WoW.com http://www.wow.com WoW.com http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.wow.com/media/feedlogo.gif WoW.com http://www.wow.com prods@weblogsinc.com (Weblogs, Inc. Producers) (Weblogs, Inc. Web Support) en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. View our terms of service here: http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/ Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/ <![CDATA[WoW.com Giveaway: World of Warcraft Programming, 2nd Ed]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/02/09/wow-com-giveaway-world-of-warcraft-programming-2nd-ed/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/09/wow-com-giveaway-world-of-warcraft-programming-2nd-ed/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/09/wow-com-giveaway-world-of-warcraft-programming-2nd-ed/#comments
WoW.com has in its possession six copies of World of Warcraft Programming: A Guide and Reference for Creating WoW Addons, Second Edition. And guess what? We're giving them all away to you! Five copies haven't even been cracked open, and one copy is the book that we've used to write the review of the programming guide -- lightly used and still in perfect condition.

The contest is open to legal residents of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, and Canada (excluding Quebec), and everyone who enters must be 18 or older. To enter, leave a comment on this post before 11:59pm ET Tuesday, February 16, 2010. Please be sure to use a real email that you check often to enter, so we can contact you should you be a winner. You may enter only once and six winners will be selected randomly. Each winner will receive one copy of the book, valued at $49.99 US. Click here to read the official contest rules.

If you don't win a book via our giveaway, you can pickup a copy of WoW Programming over at Amazon. Be sure to stay tuned for our review of the book, as well as an interview with author James Whitehead.

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WoW.com Giveaway: World of Warcraft Programming, 2nd Ed originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredworld-of-warcraft-addon-programmingworld-of-warcraft-programming-second-editionwow-contestwow-giveawayswow-programming (Adam Holisky) Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Call for Posts: What I want to see at BlizzCon 2010]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/02/08/call-for-posts-what-i-want-to-see-at-blizzcon-2010/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/08/call-for-posts-what-i-want-to-see-at-blizzcon-2010/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/08/call-for-posts-what-i-want-to-see-at-blizzcon-2010/#comments Last week we did a test run of our Guest Writer program asking our Twitter followers to write an article giving five tips to DPSers running random heroics. Our test run was a success (the winning article will be published later this week), and we're now ready to begin allowing everyone to have the chance to become a Guest Writer on WoW.com!

WoW.com runs the program through Aol's Seed. You can find out more about the program in our announcement post about the Guest Writer program, and at our newly re-vamped Contributing to WoW.com page. This week we're looking for contributions from writers telling us what they want to see at BlizzCon 2010. We're looking for between 75 and 150 words, and we'll select 3 to 7 entries for publication on WoW.com. If your entry is selected, you'll be paid $10 through Seed. Last week we found out that BlizzCon could be returning to the Anaheim Convention Center and that Jay Mohr is hosting again.

In order to get started read up about the program, sign up, and then submit your paragraph over on the article page (you can't see the article page unless you have a Seed account). We are accepting submissions until 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday February 14th. Please follow all instructions exactly. US residents only right now, although we're told our international friends will be able to submit work through Seed soon.

Good luck!

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Call for Posts: What I want to see at BlizzCon 2010 originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> aol-seedblizzcon-10blizzcon-2010breakingguest-postseed (Adam Holisky) Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Queue: Fluffy]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/02/08/the-queue-fluffy/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/08/the-queue-fluffy/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/08/the-queue-fluffy/#comments
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.

Today's Queue is dedicated to snow. May all your flakes be fluffy.

Xan asked...

"Kind of a lore question... I understand that resurrection type spells are part of game mechanics, but as far as lore goes, is there such a thing as resurrection, and if so would your standard run of the mill (ie: low level) Priest, Pally, etc, have this capability?"

Continue reading The Queue: Fluffy

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The Queue: Fluffy originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideqaquestion-and-answerwow-answerswow-daily-answerswow-daily-questionswow-guidewow-player-questionswow-q-and-awow-questions (Adam Holisky) Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Penny Arcade: The (WoW) Appocalypse]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/02/05/penny-arcade-the-wow-appocalypse/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/05/penny-arcade-the-wow-appocalypse/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/05/penny-arcade-the-wow-appocalypse/#comments We (and the rest of the geek world) loves ourselves some Penny Arcade, and today's comic is worth mentioning given its commentary on Blizzard's latest plans for a premium iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad auction house and armory application. First it starts with a simple auction house app, then a rogue app, and then the iHeal.

Yes, there's an app for that.

So for your required geek reading today, you must go read their blog post, then read the comic, and then pass it along to ten friends or guildmates. After that you can call yourself a nerd, but not before.

For more comics, check out our weekly roundup -- Sunday Morning Funnies.

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Penny Arcade: The (WoW) Appocalypse originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> auction-house-iphonepenny-arcadewow-ah-iphonewow-armory-iphonewow-auction-house-iphonewow-ipadwow-iphonewow-iphone-appwow-ipodwow-ipod-touch (Adam Holisky) Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Patch 3.3.2 download mirror]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/02/02/patch-3-3-2-download-mirror/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/02/patch-3-3-2-download-mirror/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/02/patch-3-3-2-download-mirror/#comments Our sister site Big Download has hosted the patch 3.3.2 files for easily accessible and speedy downloads. Right now they only have the North American PC patch available, but they will be getting the additional versions of the patch up later today.

Head over there and grab the patch if you're having trouble with the downloader. Enjoy!
We'll update this post when other versions become available.

Comments have been disabled on this post. We need to be sure we only link to sources we are 100% confident are virus free, and cannot allow outside links to executables. Thanks for understanding.

