Dan O'Halloran

PC Gaming

PC Gaming By Dan O'Halloran

Breakfast Topic: What moments in WoW would you like to relive?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Nostalgia is a very strong thing. Even in the short lifespan of World of Warcraft, we often look back to better times or particular events with much pleasure and longing. For some, it may be the good old days of 40-man raiding, when every boss downed seemed a great triumph. For others, it may be a particularly hard-won Battleground fight, where, at the end, you knew you gave it your all. But it doesn't have to be that particular. Maybe you miss a certain guild or a group of friends who are no longer in the game. Maybe it was more about the time and the place ... a certain expansion and questing zone. Some of the best times may not involve fighting at all ... just sitting on Vent and laughing with friends. While I'm enjoying all the friends I have now and like the current expansion, I do long for certain times from the past. I miss the wonder I had when I first stepped through the dark portal and slowly learning just how my class worked (and that it could actually be quite powerful) as I picked up some great questing gear. I miss the group of friends who all played together in Wrath. Some play less now; one has gone off to school and hasn't played on WoW since, one has gone off to another server, and one just hasn't shown up in months. I miss the lighthearted banter, the constant playful insults amongst them, and a lot of laughing I heard over Vent. Sometimes, I would love to go back to those days and relive them. I would also love to go back to the first very moment I stepped from the relative greyness of Auberdine into Ashenvale -- the colors brightened, the music becoming beautiful and ethereal. I felt like I was truly in a magical place. Do you have a particular time in WoW that you would love to relive? What makes that moment in time so special for you?

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Breakfast Topic: What was your most memorable noob moment?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Everyone began this game with very little idea of what they wanted to do. We all had even less of an idea of how we were going to do things. One byproduct of this fact is that it engenders a cheerful nostalgia, an aura of innocence that plays across our memories in the finest rose tints. Things seemed simpler back then; the community seemed nicer and the game more original. While I don't actually believe that WoW was significantly better back in its earlier encounters, I do look back fondly on killing murlocs in Elwynn Forest, while I find current chores (despite their similarity) to be somewhat odious in their tediousness. The other byproduct of our naïveté in our early days in Azeroth is the noob moment. These are the events we look back on and say, "I can't believe I was that bad!" Those of us with more fragile egos repress those moments entirely. For me, the noob moment that remains burned in my memory was a Gnomeregan run. I've been tanking since level 10 on my first character, and it was on that first character that I found myself tanking for a group that was chock-full of clothies. The run went fairly well, and despite a couple wipes here and there, we managed to down Thermaplugg. He dropped the Electromagnetic Gigaflux Reactivator, which had significantly more armor than the Hallowed Helm I had equipped at the moment. So I rolled need and won the item over the priest, mage, and warlock. My attempts to explain about the armor were shouted down, and I slinked away wondering what I did wrong. It wasn't until I was around level 50 that I realized why that group was so angry at me. Looking back, it's one of my secret shames. Have you ever suffered a noob moment?

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Breakfast Topic: What keeps you playing?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. I've known people who played this game for many reasons. Some were in it just to kill time, some wanted to get the best gear, and many wanted to beat the game in the manner of their choice. Ultimately, for those of us who have stuck around for more than a content cycle, there's something that keeps us here rather than moving on to the next flavor of the month game. The reason I play this game isn't really for the raiding or the prestige, and it sure isn't for the gear. In the end, I'm playing this game because I've got a good group of friends who play with me. There are about 22 of us, and while there are only 15 or so playing at any given time, it's made raiding a ton of fun and recruiting this expansion a breeze. When someone needs some time away from the game, another friend is coming back and looking to raid. While it took me about a year to cultivate all these friendships, it's paid off well in Cataclysm. I don't think I'd still be playing if it weren't for them. Thank you, guys and gals. So what keeps you logging on? What drives you in this game?

