Filed under: Events

BlizzCon 2014 is on the horizon, getting steadily closer every day, and thus so is the 2014 World of Warcraft Arena Invitational World Championship. If you're a player on the North American servers--which include North America, Oceania, parts of Southeast Asia, and South America--your chance to qualify for the tournament is coming up in the next few weeks. In order to be eligible for the North American Arena Tournament your 3v3 team must have a minimum rating of 2500 by August 25, 2014. The tournament will be a double-elimination with teams competing in a best of five match format. At the end of the tournament, the top three teams from North America will be invited to BlizzCon to compete against five additional teams from around the world for the championship title.

Think you have what it takes to compete at BlizzCon for a piece of the $250,000 purse? Time to get your teams ready and push for that 2500 rating by August 25th. Good luck to all the competitors!

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With the arrival of Azeroth Choppers episode 7, we'll finally have the chance to do the thing that the entire webseries was leading up to, namely to vote on a new mount favoring either the Horde or the Alliance. Which will you choose, that monstrosity with tank treads the other faction got, or the awesome bike with tank treads your faction got? Well, whichever you pick, the time to do so is now.

Are you excited for any of the bikes? Or just swept away by faction pride? Or are you like Anne, and you're literally insane to watch people build stuff? Personally I find the building aspect of the show to be absolutely riveting. Hah. Riveting. I made a joke.

Personally I'm hoping that the next webseries that Blizzard does is with the awesome Man at Arms people. Seriously, how cool would that be? Blizz can break up into teams again and design badass new Horde and Alliance specific weapons and have a real life version forged by Tony Swatton and his team. They've made the Buster Sword, they could probably handle Ashkandi. Ooh. Forget the competition. Just make Ashkandi. And then deliver it to my house.

Get ready to go vote for your favorite bike over on the official site.

Do you intend on buying tickets to BlizzCon? If you do, then get ready, because today at 7:00 pm pacific, you can attempt to do that very thing. If you don't manage to get your hands on tickets, don't immediately despair, for a second round of tickets will also be available this Sunday, May 10th. From what I understand (having never actually managed to go to BlizzCon) it can be pretty crazy when the opportunity is presented, so you can make use of these resources to try and maximize your chances, also provided on the Blizzard official site.

Best of luck to everyone out there trying to snag those tickets. Remember, that's 7:00 pm Pacific, through the Eventbrite site.

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I have raided in World of Warcraft since the beginning. Raiding has always been a big part of why I play the game. If not the reason I play, certainly a reason. So when I was sitting up last night and it occurred to me that I've never gone an entire expansion without raiding, I didn't initially think anything of it -- to me, raiding is what you do in WoW. But then I started really thinking about it. Because lots of people don't raid. Before the rise of LFR and flex, a lot of players -- the majority of players, really -- never set foot in a raid at all. They had 5-mans, and that was basically it for group content for them outside of PvP.

So I started asking myself if it would be possible to release an expansion with little to no raiding content at all. Would players accept it? It's a cliche (and an overused one among the community) that Blizzard didn't do this or that 'because it would cost us a raid tier' but let's really consider -- what if we could have the expansion next month, but it wouldn't have any raids? Would that be an expansion people would be willing to play?

One of the reasons I consider this a more controversial question that it would have been at the end of Wrath is because now, raiding is far, far more accessible than it was even then. With the advent of LFR and the recent development of flexible raiding, it's never been easier to raid than it is. While Warlords of Draenor is changing the raid game, those changes will only make mythic raiding in any way more restrictive -- the rest of raiding will remain very accessible.

If you've been reading WoW Insider for a long time now, or even been a part of the larger World of Warcraft community, the guild name Sleeper Cartel may mean something to you. Back in the day, they threw some of the grandest server parties WoW has ever seen. We hadn't heard much from them since they won a Guild of the Month contest with us back in late 2009. But now they're back ... with a vengeance! Wait, no. Not vengeance. With another party.

On Saturday, March 15 at 7 p.m. Mountain time, Sleeper Cartel will be celebrating its 9th anniversary on the Perenolde server's Timeless Isle. Players of all shapes and sizes are invited, even those not native to Perenolde. Head over to Sleeper Cartel's guild website for further details.

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Once upon a time, World of Warcraft's holiday events were one of my favorite parts of the game. Not only did they make the game world feel alive, they changed the standard day-to-day gameplay routine. When those events went live, I didn't even consider spending my time doing the same daily hubs, reputation grinds, or dungeons I'd been doing all along. There were new quests, light-hearted quests, and the holiday bosses asked me to revisit dungeons I may not have run in ages. I didn't even care much for the loot dropped by those bosses, I just liked seeing and fighting them. Before those bosses became something in the dungeon finder, I ran them as much as I could, just because I knew they'd be gone for a year afterwards. The rewards from quests, even when they were light-hearted items that didn't contribute to a character's power level whatsoever, were fun little short-term goals.

