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Live
Blizzard Lays Off 600 Employees
Blizzard is letting go approximately six hundred employees globally with over 90% of them from non-development teams (
source
). According to Blizzard, the development cycle will not be impacted.
As a personal aside, to everyone let go, the Wowhead staff is thinking of you and we hope you land on your feet. Layoffs are horrible things to experience.
Everyone,
We announced today that we’re in the process of cutting a number of active positions, mostly non-development, throughout the company. I'm sure this announcement has sparked some questions from all of you, so I want take this opportunity to address those as best I can. Over the past several years, the company has grown rapidly and evolved to better serve you and the rest of our global community. Thanks to all of your support, we continue to serve by far the biggest subscription-based MMO community, as well as the most passionate eSports and online gaming communities, in the world.
In order to keep making epic game content while serving players effectively, we have to be sm
Live
Cataclysm Post Mortem -- Quest Design with Dave Kosak
To kick-off our World of Warcraft: Cataclysm post mortem series, we sat down with World of Warcraft Lead Quest Designer Dave “Fargo” Kosak to discuss his thoughts on questing in Cataclysm.
Q: What were your main goals going into Cataclysm?
Certainly from a quest design standpoint our primary goal with Cataclysm was to remake the old world, specifically the 1-60 questing experience. World of Warcraft was released in 2004, and we've learned so much in the years since about what constitutes good MMO gameplay. We wanted to make sure that the game was relevant to new players coming in, and walking up and down the length of the Barrens on foot over and over just didn’t do it for us anymore.
Remaking the entire old world -- 46 zones! -- was ambitious. Actually, it was ludicrous. It was like re-releasing a whole game in the course of an expansion cycle. Then we added a couple new races and their starting zones on top of that. I’m not sure how we convinced ourselves we could make it happen, but somehow we pulled it together.
Q: Are you happy with how the old world re-vamp turned out?
I am. Leveling up a new character to 60 nowadays is a gr
Live
Best in Show: A Guide to All Shirts
Shirts can't be transmogged, but a well-chosen one can change the look of everyday gear. They're not restricted by class or armor limitations, so nothing is out of reach for avid collectors. They're great for both bank alts, players looking to cover up skin, or show off a rare find.
Plus, Ashelia has always wanted a shirt guide, and since this week marked a year for her at Wowhead, I thought it was a good time to write such a guide!
I've organized all the shirts by color, as well as providing descriptions, acquisition methods, and crafting materials. The descriptions are more elaborate than in the past--besides a written blurb, there's toggled user-submitted screenshots for every shirt.
Here's a a set of quick links to currently-obtainable items by source:
Vendors
Quest Rewards
Tailoring
Drops
[url=
http://www.wowhead.com/items=4.-8?filter=cr
Live
4.3.2 Hotfixes (2/24) and Italian Version of World of Warcraft Coming Soon
We have exciting news for our many Italian players: you will soon be able to play WoW in your native language!
Existing players will be able to download a free language pack to experience the game in Italian when it launches later this year.
Gamers in Europe will also be able to purchase fully localized versions of World of Warcraft (which now includes its first expansion, The Burning Crusade) and its three following expansions, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, and the upcoming Mists of Pandaria.
The games will be available for purchase at retail and digitally through your Battle.net account.
Of course, the official World of Warcraft website and forums will be offered in Italian, and we’ll also be opening up Italian realms!
Stay tuned for more information on a release date in the coming months.
<p><strong>February 23</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>General
<ul>
<li>A completed character race change should no longer clear your active quests.</li>
<li>Multiple hunters at
Live
News Round Up: Dragon Soul Nerfs Continue and so do MoP Talent Explanations
Dragon Soul is receiving what will be the second of its zone wide nerfs, decreasing the damage dealt and health of its enemies by 10% from 5%.
There has been some retaliation from players, but it's always good to remember that the last thing Blizzard wants is another situation like the original Naxxaramas--it is their company goal now to have the majority of its playerbase experience the encounters and this is their method of doing it. Besides, it's not like it's a surprise now, is it?
In other news, we have our recent giveaway winners to announce. We have a bunch because I went on a giveaway spree last week. I'm sorry, I won't do it again!
