Posts with tag card

It's that time of year again: BlizzCon is almost here, and WoW.com is proud to present our annual game of BlizzCon Bingo. The rules are simple: just print out this year's bingo card, bring it along with you to the show, and then when you see something printed on the card (like Chris Metzen with his sunglasses off, or Ghostcrawler drinking a liquid that may or may not contain gin), mark it off. Observe five in a row (you can have the welfare epics in the middle for free), and you win!

You'll notice that the options run the gamut, from an expansion named Cataclysm (a pretty safe bet) to seeing Ozzy play a Blizzard game (not so likely). Almost all of this stuff is probably available somewhere on the convention floor, though you'll have to really look to find everything.

And if you do win, make sure to find one of us from WoW.com at the show and show off your finished bingo card. We might just have a nice prize for you, from a pat on the back to something even better.

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BlizzCon 2009 is coming up on August 21st and 22nd! We've got all the latest news and information. At BlizzCon you can play the latest games, meet your guildmates, and ask the developers your questions. Plus, there's some great looking costumes.

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Penny Arcade, those funny WoW comic guys, are giving away a metric ton of loot, via a contest, that they've gotten for the WoW Trading Card Game. Things that they're giving away include "four boxes of boosters, tournament playmats, a Winterveil collector's box, deckboxes, sleeves, two binders, three raid decks, three starter decks, and one of these awesome dice chest things." That's a ton of stuff to be handing out. But it gets better.

They're also handing out an X-51 Nether-Rocket card to each winner. You can get your very own Rocket Mount!

Three lucky winners will be quite happy. What's the contest they're holding? From the site: "you must write a short story, set in World of Warcraft, and this story must be precisely ten words long." It's so simple and so easy you just have to chuckle. Head on over to their site for more information on how to enter the contest.

Of course, you'll have to go up against a certain WoW Insider writer on this one, since I've already submitted my story: "A casual paladin casually walks up and one shots Illidan."

Good luck!

Every Friday, Insider Trader slips you the inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

Nerf fishers – kicked back in their comfy Fishing Chairs, they definitely corner the market on chillin' with style. In honor of the upcoming three-day Labor Day weekend, we take a look at the newest way to hang with style (and psst, you don't actually have to be fishing to use this tip). At the other end of the spectrum, for those of you who demand crunchy bits, we've dug up some efficiency tips for hard-working enchanters. So whether you choose to spend Labor Day kicking back on the beaches of Stranglethorn or toiling in town over a hot disenchanting window, read on for Insider Trader's Labor Day special.

First up: the Fishing Chair. Available only via a special loot-coded version of the "Gone Fishin'" card from the WoW trading card set "Through the Dark Portal," this card seems to inspire some remarkable player enthusiasm. To quote wowhead.com's particularly eloquent description: "The Fishing Chair provides the discerning angler with a comfy place to rest his laurels and store his refreshing beverage of choice. The item is usable from the inventory and does not need to be equipped. Using the Fishing Chair opens a nice-looking folding chair with attached umbrella and drink holder. The umbrella's lining is decorated with a pattern of worm-baited hooks, very thoughtfully. The Fishing Chair works the same as a chair in any inn and can be sat in by clicking on it. While seated you can eat, drink or fish."

But it's not just fishers who are putting the Fishing Chair to good use ...

One of the most interesting aspects of the WoW TCG (trading card game) has been the in-game tie-ins. The best-known example is probably the ever-popular turtle mount, which is only attainable via a scratch-off-to-reveal code that can be found on rare cards. There is also apparently a hippogryph pet and a couple of tabards (flame, frost), though I haven't personally seen either. So it comes as no surprise that the expansion to the TCG, Through the Dark Portal, will feature more of these loot-for-cards promotions. As announced on Upper Deck's page, here's what you can get:

• Picnic Blanket. When used, summons a nice picnic setup, complete with umbrella and grill. Anyone around can right-click the grill to get "Grilled Picnic Treat," a BoP food that gives a buff reading "Does nothing. Tastes great!" Hopefully this blanket is reusable, since it looks pretty neat when used (see pic).
• A pet monkey named Bananas. Come on, it's a pet monkey! Like Upper Deck says, who doesn't want a pet monkey? Very cute.
• Finally, there will be a "fortune-telling device." Click it and an imp appears and whispers an answer to you (allegedly to the entire party, in a future patch, though I think that would get old fast). Upperdeck says it's similar to "a certain toy you may have had as a child." This would definitely help make some decisions a bit easier.

Neat stuff. Do any of you play the TCG? How is it? Like everyone else I know, I played a lot of Magic: the Gathering when I was younger, but I haven't really touched those kinds of games in a while.

[thanks, Dave!]

The most recent TCG preview features quest cards - three of them in fact: Your Fortune Awaits You, Are We There, Yeti?, and Tooga's Quest. I find it interesting that these cards more or less mirror existing in-game quests, though fit neatly into the TCG's own structure. What's the point of quests? Well, they offer you rewards - usually extra cards, but sometimes other useful things - in exchange for resources. So what are resources? During every turn a player may play one card face down (any type of card? I'm a little unclear on this). You can use this card to pay a single resource cost. Thus, the further into the game you get, the more you can afford to pay for skills, abilities, and interesting quests.

This week's Sprawl's Scrawl has an interesting preview of the upcoming World of Warcraft trading card game. I've certainly been wondering how the World of Warcraft is going to be converted into card came format, and this certainly makes it sound like an interesting game - though details on gameplay are still very sparse. The game is packaged in starter decks, which contain a pre-constructed 33 card deck that's styled around one of the nine possible classes (which is random), two booster packs (with 15 additional cards each, to customize your deck), and 3 oversized "Hero" cards (of unknown use). The game will focus primarily on one on one PvP combat - as you test your cards and skills against those of another player - however, there are also rulesets for multiplayer and raiding. For raiding, there are 60-card raid decks that may be purchased and played, with one player acting akin to pen-and-paper dungeon master for the players attempting the raid.

Can't wait to find out more? Well, the game is set for a Halloween release, but you can already pre-order starter decks and boxes of booster packs at Upper Deck's online store.

Remember the Warcraft trading card game that's being developed? The suggestion has always been that some of the cards you collect may convey bonuses within the game itself, though the Upper Deck website is vague on what sort of rewards they might be. Well, a recent addition to Thottbot gives us a hint - the spell "Create Upperdeck Turtle Mount," which seems to be part of the recent build on the test realms. A search of Thottbot provides other possible TCG rewards - tabards, pets, and trinkets. Somehow, the thought of my Gnome warlock riding around on a giant turtle appeals to me...

For all you lovers of trading card games, Upper Deck Entertainment, makers of Yuh-Gi-Oh & many other card games, has teamed up with Blizzard to create the official WoW Collectible Card Game.

The website for the game was just recently launched, and it gives no hint of a release date...or much of anything else about the game. There is, however, an option to register for a newsletter & get more info, so if you're interested, check it out at Upper Deck's official page here.