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WotLK world event going underway
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/Zombies_invade_WoW_in_pre_expansion_world_event'; And thus it begins. Midnight just rang out across the EU's servers, and with it brings the Argent Dawn, appearing in capital cities all over Azeroth warning of the coming of the Lich King. "The plagued tendrils of the Lich King," they say, "lurk close."We knew it was coming (heavy spoilers on that link!), though we still don't know for sure exactly what form the Lich King's re-arrival into Azeroth will take. Will it be a simple replay of the Scourge Invasion that brought Naxxramas to our shores for the first time? Or will it be something even more sinister, a world event that shakes the very foundations of the World of Warcraft as we know it?Call us destructive, but we're kind of hoping for the second. Stay tuned for more news of the world event leading up to Wrath of the Lich King as we hear it.Thanks to everyone who sent this in!%Gallery-35140%Zombies have entered the World of Warcraft in the Wrath of the Lich King world event! Check out our tips for eating brains, our zombie night gallery, or see Blizzard's official zombie infestation guide. They live! Braaiiiiinnnssss!
The best of WoW Insider: October 14-21, 2008
The World of Warcraft is hoppin' yet again -- patch 3.0.2, a.k.a. "Echoes of Doom" is out on the live realms, and everyone is revelling in the new talents, the new Inscription profession, and the new endgame, which is easier and more lucrative than ever. And Hallow's End has begun as well, bringing players of all kinds out to the Scarlet Monastery's Graveyard, where the Headless Horseman holiday raid boss calls home. Yes, times are good in Azeroth, but what's that in the Autumn air? A cold wind is about to blow in from the North... News Essential addons for patch 3.0.2There are a lot of changes in this patch, but the first thing to do is get your UI back up to speed. 3.0.2 patch notesDirect from Blizzard, 3.0.2 has all of the updates to the game before the second expansion goes live. Ret to be nerfed "to the ground"That was a joke, but seriously: Pallies are next for the nerf bat. Raiding has never been easier than in 3.0.2Right before we all head to Northrend, Blizzard gave players a break on the Burning Crusade endgame. Don't Panic: Frequently asked questions in 3.0.2Confused and perhaps even frightened by all the newness in the game? We've got you covered. Features WoW Insider's guide to Hallow's End 2008Hallow's End (Azeroth's version of Halloween) is live on the realms, and here's your guide to doing everything -- no trick. Patch 3.0.2 guide to exotic petsHunters get a slew of new companions -- find out which one's right for you. A brief introduction to glyphsEvery character gets a set of new upgrades to their spells, provided by inscribers. Here's how it all works. Patch 3.0.2 talent guidesYour talent points got refunded and you have no idea what to spec? Let our class columnists give you the lowdown on all the new talents. Apprentice Scribe: An Inscription FAQInks and parchments and what you can do with the game's new profession.
The best of WoW Insider: September 16-23, 2008
Yes, motorbikes have made it into Azeroth -- in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion, engineers will be able to make Harleys, and anyone who can get their hands on one will be able to drive it (though getting your hands on one might not be so easy). But that's not the only big news floating around sister site WoW Insider this week -- check the links below for news about Brewfest, Azeroth's favorite drinking (and ram riding) holiday. News Coren Direbrew now drops cross-faction Brewfest mounts, teleportation deviceBrewfest is underway in Azeroth, and Coren Direbrew is the Dwarf you want to insult for epics. Planning for the Brewmaster title in advanceHere's the low-down on what you need to do to get the achievement ready for the Brewfest holiday. Motorcycles finally implemented in the Wrath betaAzeroth, get ready for biker gangs -- the expansion's new BoE Engineering mount is roaring into town. WoW Insider Interview: Blizzard speaks about Authenticator securityBlizzard answers our questions about how the account Authenticator works. Paladin changes in beta build 8962What's up with plate-wearing healers in the latest Wrath beta build. Features Ask a Lore Nerd: Portals, Pandaren and Jaina ProudmooreOur resident lore obsessor talks about portals, Jaina Proudmoore and her rocky relationship with Arthas, and everyone's favorite Panda race. WoW, Casually: Get thee to BrewfestOur casual players' column takes a look at the latest holiday and all the drinking there is to do. Is "Leading the Cavalry" possible?There's a new mount achievement coming soon to the game, but is it even possible to get 75 mounts on one character? Ask a Beta Tester: Mounts, threatmeters and tabardsIf you've got a question about the Wrath of the Lich King beta, odds are that AABT has an answer. Guildwatch: It's not me, it must be youDrama, downed, and recruiting news from as many guilds as we could round up in our weekly guild column.
