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PTR
10.2.7
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10.2.6
Beta
News
Live
Lord of the Rings Online F2P Beta Keys for Premium Members
So if you haven't heard,
Lord of the Rings Online
is going free-to-play this fall. If you were interested in giving this game a shot but never wanted to shell out the cash, your opportunity is coming up...and if you're a
Premium
member, your time is now!
ZAM is giving out immediate beta access to all of our Premium members across the network. To claim your beta key, just log into your ZAM account and head over here:
http://www.zam.com/giveaways/lotro-f2p.html
Remember, if you signed up for Premium through Wowhead, your ZAM account name will most likely be
(your username)|WH
, and your password should be in an email. If you don't have it, just use the "Forgot Password" function on the ZAM site. :)
Live
A Brand New Batch of 3D Models!
More models for you!
Come and poke around, we've got a bunch of cool ones this time—including Cho'Gall himself, the boss of Cataclysm's first raid!
The rest of the models are (of course) after the break!
Live
Cataclysm Build 12479: Pretty Pictures!
The latest Cataclysm update, in addition to a bunch of new talent features (which we'll have updated for you shortly!), also includes a big batch of new icons, maps, and loading screens for your viewing pleasure!
Loading Screens
More after the break!
Live
Twitter BlizzChat on July 16
Blizzard will be holding another
Developer Chat on Twitter
this Friday!
http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23BlizzChat
To submit a question you will need to tweet using the
#BlizzChat
hashtag between
5:00 PM
and
6:00 PM
(Pacific time) on Friday, July 16, 2010. During the chat all questions will be posted on the forums due to the character limitations of Twitter.
Read on after the break for the original post! The full BlizzChat history is available
here
.
Live
Cataclysm Beta Build #12479 Released!
A new build has been pushed to the beta servers! In it are some exciting new changes such as Deepholm and Western Plaguelands being opened for testing mentioned earlier today
here
. For convenience I have a run down of some of the changes you'll see listed below.
The
Level Cap
in the beta has been increased to 83. (
Source
)
Deepholm
and
Western Plaguelands
are open for testing.
New Loading Screens for
Blackrock Caverns
and
Deepholm
.
Updated World Map for Azeroth, Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor.
New talent trees are in! Check out our related
blog
for more specific details!
You can read the fully updated patch notes
here
!
Live
Deepholm and Western Plaguelands Open For Testing!
According to posts on the beta forums by Valnoth, both
Deepholm
and
Western Plaguelands
are open for testing!
Deepholm is one of the four Elemental Planes, home of the earth elementals, and the location where the big evil man Deathwing himself was once banished to. Here you will find a lot of rock based creatures with a very earthy feel and the crashed remains of the Horde Gunship, Orgrim's Hammer.
The official feedback thread for the Deepholm is
here
.
While the Western Plaguelands hasn't changed much terrain-wise, you will note a lot of the areas have been reclaimed by the Horde, Alliance or the Argent Dawn. The Horde and Alliance are fighting what is left of the scourge in Andorhal, and the Argent Dawn have finally returned to Hearthglen and removed the Scarlet Crusade.
The official feedback thread for the Western Plaguelands is
here
.
Live
Buy FigurePrints Directly Through Wowhead!
You can now buy a
FigurePrint
of your character directly through the
Wowhead Profiler
!
If you don't already know what a FigurePrint is, it's a custom made statue or figurine of your World of Warcraft character. You punch in your character's name and realm, and they custom build a statue of your character. You can even get them both in the form of a statue or a bust, just of the character's head and shoulders.
Now you can get them directly through Wowhead! All you have to do is go to your
character page
and click the "Buy FigurePrint" button, and the website will walk you through the rest.
Please Note:
We can't currently offer FigurePrints based on custom profiles, though it's something we're definitely interested in trying.
Live
More TankSpot Cataclysm Zone Previews!
TankSpot
has done it again! They have provided as with even more awesome video previews of updated Cataclysm zones. These new previews include one of my favourite makeovers yet,
Western Plaguelands
which has had some pretty radical changes from the one we currently know. Remember these videos are also available on their respective zone pages!
