Solo MMO Player: 2010-04

Friday, April 30, 2010

WOW Art for Your Computer

Lovely sources of screenshots, wallpaper, etc. from this WOW Insider article.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/26/world-of-warcrafts-wow-art-for-your-computer/

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Why Damage Meters and GearScore Are Evil

Spelled out in two good articles-
http://blog.weflyspitfires.com/2010/04/28/damage-meters-corrupt-absolute-damage-meters-corrupt-absolutely/

http://www.wow.com/2010/04/28/spiritual-guidance-the-gearscore-is-a-lie/

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New Pet Tanking Spreadsheet for Hunters

Big Red Rhino has created a new pet tanking spreadsheet using Excel for PC owners.
http://bigredrhino.wordpress.com/2010/04/22/the-spreadsheet/

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The Hunter Does Extreme Solo Runs (with Pet)

The basics for a hunter who wants to solo old multi-player content with an emphasis on choosing the right pet for solo play.
http://outdps.com/2010/04/30/eidotropes-extreme-soloing-basics/

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Hunters in PvP (Basic Stats and Specs)

How the three flavors of hunters change trees when they do PvP.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/29/scattered-shots-pvp-basic-stats-and-specs/

Hunter tricks for PvP.
http://outdps.com/2010/05/05/random-battleground-hunter-pvp-tricks/

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Thursday, April 29, 2010

Take Your Orphan to Battlegrounds (Childrens Week)

An excellent introduction to the various Battlegrounds and their strategies for those who are unfamiliar with PvP but are going to try to do the Children's Week achievement School of Hard Knocks. This is also a very good introduction for folks new to PvP, whether they are working on this Children's Week achievement or not.
http://cynwise.wordpress.com/2010/04/28/the-school-of-hard-knocks/

UPDATE: Cynwise talks about Eye of the Storm with hints how to get through it with your orphan.
http://cynwise.wordpress.com/2010/05/07/an-eye-for-an-eye/

WOW Head has a guide up for all the Children's Week achievements. IThis holiday starts Sunday, May 2 and ends May 9.
http://www.wowhead.com/guide=childrens-week

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Battle.net Integration Before Cataclysm

Blizzard is promising Battle.net integration (i.e., folks logged into Battle.net will be able to communicate with friends also logged into Battle.net, no matter which game or server or faction they are both playing) before Cataclysm hits.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/28/battle-net-integration-before-cataclysm/

No word on when Battle.net security will be improved to meet current industry standards. Presumably when pigs fly.

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The Greedy Goblin Discovers a Bot

He immediately reported it and since nothing has happened to the "player" in 48 hours, assumes that Blizzard supports boting.
http://greedygoblin.blogspot.com/2010/04/evidence-that-blizzard-supports-boting.html

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Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Death Knight Interview: Skeleton Jack

http://www.worldofraids.com/topic/16437-the-players-perspective/?s=e8efa8b095b9b6a239023691314d0b00

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Leveling a Fire Mage in Patch 3.3

Psynister starts a series about leveling fire mages by covering information up to Level 30.
http://psynister.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/mage-leveling-fire-1-30/

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Gnome Power!

"What has two thumbs but can't heal?"
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/27/wow-moviewatch-what-has-two-thumbs-but-cant-heal/

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Gearing the New Level 80 Character (Patch 3.3.3)

Icecrown Citadel Raid Buff Increases

The ICC raid buffs have increased to 15%. Remember, you can refuse this if you are raiding old school. WOW Insider says in about a month the buffs will reach 20%. Soon I expect raiders can walk through the instance in their sleep....
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/27/icecrown-citadel-raid-buff-to-15/

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The Blood Tank Death Knight

Since Blizzard is making the blood death knight the only tanking spec when Cataclysm hits, WOW Insider has written an introduction to this class.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/27/lichborne-blood-tanking-101/

http://www.wow.com/2010/05/04/lichborne-glyphs-gems-and-enchants-for-the-blood-tank/#continued

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Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Blizzard Splits with Korean Partner

