Below is a list of Article headlines from WOW Insider. This are used on our main page and updated daily. Each article contains links back to WOWinsider, which allow you to view the whole article
pathC:\HostingSpaces\kcykmeec\highlandwarriorsguild.com\wwwroot\admin\xml\wow-insider-01-04-2009.xmlSinister Calling buffed in 3.1 - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:00:00 EST
A bug where Glyph of Backstab interacted with Dirty Deeds to cause the glyph to benefit attacks other than Backstab was, apparently, recently fixed. However, there was concern that this bug fix would hurt Subtlety DPS too hard, so the Sub talent Sinister Calling is being buffed to compensate - full Sinister Calling will now award a 10% damage bonus to Backstab and Hemorrhage, instead of 5%. This buff will go live with patch 3.1.
Rogues are in a place in PvE that I don't recall them ever being in before Wrath: all three trees have viable raid specs. Most rogues seem to be Mut right now, but Combat is still holding its own, and I'm told that HaT specs are quite strong depending on the particular group and fight. It seems like the glyph bug wouldn't really have been affecting PvE much, given that raid mobs aren't often stunned or incapacitated, so this change acts as a straight buff for raiding HaTters. In PvP, on the other hand, this should keep Sub from getting stomped on too hard. Buffs are always so nice to write about - I like bringing good news to you guys.
Sinister Calling buffed in 3.1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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That woman is a man, man - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST
Chromie, the little champion of the Bronze Dragonflight, is quite possibly one of the most polarizing figures in World of Warcraft. You love her or you hate her. She's either adorably awesome, or irritatingly stupid. I, for one, hate her because I had to do her quests in Andorhal before they completely redesigned that part of the zone to suck less. My girlfriend thinks Chromie is the greatest thing since sliced bread. There's something you should know, though. Chromie is a man. Well, probably.
How can I make such outlandish accusations? Well, have you run Caverns of Time: The Culling of Stratholme? At the very end, you'll see that Chromie's Dragon form sports a pretty thick beard. More importantly than that, Chromie's Draconic name is Chronormu. Following the naming scheme of the Bronze Dragonflight, names ending with -ormu are male, and -ormi are female. The exceptions being those ending with -os (male) and -a (female) which are general dragon naming schemes. Were Chromie indeed a female, her name would be Chronormi and not Chronormu.
Chromie is a man. A man, or a woman who had very cruel parents.
That woman is a man, man originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Daily Quest: The Warlock's Den - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST
The Daily Quest: The Warlock's Den originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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PTR schedule updated - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST
As you all probably noticed, there was no patch 3.1 today. Evidently they're not doing testing Ulduar yet - three more hard mode tests are scheduled for tonight and tomorrow night.
On the North American PTR:
On the European PTR:
Shirts of Uber will once again be available to simulate the raid having Ulduar gear.
Do we conclude that they're more or less done testing normal-mode fights, and that therefore the patch is pretty close? Everyone seems to be thinking the patch will be here in the next few weeks. If I were to guess, I'd say two weeks from today.
I haven't been playing on the PTR much, so I don't know myself: how hard are these hard modes? If you were going to compare them in average difficulty with a pre-LK fight, what would it be?
PTR schedule updated originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Urgent authentication database maintenance underway - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:18:00 EST
The opening announcement on the login screen has just let us know that there is urgent maintenance being performed on the authentication servers. The maintenance will continue until 1:00 p.m. PDT / 4:00 p.m. EDT.
During this time you may or may not be able to log into the game. Pretty much the luck of the draw and beyond your control.
Account management and posting on the forums will be offline during this time as well, so the troll's trolling will have to terrifically terminate 'till temporally soon.
We'll update this post when things are back to normal, or if there are additional issues.
Urgent authentication database maintenance underway originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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AbleGamer talks to Blizz about 3.1 accessibility - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST
AbleGamers has a conversation with Jeff Kaplan about the upcoming accessibility changes to the game in patch 3.1. We saw in the patch notes already that there would be a new colorblind mode added to the game, but Kaplan goes into more detail here -- Blizzard is making sure that even when the interface depends on color to get information across (as in, how difficult your quests are or whether you'll get a skill point from making a crafting recipe or not), there will be other text and symbols in there that relay that information without color.
Unfortunately, while the changes that are going in the game will be helpful. AbleGamers points out that the game isn't perfect for those with colorblindness yet -- mob levels are often shown to the player in a certain color, and there's no option yet for players to see that information in any other format. Additionally, Rogue combo points are shown by filing those little circles in with colors, and colorblind players who aren't able to see that color will have difficulty with that mechanic as well.
The good news is that, while Blizzard does want to make sure their core game is as accessible as possible, there's lots of room for addon authors to do more. Colorblindness is surprisingly prevalent, and everything coders can do to make the game easier to play will be welcomed by those who need it.
AbleGamer talks to Blizz about 3.1 accessibility originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Chef's Hat introduced in patch 3.1 - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:00:00 EST
One hundred Dalaran Cooking Awards. One hundred. That's how many Cooking Awards it takes to purchase the statless vanity item being implemented in patch 3.1: The Chef's Hat.