Ashenvale
Western Plaguelands
And as a bonus for all of you, here's the brand new 5 player dungeon
Throne of the Tides
!
Live
The BFF Report Pretends to have Never Played WoW...
Remember back when all of you claim to have started playing WoW? You know, the pre-beta days when the game was nothing but conceptual drawings and quest ideas jotted on a notepad. That's when the game was hardcore, unlike today, where these n00bs benefit from Blizzard's "casual friendly" experience. Back then, we used to have to grind through countless sheets of college rule and RNG was only a dice roll away.
Well, I decided to pretend that none of that ever happened and that I was just another casual in today's gaming industry trying to mooch a G. Let's see how I did..
Live
Features Recap for June 2010
Running a little behind, since we're already a week into July. Nonetheless, we have no intention of letting a month go by without a recap of what we've added in the last month!
Remember, you can always check up on what we've released recently by checking our What's New page:
http://www.wowhead.com/?whats-new
The Cataclysm NDA has dropped, and our
Cataclsym site
is now open!
We've posted our guide to the
Midsummer Fire Festival
!
TankSpot
is now linked in to the
ZAM Premium
service! This means that
Wowhead Premium
members get donor privileges on TankSpot for free! Click
here
for info on how to get set up.
We've added a
statistics
section to the database.
We've changed out our
CAPTCHA
system! We're now using
reCAPTCHA
. We've also reduced the number of CAPTCHAs our users need to
Live
Cataclysm Preview: Twilight Highlands
Blizzard has just posted their official preview of one of Cataclysm's new zones: the
Twilight Highlands
!
Located past Grim Batol to the east of the Wetlands, the Twilight Highlands is home to the Twilight's Hammer. The Dragonmaw clan now cling to the edges of the Highlands, while the Wildhammer Dwarves dwell in forested outposts throughout the land. Throughout the zone you will encounter the destructive nature of the elements, and some hints at the Old Gods...
You can find the official preview on Blizzard's Cataclysm site
here
.
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm/features/twilighthighlands.html
Live
Dolby Axon Releases Client API
So I don't know if anyone but me is following what Dolby is doing with their new
Axon
service, but it's something that I've been interested in so I thought I'd take a moment to mention it here.
For those of you who don't know, Dolby Axon is a VoIP service that Dolby has created, intended to fulfill the same needs as a Ventrilo or TeamSpeak server , but with a lot of extra functionality—for example, Axon can actually
position
your voice in 3D so you can actually hear teammates located in a particular spot in full surround.
Well Axon has just released an API for their desktop client, which has the potential to mean even
more
interesting developments.
Live
Blizzard Withdrawing RealID Plan for Official Forums
In a statement released today, Blizzard says that they have decided against using RealID to identify forum users on the official forums. Blizzard
originally stated
that they were moving to a forum system where everyone was identified by their real names. Citing user feedback, they've decided that it was not in the best interests of the community to move forward with that plan.
The statement (seen below) was written by Blizzard's CEO, by Mike Morhaime. It was posted on the forum by Nethaera.
Hello everyone,
I'd like to take some time to speak with all of you regarding our desire to make the Blizzard forums a better place for players to discuss our games. We've been constantly monitoring the feedback you've given us, as well as internally discussing your concerns about the use of real names on our forums. As a result of those discussions, we've decided at this time that real names will not be required for posting on official Blizzard forums.
It's important to note that we still remain committed to improving our forums. Our efforts are driven 100% by the de
Live
Wowhead Premium and TankSpot Premium Now Linked!
That's right,
Wowhead Premium
users, in addition to getting Premium service across the other ZAM sites (including
ZAM.com
,
Allakhazam
, and
WoWInterface
) now get full Premium privileges on
TankSpot
as well!
That means all Wowhead Premium users has access to all the Premium features on TankSpot, including:
Download
720p versions of their movies directly from the site!
Guild recruitment
classifieds prominently placed across the TankSpot site!
Ad-free site service
(of course)!
A distinguished
blue username
on the TankSpot forums!
Full
avatar
and
signature
service!
