Blizzard's Q&A About Real ID

The meat of the posting is that the ability to remove your real name from Real ID will hit about the time Starcraft II comes out, they are trying to come up with some sort of unique ID for the forums but there won't be a way to add a game name to Real ID inside the game.
http://kotaku.com/5589238/questions-and-answers-about-blizzards-real-id-plans

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Stokpile: Auction House Advice Blog

MMO Melting Pot highly recommends this blog's advice on using the Auction House.  Here's their posting.
http://theahpile.blogspot.com/2010/06/stokpile-index.html

And here is the Stokpile blog itself, all indexed into topics of interest.  Note that the author, having reached the gold cap, has retired.  Let's hope s/he returns for Cataclysm.
http://theahpile.blogspot.com/2010/06/stokpile-index.html

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Healing Flowchart

A quick prioritization visual aid for healers.  Thanks to MMO Melting Pot for pointing this out!
http://oddcraft.net/wordpress/2010/07/07/shared-topic-triage-and-you/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Do Your Addons Reveal Your Real ID?

Part of the problem with the Real ID system is that many addons will be able to pull your real name from the Real ID.  Inside this article on this new site (www.MMO Melting Pot.com --bookmark it now) I found a link to a script that apparently tells whether your addons will reveal your identity.
http://www.mmomeltingpot.com/2010/07/a-brief-realid-roundup/

Here's the script itself, pulled from an MMO Champion forum posting apparently.
http://www.threadmeters.com/rYhyCm/Addons_can_show_you_someones_RealID/

By the way, there are rumors that both British and French government entities are investigating Blizzard's privacy breach.  I have been wondering myself how European governments would take this policy, whether Blizzard's reversing the policy will back them off, or whether this will open an investigation into Blizzard's lax security policies in other areas.

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

The Shrinking Population and the Disappearing Servers

Gazimoff explains how Blizzard is invisibly shrinking the servers and predicts how this will play out in-game as WOW's player base shrinks.  This is a must-read for players interested in the mechanics of networking MMOs.  It starts out with a history of how Blizzard organized their servers (and realms) in 2005 and continues through today with the "random" battleground and dungeon finder systems which allow Blizzard to balance their servers.  This is why you end up in the same dungeon or Battlefield over and over again, by the way.  Blizzard is putting folks where they need them.
http://www.manaobscura.com/2010/07/the-growing-yet-shrinking-world/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Big Red Kitty Decodes Cataclysm Beta Subtext

If you want to know what playing the Cataclysm beta is like, Big Red Kitty details the experience by explaining the "real " meaning behind the beta introduction.  Funny but true!
http://www.bigredkitty.net/2010/07/13/this-is-what-hidden-meaning-means/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

The PvP Destruction Warlock Video

This is the Destruction Duel Guide 2 video, highly recommended by Cynwise as a great introduction to playing PvP as a destruction warlock.  He says it explains how to beat various classes and says it is also very entertaining as it has a story instead of just being a How To guide.  It is almost 30 minutes long, though, so wait until you have time to savor it.
http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=121739

Here's what Cynwise says in full:
http://cynwise.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/destruction-dueling/

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com

Cataclysm Interview: Blizzard Talks to The Guardian

A multi-part article about Cataclysm done with a big British newspaper.  At the end Blizzard employees reveal their obsession with "sandbox" gaming, which for me means their xBox Live/console gaming envy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/jul/16/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-interview1

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2010/jul/16/world-of-warcraft-cataclysm-interview2

Many thanks to Larisa at The Pink Pigtail Inn for mentioning this interview.

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Timing is Everything (Real ID, Real Names, Quarterly Reports)

Gronthe believes the Real ID/real names policy change was released at the end of Quarter 2 by Blizzard to keep Quarter 3's numbers up.  He explains why at the top of this article.
http://deuwowlity.blogspot.com/2010/07/conspiracy-theory-current-tank-state.html

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Copyright Solo MMO Player at http://solommo.blogspot.com