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Take the WoW Ironman Challenge

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Forum user Jahjin, a troll priest from the Moonglade (EU) guild Twisted Tusks, has posted the rules of the World of Warcraft Ironman Challenge, a grueling, self-imposed challenge designed to take the leveling experience of WoW to a new level of difficulty. Blizzard has even thrown its support into the ring, wishing players embarking on the Ironman Challenge the best of luck.

Blizzard is no stranger to Ironman-type challenges. Both Diablo and Diablo II featured rough hard modes that would cripple those who were not the best. Frankly, the fact that there are players out there putting together these difficulty challenges probably makes a lot of folks over at Blizzard very happy.

Some of these Ironman Challenge rules are pretty brutal. Death is death -- if you die, delete. End of story. Better make it a PvE realm choice, if you want to curb a lot of nonsense-deaths. You aren't even allowed to use talent points, including the one to pick your specialization. No specialization is a rough road to take. If this is your kind of thing, brutal self-hatred, you're going to have a ton of fun.

Head over to the official WoW forums to check out all of the rules and FAQ. If you do decide to try the Ironman Challenge, share your progress in the thread.

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The Queue: Flowers for Azeroth

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:00:00 EST

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky (@adamholisky) will be your host today.

It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.

Wrong movie?

Oops.

Jeff asked:

Do any of the bosses in the twilights drop the bouquets?

No, not that I've seen and not that I've received any reports of. The list that I know is accurate is:
  • Admiral Ripsnarl in heroic The Deadmines
  • Corla, Herald of Twilight in Blackrock Caverns (normal or heroic)
  • Drahga Shadowburner in Grim Batol (normal or heroic)
  • High Priestess Azil in Stonecore (normal or heroic)
  • Lord Godfrey in heroic Shadowfang Keep
Check out our 2012 guide to Love is in the Air for more information.

Continue reading The Queue: Flowers for Azeroth

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Around Azeroth: I am a rocket man, be bop a lula!

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

Submitter Hâdes of Grand Illusion on Exodar (US-A) may have come to Azeroth on a rocket from the stars, like all draenei -- but from the expression on his face, he doesn't seem too keen on repeating the journey. Don't worry, friend, you're not going back into outer space. Judging from your trajectory, you're about to impact the side of some mountains, leaving only a faint blue smear on the rock and a few small pieces of gear that will soon be scavenged by pirates.

Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Please include "Azeroth" in the subject line so your email doesn't get marked as spam, and include your name, guild and server if you want to be credited.

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WoW Insider Show Episode 231: Anticipation

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST

Every week, join us as we present you with The WoW Insider Show podcast -- an hour's worth of WoW community discussion covering everything from the week's top stories here on WoW Insider to emails from our readers and what's been going on with our particular characters in Azeroth.

Want to have your question answered on the air? Email theshow@wowinsider.com!

Get the podcast:

[iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes.
[RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator.
[MP3] Download the MP3 directly.

Listen here on the page:


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Breakfast Topic: What role do you play in your guild?

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

I recently wrote a Breakfast Topic about roleplaying and was considering what I said that we all play a role in WoW. The replies to that topic were really fascinating, by the way -- thanks very much!

Now, what crossed my mind is that those of us who are in guilds often play a role. I am really lucky with my guild. Possibly because it includes people I've known for over 10 years, there's a real family feeling to it. The core members are talkative, helpful, and friendly and generally look out for each other, and I like to think that new members coming in to the guild feel welcome.

There are people who fulfill certain roles -- not just the leadership, but the two guys who have loads of gold, the guy who provides all the fish feasts, the girl who provides all the cauldrons and flasks for raids. There are the people who will be happy to boost your alt, the person who has every blacksmithing recipe under the Azerothian sun, the one who knows every instance in the game like the back of his hand, the people who will always have a gem and an enchant ready for you, and the ones who'll talk to you about nothing at all when you're feeling a bit down and lonely. The currently absent German guy who always did the steering of Ryolith and added a cheery voice to frustrating raids. And, of course, the quieter folk who just go about their business with an occasional bit of chat.

We've mostly found our niches and occupy them happily -- or at least I think we do!

So what's your role in your guild? Are you the gatherer of fish? The shoulder to cry on? The one who jokes around and bubbles death knights in raids to troll them? Or are you a lone wolf, a solo adventurer, guildless and answering to no one?

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Last Week In WoW: The cruelest month edition

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:00:00 EST

Pandaren Monk
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. This week, we were treated to an update about an update about an update, as Zarhym first tweeted about the announcement of an upcoming press event for Mists of Pandaria and Nethaera posted about it the next day. The gist of it all, though, is that we have to wait a whole month for any major amount of expansion news. However, once that goes down, the floodgates should open. Still, because of this, I am officially declaring February the new cruelest month.

