Hey all,

Ever wanted to Pwn a Blizzard employee in WoW PvP? Now's your chance because tomorrow from 4:30PM to 6:30PM (PST) a few of us will be queuing up for BGs via the new Random Battleground Finder on the US realms! Bring your main/alt/premade and show us what you got!

What: Random Battleground Finder
Who: Blizzard Community Team and Blizzard QA
Place: US Servers Broxigar and Anasterian
Time: 4:30 - 6:30 PST
Date: 2-26-2010

(Note: Time/Event is subject to change.)

Q. What have you learned from this expansion�s emblem system?
A. Having that many different kind of emblems is overwhelming. In hindsight, we wish we had done maybe 2 emblems: the current tier and the previous tier (Frost and Triumph at the moment). They also felt a tad too grindy when 3.3 first came out before all of the sources of emblems were available.

Q. Is there any ETA on tree / moonkin form graphical update?
A. Moonkin is hard because Moonkin players are so in love with that form. It's tough to change it at all. We currently hope to do a new tree form for Cataclysm, but no promises.

Q. Is the Valithria Dreamwalker encounter a deliberate move towards making WoW more �fun & interesting� for healers? Will we see more encounters like this?
A. We want to make healing more fun, yes. Part of that is letting healers use their whole repetoire instead of just their best spells. Part of it is trying to get healers to look at the battlefield a little more and unit frames a little less, that of course means a little more time in between spamming heals so you can do stuff like that.

In our thirteenth BlizzCast episode, we focus on the recent start of the StarCraft II beta! An interview with the StarCraft II's production director and game director discusses what beta testers and the overall StarCraft community can expect in the latest multiplayer version of the game. The developers also provide some insight into other topics such as the single player campaign, eSports, and macro mechanics. In our second segment, World of Warcraft and Diablo community managers take you through a Q&A; segment sharing exciting information about how the future of those series are shaping up.

Check out BlizzCast 13 now: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/community/blizzcast/archive/episode13.html?rhtml=y

We will be holding our next Developer Chat on Twitter on Friday, February 26, at 5:00 p.m. PST with World of Warcraft's lead content designer and lead systems designer. This chat session will focus on Icecrown Citadel and other Fall of the Lich King content.

Questions will be taken live through Twitter, so be sure to sign up for a Twitter account at https://twitter.com/signup and follow account @Warcraft in order to participate!

To submit a question for the Developer Chat, please tweet using the #BlizzChat hashtag between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. PST on February 26. Due to the character limitation on responses within Twitter, all answers will be posted on the World of Warcraft forums in a dedicated thread.

There are no plans to separate the two at this time. It's funny because there were a number of complaints when the first two pets came out that felt it would make more sense if it came with something tangible.

As far as the quality of the physical pets, they are very well made and our previous ones (like the Lurky) got a lot of good reviews from people I talked to so they will be along those lines as well.

Death knights, druids, hunters, mages, rogues, warlocks, warriors, oh my! For those participating in our public testing of the upcoming minor content patch 3.3.3, look out this week for a host of fascinating new adjustments to these classes. Chains of Ice innately does what? Nature's Grasp has how many charges? Vitality boosts stamina by how much? Stay tuned to find out the answer to these and more questions!

Yes, the Dungeon Finder must be used. The interface will have a separate selection for special World Event bosses in dungeons. If players zone into the dungeon without using the Dungeon Finder, the bosses will not be there.

Edit: For those just tuning in, I've added some clarification about the new functionality later in the thread: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=23329143450&postId;=233908343351&sid;=1#209

(...) Just to clarify some misconceptions about this new functionality, the summoning of holiday bosses is going away. Players can queue for these bosses via the Dungeon Finder or special holiday NPCs found in the world. Once the party is finalized, the group will be ported directly to the area where the holiday boss resides. Players can kill the holiday bosses as often as they want for standard loot (epic rings, trinkets, etc.), however, they will only drop one holiday-themed loot trove per player per day. These loot troves will have a chance of containing rare holiday items such as The Horseman's Reins.

(...) The way players were grandfathering in alt characters, scamming others by not having a summon available, and continually soft-resetting dungeons -- creating a major load on instance capacity -- was never intended.

The change has some positive and some negative consequences, however, we feel it's the best way to make this a better system and more in-line with our original plans for World Event bosses.

(...) It works exactly like the Random Daily reward, except in this case it's a bag which has a chance to drop the rare holiday items. :)

Gnomish scribes and goblin designers are hard at work putting together the second epic issue of the World of Warcraft Official Magazine, but you can still receive Issue #1 as part of your subscription if you order before February 28. After that, your only recourse will be to head to the Caverns of Time and hope the bronze dragonflight lets you travel into the past to tell your former self what your future self will be missing out on.

The premiere issue includes a look at the lore surrounding Icecrown Citadel, interviews with the developers on the upcoming Cataclysm expansion, profiles of pet collectors and Arena champs, expert advice from top raiding guilds and PvPers, and much more.

For more info, including a whopping 40-page preview of some of the features in the inaugural issue, head over to www.worldofwarcraftthemagazine.com.

Many are the mysteries surrounding the Emerald Dream and its reclusive guardians, the green dragonflight. In times past, druids have entered the Dream to monitor the ebb and flow of life on Azeroth in their never-ending quest to maintain the delicate balance of nature.

