The unique content on Engadget is a result of skilled collaboration between writers and editors with broad journalistic, academic, and practical expertise.
In pursuit of our mission to provide accurate and ethical coverage, the Engadget editorial team consistently fact-checks and reviews site content to provide readers with an informative, entertaining, and engaging experience. Click here for more information on our editorial process.
Dave Child has been making handy cheat sheets for web developers and server monkeys for awhile now. This Valentine's Day, he's released a cheat sheet for World of Warcraft. While it's probably not that useful to the hardcore gamer, it is quite useful for new or casual WoW'ers.Thanks to Jonic for the tip!
Read MoreA blogger has published photos from a Korean magazine they say are from a Chinese production of World of Warcraft movie. Ah yes, I'm completely serious. There are scenes of an army of Orcs, an army of Alliance members, a Night Elf, and even a Dwarf.Of course, done properly with good CGI, a World of Warcraft movie would indeed be an amazing thing. But based on these photos, this is anything but.However, will I download the movie or seek it out when it finally is released? Of course, if only for entertainment during a LAN party.
Read MoreSo Blizzard recently decided to allow character transfers from eight of their most overpopulated servers to a new server, Mug'thol. People on Burning Blade, for instance, were having 700-800 long queues for logging in, to the tune of more than an hour wait to get in. This was a good idea, right? Alleviating some of the strain on those overpopulated servers?Problem is that too many people made the jump and now Mug'thol has been having 1000 queues during peak time with 1-2 hour-long wait times, and those people who thought they were escaping one aggravating situation now find themselves in the exact same situation, but worse. And they are pissed off.I have to agree with them. Blizzard seems to have planned this migration poorly and still hasn't posted an update saying they are aware of the issue. I'm a casual enough gamer that I haven't personally been affected by the overpopulation issue on the servers I play, but I can't even imagine having to wait 1-2 hours just to play the game. Sometimes all I have is 1-2 hours to play, and I'm certainly not going to be happy having to spend that time waiting. The bottom line is that Blizzard needs to fix this problem and soon.
Read MoreLast summer, my friend and I were set to bike around Manhattan and I was to meet him in the Financial District downtown, but we didn't set a precise place. We had been playing WoW all morning before taking off, so it was probably only natural that I'd be biking along and wish that I could pop up a mini-map to find his location relative to mine.Or take Teeaita's experience: "I was driving down the road this morning to work. You know the usual signs, you spent all night playing WoW...slept a few hours..and your alarm went off. Time to go to work. So, I'm on the road and I'm speeding along cause I'm late of course..and then I realize I'm RIGHT on this guy's bumper... and I'm like crap.. I'm drawing too much aggro!!%uFFFD And I kinda paused.. I was like man, WTF... I just thought.. "Im drawing too much aggro" from bein on that guy's bumper... it really startled me."Have you had WoW invade your real-life? Tell us your most amusing story.
Read MoreYou'll need at least a basic (free) Gamespot account to view the footage of the Ahn'Qiraj Gates opening for the first time on the Medivh server, but it's worth watching. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go mine some Thorium on Gorefiend so we can get the gates open there. Long ways to go still...Thanks to RighteousDork for the link.
Read MoreA guild on Lightbringer decided to start holding different raffles to help increase the War Effort to get the Gates of Ahn'Qiraj open. They were offering great prizes and gold from their guild vault for people who were contributing materials to the Effort and it appeared to be working, as their server began to rise in the rankings. Then a Blizzard Game Master (GM) sent the raffle organizer an in-game mail saying that what they were doing was against Blizzard game policy since it was a form of gambling.In the end, the GM actually ended up placing a warning on the guild leader's account for performing illegal gambling.My take on this? Blizzard is making a mistake. As much as I despised the casinos that were available early in the game and was extremely pleased to see them go, I think Blizzard is significantly over-reacting to this guild's attempts to make the new game content more interesting. While their raffle may be able to be defined as gambling by its literal definition, I really don't see a problem with how they're running the raffle. It's helping their server achieve a goal, providing a better incentive to participate in the War Effort, and increasing teamwork on the server--something that'll be sorely needed once the Gates are opened.There's still no official word from Blizzard (a blue post), but I'll be eagerly watching this thread for an explanation (or apology?).