Don't worry about the meantime, though -- we here at WoW Insider will continue to keep you informed and entertained as we wait for the next big thing. Right now, we've got all the news about the recently released patch 4.3.2, as well as end of Cataclysm retrospectives, guides to avoiding the most common mistakes your class makes, and much more. In addition, there are three world events going on right now, and we have guides to them all. Downtime today is a quick series of rolling restarts at 10 a.m. PST, so while you wait for server to stabilize, why not see what we have to offer?

Continue reading Last Week In WoW: The cruelest month edition

Last Week In WoW: The cruelest month edition originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 07 Feb 2012 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blue Posts: MoP account-wide achievements, phasing, authenticator troubles, Battle.net Balance

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 21:00:00 EST

Join us every weekday evening as Today in WoW runs down all the WoW news that you could possibly want. From comments from Blizzard's blues to the latest datamining info -- we've got you covered.

Zarhym's judge-ness been taken up to the Dredd degree.

Don't forget to check out The Daily Quest and our Weekly Podcast Roundup to find out what else is going on in the WoW community. And if you have a news tip, feel free to drop us a line and let us know.

Continue reading Blue Posts: MoP account-wide achievements, phasing, authenticator troubles, Battle.net Balance

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Spiritual Guidance: How to increase your HPS as a discipline priest

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Spiritual Guidance for discipline, holy and shadow priests. Dawn Moore covers the healing side of things for discipline and holy priests. She also writes for LearnToRaid.com and produces the Circle of Healing Podcast.

I received an email three weeks back from a discipline priest who told me she thought her performance on the healing meters was too low. Though there wasn't any pressure on her from her guild to change what she was doing, she was bothered that her peers often outhealed her by a significant amount -- even another discipline priest with worse gear and a laggy computer. She told me she'd first noticed it at the start of Cataclysm, despite the fact that her performance on meters should have gone up with the change to combat logs (which allowed absorption from Power Word: Shield and Divine Aegis to register on meters). She kept up with her assignments regardless, and none of her targets ever died, but something just didn't seem right to her.

The priest linked me her armory but said that she didn't think it was anything to do with her gear choices, which I agreed with upon my own inspection. She also described what she was casting, none of which seemed horribly egregious to me. What could be wrong?

Continue reading Spiritual Guidance: How to increase your HPS as a discipline priest

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Weekly Podcast Roundup: Jan. 30 - Feb. 5, 2012

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST

Every Monday evening, WoW Insider brings you a long list of WoW podcasts that were published the week and weekend before. If you don't see your favorite World of Warcraft podcast listed, just let us know in the comments. Be sure to leave a link to it, and we'll pick it up next week.

All podcasts and content belong to their owners. WoW Insider is not responsible for what you hear, and some of the content may not be safe for work.

Continue reading Weekly Podcast Roundup: Jan. 30 - Feb. 5, 2012

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Two Bosses Enter: Echo of Tyrande vs. Warlord Zon'ozz

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST

In Two Bosses Enter, WoW Insider's series of fantasy death matches, bosses, leaders, and powerful figures of World of Warcraft face off in the squared circle. Your vote determines who wins and claims the season title.

As the poll closes for last week's matchup. the Echo of Sylvanas from the End Time dungeon successfully trumped the second raid boss to be a part of Two Bosses Enter, Yor'sahj the Unsleeping. Looks like this unsleeper is being put down for the night, if you catch my drift. You don't? Oh, Yor'sahj lost. By 800 votes. Another surprisingly close match, considering who Sylvanas is.

This week's matchup proves to be another fun one, especially for the commenters, who are doing their best to reconcile raid mechanics and 5-man mechanics while remembering that this is about spirit and fun. The Echo of Tyrande, leader of the night elves and caretaker of Nordrassil and the druid barrows, will have to pull out every trick in the book as she goes up against Warlord Zon'ozz, one of the two generals at the helm of the assault on Wyrmrest Temple.

Now the fate of these two champions is in your hands. Who wins it, loyal readers and fans? Does the Echo of Tyrande have the strength of will to stand up against the madness of the Old Gods' servant Warlord Zon'ozz?

