Wojtek sent us this thread in which he posted a long series of emails between him and Blizzard about the ninja of an Onyxia Drake. There's a lot of back and forth, but eventually, the bottom line is that Blizzard was not able to help him, whether that's because he didn't have the information right, they couldn't find what they needed in the chat logs, or they just didn't want to. Later on, the thread is locked, and Wojtek is given the usual feedback address for the GM actions.

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Fall of the Lich King Trailer
The trailer and the Fall of the Lich King page are now available.

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It's that time of year again -- if you (like me) haven't gotten gifts for everyone on your list, it's time to start scrambling to find something nice to get under the tree this year. Fortunately, you don't have to worry about finding something good for the World of Warcraft fan in your life: we've got you covered there. In the gallery below, we've got a nice bunch of gift ideas for everything Warcraft, from the cheap to the expensive, from the silly to the practical, from in-game presents you can wrap with shiny paper, to out-of-game classics that you can... also wrap with shiny paper. If you need to give a gift to a WoW player this year, you'll find it below for sure.

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Blizzard has finally released the official trailer for Patch 3.3: Fall of the Lich King. You can view it over on their site right now, or just enjoy it via the YouTube video embedded above. The Blizzard site is extremely slow right now, so we recommend just watching it here.

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15 Minutes of Fame is WoW.com's look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes -- from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.

Talk about art imitating life: Justin Kenney, aka Ninny the rogue, is a high-agility kind of guy. Those droplets on your screen are back spray from the splash Justin's been making in the dance world, after coming back from a nasty automobile accident this fall. Recovery stunlocked him long enough that he became determined to dive more deeply than ever into his dancing. His no-holds-barred followup has carried him through a trip into the So You Think You Can Dance semi-finals (video after the break), an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show (see his clip, above), and a virtual Fan of Knives of opportunities. Find out why you'll be seeing much more of Justin on both the big and little screens as well as more of Ninny in your Arenas, after the break.

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My level 23 Gnome Warrior, whom I have not logged onto in years, got a Corehound Pup in the mail after the servers came back up. He is as adorable as a corehound pup could possibly be. But why did I get him? What's he for?

It appears that several other staff members have gotten the pups in the mail. Some characters have them, some don't. There doesn't seem to by any rhyme or reason behind which characters get them.

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While dungeons are going for that new-fangled cross-realm fad, the raid system is staying old school by keeping raiding local to your own realm. However, that isn't to say they're behind the times. Patch 3.3 brings a fresh look for the looking for raid tool called the Raid Browser. While we have covered it in its infancy on the PTR, we figured another look wouldn't hurt. So, I present to you, the new and improved World of Warcraft Raid Browser (now with more usefulness).

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Not that this should be unexpected, but maintenance has been extended today by at least one hour. There is no indication as to what's caused the downtime to linger on longer than it has to.

We'll keep this post updated and time-stamped with the latest news. You'll only need to look here to know.

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Patch 3.3 is out! With the release of Icecrown, WoW.com aims to help prepare you with the long journey through the Frozen Throne. In this post, you'll find general information about the various bosses along with the strategies to take them down.

There are 13 bosses in Icecrown. The first four bosses in the Lower Spire will be accessible the moment the patch goes live. The rest of the instance will gradually open up later on. Certain encounters will have limited attempts, but you won't have to worry about them later on.

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There are a lot of questions out there about how gating in Icecrown Citadel will work, and how attunement to the 5-man instances will function.

We've collected some of the most common questions and put them in an F.A.Q. format for you to look at. After the break we'll answer them, or you can click on the links to be immediately taken to the answer.

• How do you define gated content?
• What content is gated in patch 3.3?
• Can I do heroic Icecrown right away?
• How long until Icecrown Citadel is completely open? When will I be able to fight Arthas?
• What content requires attunement in patch 3.3?
• I'm still confused about the 5-man attunement, can you phrase it another way?
• Will the Dungeon Finder let me ignore attunement (or other requirements)?
• What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the heroic version of the Icecrown Citadel raids?
• What quest chains do I need to do to get access to the normal or heroic version of the 5-man Frozen Halls dungeons?

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While many might say that Ulduar was a difficult, frustrating raid (that as then rendered useless by TotC), one thing is certain about it. Ulduar inspired people. The number of music tracks, videos, and movies inspired by Ulduar blows away any memory of Naxxramas.

Realityshock created Ulduar: In The Mountains as a tribute to the immense amount of work and effort that went into creating the raid.The video is also dedicated to those brave raiders who spent hours pushing their way through the instance, working to see all the art that Blizzard had created for us.

