Because of a recent remark made by Activision-Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick about raising the price of video games (and, perhaps, the recent news that StarCraft II’s release is being pushed back until 2010), some gamers and MMO fans are on the verge of an all-out, nerd-rage meltdown.

But is the anger really justified? Or is this just another example of the anonymous online collective banding together for a quick “screw the Man” tirade, only to dissipate and retreat to its usual consumer habits a few weeks later?

In a conference call between research analysts and Activision-Blizzard last week, one of the analysts—Tony Gikas—asked about the company’s “comfort level” regarding its new, higher-priced games. (He was referring to games like Guitar Hero, which are bundled with special controllers or peripherals.)

Activision CEO Kotick replied, “You know if it was left to me, I would raise the prices even further,” according to the transcription from the conference call (via vg247.com). As you can imagine, if you haven’t already seen the resulting blowback from the community, a whirlwind of accusations and speculation ensued.

Some websites and blogs reported the story with a level-headed approach, while others pretty much demonized the CEO, accusing him of devaluing customer loyalty for the sake of pure greed. One guy,(”James” of WeDoTech.net, even called for a boycott of all Activision properties in a video that’s been making its way through the blog circuit. He claims Kotick and Activision-Blizzard are setting a harmful example within the industry, and placing us in danger of a gaming price-fixing fiasco reminiscent of the late 80s.

This isn’t the first time Kotick has met opposition from the media and gaming communities; he’s been quoted as saying that Activision-Blizzard doesn’t consider a game worth publishing unless it has “the potential to be exploited every year on every platform with clear sequel potential and have the potential to become $100 million dollar franchises,” according to MTV Multiplayer.

Another scathing—yet truthful?—commentary comes from a classic ArsTechnica editorial, written by Ben Kuchera back in January:

With Kotick, he’s very brazen about his need to squeeze every last dollar he can out of every franchise under the Activision Blizzard label. He wants to exploit his games. He wants to make sure he has a sequel every year, and don’t forget the Wii and DS ports. Why have one StarCraft game if you can have three? Just because people are used to Battle.net being free doesn’t mean you can’t find some way to make more money from the service.

World of Warcraft may look like it will go on forever, but the only thing greater than the loyalty of those players is Kotick’s cash-lust. The only question is if the two will ever collide.

As an MMO fan, it’s a bit easier to turn a blind eye when you’re confronted with news and commentary like these, especially if you only play PC games and don’t dabble in the console market. But don’t mistake MMO or PC properties as inherently immune to the same issues and concerns that the console gaming community faces.

It used to be that the traditional, “living room gaming” market; i.e., console games, utterly decimated PC games, in terms of sales. In recent years, the gap between the two has significantly started to narrow. The whole Activision-Blizzard entity is, itself, a testament to that fact. Admittedly, Activision-Blizzard makes for an easier target to exemplify this concept, but the same is true with companies such as Electronic Arts, Atari and Sony; console and PC gaming have become bedfellows, both sharing a single publisher or developer.

That also means the successes or failures of each industry within a company like Activision-Blizzard aren’t as insulated from each other as they were in the past. To illustrate that dynamic, consider the pushback of StarCraft II’s release date. Activision-Blizzard explained the reason for the delay, claiming it needed to work on the Battle.net service before it launches the game. A portion of the official release:

Over the past couple of weeks, it has become clear that it will take longer than expected to prepare the new Battle.net for the launch of the game. The upgraded Battle.net is an integral part of the StarCraft II experience and will be an essential part of all of our games moving forward. This extra development time will be critical to help us realize our vision for the service.

According to Kotaku’s coverage of the story, Activision-Blizzard is forecasting its global revenue in 2009 lower than it originally predicted—and partly due to StarCraft II’s new release date. The upcoming StarCraft II trilogy will no doubt be a money-making cash cow, and it’s no surprise that Activision-Blizzard wants to make sure Battle.net is working optimally by the time the game launches. You have to wonder, though—would things be different if the two industries weren’t so intertwined as they now are, relying on each other’s success and affected by each other’s failure?

Sometimes it’s difficult to remember that a video game publisher’s sole reason for existence in this world is to make money, especially with the kind of media coverage we’re privy to online. It can be tough for many gamers to see anything but the color red when they have honest issues and concerns as consumers, yet stumble upon an itemized report of Kotick’s $15 million salary for 2008.

“[...] once we say ‘tanking niches’ players have visions of the DK who parks outside of Icecrown until boss 4, 17 and 31 (yes, IC is that big),” he wrote. When you consider that dungeons the size of Karazhan only featured half as many bosses, it leads you to believe that Icecrown Citadel could be the largest instanced structure we’ve ever seen.

When it comes to “leaked” information, WoW.com has hit just about as many as it’s missed. That’s why we’re reporting that they’ve reported inside sources have leaked the big one, and “confirmed” to the website what the next playable races in WoW will be (and for which faction). You can check out the site’s post here, or click through to the jump if you’d like to know what WoW.com claims the next playable races will be.

Quoted directly from WoW.com:

Our sources have told us that the new races of Cataclysm will be:

Worgen – Alliance

Goblin – Horde

In addition, Blizzard is celebrating the release of episode 10 with a contest. All you need to do is answer five questions pertaining to the interview and you could win a “Blood Elf Rogue vs. Draeni Paladin” diorama from Sideshow Collectibles, which is worth $299. Check out the rules and submit your answers here. You can find the questions after the jump.

It’s been a little while since our last BlizzCast, and we’re celebrating its return with a brand-new contest.

Are you a BlizzCast enthusiast? Have you downloaded every episode within minutes of its release? Do you take notes to distribute amongst your guild? Well then, this is the opportunity you’ve been waiting for. Listen carefully to BlizzCast 10, answer the questions below, and you may just win yourself a fantastic prize.

1) Who was the interviewer in this BlizzCast?

2) For what purpose or purposes is Tirion Fordring running the Argent Tournament?

3) How did the Tribute system come into being?

4) What was Senior Game Designer Dave Maldonado looking forward to in patch 3.2, Call of the Crusade?

5) Why is Lead Encounter Designer Scott Mercer so excited to go to BlizzCon?

Check out the Contest Rules and submit your answers here: http://www.blizzard.com/submission/contest-form.html?contestId=7

Contest Rules: http://www.blizzard.com/us/misc/contests/blizzcast/index.html

There’s also two noteworthy hotfixes that were discussed in detail in other threads. Heal over time spells now trigger HoT-related effects, even when the target has full health. Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street talked about this change in a thread about Val’anyr: “This means that effects that were able to proc from HoT ticks that did some healing can now also proc from HoT ticks that overheal completely. The most notable such effect is that Val’anyr’s absorb shield should now work as advertised.”

Also, Crygil made a long post about changes to Hot Streak for mages. Here’s the final result: “Hot Streak triggers exactly as stated in its tooltip: ‘2 non-periodic spell criticals in a row using Fireball, Fire Blast, Scorch, Living Bomb, or Frostfire Bolt.’ Only non-periodic damage interacts with it, and only those spells listed. Periodics do not affect the streak in any way. Direct damage from the listed spells always count, for or against the streak.”

8/8/2009

• Prayer of Mending will now trigger Divine Aegis on the healed target and not the priest who cast Prayer of Mending.
• Players on vehicles, when the Isle of Conquest battleground ends, will now properly receive the appropriate number of Isle of Conquest Marks of Honor.
• General Vezax will now cast Shadow Crash slightly less frequently. He will also refrain from casting Searing Flames multiple times in succession.
• Hand of Reckoning is no longer able to be used on targets that are immune to taunt, including players.

8/6/2009

• Alchemist transmutes, while in raids, will now count towards quest completion.
• Steam-Powered Auctioneers are no longer attackable.
• The Generals in Isle of Conquest now do less damage.
• Druid, Priest and Shaman heal over time spells now appropriately trigger heal over time related effects, even when the target has full health.
• Mage Hot Streak Update:
  http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=19110153306&sid=1

Whether you like the Prince of Darkness or not, BlizzCon will be filled with all sorts of news and announcements. You can find out how to order either the DirecTV footage or the Internet stream in our preview guide to BlizzCon. Also, keep an eye out for our coverage on ZAM.com during the event.

You can also check out WaxPaper’s excellent BlizzCon guide over here!

