Ars Technica talk to Future Publishing who are about to release a dedicated WoW print (shock) mag.

The print business is, to put it lightly, troubled at the moment. Ads are hard to come by, readership is down, and both magazines and newspapers are tightening their belts at an alarming rate. So why not begin a new print magazine dedicated to gaming? In fact, dedicated to one game. One online-only game. Future Publishing is hoping to do just that, with World of Warcraft: The Magazine. Clearly, there is much to be skeptical about, but the team behind the magazine makes a strong case for a publication of this type. Here's the scoop on how they plan to sidestep the issues of traditional magazine publishing and still make a profit.

"This won't be driven by advertising; it's based on a print-on-demand format. We will launch the subscription website on Friday, monitoring who is subscribing in what language, and print that many copies exactly," John Gower, International Director of FuturePlus, told Ars. "This will be environmentally friendly—no waste." This print on demand format allows them to keep publishing costs as low as possible, and releasing magazines to subscribers only—no newsstand—will make sure no copies get thrown away.

Dr. Richard Graham plans on giving addicts in game therapy according to Gamespot.

"We will be launching this project by the end of the year. I think it’s already clear that psychiatrists will have to stay within the parameters of the game. They certainly wouldn’t be wandering around the game in white coats and would have to use the same characters available to other players," Graham said, asking Blizzard to waive or discount the game's $15 monthly fee for therapists. "Of course one problem we’re going to have to overcome is that while a psychiatrist may excel in what they do in the real world, they’re probably not going to be very good at playing World of Warcraft."

Graham said his proposed in-game measures were necessary because the game addicts can be more easily found online than in person. The newspaper's article comes after a related story it published in February, headlined "World of Warcraft 'more addictive than cocaine'." Blizzard could not be reached for comment as of press time.

Sam Raimi, of Evil Dead, Spiderman and Crimewave fame, is to direct the World of Warcraft movie according to GI.biz.

Activision Blizzard has announced that the long-planned live-action movie adaptation of MMO World of Warcraft is moving ahead with the revelation that Sam Raimi - much-decorated director of the Spider-Man trilogy - has signed up to steer the project.

He'll be working with Charles Roven, whose Atlas Entertainment company has produced numerous hit films - including The Dark Knight - and the movie will be released by Legendary Pictures.

"Blizzard Entertainment and Legendary Pictures have a shared vision for this film and we searched at length to find the very best director to bring that vision to life," said Paul Sams, COO of Blizzard Entertainment. "From our first conversation with Sam, we could tell he was the perfect choice. Sam knows how to simultaneously satisfy the enthusiasts and the mainstream audience that might be experiencing that content for the first time. We're looking forward to working with him to achieve that here."

And Roven added: "Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft has become a second home for millions of players and Sam's experience and talent make him the perfect director for this remarkable and action-packed world."

Jeffrey Kaplan 'fesses up at GDC with 9 quest related problems with WoW.  Most of the issues relate to accesibility - from the Shacknews report:

1. "The Christmas Tree Effect"

What this means, and this is kind of a weird one, but you show up to a quest hub, and your minimap is lit up like a Christmas tree with quest exclamation marks.

The weird thing is, if you ask our fans, they love this. This is to them a good quest hub... They go in and vacuum up the quests. But we've lost all control to guide them to a really fun experience.

Kaplan noted that this leads to users not reading the quests, not bothering to remember which quest giver gave what, and forgetting the order in which to do the quests.

"It's much better to have a slow, guided experience," he said. "I think if you go to [Lich King zones] Borean Tundra or Howling Fjord, you'll always have a ton of quests to do, but you'll never have more than 6 or 7 quests in your quest log."

Blizzard are stating that character re-customisation is now available.

Ready for a new look in World of Warcraft, but the barbershop's just not cutting it? You can now change a character’s gender, face, skin color, and other cosmetic features (such as tauren horn styles or a night elf's facial markings) using the brand-new Character Re-Customization service. Available at the Account Management page for a flat fee of $15, Character Re-Customization covers all available cosmetic options for a single character and includes an optional name change to go with your new look. For more information, see the FAQ -- or log in to the Character Re-Customization page now to begin the process of reinventing the new you!

Blizzard have announced that WoW has passed the 11m sub mark.

IRVINE, Calif. - October 28, 2008 - Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that the subscribership for World of Warcraft®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), now exceeds 11 million players worldwide. This milestone was reached as the beta test for Wrath of the Lich King®, World of Warcraft's second expansion, nears completion. Wrath of the Lich King will launch in several regions around the world starting on November 13.

"It's been very rewarding to see gamers around the world continue to show such strong support for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment®. “We remain fully committed to responding to that enthusiasm with a high-quality, constantly evolving game experience.

Since debuting in North America on November 23, 2004, World of Warcraft has become the most popular MMORPG around the world. It was the bestselling PC game of 2005 and 2006 worldwide, and finished behind only World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade®, the first expansion pack for the game, in 2007.* In addition to being the bestselling PC game of 2007 in both North America and Europe, The Burning Crusade holds the record for fastest-selling PC game of all time, with nearly 2.4 million copies sold in its first 24 hours of availability and approximately 3.5 million in its first month.

A short piece at Kotaku claims World of Warcraft has cost $200M to run (presumably excluding development) since release in 2004.  It's a hefty sum but no doubt leaves a bit of change left over to keep things ticking along.

Blizzard announce WoW servers up in Russia.

We are delighted to announce the release of World of Warcraft and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade in Russian, available today. As well as being able to experience the worlds of Azeroth and Outland in Russian, players now also have access to full Russian language support and a range of payment options in roubles.

For existing players, you can convert your account to a Russian account, by following the procedure outlined here. Once your account is converted, you will be able to pay for the account in roubles. Some restrictions apply and you can read all about the distinctions here. A free migration option is available for a limited time for transfers from existing European realms to Russian language realms, to allow you to take immediate advantage of Russian language in-game support.

New players can create a Russian account here, and find out more about the benefits of these accounts here. Two new Russian language realms have been opened today for new character creation only.

A free trial is also available, allowing you to experience the World of Warcraft for ten days, absolutely free.

We extend a warm welcome to all our current and future Russian speaking players, and hope that they will now enjoy World of Warcraft even more.

 Blizzard made security gadget for WoW players. More questions on the gadget answered on their FAQ.

What is the Blizzard Authenticator?

The Blizzard Authenticator is an optional tool that offers World of Warcraft players an additional layer of security to help prevent unauthorized account access. The Authenticator itself is a physical “token” device that fits easily on a keyring.

Where do I get a Blizzard Authenticator?

The Blizzard Authenticator will be able to be purchased directly from the Blizzard Store for $6.50 *Coming Soon*.

How does the Blizzard Authenticator work?

You must first associate the Blizzard Authenticator to the World of Warcraft account you play.  Once the account has been linked, the Authenticator token will be required to log in to Account Management or to the game; when logging in, you will be prompted to supply a digital code generated by the Authenticator.

US doctor says MMOs addiction more shameful than 'x-rated' material addiction. I wonder if it's more shameful than boys (grown-men) playing with a dolls house? MVCUK article here.

A leading psychiatrist in the treatment of online game addiction has revealed that some World Of Warcraft users are more ashamed of being addicted to the game than to online porn.

Speaking to The Boston Globe, Dr Jerald Block spoke about the rise in internet addiction and some of the cases he has had to deal with.

Alexander Gambotto-Burke talks MMOs with the likes of Flying Lab Software chief executive Russell Williams and Raph Koster.

Some of this can be attributed to WoW's success. The game's critical esteem and massive subscriber-base promise a very consistent and well-maintained MMO experience, so it's little surprise that when a smaller MMO's subscriber-base declines, WoW's inflates. "We see a lot of MMOs like that, where they get two-to-three months of a good reaction, and then their player-base disappears," says Flying Lab Software chief executive Russell Williams. "Where? Well ... they go back to WoW!"

