wow-expansion
Latest
Warlords of Draenor, Blizzard to make appearance at DreamHack Winter 2013
Blizzard Entertainment will be making an appearance at DreamHack Winter 2013 in Jönköping, Sweden -- and it's just been announced that Warlords of Draenor will as well. DreamHack is the world's largest digital festival and holds the official world record as the world's largest LAN party, promising an exciting time for Europeans attending the event and also an opportunity to play and see Warlords of Draenor, the new WoW expansion, firsthand. Along with Warlords, those attending will also be able to play both Hearthstone and Diablo III: Reaper of Souls. In addition, Blizzard will have several Hearthstone-themed contests for those attending, including a sound-a-like contest, a card-crafting contest, and a contest that will have players finding clues and building decks out of seven secret cards in order to challenge the Hearthstone crew. If that weren't enough, the European Community team will be on-hand to say hello, chat, mingle, and maybe even settle down to play some Diablo III. If you missed out on BlizzCon, this is the perfect opportunity to get a glimpse and some hands-on-time with the next expansion. DreamHack Winter 2013 takes place November 28 - December 1, 2013. For more information on the festival, as well as tickets and scheduling, be sure to check out DreamHack's official site.
World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor Announced
Blizzard Entertainment has announced World of Warcraft's fifth expansion, Warlords of Draenor. The expansion will bring players to Draenor, the original homeworld of the Orcs. The expansion leads players to familiar and new locations seen in WoW's first expansion, The Burning Crusade. Highlights of Warlords of Draenor include: Build and upgrade your own garrison New character models New PvP zones Level cap raised to 100 Boost one character to level 90 and play immediately More on the expansion as the day continues. Expect lots of updates as we cover BlizzCon 2013.
WoW Archivist: Controversies of BlizzCon
WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold? BlizzCon has been no stranger to controversy. As the premier Blizzard event, the stakes are high. Players are heavily invested in both the weekend and the games, and sometimes emotions run hot. We've already got a potential controversy brewing for 2013's event. Players have expressed strong feelings both for and against a possible "Warlords of Draenor" concept for the next expansion, and we know little at this point aside from the name and what it could imply. In light of Blink 182's presence at the convention, Blizzard also asked attendees to wear clothes. It could be a truly wild BlizzCon this year! Let's look back at other controversies from the past six BlizzCons. The first BlizzCon In October 2005, BlizzCon made its debut to enthusiastic crowds. However, it was hardly the massively anticipated event, with tickets selling out in seconds, that it is today. Tickets were $125, and the total attendance was a mere 8000. To put this in perspective, BlizzCon 2010 had 27,000 fans. Because so few tickets were available and "virtual tickets" did not yet exist, Murky, the pet given out to attendees, is still one of the rarest pets in the game. (Lurky isn't the same.) The big reveal in 2005 was WoW's first expansion, The Burning Crusade. With that announcement came several big changes to the game. Outland, flying mounts, jewelcrafting, Karazhan, the Caverns of Time, linked auction houses (rather than each city having its own) -- players embraced all of these. Blood elves had their detractors, for both lore and aesthetic reasons, but most were sold on the idea. Glaringly omitted, however, was any specific word on the new Alliance race.
World of Warcraft's base package now includes Cataclysm
The game package formerly known as the World of Warcraft Battle Chest is now simply called World of Warcraft and has added Cataclysm to its base offering. All current players who do not already own Cataclysm will be automatically upgraded. The new box as seen above will be available in retail stores soon, with the digital download version already available on the US store. This change should coincide quite nicely with the upcoming Recruit-A-Friend revamp and make the cost of entry more manageable for new players or those wanting to set up a secondary account.
The Queue: Jinxed
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today. I don't play League of Legends. I'm not good at it and, in general, I have no interest in the MOBA genre. But the music video they released for their newest champion? Holy crap. So cool. Jackson Stephens asked: What do you think about the idea that the expansion will be announced at Blizzcon and released for Christmas?
