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NetEase loses WoW director, Li Riqiang
World of Warcraft in China continues to walk a rocky path. NetEase, the company currently licensed to operate WoW's The Burning Crusade expansion in China, lost Li Riqiang, a senior director for the WoW business unit on the 24th of February, 2010. There is no word on why he left, and the company is keeping mum on details about the departure and his replacement. This comes on the heels of a 62% jump in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2009 generated since NetEase was able to light up the TBC servers after resolving their disputes with the government, which had prevented them from launching the service in China until September 2009. That revenue increase was accompanied by lower profit margins, however, as NetEase must pay hefty licensing fees to Activision Blizzard. The fact that there are still Chinese players who are willing to play an obsolete and no longer maintained version of the game is a little strange to me-- many Chinese players simply started over on Taiwanese servers. Judging by the amount of red tape that's being wrapped around anything to do with Blizzard, I suspect we'll see Cataclysm released before Chinese players can play Wrath of the Lich King without connecting to a server in Taiwan.
Last Week on Massively: WoW-related stories
For those of you who asked to have all your WoW news from one source, you'll be happy to know that we now provide one RSS feed that combines both WoW Insider and all WoW-related Massively stories. You can find information on that feed in our special announcement post.Also, a few of you have requested a different format for this weekly posting that is more than link and description. So we now present to you: image, link and description! Ta da! Who loves ya baby?Now on to the good stuff:"Peace on earth goodwill to men" started with players this seasonEric Vice wanders the MMO lands in search of the Yuletide spirit. From Santa's sudden appearance in Middle-earth to a voice behind the Ironforge Christmas tree promising a seasonal surprise, join Eric on his quest for the spirit of the holidays.Adventures from the Back Row: World of Warcraft priestly resourcesMichael Zenke compiles a list of sites, forums, blogs and guides that are essential reading for anyone playing a Priest. Highlights include Elitist Jerks' Holy Raiding Compendium, Ten Ton Hammer's forum guide to What The MT Expects From The MH and a few of his favorite Priest blogs. He didn't mention our new Raid Healing column, Raid Rx, so I'll have to spam his e-mail box with articles until he adds to the list.
My Burning Crusade launch experience
If you're tired of reading about midnight launches and what people would do to get a Collector's Edition, then move along. If instead you want to read about the trials and tribulations of a man who's closer to the arctic circle than is necessary, stay with me. So, being in Saskatoon, we didn't get a midnight launch. Maybe it's because both of our EB Games locations are in malls and our Walmarts close at 10pm like everything else in the city, and that's it really is too dark and too cold for people to be out that late on a Monday night. Whatever the reason, a midnight launch was a no-go. I watched my guildies leap through the Dark Portal with the giddy giggles of four-year olds at Christmas. I kept saying "Grats" to every ding from a newly created Draenei. And then I went to bed, falling asleep in a puddle of tears. No, not really. Earlier on Monday evening, five of us had piled into my car to hit every shop in town to see a) If they had any Collector's Editions in stock and b) If they could be bribed to sell them to us a little early. While a fun experience, it proved unfruitful. It seemed like hope was dwindling for me and my dashed dreams of a Collector's Edition.
