[hide]Ready Check[/hide] helps you prepare yourself and your raid for the bosses that simply require killing. Check back with Ready Check each week for the latest pointers on killing adds, not standing in fire, and hoping for loot that won’t drop.

As we all sit by our computers, patiently awaiting for some news about the oncoming patch wherein we get to finally kill that blazing dragon that has been a bane upon all my alts for the entire expansion, it can be difficult sometimes to find things to do. Sure, there’s still a raid that not everyone has completed on heroic difficulty — in fact, [hide]most people haven’t[/hide] — yet what statistics we have access to shows that not every raid group has any interest in heroic raids. Some raid groups just want to clear out normal and be done with it. With only seven bosses to tackle, clearing our Firelands certainly isn’t an all-week affair.

What to do then when the current raiding content is cleared? The number of bosses in Firelands isn’t really a major concern; even with nearly double that in the first raiding tier of this expansions, several raiding groups would clear out everything available well before weekly resets. Keeping your raiders engaged in content while not overwhelming them is just as much the job of the raid leader as it is Blizzard’s. There is a lot of content out in the world of Azeroth — years worth, in fact. It’s up to you to exploit it all.[hide]Continue reading Ready Check: What to do when there’s no raiding left[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Raiding[/hide], [hide]Ready Check (Raiding)[/hide][hide]Ready Check: What to do when there’s no raiding left[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

Every week, WoW Insider brings you [hide]Shifting Perspectives[/hide] for [hide]cat[/hide] , [hide]bear[/hide] , [hide]restoration[/hide] and [hide]balance[/hide] druids. Balance news comes at you every Friday — learn how to master the forces of nature, and know what it means to be a giant laser turkey! Send questions, comments, or something you’d like to see to [hide]tyler@wowinsider.com[/hide].

Once again, we’re in another slow patch week. Oh, sure, there’ve been some good developments in regards to enchanting and alchemy, but nothing that really impacts balance druids (or any class) as a whole. If you’re of those professions, grats on your gains, minor as they may be, but really it’s all inconsequential. Oh yes, and there’s some deal about Hurricane getting a new animation; it’s pretty cool, if only I used the spell with any frequency.

With that aside, it’s time to get serious about looking into the next expansion. Although we still have a raid to go in this one, we all know that Blizzard will be announcing plans for the next expansion at BlizzCon next week, and it’s never too early to look ahead. That in mind, we’ll be spending our time looking at things that balance druids lack. Getting new abilities is a mainstay of every expansion, and we all know that this is quickly becoming a touch-and-go endeavor; characters can only hold so many abilities. Given that, let’s look at what it is balance druids are currently missing from their tool set, those abilities we could use to really flesh out our gameplay.[hide]Continue reading Shifting Perspectives: Moonkin abilities to look forward to in the next expansion[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Druid[/hide], [hide](Druid) Shifting Perspectives[/hide][hide]Shifting Perspectives: Moonkin abilities to look forward to in the next expansion[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

If you’ve been waiting for the [hide]Well of Eternity 5 man heroic dungeon[/hide] to open on the [hide]patch 4.3[/hide] PTR, wait no more. It’s now available from the LFD tool and you can zone into it successfully. The screenshot above is of Peroth’arn, the first boss in the instance, bossing around various minions including a Highborne using a blood elf model for some reason.

If you’ve been itching to sink your teeth into some serious lore, there’s no time to lose! Hop on the PTR and get to testing as fast as you can.

Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with [hide]patch 4.3[/hide]. Review the [hide]official patch notes[/hide], and then dig into what’s ahead: new [hide]item storage options[/hide], [hide]cross-realm raiding[/hide], [hide]cosmetic armor skinning[/hide] and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing — from [hide]astride his back[/hide]!
Filed under: [hide]Analysis / Opinion[/hide], [hide]News items[/hide], [hide]Lore[/hide], [hide]Cataclysm[/hide][hide]Patch 4.3 PTR: Well of Eternity heroic dungeon available for testing[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 20:36:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

This is an interesting wrinkle to testing I noticed as I zoned into the [hide]Well of Eternity[/hide] today. Apparently for purposes of actually testing the dungeons at the minimum level of gear that players will be expected to have in order to even get in, the [hide]Patch 4.3[/hide] PTR is [hide]throttling players iLevels to 353[/hide]. Now, I couldn’t see any difference when I inspected my actual gear, so I don’t know how this is expected to work, if it’s a flat reduction in our damage and/or healing or if the gear will only provide the stats it would if it was 353, what that does to reforging, etc etc.

Still, it’s an interesting step towards testing the encounters instead of having overgeared players simply blowing everything up. As soon as I can get a few runs under my belt, I’ll let you know how it works out.

Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with [hide]patch 4.3[/hide]. Review the [hide]official patch notes[/hide], and then dig into what’s ahead: new [hide]item storage options[/hide], [hide]cross-realm raiding[/hide], [hide]cosmetic armor skinning[/hide] and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing — from [hide]astride his back[/hide]!
Filed under: [hide]Analysis / Opinion[/hide], [hide]News items[/hide], [hide]Cataclysm[/hide][hide]Patch 4.3 PTR: Modified item level buff in Hour of Twilight dungeons[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 21:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW Insider staff and ask them, «What are you playing this week?» — otherwise known as: [hide]WRUP[/hide]. Join us to see what we’re up to in and out of game, and catch us in the comments to let us know what you’re playing, too!

Oh, man. [hide]BlizzCon 2011[/hide]. It’s almost a reality. As you read this, I will be somewhere over Kansas or Oklahoma or one of «those» states on my way to Southern California. I’m going to be the first staff member hitting the ground in Anaheim, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.

WoW Insider will be covering all sorts of exciting World of Warcraft news once BlizzCon starts, but in the meantime, the focus is on travel. Being a helpful guy, I’ve compiled a few air travel tips and tricks to help make your trip to Anaheim an enjoyable one:

Grab something to eat before the flight. I know it’s a clich, but you don’t want to spend six hours in the air armed with a meager bag of airline-supplied peanuts or Chex mix. Get real food first. Bonus tip: While the food court’s Sbarro may make a delicious lunchtime treat, avoid the breakfast menu at all cost. Egg brick and cold potatoes may seem like a good idea at the time, but you don’t want that slimy crud working its way through your system while you’re trapped five miles in the sky. Trust me.

Be aware of security precautions. Since Sept. 11, airports have been on high alert! You should never take a suspicious-looking package on board that was given to you by a stranger. Unless the stranger who hands it to you looks totally trustworthy. Further, leave your firearms at home! You’ll have plenty of time to buy guns upon arrival on the streets of Los Angeles.

Make someone else pay for your in-flight wireless! My strategy? Wait until you’re actively on the plane to write that week’s WRUP. Business expense!

Having dreaded this six-hour plane ride that I am currently on, I asked our venerable WoW Insider staff for some recommendations on how I can best kill the time.[hide]Continue reading WRUP: The one written from 35,000 feet in the air[/hide]Filed under: [hide]WoW Insider Business[/hide], [hide]BlizzCon[/hide][hide]WRUP: The one written from 35,000 feet in the air[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 22:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

Join us every weekday evening as [hide]Today in WoW[/hide] runs down all the WoW news that you could possibly want. From comments from Blizzard’s blues to the latest datamining info — we’ve got you covered.

Don’t forget to check out [hide]The Daily Quest[/hide] and our [hide]Weekly Podcast Roundup[/hide] to find out what else is going on in the WoW community. And if you have a news tip, feel free to [hide]drop us a line[/hide] and let us know.

