I have to admit, sometimes I dread it when new video card drivers come out. It always seems like something about them goes wrong, and one of my favorite games refuses to work well with them, and I end up having to roll back to some old drivers just to play what I want to play again. That said, sometimes they also work well, and your graphics run smoother, and life is good. As Alex said to me earlier, Azeroth is a whole lot prettier when it's at 90 fps instead of 10 fps.
But seriously, to the point. Here's a heads up to all our Nvidia card users who like living on the edge as far as upgrading goes. Nvidia has just released new beta drivers for their graphics cards. We repeat: these are beta drivers, so only install if you know what you're doing.
WoW gets a mention in the release notes as well. If you've been having performance problems in WoW lately and you have a Geforce 6800/6600 GT, it looks like there might be a fix for you.
In an ongoing series of articles we'll show you how to put WoW Insider on your own blog, guild website, personal website, or even on your computer's desktop. For a complete list of the software that's covered, check out our guide's index. About Windows Vista
Love it or hate it, eventually you'll probably end up using it. One of the neat features of Vista is the Sidebar, which is a place where you can put widgets that do different things, like tell the time, show what your EVE Online character is training, or tell you what the weather is like outside.
How to add WoW Insider to your Windows Vista's Sidebar.
1. Right click on your Sidebar and choose "Add Gadgets..."
2. This will open up the gadgets window. Double click the "Feed Headlines" gadget. 3. Close the gadgets window.
4. You'll now see the new gadget added at the top of your sidebar.
5. Open up Microsoft Internet Explorer and go to http://www.wowinsider.com/rss.xml 6. Click the "Subscribe to this feed" link.
7. A window will open up. The default settings will be fine. Click the "Subscribe" button. 8. Position your mouse over the feed gadget on your side bar and click the little wrench icon. It'll appear towards the upper right hand side of the gadget.
9. A window like the one above will slide out of the gadget, asking you what feed you want to display. 10. Choose to display "WoW Insider", and set the number of headlines to whatever you want. 11. Click the "Ok" button.
12. You're done! Left click on a feed headline to read the WoW Insider article.
Just in case you were wondering (or if your friend used the mediocre Shadowrun FPS as proof that all games from now on will require Vista), no, we're almost sure that there's no way Wrath of the Lich King will require Windows Vista to run. In fact, even though Neth is only kind of certain in the thread, we'll make it 100%: you won't need Vista to run the next expansion.
Not only is Vista not exactly setting even high-end gamers' hearts afire, but Blizzard is traditionally about as lenient as it gets on system requirements. They did up the ante a little bit when Burning Crusade was released, and we do know that Wrath will require a little more of your computer with those shiny ice shaders (not too much more -- they may ask for more RAM or a faster than the current 800mhz processor). But as much as Microsoft would love what may again be the best selling expansion in the world to require Vista, it's just not going to happen -- Blizzard has too many subscribers here to lock a good number of them with an operating system that's not going over so well.
So ignore what your smirking friend tells you -- if you can run Burning Crusade, you'll be able to run Wrath on the same box.
Recently members of my guild have been using a tool called Faster Ping to achieve better ping rates in game. My guild is a West Coast based guild, and attracts a lot of people from Hawaii and Australia, so they naturally have higher ping rates than those of us in the States. Faster Ping seems to be working wonders for them. It is not so much of an addon as it is a tool for Windows (though lots of people mistakingly call it an addon).
My first reaction to this was what thinking this sounded like something out of the mouth of Cliff Clavin. I mean, how can a piece of software impact something that is mainly due to physical limits? Well, after thinking about it for a bit, and reading up on what the tool does, it can.
WARNING! This paragraph will be the only one that contains technical content! Faster Ping works by removing the acknowledgement delay from TCP packets. This delay happens inside the kernel's TCP stack, and is a necessity for a lot of functions that go on inside a TCP stack. The other modification Faster Ping does is to remove delay in sending small packets (think anything less than a dozen or so bytes). These changes, at least theoretically, should not impact system stability if the Windows kernel has proper TCP/IP stack implementation. Okay, end technical content.
Apparently, the new patch has been having some problems under Windows Vista. Based on the description of the symptoms, I imagine this would be the same for other patches, so many of you may know this fix already. But then, some of you may have just upgraded to Vista. Anyway, here's the problem: the patch downloads OK, but the patcher fails to run correctly. According to Growl at Gitr's blog, this is because of permissions; the "normal" user on Vista doesn't have admin permissions, and therefore can't do things like run patchers.
