Numerous reports are coming in that the Wrath Beta keys are making their way to players now. Attendees of last year's BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, and the Worldwide Invitational in Paris, France, received a card with a code for a "future Blizzard title" as part of their goody bags. Wryxian confirmed over at the official forums that the said title was Wrath of the Lich King and urged everyone to register their codes immediately. Players who do so will be prompted to enter the codes from the cards as well as their e-mail address, as Beta access information is sent through e-mail.
Reader Phi mentions that it doesn't matter when the codes were claimed. She registered her code right after BlizzCon last year while her boyfriend registered only yesterday after Blizzard's announcement, and both received their keys today. If you're one of the lucky few who attended either Blizzard event or managed to snag a beta code through other channels like eBay, registering the code should see you receiving invites in the mail. WoW Insider's Elizabeth Harper, who attended both, received two invites to the Beta eight minutes apart from each other. The official e-mail from prompts players to follow the step-by-step instructions over at Blizzard's official Beta page. Thanks to everyone who tipped this in!
With the flurry of activity surrounding the Worldwide Invitational, the live stream was the best thing that you could watch if you weren't in Paris yourself. During the closing ceremony, Video Games Live performed a Blizzard-centric symphony. For those that missed it, VGL is organized by Tommy Tallarico, the MC, and Jack Wall, the conductor. Both have composed music for video games for years, but now also travel around the country working with leading orchestras to perform that music live on stage for audiences.
After viewing the closing ceremony, I checked out their website and discovered that they were performing in Austin, Texas two weeks later! Armed with ticket and video camera, I wasn't sure what to expect, but was thoroughly pleased with the performance. They can only play about 20 of their roughly 50 arranged pieces per night, so I was treated to music from Final Fantasy, Warcraft, Starcraft, Super Mario Brothers, Halo, Metal Gear Solid, and many others. In between the segments were games, costume contests, and commentary. At the end, they offer a meet and greet with the crew, as well as some video game industry professionals occasionally. In all, it's about a 5 hour event.
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
So you went to Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational and received a card with a mysterious code for an in-game item (which we later discovered was a miniature version of Diablo's Archangel Tyrael, to be added in patch 2.4.3)... but are now at a loss at how to pick up your adorable new companion? The new new Mini Tyrael is claimed in a different place than any other in-game items -- so for those of you who attended WWI (or picked up a code on eBay), here's what you need to do...
If you're even moderately interested in Arenas, I hope you caught the live stream of MLG Orlando yesterday, hosted by GotFrag TV. The stream quality was much better than the one from the Worldwide Invitational, and it was truly entertaining, um... television. A lot of video entertainment is available through the web these days, and GotFrag TV has been providing topnotch coverage of the Major League GamingWorld of Warcraft Arena tournament series. As a student of Arenas, I've found the coverage to be extremely fun and educational. This is competition at its highest level, where players actually get paid, or win money, for playing. And just like any sport, there are a few special elements that make it interesting to watch. The stars Every sport has its stars. You have athletes like Tiger Woods being the face of golf, or Kobe Bryant being the guy you either love or hate in basketball (for the record, I've been a Kobe fan since he got drafted by the Hornets in 1996), or even Maria Sharapova for tennis, who doesn't even necessarily have to win in order to be fun to watch (I mean, look at Anna Kournikova). Tournaments, when they're in a televised LAN format -- as opposed to online, such as the Blizzard-sponsored 2008 World of WarcraftArena Tournament -- means that audiences will actually get a glimpse of the players behind the characters. Just like sports stars, these players need to have some special quality that holds the interest of fans. Let's go through a few examples.
Few World of Warcraftmachinimas stand the test of time. Here Without You is a great example at over three years old, yet still manages to touch us today. The Demise may have just been recently released, but the story is incredibly emotional and will hopefully resonate for years to come. It revolves around a girl who is alone in the world, until she discovers a "portal" to love, happiness, and ultimately, loss. It brought a tear to this blogger's eyes.
