Every week, Shifting Perspectives is written by someone who is not me. Except for that one time. Rather an addictive experience, stealing this column. Does anyone even read the italicized portion at the top? Hello? Nobody? I'm just gonna sing. "My baloney has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R, my baloney has a [censored over copyright infringement] (ed. just do the column, please).

While I sincerely hope the rumors about the patch hitting soon aren't true because I'm sitting on all of 43 badges of justice right now (g@^#(*% mother-expletive piece of $%^@ fire resistance set), I am forced to admit that the times may possibly have caught up with me. I confess that for a long time I hadn't even looked at the new badge loot that will become available ingame, partly because things have gotten markedly busier with my guild of late and partly because I'd planned my 2.3 badge acquisitions very carefully and wondered if I could get away with keeping myself somewhat unspoiled for 2.4. That lasted until I found out just how expensive the 2.4 gear is actually going to be ("150 badges for a new weapon, Zach? Are you @*(#&#% kidding me?"). Noble effort while it lasted, though.

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Twice a week, our writers will tell you more about themselves, and let you get to know them and the characters they play a little better. Click here to read more About the Bloggers.

What do you do for WoW Insider?
I first started writing for WoW Insider way back in August of aught-six, and my first post on the site wasn't even actually about World of Warcraft. A few months (and many posts) after that, I was invited to co-lead the blog with Elizabeth Harper, and nowadays (many, many posts later) I work alongside Dan O'Halloran in running the whole site and coordinating all of our talented writers, as well as posting news I find whenever possible. I've also done quite a few of the podcasts.

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15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – both the renowned and the relatively anonymous.

In the course of interviewing WoW players from the mainstream to the niche and from the casual to the hardcore, 15 Minutes of Fame has developed an intriguing little theory: players who confess to being "obsessed" with WoW actually have a pretty down-to-earth approach to the game. Oh, they love WoW, it's true, and devote hours and hours to it on a regular basis. But it seems that the players who profess their love for the game the loudest have given themselves permission to indulge in WoW as a hobby. While they dive into the game and related activities with complete abandon, they also seem to recognize that it's merely one part of their lives (albeit a fairly big one). In a nutshell, these aren't your fabled antisocial basement geeks; in fact, we find they tend to be downright warm, funny folks with a lot of interesting ideas and activities on their plates.

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The Sunwell Plateau trailer, released by Blizzard, has to be on the coolest trailers I've seen from them recently. If you have a second, turn the sound up a bit and have a look. You can watch the trailer right above via a YouTube hosted copy of the video, or head on over to the Blizzard page about Patch 2.4 and watch it there.

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It seems that 148 different realms of Blizzard's World of Warcraft are currently down. According to Community Manager Bornakk, some issues have been found that require additional maintenance.

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Time once again for WoW Insider Weekly, where we put all of the best weekly content of the last week all in one place for you to click and browse as necessary. Warning: Reading content linked from WoW Insider Weekly may cause your player skill to exceed ownage limits. Take as directed.

Guildwatch drinks your milkshake
You know that feeling you get when you join a group without a warrior, and when you ask who's tanking, the hunter says, "My pet"? That's the feeling that guild drama creates in most guildleaders.

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After hearing all about the recent patch 2.4 on the World of Warcraft Public Test Realm, Blizzard has finally decided to give everyone a sneak preview of the upcoming new content for the game. Blue poster Bornakk has recently revealed the preview page of the new patch on a thread posted on the WoW forums.

Entitled "Fury of the Sunwell" the new content based on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade ties in the story of blood elves and their inclusion into the Horde, as well as the arrival of the draenei on Azeroth. The preview page features a trailer, an official wallpaper, some lore on the mysterious Sunwell, and more.

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Toy News International reports that the World of Warcraft action figures from DC Direct are coming in the last quarter of this year. I love my toys and I love WoW so this comes as great news, particularly with the new selection of figures -- a Blood Elf Paladin named Quin'thalan Sunfire (hell yeah!); Tamuura, a Draenei Mage; an Undead Rogue called Skeeve Sorrowblade; and a Human Priest, Sister Benedron, who can probably cure your allergies. As with previous World of Warcraft action figures from DC direct, the sculpts are mostly based on existing armor sets that players might recognize.

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The realms were up for a bit, but several have come down rather quickly. There is a news alert when you log on giving a long (very long) list of realms that are offline.

Blizzard says that they're performing additional maintenance to resolve some issue. However, unlike most every other time they've taken down realms, this time there is no ETA on when they'll be back up.

