w797 – The Collection of Game Post

UPDATE: Nethaera has announced that the second batch of BlizzCon tickets has sold out. The post was made 29 minutes after the tickets went on sale.

As we’ve reported, a second batch of BlizzCon tickets go on sale today at 10 a.m. Pacific time, which is in approximately 10 minutes. So if you’re interested in getting some before they sell out, head over to the online Blizzard Store and start refreshing the page!

Also, Nethaera announced that the Armory is temporarily down to “further alleviate potential load on our website” during the sale of BlizzCon tickets. The Armory was taken down when the first batch sold out in less than 30 minutes and was up and running shortly thereafter.

The World of Warcraft/Mtn. Dew promotion kicked off its next phase of the event today; the chance for registrants to win a variety of prizes by spending the “tokens” they’ve been earning. The promotion–which began earlier this month–is a joint venture between Activision/Blizzard and Pepsi Co. to advertise Mtn. Dew’s new Warcraft-themed “Game Fuel” soda.

Fans can register at the site and choose to support either the Horde or Alliance factions of World of Warcraft, which represent the new soda flavors; Citrus Cherry and Wild Fruit. Early registrants have already been earning “virtual tokens” each day by completing various marketing-related tasks, such as watching videos or clicking product links.

Tokens are used to place entries in four weekly phases of daily drawings, the first of which began earlier today. Prizes consist of Game Fuel-related merchandise, as well as some higher-end gaming peripherals sponsored by Razer and Alienware. The grand prizes–expense-paid trips to BlizzCon 2009–are drawn once per week until the end of June, when the contest ends.

Aside from the promotion’s weekly drawings, it was speculated and then confirmed that everyone who registers with the site will recieve a code for a new in-game Battle-Bot vanity pet (pics courtesy of MMO-Champion). While the exact date that codes will be sent out to registrants is still unknown, current WoW subscribers can still sign up for the promotion now to reserve a code, until it’s announced otherwise!

Wryxian announced a couple days ago that the first cross-language battlegroups has been created to combine battlegroups of different languages into one pool of players. Well, Wryxian has edited the announcement to let us know that more cross-language battlegroups will be implemented on Wednesday, June 3.

Two cross-language BGs were created two days ago, and eight more will be created on June 3. You can view the entire list below. If you have any questions, you can check out the FAQ regarding the mergers. Basically, players of each language will be on the same side of the battle, so no translations are needed.

After successful testing on the PTR, we are pleased to announce that the first Cross-Language Battlegroups were created last Wednesday. This new feature combines Battlegroups from different languages into one, expanding the pool of players keen for PvP action in both Arenas and Battlegrounds. We plan to proceed with the next batch of Cross-Language Battlegroups on Wednesday, June 3rd during the weekly maintenance.

Players from realms of different languages will only ever face each other as opponents in battle and will not be playing on the same faction in Battlegrounds, ensuring that those playing on your side will speak the same language as you.

Please note that not all Battlegroups will be joined into Cross-Language Battlegroups, and this feature will not be affecting the Russian language Battlegroups. Please see below for a full list.

Wondering what Cross-Language Battlegroups are? Check out the FAQ here:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=9446244539

Here you can find a comprehensive list of the Cross-language Battlegroups that can already benefit from this new feature and those who will:

Active Cross-Language Battlegroups

Nightfall, Crueldad
Realms from English Battlegroup Nightfall and Spanish Battlegroup Crueldad will be united as Cruelty / Crueldad. Please discuss this new Cross-Language Battlegroup here:
http://forums.wow-europe.com/thread.html?topicId=9446264859

Némésis, Hinterhalt
Realms from French Battlegroup Némésis and German Battlegroup Hinterhalt will be united as Embuscade / Hinterhalt.

Up-coming Cross-Language Battlegroups

Bloodlust, Cataclysme
Realms from English Battlegroup Bloodlust and French Battlegroup Cataclysme will be united as Cataclysme / Cataclysm.

Cyclone, Todbringer
Realms from English Battlegroup Cyclone and German Battlegroup Todbringer will be united as Cyclone / Wirbelsturm.

Conviction, Raserei
Realms from English Battlegroup Conviction and German Battlegroup Raserei will be united as Frenzy / Raserei.

Rampage, Férocité
Realms from English Battlegroup Rampage and French Battlegroup Férocité will be united as Rampage / Saccage.

Reckoning, Verderbnis
Realms from English Battlegroup Reckoning and German Battlegroup Verderbnis will be united as Reckoning / Abrechnung.

Ruin, Glutsturm
Realms from English Battlegroup Ruin and German Battlegroup Glutsturm will be united as Glutsturm / Emberstorm.

Vengeance, Schattenbrand
Realms from French Battlegroup Vengeance and German Battlegroup Schattenbrand will be united as Vengeance / Rache.

Sturmangriff, Représailles
Realms from German Battlegroup Sturmangriff and French Battlegroup Représailles will be united as Sturmangriff / Charge.

Battlegroups that will not be merged

English – Blackout, Misery and Vindication
German – Blutdurst
Russian – Шквал (Flurry) and Вихрь (Whirlwind)

If you were one of the many fans who were unable to get a BlizzCon ticket when the first batch went on sale May 16, you have another chance this Saturday, May 30. Nethaera announced today that tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Pacific time, so load up the Blizzard store early and keep refreshing right up until 10 a.m. for your best chance to get a good spot in the queue. The first batch sold out in less than 30 minutes, so keep that in mind.

The event takes place at the Anaheim Convention Center from Aug. 21-22 and tickets cost $125 each. If you can’t get tickets, you can pay to watch coverage of the convention on DIRECTV. More information can be found on the official BlizzCon site.