"Awesome," the next expansion will be
Fresh off the Twitter-sphere today is news that the next expansion will be "awesome." What kind of awesome? Well, the kind of awesome that Rob Pardo (Chief Creative Officer at Blizzard) delivers. And no matter what, awesome is better than Pardo announcing the next expansion will be terrible. So there's that at least... Its been pretty fun getting deeply involving with WOW again. The next expansion is going to be awesome :) - Rob Pardo (@Rob_Pardo) October 26, 2012 All jokes aside, it is notable that Pardo is tweeting his involvement in this, even though he's always had his hand in WoW's expansions. Pardo does go on to say as well: @officrnasty Oh don't worry... we will go plenty slow lol. This is Blizzard after all :) - Rob Pardo (@Rob_Pardo) October 26, 2012 Pardo's announcement would have been a little bit cooler if he said it in Yoda-style. Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you'll ever need to know.
World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria launch-day roundup
World of Warcraft's long-awaited fourth expansion is finally here, and whether you're looking to see through the Mists of Pandaria for yourself or poke fun at your panda-playing friends, WoW Insider has everything you need to know. Our sister site has been busy interviewing Blizzard devs, testing new five-man dungeons, and parsing the class and mechanical changes and adjusting guides accordingly. Join us after the break for the best expansion coverage on the internet.
What signals the end of an expansion?
Wrath of the Lich King ended on kind of a sour note for me, largely because I didn't get to participate in my guild's one and only 25-man heroic Lich King kill before Cataclysm launched. Part of the rankle was for personal reasons, but part of it was also that for me, that kill would have ended the expansion. Never mind that we didn't kill Halion on heroic -- that was filler content, as far as I was concerned. Wrath of the Lich King was all about the Lich King and seeing him die. But really, it goes back farther than that. In vanilla, I had no idea what an expansion really was; my MMOG experience was limited to WoW, for the most part, with a brief dabble in City of Heroes. So terms like expansions didn't make any sense to me until a friend explained what it meant: a new game was coming, building off the game I was already playing. No, I didn't have to purchase it if I didn't want to, but I wouldn't be able to see any of the new stuff if I didn't. And then my friend showed me just a sampling of all the cool stuff to be seen in The Burning Crusade. A beta invite later, and I was thoroughly hooked. But there wasn't an end to vanilla for me. One day, I was playing vanilla WoW; the next, I was tromping through the Dark Portal and headed to Outland.
Has the beta changed your mind about Pandaria?
I can't really deny that I've been excited about and looking forward to Mists since I first heard the announcement for it. To me, the idea of a new continent to explore reminded me of the days trekking around Outland, and I've missed that feeling. Sure, Wrath of the Lich King was great, but it was Northrend -- it didn't really have that alien feel of landscape I'd never seen before, even though some areas were pretty breathtaking. But for a little while there, I felt like I was in the minority. The reaction to the Mists of Pandaria announcement was mixed, which had me fairly confused. Much of the gripe seemed to be coming from the fact that pandaren were going to become a playable race. I found this a little odd, especially given that a Know Your Lore I'd written a little over a year before had plenty of people pondering the idea of pandaren in game with delight -- maybe not as playable, but it certainly seemed like people wanted to see them. So ... what gives?
Mists of Pandaria Beta: Wandering Isle image gallery
Mists of Pandaria is absolutely beautiful. Though beta players cannot access Pandaria at this time, they can still visit the pandaren starting zone and level through the experience. The Wandering Isle is home to the descendants of Pandaria who chose to leave the main island generations ago, instead wandering Azeroth on the back of a giant turtle. If Pandaria is anywhere near as visually stunning as the starter zone, we're in for a treat. Check out the gallery below for shots from The Wandering Isle as you play through from beginning to end. It's a breathtaking bunch of scenery and a uniquely beautiful zone, the likes of which we've never seen before. %Gallery-151526% 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!
WoW Insider's Mists of Pandaria coverage
The NDA has lifted for the March 15 Mists of Pandaria press event! We're happy to present you with the following posts. Enjoy! Mists of Pandaria: Chris Metzen interview Mists of Pandaria: Achievements preview Mists of Pandaria: March 2012 FAQ Mists of Pandaria: Zones and Questing Mists of Pandaria: Dungeons and Challenge Mode Mists of Pandaria: Battlegrounds Preview Mists of Pandaria: UI Updates Mists of Pandaria: Siege of Orgrimmar Mists of Pandaria: Yes, you get another character slot Mists of Pandaria: Female pandaren Mists of Pandaria: Cool class stuff we found Mists of Pandaria: Pet Battles Hunters to get Stampede in Mists of Pandaria Mists of Pandaria: New Raid Finder loot rules clarified Mists of Pandaria: Dave "Fargo" Kosak interview Mists of Pandaria: Ray Cobo interview We will have more content, including our interviews with Dave Kosak and Ray Cobo, coming a little later today. %Gallery-150963% 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!