View Poll

Continue reading Two Bosses Enter: Echo of Tyrande vs. Warlord Zon'ozz

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Don't forget that the Darkmoon Faire is live, too

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

At this point, it shouldn't be hard to remember when the Darkmoon Faire is active. This is our third month with the new Darkmoon Island. However, with both Lunar Festival and Love is in the Air in progress, we figure this friendly reminder can't hurt. It's incredibly easy to get caught up in the festivities with so many events happening at one time.

Remember, your Darkmoon Faire achievement progress has been reset since last month. Don't wait until the last minute to take care of those! And if you need a little help with those achievements, we have a guide for that.

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The curious case of Cataclysm potions

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST

Remember how amazing cogwheels were? The concept was an inherently cool one -- engineers, much like jewelcrafters, could get their hands on something that would enhance their gear purely through their craft. For jewelcrafters, it's the ability to cut amazing gems, limited to the number they can use in their gear. For engineers, cogwheels were purchasable with crafted engineering items and could be used in a helm with cogwheel slots.

You may be wondering why I'm using the past tense here. It's for good reason -- cogwheels are, essentially, a dead item. Introduced at the beginning of Cataclysm, they could be used in engineering crafted goggles, but that was it. Once players started raiding, those goggles were quickly replaced ... and we never saw anything with a cogwheel in it again. For something that had me really excited about being an engineer, the cogwheel was a letdown of sorts. But that's not the only thing that's been a little off, professionally speaking, with Cataclysm.

Continue reading The curious case of Cataclysm potions

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How players are using cross-realm raiding to foster communities

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:00:00 EST

With the introduction of cross-realm raiding in patch 4.3.2 and the Raid Finder, players have gone above and beyond in creating new and exciting server-less communities that bring in raiders from all over the world via Real ID grouping. While the Dragon Soul raid is not available currently for players using cross-realm raiding, all other raids and difficulties are, and there is no better time to go back to old content and finish off stuff during the wait until the next expansion.

Sites like LFRaid.com and Twitterland Raiding are two communities that have sprung up quickly in this new cross-realm raiding world. Twitterland Raiding is a website created for the Twitter WoW community to form up groups for raiding across server lines. With a centralized place to express interest in raiding as well as no server structure or logistics to worry about besides Real ID names (which gets immensely easier with the introduction of BattleTags), raiding can happen in greater volume and more quickly.

Continue reading How players are using cross-realm raiding to foster communities

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Officers' Quarters: A gkicked player takes revenge

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

lord godfrey fires his pistols
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available from No Starch Press.

Here at OQ, I receive emails all the time about people acting like jerks. Jerks are everywhere, and MMOs certainly have their fair share. Of all the jerks I've heard about, the player from this week's email has to be among the all-time worst. Fortunately, his terrible behavior has a bright side: By sharing this guild's story, other officers can avoid the same fate.
From the start one of our members started to complain about the guild at the start of raiding early cata. However the officers and GM has brush it off as him being annoyed at the game because he hated the expansion. Things went from bad to worst when we started Firelands.

He started to make plans to overthrow the GM of the guild and made fun behind him. He complains the GM is never there supporting the guild because he took a month off due to work reasons. He made fun of our progression even though we manage to get at least 1 heroic mode down. When we got to dragon soul he stop raiding with us all together. Which is fine because our guild is a casual raiding guild and members are free to choose to raid or not. However he complains even more that people in the guild are stupid and we won't ever progress. It got to the point where we kicked him from the guild but the problem didn't stop there.

Continue reading Officers' Quarters: A gkicked player takes revenge

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Drama Mamas: Choosing between raiding and friendships

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:00:00 EST

Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm.

In the video above, Candace's friends are off having fun without her. Since she is unwilling to find her own fun, she takes a portal to Mars to hang out with strangers -- and breaks into song. There are parallels with this week's letter (except for the song part).
Hi Robin & Lisa,

I'm finally writing in with my own dilemma. Since I started playing this game in mid-Wrath, I've played with my girlfriend and our mutual friend. We have a strong bond and truly enjoy playing together, and GF and I have even met our friend IRL. In Wrath, I led our 10 man raid group, and we loved every minute of ICC. Once the Cataclysm was upon us, we expected to continue raiding. However, things rarely work out as planned, and we missed T11 completely, mostly due to the dissolution of our guild. Eventually I became frustrated with lack of progress and quit the game for a while.

Continue reading Drama Mamas: Choosing between raiding and friendships

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WoW Moviewatch: I'll Fight For You

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

I love this video for a few reasons. I'll Fight For You is a guild tribute video by Antimatter (who did Colder), featuring music by Jason Derulo. The first reason I love this video is that I love heartfelt, honest, friendly videos that commemorate the friends and family we all enjoy in WoW.