Read MoreA few readers have asked about it, so I thought I'd post a quick update on how our WoW Insider guild building is going. The short answer is slowly. The long answer is that both myself and C.K. have been extremely busy the last two weeks and haven't had the time to even play, let alone build a guild. We're still very interested in having a WoW Insider guild (Horde on Akama; Alliance on Chromaggus). It also explains why you haven't seen us logging on the servers. I chatted with a few people early on, but haven't been able to get in the game for awhile now. Blizzard's problem with login times and getting booted from the servers certainly hasn't helped matters any.So, hang in there; we are still going to have a WoW Insider guild on each server and are very interested in playing with our readers. My calendar isn't allowing me to play again until Monday evening, but I'll be on Akama or Chromaggus at that time if anyone wants to stop by and sign the guild charter or chat.
Read MoreThis is simply incredible news for those of us playing WoW on a Mac. Yesterday, Apple announced the release of the first Macs to use Intel chips. To get full speed and compatibility out of applications that run in Mac OS X on Intel-based Macs, programs need to be recompiled to run natively on the Intel processors. Apple's coding tools allow for a program to be coded as a "universal" application which means that the "universal binary" will contain executable code for both architectures in one package, and then will run the PPC code on the PPC processor or the Intel code on the Intel processor, depending on which is in your Mac.Blizzard has said in this forum post to expect the universal binary of World of Warcraft for the Mac by the end of January, probably in patch v1.9.3. This is really amazing! Even if this date slips by a few weeks, it won't be too bad since most people won't even get an Intel Mac until February. Go Blizzard, you guys rock! Now, just fix the crazy login times. :D
Read MoreI really like this game. I like it enough that I actually schedule time into my busy days, nights and weekends to play. And until about two weeks ago, this system worked for me. When I actually had an hour or two to play, I'd be able to log into the server of my choice and play for my scheduled time. However, the combination of a huge influx of new X-mas gift-receiving players and the 1.9 patch has rendered my scheduled playing time unusable. The simple fact is that it's been taking 20-30 minutes just to log into a server, and then if I'm lucky, I won't be booted out shortly thereafter because I made the egregious mistake of trying to enter the commons area in Ironforge.I'm a reasonable guy. I know Blizzard is aware of the problems. I know they continue to open up new servers to help reduce the demand on existing servers. But I also know that I'm not alone in my login frustrations. The message boards are rife with people complaining about not being able to log in in a reasonable amount of time, if at all. Sometimes you get stuck at the receiving character list screen, sometimes at the end of the loading screen, and sometimes it doesn't load at all and just disconnects you from the server.I'd call technical support except that it wouldn't help. It's not my system or my internet connection, which hasn't changed one iota in months. The problem is on Blizzard's end, and they need to fix it. Period. I'm not yet on the verge of quitting the game and closing my account (as some have done), but it's becoming extremely annoying. I'm paying good money to play and should be able to play when I want to, not only when there are open slots on the server. It's not my fault that the servers are full. I'd consider transferring my main characters, but then it'd fracture the social aspect of the game, the part of the game I like the most.
Read MoreLooks like the large influx of new X-mas gift WoW players has pushed the "open" realms to their breaking point. Chromaggus, which only went live barely a month ago is registering as full, and Blizzard has quickly opened two new realms: Alexstrasza PVE and Balnazaar PVP.[Thanks to Samzor on Chromaggus for alerting us to the new realms].
Read MoreBlogger and WoW player Squidly was casting around for the funniest WoW Guild names she could find and this is the list he came up with. I've been laughing all morning. Some of these are fantastic! Riders of Lohan Pretty Pink Pwnies Two Dollar Horde Spaceballs The Guild Nightmare on elf street Power Word Drunk Built Horde Tough Oprah Windfury General Goods Merchant Gnomeland Security Team BubbleHearth And Two Stealthed Rogues Dwarf Priest LFG Sorry were you questing Hanging with my Gnomies Deeprun Tram Security Conquistadorks Garden Gnomes Holy Ramen Empire The Lollipop Guild Clan of Redundancy Clan Ctrl Alt Del Got Horde Food and Drink Vendor (Mage Guild) Neverland Ranch Survivors Rez Please Elves gone Wild I think my favorites are [Sorry Were You Questing] and [Built Horde Tough], but they're all good. For awhile, I was thinking about creating a guild called [Seinfeld] and then getting people to create characters with the Seinfled characters' names, but I never did anything about it. What's the funniest guild name you've seen?