Unfortunately, these events long ago fell to the wayside, receiving few updates beyond increasing the item level of gear drops from bosses. Patch 5.4 introduced a pandaren brewmaster to Brewfest, Love is in the Air's last update was the addition of the Swift Lovebird in patch 4.3.2, but generally speaking, ilevel increases have been the majority of the changes. The focus has been on the Darkmoon Faire more than anything else, which has, itself, become part of the routine. It's understandable that these events have fallen out of production, it's difficult to justify creating temporary content over something more permanent, but I do miss the temporary, fleeting content. More than updates to old events, I'd love to see new events, holidays pulling from Azerothian culture rather than our own, or even events on a smaller scale. Let's kick around some ideas, shall we?

Tomorrow morningish a few of WoW Insider's writers will be joining the It came from the Blog annual party on the Love Zeppelin.

• When: Tomorrow, Saturday, Feb. 22 at noon EST (9 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. server time)
• Where: Meet near the flightpath in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H)
• Who: Any level Horde player
• How: Ask Tizzi or any member of It came from the Blog for an invite

There will be dancing, party games, and love. You'll also have the chance to ask questions from some of our staff.

Join us!

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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Love is in the air, but I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is that this holiday does not lend itself to group activities where the group is multiple levels. The good news is that It came from the Blog is going to be having a party anyway: our second annual party on the Love Zeppelin.

• When: Saturday, Feb. 22 at noon EST (9 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. server time)
• Where: Meet near the flightpath in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H)
• Who: Any level Horde player, clothing optional
• How: Ask any member of It came from the Blog for an invite
• What: Fun, dancing, party games, love

We won't be having a raid for this event, so any level character can join us. We hope to see you there!

Updated: Some of the WoW Insider writers will be joining us, so you can ask them questions and otherwise rub virtual elbows with them.

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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Tonight we will be roaming around honoring nobles together during It came from the Blog's annual Lunar Lunacy event.

• When: Tonight, Jan 31 at 10:30 p.m. EST (7:30 p.m. PST, 9:30 p.m. server time)
• Where: Meet at the Lunar Festival in Orgrimmar (near the flightpath) on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-Horde)
• Who: Any Horde character level 10 or above
• How: Ask any It came from the Blog member for an invite, if you're not already in our family of guilds.

This is a lowbie-friendly event. The only reason we ask for level 10 or above is so that we can form raids for mage travel. So please come along even if you don't have a mount.

We hope to see you tonight!

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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It's time for It came from the Blog's annual event: Lunar Lunacy!

• When: Friday, Jan 31 at 10:30 p.m. EST (7:30 p.m. PST, 9:30 p.m. server time)
• Where: Meet at the Lunar Festival in Orgrimmar (near the flightpath) on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-Horde)
• Who: Any Horde character level 10 or above
• How: Ask any It came from the Blog member for an invite, if you're not already in our family of guilds.

We will be making things go boom, achieving, running, and perhaps dying.

If you don't normally play Horde, please join us anyway. This is your chance to see how the other half lives. We always have a good time and the more, the merrier.

Hope to see you there!

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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Lately I've been thinking about Warlords of Draenor and how I hope it returns to the tradition of pre-expansion launch patches with big world events. Let me tell you a story.

I was talking with a friend about the period at the end of Burning Crusade when the crates began spawning in major cities. He reminded me that neither of us had really paid much attention - his guild was in the process of breaking up over M'uru/Entropius and I was tanking for a guild working on clearing Black Temple at the time. We were busy, is what I'm saying. So busy, in fact, that one day we found ourselves running for our lives from an Ironforge that was completely infested with the walking dead. Other players were now zombies. The auctioneers were dead. It was all chaos and madness.

Now, for a lot of people, the zombie invasion was a load of fun. It was new and different, something you didn't see in game every day. Some of my guildies went over to Orgrimmar and joined forces with Horde players they knew (Norgannon was a smallish and incestuous server in those days, all the Alliance and Horde players seemed to know one another) to form roving gangs of undead, laying waste to all, Horde or Alliance. They had great fun.

For me it was a huge pain in the rear end.

Tomorrow, It came from the Blog will be holding our annual Winter Veil event.

• When: Saturday Dec. 28 at noon EST (9 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. server time)
• Where: Meet under the tree in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream
• Who: Any Horde character level 10 or above
• How: Ask Tizzi or any member of It came from the Blog for an invite

We're going to get a couple of achievements and otherwise have a good time. Make sure to bring your Gaudy Winter Veil Sweater, some snowballs and any Crashin' Thrashin' vehicles you may have.

Please join us!

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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It came from the Blog has some fun stuff planned for this year. We'll get an achievement or two and otherwise have a good time.

• When: Saturday Dec. 28 at noon EST (9 a.m. PST, 11 a.m. server time)
• Where: Meet under the tree in Orgrimmar on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream
• Who: Any Horde character level 10 or above
• How: Ask Tizzi or any member of It came from the Blog for an invite

If you have snowballs and a Gaudy Winter Veil Sweater, you'll want to bring those. Otherwise, they are available for just a few copper from the Smokywood Pastures vendors.

This is our last event of the year, so come join us!

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Please join us on Zangarmarsh/Hellscream (US-PvE-H) in It came from the Blog. All guild ranks can invite, so /whisper Tizzi or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

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