Arena Season 4 Reminder 

http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?;tpstart=0

We’ve only stated that Season 2 is moving to honor, Season 1 is being removed, and Season 3 prices will be lowered. Whether Season 4 or Season 2 prices will change from the Season 1 and Season 3 sets they’re replacing has not yet been stated.   

Midsummer Festival in 2.4  

The Midsummer is getting a full revamp in 2.4 and it’s already available for testing on PTRs.  http://www.mmo-champion.com/index.php?;tpstart=9 Quote from: Blizzard (Source) The World Event Team has activated the revamped Midsummer Fire Festival on the PTR. The primary focus of the PTR testing is still on the content of the Isle of Quel’Danas, but if you could spare some testing time to review the holiday, we’d greatly appreciate it!You can visit any capital city — including Shattrath — to begin most quests involving the holiday.Some focus points for feedback:   

• The boss fight (similar to the Headless Horseman) located in the Slave Pens of Coilfang Reservoir; 
• The Torch Tossing and Torch Catching quests located in the capitals; 
• The lead-in quests offered by the Earthen Ring elders and the daily summon quests that result; 
• The various camps in the wilderness and the buffs that result from activities there (honoring the flame, dancing around the ribbon pole with multiple people). 

Lord Ahune is a new Headless-horseman-like boss, you will be able to fight him during the Midsummer Festival (June 21 - July 5) and after a small fight he might reward you with a few epics. That’s a daily quest and you’ll be able to summon him once a day. Phase 1 - The boss spawns two types of adds and you can’t really damage him, just take care of the adds and after a minute, Ahune will go into phase 2. Phase 2 - Ahune submerges (ragnaros-style) and its Frozen Core will spawn, that’s when you attack him. After some time Ahune will emerge and you’ll have to fight adds for one more minute before he submerges again, etc … Loot table         

Frostscythe of Lord Ahune         The Frost Lord’s War Cloak Icebound Cloak

Shroud of Winter’s Chill      Scorched Stone (Pet)

Where is Muru? 

http://www.wowinsider.com/2008/02/11/muru-is-missing-what-it-may-mean-for-the-future-of-warcraft-lo/ We’ve known for a while thanks to screenshots and data fromWorld of RaidsthatM’uru was the long-expected Dark Naaru  boss of the Sunwell. As a lore fanatic and Blood Elf fan, I wondered how they’d explain his disappearance from Silvermoon and his reappearance at the Sunwell, so when tipster James let me know something was up in Silvermoon on the test server, I had to head out immediately and see for myself. He was right: M’uru is no longer in the not-so-secret chamber below the Paladin’s guild headquarters in Farstrider Square in Silvermoon City, nor isLady Liadrin, the founder and matriarch of the order.Instead, I found the Blood Elf Magisters who had formerly contained the Naaru kneeling or sitting on the floor, or standing in a woozy, stunned daze. Magister Astalor Bloodsworn was the only one who talked, cursing Kael’thas and his Felblood troops for stealing away M’uru, and saying that Lady Liadrin had gone to look for a new source of power for the order. And yes, she does show up elsewhere to claim that new source. I figured that if Liadrin would need a new source of light, she’d need a new Naaru. So, why not go straight to the top and head for Shattrath? I waited by A’dal for a few minutes, and was rewarded for my patience, for Liadrin did indeed march into the center of Shattrath. General Tiris’alan of the Shattered Sun Offensive called her a mockery of all they stood for, but A’dal silenced him and welcomed her. She said that she knew now that Kael’thas had betrayed her people and that her path was a false one. A’dal revealed that M’uru knew the path he must take, for Velenhimself, leader of the Alliance-aligned Draenei and former high priest of the Aldor, prophesied it. A’dal then spoke of Velen’s Prophecy:  “Silvery moon, washed in blood, Led astray into the night, armed with the sword of broken Light. Broken, then betrayed by one, standing there bestride the sun. At darkest hour, redemption comes, in knightly lady sworn to blood.”Liadrin, upon hearing this, said that she understood it all now, and pledged the Blood Knights to the defeat of Kil’jaedan and the restoration of Silvermoon. A’dal welcomed her and her followers to Shattrath, telling her that the Sunwell is only the first step of her journey. Liadrin, upon hearing this, said that she understood it all now, and pledged the Blood Knights to the defeat of Kil’jaedan and the restoration of Silvermoon. A’dal welcomed her and her followers to Shattrath, telling her that the Sunwell is only the first step of her journey.Certainly, this is a major development in Warcraft lore, possibly the largest we’ve seen since the release of the Burning Crusade itself. Most immediately, it affects the Blood Knights themselves: Many of their quests involvesiphoning Power from M’uru orstrengthening his prison. Now that he’s gone, it’s likely safe to assume that those quests will be re-written, and through them, possibly a major part of the whole Blood Knight culture. In addition, this does very arguably make Blood Knights not into thieves of the light, but true Paladins and followers of the light themselves. Beyond that, the whole of Blood Elf culture could be affected. Word of Kael’thas’ actions will surely reach the rest of Silvermoon City soon, and if Blizzard chooses to continue this incredible story development, it should affect Blood Elf lore and questing all down the line. 