More importantly, I liked this video because it exemplifies a favorite aspect of machinima. While I like to think of myself as a fairly pop-culture-savvy dude, I don't know every artist, every song, and every cover created. While I obviously recognized the Toto sample, I've never been exposed to Jason Derulo. I really grooved to this song, and I loved the way it worked with the video. So now I get to enjoy a new artist, which is an added bonus to a video like this.

All in all, nice job, Antimatter.

Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at moviewatch@wowinsider.com.

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The Queue: G-Men

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 11:00:00 EST

Welcome back to The Queue, the daily Q&A column in which the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mathew McCurley (@gomatgo) will be your host for today.

I don't think I need to say anything other than the fact that it was a really good game. Sorry, Brady.

exogenesis. asked:

"I did the Love is in the Air bosses this morning - and the necks that dropped were not upgraded. Is this intentional, or a bug?"

This is intentional. Remember, the Cataclysm expansion released at the beginning of December, with Love is in the Air launching with an updated form in February 2011. At the time, these ilevel 346 necks were a huge boon to players who were still slogging through Cataclysm heroics at the opening of the expansion, some of the hardest casual content Blizzard has ever released.

Continue reading The Queue: G-Men

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Around Azeroth: All the lilacs in Kalimdor

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

Love is in the air! Well, perhaps not for Pilkington of Ravenguard on Suramar (US-A). His all-consuming loneliness (gnomeliness?) leads him to make dramatic gestures such as lying all alone in a field of flowers, weeping over the state of his romantic life. Someday your vertically challenged princess will come, Pilkington. Hopefully before that rat starts chewing off your toes.

Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Please include "Azeroth" in the subject line so your email doesn't get marked as spam, and include your name, guild and server if you want to be credited.

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A vision of Mists of Pandaria's Pet Battles

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:00:00 EST

Mists of Pandaria can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned, and that anticipation is palpable. Hopefully we'll learn more about Pet Battles soon, especially with all of that hinted Pandaria information coming in the near future. Enterprising players have begun to create their own visions of the future of Pet Battles, including the above video that features an all-too-familiar scenario occurring in an all-too-unnatural place.

Have you seen any other fan mockups of the upcoming Pet Battle system, whether humorous or realistic? Show off your favorites in the comments below.

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Breakfast Topic: How do you roleplay in WoW?

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

I did a Breakfast Topic recently asking you all what your game was. This included a woefully inadequate poll, but it still gave me some interesting results to look at. There was the expected dominance of PvE endgame content, but that's not what I'm here to talk about today. I have just enough knowledge to be dangerous about most aspects of WoW; I could explain PvP and PvE to a non-player pretty easily. I could also make a relatively decent stab at achievement farming, professions and playing the Auction House.

But roleplaying ... now, that is a total mystery to me. I get that we're all playing roles to an extent -- bar a recent Halloween fancy dress outfit, I'm not an orc shaman any more than I really could survive being beaten up by a huge dragon. But that, as far as I know, isn't what roleplaying is really about. I could be totally wrong, of course!

I think it has to do with creating a story for a character and then enacting it, but I have so many questions! Do you raid? Can your character's storyline encompass all aspects of gameplay? I can see how there may be a good amount of PvP involved, but are instances more troublesome? Do you quest? If you don't include normal gameplay, what do you actually do? What are the constituent parts of a few normal days of roleplaying in WoW? I'm intrigued to hear your stories!

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Know Your Lore: Cataclysm lore for Dummies, Act I

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You're playing the game, you're fighting the bosses, you know the how -- but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

Are you super familiar with Warcraft lore? Can you name all the dragon aspects, what they were created for, where they got their powers? Do you have a working definition of the Dragon Soul, what it is, what its other name is, and why it's important? Do you know who Sinestra was before she was a torn-up, reanimated corpse in the bottom of the Bastion of Twilight? Are you related to the Red Shirt Guy? Are you the Red Shirt Guy? Then this post is likely not for you.

But if you've been running the Raid Finder like a fiend, killing dragons and elementals and minions left and right, and suddenly found yourself wondering why, exactly, you were fighting in Wyrmrest Temple, this is for you. If you're wondering why Thrall is suddenly pals with the Dragon Aspects, this is for you. If you're wondering why exactly Deathwing is such a huge major threat and what's with all this running around you have to do, this one is for you.

Let's take a quick sweep through the entirety of Cataclysm and recap what's happened. Better yet, let's sum up.

Continue reading Know Your Lore: Cataclysm lore for Dummies, Act I

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Raid Rx: Healing heroic Morchok

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST

Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast.

