Wednesday, 02 May 2012 02:00
Filed under: Warlock, Lore, Mists of Pandaria
If you"re on the Mists of Pandaria beta, you might have heard about one of the cooler new bits of lore, the in-game text Legacy of the Masters. This book contains lore about new warlock abilities, where they came from, and who developed them and how they did it.
There are all sorts of neat implications in the text. For one thing, the mortal races of Azeroth seem to be meddling with great powers more than ever before after the fall of Deathwing, and the warlocks of Azeroth are afraid of being eclipsed by other rivals (like, say, mages and their weird time magics). In addition to the mention of figures like Ritssyn, it creates the idea of a secret warlock super-cabal that dispenses fel magics to other groups of warlocks and ties in events from the death of Illidan to the recent destruction of Deathwing as teachable moments that gave various warlocks eureka moments. "So that"s how you turn into a demon! I get it!"
It"s definitely worth a read, so go check it out.
 It"s open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria , World of Warcraft"s next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
 Mists of Pandaria: Learn new lore from in-game book Legacy of the Masters originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 01 May 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Wednesday, 02 May 2012 01:30
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
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, and follow Mathew on Twitter.
What do you get when you cross readers with UIs? Reader UI of the Week, of course. Want to show off your own interface creations? Send an email, screenshots, and anything else you"d like to
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, and you might see your submission right here. That"s totally awesome.
This week"s discussion is all about Alvala and a changing multi-spec setup that eventually had to accomodate the healer lifestyle. With a flair for keeping things neat and tidy, as well as introducing neutral elements that span each class, spec, and role for every character, Alvala has created a UI that works for pretty much anything she can think of with room to grow.
I don"t want to spoil the surprise, but at the end of the article today, I talk about how much I like the little WeakAuras goldfish that Alvala has on her UI. It"s pretty much one of my favorite things. Must have caught me at a good time, little goldfish. Continue reading Reader UI of the Week: Neutral elements and goldfish Reader UI of the Week: Neutral elements and goldfish originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 01 May 2012 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tuesday, 01 May 2012 23:00
Filed under: News items
Interested in TERA, one of the biggest MMO launches coming in 2012? Our sister site Massively has prepared an extensive launch-day roundup for all things TERA that shows you everything from unboxings and videos to controversies and impressions. The North American launch is happening today, and you won"t want to miss out.
Check out the TERA launch-day guide over on Massively.
Massively has your TERA launch-day roundup on lock originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 01 May 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tuesday, 01 May 2012 03:00
Filed under: Economy, Gold Capped, Mists of Pandaria
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
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, tweeting him at @foxvanallen, or sacrificing your first-born to him.
One of the most common questions I get as WoW Insider"s (other) resident Auction House guru is this: What professions are going to be the best in Mists of Pandaria? Arguably, there"s no absolute right or wrong answer to the question -- after all, each profession is going to have its pros and cons. (I like to hedge my bets by giving different alts different professions to have a max level of each profession.)
That said, one of my favorite professions for the early days of any expansion is alchemy. It"s likely one of your favorites, too, and there"s no mystery as to why -- transmutes. In the earlier days of Cataclysm, it wasn"t rare to see Truegold sell for more than 1,000 gold apiece. That provided a small profit to any alchemist, but for those lucky enough to see bonus procs, a single transmute could turn a 4,000 gold profit or better. Not bad for about 20 seconds" worth of work.
Of course, that was then; this is now. Will alchemy remain as stupidly profitable in the early days of Mists of Pandaria? Only one way to find out -- ladies and gentlemen, it"s time to datamine! To the beta! Continue reading A first look at Mists of Pandaria professions: Alchemy A first look at Mists of Pandaria professions: Alchemy originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Monday, 30 April 2012 03:00
Filed under: Lore, Know your Lore
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.
Imagine if you will a perfectly nice little wooded area, teeming with wildlife. Here, there"s a bird"s nest; there, a small group of deer peacefully grazing on the grass. Over the hill lives a small pack of coyotes that will eventually hunt the deer, but it helps keep the deer population down. Circle of life and all that. Some years, the wildlife flourishes; other years, water is scarce and so is food. Those are the lean times, but somehow the little wooded area continues to thrive on its own, waxing and waning its way through the years.
Now imagine that little wooded grove gets targeted for development. All woodland creatures are systematically driven out of the area or killed. The lovely trees are ripped from the ground one by one. The grass is torn up, dirt and earth moved and leveled out. And one by one, houses pop up where the wooded area used to be. Clean and tidy paved roads, white picket fences all in a row, pretty if bland houses plunked into symmetric lots carefully designed for the maximum use of space. Those who live in the houses may occasionally see a deer out the window, a remnant of the wood that no longer exists.
Which is better?
Today"s Know Your Lore is a Tinfoil Hat edition, meaning the following is a look into what has gone before with pure speculation on how it happened and what is to come as a result. These speculations are merely theories and shouldn"t be taken as fact or official lore. But they"re interesting! Continue reading Know Your Lore, TFH edition: Sargeras was right Know Your Lore, TFH edition: Sargeras was right originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Apr 2012 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sunday, 29 April 2012 19:00
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Humor, Comics, Sunday Morning Funnies
Sunday Morning Funnies is your weekly list of WoW -related web comics.