For the majority of MMOs released after WoW, this rings true. After being released in 2006, Turbine's hyped and well-reviewed Dungeons & Dragons Online declined from 90,000 subscribers to 50,000 within a few months. A year later, SOE's Vanguard: Saga of Heroes lost 80,000 subscribers after its 120,000 peak in a similar amount of time. Other big-budget MMOs - 2006's Auto Assault, notably - can't even garner enough users to keep running for more than a year.

Well, this one comes from the humour department. It seems Uwe Boll has been turned down by Blizzard for a World of Warcraft movie. Here's what he had to say to MTV when interviewed:

“You go for it, to please the game fans, but on the other hand if you have the hard core gamers, they live in their own world. And you cannot fulfill their ideas from a video game based movie, it’s impossible,” Boll recently told MTV News. “And to be honest, the real gamers are the typical download guys, right? They don’t pay anything for movies, because they illegally download the movies. So why I should please these guys? I need the normal audience.”

“I got in contact with Paul Sams of Blizzard, and he said, ‘We will not sell the movie rights, not to you…especially not to you,’” Boll revealed. “Because it’s such a big online game success, maybe a bad movie would destroy that ongoing income, what the company has with it.”

Mcvuk.com has a news article on Dr Tanya Byron's comments on TV program Am I Normal?

“It might seem ludicrous to compare a childish computer fantasy game with hard drug addiction. But addiction counsellors offering treatment to gamers argue that there are key similarities in the way that the consumer gets hooked into coming back for more.”

Byron spoke to counsellor Stephen Noel-Hill, who she revealed was “himself a recovering gambling addict” – and who had set up a recovery clinic in Amsterdam which welcomed ‘games addicts’

Interview @ Gamespy with Blizzard's Lead Designer Tom Chilton and eSports Manager Joong Kim.

GameSpy: The World of Warcraft Arena Tournament has been a great excuse for us to transform the WoW players on staff from emoting clickers into full-fledged PvPers. It's been a difficult transition to say the least. It's a whole new game for us. So let's talk about the Arena Tournament, and what it means for World of Warcraft.

Tom Chilton, Lead Designer: The big objective is to build WoW into a viable eSports game platform. We feel like with the introduction of the arena team and the arena system, we've got a way to set ourselves up for competitive eSports. We've been pretty happy with how the system has been turning out, it's a very popular system within WoW. It's fostered a strong sense of competition and community within that. It's turned out as a real sub-game within the game.

World of Warcraft has been updated from v. 2.4 to v. 2.4.1. Quote taken from Blue's News:

Another new patch for World of Warcraft is now available, updating Blizzard's MMORPG to version 2.4.1, adding 0.0.1 of goodness to the recently released version 2.4. The US/Aus English patch is available on ActionTrip, AtomicGamer, FanGaming, FileFront, Gamer's Hell, Games32, The Patches Scrolls, PixelRage, and Strategy Informer. Some or all of the other various localized editions can be found on ActionTrip, AtomicGamer, FanGaming, FileFront, Gamer's Hell, Games32, The Patches Scrolls, PixelRage, and Strategy Informer.

There is a trailer of the upcoming patch v2.4 entitled "Fury of the Sunwell" up at the official site.

The Evolution of World of Warcraft and it's Many Games at Gamasutra. 

 [In this new Gamasutra opinion piece, game student and writer James Lantz discusses the evolution of World of Warcraft's 'metagames' - the multiple mechanics contained within the hit MMO, from the "honor system" to Battlegrounds and the Arena.]

Eurogamer re-review WoW calling it a masterpiece 10/10.

WOW doesn't just dominate the MMO landscape because it's the proverbial goose's golden egg. WOW dominates because, in pure quality terms, it's in a class of its own. Blizzard is constantly working to keep it that way, to improve not just on its weaknesses (the grind, the endgame) but its strengths (the interface, the world-building). It's made huge leaps forward on all those fronts in the last few months alone, and as a result, WOW is an even more inviting prospect for new or returning players than it ever was. It is, in short, a masterpiece.

This also ushers in EuroGamer's new MMO channel. 

Bruce Woodcock's mmogchart.com was updated last month showing a massive 62% market share for WoW in MMO subscriptions.

In response to the earlier newsbit I posted on gender (this is not totally unique to WoW of course) the womens section of the same UK newspaper has followed up here.

Anyone who has played video games with any regularity will know that character design is one of those areas where gender stereotypes run riot. Most pre-packaged characters are white, male and buff. Female characters are few and far between, and when they do appear they are usually highly sexualised or passive, or both. Game architects just don't seem to be able to look beyond those pneumatic breasts.

Short preview of the next patch for WoW. The latest patch notes for WoW can also be found on their test realm patch page.

The first of the new instances is Magister's Terrace, a dungeon for a party of five players, offering both normal and heroic modes and a second pop at Blood Elf lord Kael'thas Sunstrider (also the boss of the raid zone in The Burning Crusade's Tempest Keep).

It's joined by Sunwell Plateau, a new challenge for a full-sized raid of 25 players. This is intended to be the hardest raid in the game until the next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, appears. Its final boss, Kil'jaeden - who will have to be unlocked by the combined efforts of all players on the server - is acting leader of the Burning Legion and creator of the Lich King. So, Fury of the Sunwell appears to offer a climax to the Burning Crusade storyline, and a bridge to the new adventures in Northrend, expected later this year.

 

The Guardian.co.uk has an article on online games and swapping gender. Here's the link. 

"In our offline lives, there are set boundaries and limits – but these synthetic worlds allow people to explore aspects of their personalities that they couldn't otherwise do."

Blizzard has announced that World of Warcraft subscriptions have now surpassed the staggering figure of 10 million worldwide.  Head over to the official site for the full press release.

IRVINE, Calif. -- January 22, 2008 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that subscribership for World of Warcraft^®, its award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), has continued to climb, recently passing 10 million worldwide. Interest in the game has remained high in all regions, with thousands of new and returning players signing up through the holiday season. World of Warcraft now hosts more than 2 million subscribers in Europe, more than 2.5 million in North America, and approximately 5.5 million in Asia.

"It's very gratifying to see gamers around the world continuing to show such enthusiasm and support for World of Warcraft," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're always pleased to welcome new players to the game, and we're looking forward to sharing the next major content update with the entire community in the months ahead."

World of Warcraft is three years old and Blizzard is holding a contest to celebrate.  Prizes include gift certificates, action figures, iPods and a two year WoW subscription.  Head on over to the official site for the details. 

Blizzard has updated The World of Warcraft Armory with details of the new Guild Bank system introduced to World of Warcraft.

A new Guild Bank system has been introduced to World of Warcraft. There are two new tabs on the Guild page that are devoted to Guild Banks. This is the first "protected area" of the Armory which requires additional security measures to access.

VideoGamer.com brings word that Blizzard is not thinking about a World of Warcraft sequel yet, instead preferring to focus on bringing new ideas to the existing game.

Speaking to VideoGamer.com, Pearce said the team is still waiting to enjoy new content as players before turning to what must be an inevitable sequel.

"We haven't even started to think about a sequel," he said. "The team still has a huge wishlist of exciting features to add on top of what's already been implemented since launch. Not to mention, we're all still playing the game pretty heavily ourselves, and there's a lot more content that we want to see as players."

Jeffrey Kaplan talks to WarCry about Wrath of the Lich King, the upcoming expansion for World of Warcraft.

WarCry: The death knight is being billed as a tank/dps (damage per second) hybrid. How do you see them fitting into raids alongside protection warriors, feral druids, and protection paladins?

