Posted by Alex on 16 April 2010 @ 1:40 AM - 17 Comments
As most of you should now be aware, the Blizzard store has added two new items to its shelves, the Lil' XT non-combat pet, and the Celestial Steed mount. Firstly, let's briefly discuss the Lil'XT pet; he is exactly what you would expect, just a smaller version of his Ulduar original, sayings and all (which admittedly, is quite cool).
Now, let's talk about the Celestial Steed. It seems like they're everywhere now, and that's exactly where the problem lies. Who wants to pay actual money to become just another poser running around Dalaran (or even worse, posing somewhere) with their conformist mount? They are incredibly similar to the good old Spectral Tiger, which was the original ethereal, prestigious mount; and all this new, purchasable mount, has done is cheapen all those people who managed to get their hands on the Spectral Tiger. Although, don't get me wrong, the Celestial Steed looks pretty cool, but the sheer amount of them being seen has made me despise them, along with the people who forked out to be looked at.
Posted by Alex on 15 April 2010 @ 11:56 AM - Write Comment 
Pricing:
Celestial Steed mount: $25 (US) or 20€ (EU).
Lil' XT companion pet costs $10 (US) or 10€ (EU).
Quote from MMO-Champion: "According to the Blizzard store, the Lil' XT companion pet and the Celestial Steed mounts will be available from the Blizzard Store! This is the first time Blizzard sells a mount through the Blizzard store, we don't have the price yet but we can assume we'll hear about it very soon.
The Celestial Steed seems to scale depending on your existing mounts. If you already have a 310% flying mount, the celestial steed will be a 310% as well. If you don't, it will just be a regular 280% flying mount. (or 150% if you never bought the epic flying skill)"
Posted by Alex on 15 April 2010 @ 11:44 AM - 5 Comments
In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm we’ll be making several changes to class talents and abilities across the board. While this list only outlines some of our plans for the paladin class, we want to give you a look at the new high-level abilities and an overview of how the new Mastery system will work with each talent spec.
New Paladin Spells
Blinding Shield (level 81): Causes damage and blinds all nearby targets. This effect might end up only damaging those facing the paladin’s shield, in a manner similar to Eadric the Pure's ability Radiance in Trial of the Champion. The Holy tree will have a talent to increase the damage and critical strike chance, while the Protection tree will have a talent to make this spell instant cast. 2-second base cast time. Requires a shield.
Healing Hands (level 83): Healing Hands is a new healing spell. The paladin radiates heals from him or herself, almost like a Healing Stream Totem. It has a short range, but a long enough duration that the paladin can cast other heals while Healing Hands remains active. 15-second cooldown. 6-second duration.
Guardian of Ancient Kings (level 85): Summons a temporary guardian that looks like a winged creature of light armed with a sword. The visual is similar to that of the Resurrection spell used by the paladin in Warcraft III. The guardian has a different effect depending on the talent spec of the paladin. For Holy paladins, the guardian heals the most wounded ally in the area. For Protection paladins, the guardian absorbs some incoming damage. For Retribution paladins, it damages an enemy, similar to the death knight Gargoyle or the Nibelung staff. 3-minute cooldown. 30-second duration (this might vary depending on which guardian appears).
Next you will find a list of some of the paladin spell and ability changes, followed by our intentions for improving each talent tree for the release of Cataclysm. There will be further changes, but those revealed below should offer some insight into our goals.
Changes to Abilities and Mechanics
* Crusader Strike will be a core ability for all paladins, gained at level 1. We think the paladin leveling experience is hurt by not having an instant attack. Retribution will be getting a new talent in its place that either modifies Crusader Strike or replaces it completely.
* Cleanse is being rebalanced to work with the new dispel system. It will dispel defensive magic (debuffs on friendly targets), diseases, and poisons.
* Blessing of Might will provide the benefit of Wisdom as well. If you have two paladins in your group, one will do Kings on everyone and the other will do Might on everyone. There should be much less need, and ideally no need, to provide specific buffs to specific classes.
* Holy Shock will be a core healing spell available to all paladins.