The weapon damage and armor of items in the 5-man heroic Coliseum have been updated to match their levels, and epic gem recipes are now available from Aldor and Scryer vendors in Shattrath. You can check out all nine fixes after the jump.

• The weapon damage and armor of items dropped in the 5-man Coliseum Heroic version have been updated to match their item level.
• Using Braxley’s Backyard Moonshine will no longer trigger the regurgitation animation.
• Wintergrasp Commendation and Commendation of Bravery can no longer be used inside any battlegrounds.
• Kel’Thuzad should no longer cause some players to disconnect during the encounter.
• Reginald Arcfire will no longer grant Horde players access to the Alliance auction house.
• Epic gem recipes are now available from the following vendors in Shattrath:

  Kirembri Silvermane (Scryer)
  Nemiha (Aldor)
  Inessera (Aldor)

• XT-002 Deconstructor will now spawn in fewer adds.
• The Black Knight will now drop a Frozen Orb in heroic difficulty.
• Razorgore can once again be controlled multiple times and defeated appropriately.

Ozzy told Classic Rock magazine in June he was looking for a new guitarist to replace Wylde, although Wylde said in an interview with a radio station on July 29 he’s never even gotten a phone call from Ozzy about being replaced.

So will Ozzy be at BlizzCon? The Blabbermouth article emphasizes “this information has not yet been corroborated by anyone in the Osbourne camp and should be treated as a rumor only.” So only time will tell to see if this actually happens. Members of the ZAM team will be on the floor at BlizzCon, so we’ll be sure to keep an eye out for the Prince of Darkness.

Since this is a content update and not an expansion, don’t expect to see an opening cinematic. Instead, you’ll see in-game footage of massive dungeon fights and the Isle of Conquest battleground. If you’d rather see it in HD, you can download it for PC and Mac from the official site.

Imagine a game that has innovative combat, amazing graphics, in depth PvP, and has had months of polish. This is what Age of Conan fans had been hoping for prior to the release of AoC and many…

read more

It has been more than a year since the launch of Age of Conan and a lot has changed! Ten Ton Hammer is taking a long hard look at the evolution of AoC and sharing which game features have changed…

read more

Although tickets to the convention sold out in minutes, you can still join in with the
live Internet stream or via DIRECTV Pay Per View. The Virtual Ticket will feature 18 hours of BlizzCon coverage, including Ozzy’s live performance, as well as the BlizzCon 2009
exclusive in-game pet: Grunty the Murloc Marine.

Check out the to learn more.

Check out now!

It’s been a little while since our last BlizzCast, and we’re celebrating its return with a brand-new
contest. Are you a BlizzCast enthusiast? Have you downloaded every episode within minutes of its
release? Do you take notes to distribute amongst your guild? Well then, this is the opportunity you’ve
been waiting for. Listen carefully to BlizzCast #10, answer the questions below, and you may just win
yourself a fantastic prize.

Check out the and .

Responses to the implementation of Patch 3.2 have been pretty mixed. I’ve been trying to see as much of it as I can. I loved Children’s Week, for example, but over the weekend, I ventured into Trial of the Champion, the new 5-man content in the Crusaders’ Coliseum. My curiosity had been piqued by talk of Hogger as a raid boss and whispers of the power to fight Illidan and Lucifron. Now, having never ventured into either Molton Core or Black Temple, I was quite keen to experience the encounter for myself. So I grouped with my guildies (who all seem quite addicted to the quick runs, easy fight and shiny loot) and headed into the unknown.

I was already aware that Trial of the Champion sees you fighting a bunch of champions on horseback, then getting either Eadric the Pure of High Confessor Paletress. We, luckily, got the latter. I like Paletress. She’s an intriguing character as well as an epitome of goodness who’s not afraid to fight for her beliefs. She also has the coolest attack in the Trial: she summons the memory of a past encounter. This was the bit I was waiting for and when Onyxia appeared, I was momentarily stunned.

Continue reading How the “Summon Memory” fight in the Trial of the Champion should have been done

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Bosses

How the “Summon Memory” fight in the Trial of the Champion should have been done originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 20:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There are all kinds of great little tidbits in here: originally, Warcraft III was planned with the over-the-shoulder look that WoW now has, and that’s one of the reasons they wanted to create a more straightforward RPG game. Tom Chilton showed up on the team about a year before WoW’s release, and to his surprise, the game was almost completely unfinished — the level cap was only 15, the talent system wasn’t implemented, the AH or mail systems weren’t in, PvP wasn’t in at all (of course, even at release it was pretty barebones), and endgame raiding was nonexistent. Most of the things we think of as intrinsic to the World of Warcraft — even things like the Horde and Alliance not speaking to each other — were debated and almost not in at all as they moved towards release.

Continue reading The making of the World of Warcraft

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, Instances, Raiding, Interviews

The making of the World of Warcraft originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

• Gray Matter has a great post on Moonkin Leveling Spec and Glyphs.
• Patch 3.2 Impressions are all Shamantastic over at Shamantics
• OutDPS has a guide on how to use a great online Hunter DPS spreadsheet.
• Oxhorn’s take on the new races [spoilers].
  
• Finally, I provided some clarification last night on my personal blog as to why WoW.com does not reveal its sources in things like the Patch 3.2 release date or yesterday’s Cataclysm announcement.

Filed under: Druid, Hunter, Shaman, The Daily Quest, Cataclysm

The Daily Quest: Moonkins Anonymous originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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My reasoning isn’t to nerf Holy Paladins as healers. I love all healers equally. Rather, my idea here is to incorporate a class design that’s been picking up steam since the end of Burning Crusade. Back before patch 3.0 dropped, two Paladin specs wore spell plate, Holy and Protection. Since that was two specs out of a possible six plate wearing talent specializations (2/6 = 1/3 = roughly 33 percent, I’m not doing a repeating) that meant that there was a fairly sizable minority that wanted the stuff.

Flash forward to Wrath of the Lich King. There are now three plate wearing classes. Two of them (six total talent specs) have absolutely no use for spell plate. The one class that does use spell plate? Well, the Protection tree was revamped, so tanking Paladins don’t wear it. Retribution has been giving spell plate the stink eye forever. So we now have 1 out of 9 possible specs wearing the stuff, and yet it drops everywhere. There’s no reason spell plate needs to exist, much less be a protected species by Blizzard when they went out of their way to do away with tanking leather, for example.

Continue reading Death to spell power plate

Filed under: Paladin, Items, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, News items, PvP, Forums, Arena

Death to spell power plate originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plus, who knows what else we’ll see there — in the past, we’ve seen some great displays from Blizzard partners, and even a real-life server protest a few years back. Gen Con is one of the biggest gatherings of gamers in the country, and wherever there are gamers, odds are we’ll find World of Warcraft. It’ll be my first time seeing the convention this weekend, and I’m really looking forward to it.

Filed under: Events, Fan stuff, WoW Social Conventions, News items, Quests, WoW TCG

Upper Deck finalizes Gen Con plans originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A few things about this Warcraft-flavored PC casemod, seen over on this Chinese website. First: it’s awesome. Warcraft art is faithfully recreated, and as you can see, there’s a nice Horde montage on one side, Alliance on the other, and the Dark Portal sitting right there in front. Second: it’s probably pretty old — most of that art is from the game’s original release four years ago.

So it’s probably not exactly the latest and greatest in Warcraft PC designs (though it might be a little later than the ghost train pirate art). But still, it looks great. And I definitely wouldn’t mind wandering around Azeroth on that rather than my current gigantic black tower of a PC.

Update: Turns out the case is for sale. That is, if you want to spend $299 on a case.

[via Technabob]

Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Human, Orcs, Mage, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, NPCs, Galleries

Chinese Warcraft casemod is awesome originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MMOsite.com has nabbed some pictures of the return to the Chinese World of Warcraft. As you know if you’ve been paying attention, the game has been offline over there for a few months now, but the game just recently got approved to go back online, and so they’re in the middle of a “partial relaunch” (which I believe is taking the form of a closed beta) and the servers are crowding up again. As you can see, there’s a stampede (much like ours) going on in Thunder Bluff — looks like players are happy to be online again.

