Episode 2 of The Guild's second season is out now -- you can view it right over on The Guild's website (you'll have to click to it), or in the other usual places: on Xbox Live in HD or on the Zune marketplace. This week's ep deals with all the craziness that got set up last week: the loot drama continues, Zaboo's T1 temptation leads to an unlikely quest, and Clara plots revenge. Vork has a new job as well, which will probably lead to trouble.

If you were eating turkey last week and missed it, don't forget to listen in to our talk with Felicia Day on the WoW Insider Show. We chatted about the new season and what's in store for these characters, the big exclusive deal with Microsoft, and how to best explain geeky things like guilds, choose your own adventure books, and loot drama to people who have never heard of any of them.

Weekly releases by The Guild is pretty exciting, we have to admit, even though the gang is working overtime to get them done. We can't wait to see what happens next week.

Thanks, Hatorihanzo of Mug'thol!

Yes, our podcast is a little early today (due to the holiday, I'm going to be traveling on Saturday, so no live show as usual this week), but we've got a bonus for you anyway: Felicia Day, creator of The Guild and star of Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog, joined us to talk about the second season of her web series, which just started up the other day, and the deal they've recently made for Microsoft to show it exclusively on MSN, Zune, and Xbox Live.

Since most of our bloggers were out for the holiday this week, it was just me and her, but we had a lot of fun -- there are some good hints in there about new characters coming to join our favorite guildies this season, the third season (!) of the show, and how Felicia is able to get MMO concepts (like "DKP" and the idea of a "guild" itself) across to people who may not play MMOs. And I also got to read some emails and get a little bit of WoW talk in there -- if you'd like to email the show a question or comment for next time, you can do so at theshow@wowinsider.com as always.

We'll be back as usual live on Ustream on Saturday, December 6th at 3:30 Eastern, so make sure to tune in then when we'll get back to the WoW talk. In the meantime, enjoy the show, and do go check out the first show of The Guild's second season (or watch it in HD on Xbox Live) -- it's great.

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This is interesting -- we at WoW Insider are big fans of Felicia Day's "The Guild" webseries, which will now be shown exclusively via Microsoft apparently. They've announced that the second season of the popular series will premiere exclusively on Xbox Marketplace, MSN, and the Zune marketplace, and will apparently be released for free (with Sprint as an ad sponsor).

Very interesting. Formerly, The Guild posted their episodes on YouTube, which not only let browsers there find them easily, but let sites like this one embed and spread the word about the series. But while MSN has a video site, it's not immediately clear that they'll allow embedding -- it may not be so easy to spread around/watch episodes if The Guild is no longer uploading to YouTube and other video sharers. The Guild will have an embedded MSN player on their currently-being-redesigned site (complete with ads), but we're not sure whether we'll be able to embed it any more or not.

We will, however, find out the whole story on the new season (which will apparently include a holiday special) this week when we talk to Felicia Day herself on a special episode of our podcast, the WoW Insider Show. Look for that by next weekend, and keep an eye on the site on Tuesday -- even if we can't embed the new episode, we'll be sure to let you know where you can see it.

Buffed.de has captured the elusive Ghostcrawler in his native habitat: answering questions about class balance. This creature has only been caught in blurry pictures and fleeting glances before, so it's awesome to get a nice, good look at Greg Street, the man who singlehandedly nerfed Paladins to the ground, baby (we kid, we kid).

He talks about what it was like coming from working on Age of Empires III for Ensemble Studios, and Blizzard's theory of "concentrated coolness" -- they want there to be cool everywhere you look in the game. He says dispel and spell pushback mechanics are still due for updates, and of course he talks about talent changes (this is Ghostcrawler, what did you expect): Destruction Warlocks and Ret Pallys get mentioned, and he says there's a whiteboard in his office with a list of things he wants to fix. Affliction Warlocks, you're next. Beware of ending up on Ghostcrawler's nerfboard!

We're kidding again. GC also talks about the long-awaited dual-spec feature, and says that they're thinking of building in costs like the Mage table, where everyone will have to click on something to change a spec, or there may be a consumable charge. He specifically mentions a "trash" build versus a "boss" build, so we'll have to see how that works out -- it would be a little weird to have to get a full raid together to change over to your PvP spec. And lastly, he talks about the forums -- their goal there is to have people talk to each other, not yell at each other. And good luck with that. Very nice interview.

I'm heading out to our midnight launch in Chicago here in a bit, but as soon as I get my game and get back, I'll be streaming the installation and my first few hours of gameplay live on our WoW Insider Ustream page. We've also placed a copy of the stream after the break on this post, so come on back here just after midnight central time to watch us take the first few steps into Wrath.