New Talents and Talent Changes
* We want to ease off the defensive capabilities of Retribution and Holy paladins slightly. We think the powerful paladin defenses have been one of the things holding Retribution paladins back, especially in Arenas. One change we’re considering is lowering Divine Shield’s duration by a couple of seconds. Having said that, Retribution does pretty well in Battlegrounds, and Battlegrounds will be a much bigger focus in Cataclysm since they can provide the best PvP rewards. Furthermore, the healing environment of Cataclysm is going to be different such that a paladin may not be able to fully heal themselves during the duration of Divine Shield to begin with, so this may not be a problem.
* We feel Retribution paladins need one more mechanic which involves some risk of the player pushing the wrong button, making the rotation a bit less forgiving. In addition, we want to add to this spec more PvP utility. Right now the successes of the Retribution paladin in PvP seem to be reduced to either doing decent burst damage, or just being good at staying alive.
* We want to increase the duration of Sacred Shield to 30 minutes and keep the limit to one target. The intention is that the paladin can use it on their main healing target. That said, we would like to improve the Holy paladin toolbox and niche so that they don’t feel quite like the obvious choice for tank healing while perceived as a weak group healer.
* We want to add to the Holy tree a nice big heal to correspond with Greater Heal. Flash of Light remains the expensive, fast heal and Holy Light is the go-to heal that has average efficiency and throughput. Beacon of Light will be changed to work with Flash of Light. We like the ability, but want paladins to use it intelligently and not be constantly healing for twice as much.
* Holy paladins will use spirit as their mana regeneration stat.
* Protection paladins need a different rotation between single-target and multi-target tanking. Likewise, we're looking to add the necessity to use an additional cooldown in each rotation.
* Holy Shield will no longer have charges. It will be designed to improve block chance while active, and will continue to provide a small amount of damage and threat.
Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses
Holy
* Healing
* Meditation
* Critical Healing Effect
Meditation: This is the spirit-to-mana conversion that the priest, druid, and shaman healers also share.
Critical Healing Effect: When the paladin gets a crit on a heal, it will heal for more.
Protection
* Damage Reduction
* Vengeance
* Block Amount
Vengeance: This is the damage-received-to-attack-power conversion that all tanks share.
Block Amount: We want to keep the kit of the paladin as a tank who blocks a lot. So by contrast, the warrior tank will sometimes get critical blocks, but the paladin will absorb more damage with normal blocks.
Retribution
* Melee Damage
* Melee Critical Damage
* Holy Damage
Holy Damage: Any attack that does Holy damage will have its damage increased.
This concludes this Cataclysm preview for the paladin class. The development of these changes will continue to evolve in the coming months. Please be sure to provide any feedback and thoughts you might have on what was covered here.
Here's a bit more clarification on some of these changes. Also, please keep in mind that this is merely a preview and we'll still have more to go in testing up to and including any other changes that aren't listed here in the preview.
We've updated the Flash of Light reference to make it a bit more clear in the original post as follows.
* Flash of Light remains a fast heal, but will be more expensive to justify the cast speed. Holy Light will be the go-to heal that has average efficiency and throughput. Beacon of Light needs to be changed so that its benefit is letting the paladin heal two targets at once, not letting the paladin get two heals for the mana cost of one. It’s intended to save GCDs and targeting time, not mana.
In addition we’re changing the paladin heal design to match that of the other healers. Holy Light is the middle heal. It’s very efficient, but not particularly fast and doesn’t have a lot of throughput. Flash of Light will be the faster heal that costs more mana. (Currently paladins sort of flip the model around by having a fast, efficient heal.) Holy paladins can talent into an additional heal that is like a giant Holy Light. It might take three of these big heals (or two crits) to get a tank from death’s door back to 100% health.
Currently on live, Beacon of Light is a tool that allows paladins to target more than just the main tank. In Cataclysm if it just doubles their healing, it is going to be overpowered. We have two ways we might handle this and we’ll experiment to see which feels better. The first is that Beacon only works on some heals, such as Flash of Light or Holy Light (but not the big one). An alternative idea is that Beacon increases the mana cost of a heal cast on a beaconed target, since you’re essentially getting a double heal. Under this model, Beacon itself would cost no mana.
