Category Archives: WoW

Mists of Pandaria launching September 25

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Mists of Pandaria Launches September 25, 2012 – Pre-Sales NOW OPEN

Heroes of Azeroth, prepare to embark for an exotic new frontier! World of Warcraft®: Mists of Pandaria™ is launching on September 25, 2012 and you can be ready to play when the servers go live by pre-purchasing the game digitally. Plus, for the first time ever, players will have the option to upgrade a pre-purchase to the all-new Digital Deluxe Edition which comes with all of the in-game items from the retail Collector’s Edition, including a World of Warcraft pet and mount, banner sigil and accent for Diablo® III, and Battle.net® portraits for StarCraft® II.

Beginning September 25, 2012, World of Warcraft players around the world will be able to set sail for the long-lost continent of Pandaria, where they’ll explore forgotten dungeons, vanquish risen evils, and play their part in the Horde-Alliance conflict as it reaches a critical breaking point.

Whether you plan to level your existing character to 90 or start fresh with a new pandaren monk, it’s never too early to begin preparing for your adventure. Simply log in to your Battle.net® account, and then pre-purchase Mists of Pandaria. You’ll then be flagged to automatically download the expansion content prior to release so you’ll be ready to go when the game launches.

During the pre-purchase process, you’ll have the option to grab either the Mists of Pandaria Standard Edition for $39.99 USD or the all-new Digital Deluxe edition for $59.99 USD — or, if you snag the standard edition now and decide you want to upgrade to Digital Deluxe later, you’ll have the opportunity to do so for an additional $20.

The Digital Deluxe edition includes a full digital copy of the expansion, as well as a selection of Pandaria-inspired in-game content for World of Warcraft, Diablo III, and StarCraft II. If you’re looking for even more plunder, a special Mists of Pandaria Collector’s Edition with additional bonus items will also be available exclusively at select retail locations for a suggested retail price of $79.99 USD.

Learn more about the Digital Deluxe Edition
Learn more about the Collector’s Edition

For more details on the September 25, 2012 release of World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria, be sure to hit theofficial press release, or head to our new Mists of Pandaria game page to learn more about the expansion and prepurchase your digital copy.

2012 WORLD OF WARCRAFT ARENA PASS REGISTRATION NOW OPEN

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2012 World of Warcraft Arena Pass Registration Now Open

by Blizzard Entertainment 11 Apr 2012 10:12 UTC
2012 World of Warcraft Arena Pass Registration Now Open

We’re pleased to announce that registration for the 2012 World of Warcraft Arena Pass is now open!

Now is the time to get your teammates together and register for the most thrilling Arena competition World of Warcraft has to offer.

Participants will be fighting their way through the ladder ranks, testing their mettle against the best Arena players in World of Warcraft. Players that register for the Arena Pass will also be eligible to earn Murkimus, the Armored Murloc in-game pet, as a reward for participating. The top 1000 teams will also earn the exclusive “Vanquisher” title for their live characters, proclaiming their puissant skill in battle for all the realm to see.

Don’t forget, players that participate in this year’s World of Warcraft Arena Pass will also gain exclusive access to a level-90 Arena Pass realm after the account is upgraded to the Mists of Pandaria expansion.

If you have any questions or would like more details, please read the FAQ, and remember to check back here for more updates.

WoW releases: Soul of the Aspects

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Blizzard just released another pet to their pet store. Check out Blizzards press release below.

Soul of the Aspects — Pet Store Exclusive

by Blizzard Entertainment Apr 10, 2012 10:00 AM PDT

Soul of the Aspects -- Pet Store Exclusive

Meet the diminutive Soul of the Aspects – a pint-sized version of the Heart of the Aspects flying mount. As your newest faithful companion pet, this radiant whelpling flies by your side through the skies of Azeroth, celebrating your adventures together with aerial summersaults and twisting corkscrews.

 

Visit the Pet Store today and fly home with the Soul of the Aspects.

Noblegarden is Coming: April 8 – April 14

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Noblegarden is Coming: April 8 - April 14

Blizzard announced today that Noblegarden will be running April 8 – 14.

Though its origins are steeped in druidic festivals from times long past, the current incarnation of Noblegarden is a contrast between ancient traditions and modern interpretations. While some races of Azeroth try to stay true to the original spirit of the holiday, others prefer a more lighthearted approach — in essence, looking everywhere for festively decorated eggs and collecting the goodies found within. One tenet all can agree on is that the feast of Noblegarden is meant to bring communities together to share the joy of life and friendship.