We'll also be chatting live in the chat channel, and I'll be broadcasting audio as well, so we'll be able to talk live about how the launch went and how everyone is doing in Wrath so far. Whether you weren't able to get the game this evening (or just want to watch along with us as you play), definitely tune in. The stream will start up right around 12:30am Central time, and it'll go until I hit level 80 or until I pass out from lack of sleep, whichever comes first.

Everybody have a great time at the launches -- here's hoping for a smooth transition from Outland to Northrend.

Personally, I think we've already seen proof of just how easy the endgame is now, but I've never done the Kael fight, so maybe this is even more of a feat. Dissonance on Alleria finished off Kael'thas Sunstrider (the 25-man version, not the 5-man fight in Magisters' Terrace) with just twelve people. Looks like kiting was a big technique, but otherwise, just seems like they were able to overpower everything else in the fight. They actually tried it with 10, they say (they dropped Al'ar, Void Reaver, and Solarian with 10 the week before), but the MCs in Phase 4 were a bit much, so they pulled in two more.

This is a Sunwell guild, so they've got pretty much the best gear you can walk around with in the game, and as we've said here before, these instances really got nerfed twice: once when Blizzard nerfed the actual bosses' HP and damage, and a second time when Blizz gave us all the 51-point talents before the expansion.

But it's definitely an achievement, toppling a 25-man boss with less than half the required group. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, sure, but don't fret, raiders seeking a real challenge -- we're sure Blizzard will make up the difficulty when we all step into the new endgame in Northrend.

Reader Stephen dropped us a note to let us know that if you missed the DirecTV stream of BlizzCon the first time around, you've got another chance tomorrow: they're going to show the whole thing again starting tomorrow morning. Seems pretty meh to us -- from what we heard, the stream wasn't all that great. And what you missed in terms of official panel information, you can get right from us here on the site. Anybody hear otherwise? Is this worth watching at all?

Of course, even if it's not, there is still one reason to order it, and that is of course the BlizzCon bear. Apparently people who purchase this replay will still get a code good for an ingame bear, and given that the bear and the Starcraft II code from the convention is going for as high as $200 already on eBay, shelling out $40 for just the code might be worth it to you.

And you'll pick up 16 hours of high-quality video along with it -- who wouldn't want to see Ghostcrawler in HD, right?

Gametrailers hit up Tom Chilton for an interview at Leipzig and here's the video. His main point is that Wrath is bigger and better than before -- more, better, cooler content. Intercut with lots of cool video from the beta (though some of it was seen as far back as BlizzCon last year), he lays down what's up with the next expansion.

He says that Wrath is meant for high-end players, but that there's lots for lowbies as well: recruit-a-friend was actually designed as part of the Wrath feature set, and Blizzard thought it was better to release it earlier. Inscription is also seen as a "whole-game" feature, since you can pick it up right at level one, and Achievements will work for everyone as well.

He also talks about how the new gameplay features Blizzard is building in let them do all kinds of things with quests and instances -- he specifically mentions one encounter in the Oculus where you'll get to choose a ride with different abilities, so it'll be a different experience than your normal class play. There's some great footage of air combat in there as well, and even a little tidbit about the official threatmeter. Nice interview, and it sounds like Blizzard is rolling right along with their progress in the beta.

[via WorldofWar]

Originally set to go live with Wrath of the Lich King, the calendar system is one of the biggest UI changes coming, and we now know that it's going to happen in the big pre-LK content patch (which will probably be numbered 3.0 or so). This nice video will take you on a tour through the interface.

So what features will we be getting in this long-awaited calendar?

• Pre-existing events, like holidays and raid lockouts, will be on there by default. You can select what sort of events you want to see on your own calendar.
  
• Any user can create events viewable to their guild and/or to a user-selectable list of invitees. Events can be of various categories, like "PvP" or "Raid."
  
• If you send someone an invite, their calendar icon (on the minimap) will flash. They will then be able to RSVP to the event with whether or not they're coming.
• Events to which people have RSVPed show the total number and number of each class; very handy for raids. You can invite people to a party or raid straight from the calendar interface if they're online.

Pretty much all you could ask for, really. The only feature that I haven't heard anything about that I would want is a web interface to the calendar; it would be nice to at least be able to view events without logging into the game, and the Armory would be a natural place for that sort of thing. And the ability to send invites, while excellent, does open the door to yet another form of spam (which can be reported in the interface).

Overall though, it is an excellent addition to the guild tools in the game, and, along with guild banks, really should have been in from release. But at least it'll be here soon.

