Orgrimmar Airport (click to embiggen:)

Looking back towards Orgrimmar from just south of the Durotar to Barrens bridge.

Land of the trolls. They seem to be having some issues with the new Orgrimmar (and Horde) management, under the newly crowned Hellscream.

More coming, along with some build notes.

Apparently the Cataclysm NDA was lifted around the end of June.

You can create new characters, transfer existing ones, or create one from a list of pre-made 80s, with full gear. In the manage games section of your battle.net account you will see a PTR Character Copy link. As of this writing the transfer is pretty much immediate, but your mileage may differ.

We won’t be showing much in the way of spoilers, but we will have screenies and some info. Since it’s so early in the beta process I think we can count on everything changing. Also, since so many people in any beta I’ve ever been in asks if there will be a character wipe when it goes live, I’m assuming that there will be a character wipe. Actually, I’m 100% certain, even though I haven’t looked for a confirming statement.

I predict the the first level 85 characters will appear within 48 hours of Cataclysm going live. After all, who needs sleep?

The character creator is largely unchanged except for some animations and the new races and classes. The Human starting area has a few changes, the Blood Elf areas has none that I saw, but that was a very short look. I haven’t seen the others yet.

Hunters now start with pets, but I’m sure that all of you knew that already.

The Goblin area is cool (haven’t looked a the Worgen area, yet.). Clearly the Devs had fun with this one and a ton of work has been done. I think the RP crowd will like it. There are lots of funny bits, the total disregard for Goblin life, by Goblins, is evident. I thought the Hot Rod was pretty slick, too. I didn’t seen any issues with the Goblin area and so filed no reports. Of course, I expect this area has been pretty well pounded on by this point.

Sexy little guy, isn’t he? Getting read for a party, the smell of money in the background. Those are his party tools in the toolbar.(click to embiggen the pic.  Oh yeah, he’s a Warrior.)

After two more guildmates got hacked last week, I decided to check and change my account security. I’ve used an authenticator since shortly after they were released, which I think is 90% of the protection that can be applied.

The other 10% is a combination of obvious email addresses, spyware, and repeated passwords for different purposes.

Here’s the rest: Account Change to Avoid Hacks

My son’s account has been hacked twice, recently. The first wasn’t so bad. They leveled his DK to 80 and he was able to get his stuff back from Blizzard. He stopped the second before any damage was done.

So we now use the authenticators and I think I may change some account data.

Amazon.com has the authenticator for $50 (!) but if you want to save a few coppers you can get yours from Blizzard for $6.50 (no, that’s not a typo.) Click here’s for the Bliz store.

It’s easy to use. You’ll connect it to your battle.net account (directions are included with the device) and then, every time you log in, you’ll be prompted for the 6 digit code the the authenticator generates. Enter that and in you go.

I read a comment that says the new Ruby Sanctum is too easy.

Ok, does that mean that the raid only wiped twice before completing it? Not at all?

So what makes a raid interesting and what would make it more interesting for the largest group possible?

You have the pro raiders, with the top gear, and the highly practiced skills who will have one view and then you have the casual raiders who probably have a very different point of view.

Is an instance interesting just because it’s hard? Or there’s an interesting set of loot?

So how to improve it, for the largest group of players?

Should raids require completing A, B, and C before entering D? Should one be able to skip A, B, and C if the group just want’s to do D? Should certain raids only be accessible to elite players? How does one prove that one belongs to the elite group?

What makes the raid/fight(s) interesting, in your view? What makes a raid worth doing several times? Such that you might say, “cool,” rather than, “Oh D***, not THAT old thing again…”

Comments? Or should I make up (steal from elsewhere) a few comments and post those?

Beta has begun!!!

—For those of you wondering, you will need approximately 30GB available to download and play!—

Thought I’d post this, as there have been a plethora of threads asking about the “when” and “how” of the beta. I should note that, with few alterations, this has been copied from the Wrath Beta thread put forth by Bornakk last year.

It looks as if Battle.net will, indeed, be the method of choice for opting-in. See the end of this post for how to use it!
——

Q:Where will Blizzard post information about the beta?

