WOW News

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore

Wouldn"t this be cool? With the most recent lore news from Blizzard that the Siege of Orgrimmar will result in Garrosh"s removal as Warchief of the Horde at the end of the campaign portion of Mists of Pandaria, speculation has run rampant as to how or why both factions would want to end Hellscream"s reign. The Alliance has plenty of reasons to storm the gates of the Horde capital and remove Garrosh, given his numerous victories at any cost. The Horde, while upset at Garrosh and the wedges he"s placed between the many Horde factions, does not yet have the impetus to assassinate its leader Julius Caesar-style.

What could send the Horde -- the very same Horde that drank the blood of Mannoroth and marched through the Dark Portal -- into such a fear and concern over their leader? The very same threat that the orcs succumbed to on Draenor, that"s what.

Continue reading Wouldn"t this be cool? Garrosh and the Shadow Council

Wouldn"t this be cool? Garrosh and the Shadow Council originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 21 Mar 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore, Know your Lore, Mists of Pandaria

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You"re playing the game, you"re fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

One of the things I"ve most wanted to make clear in this series is that neither the Scourge nor the Forsaken have the monopoly on undeath now. The Scourge were joined by the will of the Lich King, and the Forsaken defined by their defection from the Scourge"s ranks under Sylvanas Windrunner, but neither group created the state and neither has exclusive control over the creation of new undead. There are still vast numbers of Scourge in Northrend today, milling about under the control of the new Lich King, held in check but still a potential threat to the world. The Forsaken grow in numbers and might due to no small part to Sylvanas" deal with the val"kyr and her own experiments with the Plague of Undeath.

But both of these groups, for all their numbers, are not the only means to create more of those trapped between life and the sepulcher. The Risen (former Scarlet Crusaders from Stratholme and Tyr"s Hand, now enslaved by Balnazzar), ancient and modern self-willed undead, and even those directly cursed by unfathomable forces (such as the continent of Kalimdor itself) have all existed over the years.

With the parting of the Mists of Pandaria, it would be easy to forget that the lands of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms will not be standing still. We know that both Scarlet Monastery, home of those remaining forces that did not make the trip to Northrend as part of the Scarlet Onslaught after the onslaught of Acherus, and Scholomance itself will see new developments, new stories. As we turn our attention away from these cold, chill places, the dead refuse to remain quiet.

Continue reading Know Your Lore: The undead, part 3 -- the cold, bleak future

Know Your Lore: The undead, part 3 -- the cold, bleak future originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 21 Mar 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Economy, Gold Capped

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Gold Capped, in which Fox Van Allen and Basil "Euripides" Berntsen aim to show you how to make money on the Auction House. Feed Fox"s ego by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , tweeting him at @foxvanallen, or sacrificing your first-born to him. And be sure to catch the return of Basil and Fox"s podcast, Call to Auction!

In the game world, just as in the real world, prices of even the most basic of materials fluctuates based on your location. A hamburger in Beverly Hills costs more than a hamburger in Milwaukee. Heck, just about everything costs more in Beverly Hills -- that"s just the way it goes. Your dollar is simply worth less there.

But what if we were going to move from Milwaukee to Beverly Hills? We could just brace ourselves and accept that we"re going to have to pay more for hamburgers. Or, we could load up our car with hamburgers and resell them for a profit when we arrive.

That concept is probably a bit disgusting -- I wouldn"t recommend a cross-country trip with a car filled to the brim with ground meat. But when it comes to realm transfers, the idea"s right on the money. On some realms, gold is worth more. On other realms, the stuff you buy with gold is worth more. Making the most out of a server transfer (or indeed, making a realm transfer with the goal of making in-game money from it) is a skill that could make you rich overnight -- literally.

Continue reading Gold Capped: Transferring to a new server

Gold Capped: Transferring to a new server originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 21 Mar 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items

The Power of the Aspects buff will increase to 15% during the maintenance next week (Tuesday for the North American realms, Wednesday for those across the pond). This should be nothing new to most folks, as the buff has been ongoing for the past couple months.

As always, you can turn the buff off by talking to Lord Afrasastrasz at the beginning of the instance.

Blizzard"s full note on the increase is as follows:

Power of the Aspects

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Lore

Remember the Argent Crusade? It was a result of merging two factions -- the Argent Dawn, which spent its time in the Eastern Plaguelands trying to eradicate the Scourge, and the reformed Order of the Silver Hand, an Alliance order of paladins formed by Uther the Lightbringer and Alonsus Faol. The Argent Crusade accepted members of both Alliance and Horde who wanted to fight toward the Crusade"s ultimate goal: the defeat of the Lich King. Today, the Argent Crusade sits in Hearthglen, working to restore the Western Plaguelands to their former beauty.

The Argent Crusade is just one of the neutral factions in WoW, along with the Cenarion Circle, the Shattered Sun Offensive, the Earthen Ring and many others. Chris Metzen spoke about the Argent Crusade and the concept of neutral factions in our Mists of Pandaria press event interview, citing the Argent Crusade as one of the neutral factions that just rang true, whereas the Shattered Sun Offensive simply didn"t feel quite as emotional.

But here"s the thing -- the Argent Crusade, while being very active in Wrath, is hardly doing anything at all in the Western Plaguelands. There"s a fight for Andorhal going on on the Crusade"s doorstep, but they aren"t stepping in. The Forsaken -- members of the Horde -- are actively seeking out activities that look suspiciously like Scourge activity, even going so far as to recruit the val"kyr, former servants of Arthas.

So ... what gives?