Talk Like a Pirate Day has arrived in Azeroth
Here in the US, it's not yet Talk Like a Pirate Day (that happens on September 19th every year), but over in Oceania, it's already been 9/19 for a few hours, and players have discovered some scurvy-ridden sea dogs in Booty Bay celebrating the event. Apparently, there are a bevy of pirates (what do you call a group of pirates exactly?) hanging out above the Inn there, and their leader is Captain Demeza, who will give you a 12-hour buff that makes you look like a pirate. We're also told that her commoner cronies are hanging around the capital cities, so talking to any pirate should give you the buff.Kisirani confirms that the holiday is new, and that while yes, it only lasts for one day (which means weekend warriors won't have a chance to see the proceedings), there are no lasting rewards to be found, just that 12-hour buff (which itself is just cosmetic anyway). So happy TLAP day, maties!**Yes, you landlubbers, I can do a better pirate than just "maties." But it's not September 19th here in the US yet. Stay tuned.
Where are you heading once Wrath hits?
In an earlier post I spent some time wondering if it might be a good idea to level a Shaman alongside the new fleet of Death Knights guaranteed to appear once Wrath hits. A lot of commenters were of the opinion (correct, I think) that the desire to avoid hugely crowded areas is probably better served by leveling an alt to 58-60 and sticking it in Outland. The alt can then await the surge of Death Knights who decide to continue leveling, and who should have some experience with its playstyle by then. While I'm still most likely to level my main to 80 once the expansion hits, having an alt in a less crowded area of the game is pretty appealing. For all I know, the Borean Tundra and Howling Fjord will be packed to the scuppers too. I play on a laptop with a wireless connection, so my gameplay tends to suffer badly when the area I'm in resembles Los Angeles during rush hour. Avoiding overcrowded areas is no small thing.My realm's considered medium population, but we've still got enough people that, if even 10% of the population typically online at server high time decides to roll a Death Knight once Wrath is released, Eastern Plaguelands is going to be in total gridlock for a while. The same thought occurred to a few friends, who wondered if they might be better off spending a week or two on low-level alts in an empty Azeroth while waiting for the furor to die down. With that said, that's not an ideal option if your guild wants to start raiding as early as possible, or if you just don't want to be left behind by guildies leveling to 80.I'm genuinely curious. Let's say you've bought the expansion, installed it, and you're at the character selection screen on your usual realm with the option to create a Death Knight, hit your main, or head to an alt. Given your own personal circumstances, which do you pick, and where are you going in those first few hours?%Poll-19367%
[UPDATED] Azerothian birthday cake
I think I've lost count of the ongoing tally between the Alliance and Horde cakes over here at WoW Insider, although I can say for certain that I've never actually eaten a WoW-themed cake (bummer!). Reader Steve tipped us in to a cake that doesn't side with either the Horde or Alliance, but features the two continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms (Northrend didn't make the cut, apparently).While a map and faux faded parchment colors probably don't help make a visually appetizing cake -- the lower right of the cake is actually the Naga depicted on the world maps, don't worry about the green -- this literally sweet gesture was made by WoW widow girlfriend Natalie for her man Sean's 21st birthday. Sean plays on the Bronze Dragonflight EU and held a party for his guildies in May Contain Funk where this edible Azeroth was unveiled. According to Steve, the cake was vanilla sponge with raspberry jam and was, "absolutely delicious". Since those guys didn't send us a slice, we'll just have to take his word for it![UPDATE: Reader Alex3 sent in a picture of his friend Woo's birthday cake made by Woo's awesome mom -- a Warlock icon cake that looks delightfully, infernally scrumptious! Man, I'm hungry now. Check out the gallery for all the awesome Warcraft-themed cakes we've seen over here at WoW Insider.] %Gallery-31459%
