hterez's Blog

WOW gold price is up80% based on the original price from the end of July to mid August this year. And now it is still rising.
 
At present, lots of unscrupulous wow gold sellersare closely bound up with account hacker. Frankly, 80% of wow goldfarmers useillegal account, which cuts back more than twiceas much as the cost caused by using normal account and saves power levelingtime. Most of unscrupulous wow gold sellers prefer quick return and small bargain, so as to obtain more sales. As a result, other decent wow gold farmers and sellers are forced to stop wow gold farming.
 
It is expected that wow gold price will raise 20% next week. From July to mid August, Blizzard has carried out series of action to enhance account security, such as website revision, remote control and ID access lock, restrictions on password change. Those measures effectively curb account hacking. The shortage supply of wow gold cannot meet the demand and forces price up. The wow gold price tends to become reasonable due to the reduction of illegal wow gold. Obviously, the low gold price before is abnormal.
 
Due to future price hikes, players had better buy wow gold as soon as possible according to your demand.
 
You can also learn some WOW account protection guide  HERE.

This article was originally published on www.swagvault.com

Why Blizzard always update itsaccount security system? Recently Blizzard blocked players’ accounts when they found player’s log-in IP is different from last time. That made the accounts hacking more difficult than before. Yesterday I read an analysis about wow gold price that intends to uncover the truth of gold-farming industry. Then I think the reason is many players’ wow account got hacked. Some gold workshop hacked players’ game accounts and ransacked them. Then they transfer the items, gold and other valuable goods to other accounts and sell them. Even some hackers delete the characters when they find the account hacked useless. These hacking tricks made Blizzard and players crazy and furious.
 
Now Blizzard shows its power, but the gold sale website made me crazy because the gold price rise again and again. When is the deadline of wow gold price rising? I don’t know, but who knows? Maybe I can get some idea from Swagvault (http://www.swagvault.com) who analyze the wow gold price trend on its website. I will transfer some info for you later. Be patient, stick to here.

After several hours of downtime, Age of Conan's servers are back in action and sporting the new 2.0.5 game update. For many players, things will likely remain as they are, but if you play the ranger class or frequent the Shrines of Bori, get ready to relearn the game. The hefty patch upends a number of things, so many in fact that the patch notes are split into two posts on the official boards: one for the Shrines, and one for the rangers.

For the former, the highlights include a relocation of shrines around the playfield (theoretically allowing small guilds to hold one), an increase in the Favor of Bori buff time, and a tweak that now gives sacrifice rewards to the group or raid making the sacrifice (allowing players to form extra-guild groups and still receive credit). Additionally, a new Pyre mechanic has been added, whereby player kills will now reward the victor with a body bag full of dismembered parts which can then be burned atop the appropriate pyre for for PvP XP as well as Glory and Prowess renown.

For the ranger revamp, start wrapping your head around the following tweaks: fundamental changes to class combos, removal of stances in favor of a new mechanic called Advantages, extensive changes to traps, and the unification of bow and crossbow weapon types.

Finally, Funcom has added a fair number of high-level quests to the Paikang and Kara Korum zones. You can check out a comprehensive list of patch changes on the official boards.

Here's what we know:
All professions seem to have a new cap of 525.
You will be able to learn the next level of crafting skills at level 75. Well, alchemy works that way, and I assume that at least the other crafting skills will be the same level. No word on gathering skills yet.
Guild perks are programmed into the client and have been data-mined; however, the more complex leveling system has been abandoned. No precise writeup about how guilds gain perks, but I hear they still work for experience.

Now, of course, everything we know is subject to change; however, just looking at the guild changes and some of the profession work that's been done, I am starting to have thoughts about what auctioneering is going to be like in Cataclysm. For one, having a guild bank will no longer just be for storage!

Guild perks for auctioneers

Here are the perks that Auctioneers will want to gain on their guilds, assuming it's not going to cost them more than it's worth.

Working Overtime Increases the chance to gain a skill increase on trade skills by 10%. This could be huge! I can certainly see myself temporarily putting a crafting alt into my storage bank to reduce the cost of leveling professions.

Bountiful Bags Increases the quantity of materials gained from Mining, Skinning, Herbalism and Disenchanting by 15%. This is almost as huge, because over any given expansion, while I power level several professions, I am constantly disenchanting. I imagine this will continue, judging by the peek I took at the data-mined enchanting recipes.

Bartering (Rank 2) Reduces the price of items from all vendors by 10%. This is nice, but won't be a huge game-changer for me. Still, I got my start by buying cloth, making bandages and vendoring them. Assuming this works when buying and selling to NPCs, it could be great. Even if it's buying only, I've spend over 10,000g on parchment since I became a scribe. And I started late in the game and, aside from my initial research, have been eschewing the glyph market.

Mobile Banking Summons your guild bank. 1-hour cooldown. This is no game-changer, but assuming I could get it with a minimum of effort, it would allow me to take advantage of lower lag areas to do my crafting. Aside from saving a few minutes of transfer time between the bank and the mailbox/AH, however, this won't do much for us and probably won't be worth it.

If the first few levels of guild perks are really annoying for a single person to get on their own, I suspect we might see more guilds and auctioneers pairing up. Actual functioning guilds have a lot to offer auctioneers; however, the auctioneer can't simply use the guild bank as a dumping ground for storage. Still, if I had to choose between two cheap tabs worth of space and the ability to proc more mats when I disenchant, I'd probably be better off with the mats.