Mists of Pandaria: Press tour interviews from around the web
Not only is there a ton of information about the next expansion's features floating around, there are plenty of interviews with the minds behind the expansion as well. All of the fan sites got their own chance to ask developers questions about Mists, so each interview has different information. Check out these links to other developer interviews from around the web. Wowhead interviewed Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton about professions in Pandaria, bind on account pets, titles and mounts, transmogrification, and more. Wowhead also quizzed Lead Game Designer Tom Chilton about monks, questing, dailies, updating old world instances, and the player community.
Female pandaren model coming March 19
Wondering what the female pandaren are going to look like? You've only got a little bit longer to wait. The official Warcraft Facebook posted the above image earlier with the tagline "She's on her way -- March 19." This is a marked change from earlier expansions, when we waited until what seemed like the last possible minute for a female model in the case of the worgen and the draenei -- and it's a welcome one. Though we've only got a silhouette to work with at the moment, it appears that those worried about a strange-looking, overly skinny pandaren female need not worry; she's got plenty of muscle to throw people around. This announcement lines up quite nicely with the upcoming Mists of Pandaria press event, and if Blizzard's already throwing female models at us, I can't wait to see what else it's got in store. Check out the official Warcraft Facebook page for the full image. World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria is the next expansion, raising the level cap to 90, introducing a brand new talent system, and bringing forth the long-lost pandaren race to both Horde and Alliance. Check out the trailer and follow us for all the latest MoP news!
World of Warcraft no longer compatible with Windows 2000 in Mists of Pandaria
Community Manager Bashiok made an interesting announcement this morning -- as of the upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion, World of Warcraft will no longer run on machines using Windows 2000 as an operating system. Microsoft itself ceased supporting this version in 2010. Those who are currently using Windows 2000 should upgrade before Mists is released, if you'd like to continue playing WoW. One of the big benefits to playing World of Warcraft has always been that it can be played on a variety of systems, from the exceptionally small and outdated to the current, top-of-the-line models. I always found that a fascinating phenomenon, and it made good sense -- after all, if you want the max number of players able to play your game, you want to make it available with the widest software and technology possible. Yet there's a drawback to this; if you want to continually make that content available for older systems, there's only so far you can go updating content. As a game that just celebrated its seven-year anniversary, WoW absolutely needs to keep updating in order to remain competitive. With new MMOs coming out all the time, a game that is seven years old starts to lose its shine. Continuous updates make sure that it stays just as fresh as it did in 2004. You can't keep those updates rolling if you're trying to support an operating system that is now 12 years old. I think, however, we're safely in the territory where most people have moved beyond Windows 2000, so this shouldn't affect a huge majority of players, particularly when Microsoft itself has already phased out support for the operating system. What this does do, however, is make me look forward to Mists of Pandaria and what it has in store.