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Patch 3.3.2 download mirror originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> download-mirrorpatch-3.3patch-3.3-changespatch-3.3-wowpatch-3.3.2patch-3.3.2-mirrorpatch-mirrorworld-of-warcraft-patch-3.3wow-3.3-changeswow-downloadwow-new-patchwow-patchwow-patch-3.3wow-patch-3.3.2wow-patch-news (Adam Holisky) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The WoW Player's Guide to Star Trek Online]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/02/02/the-wow-players-guide-to-star-trek-online/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/02/the-wow-players-guide-to-star-trek-online/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/02/the-wow-players-guide-to-star-trek-online/#comments
Our sister site Massively has been producing some great content the last few months on Cryptic Studios' latest MMORPG - Star Trek Online. The game puts the player 30 years after the events in Star Trek: Nemesis, pitting Federation against the Klingons, and everyone against the Borg. The universe is on the brink of a massive war, and your job is to trek amongst the stars carrying out missions and battling the enemy at ever turn.

The SciFi MMO is a great opportunity for players who are burnt out on WoW or are looking for a distraction from the daily/weekly WoW grind. In order to help all of you WoW player's out there, we've penned The WoW Player's Guide to Star Trek Online, which gives you the basic concepts of the game as they related to WoW.

There's also a ton of other content over at Massively about the game. All of which is listed in Massively's Star Trek Online page.

But for those of you looking to jump right in and (if I may be so corney) set your phasers to fun, head over there and read the WoW Player's Guide. You and your tribble shan't be disappointed.


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The WoW Player's Guide to Star Trek Online originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cryptic-studiosstar-trekstar-trek-onlinestowow-players-guide (Adam Holisky) Tue, 02 Feb 2010 09:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Queue: More WoW]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/02/01/the-queue-more-wow/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/01/the-queue-more-wow/ http://www.wow.com/2010/02/01/the-queue-more-wow/#comments 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.

 Another week, another Queue. I was tempted to make this Queue all about Star Trek Online (check out Massively's STO page for more info), but I decided that after the puppies and what not from last week, we needed some WoWness.

So let's begin.

Valt asked...

Why I can open dungeon finder tool at level 15 but it keeps saying I'm supposed to level up for dungeons like Deadmines and Ragefire Chasm to queue up for them.. isn't that a bit useless teaser?

Continue reading The Queue: More WoW

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The Queue: More WoW originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideqaquestion-and-answerwow-answerswow-daily-answerswow-daily-questionswow-guidewow-player-questionswow-q-and-awow-questions (Adam Holisky) Mon, 01 Feb 2010 14:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Daily Quest: Pets]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/29/the-daily-quest-pets/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/29/the-daily-quest-pets/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/29/the-daily-quest-pets/#comments
We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

This TDQ is about pets watching you play WoW. Why? Because I can. The above cat is my constant WoW companion Max insisting that I stop playing and give him scratches.

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The Daily Quest: Pets originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> guideguide-indexpetsworld-of-warcraft-infoworld-of-warcraft-linksworld-of-warcraft-siteswow-guidewow-guide-indexwow-indexwow-infowow-informationwow-linkswow-site-indexwow-sites (Adam Holisky) Fri, 29 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Ghostcrawler on Cataclysm's talent tree philosophy, abilities, and Ragnaros]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/28/ghostcrawler-on-cataclysms-talent-tree-philosophy-abilities-a/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/28/ghostcrawler-on-cataclysms-talent-tree-philosophy-abilities-a/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/28/ghostcrawler-on-cataclysms-talent-tree-philosophy-abilities-a/#comments
Ghostcrawler posted a bit this evening on the philosophical direction Blizzard is taking in Cataclysm in three important areas:
  • Talent trees
  • New spells and abilities
  • Recycled raid content
The discussion originated from a mild QQ post about what the poster felt were the flaws in Cataclysm, and Ghostcrawler took that opportunity to clarify a few things that the community has been talking about since the initial announcement at BlizzCon 2009. Chief amongst those is that they are specifically designing talent trees now with an intention for there to be 5 to 10 talent points that can be spent where the player wants -- and that talent guides like you find in WoW.com's class columns will only go so far in the selection of the idea talent tree; the rest of the talent selection will be left up to the individual user.

Of course, this information isn't exactly new per se, but it's interesting to hear some of the refinements of it all as Cataclysm's development progresses.

Ghostcrawler's full statement after the break.

Continue reading Ghostcrawler on Cataclysm's talent tree philosophy, abilities, and Ragnaros

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Ghostcrawler on Cataclysm's talent tree philosophy, abilities, and Ragnaros originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cataclysm-gamecataclysm-guidecataclysm-newscataclysm-talentcataclysm-talent-tressexpanionexpansion-threeghostcrawlernext-xpactalent-trees-cataclysmthird-expansionworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmwow-4.0wow-4.0.2wow-cataclysmwow-cataclysm-talent-treeswow-expansionwow-guidewow-patch-4.0wow-patch-4.0.2wow-talent-treeswow-third-expansion (Adam Holisky) Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Stormrage novel collector's edition now on sale]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/28/stormrage-novel-collectors-edition-now-on-sale/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/28/stormrage-novel-collectors-edition-now-on-sale/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/28/stormrage-novel-collectors-edition-now-on-sale/#comments
The saga of Malfurion Stomrage continues in the latest book Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak. Today our friends at Simon and Schuster write in to let us know that the collector's edition is now on sale for us all, in a limited edition of 5000 copies.

From the jacket:
Recently the Emerald Nightmare, an area of corruption within the Emerald Dream, began growing in size, transforming the Dream into a realm of unimaginable horror. Green dragons have been unexpectedly caught up in the Nightmare, emerging from it with shattered minds and twisted bodies. Druids who have entered the darkening Dream lately have found it difficult -- sometimes even impossible -- to escape.

Nor are these the Nightmare's only victims: more and more people are being affected. Even Malfurion Stormrage, first and foremost of the druids on Azeroth, may have fallen victim to this growing threat. As uncontrollable nightmares spread across the world, a desperate quest begins to find and free the archdruid.
The collector's edition costs $32 and will ship the week of March 8th, 2010; whereas the normal editions of Stormrage release on February 23rd, 2010.

