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10.2.7
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Live
Cataclysm Beta: More Zones Open For Testing
Valnoth
just went on a posting spree in the Official Cataclysm Beta forums announcing that several zones are now ready for testing!
Felwood
is a level 45-50 zone in Kalimdor, the quests for this area start at the Emerald Sanctuary. The completely revamped
Thousand Needles
, located in southern Kalimdor, is available for levels 40-45 and the breadcrumbs for this zone start in both Feralas and Dustwallow Marsh.
Next,
Uldum
is finally available for testing! It is available for levels 83-84 and the breadcrumbs start in
Deepholm
. The zone is not completely finished so you will run into a few stopping points. Finally,
Twilight Highlands
is also open for testing. The zone is made for levels 84-85 with breadcrumbs starting Orgrimmar and Stormwind from their respective city leaders. As with Uldum, Twilight Highlands is not completely finished and you will run into stopping points while questing!
You can read all the original announcements after the break.
Live
Cataclysm Beta: Streaming Launcher Improvements
In an upcoming beta build the Beta
Launcher
that is used to download and stream game data will be receiving several updates, including a new progress bar, speed improvements, detailed peer-to-peer information, bandwidth detection to help with low speed users, and a new Cataclysm-inspired theme!
Update:
We now have a screenshot of the new launcher! It is pretty sexy. Check it out on the right!
You can read the original post by Lylirra after the break!
Live
The Weekly Marmot - End of Expansion Raiding
So this week I take a look back through my experiences with raiding in the weeks and months prior to the release of Wrath of the Lich King and The Burning Crusade to give a little insight into what exactly is happening right now that's causing so much trouble for so many guilds. Why are so many players quitting their guilds? Why are so many quitting the game entirely? And just because I'm never content to just sit around and talk about how bad things can be, I give some tips and ideas for dealing with it and making sure your guild isn't one that falls victim to the dreaded End of Expansion Blues.
Live
Cataclysm Model Update - Watch out, they spit!
Another Cataclysm model update, this time featuring
camels!
Let's all pretend we're not going to be flying around all of Azeroth and riding
seahorses
through its expansive waters and just be excited for yet another pack beast to carry us through our adventures! So far these camels are not tied to any specific items, but one can only assume they'll be used in
Uldum
(where
wild camels
can be found) and
possibly
linked to the
Ramkahen
faction, maybe as a reputation reward similar to the
Talbuks
earned in
Nagrand
.
We've also found the model for an eerie little crawling hand companion pet (think
Thing
from The Addams Family), which also looks like it may come out of Uldum (with all the creepy mummies and crazy Egyptian-themed business going on down th
Live
Wowhead Scheduled Maintenance: Tuesday, Aug 31, 10pm-11pm Pacific Time
Just so it doesn't catch you all by surprise, we have a scheduled maintenance coming up next Tuesday!
We're going to be bringing the site down for maintenance
Tuesday, August 31st, from 10pm to 11pm Pacific Time
. Apparently this is the lowest traffic point for the site on a weekly basis (I wonder why? That's about when
I
log on...), so it seemed like the best place to squeeze it in.
Don't worry! We'll be back up in a jiffy to make sure you guys have access. :)
Live
Vindictus, the 'Hack n' Slash' F2P MMO, Has Been BFF'd (??)
Let's take Fable, strip down all the RP open-world nonsense and replace it with everything we've learned from the past 17 'Street Fighter II' games. Then sprinkle in some MMO elements, some glow, and make it fit the lore of Nexon's ongoing MMO series, "Mabinogi" but call it VINDICTUS...in the U.S.
If you read that with any negative connotation, you may be surprised at just how well this product has come together thus far...
As always, you can catch video extras and gaming randomness on my
facebook
or on
twitter
.
Live
Azeroth, Revisited: Stratholme in Cataclysm
Once again, we're going to dive into the beta and take a look at one of my personal favorite dungeons from classic—
Stratholme
.
Now if you don't remember anything about
Stratholme
, here's a quick rundown: Stratholme was originally one of the largest human cities in the world. During the events in Warcraft 3 (as we witnessed in
The Culling of Stratholme
), Prince Arthas finds out the plague has spread to the city and orders it purged. Later on the Undead took control of Stratholme and Kel'Thuzad established it as his capital and built the floating fortress
Naxxramas
above it.
Overall the dungeon has not changed much physically, but there is now a new wall splitting it literally into two instances. They have changed the level range for each side, levels 42-52 for the Main Gate and 46-56 for the Service Entrance.