The recent nerf to Dragon Soul with the release of patch 4.3.2 means more players are now within striking distance of Morchok on heroic modes. He's a boss that serves as an execution check for your raiding group more than anything else. If your raid group mastered the art of healing through him on normal, then it should have no problem doing it again on heroic.

Just be prepared to do it twice.

The biggest hard mode change is that Morchok clones himself. His clone has the exact same abilities as Morchok prime, except the timing will be off. Your raid will be splitting in two and pulling the two bosses away from each other. You can envision the fight as two pseudo 10-man groups fighting (or two 5-mans, if you're in a 10-man raiding group).

Come into the raid with six to seven healers, if you're a 25-man raiding group. Actually, I'd consider bringing seven if it's the very first time. For 10-man, it is not uncommon for groups to bring in up to four healers for the first time. You'll need them, due to the amount of damage being dished out to the raid. Ideally, try to insist that when your raid leader splits the raid into two groups, the players will show up in your raid frames in different groups. Having all of the players in group 1 and 2 on one side with groups 3 and 4 on the other can be beneficial. The side that is tanking Morchok is the one that could benefit from the extra healer, as it seems more damage is done on that side.

I strongly recommend bringing in tanks with their four-piece bonuses, because they will be an incredible asset.

Continue reading Raid Rx: Healing heroic Morchok

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In defense of intellect plate

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST

intellect plate
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome.

There was some talk on the official forums recently about the logistical issues presented by plate gear with intellect on it. The best part of the preceding sentence is that it was true last year, it's true this week, and will probably continue to be true next year.

While the gear itself was originally called spell plate due to its spellpower stat, it's now usually referred to as intellect plate. The issue isn't with intellect plate or holy paladins, because they've both been serving their purposes perfectly. The problem is how intellect plate interacts with boss loot tables, affecting everyone else in the raid.

Continue reading In defense of intellect plate

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Sunday Morning Funnies: Havin' a blast

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

Sunday Morning Funnies is your weekly list of WoW-related web comics.

Bloodshed! Also, Tokkar and Jekk and Kindred Spirits have both updated.

This week, the list features fishing (for suckers!), a thorny trap, a sexy shower scene, and more!

Continue reading Sunday Morning Funnies: Havin' a blast

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The Queue: Superb Owl

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Welcome back to The Queue, 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.

Why can't I find out anything about this Superb Owl?

dinojake15 asked:

Any word yet on MoP's system requirements?

I got a little 10.5.8 MacBook that can just barely run Cataclysm. Just wondering if I should start saving money for a new computer now.


Blizzard has been incrementally increasing WoW's system requirements with each expansion, so it's safe to assume that MoP will require even more muscle than Cataclysm did. I don't think it's been announced just how much more muscle, but if you had trouble running Cataclysm, you're going to have trouble with MoP.

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Around Azeroth: The truth about cats and dog

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

"Life is tough as a single worgen father," writes Ghostmoon of Blood of the Titans on Eonar (US-A). "Especially when you're raising an orphaned panther cub. Finding a woman who likes cats is one thing ... finding one who likes cats, dogs, bears, treants, birds, and moonkins is another! But that doesn't keep us from going on fun family outings to Stormwind. Here is a picture of one such trip with me and the cub after a lesson in pouncing with some help from the unsuspecting locals."

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Breakfast Topic: Will you be finding Love in the Air?

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

Guys. Seriously. I can't believe more people haven't mentioned the fact that Love is in the Air this year has a holiday mount involved -- the Swift Lovebird, which can be purchased for 270 Love Tokens. Have you not heard? Bird is the word, in the form of this absolutely gorgeous pink tallstrider. Needless to say, I do not care how much running around I have to do to get all those Love Tokens, by the end of this holiday, I will be riding around on a ridiculous pink mount ... because I can.

There's a ton of other reasons to do the holiday as well, for achievements and for tons of fun items from the holiday bosses. I'll be faithfully killing the trio of Apothecaries in the hopes of getting fun prizes, provided the Apothecary Trio is still there, of course. I'm not much of a fan of Valentine's Day, but I do love fun world events. And giant pink tallstriders to ride around on. Did I mention the pink tallstrider?

Are you planning on participating in Love is in the Air? Do you still have achievements to finish for the meta? And perhaps the most important question of them all: Will you be hunting down enough tokens for the Swift Lovebird as quickly as possible, too? Let us know -- and while you're at it, check out our Guide to Love is in the Air 2012 for tips on nabbing all those pesky achievements.