Jeffrey Kaplan: We made some really good strides in The Burning Crusade to improve the feral druid as a hybrid tank/dps class. That will be the general direction we'll be looking to go with the death knight. Obviously, the protection warrior is in a good place in terms of dungeon and raid tanking. And the protection paladin is hands-down the best multi-target tank. Of course, there's always room for improvement, but you can see the general direction the tanking classes are headed. While all of these classes are capable of fulfilling similar roles, they offer very different abilities and playstyles.

If you missed the Blizzard Insider preview, now's your chance to catch glimpse inside Utgarde Keep at the official World of Warcraft site.

Among the cliffs of the Daggercap Bay in the Howling Fjord stands Utgarde Keep, an impervious fortress occupied by the savage and enigmatic vrykul. The ancient stronghold stretches deep into the earth, but thus far no scout from the Alliance or Horde has survived long enough to explore its depths. Long thought to be abandoned, Utgarde has only recently returned to occupation after millennia of disuse. Now the half-giant vrykul pour endlessly from within the keep's battle-scarred walls to assault the nearby settlements.

Blizzard has updated the screenshot gallery at the official World of Warcraft site with a fine selection of new Wrath of the Lich King images. 

Blizzard has updated the official World of Warcraft site with a new atlas.

The World of Warcraft Online Atlas is here! The new Online Atlas is an informative resource to help you navigate the many locations and regions of Azeroth and Outland using an intuitive Flash interface. The Atlas has two display modes:

Detailed Region Info: See all the regions of Azeroth and Outland by clicking the minimap on the upper left. Each region is marked with cities, towns, dungeons, and other points of interest. Clicking on each marker displays additional information -- for example, clicking on a town shows you what resources are available there, such as trainers, flightmasters, and repair merchants. Detailed capital city maps are also available from each continent's drop-down menu.

Customized Region Info: Clicking on the Customized Region Info tabs displays an overlay on the world map highlighting only the particular type of information you select. For example, clicking on the Transportation tab brings up all the flight paths and boat/zeppelin stops in the world, and the Region Levels filter displays the appropriate level range for all regions in the world.

We hope you'll find the new Online Atlas handy in your World of Warcraft adventures!

For those of you who prefer to use a console controller, Switchblade Gaming promises to deliver the experience to players of World of Warcraft. Here's the puff piece:

Switchblade is FREE cutting-edge software that brings a fully configured game controller experience to the most popular PC games, beginning with World of Warcraft®.

SwitchBlade provides all the functions of a mouse and keyboard, providing an exciting new way to play World of Warcraft.   More freedom.   More comfort.

Blizzard has updated the macro guide at the official World of Warcraft site.

Eurogamer talks to Jeff Kaplan about Wrath of the Lich King and what Blizzard learned from The Burning Crusade.

Eurogamer: There were some flaws in The Burning Crusade, such as the difficulty of accessing certain instances and other elements which caused concern for hardcore players. What did you learn from that?

Jeff Kaplan: I fully agree with you, we did learn many lessons from The Burning Crusade. We've already fixed the access issue with recent updates. I can't tell you a lot about the progression system in Wrath of the Lich King, but we're exploring new paths to make this add-on accessible to everyone.

For example, we could imagine some open content for a server rather than for a specific guild, like we did with Ahn'Qiraj. We could even push this basic concept a little further. You could also imagine a system which would allow you to grant access to all your characters once you've unlocked it with one of them. It's a very important matter for us; we don't want to remake what I personally consider a mistake in the Burning Crusade.

An interview with the Wrath of the Lich King design team has been added to the official World of Warcraft site.  In it the team answer questions about the new Death Knight class.

One of the biggest news at this year’s BlizzCon was the announcement of World of Warcraft’s next expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, and the introduction of the game’s first hero class, the death knight. What made you choose this particular class?

One of the things we knew very early on during development of Wrath of the Lich King was that we wanted to add an entirely new class to the existing ones. We actually considered several other class candidates before we decided on the death knight, but we felt that this was the perfect fit for the theme of Wrath of the Lich King for a lot of reasons.

GameInfowire.com has posted a selection of Wrath of the Lich King screenshots. 

Blizzard has updated the official World of Warcraft site with a selection of new Wrath of the Lich King screenshots.

The official World of Warcraft site has been updated with a selection of Ogri'la faction tips.

Your first goal is to reach neutral reputation with Ogri'la, as you must be neutral to interact with the Ogri'la questgivers and vendors. To start the process, talk to the ogre Grok in the southeast corner of Shattrath's Lower City - he should be hard to miss. He sends you off to see Mog'dorg the Wizened in Blade's Edge, who will begin the quest line that will bring you to neutral with Ogri'la upon its completion.

ComputerGames.ro previews Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion pack for Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

The first major thing WotLK brings to the table, barring the new continent, is, as previously mentioned, 10 more character levels, from 70 to 80, which otherwise makes me want to bet that we will have 2 more expansions except this one and TBC, so we’d have a nice round maximum level of 100. Blizzard, apparently excited by the success of TBC, stated that the new level cap will be reached in a time span approximately equal to that needed to get from 70 to 80. As we all know, the record of that one is a little more than 20 hours, but no one really rushes you, except the other million players all rushing to get to the “end-game” stuff, including your guild who may kick your sweet behind if you dare to get lazy. Because one cannot mention enough times this small detail, to access the new continent Northend and to unlock your path to the level 80 glory, you’d have to own the new expansion and the old expansion and the Vanilla WoW itself and a computer and internet access and few dozen tons of coffee and a reliable pizza delivery company – that would be a basic start up list (additional details would include resigning from your current job if you have one and dumping your family, should you suffer the misfortune of being married).

This one comes straight from the about-damn-time department.

We're pleased to announce that we're now able to accept PayPal payments for World of Warcraft subscriptions. Both current and new subscribers can now assign their PayPal account as their automatic payment method on the Account Management page. If you wish to open a PayPal account or want to learn more about the popular online payment system, the PayPal website has the details.

IGN Australia takes a look a the background of Ner'zhul, the titular Lich King of Blizzard's upcoming World of Warcraft expansion.

In order to understand who the Lich King is, the tale must kick off with Ner'zhul - Elder Shaman of Draenor. His is a strange and ultimately sad tale. As Ner'zhul escaped the dying land of Draenor, he broke a blood pact with the demon Kil'jaeden, known as the 'Beautiful One'.

Jeffrey Kaplan chats to WarCry about the latest goings on in World of Warcraft.

WarCry: The complication and difficulty of getting keyed and attuned for many instances has risen quite a bit. What is the reason for increasing the complication for attunements and keys?

Jeffrey Kaplan: I'm actually a big fan of how the Heroic keying process worked out. We want there to be a sense of progression and something to look forward to, but at the same time we don't want the process to get so complicated that it becomes too daunting. When you group with people in a Heroic instance, you know that they have a certain level of understanding when it comes to that particular dungeon because they needed to do it a few times. As time goes on, we'll continue to tweak and balance the attunement processes in response to player feedback and our own observations.

WoW has been updated to v2.12 (notes) and manual patch files can be nabbed at 3D Downloads, FileFront and no doubt everywhere else.  Blizzard's Jeff Kapalan has commented via Blizzplanet that attunements for Serpentshrine and Tempest Keep have been eliminated: "While many of our attunements in the Burning Crusade have been good progression checks, a few of the attunements have turned out to cause unnecessary stress on guilds either doing the content or attempting to do the content."

Not surprisingly, there's a new round of bannings:

In the US and Europe, we recently banned several thousand accounts associated with the use of botting programs that fully automate player actions, such as killing and looting monsters. We take these attempts to bypass the rules and standards of the game extremely seriously, and we will continue to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and its players from the negative effects of cheating.

Taking the lead of many a fansite, Blizzard has added an item database to the official World of Warcraft site.

The Armory's Item Database is a comprehensive searchable database of the items of World of Warcraft. As the only official item database for World of Warcraft, it has the exclusive ability to draw information from the actual game servers and is integrated with the Armory's character profiles. It's also designed for ease of use – to give you the items you're looking for as quickly and easily as possible.