Know Your Lore: Sargeras and speculation on the next expansion
The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft. Planes and planets, demons and mortals -- we've covered the gamut of the Warcraft universe in the past few weeks, including rampant speculation. With BlizzCon 2011 not too far away, people are already talking about what may or may not be announced, including whether or not we'll see news about the next Warcraft expansion and what that expansion could be. Beyond all of that, however, we have the matter of identifying who exactly the real bad guy of this expansion is. Is it Deathwing? Is it the Old Gods? We don't know, and we won't know until we're closer to the expansion's end and dealing with Deathwing personally -- but whether Deathwing will be the final boss of this expansion is something that's still up in the air. Matthew Rossi wrote an interesting article last week questioning whether Cataclysm has too much potential content, and it's an excellent question. Given all we've seen of the expansion so far and the sheer amount of plot threads that have yet to be addressed, it makes one wonder exactly what else will be revealed in the months to come.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 25
A new round of hotfixes to patch 4.0.6 were just released over at the official WoW blog. The changes are primarily fixes or nerfs to the heroic Valiona and Theralion encounter in the Bastion of Twilight. A few of the nerfs appear to balance the fight for the heroic 10-man version, while others are all-around nerfs to the damage in the fight. Another change fixes the ressurrection of players in the Twin Peaks and Battle for Gilneas battlegrounds. Patch 4.0.6 Hotfixes - February 25 Dungeons & Raids Bastion of Twilight Blackout will no longer hit players sent down to the Twilight Zone by either Valiona or Theralion. Collapsing Twilight Portal should no longer close faster when a person uses it while on Heroic difficulty. It now has a set duration. Devouring flame maximum damage has been reduced. Theralion's damage should now be more consistent with Valiona's on 10-player Heroic difficulty. Twilight Blast damage has been reduced on 10-player Heroic difficulty. Twilight Protection now lasts 6 seconds, up from 3. Players should now always receive the Twilight Protection buff when entering the Twilight Realm. Twilight Sentries have slightly lower health on 10-player Heroic difficulty. Twilight Zone damage has been lowered slightly. Unstable Twilight's search effect has been lowered to a 1-yard radius, down from 2. PvP Players in Battle for Gilneas and Twin Peaks who are Neutral with the associated factions should no longer experience issues resurrecting at the appropriate graveyards. source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 22
We've got a pretty short list of hotfixes for Patch 4.0.6 this morning, courtesy of Community Manager Zarhym. Included are the hunter changes that have been mentioned several times over -- and for the raiders out there, a small adjustment to Throne of the Four Winds: Zarhym Classes Hunters Aimed Shot damage has been decreased to approximately 160% weapon damage (at level 80+), down from 200%. Aspect of the Hawk now provides 2000 attack power at level 85. Dungeons & Raids Throne of the Four Winds The Catch Fall aura is now removed whenever a player leaves the dungeon. source World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 19
Since the release of Patch 4.0.6, we've had a pretty steady stream of hotfix announcements, each one providing fairly substantial lists of changes over the past several weeks. Today, we've got what is less of a hotfix and more of a little note, courtesy of Community Manager Zarhym: Zarhym Classes Hunters The changes to Aimed Shot and Aspect of the Hawk announced yesterday have not yet been applied to live realms and should not go into effect until after the holiday weekend. source The changes referred to are the two hunter hotfixes from yesterday's list. Aimed Shot damage for hunters will be decreased to approximately 160% weapon damage at level 80+, down from 200%, and Aspect of the Hawk will provide an additional 2,000 attack power for hunters at level 85. These changes will presumably go live after Tuesday's maintenance. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm has destroyed Azeroth as we know it; nothing is the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from leveling up a new goblin or worgen to breaking news and strategies on endgame play.
The Queue: Ragequitter redux
Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today. Yesterday I gave you some advice on how not to get a rematch in Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Today, I say to you that I have found the method so effective, so potent, that some players opt to physically turn their system off or unplug their ethernet cable in order to avoid the shame of loss to a dog that barks ice cubes. Saekeion asked: Does the reputation discount with a faction also apply to when you sell items? Do you get more money if you have a higher reputation with that faction? If so, does Goblin's Best Deals Anywhere apply to the amount of money you get for selling an item? Good question, but no, sell prices for items aren't affected by any outside modifiers, including rep. They will always sell for the same amount.
Patch 4.0.6 hotfixes for Feb. 18
Blizzard's serving up some weekend hotfixes, included the promised dungeon finder changes from earlier this week. Community Manager Zarhym posted the updated list earlier, and along with the dungeon finder tweaks, we've also got a fairly good list of class changes. Keep in mind, while the dungeon finder changes have been implemented, they will take a realm restart in order to take effect. Some highlights: For hunters, Aspect of the Hawk now provides around an additional 2,000 attack power at level 85. For paladins, Light of Dawn no longer heals targets outside the paladin's party or raid. It correctly heals up to five targets in the paladin's raid. For warlocks, instant-cast Shadowbolts from Shadow Trance (both the talent and Glyph of Corruption versions) should no longer consume charges of Backdraft if both procs are available. Follow us after the break for the full list of hotfixes.