Read MoreHere's a quick update on how our guild building has been going. C.K. started the guild charter a few weeks ago and we have a few signatures, but neither he or I have had much time to play over the last week or so. We'll get it going eventually, but it may be awhile. In the meantime, if you'd like to play along on Akama with us, here's our Akama names:SERVER: Akama. (this server will be where we play our WoW Insider horde characters).Damien = Dab (undead warlock)C.K. = Cks (undead warlock)Josh = Kulain (tauren druid)Mike = Groon (undead rogue)SERVER: Chromaggus (this server will be where we play our WoW Insider Alliance characters).Damien = Dab (human warrior)C.K. = Cks (dwarf hunter)And here are the characters we play on other servers, which we may or may not be on at any given time, including quite rarely. I'll update this list as other WoW writers get me their info on characters (if they wish to publicize them).SERVER: GorefiendDamien = Shuffle (dwarf paladin)Damien = Floss (night elf rogue)SERVER: Argent DawnC.K. = ChaosyetiSERVER: BloodhoofJosh = Krios (gnome warlock)Josh = Kulain (night elf rouge)Josh = Kelmor (dwarf hunter)Josh = Kamoox (night elf priest)Damien = Shuffle (gnome mage)SERVER: ShadowmoonJosh = Kulain (undead rogue)SERVER: Shadowsong (EU)Jennie = Arjuna (night elf druid)Jennie = Kerowyn (human paladin)SERVER: Dragonmaw (EU)Jennie = Selenay (tauren shaman)SERVER: Venture Co. (EU)Jennie = Arjuna (tauren hunter)SERVER: Cenarion CircleMike= Wakeman (paladin)SERVER: Lightning HoofMike = Greenslade (Alliance hunter)SERVER: Emerald DreamMike = Slubbergull (troll priest)Please feel free to add any or all of us to your friends lists on any servers listed above that you might play on, and particularly on the two servers we've indicated where we'll be building WoW Insider Horde and Alliance guilds. Hope to see you in game!
Read MoreWorld of Warcraft is not only an American, or North American, or even English-speaking phenomenon. We all know WoW is booming in Asia, but the European servers are cranking along as well with a robust and active community of players. Some Hungarian players have created the first WoW-related e-zine--World of Warcraft Magazin-- and are looking to release monthly issues. Their first complete issue is in Hungarian but they've translated a few of the pages to English, which you can download and read here by clicking on one of the download buttons.I like the style of this magazine, with WoW-themed graphics and text. The one article I was able to read seems well-written (it's a hints/walkthrough for the Deadmines in Westfall). World of Warcraft Magazin is looking for English-speakers and writers to help them with writing content for their e-zine. If I weren't doing this blog already (along with others), I'd consider composing an article or two. This isn't a bad e-zine; I wish them luck and hope it succeeds.
Read MoreWorld of Warcraft was recently listed as one of the top gainers in Google's 2005 year-end zeitgeist, which means that awareness of the game is increasing, and not just with gamers. The people at Jeopardy have included the game in answers for the show, and the popular comic strip Foxtrot, recently referenced World of Warcraft in a strip.
Read MoreAn Alliance guild on Bonechewer realm decided to give their Horde "friends" in Ogrimmar a nice Xmas present in the form of Lethon the Dragon. Nicely done!- Mirror link to video.
Read MoreFew WoW players like the professional gold and item farmers in the game. The rise of the underground economy for selling gold and rare items outside the Auction House has lead to farmers--most of whom hail from Asia and don't speak English well--repeatedly spamming the general chat channel with WTS messages. Some players have resorted to using snowballs, which were added last week as part of WoW's holiday content, as a way to manage an annoying gold farmer/spammer. Witnesses have seen one spammer get pelted with hundreds of snowballs in Ironforge, enough to cause her to flee the city. This is a great example of the community finding a solution to a problem instead of relying on a technical solution. Technical solutions can usually be overcome easily by the system exploiters (gold farmers), but solutions like this not so much. The truth of the problem is that it's as simple as Economics 101. As long as there are people willing to buy illicit gold instead of earning it, there will be people willing to farm the gold to sell to them...where there are buyers, there will be sellers. Until Blizzard can figure out a way (if they can figure out a way) to effectively block goldfarming and selling, I think I'll enjoy the snowballs while we have them.