Also on the live realms currently, paladins have huge mana pools and massive throughput. The trade-off is that they are excellent single target healers and much weaker in other roles. We want paladins to be slightly more interchangeable with other healers. In Cataclysm, you should be able to have a Holy priest on the tank and a Holy paladin on the raid. We’re not sure we’ll back off of the current healing roles completely, but we definitely want to add more breadth to those whose roles are currently too narrow.
As for the Guardian of Ancient Kings. First, it's important to understand that this is not a pet nor does it have a pet bar associated with it. Second, it's also not meant to last for very long. So, it's not a pet in the traditional sense. It's a friend in need when you need it, but not a permanent companion.
Posted by Alex on 14 April 2010 @ 4:26 AM - Write Comment
Vengeance Mastery Bonus
If you've spent much time on this forum in the last several months, you'd have noticed a common theme is that tanks start to have threat problems again at extreme levels of gear. The problem really isn't that surprising. Say that tanks start out doing half the damage of DPS specs. All is well. But the DPS specs continue to improve their DPS stats while tanks continue to improve their survival stats. Even if tanks spend a little effort on threat stats (some of which they get naturally on their gear), they still can't keep up with the DPS specs. It's a gear scaling problem.
We considered, and rejected, many other solutions to the problem, such as increasing threat modifier or choosing to no longer make tanking gear. Ultimately we decided that there were good things about the way rage works on warriors and bears (translating incoming damage into threat) and the way the mage talent, Incanter's Absorption turned damage taken into damage done. It just provides the damage increase in a way that's controllable.
Vengeance is NOT there so that you no longer have to ever worry about threat. It's fine with us if you have to consider threat a little bit at the start of a fight. Again, if we wanted to make threat not a factor in WoW, we'd just remove it and have mobs always stick to you rather than just cranking the threat numbers up so high that you don't have to take it very seriously.
Vengeance is also not designed to keep tank dps high no matter what in any circumstances. It's designed so that when you're being hit, your damage stays elevated. The damage done scales with your health, essentially allowing tank DPS to increase as DPS specs DPS increases. It scales a little bit with damage being taken too so that you don't turn into a juggernaut if a rogue sticks you with a dagger in PvP.
Paladin
Paladin Class Preview
I'm warning you now that we still have a lot of work to do on the paladin talent trees. The preview will have the new spells and passive talent tree bonuses, but we can't provide many details yet on specific talent changes. We can discuss general goals, but not many of those should come as a huge surprise to regular forum readers.
As I've said recently, we didn't go with paladins last because we were saving the best for last or because we want to punish them or because we were at a loss for what to do. We just like to focus on one class at a time, and someone was going to be the last one. It's random.
Healing and Mana management
The focus seems to be more on conserving mana, and not overhealing. Yeah. Paladins don't do that.
They don't today. They will in Cataclysm.
The design of "I never run out of mana, but I am very limited in the roles I can fill" isn't a really awesome one.
Warrior
Heroic Leap
The challenge with previews is to provide enough context so players understand the goals of the abilities without providing so much detail that players get over-focused on the minutiae.
Imagine Heroic Leap can be used in any stance, in or out of combat, hits for very serious AE damage and applies the Thunder Clap debuff. We keep it under control with a 2-3 min cooldown. This means warriors will sometimes be zipping in and out of melee, but that's kind of the warrior thing, and again the cooldown can help balance it.
I don't think these concerns are hard to address. We screwed up in the preview, I think, by making it sound like Heroic Leap was supposed to be a replacement for a Charge / Tclap macro. That wasn't the intention.
Posted by Alex on 7 April 2010 @ 1:04 AM - 1 Comment 
Posted by Alex on 7 April 2010 @ 12:54 AM - Write Comment
We're doing our Cataclysm preview on the death knight changes later this week, but we knew one change risked overshadowing all the others, so we figured we'd go ahead and drop the proverbial Blood bomb today.
In Cataclysm, death knights will have a dedicated tanking tree, much like the other three tank classes. That tree will be Blood.
We’ll go into more detail in the upcoming preview, but we wanted to take the opportunity to explain the reasoning for such a big change.
