Blog Archives

The Queue: Pig-tailed bank teller

Welcome back to [hide]The Queue[/hide], the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

Sorry I’m late to the whole Bad Lip Reading bandwagon, but man, these videos are hilarious. They take an actual music video (or sometimes one video and a few pieces of another) and lip-read them, then create an entirely new song with those lip-read lyrics superimposed over the original video. This one is particularly hilarious and catchy.

Andrew R asked:

I’m looking to upgrade my phone to an android phone and save some money on my bills. One thought was making my phone a hotspot and using the 4G as my ISP. Could I run WoW without any major lags on a 4G network or do I need a true DSL/Broadband connection?

I raided on a mobile broadband card for quite a while. It was doable. I don’t know about 4G, because that depends on highly on the carrier, but 3G definitely worked for me.[hide]Continue reading The Queue: Pig-tailed bank teller[/hide]Filed under: [hide]The Queue[/hide][hide]The Queue: Pig-tailed bank teller[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 11:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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Scattered Shots: Improving hunter PVP


Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you [hide]Scattered Shots[/hide] for [hide]beast mastery[/hide], [hide]marksmanship[/hide] and [hide]survival[/hide] hunters. Frostheim of [hide]Warcraft Hunters Union[/hide] uses logic and science (mixed with a few mugs of Dwarven stout) to look deep into the hunter class. Mail your hunter questions to [hide]Frostheim[/hide]. This week, his evil twin, Basil «[hide]Euripides[/hide]» Berntsen, is covering for him while he sleeps off the after-effects of the last Hunting Party Podcast.

Hunter PVP is in a bad state right now. This does not mean that you can’t get Gladiator with a hunter, but it does mean you have to be way better to do it than if you were to play, say, a warlock. You also have to do it in a very small subset of viable team compositions, where your warlock alt could succeed in a large variety of team compositions.

Before you burn a hole through that «add comment» button arguing with me about viability and how Arena representation isn’t worth the pixels it’s displayed on, remember that I’m arguing that it takes more skill to succeed in PVP as a hunter. I’m not arguing that you can’t do it, and I know that Arena class representation isn’t a perfect measure of class balance. The same way some specs (like BM) are [hide]underrepresented[/hide] in the top 100 PVE raid parses, the highest-rated PVP players in the game tend to play classes they feel they will do best, which skews the representation farther away from some perfectly viable spec/class combos. Arena representation is, however, one quantifiable number we can look into for insight.[hide]Continue reading Scattered Shots: Improving hunter PVP[/hide]Filed under: [hide](Hunter) Scattered Shots[/hide][hide]Scattered Shots: Improving hunter PVP[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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The Daily Quest: Oh no no no no no no no

WoW Insider’s on a [hide]Daily Quest[/hide] to bring you interesting, informative, and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

Everyone is still up in arms over the [hide]new pet from the Blizzard store[/hide] — and arguing over what this means for the future of WoW’s economy. Needless to say, today we’ve got another roundup of posts from around the blogosphere further discussing the situation.

[hide]Power Word: Gold[/hide] ponders Blizzard’s future intentions for the pet store and whether this is paving the way for more items paid for [hide]with real cash[/hide].

[hide]The Ancient Gaming Noob[/hide] takes a tongue-in-cheek look at the situation and other examples of [hide]RMT in gaming[/hide].

[hide]Keen and Graev’s Gaming Blog[/hide] points out that these kitties are not [hide]pure RMT at all[/hide].

Lastly, [hide]Marks-365[/hide] takes a moment to point out what is bothering me about this whole situation: $10 spent, and I only get the pet [hide]on one character[/hide]? Oh, no no no no no no no.

Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment, and you may see it here tomorrow! Be sure to check out our [hide]WoW Resources Guide[/hide] for more WoW-related sites.

Filed under: [hide]The Daily Quest[/hide][hide]The Daily Quest: Oh no no no no no no no[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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The Lawbringer: Guardian Cub pros and cons


Pop law abounds in [hide]The Lawbringer[/hide], your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. [hide]Mathew McCurley[/hide] takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps. How about you hang out with us as we discuss some of the more esoteric aspects of the games we love to play?