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So with patch 2.4 coming on us soon, I was thinking about it, and I have to say that I can't remember the last time I was filled with this much anticipation over a patch. Aside from 1.8, which made Feral Druids viable, this might be my favorite patch. But why do I love it? Why can't I wait until the servers come up on patch day and we're allowed in?

Let me count the ways! Here's 7 relatively simple reasons that I am watching my computer like a hawk, waiting for 2.4 to make it live.


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2.4's not out today, but Blizzard threw a nice little consolation prize our way: A new Fury of the Sunwell preview page, complete with a trailer and a very spiffy looking wallpaper featuring Kil'jaedan rising out of the Sunwell while Kael'thas looks on, as well as an in-game cinematic trailer in which Kael'thas tells the story of the destruction of the Sunwell and speaks of his plans to reignite it and summon Kil'jaedan. if you're a bit unclear on the Sunwell Lore, this page explains it succinctly as well.

There's also a list of some of the new features, such as all the new daily quests, accompanied by screenshots. In what might be considered a bit of tease for WotLK, the screenshot for the Arena Tournament features a Warrior wielding the fabled Ashbringer (the corrupted version, but still!). It's also worth noting that we can add another Kralnor cookie to the growing list of them, the screenshot also features everyone's favorite staff-using Warlock.

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Raid Rx is designed to encapsulate and cure the shock and horror that is 25-man raid healing. Ok, so it's mostly horror... Anyways, if you're a big fan of X-TREME Whack-A-Mole (or are being forced into it against your will) this is the column for you. If you take a looksee at the picture to the right, you'll notice something staggering: +3206 Healing. I've enlarged the number for your viewing pleasure, covering over the 0 Hit Rating in the process.

Yes, gear has a lot to do with such a high +healing number, but lest we forget the impact of consumables. Behind the scenes, our lovely shammy model is sporting the latest in elixir and food chompables, namely [Elixir of Healing Power], [Elixir of Draenic Wisdom], and what I'm guessing to be [Golden Fish Sticks].

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We jumped on the air yet again this past Saturday for episode 29 of our podcast, and the results of that are now online (and in iTunes) for your listening pleasure. It's a pretty wacky show -- we have both John "Big Bear Butt" Petricelli (also of Shifting Perspectives, our Druid column) and Matthew "He once bumped into Saurfang in Orgimmar, and look who's still writing for WoW Insider" Rossi as well as the indomitable Turpster (who, we're happy to say, took time out of his busy TurpsterVision schedule to come talk with us). I was there too, but mostly only so the guys could make fun of my hunter's pet choices. We also discussed:

• When patch 2.4 is going to come out (as of this writing, it doesn't look like today)
• What Risen's deal is and whether we should care.
• And since we had two tanking guys on, we chatted about tanking, of course, including the backlash from our Hybrid Theory column, and what Matt thinks about prot warriors lately.
• And we chatted just a little bit about talents we all hate. Lightwell anyone?


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Some gamers have reported problems with the Europe World of Warcraft honor estimation system. One such player found that the estimation of honor gained in the battlegrounds was off by over 7000 points.

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The biggest frustration in a MMORPG is probably getting ganked at most inopportune moments. The next biggest aggravation has got to be playing with pick-up-groups. Sometimes we get lucky in choosing random players to instance with, but we've all got horror stories of out worst experiences with PUGs.

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Every Tuesday, Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players.

It's been a long while since there was a Shaman build featured on Build Shop, and I think it's time that changed. I'm looking at an Enhancement build this week that's built for raid damage yet provides a good amount of utility and group buffs. As expected, the majority of the points go into the Enhancement tree, but instead of putting the remaining points into Elemental to buff personal DPS, this build places them in Restoration in order to provide stronger utility for the raid and additional hit chance for you.
Enhancement (45 points)