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Our sister site Big Download has hosted the patch 3.3 files for easily accessible and speedy downloads. Right now they only have the North American PC and Mac patches available, but they will be getting the international versions of the patch up later today.

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Welcome to another edition of the WoW.com Weekly Comic -- Byron the Tauren Rogue!

Gruuka has slapped Byron with the proverbial glove...a challenge has been issued! How much does Byron value his pride? Or how much does he value not having three expert rogues beat him up for being a wimp? Read on to find out!

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The new 5-man dungeon complex in patch 3.3, The Frozen Halls, has three instances:

• The Forge of Souls
• Pit of Saron
• Halls of Reflection

The Pit of Saron and the Halls of Reflection require attunement. In this walkthrough we'll guide you along each quest you need to do in order to be attuned properly.

Please note that this information is based off the PTR version of patch 3.3. Things may have changed slightly since it's live release. We'll update the post as necessary.

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Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all those other shiny MMOs! Check out this roundup of the latest news from the wider MMO world.

	Analyzing the newest Guild Wars 2 trailer ArenaNet has a very early, very wonderful holiday gift for Guild Wars fans this morning: a brand new Guild Wars 2 trailer. (Take a moment to cheer, then we'll move on.) The trailer is amazingly beautiful, something we've come to expect from ArenaNet and particularly Guild Wars 2.
	Massively's End-of-the-Year Reader's Choice Awards The end of 2009 is almost upon us, and Arthur C. Clarke's dreams are all about to come true in less than a month. It's been an interesting year for MMOs, including everything from Tabula Rasa's official closure to the launch of LotRO's second paid expansion. While it's inevitable that the Massively staff all have their own favorite games in several different categories, we figured it would be best to get the readers involved this year.
	Hands-on with Star Trek Online's space combat Space battles in Star Trek Online are going to be a big selling point for many a Trek fan. I recently got some hands-on time with the closed beta and found several interesting talking points to deliver like hot fresh delicious phasered pizza. I imagine some of you are quite up to snuff on the basics of combat in Star Trek Online, so if you find your interest waning I suggest skipping ahead into the analytical aspect of this feature.
	MMO developers speak on the state of betas Is beta testing something of a mystery to you? Do you wonder about the how and why of a developer's beta process? Well, you're in for a treat! We recently got in touch with several MMO developers to ask them each a series of questions about MMO beta testing. In this feature you'll find opinions from Cryptic Studios, Fallen Earth LLC, Mythic Entertainment, Turbine, Runic Games and Hi-Rez Studios.

	SWTOR video interview covers final two classes and more The guys at Giant Bomb have thrown up a ten minute long video interview with BioWare's Blaine Christine that covers topics ranging from details on the Jedi Consular and Sith Inquisitor to how companion characters work in grouping situations. Much of the new info is blended into stuff that's already been covered, but it servers as a nice refresher course on Star Wars: The Old Republic with some new stuff peppered in for good measure.
	Choose my Adventure approaches its last week in Dungeons and Dragons Online This week's Choose my Adventure: DDO takes us into Stormcleave Outpost, a long group instance found within the House of Deneith. Once that was finished, we took on the second-choice vote, the Church and the Cult quest, which didn't go quite as smoothly towards the end. Still, we conquered them both and lived to tell our story here!
	An early look at the Warhammer 40K MMO We've been hearing about a Warhammer 40k MMO for a very long time, beginning back in March of 2007. We also received some tantalizing general details back in April of 2008 -- It will have an RPG feel, there will be extensive gunplay, and all races important to Warhammer 40k lore will be included.
	The breadth of morality in MMOs It's been touched on before, but there's still more thought to be put into it: morality in MMOs, if you think about it, can be a touchy business at best. Scott Jennings recently took the opportunity to discuss the genre's stance in light of the Modern Warfare 2 controversy, pointing out that the genre as a whole has generally failed to touch on morality tacitly but has frequently done so passively.
	What games can you just not stand? We all have games we love, that's a given. But some of us also have games that we have a deep and abiding resentment toward. Maybe you were so disappointed with Champions Online that now even the mention of the game gets you annoyed. You might have disliked the grind in Aion to the point where you're actively happy to hear about people unsubscribing from it. Or maybe you're annoyed at World of Warcraft being as huge as it is and want it taken down a few pegs.
	Details on the Star Trek Online Collector's Edition Are you the kind of person who goes around all day wearing a Star Trek uniform? We kind of hope not. But if you've ever secretly wanted to be able to do that with a legitimate excuse... well, we can't totally help you there, but you can at least have an opportunity to wear the badge for a bit.
	Massively's EVE Dominion launch day roundup The Dominion expansion for EVE Online may not add an entirely new dimension to gameplay as Apocrypha did with wormhole exploration, but Dominion will redefine New Eden's equivalent of an endgame. The sovereignty game mechanics, essentially the rules of territorial control, have been revamped and will change how EVE Online's alliances claim and tap resources in the lawless expanses of nullsec space.
	Massively's LotRO: Siege of Mirkwood launch day roundup Lord of the Rings Online's newest expansion, Siege of Mirkwood, will release today for North America -- while later this week it will release for the European servers -- and we have a comprehensive wrapup available for you to find the biggest news for the new content. We have a dev tour, a video of the new maps, an interview with Jeffrey Steefel and more!
	MMO Family: Balancing games with the rest Let's get balanced. With MMOs, that can sometimes be easier said than done. The same qualities that make MMO gaming such an easy hobby to enjoy – convenience, multiple layers of involvement, immersion, sociability – are the same qualities that make it so easy to overindulge.
	Getting started with the LotRO Skirmish system With Lord of the Ring Online's Siege of Mirkwood expansion launch on Tuesday came the new Skirmish system. And with it also came a lot of questions. Though Turbine posted a number of Dev Diaries going over the various aspects of the new private instance system and its reward system, the same questions kept popping up in the game. We'll try to answer as many as we can here.

