It's time again for another Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that thinks nothing's prettier than a mage on a balcony in Dalaran, tearing through the fabric of space with a violent explosion of arcane energy.

Ah...best in slot.

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After three snow storms and some milk and cookies, I've managed to whittle down all the submissions readers sent in for the bank alt screen shot contest! It wasn't easy, though; we received hundreds of very creative submissions from readers around the globe. What you see is just a fraction of the submissions that came in.

Continue reading to see the submissions and vote for your favorite finalist!

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It's a holiday weekend, so you know what that means for the WoW.com team -- and, no, it's not going out and celebrating in real life. Or, at least, while some of us may be celebrating off in reality, all of us are celebrating in Azeroth. And if you'd like to join the celebration with us? There's no better way than by joining us for today's holiday extravaganza. And if you're enjoying the holiday weekend -- or even if you aren't -- why not head over to the comments to let us know what you're playing this weekend?

• Adam Holisky (@adamholisky): Doctor Who Season 4, thanks to @faience.
• Alex Ziebart (@alexziebart): Our Sunday raid was called off for some silly holiday. They called it Valentine's Day or something? I have no idea, it sounded bizarre. Chances are good I'll just be playing Prince of Persia on the 360 all weekend so I can finally send it back to Gamefly and get something else. I hate sending back games I haven't finished.
• Anne Stickney (@Shadesogrey): Hoping the Sunday raid doesn't get canceled in favor of Valentine's Day. Messing around on an alt or two when the raid does get canceled in favor of Valentine's Day.
• Amy Schley: I'll be enjoying the first weekend of our first spring break. (Technically, it's a mini-term, but I'm not taking any classes.) WoW-wise, Loremaster of the Eastern Kindgoms is almost done so I can move on to Kalimdor, and I'll be attending the <It Came from the Blog> on my "Patent" troll. Feel free to shower me with petals.
• Basil Berntsen: I'm not going to have time to do anything but the most basic logging in a taking care of profession cooldowns. I'll be watching the level one and a half human while my wife works, and trying to record the first live episode of the hunting party podcast with Brian on Saturday.
• C. Christian Moore (@thearenaguy): I've got nothing to do, no where to go-e-oh. I wanna be sedated. Hanging out with the wife this weekend. We're stocked up on food and drink, got plenty of snow to play in, and I don't have anything due for next week. Life is good.
• Christian Belt (@ihatewarlocks): Trying not to anger my wife with my Valentines Day offerings. I will come before her, head bowed low, and present her with chocolates, flowers, a decorative card of some type, the firstlings of my flock, and the blood of seven virgins. Or maybe we'll just go out to PF Chang's.
• Daniel Whitcomb (@danielwhitcomb): It's a very, very busy weekend out in meatspace for me, but I may try to squeeze in the Valentine achievements on my druid before they go away for another year.
• Fox Van Allen (@foxvanallen): Spending the weekend with the boyfriend, trying to repair the damage that Warcraft has done to our relationship through the use of valentines and chocolate bribes. (Also, I will be spending this weekend playing Warcraft. Please do not tell the boyfriend.)
• Elizabeth Wachowski (@leeatwaterlives): Finishing Mass Effect 2 and having some quiet time with my boyfriend and Bioshock 2. Never thought I'd feel sorry for Andrew Ryan ...
• Gregg Reece: I'm playing some nice romantic music for my wife on Sunday... Which should distract her long enough for a quick raid.
• Joe Perez (@Lodurzj): Getting ready to push through ICC25 Putricide, Blood Queen and the Frost wing, playing massive amounts of Mass Effect 2 (and going full renegade this time), spending some well deserved quality time cuddling up with Bioshock 2 and then finding time to celebrate Valentines day by taking in The Wolfman!
• Kelly Aarons (@Cadistra): I'll hopefully be doing my first Naxx run (yes, go ahead and laugh), and continue on those sweet, sweet random heroics. I'll also be attending a Chinese New Year festival in the heart of the city, and trying desperately to dodge and push my way through the visiting Olympic horde that's taken over our fair city.
• Lisa Poisso (@emused): Coming to Love is in the Blog on Saturday; otherwise, playing in the snow!
• Matt Low (@matticus): Olympics are starting here in Vancouver. Go team Canada!
• Mathew McCurley (@gomatgo): I'll be finishing Mass Effect 2 over the long weekend and hopefully getting a few cracks at the Lich King with my 10 man on Saturday. Also, shaman hit 40 and I hear it becomes fun now...
• Matthew Rossi (@matthewwrossi): Playing the "oh my lord my stomach has hurt for days and I feel like I have a fever" game that I've been playing since Monday.
• Michael Sacco (@mikesacco): Broadband internet, thanks to @faience.
• Rich Maloy (@stoneybaby): ICC10 on Friday night, hopefully continue on Saturday night. Then some QT with the GF on Sunday. Unfortunately I have to work on Monday so no crazy late night Valentine's Day parties.
• Robin Torres (@cosmiclaurel): I'll be at the Love is in the Blog event on Saturday and enjoying some overlapping holiday fun on Sunday, sprinkled with a couple flavors of Rock Band throughout the weekend. Also, Sunday is the first Chocolate Day of the year! Woot! Happy Chocolate Day! (The other three coincide with Easter, Halloween and Christmas.)
• Tyler Caraway (@Murmurs): When I'm not at work, I'll be doing some testing on crit depression for casters against high level mobs, then it's off to ICC 10. No big SAD plans for me, maybe spending quality time with some ice cream and a nice zombie flick.
• Zach Yonzon (@Battlemasters): Excited to try out the new key mapping features of the Razer Naga after Razer released the v2.0 drivers for the Mac. It's another learning curve, but I figure once I get this one down pat, I really should be set. This Sunday also happens to be Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year, so it's going to be pretty busy. Looking forward to those red envelopes in game as well in real life. Probably more in real life.