However, our friends at WoWInterface are holding a
raffle this week
--check it out if you like
Party G.R.E.N.A.D.E.
and
Papa Hummel's Old-Fashioned Pet Biscuit
!
Giveaway Winners
Mount Giveaway Winners
Heart of the Aspects
Mount and 4 AMPM Cups
Heart of the Aspects
Mount
soleless
Umbra000
[td align=c
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Wowhead's Mists of Pandaria Guide
With the recent massive
talent calculator updates
, we thought it would be a fitting time to highlight our
Mists of Pandaria Guide
. We created it
right after BlizzCon
, including everything from BlizzCon transcripts to blue posts organized by topic for easier reference.
Most importantly, we've been updating it regularly since November with subsequent Blizzard coverage and talent calculator updates. In the past few weeks alone, there's been a ton of new information released that we've added to our comprehensive guide. Even if you've browsed our guide when it was first released, there's bound to be something new for every topic now!
Official FAQ
--Official FAQ from BlizzCon.
General Changes
--General features and additions!
[url=
http://www.wowhead.com/guide=5.0
Live
Like Video Games? Take a Survey and Win Amazon Gift Cards!
This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to all who participated!
We're doing some market research at Wowhead and we decided to make it another giveaway for those of you who want to provide some help!
Just answer this
online survey
about your gaming preferences and we'll pick eight people to win Amazon gift cards.
Two people will win $100 USD Amazon gift card
Two people will win a $50 USD Amazon gift card
Four people will win a $25 USD Amazon gift card
Make sure you act fast--we'll be closing it along with our
other giveaway
this Friday at noon PDT!
Click here to take the survey!
Live
Mists of Pandaria Talent Calculator Updates (2/15)
Blizzard updated the
Mists of Pandaria talent calculator
today! These are
major
updates. Perculia and I went through and transcribed every talent change we found for all of the classes from the old version to this version the minute these hit while Aryu updated our talent calculator on Wowhead. We also provided summaries of the major changes and highlighted the important class abilities.
Things to keep in mind:
A lot of these "removed" talents are becoming glyphs or spells unlocked by specialization
These are by no means the final product or even close to them, so don't roast Ghostcrawler and his team too much
!
Let us know if you spot any mistakes, we transcribed these the past four hours rapidly and expect there will be a couple typos.
Death Knight
Death Knights get a new execute-like ability,
Soul Reaper
, as well as some tweaks to specialization abilities--
Raise Ally
now resurrects players with 60% health. In addition, several former talents were changed to class/specialization abilities: Blood DKs get
Bone Shield
and Outbreak
Live
Win 10 Heart of the Aspects Mounts and 20 AMPM WoW Cups!
Blizzard just put up their
Heart of the Aspects
mount in the Blizzard store, just in time for Valentine's Day. The mount is available for
$25 in North America
and
20€ in Europe
.
Naturally this means we have some to giveaway. However, just giving away a mount would be
boring,
so we also have five sets of
Blizzard collectible cups
that were being sold at AMPM stores in only five states to add to the giveaway!
Five people who reply to this post will receive a mount and a set of the legendary boss cups
An additional five people will receive just a mount
To enter to win, just comment on this post.
You have until this Friday at 12:01PM PDT to enter, so be quick!
Edit:
We're doing a marketing research poll and if you answer it, you will have another chance to win one of these mounts.
.
Both giveaways are now closed--we'll have the winners shortly.
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News Round Up: World of Warcraft Monopoly, Contest Winners, MvP Posters, and more!
As promised, we have the winners from
last week's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning giveaway
! We also have the news accrued from the past several days, including my personal favorite: StarCraft 2 RISK and World of Warcraft Monopoly. Those are my two favorite board games, so having them paired up with two of my favorite digital games seems a bit surreal.
In other news, we are still looking for
a PHP developer and a sales manager
. We are doing interviews all week, so make sure to get your information in if you want a chance to work here at Wowhead!
Date
Prize
User
February 10th, 2012
First
rankkorr
February 10th, 2012
First
[url=http://
Live
Beyond Loremaster: Quest Achievements
and
Seeker
too daunting, but still like questing? There's still a ton of quest-related achievements out there. This guide covers all the achievements tied to specific dailies or questing zones. Some give cool rewards like pets, while others require you to do special challenging things while completing otherwise mundane dailies.