Joe Iuliani takes a closer look at the latest World of Warcraft content update.

Blizzard renews World of Warcraft with new solo and five man quests that generate quick money and loot. Many quests are repeatable with a number of blue items dropping. Additionally, there is a new group to achieve faction with, the Sha'tar Skygaurd (it wouldn't be an MMO without some more faction grinding). The quest lines start off right next to the flight point in Shattrath The Sha'tar have two main camps, one in Skettis located in Terokkar Forrest and near Ogri'la in Blade's Edge Mountains. As you gain faction with the Skygaurd, a flight path opens between the two locations. As you can imagine, this makes loot questing more convenient.

Blizzard has updated the official World of Warcraft site with information on Badges of Justice .

Badges of Justice are obtained from bosses in Heroic mode dungeons. Every member of a five-man group can loot their own Badge from each boss defeated in Heroic mode. The Badges are bind-on-pickup and thus cannot be traded or sold. Access to Heroic difficulty requires Revered reputation level (for each group member) with the dungeon's associated faction. Badges of Justice can be turned in for these powerful rewards from G'eras, found in Shattrath's Terrace of Light.

A preview of the upcoming World of Warcraft patch is available at the official site.

Long ago on Draenor, the Temple of Karabor was the center of draenei worship. But the devout priests who prayed there are long dead, slaughtered by marauding, demonically corrupted orcs. In the massacre's aftermath the warlocks of the Shadow Council seized the structure and bestowed upon it a new name: the Black Temple.

Blizzard has once again updated the official World of Warcraft site, this time with an Arena Tournament page.

The World of Warcraft Arena Tournament webpage is now live. Our most current information is on this page, including news announcements, frequently asked questions, and the newly released tournament rules. We will add more content to this webpage as the tournament progresses, so check back periodically for the latest information.

Blizzard has updated the official World of Warcraft site with information on the Zangarmarsh PvP rewards .

In Outland, Honor Hold and Thrallmar both battle for control of strategic objectives in Zangarmarsh. By wresting control of the Twin Spire Ruins from the opposing faction in Zangarmarsh, you can get access to nice rewards. Take a moment to check them out here.

CNET's News.com offers up a story on recent World of Warcraft account bannings.

According to several players, Zak isn't the only WoW participant who recently has received a ban with what they believed to be little or no justification. Critics claim WoW publisher Blizzard Entertainment been snaring innocent players in a dragnet for banned activities like account sharing and gold farming--a system in which players either directly or indirectly acquire large amounts of in-game currency or goods through repetitious actions, often achieved by operating automatic "bots" or macros that kill monsters or discover treasure.

Blizzard's Lead Producer on World of Warcraft Shane Dabiri has been interviewed at Play.tm about the success of the title:

What part of The Burning Crusade are you personally most proud of or excited by?

The massive breadth of the game is one of the things that never cease to amaze us. We've worked hard to include elements that appeal to a wide variety of players. Just to touch on a few things - flying mounts are giving everyone a brand new perspective on the game world. Small groups can adventure in so many different and challenging winged dungeons. The new raid content and boss fights are also more fun than ever for larger groups, while the new Arena System is allowing us to run our first-ever, global World of Warcraft PvP tournament. Though all of these pale in comparison to the thing I'm most proud of, which is our fantastic player community that has embraced this game and called it their own. They are the ones that truly breathe life into this virtual world.

Steve Wilson turns his attention to The Burning Crusade in this week's Casual Play column at MMORPG.com.

Burning Crusade released last week and it turns out that like everyone expected it is more of the same. For many casual gamers however that is exactly what they were hoping for. More of the same when it caters directly to your playstyle is definitely a good thing. And from the number of people I’ve talked to who have a renewed interest in grinding through quests for that magic level cap Crusades is a great thing.

Empire speaks with Blizzard's Vice President of Development, Itzik Ben Bassa, about World of Warcraft and where to next for Blizzard in the MMO space.

How do you imagine you'll be able to top Warcraft in the future?
When we announce our next MMORPG it’s not going to be another WoW - we’re not a company that tends to tread the same ground. It’ll be something innovative and new that really brings entertainment to another level.

Steve Wilson takes a look at guilds in his latest Casual Play column at MMORPG.com.

“Not bad back there, you know our guild is recruiting right now…”

I’ll admit I was interested. It would be much better to have a pool of people to adventure with rather than always looking for pick up groups. It would also be a lot more fun in the battlegrounds to run with folks that saw it more as a team sport than a mob activity. The two players I’d hooked up with in order to venture through one of my rare forays into an instance seemed like decent guys. There’d been no arguing over loot or tactics, no berating of anyone in the pick up group, if their guild was the same it might not be a bad proposition. I’d be more than willing to help out when needed knowing there’d be a community to do the same for me. Guilds in online games are almost a requirement. I was plenty interested.

CVG talks with World of Warcraft Game Designer Jon LeCraft and Blizzard's Vice President of Business Development Itzik Ben Bassat.

World of Warcraft's been massively successful. How difficult has it been coming up with content that tops what you've already done with the game?

Itzik Ben Bassat: We do things from passion. We have this large list of features that we want to get into World of Warcraft, and we pick the features we can get into one expansion.

It's not like looking for features that will get into the expansion, it's deciding which features will not get to this expansion... we'll get to them in the next one. As long as we have stories to tell, and we feel we can create great entertainment, we'll do it.

The latest patch notes - 2.0.5 (01/14/2007) - are available at the official World of Warcraft site.

The Escapist examines the effect that World of Warcraft has had, and continues to have, on the MMORPG genre.

As the highly anticipated World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, is even now lovingly pressed onto glorious discs that will deliver whole new realms of exploration to the game's legions of fans, the future for the genre itself has never seemed more lopsided and limited. What was a wide open field of limitless possibility for companies interested in exploring subscriber based gaming as few as five years ago, has become an environment where even cash-rich companies with dependable IP are completely unwilling to challenge the 800-pound gorilla.

Blue's has news that World of Warcraft's world domination continues with eight million players now signed up:

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that World of Warcraft®, its subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG), is now played by more than 8 million gamers around the world. World of Warcraft has also achieved new regional subscriber milestones, with more than 2 million players in North America, more than 1.5 million players in Europe, and more than 3.5 million players in China.

The Dark Portal has opened. Head on over to the official World of Warcraft site for the full details.

Azeroth is under attack! Horrific creatures are swarming from a suddenly active Dark Portal and have rampaged into the Blasted Lands. Defenders from Nethergarde Keep have scrambled to meet the enemy head-on. However, even with the assistance of reinforcements from the ever-vigilant Argent Dawn, the forces of Azeroth need your help! 

Also in the headlines is the announcement of four new realms.

We are pleased to announce the opening of four new realms. These new realms will provide a great place for new and old players alike to begin fresh adventures within the world of Azeroth. Enjoy!

Name	Type	Time zone	Battlegroup
Moon Guard	RP	CST	Emberstorm
Hydraxis	PVE	CST	Emberstorm
Quel'dorei	PVE	CST	Emberstorm
Mok'Nathal	PvE	CST	Emberstorm

 

Blizzard has updated the battleground and PVP reward pages at the official World of Warcraft site.

We have just updated all of our Battleground and PvP Weapon rewards pages. Now you will be able to see how many honor points or battleground tokens you will need in order to purchase the various rewards, as well as getting a sneak peak at some of the upcoming level 70 gear. Check them out!

• PvP Weapon Rewards
• Alterac Valley Rewards
• Arathi Basin Rewards
• Warsong Gulch Rewards

Blizzard has announced free character moves for a number of World of Warcraft realms.