Preparing for the profession changes

There's a whole post in how to prepare economically for Cataclysm, but I'll limit myself to what you can do to prepare your business and cover what you can do to profit off others' businesses later. Obviously, we're going to need higher-level professions alts: 75 for alchemy (and presumably all the other crafting skills), so get your alts where they need to be before Cataclysm launches and you have better things to do. Also, if you have any profession slots on a high-level character you're planning on dropping or one that you've never used, consider prioritizing gathering skills while waiting. The single time in the life cycle of an expansion where gathering is more money per hour than auctioneering is the first week or so of an expansion. People will be paying absurd amounts of money for herbs, ore and skins. If you're tempted to just use the stock yourself, don't. Unless you really need to race to a 525 crafting skill, you're better off selling the mats you get farming the first week, and then use that money to buy double the amount when the supply starts to increase.

 

Cataclysm is the word on everyone's lips right now, and with good reason. On June 30, Blizzard announced officially that the closed beta was starting. The excitement can be seen almost everywhere as new information becomes available. There has been a deluge of information since then with everything from the official patch notes on the current build, new spells, talents and skills, new maps for the zones we will be seeing, to new emotes for each of the new races and everything in between.

We have discussed the talent tree changes a little bit already, back when they were leaked from the alpha client and again with the official preview. At both of those times, however, we saw only a fleeting mention of the new shaman spells and abilities to coincide with these talents. Much of what we saw was left to mere speculation as we had yet to see it first hand through a beta.

Among all of the information filtering in from the beta, there has been information about the new restoration shaman talents and spells, as well as updates to some old favorites of ours. Some of these changes are undeniably good, others are interesting and some downright confusing.

Check after the break for more information.

New spells

We heard about the new spells that Blizzard had planned for us at the official class preview, but there was not much more information available after that. Now that Cataclysm has hit its first beta phase, we are finally starting to see these new spells.

Spiritwalker's Grace Shaman have long been though of as turret healers, stationary chain-healing artillery. Our tool set has only recently become movement-friendly with additions like Riptide. Level 85 is when it appears we will get this wonderful spell. After using it, for 10 seconds you can move and cast any non-instant shaman spell. It rests on a two-minute cooldown so it will likely see a lot of use. This spell gives us the ability to keep up with other classes on the mobile healing front.

Healing Rain When this spell was first announced, there were a few people that scoffed at it. This spell, however, offers some very interesting ideas. First of all, it is an area of effect heal over time. That right there is pretty awesome. Second, it doesn't have to be targeted on a player. We pick this spell up at level 83. You can target any location to place the AoE HoT, and it will persist for 10 seconds. Every two seconds, anyone in the affected area will receive healing. This is similar to our Healing Stream Totem in how it pulses heals. The spell has two-second cast a 10-second cooldown, so after the effect is done, you can place another. This gives us more tools to aid in filling the healing gap between classes on the HoT front. Interestingly note, it was mentioned to me in passing that this was the original plan for priest's Circle of Healing before it was altered to its current state.

Unleashed Elements Affectionately being referred to as the "shaman's judgment," this ability uses whatever weapon imbue you have active as its base component. This becomes available to us at level 81. At this time, Earthliving Weapon is said to heal a target slightly and buff the shaman's next healing spell by 20%.This can come in handy for super-charging heals; just think of using this ability to boost healing on a Chain Heal and then using it on someone with Riptide. Can potentially lead to some huge heals.

Bind Elemental Starting at level 68, you can crowd control elementals. This is similar to Hex for us, and honestly it is something I've been wondering why shaman haven't had for a while now. I mean, we are supposed to be at one with the elemental spirits, right? We can bind one elemental for up to 50 seconds, taking it completely out of the game. This is similar to Banish, except that any damage done to the target will break the hold. This further adds to our utility, and with the upcoming instances we've heard about, it is very likely we will see at least a few elementals.

Greater Healing Wave Our brand new nuke heal. This will be our situational bomb heal. To put this in perspective, the new Healing Wave costs 6% of our base mana and caps out at 4,268 healing (before spellpower, etc.). GHW costs 30% of our base mana and caps out at 8,537. This will most certainly be a situational heal, if nothing else, just based on the mana cost alone: five times the cost for twice the healing. I'm going to keep my eye on this heal because I think that it will be one of the ones that changes frequently before retail release.

Old spells updated

Not much in this category yet, but I suspect that will change. As it stands right now, there are two major changes to look at.

Earth Shield The cost of earth shield is being drastically increased. In the current live version of the game, rank 5 earth shield costs 15% of our base mana. In the beta at max level, this has been increased to 38%. The cost has increased 2.5 times, but the effect remains largely the same. As it stands right now, common practice is to refresh Earth Shield whenever it gets low on charges, not even waiting for it to be fully used. In Cataclysm, however, if this cost remains that high, we are going to have to shift gears and wait until every last charge has been consumed and possibly not even put it back up right away. This falls in line with Blizzard's saying they wanted to make healers more mana-conscious based on spell choices, and here is proof of that.

Chain Heal I found the changes here to be very interesting. First, the mana cost has been reduced at maximum level in Cataclysm. In the live version right now, Chain Heal costs 19% of your base mana; in the beta at the highest level, it costs 17%. A 2% difference may not seem like much, but keep that in mind while we talk about the second change. On the live server now, the maximum level of chain heal caps out at 1,205 healing before spellpower and bonuses. In the beta, this has increased to 3,389 cap. That is a huge leap for only a five-level difference. The healing cap combined with a reduced cost continues to make this our most efficient heal. This will likely change, but as it stands, it looks like chain heal is back to being the shaman heal of choice.

New talents

We have already heard about Ancestral Resolve and Focused Insight, and it would appear that they are here to stay for the time being. With the announcement of the beta however, two new talents have joined the party.

Empowered Healing 3 ranks
Requires 3 Points in Nature's Blessing
Requires 40 Points in Restoration talents
Your Greater Healing Wave spell gains an additional [7%/14%/20%] of your bonus healing effects, and your Healing Wave and Lesser Healing Wave spells an additional [3%/7%/10%]

This is similar to the Empowered Healing found among holy priests. It grants a nice bonus to our HW and LHW, but grants an even bigger bonus to our nuke heal. While GHW may be expensive, this talent makes it that much more worth it when we have to use it. It is not a terribly exciting talent, though, and seems almost like a must-have talent.