Fortunately, Growl has an easy solution. Just right-click the WoW icon and select "Run as administrator" (as depicted); log in and WoW will spawn the patch download, which will inherit its administrator privileges and, in turn, spin off the patcher, also running with admin privileges. Safety is good, Microsoft, but Vista might be a little too safe for its own good. Couldn't we at least have an alert asking us if we wanted to authorize the patcher?
Amanna has mentioned an awesome little tool for tanking Druids with a great name: Rawr. It's a completely separate application for Windows (sorry Mac users) that will pull down your gear from the Armory, and help you not only see your tanking strengths and weaknesses, but help you choose upgrades, both in terms of gear and gems on it.
Astrylian of Kilrogg put it all together, and it looks like a really amazing tool for bears. Unfortunately, no other classes or Druid specs are supported yet (Astrylian says cats are next on the list), but if you're a bear who's been trying to make some good gear choices lately, this could be just what you need. Rawr is still in beta and available as a free download on the Druid wiki.
As is common with any major patch day, there are a few issues. Here are a few from the forums and what I've experienced:
Instance servers are crashing on many realms. From AV to Tempest Keep, players are having a hard time completing instances. Raiding is particularly hard hit. It's OK to delete the Auction Sale Pending notice from your mailbox. You will still get your cash when the new 1 hour delay is up. And, yes, everyone else seems to hate the new delay, too. Windows resolutions and UI Scaling have been tweaked. It's not your imagination and it also, according to Hortus, isn't a bug. Changing resolutions of the same aspect ratio will only give you a higher or lower image quality, but otherwise your view will not change. Windows are automatically resized to maintain aspect ratios and to reduce issues with stretching and distortion. If you aren't happy with the new size of your UI, turn on UI Scaling in the Video menu and adjust it accordingly.
Hopefully the instance servers will have been fixed by the time the patch is live in Europe. Sometimes it's better not being first.
Sins on the forums asks why he can't use his Xbox 360 controller to play WoW (on Windows, I assume). And the answer is that you can... kind of. But you probably don't want to.
If you've got a wired Xbox 360 controller, it's actually pretty easy. The controller just hooks up to your PC via USB, so plug it in, and you can then use a program called Pinnacle Game Profiler to recognize the controller, and even attach keyboard and mouse functions to the controller's keys. The problem here is actually making sure you have access to everything you normally would (a nearly impossible task, and probably the reason why WoW hasn't come to a console). But if you can do it, feel free.
The problem is if you have a wireless Xbox controller. Unlike the Wii, apparently Microsoft doesn't use the normal Bluetooth standard for its controllers, so you either have to buy a controller specifically for Windows, or an adapter to hook it up. And after you do that, you still might have to download the Pinnacle program to set it up right-- I've got a wireless controller right here, but I'm not about to spend more money for an adapter when I like using the keyboard anyway.
Have you had any success getting the Xbox controller to play WoW? I like the controller and all (although that D-pad is horrible), but why would anyone want to abandon the mouse and keyboard in the first place?
Reader Scott kindly dropped us a note (thanks!) that Nvidia released new drivers for Windows Vista on Tuesday, and hidden in the release notes is a note that the "low frame rates" within WoW have been fixed.
So if you're running WoW in Vista, have an Nvidia graphics card (with one GPU), and still having graphical problems, a driver update definitely wouldn't hurt. Things seem to have calmed down on the graphics issues since a few patches have hit, but maybe there are still a few of you out there looking for a solution.
As for us Windows XP users, looks like we're still stuck with an older driver version. If you've updated your drivers on XP and are still having problems, the best thing to do is probably just to let Blizzard know about it.
Update: Whoops, Slashrude (and other commenters) point out what I missed: these are beta drivers, which means installing them may not be such a good idea. Update at your own risk.
It's raid night. You've farmed your mats, topped off your repair fun and loaded up on pizza and cola. But for some reason you can't log on. You're sure you typed in the right password, but no go. You IM you guildie: "Are the servers down? I can't get in." His reply sends chills down your spine: "We just saw you at the bank. Why was your toon naked?"
Years of hard work gone. Someone else accessed your account and stripped your main of all his gold, bank items and tradable equipment. "But I don't give my password to anyone!" you wail. You don't have to, the keylogger program knows it anyway.
What's a keylogger? It's a small, virus-type program that can accidentally be installed on your computer. How might a keylogger be installed on your system?
