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We're pretty sure that people have been signing up like crazy for the Wrath of the Lich King beta ever since signups opened up. For the pragmatists out there, however, you might be interested in knowing more about the beta and the beta opt-in mechanics before taking the plunge.
To that end, Blizzard CM Bornakk provided folks with a handy opt-in FAQ for Wrath, which we've posted below. Feel free to read it and head on over to your account so you can sign up for the beta, if you so choose. That being said, if you haven't been assured a spot yet, we wish you the best of luck in being chosen for the beta.
Q: Who is eligible for the Wrath of the Lich King Beta opt-in?
A: Any player who has both an active World of Warcraft subscription and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is eligible to opt in to the beta at (https://www.worldofwarcraft.com/account/beta-opt-in.html). The account must be active when the beta starts in order to be eligible to receive an invitation.
Q: Do I need to sign up for the Wrath of the Lich King opt-in if I have an unused beta key from a previous BlizzCon or Blizzard Worldwide Invitational (WWI)?
A: We haven't announced which betas the BlizzCon or WWI keys will grant access to. Unless you've already been notified that you have a guaranteed spot in the Wrath of the Lich King beta, you should opt in if you want a chance to be invited.
Q: What previous contests and promotions will have guaranteed me access to the Wrath of the Lich King beta?
A: Frostmourne Fan Art Contest winners (to be announced in the coming weeks) or players who have purchased the Dell XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition notebook are guaranteed beta slots and do not need to opt in to participate in the beta.
Q: If I'm certain I'm already getting a beta invite from another source, will I be able to win another invite if I opt in?
A: Players may opt in to the beta even if they are already guaranteed a spot from another source. In the event you are selected to receive an additional beta invite, it may be gifted to a friend or family member.
Q: Will invites be sent on a first-come, first-served basis, or will invites be sent randomly?
A: Beta invitees will be selected randomly from the entire pool of players who have chosen to opt in. Signing up early doesn't necessarily mean you'll be invited sooner than someone who signs up after you.
Q: Does this mean the beta is coming soon?!
A: We are preparing for the beta but do not have an official date to announce just yet. Keep an eye on the official World of Warcraft site for more information.
Q: Is this the only opportunity I'll have to get in the Wrath of the Lich King beta?
A: No. We will offer other opportunities for players to get in the beta. Keep an eye on the official World of Warcraft site and official fansites for more chances.
Q: How long will opt-in signups be available?
A: Players will be able to opt in until the beta closes.
Q: If there are multiple World of Warcraft accounts in my household, can I opt in with each of them? Or can I only opt in with one?
A: You may opt in to the beta with each account, though this doesn't guarantee that every account in the household will be invited.
Q: Can I opt in more than once on an account, and if so does that increase my likelihood of being selected?
A: You can only opt in once per account. If you try to opt in a second time, you'll simply get a message saying that the account has already opted in.
Q: If I receive a beta invite for one account, can I use it for a different account instead?
A: Yes. You will be able to accept the beta invitation on whichever account you like.
Q: Are there any character-level requirements to participate?
A: No, but keep in mind that you will need to have a level-55 character to create a death knight, and we recommend your character be level 68 or higher to play in Northrend.
Blizzard apparently has yet another project in the works, and so their game portfolio is not just limited to the big three we know today. Senior vice president Rob Pardo of Blizzard claimed in a recent interview with German news site OnlineWelten that there was another "unknown" game cooking in their kitchen.
Before the interview, we all heard that Blizzard was looking for new blood to help them on a mystery next-generation MMO project. This project is the same unannounced game that Pardo said existed. No other details on the project were divulged, nor were any hints aggressively milked.
On that note, however, the senior VP did clue in to Blizzard's plans to revamp Blizzard's premier online multiplayer service, Battle.net, which will result in the inclusions of new features. Though asked about future costs in utilizing the service, Pardo did not care to comment if the new features would incur additional costs on the players' part.
Now here's the kicker: Blizzard hopes to unveil their ideas for expanding Battle.net's feature list by the time they implement StarCraft II Beta. This officially confirms the rumors that a Beta will be conducted to test the real-time strategy engine, units and tactics within real-life multiplayer matches, even though the "when" portion is still up in the air.