Stay tuned to WoW.com in the coming weeks when we'll have early reviews of the book for you, as well as an interview with author and Warcraft storyteller Richard A. Knaak.

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Stormrage novel collector's edition now on sale originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> breakingemerald-dreamloremalfurion-stormragerichard-a-knaaksimon-and-schusterstormragestormrage-bookstormrage-collectors-editionstormrage-novelwow-lore (Adam Holisky) Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:30:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Arena points being reimbursed... for now]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/arena-points-being-reimbursed-for-now/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/arena-points-being-reimbursed-for-now/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/arena-points-being-reimbursed-for-now/#comments Players will be seeing the arena points they had left after season 7 ended be reimbursed in the near (if not immediate) future. Yesterday players logged on after maintenance to discover their points had been wiped, and that season 8 had not yet begun. Arena points are only wiped at the beginning of a season, not before and not during the transition between seasons.

Crygil's full statement on the reimbursement is as follows:
Arena points were wiped during the recent maintenance following the end of the arena season on January 19th. We initially intended to launch the next arena season this week, but it was delayed due to the minor content patch that needs to coincide with the beginning of the season having some last minute issues to resolve.

Due to the delay in the arena season we are in the process of reimbursing arena points to all eligible participants. Characters will be returned to the amount they had on Tuesday, January 26th. All arena points will then be wiped when season 8 begins. We apologize for the confusion this caused and appreciate your understanding
Rumors place season 8 beginning next week, although there has been no official announcement. Arena season 8 will begin with the release of patch 3.3.2 -- of which we recently discovered translated Korean patch notes.

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Arena points being reimbursed... for now originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> arena-pointsarena-points-reimbursementarena-season-7arena-season-8breakingpoint-reimbursewow-arenas (Adam Holisky) Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:15:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[No mention of WoW on the Apple iPad]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/no-mention-of-wow-on-the-apple-ipad/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/no-mention-of-wow-on-the-apple-ipad/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/no-mention-of-wow-on-the-apple-ipad/#comments Obviously today's news from Apple of the iPad is the hottest thing since, well, the iPhone. One of the big things Apple was showing was the OpenGL 3D games on the iPad. OpenGL is the technology that allows advanced 3D graphics and games to function (DirectX is the Microsoft Windows equivalent, although OpenGL works on Windows too). For a long time people have been clamoring over the ability for WoW to run on an iPhone, and the iPad looks like the ideal touch device to let it run on.

And many of you began writing into us as soon as the iPad announcement was made, asking if we knew about WoW running on the iPad.

The answer is no, we have no information, and there is no indication that WoW will run on the iPad. The armory app should work automatically (as well as all your other iPhone/iPod Touch games), and there is certianly room to make the armory app even better on the iPad -- but we don't even know if such a plan is in the works yet.

The iPad, especially with its dirt cheap data plans for $14.99 and overall cheap starting price of $499, can obviously have an impact on guild websites and keeping abreast with WoW news, but that's all that the WoW community will get from it, for now.

So again, just so we're clear: No WoW on the iPad right now.

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No mention of WoW on the Apple iPad originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> apple-tabletapple-wowipadipad-world-of-warcraftipad-wowiphone-wowmac-wowtablet-wowworld-of-warcraft-ipadwow-apple-tablewow-ipadwow-iphonewow-ipodwow-ipod-touchwow-tablet (Adam Holisky) Wed, 27 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Queue: Pony games]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/the-queue-pony-games/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/the-queue-pony-games/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/the-queue-pony-games/#comments 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.

The above is a screenshot from Free Realms. Dancing ponies are not exactly my thing, but god knows we've talked about them enough. So I think after this screenshot, I'm never going to ask for a pony again. Forget it.

Instead I'll be asking Ghostcrawler for a moose. I encourage you all to as well.

Ghostcrawler promised me a moose.

Eddy asked...

"Can you lose achievements? I just got the Loremaster of EK and Kalimdor achievements and I keep reading things on Wowhead about how such and such quest used to count, how people's quest count changed... and I'm a little anxious about them. If Blizzard changes whether, say, a particular quest counts for EK or Kalimdor and messes up my totals, would the achievement disappear?"

Continue reading The Queue: Pony games

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The Queue: Pony games originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> achievementsfeaturedguideloremasterqaquestion-and-answerremoving-achievementswow-answerswow-daily-answerswow-daily-questionswow-guidewow-player-questionswow-q-and-awow-questions (Adam Holisky) Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Urgent maintenance for select realms]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/urgent-maintenace-for-select-realms/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/urgent-maintenace-for-select-realms/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/27/urgent-maintenace-for-select-realms/#comments
The following realms will be undergoing maintenance tomorrow from 5:00 a.m. PST / 8:00 a.m. EST until 9:00 a.m. PST / Noon EST. There is no indication given as to why the maintenance is occurring, but there have been widespread reports of lag and instance problems tonight. Common lag bugs like looting taking several seconds to complete or mobs rapidly changing places have been reported on quite a few realms.

If this outage turns into something more, we'll update this post.

The realms affected by the maintenance include:
  • Antonidas
  • Cairne
  • Drak'Tharon
  • Drenden
  • Farstriders
  • Garrosh
  • Hydraxis
  • Mok'Nathal
  • Moon Guard
  • Nazgrel
  • Nordrassil
  • Quel'dorei
  • Rivendare
  • Shandris
  • Tortheldrin

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Urgent maintenance for select realms originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> breakingmaintenancerealm-maintenancerealm-statuswow-realm-maintenancewow-realm-status (Adam Holisky) Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:15:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Ashen Verdict strength-based melee DPS rings stats]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/26/ashen-verdict-strength-based-melee-dps-rings-stats/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/26/ashen-verdict-strength-based-melee-dps-rings-stats/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/26/ashen-verdict-strength-based-melee-dps-rings-stats/#comments Patch 3.3.2, the next minor content patch, will include the much requested strength-based rings for melee DPS from the Ashen Verdict reputation. This should make warriors, paladins, and death knights quite happy. This afternoon Zarhym has released the stats for the different reputation levels (friendly, exalted, etc...), which we have for you after the break.