Nesingwary's extinction plan (hasn't worked)
Players have been doing the math on the notorious Hemet Nesingwary (murderer of animals everywhere), and on the forums, Stubblez has figured out that if you follow all of Nesingwary's beast-killing instructions to the letter, you're responsible for murdering 278 of Azeroth and Outland's fauna. Of course, most players kill even more than that (and there are other quests that ask you to kill even more animals), but even if you take those total numbers and multiply them by the 10 million players Blizzard claims, you get two billion, seven hundred and eighty million animals, all slaughtered in the name of Nesingwary. And that doesn't even count alts.Fortunately, as Neroblanc notes, all that killing hasn't actually thinned the Azerothian animal population at all -- if anything, the beasts in Stranglethorn Vale are herding thicker than they used to be. We'll have to nuke them from orbit just to get rid of all those Raptors down there.But that, of course, doesn't keep the hippie animal lovers from fighting back -- as you might know by now, in the expansion Nesingwary is going to face some opposition in the form of D.E.H.T.A., or Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals. We have a feeling that Hemet's impeccable taste in leather and animal-skin based wear, not to mention his classic novel, probably won't be too much protection against the do-gooders.
Mounts now welcome in Booty Bay
Tcher on WoW LJ comes through with an interesting change in the Wrath beta: mounts are now usable throughout Booty Bay. Personally, I've never had a problem navigating around there without a mount, but apparently it's a welcome change -- you'll be able to go all around one of the coolest cities in Azeroth without dismounting.Even more interesting than the change itself, though, is the thinking behind it -- apparently Blizzard is still tweaking where mounts can and can't go. And though it's a small complaint, this has always been an area that's been a little confusing -- why were mounts fine to use in Ironforge but not in Booty Bay? Why weren't ships ever considered "outdoors," but the crates on them are?At any rate, if Booty Bay stays changed through the updates on the live realms for 3.0, it'll be clear Blizzard is still tangling with their strange definition of "outdoors," and the rules on where mounts can and can't go, even in old Azeroth.
Fantasy Flight releases World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game
As WoW's main page notes, World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game has been released by Fantasy Flight games. They're also the makers of the Warcraft board game, but apparently they decided there was more of the experience to translate into boardgame form. This boardgame has you controlling just one character, not a full army, and navigating through the Eastern Continent, hacking and slashing (against both enemies and other players -- PvP was given a focus in this one) and leveling up all the way. There are currently four classes that come with the game: Warrior, Hunter, Mage and Warlock (no healers?), and we'd expect that more will be on the way in future expansions.Early reviews at BoardGameGeek (am I showing my nerdiness by saying that I frequent BoardGameGeek to read about some of my favorite boardgames?) have it at about 7/10, which isn't bad. But just like all of these licensed boardgames, just because you're a fan of WoW doesn't necessarily mean you'll be able to jump right in and have just as much fun with rolling dice and playing cards.The new game will set you back a retail price of $39.95 (cheaper if you hunt around), and is available now.