For World of Warcraft gamers, don't you worry - Wrath of the Lich King's progress will not be hampered by the inclusion of Diablo 3 to Blizzard's workload - or at least they hope so. As with any of their games, WotLK will ship "when it's ready," and not before it passes the developer's high standards of quality.
We hope to get our mitts on more updates, so stay tuned while we dig up details. Find the full video interview by OnlineWelten directly at the source link given below.
Official MMORPG forums and those who abuse it Ok, before you skip to the bottom of this article and post a comment, please read the post since I know that a lot of people who play MMORPGs will immediately have a knee jerk reaction to this rather touchy topic.
Now that that's out of the way, I've always wanted to talk about how depressing the forums can be to a player. For the record, I know that it is pretty much the same in all popular MMORPGs like Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures or even World of Warcraft, but that doesn't make me or any of the other players who agree with what I have to say happy about it.
Simple fact, there are people who feel that they can post whatever the hell they want on the forums, confident that their anonymity will protect them. For those of you who will protect these people's actions by saying that they have the right to their opinion, yes they do have a right to their opinion.
However, stating one's opinion by politely disagreeing with someone is not what some posters have been doing. Sense of decency? Who cares about that, I'm hidden behind my avatar!
I've heard people defend these individuals who are antagonistic by saying they are simply "passionate" about the game or what they are saying. Well, to be honest, being passionate about something doesn't give anyone the right to act like a total jerk the moment someone disagrees with them.
Now moving on to trolls. These guys post things just to get a reaction from the community. Why? They give out different reasons but one of the more common answers you get from these individuals is they do it to "get a laugh."
So if you hate these guys as much as I do, please ignore their posts and don't reply. Let them have their brand of "fun" on their own. Hey, maybe they'll start flaming themselves out of boredom, or even better, leave and never return.
Now, I've always been an advocate of the whole "don't post if you've got nothing to say" school of thought but that's just me. What do you guys think?
You can find the beta opt-in signups by visiting the Account Management menu on your European WoW account. Once there, you should see an added option to sign up for the beta. The screenshot above shows you what to expect once you try to sign up.
As for North America, there's also some good news. Eyonix reminded players to "stay tuned," as the beta signups for that region are coming "super soon."
In any event, what are you waiting for? Go sign up for the beta already if you're on the European realms!
UPDATE:
US accounts can now sign up for the Wrath of the Lich King beta by visiting the following link. Just remember that being chosen for beta is random, so even if you sign up early, it doesn't promise you a shot at the Wrath beta. Anyway, stop reading this post and sign up!
Over on the General Discussion forums for World of Warcraft, Tyren announced the news to the public, noting that "it will be several weeks before they're available again."
Tyren also mentioned the demand for the authenticator from non-US members of the North American realms and how said people were unable to pick it up. He explained further,
This was due to shipping-related issues with our store for this device that could not be resolved by the time it first went on sale. Rather than delay the launch, we felt it was important to make the Authenticator available to as many people as possible as quickly as we could. We're continuing to work on a solution for these players and will provide an update as further progress is made.
In any event, you'll have to wait if you still haven't picked up your Authenticator. In the meantime practice caution in your Internet habits to avoid malware that could compromise your account.
This rumor traces its roots back to last year when Nethaera had indicated that while it was on the backburner, Blizzard might bring the event back. Fast forward to yesterday, and Blizzard's Kisirani hinted at the possibility yet again:
We do have some things in the works, but please don't expect a city to be razed or some such event. If we were to raze Stormwind, for example, that's a whole slew of quests and the like that would have to be rewritten or repurposed -- and that's just the quest load alone. There are dozens of other tasks associated with that, including art and programming... and while this is occurring, dungeons aren't being made, new and more relevant content isn't being created. It's replacement of content rather than an addition, and therefore the world isn't necessarily the richer for it.
If a second Scourge Invasion is in the works, our best bet for a staging ground would definitely have to be Northrend, where the Lich King's seat of power lies. Then again, we remind the readers that this is all speculation at the moment - Kisirani's own discussion didn't specify exactly what sort of project the devs were brainstorming over. Those interested in joining the ongoing discussions regarding this matter can reach the official WoW forums via the source link below.