To sign up, go to the Account Linking page below:
http://www.tankspot.com/zam2ts.php
Note: If you are a Wowhead premium user, you will need to go to
ZAM.com
and log in to your ZAM account to make this work. If you didn't already have a ZAM premium account, on
Live
Blizzard Announce Changes To Talents, Specialization and Mastery
Zarhym just posted an announcement on the official forums with Blizzard's change in design with how talents and mastery will be changing for an upcoming
Cataclysm
beta build.
One of the major changes mentioned is that instead of putting talents where ever you want starting at level 10 you are asked what would would like your
primary tree
to be. After picking your spec you will only be allowed to put talents into that tree until 31 points are spent.
Another change (this is a
BIG
one) is you will only gain talent points every
other
level. This means by level 85 you will only have
41 talent points
to spend.
The final change is Mastery will no longer be affected by how many talent points you have spent in the tree but instead be given as flat percentages. The percentages can be increased by the mastery stat on items which you will be able to make use of when you learn the new Mastery skill around level 75.
So a quick rundown on the changes:
At level 10,
you will be asked to specialize into a single talent tree
.
You can only spend talent points in th
Live
The Weekly Marmot - Cataclysm Zone & Quest Design
This week, I get entirely too excited about how incredibly awesome questing is in the expansion. No longer will leveling from 1-60 just be the part of the game you try to breeze through as quickly as possible so you can get into the "more interesting" quests. Don't believe me? Watch this.
Also, my wedding ring fell off in a lake.
Live
In the Future, All Posts on the Official Forums Will Show RealID
According to a post Nethaera just put up on the official forums, future posts on the official WoW forums will be posted by RealID, rather than by character name. This means that when you post on the official forums, you will be identified by your first and last name.
Nethaera has posted a thread in the official forums detailing the reasons for this change. Most important to note is that it will
not be retroactive
—previous posts on the forums will still be printed the same way. Only
future
posts will be converted.
This is an interesting change. I admit I'm concerned a bit—partially about privacy issues but mostly about security. But honestly, my first and last name are up all over the Internet already. I have a blog at
Alpha-Build.net
, so anybody who happens to be curious about my personal info can find it there. What I'm
really
curious about is to see how this affects flaming and trolling on the forums. Would you behave differently on the forums if anybody who read your post knew your real name? Time to find out!
The blue posts are after the break!
Live
TankSpot's Cataclysm Zone Previews Continue (+ Halion 25)!
Our friends at
TankSpot
have provided even more awesome video previews of updated Cataclysm zones for us to share with you guys today! These latest additions detail some pretty awesome changes, including (my favorite) the goblins' handiwork in
Azshara
! Remember that these videos are always available on their respective zone pages - enjoy!
Azshara
Durotar
Stranglethorn Vale
Wetlands
We've also got another bonus video for you guys, featuring the
Halion
encounter strategy for Normal 25-player difficulty!
Live
Even More Video Previews
They keep coming, and we keep posting them! If you want to see what else Cataclysm has in store, here are the newest uploads:
Shimmering Expanse
Blasted Lands
Westfall
Abyssal Depths
Thousand Needles
No bonus this time, but so far
Abyssal Depths
is my favorite, so here's a peek!
Live
Cataclysm Dungeon Bosses
A couple of builds ago Cataclysm alpha testers saw the first "real" achievements from the new expansion - achievements different from the random funny placeholders and the standard exploration achievements. I am talking about the dungeon (and some raid) achievements. And although they were cool in and of themselves, to me there was something else intriguing hiding inside them - the knowledge of what the different instances will be called and what kind of bosses they will feature. From this we could even gather some very basic and preliminary information about who (or
what
) those bosses will be. Interesting stuff for me and other players eager to learn more about the expansion.
So! Let me get to the good stuff and present you with a list of all the bosses in the Cataclysm dungeons, as well as with some short description and links whenever they are available. Keep in mind, only Blackrock Caverns and Throne of the Tides are available for testing (even if some of us managed to sneak inside the Stonecore), so information beyond those 2 (3) will be
scarce
virtually non-existent. Also, keep an eye out for a similar blog for raids!
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