Azeroth comes through on the love hunt
This is one of the sillier articles that PC Gamer UK has probably ever written about massively multiplayer online games, but still, I enjoyed it. One of their writers went (only half seriously) looking for love in a few popular virtual worlds, and he found it, surprisingly enough, in Azeroth.Neither EvE Online or City of Heroes were very helpful in the love-finding department -- despite finding a fetching young lady superheroine in CoH, the writer was a little disappointed to find out she was a he behind the keyboard. But WoW, as usual, provides the best of MMO experiences -- the writer finds some cute love in the Night Elf starting area.Sure, it's silly (and probably not true -- just because someone says they're a Finnish college student means nothing at all online). But I found it strangely touching, the thought that a real human connection could be made in an online game. And isn't that why we play these in the first place?[via WorldofWar.net]
Ask a Lore Nerd: Now now, there's enough Light for everybody
Welcome to Ask a Lore Nerd, the column that answers your questions about the story and lore of the Warcraft universe. Click the Comments link below, ask your question, and blogger/columnist Alex Ziebart will answer you in a future installment!Aydinn of Cenarion Circle wrote in to ask...My question is (which may seem obvious to some), who is the goblin statue at Booty Bay? Why does he deserve a statue?Answer: Thanks for writing in! Good to hear from people from my home server. That statue on Janeiro Isle might be of Baron Revilgaz, the overseer and top dog of Booty Bay. He deserves a statue because... he wanted a statue, and he's freaking Baron Revilgaz. He runs the show. Really, though, it's kind of a generic Goblinoid figure so it could be nobody at all. At one time, it was a statue of a Human Priest. It's a nod to a really cool landmark here in the real world. It's based on Christ the Redeemer, a statue found in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. You may recognize it from an episode of Lupin III. Eh? No? ...oh. Oh well. It's a pretty awesome sight to see in real life regardless of whether you put faith in what it represents or not. The in-game model was likely changed from a Human to a Goblin to back away from the religious overtones while keeping the reference, and Goblins fit the area better anyway.
Dalaran's now a hole in the ground
Kaydeethree over at WoWWiki posted a picture of Dalaran's old spot in Azeroth. It's now a gigantic hole with purple residue all over. The city has moved to Northrend, where it will be a pinnacle of Wrath of the Lich King. Click on the image above for a high resolution version.This is really quite cool, and it's been one of the big mysteries of Wrath. It will be interesting to see what the NPCs have to say about its removal to Northrend. I'm sure we'll have that covered in the days ahead when we find out more.Many thanks to reader Adam (no relation) for alerting us to this. Stay tuned! Lots of great Wrath coverage all weekend.
Wrath of the Lich King maps
Wrath of the Lich King information is really flooding in. For the latest bit, let's take a look at some of the new maps in the game. These were obtained through a variety of sources and are 100% real, all right from the beta. Click through our gallery to see them all – including nice high res versions. You'll notice three maps missing - The Storm Peaks, Icecrown Glacier, and Dalaran. Those maps are not done yet. There are some composites that other sites have put together via the mini-map from the data files, but they're neither finished nor "normal" maps.I like the Stormwind Harbor one the best, if only because the Stormwind map hasn't changed in all these years and it's odd to suddenly see it different. The one I enjoy the least is the Borean Tundra, the color scheme doesn't sit well with me. It looks like...well...I'll let you all draw your own conclusions.Enjoy the maps! And stay tuned to WoW Insider all weekend, we've got some great content lined up for you. %Gallery-28087%
Breakfast Topic: Improving the noobgrind
As The Burning Crusade has progressed, there have been a lot of improvements made to the leveling process for lowbie alts. Revamping low level dungeons, reducing how much experience is needed to level up, nerfing the elites so most quests are able to be solo'd, and anything else I may have forgotten. Now in 2.4.3, as we've mentioned time and time again, you'll be able to get your first ground mount at level 30 instead of level 40.The community is really, really split on this. Some say Blizzard has gone too far, some say they haven't gone far enough. Personally, I'm in that second half... conditionally. You see, I have four level 70 characters, coming up on five. I like to have a variety of top level characters, just so I have some feel of how they play or I can help my friends out if they need it. I can supply a tank, a healer, DPS with CC, DPS without CC, et cetera. Leveling is by no means hard, I don't think I ever put active effort into any of them past my first. It's very easy.However, it is boring after the first time. Boring boring boring. While I adore the old world, it is very linear. There is a little overlap in zones, but the path you take is pretty much the same each time. This is mixed up a little in Outland as the zones overlap better once you're done with early Hellfire Peninsula and Zangarmarsh. You can branch out into the other zones if you'd like, and you're not punished with exceedingly long travel times anymore.I want to skip Azeroth. I love it, but I don't want to grind through it anymore. I don't think that the lowbie leveling process even contributes to learning your class. You don't really know what you're doing until you're closer to the level cap. I would really really like it if you could just start at Outland and work from there.That may be a little extreme, but hey, I'd love it. How about you guys? Do you hate how quick leveling has become? Love it? Should it be faster still? Do you have any better ideas as to how to make leveling alts more fun?
