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Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition half price at Amazon
In part of its Cyber Monday week deals, Amazon is selling the Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition for $39.99 $34.99. Not only is this half off of the usual price, it is the same price as the normal edition. This price is for the box, not the digital edition version. The Collector's Edition includes the following The Imperial Quilen mount, also included in the Digital Deluxe version The Lucky Quilen Cub pet, again in the Digital Deluxe version as well Behind-the-scenes Blu-ray and DVD Chen Stormstout mouse pad The Art of Mists of Pandaria hardback book Collector's Edition Soundtrack CD We don't know how long this sale will continue. So whether you want the physical goodies for yourself or for a gift, this price is likely to be the lowest of the season. Update Nov 26: The price for Cyber Monday is $34.99.
Parting the mists: World of Warcraft turns eight
World of Warcraft's eighth anniversary arrives after a rough year for the franchise. Cataclysm, the expansion that redesigned much of the old world and trumpeted the return of archvillain Deathwing, also saw subscriber numbers drop from their highest point, reached during the Wrath of the Lich King years. Players expressed discontent over the empty zones and the lack of anything to do save run endless heroic dungeons or chain battlegrounds. It's said that humans often prepare to fight the next war by devising tactics to deal with the last war, and World of Warcraft's newest expansion, Mists of Pandaria, is definitely a reaction to player complaints about the previous one. The past year saw the game transition from one with two separate, segregated endgames to a game with a great deal more variety for players who've reached max level. Whether you loved or hated Cataclysm, you can't deny that the past year has seen more change than the entire expansion dedicated to changing the game ever provided.
Investor call reports World of Warcraft subscriptions back above 10 million
The results are in for the third quarter of 2012, and despite sluggish numbers the last time around, World of Warcraft appears to be on a rebound. During the most recent Activision Blizzard investor call, subscribers for the game were pegged at around 10 million, back up from the lower figure of 9.1 million reported during the previous investor call. While the number is a bit more vague than usual, it does break a trend of several declining months. Is it all because of Mists of Pandaria? Not quite; because of the way that the quarters are spaced out, the expansion is still a fresh release, and we won't know until the beginning of 2013 how much of a bump it gave to the game's overall numbers. The company as a whole also saw positive revenue from Diablo III and the Skylanders franchise, while Call of Duty titles have experienced a slight downturn.
Arcane Brilliance: Mage gear-up ultraguide, pre-raid edition
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we have a singular focus: shiny, shiny loot. And the warlocks we will kill with it. I took some understandable flak last week when my "what to do at level 90" column contained a dearth of specifics. Well, fear not! This week's installment is all specifics, all the time. In fact, this column and the one to follow are going to be filled with so much specific, easily quantifiable information that your brains, trained by months of political campaign speeches to accept vague platitudes as factual policy, may not be able to process it. My aim over the next two weeks is to provide you with a compendium of all the currently available mage gear from the heroic threshold of item-level 435 on up to best in slot. No matter where your mage is along the gear-grubbing spectrum, you should be able to look at these lists, identify an upgrade, and know where said upgrade is obtained.
5 ways to explain we're not playing Kung Fu Panda
I think we've all settled into deep, personal relationships with Mists of Pandaria at this point. I know I love sitting up late at night, staring soulfully into its joyful, brew-laden eyes. I can't be the only one. It's like kismet or something. But not everyone gets our love. They look at Mists of Pandaria and mistake it for a video game version of Kung Fu Panda. There's a better way to handle that miscommunication than making myself bald when I yank my hair out, screaming, "No. it. is. not!" So in the interest of propogating better understanding between Mists of Pandaria lovers and those who confuse it for Jack Black's latest endeavor, here's 5 ways to explain that we're not playing the Kung Fu Panda MMO.
Blizzard: Patch 5.1 is 'going to change what it means to be a World of Warcraft patch'
In an effort to deliver more frequent updates, Blizzard has stated that it's willing to redefine the traditional mega-World of Warcraft patch to include smaller updates. "We're going to change what it means to be a WoW patch," said Production Director J. Allen Brack. "We just had to make a decision about how we're going to do these updates that are quicker." Brack spoke with Rock, Paper, Shotgun about the upcoming smaller Mists of Pandaria 5.1 patch as well as World of Warcraft's future. He said that the WoW team is "larger than it's ever been," with 165 people working on the project. Other topics raised by the interview included free-to-play and revamps to older content. Brack said that the team has thought about both, and he made the interesting admission that The Burning Crusade has aged poorly in comparison to the rest of the game. "There was a while where Burning Crusade was the best thing we'd ever done," he said. "Now it's the worst thing we've ever done, because everything else has raised the level with Cataclysm."