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Breakfast Topic: What was your turning point in WoW?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Everyone took a path to get where they are in the today, both in life and in Azeroth. Whether you're a heroic raider, an Auction House kingpin, a rabid collector, or even an ex-WoW player, at some point you stood at the crossroads and chose the path that got you where you are. Likewise, there is often a moment that crystallizes your desires and sends you decisively down the road. That moment is the turning point. I spent a good amount of my time in WoW raiding. I eventually wound up as the GM of a raiding guild during patch 3.1. We were previously a fairly casual guild, but a few of us wanted to try our hands at hard modes. I found the prospect intriguing, so we went into Ulduar and began knocking down four-tower Flame Leviathan, Heartbreaker, and I Choose You Steelbreaker and pushed into the Keepers of Ulduar. This was fairly late in the Ulduar cycle, so we had the best gear we could get from normal mode content. We tore through the content at a rapid pace, with none of the encounters taking more than a raid night to knock down. Then came Firefighter; for those who never had the privilege of attempting this encounter at level, Mimiron hard mode takes what was already the most difficult of the keepers and cranks it up beyond 11. It had massive tank damage, obscene raid damage, hunter tanking, and DPS coordination. Oh, and the floor is covered in fire that chases you the whole time. It was our first real challenge in progression raiding. We wiped to it for a month, and over 220 attempts later, we got our last sigil to unlock Algalon. We rose to the occasion, and from that point on, we were heroic progression raiders. What was your turning point?

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Breakfast Topic: Do you have any characters that've slipped off your radar?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Sometimes we lose track of things. As I was working through my third Mass Effect 2 campaign the other day, I was reminded of my first play through Mass Effect 1 in which I had painstakingly developed the perfect version of Commander Shepard. I lost that first save game file, unfortunately, and had to play through ME1 again in order to set myself up for a character import into the sequel. Alas, for some reason, I have never been able to recreate perfectly the masterpiece that was my first Shepard. I also have a character on WoW that I no longer play, the loss of which distresses me greatly. I created this character, a blood elf gunter, shortly after The Burning Crusade came out. I loved my hunter's name scheme, as he and all his pets had the word "Blood-" prefixed to their names. At that time, I had just begun to play with a group of RL friends who attended the same college I did. The five of us would all bring our laptops to one guy's room and play late into the night. We leveled quickly, each filling one of the roles necessary for running 5-man content. It was a blast, but unfortunately it ended when they graduated. Eventually I began to play with new people who were committed to the opposite faction. They were already active on a different realm, so I switched and left my beloved hunter behind. I've missed him ever since. Sometimes I think about transferring him to my new realm, but all my characters are Alliance and I don't know anyone on the Horde side. And how could I change him into a night elf or some other race when he is perfect just the way he is? Do you have any characters that have slipped away? Do you ever think about what could have been if they hadn't?

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Entertainment

Entertainment By Dan O'Halloran

Breakfast Topic: What's your idea of good random in-game fun?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Imagine you are an elemental shaman. You notice that Arathi Basin is on Call to Arms and decide to queue up. You've got a bit of a crazy streak in you, so you decide to head up to the Lumber Mill. You're new to the path of the shaman and are still experimenting with your abilities. The battle is getting pretty overwhelming, and you know you don't have a lot of health. You really don't want that warrior getting too close. You decide to throw out a Thunderbolt in an attempt keep some distance and watch in awe as the warrior's frustrated body sails beautifully through the air and off the cliff to meet his certain demise below. That was awesome! You've just found your purpose in WoW. After the BG, you relate your experience to your friends. Before you know it, you've got a group of elemental shaman and boomkins queuing up for Arathi Basin and Eye of the Storm with no other purpose in mind than to knock as many people to their deaths as possible. Unfortunately for the rest of your frustrated team, you don't care about winning or losing; you are having the time of your life. While it certainly is fun to have the best gear, down the toughest raid bosses, or reach that next Arena rating, sometimes we all need to step back from the seriousness and remind ourselves that we are playing a game. Sometimes we need to take a break from the emblem grinding and talent tweaking and just do something that makes us laugh until our sides ache. Whether it's forming a knockback brigade, repeatedly jumping off high cliffs, or dueling while under the influence of in-game alcohol, tell us what you do when you just want to have a good time.

