Gamers on the Street logs onto U.S. servers to get the word from the front on what's going on in and around the World of Warcraft. Lisa is absent this week, so instead Mike Schramm went to Cenarius to talk directly to ingame players.

When I headed into the game this week to do this column, both Krystalle and Lisa (who usually does GotS) warned me that it was rough out there, and that players weren't really into chatting with random people about what they thought about the past week in Warcraft. But I have to say -- the denizens of Cenarius treated me as well as can be expected. I logged in on my level 30 mage Erban, sent out a tell in /Trade (sorry for spamming, Cenarius-ians), and pretty soon I got two nice players to chat with me. We talked mostly about what they'd been up to in game, what they're looking ahead to with patch 2.4, whether Noblegarden sucks (spoiler: it does), and just how much they'd pay (or their guild would charge) for that Zul'aman bear mount.

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I'm making another claim, so armorsmiths, get ready to jump in the comments and prove me wrong: This helmet is the highest non-shield armor item in the game. We've covered some nice shields before (and those are pretty much all Armor), but this helm from Zul'Aman has the highest armor value of a non-shield piece of armor that I could find.

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Every Wednesday (it's usually Wednesday, anyway), Chris Jahosky brings you another page of Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn, a WoW webcomic you'll find only on WoW Insider!
This week, our characters are starting to deal with the aftermath of the Naga attack. For some, the loss is a little more personal. As the Naga will soon find out, they killed the wrong person. As usual, click the image above to view today's page, or the gallery below to start from the beginning.

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The WoTLK Bestiary has been updated today with the next monster in the series: the Iron Dwarf. These fearsome creatures, uncovered by the Dwarven Explorer's League in the Howling Fjord, are apparently a missing link between the Earthen and the Dwarves, an Iron-skinned race with runes of power etched on their skin. Unfortunately, they appear to be nearly as surly and destructive as the Troggs, not only fighting against the Explorer's League, but outright destroying any artifacts that the Explorer's League could find useful.

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Some players have been complaining about certain problems with Blizzard's World of Warcraft Public Test Realm and Tournament Test Realm.

Most of the complaints stem from the fact that gamers have been unable to create or delete new characters as well as some problems  with connecting to the realms.

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I know I'm a curmudgeon and a grinch. Many times I just have to step back and say okay, I just don't get it.

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If you listened to the show last week, you may have heard that this week's podcast was supposed to be all about multiboxing, with a special guest, but unfortunately we've had to postpone that show (so look for it at some point in the future). But worry not, because this week on the podcast we're bringing back fan favorite Elizabeth Wachowski (and we're going to ask her to talk about some of the lore in the Burning Crusade), and other fan favorite Amanda Dean, who is always insightful. Fan super favorite Turpster will be on as well, and fan not-so-favorite Mike Schramm, also known as me, will be present and accounted for, too.

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Welcome back, my friends, today we are going to inspect Quartz, a cast-bar addon. Let me start this off by noting that this addon not only changes the default cast bars, but also adds some great features for those of you who want more feedback from the World of Warcraft client.

If you check out any of the major addon sites, you will more than likely find an older version, one that still functions, so it might suit your needs. If you want the most recent version, the WoW Ace Files site has the continuously updated version.

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(Apologies for the late posting of Scattered Shots. Next week we'll be back on our Thursday schedule.)

Last week I covered crowd control using traps. This week, filling in for David, I'll discuss the options available to hunters for weapon choice: ranged and melee alike. Hunters have a wide variety of weapons we can train, but our main concern is usually going to be ranged weapons: the bow, crossbow, and gun. Secondary to the ranged weapon of course is what we carry at our sides. Hunters can train in every weapon style except for maces (one and two hand) and wands. It's not technically a weapon, but for the sake of this discussion it's important to note that hunters cannot train in the use of shields. What this means is that there's a lot of weapons we can use, while not all of them are weapons that we should.

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There's been a slight confusion with how some players understand the mechanics behind the Tournament Test Realm of Blizzard's World of Warcraft.

This was first noted when WoW forum poster Dellessana mentioned that a possible bug was spotted on the TTR when Horde characters failed to get flagged upon entering the Alliance-controlled city, Stormwind.

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Dwarves in Blizzard's World of Warcraft have long been searching for more information regarding their origins. This quest has revealed a lot about their race and its close ties with the earth. The Explorers' League has recently found more clues about their origins in the ancient dig site of Howling Fjord.