Blizzard is ending their relationship with their Korean e-sports partner just before Starcraft II hits.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179004

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Cataclysm Changes: Points and Badges

Blizzard has just announced changes to the PvE badges and to the PVP points system that will be implemented when Cataclysm hits.
http://www.wowhead.com/blog=154140

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Survival Hunter Specs

Part one of a series about Survival Hunters.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/26/scattered-shots-survival-101-part-1/

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A Bust

FigurePrints, the company that does 3-D statues of your characters, is now offering smaller busts. Smaller version, smaller price tag.

http://www.wow.com/2010/04/26/figureprints-announces-busts/

Here is the company website.

http://www.figureprints.com/

Another company does posters or mouse pads of your characters.

http://www8.printwarcraft.com/homepage.html

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The Drawing Addon UPDATED AGAIN

Draw graffiti all over your raid using the Augmented Virtual Reality (AVR) addon. This article talks about whether this is really useful or just another thing to help you avoid knowing a raid, and whether this is something Blizzard will ban.
http://www.ixobelle.com/2010/04/avr-addon.html

UPDATE: Patch 3.3.5 will make this mod unusable.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/20/blizzard-to-break-the-avr-mod-in-patch-3-3-5/

Reaction to this. Apparently this mod makes the game easier for folks who are hard of hearing or who are vision impaired. I can see why Blizzard would want to keep them out of the game. [Glares at Blizzard.]
http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2010/05/21/a-fond-farewell-to-avravre/

UPDATE #2: WOW Insider reacts to the ban.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/28/ready-check-avr-is-dead-what-did-we-learn/

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Cataclysm's Raid Progression UPDATED

Blizzard has announced the rules for raiding for Cataclysm.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/26/cataclysm-raid-progression-refinements/

UPDATE: A clarification of how raid progression will work.
http://wow.joystiq.com/2010/10/26/cataclysm-raid-progression-update/

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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Interview with Top 10 Man Guild Leader

Pwnwise interviews the general manager of the top world-wide 10 man guild, Vox Immortalis. Interesting to see how it is organized, how they recruit and their raiding schedule, how they come up with strategies to get through content quicker than anyone else, how they deal with latency, and to see some of the videos the guild has made. The discussion of why they use Mumble instead of Ventrilo may interest guild members. I found this interview insightful and interesting.
http://pwnwear.com/2010/04/25/interview-with-world-1-strict-10-guild-vox-immortalis/

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Saturday, April 24, 2010

WOW Head Database Improvements

WOW Head has added new filters and pages to their database. This article lists and explains the new features.
http://www.wowhead.com/blog=153764

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Obtaining Leveling Gear Through PvP

Many long time players know good gear is available without too much effort through PvP in Battlegrounds even for lower level charaacters. Psynister spells out the process here with examples of great gear available for purchase with honor points gained by investing time in Warsong Gulch.
http://psynister.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/amazing-leveling-gear-for-free-ish/

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Friday, April 23, 2010

Speed Run Tips

How to do speed runs.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/23/heroic-speed-runs/

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Thursday, April 22, 2010

Navigational Awareness

Help learning how to navigate the various instances for those who are getting there just through the dungeon finder.
http://www.thehuntersmark.net/2010/04/22/know-where-youre-going-how-lfd-killed-navigational-awareness/

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Lich King Lore

Two articles about the lore the Lich King expansion reveals in-game. There are spoilers within the articles, so if you don't want to know, don't go here.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/14/know-your-lore-the-lore-reveals-of-wrath-part-one/

http://www.wow.com/2010/04/21/know-your-lore-the-lore-reveals-of-wrath-part-two/#continued

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Rogues and Their Cooldowns

All about rogues and their offensive and defensive cooldowns.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/21/encrypted-text-the-cooldown-class/#continued

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Things No One Tells You

WOW Insider lists various things that stump players because they aren't well explained, things like how to drop a profession, how to find trainers, flight masters and mail boxes, how to evaluate items you could disenchant, and how to use trinkets in macros.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/22/wow-rookie-tips-and-tricks-for-rookies/#continued