Read MoreInspired by a forum post that asked readers to quickly list the most helpful hints in the game, both for noobs and hardcores, here's a list:1) the autorun key is set to numlock by default.2) if you're mountless and need to get to Raven Hill, it's faster to fly from Darkshire to Sentinel Hill and run there than it is to run the entire way from Darkshire.3) Roll an alt character and add him to your friends list, and then email this "mule" any items you want to save but don't have space for.4) Repair your gear. You'll lose it if it gets too damaged.5) Murlocks like to mob.6) If you can't see your healer, he can't see you (and therefore can't heal you).7) If you're pre-60, try to log off at an Inn or in a major city to gain the "rested" buff which doubles the XP you gain from killing monsters.Of course, there are many more hints. What are your best hints for playing the game?
Read MoreOne of the reasons I enjoy WoW is because of the human and social interaction built into it. Grouping, questing, and raiding is one of the more fun aspects of the game, despite sometimes running into some pretty annoying group members.So I've never been tempted to use one of the many bot programs available out there. Despite being explicitly prohibited by Blizzard, many people continue to use bots to level up their characters automatically, or to farm for gold, or to execute otherwise impossible maneuvers in the game. For instance, there's a hack that allows you to teleport to anywhere in the game, including normally off-limits areas and areas still under development.TG Daily has a pretty interesting interview with Mercury, the programmer for the bot called WoWGlider, which allows you to level up your character with minimal effort. The bot is programmed to fight monsters and mobs in the game by itself and collect the loot.I won't ever use a bot myself since I don't want to risk being banned by Blizzard, but I can understand why many people would be tempted.
Read MoreWe may sneak a post or two in before the weekend, but our parent network is undergoing some changes this weekend and by necessity, commenting will be turned off starting at midnight tonight. On Monday morning, we'll be back up and running full with comments enabled.This means more time for me to play WoW. Sweet!
Read MoreFrom the humor department comes this well-written tale of a level 59 Alliance priest named Uthan who goes exploring early one sunny morning.
Read MoreBlizzard has had a few movie contests in the past and the submissions just keep getting better and better. One of the winners from the last movie contest--"Return"--is just spectactular.XFire is sponsoring the current movie contest which runs from December 14, 2005 to January 21, 2006. Movies should be in one of three categories: Dance, Comedy, or Drama. Five prizes, such as Xbox 360 Premium game consoles, XFX GeForce 7800 GTX video cards (PCI-Express), and Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum sound cards, will be awarded for each of the three categories listed above. In addition, 10 prizes will be awarded for special categories, including: Best Picture, Best Dialog, Best Editing, and Best Music.I'm not an expert movie-maker, but I can offer at least a little bit of advice. The first thing you'll want is a good screencasting program--a program for capturing your gameplay. For the Mac, the best screencasting software on the market is Snapz Pro, from Ambrosia. For the PC, there are several options, but a lot of people use Camtasia or Windows Media Encoder (and, apparently, fraps, I'm learning).There are some freeware and opensource options as well: CamStudio for PC and ScreenRecord for Mac/PC. This wikipedia page has many more options listed as well as an overview of screencasting.I use a simple $20 Logitech desktop microphone (and headphones) for gaming. I generally use Skype for team audio with my friends, though I tend to solo more than I group, so haven't broadened out into using Teamspeak or Ventrilo yet. The Logitech microphone would be more than acceptable for recording audio or voiceovers.Once you've recorded your video, you'll have to edit and piece it together. Both iMovie and Windows Movie Maker are good entry-level editing programs that beginners should be able to use for splicing their movie together. Quicktime Pro for both Mac and Windows ($30 from Apple) is also very helpful for cutting up different screen grabs (though it won't edit WMV files). I'm really not a heavy PC user, so I'm can't offer any suggestions on a WMV editor (outside MovieMaker). I personally detest WMV as a file format, but I guess we all work with what we have. Perhaps some readers know some good low-cost or free WMV editors for Windows.I've been tossing around in the back of my mind an idea for a WoW movie but am not sure I'll have the time to get it done for this contest. Guess we'll see.
Read MoreRecently, a prominent member of a horde guild on the Bronzebeard realm died in real life. His guildmates decided to hold a funeral for him in the game as a way to honor him and chose the only cathedral in the game large enough to really hold the huge numbers of people, horde and alliance alike--the one in Stormwind.Most of the people knew what was going on and didn't attack the horde entourage as they made their way to the cathedral. The result is something I feel is rather profound:But my scaled down web-optimized graphic doesn't do it justice. Go see the full-sized screenshots.This reinforces for me what I like the most about this game. The sense of community that can be built inside this game is an amazing thing. Had you told me ten years ago that this is where gaming would be at, I wouldn't have believed you. Sometimes, MMORPG's get a bad rap from people who've never played one, which is a shame. It's easy to forget sometimes behind every character in the game is a real person with feelings, thoughts, achievements, ambitions, and life. This was a fitting tribute; thanks to those guildmates who thought enough to share this with the rest of us.