The Digital Continuum: Player abuse, redemption and revolution
Lets go back about ten years or so to the original EverQuest. Now it isn't my intention to pick on any one game, I just happen to be more familiar with it than Ultima Online or Meridian 59. For the sake of immersion let me assume the role of a 1999 copy of EverQuest that you happen to be playing on your gaming machine back in the last year of the last century.You just died in EverQuest. How dare you die! Since you had the nerve to be defeated in combat, you'll now be required to run from your binding point -- which could potentially be very far away -- to your dead body, which contains all of your equipment and bags that just happen to hold all of your inventory. If you fail to do this, then you lose all of these items. Oh but you've already lost some experience and possibly de-leveled if you happened to have recently leveled up.Hey! Why are you logging out? So what if you think you'd rather play Half-Life right now, this is the game you're paying for monthly. Don't you think you'd better get the most out of it? Hah! See? I knew you were only bluffing. All right, now get to running, noob.
Ask WoW Insider: Ding before Outland?
Welcome to today's edition of Ask WoW Insider, in which we publish your questions for dissection by the peanut gallery -- now with extra snark and commentary by one of our writers. This week Houldlum writes in:I'm wondering if it's possible to hit level 70 before ever heading out to Outland. I've been working through every zone trying to hit every quest, even if it's grey (they do give a bit of XP). So far I've only skipped the dungeon quests and any group quest I can't solo. My goal is to hit 70 before Outland so I can maximize the gold return from those quests... and to see if I can do it. I have managed to get to 63 on my Alliance Rogue before I hit Outland, but I skipped several Zones. What are your thoughts? Thanks, Houldlum (Falsehould, Fatherhould)It was a light week on questions, so I'm going to dig down and use this one. Short answer: I'm pretty sure you can't. Long answser: Why the heck would you want to? Even if you got xp from anything in the Azeroth, even Cartman would think that grind was nuts.So, anything out there -- at all -- that will give him or her xp until 70. Got questions? Don't wait! Send them to us at ask AT wowinsider DOT com and your query could be up in lights here next week.
