Posts with tag News

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:

• 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!

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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.

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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!

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The WoW Insider Weekly News Update is your source for all the biggest stories from the past week wrapped up in a neat little video package. Mathew McCurley hosts your quick look at this week's biggest news.

If you haven't already subscribed to the WoW Insider YouTube channel, you should!

News this week:

• Ghostcrawler explains stat changes coming in Mists of Pandaria.
• Blizzard lays off 600 employees globally.
• Dave Kosak talks Cataclysm post-mortem.
• WoW Insider Show Podcast live at PAX East!

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The WoW Insider Weekly News Update is your source for all the biggest stories from the past week wrapped up in a neat little video package. Mathew McCurley hosts your quick look at this week's biggest news.

If you haven't already subscribed to the WoW Insider YouTube channel, you should!

News this week:

• BlizzCon 2012 cancelled, Battle.net championships to be held in Asia.
• Nerfs coming to Dragon Soul on January 31, 5% buff to players.
• The Lunar Festival is going on now.
• Limited edition WoW cups coming to ampm stores:
• Optional boss modes/difficulty returning for Mists of Pandaria?

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The WoW Insider Weekly News Update is your source for all the biggest stories from the past week wrapped up in a neat little video package. Mathew McCurley hosts your quick look at this week's biggest news.

If you haven't already subscribed to the WoW Insider YouTube channel, you should!

News this week:

• 64-bit client is available for testing. Check out what this means for many players.
• Cross-realm raids are coming in patch 4.3.2.
• The Scroll of Resurrection is temporarily unavailable.
• "Guide dog" players help a blind man experience raid encounters.

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The WoW Insider Weekly News Update is your source for all the biggest stories from the past week wrapped up in a neat little video package. Mathew McCurley hosts your quick look at this week's biggest news.

If you haven't already subscribed to the WoW Insider YouTube channel, you should!

News this week:

• Raid Finder loot rules are changing with patch 4.3.2.
• GameStop is giving away Wrath of the Lich King free when you buy the WoW Battlechest for $20.
• New pets and mounts datamined for the WoW TCG.
• Our winner from the last Weekly News Update is Grafittiskies21! Congratulations!

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The WoW Insider Weekly News Update is your source for all the biggest stories from the past week wrapped up in a neat little video package. Mathew McCurley hosts your quick look at this week's biggest news.

If you haven't already subscribed to the WoW Insider YouTube channel, you should!

This week's top stories include:

• Winter Veil is here!
• KIN Raiders defeat Madness of Deathwing heroic, earning a world-first kill.
• The winner of our Nightsaber Cub pet is Ceteacie! Look for a message from us on YouTube soon.

Win a Purple Puffer Fish from WoW Insider! Here's how to enter: Subscribe to the WoW Insider YouTube channel and comment on the video at YouTube for a chance to win! We'll contact our winner via YouTube on Friday, Dec. 30.

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The WoW Insider Weekly News Update is your source for all the biggest stories from the past week wrapped up in a neat little video package. Mathew McCurley hosts your quick look at this week's biggest news.

If you haven't already subscribed to the WoW Insider YouTube channel, you should!

This week's top stories include:

• Blizzard announces Battle.net Balance.
• Blizzard also announces Battle.net BattleTags.
• Winter Veil is here.
• Blizzard reclassified items for Dragon Soul's Raid Finder difficulty.

Win a Nightsaber Cub loot card from WoWTCGLoot! Here's how to enter: Subscribe to the WoW Insider YouTube channel and comment on the video over on YouTube for a chance to win! We'll contact our winner via YouTube on Friday, Dec. 23.

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Your regularly scheduled host Michael Gray will be back soon. He is all snowed in, and that's no fun for anyone. You've got me again.

Yesterday's News by slashdance is one of my favorite WoW machinima videos. Maybe because I have a soft spot in my heart for the coolness factor of the various types of meeting stones in game. Maybe because I totally feel for the poor Dwarven stonemason who builds them. Most of all, I think I wanted to share with you all this video because with Mists of Pandaria coming out, we'll be on expansion #4. A lot of time has passed in World of Warcraft. Like ... a lot. Going back and seeing how things used to be is almost like a history lesson as much as it is a nostalgia trip.

One of the things that strikes me about the video is that it's almost like watching myself play from the outside. I see people running up to stones and I see them clicking on portals, but it's not me doing it. These are actions that I take in game being represented in the fiction, but we perform that action all the time. It's a movie about a phenomenon in a game that is being portrayed as having its own reality. Whatever. It's late, I'm tired, and I love Yesterday's News.