I would be excited if it didn't mean I would need to do a few rotating dailies every single day for the next few months, and I would be excited if the hat didn't completely remove my character's hair texture and make her bald like those Winter Hats did. Unfortunately, it does both of those things and thus looks really, really stupid.
I wish they would float these sorts of hats over/around the head, not clamp the hats to the scalp. I would quite like wearing this chef's hat if it was larger and went over the hair texture, rather than removing the hair texture and clamping right around the top of the head. Some of this stuff just looks awful on female models. Sure, a chef should keep their hair under their hat, but I don't know many that keep themselves shaved bald for it.
Oh, and there's an achievement for getting this thing. Have fun with that.
Chef's Hat introduced in patch 3.1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Queue: Horsewhipping - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EST
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.
Afternoon, ladies and gents. I have a follow up from yesterday's question regarding casinos, with further information straight from Ancilorn, a Community Representative over in the EU. Hopefully he doesn't end up getting horsewhipped for a fortnight over it like the last few Blue posters that decided to write to us!
Ancilorn says that, essentially, casinos that take an up front entry fee (whether it be gold or items) are against the Terms of Use and will result in action being taken on the casino owner. Casinos and competitions that do not require an upfront fee are legal and legit. Collecting an entry free is the violation here.
Now we know! Thank you very much, Ancilorn. You are my hero.
enthusedii asked...
"When the new Arena season arrives, will the arena points I have currently be reset?"
Continue reading The Queue: Horsewhipping
The Queue: Horsewhipping originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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WoW Moviewatch: Bending Reality By Lex - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST
WoW Moviewatch: Bending Reality By Lex originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The state of Engineering in 3.1 - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:00:00 EST
Continue reading The state of Engineering in 3.1
The state of Engineering in 3.1 originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Around Azeroth: Spinning in infinity - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:00:00 EST
Around Azeroth: Spinning in infinity originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Widespread wave of phishing emails reported - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST
Continue reading Widespread wave of phishing emails reported
Widespread wave of phishing emails reported originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Breakfast Topic: The next Warcraft comic book hero - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST
So I posted a couple days ago about the new Death Knight manga starring the Human Death Knight Thassarian, and it sparked some interesting conversation in the comments. Namely, people started talking about the type of hero they'd like to see in the Warcraft comics. Some complained that the Horde wasn't getting enough representation, some wanted specific races to get the spotlight. I thought it was at least fun to think about, so I thought I'd ask the question straight up: Who would you like to see get front billing in a Warcraft comic storyline or graphic novel?
Continue reading Breakfast Topic: The next Warcraft comic book hero
Breakfast Topic: The next Warcraft comic book hero originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tuesday Morning Post: Expedient & Emotional Edition - Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:30:00 EST
Here we are, my old friend. You and I, waiting for downtime again. Yeah, we got a little spot of downtime coming our way again. I'd recommend you go check out Vin Diesel in the latest installation of the greastest series of cinematic triumph of our time, Fast & Furious, but that isn't coming out until Friday. Also, I am a little hurt that it was not named 4 Fast 4 Furious, as would only be proper. Also, I stumbled across a pretty heinous spoiler on IMDB that may have ruined the movie for me. Get this. Are you ready? Here's the big reveal: It has an ampersand in the title.
Yeah. But anyway, it doesn't come out til Friday, so I suppose you'll have to satisfy yourself with WoW news.
As usual, you can get your WoW information fix here while you can't play. We got a new build fresh up on the PTR, so expect news from that and a wide variety of other good stuff. In addition, you'll probably want to check out what's been happening in the last few days. As usual, I got a few things you might want to take a look at after the break.
Continue reading Tuesday Morning Post: Expedient & Emotional Edition
Tuesday Morning Post: Expedient & Emotional Edition originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 31 Mar 2009 07:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Realm maintenance for Tuesday March 31st - Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:05:00 EST
Continue reading Realm maintenance for Tuesday March 31st
Realm maintenance for Tuesday March 31st originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 22:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Custom WoW plushies look adorable - Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST
Custom WoW plushies look adorable originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Triple specs appear to be at least possible - Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:00:00 EST
Continue reading Triple specs appear to be at least possible
Triple specs appear to be at least possible originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ulduar maps aplenty - Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST
Haven't loaded up the PTR and gone to check out Ulduar for yourself yet? The good news is you've got lots of ways to see it online -- in map form. Reader Evan B sent us the version in the picture to the right (click it for the full version, and it's big) -- he cut and pasted together the in-game map screenshots to make up a to-scale version of what the instance looks like. Our friend Stompalina also has a version, cut together from what looks like the minimap ingame, so you can get a little clearer idea of what the textures look like in each section of the instance.
And StratFu sent us an interactive map of the Titan city, with hover-over tooltips on each boss and click-through information for what we'll face inside. Strategies are still being fleshed out completely (and remember, this is the PTR, so everything is subject to change). But if you're looking for as much info as possible on what's waiting for you inside the brand new raid of Ulduar in patch 3.1, there's lots of places for you to find it.
Ulduar maps aplenty originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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BlizzCast episode 8 released - Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:30:00 EST
BlizzCast episode 8 released originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The Guild wins at the Streamys - Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST
The Guild wins at the Streamys originally appeared on WoW Insider on Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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