They also have some comparison images of the censorship found over there. Anything with skulls or bones on it is out, and the offending images have been replaced with piles of dirt and bags and debris. Blood appears as black oil rather than red liquid, and even player corpses are out. As you can see, everywhere players die, there are instead little graves and tombstones around. Very interesting. No idea if this actually “helps” in China (or what the point of the censorship is — seems as though it’s a cultural thing, more like it’s a respect for death and dead bodies rather than worrying about whether people will be disturbed by the mention of violence), but of course the government over there has final say on what goes into the game, and apparently this is what they approved. Hopefully Chinese players will be headed back to Northrend before long.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Leveling

Chinese WoW partial relaunch pics, comparison shots of censorship originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The video embedded in today’s edition of The Queue isn’t a silly music video this time around, I’m afraid. No funny business today. Today is for game faces. Today is for serious business. Today is for italic letters.

Sashay asked…

“I have found a glitch that has caused many people to have their hearts broken.

This glitch is the “underground” mining technique that people use so they will not be attacked by enemies. Does this happen because they found a “Under Stormwind” glitch somewhere in Northrend? Maybe they put their toon in the tourney castle before it was built and now they are under everything?”

Continue reading The Queue: Exploits and dirty cheats

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Death Knight, The Queue

The Queue: Exploits and dirty cheats originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items, Arena

Arena Season 6 to end soon originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Baron Soosdon has created another entertaining, fun location, though this one is wildly different from the paradise he put together for Happy Up Here. I think if the Shortchange were an actual, functioning dance space is Azeroth, you could probably find dozens of Alliance jostling to get in.

I continue to be amazed at how well Soosdon pieces his musical choice together with the video he puts on screen. The rhythm, words, and general vibe of the music matches the thriving, vibrant graphics. Ultimately, this video was awesome, and is going to be one I replay frequently.

In case the embedded video doesn’t work out for you, you can check out a few different streams on the Baron’s blog.

Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch

WoW Moviewatch: Warriors Dance originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Happy Tuesday to our European readers! We’re nearly halfway through August, BlizzCon is just 10 days away and we already know what races we’ll be playing in the next expansion. The sun is shining and the internet is thrumming with promise of something Cataclysmic approaching. It can’t get any better than that! I’m already thinking of names for my alts. Any suggestions?

(Note to self: hyperactivity in posts is not a good thing. You might want to start drinking coffee to mask the new-expansion-news-high.)

But back to reality for a minute. As usual, the middle of the week is once more upon us. Fortunately things are starting to calm down. Blizzard have just announced scheduled maintenance for tomorrow with all European realms will be offline from 3:00am until 11:00am (CEST). On top of this, a selection of ‘lucky’ realms will be undergoing an extended maintenance from 1:00am until 11:00am (CEST):

Alonsus, Anachronos, Bronze Dragonflight, Burning Steppes, Darkmoon Faire, Darkspear, Kor’gall and Lightbringer.

That said, it’s not too bad as extended down time goes. But as always there’s plenty to do in the meantime, especially as we’ve told you which faction will be getting which race in Cataclysm. Daniel W. has a great post summing everything up from news to hints about Patch 3.3.

Filed under: Realm News, Realm Status, Blizzard, News items, Expansions, Europe

European weekly maintenance: 12th August 2009 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Prince of F!@$#ng Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, has officially been announced as headlining the closing concert at BlizzCon this year. We’ve previously reported on this, both in the rumor mill and then from a DirecTV listing.

The DirecTV listing has since been changed to remove any reference to Ozzy, however it appears they jumped the gun on the announcement initially.

The press announcement of the closing concert, which was just released this morning, doesn’t give many details of anything special that will happen. Other than “Ozzy will unleash a thunderous spectacle of rock to put the Lich King in his place and cement his own title as the one true Prince of Darkness.” Morhaime goes on to say that “Many of us at Blizzard are lifelong fans of Ozzy’s music, and we’re thrilled that he’ll be performing for all of our BlizzCon attendees…”

So there you have it. Rumor confirmed! I wonder what else might be announced… WoW.com will let you know!

Edit: Check out the Ozzy splash at the World of Warcraft Homepage.

BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We’ve got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there’s some great looking costumes.

Filed under: Events, News items, BlizzCon

Blizzard officially announces Ozzy at BlizzCon 2009 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some things should be taken literally. Some things should not. Arinod of the <Armored Bear Cavalry> on Kargath US seems to have discovered one of those things that should not. Avinrod, the dashing fellow in the foreground, woke up one day to find the slightly-less-dashing fellow in the background following him around. No matter how many people tell the poor guy that’s not what Shadow Priest means… well. Shadows can’t hear, apparently. Avin, my friend, it might be time to look into a restraining order.

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wow.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, gold seller ads with dead gnomes any race at all, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.

Filed under: Around Azeroth

Around Azeroth: Me and my shadow originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sometimes you’d like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all those other shiny MMOs! Check out this roundup of the latest news from the wider MMO world.

	Final Fantasy XIV’s first jobs and race names revealed New information is dropping rapidly on this game. Now, Final Fantasy XIV’s race names and first classes have been revealed. Hmm, maybe those rumors of an earlier than expected beta carried more weight to them than we thought.
	Former Warhammer Online GM gives perspective on game’s decline At Massively we must often report on declining subscription numbers and subsequent layoffs in the MMO industry, just as we do when the games we love are healthy and growing. When you look beyond the numbers though, such industry statistics are ultimately about people whose lives have been negatively impacted. They face uncertainty in their career and likely have tough times ahead.
	The Daze of Darkfall epilogue: The Siege of Andruk So I thought I was done with my whole “month long investigation of Darkfall.” Best way to end out the series was to include some PvP being lead by Wardragon Drow (*gasp*, a last name, and I’ll get to that in a second) and then close it off there. Well, sadly, Darkfall had one more surprise left for me. Or, should I say, the Blackrock Clan had one more surprise for me. A siege.
	Choose my Adventure: Lord of the Rings Online With our Guild Wars adventures behind us, it’s now time to branch out into our next game for the Choose my Adventure series. According to your votes accumulated this week, Lord of the Rings Online will be my next game to explore, with a little help from you, the readers. You also voted to keep the format the same, so I’m happy to hear that it’s been working well so far.

Continue reading MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Features

MMO Roundup: Last week on Massively originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The first crack in that sense of disdain for the class was the starting zone experience. Anyone who’s done it knows it’s one heck of a well designed start to finish piece of gameplay. It was so well done, in fact, that I actually rerolled several DK’s in an attempt to find the one race I really liked, secure in the knowledge that not only would I start at level 55 and be Outland ready by the end, but I’d enjoy the trip. After that, I blew through Outland on a Tauren, Gnome, Draenei and Dwarf before finally settling on my Night Elf here. Heirloom shoulders made the already painless starting zone even more rapid and Outland fell away like a solid fuel booster rocket lifting me to Northrend before I’d even finished Nagrand.

Now here I am at level 80, and for once I actually have a third alt at max level (not counting the old days when I had four level 60/level 70 warriors – I’m sad to report I only have three 80 warriors now) of a different class. Gearing the DK’s been interesting, and as I’ve run myself through various content my DPS has been steadily increasing, my understanding of my specs steadily expanding (frankly, I love Blood as a DPS spec, it has so many cooldowns for AoE damage and a nice bag of tricks without being as fiddly as Unholy, and I can’t say enough good things about Frost as a tank spec) – I have to admit, I’ve totally turned around on DKs. They’re awfully broken in my eyes (even after the most recent nerfs to their cooldowns and tanking health) but I cannot pretend to be having a bad time playing the class.

So now I turn to you. What class turned out to be a surprise hit with you once you tried it out?

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast topics, Alts, Death Knight

Breakfast Topic: Loving the class you hate originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It would be pretty fun to roll up a Priest of Janeiro and have some fun with a Ferengi-like religion of greed that believes that he with the most toys is blessed by Heaven and that not only can you take it with you, you’d better take it with you so that you can bribe your way into a better afterlife.

But anyway, leaks aside, there’s plenty of other news to read up on this morning during the 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific downtime. Patch 3.2’s been out for a week, and if you haven’t been able to keep abreast of all the changes, you’ll probably want to take a peek at a few of our guides.

