Zarhym has announced on the forums that BlizzCast episode 10 is out right now for your listening pleasure. In the official podcast, he talks with Lead Encounter Designer Scott Mercer and Senior Game Designer Dave Maldonado about patch 3.2 and the Argent Tournament instances released with it. Strangely, it sounds like the podcast was actually recorded before the release, but of course now everyone knows that we fight the Black Knight in the 5-man and what the dailies are all about. Especially if you’ve been paying close attention to the testing on the PTR, lots of the “news” about patch 3.2 won’t be all that surprising.
They also look forward to BlizzCon: all of the developer panels and meetings that go on there, both from the perspective of fans (hey, we actually can be literate and reasonable instead of QQing all the time!) and from developers (turns out they are “not just blue text” — who knew?!). It’s not a super groundbreaking podcast, but as a wrapup to the release of 3.2 and a short preview to BlizzCon, it works just fine. And there’s a bonus: Zarhym is offering up a contest — answer some questions about the podcast after you listen to it, and you could win a “fabulous prize.” The rules give away what the prize is: a Draenei vs. Blood Elf diorama or some action figures.
Of course we answered your emails as well — we talked with Michael Sacco about the “Additional instances can’t be launched” issue that’s going around (that I got hit with for the first time yesterday, actually), and a reader emailed us about BRK’s gun — so awesome to see our friend get recognized, and deservedly so. It was an excellent show, in my humble opinion, and a great way to squeeze a week’s worth of WoW news into just one hour.
This week, the podcast will be at a special time — we’ll be going live on Thursday at 1pm Eastern. That’s a little earlier than we usually do it, but it should give our friends overseas a chance to tune in when they might not have been able to before (and if you can’t make it live, don’t worry, the recording will be in iTunes soon after). See you then!
Get the podcast: [iTunes] Subscribe to the WoW Insider Show directly in iTunes. [RSS] Add the WoW Insider Show to your RSS aggregator. [MP3] Download the MP3 directly.
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW. What exactly is Lightwell? How is it used? Why does no one use it?
Oh Lightwell. The things you could have been. Misunderstood by many and under-talented by a large number of Priests. Will you ever see raids?
Perhaps not. But we can try!
Lightwell
The first thing Lightwell novices need to understand is the purpose of the spell. It creates a Holy Lightwell wherever you want it that any player can interact with. A player who uses it gains a charge that heals them for more than 4500 health over a period of 6 seconds. It’s got a 40 yard placement range. Be sure you pick up the Lightwell glyph for it. A 20% boost to Lightwell ticks go a long way and will help make this talent even more worthwhile.
There is a slight downside. If the player under the effect of a Lightwell charge takes a hit that’s 30% of their total health, the effect disappears.
WoW.com has learned through multiple sources close to the situation some details on the next expansion, to be called World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.
As we’re getting into the season of news and information, all major leaks and spoilers will be happening after the break. If you don’t want your surprises ruined for you, don’t read this post. If you want to know, click after the break and enjoy. This policy worked well for us during the testing phase of Wrath of the Lich King and we’re pleased to continue it now.
After the break, the new playable races of Cataclysm.
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers’ Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.
Every raid leader has this moment. You’re trying to get the raid ready for a boss attempt, but you just can’t get people to focus. Someone’s taking a quick bio. Two people are still arguing over the loot from three bosses ago. Another person is whispering you ill-conceived advice for changing your strategy. People seem to be more interested in listening to your healing lead talk in Vent about a movie she just saw than they are in buffing or putting on resist gear. Then someone that you can’t replace DC’s for the eighth time that night and you just snap.
You wonder if it’s worth it. You wonder what it would be like to be a grunt rather than a general. Someone who just follows orders and doesn’t have to worry about anyone but themselves. Sprinkle in some real-life stress in your life and retiring from raid leading suddenly seems very appealing. This week, one officer wonders how to give up his general’s stripes without causing too much fuss.
‘Lo there,
I’ve been a huge fan of your column for quite some time, and it’s one of the few that I read immediately rather than saving for downtime during the game. I first got hooked during the 4-part casual raiding columns, which came at the time my guild was first venturing into Kara.
Anyway, I’m the executive officer in charge of raiding (supreme raid leader) for a successful casual/social guild on a server infamous for its lack of progression. It’s a position that I’ve held since we started into Kara in Feb of ’08, and since we first started raiding I’ve gained a couple of assistants that do an excellent job helping coordinate things.
The issue, in part, is that RL has started rearing its ugly head, and my work hours have been slowly increasing. [. . .]
Zarhym has announced on the forums that BlizzCast episode 10 is out right now for your listening pleasure. In the official podcast, he talks with Lead Encounter Designer Scott Mercer and Senior Game Designer Dave Maldonado about patch 3.2 and the Argent Tournament instances released with it. Strangely, it sounds like the podcast was actually recorded before the release, but of course now everyone knows that we fight the Black Knight in the 5-man and what the dailies are all about. Especially if you’ve been paying close attention to the testing on the PTR, lots of the “news” about patch 3.2 won’t be all that surprising.
We had a terrific time (as always) on the live podcast last Saturday afternoon, as 
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes