07/06/2010 - Finally! 4 of us got our new mounts, and around 8 more just needing a few
achievements for theirs. Was great to finally get them \o/ now, to get everyone else
theirs.... - First Kill Archive

Welcome to the web site of the Highland Warriors.
The Highland Warriors are an alliance guild on the Thunderhorn server whose aim is to enjoy the wonderful world of WOW in a fun and friendly guild. We are a level 80 casual raiding guild. Our main guild focus is around the people, not the epics and our recruitment policy reflects this. If you are an epic seeking glory boy, Google is here, good luck. If you want to play with friends, have fun in a relaxed adult environment, enjoying wipes and kills, feel free to make an application here.
While we are casual we do still expect our members to work on their stuff and turn up when they say they will, although theres no attendance requirements.

~S~
Windavell

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News

Arcane Brilliance: Fire mage 4.0 - Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST

It's Saturday, and that of course means it's time again for Arcane Brilliance, weekly mage column, hero to the downtrodden, vanquisher of evil, dispenser of justice. That's right. By day, Arcane Brilliance is a mild-mannered mage-related wall of text. But by night ... Arcane Brilliance is Deathspank.

Another beta build hit a couple nights ago -- as they tend to do -- and it brought a number of class changes. A quick glance at the new talent trees revealed the expected (some talent position swaps, a few talents vanishing, some tooltip alterations, the occasional loss of a rank here and there) and the ... unexpected. Three changes in the fire tree, particularly, caught my eye:

• Critical Mass
• Molten Shields
• Oh, and Impact.

Yes, the tooltip for Molten Shields really is "Redesign!" With an exclamation point. For emphasis.

So clearly the fire tree is in a certain amount of flux? I became instantly excited. The fire tree, perhaps more than either of the other two trees, really has been due for some focused attention. Then I saw this, from none other than Lead Game Designer Tom Chilton:

Continue reading Arcane Brilliance: Fire mage 4.0

Arcane Brilliance: Fire mage 4.0 originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Guest Post: Raiding on the road - Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST

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

I have been playing World of Warcraft on the road for the last three years now, and what an adventure it has been. I started out on an old HP Pavilion zv6000 weighing in at about 8 pounds, with a 800 x 600 resolution and 800 MB of RAM. Not only was the beast of a laptop fun to haul through security lines at the airport, but it was heavy and slow. 25-man raids were next to impossible (I'm talking to you, Heigan), with frame rates under 5 FPS most of the time. I was eventually convinced to buy a new machine, and I decided to go with a MacBook Pro. I'm currently running version 4, which is the 17" widescreen with the Intel Core 2 Duo with 2.6 Mzh processors and 4 GB of RAM. It's a pretty decent machine, with frame rates in the 30s in Dalaran and 25-man frame rates around 5-25 FPS, depending on the fight (less if I'm trying to FRAPS a fight or Marrowgar's fire is involved).

The biggest changes I have made between playing on my desktop (Dell XPS 720 series) at home and my MacBook on the road have been in regard to addons and special effect details in the video settings. I have optimized every addon I use to keep the lowest memory usage possible (for example, Skada instead of Recount), making use of all 4 GB I have on that machine and ensuring my machine is doing the best it can. I use Addon Control Panel to turn off every non-essential addon come raid time, including Auctioneer, Jamba (for when I am dual-boxing), SexyMap, etc. I love Addon Control Panel, as it lets me save addon sets in different states depending on what I am doing. I have a raiding 10-man version, a raiding 25-man version, and questing-, leveling- and auction-based sets that I can flip between at the click of my mouse.

Continue reading Guest Post: Raiding on the road

Guest Post: Raiding on the road originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Battle.net parental controls guide - Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST

We've talked before about using parental controls to opt out of Real ID and we've talked about the new Battle.net site, but we haven't actually talked about setting up an account for your child ... until now.

The gallery below is a walk-through on what settings are available and how to set them up for your child. If you are taking the route of electronically limiting your child's play time, I highly recommend setting up both limitations and a schedule. This way, you don't have to be constantly checking to see if your child is playing outside his approved play schedule. However, it's a very good idea to look over your child's shoulder to make sure he's not griefing the locals or using language that previous generations would wash out mouths for.

Battle.net parental controls guide originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WRUP: StarCraft 2 edition - Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST

Every week, just at the start of the weekend, we catch up with the WoW.com staff and ask them, "What are you playing this week?" (Otherwise known as WRUP!) 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!

I have to admit it: I'm just not into all of the StarCraft 2 hype. It's a bit awkward since practically everyone I know -- and a lot of the WoW.com staff -- seems to be excited about SC2 above all else. So I'm attempting to turn things around, at least for the duration of this post, with this week's WRUP. In addition to asking what everyone's playing this weekend, I've asked for everyone's thoughts on the ongoing Cataclysm beta test. Well, it might have taken their minds off SC2 for a minute, at least ...

Everyone's answers -- and your chance to add your own -- after the break.

Continue reading WRUP: StarCraft 2 edition

WRUP: StarCraft 2 edition originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Around Azeroth: Wild horses couldn't drag me away - Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:00:00 EST

When you move on to the new zones in Cataclysm, will you miss Northrend? Will it be a pleasure to quest there, or, like Outland, will it just be one more roadblock between you and your sixth level 85 alt? Even if you choose to blaze through your 70s, take a moment to stop and watch the scenery. It may surprise you. (Thanks to Kiruvi of <Dogs of War> on Terokkar (US-H) for the screenshot!)

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Want to see your own screenshot here? Send it to aroundazeroth@wow.com. We strongly prefer full-sized pictures with no UI or names showing. Please include "Azeroth" in the subject line so your email doesn't get marked as spam, and include your name, guild and server if you want to be credited.

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Around Azeroth: Wild horses couldn't drag me away originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 31 Jul 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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