Check out those and more stories below:

Continue reading Tuesday Morning Post: Have I got a leak for you Edition

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Realm Status, Odds and ends, News items

Tuesday Morning Post: Have I got a leak for you Edition originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Downtime is scheduled to start at 5:00AM PDT/8:00AM EDT and end at approximately 11:00AM PDT/2:00PM EST. This is, of course, assuming no extra maintenance time is tacked on due to issues.

Disclaimer: Patch 3.3 is not coming out today. But, you can certainly read up on the new additions to the game with Patch 3.2 in our Guide to Patch 3.2 if you need to kill some time whilst you wait for your server(s) to come back up.

Filed under: Realm News, Realm Status

Weekly Maintenance – August 11th, 2009 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

• Ladies and gentlemen, behold. This is the most important addon you will ever find in your entire World of Warcraft career: Iron Chef.
• 4 Haelz has some tips for Resto Druids looking to tackle the Northrend Beasts in the new raid zone.
• And for you Hunters, OutDPS has a guide for you, too.
• Too Many Annas has posted the first place winner of the A Midsummer Night’s RP writing contest.
• Into esports? Then check out the details for MLG’s upcoming World of Warcraft tourney in Dallas.

Filed under: The Daily Quest

The Daily Quest: Could use a bell pepper right now originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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BlizzCon approaches! Preparing for BlizzCon is your regular source for tips on how best to prepare for Blizzard’s gaming extravaganza. These helpful hints are particularly suited for convention rookies. But if you are a con veteran, we’d love to hear your advice and wisdom in the comments as well.

Backpack, messenger bag, extra large purse — whatever you are toting into the Anaheim Convention Center should be filled with a few basic things in order to get the most from BlizzCon. The catch is that it cannot be any bigger than 10″x20″ and it cannot contain any of the following:

• Desktop computers, laptops, electronic storage devices (unless you have a press pass)
• Glass bottles, cans, large containers (this limits some of your food options should you choose to carry-in)
• Alcohol (leave your cool flask or teeny airplane booze bottles in your hotel room)
• Weapons and fireworks (Captain Obvious is making giggle noises.)

Join us after the break for what you can and should stuff in your BlizzCon-bag.

Continue reading Preparing for BlizzCon: What to pack in your backpack

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events, BlizzCon

Preparing for BlizzCon: What to pack in your backpack originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by contacting our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) — not-for-profit work only, please.

Who doesn’t love original artwork that expresses the essence of your character? We were captivated by the character sketch Elnore of Argent Dawn-US sent us to go with her recent profile in 15 Minutes of Fame. As it turns out, the guildmate behind the artwork has just begun to accumulate a small portfolio of simple sketches.

“I’ve been sketching since I can remember, really, but not seriously until I was a teenager,” says Aigie. “I enjoy challenging myself with different perspectives and the process at which I got from point A to point B. This is why I use Artpad for most of my sketching. Sure, it’s not the top of the line program and it’s free — but it has a replay button, and you can see the logical process in which my work evolves. (And did I mention it was free? Hehe.)”

Continue reading World of WarCrafts: Aigie’s character sketches

Filed under: Fan stuff, Features, World of WarCrafts

World of WarCrafts: Aigie’s character sketches originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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They also look forward to BlizzCon: all of the developer panels and meetings that go on there, both from the perspective of fans (hey, we actually can be literate and reasonable instead of QQing all the time!) and from developers (turns out they are “not just blue text” — who knew?!). It’s not a super groundbreaking podcast, but as a wrapup to the release of 3.2 and a short preview to BlizzCon, it works just fine. And there’s a bonus: Zarhym is offering up a contest — answer some questions about the podcast after you listen to it, and you could win a “fabulous prize.” The rules give away what the prize is: a Draenei vs. Blood Elf diorama or some action figures.

And remember, if you’ve missed any of the BlizzCast episodes so far, you can find them both in iTunes or over on Blizzard’s site, or just read our wrapups here on WoW.com.

Filed under: Podcasting, Blizzard, News items, Instances, Bosses, BlizzCon, Battlegrounds

BlizzCast episode 10 released originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Of course we answered your emails as well — we talked with Michael Sacco about the “Additional instances can’t be launched” issue that’s going around (that I got hit with for the first time yesterday, actually), and a reader emailed us about BRK’s gun — so awesome to see our friend get recognized, and deservedly so. It was an excellent show, in my humble opinion, and a great way to squeeze a week’s worth of WoW news into just one hour.

This week, the podcast will be at a special time — we’ll be going live on Thursday at 1pm Eastern. That’s a little earlier than we usually do it, but it should give our friends overseas a chance to tune in when they might not have been able to before (and if you can’t make it live, don’t worry, the recording will be in iTunes soon after). See you then!

Get the podcast:
[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Podcasts, Podcasting, Fan stuff, Virtual selves, Instances, Humor, Classes, NPCs, WoW Insider Show

WoW Insider Show Episode 102: Stupid big-tongues originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW. What exactly is Lightwell? How is it used? Why does no one use it?

Oh Lightwell. The things you could have been. Misunderstood by many and under-talented by a large number of Priests. Will you ever see raids?

Perhaps not. But we can try!

Lightwell

The first thing Lightwell novices need to understand is the purpose of the spell. It creates a Holy Lightwell wherever you want it that any player can interact with. A player who uses it gains a charge that heals them for more than 4500 health over a period of 6 seconds. It’s got a 40 yard placement range. Be sure you pick up the Lightwell glyph for it. A 20% boost to Lightwell ticks go a long way and will help make this talent even more worthwhile.

There is a slight downside. If the player under the effect of a Lightwell charge takes a hit that’s 30% of their total health, the effect disappears.

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: A Lightwell primer

Filed under: Priest, Tips, Tricks, Raiding, Talents, (Priest) Spiritual Guidance

Spiritual Guidance: A Lightwell primer originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW.com has learned through multiple sources close to the situation some details on the next expansion, to be called World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

As we’re getting into the season of news and information, all major leaks and spoilers will be happening after the break. If you don’t want your surprises ruined for you, don’t read this post. If you want to know, click after the break and enjoy. This policy worked well for us during the testing phase of Wrath of the Lich King and we’re pleased to continue it now.

After the break, the new playable races of Cataclysm.

Continue reading Cataclysm races leaked

Filed under: News items, Cataclysm

Cataclysm races leaked originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers’ Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

Every raid leader has this moment. You’re trying to get the raid ready for a boss attempt, but you just can’t get people to focus. Someone’s taking a quick bio. Two people are still arguing over the loot from three bosses ago. Another person is whispering you ill-conceived advice for changing your strategy. People seem to be more interested in listening to your healing lead talk in Vent about a movie she just saw than they are in buffing or putting on resist gear. Then someone that you can’t replace DC’s for the eighth time that night and you just snap.

You wonder if it’s worth it. You wonder what it would be like to be a grunt rather than a general. Someone who just follows orders and doesn’t have to worry about anyone but themselves. Sprinkle in some real-life stress in your life and retiring from raid leading suddenly seems very appealing. This week, one officer wonders how to give up his general’s stripes without causing too much fuss.

‘Lo there,

The issue, in part, is that RL has started rearing its ugly head, and my work hours have been slowly increasing. [. . .]

Continue reading Officers’ Quarters: The raid leader retirement plan

Filed under: (Guild Leadership) Officers’ Quarters

Officers’ Quarters: The raid leader retirement plan originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This video was absolutely gorgeous. It’s filled with brilliant and breathtaking views. The technical aspects of Snoman’s work are leaps and bounds above much machinima, and every angle and scene shows off his incredible eye for detail. I’m usually hesitant to use words like “gorgeous,” but I can think of few videos that deserve it as much as Shining Dreamscape.

Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, WoW Moviewatch

WoW Moviewatch: Shining Dreamscape originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com’s daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.

So welcome back to a full week of The Queue folk, and indeed this week will be a full one for The Queue. As Alex and I have mentioned before, when patches roll around and other big things come up our availability to spend a couple hours writing The Queue and The Daily Quest diminishes significantly. But this week nothing is on the radar, so here we are.

Next week though, The Queue and The Daily Quest will only appear Monday and Tuesday; unless something unexpected happens. We have to prepare for BlizzCon and actually spend a few hours away from our computers packing and all that. But this week? We’re all Queue’d off and roaring to go.