I've also highlighted several outstanding user guides and comments about achievements--I couldn't have explained those achievements better myself. We're always looking for more guide contributions, so if you have a favorite achievement you want to talk about--share it
here
.
Vash'jir
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
/
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Complete the Neptulon quests in Vashj'ir up to and including
Defending the Rift
.
This questline essentially expects you to complete most of Vash'jir--you must do so in order to unlock the Neptulon quest chain. Wharris provides an overview of the z
Live
Now Hiring: PHP Developer and Sales Manager
It's that time again, we're hiring!
This time we're looking to pick up a new
PHP developer
to work on Wowhead--in addition, we're also looking for a
sales manager
to add to our growing sales team! To find out more about both positions, continue reading this post or
visit our jobs page
.
The ideal PHP developer candidate will have strong coding skills, know common web development libraries, and have a solid background in PHP framework. They will also have to tackle day to day management of Wowhead as well as help me plan future enhancements and features. Last but not least, they also need to have a passion for gaming--Wowhead will be a big part of this job, so loving World of Warcraft is a huge plus.
This is a
full-time, salaried
position with the option to either work from home or in our offices in Palo Alto, California. It includes benefits such as health insurance if you live in the United States, while it is a contract position for others. If you think you're the right one for the job, check out the requirements on our jobs page, and then send a copy of your resume as well as salary expectations and cover letter to
jobs@wowhead.com
[/
Live
WoW Loses 100k More Subscribers, Subscriber Decline Finally Slows
The Activision Blizzard quarterly call was today and it seems like the subscription drops have slowed down for the time being. World of Warcraft is only down 100,000 subscribers this past quarter unlike the past three quarters where World of Warcraft lost
600k
,
300k
, and finally
800k subscribers last November
. Of course, this isn't surprising, given 4.3 dropped during this time along with the yearly subscription promotion where players got a free copy of Diablo III in exchange for committing to a year of World of Warcraft game time.
Keep in mind, however, this is still a disappointing result. Many people were anticipating a momentary increase in subscribers, but it was still a minor decline despite a large patch and a new localized version for Brazil.
Other points of note:
There are approximately 50 million monthly active users across Battle.
Live
New Ghostcrawler Blog: The Role of the Role
LFR Roll Clarifications
Blizzard Entertainment
Dungeons & Raids
Players no longer benefit from a role-based need bonus on the second of multiple copies of the same item on a single Raid Finder boss kill. For example, a player who chooses Need on two set piece tokens or two weapons (and wins the first) will only automatically roll 1-100 for the second from that particular boss.
Dev Watercooler: The Role of the Role
The Deluge
A monsoon is coming. We will soon inundate you with Mists of Pandaria information, starting with the upcoming media event and everything that follows. It’s going to be a very exciting time for World of Warcraft, and we are all super impatient for it to happen.
But… we’re not quite there yet. I want to make that clear upfront, because this blog isn’t directly Mists of Pandaria related. You won’t find any announcements here, just a philosophical discussion that you may or may not find interesting. If you’re looking for thrilling announcements, you know what I’m going to say: Soon™.
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Hotfixes 2/7 and News Roundup
Some minor hotfixes today--most notably, Ultraxion trash is less lengthy, and you can grind out
Lovely Charm
s while on the quest
Test Your Strength
now.
There's also been a ton of blue posts recently, covering everything from PvP mage talents to phasing and account-wide achievements in Mists of Pandaria. Will be especially nice to know more about the new achievement system soon!
Last but not least, our awesome friends at WoWInterface have released their Pick of the Week addon--it's perfect for players who love reputation grinds, either for achievements or for completion's sake!
Faction Addict
is a replacement for the in-game faction window. It can show you all factions, even those you have not encountered, and will keep track of your gains from previous sessions. You may order factions by percent to exalted or alphabetically. Additionally, each faction has a separate popup listing details about the faction and a link to its section on Wowhead.
Dungeons and Raids
Dragon Soul
After the instance is cleared,
Crimson Lifebinder
now resurrects the non-player characters
Live
Get Married In-game, Set a World Record
Over at ZAM,
the whole staff is participating in setting a world record on February 14th
on RIFT. Anyone who gets hitched on Valentine's Day in RIFT will be helping RIFT set a world record of the most virtual marriages in a single day in a video game. Five of the lucky newly weds will even earn some special accolades from the RIFT devs themselves.