During Noblegarden, the towns of Azeroth and their immediate environs are liberally sprinkled with Noblegarden eggs for players to collect in a ravenous frenzy — er, in the spirit of sharing. These eggs contain treats fit for commoners and kings alike!

EVENT DETAILS

  • When:  April 8 – April 14
  • Where:
    • Alliance:  Azure Watch, Dolanaar, Goldshire, Kharanos
    • Horde:  Brill, Razor Hill, Bloodhoof Village, Falconwing Square
    • All Factions:  Shattrath City
  • Learn More: Wowhead, Wowpedia

 

ACTIVITIES

  • Egg Hunt: Search in low-level towns throughout Azeroth for brightly-colored eggs; some are well-hidden, while others are in plain view. Their contents vary, but they most often contain chocolate (the delicious currency of Noblegarden), rare special items, and ‘vanity’ items (like toys & costumes). Some eggs will have truly surprising contents.
  • Race against fellow heroes in an egg-gathering blitz to grab as many Brightly Colored eggs as you can! Increase your speed in egg hunt areas with the Egg Basket, available from Noblegarden Vendors and Merchants.
  • Daily Quests: The Great Egg Hunt rewards you with gold and humanoid-transforming Blossoming Branches for delivering excess eggshells gathered during your travels.
  • Noblegarden Merchants & Vendors: These professional hoarders hope to benefit from your egg hunting by exchanging trinkets for Noblegarden chocolate. They’ll trade food, toys that transform others into rabbits (or rabbit-like humanoids), festive clothes, mounts, and more for your leftover confections.

ITEM REWARDS

Mounts

  • Swift Springstrider: This mount has a chance to be found inside Brightly Colored Eggs, and it’s also available from Noblegarden Merchants and Vendors in exchange for chocolates.

Pets

  • Spring Rabbit: Summoned with the Spring Rabbit’s foot, this fuzzy companion can be found in Brightly Colored Eggs or purchased from Noblegarden Merchants and Vendors.

Vanity Items

  • Seasonal Clothes: Tuxedos, Elegant Dresses, and Spring Robes that allow you to plant flowers at will are all available from merchants (and crammed inside Brightly Colored Eggs).
  • Circlets: Adorn yourself with differently colored rabbit ears in ancestral Noblegarden tradition!
  • Blossoming Branch: Transform another into a rabbit, ensuring that they can’t hide from the spirit of the season!
  • Noblegarden Egg: Get into the egg hunt planning by placing a Brightly Colored Egg almost anywhere your heart desires.

OTHER REWARDS:

  • Achievements: Noblegarden currently offers a total of 120 achievement points, split over 8 achievements and 1 meta-achievement.
  • Titles: the Noble, granted for completing the meta-achievement Noble Gardener.

WoW: MoP gets AoE loot (finally).

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World of Warcraft’s next expansion Mists of Pandaria will have AoE loot. That is to say if you kill 8 kobolds and their corpses are resting dormant in bloody defeat, your bold hero no longer has to stop and pick the pockets of 8 pint sized rat creatures for cheese. Instead, you will be able to perform a single right click and loot all corpses within your loot range (like all the other modern western MMOs).

This is a small detail, but in my unimportant opinion this both exposes an issue with Blizzard as well as shows their effort to modernize. Why has it taken so long to get AoE loot? The old saying “Big ships turn slowly” is truth more often than not. WoW has been out since 2004 and the amount of code to maintain has got to be enormous. Small changes are historically much more complex with the more working pieces you have. WoW is a very big ship and while new MMOs and MMOs under development can add features as they build the game, going back and rewriting code and making sure it doesn’t break anything is a more involved task.

What would an old feature newly added be without another equally old question? Why is there still no player housing? WoW has a lot of instancing in the current Cataclysm expansion, it’s certainly doable. However, it’s not a priority or the cost benefit isn’t great enough. Somehow AoE loot finally made it on the list. It really is a feature worth rejoicing about and it also shows that Blizzard is watching for small but important features that need to be added and are “feasible” or deemed important. Personally I think player or guild housing would bring back or retain some population. I vote for flying airships.

While it currently has a declining population, it is still the undisputed king of MMOs and everyone loves a good comeback story. Good luck Blizzard!