Love is in The Air - Apothecary Trio
The Love is in the Air world event just started and tons of stuff have been added to the event this year! The most interesting change is the addition of 3 bosses in Shadowfang Keep, for a headless-horseman like daily quest.

All you have to do to fight them is go to Shadowfang Keep in the Silverpine Forest.

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It's time again for another Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that would like to present, once again, its multi-annual state of the mage address. My fellow mages, we are awesome.

First of all, you might be wondering why only 72 volumes. I'll be honest: it has to do with the great zombie apocalypse of 2037. I don't want to give too much away, but let's just say it severely impairs my ability to write. To be frank, the last 15 parts are pretty much just "braiiinns...warlocks....suuuuck...brains...braiiiins..." repeated over and over for a thousand words or so. After that, my zombie-self just loses interest. Some of you may wonder how those columns will be any different from the ones I write now. To you, I say bite me.

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It seems 101 guides are all the rage these days, which makes enhancement shaman 101 a convenient place to start with my inaugural WoW.com post. Playing an enhancement shaman, and playing it well, means dealing with the most extensive spell rotation in the game, having two caps to hit in gearing, and a dozen cooldowns to track. Not to mention the need to run out of fires, avoid whirlwinds, and generally dodge all that hate on melee. It's safe to say enhance is one of the most complex specs to play. It's also one of the most fun.

My favorite part is that we're right up front making a mess of things with both physical and magical damage–to deadly effect. You want to play enhancement? Let's dive right in to get you started!

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The Warcraft timeline of events is a constantly shifting mass of lore information, and while some events and characters remain constant, others have changed significantly over the five-year run of the game. Malfurion Stormrage is one of those characters; noticeably absent from the World of Warcraft scene, his history was dramatically altered with the release of the War of the Ancients trilogy by Richard A. Knaak in 2004. Not only were the events of his youth altered, there were additions and changes made to the war he participated in that directly contradicted events presented in previous Warcraft games. In light of the impending release of the Stormrage novel, also penned by Richard A. Knaak, we're going to take a look at Malfurion, his history in games and novels to date, and what he's been up to so far in the World of Warcraft.


Please note: As the events of the Warcraft novels are considered canon according to Blizzard, I will be using those events as a basis for his history. Keep in mind there is an alternate timeline, but that timeline is no longer applicable -- and if you've got a problem with it, blame Chromie and the rest of the Bronze dragonflight.

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Disclaimer; we are by no means certain that Love Is In the Air is still going to function the same way it did last year. This FAQ covers all of the questions we typically got surrounding the holiday's traditional mechanics, with notes concerning ones we think Blizzard has changed. In the hours after the holiday goes live, I'll be updating both this and our OverAchiever guide to the holiday's achievements extensively to ensure they are accurate for new and returning readers, so don't look at this as anything other than an ambitious placeholder!

Update: We're getting early reports from Oceanic servers that Blizzard has changed or removed many of the RNG elements -- it looks like most of the items needed for the holiday will be purchaseable with Love Tokens, which are rewards from new dailies. More to follow soon.

Help! Where do I go to get started?

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It's four in the morning -- so why, exactly, am I still awake to write WRUP? Personally, I blame BioWare and Mass Effect 2. Not that the game has secret mind control powers (that we're aware of), even though a vast majority of our staff seems to have been sucked into the game this week. Give us a bit of time, and I'm sure we'll all find our way back to Northrend, though. But in the meantime, here's a run-down of what we're playing at WoW.com HQ this weekend and -- in honor of the upcoming holiday -- we talk about our favorite in-game events.

• Alex Ziebart (@alexziebart): I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life post-Mass Effect 2. What am I supposed to do while I wait for Mass Effect 3? Live a normal life? Absurd. Can't I just go into a cryogenic slumber until 2012? My favorite in-game holiday is the one that doesn't make my entire guild cry about achievements for a week. I don't think they make those anymore, unfortunately.
• Allison Robert (@AllisonRobert): Spending another weekend trying to convince myself to knuckle down and level my shammy's jewelcrafting, but otherwise I'm just going to have some fun running around on my druid. Very early Sunday morning I'll be running around the site updating and expanding our Love Is In the Air coverage for all you insomniacs out there. Later on I expect my usual Sunday-night 10-man is probably going to be delayed for the Super Bowl, because everyone in the guild but me is a football fanatic. Favorite holiday? Children's Week, barring School of Hard Knocks (VIOLENT hatred for that achievement). I always loved the questlines to take the kids around to see all the different sights. I also really like the Lunar Festival and the Midsummer Fire Festival.
• Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey): Leveling another priest. I don't know why I need two, but it sounded like a good idea in theory. Oh, and I hear there's this crazy ball game this weekend or something. Favorite holiday: Noblegarden! Now if they'd only make that Blossoming Branch with infinite charges... [Editor's note: Fox provides an answer to the question of why one needs multiple priests. "Probably because, FACT: Priests are the most awesome ever. My own research shows that the average player has 8 priest toons. This is a fact. Fact!"]
• Amy Schley: I'm going to a WoW party Friday night, though I'm not sure if we're going to PUG heroics, try a raid, or help level up a friend's girlfriend's first toon. Saturday, I have an IP Licensing Agreement to draft for homework, plus I need to polish up my dissertation and the fix the last bits for Monday's column. Sunday will include a Superbowl Commercial Party and any other leftover homework. I like the Lunar and Fire Festivals -- I get tons of money plus a reason to work on my exploration achievements.
• Brian Wood:slogging through the v-day quests to bring myself one small step close to a faster mount, and working on making the goblins hate me a bit less. I now greatly regret participating in the slaughter of Booty Bay and wish the cartel would accept my sincerest apologies. My favorite holidays are the ones that aren't part of the meta, 'cause I can ignore them. I yearn for the day I'm done with the meta and can go back to ignoring all holidays
• C. Christian Moore (@thearenaguy): I was born to play holy paladin. Gearing her up. Doing some old school raids for the 60 retadin. Working on a few projects other than that. And I hate in-game holidays other than halloween. I just like halloween because i like the costumes.
  
