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The Lawbringer: Tying up Etsy, Annual Pass loose ends
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, and esoteroic topics that slip through the cracks. Resolution is something we rarely get in life. People are cagey, issues are weird, and tying up loose ends is a business of winding down all its own. There are two fairly loose ends still waving in the wind out there that I had some more opinions on and thought you would be interested in the share. If you guys have any topics from The Lawbringer that you'd like to see reexamined, updated, or even be told the other side of, let me know. We can work something out, you and me. The first issue that comes up in my email all the time is from people selling items on Etsy that are based on or inspired by artwork, characters, or designs from World of Warcraft. It's its own cottage industry, as the secondary and tertiary markets open up around the stadium that is Warcraft. People making WoW goods often want to sell them and have many questions in that vein. What is right? What is wrong? Maybe I can shed a little light on the subject. Good afternoon: Love your column; not sure if you've answered anything regarding this type of thing before, but here it goes. I always wanted to open a restaurant/diner, regardless of the intense amount of work this endeavour would take, what if any would the legal ramifications of naming the restaurant after an inn from the World of Warcraft Universe or the items on the menu? Of course they wouldn't have the actual ingredients but it'd would be fun to have Raptor Eggs as a breakfast item for example. Was there not a column about people selling WoW inspired items via sites like Etsy and the like? Would it be similar? Would the laws vary if one were in a different country? Canada for example? If it has been answered before a link to the previous article would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!
Blizzard opens the Mists of Pandaria floodgates for 100,000 annual passholders
As everyone who isn't willfully ignoring recent news is aware, World of Warcraft's Mists of Pandaria expansion is currently undergoing beta testing, and we know that many of you can't wait to get your hands on all the new content for yourselves. Well, if you're a World of Warcraft annual passholder, today might just be your lucky day. Bashiok stopped by the official forums to let players know that Blizzard is in the process of sending out a whopping 100,000 MoP beta invites to annual passholders. Bashiok closes the announcement by reminding players that all annual passholders will be invited to the beta before any opt-ins, though there's no telling how many of them are still awaiting invites or how long it will take before the poor/cheap among us get a crack at Pandaria, but hopefully it will be soon rather than soon™.
The Lawbringer: Mailbag 10
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, and esoteroic topics that slip through the cracks. With Mists of Pandaria information on the horizon, players are clamoring for release dates, beta information, and everything in between. People just want something, anything, to tide them over. How about The Lawbringer? We're talking some Mists beta and the Diablo real money auction house. Won't you join us? Mailbags are fun because the discussion topics come to me. Readers always have some great questions, and I'm more than happy to delve into an answer or two. This week's questions are ones that I get frequently and, with the recent couple of weeks' being newsworthy and fun, emails sometimes get left in the mud. Well, let's answer some emails. Our first Lawbringer email comes from Toro, who wants to know what's up with Mists of Pandaria beta access that is guaranteed through subscription to the WoW Annual pass:
Diablo III releases May 15, free Diablo III Annual Pass deal ends May 1
Diablo III finally has a release date: May 15, 2012. World of Warcraft players looking to grab a copy of Diablo III for free can still sign up for the WoW Annual Pass and get all of the rewards until 12:01am on May 1, 2012. After May 1, the Annual Pass promotion will be ending, so sign up soon if you're interested. Signing up for the World of Warcraft Annual Pass requires a one-year commitment to World of Warcraft to acquire and keep rewards associated with the commitment. Free Diablo III annual pass ends May 1, 2012 World of Warcraft players interested in getting Diablo III for free can still get in on the World of Warcraft Annual Pass, but the promotion will be ending at 12:01 a.m. PDT on May 1, 2012. source
1 million people signed up for the WoW Annual Pass
In what surely can't be that much of a surprise to anyone, Blizzard announced on the Activision Blizzard quarterly financial conference call today that one million WoW players signed up for the WoW Annual Pass. The Annual Pass's benefits are pretty alluring -- you get the standard digital download edition of Diablo 3 for free, as well as the Tyrael's Charger mount for your WoW character. It's likely that other benefits will be added to the pass over time, too. All you have to do in return is agree to pay for a year of WoW. The "agreement" itself doesn't appear to be legally binding, in that you can still cancel your subscription, at which point Blizzard will remove the benefits you received, no harm done. What makes the Annual Pass so interesting, though, is that it's actually a better deal for Blizzard than it is for the players. With the past few quarterly subscriber number drops interpreted as doom and gloom by outsiders, Blizzard needed a way to make sure that those numbers either increased or at least stopped slipping. With Diablo III and more Starcraft II on the horizon, not to mention other potential MMO threats, it was vital that Blizzard figure out a way to keep people paying even if they weren't playing. The Annual Pass, with its attachment of a "free" game, did the job perfectly. Blizzard gets to look good to its investors and umbrella company, and a million of you get a horse and a hack-and-slasher.