The idea of a MMORPG being in the book of world records is beyond cool to me and so is coming together as a community on a singular day, so I'm all for it. You can even get married using a trial version of the game.
Click here to read more about it
.
As an added bonus, comment in this post how online gaming has played a role in your relationship (or friendships, if you're going stag this holiday)! One winner will receive their choice of a Blizzard store pet.
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Love is in the Air (February 5th - 19th) Guide
Ah,
love is in the air
in the World of Warcraft: sweet flowers, perfume, and sharing gifts with loved ones! But, what's this? A sinister plot is afoot involving some shady goblin newcomers to the seasonal market--the Crown Chemical Company! It's up to us to help save Azeroth from their chemically altered goods all while spreading love and appreciation to our faction leaders and fellow players!
Love is in the Air
starts on
February 5
at
3:00 AM
and ends on
February 19
at
3:00 AM
. This holiday can be celebrated by the Horde in
Orgrimmar
and the Alliance in
Stormwind City
. Seasonal decorations such as wreaths, candles and ribbons can be found in all major cities and at most zone inns. Players will also find
Lovely Merchant
s, who sell seasonal gifts and goodies.
This year, the event is relatively the same, but Perculia updated the guide with some pics and new info when it hit US servers live.
One important change is that you can now purchase a
Swift Lovebird
from the vendo
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Wowhead's Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning Sweepstakes
This giveaway is now closed. We will be emailing and announcing winners on Monday.
If you visit Wowhead, you're probably like me and you love RPGs. This means you have more than likely heard of the upcoming
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
--an open-world RPG of an immense scale that lets you define your own destiny and story (check out the demo
over here
, if you're interested). It also means you more than likely want your own copy.
And if that's the case, then I have some awesome news for you.
We have six
special edition Reckoning game bundles
which include maps, cards, and the game itself to give away at Wowhead this week and next. To top it off, we're giving away a grand prize of
a collector's edition of Reckoning
which includes everything in the special edition along with some added bonuses: a 12.5" troll figure and a lithograph signed by Ken Rolston! As I'm told, only 700 of these unique sets have been produced, so this is pretty sweet.
We'll be giving them away at 12:01PM PDT next Friday, February 10th, 2012. To enter to win, all you have to do is the following...
[q
Live
News Round Up: Mists of Pandaria News Coming Soon, Bug Fixes, And More
We have a bunch of blue posts from throughout the week for you to read. It's been a busier week than normal, with Blizzard seemingly finally waking up and getting ready to show us the goods! With this week's earlier announcement that a press event scheduled for March, we can only hope February passes as quickly as possible, because I think we're all dying to hear more about those pandas.
And possibly their brews.
With all the recent posts turning focus back to Mists, what do you guys think--
when will Mists of Pandaria be released?
Do you think we could be leveling this Fall in the new continent...or do you think it will be further off than that? Or hey, maybe sooner?
Mists of Pandaria
I like your thread, Vorps! It's great to see some positive discussion and speculation about where this game is headed. :)
We're definitely very focused on opening the doors a little wider to new ideas to really grasp onto what will make this game as fun as possible. It's 7 years old after all. We're not going to reinvent the wheel in Mists of Pandaria, but we want to introduce new types of compelling content with meaningful rew
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4.3 Hotfixes: February 2nd
A variety of hotfixes today--most importantly is that
A Treatise on Strategy
will drop from more heroic bosses, making it easier to get with the Darkmoon Faire around the corner.
We'd also like to highlight the work our sister site
Torhead
has been doing today. They've uncovered some information and spoilers about future patches--
check it out
!
February 2
General
Mass Dispel
should once again dispel up to 10 friendly or enemy targets.
Resilience should now properly reduce the damage over time effects for targets affected by
Mind Control
.
Dungeons and Raids
Dragon Soul
Lord Devrestrasz
no longer offers the option to disable the
Power of the Aspects
buff in Raid Finder mode.
The Spine of Deathwing
Corrupted Blood
s should no longer maintain threat after reconstituting themselves from residue.
Events
Soothsayer's Runes
and
A Treatise on Strategy
should now drop from all appropriate Heroic and raid bosses.
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