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Blizzard, Their Website, and Interacting with Players

The Pink Pigtail Inn has been talking about Blizzard's lack of interaction with the blog-o-sphere. This discussion is morphing into one about Blizzard's website and their interaction with players in general. There are no recommendations here, and I do understand the time and effort maintaining an updated site takes, but the vibrant community built by and for WOW players is a backhanded critique of the lack of interest Blizzard has in providing accurate and updated information about a complex game they profit from.
http://www.pinkpigtailinn.com/2010/04/does-blizzard-suck-at-communicating-and.html

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Lich King 25 Man Strategies

Pwnwear pointed me towards this guide to running the Lich King 25-man from the Non Elitist Raiding Diary. It is geared toward raid leaders.
http://nonelitistraiding.blogspot.com/2010/04/lich-king-arthas-menethil.html

Pwnwear has his/her own guides to the Lich King 25-man. This is a supplement to the above article. It covers the action between the main parts of the fight.
http://pwnwear.com/2010/04/23/lich-king-movement-between-phases/

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Papa Lou's Power Leveling

The second in a series produced by Aion Online's developer and Rooster Teeth about playing MMOs.

http://kotaku.com/5521044/the-not+so+real-dangers-of-power+leveling

Here is the first video, about buying gold. It's not as funny as #2 but at least they are trying to reach the game players.

http://na.aiononline.com/board/notices/view?articleID=235&page=2

Thanks for the laugh, Kotaku!

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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Big Bear Butt Explains Holding Aggro

BBB talks about pulling aggro and holding aggro, and talks about addons that help you understand what is going on whether you are a tank or your role is DPS. The comments section has a lot of helpful information and further details.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2010/04/21/chasing-bear-aggro/

Sadly, I don't think Big Bear Butt is kidding when he says he's thinking about giving up blogging.

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Blizzard Bans WOW and Diablo Players UPDATED

Kotaku alerted me to this posting on the Blizzard forums about the company's recent banning of 320,000 players for "violating the terms of use."
http://forums.battle.net/thread.html?topicId=24401612571&sid=3000

More details from 1up.com
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3178923

UPDATE: Discussion about the cheating and the effect Blizzard's not doing anything about hacks for a long time had is in the middle of this article.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/24/1-local-chariots-and-cheats/

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Sunday, April 18, 2010

PvP Basics for the Holy Paladin

An introduction--
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/18/the-light-and-how-to-swing-it-holy-pvp-basics/#continued

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Love (and Hate) For Lil XT

Gordon took time out from Flying Spitfires to point us toward this article about the other virtual pet for sal ethis week at the Blizzard store, the little robot called Lil XT.
http://tagn.wordpress.com/2010/04/16/lil-xt-reactions/

There's a download to silence it, too.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info16491-SilentXT.html

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Saturday, April 17, 2010

Warhammer Online Databases and Sites

For the player who wants to spend recess in Warhammer Online, here are resources.

This site has everything about the game, including a crafting guide (apocathery, talisman making, butchering, cultivating, scavenging and magical salvaging). The first link is to crafting, the second the main page about Warhammer Online.

http://war.allakhazam.com/wiki/Category:Crafting_%28WAR%29

http://war.allakhazam.com/wiki/

I've found two databases to search for specifics.
http://www.wardb.com/

http://warhammer.db.mmosite.com/

There is also a wiki.
http://warhammeronline.wikia.com/wiki/Warhammer_Online_Wiki

And there is a daily news site.
http://www.warhammeralliance.com/

The basics of macros and scripting.
http://imtalkingames.com/2010/05/warhammer-online-the-basics-of-macros-and-scripting/

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Starcraft II in Korea Rated Adults Only

Kotaku is reporting that Starcraft II is going to be rated Adults Only in South Korea. Activision can appeal the rating in the next 30 days.
http://kotaku.com/5519324/starcraft-ii-hit-with-adults-only-rating-in-korea

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MMO Documentary (Part One)

