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Archive for the ‘Blizzard’ Category

Apparently there’s a new Trojan about that can intercept Blizzard Authenticator codes and send the wrong code back to Blizzard. It can enable a hacker to change your password, steal all your hard earned goodies… and reach out of the computer and slap you (ok I made that last part up, but if you don’t have an anti virus or take precautions perhaps you should get slapped! )

If you’re infected with this Trojan, when you log into your WOW account via the authenticator the Trojan will intercept the authenticator code, send it to the hacker and send a wrong code to blizzard. So, you’ll get an error and the hacker will get the code and be able to access your account!  If you are infected, you have the file name“emcor.dll” on your computer. It will probably be at “C:\Users\(Your user name)\AppData\Temp

So, though the authenticator may give you an added sense of security, it is not foolproof, so remember to be careful what you download and use a virus scanner!

Source

Now, I know that the holidays are rapidly coming to a close here, but I did find some holiday-related machinima this week that I thought truly worthy of sharing with everyone, so here goes!

• First we have one from NinthBatter, which is part of his ever popular “Nobody Like You” series.  This one is all about Hanukkah…and I have to say, I had NO idea Arthas was Jewish!! 
• Next up is a pretty cool one from Oxhorn that is part of his Christmas for Geeks album that we featured here last week.  It’s called It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like This Raid Isn’t Going to Happen (longest title ever) and I had to include it this week as I know it’s one we can all relate to on some level!
• Lastly we have one for  you from Firebolt Productions called Northrend Wonderland.  This one is hilarious as it shows a loyal servant of the Lich King trying to cheer him up…the way he does it is pretty great!  And anytime I get to hear the Lich King sing is WIN! in my book!

Ok, well that’s what we have for you this week in our belated holiday version of Movie of the Week.  See you next year!

This week’s Comic Corner contains some newcomers and a few funnies from our favorite WoW-related web comics.   You can check out this week’s picks below!

• First we have one from Dungeons and Draenei that shows just how little respect Resto Druids get around here!  Too funny…I love the look they’re giving in the second to last frame!!
• Next I found another one from Slash AFK, this is a fairly new one to us since we have only featured it one other time, but I have to admit I really like the “Emo” feel of this comic strip…it makes it stand out from the rest!
• Next up is a total newcomer to our Comic Corner from ITG and it shows the De-Evolution of the Quest.  This one really had me laughing thinking about how we all used to spend hours running around looking for quest objectives and now…we wiki or heck it’s even built into the game for us these days!
• Now we have one from one of my personal favorites, NPC called Of Avatar and Avatars.  Now this one really made me laugh because a guy friend of mine had stated after seeing Avatar that he was now only interested in 10 ft. tall blue chicks with tails…lol…yes I am talking about YOU Billy!!  Anyhow I thought this was pretty hilarious!
• Ok, lastly we have one from NoObz! which is a continuation of their Commandments Series.  This one had me laughing petty hard too…points out a nice play on words!

So, that wraps up the Comic Corner for this week!  Happy New Year everyone and we will see you back here next year!

This week’s movie is one from Silverlined Productions and I think it’s quite suiting considering the proximity to the release of 3.3.  Revenge Act 2 is another teaser vidoe for the Revenge movie which will hopefully be coming soon!  In this video, our hero is finally getting the chance at a show down with the Lich King, which is truly appropriate since patch 3.3 is releasing to day to live realms.  This is an excellent video just like the first one and I love the way our main character, Nixxiom, is idealized into the perfect hero!  I cannot wait to see the final film once it is all done…but isn’t that the point of the trailer?  To keep us wanting more?  Well it has worked!

This week’s comics are some pretty good ones, so if you’re in the mood for a good laugh…check ‘em out below:

• The first one this week is from NPC and it’s called Sensibilities and it touches on real life vs. game world…cute!
• The second one is also from NPC and I LOVE this one!  It kind of pokes fun at the recent news of WoW’s ultimate Overachiever!
• Next we have one from NoObz! which is a continuation of their commandments series and it should serve as a warning to all of us!
• Now we have one from Experience Points where Vince decides to stop complaining and work!  Or maybe not…
• Lastly we have one for you from Fail Druid…I wish I would have found this one sooner since it has a Thanksgiving theme, but that’s ok it’s still cute!

Well that’s it for the Comic Corner this week, we’ll catch you right here next week!

3.3 is releasing today to live servers!  Below are the latest patch notes available at the time of this post!  Enjoy!