The injunction suit was filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery last February by the Wayne County Employee's Retirement System. For those who aren't too familiar with law parlance (we don't blame you), an injunction is a court order that...yes, blocks a party from doing certain acts. In this case, from Activision merging with Vivendi.
However, Activision has recently issued a statement that the Delaware Court junked the request to stop the merger with Vivendi from happening, and has scheduled a stockholders meeting on July 8, where they will "consider and vote on proposals to approve the transaction." If everything goes as planned in the meeting, Activision and Vivendi will be known collectively as Activision Blizzard effective July 9.
Much has been said and done over at Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational (WWI) last weekend. While Diablo 3 may have been on everybody's mind, don't think for a moment that World of Warcraft didn't have its own share of shining moments.
We'll give you guys a quick rundown of some of WoW's highlights during WWI, which has much to do with its upcoming expansion, Wrath of the Lich King. The developer's panel
World of Warcraft's Lead Designer Tom Chilton set up a dev Q&A panel to address up some concerns regarding the Death Knight and the other player classes. Chilton emphasized the DK's role as one for tanking and DPS. The DK does have the benefit of an Anti-magic shell ability however, giving the class a very distinct advantage over traditional tanks (warriors, druids, etc.) that normally grit out spell damage with sheer HP.
On a related note, Chilton finally confirmed that Death Knights will be accessible by all races. This should be about as official a confirmation as you can get, in case the assurances of the forum GMs wasn't enough. Unleash the gnomes!
Chilton also elaborated on some of the new tricks they've got lined up for WoW's other job classes. Warriors will be getting Titan's Grip, a Fury talent that enables them to dual-wield two-handed weapons. Warlocks will receive a demon form, enabling them to trade blows at the front line should they get bored of DoT'ing or sending their minions to do the dirty work.
Titan's Grip will require players to dig deep into the Fury tree however, ensuring that players will have to specialize to get it. Likewise, the Warlock's new form requires they commit a considerable amount of talents into the demonology tree.
Death Knights
It'd be a crime not to mention one of the biggest highlights of WWI - achance to test-drive your very own DK. The invitational's demo for this new hero class had players starting at Tirion Fordring's house in the Eastern Plaguelands. The developer's panel explained that their spawn point will actually be at the new Ebon Hold area, also to be in Eastern Plaguelands.
The Death Knight's spells were derived their magic damage from attack power, which should greatly simplify the sort of gear you'll need to invest in with the arrival of WotLK. The demo's DK's in particular were specc'd for DPS, so you can imagine just what sort of hurt they were dishing out during their run.
Are you not entertained? Nihilim's Live Raid
Europe's Nihilum guild was on site to give the fans a tour of the Sunwell Plateau, all the way up to Kil'jaeden. So, how did their gamers do? Despite the valiant efforts of Nihilum's Kungen (Tauren Warrior), Hath (Undead mage) and Sniffy (Blood Elf Paladin), it appears that the Eredar Demon Lord was too much to handle.
The two 30-minute sessions resulted in a guild wipe right as they attempted to take the fight to Kil'jaeden's doorstep. On the lighter side, this did give the event goers a glimpse of how Nihilum struts their stuff during raids.
Who needs stairs?The Oculus unveiled
Imagine this: A floating column of giant earth-covered rings, focusing the earth's magical powers into the skies above. A grand scene indeed, and it also happens to be a wing of the the Nexus dungeon over in Northrend. So, how do you get around a tower of floating rings with virtually no stairs? Easy - you fly.
Players will get to choose one of several drake mounts for this level 80 5-man instance, each with their own specific role to fulfill: DPS, Tank, and healer. What makes the Oculus all the more interesting is that it will be designed to be a non-linear encounter. While you still have to kill all the bosses to clear the dungeon, you can at least pick the order in which you'll cut them down.
They came, they saw, they conquered: the WWI Arena winners
What would an invitational be without a fracas? Korea's Council of Mages guild reigned supreme at the event's 3 vs 3 PvP event, besting North America's SK-US for a shot at the crown.