Telluric Currents 3 ranks
Requires 45 Points in Restoration Talents
Your attunement to natural energies causes your Lightning Bolt spell to restore mana equal to [15%/30%/45%] of damage dealt.

I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet. It is a tier 10 talent deep into the talent tree that encourages healers to DPS by allowing them some of the mana back. Throwing lightning is very different than throwing an odd shock out in combat. Even though Focused Insight gives you a bonus to your healing while returning some mana for using your shocks, Flame Shock for example still costs 16% of your base mana. Lightning Bolt only costs 6% of your base mana. Restoration shaman should have a decent crit rating and our spellpower can sometimes be enough to produce interesting LB crits, so one has to wonder exactly how much mana can be gained from this. I think this talent will be something to watch, if nothing else just to see what Blizzard has in mind for it. It is possible this is an attempt at the "fun but not necessary" talents they have been talking about since BlizzCon '09.

Overall, the talent tree still seems pretty bloated. There are still a large amount of "must-have" talents, which is the opposite of what Blizzard has stated they wanted to see with the talent trees. We will have to see how the tree develops over the course of the beta. Keep in mind this information is current as of build 12319 of the Cataclysm beta. This is subject to change as the game is altered by developers during the beta testing process. But be sure to check back often, as we here at WoW.com will keep you up to date with the latest information!

Blizzard has just announced in a press release that the alpha testing phase of Cataclysm is over, and the closed beta testing phase has begun. According to the statement, invitations have begun being sent out to players who opted-in via Battle.net and to other players of all types from across the globe.

Blizzard has confirmed that the non-disclosure agreement is lifted. We'll be here providing you with new info as it comes in!

The full press release is after the break.

 Press ReleaseBLIZZARD ENTERTAINMENT BEGINS CLOSED BETA TEST
FOR WORLD OF WARCRAFT®: CATACLYSM™

IRVINE, Calif. – June 30, 2010 – Blizzard Entertainment announced today that the closed beta test for Cataclysm™, its highly anticipated new expansion for World of Warcraft®, has begun. The company has started issuing invitations to participate in the testing process to a wide range of players from around the world who signed up via their Battle.net® accounts. While enjoying an early look at the game, beta testers will provide valuable feedback to help Blizzard Entertainment find bugs, address balance issues, and polish the new content.

"Our focus with Cataclysm has been to build on the knowledge we've gained through the previous expansions to deliver the best, most compelling World of Warcraft content for our players to date," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "Gathering focused feedback during the beta test will go a long way in helping us reach that goal when we launch Cataclysm later this year."

Cataclysm is the third expansion for World of Warcraft, the most popular subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game in the world. The first two expansions, The Burning Crusade® and Wrath of the Lich King®, each shattered PC game sales records upon their release. In Cataclysm, the face of Azeroth will be forever altered by the return of the corrupted Dragon Aspect Deathwing. Players will explore once-familiar areas of the world that have now been reshaped by the devastation and filled with new adventures. In an effort to survive the planet-shattering cataclysm, two new playable races -- worgen and goblins -- will join the struggle between the Alliance and the Horde. As players journey to the new level cap of 85, they'll discover newly revealed locations, acquire new levels of power, and come face to face with Deathwing in a battle to determine the fate of the world.

For more information on World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, please visit the official website at http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/cataclysm. To set up a Battle.net account and sign up for a chance to participate in the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test, please visit the official Battle.net website at http://www.battle.net.

About Blizzard Entertainment, Inc.
Best known for blockbuster hits including World of Warcraft® and the Warcraft®, StarCraft®, and Diablo® series, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. (www.blizzard.com), a division of Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), is a premier developer and publisher of entertainment software renowned for creating some of the industry's most critically acclaimed games. Blizzard Entertainment's track record includes eleven #1-selling games and multiple Game of the Year awards. The company's online-gaming service, Battle.net®, is one of the largest in the world, with millions of active players.

The Care and Feeding of Warriors takes this week to look at what your freshly minted prot warrior will be doing at 80. This week, we'll be looking at what to do once your prot warrior dings 80. We've covered the basics in our Protection 101 series, so if you need a refresher on things like "What stats do I want?" or what have you, that post is definitely worth going back and rereading. Like our previous "Fury at 80" post, this post will be aimed at helping a new protection warrior gear up as fast as possible when reaching 80, focusing on Emblem of Triumph gear and drops from heroic and normal 5-mans.

So, you want gear? Emblems, my son. Emblems.

For starters, you should have already been tanking stuff. Even if you didn't really want to level as prot (some folks really like the prot leveling experience; others do not), if you intend to tank at level 80, you have no excuse; you should be tanking from at least 70 on. Not only will using the LFD tool once a day net you a shiny pair of Emblems of Triumph that you can spend as soon as you hit 80, but it's the fastest, easiest way to learn what you're intending to do once you're at max level. Tanking, like any skill, benefits from actively practicing, and 5-mans are solid places to get that practice. Plus, gear drops in them, and for a leveling prot, making sure you're uncrittable at 80 (535 defense for heroic five mans, 540 defense for raids) is crucial. Trust me, once you start queuing at 80, you are going to find your gear under a microscope by people who think they know everything there is to know about tanking because they rolled a DK and got him to 72.