Why are some people jerks in the game?  

http://tech.msn.com/news/articlepcw.aspx?cp-documentid=6411895&icid=tg6411895&GT1=40000  By Erin Biba, PC World      One expert says the anonymity of the Web makes everyone behave as if they were in Palm Beach in April. “Think about spring break, when people are feeling anonymous and acting in ways they wouldn’t in their hometown, where they run into their neighbor,” says Nicole Ellison, assistant professor of telecommunications, information studies and media at Michigan University. “People are less inhibited, and they then will engage in things they would want to do all the time but wouldn’t normally because it would be frowned upon in their social circles.” A New York University study found that subjects were more likely to express their true selves on the Net rather than in face-to-face interaction. If that’s the case, the stories we’ve collected here may make you despair for the state of humanity. Meet just a few of the Web’s aggravating trolls and irritating idiots.    

The Darkmoon Faire comes to Orlando !     

 http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/wow/en/     

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Register for the 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament!

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/tournament/faq.xml  

The registration fee is $20 per account for each six-week online qualifying round (played out on the tournament realm)  Qualify for live tournaments with a chance to win cash prizes. Instantly create up to three new level 70s with full sets of PvP gear to prove your skills in 3v3 Arena team combat and each can be on a separate arena team

  At the world finals of the 2008 World of Warcraft Arena Tournament, the winning team will take home the impressive sum of $75,000. The second-place team will win $30,000, and the third-place team will be awarded $15,000. There will be cash prizes at each regional final as well, consisting of $15,000, $6,000, $3,000, and $1,500 for first, second, third, and fourth place respectively, while fifth- through eighth-place teams will each receive $600.

  We are looking at April of 2008 for the beginning of the first online qualifier. The first two weeks of each round are designated for practice - giving a chance for players to meet and form teams, gain experience playing as a team, and experiment with different lineups and strategies.  During this time period, matches will not count, although your rating will change as normal. When the tourney starts in earnest, all team ratings reset to 1500.

  Each team must play a minimum of 200 games per qualifier. Each player, including “bench players,” must participate in at least 30% of the team’s total games to be eligible to advance to the regional finals. If a team were to play the minimum of 200 games, then each player on the team would have to have played in at least 60 of those games.

  To participate, you must:

·         Have an active subscription to World of Warcraft with an account in good standing, meaning the account is not flagged, suspended, or banned for violating any of the Terms of Service, EULA, or other rules of World of Warcraft.

·         Have World of Warcraft and World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade installed.

·         Have a valid credit card to pay the per-competitor registration fee for the tournament, which is €15/£12 in Europe; 20,000 won in South Korea; $20 in North America; and NT$450 in the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau for each six-week qualification round that the competitor participates in.

·         Reside in a country or territory that allows participation (you will see the full list when registering).

·         Complete the required information on the registration page to register for the tournament.

·         Meet all eligibility requirements listed in the rules(coming soon). Players meeting these requirements will be allowed to participate in the tournament and will have access to the dedicated tournament realms in their region.

  The new Arena Tournament realm for World of Warcraft is available for testing on the Public Test Realm.

PTR News

http://www.mmo-champion.com

Seems the Karazhan attunement has been “removed”. There is also a listing of the current PTR changes that might appear in the next patch.  But since it is likely that list will evolve further there isn’t really a need to mention it here just yet.  Link will be available in the show notes.  

Blizz Cast News

Some changes to the Magtheridon fight according to Blizzards Podcast called Blizz cast.  Planned changes include nerfing the channelers to make it easier to get to main fight.  Making certain announcements from Magtheridon to alert to his special attacks.  Other changes include a bag of gold as a loot drop and a bag of epic uncut gems that are hard to get in other areas.  The lockout period will still remain but they wanted to make more incentive to down Magtheridon. 

Spies in WoW? - Reynard Project

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/nations-spies-w.html

Having eliminated all terrorism in the real world, the U.S. intelligence community is working to develop software that will detect violent extremists infiltrating World of Warcraft and other massive multiplayer games, according to a data-mining report from the Director of National Intelligence. The Reynard project will begin by profiling online gaming behavior, then potentially move on to its ultimate goal of automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world.

The cultural and behavioral norms of virtual worlds and gaming are generally unstudied. Therefore, Reynard will seek to identify the emerging social, behavioral and cultural norms in virtual worlds and gaming environments. The project would then apply the lessons learned to determine the feasibility of automatically detecting suspicious behavior and actions in the virtual world. If it shows early promise, this small seedling effort may increase its scope to a full project. Reynard will conduct unclassified research in a public virtual world environment. The research will use publicly available data and will begin with observational studies to establish baseline normative behaviors.  

MMO Champion

http://www.mmo-champion.com

  Reports the curse gaming has posted sound files for the new sunwell instance.  Includes boss sound files and events. Very cool, unless you don’t like to spoil the surprise.

http://www.curse.com/downloads/details/11495

 

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