Milesdfreeman asked…

“Do we know anything about Patch 3.3 yet? What raids if any will it have? New features?”

Continue reading The Queue: Wherein The Queue has as much consistency as Smodcast

Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, The Queue, Cataclysm

The Queue: Wherein The Queue has as much consistency as Smodcast originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I found this picture that reader Murkowsky sent in while browsing through the archives. It’s of an honest attempt at a fireworks show, complete with many people setting off many different fireworks at the right time. All this happened on the realm Gnomeregan last July. I actually think I was around watching it too. Small world! The shot is nicely timed and the fireworks are nicely placed. Oohhh, ahhhh! That’s amazing!

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, gold seller ads with dead gnomes, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.

Filed under: Around Azeroth

Around Azeroth: Big Bada Boom! originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Love your Warlock more than your childhood pet? Obsess over DPS charts at the end of every raid? Spend hours scanning Armory profiles of top rated Warlocks to analyze their gear and spec? Read Warlock blogs and Elitist Jerk’s Warlock forums on a daily basis? We may have an offer you can’t refuse.

WoW.com is looking for a new writer to be our weekly Warlock class columnist for Blood Pact. Every week you will dazzle our readers with your words of wisdom covering everything from leveling guides to raid tactics to PvP strats to major Patch analysis to recommended AddOns for all specs and playstyles. You don’t need to play all those ways (we all need a life), but you need to be able to research and write on the topics you don’t have personal experience with.

If this sounds like the chance you’ve been waiting for, you’ll find all the information you need to apply on our applications page. Be sure to submit everything asked for. Being able to follow simple instructions is part of the job. You have until end of day, Sunday, August 16th to send in your app before this message is consumed by Hellfire and is no more.

Filed under: Warlock, WoW Insider Business, (Warlock) Blood Pact

Wow.com burns for a Warlock columnist originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Blizzard’s been inserting new icons in every patch. You know those little square graphics that appear next to spell or item descriptions? They’ve been revising some that were shared across several items and gave them entirely new icons. It doesn’t appear on the patch notes, but some spells got new icons – such as the Black Tabby, which got a new icon back in Patch 3.1.

Here in Patch 3.2, we see two new cooking icons which are probably going to be related to some world events – the Bread of the Dead and Cranberry Chutney. Both have new, unique icons. Personally, I think spell and item icons are a small but important part of what makes the game feel unique. Some icons are funny, some are really colorful, and some are even plain sexy. Some icons were actually confusing – remember when flying carpets all looked like Runecloth? That was dumb, but Blizzard got around to setting things right.

There are cool spell and talent icons, too. Some icons look exactly like the item they represent, some icons are totally generic, and some icons are hard to make heads or tails of, although that’s probably what Blizzard is slowly trying to eliminate. Did anybody notice how they changed icons for the Cockroach and the Magical Crawdad Box? Blizzard didn’t have to, certainly, but I for one appreciate the little things. Like I said, small parts of the game that give it its unique feel. Are there any icons in particular that stand out for you? What are your favorites? Dislikes? If anything, I’ll take this opportunity to give a shout out to the amazing art team at Blizzard responsible for those little square things. Oh, and if you can name all those icons pictured above… you probably need professional help.

Filed under: Odds and ends, Breakfast topics

Breakfast Topic: Iconography originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 10 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If there’s one thing I absolutely don’t miss in Ulduar, it’s the Troggs. I’ll admit to being a little surprised that I haven’t run into any, but as far as I’m concerned that’s just fine.

So, yeah, this week I forgot to train my new Call of the Elements, Call of the Ancestors, and Call of the Spirits spells. Since I’d been on the PTR and knew that I was supposed to train them I find this especially hilarious in retrospect, although I didn’t find it nearly as funny at the time. There was some swearing, I won’t pretend otherwise. Also, if you’re a leveling shaman make sure to check the trainers as you hit 30, 40 and 50 to make sure you pick them up, as they’re terribly useful even for the soloing shaman. (Depending on mana, you might not want to drop four totems while soloing/questing, but it’s still terribly convenient to be able to do so with one button and one GCD when things get hairy.)

Continue reading Totem Talk: Four totems for the price of one

Filed under: Shaman, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, News items, (Shaman) Totem Talk

Totem Talk: Four totems for the price of one originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Once you sign up for an account, you can list up to 3 characters per a screen name and start keeping track of which mounts you have and which mounts you want to have. You can also ignore the mounts you don’t want or can’t get. Once you have it all sorted out, you can share your collection with others if you wish (For example, here’s Mania’s collection).

The site has always been a pretty handy tool for mount collectors or people who just want a refresher about what forms of locomotion are out there, and the collection tool only makes it better. Kudos to Mania, who’s once again come through with a nice little tool for the WoW community.

Filed under: Fan stuff, News items, Mounts, Achievements

Warcraft Mounts helps you keep track of your corral originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Patch week? Oh, yeah. Speaking of patch week, we all knew that patch week was going to be rough. We knew there would be delays, and bugs, and restarts, and false starts. We knew that hardcore players would gripe, that newbies would be confused and that there would be plenty of contentious debate from all sides.

What we didn’t know is that we could be caught unaware by even geek crafts. Take it from mibluvr13, who took one look at the baby Hordie shirt
featured in this week’s World of WarCrafts column and began groping for the Escape key. “Ooooh, god,” mibluvr13 moaned. “I never thought WoW.com would punch me in the biological clock. BRB, having a kid.”

The week in reader comments, through the bleary eyes of our punch-drunk, patch-distracted readers, after the break.

Continue reading [1.Local]: Speaking of patch week chatter

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Features, [1.Local]

[1.Local]: Speaking of patch week chatter originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s not a rumor and it’s no longer a surprise – Ozzy Osbourne is going to appear at BlizzCon 2009, according to the program details of DirecTV. Unless Blizzard’s partner for the live stream content is just goofing around, “a special appearance” pretty much confirms that the Prince of Darkness is going to perform in Anaheim this August. The news first started as a rumor that sprung from Zakk Wylde’s Twitter message about a month back, corroborated by another rumor that another guitarist would be performing with Ozzy at BlizzCon.

Here’s to hoping that Ozzy Osbourne’s special appearance means he’ll actually rock out on stage. As cool as Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain are, I’m sure Samwise and his crew will actually enjoy the show (and who says they won’t join up for one big supergroup?). Azeroth has its own Prince of Darkness, but having the real deal perform should be a special treat, just as it’s sure to be something all fans can look forward to. It seems like another incentive to get the DirecTV package in addition to that cute, gun-toting murloc. With BlizzCon stepping up in the show department, I wonder what other big things are in store for us this year.

Ozzy UK Blizzard commercial after the jump!

Thanks, Milkingit!

Continue reading Ozzy at BlizzCon confirmed!

Filed under: Fan stuff, Blizzard, News items, BlizzCon

Ozzy at BlizzCon confirmed! originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:36:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to another edition of Arcane Brilliance, the weekly Mage column where you can find all the latest issues that are important to those of us who can alter the molecular structure of our enemies, conjure great missiles of entwined flame and ice, and create delicious pastries from the very air around us, but can’t seem to negotiate the mysteries of wearing anything more substantial than a fancy bathrobe into battle. Mages: masters of the arcane, failures at dressing.

Let me begin with a few nice things. These are things I like–things that do not, in principle, infuriate me. We’ll get to things that do a bit later. I’ll hide them after the jump, I suppose, so as not to annoy those of you who cannot stand to see even the most minor of complaints from any class but your own. For now, we’ll be positive and cheery, and illustrate that–as it ever has been and ever will be–there are aspects of this game that I love, and aspects that I simultaneously do not. Such is life on the class-balance carousel. As a Mage with a pulpit from which to preach, I will never cease to celebrate the changes I agree with, and decry those which I consider to be affronts to Magekind.

Preamble aside, let me tell you what I love right now: our mana gems no longer share a cooldown with Warlock healthstones. Yes, though it wasn’t in the patch notes, this seems to be an undocumented change that has made it live, and one that Mages have been lobbying in favor of for a very, very long time. For far too long, we’ve been largely unable to take advantage of the one good thing Warlocks have to offer, for fear that we’d use one and then not be able to pop our own mana returning item when the need arose. No more! Dying? Need a few thousand health in a hurry and can’t wait for the healer to notice you’re on death’s doorstep? Ice Block on cooldown? Use that healthstone with impunity, my fellow Mages!