First off, of course, you can buy the entirety of the ilevel 232 version of the tier 9 tanking armor (Horde version). My advice would be to deliberately not buy the hat or shoulder piece, however, and just get four pieces for the set bonus. The ilevel 245 tanking hat and shoulders (Alliance versions) are pretty nice and can last you a way into ICC-10 if that's where you're intending to go, and if you don't raid or intend to raid at all, they could last you even longer. I really like the expertise on the hat since it can help ease the transition as you replace gear. (And frankly, the block value on the T9 hat is underwhelming ever since they neutered block value for our Shield Slams)

In addition to set pieces, there are accessories to consider from Emblems of Triumph, namely a trinket, ring and throwing weapon. Both the trinket and ring have bonus armor, making them very attractive, while the throwing weapon is just well itemized with a nice dollop of hit to help with threat as well as dodge and defense for avoidance. The Glyph of Indomitability is well itemized enough to be held onto for any fight where you're certain you'll be taking lots of physical damage.

Instance drops

To save time, we're going to just cover the gear you can pick up in normal and heroic Trial of the Champion and the ICC 5-mans. There are certainly other ilevel 200 epic drops from the various heroics that launched with Wrath, but you'll do those dungeons as part of LFD to maximize your emblems per day, so just be on the lookout for any tanking epics that drop. Usually no one else will want them, anyway.

We covered Trial of the Champion loot in two big posts. We'll distill down the tanking drops of interest here: The Peacekeeper Blade. The Black Heart. The Mark of the Relentless. Boots of Heartfelt Repentance. Girdle of the Pallid Knight. Legguards of Abandoned Fealty. Mercy's Hold. Helm of the Crestfallen Challenger. Regal Aurous Shoulderplates. The Warlord's Depravity.

Please don't make the mistake of passing on these because they're ilevel 200/219. The ring and trinket in particular are among the best you'll be able to get before raiding, and even the rest of these drops can be of use to you if you don't have comparable or better in those slots. Sure, you'll most likely replace a lot of them with emblem purchases, but these drops can help you get to those emblems. Even if it's a minimal upgrade, take it. Even if you know you'll replace it in a week, if you'll use it now, take it.

Covering the ICC 5-mans, Forge of Souls has the Legplates of Frozen Granite, Lucky Old Sun and Sollerets of Suffering on normal and Black Spire Sabatons on heroic. The Pit of Saron yields Scourgelord's Frigid Chestplate and the Titanium Links of Lore on normal and the Icebound Bronze Cuirass, Ick's Rotting Thumb, Rimefang's Claw and Shoulderplates of Frozen Blood on heroic. (Rimefang's Claw in particular is well worth getting -- most likely the best tanking weapon for most warriors outside of ICC-10.) Meanwhile, normal Halls of Reflection gives one a chance at the Splintered Door of the Citadel (a very nice shield), the Eerie Runeblade Polisher for a cloak and the Crystalline Citadel Gauntlets. Heroic mode, meanwhile, offers up Falric's Wrist Chopper (orcs may prefer it to the Rimefang's), the Fossilized Amniote Choker and the Second Helm of the Executioner. As you can see, heroic ICC-5 drops are on par with the tier 9 you'll most likely be purchasing alongside them, so they're worth pursuing.

A-tisket, a-tasket, a crafter's craft set (and instance BoEs, too!)

What about crafted items? You can make or find quite a few on the AH. First off, the easiest to acquire. The Titansteel Shield Wall, Tempered Titansteel Treads and Tempered Titansteel Helm will most certainly be among the first things you replace, but they have decent stats and are pretty easy to make. (It should be pointed out that the Tempered Titansteel Helm has a blue socket, a meta socket and very high stamina, making it fairly strong for its ilevel.)

The Indestructable Plate Girdle is fairly strong with two sockets (which, combined with a third, leaves lots of room for stamina gems) but, as an Ulduar recipe, is slightly harder to make. (Tip: You can convert frozen orbs to various orbs used in crafting.) The Trial of the Crusader recipe Saronite Swordbreakers and Breastplate of the White Knight are still fairly common on most AHs. And if you have money to burn, the Boots of Kingly Upheaval and Pillars of Might are available. The extremely high armor value on the Pillars makes them probably the best tanking legs in the game right now for a warrior, if you can make up the loss of defense (which you should be able to fairly easily).

Since the weekly dungeon raid quest tends to send folks to older content from time to time, the following BoE drops from 10- and 25-man raids are worth looking out for. Signet of the Accord (Sarth-10), Band of the Traitor King (Anub'arak-25), Harbinger's Bone Band (ICC-10/25 and ICC-10/25 weekly raid quest sack drop), Signet of the Earthshaker (XT-002-25), Northern Barrier (Hodir-25) and Rowan's Rifle of Silver Bullets (ICC-10/25 and weekly raid quest sack drop).

This should be enough for your new level 80 warrior to start working on. Next week, either the delayed 21/40 post, or Arms warriors at 80.

New (or newly returned) to Aion and curious about the recently added daily quests? Well you're not alone, as your humble correspondent has been playing for awhile now and was having trouble unearthing any definitive information regarding the system just added in the 1.9 patch.

Happily, NCsoft has updated its PowerWiki with a lengthy entry devoted to answering all of your daily quest needs. Everything from where to get to them, to what kind of rewards they offer, to how to join the requisite NPC factions, is available in the new article.

"Every morning at 9 o'clock, the organization will send a new Quest notice that can be found at the bottom of your screen. Once you click on the icon, you can choose to either accept or decline the Daily Quest. If you accidentally decline the Quest, you can quit and then re-join the organization to get it again," the article says.

Check out all the details over at the official Aion PowerWiki.

The Aika Online expansion, Ashes of Betrayal, will be hitting servers on June 17th. The dev team has revealed some more information about Ashes of Betrayal and included a few screens as well. Read on! 

 

Darkrane Forest: Treachery in Paradise

The first of the two new map regions unveiled in Ashes of Betrayal is Darkrane Forest, the sublime but troubled backdrop to a series of all-new Aika adventures. Featuring exotic new monsters and almost 100 new quests in an action-packed plot, Darkrane Forest will inspire the many fans of Aika's immersive storyline to fight once more against the treacherous forces that threaten the land of Lakia. 