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Breakfast Topic: Could transmogrification save archaeology?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Ah, archaeology -- a secondary profession with so much potential in theory, and the mind-numbing death of many hours of playtime in reality. I was originally really excited about a global scavenger hunt as a downtime activity, but after skilling it up, I lost interest. Piecing together tons of vendor trash in the hopes of my next find's being a rare became just another grind for items. Now that the Cataclysm expansion is winding down, I've been thinking about where archaeology could grow from here. Certainly there will be more toy-type items and account-bound epic gear to chase after, but what else could this profession bring to the game? It occurred to me that with the coming of the transmogrification feature, digging around Azeroth could be made interesting again. Instead of adding a number of gray-quality artifacts to sell for pocket money, why not have the common finds be transmoggable art pieces? Think gray-quality versions of gear, good only for costume unlocks. What better way to bring old stuff back to the present than by having us literally dig it up? It could work as an avenue to bring back discontinued tier looks (imagine digging in Eastern Plaguelands for pieces of original Naxxramas raid gear) or even open up items that never were before available to players (like a giant totem skin for two-handed maces, so you can look like a tauren warrior from Warcraft III)! Where else do you think archaeology could go? What do you think we could be digging up in the next expansion?

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Breakfast Topic: Are players becoming too entitled?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. WoW has been around for quite a while. We've seen years of advancements and improvements to the game, from abilities and talent overhauls and quest and encounter design improvements, to vast quality-of-life improvements like the Dungeon Finder, Real ID chat and the Mobile Guild Chat and Mobile Auction House. With all these added features, more and more players seem to take them for granted. With ongoing requests for the removal of the raid group restriction for low-level raids, suggestions of various ways and means of using the Dungeon Finder to access outleveled dungeons, and even the complaints about "easy mode" versions of raids in the upcoming Raid Finder not providing achievements and legendary weapon quest items, more and more players seem to want more from Blizzard while expending less effort on their end. Perhaps the playerbase has undergone a major shift, just as Azeroth has in Cataclysm. Maybe I've just never fully adjusted to the new paradigm since I began to play during vanilla WoW -- or maybe you darn kids should get off of mah lawn! Has it gone too far? Is Azeroth as a whole nothing but a staging area from which we should expect to be instantly transported to wherever we wish to go, or are we still willing to enjoy the journey to our destinations? Is a modicum of human interaction too heady a task to enjoy raid content, no matter its level? It's hard to say. What are your thoughts?

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Breakfast Topic: What's your armor design style philosophy?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. It's safe to say that gear appearance is one of the most important (and most debated) topics in the World of Warcraft. Every major content patch, one class (or many) claim to have gotten the short end of the stick in terms of design. From paladin skirts to fish-headed hunters, everything is a matter of personal opinion when it comes to finding something that best suits your character. What sort of gear do you think best represents your character or class? Does your shaman look best in glowing orange Earthshatter gear, or would you prefer something humbler, like the hooded, bead-bedecked garb that Go'el/Thrall now wears? Does your rogue strike a pose in the Al'Akir-esque turban of phosphorescence, or a more utilitarian concept such as the Assassination Armor? What would you like to see for classes other than the one you most identify with? A gleaming set of pristine armor for the paladins? A razor-edged, dingy, but deadly-looking set of plate for warriors? Perhaps something a bit more traditional and humble for priests? Perhaps you think that the designs have become over-ornate, eschewing substance for frills. Are some classes more suited to something a bit plain, while others should have over-the-top with effects? Does there need to be parity in special effects within a tier, or would you prefer armor that makes sense for each class, rather than being visually comparable?

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Breakfast Topic: What's your motivation to perform?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. The raid is falling apart. You're on a boss you've downed before, but now it seems impossible to make it out of phase 1 because people keep failing on mechanics they should already have mastered. Ranged DPSers are standing in fire. Healers aren't popping CDs when the boss smacks the tank with its hard-hitting ability. Melee DPSers aren't switching to the adds in time, so they wipe the raid. Tanks can't seem to position the boss correctly. The raid is falling apart. So what is it that will motivate your group to pick up the pieces, stop failing, and win? Some group or raid leaders seem to think anger is the best motivator. They get stern, raise their voices, and threaten to kick the next person who fails, hoping their severity will prod everyone to victory. Some take a sarcastic tone, mocking group members until they clean up their act. "Wow, what a pro-mage move -- you Blinked right into that explosion. You should really think about doing this for a living." Others seek to break the tension and frustration by giving everyone a short break. Perhaps a reminder of the rewards works best, since shiny new loot is a great incentive for most. Sometimes even humor does the trick; it's just a matter of getting people to LOL at how pathetic that last attempt was or how ridiculous their character looks while riding Magmaw. Since people are different, though. Sometimes one method of motivation doesn't work for everyone in the group. The angry lecture approach can backfire when group members get so worried about failing that they freeze up and stand still instead of doing their jobs. Taking a break or laughing for a few minutes can have the unintended result of breaking the raiders' concentration, at which point their loss of focus causes even more fail. So what is the best motivation for you to overcome obstacles, perform at the highest level, and succeed?

