It's been a couple weeks since Cataclysm was announced at BlizzCon. We've had plenty of time to ruminate and discuss, to fantasize and theorize. WoW's third expansion is ripe with promise and expansion, both for the Old World of the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor but also in terms of lore. We've got new races to look forward to, new zones and, most importantly, the obliteration ofwhat we know as Azeroth. Indeed this expansion heralds a brave new world with new dangers and a new foe, in the form of the former Dragon Aspect, Deathwing.

We've broken apart the trailer into individual scenes, and we'll going to take a look at the most important moments -- from the opening where we're fighting in Northrend to the big reveal of Deathwing at the end. We are also going to ask those all important questions like "Who exactly is narrating the trailer" and "Why are we still fighting Arthas, where's our end-of-expansion break?". Don't forget, if you need to refresh your memory or relive the experience, you can also check out the trailer for yourself.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgen to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.

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Filed under: Blizzard, Expansions, Lore, Bosses, BlizzCon, Cataclysm, Worgen, Goblin

With news of all these pets leaking out onto the interweb and the patch 3.2.2 PTR build being updated, I figured it was high time to nip to Booty Bay to visit Landro Longshot. He's usually a great source for finding out what we can expect in the Trading Card Game. Sure enough, he was updated with info on Scourgewar, which will be released on November 21st. Landro tells me that there's some great loot coming, in the form of mini mounts (the Little White Stallion and the Little Ivory Raptor), the Tuskarr Kite and the ever so adorable Spectral Tiger Cub.

We're not quite sure how the mini mounts are going to work or whether they will be faction-orientated. But it's the Little White Stallion is likely to raise a smile for all of Ghostcrawler's fans. Yes, we (and by that we mean the people who get the loot cards) will finally getting that long-promised pony! The mounts are likely to cost a couple of hundred gold each and they're not yet purchasable on the PTR. The normal codes (1111, 2222 and 3333) aren't active yet but as soon as they are, we'll be sure to bring you pictures.

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2n - 1 go left, 2n go right. I don't see enough DoTs! More DoTs now!

Are you ready for the return of Onyxia? With the Brood Mother being revitalized as a 10 and 25 person raid, you'll need to be sure you know everything that's coming at you. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2.2 will make sure your set for the next patch!

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Filed under: Patches, Blizzard, News items, Humor, Mounts, WoW TCG

Filed under: Fan stuff, News items, Humor

It's nearly the middle of the week once more as well as the start of September. Can anyone else smell autumn yet? The days are getting cooler (thank you!) and the nights, darker. It will be the Harvest Festival in a couple of weeks with free food outside Ironforge and Ogrimmar and there are only so many days till Hallow's End and Christmas/Winter's Veil (sorry, I couldn't resist). However the onset of autumn, as well as being my favourite time of year, also means more time to play WoW. Just not on Wednesdays.

This week Blizzard will be taking all European realms offline from 1:00am until 11:00am (CEST). However a selection of realms will be down for longer "to address instance capacity." These realms will be offline from 1:00am to 3:00pm on Wednesday and 3:00am to 7:00am (CEST) on Thursday:

Agamaggan, Aggramar, Al'Akir, Arathor, Argent Dawn, Aszune, Azjol-Nerub, Bladefist, Bloodhoof, Bloodscalp, Burning Blade, Burning Legion, Crushridge, Daggerspine (oh boo, that's me), Deathwing, Doomhammer, Draenor, Dragonblight, Dragonmaw, Dunemaul, Emerald Dream, Sunstrider, Twilight's Hammer and Zenedar.

Filed under: Realm News, Realm Status, Blizzard, News items, Europe

Everyone loves Mini Tyrael, the angelic little pet given away to attendees of last year's Worldwide Invitational in Paris. While the little guy looks awesome (indeed he's my favorite pet), he's always let folks down by doing, well, very little. He didn't make a noise when you clicked on him but he would /dance with you. Well, Blizzard has finally bothered to address the situation and make Tyrael into the pet he should be. After all, he is an angel, they're supposed to be cool.

I was in Stormwind the other day meeting a friend for an impromptu party to celebrate the fact he had just gotten El Pollo Grande. So while we compared chickens and abused the /chicken command, I got out the Foam Sword Rack and my Ogre Pinata and then summoned the little guy. Even now it amazes me how many people come up to me and whisper to inquire how I got/crafted him and could they get/buy one.

As we were dancing, I noticed big green zzzz's coming from my beloved pet. At first I thought someone had cast a spell on him as he'd never done this before but it turns out he was just bored. Yes, Blizzard may not have added any sound effects but Tyrael now passes out when he gets bored (perhaps he's waiting for the release of Diablo III?). He will toss and turn for a bit, as if having a nightmare about Sanctuary and Diablo, and will wake up after ten seconds or so with a cool ripple effect to remind us just how divine he is. I've yet to find someone with the Mini Diablo pet and see if they will fight it out, a la Grunty and the Zergling though.

Hit the jump to see a video of Tyrael's emoting awesomeness,

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Filed under: Patches, Blizzard, News items, Worldwide Invitational

The mythical Apple Tablet is one of those lovely shiny objects that we'd all love to have but has yet to officially be announced by Apple. Still, that doesn't stop folk dreaming now does it? Well Cult of Mac recently posted an article on on how the Tablet will change gaming. The essential gist of the piece is that the Tablet will be a larger version of the iPhone but -- and here's where it gets interesting -- it also features a demo video showing how WoW might work if you decided to play it on the Tablet.