 

Darkrane Forest is the ancient home of a noble race of beings called the Kynari. Half-bird, half-man, the Kynari had long lived in peace with humanity under the rule of successive High Castors, their spiritual and political leaders. The tranquility was shattered when a young usurper, the ruthless Kynari Darkrane, manipulated the Lakian Army into declaring war on his own race and killing the wise High Castor Isaiah. Darkrane and his followers then seized power and began taking over the forest for unknown ends. As the skilled military officers known as Aitan, players will be thrown into the center of this civil unrest - their skills will be imperative to fighting the demons and mercenaries in Darkrane's underhanded alliances. It will take courage, cunning, and diplomacy to earn the trust of High Castor Isaiah's son Hakks and aid him in his struggle to expose Darkrane's deceit. As players uncover Darkrane's sinister plans and the greater forces that are fueling his ascension, all clues will point to a final showdown in a fantastical new instance dungeon which will be released later this year. 

Aika has already been acclaimed by players and press alike for its superb PvE content, including beautiful graphics, compelling and entertaining quest localization, and satisfying gameplay. The epic challenges and lush scenery of Darkrane Forest will raise this standard to a new level. Players, steel yourselves, because Darkrane Forest will take you and your fairy familiar Pran into enterprises beyond imagination. 

The Conqueror and Templar Class Evolutions

 

For Aika, adding an expansion doesn't just mean new areas and quests. In Ashes of Betrayal, players will be able to PvP and PvE like never before with all-new class evolutions starting at level 51. Reaching the next tier will allow players to unlock powerful attacks, equip higher-level weaponry and armor, and customize their characters' stats with additional points for every level gained. The stat point system combined with Aika's flexible skill attack trees will let players create a nearly endless variety of unique character builds. Here's a sneak preview of the level 56 equipment for the Conqueror and Templar - the tier two forms of the Warrior and Paladin, the two Fighter archetype classes of Aika Online. 

We're finally at our sixth anniversary! We couldn't have come this far without each and every one of you, your loyal support over the last six years has made SwagVault what it is today. We will do better in next 6 years and next another 6, We'd like to thank you by throwing a big party in your honor!

The festivities begin on May 13, 2010 EST and run until May 30, 2010 EST. All registered customers on swagvault.com can play Lucky Draw and we also have something special for you: one set of PC console for playing StarCraft II, Imaginary Space Horse, etc. Bargains Galore!

Come celebrate with us and enjoy special treats, and birthday surprises!

Hasten Here now without delay!


The SwagVault Team

MMO-Champion has just updated with a host of new Cataclysm information datamined from the alpha client. Needless to say there are numerous spoilers for the Cataclysm expansion contained in these files; readers avoiding spoiler material — this falls firmly under that category. More details and links under the break.

The information pulled from the alpha client includes maps of several of the new zones, including a peek at the newly-terraformed Azshara, Blasted Lands, Gilneas and Hyjal. Also included are various NPC models including the Deathwing model featured the other day; and a host of various critters and items that will be found in Cataclysm. Boubouille has noted that the post containing all of this information is still currently being updated, however there are plenty of screenshots to look at already.

The most interesting information has nothing to do with screenshots or images: the new talent calculators are available as well. While these do not appear to reflect all of the changes coming in Cataclysm (hunters still appear to have mana-based talents and skills), there are new talents in the trees that were not mentioned in the Cataclysm class previews from last month. All in all, a wealth of new information to be pored over and analyzed — but keep in mind, these are from the alpha build of the expansion, and will likely receive several revisions between now and release.

The Star Trek Online cryptic store has been updated with a few new items (such as emotes and bridges) and a new starship class, the Nimbus class science vessel, a Destiny class varient which looks like this:

The latest task force mission, Khitomer Accord has also been added to the game, Cryptic describe it like this (full details here):

Continue the fight against the Borg in our latest Special Task Force - "Khitomer Accord"!

You cut your teeth during the Borg invasion of the Vega system. ... Or did you?

The Borg seemed unusually weak, unable to adapt and most of their fleet was already seriously damaged. It seems like someone may have got to them first and softened them up, because if the Borg were at full strength that day, you may not have fared so well.

More questions are being raised as Starfleet intelligence and the Klingon Defense Force have both detected a controlled emission of a massive quantity of chronometric particles in the Vega system. The last time a surge like that was detected, the Borg opened a temporal vortex and attempted to change the history of Earth.

Travel to Vega to investigate exactly what the Borg are up to, neutralize the temporal anomaly and prevent history from changing forever!

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…The great feast of Noblegarden has long been celebrated by the races of the Alliance and recently adopted by those of the Horde. On this joyous day, it is customary for the nobles and lords from each race to hide coins, candy, and the occasional treasures within special eggs painted to look like wildflowers. These eggs are then scattered around the major cities for the citizenry to find. From heroes to commoners, and everyone in between – the feast of Noblegarden is meant to bring communities together to share the joy of life and friendship..

Noblegarden is an Easter event that takes place around April, where players search for colored eggs hidden around the different starting zones.

The egg hunt is on! The towns of Azeroth and their immediate environs have been liberally sprinkled with Noblegarden eggs for players to collect in a ravenous frenzy — er, in the spirit of sharing. These eggs contain treats fit for commoners and kings alike — mostly, they contain delicious Noblegarden chocolate.

Every so often, a Noblegarden egg will contain something besides chocolate, as a variety of special items are also hidden inside. These special items include seasonal clothing, special prizes, and more. However, if you’re not fortunate enough to find the prize you want, you can still purchase them from special vendors located in towns. The currency for these prizes? Noblegarden chocolate, of course!

