Welcome to the Server Maintenance Party: Battle for Eastern Plaguelands! We are done with the gathering, let the PvP begin! Or at least the running around and standing in towers -- we'll at least get that done. Will the Alliance show up and attack? I don't know!

Join us in game (here are the details) or watch the stream on our Justin.tv channel. I'm narrating as usual. Whether this turns out to be an enormous battle or a funky dance party, it's going to be fun.

For the Horde!

---

Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) in <It came from the Blog>. Guild ranks of "Blog Lurker" or above can invite, so /whisper Robiness or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

---

Filed under: Events, It Came from the Blog

This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com.

Welcome to the doldrums of summer! This miserable time of year, when we see interest in raiding melt away as the temperature rises, can be a stressful time for even a well-established guild. A good way to combat the stress is to gather the remaining troops for a bit of a morale boost in the form of a little light-hearted, fun event such as a scavenger hunt. This article provides the able morale officer with everything he or she needs to know to prepare and run one such hunt, a variation called the Azerothian Riddle Hunt.

The Azerothian Riddle Hunt combines 10 cheesy and not-quite-literarily correct rhymes with player knowledge of original Azeroth and the challenge of swift (or not-so-swift) travel around Azeroth, in order to create an event that can be both amusing and challenging. Once unraveled, each rhyme tells the player where to go to answer the question given in the rhyme's last line.

Read more →

Filed under: Guest Posts

Read more →

Filed under: Shaman, (Shaman) Totem Talk

Filed under: Comics, Cataclysm

Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? It's not all WoW, all the time! Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all of the other MMOs around: past, present and future.

	Heroes of EVE EVE Online isn't just crime and cruelty. For every low-life scammer trying to steal your hard-earned ISK, there are helpful individuals working to counteract scamming. For every war-mongering pirate preying on new players, there are hundreds of people willing to teach new players to defend themselves and stay safe. Head on over to Massively to learn more about these heroes.
	Baldur's Gate was almost an MMO At a recent GDC Europe panel for BioWare, studio founders Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk had some fun with the audience, reminiscing on what might have been. Baldur's Gate was originally envisioned as an MMORPG quite different from the title many gamers know and love.
	BioWare confirms Jedi advanced classes for The Old Republic BioWare has released the first bits of information on Advanced Classes for Star Wars: The Old Republic's Jedi Knight characters, confirming rumors that have been circulating for the past week. Advanced Jedi Knights come in two flavors -- Guardians and Sentinels, with the former seemingly filling the traditional tank role and the latter using dual lightsabers to pump out the damage.

Read more →

Filed under: MMO Roundup

Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting feral/restoration druids and those who group with them. This week, we equivocate on the best means of filling a bottomless pit.

Beta build 12759 dropped early Saturday morning, and with it the introduction of mastery and quite a few changes to the feral and restoration specs. I think Blizzard may even have fixed some of the issues with feral damage, but the newest bug on the block is making that a little difficult to tell. The default scrolling combat text is now broken -- you can't see how much damage or healing you're doing to hostile mobs or friendly players, respectively -- so at best, you're confined to guesses based on how much health the mob's losing when you hit it. For me, this requires squinting at a very small portion of a laptop screen with my nose two inches from the monitor, and I'll be damned if I'll wind up financing the purchase of another Maserati for my ophthalmologist.

Read more →

Filed under: Druid, (Druid) Shifting Perspectives

Welcome to the Lawbringer, WoW.com's weekly examination of the intersection between law and the World of Warcraft. Your tour guide is Amy Schley, recent law school grad.

Last week, we looked at the first half of the EULA -- the license limitations, the steps to terminate the agreement and a few other provisions. This week is the back half of the EULA -- the warranties, conflict resolution provisions and miscellaneous provisions.

Export controls

Section 8 prohibits the export and sale of the game to countries the United States has embargoed or persons that are on the "Specially Designated Nationals" list, essentially a list of terrorist organizations. Alas, this means that we won't be settling the War on Terror with world PvP death match.

Read more →

Filed under: The Lawbringer

Welcome to Lichborne, your weekly source for news, guides, tips and opinions on the death knight class.

With the latest build having just hit the Cataclysm beta test servers, this seems like a pretty good time to take a quick inventory of the changes, maybe say a few things about the direction that the class is heading thus far in beta. I can tell you right now that some of the latest changes are either confusing or just plain silly, and while some things are looking cool enough, we really are long overdue for another major change patch. However, before we get too hardcore into that discussion, let's look at the latest changes.

Read more →

Filed under: (Death Knight) Lichborne, Cataclysm

Don't forget, tonight we are hosting another Server Maintenance Party on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE). I will also be streaming the event on WoW.com's Justin.tv channel. Above is Robinella's message to all Alliance.

Here are the details:

• When: Tuesday, Aug 17, 10:30 p.m. EDT (7:30 p.m. PDT, 8:30 p.m. realm time) to meet and greet. 11 p.m. EDT for the actual event and stream.
• Where: Meet at Light's Hope Chapel on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H)
• How: Ask Robinella or any <It came from the Blog> guild member for an invite to the guild. Ranks of Blog Lurker or above can invite.
• What: We will be attempting to complete Bolstering Our Defenses, following a plan to be discussed in guild chat at the time of the event (in case Alliance spies are reading this).
• Who: Any level Horde character is invited to participate, but you will have more fun at level 58 or higher.

Please read the rules and tips for the event before you join us. All non-funsuckers are welcome.

For the Horde!

---

Please join us on Zangarmarsh (US-PvE-H) in <It came from the Blog>. Guild ranks of "Blog Lurker" or above can invite, so /whisper Robiness or any online member. You are all welcome as long as you play by our simple rules -- basically, don't be a funsucker! Visit the guild FAQ for more details.

---

Filed under: Events, It Came from the Blog

From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame.

It was only a matter of time before some entrepreneurial spirit noticed that geeks and gamers wear makeup, too. Enter Geek Chic Cosmetics, a growing cosmetics lined based on natural ingredients and made for geeks and gamers, by geeks and gamers. Creators Chantel Eldredge and Deborah Margarella have both been WoW geeks since vanilla -- long enough to make a WoW-themed set of eye shadows seem like a given. "It seemed only natural to base them off the class colors," Eldredge notes. "We hope others dig them as much as we do." We do -- and we're so enthusiastic that we're giving away several sets. Make sure to visit our giveaway post for your chance to win a full 10-Man Raid eyeshadow set from Geek Chic.

15 Minutes of Fame: How did a love of gaming and geekery lead to cosmetics, of all things?

Chantel Eldredge: Geek Chic Cosmetics was an idea born from both my and Deborah's mutual love of makeup and gaming. We both were introduced to gaming at very young ages, and it has been a lifelong passion for both of us.

The birth of Geek Chic is a result of a conversation we had one night shortly after I quit my job at a large, chain crafts store. Deborah is a college student with little time to spare, and I hadn't had very good luck in finding anything in the job market where I live. It just clicked. I was talking about this idea I have had for a little over a year about wanting to make my own makeup and how I thought it would be cool to make makeup that payed homage to all things geeky. She looked at me and said, "Let's just do it." If it weren't for her tenacity and willingness to hop right in and make it happen, I don't know that I would have had the courage to do so by myself.

Read more →

Filed under: Interviews, 15 Minutes of Fame