Reader comments – ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Welcome home to WoW.com. Moving into a new place can be hectic, but we think our new digs at WoW.com are pretty darn comfy. In addition to a fresh face and identity for WoW Insider, we've introduced the beta launch of WoW.com Profiles. Show off your characters with a profile on WoW.com. By downloading the WoW.com addon, you can also keep all of your friends up to date on what you're doing in game, and make blog posts and upload screenshots directly from your game client.

Not a big fan of the social media scene? You don't have to change a thing – WoW.com offers all the old content you know (and hopefully love) so well. "If I'm being honest, when I first saw that the site had changed, I didn't really 'feel it,'" commented reader Retropally. "After days of it sinking in, I'm loving it. The new theme is awesome -- and really, nothing has changed in the way of the posts that are written ..."

Join the [1.Local] gang and add your thoughts about our new look and social features -- and hop on across the fold to see what else readers were chatting about during the past week.

	Is my Ulduar-clearing guild holding me back? Is it a sweet deal to join an uber guild that's plowing through content you'd previously only dreamed of – or is it a disservice to yourself that relegates you to tag-along status? The [1.Local] gang had plenty of advice for reader Wil, who wrote in for advice. "I do know what you mean by being labeled as a 'friends and family' or 'social' guild member," he wrote. "That was really one of my concerns when I first joined. I really wanted to pull my weight, be class-competent and make a real contribution to the guild. Hopefully, in the right environment, I'll be able to do that." By the end of the comments, Wil had found the decision he was comfortable with: "Hey Guys: It's the OP here. First off, thank you to Amanda for taking the time to write a reply to my original e-mail. I really didn't expect it to turn into a 'Dear Abby' thing, but I sure do appreciate the advice and comments that you all have left. I'm sure that there are other people out there in similar situations that will find this information very useful. "After some deliberation, I spoke to my brother and told him that I would like to find another guild, perhaps one that would be, like one of the readers put it, 'a better fit' for me. He told me he understood, and after a brief note of thanks to everyone in /g, I left. "I'm sure it's best in the long run, and taking all the advice you've all left for me, I'm sure I'll be able to find a new home soon enough. Perhaps, I can keep y'all posted. Thanks again, everyone! Cheers, Wil" Sounds like all's well that ends Wil.
	Is Wintergrasp too successful for its own good? What should Blizzard be doing to keep too many players from piling into Wintergrasp at one time? "Here's a novel idea," offered ReagenSmash, with more than a tinge of sarcasm. "Stop the crier or whatever his name is from letting people know that WG is going on. I can't remember the times that I wasn't thinking about and joined because I heard that message. "Quite honestly, I have no sympathy for Blizz if they're worried about lag 'cause of too many people. Then don't have an NPC yelling to everyone in distance of the surely #1 spot for someone's hearthstone location that the battle is occurring." NPC shouting about joining the battle ... Players actually joining the battle ... You do the math.
	Ensidia gets 10-man Algalon world first In today's World of Warcraft, it's not only who gets there first – like the Academy Awards, it's what they're wearing when they do it. Take Ensidia's world-first 10-man Algalon. "This brings up an interesting point in the debate about loot differences between 25-man and 10-man raids," noted Brian. "Doing 10-man progression content in mostly 25-man gear from the previous raid level (as Ensidia was almost certainly doing) makes the content far easier than it would be for people doing just 10-man progression. Despite the fact that 10-man Ulduar is MUCH harder than 25-man Naxx, the gear is very close. This allows a strange 'progression' path where you basically overgear the instance from the beginning. "That said, I think Ensidia's accomplishment is huge. I have no doubt that even with full BiS gear from 25-man pre-Ulduar runs, my 10-man group wouldn't get Algalon down for quite some time. But Blizzard really dropped the ball, I think, with gear level and progression between Naxx and Ulduar. By far the best way to gear up for progression through 10-man Ulduar is by farming 25-man Naxx ... That doesn't seem quite right to me." Do the clothes make the man?
	Breanni of WarcraftPets closes store, apologizes to Blizzard Just how big is Blizzard's stick when it comes to shutting down the sale of game-related products? "Seriously people -- I love WarCraft Pets, but come on," begged Warlock. "This is not a case of 'OMG BLIZZARD IS TEH DEVIL!!!!1111111.' This is a case of 'OMG, Blizzard is a company with valuable licenses it needs to protect.' Others have already covered it, so I won't except to reiterate that it doesn't matter if the store 'wasn't hurting anything' - it was selling items with the WarCraft name and thus a violation of their license. No one is 'the bad guy' here; this is simple business. People are blowing it out of proportion, as usual. "I can tell you exactly what happened: Someone at Blizzard called Breanni up, very politely asked him to take the store down, and he complied. Believe me, I've gone through this before with my old website and some screenshots that we were sent (which were apparently supposed to be magazine exclusive). It's no big deal. There are no scary lawyers lurking in the shadows ready to sue everyone (unless perhaps they don't comply). Blizzard is not out to 'get' people. It's just business." A case of too big a stick for such a little schtik?
	The disappearance (maybe) of faction pride Reader ashinigami minced no words on the current state of "faction pride" in today's WoW. "Faction pride became meaningless after Blizzard conveniently began to merge quest hubs, from the AQ areas in Silithus to the biggest kick in the b**lls with Shattrath," he fumed. "Yes, so I'm Horde and I choose to pledge to the Scryers cos' NEVER will I want to be a part of the Aldor, no matter what class am I -- but HEY, look at all the sh***y Alliance making friends with Blood Elves! WTF, seriously. "Dalaran is another big joke -- lamest excuse for the Horde to be chucked aside in a corner of the city so that Blizzard won't have to design a proper citadel/capital for them in Northrend. The design for the Alliance grounds in Dalaran far outstrips the puny cubby hole Horde gets in Sunreavers." Has faction identity jumped the shark?
	Choose your adventure: the birth of Turpen, Gnome Warlock Feeling ready for some vicarious WoW pleasure? Watch for regular polls and posts as readers guide the leveling of Turpen the Gnome Warlock, driven by none other than WoW.com's Alex Ziebart. "On a personal note ... I am intrigued," wrote Kole. "In a sad way, this game has kind of become boring to me (yeah, yah, let the flaming begin). But I don't enjoy PVP, my main (a lvl 80 Ret Pally – shuttup, I went with Pally cause it is what I played in MajorMud on a BBS a million years ago) is boring ... Just sitting in Dal/SW LFW [Enchanting], and I have 24 alts, all various levels/classes ... just time filler, really. "I think if I had a reason (like blogging about where my 'toon is, what I've accomplished, etc.) to start yet another 'toon, I would enjoy the process. Unfortunately, I am not associated with WI or Massively or even the guy who is multi-boxing for 62*80, so I doubt if I tried to do this anyone would follow/make suggestions. "So I will live vicariously through you and your experiment. ... Overall, good luck and I look forward to the updates on Turpen." Keep an eye on Choose My Adventure for updates and opportunities to guide the fate of wee Turpen.

Until next week!

Tags: Algalon, Breanni, Choose-My-Adventure, Ensidia, faction-pride, featured, joystiqfeatures, Warcraft-Pets, Wintergrasp, world-first

Filed under: Gnomes, Analysis / Opinion, WoW Insider Business, Guilds, Features, Raiding, Factions, [1.Local]