Thanks to Tobold I have a link to the first episode of the documentary.
http://current.com/participate/vc2/92368016_mmo-future-shock.htm

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Instructions and Tips for Getting the Deathcharger Mount

In case you are too cheap to spend $25 on a sparkling pony.
http://birdfall.blogspot.com/2010/02/deathcharger-farm-or-easier-than-it.html

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Spellsteal and How It Works (Mages)

How spellsteal works for Mages.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/17/arcane-brilliance-stealing-spells-for-fun-and-profit/#continued

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Friday, April 16, 2010

Warrior Glyphs, Enchants and Gems

A multi-part article about glyphs, enchantments and gems for various warriors. The first discussion is for the protection warrior. I'll update this as more information is added.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/16/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-protection-glyphs-enchants-an/

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BBB And the AOE Visualization Guide

Brokentree has written a very useful guide to figuring out each tank's AOE ability so you can avoid drawing aggro. It's the second link below. The first link is Big Bear Butt's additional comments on the article.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2010/04/15/a-visual-indication-of-aoe/

http://waywardinitiative.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/wait-for-it/

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Addons Roundup

WOW Insider lists addons that are helpful for priests, mages, or warlocks.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/15/addon-spotlight-priest-mage-warlock-addons/

Addons for priest healers
http://www.wow.com/2010/08/05/addon-spotlight-helpers-for-priest-healers/

OutDPS talks about addons and mods that help with DoT and Proc Timers (the writer is a hunter).
http://outdps.com/2010/04/15/addons-and-mods-dotproc-timing/

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Thursday, April 15, 2010

Flying Mount and Robot Pet at Blizzard's Online Store

The Celestial Mount and the Lil XT robot pet are now for sale at Blizzard's online store. Details like pricing for these in-game digital items here-
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/15/celestial-steed-lil-xt-now-active-on-the-blizzard-store/

There's a queue ~~70,000~~ ~~80,000~~ 140,000 people long in the U.S. store. Do the math. Blizzard made a mint. Expect more such items in the future.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/15/queue-for-celestrial-steed-and-lil-xt-is-above-70-000/

If you are curious about the Celestial Mount and the robot pet, there are videos here.
http://birdfall.blogspot.com/2010/04/celestial-steed-buyable.html

UPDATE: My favorite comment about Blizzard's selling of digital items is at the link below. I believe folks aren't complaining about buying such expensive digital items now because kids are overrunning WOW. Thoughtful adults are not purchasing such things, especially in such a down economy, but there are few adults left playing the game.
http://www.massively.com/2010/04/16/anti-aliased-shut-up-people-come-buy-my-horse/#comments

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Elitist Armory, Better than Gear Score?

Rilgon (hunter) thinks Elitist Armory is a better way to evaluate gear than Gear Score and he loves EA's Raid Experience calculator. Here's why:
http://www.stabilizedeffortscope.com/?p=1453

Here's the link to the Elitist Armory website in case you need more information:
http://elitistarmory.com/

A bit more about Elitist Armory.
http://pwnwear.com/2010/05/04/elitist-armory/

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Another Hole in Blizzard Security? UPDATED

This tale exposes yet another hole in the Blizzard security system: the fact that your private information is on file even after you delete your characters and stop paying to play. The idea to change your personal information to fake stuff if you stop playing seems a good one to me.
http://www.brigwyn.com/2010/04/14/i-drink-your-milkshake-i-drink-it-all-up-a-tale-of-blizzards-information-in-security/

"Ultimately, keeping an account secure is the responsibility of the user and not that of Blizzard." If you don't have an authenticator, go get one right now! Here's the link to the Blizzard store (US),

http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000822

and to the Blizzard store (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America), plus

http://us.blizzard.com/store/details.xml?id=1100000823

a link to the download for a mobile authenticator on your smart phone.

https://us.battle.net/account/support/mobile-auth-download.xml

UPDATE: Eddie's discovered how to ask Blizzard to wipe your personal information from their files when you leave the game permanently. Short version: "You can request your personal private information to be deleted by sending an email toprivacy@blizzard.com or sending a letter to Blizzard Entertainment Privacy Policy, Attention: Privacy Policy Administrator, at 16215 Alton Pkwy. Irvine CA 92618-3616." The long version is below:
http://www.brigwyn.com/2010/04/15/an-update-on-your-privacy-and-blizzard/

Thanks for following up on this important issue, EC.

