Both Jeff Kaplan and Tom Chilton presented, with Kaplan showing off the Death Knight class and Chilton showing off the work they've done on Northrend.
The Forsaken-designed starting town Vengeance Landing was shown off -- this was the same area we got to play back at Blizzcon, as well as Utgarde Keep
They also got to see Valliance Keep (the other Alliance starting area), and Warsong Hold, a huge gothic iron structure run by Garosh Hellscream that Kaplan apparently called the "new look " of the Horde
Horde players will be taking a Zepplin up to Northrend
The Nexus, in the Coldarra part of the Borean Tundra, is the first instance on the western side of Northrend from Utgarde Keep, and it's a three wing instance with a raid dungeon where players will meet Malygos.
The Badge of Justice system will continue in Northrend, but there will be new tokens to act as Badges and be returned for loot.
Last Sunday, It came from the Blog gathered to run the Orgrimmar Children's Week quests together. Some weren't level 10 yet, but ran with us anyway. Because many of us didn't have the flightpaths (and because it was more fun) we ran together from objective to objective.
Our Orphans were very well behaved, even after we gave them ice cream. I hope they enjoyed their group field trip as much as I did.
Don't forget to join us this Sunday for the Revenge of the Orc-Moms. We'll be meeting at 6pm Eastern/Blog Time (4pm Server time, 3pm Pacific). Bring your female Orc with some form of "mother" in the name and your maternal sense of humor. I hope to see you there!
Gallery: It came from the Blog: Children's Week Gallery
Having done all of the quests, I am very disappointed in the Stormwind quest chain. It involves much more traveling and much less lore than the Horde equivalent. My favorite pet is still Sleepy Willy, but I think they are all pretty cute.
Who was your favorite orphan and what was your favorite reward?
You are cordially invited to join It came from the Blog for a very silly event on Mother's Day. We are going to pay tribute to the women who brought us into this world by going to the place where she is mentioned daily: The Barrens. I know, she's not exactly mentioned with respect there. But the thing about Ur Mom jokes is that they are jokes. No one in Barrens Chat has actually met your mother, let alone done that with her. And it's time we exact a little revenge for our dear mothers and show that they (and we) have a sense of humor about it.
So go to Zangarmarsh server and make an Orc Female with a name that includes some form of "mother" in it. I made one named Mutti, which is the German word for Mommy. No, I'm not saying my or your or anyone's mother looks like an Orc Female. And I don't think my mom ever sported a belly shirt, let alone a mohawk and a nose ring. These females will not be representing the way your mom looks, but instead her inner warrior (or shaman or whatever).
Come join It came from the Blog today on Zangarmarsh (U.S.) to run the Orgrimmar Children's Week quests. You need to be level 10 or higher to get the quest, but you are welcome to join us for the runaround, no matter your level.
When: 3pm Pacific (4pm Server) Today! (Sunday, May 4th)
Where: Orphanage in Orgrimmar (the Valley of Honor) on Zangarmarsh (U.S.)
How to join: Send Robiness a tell to get a guild invite
I got my warlock to 20 this morning and stocked up on shards so I can summon if you are too far away, say in Mulgore bringing up a Tauren. If you are in Blood Elf lands, take the teleport in Silvermoon to Undercity and then the Zeppelin to Orgrimmar.
Let's take our orphans on a field trip together! I hope to see you there!
Englewood, a GM on the Tournament Test Realm, poised for some pictures today with the WoW Insider Arena Team covering the event. We were all pretty psyched to find us all teleported right outside Dalaran, with Englewood, to pose for some pics. He was in his Brutallus getup, and was lookin' pretty sweet.
Thanks Englewood!
It looks like the Blizzard staff is dwindling down on the TTR, and I've got a raid to run off to in 30 minutes. So while our live coverage is wrapping up, expect to see lots more commentary and analysis over the next few days.
And of course, the best part of the day for all of us was all you fans - I was getting so many tells at points I couldn't keep up! Thanks for saying hello!
We didn't have anyone on hand to head out to the WoW TCG Darkmoon Faire in Philly this past weekend (although I was able to make the Chicago stop earlier this year), but worry not if you didn't make it, because the web guys over at Upper Deck's official site did a bang up job of covering all the activities over the weekend. From player tournaments to all the different decks that were played with, they've got the whole thing online, top to bottom. This was apparently the first event where the Fires of Outland set was playable, so they have a good piece up about that. And they even showed off some new cards, including a Dreamstate card from the March of the Legion set due in November.
Upper Deck has also posted a preview of the cards coming in the special Feast of Winter's Veil giftset, and it is kind of funny to see that the (once-)dreaded AV snowball has received a card of its own. And Mistletoe is in the game as well, taking two player heroes out of their turns for a little "let it snow" action (while giving them both a new card to play with). Fun stuff from the TCG, whether you're a diehard collector or not.
It's the day before BlizzCon, and the WoW Insider team got the chance to stand amongst the throngs to get our badges. The challenge was, of course, that the lines themselves were crazy, wondering out the door without much organization. The mood in the convention center can be described as calm expectancy. I expected more excitement, but I think the ordeal of waiting in such long lines wore the excitement right out of us. Tomorrow we'll be out there in line, looking for more shining faces, and bringing you all the latest. For now we sit waiting for the meet up to begin.
Not feeling satisfied with the answers you're getting from the CMs?Want to take your issues to the source?The WSVG Guild Challenge is giving guilds a chance to win a trip to beautiful Irvine, California, home of the Blizzard headquarters. The winning guild will get to tour the offices and have lunch with members of the development team, as well as be there for the WSVG event at E for All in October.