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Totem Talk: Maximize your fire elemental DPS on Ultraxion

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST

Ultraxion flying in Dragon Soul
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Totem Talk for elemental, enhancement, and restoration shaman. Once just the expert on enhancement shaman, Josh Myers has spent most of Dragon Soul as elemental, and he's not quite sure how he got there. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Of all the fights in Dragon Soul, Ultraxion on heroic mode is the ultimate DPS check. Heroic Spine of Deathwing definitely tests your raid group's ability to do a large amount of damage in a miniscule amount of time, but Ultraxion forces your group to maximize its sustained DPS. As a result, it's very commonly the first real wall most heroic progression guilds hit, at least until they can get the gear to make it a cakewalk. If you're working on heroic-mode Ultraxion or are having trouble killing him on normal, there are a few things you can do to maximize your elemental shaman's DPS on this specific fight.

Gear, glyphs, and talents

First off, the easiest way to help your DPS on Ultraxion is to check your glyphs. Most elemental shaman nowadays run with Glyph of Unleashed Lightning as one of their prime glyphs. This makes sense for nearly every other fight in Dragon Soul, as they all require some amount of movement. Ultraxion, however, is a straight up stand-there-and-shoot-lightning-and-lava-until-your-fingers-fall-off-or-he-dies fight, and Glyph of Unleashed Lightning gives absolutely zero DPS if you're not moving. Switching this out for Glyph of Lightning Bolt will give you a slight boost in numbers. Your three glyph choices should be Lightning Bolt, Flame Shock, and Glyph of Fire Elemental Totem; more on the FET glyph choice in a second.

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The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Warrior mistakes to avoid

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host.

One of the interesting things about my current astonishing obsession with transmogrification and all things related to it has been seeing older itemization. You know, strength and agility plate. Warrior tier 6 is lousy with agility. That's a legacy of the past, of course, and as the design of the game moves ever onward, artifacts like that are left in its wake. After all, most level 70 warriors nowadays move straight to Northrend dungeons and are not likely to look at Black Temple until much later, when farming for transmog gear. The stats aren't important enough to go back and redesign the set.

What I really find interesting about this is seeing where the class has been, not just visually but also in terms of design. It's kind of like archaeology (the actual field of inquiry, not the in-game profession) or paleontology, reconstructing the class and its roots from the remainders of what it wore. Granted, I was there, so to a degree it's like excavating Pompeii with an immortal who survived the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius and keeps grumping about how people in his day didn't complain when they were buried in pyroclastic material. Which is a complete lie, by the way, we did nothing but complain about it. But I digress.

The warrior class has come a long way in seven years, and the artifacts of past design lie strewn about. New players and even old veterans can be forgiven for making a few mistakes based on the rubble. Let's go over a few.

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Do mages really need 3 competitive PvE specs?

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST

female mage
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Arcane Brilliance for arcane, fire and frost mages. This week, we're talking about specs, and DPS, and possibly smurfs, though I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

Patch 4.3.2 has dropped, and for mages, the only item in the patch notes is a 6% damage nerf to Fireball and Pyroblast, ostensibly to bring fire mages back in line with arcane mages for top prize in the What Spec Will My Raid Leader Expect Me to be Raiding With This Week Sweepstakes. For good or ill, every patch brings changes like this, as the spec balance carousel continues its eternal round.

That's been mage history, in a nutshell -- fire and arcane take turns pushing each other from the top of the PvE heap, and frost just shakes its head and queues for an Arena match. It's like a giant teeter-totter, with fire damage stacked on one end and arcane damage stacked on another. Blizzard goes back and forth between the ends, adding just a bit more of each type of damage or taking some away in an attempt to get the thing perfectly balanced, but try as it may, one end or the other is always sticking up in the air.

The number crunchers crunch the numbers after every damage pass and crown one spec king ... until the next pass, when the cycle repeats. And frost mages just watch and wonder when it will be their turn to go raiding.

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How to assemble a character history for your roleplaying character

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 14:00:00 EST

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. In World of Warcraft, that player is you! Each week, Anne Stickney brings you All the World's a Stage with helpful hints, tips and tricks on the art of roleplay in WoW.

Last week, we talked about roleplaying descriptions for characters and what should be considered a descriptor for your character. Along the way, I also mentioned that a lot of people make the common assumption that a character's history should be a part of their description as well. After all, part of what makes up a person is everything that's happened to them, right? Sure! But not when we're using roleplaying addons that have a clearly defined spot for character history.

And that clarification is important, because there are still roleplay addons out there that don't have a character history tab at all. Does this mean you should type up your character's history as part of your description? Absolutely not. Descriptions are for descriptions, and history is for history. If your roleplay addon doesn't allow for a character history tab but you're really gung-ho about writing up that history for everyone to read, I'd suggest finding a roleplay addon that has a spot for all that backstory you're dying to tell.