Why the about face? We actually thought the “tri tank” experiment worked out okay. We suspected there would always be a “best” tanking tree, because that’s the way these things shake out, but we hoped it would be close enough that many players could tank with their favorite tree. When we tried out this design for Wrath of the Lich King, we were using it as a test case to see if we wanted to do similar things with the warrior and paladin talent trees.
A lot has happened since that time. We introduced the dual-spec feature, allowing players to have a tanking spec and dps spec that they could switch between. We introduced Dungeon Finder, which makes it easier to find players who want to tank, and even let players level up using a dedicated tank spec. In Cataclysm, we are introducing the concept of passive talent tree bonuses and we think that feature is a lot stronger when the talent tree has a particular focus (such as damage, tanking or healing). For example, it’s safer to give more passive damage to a tanking tree than we can a dps tree. Above all, we were just spending a lot of effort trying to balance three trees (though it was really six trees, since each tree was trying to do two things).
It started to feel unfair to the other tank classes that we had to spend so much effort tweaking three types of DK tanks, and it even started to feel unfair to the DK that we couldn’t focus their tanking experience. One bit of feedback that really struck home was the DK players who said, essentially, “I look at the Protection tree and I’m jealous of all of the cool tools they have to help their tanking. As a DK, I have to pick and choose tanking talents from within a sea of dps talents.” Rather than have a strong focus, the trees felt a little watered down because they were trying to do so much. With Frost as a dual-wield, spell and runic power focused tree, Unholy as a disease and minion focused tree, and Blood as a self-healing, defensive cooldown, tanking tree, we think the focus of each tree is a lot clearer and cooler.
In Cataclysm, Blood will be the death knight version of a Protection tree. It will have passive talent tree bonuses that reflect tanking. It will have tools, such as a Demo Shout equivalent, necessary for tanking. Several of the more fun tanking talents from Frost and Unholy will be moved into Blood. We will be able to revise (or even remove) clunky mechanics like Rune Strike and focus on letting DKs generate threat with their normal Blood tanking rotation.
This is major change, and we understand it will be met with some disappointment from players who really liked the flexibility, those who appreciated the unorthodox talent tree design, or those few of you who really liked Blood dps. Nevertheless, we are convinced that this is the right change for the game.
More exciting death knight news coming up soon in the preview.
Posted by Alex on 1 April 2010 @ 12:28 AM - Write Comment
EDIT: This was an April fools joke. A lame one at that.
Paragon and Premonition will merge to become Paranition for Cataclysm.
Some of you have heard rumors about it, and today we're able to announce it officially: we are moving to US servers and merging with Premonition to join forces in Cataclysm.
While we had a very successful run in ICC, we lost the race for the first kill on all the eight first bosses, which were in fact killed before the EU servers came up. Thus, the only way to aim for perfection is to play on the US servers. This will enable us to start raiding over 12 hours earlier. To further strengthen our force, we opted to look for a partner to merge with; we chose to present Premonition with this partnership suggestion for their excellent performance and connections.
Statement from Paragon:
When looking for US partners, Premonition was an obvious choice for us. We've had friendly relations with them for a while, and they're good guys that we'll enjoy playing with. Furthermore, their excellent track record guarantees that we will have the absolute optimal player setup for any and all challenges that Cataclysm will offer. Their connections also aided us in our search for sponsorship, and we look forward to working with them to further push the limits of World of Warcraft raiding. (Paragon / Lazei)
Statement from Premonition:
Paragon is an exceptional raiding guild that we've had a good relationship with in their brief but highly successful time as a guild. When the leadership of Paragon approached us with this idea, we were, of course, happy to work with them for a mutually worthwhile merge. We are very excited to help make the #1 raiding guild in the world the strongest it can be – by expanding the roster for the capability of maximum learning in the smallest amount of time. (Premonition / Xav)
Posted by Alex on 30 March 2010 @ 10:34 AM - 12 Comments
We are pleased to introduce the Warcraft Story Forum where players can discuss the storylines of the Warcraft universe, as told in-game and through the novels, manga, comics, and short stories that Blizzard publishes. Be sure to visit the new forum here- http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=26354482&sid=1
What is Creative Development?