The minor content patch will also bring with it an influx of other small changes, as well as arena season 8. You can check out all the changes in the translated version of the patch notes that were discovered last night.

The rings after the break.

Continue reading Ashen Verdict strength-based melee DPS rings stats

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Ashen Verdict strength-based melee DPS rings stats originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> ashen-verdictashen-verdict-ringsashen-verdict-strength-ringbreakingpatch-3.3patch-3.3-changespatch-3.3-wowpatch-3.3.2world-of-warcraft-patch-3.3wow-3.3-changeswow-new-patchwow-patchwow-patch-3.3wow-patch-3.3.2wow-patch-news (Adam Holisky) Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:46:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Queue: I am 25 minutes older than Alex]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/25/the-queue-i-am-25-minutes-older-than-alex/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/25/the-queue-i-am-25-minutes-older-than-alex/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/25/the-queue-i-am-25-minutes-older-than-alex/#comments 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.

On January 24th, 2008 at 9:27 p.m. central I was officially welcomed into the WoW Insider family. At 9:52 p.m. central that same evening Alex Ziebart was brought on board. Between the 25 minutes that I was on staff and Alex wasn't, I had already leaked three Blizzard secrets, pissed off Blizzard PR four times, got an angry email from Ghostcrawler about calling warriors the redheaded step children of WoW, and was fired and rehired at least five separate times by Liz Harper.

Alex, my friend, you have a lot of catching up to do. Get crackin' you whipper snapper!

In all seriousness, between my first post and this one, the two years I've spent writing here have been awesome. It's a job that I never thought I'd have, and definitely one that I never thought I'd stay in this long. And out of all the columns I write, penning The Queue twice a week for you all is some of the most fun I have. So let's get to it!

Justin asked...

"What's Frostmourne doing in the armory?"

Continue reading The Queue: I am 25 minutes older than Alex

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The Queue: I am 25 minutes older than Alex originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredfrostmournefrostmourne-art-demoguideguild-applicationsguild-appshalls-of-reflectionmarwynqaquestion-and-answersplintered-door-of-the-citadelwow-answerswow-daily-answerswow-daily-questionswow-guidewow-player-questionswow-q-and-awow-questions (Adam Holisky) Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[WoW.com's Guest Post Test Run]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/22/wow-coms-guest-post-test-run/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/22/wow-coms-guest-post-test-run/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/22/wow-coms-guest-post-test-run/#comments WoW.com is now able to accept selected guest posts through a new program at Aol called Seed. We're testing the waters with this, and we've begun by asking for submissions for the following topic:
Write an article that gives five tips for DPSers running random heroic dungeons through the dungeon finder.
If you submit an article and it's selected, you'll be paid $50 through the Seed program and get a byline on WoW.com!

In order to submit an article, follow these steps:

  1. Go to http://www.seed.com/ and create an account.
  2. Go to the article page and read all directions. You must create an account at Seed before you can see the details of the article's requirements.
  3. Submit your work as described on the article page above. Be sure to include contact information, and make sure everything is checked for spelling, grammar, and punctuation!
The deadline for submissions is 11:59 p.m. EST on Friday January 29th. Only US residents can participate at this time, but we're told that international writers will be able to participate in the future.

If you have additional questions please contact Adam Holisky at adam@wow.com or via twitter.

Good luck!

WoW.com's Guest Post Test Run originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> (Adam Holisky) Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:12:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Daily Quest: I love Explosive Trap too, Euripides]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/21/the-daily-quest-i-love-explosive-trap-too-euripides/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/21/the-daily-quest-i-love-explosive-trap-too-euripides/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/21/the-daily-quest-i-love-explosive-trap-too-euripides/#comments We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

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The Daily Quest: I love Explosive Trap too, Euripides originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> addonfactionsguideguide-indexhunterprotection-paladinworld-of-warcraft-infoworld-of-warcraft-linksworld-of-warcraft-siteswow-guidewow-guide-indexwow-indexwow-infowow-informationwow-linkswow-site-indexwow-siteswow-tcg (Adam Holisky) Thu, 21 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[New in-game Winter Olympics reward discovered?]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/21/new-in-game-winter-olympics-reward-discovered/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/21/new-in-game-winter-olympics-reward-discovered/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/21/new-in-game-winter-olympics-reward-discovered/#comments
Even though Ghostcrawler promised us a moose during last week's Twitter developer chat, we haven't heard anything official or otherwise about an in-game reward for the Winter Olympics. Many people are expecting it as such a reward would follow the most recent Summer Olympics where everyone was able to earn the Spirit of Competition.

Wowhead, the official armory, and other sites are listing now a Competitor's Souvenir that was added in patch 3.3. The Souvenir has an item ID number of 37298, whereas the the Gold Medallion from the Summer Olympics has an ID number of 37297. For the mathematically challenged, this new item is numerically next in line from the previous in-game Olympic tie-in. This lends credence that this Souvenir could very well give people a non-combat companion reward during this year's Winter Olympics.

We don't have much of an idea of what pet the Competitor's Souvenir could give us. It's likely that the pet will be activated on the servers when the Souvenir becomes available during the Winter Olympics on February 12th, 2010. Of course, that's assuming the Souvenir really is for the Winter Olympics. It's entirely possible the Souvenir is for something else, but the evidence we've found points strongly enough in the direction that it's related to the upcoming games.

*A couple people have pointed out that the Competitor's Souvenir was an item on the Chinese servers back in '06, however it still has just shown up on the US servers, just at the right time...