More good stuff after the break. Also bad stuff. If you dine on Mage tears, feel free to wring the second half of this column for whatever sustenance it might provide.

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Good and Bad in patch 3.2

Filed under: Mage, Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, PvP, Features, Raiding, Classes, Talents, (Mage) Arcane Brilliance

Arcane Brilliance: Good and Bad in patch 3.2 originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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I have to admit something, I’m a chronic leveler. I do it over and over. Yes, I know it’s not the typical play style. Yes, I also know it’s highly unorthodox. By now you are probably thinking, “Who in their right mind would want to be a chronic leveler?” That someone would be me.

See when I get bored, and the game starts to become a bit of a drag I can’t help myself. It only becomes a matter of time till I feel the need to scratch an itch to start over. Yes, I know it’s crazy. But you can look at it this way, at least I know how the game works for the beginning Hunter just as well as the raiding one.

Having done this a few times now, I thought it would idea to put this experience to some practical purpose. It seems to be a waste and not at least write up a Hunter guide for new Hunters. So I thought I’d create a new series of posts entitled, “So you want to be a Hunter.”

Before we get started, I need to make sure we’re all on the same page by setting some ground rules.

1. This series is intended for the new player and/or a new Hunter.
2. Since most new player won’t have a rich uncle in game, nor does everyone use Recruit-A-Friend, I’ll just focus on leveling up the old fashioned way.
3. When discussing zone and levels, I’ll only highlight some key quests along the way.
4. Except for when we reach the “getting ready to raid” guide, all guides will focus on using a solo-leveling/grinding build.

So there, with some ground rules set. Let’s get started on making you the best Hunter possible.

Continue reading Scattered Shots: So you want to be a Hunter – Part 1 Racials

Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Night Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Tauren, Trolls, Hunter, Analysis / Opinion, How-tos, Draenei, Blood Elves, Leveling, Factions, Guides, Classes, (Hunter) Scattered Shots

Scattered Shots: So you want to be a Hunter – Part 1 Racials originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today’s image (and caption) comes from Manbearpig from the guild Clandestine Circle, on the Garona-US realm. He says, “After growing up a poor bullied cub in Teldrassil, Manbearpig wasn’t just going to stand by and watch these Frenzyheart keep the poor Oracle Orphan from his shinies any more! Rawr! Volunteering his time, Manbearpig hopes to teach this young Oracle that to deal with bullies you have to stand up for yourself. Tell them “No! Stop it!” in a loud voice. Then walk away, or run if you have to. If all else fails, then Mangle (Rank 5)!”

Personally, I’d start with the whole Mangle thing a lot sooner than that. I’m not really sure what that says about me, to be honest.

Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@gmail.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word “Azeroth” in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing — use alt-Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, gold seller ads with dead gnomes any race at all, or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran.

Filed under: Around Azeroth

Around Azeroth: Violence begets violence. Awesomely. originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Somewhere in the list today is the secret identity of last week’s “mystery” picture!

• Check out Noobs, a new comic, and one that is not to be confused with NoObz, which isn’t WoW-related this week.
• Scout Report: We finally find out why Scout’s sister is hanging around! This of course leads to a rather strange conversation, about kittens (of a sort).
• Cru the Dwarf: Bless This Thy Holy Boot. Well, they’ve reached the Scarlet Monastery. The message at the bottom says it all!
• Dark Legacy Comics: Gretta’s Plan.
• Experience Points: Vincent is planning his trip to BlizzCon with his new pal, Steve.
• Experience Points: Vincent hangs out with Steve on patch day. I am kind of afraid of his sandwich.
• LFG: Meet the Mistress of Magma.
• NPC: Overcome.
• NPC: A break seems to be in the couple’s future, but Smelly Demographics shows the flaw in the first activity suggested. So, they decide to take a different sort of trip, because they’ve had Too Much WoW.
• Check out the latest from Teh Gladiators.
• Kuo: This guest comic is awesomely cute, and in translation. For regular comics, evidently, Sylvanas just wasn’t as cool before she died.
• Beyond the Tree: No purse, no pursuit.
• WoW-eh: The Mis-Adventures of….

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Features, Humor, Sunday Morning Funnies

Sunday Morning Funnies: Lookin’ familiar originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Top of my list was to try out the new Druid forms and then get my hair colored. The rest of my guild made a beeline for “the new place” (aka the Coliseum) or moaning about the buffing/nerfing of such and such a class. So, constant readers, what did you do first? More importantly, what do you think of the patch? I admit I’m still sitting on the fence, there were some nice additions but I’m still a heck of a lot more interested in patch 3.3. Tell us in the usual fashion by dropping your thoughts in the box below.

Filed under: Druid, Patches, Events, Blizzard, Breakfast topics, Wrath of the Lich King, Europe

Breakfast Topic: So what do you think of patch 3.2? originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Drak’Theron Keep Final Boss

I was inspired to write this entry from some questions I was asked by one of my beloved Regular Readers who plays a Warlock on World of Warcraft and has only recently delved into the world of Raiding.

We Love You Warlocks, But You Know Why…

It’s for your Summons and your Soulstones more than anything else.

Okay, I’ll admit, it’s not the reason we choose YOU over any kind of Melee DPS like Death Knights, Rogues, Warriors or Enhancement Shaman – we choose you at that point because of the overabundance of Melee DPS in the WoTLK.

But when it comes to making a decision about selecting a Warlock vs a Mage/Elemental Shaman/Boomkin/Shadow Priest, you know that the primary reason we choose you IS NOT because of your awesome DPS.

It’s because a well-placed Soulstone can save a lot of time in a dungeon or a raid instance, and your ability to create a Summoning Stone also saves the team a lot of time when the group is first getting together, running back after a wipe, or is picking up a new member to replace someone who dropped.

The Solo Soulstone

Your first introduction, dear Warlock, to the Soulstone was when you were a very little Warlock.

You learned it before level 25 and if you realized what you were looking at, you saw a lot of value in it right away, and quickly put it to use in your solo questing by Soulstoning yourself.

Remember the ENDLESS number of corpse runs you were able to avoid because of this neat Warlock tool?

If you were anything like me in your lowbie Warlock days, you even got into the habit of taking bigger risks (taking on more mobs than usual) when questing with your Soulstone on, and then playing in a much more conservative way when it was on cooldown and used up.

Just having a Soulstone as a soloing Warlock lets me push myself and advance faster through quests and levels, because I can circumvent the run back from the graveyard!

The Soulstone In 5-player Dungeons and Heroics

When you first started going into dungeons as a newbie Warlock, you may not have realized that the Etiquette rules for Soulstoning change once a Warlock enters into a dungeon instance.

If this is your second character coming up, you might have learned it by watching other Warlocks being taught the lesson. If so, consider yourself fortunate, because some party members aren’t all that nice when “educating” new Warlocks.

In a dungeon situation just like the Solo situation, the Warlock is expected to apply the Soulstone to team member for whom it would benefit the team the most.

In the case of Solo play, the Warlock is the only team member who is important (since player pets cannot click the “Use Soulstone to Resurrect” button after they die) so it makes sense that they Soulstone themselves. When in a party situation, however, the Soulstone would be much better used on a teammate.

In specific, the teammate a Warlock should apply a Soulstone to will have the following major trait:

• Can resurrect fellow party members who die

A good “rule of thumb” to stick with is that the Healer of the party gets the Soulstone.

Why Not Soulstone The Tank?

It seems logical to think that maybe instead of SS’ing the Healer, that the Tank should be Soulstoned, because, after all, at a certain level of play if the Tank dies, the whole party is pretty much doomed to die as well. Wouldn’t it make better sense to SS the Tank so she/he can pop up again and resume the fight?

Unfortunately, this logic is missing some key information about how it’s possible for a Tank to do their job in the first place, and when explained, makes it even more clear why the Healer should get the SS and not the Tank:

Wee Pally Practicing Tanking Basics

• In order to “tank” mobs, Tanks need to maintain a certain % of threat/aggro from mobs above and beyond what the DPS and Healers are generating.
  • At the start of a fight, it takes a moment for tanks to generate enough threat for the rest of the party to join in on the battle.