Unfortunately, the Iron Dwarves which dwell in the region have prevented them from making any further discoveries. These dark dwarves seem intent on destroying any magical items that would give anyone information about the past.

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Episode 8 of The Guild is up for your viewing pleasure, and the whole cast rebounds in the aftermath of Zaboo's rash action last time around. And tragedy strikes when a familiar face returns. In fact, it's a familiar "toolface." Funny.

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In an effort to consolidate the numerous info for Patch 2.4 in World of Warcraft's PTRs, Blizzard Poster Hortus compiled a list of several important updates. Although some are new, some have been announced in the past (but it doesn't hurt to reiterate them).

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Preparations for the Blizzard Worldwide Invitational are in full swing. Tickets are on sale for the event, which will take place on June 28th and 29th in Paris, France. Of course, your ticket gives you access to both days, but what Blizzard event ticket wouldn't be complete without a good old fashioned goody bag? Blizzard goody bags usually contains some pretty awesome swag (check out the contents of the Blizzcon '07 goody bag if you need a refresher), and it looks like this bag won't be any different.

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The Care and Feeding of Warriors grinds ever onward. This week, Matthew Rossi has picked out one of his 70 warriors who hasn't been getting as much love and has dedicated him to PvP, trying to gear him up for Arena. At the moment, he has a nice mace and not much else. In the process, he's also had to farm up some money for enchants and armor kits, leading to witnessing some interesting behavior. Interesting like the times can get, if you know what we mean.

I try and keep my various characters separate financially when they're on the same server, because the temptation to rob all of your alts to pay for your main can be overwhelming at times. I mean, I've done it. Only two of my 70's have their flying mounts because every time it looks like one of the others might make the cash, I get a hankering for a flask or what have you and I raid them. Sad for poor Sarnie pictured over there, in his mix of crafted blues and whatever greens dropped/were quest rewards. In a quest to find some use for him I've decided to take him into the Arena, which has led to increased BG's for the guy. I had enough honor for a couple of pieces of armor for him, but my impulse buying soul grabbed the mace instead.

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V'Ming - who thinks that gnome warlocks are travesties of nature and need to be KOSed - shares thoughts and ideas on becoming deadlier at the Arenas. He also dabbles in the dark arts in Blood Pact.

You've formed your ideal Arena team. You have great expectations and diligently put in time and effort to claw your way up the ratings. You dust yourself off after defeats and trudge on, knowing that great things will come your way if you persist.

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Insider Trader is your inside line on making, selling, buying and using player-made products.

While alchemy is certainly not the most flashy or popular profession out there, alchemists are an integral part of the game, and any guild worth its salt has at least one, preferably several, working to supply guildmates and fill the guild bank with stacks of consumables and transmuted items.

This week's leveling guide will feature the usual cheapest route, and the most useful, to 375 for solos and casuals.

For those of you who will be working for your guild (and hopefully are also being financed, or supported by herbalists), we'll show you how to reach 375 by making the most useful items. They might cost more, but your guild will be requiring them anyway, so you might as well get your skill points that way, rather than making stacks of items you won't be using.

There are several very helpful guides to maximizing your alchemy skill while being cost-efficient. Here are the ones I found most useful:

• From the professions forums.
  
• From Ten Ton Hammer.
  
• From Blizzard Guides.

If you are a casual player, and are not helping your guild to any grand degree, then chances are, you will want to gain your skill-ups using the cheapest and/or most useful methods possible. The following is the most cost-effective means of reaching 375, with the most useful alternatives included.

• 300-325: [Volatile Healing Potion] is simultaneously the cheapest and most useful potion for this skill range, assuming that you are not a mana user. Each potion will cost you 1 [Felweed], 1 [Golden Sansam] and 1 [Imbued Vial].
• 326-350: [Mad Alchemist's Potion] is an extremely cost-effective means of reaching 350, and is useful to boot, to both mana users and health pot junkies. Requiring only 2 [Ragveil], which can be farmed in abundance in Zangarmarsh, among other places, and 1 [Crystal Vial] per potion, you'll be more than halfway to 375 before you know it.
  