Except for one thing -- you don't want to tell everyone everything.

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The Queue: A giddy thing

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:00:00 EST

Welcome back to The Queue, 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.

This Queue is excellent. *throws The Queue on the ground; it shatters into a million pieces* Another!

Ellyon asked:

My main is a resto druid. Lifebloom triggers Replenishment and I keep a stack of Lifebloom on a tank for, ideally, the whole fight. Last night I was in Raid Finder and noticed that Replenishment kept falling off. I would refresh Lifebloom just to make sure, but Replenishment didn't return until some other moment: a moment when I was not casting or refreshing Lifebloom. I'm wondering, is there a priority system that another character is the trigger for Replenishment? With my style of healing, Replenishment should be up the whole fight, but I regularly saw it fall off and was not refreshed at the moment I would have expected.

Commenter metafarm answered this one really well, so here it is for posterity:

It gives 10 party or raid members (with the lowest mana left) 1% of their maximum mana every 10 second for 15 seconds, or 1.5% over the full duration. Each time it is triggered, the 10 most needy members are recalculated, and those people either receive the buff, or have it refreshed on them.

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Around Azeroth: Vacation land for blood elves in love

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 10:00:00 EST

"As a lowly level 24, I literally died to get to the cliff overlooking Un'Goro Crater, but the view was worth it," writes Ravinne of SaDiablo on Vashj (US-H). "Shortly afterwards, Laizhensil proposed with a Flawless Diamond Solitaire and a Red Rose. It was a good day in WoW." Congratulations! At level 24, I probably would have asked him to return the ring and give me the gold instead, but I'm a bit mercenary like that.

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Breakfast Topic: What parts of gameplay do you consider a chore?

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:00:00 EST

WoW is a funny game, really. I was chatting about it to a friend at university the other day and explaining to them that there's a lot of grinding in WoW. They wondered what on earth I meant by that. I clarified that you have professions that you need to level up, for example, and in order to do that, you have to go and repeatedly kill baddies in order to get the materials or do something that allows you to get enough gold to buy the materials on the Auction House.

I added that it's rather a chore. I also mentioned that in Rise of the Zandalari, there were only two dungeons that you had to run every week to get your points topped up in order to buy gear to raid. This, also, was rather a chore. He was baffled that a game -- something that was meant to be fun -- should have chores in it!

So that got me thinking (like everything else does) about my friends. I have a friend in WoW who mines constantly; it seems to be all he does sometimes. Mining (the profession I've never leveled because I hate it so much) clearly isn't a chore to him -- or he thinks he really needs all that ore and quietly hates it! Ugh, that clink, clink, clink ...

What do you consider a chore in WoW? What are the not-that-fun-but-necessary parts of the game? What are things that you just won't do because they're too tiresome?

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Blue Posts: Dissertations on MoP's existence and the future of raiding

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:10:00 EST

Join us every weekday evening as Today in WoW runs down all the WoW news that you could possibly want. From comments from Blizzard's blues to the latest datamining info -- we've got you covered.

Please Note: Judge Alex Zarhym will be presiding over this week's blue posts. Court will always be in session.

Don't forget to check out The Daily Quest and our Weekly Podcast Roundup to find out what else is going on in the WoW community. And if you have a news tip, feel free to drop us a line and let us know.

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5 common mistakes paladin tanks make

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:00:00 EST

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Protection specialist Matt Walsh spends most of his time receiving concussions for the benefit of 24 other people, obsessing over his hair (a blood elf racial!), and maintaining the tankadin-focused blog Righteous Defense.

I know this is not going to come as a very big surprise, but it's not very difficult to tank as a paladin. As any warrior tank would gleefully assert, even a trained monkey can operate the 939 rotation and squeeze in a Word of Glory from time to time to boot. Indeed, as the old adage goes, a paladin tank is easy to learn but difficult to master, and in many respects, that's very true. And very important. It's not good enough to just play the class -- we want to master it!

There are several common mistakes aspiring (or even veteran!) tanks make that hold them back from hitting their full potential. These range from covering threat generation to gearing to survivability. And correcting each is an important hallmark on the path to optimization.

1. Not hitting Crusader Strike enough Crusader Strike can be accurately described as the heartbeat of the protection paladin rotation. With its 3-second cooldown, resource generation, and generous contribution to one's overall damage numbers, Crusader Strike is situated in a hallowed place -- essentially, the center of gravity of our threat and damage. Not Crusader Striking enough can easily and mortally wound your damage output and thus your threat generation.

