Blizzard Speaks: "Arenas are a mistake"

The website Warcry.com just published an interview with Blizzard's VP of game design.  WOW Insider summarizes it here.  The VP thinks arenas were a mistake, talks about the total number of WOW subscribers, their greatest successes and who they think their audience is.
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/13/blizzard-arenas-were-a-mistake/

The original interview is published here.
http://www.warcry.com/articles/view/interviews/6773-Five-Years-of-Warcraft-Speaking-With-Blizzards-Rob-Pardo

By the way, Blizzard has released an interview from 2008, the video of which is embedded below.  It's mostly about the Wrath of the Lich King release.
http://www.wowhead.com/?blog=130459

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

Tips to Reduce Lag

WOW Insider mentions tips to reduce lag and links to forum postings with further information.
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/13/fixing-raiding-lag/

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

Bag Management

One of the things that causes a lot of trouble in any MMO is inventory management.  In WOW, this means managing the bags that you use to carry items.  If you are new to the game, you'll want to look at this WOW Insider column about bag management.
http://www.wow.com/2009/09/23/wow-rookie-bag-it/2

If you are a more advanced player, NoobDing may have tips that will help you.
http://noobding.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-bigger-bags-wont-solve-your-problem.html

Spellchecker has an article about bags that repeat much of the above but that also mentions the addon GarbageFu which he recommends for inventory management.
http://myguildhome.com/WTBSpellchecker/?p=630

UPDATE:  WOW Insider reviews several bag management addons.
http://www.wow.com/2010/03/04/addon-spotlight-battle-of-the-bags/

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

Hunter Trinkets

All about trinkets for hunters (Patch 3.3).
http://www.wow.com/2010/02/22/scattered-shots-hunter-trinkets/

The Hunters Mark lists all the non-faction-specific trinkets available to hunters in the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.  There's a brief explanation of the trinket and where to get it, too.
http://www.thehuntersmark.net/2009/11/13/hunter-trinkets-in-wrath/

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

Death Knight Pets

WOW Insider writes about death knights and their pets.  Ghouls, gargoyles and the Army of the Dead are explained.
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/12/lichborne-the-care-and-feeding-of-pets/

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

Healers' Reflex Versus Rotation

Miss Medicina has written a two part article about healers and their use of reflex button-mashing versus setting up rotations to heal in a raid.
http://missmedicina.blogspot.com/2009/11/rotation-versus-reflex-part-1.html

http://missmedicina.blogspot.com/2009/11/reflex-versus-rotation-part-2.html

It's an interesting article that accidentally shows off something that the Solo MMO Player feels is under-appreciated:  how individual style comes into play, often undermining what players have learned is the "best" way to gear a character or run that raid.  The Solo MMO Player's position is that, for example, there are folks who heal/heal/heal compulsively because that is who they are.  If you know you have a play style that runs counter to the accepted way of playing your character, toss the accepted ways out the window and figure out how things should be arranged for you to play your characters well.

In other words, theory crafting is a simulation of how things should work in a perfect game world.  Inside WOW, nothing will work that way precisely.  It's time players start thinking outside the box instead of boxing themselves in.

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

Affliction Warlock Specs (Solo Players)

Darth Solo lists the affliction warlock specs and talents he uses in his solo play.  Note that he does not raid and will talk about glyphs in another posting later.
http://wowalone.blogspot.com/2009/11/affliction-warlock-spec.html

Here is the promised glyphs posting.
http://wowalone.blogspot.com/2009/11/affliction-warlock-glyphs.html

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

Rogues Versus Mages (and Why Mages Win)

Slice and Dice explains why mages kick rogue butt when it comes to DPS.
http://samueltempus.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/whats-up-with-my-heroic-dps/

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

Guildwatch

Guildwatch's writer seems to think guilds have pretty much conquered all the raids and are just waiting for Patch 3.3's Icecrown to move back into raid mode.  Clearly he has never visited The Solo MMO Player's realm where 3-5 guilds raid and everyone else does, well, not much.
http://www.wow.com/2009/11/11/guildwatch-the-waiting-game/

Fortunately, folks being what they are, there is plenty of drama going on.  Let me quote Guildwatch here--
"Tip: anything labeled as 'a serious anaylisis of the Daggerspine server' [sic] is basically like lighting up a pile of oil-soaked rags and standing back to watch the fire. To be fair, Tomax does say that his guild, Imperium, has been a disappointment, but then the blame starts right up, and obviously the other guilds aren't happy to be given his "pep talk." It's weird, right? You'd think that calling other guilds on the server a "cancer" would cheer them up and help them down bosses."

By the way, you can read the "anaylisis" here.
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=20565930036&sid=1&pageNo=1

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

General Macros

The Bear Flank is writing brief articles about the macros he uses.  I've filed the restoration/enhancement shaman and druid and blood death knight macros with previous articles on macros for those classes, but one article talks about general macros useful for almost everyone.
http://thebearflank.blogspot.com/2009/11/my-macros.html

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