 

Notes

Quests
In addition to the eggs scattered around the starting zones, there are also the following quests available:

Alliance

Spring Collectors
The Great Egg Hunt
A Tisket, a Tasket, a Noblegarden Basket

Horde

Spring Gatherers
The Great Egg Hunt
A Tisket, a Tasket, a Noblegarden Basket

Egg Locations
For one week, players will be able to find Brightly Colored Eggs in the following starting areas:

Alliance

Azuremyst Isle
Dun Morogh
Elwynn Forest
Teldrassil

Horde

Durotar
Eversong Woods
Mulgore
Tirisfal Glades

Outlands

Terokkar Forest near the Shattrath City gates

The eggs will always contain one of the following:

Brightly Colored Shell Fragment
Noblegarden Chocolate

In addition, roughly one egg out of 100, or about 1%, may contain the following:

Black Tuxedo Pants
Blossoming Branch
Elegant Dress
Spring Flowers
Spring Rabbit’s Foot
Spring Robes
White Tuxedo Shirt

There are no decorations or other indicators for this event so players will need to watch their calendar for the exact dates of the event. The 2009 Event is held the week of April 26th through May 2nd, 2009.

Vendors
Item Cost Type
Noblegarden Egg 5 Noblegarden Chocolate Consumable
Blossoming Branch 10 Noblegarden Chocolate Consumable
Spring Flowers 50 Noblegarden Chocolate One-Hand
Spring Robes 50 Noblegarden Chocolate Clothing, Chest
White Tuxedo Shirt 25 Noblegarden Chocolate Clothing, Shirt
Black Tuxedo Pants 25 Noblegarden Chocolate Clothing, Cloth Legs
Elegant Dress 50 Noblegarden Chocolate Clothing, Chest
Spring Circlet 50 Noblegarden Chocolate Clothing, Head
Spring Rabbit’s Foot 100 Noblegarden Chocolate Pet, Companion
Tome of Polymorph: Rabbit 100 Noblegarden Chocolate Mage Only

Achievements
Noble Gardener – Complete the Noblegarden achievements listed below.
I Found One!, Hard Boiled, Noble Garden, Desert Rose, Chocoholic, Spring Fling, Shake Your Bunny-Maker, Blushing Bride
Title Reward: the Noble
I Found One! – Find a Brightly Colored Egg.
Chocolate Lover – Eat 25 Noblegarden Chocolates during the Noblegarden celebration.
Chocoholic – Eat 100 Noblegarden Chocolates during the Noblegarden celebration.
Sunday’s Finest – Discover the White Tuxedo Shirt and Black Tuxedo Pants by opening Brightly Colored Eggs during the Noblegarden celebration.
Dressed for the Occasion – Discover an Elegant Dress by opening Brightly Colored Eggs during the Noblegarden celebration.
Spring Fling – Find your pet Spring Rabbit another one to love in each of the towns listed below.
Alliance: Azure Watch, Dolanaar, Goldshire, Kharanos
Horde: Bloodhoof Village, Falconwing Square, Brill, Razor Hil
Hard Boiled – Lay an egg in Un’Goro Crater’s Golakka Hot Springs as a rabbit during the Noblegarden celebration.
Noble Garden – Hide a Brightly Colored Egg in Silvermoon City/Stormwind City.
Shake Your Bunny-Maker – Use Spring Flowers to place rabbit ears upon females of at least 18th level.
Blood Elf, Dwarf, Human, Orc, Troll, Draenei, Gnome, Night Elf, Tauren, Undead
Desert Rose – Use Spring Robes to plant a flower in each of the deserts listed below.
The Badlands, Silithus, Thousand Needles, Desolace, Tanaris
Blushing Bride – Kiss someone wearing an Elegant Dress while wearing a White Tuxedo Shirt and Black Tuxedo Pants.

Notes
Per a post from a “Blue” at the Official Boards:

..Many players may have noticed that Noblegarden has been removed from the in-game calendar. While the event is not being removed from the game, it is being delayed slightly and will not occur as originally scheduled on April, 12. We will be implementing this event at a future date, however.

There have been many additions made to the event including a change to the length of which the event runs (1 week) and additional content for players to enjoy. We look forward to sharing this new experience with you.

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The Lunar Festival runs this year from Sunday, Feburary 14th at 9:00 am server time through Sunday, March 7th at 9:00 am server time. That’s right, folks; you’ve got three weeks to get everything done. The basics of the holiday involve talking to a number of Elders to honor them, receiving Coins of Ancestry in return, and then using the Coins to purchase fun holiday items. The To Honor One’s Elders meta-achievement is also a requirement for What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been. In general, this is not a difficult holiday, but it is time-consuming; you’ll need to hunt down a lot of NPCs. Because of the mileage you’ll rack up doing this, it’d be a good time to do World Explorer if you haven’t already done that, or pick up flight paths that a character doesn’t yet have.

We’ve updated and expanded our 2010 guide to include exact coordinates for every Elder in the game, and I’ve also arranged them in what I hope to be the most straightforward way to reach them all. Let’s get started.