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Famous poetry responsible for Cataclysm item names?

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:00:00 EST

The incredible Perculia (content manager over at Wowhead) has just put up one of my favorite posts about World of Warcraft ever -- Cataclysm starter epics, justice point gear, blue drops from instances, and more are all named after or refer to famous lines and fragments from poetry by T.S. Eliot and John Keats.

Truth be told, I want to know the story of the moment when all of this snapped into place for Perculia and it became about finding an item for almost every stanza from these poems. It's a spectacular effort. As I read her post and clicked on items, it became abundantly clear that this is far from coincidence.

For instance, from the blog, Perculia has analyzed this particular stanza from Keat's Ode to a Nightingale:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,
That thou, light-wingèd Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.
From Perculia's finding, we see that Keats' poems are used mostly for justice point gear at ilevel 359, with most of the dungeon 346 blues owing their monikers to his work. Eliot's poems are the source of many reputation rewards. Check out the full post on the Flavor Text blog.

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WRUP: Feb. 3, 2012

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 18:00:00 EST

Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" -- otherwise known as: WRUP. Join us to see what we're up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you're playing, too!

Today is Feb. 3, 2012. That probably doesn't seem exciting now. But someday in the future -- probably somewhere around April 12, 2038 (give or take) -- the idea of revisiting Feb. 3, 2012, will be so exciting. A trip to the past! What pop culture relics would our future selves uncover (and then mock)?!

The idea of a non-self-aware Facebook will seem quaint. We'll be in disbelief that we still powered our cars on dead dinosaurs. And Lana Del Rey?! What fools we were.

There's one thing we can take solace in, though. No matter what aspect of 2012 those time travelers from 2038 see, nothing can be as ridiculous as that song I posted above with the dancing robot. Nothing. (OK, maybe Lady Gaga compares.)

Enough about the past and future. It's Feb. 3, 2012. And dammit, we're going to WRUP in the here and now. This week's bonus question: Who is your favorite in-game NPC?

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Phat Loot Phriday: Lovely Undercity Card

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:00:00 EST

When we last left our heroes, the fearsome foursome were sneaking beneath the bowels of shattered Lordaeron. They wore Iron Dwarf costumes from Wrath of the Lich King because I said so, that's why.

"I hate the way this place smells," Lolegolas complained. He stroked his iron beard. "It's like every angry poo-poo in the world cried out at once in terror and came here for refuge."

"Undead," Throgg said, as if that explained it.

"Halt!" a voice cried out. Actually, crying out is what the voice attempted. What it accomplished was kind of a dry, rasping croak. An undead guard waddled up to the intruders. "Who goes there?"

"Aye, laddie! We're to be seeing stout the Lady Sylvanas Windrunner pilsner," Lolegolas replied quickly. "We have a lager invitation and proof of her porter affection!"

"Well, you sound like a dwarf, but you're clearly not Alliance," the undead rasped. "Do you have any proof?"

Throgg quickly held out a small red card. He would have spoken, but he didn't have the blood elf's mastery of beers.

"Oh, a Lovely Undercity Card," the guard muttered. "Fair enough, then. Go on about your way."

Lovely Undercity Card
Type Inventory item, like a potion.
Use Increases Intellect for 1 hour, increases as you level.
Flavor text "From the Banshee Queen, Lady Sylvanas Windrunner."

How to get it Bring a gift to the Banshee Queen. Stay tuned for how Throgg got his.
How to get rid of it Just use it, and it will disappear.

Phat Loot Phriday brings you the scoop on some of the most ... interesting ... loot in the World of Warcraft, often viewed through the eyes of the stalwart Throgg and indelible Lolegolas. Suggest items you think we should feature by emailing mikeg@wowinsider.com.

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The Lawbringer: A very special cake

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EST

Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, and esoteroic topics that slip through the cracks.

Welcome back to The Lawbringer, where any esoteric or wacky topic concerning Blizzard gets a home or at least some tenuous connection to the law or rules in some fashion. Today's column is not the continuation of last week's column, which will be coming up soon, but rather addresses a very interesting email about a very special cake.

Reader Luotian sent me an email with a very special question. Luotian has a question regarding the ability to take an image/screenshot of a World of Warcraft character and have it placed as the design on a birthday cake. The cake shop says that it won't do copyrighted images, but Luotian really wants this WoW cake. I think you guys will like this topic.

Oh, and Kil'jaeden is at the top of the article because if I had to choose who to have on my WoW cake, it would be him.

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