Tuesday Morning Post: Anticipation edition
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jan 12th 2010 at 7:30AM
In more immediate news, the Plaguewerks have opened up, and people have had a chance to face the new bosses. If you haven't delved in yet, or even if you have, you may find some helpful hints for taking them down right here. Regardless, you have around 6 hours to browse WoW news while you wait for the servers to come back up, so I have the usual list of good stuff to read after the break.
Hot News and Features
- Here's an interesting slice of news: Blizzard may be making Authenticators mandatory.
- Blizzard recently (and blessedly) changed some somewhat weak account security and reimbursement policies after our articles on hacked character restoration and using the billing department to scam free gold went up.
- The tweaks and hot fixes continue. Check out some of the latest as of January 5th.
- Arena season 7's end date has been announced. Are you prepared?
- Crimson Hall, the next wing of Icecrown Citadel, may be opening sooner than you think.
- Know Your Lore takes a look at the Old Horde.
- Know your way around a Riptide and a Windfury alike? We may be able to use you.
- The WoW magazine is now shipping.
- A lot of classes and items are getting some balance changes. We have specific information on the Prot PvP nerfs,
- Could shamans be sharing Bloodlust and Heroism with... drums?
- Scattered Shots takes a look at ICC hunter loot.
- Lichborne takes a look at Emblem of Frost gear for death knights.
- Encrypted Text helps you puzzle out rogue stats.
- Shifting Perspectives takes a look back at 2009 for the druid.
- Arcane Brilliance asks the important question: Enchantment?
- Spiritual Guidance helps priests choose the right metagem.
- As we implied above, Rossi is stepping back from Totem Talk. This week, he looked back at his tenure as the shaman columnist.
- Rossi continues to lament the Prot PvP nerfs and discuss ICC warrior tanking.
- Wait! Don't drop out of that Oculus group. Check our Oculus guide first.
- New to 80? WoW Rookie wants to help you get started on 5-manning.
- The Overachiever looks at 5 lore-related achievements.
- Is Professor Putricide bad news for your raid? We may be able to help.
- Raid Rx has some advice for healing the new ICC abominations, Festergut and Rotface.
- Ready Check has a look at the Gunship battle.
- Insider Trade continues looking at crafted items from the Ashen Verdict.
- Blood Sport takes a look at the hype and truth behind Prot warrior PvP.
- Here's a soul searing delimma most of us hope we never have to face: Your life-sized Orc replica or your spouse?
- NetEase will face the wrath of the Chinese government over WoW this month.
- 15 Minutes of Fame looks back on our interviews from 2009.
- In the real world, a teenager ran away to meet their "WoW Soulmate."
- Check out the latest installment of Byron the Tauren Rogue.
Filed under: Realm Status, News items
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Knob Jan 12th 2010 7:41AM
Here's hoping that even though the NDA will be in place, a site like wotlkwiki will come up for Cataclysm as well. The NDA didn't stop wotlkwiki from putting out interesting info about the Wrath alpha, so here's hoping the trend continues.
Dubb Jan 12th 2010 4:21PM
I for one won't be risking my buddy's job. I'm sure Boub over at MMO Champ will have it torn it apart within the first 15 minutes it out.
Juanin Jan 12th 2010 8:24AM
Dataminers are nervous by now...
cycloneduke Jan 12th 2010 10:28AM
Isn't 5-11 typical maintenence?
origano1 Jan 12th 2010 9:37AM
Why does wow.com keep lying? The whole Cataclysm Alpha thingy was a huge prank set in motion by third party. The staff ate it all up and also referred to their "sources" to make it look like legit. Now, for some odd reason they aren't even trying to back down. Instead they keep telling the readers that it's going to happen thus cheating everybody who visits on this site. If the staff there is so corrupt it's just fine that one of you left after the Cataclysm Incident.
Shame on you!
And no guys, the alpha isn't going to happen yet. Sorry folks!
Tomatketchup Jan 12th 2010 10:03AM
Source or it didn't happen.
origano1 Jan 12th 2010 10:14AM
http://www.facepunch.com/showpost.php?p=19536466&postcount=707
Here is one of two guys who created the image admitting to faking it.
I also screencapped it in case he edits his post.
http://filesmelt.com/dl/asghsaga.png
...and a source you shall get..
IvanP91 Jan 12th 2010 11:41AM
so u believe a bunch of bullshit posted on a forums by some random guys claiming to fake crap? Nice.
"Oh no, it too real!!! We must call it a fake!!!!"