Read MoreAs good a game as WoW is, there are a few things I'd love to see improved. At the top of my list is the interface we use to find a group. Players quickly learn that "LFG" in a chat channel means "looking for group" and "LF2M for SM" means "looking for two more for Scarlet Monastery," for instance.This works, but barely and seems to me to be unnecessarily cumbersome. Why should we have to use the chat channels to broadcast to everyone?Some people use the /who function in the game to better identify candidates for a group and then send them a whisper asking if they'd like to join a group for an instance. For instance, you might type /who Warrior 52-55 and the interface will return up to 49 characters currently logged on who meet that criteria, to which you can then send a private message. This is better, but still not great.Blizzard put in meeting stones awhile back hoping it'd help us to form groups, but nobody uses them, and so, therefore, they don't work. Good idea, poor execution, apparently.Posts on Blizz WoW forums tell us two important things: 1) that there was a quite robust LFG interface in the beta testing of WoW but was removed and no one is quite sure why and that 2) Blizzard is definitely working on a LFG interface for us but hasn't told us when it'll be released or what features it'll have. Whatever they give us, it's gotta be better than our current LFG strategies.
Read MoreMacworld's editors have given World of Warcraft a Macworld 2005 Editor's Choice Award (or an Eddy), naming it as one of the breakthrough products for 2005. Peter Cohen, who reviews games for the Mac (there are more than you might think), says this about WoW: "What's more, Blizzard has kept the Mac and PC versions in lockstep since their late-2004 release, making World of Warcraft the only major online RPG that puts Mac users on equal footing with their PC-using brethren. More than a year after first beta-testing this game, I still fire it up every chance I get."This is news because many Mac users still count on the printed Macworld Magazine as their news source, and any mention in print will likely bring even more subscribers (or at least triers) to the game. While WoW does seem at times to be overpopulated with elite players, I'm willing to bet that there are many who are casual players as well. They just don't post in the Blizz forums or write antagonistic comments on WoW weblogs. Blizzard would do well to keep providing content for all levels of players, noobs and elites alike.
Read MoreHow much time on WoW is too much? There's a player on realm Destromath (main character is a Night Elf Druid named Stian) who's posted a screenshot proving that he's played WoW for 200 days. That's 200 days of playing time, not 200 days of having the game installed.To me, this is shocking. I've clocked a pitiful 20 days in comparison, and have yet to make it to 60 with one of my characters (though I'm close with my Dwarf Pally). I have several alts, mostly in the 30's and lately I've been spending time with the two characters I rolled for our upcoming WoW Insider guild (on realms Akama (Horde) and Chromaggus (Alliance)). As soon as we have enough gold to properly make a guild, I'll be announcing its launch here. Both C.K. and I have been saving.Is 200 days of playing time too much? I'm of the opinion that it probably is and that while I'm sure this person is nice enough, the math tells the truth of it. He's been playing 14-16 hours a day since the game was released. I think that's an unhealthy amount of time to be spending with this game. I won't be as rude as some of the people in the forum, but I will say this to Stian--you should probably focus on something else for awhile. Were you to devote even half that time to something else, you'd probably be quite successful at it. Of course it's a free country and you can do whatever you want; I just think you might re-evaluate your priorities a bit. Good luck to you.
Read MoreNo matter which race character you build in WoW, the interface Blizzard provides for you to use is the same. Everyone, Horde and Alliance alike, has the same interface, buttons, inventory slots, and window elements. But WoW is actually quite skinnable, and master Everquest modder Tom King has been creating alternative interfaces with elements related to each race. He completed and released an Undead gothic interface just before Halloween and has just released the "Elfwood" inerface. A fan of the Night Elf race myself, I really like how this looks and will be trying it out soon. He's expected to release two more skins before Christmas.I expect Blizzard will eventually work this kind of customization into the game itself, probably with the expansion pack. So that a Dwarf character plays with an "Iron" interface by default while a Night Elf character is given the "Elfwood" interface.
Read More