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Breakfast Topic: Should PVP and PVE gear be so different from each other?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. What is the purpose for PVP and PVE gear being mostly useless in the opposite grouping? At one time, raiders would own the Battlegrounds having the top gear in the game. In The Burning Crusade, subtlety rogues did the same in Arena with the tier 6 set bonus combined with Illidan's blades. But that was then, this is now. Currently, I hate the fact that I have to grind two separate sets of gear to do the same exact role. My paladin is holy. Whether I PVP or PVE, I heal with her. The problem is that my resilience healing gear hinders me while running heroics, and my ilevel 346 gear hinders me in Arena and Battlegrounds. Some of those in my guild do not mind dying a few more times because my gear is not optimal, but let's face it, they would rather not die because of my gear. I do remember how tough the grind for gear used to be. I do know that it is easier than ever to grind out two separate sets of gear. At the same time, I would like it to be more effective to wear a full 359 PVE set than 358 PVP set of gear. What do you think? Should PVE and PVP gear be that so different from each other?

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PC Gaming

PC Gaming By Dan O'Halloran

Breakfast Topic: What WoW holidays need to be improved?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. World of Warcraft has a lot of holidays, but some are rather ... bland. Take the Harvest Festival, for example. No, really, take it back in its current form. I did it back when it was first released on several alts, and I don't think I've noticed any real changes since then. Let us do more Peacebloom vs. Ghouls to save the harvest, or let us go to Caverns of Time to meet the fallen ... um, heroes we're celebrating. Give us a new mini-feast perma-item to lay out for the event, similar to the celebration mug that Brewfest almost always got. What about Day of the Dead? It's got a few fun things in there, but remember when we first heard about it via datamining and thought it was the return of the zombie apocalypse? What if Blizzard actually brought that back, just for a few days a year? I know people who don't play WoW anymore who'd resub just to get in on that. Hallow's End got a facelift, so which other events should be considered? Is New Year's not new enough? Does Love is in the Air need some more love? Is there not enough "Yarr" in Pirate Day?

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Breakfast Topic: Could there be more than two factions?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. As World of Warcraft grows older, perhaps it's time to shake up things a bit to keep things interesting. After seven years of a war between two groups being the focus of the storyline, could we return to a time of four factions? That's right, a return. After all, Warcraft 3 had four opposing armies: Humans, Undead, Night Elves and Orcs. Presently, we have 12 races among the two factions, and considering all the new class/race combinations implemented in Cataclysm, perhaps four separate groups are not as unthinkable as they once were. With the political climate of the Horde being what it is and Sylvanas going farther off the grid all the time, it wouldn't be a stretch to imagine the Banshee Queen pulling the Foresaken and her Blood Elf relatives out of the Horde, establishing her own nation in Northern Lorderon. (For the sake of racial number balance, maybe she bribes the goblins of the Bilgewater Cartel into joining her with a new home city of ... Gilneas!) Or frustrated by the unwillingness of King Varian to stop the Orc's systematic destruction of Ashenvale , could Tyrande (finally doing something in-game for once) decide to defect from the Alliance, bringing her Worgen and Draenei allies with her? Do you think additional factions would be interesting? How would they work in game? What do you think they would look like?