Creative Development (CDev) is a "hub" within Blizzard, facilitating the development of ancillary products and services that tie into Blizzard's game universes. While there are several different divisions of CDev, this Warcraft Story forum focuses on the efforts of the Publishing division.
What does Creative Development's Publishing division have to do with Warcraft's stories and lore?
The Publishing division within Creative Development is the driving force behind every published story you've seen outside of the game: short stories, novels, comics, and manga.
Who comprises the Publishing division of Creative Development?
Publishing is made of two groups:
- Story Development: this group focuses on story idea creation, story outlining, and story development for licensed fiction, as well as for internally-written stories
- Historians: this group is the repository for all Blizzard lore, providing counsel for the game development teams and the CDev Story Development group
What is the Publishing division's usual process for developing a story?
- Idea Generation & Outline Creation: Working with Chris Metzen and the designers on the respective game's development team, the Story Development team generates an idea and an outline for a story. The writer on the project is typically invited to our offices at this point in the project, so that they can be in on the ground floor of the story's creation.
- Story Development & Lore Checking: Over the course of the project, the Story Development team talks constantly with the writer, as well as with Chris Metzen and the game developers, in order to help hone the story into a Blizzard-quality tale. At the same time, our Historian team combs through the iterations of the story in order ensure that the story adheres to the universe's established canon.
What does the Publishing division hope to accomplish with this Warcraft Story forum?
We'd like to give the community a chance to influence the development of our upcoming stories, so we're trying something new; this forum will serve as a direct line to our story developers. Please note that we're not looking for fully-formed stories – save those for the Global Writing Contest (which we operate and judge) – but rather we're looking for specific examples of what people like, don't like, and what they would like to see (story-wise) from us in the future.
Posted by Alex on 26 March 2010 @ 11:10 PM - 2 Comments
Paragon (EU) just killed the Lich King in 25-man Heroic mode, making them the first guild in the world to do so. They also scored themselves a cool mount: Invincible's Reins. Congratulations to them!
Update: The loot that dropped was Glorenzelg, High-Blade of the Silver Hand, Archus, Greatstaff of Antonidas.
Their raid composition was as follows:
3 Death Knights – 2 x Frost, 1 x Unholy
4 Druids - 1 x Feral Tank, 2 x Feral DPS, 1 x Balance
2 Hunters – 2 x Marksmanship
5 Paladins – 1 x Protection, 2 x Holy, 2 x Retribution
3 Priests – 1 x Shadow, 1 x Holy, 1 x Discipline
3 Rogues - 1 x Mutilate, 2 x Combat
1 Shamans – 1 x Restoration
3 Warlocks – 1 x Demonology, 2 x Affliction
1 Warriors – 1 x Fury
Posted by Alex on 26 March 2010 @ 12:22 PM - 9 Comments
Posted by Alex on 26 March 2010 @ 1:21 AM - 2 Comments
If you've been holding your breath waiting to find out when and where the next BlizzCon would be held, then… you've probably passed out by now. But if you've just been patiently watching for an announcement, then we've got good news for you: BlizzCon will be returning to the Anaheim Convention Center on Friday, October 22 through Saturday, October 23! Just as in years past, BlizzCon 2010 will feature an exciting mix of discussion panels, tournaments, hands-on gameplay, contests, and much more. Check out the announcement press release, and keep an eye on www.blizzcon.com in the months ahead for further details, including ticketing information.
When and where is BlizzCon 2010?
BlizzCon 2010 will take place on Friday, October 22, 2010 and Saturday, October 23, 2010 at the Anaheim Convention Center, located at 800 West Katella Avenue, Anaheim, CA 92802. The hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Pacific Time on both days (Friday and Saturday).
How much does a BlizzCon 2010 ticket cost?
Details about BlizzCon 2010 ticket availability and pricing will be announced on the official BlizzCon website, www.blizzcon.com, as the event draws closer.
Where and when can I buy BlizzCon 2010 tickets?
To attend BlizzCon, you must purchase tickets in advance through the online Blizzard Store once they go on sale. Details about BlizzCon 2010 ticket availability and pricing will be announced on the official BlizzCon website, www.blizzcon.com, as the event draws closer.
