WoW Insider

WoW Insider's Weekly Recap, featuring TradeChat's Panser

Michael Gray — Fri, 25 May 2012 20:30:00 EST

Welcome to the all-exciting, weekly news recap featuring Panser of TradeChat! In our weekly recap, we'll be tackling the hottest news and whatever other kickin', rad items have come our way throughout the last week. This week's topics include:

The final phase of Arena Pass 2012 has begun!
Behold, the Dragon Turtle!
Reforge on the hoof
Say goodbye to the daily quest cap
Transmog into the women of DC
Them excuses, man

Make sure you subscribe to TradeChat and check back every week for more Weekly Recaps!

WoW Insider's Weekly Recap, featuring TradeChat's Panser originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 25 May 2012 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard's Versailles office adorned with infested Kerrigan statue

Mathew McCurley — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Blizzard headquarters in Irvine has been lording its orc statue over the other Blizzard foreign offices, smirking and laughing, reigning as king of the statues outside of game companies' buildings. A challenger has finally emerged at the Blizzard offices in Versailles, France -- an amazing sculpture of Sarah Kerrigan, the Queen of Blades, from the StarCraft series.

The statue looks awesome and there's plenty of pictures up on Blizzard's Facebook page. Check out the pictures and tell us what you think. Will the next statue be Diablo-related and feature the best angel ever, Tyrael? We can only hope.

Blizzard's Versailles office adorned with infested Kerrigan statue originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 24 May 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mists of Pandaria login screen revealed

Michael Gray — Wed, 23 May 2012 17:40:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Mists of Pandaria

Our good friends over at Wowhead found a special treasure included in the latest beta patch. That treasure? Nothing short of the Mists login screen. Veteran players know the login screen design is critically important, since we'll be staring at that sucker for the next two years.

These are still images, so we don't know what the final animations might look like, but these gorgeous screenshots look like a pleasant change from WoW's previous dragons-and-yelling motif on login screens. Take a look at a hypothetical final behind the cut, and let us know what you think in comments.

Continue reading Mists of Pandaria login screen revealed

Mists of Pandaria login screen revealed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 May 2012 17:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Pandaren Mount Revealed: Dragon Turtle

Adam Holisky — Wed, 23 May 2012 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Mists of Pandaria

Blizzard has announced today the pandaren mount coming in Mists of Pandaria is called the Dragon Turtle. They're large, scaled turtles with a bit of a dragon-like feel to them. They are ground mounts, which will be needed to roam around Pandaria while leveling from 85 to 90.

While Blizzard doesn't explicitly say that these will be obtainable by other races through a reputation grind, it's safe to assume that'll be the case. I for one can't wait to get one on my human warlock.

Check out Blizzard's full announcement post after the break.

Continue reading Pandaren Mount Revealed: Dragon Turtle

Pandaren Mount Revealed: Dragon Turtle originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 23 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A veritable Zarhym of WoW references in Diablo 3

Michael Gray — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Diablo 3

While many of us on this site are avid players of both WoW and Diablo III, we should strive to remember that they're not the same game. They're just made by the same company. Without resorting to cries of "You got your WoW in my Diablo," though, it's pretty easy to spot some similarities -- as well as some pretty darn obvious direct references.

The Murlocket is probably my favorite reference, because rggglrlllrrlrlrlrl. Of course, other community personalities show up in Diablo III. Expect your world-saving adventurer to encounter Zarhym, and you'll take some spoiling vengeance out on those pesky Dataminers. We also find out what happened to the Lich King's helm after all that fuss in Northrend. It's sitting in a cave in Act III. No wonder it was such a mystery.

Continue reading A veritable Zarhym of WoW references in Diablo 3

A veritable Zarhym of WoW references in Diablo 3 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 22 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last Week in WoW: Error 37 edition

Daniel Whitcomb — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

The big Blizzard news this past week, of course, is that the Error 37 boss dominated just about every Diablo III player, preventing them from even logging into the game. Blizzard issued a mea culpa for the issues, and to be fair, the servers seem a lot more stable as of this writing.