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Breakfast Topic: Where will we hang out in the next expansion?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King brought players together to neutral cities. With the updated Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms, we've returned to our respective capitals as hangouts. After all these months, I still enjoy hanging out in Stormwind, but I can't help but wonder where we'll be headed next. We now know Pandaria will have smaller, faction-based hubs ... Will we continue to reside in the capitals? I'd like to see a floating metropolis similar to Dalaran but run by the Goblins of the Steamwheedle Cartel. In my mind, it's an expanded version of the Speedbarge from Thousand Needles. There are crazy gadgets all over, minigames to play and other fun, Gobliny things. In the center of town is a large neutral Auction House, possibly with a lower fee based on your reputation to try and boost cross-faction trade. A lower level has portholes to see into the ocean and possibly an underwater entrance. Maybe there's an underwater questing zone below the barge. The Alliance and Horde sections of the cities could be boats docked to the platform. Each race has a boat so there would be some themed areas for each race to call home and give added flavor to the city. One of the boats for each faction takes you to and from the capital cities. Don't want to wait for the boat? The Goblins have a transporter you can use to get to any of the old world cities -- for a modest fee, of course. What about you? What are you hoping to see for our next big hangout? A neutral location, or staying in our faction capitals? Or maybe we all move to the Exodar and Silvermoon? (Ack, please no...)

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Breakfast Topic: What's your calling?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Some people who play this game find themselves attracted to a specific calling. I find it interesting to see who's devoted to a specific spec, class, or role. Me, I tank. I've been tanking since level 10 on my first character. I've got all four tanking classes at level 85. I love the idea of being the tip of the spear in any given group. While I wish I could say that these tanks were born from the desire to trade blows with the enemy rather than simply nip at their ankles, this isn't specifically true. While my paladin is always a tank, my DK was started as a character I could explore DPS potential on. Eventually, alt runs in my guild needed a tank, so my DK became a full-time tank. To compensate for that, I rolled a fury warrior. It was good for a while, but to paraphrase Sartre, "hell is other tanks." It was quite painful to stand in the back in raids only to watch the tank make mistakes with encounters that I'd done in my sleep on two different tanks. This came to a head in an ICC PUG when a tank bailed on us, and rather than wait for the raid leader to dig up another tank from trade chat, I started rummaging through my bags and manifested a tanking set from the assorted detritus I had acquired in previous runs. Boots from Mimiron hard mode, trinket from Yogg, shield from Gunship, and so on and so forth until I had a complete tanking set on. With it, we cleared seven bosses in ICC. Cataclysm comes, and I finally get around to rolling a druid. I embrace the inevitable, and he's been a bear since the beginning. What do you find yourself attracted to with your toons?

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Breakfast Topic: Do you read the WoW novels?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. For the most part, I've always sneered at novels that were spin-offs of popular movies or games. I considered myself a bit of a literary purist and felt that the writing in these books was mediocre, at best. When I met my husband, he had a full collection of every book ever written that tied into a Blizzard game and more than a few books based on card games as well. I accepted it as one of his quirks, and we did just fine. As luck would have it, one day I found myself desperate for reading material, with nothing at hand but Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden. I rolled my eyes, picked up the book, started reading ... and couldn't put the darn thing down. I was astonished. This writing wasn't bad ... in fact, I thought it was pretty good! The story was interesting. I enjoyed reading the back history of characters I had been encountering for years. I asked my husband for a recommendation on what I should try next, and now I'm a thorough WoW novel devotee. Christie Golden remains my favorite author. I think she gets into the character's emotional states better than anyone else, and I love her strong female characters. What about you? Have you given them a try? Any particular authors or stories you prefer?

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BlizzCon 2011: Early monk abilities and the dark side of the force

I was able to sit down at the Pandaria demo stations at BlizzCon 2011 over the weekend and play a Pandaren monk two times in a row. (It was a short line.) I came away with the impression that the monk class may be one of the most interesting and dynamic classes to play in the game. Similar to the death knight, there is more than one resource to manage, and it makes the class enjoyable and engaging. This is how it works. The basics are very similar to playing a rogue except that there is (currently) no auto-attack. You have a bar of chi that mimics the rogue energy bar. You also have a bar with slots for four light orbs and four dark orbs. The basic level 1 attack, Jab, consumes 40 chi (out of 100) with every shot and grants you both a light orb and a dark orb. Also at level 1, you get an attack that consumes one light orb that does twice the damage of Jab. If the target is over 50% health, it inflicts three times the damage of Jab. At level 2, you get a kick that inflicts three times the damage of Jab and consumes two dark orbs but returns one if the kick kills the opponent.