"But if we just plain call fake, people will hate us"
"Ur right, we gotta provide some fake proof of it being fake"
"Perfect! Then when we call fake, we will have the said proof and wont look like losers"
"Its still real though, but I wont say it because Im a troll"
"Oh great I just had a conversation with a troll, is that even possible? O.o "
Ben Jan 12th 2010 10:12AM
The Warcraft twitter account posted this earlier:
"#WoW Some players rank high, some players rank low. The arena season’s soon over - how did it go? http://bit.ly/7ZwlzO"
It links to an EU site, so I'm not sure, but it may be they ended the season a week early?
Lissanna Jan 12th 2010 11:41AM
"soon over, "
That post has the word "soon", which means: "sometime between now & the end of time".
Ben Jan 12th 2010 11:52AM
that's true, weird that they would do it this week and not next tho.
Fennec Jan 12th 2010 10:42AM
This Cata Alpha is sooo bull. WHY would they ever launch their Alpha on a server restart day. Last beta they would always push off new builds untill the day after even if it meant horrible bugs. They are not going to bring up new server while they are restarting and hotfixing their live ones.
anonymouse Jan 12th 2010 11:13AM
Even if they were rolling on the F&F Alpha, why would they be taking down the main servers to deploy it? Wouldn't they just deploy it on a independent server like they do the PTR?
anonymouse Jan 12th 2010 11:14AM
"Even if they were rolling out**"
Guyledouche Jan 12th 2010 11:38AM
Anyone who was in either of BC or LK alphas, knows they don't do maintenance for those servers on Tuesdays. It was always Thursday or Friday. There is no alpha going. You will certainly know about it when it does start. There are always multiple people who break NDA and confirm with screenshots.
Xtofer Jan 12th 2010 11:42AM
@origano1
Your source doesn't prove that the alpha isn't starting today; rather, it's just proving that the picture was a fake -- which, I think, most of us already know. Where's the proof that the alpha isn't starting?
Not that I believe it necessarily is starting. Just wondering if you're going to back that claim up.
Nerevar Jan 12th 2010 11:50AM
The honest to god truth of the matter is:
I was in an IRC channel with the dude that posted this pic and twitter, at the time he did it. He wanted to troll WoW.com - he got what he wanted.
However, even he doesn't know one way or another if alpha will start this week - though he tends to lean towards it not starting for another week or two. We all expect it by end of January - so hey, it could be today. It could be 2 weeks from now.
I am interested in how WoW.com is going to recover from this though, if their 'sources' aren't correct. MMO-Champion and WoWHead admins both state that they have heard nothing of the alpha starting this week. If they're wrong, and WoW.com is right, it's going to be a huge boost to their credibility. Otherwise, it's going to really destroy what little reputation and respect they have with the WoW community.
Best of luck, WoW.com!
Slyght Jan 12th 2010 12:35PM
Agreed. The fake leak leveraged off the fact that we're at a point in WotLK's cycle that Cataclysm alpha rumors would start to be believed. WotLK's alpha started roughly a month after 2.4 went live, which is right about the same time we're at now with 3.3. It's possible the alpha could be starting this week, but I'm not counting on it, given that not only aren't other sites corroborating, they're refuting WoW.com's claims.
Ultimately, the alpha starting doesn't really do much for us until somebody leaks info from it, which took over a month to do for WotLK's. At best all we'd get today is an unofficial confirmation from websites that people are getting alpha invites.
Eddie Jan 12th 2010 2:51PM
Wow talk about ruthless. What little respect the wow community huh. Glad your a represative for us all. Good thing wow.com has always said they are not a news site. I like reading stuff like that. Everything doesnt have to be so serious... WHY SO SERIOUS???
Anywho, I hope those two above me dont read the site anymore, so tired of whinny babies crying every time wow.com doesnt get everything right. Darn you wow.com for posting opinions and such.
Arbitor Jan 12th 2010 11:55AM
I wouldn't expect to see many data leaks for the F&F alpha this time around.
Remember this time its on disc?
So no peeking in this time around.
Also, can you imagine how hard it would be to leak info without getting caught?
Blizzard will be keeping an incredibly close eye on who's doing what with the discs, and nothing will be email-able to websites or downloadable to a memory stick without a "warden-esque" program knowing about it, which I have no doubt will be on the computers of those in the alpha.
I am almost certain we wont see any screenshots from the alpha.
All I can see happening is maybe an anonymous tipster breaking the NDA right towards the end of the alpha.