Don't think WoW's been letting its sister franchise hog the spotlight, though. Mists of Pandaria development does continue apace, including a few new beta builds, and we got all the news on what's changed and what's new. Downtime today is from 1 a.m. to 9 a.m. PDT, so you should have some time to read up.

Hot news and features

We have a quick rundown of five things to watch out for in the Stormstout Brewery.
Matticus takes a look at the new Shado-Pan Monastery dungeon.
Check out some new voice emotes for male pandaren.
We take a look at some of the newest hunter pets in Mists of Pandaria.
Healers, rejoice! Spirit gear may make a comeback in Mists.
Check out Wowhead's preview of Townlong Steppes, a new Mists zone.
Engineers get some cool new toys in Mists.
Archaeology has seen some improvements in the beta, including improved digsites.

Continue reading Last Week in WoW: Error 37 edition

Last Week in WoW: Error 37 edition originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 22 May 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Insider's Weekly Recap, featuring TradeChat's Panser

Michael Gray — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items

Better digsites for Mists of Pandaria
Potential new warchiefs
Diablo III transmog outfits
Blizzard cleans up GAME's mess
Real-life WoW abilities

Make sure you subscribe to TradeChat and check back every week for more Weekly Recaps!

WoW Insider's Weekly Recap, featuring TradeChat's Panser originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 18 May 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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World of Warcraft and Battle.net web services currently down [Updated]

Alex Ziebart — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:28:00 EST

Filed under: News items

For reasons unknown, World of Warcraft and Battle.net web services are all down for the count this morning. Social media speculation lays blame at the feet of Diablo III, but judging by my barbarian's continued ability to run roughshod over Azmodan's legions, that may not be the case -- the Diablo III service appears to be operating perfectly fine.

Of course, the possibility remains that some aspect of Diablo III's current operations is placing excessive strain on other areas of Battle.net's infrastructure, and the targeted blame may yet be accurate. We have yet to see a statement from Blizzard on the downtime, but we will update you as soon as we do.

Update: The game-side issue appears to be an issue with the login server. If you are already logged into World of Warcraft ... don't log off if you want to keep playing!

Update #2: The Battle.net downtime appears to have been resolved.

World of Warcraft and Battle.net web services currently down [Updated] originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 18 May 2012 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wowhead previews Townlong Steppes

Matt Low — Wed, 16 May 2012 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Mists of Pandaria

Townlong Steppes opened up in one of the recent builds of the Mists of Pandaria beta. Normally, the Great Wall of Pandaria separates this zone from the rest of the continent, but the pandaren are investigating what's on the other side due to the attacks from the Mantids. The opposition in Townlong Steppes consists of mobs and quests for players who are 88+.

Adventurers won't find any shortage of activities in this zone.

Assist the Shado-Pan, who are checking out strange, jeweled camps near their garrison.
Fend off the mogu, who are commandeering cloud serpents in the islands north of the Temple of Niuzao.
Engage the yaungol and mantid alongside your pandaren allies in the Shallowstep Pass.

Head on over to Wowhead to preview the screenshots and backstory of all the different areas.

It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

Wowhead previews Townlong Steppes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 16 May 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mists of Pandaria Beta: Spirit gear is coming back in fashion

Adam Holisky — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Mists of Pandaria

It's been known for a while that spirit gear isn't on the list for the most part right now for players leveling in Mists. DPS cloth abounds, and the idea the designers have is that you can just reforge the DPS gear into healer gear easily enough (or at least reforge it so that it's passable as healer gear).

In part, this concept comes from the new rewards system, where you don't see all the gear rewards the quest giver offers but rather only the ones that are specific to you. As a solution to this, Blizzard provides green gear vendors that distribute off-spec gear.