Beginning at 12 PM, Thursday, January 4 we will be opening Free Character Moves for a number of realms. The destination realms will be newly opened with character creation disabled for the period of free transfers. These transfers will run until 11PM, Tuesday, January 9. Click here for more information.

Also in the headlines at the official site, new Burning Crusade screenshots.

We've updated our screenshot gallery for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade with eight new shots from the current closed beta test of the upcoming expansion.

Steve Wilson's back with another Casual Play column in which he looks at World of Warcraft following the recent patch.

I’m often grateful that there’s one game out there that seems to be catering more frequently to the casual playstyle with every patch. World of Warcraft’s latest patch once again shows that if they don’t love the casual player then they are at least doing everything in their power to keep us around. Specifically, the changes to the battlegrounds have done more to put end level gear in the hands of the casual player than any other single event to date. Even with my paltry dozen hours a week (give or take a few hours) of play time I have managed to acquire the end level PvP weapon. And that’s doing nothing more than something I already loved, fighting in the battlegrounds (at an hour a session as well).

Blizzard has announced the closure of over 100,000 World of Warcraft accounts for violations of the games' terms of service.

In our continued efforts to combat cheating in World of Warcraft, more than 105,000 accounts were closed and over 12 million gold was removed from the game economies in Europe, Korea, and the US in the month of November. The closed accounts were associated with activities that violate World of Warcraft's Terms of Use, such as using third-party programs that allow cheating, and farming gold and items. These types of activities can severely impact the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players.

We will continue to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and its players from the harmful effects of cheating. Please note that selling World of Warcraft content, such as gold, items, and characters, can result in a permanent ban of the involved accounts from World of Warcraft.

Many account closures come as the direct result of tips reported to our GMs in game or emailed to our Hacks Team by legitimate World of Warcraft players. If you suspect that a World of Warcraft player is using an illegal third-party program to farm gold or items, or is otherwise violating our Terms of Use, please report the suspected infraction via one of the means listed above. All reports will be investigated, and those that prove false will not result in corrective action.

As always, thank you for your continued support, and best of luck with your continued adventures in Azeroth!

For those who may have missed the big news, the official World of Warcraft community site recently announced the grand opening of four new realms to romp and stomp in while we anxiously await the release of the Burning Crusade.

Name	Type	Time zone	Battlegroup
Misha	PvE	PST	Whirlwind
Ravenholdt	RP-PVP	EST	Whirlwind
Bladefist	PvE	PST	Whirlwind
Maiev	PvP	PST	Whirlwind

 

Blizzard's Rob Pardo, introduced in this article as the "Maestro", has been interviewed by The Hollywood Reporter on the success of WoW:

THR: You'd mentioned that because "WoW' was your first MMOG, you sort of stumbled into it a bit. If you were to launch another MMOG tomorrow, what would you do differently?
Pardo: Tons of things. We have a whole laundry list entitled "We'll never make these mistakes again."

THR: For instance?
Pardo: Well, anytime we're going to make a major change to the game, we want to take that patch and put it on what we call a "public test realm," a place where the public can stress-test it out for four or six weeks and discover whether it has any real problems. When we first shipped "WoW" in 2004, we didn't have that public test realm, and so our early patches in the first three months of the game were quite the rollercoaster ride of problems. We'd make changes and there'd be all these horrible bugs that we hadn't noticed. It was a huge mistake on our part and, I assure you, it will never happen again. When you build a massively multiplayer game, you really need thousands of testers to stress-test certain types of things. Our servers hold up to 2,000, 3,000, sometimes 4,000 players, and not even our great 100-person quality-assurance department can stress-test something that big.

David Souza considers the ups and downs of World of Warcraft's endgame.

Have you ever played a team sport? Baseball, Basketball? How about doubles tennis? If you have, you know that personal interaction is the most crucial element of teamwork. Communication is key to keeping the relationship between you and your teammates healthy and progressive. Good communication will lead to personal and team growth. Adversely, poor communication will lead to breakdowns of functionality and conflicts of the team's collective interest.

I've just told you what you most likely already know. So what's my point? Well, for anyone who has played the high end of many of the MMO's out there you have likely seen the difference between the endgame and how it affects the guild social dynamic. The endgames of many MMOs (certainly almost all of the most popular ones) follow a similar paradigm.

Steve Wilson's latest Casual Play column looks at whether World of Warcraft's casual focus detracts from the content on offer to hardcore players.

For many hardcore MMO fanatics simply asking this question is enough to launch them into a torrent of bitterness. Seriously though, what is it about WoW that earns it such a bad rep among those 'in the know' players and amateur ludologists?

Right off the bat WoW has attracted more new players than all other MMOs previously. It has also proven that the casual market is willing to pay ongoing subscription fees, something many were sceptical of prior to its release. These millions of new players have proven that the MMO genre is one that can be profitable, insanely so for the games that get it right. For the hardcore this is a double edged sword. On one hand it means that there will be a lot of new MMOs developed, but most of them will be directed at capturing that casual market. However an increase in development over all means more independent and niche games, more opportunities that there be something out there that appeals to everyone, just not all at once.

GameSpy takes a look at what's in store for players of World of Warcraft with the release of the Before the Storm patch.

In preparation for the launch of The Burning Crusade next month, Blizzard today released the final pre-expansion v2.0.1 update to World of Warcraft. Clocking in at around 500MB, it is the largest update the game has yet seen, one that brings with it some far-reaching changes to its fundamentals. Though the live servers have yet to come up as of 4 p.m., there is already a good bit of speculation as to how these changes will affect the game, from both players who have schooled themselves by poring over the patch notes, and those who have sampled the content first-hand on WoW's public test servers. We'll have first-hand impressions once the servers have come back up, but for now here's a roundup of what to expect from the update Blizzard has termed "Before the Storm."

The Before the Storm patch notes are available at the official World of Warcraft site.  Here's a few highlights.

Revamped PvP Honor System - This new reward system will allow players to accumulate honor points that can be spent like currency to purchase weapons, armor, and various other items beneficial for player-vs.-player progression.

New Talents - Each class will now have access to all-new talents in each of their three talent trees.

Looking For Group Tool - This new tool is designed to assist players in finding groups for instanced dungeons and quests.

Arena Skirmishes - Players will be able to queue for small-group, gladiatorial combat matches by speaking to the Battlemasters throughout the world.

And more!
You can read the entire patch notes here.

Blizzard has added a Game Statistics page to the official World of Warcraft site.

This page provides you with up-to-date statistics about some of the most important aspects of World of Warcraft: most sought-after items in the Auction House, most common player-created items, the fiercest killers in the NPC kingdom, most gathered and found items, most looted items, and the most popular quests.

Garrett Fuller looks at Blizzard's banning of World of Warcraft accounts in his latest editorial at MMORPG.com

More and more account issues continue to pop up in the MMORPG world this week. This time it's the monster company Blizzard who has come under fire for banning accounts that have been running third party software or operating in online trade or gold buying activities. These seem like valid reasons for a ban however players are being hit for running the game on Linux or logging in their character from another location. This is causing a stir among players because those who have done nothing wrong are logging in to find their accounts cancelled with little or no explanation from the company.

The problem is Blizzard allows so many customizable mods for players to use and this area can get shady. We here at MMORPG.com want to try to give players as much information as possible about the situation in order to help them not get wrongly banned as well as protect Blizzard's stance on hacking and third party programs.

Markee Dragon reports on a brewing court case between Blizzard/Vivendi and the makers of WoW Glider, a bot program that effectively plays the game for you.

We knew it had to happen one of these days with a bot program. Bots currently exist for most all Massive Multiplayer games. The biggest MMORPG in North America is World of Warcraft. WoW Glider is a 3rd party application that allows you to control your character in game without having to be present at your computer. It allows you to have your character go out and gain skills hunting monsters and it allows you to loot them. WoW Glider will pick up the items in game and put them in your pack. WoW Glider was launched June 5th 2005. Since that time it has become hugely popular with players of the game.