Blizzard [hide]recently treated[/hide] WoW fans to a preview of the [hide]Guardian Cub[/hide] tradable pet, going on sale soon at the Blizzard pet store. Immediately upon hearing that the pet was tradable, readers began inundating me with email and [hide]Twitter[/hide] messages to talk about said cub on The Lawbringer, as this is sort of the thing I fancy myself a connoisseur of. So here we go — let’s talk about the ramifications of these adorable little pets on our server economies.

The Guardian Cub represents a sea change in the nature of the gold selling war from Blizzard’s perspective, one that has been coming for a long, long time. With a Blizzard-sanctioned way for players to dip their toes into the waters of pay-for gold, gold buying looks a little less attractive to players who would otherwise have to risk their computer’s integrity and credit card security. Players have sharp opinions one way or the other on player-bought gold, so I’m going to do my best to hit the right points to discuss my opinion on the whole premise. I mean, it’s right there in the FAQ. This pet has the added incentive of being a safe and secure way to potentially, maybe, make some gold off your purchase.[hide]Continue reading The Lawbringer: Guardian Cub pros and cons[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Analysis / Opinion[/hide], [hide]The Lawbringer[/hide][hide]The Lawbringer: Guardian Cub pros and cons[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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Patch 4.3 PTR: Replica items bring back classic looks


Well, we were teased about it with this year’s [hide]Darkmoon Faire[/hide] preview, and now we get a taste of what’s to come: [hide]replica items[/hide]. Our friends and cohosts for this year’s [hide]WoW Insider party at BlizzCon[/hide] (which you should totally go to) over at [hide]Wowhead News[/hide] have found a heap of these items, for both the original Dungeon Set 1 look and the upgraded Dungeon Set 2.

As yet these items seem to be purely cosmetic, offering the look of now-lost sets. There’s no sign yet of Tier 3 (original Naxxramas gear) or BC Season 3 Vengeful PVP gear right now, but who knows? This is certainly a step in the right direction for that happening. I’m pretty excited, let me tell you. While my main warrior has the sets he wants, one of my alts would look fantastic in [hide]Battlegear of Heroism[/hide].

Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with [hide]patch 4.3[/hide]. Review the [hide]official patch notes[/hide], and then dig into what’s ahead: new [hide]item storage options[/hide], [hide]cross-realm raiding[/hide], [hide]cosmetic armor skinning[/hide] and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing — from [hide]astride his back[/hide]!
Filed under: [hide]Analysis / Opinion[/hide][hide]Patch 4.3 PTR: Replica items bring back classic looks[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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Choose My Adventure: It’s a new day


[hide]Choose the adventures[/hide] of the WoW Insider staff or join in with [hide]It came from the Blog[/hide] on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H).

This week’s schedule:

[hide]Josh Myers[/hide] will be playing [hide]Clergelam[/hide] (level 10) on Thursday at 12 p.m. EDT (9 a.m. PDT, 10 a.m. server time).

[hide]Joe Perez[/hide] will be playing [hide]Haemon[/hide] (level 12) on Sunday at 4 p.m. EDT (1 p.m. PDT, 2 p.m. server time).

[hide]Fox Van Allen[/hide] will be playing [hide]Foxlight the Shirtless Pally[/hide] (level 27) on Friday at 7 p.m. EDT (4 p.m. PDT, 5 p.m. server time).

[hide]Roblinator[/hide] the Goblin shaman (level 59) will play on Wednesday at 1 p.m. EDT (10 a.m. PDT, 11 a.m. server time).

Stories and polls are after the break.[hide]Continue reading Choose My Adventure: It’s a new day[/hide]Filed under: [hide]It Came from the Blog[/hide], [hide]Choose My Adventure[/hide][hide]Choose My Adventure: It’s a new day[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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Is Tyrael this year’s BlizzCon swag statue?