[hide]Blue posts[/hide]

[hide]WoW news from other sites[/hide]

[hide]News and features from WoW Insider[/hide]

[hide]Links from around the web[/hide]
[hide]Continue reading Today in WoW: Friday, Oct. 14, 2011[/hide]Filed under: [hide]Today in WoW[/hide][hide]Today in WoW: Friday, Oct. 14, 2011[/hide] originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 23:59:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]

Опубликован список изменений патча 4.3 PTR от 13 октября 2011 года для MMORPG World of Warcraft, [hide]сообщает[/hide] компания Blizzard Entertainment. К наиболее интересным можно отнести следующие: доступны для тестирования подземелья «Конец Времен», «Час Сумерек», новый босс Крепости Барадин – Ализабал, а также бафф чернокнижников.

Читать далее

([hide]Читать далее..[/hide].)

Вместо того, чтобы выбрасывать отслужившие свой срок серверные платы MMORPG World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment скоро выставит их на продажу, [hide]сообщает[/hide] официальный сайт игры.

«Хотите владеть частью истории Blizzard? – говорится в объявлении. – После серии улучшений инфраструктуры World of Warcraft мы сохранили отслужившие свой срок блейд-серверы, которые когда-то поддерживали многие игровые миры. В ближайшем будущем мы выставим их на аукцион, а вырученные средства перечислим [hide]детскому госпиталю[/hide] Святого Иуды».

Аукцион по продаже состоится на [hide]eBay[/hide] и продлится 4 недели. Госпиталь получит все вырученное за каждый лот за исключением $50 за упаковку, отправку, плату за использование PayPal и 1% за пользование eBay. На каждой серверной плате разместят мемориальную дощечку, а к покупателю они отправятся в «сделанных на заказ коричневых коробках».

Очевидно, в ближайшем будущем Blizzard также выставит на продажу и другой IT-хлам, а также поломанную офисную мебель с памятными табличками и подписями разработчиков.

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В установленном на тестовый сервер MMORPG World of Warcraft билде появились предметы, воспроизводящие внешний вид «синих» и «эпических» наборов брони (например, Dungeon Set 1 и 2), [hide]сообщает[/hide] Wowhead.

Судя по сообщению, эти предметы ([hide]полный список[/hide]) можно будет получить на обновленной Ярмарке Новолуния. В игре пока не были замечены утерянные ныне наборы Т3 из оригинального Наксрамаса или экипировка 3-го сезона The Burning Crusade, однако, возможно, они появятся в будущем.

Кроме них, есть и PvP-комплекты, однако они пока находятся у вендоров.

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This [hide]Breakfast Topic[/hide] has been brought to you by [hide]Seed[/hide], the AOL guest writer program that brings [hide]your words[/hide] to WoW Insider’s pages.

I love Gilneas. I love the look of the zone, the ambiance, the music. I’ve leveled a number of Worgen alts (that I never plan on playing again) through the zone just to experience the storyline again. I’ve even run an Undead alt through early levels just to see the other side of the ending events.

What bothers me (and many others, I’m sure) is the fact that this fantastic zone is now phased out and empty. Presumably, the story of the zone isn’t finished and may even see some closure by the time the current expansion’s life cycle is over … but what then? The most apparent answer is to make Gilneas City another Alliance capital city, but does the game really need a new dead urban center like Darnassus? Throughout the lifespan of World of Warcraft, players have asked for the ability to buy housing for their characters. Could an empty zone like Gilneas be good starting location for this kind of feature? Instead of a creating new world PVP location like Wintergrasp or Baradin Hold in the next expansion, could the ongoing struggle for the walled peninsula become the new focus of the war between factions (with all the associated rewards and daily quests)?

Now that Cataclysm has been out for a while, what can be done to make this zone a viable place to visit?
Filed under: [hide]Breakfast Topics[/hide], [hide]Guest Posts[/hide][hide]Breakfast Topic: What about Gilneas[/hide]? originally appeared on [hide]WoW Insider[/hide] on Fri, 14 Oct 2011 08:00:00 EST. Please see our [hide]terms for use of feeds[/hide].[hide]Permalink[/hide] | [hide]Email this[/hide] | [hide]Comments[/hide]