• Daniel Whitcomb (@danielwhitcomb): I've got a few more side quests to finish up on Mass Effect 2, then I'll be free to plunge back into WoW full time again. I still need to earn a few more emblems to catch my death knight's tank gear offset up, and I need to work on a feral gear offset for my druid. I'm also thinking I want to get my hunter and warlock to 80 before Cataclysm drops, so I may start leveling one of them in earnest this weekend. Oh, and I like the Lunar festival myself. Fun exploration, Moonglow liquor, cool holiday clothes, and night elf cultural love.
• Elizabeth Wachowski (@leeatwaterlives): Hopefully I'll get close to finishing Mass Effect 2, but I'm working, so I doubt it. I'll mess around with Final Fantasy VI on my DS at work, and maybe re-finish the ending of Bioshock so as to better prepare myself for the sequel. I am lazy and generally do not like in-game holidays, but I always have a soft spot for Children's Week. I like in-game pets.
• Fox Van Allen (@foxvanallen): This weekend, I'm doing a Naxx drinking game run. That is just how responsible an adult I am. I think the Midsummer Fire Festival is my favorite, mostly for nostalgia reasons. It was the first holiday I ever seriously participated in, I was able to get that silly little fire elemental pet, and the experience gain from participating is what got my priest to level 80.
• Kelly Aarons (@Cadistra): Still recovering from surgery. Doing things like sleeping in (gasp!), being social (gasp!) and FINALLY GETTING MY MAIN TO 80. OYE. As for favorite holiday, I'd say I like the Lunar Festival, and the Midsummer Fire Festival. It's so...passionate.
• Lisa Poisso (@emused): It's an offline, electronics-dark weekend here – just me and some good books. Well, and maybe a few movies, too. And as for my favorite holiday – as a player with completionist tendencies, I refuse to be sucked into this trickery.
• Matt Low (@matticus): Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect 2, Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2. My favourite in-game holiday has always been Beerfest.
• Mathew McCurley (@gomatgo): Mass Effect 2 will probably take up Saturday morning with some WoW sprinkled in over the weekend. My cat really enjoys watching me play Mass Effect for some reason...
• Matthew Rossi (@matthewwrossi): The Lich King Must Die. Well, okay, Various Assorted Scourge Hangers-On Must Die. But After Them, Totally The Lich King's Turn.
• Michael Sacco (@mikesacco): Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 2. Mass Effect 2.
• Rich Maloy (@stoneybaby): This weekend I'll be getting after Arthas (ICC10) in game. Outside of game I'll be enjoying a snowy Saturday in NYC. The city is gorgeous when the snow first comes down, unfortunately you have to spend the next week dodging snirt and slush on the sidewalks and cross walks. My favorite holiday is Brewfest. Mmm beer. I had that Brewfest mount on Stoney the first year and earned the Brewmaster title on two toons when it became available. I love the regularly scheduled iron dwarf invasions and the mechanics to repel them, oh and did I mention the beer?
• Robin Torres (@cosmiclaurel): Various flavors of Rock Band, some Toontown, and some LFG duo action. My favorite in-game holiday is whatever one is going on at any time. I refuse to choose!
• Tyler Caraway: Tanking ICC 10 on my paladin, going off to level my Hunter, and spending Saturday night being inebriated and listening to the repetitive thumpa-thumpa of dance music. Just a standard weekend for me. My favorite holiday is Nobelgarden because I love bunnies and it's the only time of year people don't laugh at me for running around Dalaran in my stripper outfit.


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Tauren shaman Shocktopus, of our very own <It Came From The Blog> on Zangarmarsh, has already managed to explore the entire world at only level 14. But low-level exploring can lead to unwanted attention from the local wildlife. Looks like his new title is about to be "Thresher Food Shocktopus."

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I hate leveling. I despise it with a burning wrath. I enjoyed it well enough the first time, but I never, ever want to have to do it again. I only have one max level character because I cannot bring myself to level another through all the pain and blood and hog organs.

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Creative is giving away 20 of the new Soundblaster World of Warcraft Headsets from their Facebook page. Just become a fan and comment on the appropriate thread in order to enter the drawing.

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Recent In-Game Fixes - February 2010 - 02/05
Quote from: Bornakk (Source)Listed below are recent fixes we have applied to the game. Keep in mind that some of these changes may not be active until after the realm has been restarted.

To review previous in-game fixes, please visit: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=21723843880&sid=1

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