MMORPG.com's Steve Wilson reflects on two years as a casual player of World of Warcraft.

Two years later and I find myself doing something I've never done in any other MMORPG, I'm still playing World of Warcraft. As a casual player I should have long since gotten bored and moved on. It only took 6 months with EverQuest, six months with Asheron's Call, three days with Ultima Online, three months with World War II Online and Planetside and about a year with Star Wars Galaxies. WoW has not only kept me playing longer than all the others, but kept me active and interested in it nearly the whole time.

More... 

Although muttered by many a jaded MMORPG player, it's interesting to see Slate throwing up an article titled The Lameness of World of Warcraft:

Online swords 'n' sorcery games like Ultima Online and EverQuest once settled for cult followings. But World of Warcraft—the half-game/half-community in which thousands of players cooperate and compete in the same virtual world—turned the genre on its head by luring a massive audience. The game has attracted more than 7.5 million users worldwide—most of whom pay $15 a month to play—and its success has devastated the competition. The New York Times covers Warcraft, and South Park lampooned it. It's a shame, then, that the first massive online game to break into the mainstream is so horribly flawed.

Blizzard has updated the Under Development section of the official World of Warcraft site with further glimpses for what's in store for players of its blockbusting MMORPG.

Blizzard has launched a new feature at the official World of Warcraft site, an encyclopedia. Here's the deal:

Since the release of the first Warcraft game, the lore of the Warcraft universe has been evolving and expanding at an incredible rate. Today, Warcraft lore is spread across four games and three expansions as well as a number of novels, a pen-and-paper roleplaying game, and even a manga series. Now you can find all there is to know about Warcraft in one official source of all things Warcraft: The Warcraft Encyclopedia.

Blizzard has updated the Burning Crusade Spells and Talents Preview at the official World of Warcraft site.

We have updated the Burning Crusade Talent Preview with the expansion's new Druid talents and spells. The spells and talents will be updated as development and tuning progress, so make sure to check back often.

In addition to the Druid talents and abilities being shown, we have included many changes for each of the other classes, updating their information to our latest revisions. Please be sure to check this post for changes which may affect your carefully constructed talent build!

We have updated the Burning Crusade Talent Preview with the expansion's new Priest talents and spells. The spells and talents will be updated as development and tuning progress, so make sure to check back often.

Blizzard, according to Pardo, envisions their market as a donut, with the core players at the center and a more casual audience around that. "It's increasingly important to appeal to both," Pardo said. Blizzard leans heavily on the "easy to learn, difficult to master" mantra, Pardo said, but also does things like lowering system requirements to build a broader audience.

To maximize both depth and accessibility, the company concentrates on depth first and accessibility later, Pardo said. "First we try to come up with what are really cool things, things that will get people to play for two to three years. Then we actually start talking about accessibility, how to make the content approachable and easy to learn. But it starts with depth first."

We'd like to make the community aware of a recent account-theft scam that is being circulated through email, game forums, in-game chat, and other mediums. This scam involves fake URLs, or hyperlinks, that once clicked will install harmful "keylogging" software intended to steal your World of Warcraft account name and password. After the creators of these keyloggers steal this information, they log into your account, immediately change your password to lock you out, and then sell all of your items and transfer all of your gold.

The scam comes in many forms, including URLs advertised as links to class guides, gameplay videos, and in many cases user-interface (UI) modifications. As a general rule, be extremely wary of URLs ending in ".jpg.html" and ".scr," as in many cases the harmful software is being hidden at locations that end with these extensions.

For these reasons, it is very important that players take caution when being directed to outside websites and update the security on their computers accordingly. To secure your computer, we suggest adding some Internet security to your system (for example: a firewall and anti-virus scanner). If you are unsure what security measures to take, discuss the issue of system security with your ISP or a trained Network Administrator for the solution that is right for you.

We also strongly recommend that all players use the Blizzard Launcher to start World of Warcraft. In addition to serving as a portal to the game, the Blizzard Launcher provides greater security for our players against harmful software such as the type discussed here. To learn more about this utility, please visit the Blizzard Launcher Page and check out the Blizzard Launcher FAQ.

If you come across a suspicious link or program, please report it here.

For more information on keeping your account secure and what to do if you feel your account has been compromised, please visit the Account Security page.

We've just released part one of the talents and spells preview for World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade. This preview features all new spells, abilities and talents* that will be available to the mage, paladin, rogue, shaman, warlock, and warrior classes in the upcoming expansion. Be sure to check back often for the next update with the other three classes' new and improved abilities.

We're happy to announce the full release of our new World of Warcraft Community Forums. Over the past months, we enlisted your help in trying out and testing many of the features and functions of our new setup. Once again, thank you for your contributions in improving this service; we look forward to receiving further feedback from you now that the new forums have been deployed.

Some of the new features:

* Updated Character Avatars
* Displayed Talent Builds
* Easier Navigation and Menus
* Increased Signature Space
* Honor Rank Display

Blizzard COO Paul Sams has told GamesIndustry.biz that the company plans to release a new expansion pack for multi-million selling MMO World of Warcraft every year.

Speaking in an exclusive interview, Sams said, "Starting with The Burning Crusade, every year thereafter we plan on bringing out a new expansion set - so every 12 months."

We are pleased to announce the opening of two new EST realms: Undermine which is a PvE realm and Anub'arak which is a new PvP realm. Undermine is being added as a part of Battlegroup 10 and Anub'arak will be a part of Battlegroup 11 once Cross-Realm Battlegrounds are released. These new realms will provide a great place for new and old players alike to begin fresh adventures within the world of Azeroth. Enjoy!

*Important Update to Paid Character Transfers for New Realms

Based on popular feedback, all new realms will now be eligible for Paid Character Transfers after 6 months of being open, instead of the previous 3 months. Realms not yet open for transfers will remain closed for 6 months, meaning if a realm has been open for 2 months, it will require another 4 months in order to be eligible as a transfer destination realm. All realms which are currently available for transfers will remain available. This extension was made to allow communities on new realms enough time to establish their position on the realm before allowing other characters to join.

For more information about this service, please visit the Paid Character Transfers page.

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce the first annual Blizzard Art Contest! We're looking for talented artists to create their favorite characters, monsters, or locations from the Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo universes in both 2D and 3D formats. We'll be posting the winning submissions on our sites, and we're also offering some really cool prizes. Interested? Click here for more information.

With the dangers and rewards beyond the Dark Portal coming every closer, which classes will be available to the two new races in World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade? Will the blood elves be able to use the arcane arts or the draenei wield elemental magic?

Take a look at our draenei and blood elf pages to find the answers and to learn more about these two mysterious races.

he next patch for World of Warcraft will include significant new updates to PvP gameplay. One of these updates is the addition of two outdoor world PvP objectives. Although details of these features are subject to change during development, we'd like to provide you with a general idea of what to expect. Check out our new outdoor PvP information page to learn more about the new challenges that await you in the Eastern Plaguelands and in Silithus.

Virtually every sector of Vivendi's extensive television and telecommunications holdings saw increased profit. However, no sector saw bigger growth than Vivendi Games, which is the owner of Blizzard and the recipient of the buckets of ducats that WOW generates. The division took in 162 million euros ($206 million) for the April-June quarter, an increase of 29.6 percent over its Q2 2005 income. The first half of 2006 saw Vivendi Games' gross haul add up to 296 million euros ($376.4 million), an increase of 24.4 percent over the previous year.

As we draw closer to the release of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, more of the secrets shrouding the draenei and blood elves are being revealed. In the upcoming expansion, you will finally be able to play classes that were previously unavailable to your faction. The blood elves have harnessed the power of the Light for their own needs, and the Horde recognizes the value of these renegade blood elf paladins. Meanwhile, the draenei have been granted the wisdom and strength of the elements, and a number of draenei now follow the path of the shaman.