OBLIGATORY SPOILER WARNING: DON'T READ THIS IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Live
Official Cataclysm Azshara Preview
Blizzard has sat down and talked with
Craig Amai
and
Dave Kosak
about some of the changes you'll be seeing in
Azshara
come Cataclysm. They talk about the concept behind the zone, as well as who will be leveling here (Horde of course!). Also, they briefly talk about what kind of work goes into redoing a zone like Azshara and about the awesome ride from the gates of Orgrimmar to the main town of Bilgewater Harbor.
You can read the entire preview after the break. Also, don't forget to check out all the awesome screenshots of Azshara in our
Cataclysm guide
!
Live
BlizzCon 2010 In-game Items Announced!
BlizzCon 2010
is approaching at an alarming rate, and Blizzard has just announced the in-game items that will go with your convention ticket (or virtual ticket)! This is
Deathy
, a murloc companion decked out like Deathwing—he'll be available for WoW players! StarCraft II players will be pleased to find out they will
also
be able get something special—a new Murloc Marine character portrait and a pair of deep-sea decals for your units!
BlizzCon 2010 World of Warcraft & StarCraft II In-Game Items
"Death will rise from the tide!" Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain once warned -- and at BlizzCon 2010, the band's dire musical prophecy will finally come to pass. Everyone who attends this year's BlizzCon or purchases the BlizzCon Virtual Ticket will receive an exclusive set of murlocalyptic in-game items for World of Warcraft and StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. World of Warcraft players will be joined by Deathy, a murloc companion decked out as Deathwing and doing his best to strike fear into the hearts of Azeroth's crustacean population. You'll also be able to display your tidal prid
Live
Cataclysm Beta (Build 12803) New + Updated Maps!
The Cataclysm beta build 12803 was deployed last week and we have a slew of new (and even some updated) maps for you to check out. We even have maps for all kinds of classic dungeons such as
Wailing Caverns
and
Blackrock Spire
!
Check out our side by side comparisons after the break!
Live
Professional Skillsets
Just a few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend an event called "Afroshoto", held at Boardners down in Hollywood. The event featured a small invitational Super Street Fighter 4 Tournament—8 total players, single elimination—as well as a small concert by a group called the Miles Mosley Band (which I recommend highly).
It was all in all a very successful event, especially for a Sunday night, which is hardly a major bargoing night. The band was excellent, the tournament was impressive (and watching Justin Wong go all the way with
Makoto
, my character of choice, was nice), and it was awesome as always to be at a public gaming event.
The band leader said something interesting, though, as they were setting up. I can't remember well enough to quote exactly, but the sentiment was something like this:
For the first time in history, technology has advanced to the point that the toys of our childhood have evolved enough to remain our primary form of recreation as adults.
This stuck with me, long after the event itself. The more I think about it, the more I realize not only how true it is, but how
important
it is.
Live
This Week In Warcraft: Episode 3!
Once again, our friend
Aliena
from
TankSpot
takes a moment to share her thoughts about the latest developments in WoW—including coverage of the Collector's Edition announcement, and the recent interviews with Tom Chilton and Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street!
Live
Cataclysm Model Update - Thrall, Guardian, Drakes and More!
Whoa, it's been too long without a Cataclysm Beta model update! We ran into some issues on our end that needed to be sorted out but we're back and we've got models, so it's all good! These models were added in the past few patches and you can check them out here in snazzy 3D! Let's check out the most awesome stuff first:
Thrall
- New-and-improved!
Ysera
- Just a modified recolor of Sylvanas, but we love her anyway!
Guardian of Ancient Kings
- The amazing form taken by
Guardian of Ancient Kings
Archeology Surveying Tool
- Archaeology is going to be
awesome
!
New Drakes!
We've got awesome new redesigned drakes which are planned to be the rewards for various Cataclysm achievements. So far, the onl
Live
Search Engine Survey: Win an Xbox 360 Slim!
We're looking for people who will answer "yes" to both of the following questions:
Do you use search engines?
Would you like an Xbox 360 Slim?
Since I'm pretty sure there are a lot of you out there, we've put together a quick survey. It's 15 questions long, and at the end of it you enter your email address and we give one of you an Xbox. It's that simple. Please note—we're not keeping your email addresses.
Fill out the survey, send in some feedback, and let's get one of you guys an Xbox, hm?
You have to be 18 or older and live in the 48 contiguous United States in order to win—although anyone can fill out the survey!
http://www.voicefive.com/Wowhead
Edit: I'm going to lock this thread, to make sure that comments on the forum post won't affect anyone's opinions for the actual survey. Got to keep the info unbiased!
Edit #2: We know there are some issues with the survey right now, and some people can't fill it out! We're looking into it and we'll get it fixed ASAP!
Edit #3: The survey is back open! Go fill it out for your chance to win the Xb
Live
Cataclysm Beta (Build 12803) New Icons + Skywall Loading Screen!