What activities will be at BlizzCon 2010?
In addition to serving as a gathering place for Blizzard Entertainment gaming communities, BlizzCon will offer attendees a chance to enjoy discussion panels with Blizzard Entertainment developers, competitive and casual tournaments for players to showcase their talents, hands-on gameplay featuring your favorite Blizzard Entertainment games, community contests with great prizes, commemorative merchandise based on Blizzard Entertainment’s game universes, and more. We’ll share more details about these and other events and activities on www.blizzcon.com as the event draws closer.
How will ticket sales operate this year?
The ticket-sales process for BlizzCon 2010 will be conducted through the online Blizzard Store, and will function similarly to the ticket-queue system used for BlizzCon 2009 ticket sales. We'll have more details to share about BlizzCon 2010 ticket availability and the purchasing process in the near future, so please keep an eye on www.blizzcon.com for updates.
Can I order BlizzCon tickets over the phone?
You will only be able to place BlizzCon ticket orders online through the Blizzard Store. We will not be accepting BlizzCon ticket orders over the phone.
What can I do ahead of time?
Purchasing tickets requires a Battle.net account. If you do not have a Battle.net account and wish to create one in advance of ticket sales, click here to get started. Prior to ticket sales beginning, you may wish to visit Battle.net Account Management to ensure your contact and stored credit-card information are up-to-date, and to verify your e-mail address.
What do I get for the cost of a ticket?
Each BlizzCon ticket includes a BlizzCon badge that grants access to BlizzCon. Attendees will also get a BlizzCon goody bag containing exclusive swag. More details on the contents of the goody bag will be revealed in the weeks ahead. Please be aware that transportation and hotel accommodations are not included with the cost of any BlizzCon ticket.
Is BlizzCon open to attendees outside the United States and Canada?
Yes. International attendees will be able to purchase tickets at the same time as domestic attendees. We have not yet announced when tickets for BlizzCon 2010 will go on sale, so please keep an eye on BlizzCon.com for more information.
What should I do about hotel accommodations and transportation?
Several hotels within walking distance of the Anaheim Convention Center will be providing guest rooms at a special BlizzCon group rates. Transportation to the event will be up to you. Please check the Travel Info page on www.blizzcon.com in the coming weeks for further information on nearby hotels and how to take advantage of the special group rates, as well as information about car rentals and shuttle buses from nearby airports. If you plan to drive to the Convention Center for the event, we suggest you carpool. Please visit our parking page in the coming weeks more information.
Is there an age restriction for attendees?
Some content at BlizzCon may not be suitable for children. Anyone under 13 must be accompanied by an adult. Absolutely no children 5 years of age or under will be permitted to enter. Tickets are required for all attendees, and the child ticket price is the same as the adult ticket price. Please note that no strollers will be allowed in the Anaheim Convention Center.
Whom should I contact if I have a question about accommodations for people with disabilities at BlizzCon?
If you are disabled and require special services, please contact blizzconsupport@blizzard.com to identify your special needs. All requests should be received by August 20, 2010 in order to ensure the availability of services. Please include your contact information in your email.
I am planning on carrying my costume and some water in a backpack to BlizzCon. Is this OK?
Any bags being brought into BlizzCon should be smaller than 20 inches x 10 inches (roughly the size of two sheets of paper side by side). Anyone with a bag larger than this may be refused entry. If you are taking part in the costume competition and require a larger bag to store your costume, please check with the information kiosk in the lobby on your arrival. Blizzard Entertainment reserves the right to search any bags being brought into BlizzCon and to refuse entry if they are found to contain prohibited items (see below).
Will there be a place to store a costume and/or bag at any time during the event?
There will be no general storage space available to show attendees. Please leave anything you don’t wish to carry in your car, at home, or at your hotel. If you are taking part in the costume competition, please check with the information kiosk in the lobby on your arrival.
Can I bring my video camera/camcorder into BlizzCon?
Video cameras are permitted for use in the BlizzCon exhibit halls. However, you may not record gameplay from any of the screens (with the exception of tournament gameplay), and recording the BlizzCon closing concert on Saturday evening is strictly prohibited.