Read our new information page to learn more about the new class combinations available to players of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

One of the most exciting new features of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade will be the introduction of a new kind of mount that will provide players with unprecedented freedom to explore the world of Outland from an entirely new perspective. After reaching level 70, players will eventually be able to obtain flying mounts for their characters. The nether drake is one of these.

Read more about the flying mounts of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade on our new information page about the nether drake, and also make sure to watch the new nether drake trailer!

We are pleased to announce the opening of two new realms: The Venture Co, which is a RP-PvP realm, and Sentinels, which is a new RP realm. These new realms will provide a great place for new and old players alike to begin fresh adventures within the world of Azeroth. Enjoy!

It's no secret that an MMO must continue to evolve and add content to keep people coming back, and World of Warcraft is no different. Since its launch in November 2004, we've seen the introduction of several large dungeons, zones, and seasonal celebrations, not to mention new loot, crafting recipes, and Battlegrounds, the popular PvP arenas that Blizzard will be enhancing with cross-realm support in the upcoming 1.12 patch (which, interestingly, will be available on the Public Test Realm ahead of the patch's final release). If you're a player who regularly waits an hour or more for a PvP match that may only last ten minutes, cross-server Battleground should bring some much-needed relief from the waiting game, as well as making Alterac Valley a viable option for people who are playing on servers not in their time zone.

World of Warcraft, Blizzard's phenomenally successful fantasy MMOG, has once again come under the spotlight after a number of complaints from the game's online community. Players are venting their frustration about significant disruptions to their playing experience, characterized by lag spikes--long pauses in action when information ceases to flow between the game server and the user's computer--and seemingly random disconnects.

The issues, especially those surrounding lag, have been an ongoing problem for some months on selected European servers previously, but after work by Blizzard and its partners on identifying the issues, and some hardware upgrades, the matter seemed to have been resolved.

The review is well underway and we wanted to share a sort of first glimpse into the changes being made for the rogue talent review. Keep in mind that these changes are not complete or final, and the below information is likely to alter as we move into our testing phases. While not everything is listed, the below list encompasses the majority of changes being made in the review.

I'll be working in the weeks to come to get as much additional information as possible, but it is likely that quite a bit of the final information regarding talent changes will not be fully announced until the talent calculators go live. Of course you'll also be able to actually play around with the changes too once the Public Test Realms go up.

I'm going to just list the changes and provide additional information where possible or necessary. Let's get to it.

# The following talents have been removed: Improved Deadly Poison, Improved Distract, Throwing Weapon Specialization, Improved Vanish, and Rapid Concealment.

# Improved Instant Poison is now "Improved Poisons" and increases your chance to apply ALL poisons by 2/4/6/8/10%.

I am a bit late in opening up our Q&A for the month of July. So because of this the closing date for your questions will be extended until July 18th.

So here it is again, your chance to send us what YOU would like to ask the WoW Developers!

You can submit your question here, we will pick the best ten and forward them on to the WoW Developers!

Make sure you check back often to see if your question was sent!

Eight more realms are eligible for the Paid Character Transfer. You can now transfer characters off of these realms:

* Burning Blade
* Durotan
* Earthen Ring
* Elune
* Laughing Skull
* Lothar
* Medivh
* Shadow Moon

For a full list of eligible realms, please click here. We will continue to scale up the list of realms to accommodate more players as quickly as possible.

To learn more about Paid Character Transfer, please visit the Paid Character Transfer FAQ.

Seven more realms are eligible for the Paid Character Transfer. You can now transfer characters off of these realms:

* Arthas
* Zul'jin
* Stormrage
* Dalaran
* Turalyon
* Magtheridon
* Spirestone

For a full list of eligible realms, please click here. We will continue to scale up the list of realms to accommodate more players as quickly as possible.

We are happy to announce the availability of the Paid Character Transfer service for World of Warcraft. You can find this feature in the account-management section of the official World of Warcraft website. This new functionality will allow you to transfer characters to other realms (within certain restrictions) in order to join friends and family or make new friends and allies. Learn more about this new feature in our Paid Character Transfer FAQ.

The initial launch of the Paid Character Transfer service will only allow transfers between a limited set of realms. You can now transfer characters off of these realms:

• Altar of Storms


• Argent Dawn


• Demon Soul


• Illidan


• Warsong

We'll gradually scale up the list of realms to accommodate more players as quickly as possible. To start transferring your characters, just log in to the account-management section and click the Paid Character Transfer button. Good luck in your continued adventures in Azeroth, and have fun on your new realm!

An amazing fan made machinima for World of Warcraft entitled "Eternal Legend", produced by a member of our Taiwanese community, has recently made its way onto our monitors. With amazing production value and quick paced action it quickly spread through our forums as a benchmark for future World of Warcraft in-game film making. Click here to watch Eternal Legend!

Cross-Realm Battlegrounds

For the first time in the history of World of Warcraft, you will be able to face off against players from other realms in the Battlegrounds. Coming in patch 1.12 are cross-realm PvP Battlegrounds, linking Alterac Valley, Warsong Gulch, and Arathi Basin so that players from several realms will be combined into one huge matchmaking pool. Replenish your mana, sharpen your blades, and get ready for some brand-new challengers!

While previous updates to World of Warcraft have been relatively low-key affairs, and the opening of Ahn'Qiraj oriented towards level 60 dungeon raiders, the latest content update affects the entire game world. Menacing ziggurats have appeared near Azeroth's major cities, floating in midair and pulsating with evil. The Argent Dawn has arrived in Ironforge, Stormwind City, and several other major hubs, appealing to the higher-level players to come to Light's Hope Chapel in the Eastern Plaguelands, where we will take up arms against the worldwide Scourge invasion and eventually make our way into Naxxramas, a huge dungeon levitating above EPL.

In addition to the new dungeon, players will take part in a special event spanning several weeks, known as the Scourge Invasion. Throughout Azeroth, special crystal shards have appeared, acting as the spawning point for waves of undead. By beating the invaders back, players will complete new quests (mostly available at Light's Hope Chapel) and acquire new items and gear. Areas where invasions are taking place are easily viewable on the global map, and as servers came back online today, it wasn't long before hundreds of players descended upon each shard to destroy wave after wave of undead invaders.

If I don't have any level 60 characters, and probably won't by the time the expansion is released. Will it be worth it for me to buy the expansion? Specifically, will there be any instances, quests or areas that are part of the expansion for characters level 1-59, and will the new battlegrounds be for level 60-70 characters only? - Garrett Guillotte from the Feathermoon realm.

A. There will be new zones for levels 1-20, new pvp features and content will be accessible by players who have not quite reached level 60, and there will be a brand-new profession: jewelcrafting. With that being said, please keep in mind that the new content is primarily oriented toward players who are either starting new characters or continuing their max-level characters.

The Midsummer Fire Festival is here, signaling a time of merriment and a chance to revel in the hottest season of the year by lighting celebratory bonfires across the land and sharing in what the elemental spirits have to offer. Learn more about the new Midsummer Fire Festival events and rewards here!

We've updated the World of Warcraft guide for the 1.11 patch, Shadow of the Necropolis. Some of the major updates include:

* New flight paths added to the world map
* New epic rewards for Warsong Gulch
* New PvP weapons
* Cenarion Circle class quest rewards updated

Highlights of Shadow of the Necropolis - Patch 1.11:

• New Raid Dungeon - Naxxramas
  
• Tier 3 Raid Armor Sets
  
• Updated Mage and Shaman Talents
  
• New Argent Dawn and Cenarion Circle Faction Rewards
  
• Upgraded PvP Armor Sets
  
• New Feature: Keyrings
  
• New Flightpaths
  
• And much more!

Why do Darkspear (Jungle) trolls yell "For Zul'jin!", when Zul'jin is a forest troll?- Robert Dooley from the Daggerspine realm.