Arcane Brilliance: Tips for leveling your mage from 85 to 90
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we take a break from pet battling to actually level our mages. Seriously. Put down that Armadillo Pup for a second and let's get to level 90. I'm talking to myself as much as you. I want you to know that. I imagine I'm not the only slow-poke out there who's taking their sweet time getting to level 90. My playtime since the expansion hit has been almost non-existent until recently, and in fact I only just dinged max level this week. Still, even though time-constraints kept me from playing as much as I wanted to, it still felt like I was getting to 90 slower than I should have been. What can I say? I like to read the quest text, watch the cutscenes, listen to all the dialogue, explore the countryside. Oh, and I may have indulged in the occasional pet battle. We all have our vices. Though in this case, I'd hazard to say we all have the same vice. But I did eventually get there, late or not. And for those of you who are still enjoying the journey rather than the destination, I've compiled a few of the thoughts and observations I had along the way into this week's column. For those of you for whom this advice comes too late, I'll start hitting the post-90 content next week. Pinkie swear.
One Shots: Beautiful balloon
Massively logically selects for readers who aren't necessarily playing World of Warcraft -- if you were, you'd probably be reading our sister site WoW Insider, not this column. But I am still a WoW fan, as is this week's One Shots submitter, William. He sent in a freshly snapped pic from Mists of Pandaria with this note: This screenshot is a little bit of a spoiler, so I won't actually say much about what's in it, but needless to say, this is one of my favourite scenes from the Pandaren starting area. The art design is fantastic in Blizzard's new expansion! Also, panda in a balloon! William's color image is tucked after the break along with a few more of your One Shots-worthy images.
Mists of Pandaria cruises toward first big patch
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is chugging along quite nicely, and while there are players content in the current journey to the new endgame, there are always those asking, "What's next?" For the latter crowd, Blizzard has announced that the first major post-expansion content update is heading to the test server soon. Patch 5.1 is slated to advance the storyline, add quest hubs and factions, introduce underground fighting rings in capital cities, improve the pet battle system, and allow players to upgrade gear with valor points. Blizzard says that the progress toward the patch's deployment is a sign that it is taking its commitment to faster content delivery seriously.
Gold Capped: Shuffling Ore in Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Basil "Euripides" Berntsen and Fox Van Allen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Check out Basil's re-reboot of Call To Auction, and email Basil with your questions, comments, or hate mail! What's my favorite part of the expansion so far? The way that Blizzard has reworked the Jewelcrafting, Enchanting, and Alchemy professions to more efficiently support the "shuffle". That's a cute little name we auctioneers give to a fairly complicated business that takes ore and turns it into cut gems and enchanting scrolls. In every expansion where this has been possible, there's been a ton of waste. It's great to be able to make gold by combining profession synergy, but vendoring stacks of, for example, green quality gems feels like a waste. How to do the MoP shuffle While the business seems complicated to outsiders, it's actually a lot simpler than it looks. Let's break it down:
Players begin hitting Gold in Challenge Modes
As time ticks on since the launch of Mists of Pandaria, players are starting to run Challenge Modes and have already begun hitting gold medals! WoWProgress.com has put together a list that draws from all the Challenge Mode Leaderboards provided by Blizzard, as Blizzard themselves seem to currently only offer that information realm-by-realm. WoWProgress' Challenge Mode section shows all the dungeons together, and can be filtered by realm, region, and, of course, dungeon. At the time of writing, and subject to rapid change, there are three Gold runs on the WoWProgress leaderboard, two of which are in Gate of the Setting Sun, one from Organised Confusion of EU-Anetheron-H, who currently hold the top time at 11 minutes 58 seconds, and one from Aquila of EU-Stormreaver-H who come in at 12 minutes 24 seconds. The only other Gold time is from Scarlet Halls, where aLions of EU-Senjin-A have a time of 12 minutes 49 seconds. It's not surprising, with the head-start we've had, that the current Gold medals are mostly coming out of the EU. This will change very soon, and we can already see US groups coming up in the Silver medal sections. It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Hard work, not magic, is key to Blizzard's success
Should the success of World of Warcraft over the years be accepted as an aberration, encased in glass and set high up on a pedestal, untouchable and impossible to duplicate? Not according to an editorial on GameIndustry.biz, which suggests that other companies could find success by following Blizzard's methods instead of just mimicking the product. The article discounts the magic secret formula hypothesis and attributes Blizzard's success to hard work, aggressive utilization of player activity data, and a focus on the casual player instead of hardcore endgame types. The piece noted that Blizzard essentially provides players with a whole new game with each expansion by changing systems dramatically. It further stated, "Blizzard... sees its successful game as a moving target, and uses data to allow it to make bigger gambles and more drastic changes."
RIFT saves pandas with expansion
In what is most certainly a coincidence, Trion Worlds has announced a special promotion today to support pandas with the help of players who purchase a certain expansion. No, not that expansion. Starting tomorrow, every copy of RIFT: Storm Legion pre-ordered will prompt Trion to donate a buck to Pandas International. Pandas International is an organization devoted to saving the Giant Panda, who probably would not need saving if they were martial arts monks (just saying). The pre-order has to take place through the game's website, and it ends after October 3rd. If you're up for a laugh, make sure to read the small print on the official announcement. Maine is always the bane of any good panda party.