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Moonkin Raiding Rules UPDATED

Tips from Gray Matter to make your moonkin druid a better raider.
http://graymatterwow.blogspot.com/2010/04/general-rules-of-raiding.html

UPDATE: Graylo realized he omitted tips on how to stay alive from the above. Here they are.
http://graymatterwow.blogspot.com/2010/05/surviving-as-moonkin.html

UPDATE #2: The moonkin raiding basics video series, all listed in the right hand column.
http://www.youtube.com/user/FoofyMoonkin

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Lore from Wrath of the Lich King

If you are interested in the back story of the game, you'll want to read the multi-part article on WOW Insider about the lore in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/14/know-your-lore-the-lore-reveals-of-wrath-part-one/

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Hunters, Pets and PvP (Patch 3.3)

A discussion of the best hunter pets for PvP.
http://greenhunter.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/3-3-pet-pvp-its-all-about-pet-utility/

A guide to the best hunter pets for PvP (Patch 3.3.3).
http://huntsmanslodge.com/hunter-pvp-pets

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Blizzard Talks About Planned Events

Blizzard reveals some of what is planned before and for Cataclysm.
http://www.wowhead.com/blog=152304

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WOW Dungeons: Changes and Game Mechanics

The Hunter's Mark looks at all the dungeons in various flavors of WOW and uses them to analyze game mechanics and what players can expect in Cataclysm dungeons. Interesting article.
http://www.thehuntersmark.net/2010/04/12/dungeons-in-cataclysm-evolution-of-game-mechanics/

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UI for the Minimalist DPS or Tanking Class

A minimal UI for the tank or DPS producer.
http://www.nostockui.com/2010/04/tukui-v10/

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Big Bear Butt Analyses Cataclysm's Druid Changes

Analysis of the planned Cataclysm changes coming to druids by BBB.
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2010/04/11/so-about-these-proposed-druid-changes/

By the way, Druid Heal is keeping a list of all Cataclysm changes to resto druids if you want to bookmark one place to keep up with things. As far as I can tell, DH updates this frequently.
http://druidheal.com/?page_id=682

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Fish Explain Battleground Behavior

If you ever wondered about why folks behave the way they do in Battlegrounds (i.e., mass chaos) you will want to read this.
http://gnomeaggedon.net/2010/04/13/fish-explain-battleground-behavior-better-than-i-do/

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Starcraft Cheating Scandal UPDATED

Details and links to further information here.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3178788

UPDATE: More details of the alleged crimes which involve players and companies involved in fixing the outcome of matches.
http://kotaku.com/5540370/koreas-starcraft-scandal-worsens

UPDATE #2: Players involved in the cheating scandal have been banned by the pro league.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179685

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The Frost DPS Build for Death Knights UPDATED

Skeleton Jack's Frost rotation for DKs.
http://www.skeletonjack.com/2010/05/20/sjs-frost-spec-3-3-3/

Information about the frost DPS build that was improved by Patch 3.3.3. There is gem and enchant information for this PvE build.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/13/lichborne-frost-dps-101/

Tweeking your beginning build as you level.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/20/lichborne-tweaking-your-frost-dps-talent-build/#continued

UPDATE: Anintro to frost DK tanking with roations, builds, etc.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/25/lichborne-frost-tanking-101/

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Theorycrafting Concepts Made Simple

The math (especially coefficients) behind spellpower calculations explained.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/13/theorycraft-101-spellpower/

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Icecrown Citadel Tips for the Restoration Shaman

The article covers the various aspects of ICC with tips to help a restro shaman take down the bosses.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/13/totem-talk-restoration-entering-icecrown-citadel/#continued