There is a new addition to the login screen for Wrath of the Lich King tonight. A large dragon, which was previously just a white mesh, swipes down from the sky and roars at you as you log in. It is a very cool addition to the otherwise bland login screen.

I was able to capture the video above, and the audio you hear is just as I hear it. I expect there to be a "roar" or something else eventually inserted for the dragon. Nonetheless, it's quite a neat feature. You can also watch a high quality version via YouTube.

The new beta build just came out tonight, so stay tuned for more info and analysis as we get it all collected together.

WotlkWiki, which has been a great source for all kinds of information about Wrath ever since the Friends & Family alpha started, is launching a new attraction, which they're calling WotlkWikiTV. It will consist of live broadcasts from players in the beta, which is pretty cool for those of us who still haven't gotten beta keys. (I maintain hope!)

Their first stream is live right now: Death Knight leveling! They've got a source in beta who will be on "pretty much every day," so if you want to get a good look at what the DK will be like to play, head on over to their streams page and load it up. Personally I'm torn as to whether I want to watch or not – I am really curious about the class, but I'd kinda like to see it for myself before I see someone else doing it. We'll see if if my impatience or my desire to remain spoiler-free wins out.

This is another step in an interesting trend of "WoW TV;" Nihilum has been streaming a few raids for a little while now, and SK-Gaming apparently just did one as well. Does anyone see a new cable network in the future, or is the potential viewership still a little too small?

Our good friends at WoW Radio have somehow boonswaggled their way into the beta, and they're letting you all reap the rewards: Totalbiscuit and his buddies all ran Utgarde Keep, the first instance of Northrend, and you can see the results above. This is the same instance we played way back at BlizzCon of last year, and it looks about the same -- you can see the hulking Vrykul, the big flame forge with its walls that come down when you pull mobs, and later on you can check out the other boss battles, including a dual boss battle (two bosses, and both have to die, or else the one that dies first spawns a shade of himself), and Ingvar the Plunderer, who has a pretty mean AoE and some cheating help. There's also a few glimpses of other beta features, including Illidan form way at the end.

Unfortunately, they don't run the next instance, Sar Chasm, which features a boss who says things to you he doesn't actually mean (spoiler: that's a joke, watch the video). But it's awesome to get a first look at Utgarde, bugs and all (the dragons who walk through the air are pretty fun), and the WoW Radio guys are pretty entertaining the whole time.

Boubouille over at MMO-Champion has a bunch of great videos that he put together of some Wrath content. Some of them are data mined, while others show in-game content. All in all, they're quite an interesting thing to watch for those of you who want to see Wrath content right now.

The videos that are available are hosted on Vimeo, and we've embedded them after the break for easy viewing. You can take a look at footage form Utgarde Keep, Drak'tharon Keep, and The Nexus.

I know that some people are concerned with spoilers, so don't watch these if you don't want to see everything. They're taken from the alpha and the videos give a clear view of everything in the dungeons.

Enjoy!

Alex Albrecht, prolific pod and vodcaster and formerly of Tech TV's The Screen Savers, has come up with what I think may be the most sublime and brilliant way ever to get people to support his World of Warcraft gameplay. He's going to record instance runs!

Well, okay, Project Lore looks to be more than that. But tell me that the first thing through your mind once you read what they have planned isn't Oh My... why didn't I think of this? It's brilliant! I play WoW and people watch me doing it! They're clearly aiming for more than that, with instance guides, WoW news, and a glossary as well as the video feeds. The first few videos are of them at level 70 running normal Hellfire Ramparts, which is not really what I was expecting. To be honest, I felt a little bit like they were doing too much with camera angles, loud music and video effects and not letting you see enough of the gameplay.

But I know that as we head into Wrath of the Lich King this could have the potential to be very useful for people running those instances for the first time. Our own Daniel Whitcomb said that at present, it reminded him of an old EQ commercial.

We'll see if it evolves into the one-stop shop for WoW gameplay videos and strategies that it seems to be aiming for. And at any rate, the ability to watch videos of various instance runs, if executed properly, could be a real boon to new players, giving them context into ideas like tanking, DPS, CC and other dungeon roles that are hard to grasp if you've not seen them in action.

There has been a YouTube video that has been circulating around the internet lately claiming to show how to get into the Wrath of the Lich King beta via a backdoor security flaw. The video directs you to another site, which you then must enter your user name and password that you use to get into WoW. Surprise, surprise: this is nothing but another trick to steal your account.

This video has been showing up in links around the WoW community lately just about as much as a certain great music video. This initially caught my attention when it was posted here in our comments a few times.

Since the real beta signups are under way, and access to the beta is expected to begin any time, we were expecting and indeed seeing a large uptick in the number of beta scams. Be sure to protect yourself.