Mists of Pandaria is now live in Europe, Blizz posts a new video [Updated]
Are you still on the fence about purchasing Mists of Pandaria? Really, the game comes out tomorrow; you should have made up your mind by now. But if you're still conflicted about buying World of Warcraft's fourth expansion, you can take a look at the newest development video that shows off everything players can expect from the update. And it's not just a quick list of updates. If you have any lingering questions about what the expansion will contain or any features that you've missed hearing about, this video will put all of that to rest. Previews of the new zones, previews of new scenarios, previews of the new Monk class in action -- you can get a full rundown of the expansion's features in seven minutes. So click on past the break to see everything that's in store for players tomorrow, whether or not you've decided to jump in. [Update: Pandaria is now live in Europe! Check out the parade Blizzard threw for the game in London, and as always, visit WoW Insider for the full scoop on the expansion.]
London cafe giving away goodies for Mists of Pandaria launch
The wait for the launch of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is almost over; eager players will be lining up at stores and taking part in various launch celebrations awaiting tonight's midnight release in stores. One location, Cafe de Paris in London, is sponsoring a Pandaria-themed loot giveaway through PC Gamer to help celebrate the release with players. The goodies include a Steel Series World of Warcraft Wireless MMO mouse, Deathwing's Stormwind Assault Mega Blocks, a strategy guide, t-shirts, posters, and a Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition. For a chance at obtaining some of these collectables, check out the giveaway page for complete instructions. But you have to hurry -- the promotion ends tomorrow.
The Daily Grind: Are you returning to World of Warcraft for the expansion?
If you're at all interested in MMOs, it's been nigh-impossible not to learn about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion through osmosis if nothing else. If you're currently playing the game, of course, buying the expansion and logging in is a no-brainer. But if you're like many people with an old account and some mixed memories about the game, buying the expansion isn't a given. It all comes down to the expansion's features and how satisfied you are with your current games. Maybe the promise of Pandaren, new levels, new systems, and a new talent system has lured you back into the fold. Or perhaps those same changes have turned you off from Mists of Pandaria. Perhaps it's even deeper than that -- perhaps one of the previous expansions killed your interest in the game to the point that this expansion can't revive it. So today we want to know: Are you returning for Mists of Pandaria, or are you staying on the sidelines? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
WRUP: Yet another lazy glued-to-a-handrail kind of afternoon
Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as: WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too! Yawn -- oh, hi. Welcome to a lazy What aRe yoU Playing on a lazy late summer (super early fall?) afternoon. We're just hanging out here, looking all awesome. Also, someone glued us to a handrail, and it's kind of unpleasant. Anyway, you all know the drill. Let us know what you're playing this weekend, and we'll return the favor. Got a great game you want us to all know about? Maybe you've got a hot new chicken recipe? Or you found a great new way home from work on Thursday? You can share all that too, we're not picky. After all, those who are glued to handrails can't really be beggars. This week, we have a question for you guys (and for our columnists): This is our last weekend without Mists of Pandaria. How are you spending it?
Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition gallery
It has arrived, ladies and gentlemen. Gaze upon its embossed foil lettering. Appreciate its Pandaria-inspired line designs. Ogle the artbook a little. It's cool. We're all friends here. Check out the full gallery of what's inside right below. See you on Monday night! %Gallery-166312%
Dungeon Mastery: Gate of the Setting Sun
Pandaria is under siege by the pesky, bug-like mantid. It reminds me of an alternate universe Starship Troopers. The Serpent's Spine, a massive fortified wall, has kept them out but the mantid have already started laying siege to the main gate. The pandaren could sure use your help. Is there a vulnerability? The Gate of the Setting Sun seems to be where mantid forces are concentrated and that's where you'll be needed. This instance is only accessible at max level on heroic difficulty. As you make your way across the battlements of the gate, you'll notice timed charges being dropped on the wall. In addition to clearing out pesky bug mobs that get in your way, you'll need to dodge these Bomberman style explosives. Seriously, they'll detonate and their explosions don't explode outward. They explode in four cardinal directions. In other words, stand diagonally to avoid getting fried.
Arcane Brilliance: Mists of Pandaria mage guide to stats and reforging
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we talk about how awesome mages are. But did you know that you can make your mage even better? I know! It's like chocolate-covered chocolate. Or a cheesecake that also grants you three wishes. Or an Avengers movie that is also directed by Joss Whedon. Or a warlock that is also dead. With just over a week of this pre-expansion/post-patch limbo to go, it's high time we covered one last piece of patch 5.0.4 mage business before we turn our eyes almost exclusively toward the impending influx of pandaren and monks and ... pandaren monks. But good news! Most, if not all, of what we discuss here today will also apply in Mists. Though there are always small shifts in stat weight at endgame, we're still quite far removed from knowing exactly how things will shake out when we're all doing hard mode raiding. This expansion brings some major changes to our stats, radically altering the benefits they do and don't provide. Before we get to each spec and its stat weights, let's look at each stat and familiarize ourselves with its Mists of Pandaria version.