  • When a Tank dies, threat from all mobs is dropped to ZERO, and mobs begin to target the rest of the party members.
  • DPS and Healers maintain their positions on the Threat meters.

From the information above it should be pretty clear that even if a Tank does resurrect themselves at this point in the battle, it’s going to be nearly impossible for her/him to regain their position on the top of the Threat Meters for all of the mobs that are now bouncing around between DPS and Healers. Might as well call a wipe.

Soulstoning of Healers In Dungeons And Raids

If, on the other hand, a Healer is Soulstoned and faces an opportunity to use it, the scenario goes more like:

• SS’d Healer dies, all threat from all mobs is dropped to zero.

• Healer uses the Soulstone to resurrect, and quickly self-heals. Having no threat from mobs is GOOD!
• Healer is able to heal the (majority of the) group through the rest of the pull, preventing a wipe

Alternatively:

• SS’d Healer dies, all threat from all mobs is dropped to zero.

• Healer observes the situation and sees that the group cannot win this pull, and stays dead until all die.
• Healer takes the SS rez once the battle is over, and resurrects the teammates on the spot, saving time for moving forward

Soulstoning Summary

The Soulstone is an awesome Warlocky invention that looks simplistic in graphic and design, but holds within it the greatest time savings known to raiding, dungeon runs and solo questing.

Learn how to use it well, learn how to be notified when it’s time to re-apply (especially in Dungeons and Raids) and you’ll most definitely stand out as a superior-quality Warlock!

Related Posts

1. WoW Healing Tips: When To Let Them Die
2. Old World Instance, Dire Maul West, Warlock Felsteed
3. Level 80 Warlock Pre-Raid Gearing Guide for WoW

Heal Timing Is Critical With Adds

As a Healer, whether we be Priest, Paladin, Shaman or Druid… our main job is to Heal. And we do it, judiciously, don’t we, Healers?

However, as a Healer, one soon learns that sacrifices need to be made, because mana is not infinite, nor are our heals all instant-cast with huge instant hits.

And sometimes as a reward for our Healing, we actually get group-attacked by monsters if things aren’t going right!

Letting Them Die In Dungeon vs Raids

In this particular instance, there is absolutely no difference between Dungeon Healing and Raid Healing when it comes to deciding who to let die and who to focus on making sure lives.

Someone I know has a forum signature which is an awesome rule of thumb for a Healer, even though it doesn’t go into great detail nor does it cover all healing scenarios:

If the Tank dies, it’s the Healer’s fault. If the Healer dies, it’s the Tank’s fault. If the DPS dies, it’s their own damned fault.

Of course, many DPS don’t like this statement, because they figure it’s the “healer’s job to heal them”, but there’s important information they’re missing when they get upset.

If The Tank Dies, It’s The Healer’s Fault

Simply put, the Tank is the Healer’s main priority in a group setting, because at certain levels, if the Tank dies, then the whole party is doomed to die very quickly afterwards.

Who’s The Healer Healing?

In low-level instances (up to, say, Outland) “the tank” isn’t really as key as they are at higher levels, but that’s also reflected in the smaller amount of healing the entire group will require in low level instances. These low levels are meant to be extremely forgiving while people are just starting to learn how to play their class, which is why it’s good for a Healer to jump into PUG dungeon runs before hitting Outland levels.

Once you get to Outland instances, and certainly into Northrend ones, having a specific person performing “tanking duties” helps coordinate the efforts of the team, and the concentration of the healer must improve from pre-Outland levels as well. This is where DPS players have to start improving their game as well, instead of relying on the healer to save their ass every time they pull aggro.

At this Outland point, Healers will begin to feel more pressure from DPS who haven’t learned how to control their aggro – it’s funny how some dead DPS think it beneficial to be demanding on the Healer while the fight is still going on, asking why they didn’t get any heals in a chaotic situation.

If The Healer Dies, It’s The Tank’s Fault

You and me, Tanky, are a team.

Dual Priest Angelics

We learn very early in our dungeon running to work together as a more cohesive unit than what we worry about with the DPS, and over time and with practice, we get pretty good at it.

Like the Tank, if the Healer dies, unless there’s a backup healer to pick up the slack, the rest of the party is generally doomed to death as well.

Of course, this isn’t always true, depending on when the healer died and how many mobs were left, and what level of dungeon you’re in.

Because the Healer is so critical for the Tank’s own survival, one of the Tank’s responsibilities is to make sure the Healer is defended and watched over more than anyone else in the group. (hey DPS, you can earn brownie points with both the Tank and Healer if you help out with this Healer defense)

Thankfully, a good tank gets to the point where taunting the attention of a mob off of a Healer or a DPS becomes second nature, and therefore DPS who mistakenly pull aggro once in a while don’t get their faces bashed in each time

If The DPS Dies It’s Their Own Damned Fault

Here’s the final part of that statement, and the part that holds the most controversy.

After all, DPS are just as important to the overall success of the party as the Tank and Healer, right? If there were no DPS, dungeon runs would be slow and painful, and some boss fights would be impossible because the boss would hit an enrage timer and squish the Tank and Healer no matter how well-geared they were.

Yes and no – Sure, DPS are important, but the definition of a good damage dealer is something like this:

Quality DPS players are able to generate maximum damage without pulling aggro from the Tank.

That being said, we all know that very few dungeon runs or raids are perfectly coordinated in a way that doesn’t result in DPS pulling aggro or getting aggro in some way, and that DPS are an important member of the overall team and cannot therefore be ignored completely.

So, how does a Healer go about deciding when to let a DPS die?

When To Let Them Die

In a lot of ways, it’s up to the individual healer to decide their tolerance for other people’s playing styles.

Some people enjoy the challenge of a chaotic group because it challenges their own healing and healer self-defense skills, and for them, I say “don’t let any of them die”!

But for the average healer, the problem boils down to this:

The more you heal, the more threat you generate with mobs in battle, and the higher your chance is of pulling aggro and being killed yourself.

How it often happens is this:

Battle is started, and DPS pulls aggro early in. The heavier the heals the squishy DPS needs to be kept alive, the more Healer threat generated on every mob in the battle, and the harder the Tank has to work to keep the mobs from making a bee-line to the Healer. Chaos ensues, death usually results somewhere.

If you’re tired of dying because the Tank couldn’t keep the mobs off of you, consider these suggestions:

• Give the Tank a few seconds to get aggro on all the mobs in a pull before casting your first heal.
  • Optimally, the Tank should be the first one to get a heal in a fight, and DPS should only need occasional heals. Healing DPS too early in a fight is a recipe for pulling Healing aggro which regularly results in Healer death.
• If a DPS pulls multiple mobs by accident, let the Tank get into the battle before casting any heals, even if it means that DPS dies in the mean time.
  • It’s unlikely the DPS has enough control of all the mobs to protect you, the Healer, from being mass-attacked after your first heal lands, so wait until your Tank buddy gets in there and gets control, or you’ll end up dead.
• If you ever have to decide between giving the Tank a heal and giving anyone else a heal, decide on the Tank unless it’s you who is just about to die.
  • Dead Healers do crappy Heals. Stay alive as a priority.
• If you’re low on mana and the fight isn’t just about over, save your mana for the Tank.
  • Saying “low on mana, dps watch yourselves” in the party line is adequate warning to the team.
• If you’ve got a DPS who seems to be obsessed with doing a lot of damage but is constantly pulling aggro, one or two deaths usually slows them down a bit.
  • If you feel this DPS is carrying the entire group, you may wish to pretend they’re actually the Tank, but if you know your Tank is a good one, support your Tank and their role as group leader as a priority.
• If you’ve got a DPS who attacks the wrong targets, or stands in the wrong place and pulls extra aggro, they probably spend more time running around screaming than they do DPSing, so it’s okay if you let them die.

Using Your Healing Power For Good

As a Healer, you’ll always have an easy time getting into dungeon groups and if you’re interested at level 80, raid teams. Dungeons cannot be run without a healer for the most part (farming instances or running friends through aside), and the grand majority of World of Warcraft players select damage-dealing specializations even if their character is capable of specializing in healing.