While their early loss against MoB gaming shattered their chances of getting first place, Europe's Improved Clicks' resolve saw them through the tournament's lower brackets. This perseverance paid off, with Improved Clicks snatching the 2nd place title away from SK-US in a close 2:3 battle.
The gift that keeps on giving: post-Invitational goodies
The festivities don't have to end with the conclusion of of the event. Among other goodies, WWI's visitors could buy Blizzard's official Authenticator. At US 6.50 per pop, these little gadgets add another degree of protection to your game account. Initially presented at the WWI, they are now available for a more public release at the Blizzard Store.
The other to-be-available trinket that'll be following us from the event is a new pet. Enter Tyrael - Diablo 2's archangel who will soon be made available as a limited edition WoW pet. Just the thing for the Paladins serious on looking holier-than-thou. As for the bad news: Tyrael isn't expected to arrive until patch 2.4.3, so you'll want to hang on to your redemption code until then.
Were you among the lucky recipients of Blizzard's gift bag over at the Worldwide Invitational (WWI) last weekend? If so, then Bornakk has some important details on the new in-game pet you will receive in World of Warcraft.
The pet in question is a miniature version of the Archangel Tyrael, whom plenty of you will remember meeting in Diablo 2. There aren't any pictures of this upcoming pet at the moment, though Bornakk states that the official site will have them soon. Please note that your redemption code won't be usable until WoW patch 2.4.3 goes public.
When you do manage to redeem your in-game code at Blizzard's site, you will then need to travel to a specific NPC over at either Stormwind (Alliance players) or Undercity (Horde). Further details on the WWI's new pet are available at Bornakk's post, via the source link below.
Blizzard's Paul Sams, chief of operations, said in an interview with GamesIndustry that the Activision Blizzard merger was their choice, and that the game company wasn't dragged into the deal between Activision and Vivendi. In fact, Vivendi approached Blizzard and talked about the idea for a while, and it was Blizzard who picked Activision as their choice ally.
"I think maybe people believe that Activision and Vivendi got together and sat in a room, and thought it would be great, and then informed us," said Sams.
But as he revealed at the World Wide Invitational, it was the other way around in fact: Blizzard was the one who said that it would be great idea. And it was Blizzard who informed Vivendi that Activision would be the perfect choice. He continued,
And honestly, when [Vivendi] said to us they were thinking about exploring the possibility of something like this, we said that if we were going to do something like that, it should be with Activision - those words came from our mouth.
CEO Mike Morhaime reassured fans back at the 2008 WWI that they won't even feel a change in Blizzard's operations, as the merger will not affect their work, their staff, or their projects.
The big change, however, will be who Morhaime has to report to. That would be Bobby Kotick, CEO and savior of an almost bankrupt Activision, who's also going to be the CEO of the soon-to-be Activision Blizzard entity.
As expected, some players will find the move to be a bit of a downer, given how much trouble they had to go through clearing the raid, let alone earning its attunements (planned to be toned down by WotLK). Were the devs really downplaying Naxx as one of the game's older premier raid instances? As Bornakk explained in a nutshell: No.
Blizzard's blue-poster explained at the discussion thread that Naxx was being revived as an entry-level raid exactly due to its positive reception. The devs felt that it allowed more players to enjoy the run if it was introduced as a starting, rather than an end-game, instance. As Bornakk elaborated on the shift of difficulty for Naxx:
Right, but in a new expansion we would rather make brand new dungeons that are the most challenging. For the players who did push the content in the past, this will be an easier dungeon for them to get through and move on to the new content. If it was a high-end dungeon again it would feel weird to have new content then a dip into difficult but old content before moving on.
Bornakk further reiterated in the thread that while there wasn't anything exact yet, they were planning to re-use the Tier 3 armor models for the requisite gear for running Naxx. That's the latest update we've got regarding this instance's expected arrival in the frozen wastelands up in the north. Those interested in joining the discussion can access the WoW forums via the source link below.
This is a big rumor, not only because it concerns Wrath of the Lich King, but also because we'll know the truth of this rumor in a couple of days. The rumor we're concerned about has everything to do with Wrath's closed beta, which is supposedly going to start sometime in July.