However, Ghostcrawler announced today that Blizzard's going to offer more spirit gear again via quest rewards. This is in part due to the constructive (read: non-trolling) feedback it's received on the issue.

Ghostcrawler

After reading more of this feedback and looking at the zones, we're concerned that there aren't enough quest rewards with Spirit on them. We are leaning towards offering more, as choices, so that players who feel like their Spirit is low can choose to have more.

source

So rejoice, healers! Getting geared up will be a bit easier for you now.

Mists of Pandaria Beta: Spirit gear is coming back in fashion originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 15 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last Week in WoW: El Diablo edition

Daniel Whitcomb — Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! As you probably know, Diablo III's release date is today. With over 1 million Annual Pass subscribers set to receive free digital copies of the game, chances you or a guildmate is going to playing this game. As someone who's been a huge fan of the Diablo series for over a decade, I can vouch for the series. If you need something else to keep your attention while we wait for Mists of Pandaria to go live, you could easily do worse, that's for sure.

If you're interested in checking out Diablo III, I'd suggest you look at the following articles we've published to get you up to speed.

Here are six blue posts that you must read.
We offer some tips on fixing common Diablo III installation issues.
We have a quick guide to the basics of Diablo gameplay.
Rossi gets you up to speed on the lore of the Diablo franchise.
My basic introduction to Diablo is a few months old, but it's a good read.
Alex explains why we're covering Diablo III on a WoW site.

If you're not into Diablo, don't worry. We still have plenty of the WoW coverage you expect. With new beta patches coming all the time, there's a lot of it, too. Downtime today is just a series of rolling restarts at 5 a.m. PDT, so that's at least enough time to read a quick article or two.

Continue reading Last Week in WoW: El Diablo edition

Last Week in WoW: El Diablo edition originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 15 May 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard fixing GAME Australia's mess, giving Diablo 3 to those who preordered

Adam Holisky — Mon, 14 May 2012 23:25:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Diablo 3

GAME Australia (a large video game retailer) is entering voluntary administration, which is the same as going into bankruptcy in the United States. Included in this fact is that GAME will not be giving Diablo III to all those who preordered it. To add salt to the wound, GAME will also not be offering refunds for Diablo III preorders -- or rather, it will, but only after practically every other person under the sun is paid back, and only then if people specifically file as an unsecured creditor, of sorts.

Essentially, if you live in Australia and you bought Diablo III from GAME, you're screwed. But wait -- Blizzard to the rescue.

In what has to be one of the classiest moves I've seen from a gaming company, Blizzard is offering a solution for those who have gotten the short end of the stick. Those who preordered from GAME can buy the Diablo III digital edition tonight, submit their GAME Australia receipt to Blizzard, and get refunded from Blizzard whatever money they paid for their preorder.

It's rare that anyone gets to report news of a company going out of its way to do something like this, let alone a multinational as huge as Blizzard. Huge kudos to Blizzard. Check out the full post announcing this, along with key dates, after the break.

Continue reading Blizzard fixing GAME Australia's mess, giving Diablo 3 to those who preordered

Blizzard fixing GAME Australia's mess, giving Diablo 3 to those who preordered originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 14 May 2012 23:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mists of Pandaria Beta: Certain PvP maps may be blacklistable

Chase Hasbrouck — Sun, 13 May 2012 13:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, PvP

In the latest Mists of Pandaria beta patch, Wowhead has uncovered some quite interesting new client strings that might herald a change in the way you choose which Arena or Battleground to fight in.

ERR_PVP_BLACKLIST_CAP = "You have already blacklisted the maximum number of maps."
ERR_PVP_MAP_NOT_FOUND = "Blacklisted map not set."

To me, this seems like an excellent idea for Arena players. There's always lots of controversy about the random damage and LoS components found on some maps (hello, Ring of Valor); this would let you avoid that entirely. Of course, that means you can no longer use it as an excuse, either -- so you may not want to reach for the blacklist too quickly. While I don't do much in Arenas, I certainly wouldn't mind a way to ensure not getting WSG three times in a row.