The competition will be held in both Louisville, Kentucky and Dallas, Texas, and it will be a great way for your guild to show some skills in IRL games and in game events.
The events give guilds a chance to battle in game in an all out Gurubashi Arena free for all as well as 5v5 arena tournaments.Outside the game (I know, as if there is such a thing) guilds can Sumo wrestle their way to the top, as well as compete in a jousting tourney and guild versus guild Tug-O-War.
Brush off your raiding skills in the BYOC $30,000 tournament during the day, and then stay for the Guild Challenge at night.Then make sure to let WoW Insider know about the experience so we can share your victory with the world.Register for Louisville or Dallas soon so your guild can reign supreme.
The word on the Test Realm forums is that Children's Week has finally hit... in Outland! Apparently, much like the refugee children we've been escorting around from Stormwind and Orgrimarr, there are refugee children in Shattrath who also want to tag along with the heroes of their war. Thus far, there's been no report on any potential reputation gains as yet (which is what I'm screaming for) but screen shots of the cute new pets available from the quests have been posted.
Apparently, you have your choice of "Sleepy" Willy, a baby Elekk, or Ethburt, as seen from left to right at the top of this post. I can't speak for anyone else, but I'm going to have a really hard time picking one. They're all so cute!
Elwynn, Mulgore, and...Texas? Unlikely as it may seem, apparently the Darkmoon Faire is going to be making an appearance in the land of Blizzard's latest GM center this weekend. This event is being put on by Upper Deck Entertainment, who make the WoW trading card game, at the Austin Convention Center this weekend, Friday through Sunday. There will be all manner of TCG tournaments for everyone from noobs to experts, of course, but here's my question: will there be anyone on hand to sell pet frogs? I don't think so.
On the other hand, Blizzard will apparently be setting up a private PvP server just for the event with premade 70s decked out in Gladiator gear, and there will be 30 PCs running Arena and Battlegroup competitions using these characters for real-world prizes. That might even be better than pet frogs. Lots and lots of prizes are at stake in the card games and other events, from booster packs to iPods to computers, and the event is open to the public with no entry fee, so if you're going to be in Austin this weekend, it's probably worth checking out.
If you checked the calendar in advance (it was updated today), it informed you that the Lunar Festival was scheduled to end on the 8th of March -- that would be this Friday. However, if you've bothered to log on to the game at all, you'll notice that all of the decorations are gone and the elders have vanished. Whyso? Apparently, the calendar was in error -- according to Blizzard poster Ommra, the festival was supposed to last 19 days. So if you were waiting for the last day to turn things in, or the last minute to run around hunting elders (like I was -- I know, I'm a slacker), you're stuck waiting for next year.
Blizzard's main page has been updated, so while you're waiting for the patch to download, read what they have to say:
Azeroth is under attack! Horrific creatures are swarming from a suddenly active Dark Portal and have rampaged into the Blasted Lands. Defenders from Nethergarde Keep have scrambled to meet the enemy head-on. However, even with the assistance of reinforcements from the ever-vigilant Argent Dawn, the forces of Azeroth need your help!
Not much is known of the invasion at this early stage, but early reports from the battlefront describe wave after wave of demonic attackers charging from the Dark Portal. It is also reported that Lord Kazzak was seen departing through the Dark Portal. In his stead he has left his minion, Highlord Kruul, to sow fear and confusion among the defenders.
Accompanied by a host of infernals, Kruul has been seen near a number of major cities in Azeroth, along with the following outdoor areas:
Not even the elite forces of the Argent Dawn have dared attack Kruul directly. Only a large and well-coordinated group of adventurers might stand a chance of defeating him.
Remember the huge scourge invasion that accompanied the roll-out of patch 1.11? After a few weeks of undead-slaughtering fun, the scourge invasion points across Azeroth vanished - whether your server had finished the invasion event or not. The "end" of this event was somewhat disappointing, as it occurred without any fanfare, and left me with a heck of a lot of now useless necrotic runes in the bank. However, there's now some suggestion from Blizzard that this invasion won't be a one-time event - though as to how often the scourge may become restless and attempt to invade Azeroth, no one yet knows.
Like the invasion or not, it was an excellent way to rack up Argent Dawn reputation, and the rewards (consecrated sharpening stones, blessed wizard oil, +damage versus undead armor), while situational, were useful. And, while I'm glad the invasion isn't a permanent thing, I think having it back on some regular basis will make for an entertaining diversion.
Well, the festival of Midsummer Fire has been going on for a while now, and I have to admit, I basically forgot about it after about a day...
Oh, I took the quests to seek out the fires throughout the lands, and I did get that really nifty Cinder Elemental that saved my butt a couple of times, and some nice experience, but all in all, my opinion on the event so far has been...blah.
For one thing, I'm tired of Stormwind looking all dingy & smoky. This is one of the reasons I stopped spending so much time in Orgrimmar; the air is almost thicker in the game than in my room...and that's saying something.
What about you folks? Have you enjoyed the event so far? Should Blizzard make this an annual occurrence? Chime in...
WorldofWar.net also got an invitation to the Blizzard event this past week (our invitation must have been lost in the mail, maybe?), and they've got six full pages of text about what they saw. Six pages hard to read though, so we've got all the salient points right here:
Blizzard's main page has been updated, so while you're waiting for the patch to download, read what they have to say:
Well, the festival of Midsummer Fire has been going on for a while now, and I have to admit, I basically forgot about it after about a day...
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