 

Elders of Eastern Kingdoms

In order to honor an Elder, all you need to do is find and talk to them (which is generally easy as they’re always sitting in a big beam of light). You’ll need to speak with all of the following NPCs in order to complete this one. In rough order from the northern part of the continent to the southern:

Graveborn the Elder: 61,53 in Brill (Tirisfal Glades). Meadowrun the Elder: 65,47 in the Western Plaguelands. Moonstrike the Elder: 69,73 in Caer Darrow (the island with Scholomance, Western Plaguelands). Windrun the Elder: 35,68 in the Eastern Plaguelands. Snowcrown the Elder: 75,52 at Light’s Hope Chapel (Eastern Plaguelands). While you’re here, ride to Stratholme for Farwhisper the Elder (see below). Highpeak the Elder: 50,48 in the Hinterlands. Obsidian the Elder: 45,41 in The Sepulcher (Silverpine Forest). Silvervein the Elder: 33,46 at Thelsamar (Loch Modan). Goldwell the Elder: 46,51 at Kharanos (Dun Morogh). While you’re in Dun Morogh, head to Ironforge to speak with Bronzebeard the Elder (see below). Ironband the Elder: 21,79 in Searing Gorge. Dawnstrider the Elder: 64, 23 at Flame Crest (Burning Steppes). Rumblerock the Elder: 82,46 at Dreadmaul Rock (Burning Steppes). Before you leave Burning Steppes, ride to Blackrock Mountain and get Elder Stonefort in LBRS and Elder Morndeep in BRD. Stormbrow the Elder: 40,63 at Goldshire (Elwynn Forest). While you’re here, head to Stormwind to speak with Hammershout the Elder (see below), but don’t go through the front gates if you’re Horde. Skychaser the Elder: 56,47 at Sentinel Hill (Westfall). Bellowrage the Elder: 58,54 in the Blasted Lands. While you’re here, ride north from Blasted Lands to the Swamp of Sorrows, and hit the Sunken Temple for Elder Starsong (see below). Starglade the Elder: 53,18 outside Zul’Gurub (Stranglethorn Vale). Winterhoof the Elder: 27,74 in Booty Bay (Stranglethorn Vale). Elders of Kalimdor

Done with the Eastern Kingdoms? Hop a boat or zeppelin to the west, and talk to all of the following (again, in rough order from the northern part of the continent to the southern):
Bladeleaf the Elder: 56,60 at Dolanaar (Teldrassil). Combine this with a trip to get Elder Bladeswift in Darnassus (see below). Starweave the Elder: 36,46 at Auberdine (Darkshore). Stonespire the Elder: 61,37 in Everlook (Winterspring). Brightspear the Elder: 55,43 in Winterspring. Nightwind the Elder: 37,53 in Jaedanar (Felwood). Riversong the Elder: 35,48 in Astranaar (Ashenvale). Skygleam the Elder: 72,85 at the Ravencrest Monument (Azshara). Moonwarden the Elder: 51,30 in the Crossroads (the Barrens). Windtotem the Elder: 63,37 in Ratchet (the Barrens). Runetotem the Elder: 54,44 in Razor Hill (Durotar). While you’re here, ride to Orgrimmar to speak with Darkhorn the Elder (see below), but don’t go through the front gates if you’re Alliance. High Mountain the Elder: 45,57 in Camp Taurajo (the Barrens). Bloodhoof the Elder: 48,53 in Bloodhoof Village (Mulgore). While you’re here, ride to Thunder Bluff to speak with Wheathoof the Elder (see below) in Thunder Bluff. After getting Mulgore/the Barrens done, you’ll want to fly to Desolace to do Splitrock the Elder in Maraudon, and then head to Feralas. Mistwalker the Elder: 43,68 in the Dire Maul complex (Feralas). Grimtotem the Elder: 76,37 in Feralas. Skyseer the Elder: 45,48 at Freewind Post (Thousand Needles). Elder Morningdew: 79,77 at Mirage Raceway (Thousand Needles). Dreamseer the Elder: 51,27 in Gadgetzan (Tanaris). Ride west to Zul’Farrak to get Wildmane the Elder (see below). Ragetotem the Elder: 36,80 in Tanaris (outside Uldum). Thunderhorn the Elder: 50,76 in Slithering Scar (Un’goro Crater). Primestone the Elder: 23,11 in the Crystal Vale (Silithus). Bladesing the Elder: The moonwell at Cenarion Hold (Silithus).
Elders of the Alliance

Most of the Elders you’ll have to talk to are just a matter of running around. However, you’ll also need to talk to a series of Elders located in capital cities, and if you’re of the opposite faction…well, things get hairy. All three are straightforward if you’re Alliance, and much less so if you’re Horde, so I’m really writing this with an eye toward the difficulty of reaching them as a Horde player.

Bladeswift the Elder: 33,14 in the Cenarion Enclave in Darnassus. This is located in the northern part of the city. Sorry, Horde-there’s no real way to cheese this. You’ll have to run in off the boat to Rut’theran Village, get past the guards, hang a left, and make a beeline for the Cenarion Enclave. This will keep you away from the most “crowded” area of Darnassus (insofar as any portion of Darnassus could be termed “crowded”). As long as you’re on Teldrassil, keep heading east afterwards to talk to Elder Bladeleaf in Dolanaar. Bronzebeard the Elder: 29,17 in the Mystic Ward of Ironforge. If you’re Horde, hang a left after entering the city’s front gates and drop down into the trench that runs the the length of The Commons-this should get most of the guards off your tail. Keep going, and the first ramp up from the trench should put you within sight of Elder Bronzebeard. At this point, you can hearth (if possible), port to Moonglade using a scroll from a Festival Harbinger, or get to the Deeprun Tram so you can knock off the Stormwind elder. Which one’s easier is probably going to depend on how many Alliance are in Ironforge at that point. That said, for Horde it’s probably less dangerous to get to the Stormwind elder coming from the harbor. Hammershout the Elder: 35.65 in the Park in Stormwind. If you’re coming from the Deeprun Tram, you’re going to have to ride from the eastern to the western end of the city to get to him, which is one of the reasons I’m unenthusiastic about Horde players electing that option (it is still, however, vastly preferable to riding in through Stormwind’s front gates). It’s much easier to come in from the harbor, either by swimming down or bumming a ride on the ship from Valiance Keep. Ride up from the harbor to the city, hang your first right into the Park, and keep going until you reach Hammershout. Elders of the Horde