The story begins with German website Allvatar (linked below), which originally reported that the Wrath closed beta would begin on July 3rd. Apparently, Gnorog, a German community manager, said that community managers were recently given permission to announce a closed beta for Wrath beginning on the said date.
As always, WoW fans got wind of this on the American forums and began asking the same question. Bornakk responded by saying, "We will provide further information on our forums when details on a beta testing phase are ready. For now we have no date to provide regarding this," ending the discussion by locking the thread (external link).
Following this, it seems Allvatar got to talk to Vaneras over the phone. According to their second update, the closed beta will begin sometime in July. They also have an additional update explaining how they came across their information.
Overall, we're not sure what to make of this. We certainly are excited at the prospect of a closed beta happening in July, so we're keeping our fingers crossed. That being said, until Blizzard makes a beta official we're remaining cautiously optimistic.
Welcome to QJ.NET's very first World of Warcraft Weekend Warrior feature! This week's news snippets include updates on the ongoing holiday events in the public reams and the Test realms.
L70TC's also made it to the big time recently, as their new hit single goes on a multiplatform tour on the Xbox 360 and PS3. There's also the matter of a new licensing deal that'll make it easier for Europe's WoW gamers to obtain the MMO's official comics, and talks of how WoW was intended to be a free game.
Europe in particular gets a break this week thanks to a new licensing deal between Titan Books and DC. This agreement will entitle the territories of the U.K. and Ireland to their own release of the World of Warcraft graphic novel, eliminating the need to purchase the book via imports.
Guess what - GLaDOS isn't the only game-character whose song is now available as a playable track. This week sees the announcement and subsequent release of Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain's "I Am Murloc" to Activision's Guitar Hero 3 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
WoW's Midsummer Fire Festival is well underway. While this will be introducing some new quests and enemies for your enjoyment, expect the occasional bug to be in tow. It's a good thing we have Blizzard's trusty devs looking out for our welfare.
It may still be a while before October arrives, but that hasn't stopped the Public Test Realms from introducing their own brand of fun with an early run of the Brewfest. Let's hope the testers have the fortitude to endure some of the possible issues that may arise - and we're not talking about alcohol intake.
Determined to keep your precious account data safe from opportunists and cutthroats? In this weekend's World Wide Invitational, Blizzard's introduced their new Authenticator tool, which should offer you another level of security to keep your purples and other rare trinkets safe.
World of Warcraft by far has one of the largest populations ever recorded for an MMORPG. It's a feat made even more impressive when you consider its relatively restrictive monthly fees. However, did you know that the Blizzard actually planned to make WoW a free-to-play setup back then?
Lest we forget, there's also the matter of the ongoing Worldwide Invitational. With everybody fired up over Diablo 3's announcement, the WoW devs are playing it cool with some Q&A sessions revealing new details for their plans for Wrath of the Lich King.
Blizzard's pretty keen on keeping the game updated, and it shows in the additions that you're experienced in the Midsummer Fire fest. That just appears to be the proverbial tip of the iceberg however, with the testing in the PTRs hinting at even bigger updates for the next few real life holiday-inspired events in the game.
Then there's the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational. The Death Knight revelations aside, Blizzard's panel was quick to point out some new abilities WoW's character classes will be getting. Some of these abilities were inspired by player suggestions, which speaks volumes about how close the devs are to the rest of the community.
With more sessions lined up over the next several hours, it'll be interesting to see what sort of surprises Blizzard has up its sleeve.
Hurrah! Weekends are made up of all the most awesome stuff. It's one of life's most satisfying things after all - perhaps second only to getting to scratch an annoying itch.
For one, most of us who get the weekend off (either from school or work - or both?) finally get to park our merry butts in front of the TV and play video games with impunity. Aside from that, we get to catch up on pretty much everything we missed out on during the week. Which is what we've been doing for the past 52 weeks, in case you were really living under a rock the size of Mars.
In QuickJump QuickPeek's second year, we decided to branch out... and dig deeper still. Because quite frankly, at the rate that each previous QuickPeek was going, it wasn't getting any quicker of a peek, if you get our drift. So with that, we'll be splitting it up and allow each of our blogs to go in-depth with the week's news!
Thus, we bring in the Weekend Warriors!
