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BlizzCon 2011: Day two round-up
BlizzCon 2011 rolled into it second day with players excited about Friday's revelations and eager to get in front of the panel microphones to complain about their classes. You know, in these troubled economic times, if you want to be a jerk to the developers, it really makes more fiscal sense just to use the forums where you can do it for free. Fortunately for the rest of us, that wasn't all that was going on. Liveblogs If you aren't at BlizzCon and don't have the livestream, fear not: We've got you covered. The Classes, Items, and Professions Q&A, Open Q&A, and Lore Q&A panels were all faithfully liveblogged for you. Brace yourself for the aforementioned angry players in the former two. News tidbits from the panels There were a surprising of changes either announced, confirmed, or clarified during the Saturday panels. To answer the question that we've gotten more than any other, yes -- Blizzard is working on new character models for the older races! Enchanters will go back to creating wands (don't forget, wands can be primary weapons for casters in Mists of Pandaria). For all those of you who loved Scholomance and the Scarlet Monastery during classic, heroic versions of these dungeons are also being designed for the next expansion. We got a peek at the art going into Pandaren and their starting zone, and a preview of the Pandaria dungeons. In more immediate news, the guild transfer and guild name-changing services should go live in about two weeks, and Blizzard plans to publish both a graphic novel and a four-part novella concerning the Pandaren. People, interviews, and events G4 got some professional studio pictures of some of BlizzCon's most famous cosplayers, and we have a gallery of Friday night's costume contest. Episode 216 of the WoW Insider Show was recorded from the convention and features 7 staffers discussing the Friday announcements. Lisa interviewed a couple honeymooning at BlizzCon, and Gray made the rounds on the floor show with a camera. New to BlizzCon? Sue, the convention center's nurse, has some good advice for you. Commentary In which Rossi turns out to have been slightly psychic, Blizzard weighed in on the Guardian Cub controversy, and readers shared their thoughts on the Friday announcements. %Gallery-137311% %Gallery-137313% 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!
BlizzCon 2011: Day one round-up
BlizzCon 2011 has begun! And it turns out that that trademark Blizzard registered back in August really was a sign of things to come. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you're just joining our BlizzCon coverage, or you may have missed something, you'll find a round-up of our articles and galleries below. The WoW Insider/Wowhead reader meetup The now-famous annual party, co-hosted with Wowhead, Members of ZAM Network, TankSpot and WoW Interface, smashed previous attendance records (and, we're told, the Annabella Hotel's liquor supply). We were a little the worse for wear the day after, but not so much so that we couldn't bring you a gallery of the night's debauchery. Liveblogs If you aren't at BlizzCon and don't have the livestream, fear not: We've got you covered. The Opening Ceremonies, the Mists of Pandaria Preview panel, the Class Talent System panel, and the Dungeons and Raids panel are here in all their liveblogged glory. World of Warcraft: Those Crazy Bastards Did It Technically the next expansion's name is World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, featuring -- what else? -- a new race, the Pandaren, and a new class, the monk. So who gets Pandaren, Alliance or Horde? Turns out it'll be both. Not only do we have the first trailer for you, but we also got an early peek at their racials, and Joe Perez played through the Pandaren starting area for a bit. By the way, it turns out the Pandaren started with a picture that Samwise Didier drew for his daughter. What to expect in the next expansion Quite a lot, as it turns out. Of interest to all players will be the WoW annual pass (giving a free digital copy of Diablo 3 and a new mount, Tyrael's Charger), an overhaul of the talent system (with pictures of all the new talents for each class), new PvE scenarios, an adios to melee weapons for hunters and the ranged slot for everyone else, dungeon and raid changes, and -- let's not forget -- WoW's version of Pokemon. On which I believe our commenters Cyanea and Arcanum have had the final and best words on. Fun, games, and random news We've already got one slot knocked off our BlizzCon bingo cards. Check out the last batch of readers' predictions in the few hours before the convention started here. We got some great shots of the cosplayers running around the convention. In a pleasant surprise for everyone, Murkablo (the special pet awarded to BlizzCon attendees and purchasers of the livestream) is available early. And don't forget Blizzard's auction of server blades to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. %Gallery-137291% %Gallery-137254% 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!
BlizzCon 2010: Day 2 round-up
Day 2 at BlizzCon 2010 saw the two most traditionally popular panels (the class Q&A and the general Q&A) go live, but there was plenty at the convention to keep you busy even if you were among the two or three people there not interested in developer panels. Liveblogs We liveblogged the World of Warcraft class Q&A and the World of Warcraft open Q&A panels and transcribed two previously unannounced DirecTV interviews with Greg Street (Ghostcrawler) and Tom Chilton. If you're looking for player complaints, developer snark or news on future game changes, you'll find 'em here. People, interviews and events Matticus caught up with Andy Salisbury for a preview the WoW magazine's third issue, and Anne Stickney interviewed both Richard Knaak and Christie Golden. Robin Torres put together a gallery of the items Blizzard auctioned off to benefit Child's Play, one of them a painting of characters in the upcoming DC Horde comic series. We also took lots of pictures of this year's art gallery. On a non-Blizzard note, someone took a nasty spill during Friday's dance contest. Friday recaps Lisa Poisso observed some happy realm meetups, we recapped an impressive costume contest, and Matticus wrote about the live raid and Paragon's ill-fated defense of Orgrimmar. Future content The Emerald Dream (or should we say Emerald Nightmare?) was confirmed as a future addition during the general Q&A. We don't know if it's going to be an expansion, a patch, a raid or something else, but developers promise that seeing it "is a matter of when, not if." New worgen cinematic The cinematic panel was a lovely peek at how the Blizzard team created the recently released Cataclysm cinematic, but it was also notable for the debut of long-missing cutscene that will power the Gilnean leveling experience forward. Revenge of the login dragon Angry about being voted out in favor of players' favorite candidate for warchief, Abesik Kampfire, the "login dragon" makes an ear-shattering return for the Cataclysm login screen. Closing ceremonies The Warcraft III and StarCraft II tournament winners were crowned (the WoW tournament was still in progress), and Paul Sams, Blizzard's chief operating officer, even started to talk a little about the company's new MMO ... or so we thought. %Gallery-105863% %Gallery-105843% %Gallery-105842% %Gallery-105858% BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider!
Tuesday Morning Post: Patch day 3.0.2 edition
Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. Unfortunately, I have a couple pieces of bad news to start off with: First, BlizzCon's over. Secondly, We have a 12 hour downtime this morning, from 2 AM PDT to 2 PM PDT. But there's good news too: We're getting Patch 3.0.2 today, and we'll have a few BlizzCon wrapups and tons of 3.0.2 guides coming out for you throughout the next few days, so be sure to keep watching the site. In the meantime, you might also want to check out what we've already posted: Getting started in Patch 3.0.2: Want to start downloading 3.0.2 addons now? Check our handy list! Now that the PTR's closed, you might want to free up some hard drive space and delete those files. Need a Patch Mirror? We have links to those too. Blizzard's offering some extra help for this patch too. Be sure to check Skill Mastery for quick and dirty guides on some of the new spells that will be showing up on your trainers and in your spellbooks as early as tomorrow. New this week are entries such as Bloodsurge. Looking to get the Hallow's End Title? Let our guide help you plan your attack. Remember: Mounts and Vanity Pets will be getting their own new interface. Keep your eye on the 3.0.2 Echoes of Doom permapage for links to the latest articles on the patch, Including class information roundups.