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New in-game Winter Olympics reward discovered? originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> golden-pig-coinitem-idolympics-2010polar-bear-collarpolar-bear-petsilver-pig-coinwinter-olympicswinter-olympics-2010winter-olympics-rewardwow-databasewow-olympicswow-olympics-rewardwow-winter-olympics-rewardwowhead (Adam Holisky) Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Queue: Age of Aquarius]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/20/the-queue-age-of-aquarius/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/20/the-queue-age-of-aquarius/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/20/the-queue-age-of-aquarius/#comments
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.

Yes folks, today is the dawning of the age of aquarius, the time when humanity and Azerothians alike enter into an enlightened state of love, peace, and happiness. No more war, famine, and destruction.

Just lots and lots of Hawaiian Pizza for everyone.

Outlier asked...

"We've seen a lot of goblin and gnome technology when it comes to vehicles, mounts what have you. But why none designed by draenei? They've mastered interstellar travel and even have a huge ship to farm for materials. Can it be that they didn't escape Draenor with a single engineer?"

Continue reading The Queue: Age of Aquarius

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The Queue: Age of Aquarius originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideqaquestion-and-answerwow-answerswow-daily-answerswow-daily-questionswow-guidewow-player-questionswow-q-and-awow-questions (Adam Holisky) Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[PvP Resilience Changes]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/20/pvp-resilience-changes/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/20/pvp-resilience-changes/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/20/pvp-resilience-changes/#comments It was announced today that there will be a major change to resilience, which is being hotfixed into the game as we approach the new arena season. The change is expected to be in place for the duration of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion; which we take to mean it will not carry over into Cataclysm.

This change will "double the value of resilience in reducing damage done by players," according to Bornakk. Players will see a 10% to 20% reduction in damage taken. However, this change will not affect critical strike chances or critical strike damage. If healing becomes too over powered with this change, Blizzard has a "PvP only solution" ready to go, however they're not rolling out that part of the changes just yet.

The full details after the break.

Continue reading PvP Resilience Changes

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PvP Resilience Changes originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> bornakkresilience (Adam Holisky) Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:25:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Daily Quest: European style]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/19/the-daily-quest-european-style/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/19/the-daily-quest-european-style/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/19/the-daily-quest-european-style/#comments We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

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The Daily Quest: European style originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> elemental-shamanguideguide-indexhunter-pethunter-pet-macroshunter-petstwinkworld-of-warcraft-infoworld-of-warcraft-linksworld-of-warcraft-siteswow-guidewow-guide-indexwow-indexwow-infowow-informationwow-linkswow-site-indexwow-sites (Adam Holisky) Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Queue: i.wow.com does not work]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/18/the-queue-i-wow-com-does-not-work/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/18/the-queue-i-wow-com-does-not-work/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/18/the-queue-i-wow-com-does-not-work/#comments 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 be your host today.

Another week of The Queue, another week of questions and answers about the World of Warcraft, from your hosts Adam Holisky, Alex Ziebart, and Mikhael Saccovich. Sacco's gone Russian, we hear. His new found editor powers have made him a communist, where he directs everyone to post more and more and share the WoW love around; while he himself sits in his tower tending to his hair.

True story.

Many people asked...

"What happened to your mobile/iPhone enabled site?"

Continue reading The Queue: i.wow.com does not work

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The Queue: i.wow.com does not work originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> featuredguideqaquestion-and-answerwow-answerswow-daily-answerswow-daily-questionswow-guidewow-player-questionswow-q-and-awow-questions (Adam Holisky) Mon, 18 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Scheduled maintenance for this Tuesday]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/18/scheduled-maintenance-for-this-tuesday/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/18/scheduled-maintenance-for-this-tuesday/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/18/scheduled-maintenance-for-this-tuesday/#comments
There will be realm maintenance for all US realms this Tuesday, January 19th, from 3:00 a.m. PST / 6:00 a.m. EST until 11:00 a.m. PST / 2:00 p.m. EST.

We have been hearing for awhile now about a mini patch that's going to bring some small yet noticeable changes to the game, and there's no indication this downtime will bring that mini patch -- although we don't know officially one way or another. There have been a few stability issues reported this past week, so we're sure that many folks will be looking forward to having the maintenance hopefully fix these things up.

We'll let you know if we hear the maintenance is going to be extended -- but other than that, enjoy the downtime. I hear the Star Trek Online beta is a good way to pass the downtime.

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Scheduled maintenance for this Tuesday originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> breakingrealm-maintenancerealm-stautswow-realm-status (Adam Holisky) Mon, 18 Jan 2010 09:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Is Blizzard on Team Conan?]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/17/is-blizzard-on-team-conan/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/17/is-blizzard-on-team-conan/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/17/is-blizzard-on-team-conan/#comments
Everyone seems to be weighing in on the new late night wars between Conan and Leno -- I'm firmly on Team Conan. Leno and his chin have had their time in the spotlight, they can take themselves elsewhere. And according to the launcher screen Blizzard might be siding with Conan, too.

Sit at the launcher for a few minutes and let a few features flash by. You'll eventually see the above advertisement for the new character feeds in the armory, with the character name of "Coco" clearly visible. There is some speculation that this timely reference is a nod to the "I'm with Coco" portrait by Mike Mitchell that's become the picture of Conan resistance.

So is Blizzard weighing in and saying Carson's legacy should sit in the hands of Conan? If for no better reason than my own tin-foil hat attitude, I'm going to say yes. Yes they are.

[Thanks to Ryan Holt for the tip!]

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Is Blizzard on Team Conan? originally appeared on WoW.com on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> character-feedsim-with-cocomike-mitchellteam-conanwow-armory (Adam Holisky) Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:15:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Warlocks to get a new pet in Cataclysm?]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/15/warlocks-to-get-a-new-pet-in-cataclysm/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/15/warlocks-to-get-a-new-pet-in-cataclysm/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/15/warlocks-to-get-a-new-pet-in-cataclysm/#comments Coming out of the Twitter developer chat tonight was this question and following answer, given by Ghostcrawler and J. Allen Brack:
Q. With the new skins for druid forms, what is the chance that warlocks might see race/faction specific demon skins or maybe a new one?