• Ancestral Knowledge (5/5) - Increases your maximum mana by 5%. This is a stronger choice for the first tier than Shield Specialization for a few reasons: one, you won't be using a shield with this build; two, you're not a tank; and three, any increase to your mana pool is welcome.
• Guardian Totems (2/2) - Increases the amount of damage reduced by your Stoneskin and Windwall totem by 20%, and reduces the cooldown of your Grounding Totem by 2 seconds. Stoneskin and Windwall are both situational, but when you do use them it's nice to have them as effective as possible. I just feel that for the focus of this build (raiding / providing utility), talents like Improved Ghost Wolf and Improved Lightning Shield aren't worth taking. However, if you're looking for an alternative, consider dropping these 2 points into Anticipation for some additional dodge.
• Thundering Strikes (5/5) - Increases your chance to crit with weapon attacks by 5%. This is a prerequisite for Flurry, and crit chance is important to this build. Your crits proc Flurry (which increases your melee attack speed) and Shamanistic Focus (which helps with mana efficiency), both of which are important talents for dealing damage efficiently. Don't pass this up.
• Enhancing Totems (2/2) - Increases the effect of your Strength of Earth and Grace of Air totems by 15%. Another solid talent that increases the power of your totems (there are lots of these in this build). Again, if you don't want to put points in here, throw them in Anticipation (I'd still rather put 2 points in here, though).
• Shamanistic Focus (1/1) - After landing a melee critical, you enter a Focused state which reduces the mana cost of your next Shock spell by 60%. A great talent which helps conserve mana and only improves as your crit chance goes up.
• Flurry (5/5) - Increases your attack speed for 30% for your next 3 swings after dealing a critical strike. Any type of buff / gear / effect that increases your attack speed is huge, as it can dramatically increase your white damage. More attacks in less time also means more crits, which means keeping Flurry refreshed and proccing Shamanistic Focus.
• Improved Weapon Totems (2/2) - Increases the melee attack power of your Windfury Totem by 30% and increases the damage caused by your Flametongue Totem by 12%. Yet another talent that buffs your totems -- the bonus to the Windfury Totem is substantial, and your melee raid members will love you.
• Spirit Weapons (1/1) - Gives you a chance to parry, and reduces the threat generated by your melee attacks by 30%. Essential for raiding, this talent helps you manage your threat, which can be a serious concern in some fights. In addition, it's also a prereq for Dual Wielding.
• Elemental Weapons (3/3) - Increases the melee attack power bonus of Rockbiter by 20%, Windfury by 40%, and increases the damage caused by Flametongue and Frostbrand by 15%. A great talent which improves your personal weapon buffs (especially Windfury). If that wasn't a good enough reason to take it, it's also a prerequisite for Stormstrike.
• Mental Quickness (3/3) - Reduces the mana cost of your instant cast spells by 6%, and increases your spell damage and healing by an amount equal to 30% of your attack power. Additional mana efficiency and some free spelldamage make this a solid talent, especially since you're not likely to be wearing much spelldamage gear -- this helps your shocks pack a bit more punch.
• Weapon Mastery (5/5) - Increases the damage you deal with all weapons by 10%. An additional 10% damage to all your melee attacks is nothing to sneeze at. Doesn't effect your shocks or other spells, but will increase the damage of Stormstrike, as well as all your other physical attacks.
• Dual Wield (1/1) - Allows you to equip one handed and off-handed weapons in your off-hand. Don't skip this one.
• Dual Wield Specialization (3/3) - Increases your chance to hit while dual wielding by 6%. As dual wielding requires a lot more hit rating than a one or two handed weapon, this is an extra 6% hit that you don't have to make up for with gear. If you're dual wielding, pick this up.
• Stormstrike (1/1) - Instantly attacks with both weapons. In addition, the next 2 sources of Nature damage to the target are increased by 20%. This is the first (and only) instant physical attack available to shaman currently. Aside from a straight increase to your DPS, the debuff it places on the target increases the damage of Earth Shock (which is the source of nature damage you're most likely to use if you're Enhancement).
• Unleashed Rage (5/5) - Your melee crits increase all party members' attack power by 10% (if they're within 20 yards of the Shaman). Yet another talent that synergizes well with your crit chance, this provides both a nice buff to your own attack power as well as the group's. So, in review, your melee crits will now proc Shamanistic Focus (reduces mana cost of your next Shock), Unleashed Rage (+10% AP to you and the party), and Flurry (increases your attack speed by 30%). Fantastic!
• Shamanistic Rage (1/1) - Reduces all damage taken by 30% and gives your successful melee attacks a chance to regenerate mana equal to 15% of your attack power for 30 seconds (changes to 30% of your attack power for 15 seconds in Patch 2.4). This has a 2 minute cooldown, but is quite capable of regenerating most, if not all of your mana. In Patch 2.4, the mana regen effect doubles but the duration is halved -- I haven't tested this personally yet, but I can't see it negatively effecting the talent as it applies to PvE.
  


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Many thanks to Smokecom for sending us a link to a post made by Tigerclaw. In response to a patch 2.4 release date thread, he tells us (post copied in totality):

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(Warning: If you haven't seen Tales of the Past III, this video could be considered a spoiler. Approach with caution.)