The QuickJump QuickPeek v2.0 changelog:
Yeap! From now on, each blog will be getting its own individual QuickPeek, each tagged under a Weekend Warrior label. This allows the individual teams to report on more news and add a little bit of editorial introspective into the week's news.
Yes, you heard us. This time around, QuickPeek - or should we now say Weekend Warrior? - won't just be recapping news. We'll be throwing in some incentive for you readers too. Little "behind-the-scenes" snippets that don't quite make it to the regular updates you find on the site.
So, who are the Weekend Warriors?
We'll have Weekend Warriors for all of our blogs in QJ.NET. That includes all gaming blogs - PSP, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PC, MMORPG, and WoW - plus those concerning Science and Technology - Science, Apple, Gadgets, and Mobile.
Check 'em out - lined up looking all pretty like that! Shiny banners for our new columns!
Gaming
Science and Technology
Wait - does this mean there won't be any QuickPeek anymore?
Yes and no. QuickPeek will still be around, sure! But of course, the meat of QuickPeek is in its Weekend Warrior children. Every week, once all the individual Warriors have been published, we can finally throw in the proud parent: a QuickPeek article acting as a hub.
Think of it this way. The Weekend Warriors are the branches, while the QuickPeek is the trunk. The QuickPeek will be linking to all the separate Warriors just so you guys have a central article to use as reference for jumping from one article to another.
We hope you guys have fun with the new system. If you have any comments or suggestions, you know what to do. The first set of Warriors are going up in just a couple, so stick around, why don'cha?
While Blizzard's Diablo 3 unveiling at the Worldwide Invitational is definitely the talk of the town, don't think for a moment that it'll be the only highlight of the event. The developer's panel has started earlier, bringing in new details on World of Warcraft's new Death Knight hero class, and several new abilities being prepared for the other job classes.
The developers first explained that they didn't want the DK to be stereotyped as either strictly as a DPS or a tank. They also clarified some of the mechanics for the DK's runes, which have a 10-second cooldown before they could be activated again.
Aside from this upcoming new class, the developers also discussed several of the new abilities that WoW's other classes were expecting to get. Warriors, for example, are set to get the new Titan's Grip talent, which enables them to dual-wield two-handed weapons.
Priests on the other hand will be getting some new spells and talents to increase their party's survivability, while mages will be getting better spell damage to make them more competitive against warlocks. They're going to need it - the locks will be getting a new demon form that allows them to turn into the very minions they summon.
We've listed the changes that were discussed by the panel below, via WoW Insider. You may want to visit WoW Insider's site (via the source link below) if you're keen on getting the nitty-gritty on the rest of the details that were disclosed during the devtalk.
Hunters
Steady Shot will no longer clip autoshot -- the speaker acknowledged that Hunters hurt their own DPS by using their abilities
Pets will get "talent trees" - one utility tree, one TANKING tree, one DPS tree
A specific ability revealed was "cornered" - your pet does an additional 20 damage when they're at 20 health
Mages
Will get a Frostfire bolt to make Elementalists more viable.
Priests
Divine Hymn - Allows priest to cast a hymn (holy tree) that heals party members. If an opponent strikes a party member, they go into a trance. It gives a deep holy priest not only a healing mechanic, but a pretty interestnig emergency ability to use for control
Dispersion - Reduce damage 90 regen 6 health/mana per second. 51 point shadow, a way to turtle against incoming attacks and regen. Can move but not cast spells
Guardian Spirit - Talent that prevents party member death. Castable cheat death pet. Follows a party member, if party member takes a killing blow, the spirit dies instead. All three are specifically designed to address core priest issues, or solidify their overall role.
Druids
Entangling Roots indoors: A lot of druids left out of heroics due to a lack of CC indoors. Diminishing returns off of Cyclone a "curse to the class" because Cyclone has such a short duration. No DR means you'd end up spamming Cyclone every 6 seconds the entire dungeon.
Didn't change Cyclone because "it takes too long to cast, didn't want to take Druids out of the action to recast Cyclone over and over, and chain-Cyclone in PvE"
Flourish (or nourish?) for druid -- short time cast healing spell, 1.5 sec cast, effectiveness depending on what HoTs are up
Shaman
Suffering from "totem spam" -- too many totems
Strength of Earth and Grace of Air will be combined
Totems will affect the entire raid, not just the party. Woot!