A. When you look around, there are a lot of say imp or voidwalkers we could use. It's something we talk about quite a bit. As for new demons, I hear warlocks are going to be getting some new spells for the next expansion...
While it's not a direct confirmation that warlocks will be getting a new pet in Cataclysm, I think it's safe to read into this and maybe get a bit excited about this one. I doubt they'd mention warlocks getting "new spells" in relation to getting a new demon if such an addition to the warlock class wasn't planned.

So, new demons for warlocks? Probably. My guess is that it'll be a pet lava monster or something related to the elemental plane. Just the perfect kind of thing to pop up into the evil hands of warlocks from the sundered land in Cataclysm.


World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.

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Warlocks to get a new pet in Cataclysm? originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cataclysm-changescataclysm-guidecataclysm-newscataclysm-petcataclysm-warlockcataclysm-warlock-petexpanionexpansion-threenew-demonnew-warlock-petnext-xpacthird-expansionthird-xpacwarlockwarlock-cataclysmwarlock-changeswarlock-petworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmwow-4.0wow-4.0.2wow-cataclysmwow-expansionwow-guidewow-third-expansion (Adam Holisky) Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:35:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Developer Twitter chat transcript for January 15th, organized by category]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/15/developer-twitter-chat-transcript-for-january-15th-organized-by/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/15/developer-twitter-chat-transcript-for-january-15th-organized-by/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/15/developer-twitter-chat-transcript-for-january-15th-organized-by/#comments After the break is the complete transcript of the developer Twitter chat with Lead Systems Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street and J. Allen Brack. They talked a lot about Cataclysm and upcoming class changes, and reflect on some of the inner workings of patch 3.3. Unlike the last twitter developer chat, this chat was much more substantial and actually provided useful information for us all.

We've broken up all the answers into the following hyperlinked categories for your browsing pleasure.

Table of Contents Look for more analysis and updates on these answers in the coming days on WoW.com.

Continue reading Developer Twitter chat transcript for January 15th, organized by category

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Developer Twitter chat transcript for January 15th, organized by category originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> breakingcataclysm-guidecataclysm-newsexpanionexpansion-threenext-xpacpatch-3.3patch-3.3-changespatch-3.3-wowthird-expansionthird-xpacworld-of-warcraft-cataclysmworld-of-warcraft-patch-3.3wow-3.3-changeswow-4.0wow-4.0.2wow-cataclysmwow-expansionwow-guidewow-new-patchwow-patchwow-patch-3.3wow-patch-newswow-third-expansion (Adam Holisky) Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:10:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Daily Quest: Listening to the tank]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/15/the-daily-quest-listening-to-the-tank/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/15/the-daily-quest-listening-to-the-tank/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/15/the-daily-quest-listening-to-the-tank/#comments We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

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The Daily Quest: Listening to the tank originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> guideguide-indexworld-of-warcraft-infoworld-of-warcraft-linksworld-of-warcraft-siteswow-guidewow-guide-indexwow-indexwow-infowow-informationwow-linkswow-site-indexwow-sites (Adam Holisky) Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Daily Quest: Mack rows]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/14/the-daily-quest-mack-rows/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/14/the-daily-quest-mack-rows/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/14/the-daily-quest-mack-rows/#comments We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

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The Daily Quest: Mack rows originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> cartographerforce-castingguideguide-indexicecrown-citadelpatch-3.3tanking-weaponswarrior-weaponswaterboltworld-of-warcraft-infoworld-of-warcraft-linksworld-of-warcraft-siteswow-guidewow-guide-indexwow-indexwow-infowow-informationwow-linkswow-site-indexwow-sites (Adam Holisky) Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[How Blizzard can improve the next Twitter chat]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/14/how-blizzard-can-improve-the-next-twitter-chat/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/14/how-blizzard-can-improve-the-next-twitter-chat/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/14/how-blizzard-can-improve-the-next-twitter-chat/#comments Coming up tomorrow at 5 p.m. PST / 8 p.m. EST is the next Blizzard Twitter chat with J. Allen Brack and Greg Street. Both of these guys have done plenty of panels before and are veterans in community interaction. They can easily answer and dodge any question they like; and if Ghostcrawler sees fit I'm sure he's got a few quips to hand out to the attempted troll as well.

But despite the two figureheads at the top answering questions in the Twitter chat, it's important that we look back at the last chat and make a few critical, yet fair, observations:

Target Audience and New Information

The people following Blizzard on Twitter and paying attention enough to participate in a developer chat are going to be well informed individuals. There might be details here and there that they don't yet fully understand -- but that's the nature of a game as huge as WoW. Nearly every questioned answered in the previous Twitter chat was also previously answered at BlizzCon in one way or another. All of that information is widely accessible on sites like WoW.com and through the forums. The targeted audience of the Twitter chat, by the very nature of its medium and community involvement therein, should have been people already aware of the basics of upcoming changes; not people who want to know if Goblins are going to come with a new dance.

Continue reading How Blizzard can improve the next Twitter chat

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How Blizzard can improve the next Twitter chat originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> developer-chattwittertwitter-chatwow-dev-chatwow-twitterwow-twitter-chat (Adam Holisky) Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Queue: In which protection paladins really aren't that great]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/13/the-queue-in-which-protection-paladins-really-arent-that-great/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/13/the-queue-in-which-protection-paladins-really-arent-that-great/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/13/the-queue-in-which-protection-paladins-really-arent-that-great/#comments 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 be your host today.

We'll dive right into The Queue today. No fliffity fluff gobbley gloucke. Straight up answers.

Erika asked...

"Will we be able to go back to classic zones at 80-85 or will it be changed permanently for us?"