Continue reading The surreal concept of neutrality in Warcraft

The surreal concept of neutrality in Warcraft originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Add-Ons, Reader UI of the Week

Each week, WoW Insider and Mathew McCurley bring you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which spotlights the latest user interface addons. Have a screenshot of your own UI that you"d like to submit? Send your screenshots along with info on what mods you"re using to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , and follow Mathew on Twitter.

I know a shadow priest or two, and for the most part, they are pretty decent folk. Since there are no shadow priests in my immediate vicinity, I am hoping that for now I am safe from retribution if anything I say in the following article will offend their delicate shadow sensibilities. Don"t hurt me, please.

Mnemonic"s UI original struck me as cluttered and odd but quickly manifested into order when I took a look at the raid screenshot. Odd, yes, that the raid screenshot was the one to bring clarity and light to an otherwise incomplete assessment. As you"ll soon find out I liked Mnemonic"s setup and admission that maybe, just maybe, the extreme level of minimalism that many go to with regard to their UIs isn"t for everyone.

Continue reading Reader UI of the Week: Mnemonics" versatile shadow priest UI

Reader UI of the Week: Mnemonics" versatile shadow priest UI originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This week’s been a whirlwind of news as a massive amount of information regarding the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria expansion is now out in the wild. Much of this new content has landed on our Mists of Pandaria site, with a particular focus on the exotic sights and unusual creatures you’ll encounter as you explore the long-hidden land of the pandaren. Click through to unveil:

• A world map of the isle of Pandaria, including two previously unannounced zones: the Dread Wastes and the Krasarang Wilds.

• A bestiary of Pandaria’s wondrous and monstrous races, like the tyrannical mogu and the wise jinyu.

• Revised zone & dungeon pages, featuring videos of the Wandering Isle, Jade Forest, and Valley of the Four Winds.

      

• Updated monk and pandaren pages -- check out the female pandaren, human monk, and more.

These updates just scratch the surface of what we have in store. We plan to reveal even more of the secrets of Pandaria on this site in the future, featuring details on zones and dungeons, a more expansive bestiary, the diverse factions of the pandaren continent, and the latest information on gameplay systems like challenge modes, pet battles, and scenarios.

Filed under: Realm Status, News items

I"m sure by now, everyone"s heard the biggest news of the week. With the NDA expired on the press tour, we"ve been hit with a glut of information the new Mists of Pandaria expansion. I"m not sure what my favorite part is. Is it the identity of Mists of Pandaria"s final boss? Is it the fact that I"ll get to play some Team Fortress? It"s hard to choose, really.

But don"t let me decide for you. After the break, we"ll have our usual roundup, including a section devoted to all the new expansion news you can handle. You"ll only have to deal with rolling restarts this morning at 5:00 a.m. PDT, but expansion news is worth a few extra minutes, right? Keep on reading for the full rundown.

Continue reading Last Week in WoW: Pandas everywhere

Last Week in WoW: Pandas everywhere originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Blizzard, Interviews, Mists of Pandaria

Ray Cobo, one of WoW"s senior producers, sat down with us at the Mists of Pandaria press event to discuss the development process, new game features, and more. Check out how an expansion like MoP gets made quickly!

WoW Insider: Mists of Pandaria, from everything we"ve seen, is on an accelerated time table. How do you, as a producer, make sure the process is going forward?

Ray Cobo: We "ve learned a lot over the years about how to make expansions and how the game development of WoW has kind of evolved over the years, and so with each expansion, we get better at what we do. Our tools get better, our muscle memory from the team gets better in terms of how to make stuff. We have such a huge library of things now that we"ve built and content that we"ve made that we can actually pull from and figure out how to make that better or how to not do that again kind of thing and learn from those pitfalls or successes and try to get more efficient every time.

I think that"s something the team has done for this one specifically is that each time it seems to get a little bit faster and get a little bit easier to some degree. There are still a lot of challenges in terms of curve balls that you get halfway through -- like in this one, it was recently decided to have two more zones. So it"s like, OK, well, didn"t have that in the plan but we"ll figure out how to kinda get that in. Everyone on the production side and definitely on the dev team is very committed to make sure the content is great, so we want to make sure we give the devs time to iterate and explore and try to figure out what"s going to make this game great and going to make the expansion great, because that"s a core philosophy at Blizzard.

Continue reading Mists of Pandaria: Ray Cobo interview

Mists of Pandaria: Ray Cobo interview originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 19 Mar 2012 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Blizzard, Interviews, Mists of Pandaria

Dave "Fargo" Kosak, lead quest designer for World of Warcraft, sat down with us at the Mists of Pandaria press event for an interview. We talked about the Horde/Alliance conflict, voice acting, pop culture references, Mists" accelerated production schedule, and more. Check it out!

WoW Insider: I guess I"m just gonna start off with some basic stuff.

Dave Kosak: Basic stuff is good!

Let"s start with your overall philosophy for Mists of Pandaria.

Well, we"re constantly experimenting with quests, and in Cataclysm, we created some pretty linear zones, as I"m sure you might"ve noticed. Some really big story arcs and big finishes. Certainly like in Mount Hyjal, we phased a huge amount of the zone, which worked because it was a pretty linear zone. A couple drawbacks, though: It was a shame that on your second or third time through, you had to play it exactly the same way. You know, you kinda lose some of that open-world feeling, you lose a little bit of that exploration when it"s linear like that. But we loved the storytelling, so what we wanted to do with Mists was keep that kind of storytelling but make sure that you have the opportunity to go out and explore and experience the expansion differently, so ... let"s see.

Continue reading Mists of Pandaria: Dave "Fargo" Kosak interview

Mists of Pandaria: Dave "Fargo" Kosak interview originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 19 Mar 2012 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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