However, not all dreams are pleasant ones. Recently the Emerald Nightmare, an area of corruption within the Emerald Dream, began growing in size, transforming the Dream into a realm of unimaginable horror. Green dragons have been unexpectedly caught up in the Nightmare, emerging from it with shattered minds and twisted bodies. Druids who have entered the darkening Dream lately have found it difficult -- sometimes even impossible -- to escape.

Find out more about Malfurion's journey in this final preview. You can also still check out the first and second excerpts. Collector's editions of Stormrage are available at Premier Collectibles -- they include a numbered and signed copy in a collector's gift box.

The Azeroth Flight Master's Association is pleased to announce that two of the world's most popular and luxurious modes of transportation just got a little plusher. The Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling, the first in a new line of cuddly, crafty stuffed critters, are now available exclusively through the Pet Store in the online Blizzard Store.

Each plush toy comes with a code that gets you a matching account-bound non-combat companion to travel alongside you in the game -- and because these creatures are too young to care about Horde and Alliance politics, they'll tag along with you no matter what faction you're on. Take the nearest flight point to the online Blizzard Store and get yours today.

We have several changes planned for Battlegrounds in the next minor content patch and would like to share them with you now. This patch will be available for public testing and we encourage you to participate, queue up and provide some feedback on these changes.


* Firstly, say goodbye to Battleground Marks of Honor. We feel this currency system is a bit outdated and are getting rid of it. Any items which require these marks as currency will have their costs adjusted appropriately to remove this requirement. The quest NPCs will still be available to award players Honor for turning in leftover marks, including individual Marks of Honor if a player has more marks from one Battleground than another, but this is only to help players clear this expired currency.

* Next, the Battleground holiday weekend will now be denoted as "Call to Arms" in the Battleground tab and Calendar. If you prefer a specific Battleground over all others, look for those words next to its name to determine whether or not you'll receive bonus Honor. The bonus awards for Call to Arms Battlegrounds have been adjusted.

o Winning a Call to Arms Battleground for the first time in a day will award players with 30 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency and 25 Arena points.
o Additional Call to Arms Battleground victories after the first win for a player that day will award them with 15 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.
o Losing a Call to Arms Battleground will award players with 5 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.

* To bring the rate at which players obtain PvP rewards with Honor more in-line with the rate at which players obtain PvE rewards via the Dungeon Finder, we'll also be increasing the amount of Honor awarded for an Honorable Kill by 100%. In light of this, the amount of experience provided from an Honorable Kill, and the amount of Honor awarded for completing the Wintergrasp weekly quests, have been reduced by 50%.

* It's important to note one thing about these 50% decreases. All Honor awarded for completing objectives in Battlegrounds and Wintergrasp is actually based on an Honorable Kill conversion rate. So if you destroy a tower in Alterac Valley for example, the Honor you're awarded is actually based on a flat number of Honorable Kills. Since Honorable Kills will now award 100% more Honor, completing such objectives will also award more Honor. This is why experience gains based on completing Battleground objectives and Honor awarded from the Wintergrasp quests are being decreased by 50%.

* Now that we hopefully have your attention, we're pleased to announce the implementation of the Random Battleground system! This system will work virtually the same as the Random Dungeon option in the Dungeon Finder and will replace the Battleground daily quests. Players can queue solo, or with a group of up to five players for a Random Battleground in the Battleground tab. As with the Random Dungeon option, the Battleground chosen will not be revealed until players zone into the Battleground for which they are selected. The bonus rewards for this system are identical to the updated Call to Arms bonuses.

o Winning a Battleground using the Random Battleground option for the first time in a day will award players with 30 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency and 25 Arena points.
o Winning additional Battlegrounds using the Random Battleground option after the first random win will award players with 15 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.
o Losing a Battleground using the Random Battleground option will award players with 5 Honorable Kills worth of additional Honor currency.
o When using the Random Battleground option, players will not receive additional rewards if the Battleground chosen is under the effects of the Call to Arms bonuses. In other words, the bonuses do not stack. In addition, if a player has been rewarded 30 Honorable Kills worth of bonus Honor currency and 25 Arena points from either the Random Battleground system, or the Call to Arms Battleground, he or she will be rewarded 15 Honorable Kills worth of bonus Honor currency and no Arena points that day for each additional victory. This applies whether the Random Battleground system is used, or the Call to Arms Battleground is chosen specifically, as a player cannot be rewarded the full amount of bonus Honor and the 25 Arena points more than once per day.


All of these features and changes will be available in the next minor patch which should be hitting the public test realms in the near future. Please help us out by testing this system and providing your feedback so we can make some fine-tuning adjustments before the patch's release.

Experience the sounds of Azeroth and beyond like never before with the Sound Blaster� World of Warcraft� Headset series for PC and Mac. Designed specifically for World of Warcraft gamers, get ready to be blown away by the amazing realism from unrivaled headphone surround and gaming sound enhancement technologies.

On Tuesday, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime handed a $1.11 million check to the charity that grants wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

�We�re very happy with the amount,� said Mike Morhaime, president of the Irvine game developer. Was he surprised? �We stopped making predictions about WoW a long time ago.�

The proceeds came from the sale of a Pandaren Monk, a virtual pet for the game. The creature sold for $10 between Nov. 4 to Dec. 31. Half the price was donated to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. That means 222,000 players bought the pet.

�I was shocked. That�s a lot of virtual pets,� said Frank Pearce, the game�s executive director.