Looks like we know what’s going to be in our goodie bags this year. We’ve gotten pictures of what appears to be [hide]BlizzCon[/hide] swag for this year’s attendee goodie bag. Last year, BlizzCon goers were given a Dethling statue in commemoration of Deathwing’s return to Azeroth and Cataclysm’s launch. This year’s Diablo-themed statue would definitely make sense. Hit the jump for the full picture.[hide]Continue reading Is Tyrael this year’s BlizzCon swag statue[/hide]?Filed under: [hide]BlizzCon[/hide][hide]Is Tyrael this year’s BlizzCon swag statue[/hide]? originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:44:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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World of Wardrobe: Traipsing around Tempest Keep for tier 5

Heading back to pick up some awesome armor sets from vanilla WoW or that dazzling weapon that’ll have your enemies cowering in fear? [hide]Transmogrification[/hide] makes it possible — and [hide]World of Wardrobe[/hide] shows you how.

The Burning Crusade was an expansion of extremes. Each zone in Outland was drastically different from the next; each dungeon was just as diverse. The staggering difference between regular dungeons and the newly added heroic dungeons was the bane of many early leveling players in the expansion, though the heroic dungeons were nerfed over time. So too were the raids — and tier 5 had two of the most drastically different raid dungeons that anyone had seen.

While [hide]Serpentshrine Cavern[/hide] was the aquatic themed underwater home to Lady Vashj, countless Naga, and other aquatic creatures, The Eye was far on the other end of the spectrum. The Naaru ship Tempest Keep was divided into four sections, three dungeons and the raid instance where Kael’thas Sunstrider reigned supreme. Full of crystalline Naaru architecture, the zone had a shining, unusual, and decidedly alien flavor to it. It was hard to say which of the two raid dungeons was more difficult, but it’s much easier to make that distinction today — The Eye is by far the more challenging of the two zones, especially for those looking to pick up the last few pieces of tier 5.

Gallery: [hide]World of Wardrobe: Tier 5 sets[/hide][hide][/hide][hide][/hide][hide][/hide][hide][/hide][hide][/hide][hide]Continue reading World of Wardrobe: Traipsing around Tempest Keep for tier 5[/hide]Filed under: [hide]World of Wardrobe[/hide][hide]World of Wardrobe: Traipsing around Tempest Keep for tier 5[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 18:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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Leader short stories continue with Varian Wrynn: Blood of Our Fathers

The latest of the leader short stories is now live on the official site. [hide]Varian Wrynn: Blood of Our Fathers[/hide] continues the story of Wrynn where Wolfheart left off. It is Remembrance Day in Stormwind, and King Wrynn is expected to deliver a speech while still embroiled in the struggles of rebuilding the city after Deathwing’s devastating attack. In between, Varian can’t help but remember his father and the circumstances surrounding his death — and his continuing struggle to balance himself along with his relationship with his son.

Anduin features pretty heavily in this story, which continues to explore the somewhat tumultuous relationship between father and son. Anduin’s been spending his time learning the arts of the priesthood. When Anduin returns to Stormwind just in time for Remembrance Day, will he be able to reconcile with his father, and prove himself a capable son? Will Varian accept his son for who he is, not some version of what Varian would like him to be? Check out the [hide]full story[/hide] by E. Daniel Arey on the official site.

Filed under: [hide]News items[/hide], [hide]Lore[/hide], [hide]Cataclysm[/hide][hide]Leader short stories continue with Varian Wrynn: Blood of Our Fathers[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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WoW Rookie: So you know nothing about WoW


New around here? [hide]WoW Rookie[/hide] has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the [hide]WoW Rookie Guide[/hide]. WoW Rookie is about more than just being new to the game; it’s about checking out new classes, new playstyles, and new zones.

With [hide]BlizzCon 2011[/hide] only a little more than a week away, we got hit with an odd request. A reader is bringing a completely non-WoW -playing friend to the [hide]Reader Meetup[/hide]. This is awesome; we’d like to see friends and family of all shapes and sizes at the meetup. But still, this friend knows nothing about the game. She knows the game exists, of course, but she doesn’t know anything at all about it. So the question of the week is: What is WoW from a complete and total noob’s perspective?

Let’s start at the most basic of basics. WoW is World of Warcraft, an MMORPG based off Blizzard’s hit series, Warcraft. Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games allow thousands of players to share a gaming experience, interacting with one another while they pursue the game’s goals. This engenders a sense of community and camaraderie with fellow players.[hide]Continue reading WoW Rookie: So you know nothing about WoW[/hide]Filed under: [hide]The Classifieds[/hide][hide]WoW Rookie: So you know nothing about WoW[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

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