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Today! Mix with the WoW.com staff! Then do Love is in the Air quests! Do it!:

• When: 5:30pm EST (2:30pm PST, 3:30pm realm time) Saturday, February 13 2010 (Show up at 5pm EST for the Meet and Greet)
• Where: Court of the Sun fountain, Silvermoon City Zangarmarsh U.S.
• Who: Any Horde character, any level.
• What: Love is in the Air daily quests.
• How: Ask Robinator, Robiness or any It came from the Blog Lurker or above for an invite to the guild.

I am so excited about the Meet and Greet. Many, many of my fellow WoW.com staffers have said they will be there sometime during the pre-event mixer. We'll be hanging out by the fountain in the Court of the Sun, Silvermoon City until 5:30pm. Then we'll start the Love is in the Blog event proper.

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Love is in the air, and for those who love an hour or so of WoW discussion, there's no better place than the WoW Insider Show! We return to the airwaves today at 3:30 PM Eastern time, with your host Michael Sacco, cohost Matthew Rossi, and special guest hosts Amy Schley (our new legal columnist) and Mat McCurley (our new Addon/UI columnist). We'll be answering reader emails, shootin' the breeze, and discussing the week's top stories on WoW.com and around the web.

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It's tough to pick flowers for your sweetheart on Valentine's Day when all you can find is icy Northrend blooms. Saiydee of <Eternal> on Ysera has found a nice sprig of Lichbloom to serve as a base. Toss in some Talandra's Rose and Goldclover and you'd have a decent, if cold, bouquet.

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We've gotten a lot of news lately about the timing of Cataclysm. It's confirmed for this year, though likely in the latter half. There will be a big pre-expansion patch before its release. Duh. And we're going to have some PvP and PvE content before that big patch. Many are speculating about what the PvE content will be.

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The Future of World of Warcraft: TCG
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)As some of you may already be aware, we will not be renewing the World of Warcraft: The Trading Card Game license with Upper Deck. We want to assure you that we are committed to supporting the TCG, and players can look forward to new content and strong organized play support in the near future. We will share additional details about the game’s transition to a new partner as soon as possible. For those awaiting tournament prizes, we will ensure you receive them. Now, what does it really mean for the future of WoW: TCG? At this point we don't really know what will happen to the current version of the Trading Card Game, we can just assume that your Spectral Tiger card will be worth "the price of a small car on ebay" in a couple of years. However, if you're only interested in the mount, you might want to wait a little before you buy everything you can.

About two years ago, Slouken slowly left World of Warcraft to start working on an "unnanounced project", at this point I just assumed it was the unannounced MMO. I was wrong: Blizzard created a new development team in 2008 to work on an online conversion of the World of Warcraft: Trading Card game and Slouken seems to lead the project (or at least the recruitment, according to a few offers he posted online). This new game is most likely why the partnership between UDE and Blizzard died.