One Shots: A beautiful snowy night
With all the exciting news coming out of Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational this year, many people are turning their eyes back to World of Warcraft to see what changes are coming. Today we have a lovely One Shot from Brumbleby the Dwarven Warrior, who decided to send this snowy shot along, evoking the icy feel of so many of the Wrath of the Lich King promotional materials we've seen to date. He sets up the scene for us: "After examining his prey to see if it had anything of use on its person, Brumbleby looked around and noticed that, amidst all of the carnage, bloodshed and loss, the world of Azeroth still was beautiful."Are you once again (or perhaps for the first time) turning your eyes to the Azerothian skies? If you've snapped a lovely screenshot from your favorite game (no matter the MMO) we'd love to see it! Send it in to us here at oneshots AT massively DOT com along with your quick description of what we're seeing in the screenshot. Yours could be next!%Gallery-9798%
A look at the geography of WoW from Interesting '08
This is just beautiful, from the title ("Brave Noob World") to the idea -- a geographical survey of Azeroth. James Wallis, the director of Hogshead Publishing, gave this presentation at an "unconference" called Interesting '08, in which he tried to do a survey of Azeroth, in the same way that Tobold did -- by walking from one end to the other. And he discovers that Azeroth is pretty small and pretty dense -- it's about 12km across, according to him (I really like his comparison image of the Death Star), and using a Female Tauren, he even comes up with the force of gravity, which is about equal to Earth -- about 1g. Which makes sense; Blizzard would want the virtual world to feel the same as our world, no matter how big it is.There's a problem with that, though -- if you have a small planet with the same gravity as a much larger planet, the only answer is that the mass of the planet is much more dense. And when you get a really small, densely packed mass, you start to mess around with the flow of time. So Wallis actually ends up explaining one of the more annoying features of Azeroth with actual science. Very nice.It's definitely a fun example of looking for more in this MMO than Blizzard probably put there, but Wallis covers it with enough zest and logic that it works, strangely. Now if he could only explain the weather...[via Massively]Update: Looks like the video got pulled. It's been stowed after the break, just in case it comes back.
How to hold a scientific conference in Azeroth
John Bohannon has been writing for Science magazine as "The Gonzo Scientist," and his most recent writeup, on a real scientific conference held in the World of Warcraft, is a great read. We reported that the event was happening back in May, and now Bohannon's put together a really honest report (from how the conference was funded to the reasons why it was chosen to be Horde-only) on what its like for these scientists researching virtual worlds to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak, and actually hold a conference ingame.They had to deal with everything from conversation direction (they appointed one person to get whispers on any questions for speakers, though, as anyone who's ever been to a mass ingame event will tell you, you can't really keep people from yelling and screaming) to mobs in the Barrens. And it sounds like they did get something done -- besides the panels, which were only slightly frustrated by griefers, they took expeditions throughout the world, and did do a little thinking about how different meeting in RL and meeting in a virtual existence is.Very good read. The end of the article has a link to a PDF book about the conference, but it's hidden behind Science's membership wall. Still, Bohannon writes clearly and fairly about the game, and it's fun to think of a bunch of scientists actually trying to navigate a virtual world while doing their own research.
The best of WoW Insider: June 10-17, 2008
You can almost hear David Bowie singing around the realm of Azeroth lately: ch-ch-ch-ch-changes are in the air. Blizzard decided to do PvE to PvP transfers for the first time this week, Season 4 is coming soon in the Arenas, and lots of changes are coming to old Azeroth (including the Dalabubble, above). But don't let change worry you -- Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider has you covered, through all the changes coming in Wrath of the Lich King. You can turn and face the strain -- we got your back. News WoW player more ashamed than porn addictAddiction is out there, and people suffering from it need to get help. Combat stats and spellpower consolidated on AlphaA huge change to the way talents and gear will work hits the expansion's Alpha servers. Seven graphical WoW generators, and one for your carSeven different ways to put your World of Warcraft character into graphical form. Starting from scratch with two weeks to Season 4The new arena season was announced this week, and even if you weren't prepared, we've got you covered. Reading between the lines: are more PvE to PvP transfers possible?Blizzard broke their precedent for the first time this week to save a dying server -- will they do it again? Features Ask WoW Insider: /roll abuse?The number one way to cause drama in the game? Be unfair with loot. Tank Talk: The better (and lesser) angels of our natureOur raid Tanking column talks about that little DPS devil on your tanking shoulder. Ask a Lore Nerd: The evil-o-meterLots of players know some things about lore, but the Lore Nerd knows all. Changes to old Azeroth coming in the next expansionWhat's changing in the old world when Wrath of the Lich King releases? A lot. 'Tis the Season 4 making moneyZach Yonzon tells you exactly how to cash in on the news that Season 4 is coming soon.