An alternative, and also fairly cheap route to 350 requires that you are already questing in Netherstorm and Shadowmoon Valley, and are therefore roughly level 67-70:

• 326-350: [Super Healing Potion] is useful and sells well on the auction house. Each potion requires 2 [Netherbloom], found in Netherstorm, 1 [Felweed] and 1 [Imbued Vial].
• 351-375: The recipe for [Major Dreamless Sleep Potion] can be purchased by the Alliance at Allerian Stronghold, Terokkar, and by the Horde in Thunderlord Stronghold, Blade's Edge Mountains. While this is an extremely cheap means of reaching 375, purchasing food and water is a cheaper alternative to using this potion, and thus you may or may not have success selling it at the auction house. While you can use it in combat, it takes you out of action for 12 seconds. Each potion requires 1 [Dreaming Glory], 1 [Nightmare Vine], found in Shadowmoon Valley, and 1 [Imbued Vial].
  

If you would rather use mana potions, or are not ready to peruse Netherstorm yet:

• 340-up to 370: The recipe for [Super Mana Potion] can be purchased by the Alliance in Telredor, Zangarmarsh, and by the Horde in Thunderlord Stronghold, Blade's Edge Mountains. If you are a mana pot junkie, or find a strong market for these on your server, you may wish to use it to skill up directly to 370. Each potion will require 2 [Dreaming Glory], 1 [Felweed] and 1 [Imbued Vial].
• 371-375: The cheapest means would be to use the [Major Dreamless Sleep Potion] as described above.

Of course, there is much more to alchemy than simply regenerating health and mana. For a slightly more expensive, but potentially more useful route, there are many alternatives. Of course, there are seemingly limitless potions for buffs of all sorts, from resistances to increased stats, and we simply cannot list them all.

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While getting loot in World of Warcraft is usually a joy, picking up gear for a class or spec that no one in your party (or guild for that matter) can use can get rather frustrating. Thankfully, the developers from Blizzard know about this problem and plan on addressing it in the future.

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According to Ian Beckman, Blizzard has a trailer for the new 2.4 patch that they don't want you to see. In the Blizzard-issued version, Kael'thas believes that the Sunwell is the root of all evil and destroys it. When the destruction makes things worse, he turns to Illidan Stormrage for help.

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For many a World of Warcraft player, the name "Kil'Jaeden" can be thought of as either a noteworthy challenge or a looming threat. In either case, the fact that Kil'Jaeden is coming in patch 2.4 is enough to make us want to see more of him.

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Daniel Howell contributes BigRedKitty, a column with strategies, tips and tricks for and about the hunter class, sprinkled with a healthy dose of completely improper, sometimes libelous, personal commentary.

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Player Ariochlee of the Ghostland realm was questing in Un'goro Crater when he came across this tree. And as anyone who spent any time in that jungle oasis in the desert knows, this is a sign that something large and prehistoric is sneaking up behind you to send you on a one way trip to the graveyard. Boy, I don't miss that place.

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As recently reported, Kharmen EU Talnivarr has reportedly paid 20,000 gold for the Amani War Bear. Kharmen reportedly raised the cash for the enormous land epic ride on her which raised questions about how much gold grinding would trigger a gold farming alert.

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Songbreeze from the Dragonmaw realm in World of Warcraft posted her concern. She quoted her combat log from the game. It had "Rogue gains Cheat Death.", "Your Shadow Word: Death is absorbed by Rogue." and "You suffer 732 Shadow damage from Shadow Word: Death."

This seemed to be a bug to her. She wanted it to be fixed fast so that it wouldn't bother her or other unsuspecting players in the game.

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Blue posts
Quote from Blizzard staffWotLK and loot changes
We do plan to have more specs share some loot. I know it's great when the Retribution-Paladin piece drops, but that's a piece that isn't good for 26 other classes/specs, so hopefully we can make it so the item will apply to more classes/specs so even the randomness of loot won't be so much of a big deal. When there are examples for players to see it should be easier to understand. (Source)

Engineering - Bugged gas clouds
We are aware that there are reports of gas clouds that need some adjustment and we do have some slated to be corrected, but what we need most is for people to report specific locations for us so we can track them down. If you could do so either in game when you come across them, or post in the bug forum with a specific location, we can definitely get it in the system to be fixed. I already checked with our QA department and they assured me they do have some slated to be fixed. But, they also need these bug reports to keep coming as people find the clouds out of reach so they can be found and corrected. (Source)

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Worldwide Invitational 2008 Tickets On Sale Now

Tickets for the 2008 Blizzard Entertainment Worldwide Invitational convention and tournament gaming event are now available on the Worldwide Invitational website at http://eu.blizzard.com/wwi08/.

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Here's a quick heads up, denizens of Azeroth and Outland. Blizzard poster Bornakk has made an announcement on the World of Warcraft Forums to informing players that rolling restarts will be done on all realms in the wee hours of tomorrow morning.

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