Because of this, you, dear Healer, will also be able to pick and choose your dungeon-running friends over time, filtering out players who made your Healing job harder and playing more often with those who contributed to those fast, clean, smooth runs we all get so much joy out of.

So don’t worry about letting some of the chaos-lovers die, and don’t worry about the cruel words they throw at you during their moments of frustration at having died AGAIN…

When those chaos-loving DPS want to run another instance and whisper you asking to heal it (and they will, even if they insulted you for letting them die), YOU have all the power and control.

Say yes to heal in chaos in order to improve your own healing skills!

Say no to healing in chaos on the days you just don’t have the patience for it.

And let the DPS die whenever they piss you off.

Related Posts

1. Priest Hits 65, Healing In The Outland
2. WoW Warlock Tips: Soulstone Etiquette – Who, When, Why
3. Re-learning The Fights As A Healer

Congrats Guildies! We Got It Done!

Tonight marked the first night that our Horde Raiding Guild on Zul’jin-US downed Yogg Saron in Heroic mode.

(which means we’ve “cleared Ulduar”, with the exception of an uber boss that isn’t generally counted)

Thanks to a HUGE amount of research and strategy discussion amongst the leadership, and the dedication of those on our raiding team, we downed him while maintaining a 3-day Official Raid schedule and sticking judiciously to our 3.5h per night of raiding, from 7:30-11 realm time.

Woot!

There was a fair bit of unexpected Achievement spam for those in Guild chat but not in the raid, I tell ya!

I think the fight lasted just over 13 minutes, btw – 13:55 to be exact.

Nice to get that kill under our belt before 3.2 releases. From what I can see, we are the 11th guild on the Horde side to take down Yogg Saron on our realm.

Related Posts

1. WoWGrrl Answers: Is Your Guild Recruiting?
2. Applying For A Raiding Guild: What To Ponder
3. New Loot From Heroic Iron Council

Making My Way To The Summoning Stone

Dear Lazy PUG Member:

Hey, how’s it going?

Wait, don’t answer that! I really don’t care to know the details of how shitty your life is, or how undergeared or overgeared you are, or how many 80s you have. What I really mean to say is:

Hey, welcome to the party!

Here we are, together, as virtual strangers – sharing a dungeon adventure together, and maybe starting down the road towards a more long-term friendship. Also, if you’re into it, maybe we’re even progressing towards a raiding relationship or a guildmate relationship if it all works out well.

I go into every party with a focus on the good – or at least, the entertaining.

You Entertain Me, But Not In A Good Way

And you, Lazy PUGger, I find sadly entertaining, in a twisted way.

Right from the start of the grouping when you ask for a summon to the instance (before anyone’s even at the stone), through to the killing and looting of the last mob and reading your gear-related whines or woots … you entertain me.

For a limited time only! Just as long as *I* need *you*.

Do you wonder, dear Lazy PUGger, why it’s so difficult to find a quality group? (I know you do, I hear you complain about it when you finally DO find a decent group – as you punish the wrong players with your gripes)

Could it be that you consider your time more important than those of your party-mates?

Like those ninja AFK’s after a wipe that last just long enough for you to get resurrected by those who ran back?

Or almost any of the AFK’s that are sudden, unexplained and of an indetermined length.

How about when you put yourself on auto-follow of someone else without being polite and asking if it’s okay first?

Sure, there are exceptions where these things above cannot be avoided, but I’m not talking about a level of laziness that “cannot be avoided” here. I’m talking about a level of laziness that saves your time, but wastes the time of others.

Thanks For The Run But Sorry, I Don’t Need You Anymore

Passive Aggressive behavior rules the roost Online and In-Game.

Pre-Outlands Tankadin

Many people will take a Passive stance during a PUG group with one or two lazy members, simply because it’s too much of a pain and time drain to kick the lazy members and replace them with new people. The Passive approach has the non-lazy members live their way through the encounter, but the result is generally the same:

The party breaks up immediately afterwards, and there is NO chance of chain-running of instances with this group.

Or even better, if the non-lazy members are all from the same guild, they remove the lazies and replace ‘em for the next run in their chain runs.

Lazy PUGger – is this the reason you don’t build a strong Friends list? People you put on your list never seem to have time to run with you a second time anyway?

Lazy? Or Inexperienced?

We’re all lazy, I’ll give you that. At times, we all lean on our party mates, and at times it’s completely unavoidable or even beneficial. And sometimes it’s not laziness either… it’s inexperience – if you’re new to the Dungeon Scene, maybe you’ve never thought about the “team play” aspect of dungeon runs.

But the LazyPUGger traits that I used to Tweet about (before my @WoWGrrl account was suspended for whatever undetermined reason) in the #badpug context are something else entirely. These LazyPUGgers are hoping for as free of a ride as possible, but don’t really see how they’re sabotaging themselves from getting it. And they defend their behavior

I think I’m going to move my #badpug stuff over from Twitter to YouTube in a VLog format.

I can’t wait to hear the variety of responses from players who range from extremely lazy to extremely independent, because I know that both camps are very vocal about their reasonings and beliefs.

It shall be interesting, and I hope all of you PUGgers and PUGger-wannabees will follow along!

Related Posts

1. Freelance Raider or Raid Guild Member?
2. If you want to know your DPS, get a meter!
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Find YOUR Awesome Raiding Team

As a blogger and a raider, I regularly get the question: Is Your Guild Recruiting?

It’s an easy question to answer in some ways – Yes, we’re always recruiting players who are geared and experienced with the level of content we’re currently working on – but the implied question isn’t so easy to answer:

If your guild is recruiting, do you think they’d consider recruiting me?

Sure, if the people asking those questions didn’t have feelings and memories, it would be easy to give a straight answer, but humans are definitely blessed with both emotion and memory.

Emotion is what encourages us to take offense when someone tells us we’re not experienced enough as raiders.

Memory is what discourages us from ever re-applying once we’ve gained the necessary experience.

It’s unfortunate to see people apply too early to a guild that would be great for them later on – and then take it SO personally when they are not recruited at that early time that they never re-apply.

(Shameless plug – Check out my Gearing Guides for folks new to level 80 and looking to get into entry level raiding)

The Raiding Guild Recruitment Series

Thus, the Raiding Guild Recruitment Series idea was born.

In Part One of this video series I went through some of the absolute basics of how the video series was inspired and what a viewer can expect from the rest of the series.

This video as below is Part Two of the series, entitled “Is Your Guild Recruiting?”, Part Two.

In this video you are taken through the basic process I go through when someone I’m talking to asks me about whether our guild is recruiting – it’s designed to help you review your own character in order to find quick and easy things you can improve before applying to a new raiding guild.

Also, you can use these same strategies to conduct reviews on people who have recently joined the raiding guilds you’re eyeing up – knowing the skill and experience level of others who are being recruited can let you know whether you’re aiming too low or too high with that particular raiding guild.

Subscribe! Comment! Rate!

I’d love to hear from folks about this video, so please do feel free to leave comments on YouTube (or here), and I’d love it if you could give the video a rating as well.

If you subscribe to my channel, you’ll get notified right away when new videos come out on this series – I tend to be a few days or weeks behind in posting to my blog, but you’ll get notified right away when the video is uploaded and processed by YouTube if you subscribe.

YouTube Video: Is Your Guild Recruiting? Part Two

Ulduar25 Raid Team Recruiting: Zul’jin, Horde Side

This having been said, the Horde-side raiding guild I’m in IS recruiting Exceptional Applicants.

If you’re:

• Someone who values a roster with very little turnover coming or going
• Looking for a long-term raiding home in World of Warcraft
• A relaxed, quiet person whose enjoyment focus is on teamwork and not gear accumulation
• Very experienced with Naxxramas25
• Experiened with Ulduar10/25
• Well-geared in at least your main spec, fully gemmed and enchanted
• Have the best shoulder enchant you can get
• Have maxed out your professions

Then consider putting in an app. Our guild takes cross-server applications but requires a trial run first, so it’s best that you commit to your transfer before posting your application.

Related Posts

1. How To Find A Wicked Raiding Guild, Part One
2. Recruiting For Your Raiding Guild Using Old World Raids
3. WoW Fun Vid: Bored Shaman In Ulduar