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Hello and goodbye

Today is my last day as editor-in-chief at WoW Insider, and I can honestly say it's been a hell of a ride. After four-and-a-half year run with the site, it's time for me to move on, but I leave the site in the very capable hands of Alex Ziebart, who will be taking over starting tomorrow. When I began writing for the site in 2007 after answering an open call for writers, I couldn't have been happier. I was being paid to play WoW! I launched the druid class column (with David Bowers), wrote for just about every daily post we had on the site (including Breakfast Topics, Around Azeroth, Moviewatch), and tackled anything else I could get my hands on. Later in the year, WoW Insider producer Barb Dybwad and then Editor-in-Chief Elizabeth Harper launched our sister site Massively and tapped me to help run WoW Insider. After that, it was a roller coaster ride for the next three years of expansion launches, patch coverage, BlizzCon insanity, reader meetups, beta leaks, domain name changes and April Fools pranks (Hello Kitty Insider!). There was also running contests, hiring new writers and finding a new warlock columnist every two months. Eventually, Barb moved on to launch a new site, and last September Elizabeth Harper left to join her, passing to me the EiC mantle. Tomorrow I join them at that site, Tecca, as its new editor-in-chief. I titled this post "Hello and goodbye" because I'm guessing many of you readers won't recognize my name. I stopped writing actively for the site a few years ago and focused on running things behind the scenes. But the biggest reason I stopped was because I couldn''t compete with the level of writing our current staff produces day in and day out. It took us years to build this team, and they are the best in the business. I couldn't be prouder of them and this site. In my 42 years on this planet, I've come to learn that it's not so much what you do with your time, but who you do it with. It's been an honor to spend the last four and a half years of my time with this group of passionate, talented and dedicated writers. Alex, the helm is yours. Guide her through the trolls and the haters and patch craziness and beta changes and Fox Van Allen's unstoppable ego. When Mists of Pandaria launches, I know where I'll be looking for the latest news and best analysis of the World of Warcraft on the internet.

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G4's cosplay women of BlizzCon

There are many great costumes to see on the attendees at every BlizzCon. From the intricate to the homemade, the creativity and passion on display is always stunning to behold. In fact, we've already snapped pictures from the first day of the con spotlighting this year's show stoppers. However this time, G4 didn't wait for the hordes of BlizzCon attendees to descend on Anaheim to get their cosplay gallery together. Instead, they assembled some of most well-known costumed fans in advance of the big convention and shot a gallery showing off their amazing outfits. Women profiled this year include last year's Diablo III monk winner in the costume contest, Christina Sims, Jo-Jo Chen who runs an agency for costumed models and many more. Check out the full shoot over at G4. The news is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!

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BlizzCon 2011 goodie bag pictures have surfaced

Though vague on how he came by his goodie bag early, one BlizzCon fan has already posted pics of the bags contents. As expected, the bag contains a mini-Tyrael figure, an authenticator, lots of promotional fliers and a loot card with a redemption code for the Murkablo non-combat pet. That's it. More pictures can be found on the fan's Squidoo site. [via MMO-Champion] Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Get ready to kick off the weekend with the WoW Insider Reader Meetup, cohosted by Wowhead and Gamebreaker.tv, and 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!

