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, from the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.

Whoa ... Was that a book on WoW and philosophy on that display rack? Why yes, it was. World of Warcraft and Philosophy, edited by Luke Cuddy and John Nordlinger, has been attracting double-takes in bookstores since last fall. With selections by philosophers from all over the globe, the book covers issues topics such as ethics, economics, gender identity and metaphysics through WoW-tinted lenses. But this is no dusty, academic tome. Roleplaying, cybersex and the infamous Corrupted Blood plague are all on the menu in this lively, readable tome targeted at fans of WoW.

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Every week, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting druids and those who group with them. This week, we go to pet our kitties and discover that they are not there.

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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. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.

It's been awhile since I've done listening music for The Queue. It's a lot of fun to do, but we do it so often here on WoW.com that it's starting to get a little stale. I've started to miss doing it though, so here you go. Today's listening music is some fantastic Rhett and Link, who you probably have never heard on the radio. Which is a shame.

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I feel the need... the need for another Battleground Bonanza! This Saturday, join It Came from the Blog for some Battleground fun. Here are the particulars:

• When: Saturday, January 16th, 4:30pm EST (1:30pm PST, 2:30pm Server time)
• Where: The Hall of the Brave (where the Battlemasters are), Orgrimmar, Zangarmarsh U.S.
• Who: Any level 10 or above Horde character.
• How: Ask any It came from the Blog Lurker or Robinator for a guild invite.
• What: Battleground premades

Robinator, my constantly underdressed (they're called trousers, I swear!) level 69 mage, will be playing in the 60's range BGs. We will be forming groups and hitting as many level/group-size appropriate BGs as we can for an hour or so. If you can't make it to the Hall of the Brave in time for the event, you will miss out on the first screenshot, but will still be able to participate. If you are unfamiliar with Battleground play, please do some homework so that it will be more fun for both you and your teammates.

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In patch 3.3 we gained the ability to view what quests we had completed. This ability was given to us through a backend API call that returned a list of completed quest IDs. While the normal user wouldn't be able to do anything with this data, addon authors rejoiced as they now had a mechanism to find out exactly what quests you had, and thus hadn't, completed yet.

There are a few addons now that let you see exactly what quests you have left to do on your way to Loremaster, and in this AddOn Spotlight we'll take a look at my personal favorite, EveryQuest. EveryQuest is a well integrated addon that existed prior to patch 3.3, where it would track all the quests you did since you installed EveryQuest. However now the functionality has been extended and serves as my preferred method in advancing my questing achievements.

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Welcome to Lichborne, the weekly death knight column. This week, your host is in a bit of a tanking mood. Those Emblems of Frost don't earn themselves!
So when the Dungeon Finder came out, it was pretty cool even for DPS. A 10 minute wait for a DPS slot for a 5-man dungeon is pretty insanely awesome. If nothing else, it was certainly faster than the old way of sitting in Dalaran for 2 hours picking your nose and watching the LFG channel.

Now that the dungeon finder has been around for a while though, things are getting a bit stickier for DPS. My server averages around 15-20 minutes for a level 80, and I've heard some battlegroups are up to 30-45 minutes, even at prime time. To make matters worse, tanks and healers can continue to boast instant or near-instant queues almost everywhere, leaving the poor DPS green with envy.

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

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digg_url = 'http://digg.com/movies/Sam_Raimi_s_next_project_is_the_Warcraft_movie'; According to Ain't It Cool News, Sam Raimi's next project will be the Warcraft movie. This follows on yesterday's announcement that Spider-Man 4 is canceled, and that Raimi is done with the Spider-Man franchise. The Spider-Man movie series is going to undergo a reboot (yes, already) with entirely new cast and crew, which means Raimi is free to work on other projects.

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Circles is the first machinima creation by Moonora the Mooing Druid. She has some background in broadcasting and is apparently a long-time watcher of Moviewatch. After some consideration, she decided to try her own hand at World of Warcraft machinima.

I think her first attempt is pretty successful. The video does justice to the song, which is usually the first acid test for whether or not a music video can stand on its own merit. Her animation and graphics seem smooth and convincing. The pace of the vidoe goes well with the song's vibrant energy, and the whole thing comes together fairly well.

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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.

	Rumor: Blizzard's next MMO to be an MMOFPS Yep, another MMO rumor for you guys about the Blizzard's next title. While Blizzard has been very adamant in saying that their next MMO would be very different from World of Warcraft, there might be more difference here than just the game's setting.
	CES 2010: LEGO Universe unveils trailer full of zombie pirate awesome As if the idea behind the LEGO Universe MMO wasn't already pretty awesome in our books, this shiny new trailer straight from the CES floor has cranked up the previous levels of awesome to 11. In the new launch trailer we're treated to zombie pirates, ninjas, characters building race cars in bullet-time, rockets, and all manner of other cool-looking LEGO craziness.
	Funcom threatening to delete noob Age of Conan characters When it comes to character deletions, just about every MMO out there has a clause in their Terms of Service that indicates they have the right to delete your characters at any time and for no reason whatsoever. With that said, there are very few companies that choose to exercise that right.