The demo was created by an anonymous graduate student called, unsurprisingly, Jon Doe. Doe has used actual game footage from Darnassus to figure out how you could use your fingers to play the game, rather than the more traditional mouse and keyboard. He only really goes into moving around and how the movement of your wrist affects the character but it's an intriguing start. Multitouch is becoming a way of life, so how would it work if you controlled your toon with one hand and used the action bar with your right?

Check out the video above.

Filed under: Fan stuff, Odds and ends, News items

The great thing about playable demos are the tidbits of info and sneaky souls with cameras snapping things they shouldn't be snapping. Such was the case in the press room at BlizzCon this year, where cameras were prohibited from pointing their lenses towards computer screnes. However, it appears that Spanish fansite WoW Todo got around the floating press room attendants somehow, and posted maps of the new starting zones for Goblins and Worgens.

Both of the maps have a couple of unique touches. For example, both have images of their inhabitants on it. The Lost Isles map has a particularly ugly female Goblin in a bikini while Gilneas features a human in Victorian garb. The latter also has a couple of shredded bits as if a Worgen adventurer had used his or her claws when trying to read the map. The Goblin map features a scattering of indented gold coins at the corners, as if to hold it open. Both are awesome little touches that add that special bit of pizazz to the new zones.

But the maps do give us a proper glance at what we can expect from the two zones. Gilneas is dominated by Greymane Manor and the town of Duskhaven. Looking at it, I was expecting something a bit larger, but then you remember it is a starter zone. The Lost Isles is smaller still with an Alliance encampment to the North and an Orc settlement to the south, which explains their presence in the trailer.

We should note that the Gilneas map is only part of the Worgen starting zone. The city and the Greymane wall are due East of what's presented.

Check out the Goblin map and Worgen map over on WoW Todo.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From Goblins and Worgens to Mastery and Guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.

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Filed under: Horde, Alliance, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Expansions, BlizzCon, Cataclysm, Worgen, Goblin

Like Diablo's Cow Level, the Pandaren have almost mythic status within World of Warcraft since that memorable and almost plausible April Fool's Day prank. Blizzard has paid homage to that by tucking a pet Pandaren Monk into the latest build (10371) of patch 3.2.2 which has just gone live on the PTR.

Boubouille over at MMO Champion has once again been rooting around the patch files and he came across the first model of the aforementioned pet. Isn't he cute? Heavy on the Chinese aethetics, we have no idea how you'll be able to get this little guy. While datamining, Boubouille also discovered another hitherto unmentioned pet, Lil' K.T.. Yes, you too can have your own pocket-sized Kel'Thuzad, a tiny trophy-sized lich to call your very own! Again, we're not sure how you get one. Here's hoping he drops off his full-sized self in Naxx but who knows? For now we just have a spell note in the files

And as a note, please remember that Pandarens are not a playable race, nor is this an indication they will ever be added to WoW.

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2n - 1 go left, 2n go right. I don't see enough DoTs! More DoTs now!

Are you ready for the return of Onyxia? With the Brood Mother being revitalized as a 10 and 25 person raid, you'll need to be sure you know everything that's coming at you. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.2.2 will make sure your set for the next patch!

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Filed under: Fan stuff, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, Lore, Wrath of the Lich King

So Cataclysm is coming and Kisirani is already working on an in-game launch event. It's gotta mean something right? Now don't get me wrong, even with my self-confessed zombiephobia, I loved last November's zombie invasion (though, at times, it got really frustrating). So now Kisirani is officially hard at work planning a new event to herald the beginning of an Azerothian cataclysm, I can't help but wonder what she has up her sleeves for us.

Is anyone else excited? I certainly am and it gives us something to focus on during the inevitable wait. To be fair, at least Cataclysm's not scheduled for 2012! We don't have that long to wait, we could be rolling Worgen and Goblins in just under/over a year's time. That just about makes it bearable. But it also leaves us with time to think about what Blizzard will do to introduce players to this brave new world.

Hit the jump to find out what we think could well happen prior to the launch of Cataclysm.

Read more →

Filed under: Patches, Events, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Expansions, Lore, Cataclysm, Worgen, Goblin

European fans of the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game are in luck as the Darkmoon Faire will be visiting Amsterdam this September. Upper Deck, who host the events, are expecting 350 players to attend and are offering a host of prizes, including a goody bag for every attendee as well as raffle with some really epic loot as prizes. The goody bag contains a T-Shirt, regular and exclusive Mini figures, a Death Knight Starter pack, some battleground cards, a demo CD, a common loot card and an entry form for the raffle.

The raffle is where things get interesting. Upper Deck have fifteen prizes up for grabs which have a combined worth of €5000. They are giving away:

• One Frostmourne sword
• Two Collectors Editions of Wrath of the Lich King
• Five exclusive Wrath of the Lich King mousepads
• Two complete sets of Minis
  
• Five Spectral Tiger mounts

The event will be taking place at Westergasfabriek between September 12th and 13th. Tickets are free so if you're in Amsterdam that weekend, you might want to pop along.

Filed under: Events, Odds and ends, Blizzard, News items, WoW TCG, Europe