General

• Icecrown Citadel
  • All three wings of the 5-player dungeon are currently available for testing.
  • Select encounters in the 10- and 25-player raid dungeon are available for limited testing.
  • Additional Icecrown Citadel raid content will be made available in future test builds. For more information and testing schedules please visit our Test Realm forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?forumId=11572&sid=1
• Quel’Delar Quest Chain: The Battered Hilt, the item needed to start this quest line, can now be purchased from all glyph vendors on the public test realms.
• Character Creation: The descriptions for races, classes, and race/class combinations have been improved to provide new players with a better idea of the roles and advantages of each class and race.
• Dazed: Creatures attacking a player from behind can no longer cause players level 1-5 to be dazed, and have a reduced chance to cause players level 6-10 to be dazed.
• Knockbacks no longer dismount players. If on a flying mount, you will be knocked back a short distance before being able to resume flying.
• The existing /welcome emote now greets/welcomes targets (character says “hello”), while the new /yw is for saying “you’re welcome.”
• Many of the tail sweeps with knockback effects will no longer hit players’ pets.
• Level 1 characters no longer start with food or water in their inventory.
• Attack is now called Auto Attack. The tooltip has been changed to reflect that the player will continue automatically attacking a target.
• Meeting Stones: To use any Meeting Stone, it is only required that the character’s minimum level be 15. There is no maximum character level requirement for any Meeting Stone.
• Copied Test Realm characters will no longer be copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.

Read the rest of this entry »

In a recent interview J. Allen Brack touched on the subject of character model changes and when/if we might be seeing them.  Now we all know that many players have been expressing their discontent with the pre-BC character models since they aren’t as “pretty” as the Blood Elves and Draenei.  Others like the old school models and claim that they are part of the character of the game.  And now with the impending arrival of the Goblin and Worgen race (who will certainly be quite impressive) players of the earlier persuasion are getting even more antsy!  See what J. Allen had to say about it…

“Even though things would be better with new (character) models, we’d probably spark a lot of player outrage. So we’ve talked about giving players a choice between the classic models or the new ones, but it might not be something we want to take on at the same time as we remake Azeroth.”

So, it sounds to me like he’s saying that yes, they are considering it, but it will likely not arrive with Cataclysm.  Well…hopefully shortly after…after all much of Azeroth is getting a makeover, so why not my Orc? 

The 3.3 patch notes have been updated! These latest changes will likely make most Rogues and Warlocks happy as they are receiving some much due attention. There are also a whole slew of new bug fixes. Check out the latest version of the notes below.

Paladin

• Divine Intervention: This ability now also removes Exhaustion or Sated from a target if the recipient is out of combat when the effect ends. In addition, the cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.

Priest

• Shadowform: This talent also now causes Devouring Plague and Vampiric Touch to benefit from haste. Both the period length and the duration of these spells will be reduced by haste. In addition, the mana cost has been reduced from 32% to 13% of base mana.

Rogue

• Deadly Poison: In addition to its existing effects, when a rogue applies Deadly Poison to a target which has already reached the maximum number of applications, this will also trigger the poison which the rogue is using on his or her other weapon.
• Improved Poisons: Bonus chance to trigger Deadly Poison from this talent increased.

Shaman

• Elemental Mastery: This talent now increases spell haste by 15% instead of critical strike chance while active.

Warlock

• Improved Drain Soul: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.
• Destructive Reach: This talent now reduces threat by 10%/20%, up from 5%/10%.

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The 3.3 PTR received a couple of updates over the past week.  Some of the items effected by the recent changes were the map interface, quest log and meeting stones.  For a full list of recent changes, continue reading below:

Changes applied November 3rd:

• General:
  • Meeting Stones: To use any Meeting Stone, it is only required that the character’s minimum level be 15. There is no maximum character level requirement for any Meeting Stone.
• Battlegrounds:
  • All level 71-80 Battleground daily quests will now award 25 Arena points in addition to their current rewards.
• Wintergrasp
  • You must now have the following ranks to build or pilot siege vehicles:
    • Rank 2: Build/pilot Catapults.
    • Rank 3: Build/pilot Demolishers.
    • Rank 3: Build/pilot Siege Engines.
• Death Knights:
  • Army of the Dead: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 20 minutes to 10 minutes. Army Ghoul damage dropped by 50%. Cannot be used in Arenas.
  • Raise Ally: The cooldown on this ability has been reduced from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. Cannot be used in Arenas.
  • Rune Strike: Threat generated by this ability increased by approximately 17%.

  Read the rest of this entry »

This week Blizzard deployed patch 3.3 to the PTR and released the official patch notes. These notes are full of cool changes and additions and of course the PTR now has part of Icecrown Citadel (The Pit of Saron) available for player testing with the promise of more to come in future test realm builds. There are also some significant changes to class specific spells like Hunter’s misdirection, Rogue’s vanish and Shaman’s fire totem just to name a few. With this patch we will also see changes to health and mana regeneration, racial attribute bonuses and some bug fixes. You can read the PTR Patch Notes for all the information. Please keep in mind these are test realm patch notes and are subject to changes and additions prior to the patch’s release to live servers.

Along with the release of patch 3.3 to the PTR, Blizzard released more details on the Icecrown Citadel. This massive, sprawling instance will include the opportunity for players to battle their way through three separate wings in a progression style, meaning you must complete one before moving on to the next. Each wing will be considered it’s own separate instance, have it’s own lockout timer and items new and unique to reward it’s conquerors. For the full Blizzard post and more detail about the separate wings, check out their post about the upcoming Citadel instances.