	An interview with Allods Online: CBT4 and beyond Allods Online has certainly gained some interest in the last few months since their closed beta began. Even if you've never played the game, you can't help but drool over the screenshots and videos we've been posting.
	A quick Star Trek Online PvP interview with Jack Emmert We recently had the opportunity to ask Cryptic's Jack Emmert a few questions regarding Star Trek Online and its PvP elements. With the looming open beta (tomorrow!) and similarly imminent February 2nd launch, we consider ourselves lucky to get some fairly definitive answers on topics like the game's Cryptic Store and the Klingon faction's future -- including if deeper customization is in the wings or not.
	Would you buy a magazine dedicated to your MMO? Both EVE Online and World of Warcraft now offer a high quality official magazine to anyone interested. Is this going to become a trend? Sure, you could argue that World of Warcraft's immense subscriber base supports such a venture, but what about the considerably smaller (although no less dedicated) EVE Online base? That game has seemingly started this whole business of MMO magazines and EON is still around and kicking.
	Socializing is dead. Isn't it? Well actually, that's a tough one. Certainly, the perception that socialization is becoming a lesser factor to more and more developers has become the norm among most people. That doesn't necessarily mean they're correct. So, let's examine the general landscape of yesteryear and beyond to see what's really going on when it comes to human interaction in our massively multiplayer online games.
	Star Trek Online pre-orders topping Direct2Drive sales Some people may be apprehensive about the speed with which Cryptic is rolling out Star Trek Online, but that isn't slowing down the pre-orders at all. It seems that the majority of fans remain anxious to get their hands on the game. For the week of December 27th - January 2nd, pre-orders of the Star Trek Online Digital Deluxe edition took the number one spot for sales at Direct2Drive. Pre-orders of the regular edition of STO made a showing as well, coming in at number ten.

Two minor in-game fixes that were applied last night to the game. These fixes should be active once the servers come back up later this morning/afternoon. They're modifying the Professor Putricide encounter just a tad, and should make a couple annoyances with the fight go away.

The fixes as enumerated by Bornakk are:

• Professor Putricide's Tear Gas will no longer remove player auras.
• The Growing Ooze Puddles in the Professor Putricide encounter will no longer continue to grow while players are stunned.


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Hell hath no fury like an undead woman scorned, as Flówers of Kilrogg-EU recently learned. She's been having an illicit affair with a Forsaken rogue. Unfortunately, the happy couple was caught in the act by his wife, who happened to also be a particularly skilled rogue. Flówers had no choice but to grab her clothes off the floor and run from the furious fan of knives. But she might have been in too much of a hurry -- as you can see, she accidentally took her paramour's shoulders and chestpiece!

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Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. Today, we have another bout of long expected downtime, with the 5 to 11 AM downtime having been announced way back on Saturday. I'm betting it's to get those Cataclysm alpha servers set up, but we'll see. In fact, in addition to rumblings of new Cataclysm news, these past few days have all been about news of the distant future. Some news about the cancellation of Spiderman 4 might just herald things for the Warcraft movie, for example.

In more immediate news, the Plaguewerks have opened up, and people have had a chance to face the new bosses. If you haven't delved in yet, or even if you have, you may find some helpful hints for taking them down right here. Regardless, you have around 6 hours to browse WoW news while you wait for the servers to come back up, so I have the usual list of good stuff to read after the break.

Hot News and Features

• Here's an interesting slice of news: Blizzard may be making Authenticators mandatory.
• Blizzard recently (and blessedly) changed some somewhat weak account security and reimbursement policies after our articles on hacked character restoration and using the billing department to scam free gold went up.
• The tweaks and hot fixes continue. Check out some of the latest as of January 5th.
• Arena season 7's end date has been announced. Are you prepared?
• Crimson Hall, the next wing of Icecrown Citadel, may be opening sooner than you think.
• Know Your Lore takes a look at the Old Horde.
• Know your way around a Riptide and a Windfury alike? We may be able to use you.
• The WoW magazine is now shipping.


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One of my favorite things about World of Warcraft is how much culture seeps into the game. I don't mean the influences of Asian architecture in Moonglade, or the Native American aesthetic of the Tauren race. I mean the references to internet memes, pop culture, and literature. These little things always make me smile, and they're one of the many things I missed during the 17 days I played Aion last year. Eastern games might have been where I found my first love, but it's Blizzard's flair and style that turned me on to American game development. In fact, those little jokes are a lot like a warm blanket that keeps me toasty warm on those chilly nights...

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Heroic instances nerfs in the next patch
Apparently, the Oculus was only the first heroic instance to be nerfed and a lot of them are on the list for the next patch (or even later in the case of CoS). You might not agree with all these changes but some of them will probably make a few bosses less annoying ...
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)Ahn'kahet, the Old Kingdom
With that said, we plan on making some changes to The Old Kingdom in the next minor patch. For instance, Elder Nadox will only get one Ahn'Kahar Guardian and Jadoga Shadowseeker will only use her Ascend ability once during their respective encounters. In addition, a couple of the stagnant groups of bad dudes between the Befouled Terrace and The Desecrated Altar will be removed, while some of the roaming groups will have their pathing altered. These changes are not to make this instance easier, but rather to make it a slightly quicker run and more in line with some of the other Wrath dungeons.

Nexus
I think you mean Anomalus. Yes, he will use his Create Rift ability less often. [...]

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Zarhym popped into one of the many official forum topics complaining about the seemingly inordinate amount of times Old Kingdom pops on the Dungeon Finder to offer some welcome news for exhausted dungeon runners: Old Kingdom and Nexus alike will be receiving some adjustments meant to bring the dungeons in line with other Wrath heroics.

Old Kingdom will receive the most changes. Elder Nadox will spawn only one Ahn'Kahar Guardian and Jedoga Shadowseeker will ascend only once in their respective encounters. In addition, some static trash groups will be removed, while some roaming groups will have their paths altered. He stressed that these changes are not meant to make the dungeon easier, but rather to make it a slightly quicker run, more in line with other heroics. He also acknowledged that the dungeon finder made the daily quest associated with the dungeon somewhat complicated to obtain and turn in, and while the dev team would like to fix it, they still haven't found a satisfactory solution.

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