The information in the video above might seem terribly obvious to you. How hard could it be to find the new 5-man instances? There's banners all over the place, and it's lit up like a landing strip! It must be easy to find!

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Update - The trailer will be available very soon.
Update - The patch is now officialy confirmed. The final versions of the patch notes are now here! Also changed the amount of posts on the front page to 1 to try to keep the site alive.

Patch 3.3 deployed on live servers this week
Patch 3.3 will be deployed on live servers this week.

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Of all the bosses introduced in Wrath of the Lich King, the Malygos encounter has probably spawned more Around Azeroth submissions than any other. Today's submitter, Truwid of <Rare Spawn> on Firetree, could focus entirely on taking screenshots during Phase 3 due to his untimely death at the end of Phase 2. He was thus able to capture his guild's final moments on film before they joined him in the afterlife.

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Tired of trolling around the general forums day after day? Sick of only getting to reply to articles on WoW.com, yet never write them?

Do you know more about the game than Ghostcrawler?

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In many ways Wrath of the Lich King can be considered the logical conclusion of one of WarCraft's major story lines. Arthas, the evil sovereign of the scourge, will meet his doom in Icecrown Citadel. Each Wrath patch up until now has lead to this defining moment -- the face off between Arthas and the players representing the next generation of heroes of Azeroth. Who will win? What happens after Arthas is defeated? Is Arthas defeated?

These questions lend themselves to a spectacular conclusion to a great tale. In The Lore of Patch 3.3, Michael Sacco, Alex Ziebart, and I will take a look at all the various plots, characters, and environments that lead up to this grand confrontation with the Lich King.

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Patch 3.3 is here and the old looking for group interface is now gone. The old heroic dailies? Gone. The reputation dungeon daily? Gone. The achievements for doing all of those dailies are now Feats of Strength, because if you didn't have them before, you'll never have them now.

In their place, we get the ability to queue for dungeons in much the same way that you normally queue for battlegrounds. We get the ability to almost instantaneously have our group put together and be teleported directly inside the instance. For those of you who just recently hit 80, there is no crazy GearScore requirements (thank the Earth Mother), no insane dps requirement, and no achievement checking. It removes all of those things that really stink about trying to find a group to get gear from heroics.

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With patch 3.3 just hours away, we thought it might be nice to do a quick list of major addons that have already been updated to give you something to do while waiting for the servers to come back up, then waiting in the login queue, and then waiting for Dalaran to load. You've got a good fifteen minutes worth of downtime just trying to get out of Dalaran. Oh, and don't forget to set your game client to load out of date addons to cover all of the ones that haven't updated yet.

• Deadly Boss Mods
• Decursive
• Deus Vox Encounters
• XLoot
• XLootGroup
• XLootMonitor
• XLootMaster
• Grid
• Bagnon
• Dominos
• OmniCC
• Shadowed Unit Frames
• SpartanUI
• AuctionLite
• ForteXorcist
• BadBoy: Anti Spam
• DrDamage
• VuhDo
• epgp


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With the release of patch 3.3 we can now begin the final assault on Arthas and the Icecrown Citadel. Players will march forth sounding the cry of battle as they go up against the final foes of Wrath of Lich King. As each day passes and each boss falls (and each gate opens), Arthas is one step closer to becoming history.