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Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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If you're on the Outland (EU) realm, you're in luck! Blizzard's Vaneras has announced in a blue post today that free character transfers have been opened from Outland to Agamaggan, Burning Steppes, and Vashj.

According to Warcraft Realms, all three destination realms are very lightly populated, which is likely the rationale behind this offer. Transfers will only be available until Oct. 18, so if you need a fresh start, now's your chance!

Free Character Migration (FCM)

The below FCM is available until October 18 2011. The migrations are open to both factions:

From: Outland
To: Agamaggan
To: Burning Steppes
To: Vashj

source

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An undocumented change that probably occurred in patch 4.1 is that the Icy Prism, a source for rare and epic Wrath of the Lich King-era gems, no longer has a cooldown. The highest stat gems that can be inserted into gear with an ilevel lower than 300 (which means all pre-Cataclysm gear) are Wrath gems, and this is likely now the cheapest way to get them.

The main way currently to get Wrath gems is to prospect Wrath ores, usually Saronite. Prospecting a stack will yield an average of about one blue-quality gem, and while other ores may look more attractive, I've had trouble finding them in volume. Now that the cooldown has been removed, any jewelcrafter can make an Icy Prism with nothing more than a Frozen Orb and a couple of cheap Wrath green gems. Each prism will yield a couple of blue-quality gems, rarely a Dragon's Eye, and even more rarely, an epic gem.

The Dragon's Eyes don't look like they'll be usable for much, but considering the price of Frozen Orbs, the blue and epic gems certainly look like they're worth making the prisms for. One thing to note: The prisms are unique, so you need to open one before you can make another. If, like me, you had stockpiled almost a thousand Frozen Orbs in Wrath just in case they ever became worth anything, this means a lot of clicking.

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WoW Patch 4.1 is live, and WoW Insider has all the latest news for you -- from guides of the revamped Zul'Aman and Zul'Gurub to new valor point mechanics and new archaeology items.

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For those of us with multiple alts, there's one topic that seems to come up again and again at the top of our wish lists: account-wide achievements. The reasons are numerous. Achievements are often a barrier for entry into PUG groups. Some achievements are so absolutely tedious and time-consuming that most of us only have the patience to do them once. And, of course, some achievements award us with some pretty cool items that we'd like to be able to use on our alts, like the Reins of the Bloodbathed Frostbrood Vanquisher.

Blizzard's developers are keenly aware of our desire for such functionality, and today on the Blizzard forums, Blizzard promised that it's something they're working on. Just don't expect it any time soon, and don't expect any additional account-wide functionality like account-wide reputations or professions. So says blue poster Wryxian:

BoA's, 1 step further

We do like the idea of account-wide achievements and it is something we have liked for a while. However we don't currently have the tech to be able to implement them as we'd like to, and probably won't have that for quite some time.

Account-wide professions or reputations are not something that is currently on our to-do list. If we were to think about that kind of thing, we'd have to carefully consider such a change as it has potential to heavily favour those of us who enjoy playing multiple alts. People who prefer just playing one character might not really see that as fair.

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Given how soon Blizzard typically means when it says "soon," we probably shouldn't be too optimistic when trying to interpret "quite some time" into real-world weeks and months. Perhaps in time for the next expansion? Perhaps something our grandchildren will be able to enjoy?

Hey, you! Yes, you -- dude sitting on the stained couch watching Family Feud and eating Cheetos. Need a little bit of high culture in your life? (And no, rewatching Once More, With Feeling doesn't count.)

WoW Insider may not be able to send you to the Louvre, and I'm not sure our legal department is okay with us reprinting the works of Maya Angelou. What we can do, however, is forward you along to some great new art just released at the Blizzard website. Specifically, there are three new pieces from the Wrath of the Lich King expansion: the Wrath box art, a piece called "Boneyard," and a piece called "Winter Tauren." They all show off the incredible level of talent of Blizzard's art department.

While you're there, be sure to page through the gallery and enjoy all the pieces of older concept art, too. They provide some great insight into how ideas transition from mere thoughts in an artist's head to a miserable, frustrating 5-man instance like The Oculus.

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Since this is still the PTR, these changes may or may not actually make it to the live game. Still, it is interesting to note exactly the type of things that Blizzard is looking at and the steps it is taking to try and balance the game. Cataclysm really did reshape the world -- not just the aesthetics but the mechanics for pretty much everyone and almost everything. With that big of an upheaval, it is expected that there is going to be a period of balancing relatively early in the expansion's cycle, and at just barely a month in, we're already starting to see some significant changes.