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News By Dan O'Halloran

The Reader Meetup details you've been waiting for

The convention starts this Friday, but the real party begins Thursday night. The BlizzCon 2011 WoW Insider Reader Meetup, cohosted by Wowhead and livecast by Gamebreaker.tv, starts at 5 p.m. Pacific at the Anabella Hotel patio. Yes, Dan, we know that, you say. You've already told us this. True -- but now I can finally announce the details. The guests Felicia Day? But of course! Plus others from the cast of The Guild will be on hand. Members of TankSpot and WoW Interface as well as Wowhead will be in attendance. Other special guests we have confirmed include Amy Brady of the Frag Dolls, actress Michele Morrow, machinimator extraordinaire Oxhorn, and Learn2raid's Kinesthesia. That's just a few of the many WoW celebrities we have lined up for the evening. Many of these guests will be talking at the microphone with our hosts for the evening, Mat McCurley and Fox Van Allen. You will also get a chance to meet many of our guests at a special meet-and-greet area at the party. The giveaways What's a party without a few party favors? Our good friends at Cryptozoic are coming with 1,500 booster packs of the latest WoW TCG. And guild hosting site Enjin has 1,500 vouchers for two months of premium service to give away. Plus, there's more from Steelseries, AstroGaming, The Guild, and Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab -- even Dungeons & Dragons loot from Wizards of the Coast. Wizards has also generously donated three full sets of Magic: The Gathering foil M12 cards in limited edition boxes, each with limited edition sleeves and limited edition deck protectors. Handing out many of these prizes will be the lovely ladies of the Apotheosis Agency who helped us out last year, as well. Did we mention the drinks? Monster Energy is giving away cans of Monster Energy and Peach Tea during the meetup for free. All you need to do is ask one of the many servers or bartenders at the party. Looking for something a bit stronger? Alliance- and Horde-themed cocktails await your pleasure, if you are 21 or over. Wristbands will be handed out at the door after your valid I.D. is checked. If you don't have a valid I.D., you can still come in -- just no alcohol for you. The livecast Can't make it? No problem. Gamebreaker.tv will be livecasting the meetup with Gary Gannon, Josh Allen (aka Lore), and Mike B., as well as our own Mike Sacco and Anne Stickney. They will have exclusive interviews with many of the VIP guests and provide commentary on the event as it unfolds. The livestream will be simulcast on WoW Insider, Wowhead, and Gamebreaker's site. If you're on the go, you can follow it on your mobile phone using the Justin.tv app. What more needs to be said? Let's get this party started! The details What: WoW Insider's 4th Annual BlizzCon Reader Meetup, cohosted by Wowhead and Gamebreaker.tv Where: The patio and the poolside of the Tangerine Grill & Patio at the Anabella Hotel When: Thursday, Oct. 20, starting at 5 p.m. Pacific Additional info: You can be under 21 and still attend. Shoes and shirt are required. You do not need a BlizzCon pass to attend. You can RSVP on our Facebook Event page. There will be a valet charge if you park at the hotel. %Gallery-105834% Turn to WoW Insider for all your BlizzCon 2011 news and information. Get ready to kick off the weekend with the WoW Insider Reader Meetup, cohosted by Wowhead and Gamebreaker.tv, and 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!

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Gaming By Dan O'Halloran

Breakfast Topic: Are you afraid of the PUG?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. I'll admit it. I'm a chicken. I wasn't always. Back in the day, I played a paladin, I was in a raiding guild, and I tanked. Lord, how I tanked. I tanked 5-mans. I tanked heroics. I tanked raids. And I loved it! But eventually the guild collapsed, my pally tank became a retadin, and then I took a break. After I came back to WoW and spent a considerable amount of time with a variety of alts, I realized I missed tanking. So I started a brand new warrior. He was going to be a prot god. I grabbed the right gear. I took the right talents. I was amazing ... when I was alone questing. See, I hadn't tanked in a while, and I was on a new server, so I didn't have the friendly support of a guild group to help me get my feet wet. When I got my first Deadmines quest, I queued in the Dungeon Finder -- and I immediately unqueued. Just one more level. I'd be ready to tank in one more level. But I didn't tank The Deadmines. Then I didn't tank any other dungeons. And now I'm 70 and still telling myself, One more level. Just one more level. It's not that I don't know how to tank, and I know that tanking is easier now than ever before, thanks to the recent threat changes. But I also know that PUGs can be heartless and unforgiving. And for some reason, I'm afraid of that heartlessness and ... unforgivingness. Of course, I should just join a guild, but before I get to know them, it'll be just like a PUG, except that my performance will actually matter, which makes it worse. I'm sure that eventually my desire to tank will overcome my fear of tanking, but not today. Maybe at 71. Is there anything you've wanted to do in game that you've been afraid to do because of the opinions of strangers?