New build means new icons! We've got over
40 new icons
, mostly for various Cataclysm items and a few featuring new bosses from the
Halls of Origination
! Snazzy! We've also got the new
Skywall
loading screen - man, even
pictures
of this place look amazing! Even the icon for
Magtheridon's Head
finally gets a long-overdue update - he never was a tauren, after all! Be sure to check out our freshly updated
Latest Additions
page for delicious new data, including a handful of new achievements!
Check out the full post for the new icons!
Live
Happy "One Year Since Cataclysm Was Announced" Anniversary!
Well, it's been one whole year now since World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion was announced on August 21, 2009 at BlizzCon in Anaheim, California! Since then, we've learned countless of new things about the upcoming expansion and all of the wondrous features we have to look forward to - the drastic changes to Azeroth, the return of Ragnaros, new playable races, guild leveling and so much more! Sadly, the one thing we haven't learned of in all this time is quite possibly one of the most important details of the upcoming expansion - the
release date
. Recent interviews have allowed us to speculate of a late 2010 release (as they originally intended) but we're running out of 2010! I'm about to choke from my nerdy mouth frothing so long over here!
I wanted to take this opportunity to share with you guys the news that we've
massively updated
our
Cataclysm guide
! It's now even more chock full of glorious screenshots of the changed world and extensive, up-to-date details on major Cataclysm changes! Of course, we're gonna keep updating this guide probably until Cataclysm is ready to hit, so be su
Live
Premium Users Get Beta Access to Vindictus
The ZAM Network is giving away beta keys to a new MMO called
Vindictus
, created by Nexon—the same people, interestingly enough, who brought you
MapleStory
. Vindictus is a fantasy based MMORPG that incorporates real world physics into it's high-speed combat. You can find out more about the game itself on ZAM's Game Info page
here
.
After watching the
trailer
on Nexon's official site, I have to say it looks pretty awesome—I'll be sure to check it out myself!
Right now ZAM is only giving away beta keys to
Premium
members! If you already have Premium, you can head on over and get your
beta key
already!
Note: Beta Keys are currently only available in North America.
http://www.zam.com/giveaways/vindictus.html
Live
Cataclysm New Feature: Level Sync?
The Escapist
recently did an interview with
Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street
, where they talk Blizzard's plans and ideas behind Cataclysm. One part that really stood out was Ghostcrawler mentioning a new system being put in place that will
allow high level characters to decrease their level to help out low level characters.
This sound familiar to anyone? Anyone who has ever played Final Fantasy XI may remember this as
Level Sync
, and City of Heroes players may remember this as their "Mentoring System". Ghostcrawler does mention that this may happen
eventually
, so no getting your hopes up if it doesn't come true!
Cataclysm may also eventually include a system that allows players to scale down their character's level in order to help newer players. The heirloom items unveiled in Wrath of the Lich King already scale with a character's level, so adjusting t
Live
Exclusive GamesCom Tom Chilton Interview - Archaeology Details and More!
Lots of interesting new Cataclysm-related information has been revealed in extensive interviews performed the
GamesCom 2010
convention in Germany, and we're ready to add to it with an exclusive fan Q+A interview with World of Warcraft Lead Designer
Tom Chilton
courtesy of our friends at
Heldendaten.de
! We've got a full transcript of the interview to share with you guys which you can check out after the break!
For all of you
TL;DR
folks out there, I've summarized the majority of important details of the interview:
When will Cataclysm be released?
"It'll be the first Tuesday after it's done." Seriously, though, they want to shoot for a 2010 release but there's still a few months of development / polishing yet.
Will we ever see the Path of the Titans?
Not in Cataclysm (of course) but it could always see a conceptual revamping and return in a later expansion.
Extensive Archaeology details!
Zones will featured specific Ar
Live
The Expansion Agenda—Where To Begin?
In 2006, when the release of the Burning Crusade was not too far away, I remember feeling rushed to level my paladin to the level cap before it was raised. I didn't think I'd manage to make it in time, but luckily for me I did, and with very little time to spare. In retrospect, this was also a bad thing, too, because by that time almost everyone had very little need or interest to go to instances like
Scholomance
and
Dire Maul
, which I needed to do for the quest chain to get the
Summon Charger
. Despite the setback, I was ready for the Burning Crusade expansion like most other people, and couldn't wait to start leveling my paladin again.
And then came the day of the expansion's release. As soon as I picked up my preordered copy of the Burning Crusade, I remembered thinking, "Forget my paladin, I want to play the new races!" That's right, the level 60 paladin into which I had put countless hours of work was abandoned because of a brand new Draenei Shaman on my character list. I spent a month or so leveling my shaman before I finally realized that all the time that I had put into my new shaman should have been used on my paladin instead.
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