I blogged about Olibith's Worldwide Invitationalmachinima contest-sweeping video, The Bountiful Chest, yesterday. Today, I want to show you the video that should have won. While there's nothing wrong with the winning entry, this one just seems far superior in terms of subject matter and effort. Surgee put a tremendous amount of work into The Demise, yet promised himself that if he didn't win, he would give up. I, for one, think that he should continue!
[Thanks, #machinima on Quakenet IRC!]
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
As a female, what happens in this video is a regular occurance. Well, besides the end part. However, Blizzard must have felt it special enough to award it their top prizes for the machinima contest at the recent Worldwide Invitational. Olibith machinimated a short story, The Bountiful Chest, written by Vilaeryn and narrated by Shockdingo. Since it's not very long, I'll sum it up with the moral of the story being to look us in the eyes. You're not fooling anyone!
What happens when you give a machinimator a camera and send them off to an event like Blizzard's Worldwide Invitational? They come back with a video report ... starring their avatar. Go figure!
Despite the absence of a flesh and blood Baron Soosdon, it was interesting to see the convention from the eyes of a first-timer. If you look carefully at the part where he discusses the costumed girls, you'll see a real live Dopefish, though! Other coverage includes the Blizzard museum, dance and costume contests, and the closing ceremony.
He wasn't able to capture the machinima contest because it literally lasted only a few minutes. In one of the most disappointing displays, Blizzard cited that they had run out of time with the other contests and only showed a few seconds of each winning video. We know that Olibith managed to win three prizes, though!
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
In all actuality, this short film is as much of a mystery as the creator is. Regardless of the plot, which was not mentioned in English or their native French, it is an amazing film. It looks like a sequel may be in the works as well!
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com. Previously on Moviewatch ...
Totem Talk, the column for shamans, was hit right between the eyes with news from the Worldwide this weekend. Matthew Rossi, our intrepid columnist, tries to make sense of it all this week.
Okay, I know we're behind on the Kara gear articles, but this weekend's news from the Worldwide Invitational was too much for me to ignore. Both for all the awesome news for shamans and for what it all doesn't mean. (And yes, I had to steal Mike's image from the roundup post... I even went out and bought that statue I like it so much.) Since we know the Beta Opt-In is live and the Wrath beta can't be far away, I thought we should spend some time discussing what we just found out.
I admit that part of the reason for wanting to discuss this in detail is that I am stoked about it. Some of you readers are, in fact, very good for providing a bucket of cold water in the form of reality checking, and I expect you to do me that service now. But maybe we're all excited, which would be awesome, for shamans to once all be excited.
I know Hex is the greatness, but what it isn't is real CC for five man instances. It's a panic button, like so many other shaman abilities can be, not a long-term solution. To use hex as CC in an instance in the manner of Polymorph, you'd have to renew it every ten seconds. You're taking yourself out of DPSing entirely if you intend to use it that way, basically. Make no mistake, it's a great ability and great utility for the class, but it's more akin to Cyclone than Sap or Poly.
What, you may well be turning to me to ask, is it good for then if it's not going to be good for CCing in instances?
For those of you that have complained about Baron Soosdon's music videos that have no plot and are merely a bunch of color filters, this may be a breath of fresh air. The Scarlet Thorn, one of Baron's entries in Blizzard's Worldwide Invitationalmachinimacontest, centers around Lady Sylvanas. While there is no dialogue in this epic movie about beating the Scarlet Crusaders to a bloody pulp, you can expect plenty of action!
[Via #machinima on Quakenet IRC]
If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.
Excellent podcast this week, if I do say so myself. Last Saturday, right smack dab in the middle of the Worldwide Invitational, I took to the virtual airwaves with Duncor of WoW Radio, and Matthew Rossi and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli of WoW Insider, and we chatted about all of the news coming out of the Worldwide Invitational. On this show, which is now live on WoW Radio, you can hear us talk about:
What Turpster is up to -- we talked live with him directly from Paris about what he thought of the convention and what he'd seen out there.