Can I bring my iPod?
MP3 players are permitted in the BlizzCon exhibit halls. However, personal equipment may not be connected to any computer for any reason at any time.
Can I bring my computer/laptop to BlizzCon?
General attendees will not be able to bring desktop computers, laptops, and electronic storage devices into the BlizzCon exhibit halls. Please leave these devices in your car, at home, or at your hotel. Members of the media who have a press badge will be able to bring a laptop onto the show floor.
I'm planning on wearing a costume to BlizzCon. Are there any items I cannot bring into the event?
Costumes may not include or otherwise utilize any edged weapons (such as knives, daggers, and swords); actual clubs, maces, or other crushing weapons; or projectile weapons of any kind, even if unloaded or nonfunctional (this includes firearms of any kind including air guns, longbows, crossbows, etc.). Acceptable costume weapon props are limited to air-filled or soft plastic melee weapons (swords, daggers, maces, clubs, etc.) and wooden staves that are not shod with metal.
Is there anything else that I can't bring?
Attendees will not be allowed to bring weapons, alcohol, fireworks, glass bottles, cans, or large containers into BlizzCon. **Any attendee found to have violated the prohibited items list may be removed from BlizzCon.**
Will BlizzCon be broadcast on TV or available to view on the Internet this year?
We haven't announced any plans for television or Internet broadcasts of BlizzCon 2010. Keep an eye on the official BlizzCon website, www.blizzcon.com, for any event-related announcements as the convention draws closer.
Posted by Alex on 25 March 2010 @ 12:35 PM - Write Comment 
Starting off from where the previous film left off, a traumatized Laurie Strode is taken to a Haddonfield hospital where she is treated for the injuries inflicted at the hands of her brother, Michael Myers. Soon after she arrives, Michael comes looking for her, killing everyone in his way; specifically a nurse who he seems to really dislike, stabbing her, many, many times. This scene was most likely overly graphic to set the audience in a mindset that this movie is hardcore, and isn't afraid to push the envelope.
The film is held together with a few basic elements, swear words, mindless (more than usual) killing, and a frustrated Laurie Strode. As the film progresses, we see the lumbering killer walk the majority of the way from some remote area, to the house where Laurie is staying. Whether or not the pair share some kind of mind-meld is unclear, as Michael seems to have no problem finding her. Also, earlier in the film, he can be seen killing and eating a dog, and as he takes a bite, Laurie becomes sick and throws up.
Throughout the film, Michael is driven by a vision of his mother (Sheri-Moon Zombie), with her white-horse,who tells him to find Laurie and complete the family. It's wacky and detracts from the story, and what we've come to know as Halloween. It is what you'd expect from House of 1000 Corpses, not Halloween, you can thank Mr. Zombie for the series going down this cooky path.
Also, another thing that detracts from the film right from the get-go is that the actor playing Michael as a child is different (and to a lesser actor, I might add).
The main reason people would come to see this film, especially since Rob Zombie is at the helm, is because of the gore. It most certainly does not disappoint in this department, seeming more violent than its predecessors. Here is a brief summary of what you can expect out of the kills (spoilers and graphic):
A man is stuck in a car after a crash and has his neck sliced and head removed with a shard of glass from the windscreen.
A man is struck in the back with an axe.
A man is stabbed and impaled on a set of horns on the front of a truck.
A woman is dragged from a truck and stabbed a few times.
A nurse is stabbed multiple times from behind in the head, with the knife left stuck in her skull.
A man has his face stomped a few times, leaving it like a squashed pumpkin.
A man has his arm snapped, you can see the bone sticking out. He is then stabbed.
A naked woman has her face smashed against a glass cabinet multiple times, leaving her face severely disfigured.
A man is stabbed in the back from behind while urinating against a tree.
A man is thrown through a windscreen.
A woman is strangled.
Overall, the movie is not as good as the previous, making Zombie's original recreation look quite creative and interesting. If you're in the mood for some quality gore and traumatized youth, this is the film for you; although don't expect to learn and life lessons from it, or any form of solid storyline.