But Icecrown Citadel and the Frozen Throne isn't the only thing patch 3.3 brings. We've seen perhaps the most significant revamp to instance running ever with the introduction of cross-server instances in the new Dungeon Finder system. In addition, there have been numerous changes elsewhere in game that players are raving over.

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WoW.com's prestige in the community has afforded us the opportunity to speak with major Azerothian leadership figures on any subject, and we're letting you, the reader, Ask a Faction Leader!

We recently spoke to Regent-Lord Lor'themar Theron, interim leader of the blood elves, and he shed light on several key issues, including requisition paperwork, small business ownership, visitor permits, and class confusion. In this installment of Ask a Faction Leader, we'll be sitting with High Shaman Rakjak, leader of the Frenzyheart wolvar tribe.

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Patch 3.3 is here! Rejoice! Be merry! There's new stuff to do! If you're not quite sure where to start, I strongly suggest checking out our patch 3.3 guide. There's many new activities to look forward to. This is the patch where we make Arthas pay for his crimes. The Argent Crusade, with the aid of the Alliance and Horde will be making their final push into Icecrown Citadel and they need your help.

So there's a few things you can start off with:

• Check out the new dungeon finder (and farm those Emblems)!
• Head into the new Icecrown 5-player dungeons
• Try and get the Quel'Delar
• Buy a new bag
• Start planning for the fishing tournament in Northrend
• Assault Icecrown Citadel itself
• Run a nerfed version of Oculus
• Send your Heirlooms to your toons of the opposite faction (on the same account).


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Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI, macro, and addon related.

Welcome to the first test of Icecrown. Once you've blasted your way past the many patrolling skeletons, you'll run into this giant floating bundle of bones. You can consider this boss a warmup compared to the rest of the instance. Marrowgar shouldn't be too taxing on us healers, eh? How hard could he possibly hit anyway?

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Poor Matt. He was just one week off from keeping his Val'anyr. But seriously, it's finally here. Patch 3.3 is the culmination of the Wrath of the Lich King experience. Informed by everything they've learned so far, in class balance, in mechanics, in lore, this is the crown of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. This is the epic climax of one of the main stories of the universe (Still, one would do well to remember that it is not the main story, and there is plenty more lore to be had. There were two games before the Lich King even came on the scene, after all). And of course, beyond it all lies the promise of the Cataclysm, and I can hardly wait.

But before I go into fanboy mode, we'd best move on. There is, of course, a huge downtime coming up in order to facilitate the patch installation, and because of that, you probably have some time to catch up on your reading. I'd definitely recommend you look through our recently and constantly updated Guide to Patch 3.3, which provides a pretty handy roadmap to what's coming. Beyond that, we have our usual roundup of news from the past few days below the cut. Happy reading and Happy Patch 3.3!

Hot News and Features

• One of the most anticipated features of Patch 3.3 is the Dungeon Finder tool. We have a mini-FAQ to help you master this new system.
• WoW, Casually takes a casual look at Patch 3.3.
• It's not easy being fabulous. Just ask this faction leader.
• The WoW magazine needs a new Editor-in-chief.
• Check out what some other news outlets are saying aboutWoW's 5th anniversary.
• Here's some pretty sweet news from Jeff Kaplan: We'll be seeing more Wrathgate-style cut scenes in the future.
• Ghostcrawler talks healing in Cataclysm.
• Wow.com is still looking for Priest and Hunter columnists. Find out how to submit your application at the link.


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Confirming our earlier post, Blizzard poster Zarhym has just announced the release of Patch 3.3: Fall of the Lich King today on the official WoW forums. The complete patch notes are available here on WoW.com or on Blizzard's patch notes page.

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Looking for something to tide you over until the servers turn on with patch 3.3 active? How about a tour through the frigid domain of the Lich King?

The sights and sounds of Icecrown Citadel's three-winged five-man dungeon, the Frozen Halls, come to life in Kinaesthesia's fantastic trailer. Kinaesthesia is a member of <vodka>, the well-known high-end raiding guild, and their videos are known for their professional quality. This one is no exception. In fact, In lieu of an official trailer for Patch 3.3, this is probably the best way to get yourself psyched for tomorrow's patch.

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Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky be your host today.

You're getting The Queue late tonight since all the WoW.com writers are up late. We're sitting around the virtual campfire working on the last bits of our patch 3.3 content for tomorrow. We're going to be publishing a few great guides to the strategies and resources you'll need for both the 5-man dungeons and 10/25-man raids. We're also putting the finishing touches on a look at the lore in patch 3.3 -- it's taken a while to get together, but it's going to be a great piece when it's all done.

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