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Gaming By Dan O'Halloran

Breakfast Topic: Is Azeroth's technology too advanced?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. The party agrees to meet just outside the dragon's lair at sunset for a surprise attack. First to arrive is the Night Elf Allara; the huntress silently tests her bowstring, as the nightsaber at her feet opens its mouth for a huge yawn. Next is Grizz, the mighty Dwarf; he adjusts his plate armor carefully, tightening the straps. Then Doria, a Worgen rogue; she slips in amidst the pair unnoticed and greets them with a huff from her canine nostrils. Fourth is Elden, an aged Human priest; he moves with serene grace, his simple robes making a gentle hiss in the cool evening air. And lastly ... "Hey guys! Sorry I'm late!" roars Nitpik the Gnome as he gallops in atop a clanking Mechanostrider. His mace -- a rotating gear -- creaks loudly as he hops to the ground, landing with a crunch in his jet boots. The tiny technophile adjusts his goggles and pats the mechanical chicken at his side. "What'd I miss?" Azeroth has a lot of advanced machinery. From the Gnomish Death Ray to the Goblin Rocket Launcher, from biplanes to zeppelins, from logging robots to entire mechanized defense systems, the World of Warcraft is an odd blend of fantasy and science fiction. In Cataclysm, the emphasis shifted away from robots and ancient machines -- the elemental planes have a distinctly organic feel, and the other zones are all rooted in the natural world -- yet we also saw the addition of playable Goblins, a race that's arguably brought more new technology to the landscape than almost any other. Do these technologies belong in a swords-and-sorcery fantasy setting? Do you think there should be a cap on how advanced technology can get in such a world, or should it be allowed to run wild? Does seeing a sword-wielding Orc alongside a Goblin with a shotgun ever strike you as odd, or do you find it perfectly acceptable?

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Gaming By Dan O'Halloran

Breakfast Topic: What about Gilneas?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. I love Gilneas. I love the look of the zone, the ambiance, the music. I've leveled a number of Worgen alts (that I never plan on playing again) through the zone just to experience the storyline again. I've even run an Undead alt through early levels just to see the other side of the ending events. What bothers me (and many others, I'm sure) is the fact that this fantastic zone is now phased out and empty. Presumably, the story of the zone isn't finished and may even see some closure by the time the current expansion's life cycle is over ... but what then? The most apparent answer is to make Gilneas City another Alliance capital city, but does the game really need a new dead urban center like Darnassus? Throughout the lifespan of World of Warcraft, players have asked for the ability to buy housing for their characters. Could an empty zone like Gilneas be good starting location for this kind of feature? Instead of a creating new world PVP location like Wintergrasp or Baradin Hold in the next expansion, could the ongoing struggle for the walled peninsula become the new focus of the war between factions (with all the associated rewards and daily quests)? Now that Cataclysm has been out for a while, what can be done to make this zone a viable place to visit?

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Gaming By Dan O'Halloran

Breakfast Topic: How do you decide which race to roll?

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the AOL guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages. Each time you create a new character, you are faced with a few crucial decisions. Which class? Which race? And perhaps most importantly, which hairstyle? When I started my most recent alt, I debated with myself over the best choice of race for quite some time. Here are some of the factors that crossed my mind: Class considerations Before Cataclysm, if you wanted to play a druid on the Alliance, rolling a Night Elf was the only option; likewise, Blood Elves were the only ones who could be paladins on the Horde side. Selecting a class first often makes the race decision easier -- unless, of course, you select the warrior class, in which case you won't get any help. Pure aesthetics Who wants to look at cow butt for hours on end? 'Nuff said. Affinity Perhaps the backstory of a particular race captivates you, reminding you of your own journey or struggles. Perhaps it's easier to put yourself in the shoes of a character who howls at the full moon or eats the corpses of the dead for a quick pick-me-up. Racials If you plan to min-max with your character, you may want to select a race with a bonus to stats that actually matter for the character's class. Likewise, it could be helpful to go with a race that has bonus skill points in the profession you hope to learn. Some advantages are just a matter of convenience (e.g., instant flight form). And let's not forget cool effects like Rocket Jump! Resemblance When you still can't decide, I suggest rolling a character of a race that looks more like you do. Got lots of back hair? So do Worgen and Tauren. Long ears? You must be an Elf or Troll. Which factors did you consider when choosing race? Which of them is most important and why?

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