Continue reading The Queue: In which protection paladins really aren't that great

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The Queue: In which protection paladins really aren't that great originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> aoe-levelingdungeon-finderfeaturedguidelfrlooking-for-raidprot-paladin-levelingprotection-paladinqaquestion-and-answerraid-finderwow-answerswow-daily-answerswow-daily-questionswow-guidewow-player-questionswow-q-and-awow-questions (Adam Holisky) Wed, 13 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Man imprisoned on fraud and theft charges over account selling scam]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/13/man-imprisoned-on-fraud-and-theft-charges-over-account-selling-s/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/13/man-imprisoned-on-fraud-and-theft-charges-over-account-selling-s/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/13/man-imprisoned-on-fraud-and-theft-charges-over-account-selling-s/#comments According to The Associated Press, 23 year old Christopher H. Bouffard accepted $760 in 2008 from at least two people in exchange for WoW accounts. Bouffard then failed to turn over the agreed upon accounts, leading to a police investigation. He has now been charged with two counts of grand theft and one count of scheming to defraud. Bouffard is currently being held in jail until he is able to post a $20,000 bail.

While defrauding people and taking their money isn't anything new, getting busted over it while selling WoW accounts is. From what we understand, the arrest is not for the actual trading and selling of accounts, but for the fraud that went on in the process. The fraud in this case is a criminal matter with very real implications for Mr. Bouffard, whereas the buying and selling of WoW accounts is against the agreed upon Terms of Service, but not against any criminal code.

We've been hearing a lot about misbehaving WoWers lately, from the cougar who ran off with a fifteen year old boy, to Blizzard helping international authorities track fugitives online. This appears to be just the latest in a string of cases for Jack "Hang 'em High" McCoy to lay some law and order down on.

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Man imprisoned on fraud and theft charges over account selling scam originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> account-buyingaccount-sellingbreakingchirs-bouffardchristopher-bouffardfraudhackingscam (Adam Holisky) Wed, 13 Jan 2010 09:30:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Daily Quest: The Professor]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/the-daily-quest-the-professor/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/the-daily-quest-the-professor/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/the-daily-quest-the-professor/#comments We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

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The Daily Quest: The Professor originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> guideguide-indexworld-of-warcraft-infoworld-of-warcraft-linksworld-of-warcraft-siteswow-guidewow-guide-indexwow-indexwow-infowow-informationwow-linkswow-site-indexwow-sites (Adam Holisky) Tue, 12 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[AddOn Spotlight: EveryQuest]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/addon-spotlight-everyquest/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/addon-spotlight-everyquest/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/addon-spotlight-everyquest/#comments In patch 3.3 we gained the ability to view what quests we had completed. This ability was given to us through a backend API call that returned a list of completed quest IDs. While the normal user wouldn't be able to do anything with this data, addon authors rejoiced as they now had a mechanism to find out exactly what quests you had, and thus hadn't, completed yet.

There are a few addons now that let you see exactly what quests you have left to do on your way to Loremaster, and in this AddOn Spotlight we'll take a look at my personal favorite, EveryQuest. EveryQuest is a well integrated addon that existed prior to patch 3.3, where it would track all the quests you did since you installed EveryQuest. However now the functionality has been extended and serves as my preferred method in advancing my questing achievements.

Continue reading AddOn Spotlight: EveryQuest

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AddOn Spotlight: EveryQuest originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> add-onadd-on-configurationadd-on-guideaddon-configurationaddon-guideaddon-loremasteraddonscompleted-quest-listsfeaturedguidekandarzloremasterloremaster-achievementloremaster-addonquest-guidequest-listwow-add-onwow-add-on-guidewow-add-onswow-addon-guidewow-addonswow-guidewow-loremasterwow-loremaster-achievementwow-quest-list (Adam Holisky) Tue, 12 Jan 2010 13:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Rumor: Sam Raimi's next project is the Warcraft movie]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/rumor-sam-raimis-next-project-is-the-warcraft-movie/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/rumor-sam-raimis-next-project-is-the-warcraft-movie/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/rumor-sam-raimis-next-project-is-the-warcraft-movie/#comments According to Ain't It Cool News, Sam Raimi's next project will be the Warcraft movie. This follows on yesterday's announcement that Spider-Man 4 is canceled, and that Raimi is done with the Spider-Man franchise. The Spider-Man movie series is going to undergo a reboot (yes, already) with entirely new cast and crew, which means Raimi is free to work on other projects.

If AICN's sources are correct and Raimi is going to be working on the Warcraft movie next, this is great news for the movie. While it is probably still a few years away from release, the fact that he's focusing on it now is a good indication the project is moving forward in the right direction.

AICN points out that with the success of Avatar the time is ripe for creating immersive virtual worlds, and you'd be hard pressed to find a more immersive world than Warcraft. Although lets all hope that the Warcraft movie doesn't become a cheap rip off of Avatar -- but with Raimi at the helm it's likely in safe hands.

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Rumor: Sam Raimi's next project is the Warcraft movie originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> aicnaint-it-cool-newsbreakingsam-raimispider-man-4spidermanspiderman-4warcraft-movieworld-of-warcraft-moviewow-movie (Adam Holisky) Tue, 12 Jan 2010 11:30:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Recent in-game fixes]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/recent-in-game-fixes/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/recent-in-game-fixes/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/12/recent-in-game-fixes/#comments Two minor in-game fixes that were applied last night to the game. These fixes should be active once the servers come back up later this morning/afternoon. They're modifying the Professor Putricide encounter just a tad, and should make a couple annoyances with the fight go away.

The fixes as enumerated by Bornakk are:
  • Professor Putricide's Tear Gas will no longer remove player auras.
  • The Growing Ooze Puddles in the Professor Putricide encounter will no longer continue to grow while players are stunned.
That's all, and if there's any more in-game fixes we'll be sure to let you know.