This week"s list takes large leaps, explores the dangers of being overpowered yet soft-hearted, imagines what an Orgrimmar customs might be like, and more.
As always, if you know of a WoW-related comic that isn"t featured on this list, drop a link into the comments section below!
Continue reading Sunday Morning Funnies: He sleeps a lot Sunday Morning Funnies: He sleeps a lot originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sun, 29 Apr 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Saturday, 28 April 2012 23:00
Filed under: Lore, All the World"s a Stage (Roleplaying)
Sure, the expansion"s not quite out yet, but that doesn"t mean you can"t start planning for it as a roleplayer if you want to. The pandaren race features some really amazing, beautifully animated characters with an intriguing story ripe for roleplay purposes. While some roleplayers may already be happily roaming around the beta servers, others have only bits of information to work with. The process of coming up with a roleplaying character can take a little time, so if you"re wanting to create a pandaren when the expansion is released, why not start pondering possibilities now?
Though pandaren can be played by both Alliance and Horde, they cannot speak to each other once they"ve made that decision -- a decision steeped in the storyline of the Wandering Isle. However, this does mean that you can play a pandaren character no matter which side of the faction fence you happen to be on. And with the kind of history and story the pandaren have behind them, it"d be well worth looking into if you"re looking for a different kind of character to roleplay with.
This is a primer of pandaren lore, and as such, it"ll contain a little spoiler content. However, because of the unique nature of playable pandaren characters, we won"t be divulging any major story events that take place in Pandaria. This information will mainly be starting zone info. If you"re looking to avoid all Mists spoilers, however, you may want to pass on what"s after the break. Continue reading The basics of prepping for pandaren roleplay The basics of prepping for pandaren roleplay originally appeared on WoW Insider on Sat, 28 Apr 2012 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Saturday, 28 April 2012 02:00
Filed under: News items
While it"s not strictly World of Warcraft-related, we"re obviously big fans of Blizzard around here. So it"s pretty cool when search giant Google includes an Easter egg that"s a direct shout-out to the company. Go to Google and search for Zerg Rush.
When you follow those simple instructions, your screen is swarmed with Os that will slowly eat up the text on your screen. Click on the Os to do battle! The better you click on the Os, the higher score you will achieve. While this probably won"t quite get you over any StarCraft jones you"re feeling, this little screen game is a welcome distraction in the middle of a rough work day. How well are you scoring so far?
Zerg Rush attacks your Google search originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Friday, 27 April 2012 20:00
Filed under: News items, Raiding
During maintenance next week, the Dragon Soul buff/nerf will climb to 20%. This shouldn"t be too much of a surprise for anyone, since we"ve known all along it"ll continue to increase. And personally, I"m looking forward to it. My guild has some new DPSers running with us, and this will be just the boost we need to get heroic Ultraxion down.
Remember that if you want to run without the buff, you can always turn it off by talking to Lord Afrasastrasz at the beginning of the raid.
Blizzard"s full announcement is as follows:
 Blizzard
At the completion of scheduled server maintenance during the week of April 30, the "Power of the Aspects" spell will grow more powerful, reducing the health and damage dealt of all enemies in the Dragon Soul raid by 20%. This spell will grow progressively stronger over time to reduce the difficulty and make the encounters more accessible. The spell will affect both normal and Heroic difficulties, but it will not affect the Raid Finder difficulty.
Don"t need the help of the Dragon Aspects? The spell can be disabled by talking to Lord Afrasastrasz at the beginning of Dragon Soul.
We hope you continue to enjoy Dragon Soul, and that these changes encourage you to attempt a higher difficulty, or just keep pushing to down that next boss.
Dragon Soul: Power of the Aspects buff rises to 20% next week originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Friday, 27 April 2012 16:00
Filed under: News items, PvP
First, we had a cross-realm raid group site. Now, Blizzard forum MVPs Eldacar and Cyaga have created The LFG List, a cross-realm group finder for players to get involved in Rated Battlegrounds. Part of the group"s Battlemasters site, The LFG List is currently active in the United States only; other versions will be rolled out after the U.S. version has been running smoothly for a while.
How do you get onto the list? Well, that"s simple!
If you are ready for a Battleground or two within the next hour, head over to the start page and choose your faction. That will take you to a page with an IRC window and an entry screen below it. Type in your realm and your character"s name in the entry screen to retrieve your basic details from the Armory. You can add in notes and doublecheck that your main spec and off spec are correct.
Note the IRC Name section -- this is where you fill in the name that you"re using in the live IRC chat above. This way, you can give yourself an IRC name of your choosing and seek out Rated Battleground buddies with any character. Other IRC users will see your name in the list and can contact you directly -- and you"re off! Your entry stays up for an hour, so if you"re looking for groups further in advance, you can head over to the Battlemasters Forums and make a post.
As an aside, the Horde chat seems currently rather more popular than the Alliance chat, hence the split channels. As a mainly Alliance player myself, I"m not OK with this! So I"m putting the call out to my fellow humans, dwarves, draenei, worgen, gnomes and night elves: People of the Alliance! Get on over to The LFG List and get involved!
Blizzard MVPs create Cross-Realm Rated Battlegrounds site originally appeared on WoW Insider on Fri, 27 Apr 2012 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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