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Monday, April 12, 2010

Cataclysm Raiding in Motion

Gravity thinks mobility fights are going to be much more prevalent in Cataclysm. He points to the Rotface and Putricide fights in Icecrown Citadel and Molten Core's Baron Geddon in the Burning Crusade as examples of what players are likely to see when Cataclysm comes out.
http://pwnwear.com/2010/04/12/cataclysm-mobility-raids/

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Track Your Tabards (and Pets and Mounts)

This is a new site listing all the tabards available in the game. It allows you to track your own, see where vendors are located, and there is a list of guides and other resources.
http://www.wow-tabards.com/

Note that WOW Collect helps you track your pets, mounts and tabards but it is a larger site and less focused.
http://www.wowcollect.com/

About Mounts
http://www.warcraftmounts.com/

About Pets
http://www.wow-petopia.com/

About Vanity Pets
http://www.warcraftpets.com/

There is a lot of help on this issues. Also check the list of Favorite Links on the right to find the gem tracker, etc.

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Strategize Away (Battlegrounds and Lich King)

This must be Strategy Week in WOW. Already I've found two good articles on strategies to conquer various parts of the game.

How to Tackle the Third Section of the Lich King Battle (also known as Meat Shield vs. Carpet Bombing).
http://twistedfaith.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/meat-shield-versus-carpet-bombing/

Simple Battlegrounds strategies (listed by Battlefield name):
http://cynwise.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/simple-battleground-strategies/

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The Mages' Raiding Guide (Patch 3.3.3)

The mage raiding guide for Patch 3.3. has been updated to Patch 3.3.3
http://www.empoweredfire.com/2009/10/05/mage-raiding-guide-3-3/

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Warhammer Online Fight History

Karthis mentioned a site that collects the Realm versus Realm (RvR) history from Warhammer Online.
http://teethandclaws.blogspot.com/2009/09/new-tool-warhammer-rvr-history.html

I thought this quite interesting and added the direct link here.
http://www.pvphistory.com/

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Saturday, April 10, 2010

How to Cope if Mythic Overcharged You For Warhammer Online

Tips on recovering the extra cash Mythic took from you.
http://www.gamebynight.com/?p=1320

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On Topic: Account Security

Security and Blizzard's new emphasis are a Blog Azeroth topic. There are links to articles on this topic here.
http://www.blogazeroth.com/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2187

Sub topic: Gold sellers
http://manaobscura.gazimoff.com/?p=199

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WOW Pet Included in Starcraft 2

If you buy the fancy collector's edition of Starcraft 2 there is a WOW mini pet code included.
http://www.wowhead.com/blog=151843

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Hunter Resource Columns from WOW Insider

Compilation of hunter resource columns at WOW Insider, with great information over the years.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/08/scattered-shots-resource-guide/

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Specs for the PVP Hunter

http://www.thehuntersmark.net/2010/04/05/hunter-pvp-how-should-i-spec/

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The Essential Addon for an Arcane Mage (Icon Buff/Debuff Tracking)

How to improve your arcane mage through using TellMeWhen.
http://www.frostnova.ch/tachyon/blogArticle.do?action=view&topic=Essential%20Addons:%20TellMeWhen

More on the same addon.
http://www.wow.com/2010/05/06/addon-spotlight-tellmewhen/

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Improving Your Game Through Hardware

Skeleton Jack's first in a series of articles about improving Lich King play. It's all about hardware (PCs only, no Mac information).
http://www.skeletonjack.com/2010/03/22/improve-your-game-by-sj-wow-system-requirements/

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How to Learn from Combat Logs

OutDPS has a guest writer post about using combat logs to improve your game.
http://outdps.com/2010/03/11/learning-from-logs/http://outdps.com/2010/03/11/learning-from-logs/

http://outdps.com/2010/03/29/learning-from-logs-part-2/

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Tips for Healers with Mana Issues

http://moarhps.wordpress.com/2010/03/29/oom-tips-for-healers-with-mana-problems/

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Dr. Horrible

Thanks to Dreambound for the link to the first of the Dr. Horrible YouTube videos. If you are a fan of Joss Weldon, Nathan Fillian or Felicia Day, or you just want to see a musical superhero parody, you need to head over here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apEZpYnN_1g