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Just when you thought it was safe: The following realms will be undergoing emergency maintenance today from 2:00 a.m. PST / 5:00 a.m. EST until 7:00 a.m. PST / 10 a.m. EST. This maintenance is to resolve performance issues on a large number of realms. If there are any issues that extend this emergency maintenance period, we'll update this post.

See below for the full list of affected realms.

• Aegwynn
• Agamaggan
• Aggramar
• Akama
• Alexstrasza
• Alleria
• Aman'Thul
• Arathor
• Argent Dawn
• Arthas
• Azgalor
• Azjol-Nerub
• Azshara
• Baelgun
• Balnazzar
• Barthilas
• Blackhand
• Blackrock
• Bleeding Hollow
• Bloodhoof
• Bloodscalp
• Bonechewer
• Boulderfist
• Bronzebeard
• Burning Blade
• Burning Legion
• Caelestrasz
• Cho'gall
• Chromaggus
• Crushridge
• Daggerspine
• Dark Iron
• Darkspear
• Dath'Remar
• Destromath
• Dethecus
• Detheroc
• Draenor
• Dragonblight
• Dragonmaw
• Draka
• Drakkari
• Drak'thul
• Dreadmaul
• Dunemaul
• Durotan
• Earthen Ring
• Eitrigg
• Eldre'Thalas
• Elune
• Emerald Dream
• Eonar
• Eredar
• Feathermoon
• Firetree
• Frostmane
• Frostmourne
• Frostwolf
• Garithos
• Garona
• Gilneas
• Gorefiend
• Gorgonnash
• Greymane
• Gul'dan
• Gundrak
• Gurubashi
• Hakkar
• Hellscream
• Illidan
• Jubei'Thos
• Kael'thas
• Kalecgos
• Kargath
• Khaz Modan
• Khaz'goroth
• Kil'jaeden
• Kilrogg
• Kirin Tor
• Korgath
• Kul Tiras
• Laughing Skull
• Lightninghoof
• Lightning's Blade
• Llane
• Lothar
• Madoran
• Maelstrom
• Magtheridon
• Malfurion
• Malorne
• Malygos
• Mannoroth
• Medivh
• Moonrunner
• Mug'thol
• Muradin
• Nagrand
• Nathrezim
• Nazjatar
• Ner'zhul
• Perenolde
• Proudmoore
• Quel'Thalas
• Ragnaros
• Ravencrest
• Rexxar
• Runetotem
• Sargeras
• Saurfang
• Scarlet Crusade
• Sen'jin
• Shadow Council
• Shadowmoon
• Shadowsong
• Shattered Hand
• Silver Hand
• Silvermoon
• Skullcrusher
• Skywall
• Smolderthorn
• Spinebreaker
• Spirestone
• Staghelm
• Stonemaul
• Stormrage
• Stormreaver
• Stormscale
• Suramar
• Terenas
• Thaurissan
• Thorium Brotherhood
• Thunderhorn
• Thunderlord
• Tichondrius
• Trollbane
• Twisting Nether
• Uldum
• Ursin
• Vek'nilash
• Warsong
• Whisperwind
• Wildhammer
• Windrunner
• Zul'jin


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Ready Check is a column focusing on successful raiding for the serious raider. Hardcore or casual, Vault of Archavon or Icecrown Citadel, everyone can get in on the action and down some bosses.

You might have heard that the east coast recently got slammed by an epic blizzard. Sure, sure, you folks out in Minnesota or Wisconsin are used to getting 50 inches of snow in the middle of summer. Heck, August only means your snowfall dwindles to a mere two or three inches. But out here on the right coast, from about Baltimore down to Florida, "snow" is something that we mostly see inside globes and Northrend.

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We recently broke the news that Upper Deck would no longer be producing the WoW TCG, and Blizzard poster Zarhym has popped by to say that they still have plans for the TCG:
"As some of you may already be aware, we will not be renewing the World of Warcraft: The Trading Card Game license with Upper Deck. We want to assure you that we are committed to supporting the TCG, and players can look forward to new content and strong organized play support in the near future. We will share additional details about the game's transition to a new partner as soon as possible. For those awaiting tournament prizes, we will ensure you receive them." Of course, this isn't too surprising, really. As it turns out, sources close to the TCG say that all development and art for the game has been done inside Blizzard for a year or more -- Upper Deck has only been providing the printing. They've either been preparing for the switch for quite a while, or ... well, I can't really think of any other reasons. Why go elsewhere when you could get it done internally anyway?

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