and kicks me to the download screen and tries to get me to load the new patch. I disconnect each time but cant figure out how to get past this.

make sure your patchlist is set to same as realm...

Best way to do it is delete everything in the realmlist.wtf, put the two lines we tell you to from the help section, then save it and if you are paranoid you can also make it read-only.

This seems to work, you don't need the other references in that file for all intensive purposes.

ok seems the realm list was my problem. Now its telling me

"your account is authorized for the wraith of the witch king expansion, but the computer you are playing on does not contain wraith of the witch king data. To play on this machine with this account you must install the wraith of the witch king."

Seems it will not let me play with out it and i will need to see about finding someone with it to borrow and download. Unless you all know away around this.

what does your realmlist.wtf file look like? (found in "../World of Warcraft/Data/[GAME_VERSION]/realmlist.wtf")

this is what is currently in my realm list

set realmlist wow.embersofthelegion.net

set patchlist wow.embersofthelegion.net

Go to embersofthelegion.net, click Account Management (Top-Right), scroll to the bottom and select TBC if you have The Burning Crusade or NON-TBC if you don't have any expansions.

Did this work?

your brilliant Nayana, that worked.

Now I just need to remember how to join the world channel.

/join world, sometimes it's channel 2, 5, 6, it's pretty much random first-come first-server based on other channels.

Let us know if you have any problems in-game!

got it thanks for all the help.