Rockbiter is out. Earthliving is the new weapon enchant, will give healing
Flametongue is giving spell damage. Frost more reliably snares
Shaman will get Hex, a limited, emergency CC -- Hexed players will have movement control, but no casting ability
Some of you may recall hearing of this guild a couple of months back, when they were among the first to successfully clear the Black Temple instance, defeating Illidan Stormrage in the process. This time around, Nihilum will be displaying their skills at the WWI by conducting a live raid on the Sunwell Plateau, currently considered to be the MMORPG's hardest instance (at least before Northrend appears).
Expect three of the guild's players and one shoutcaster to be present later and tomorrow. On a related note, we've also picked up a schedule of Blizzard's WWI, available for viewing below. Keep on the lookout as we report on some of the bigger happenings set to take place for this event.
Think of it as a key with ever-changing teeth that fit into an ever-changing lock meant specifically for you. Here's a brief description of the new product straight from the press release:
Designed to attach to a keychain, the lightweight and waterproof Blizzard Authenticator is an electronic device that generates a six-digit security code at the press of a button. This code is unique, valid only once, and active for a limited time; it must be provided along with the account name and password when signing in to the World of Warcraft account linked to it.
The Blizzard Authenticator will be available at Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational from June 28-29 (in France, no less) and will retail for 6 Euro (US 9). It'll also be made available from Blizzard's European websites in the near future for 6 Euro plus shipping.
UPDATE: It looks as if it'll be available in America too. There's an FAQ for the Blizzard Authenticator on the US Blizzard website. We've linked to it below, in case you want to know more about the nifty gadget.
This time around however, it looks like the tables have turned, based on this discussion we picked up over at the WoW Forums. As Vasyth explained, warriors have pretty much demoted the DK into a gimmick role only usable in a 5-man raid or in a gimmick raid fight.
From the looks of it, though Bornakk begs to differ. Here was part of the Blizzard poster's two cents in light of DKs being typecast in a specific tanking role (in this case, a caster tank):
That said, the Deathknight will be able to tank things, we have talked about them having abilities that help them tank casters, but that doesn't automatically mean they are limited to 5 person dungeons or caster-specific encounters. It may be awhile for some players to learn how to play a whole new class and level them up, but the option will likely be available to players/raid groups to have Deathknights tank a large number of encounters.
As the old saying goes, it all really boils down to the player's creativity, and how they decide to excel in the game despite their given limitations. Those interested in reading the rest of Bornakk's statement will want to visit the WoW forums via the source link below.
WoW's 'I Am Murloc' becomes Guitar Hero 3 downloadable track With lyrics like, "I am more than a fish/ I am more than a man," you'd think the virtual rock superstars known as Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain would be getting more gigs. Well, they've got a big gig planned for June 26, and they're taking their music and making it yours.
We recently received a press release stating that L70ETC's "I Am Murloc" will be headed to Activision's Guitar Hero 3 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 as downloadable tracks. The track will be free to download on both systems, and should be available beginning June 26.
While you're waiting for the track to debut, however, feel free to watch L70ETC in action as their stunning "I Am Murloc" machinima plays below. Enjoy!
Having trouble trying to access World of Warcraft's Tournament Realm recently? You might not be the only one, based on a report made by player Sobou over at the WoW Test Realm forums.
In Sobou's case, the WoW client was repeatedly getting stuck at "Retrieving Character List" after he had logged out of the PTRs, and was attempting to log into the tournament realms. Blizzard poster Hortus eventually visited the thread with this update:
It sounds like the Arena Tournament realm was just having problems. Probably just a coincidence that it happened while you were logging into the PTR.
While the problem is currently resolved, Hortus did note that anybody who may be experiencing similar problems with the WoW client will want to make their report at the thread. The test realm thread's available for viewing via the source link below - just keep on the lookout in case any further updates regarding this matter are announced.
Ok, before you skip to the bottom of this article and post a comment, please read the post since I know that a lot of people who play MMORPGs will immediately have a knee jerk reaction to this rather touchy topic. 
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