A. Zul'jin is honored by most troll tribes for both his valor and leadership. Even the jungle trolls hold his legend in the highest esteem.

IE Does a higher skilled fisherman(woman) catch fish faster than a someone of lower skill? Or maybe higher skill has a higher chance of catching better fish? - Chuck from the Azjul-Nerub realm.

A. The Fishing skill only determines whether you catch a fish, it does not determine what the fish is or how fast it is caught.

We have just released an extensive source of information on the trolls, one of Azeroth's most ancient civilizations. The Troll Compendium features a lot of interesting background material about early troll history, the trolls' role in the Horde, and also some new insights about trollish customs and society. You can check out the new Troll Compendium here.

We're pleased to announce the opening of two new realms: Aerie Peak, a PvE realm, and Lethon, a PvP realm. These new realms will provide a great place for new and old players alike to begin fresh adventures in Azeroth.

If you have ever wanted to know what recipes are available for your profession, Warcry's World of Warcraft fan site now has a complete list of recipes, including what reagents they require, and what they create, all able to be arranged by profession type. Click here to start window shopping!

We're in the final stages of development for our new World of Warcraft forums, and we need your help to make sure everything is bolted on tight. The new forums will offer the same great place for World of Warcraft players to congregate and discuss the game, but with a new look and some new features. Go check them out, and while you're there, please provide us with bug reports and any other comments you have. Please note that all of our current forums will remain live while we beta test these new forums.

The official World of Warcraft pen-and-paper role-playing game (RPG) offers Warcraft background material and stories that you can't find anywhere else. Now you can download "Bones of Ironforge", a complete adventure and introduction into White Wolf's World of Warcraft RPG. Gather some friends, stack up on snacks, and get those dice rolling! With brand new adventures to experience, Azeroth will never be the same after you leave your mark.

If you enjoyed "Bones of Ironforge" or if you already play White Wolf's World of Warcraft RPG, you may also want to take advantage of White Wolf's Week of Warcraft special from June 14 through June 21. Go to www.white-wolf.com/weekofwarcraft for more details!

The World Series of Video Games' Lanwar event is upon us and is set to kick off at 10:00 AM in Louisville, KY on Thursday, June 15, so we'd like to release some helpful info for those planning to attend the show and participate in the Blizzard tournaments and contests. Please visit our World of Warcraft Lanwar page for the following information:

* World of Warcraft Tournament FAQs
* StarCraft, Warcraft III, and Defense of the Ancients FAQs
* World of Warcraft: Undead Stratholme race � gear list
* World of Warcraft: Warsong Gulch � gear list
* Blizzard event schedule

Have you already seen all our screenshots of the day? Then check out the European World of Warcraft Screenshots archive for a completely new collection of screenshots, such as this gem...

The Argent Dawn reputations page has been updated with more rewards of superior and epic quality! Check out the new reputation rewards and new recipes in store for those who have proven their dedication to the Argent Dawn's fight against the Scourge. Click here to see what new items await you!

The new World of Warcraft World Map from BradyGames is a perfect blend of form and function. Whether you put the detailed artwork on display or use it to make your way through Azeroth, this two-sided poster makes a great addition to your game room or World of Warcraft collection.

Side 1 shows a map of Azeroth, unfettered - with a clear view of the topography of the continents. Side 2 includes all flight paths, as well as labeled cities, dungeons, and regions. The full-color, large-format design fits standard 36" x 48" poster frames, and it ships rolled in a tube to prevent fold marks. This exclusive map is only available at BradyGames.com.

Set two of the World of Warcraft limited edition bronze figurines is now available! Made from ink-washed bronze with a very high level of detail, these sixteen collectibles depicting every race and class available in World of Warcraft can be used as playing pieces, bragging rights, or as a cool decoration for your desk. Check them out at the Fantasy Flight Games website.

We have just released an improved version of our popular talent calculators. You will now see all three trees for each class on the same page, and the click responsiveness has been greatly improved under Internet Explorer. Talents that unlock new class abilities will now also display all trainable ranks of the associated ability. We hope you enjoy our new talent calculators!

We're happy to announce the opening of two new Oceanic realms: Aman'Thul a PvE realm, and Barthilas, a PvP realm. These realms will go live tonight at 11:59 PM PDT, June 8th, placing these realms live at approximately 4:59 PM GMT+10, June 9th. This will allow our Oceanic players to begin creating characters at a time comfortable for them. These two new realms will offer our Oceanic players, new and old alike, fresh beginnings in Azeroth!

We're happy to announce the opening of two new Oceanic realms: Aman'Thul a PvE realm, and Barthilas, a PvP realm. These realms will go live tonight at 11:59 PM PDT, June 8th, placing these realms live at approximately 4:59 PM GMT+10, June 9th. This will allow our Oceanic players to begin creating characters at a time comfortable for them. These two new realms will offer our Oceanic players, new and old alike, fresh beginnings in Azeroth!

Have you missed a previous issue of the Community Spotlight? No problem, just visit the Community Spotlight Archive, where we've collected many of the Community Spotlights from 2005 and 2006. You'll find links to a lot of cool and useful web content about World of Warcraft there, so be sure to check it out.

In 1991, the internet didn't exist.

That is to say, it did exist (and had for some time), but to the majority of Americans it might as well have been a huffalump until the creation of the World Wide Web in (approximately) 1992, when the internet would begin to become both widely understood, and easy-to-use (therefore "of interest" to most people).

It used to be the stuff of blues legend: Sign a contract at the Crossroads, lose a little bit of your soul, and get wealth and success until Ol' Scratch called in the contract at the end of time. Blizzard Entertainment may not have much in common with a poor man out of Mississippi, but both attained the stature of legend, and both may have lost a little piece of their souls. Blizzard made games so incredibly popular (World of Warcraft, StarCraft, Diablo), their success transformed the company culture and managed to burn out the creative team that made them a household name.

Some things take the world by surprise. The popularity of Katamari Damacy came as quite a shock to Namco. Prior to 1997, no one had ever heard of Harry Potter or J.K. Rowling. World of Warcraft (WoW) didn't just catch the world off-guard, it knocked it flat to the canvas. In early 2004, the game's well publicized beta had fans slavering at the mouth. When the game launched in November of that year, retail outlets couldn't stock their shelves quickly enough. Since then, WoW has remained at or near the top of PC game sales in the U.S. and abroad. Today, over six million souls inhabit the fictional realm of Azeroth. Everyone, at least according to Blizzard, is playing World of Warcraft.

WoWBreak and Fantasy Flight Games are giving away one complete set of the World of Warcraft Set One Limited Edition figures for our June contest! These bronze heroes from World of Warcraft are cast in bronze with a black ink wash, bringing out an incredible level of detail. This is the complete Set One, including the Night Elf Warrior, the Orc Warrior, the Tauren Hunter, the Gnome Mage, the Dwarf Hunter, the Human Warlock, the Forsaken Warlock, and the Troll Priest. We will be giving away the "Set Two" version of the Limited Edition figures in another contest we will hold in July.

Those who have registered for WSVG Lanwar in Kentucky can now register for the unofficial tournaments the Blizzard team will be running at the event.

* To save your BYOC seat at Lanwar, register first at the official website here. There are still spaces open in both Blizzard BYOC areas.
* Once you've signed up for the event, sign-ups for all the Blizzard tournaments can be found here.

With our next major content patch, Shadow of the Necropolis, players will have access to the new high-level raid dungeon Naxxramas, the seat of Kel'Thuzad, one of the most feared enemies the world of Warcraft has ever known. Horrors of the past and new terrors yet to be unleashed are converging inside the necropolis as the Lich King's servants prepare their assault. Soon, the Scourge will march again...

Learn more about the Scourge Invasion, the new world event coming with the next patch.