One concern, though, is if Blizzard allows too much blacklisting, that could make matchmaking much more difficult. A smooth matchmaking process has been one of the highlights of WoW compared to other online games, so any algorithm tweaks have to be made carefully.

Mists of Pandaria Beta: Certain PvP maps may be blacklistable originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 13 May 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Insider's Weekly Recap, now featuring TradeChat's Panser

Alex Ziebart — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items

Welcome to the all-new, all-exciting weekly news recap featuring Panser of TradeChat! In our weekly recap, we'll be tackling the hottest news and whatever other kickin' rad items have come our way throughout the last week. This week's topics include:

If you enjoyed the new show, make sure to subscribe to TradeChat, leave a comment, and come back next week for the next episode!

WoW Insider's Weekly Recap, now featuring TradeChat's Panser originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 11 May 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blizzard and Valve settle DOTA dispute, Blizzard DOTA officially Blizzard All-Stars

Alex Ziebart — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:03:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Blizzard All-Stars

Blizzard and Valve have been going back and forth about ownership of the DOTA title for awhile now. It's a complicated issue that's been summed up very well by Joystiq's JC Fletcher: "Which giant company has the rights to the fan-created, community-promoted word 'Dota?'"

As of today, it turns out Valve has those rights. The two giant companies have amicably settled the issue amongst themselves. Valve will release its DOTA title as Dota 2, and Blizzard will release its as Blizzard All-Stars. Personally, I'm a bigger fan of All-Stars, anyway. It gives the name some real flavor and, as stated by Blizzard VP Rob Pardo, "ultimately better reflects the design of our game."

Of course, regardless of the decisions made here, the fan community will inevitably continue calling this genre of games DOTA or some variation thereof. If you care to read the full press release regarding this agreement, hop behind the cut below.

Continue reading Blizzard and Valve settle DOTA dispute, Blizzard DOTA officially Blizzard All-Stars

Blizzard and Valve settle DOTA dispute, Blizzard DOTA officially Blizzard All-Stars originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 11 May 2012 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mists of Pandaria Beta: New loot frames roll into view

Matt Low — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Mists of Pandaria

New loot frames! No more having to stare at your chat frames and scroll up and down to see which player won what item. Loot rolls are now condensed into a loot roll frame that appears in your screen. It lists the results of all the items that went up for grabs in the instance and who won them.

If you look at the screenshot above, you can see the roll numbers next to each player and what roll types were used. The player who won the item is listed at the top. You can expand or collapse the menu to see the list of players who rolled and what roll type they used, such as need or greed.

The only downside to this new feature is that I couldn't find a way to move the frame around. But hey, I'll take these new loot roll frames any day. What about you?

Mists of Pandaria Beta: New loot frames roll into view originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 10 May 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cross-realm zones coming to Mists of Pandaria

Alex Ziebart — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:49:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Mists of Pandaria

Recently, one of the criticisms most often heard about the World of Warcraft experience relates to server population or faction imbalances -- you can't always find enough players in your level range to have a fulfilling gameplay experience. It seems as if Mists of Pandaria is going to be fixing that issue in a big way: Blizzard has just announced cross-realm zones.

Cross-Realm Zones Coming to Beta

In the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria beta, we're introducing a new technology that will enable players to meet up and group with other players in under populated areas of the world such as low level zones or areas that other players may have outleveled or moved on from. This technology will allow players to form a group with other players from within a select pool of realms in order to quest just like they normally would while still allowing the social structures of their home realms to remain intact.

source

For the full FAQ, head over to Battle.net, or check behind the break below.

UPDATE: Blizzard has answered additional questions in the FAQ.