All the class changes that we saw on Saturday, including Warriors' Titan's Grip, Shamans' Hex, and Warlocks' Demonform, and what they meant for each class.
And finally, what Blizzard meant exactly by that little talent trees comment they threw in on one of the panels.
It's a rip-roaring show, and no matter what you love to do in the World of Warcraft, Matthew, John and Duncor definitely hit on a topic that will interest you. Definitely give it a listen, and don't forget to subscribe in iTunes if you want to get the podcast sent to you automatically every week.
Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to hit on any email because of all the amazing WWI news, but that's OK, because we'll just talk about twice as much of it next week. If you want to ask a question or have a comment for us, drop us a note at theshow@wowinsider.com, and you might even hear it on next week's show. We do this every Saturday at 3:30pm over on WoW Radio, so tune in next week to hear more commentary and insight about all the news from the last week of WoW.
You'd have expected a little more in-depth Arena discussion from the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational. You'd have been wrong, but you'd have expected it. We've covered the new Arena maps, but something from the Question and Answer periods really stuck out for me. What's the future of the Arena going to be like...for crowd control? Should we expect more, less, or about the same? What's going to happen to that naughty little Cyclone?
The answer from Tom Chilton was predictable -- without crowd control in its various forms, Arena matches become little more than DPS races. Crowd control (and its cousin line of sight) helps Arena fights take a little longer, and introduces viable strategies that are based all around controlling the other team. (As opposed to just blowing them to heck.) But the forums are alive - alive! - with complaints about Cyclone, Sap, Sheep, and hell, even Scatter Shot. No sir, folks don't like crowd control. Often, it seems like they'd rather get killed than sheeped.
I think it comes down to a pretty basic thing -- we have fun in these games by controlling our characters. Anything that jeopardizes the control of our characters on either a short-term or a long-term basis is therefore anathema. No one wants to stand there, helpless, while some Rogue performs their billionth stun on you. It seems to me (in my rosy-glassed retrospect) that we heard less complaints about insta-kill POM+Pyro than we do about a 3 second stun.
Your mileage may vary, but I think until Blizzard finds some way around that dichotomy -- CC is good for interesting fights, bad for fun -- we're going to continue to see tumultuous forum fights about the issue. I'm forced to agree with Chilton -- crowd control adds a layer of strategy and depth to the tactics of the Arena. Still, I hope they do something about it.
Happy Monday morning everyone! If you're a fan of World of Warcraft, chances are you heard about the big old shindig Blizzard threw in Paris this week. If you didn't a chance to get to Paris this year or catch any of the news over the weekend, you'll want to keep reading. We had a crack team on the convention floor, and more of us watching the live feeds all weekend, all working hard to deliver up to date reports and analysis. What that means for you is that this is the perfect place to catch up on all the WoW news from Paris. This handy list will direct you to exactly where you want to go to get the information you need.
Developer's Class Panel: There's a little something for every class in here. Find out what's coming for your favorite character!
Q&A Grab Bag Panel: See what WWI attendees had on their minds, and how the developers answered.
Dungeons and raids panel: See what's next in the Caverns of Time, Ulduar, and more. Don't forget to check out parts two, three, and four for the whole scoop.
PvP panel: Find out about Lake Winterspring, siege engines, Arenas, Battlegrounds, and pretty much everything except class balance. Includes pictures! Be sure to check parts two, three, and four as well.
The goodie bag: Even in real life, we like our epic loot. Let us show you the swag.
Of course, if the flood of liveblog information makes your head spin, no worries, we have analysis on every angle and every little tidbit discussed during the Invitational. Check them out after the break.
Excellent podcast this week, if I do say so myself. Last Saturday, right smack dab in the middle of the 
You'd have expected a little more in-depth Arena discussion from the Blizzard 
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