What happens if you break the WoW Annual Pass 12-month commitment?
Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play? The WoW Annual Pass is probably one of my favorite things ever to come from Blizzard. I'm going to be playing World of Warcraft for the next 12 months anyway, right? Now I've got a free mount, guaranteed access to the Mists of Pandaria beta, and a free copy of Diablo 3 waiting for me on release day. It doesn't get much better for a die-hard Blizzard fan like myself. This deal is so awesome that I wouldn't be surprised if more games were added to the bundle at some point in the future. Many players have sent in questions to me about the legality of the commitment and how binding the 12-month commitment really is. What happens when you cancel your subscription to the WoW Annual Pass before your 12 months are paid for? What happens to your Tyrael's Charger, free copy of Diablo 3, and beta access? Where do these perks go if you fail to meet your commitment?
WoW Annual Pass expands to include more countries
If you've been wanting to sign up for the Annual Pass announced at BlizzCon only to find it not available in your region, you may want to check the page again. Blizzard just announced that it has expanded the pass to include more countries, including Russia, Switzerland, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and more. The World of Warcraft Annual Pass is a one-year commitment to the game. You do not have to pay for your year in one lump sum. You can keep making payments in the same increments you've always done before -- you're simply committing to a year's worth of payments with the pass. In return, you get Diablo 3 for free, the Tyrael's Charger flying mount for your Warcraft character, and access to the next WoW expansion beta test. So if you've been itching to play Diablo 3, dying to test new expansion content, or simply craving a new winged pony to ride around on in game, this may be the solution for you. You can sign up for the Annual Pass on Blizzard's website; if you've got any questions about the process, check the official FAQ there, as well. Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
A WoW player's introduction to Diablo 3, or why you should play Diablo 3
Editor's Note: This post was written in October 2011 for the beta version of Diablo 3. Some things may have changed since then, keep that in mind while reading! At BlizzCon 2011, Mike Morhaime waved quite the carrot in front of WoW players: Subscribe for a year, and you'll get Diablo 3 for free. For those of us who have grown up loving both the Warcraft and Diablo franchises, this is awesome news and probably a no-brainer as far as things to sign up for go. However, maybe you never really got into the Diablo franchise. Maybe you've just been a WoW player and haven't really considered any of Blizzard's other franchises. This article is for you. We'll take a quick look at some of the major features of Diablo and what it has to offer the average WoW player.
Blizzard announces World of Warcraft Annual Pass
At BlizzCon's opening ceremony today, Blizzard President and CEO Mike Morhaime unveiled Blizzard's newest grand idea: free Diablo 3 access to current World of Warcraft players. All we, the players, have to do is sign up for the new World of Warcraft annual pass, a 12-month subscription that can be billed monthly. In addition to getting full access Diablo 3 to download and play for free the same day it's released, Blizzard is throwing in a few goodies for anyone who signs up for the annual pass. For one, you'll get the in-game World of Warcraft mount Tyrael's Charger. You will also gain access to the beta of the next World of Warcraft expansion as soon as it goes live. For more information, check out the official Annual Pass promotion page. The official FAQ is live as well, as is Blizzard's official walk-through of the sign-up process. Stay tuned throughout the day for more information coming from the BlizzCon floor! Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Look for our liveblogs of the convention panels, interviews with WoW celebrities -- and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
BlizzCon 2011: Opening Ceremony Liveblog
We'll be live blogging the opening ceremony at BlizzCon 2011. The start times for this liveblog is as follows: Pacific Time zone: 11:00 a.m. Mountain Time zone: 12:00 p.m. Central Time zone: 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time zone: 2:00 p.m. We're expecting a lot from this BlizzCon opening ceremony, including the Mists of Pandaria expansion, some StarCraft expansion announcement, and potentially an announcement concerning the Diablo 3 release date. Stay tuned! We'll start liveblogging soon. 10:42 a.m. - Patch 5.0 will introduce a new talent system. 10:42 a.m. - Initial reports are that the expansion will be playable at BlizzCon today. The rest of the liveblog after the break!