A: Blizzard will always post such information on the official forums and the web site. Consider any other site and/or e-mail fraudulent. When in doubt, go to the official website!
——

Q: What is an Opt-In?

A: Rather than randomly select from the player base, Blizz uses the opt-in, where players sign up to play. This ensures only players who express an interest in the beta will be selected for participation.
——

Q: Who is eligible for the Cataclysm Beta opt-in?

A: Any player who has an active World of Warcraft subscription, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, and World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King is eligible. The account must be active when the beta starts in order to be eligible to receive an invitation.
——

Q: How do I know if my account is considered active?

A: You can check the status of your World of Warcraft account at any time by logging in to your Account Management page. Once logged in you will find this information listed under the “Account Information” section.

Your account will be in one of these states:

- Active: This account is active and can be used for playing.
- Canceled: This account will remain available for play until the current subscription expires.
- Frozen: This account is inactive and can not be used for playing.
—–

Q: How do I know if I’ve made it into the beta once I’ve opted-in?

A: Blizzard will send an e-mail that will direct you to the beta download site on the Battle.net site. To be safe, do not follow links in e-mails – go directly to the site manually!
——

Q: Will invites be sent on a first-come, first-served basis, or will invites be sent randomly?

A: Beta invitees will be selected randomly from the entire pool of players who have chosen to opt in. Signing up early doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be invited sooner than someone who signs up after you.
——

Q: Is this the only opportunity I’ll have to get in the Cataclysm beta?

A: No. Keep an eye on the official World of Warcraft site and official fansites for more chances. Wowwiki, Wowhead, and Worldofwar participated for Wrath.
——

Q: How long will opt-in signups be available?

A: Players will be able to opt in until the beta closes.
——

Q: If there are multiple World of Warcraft accounts in my household, can I opt in with each of them?

A: You may, though this doesn’t guarantee every account in the household will be invited.
——

Q: Can I opt in more than once on an single account?

A: You can only opt in once per account. If you try to opt in a second time, you’ll simply get a message saying that the account has already opted in.
——

Q: Are there any character-level requirements to participate?

A: No.
——

Q: Are there any specific system requirements I must meet in order to participate?

A: Short answer: No. However, you will be required to download a program that will send your specs to them (similar to what is contained in your dxdiag). This is to ensure that an adequate sampling of all system types is represented in the testing.

Battle.net Opt-In Procedure :

• 1) go to battle.net
• 2) After logging into the Battle.net account, click the Beta Profile Settings (green) located under Manage My Games.
• 3) Create your Beta Profile by downloading the Beta Opt-in Application.
• 4) Save the System Check file for your chosen operating system. Launch the file to begin loading. Before any system specs will be updated into your Beta Profile Settings, you must agree to the Blizzard Beta Test “Opt-in” Agreement.
• 5) After selecting Agree, the Battle.net System Check will begin. Click the yellow Send button to associate your system specs with the Battle.net account.
• 6) Once the system check is completed and sent, you will be taken to the account management page, where you will be able to view your system specs. You can also decide which beta tests you are interested in. All universes are check-marked by default. To save any changes that are made, click the yellow Update Preferences button.

What happens once invites get sent:

• 1) You’ll receive an invite in your regular email that is associated with your battle.net account (make sure it’s current!)
• 2) Physically go to battle.net – do not follow any links! This minimizes the chances of you following malicious links in fake emails!; Log in to your battle.net account
• 3) Follow the instructions included in your beta invite email!

I’d like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We’ve been constantly monitoring the feedback you’ve given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we’ve decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums. ?

Read the rest is on the WoW forums

Credit where credit is due – I found the reference on Tobalds: Blizzard backpaddles (sic)

Worth a look: Wow Macros

As an aside: I’ve been using Zygor’s guide for awhile and I like it. It’s updated contantly, especially when new patches are launched. IMO it’s pretty good stuff and you can see more remarks on my Zygor Review page.

I haven’t looked at Dugi’s leveling guide at all, so I can’t remark as to how it stands up to Zygors.

There was some back and forth between the two guide groups and Zygor has a response on his public forum here.

Regardless of race or faction affiliation or the quality of your gear!