A little while back, we checked out a Facebook app to show your WoW characters in your profiles, and just this week, reader Orangelick asked for an update to the other app we linked to, called I Play WoW. Previously, I couldn't get it working, but I gave it another try, and as you can see above, it works just fine. In fact, it's pretty customizable, even moreso than what I implemented above -- you can upload a picture for your character, and even give status and description updates for every character on the roster.

If you're looking for some WoW representation on Facebook, it'll do you right. The only real complaint I have is that it doesn't by default show off any armor or stats that you have (the other app, WoW Armory, does, and here's another app that's even flashier if you want to go that way), but then again, how many of your Facebook friends really want to follow your characters that closely? And there's a quick link to the Armory page for those who do. All in all, nice app, and the perfect way to show a little WoW pride on Facebook.

Magelo, a Switzerland and UK based company which gained popularity with its Everquest character profiles, has launched a WoW version of the profile system. It offers a slick view of your toon's Armory information, but with some additional functionality that you can usually only get in-game. Additionally, using their Magelo Sync, you can hot-sync your information whenever you want. (No more waiting for the Armory to update.) You can also use the client in-game to find information on items, quests, and mobs.

I tried it today and found it fun to play with. Even though installing everything takes a bit of jumping through hoops, after you've synced, you can view everything about your toon that you can see in the game: bank and inventory contents, or show anyone your profile with a link. Here's Slig's profile so you can see the output provided.

A feature I really liked was the tab called "bonuses" which lets you see which pieces of armor contribute to each attribute (e.g., click Intellect and see each item's bonus to that stat). After the beta there will be a charge for Premium access -- a trend we're seeing more of -- which involves things like getting a certified profile, customizing your profile page with backgrounds, viewing your toon in 3D, and creating alternate profiles. I liked fiddling around with the alternates but I'm not sure I'd pay extra for it when the time comes.

A lot of readers have been asking lately about the new commenting system, and so here's a short guide to setting yourself up in our comments section here on WoW Insider.

Our new comments section will not only remember all of your personal information, but they'll also let you use an avatar of your choosing, and even reply to and moderate others' comments. First things first, you've got to get set up with a password. To get one, you simply leave a comment as a new user, putting your name and email in the comments form (under "New Users" below). Then, you'll get sent a message to that email address, with a password (usually random letters and numbers) to sign back in. Come back to the site, and now leave another comment with your email, and the new password (under the "Current Users" title in the comments section), and you're good to go.

The next thing you'll want to do is set up your profile, and you can do that by clicking on your name in the comment that you posted.

Update: Hopefully this is working for everybody. Lots of people are asking why we do it this way, and I've got a short answer and a long answer. Short answer is "because this is how Blogsmith does it, and we're run with Blogsmith." Longer answer is that the system was designed, I believe, to be quick and easy-- enter your info as a new user, and you get your password and account set up for you. Enter your info as a "current user," and you never have to click another email again. We are listening to your feedback, so if you have ideas, we're all ears (and of course whatever we come up with has to be implemented by our coders, so thanks for being patient). But for now, this is how it works, and hopefully everyone has their situation figured out. Thanks again for reading!

WoW Insider reader Rakuen sent us a tip about a posting on the CTProfiles forums from the beginning of the month. It seems that even before this Tuesday's change to the Armory, the writing was on the wall for CTProfiles. In fact, if you try to go to the main site, you're redirected to the forum with this posting.

From the post:

It has finally got to the point where it's simply too much work to 'fix' things. With several offers of help, only a few minor things were ever completed, and leaving Cide as the only coder was just not enough to get out from the overwhelming load. We're not happy to see things not working, but it just isn't feasible to attempt to fix them.

We still feel there is a very viable use for a custom profiling site, even with the armory out. The armory can't help you compare your crafted set to tier4 or 5, nor your arena gear vs. misc. pieces. We've started a very early stage of development for a CTProfiles2.0 project, which is essentially a complete recode, however we won't be releasing it any time soon. Our focus is going to be shifted back to CTMod, and we'll be working on a new unannounced mod that's been in the works for a few weeks, CT_RaidAssist2.0, some fixes and updates to older mods, and we'll continue to go from there. As for development of the CTP2 site, I won't even set an estimate of when we'd be starting work on it again.

So, what's your take on CTProfiles shutting down? Did you ever get a chance to use this site? What will you miss, and what are you looking forward to seeing the CT team do next?

You've done all that work to get your gear, and now you've got to show it off, right? Get a forum signature that shows you're a real hardcore player-- get a player profile. Here's three sites that let you do it for free.

• CTProfiles.net is from the makers of CTmod, and they have a pretty nice interface that will let you put any gear you want in there. They even let you put in different gear profiles for the same character (to show off your fire resist or PVP set, assuming it differs from the stuff you wear all the time). Their interface is good, but none of it is automatic-- you'll have to choose your gear piece by piece as you put it in.
• Allakhazam has a very nice profile listing over on their site that's much more automated-- you create an account, and then install a mod called WoWReader that pulls all of your info out of the game for you. It'll even let you connect up to your guild and server, and they'll calculate all your crit percentages for you from your gear and stats. The only problem is that, like CTprofiles, there's no way to show your PVP rank at all, which means if you want to do that you'll have to go to...
  
• WoW Guru, which has the most complicated profile format out of these three. After you install their addon, they'll show off everything from your Lifetime HKs to your "Expected Peak Rank" (based on your honor rate), and even a little graph that charts your progress so far. Unfortunately, players are commenting that WoW Guru can be kind of buggy (not surprising, considering everything they're pulling together), but they definitely offer the most detailed profile we've ever seen.

Any experience using these? Or do you know of a great profile creator you can recommend?

Update: A few people are also praising RPG Outfitter in the comments, so that's an option, too.