Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

Where do you get your meat? We suspect that the answers of these WoW players wouldn't do the neighbors much good ...

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Up on eBay until December 7th at 5:00 p.m. PST is this one-in-a-million World of Warcraft: Cataclysm poster signed by Blizzard designers and other members of the WoW team. This auction is entirely for charity, with 100% of the proceeds going towards the Southern California Golden Retriever Rescue.

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Every week (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a UI and addons blog for WoW.

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Zach enjoys the Battlegrounds a lot. He thinks it's one of the most re-playable content in the game, so he writes about it every week to spread the word. When all players are finally in the Battlegrounds bashing each others' brains out, he'll consider his mission complete, and he'll sneak out to farm Shoveltusk Meat in peace.

We're now at the end of our Absolute Beginners series, which has been surprisingly helpful to a lot more players than I expected. As it turns out, the game still gets a lot of new players even after five amazing years, which is really cool. Players still leveling up might want to check out where we kicked this series off, an introduction to the Battlegrounds. Once you get an idea of what its all about, you can get your feet wet (or swords all bloodied...) in Warsong Gulch. Ten levels later, you can enter the proving grounds of Arathi Basin, or wait until you level up a bit more for the snowy landscape of Alterac Valley.

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A few readers sent us this post over at Border House that has laid bare (heh) the oft-mentioned differences in armor between the genders in World of Warcraft. While there are some exceptions, in most cases, the exact same set of armor (like this chestplate above) shows up as much more skimpy on female characters than it does on male characters. To the point of absurdity in some places -- even plate leggings, designed to serve as solid protection to the legs, appear to be more like plate thong underwear on the ladies.

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Juice really shouldn't be warm; but doesn't M just look so happy? It almost makes it okay, although that's primarily because it's not my juice.

• The Scout Report: #88, Scout is back to being Scout! Well, sort of. #89, and I'm trying not to imagine the sprocket party too.
• NPC: Breaking News. This totally ruins our next April Fools Day! Sensibilities. I'm jealous of your turkey pet, for I was tragically unable to participate. Special.
• Teh Gladiators: T-t-t-eee?
• Dark Legacy Comics: Crappy Table.
• Da!ly Quests: Revenge is Sweet.
• LFG #309 and #310.
• Dungeons and Draenei: 2012 WoW.
• Beyond the Tree: Ghould Rush. I like the pun - and I love ghouls. So adorable.
• Battlemasters: Old Flames. Such a Womanizer!
• WoW eh: Need More Rage. Love this one! Well, I love them every week.
• Cru the Dwarf: Turkey Filler 2009. I have to say, that as far as filler goes, this is pretty premium, and got me laughing.
• Experience Points: Easier.
• NoObz: Seventh Commandment.
• Newish Fail Druid!
• The Adventures of Disgraph T. Dwarf: They See Me Rulin' They Hatin'. But what about the silly hair Dan?
• GU Comics: Aces Over Threes.
• This one has Yoda and WoW. Other than that, it's a surprise! Or wait. Not telling you about Yoda might have been a better surprise.


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As dark and depressing as it may seem when you're slogging through the swamps, Zangarmarsh can be considered one of the most visually detailed zones in the game. "I was flying into Zangarmarsh from Terokkar and noticed just how beautiful this game can be at times," writes Scomparsa of Earthen Ring. "The sunlight streaming around those massive, otherworldly mushrooms just took my breath away. I play this game for these kinds of moments, and after almost 4 years of playing, they still happen on a regular basis." Sure, it's pretty, but if we're looking for stunning visuals, I'm going to have to go with Tim Tebow crying on the sidelines. Hey-o!

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I support World of Warcraft's paid services. I think they're good for the game. I think a lot of the options that the services provide extend our interest in the game, allowing us to play when we might have otherwise lost interest. What I do worry about is how expensive everything is when you start to add them all up. I suspect I'm like the average player who has more than a few max level characters at this point, which means wanting to avail of paid services on all of them could get a little pricey.

Let's take character transfers, for instance. If I wanted to transfer all my characters to a server where my friends play (why would I want to move just one?) it would cost me a hefty sum. Add to that the fact that my wife plays wherever I play so we multiply that hefty sum by two. Imagine if I wanted to change my characters' races to those combinations that were previously unavailable come Cataclysm... how much would that add up to? It doesn't take an accountant to see that it could cost a small fortune.

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