Score: 5.8 / 10
Posted by Alex on 25 March 2010 @ 6:32 AM - 2 Comments There is a very interesting thread on the forums at the moment regarding healing and how fun it actually is to do. Here is the summarised version:
 "First, before I begin, I am not proposing any current healing style (though they are all very similar) should be removed. The "fun" in the title is in quotes because different people find different things fun, and I didn't want to imply the people who like the current methods of healing aren't having fun. Rather I mean to say there should be other types of healing fun available for other people.
Now, healing has some major problems in it. Part of the problem with healing is that not enough people find it fun. This is nearly a trivial observation one can notice in multiple ways. Healers get into groups quicker in the dungeon finder; before the Finding it was hard to find healers normally; getting healers for raids is difficult; etc. Blizzard really needs to make healing options that are more attractive to people out there.
Now, some people might say "it's not Blizzards problem if people don't like healing!" This is false. People play the game to have fun. Blizzard makes raid and dungeon content for them to have fun. If finding healers is a problem, then people will have trouble having fun with that content. This is definitely something that interests Blizzard. Heck, I even stopped playing for a while because finding healers is so difficult my guild couldn't raid for a while (and hence the guild kinda fell apart).
At the moment I'm not going to say what my ideas about what Blizzard might do are (I don't want this thread derailed before it begins by the main point being lost in some specific idea that came to me in the middle of the night). I think some of what they have said about Cataclysm will help a little bit, but it sounds like a lot more still needs to be done. Anyhow, good reader of this post, what do you think should be done?"
Ideas that would make healing more fun are good things to discuss in this forum, particularly with an eye towards Cataclysm.
The idea to let healers dps a little is a controversial one though. Some healers just have no interest in it, so while it might make healing a lot more fun for you, it risks making healing a lot less fun for them. I would not approach that idea as an obviously intuitive one that all healers will rally around, because I suspect that's just not the case. :(
"I like healing in general, but if I had 5-10 talent points to spend that would convert damage to healing that would be an interesting choice in my tree. I can see where a healer doing dps could lend to a lot of issues concerning gearing etc, but that is for another discussion."
I could see that if the tree was structured in such a way that you had to give up a little bit of healing for that dps (and to be fair, talents like Searing Light already exist), such that it was the kind of thing you might do while soloing or running easy content (like Dungeon Finder when overgeared). In other words, I wouldn't want us to do it in such a way that healers were then balanced around doing damage — like we calculated healer damage when we come up with boss berserk timers. Then it goes from a playstyle choice to being the only way to play.
"There is literally nothing Blizzard can do to address this issue in any significant way. That isn't to say that they can't improve things for those of us who do enjoy healing mind you, only that no revamp to the game's healing system will bring in additional healers."
We don't need to bring a lot more players to healing. Dungeons, raids and Arena teams generally seem to find what they need, and I'd argue some players are attracted to healing specifically because they know it makes them a treasured commodity. What we do need is to make healing fun for players who like healing. We don't want to lose the healers we have.
Posted by Alex on 23 March 2010 @ 11:01 PM - 2 Comments 
The latest World of Warcraft patch (3.3.3) is now live! In this update, players will be able to queue up for combat in the new Random Battleground system, which functions similarly to the Dungeon Finder and allows players to earn bonus PvP rewards. In addition, the new patch heralds increased Honor accumulation rates, a bevy of class changes and profession improvements, a new and improved way to access holiday bosses, a host of user-interface improvements, and much more. Read the full patch notes — and happy randomizing!
To see the full list of patch notes, click here.
Posted by Alex on 22 March 2010 @ 9:21 AM - 2 Comments Quote from the forums: "I am curious why Eviscerate, as a finisher, hits for such abysmal damage? Do I have to create a data sheet for you for the past 3 years of expansions to prove my point, and then have you say "oh, well we don't think so… It doesn't scale well, and it many times hits for lower than our combo moves. " "
Overall, we think rogues do too much passive damage — autoattacks + poison. We want to shift more of that towards their specials, which will let both the finishers and the generators hit harder while keeping sustained damage about the same. It might mean less-skilled rogues do less damage by comparison, but that's not really a bad thing.
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