It was announced earlier this month that The9 Ltd. was losing its license to host World of Warcraft in China, and in response the company started up a Web site for a game called World of Fight, which looked like a WoW/Warhammer clone from the teaser page. Sam “azerian” Maxted even wrote an editorial on companies taking “inspiration” from Western MMOs.

Well, as WoW.com has noticed, The9 has changed the game’s name to World of Fighter and the site’s teaser page shows characters from Capcom’s Street Fighter series, as well as other Capcom and SNK characters. So it looks like World of Fighter won’t have ties to WoW, after all.

Yesterday, we posted images of the new textures for the Tauren druid bear form that are in the works. Well, Bornakk just posted on the official forums that images of the new Night Elf bear textures have been released, as well. You can read all about the changes on the under development page. It looks like we can expect a preview of cat form art next week.

You can discuss the new art for druid forms on our general forum in this thread. What do you think? Are you excited to change up your forms or are you underwhelmed?

Wryxian has made two informative posts today on the official European forums that may be of interest to our European readers. The first is that the Battle.net account features are now completely live in Europe, which means players can merge their WoW accounts into their Battle.net account to log into the forums, the Armory, and the game using their Battle.net account.

Also, the first cross-language battlegroups have been created today, which combine battlegroups of different languages into one pool of players. So far, two cross-language battlegroups have been created: English and Spanish players will play together in Cruelty/Crueldad, and French and German players are united in Embuscade/Hinterhalt.

The patch notes for 3.1.3, the next minor content patch, have been posted on the official forums. This patch will not be made available on the PTR, but the notes are subject to revision until the update’s official release.

You can read the full patch notes below. DarkHybridX has already started a thread on 3.1.3 in our general forum, so head on over and let us know what you think.

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.1.3

The latest patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/
The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

Death Knights

• Frost Presence: Armor bonus is now 60% down from 80%.

Druids

• Improved Barkskin: This talent now also grants 80/160% additional armor while in Travel Form or not shapeshifted.
• Improved Tree of Life: The armor bonus to Tree of Life Form from this talent has been reduced to 67/133/200% bonus armor.

Hunters

• Hunter’s Mark: The ranged attack power bonus from this ability has been increased from 300 to 500.
• Master Marksman: This talent now also decreases the cost of Aimed Shot and Chimera Shot by 5/10/15/20/25%.

Paladins

• Eye For An Eye: This talent now deals 5/10% of the critical strike damage taken by the paladin back at the attacker.
• Hand of Freedom: The base duration of this buff has been reduced from 10 seconds to 6 seconds.

Rogues

• Overkill: Talent redesigned. Now increases energy regeneration by 30% while stealthed, and for 20 seconds after breaking stealth.

Warlocks

• Chaos Bolt: This spell no longer ignores damage reduction effects of the target.

Warriors

• Blood Frenzy: This talent now provides 5/10% haste instead of 3/6%.
• Bloodthirst: Cooldown reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds, and rage cost reduced from 30 rage to 20 rage.
• Juggernaut: This talent now also increases the cooldown on Charge by 5 seconds.

Items

• Death Knight PvP Gauntlets: The chance to refresh a Frost Rune when casting Chains of Ice has been removed. When equipped, these gloves now generate 5 additional runic power whenever Chains of Ice is used.

Dungeons

• Ulduar

  • Mimiron

    • The flight time of Rocket Strikes has been increased, and Rocket Strikes will try to prefer players at range.
    • The Leviathan Mk II component of the V-07-TR-0N will become stunned during Phase 4 when the VX-001 component begins to cast the P3Wx2 Laser Barrage ability.
    • Proximity mines now deal less damage and have a lower duration. A small arming time has also been added so proximity mines will not immediately detonate on creation.

Bug Fixes

• Druid Tier 8 Balance Set: The 4-piece bonus no longer has its effect consumed by Starfire casts in progress when it triggers. The chance for the effect to be triggered has been reduced down to 8%, as it was originally inflated to compensate.
• Ice Layered Barrier: Upgraded to item level 232. In addition, the stats in the tooltip have been correctly adjusted to 78 spell power, 48 haste rating, 16 mana per 5 seconds, 52 Intellect, and 50 Stamina.
• Pulsing Spellshield: The stats listed in the tooltip for this item were incorrect and have been adjusted. This item provides 69 spell power, 34 haste rating, 42 critical strike rating, 45 intellect, and 45 stamina.

All you druids out there rejoice, Zarhym just posted information about new art work for druid forms that are in the works. It’ll be a change of what the bear and cat forms look like where the colours will change depending on your hair colour. Which you can change at any time at the barber shops. So far they have only released pictures of the Tauren bear form.

More info after the jump.

Originally posted by Zarhym here:

New art for two druid forms, cat and bear, are coming in the next major content patch. As this has been a much-anticipated update for druids, we’d like to give you a first look at the fresh designs. We’ll be offering up the new art for night elf and tauren druid forms in four installments. To kick things off today, let’s start with a preview of the new textures available for tauren bear form. Take a glimpse at the new feature and art: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/druid-forms.html

UPDATE: Nethaera has announced that the second batch of BlizzCon tickets has sold out. The post was made 29 minutes after the tickets went on sale.

As we’ve reported, a second batch of BlizzCon tickets go on sale today at 10 a.m. Pacific time, which is in approximately 10 minutes. So if you’re interested in getting some before they sell out, head over to the online Blizzard Store and start refreshing the page!

Also, Nethaera announced that the Armory is temporarily down to “further alleviate potential load on our website” during the sale of BlizzCon tickets. The Armory was taken down when the first batch sold out in less than 30 minutes and was up and running shortly thereafter.