Warcraft Experience

The much discussed and anticipated WoW 1.10 patch is finally out. Lets hope we don’t get a collective groan coming from the priest department but instead cheers of excitement!

Thanks FileNuts.com for sending this over!

The latest World of Warcraft Patch has been released, upgrading the popular MMORPG to v1.10 and adding many priest changes, 0.5 tier sets and much more!

You can download the file from the installer in WoW or from FileNuts (no registration required) using this link WoW 1.10 Patch.

For all of you players out there who like to weave yourself into the internal politics of Azeroth, WorldofWar.net has an extremely detailed reputation guide to show you who hates who, who hates you, and what you can do about it. Want to become best goombas with the goblins? Friends with the Furbolgs? Pals with the Pirates? I can do this all day long…

The guide lists the various factions in the game, the quests to raise reputation with them, and the rewards you earn for doing so pretty exhaustively, although there are a few smaller factions that get glossed over, such as my personal favorites, the Bloodsail Buccaneers. They’re decent guys, you just gotta get to know ‘em….

Who needs 0 to 60 in mere seconds when you can hit 60 levels in 2 days!

While browsing around the various WoW sites, I came across this guide from WoW Guru, claiming to show how to level from 1to 60 in only 2 days. It’s basically a big list of grinding spots, but even if you pumped yourself full of Hunter S. Thompson-quality speed & grind-ed away for 48 hours straight, surely this can’t be possible…can it?

The various comments from players on the guide seem to be divided into whether this is feasible or not; some claim to have done it, other’s claim it’s impossible. All I know is, if it IS possible, then it sure as heck shouldn’t be. I know powergamers will always find a way to beat the clock, as it were, but the level cap should not be able to be attained in just 2 days. Or should it? What do you all think?

While two new transfer servers were supposed to go live today, it sounds like there are some technical problems. Players hoping to transfer from Shadowsong or Azjol-Nerub to Norgannon or Alleria or Hellscream to Thrall will have another chance tomorrow, when transfers should re-open at 3AM PST.

From an article posted on news.com:

Makers of the wildly popular “World of Warcraft” online game now face a lawsuit from an eBay seller who claims he was improperly barred from selling copies of his own unofficial gaming guide.

Filed Thursday in a California federal court, the complaint (click here for PDF) alleges that Blizzard Entertainment, its parent company Vivendi Universal, and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) were wrong to order eBay to terminate auctions of “The Ultimate World of Warcraft Leveling & Gold Guide,” a book penned by 24-year-old Brian Kopp of Bronson, Fla.

The multiplayer online game of wizards, warriors and monsters has now attracted a following of 6 million subscribers worldwide since it debuted in 2004–among them, active virtual guilds.

During several months beginning last August, Kopp sold several hundred copies of his guide, which contains tips on playing the game and accumulating points, at roughly $15 apiece. Weeks after his first auction went live, Blizzard, Vivendi, and the ESA began sending repeated takedown notices under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), asking eBay to yank the auctions because of copyright and trademark infringement concerns. The auction giant’s general policy is to halt auctions when it receives such complaints and to suspend a user’s account after it racks up a certain number of warnings.

Kopp filed counternotices protesting the infringement claims. Because the companies did not respond to the documents within 14 days, eBay was free under the DMCA to reinstate his auctions, which it did. But by November, eBay had accumulated enough takedown warnings from the companies to warrant suspending Kopp’s account. He restarted his sales under a new username, which quickly earned suspension, too.

The companies went on to threaten copyright and trademark infringement action against Kopp. In one message quoted in the complaint, a Blizzard executive said Kopp could not lawfully sell a guide that “attempts to trade off the substantial goodwill and recognition that Blizzard has built up in connection with its World of Warcraft product.” He also dismissed Kopps’ claims that his book was solely meant for “educational” value, saying it clearly had a commercial purpose.
Kopp’s complaint argues that his book does not infringe on any of the companies’ copyrights for several reasons: The book presents a disclaimer on its first page about its “unauthorized” nature, contains no copyrighted text or storylines from the game and makes “fair use” of selected screenshots under copyright law, the complaint said.

In effect, if the video game industry’s actions are upheld, “then selling a how-to book about Microsoft Word would infringe Microsoft’s copyright, especially if the book contained one or more screenshots of Word’s user interface,” said Paul Levy of the public-interest advocacy group Public Citizen, which joined in filing the suit on behalf of Kopp. “We think this cannot be the law.”
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The case points to a broader problem, Levy said: large companies that send takedown notices with abandon to eBay and jeopardize the prosperity of smaller sellers.

The suit seeks three major forms of relief: monetary compensation to cover, among other things, profits lost from the halted sales; an injunction preventing the entities from interfering with Kopp’s book sales; and a judgment that his book is protected by the First Amendment and doesn’t interfere with intellectual-property rights.

Kopp has continued to sell the product through a personal Web site and plans to continue doing so indefinitely, according to the complaint.

Representatives from Blizzard, Vivendi and the ESA did not immediately respond to interview requests Friday.

WoWVault offers up their latest in strategy guides, this time aimed at BRD.

Resident writer and super friend, Trinity Divine, has completed an amazing and comprehensive guide for WoW Vault. This one is a must check out!

Blackrock Mountain, which sits on the border of Searing Gorge and Burning Steppes in northern Azeroth, is home to two instanced dungeons: Blackrock Depths (commonly abbreviated to “BRD”) and Blackrock Spire (or “BRS”). The huge city inside the bowels of the mountain was originally constructed by the orc Blackrock clan but it has since been taken over by Emperor Thaurissan, who summoned the
elemental firelord Ragnaros to help him control the Dark Iron dwarves in an effort to win a civil war. There are entrances to the fortress from both the northeastern part of Searing Gorge, as well as the western end of Burning Steppes.

BRD is the lower of the two instances in Blackrock Mountain, and is listed as a level 48-55 dungeon. However, not a lot of teams will consider taking you with them
unless you are over 50. Of course it all depends on which areas of BRD you will be venturing into, since the level of difficulty varies greatly within the instance. Unless you have level 60 friends who wouldn’t mind “running you through” BRD, I would recommend waiting until you are in your mid-fifties. At that point, you should be
eligible for all the BRD quests so you won’t have any “gray exclamation point” problems.

Read the Rest of the Guide

Did you ever want to see what each race’s dances looked like but never had the time to check them all out? All aficionados of traditional Azerothian folk dance are in luck: they’ve created a spectacular new dancing page where you can watch the dances for each playable race and gender in the game. They have also made these animated images available for download
so you can use* them on your own web pages and forums. Check out the dancing page now.

*Before doing so, please make sure you read the second question in their Legal FAQ

On the blasted world of Outland, within the heart of Hellfire Peninsula stands Hellfire Citadel, a nearly impenetrable bastion that served as the Horde’s base of operations throughout the First and Second Wars. For years this gargantuan fortress was thought to be abandoned…
Until recently.

The Burning Crusade, the first ever expansion for World of Warcraft, will introduce many new dungeons to the game. One of these dungeons is the Hellfire Citadel, a sprawling fortress comprising three separate five-person dungeon wings and an epic raid encounter. Learn more about this new expansion feature in our preview of the Hellfire Citadel.