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Blizzard WWI08 tickets on sale 20th March

Tickets for the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational convention and tournament gaming event will be available from Thursday, 20th of March on the Worldwide Invitational website at http://eu.blizzard.com/wwi08/.

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When you show up to Archimonde attempts on a Monday night, you don't really expect much apart from a fun night with lots of wanton death and slaughter, albeit not for Archimonde himself. Killing Archimonde is pretty much out of the question at the moment. He's the kind of type-A boss who likes to demand absolute perfection out of his visitors, and that's not really what we're prepared to offer right now. We are more of an experimentation guild, the type that slaps things together with duct tape and then cheerfully proffers them for inspection, the type of guild that wanders off while important historical events are occurring, absorbed with what's going on with that duck by the pond or an interesting tree. Despite this, or possibly because of it, we've progressed pretty quickly. Too quickly to avoid leaving people behind, according to some, in the wake of an ugly blow-up that happened early in the evening and continued for the rest of the night in a flurry of tells, vent binds, and and anxious messages.

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This anonymous player (the poultry, not the Gnome) was questing at Toshley's Station in Blades Edge Mountains when he got hit with the transporter debuff. He decided to take advantage of it and down a few Noggenfoggers and popped his Cloak of Shadows. And viola! Super shadow mini-chicken of death.

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While I was attempting to sort out the truth for The Great Panda Debate, I came across Pandaren Express. It sounded too good to be true. Just type /panda in your UI and you'd be rewarded with an interactive menu of Oriental-inspired delights. It was too good to be true, it was a crafty April Fool's prank. I hadn't seen it before, so I thought I would share the link with our readers.


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This week's round up of WoW-related posts on our sister site Massively covers many different angles of the MMO universe dominated by World of Warcraft. You can click on the links below or subscribe to a special WoW-only Massively feed.

The Evolution of World of Warcraft's many games
To say that World of Warcraft has changed over the last four years would be something of an understatement. Major content additions have come at a fast and furious rate, from minor class tweaks all the way up to the Burning Crusade expansion itself. The blog GameSetWatch hosts a feature called Play Evolution that looks at just these kinds of changes. In an article this past week author James Lantz laid out some of the ways that Blizzard has modifed WoW over the years.

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It seems that some people can't get enough of Blizzard's Brewfest event in World of Warcraft - or at least, they can't get enough of fermented beverages. Faust may just be one of them, as the warlock decided to go the extra mile when looking for more of the cherished drink.

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The Azrothean primary elections are coming to close. Unsurprisingly, Thrall is a runaway candidate for leader of the Horde. The Warchief is carrying 70% of the vote, the closest competitor Lady Sylvanas Windrunner has only 14.8%. Thrall is currently preparing his campaign team for the general election. Windrunner is rumored to be preparing her forces for non-political endeavors.

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Well, it is the Tuesday before Easter, and true to Mike's original predictions, the rumors are flying that today patch 2.4 will hit. The PTRs are down, and everything seems set. Of course, if this happens, we will not only be looking at awesomeness, we will be facing extended maintenance.

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As some of you guys may recall, Blizzard previously reported that World of Warcraft players over in Europe were having trouble logging in. The problem appeared to be specific to users whose ISPs were tied in with Cogent.

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Blizzard WWI08 Tickets on sale 20th March

PARIS, France. -- Tickets for the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment® Worldwide Invitational convention and tournament gaming event will be available from Thursday, 20th of March on the Worldwide Invitational website at http://eu.blizzard.com/wwi08.

This year's Blizzard Worldwide Invitational will take place in Paris, France, at the Porte de Versailles Exposition Centre on the 28th and 29th of June. Tickets are priced at €70 / £55 for the two-day event, which will feature hands-on play with the latest versions of World of Warcraft®: Wrath of the Lich King™ and StarCraft® II. Blizzard Entertainment developers and executives will be present to share all the latest news, meet attendees and participate in public discussion panels.

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World of Warcraft players who often try the 2v2 Arena PvP System will agree that queue times for this specific format is excruciatingly long and dragging.

Some players testified that they, on the average, wait for around an hour before their actual match start. Such is the point of discussion over at the official WoW community website.

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If you haven't been online lately, there's apparently a in World of Warcraft's Public test realms. According to player testimonies, this particular bug prevents them from properly selecting a realm type (RP, PvP, Normal) at the log-on screen.

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