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Friday, April 9, 2010

Big Bear Butt Takes a Tauren to the PUG

Moooo
http://thebigbearbutt.com/2010/04/09/tales-from-the-pug-the-return/

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The Breakup NO MORE UPDATES

Crescente lays out the Activision/Infinity Ward divorce to date.
http://kotaku.com/5513756/the-biggest-break-up-in-video-game-history

UPDATE: Read the whole court document of Activision's countersuit here.
http://kotaku.com/5513707/modern-legal-warfare-court-documents-got-that-boom-boom-pow

UPDATE #2: People are crowding the exits at Infinity Ward.
http://kotaku.com/5515489/modern-warfare-team-loses-two-more-veterans-[update]

http://kotaku.com/5516474/modern-warfare-developer-sees-more-key-departures-today

http://kotaku.com/5517346/todays-update-on-the-great-modern-warfare-developer-bailout

UPDATE #3: Activision claims to be unruffled by its new competitor (its games will be published by EA and they have start up money from EA apparently) which is being created around the Infinity Ward co-founders. The new company is called Respawn Entertainment.
http://kotaku.com/5515346/modern-warfare-publisher-unruffled-by-new-competitor

http://kotaku.com/5515263/ex+modern-warfare-creators-havent-hatched-new-game-idea-yet-wont-make-battlefield

I think I'll stop updating this article. You get the gist of it. Infinity Ward staff are fleeing in droves, the co-founders are suing and being sued by Activision, and the co-founders are starting a new company with seed money from EA which promised to publish their game. Plus Activision has just released its first downloadable content for Modern Warefare 2 at a bigger price (especially since two old maps are included) than normal.

Ok, just one more.
http://kotaku.com/5523154/four-more-out-at-modern-warfare-studio-infinity-ward

Now Activision is being sued by a group of 38 Infinity Ward former employees who were not given the royalties promised.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179016

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Thursday, April 8, 2010

Dispel Mechanics in Cataclysm

How the dispel mechanic will change for healers once Cataclysm will hit.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/05/cataclysm-dispell-mechanics/

Clarification
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/06/clarification-on-cataclysm-dispel-mechanics/

Dispel Mechanics in PvP
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/08/the-art-of-war-craft-what-the-new-cataclysm-dispel-mechanics-m/

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Trading Card Game Championship in Vegas

The championships will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada from June 3-June 6, 2010.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/07/wow-trading-card-game-vegas-championship/

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CATACLYSM CHANGES BY CLASS

WOW Insider reminds role players to start preparing their story lines for Cataclysm now.

http://www.wow.com/2010/07/04/all-the-worlds-a-stage-start-planting-your-seeds-for-cataclysm/

Class Changes Impact PvP
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/15/the-art-of-war-craft-the-impact-of-cataclysm-class-changes-on/

Raiding
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/16/ready-check-cataclysm-class-changes-and-their-effects-on-raidin/

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The Combat Rogue

All about the combat talent tree.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/07/encrypted-text-combat-101/

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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

EPEEN Joke Goes Live

Hardy-har-har.
http://dreambound-druid.blogspot.com/2010/04/real-deal-epeen-mod.html

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Playing Old PC Games in Windows 7-Vista-XP

This program is essentially an updated front end to the DOSBOX emulator that allows one to play DOS games on recent PCs. Thanks to Kotaku for mentioning this.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/12771/play-your-favorite-dos-games-in-xp-vista-and-windows-7/

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Becoming a Better Mage

Ways to become really good at playing a mage.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/03/arcane-brilliance-the-difference-between-good-and-great/

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Balance Druids and DoTs in Rotation

A discussion of how to make DoTs more useful in the balance druid's casting sequence (spell rotation).
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/02/shifting-perspectives-dots-a-different-direction/

