WoW.com

Another long, tedious work-week has come and gone, leaving us two blissful, uninterrupted days to catch up on our WoW-playing. So... Torchlight? Dragon Age? Since I know we're all serious WoW junkies, these must be new zones I haven't heard of. Perhaps something on the PTR? I clearly need figure this out, as some of our writers sound really quite excited about these things. But while I work on that, why don't you read on for all of the juicy details of what the WoW.com team is up to this weekend. And if this isn't enough detail on the day-to-day existence of the WoW.com staff, you can always stalk us follow us on Twitter.

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Filed under: Odds and ends

Ah, Saturday! That pristine day of the week when one needn't get up early for work, contend with rush hour traffic, or even crawl out of bed if you don't feel like it. Of course, this Saturday also appears to be some kind of crazy, candy-worshiping holiday -- which means you could have friends trying to drag you away from bed (or WoW) to participate in their candy-coated shenanigans. Don't be tempted to give in! Virtual trick-or-treating involves a much lower calorie consumption and is nearly as much fun.

But regardless of what you find yourself getting into on this October 31st, remember, Hallow's End wraps up on November 2nd, so you've only a few more days to complete your holiday goals tonight, so you better panic! So, without further ado, here's what your friendly neighborhood WoW.com staff is up to this weekend...

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Filed under: Odds and ends

Okay, so maybe -- just maybe -- the image above doesn't have anything to do with what the WoW.com team is playing this weekend. In fact, it would be difficult for any of us to be making attempts at Festergut this weekend, as his testing period on the patch 3.3 PTR is over. And who only knows when he (or perhaps "it" is more appropriate) and the rest of the residents of Icecrown Citadel will be making their appearance on the live realms. However, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Festergut is the creepiest thing I've seen in game in quite a while now -- which makes him the perfect conversation-piece for Hallow's End. And if you disagree? Well, just let me know what in Azeroth is creepier, and perhaps it will grace next week's WRUP post!

But until that time, let's talk about what the WoW.com team is playing this weekend...

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Filed under: Odds and ends

Happy weekend (and happy almost-Hallow's End!), everyone! Are you sitting comfortably? Catching up on a little Warcraft time after another tedious work-week? Of course the WoW.com team is in-game this weekend, bringing down bosses and collecting loots and maybe -- just maybe -- having a bit of fun in the process. So what are we playing this weekend? Well, we'll tell you!

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Filed under: Odds and ends

I'm just going to let Alex and Matt kick off this week's edition of WRUP with some notes on their plans for the weekend:

Alex: Using every tool at my disposal to thwart Rossi's attempts at world liberation, so I may continue to hold it in my iron grip.
Matt: Your simian shocktroopers can't stop me, Ziebart, any more than your Aerobots did!
Alex: Just you wait, Rossi. My cyborgephants hunger... for blood.
Matt: Ah, but you've forgotten, haven't you? When you sealed me in the ancient Mines of Musculus all those months ago, you thought I was doomed. But you didn't count on the inhabitants of those dank and deep pits, who blame you for their long imprisonment deep below the surface. Luckily for me, I had some Harvati in my trail rations, and so, I can call upon the MICEMEN OF MU!
Alex: Damn you, Rossi. Damn your eyes and all the beautiful stars within their depths! This isn't over! This isn't over.

Oh, boys, boys, you'll never settle this argument with threats of violence. That's what actual violence is for. And that said, let's talk about what the WoW.com team is playing this weekend.

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Filed under: Odds and ends

What's the WoW.com team playing this weekend? What are the WoW.com readers playing this weekend? Even before looking at our highly scientific poll data, I think it's safe to say that quite a few of have our eyes on the prize (which is to say one Violet Proto-Drake) and are working on Brewfest achievements. But as one or two of the team still insist on maintaining independent thought and action, below I have included a list of what we're all playing this weekend -- including those of us who aren't bothering with Brewfest.

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Filed under: Odds and ends

Oh, Dragon*Con, I missed you before I even left. Though I'm not entirely certain if you can really enjoy the MMO track's annual World of Warcraft party -- which included Gnome punting and Horde vs. Alliance dodgeball -- vicariously, I tried to catch the experience in photographic form nevertheless. (Note: if you want to really experience the meaning of the "war" in Warcraft, you need to do so in a room filled with hundreds of WoW fans cheering for their faction of choice.) Of course, Dragon*Con is more than parties (after all, some of the parties had Tesla coils), there was some great MMO programming and we had a chance to talk addons with the infamous ckknight. With twelve long months to wait until Dragon*Con 2010, we'll all have to live on memories until then. So, until 2010, I leave you with photo galleries.

Filed under: Events, Fan stuff

Since World of Warcraft's paid faction change service launched in the US at the beginning of the month, not a day has gone by when we have not received tips, questions, and complaints asking when the feature would be available in Europe. Well, European readers, the wait is over! So if you're eager to go from Gnome to Orc, all you need to do is head over to the account management page and be willing to pony up 25.00 Euros or 20.00 Pounds for the privilege. If you're the indecisive sort, remember you can only change your character's faction every 60 days -- but read the FAQ for full details. What the FAQ doesn't tell you, though, is that you should be prepared to lose your Argent Tournement standing if you make the jump -- so, to anyone jumping on the faction change bandwagon I hope you enjoy jousting!

However, if you're just wanting to change races within your current faction, this is not the service you're looking for. Blizzard has said they plan to make same-faction race changes available in the future and Ancilorn confirms this is the plan for Europe, as well.

Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Europe

If all you play is World of Warcraft, then you might not have heard of Vivox -- but they're the people providing integrated voice chat solutions for EVE Online, EverQuest, EverQuest II, Star Wars Galaxies, Second Life, Fallen Earth, All Points Bulletin.. I'd go on, but you probably get the point. This week at AGDC, Vivox is spreading its wings with the announcement of two new web-based voice chat applications: Vivox Web Voice for Facebook and Puggable for World of Warcraft players. Though the two use the same technology, Puggable is definitely targeted at the WoW-playing audience. I had a chance to sit down and chat with Vivox about Puggable at AGDC, and, though I haven't had a chance to get hands-on time with it, I've got to say the idea has a lot of appeal.

So what do you need to do to start chatting? Just fire up your web browser, point it to Puggable.com and create a chat room for your group. To invite others, all you need to do is share a link. The site will display character stats for your player from the armory (as seen in the above screenshot) for easy viewing by your entire group. And if you wish to select the instance you're running and the boss you're going to fight, Puggable will automagically pull up links for strategies, videos, and loot. No one needs to download or configure software (unless you're playing WoW with people who don't have web browsers... but that would just be silly) and there are no passwords to remember, share, or change. I'm hesitant to say it's fool-proof, but it certainly looks like group communication and organization simplified.

Puggable is presently in closed beta (though if you're interested in testing it, you can sign up on their site) with plans for a more open beta in the next few weeks.

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Events

For those interested in the subject, I've no doubt you've managed to pour through all of our Cataclysm-related coverage during BlizzCon. But lists of racial abilities and descriptions of starting zones only go so far in telling you what the Goblins and Worgen are really like. So now that BlizzCon's come to a close and the WoW.com team has had a chance to mull over time spent with the latest expansion we're going to give you what you really want to know about Cataclysm's new races: our honest impressions. Personally, I think Alex and Daniel's thoughts on the Worgen starting zone sums everything up:

Alex: TOP HATS
Daniel: FREAKING AWESOME TOP HATS

But for completeness' sake, the rest of the team's thoughts are below.

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Filed under: BlizzCon, Cataclysm