Continue reading Cross-realm zones coming to Mists of Pandaria

Cross-realm zones coming to Mists of Pandaria originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 10 May 2012 16:49:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Ghostcrawler talks warriors on the Mists of Pandaria beta forums

Matthew Rossi — Thu, 10 May 2012 12:00:00 EST

Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Mists of Pandaria

Ghostcrawler has contributed a great deal to an already large list of consolidated warrior issues on the Mists of Pandaria beta forums, and then just kept on posting. It's actually a lot to consider -- so much so that I'm fairly certain I can get two big posts out of it. This post will be the one that tries to break down what it all means.

Some of what he's posting is of more concern to beta testers than the general population (for instance, how the devs prefer their feedback), but we can still take some interesting points from the two posts where GC lays everything out for us. If you'll forgive me for a lot of paraphrasing and selecting:

Tanking for warriors (the oft-discussed active mitigation system) is designed around the concept of turning rage into survival. Shield Block and Shield Barrier are designed that keeping them up reliably will improve your survival, but in cutting-edge content, you'll want to use them in a smart way (that is, save them for big damage situations) rather than just hitting them as soon as you have the rage. Tanking for new tanks will be designed so that missing a Shield Block now and again won't wreck you.
Rage is the limiting mechanic for the class, not cooldowns, at least so far as the design vision of the class is concerned.
Arms and fury have a big rage generation attack and a big rage spending attack, but that's where the similarities between them are intended to end. Arms should feel more predictable but have slower rage generation due to its use of a single, slow weapon, while fury abilities proc less reliably, but the spec has more rage to spend because it uses two weapons, to fit the distinction between arms as a disciplined blade expert and fury as a screaming madman.
The intention for Battle Stance is to be the default battle stance (as the name would suggest), while Berserker Stance will be attractive for PvP or fights with high incoming damage. Blizzard's still working on Berserker Stance's design, but that's the goal.

There's more to discuss, so let's get to discussing it.

Continue reading Ghostcrawler talks warriors on the Mists of Pandaria beta forums

Ghostcrawler talks warriors on the Mists of Pandaria beta forums originally appeared on WoW Insider on Thu, 10 May 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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World of Warcraft subscriber numbers remain at 10.2 million

Adam Holisky — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:00:00 EST

Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Blizzard announced today in the investors call that the World of Warcraft population remains stable at 10.2 million subscribers. This is after the announced dip to 10.2 million in February 2012.

Activision-Blizzard

Blizzard Entertainment's World of Warcraft(R) Remains #1 Subscription-Based MMORPG with Approximately 10.2 Million Subscribers as of 3/31/12

source

In other WoW news from the call, Blizzard has renewed its license with NetEase for China distribution: "On March 20, 2012, Blizzard Entertainment announced that they renewed their license with NetEase for the distribution of World of Warcraft in mainland China. The new license will continue for an additional three years following the expiration of the current license agreement."

There is no indication of specific North American / European numbers, nor is there any specific indication of when Mists will release.

World of Warcraft subscriber numbers remain at 10.2 million originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 09 May 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Annual Pass beta invitations have all been distributed

Alex Ziebart — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:00:00 EST

Filed under: News items, Mists of Pandaria

It would be an understatement to say that the Annual Pass beta invitation process did not go as expected for anybody involved, Blizzard included. Who knew well over one million World of Warcraft players would sign up for the program, all of them anxiously awaiting an invitation to the Mists of Pandaria beta?

Thankfully, according to community manager Kaivax, the final round of beta invitations has been sent as of today.

Final Annual Pass Beta Invitations Sent

The World of Warcraft Annual Pass promotion ended May 1, and we recently sent out the remaining Mists of Pandaria beta invitations. Check your games list in Battle.net Account Management for the Mists of Pandaria beta. You can download and install it from there.

Again, thank you for your enthusiasm and feedback. To provide feedback for the Mists of Pandaria beta, we invite you to please post in the Beta Feedback forum.

source

If you're an Annual Pass subscriber and you haven't received your beta invitation yet, don't panic! Betas do have a tendency to take their sweet time appearing in your games list.

Annual Pass beta invitations have all been distributed originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 08 May 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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