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Chat Addons

Addons to make chat more something or other.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/02/addon-spotlight-chataclysm-friday/

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Guide to Noblegarden

Noblegarden starts April 4 and ends April 11. Here are the details of collecting eggs, bunny ears and pets.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/02/the-overachiever-guide-to-noblegarden-2010/

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Cataclysm Class Previews, Rage for Druids and Warriors and Heroic Strike

Blizzard has announced they will preview class changes coming in Cataclysm shortly.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/06/cataclysm-class-previews-coming-soon/

They've also announced changes to how rage works for druids and warriors when Cataclysm hits.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/05/rage-normalization-in-cataclysm/

WOW Insider has posted a "quick and dirty" article about what this means for warriors. I'll add the druid information here when it is written.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/05/a-quick-and-dirty-guide-to-rage-normalization-for-warriors/

WOW Insider had just posted an article about how rage was broken when it comes to warriors. You might want to read this for further background if you are not that familiar with rage.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/02/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors-terror-fear-loathing-and-rag/

There will also be changes to heroic strike.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/05/heroic-strike-changes-in-cataclysm/

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The Death Knight as Healer, Spell Caster or Solo Player

Of course here we are most interested in how to play DKs as a solo raider, but...
http://pwnwear.com/2010/03/30/dk-tank-doing-solo-raid-content/

...Psynister is doing a series of articles on how to play a spell caster or healer with your death knight. If you want to try this, here is the series:

Death Knight Spellcasters
http://psynister.wordpress.com/2010/03/24/play-styles-death-knights-for-spellcasters/

The DK Spellcaster in Icecrown Citadel
http://psynister.wordpress.com/2010/03/31/play-styles-dk-caster-used-in-icc-10/

Death Knight Healers
http://psynister.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/play-styles-death-knights-for-healers/

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Making a UI Sandbox (Windows 7 or Vista Only)

Complete instructions on how to create a sandbox (or testing environment) to play with your user interface before making it live. Note that this only works with the latest PC software (Windows 7 and Vista).
http://www.nostockui.com/2010/03/making-a-world-of-warcraft-user-interface-sandbox/

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All About Maul (Druids)

Everything you ever wanted to know, plus a macro.
http://dreambound-druid.blogspot.com/2010/04/maul-melee-haste-and-maul-macro.html

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Where to Fly Mounts in Daralan (And New Recruit-a-Friend Mount)

As you know, mounts are not supposed to fly in Daralan but there are a few places where you can fly regardless of the warnings. PimpYourDruid has made a list with instructions how to make this work in each location.
http://feralaggression.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/flying-mounts-in-dalaran/

By the way, Blizzard is going to have a new mount to give out in their Recruit a Friend program.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/06/new-recruit-a-friend-mount-coming-soon/

UPDATE on the Recruit a Friend Mount: It's delayed.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/09/recruit-a-friend-rocket-mount-delayed/

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Monday, April 5, 2010

Interview with an Arena Hunter

Another in the series of WOW Insider interviews of arena players, this time a hunter.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/04/the-colosseum-loinclothz-hunter-of-sargeras/

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Introduction to Priestly PvP

WOW Insider talks about how to turn from a PvE priest to a PvP powerhouse. This is probably more for disc or holy priests.
http://www.wow.com/2010/04/04/spiritual-guidance-priest-pvp-101/

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Thursday, April 1, 2010

25 Man Heroic Lich King Taken Down (without Mages or DPS Shamans)

This article talks a bit about the first 25 man taking down of the Lich King, then turns into an interesting discussion of the raid class makeup. There were no mages or DPS shamans, for instance. http://www.empoweredfire.com/2010/03/30/sunwelld-again-heroic-lich-king/

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The Stupid Mage Tricks Video Series

This article by Gnomeaggedon brought a series of frost mage videos to my attention. You may be interested in the link buried in the article and want to see the Faxmonkey in action.
http://gnomeaggedon.net/2010/04/01/trollaggedons-coming/

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