Visiting an untrustworthy web site. Some sites may have code in them that exploit your web browser and cause it to quietly install a keylogging application without your permission. (Note: even turstworthy sites can be hacked! The same hackers who are after your information can hack what you think of as trustworthy sites and add exploit code to them which could give you a keylogger.)
Downloading addons (or other files) from an untrustworthy site. Any executable file you download could contain a keylogger or virus, so before you download a file, be sure you're downloading it from a source you trust!
Once a keylogger gets installed, it starts recording every keystroke you make. And when you type in your account name and password for your WoW account, it captures that, too. The next time you access the Internet, it sends your private information to the hackers who use it to log into WoW and strip all your characters of everything valuable leaving you with a penniless toon wearing nothing but his trousers.
This all sounds pretty scary, but don't worry -- there are ways to protect yourself from keylogging programs!
Back on March 31st Eyonix warned us of a newly discovered Windows vulnerability that could have resulted in keyloggers landing on your system. At the time, Microsoft did not yet have a patch available, meaning that Eyonix's best advice was to "be careful." However, today Microsoft has released hotfixes for all versions of windows that should resolve the issue. So if you're running WoW on Windows, I highly recommend that you run Windows update or visit Microsoft's site to download the hotfix as soon as possible. Trust us -- keyloggers are bad, mmkay?
Update: Drysc has made a post regarding this subject highlighting the fact that this patch isn't a keylogger cureall. Says Drysc: The patch released doesn't stop someone from downloading executables and running them without the proper precautions, and you can still be susceptible to keyloggers, viruses, trojans, etc. The update released by Microsoft is a very specific fix for a specific way that a keylogger could end up on a Windows machine, it doesn't protect you from obtaining a keylogger or virus, it merely patches one specific way you could get one. It's important that you be proactive about your computer and its security.
So Microsoft had a little launch of its own yesterday (why can't they do these things at midnight like normal people?), and reader Scott Harris wrote in with a relevant question: "Has anyone tried to see how compatible WoW is with Windows Vista?" If the above banner snagged at CES is any indication, the fun is only beginning -- then again, something tells me they weren't thinking about Warcraft.
I'm not gonna lie -- I have zero plans to upgrade my XP box to Vista anytime soon, mostly because I'm primarily a Mac person (yes, flame on, people, flame on) and the thought of doing the upgrade to the only Windows box in the house sounds about as fun as major surgery to me. However, the trusty intertubes contain some accounts of compatibility, and so far the reports are mixed:
l2computerz people, Vista really has no effect on WoW performance.
Since the jury appears to still be out, we're leaving it up to you, dear readers -- has anyone had experience getting Vista and World of Warcraft to play nice? Any experiences to report?
P.S. If you want to snag a free copy, get your Need Roll in over at Download Squad.
We've already seen WoW on an Intel Mac thanks to our resident Mac-user,
but he's managed to go one better. Previously we saw the OS X Universal Binary version running at 50-60fps; running WoW
under Windows on the same hardware, maximising all the graphics settings, there's actually a gain in framerate
to the tune of 6fps.
Those of us with PCs creaking along on the default settings are justified in being
envious. While keeping up with the vast succession of new PC games requires regular upgrades and a killer gaming rig,
if your free time is taken over by
WoW then you obviate the need to upgrade -- but miss out on the fantastic framerates such upgrades can afford.
I have to admit, sometimes I dread it when new video card drivers come out. It always seems like something about them goes wrong, and one of my favorite games refuses to work well with them, and I end up having to roll back to some old drivers just to play what I want to play again. That said, sometimes they also work well, and your graphics run smoother, and life is good. As Alex said to me earlier, Azeroth is a whole lot prettier when it's at 90 fps instead of 10 fps. 
Just in case you were wondering (or if your friend used 
Recently members of my guild have been using a tool called 
Apparently, the new patch has been having some problems under Windows Vista. Based on the description of the symptoms, I imagine this would be the same for other patches, so many of you may know this fix already. But then, some of you may have just upgraded to Vista. Anyway, here's the problem: the patch downloads OK, but the patcher fails to run correctly. According to Growl at Gitr's blog, this is because of permissions; the "normal" user on Vista doesn't have admin permissions, and therefore can't do things like run patchers.
Sins on the forums asks 
Reader Scott kindly dropped us a note (thanks!) that Nvidia 
It's raid night. You've farmed your mats, topped off your repair fun and loaded up on pizza and cola. But for some reason you can't log on. You're sure you typed in the right password, but no go. You IM you guildie: "Are the servers down? I can't get in." His reply sends chills down your spine: "We just saw you at the bank. Why was your toon naked?"
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