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Recent in-game fixes originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> bornakkBreakingNewsgrowing-ooze-puddleshot-fixhot-fixesin-game-fixespatch-3.3patch-3.3-changespatch-3.3-wowprofessor-putricidetear-gasworld-of-warcraft-patch-3.3wow-3.3-changeswow-new-patchwow-patchwow-patch-3.3wow-patch-news (Adam Holisky) Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:30:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[The Queue: Why are warriors so awesome?]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/11/the-queue-why-are-warriors-so-awesome/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/11/the-queue-why-are-warriors-so-awesome/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/11/the-queue-why-are-warriors-so-awesome/#comments 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 be your host today.

Today has to have some special significance. If you take the month and the year and add them together and subtract 2000 you get the day. The day. It's like, the world is going to end or something, and it isn't even 2012!

Oh well, here are the last questions I'll ever answer in The Queue, because it's the end of the world as we know it (which happens to be today's reading music).

Rhornez asked...

"Why are warriors so awesome?"

Continue reading The Queue: Why are warriors so awesome?

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The Queue: Why are warriors so awesome? originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> class-archetypesclass-rolescommentsfansitefansitesfeaturedguideqaquestion-and-answerreport-lagroleswow-answerswow-commentswow-daily-answerswow-daily-questionswow-guidewow-player-questionswow-q-and-awow-questions (Adam Holisky) Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Blizzard policy changes in reaction to account security concerns]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/blizzard-policy-changes-in-reaction-to-account-security-concerns/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/blizzard-policy-changes-in-reaction-to-account-security-concerns/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/blizzard-policy-changes-in-reaction-to-account-security-concerns/#comments
WoW.com has learned through sources close to the situation that after our series of posts describing some questionable internal policies at Blizzard concerning account administration and security, as well as the likely introduction of mandatory authenticators, a few of these policies have been changed this evening.

First, the abilities of billing representatives to directly roll back characters to previous states has been more or less removed, preventing the onioning exploit we spoke about earlier. Account administrators still have the ability, of course, but it should prevent people from being able to game the system over the phone. We do not know if this ability will be returned when billing representatives obtain the proper training and tools.

Second, the care package deal has been sweetened. We're not exactly sure how, only that it's been improved from what it was this morning. World of Raids was tracking the response to these stories on the Customer Service Forums and found a post by CSF blue Syndri detailing some specifics of the care page as it stood earlier today. We cannot be sure Syndri's post applies to the package now or not (given its changes), however it's probably safe to assume that it does. We have also learned that managers are being directed to ensure everyone is presented this care package as an optional alternative to full restoration, something we understand was not consistently happening before.

Syndri's enumerations after the break.

Continue reading Blizzard policy changes in reaction to account security concerns

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Blizzard policy changes in reaction to account security concerns originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> account-administrationblizzardblizzard-account-administrationblizzard-billingbreakingexploitmandatory-authenticatorsonioningsyndri (Adam Holisky) Fri, 08 Jan 2010 20:30:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[How flaws in Blizzard's billing department are being exploited]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/how-flaws-in-blizzards-billing-department-are-being-exploited/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/how-flaws-in-blizzards-billing-department-are-being-exploited/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/how-flaws-in-blizzards-billing-department-are-being-exploited/#comments
Please see the update to this original post.

In our continuing series on account security issues present within Blizzard's offices, we bring you news that lax training in Blizzard's billing department is being exploited by those attempting to game the system and illegitimately acquire more gold and high value in-game items.

The critical flaw in Blizzard's system is that billing support personnel are currently given the ability to "roll back" characters to previous versions more or less on the spot, with the customer on the phone. Because of this, there is a high degree of flexibility and personal accountability on the part of the billing representative. The flexibility extended here is vitally important to customer service, however the training that comes with the flexibility, we are told by multiple sources, is inadequate and leads to this exploit being practiced by a growing number of individuals.

The exploit involves human interaction (aka social engineering), which in security systems is the notoriously weak point. The exploit is often referred to internally as "onioning," which involves the player repeatedly claiming the account was compromised to the Blizzard billing support representatives. There are obviously more details to doing this, but we don't want to provide a how-to. Blizzard is aware of how this is done, and they are currently not implementing checks to combat this.

Continue reading How flaws in Blizzard's billing department are being exploited

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How flaws in Blizzard's billing department are being exploited originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> account-securitybilling-departmentbilling-exploitblizzard-billingblizzard-toolsbreakingexploitonioningsocial-engineering (Adam Holisky) Fri, 08 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST WoW.com <![CDATA[Account Administration encouraged not to restore hacked characters]]> http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/account-administration-told-not-to-restore-hacked-characters/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/account-administration-told-not-to-restore-hacked-characters/ http://www.wow.com/2010/01/08/account-administration-told-not-to-restore-hacked-characters/#comments
Please see the update to this original post.

In a stunning revelation from a veteran account administrator at Blizzard, WoW.com has learned that account administrators are being encouraged by Blizzard managers not to restore people's characters and items after their account has been ransacked by gold sellers and keyloggers. Instead, account administrators are being told to give people a "care package" and get them to accept the package in lieu of total account restoration.

If the player does not accept this care package, they are then forced to go into a character restoration queue that is consistently several days to weeks long. According to sources familiar with the situation, this "care package policy" has been implemented in order to lighten the work load of those Blizzard employees who perform account restorations. Similar policies have existed at other times account compromises have been high, such as during the transition from Vanilla WoW to The Burning Crusade.

This care package being offered consists of the following:

Continue reading Account Administration encouraged not to restore hacked characters

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Account Administration encouraged not to restore hacked characters originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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]]> accountaccount-administrationaccount-hackingaccount-restorationaccount-securitybreakingcare-packagecharacter-restorationgold-care-packageitem-restorationmandatory-authenticatorswow-account-hackingwow-crackswow-gmwow-hacks (Adam Holisky) Fri, 08 Jan 2010 11:00:00 EST WoW.com