It’s slightly less troublesome for Alliance to reach the Horde elders than vice versa, but the odds of your attracting attention while doing these is still reasonably high. As with their Alliance counterparts, the Horde elders are simple to reach if you’re Horde, so I’m writing this with an eye toward the difficulty of reaching them as an Alliance player.
Darkhorn the Elder: 41,35 in the Valley of Wisdom in Orgrimmar. Darkhorn is going to be the toughest to get, but you can avoid the most crowded portion of Orgrimmar by zoning in through the western gate. Once you’re in, follow the road and you’ll eventually reach the Festival area and Darkhorn. Unless you have a death wish, I would highly recommend hearthing (if possible), backtracking in order to zone out, or taking a port to Moonglade using a scroll from a Festival Harbinger. Wheathoof the Elder: 72,23 on Elder Rise in Thunder Bluff. This is an elder named for Ezra Chatterton, a young player who died in 2008 and was the first to receive a phoenix mount. Ezra Wheathoof is one of Blizzard’s in-game nods to him (he’s actually a copy of Ezra’s character, Ephoenix), and you’ll note he’s the only Elder to have a pet with him (not surprisingly, a phoenix). Because Thunder Bluff is usually deserted, you should encounter minimal player resistance, but you can still cut down on encounters with Horde player by using the northern elevator. Hang a quick left into the “bridge building” after you come up (mouseover the beam over the entrance to see where it goes and confirm you’ve got the bridge to Elder Rise), and head over; you’ll see the Elder to the left of the big druids’ tent on Elder Rise. If you’re getting harassed by Horde players or guards, you can jump off the Rise afterwards, although I recommend having a slow fall effect of some kind prepared so that you survive the jump. Darkcore the Elder: 66,38 in the Ruins of Lordaeron above Undercity. This guy’s easy to find, although with increased Horde traffic on the zeppelins during the Lunar Festival, the odds of running into high-level players getting on and off the elevators is fairly high. Ride into the Ruins of Lordaeron above the city and keep going straight; you’ll find the Elder in the circular throne room along with the rest of the Lunar Festival NPCs.

The annual Lunar Festival in-game holiday has begun! Come for the drinking, dancing and revelries! Stay for the contests and the slaughter of Omen!

We have already posted its 2010 Lunar Festival Guide (which will continue to be updated if any new information is discovered). Check out the guide for detailed item and reward listings, quest info and everything you need to know.
Keep your eyes to the skies, and be sure to stick around for the finale

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The Patch 3.3.3 PTR patch notes have just been updated to reflect today’s latest PTR build. All of the changes can be found behind the cut below, and we’re also in the process of integrating them into our primary Patch 3.3.3 patch notes post. (Update: All changes are now reflected in our primary patch notes posting.) Some highlights:Death Knights: Icy Talons: The personal haste benefit provided by this talent is no longer exclusive with other sources of melee haste. This will allow death knights to always swing 4/6/12/16/20% faster when Frost Fever is applied. Windfury Totem and the party/raid component of Improved Icy Talons still do not stack. Hunters: Ferocious Inspiration: This ability is now an aura and provides 1/2/3% damage to all party or raid members within 100 yards and boosts the damage of Steady Shot by 3/6/9%. Engineering: The Pet Bombling and Lil’ Smoky non-combat pets are no longer Bind-on-Pickup. For the full listing of updates, just click through the link below.
Dungeons and RaidsWorld Event Bosses
Holiday bosses (such as Ahune for the Fire Festival) will now be accessible through the Dungeon Finder. (Note: This section is purely clarification, this change is not new to this PTR build.)
Players must use the Dungeon Finder or speak to special holiday NPCs in the world to queue up and access these bosses. Upon accepting a queue for any holiday boss, the party will be ported directly to the necessary area for confronting that boss. The previous summoning criteria for these bosses have been removed. Players can queue up for and fight each World Event boss as many times as they want for any standard loot that they may drop. All rare holiday items (such as The Horseman’s Reins) will have a chance of being found in holiday-themed loot troves which will drop once for each player in the party no more than once per day, in the same manner that doing the Random Dungeon daily quest will provide a specific reward the first time it is completed in a day. Death KnightsChains of Ice: The ability now innately applies Frost Fever to a target. Talents
Frost
Icy Talons: The personal haste benefit provided by this talent is no longer exclusive with other sources of melee haste. This will allow death knights to always swing 4/6/12/16/20% faster when Frost Fever is applied. Windfury Totem and the party/raid component of Improved Icy Talons still do not stack. Improved Icy Talons: This effect is now passive instead of being a proc. The self haste buff remains unchanged. Unholy
Unholy Blight: In addition to its previous effects, this talent now also prevents diseases from being dispelled from victims afflicted by Unholy Blight. Druids
Nature’s Grasp: Now has 3 charges, up from 1. Talents
Balance
Starfall: The damage done by this spell has been significantly increased. Typhoon: Mana cost reduced to 25%, down from 32%. Hunters
Talents
Beast Mastery
Ferocious Inspiration: This ability is now an aura and provides 1/2/3% damage to all party or raid members within 100 yards and boosts the damage of Steady Shot by 3/6/9%. Mages
Talents
Fire
Combustion: The cooldown on this spell is now 2 minutes, down from 3 minutes. Rogues
Talents
Subtlety
Slaughter from the Shadows: Now adds 1/2/3/4/5% damage to all attacks and reduces the energy cost of Backstab and Ambush by 4/8/12/16/20, up from 3/6/9/12/15. Waylay: The debuff from this talent can now be caused by Backstab in addition to Ambush and can be triggered by all hits from these abilities rather than just critical strikes, but the snare component is now 50%, down from 70%. Warlocks
Life Tap: This spell no longer scales with spirit, and instead scales with spell power. Warriors
Talents
Protection
Vitality: Now boosts Stamina by 3/6/9%, up from 2/4/6%. Strength and expertise benefits have not changed. Items
Glyphs
Death Knights
Glyph of Disease: When this glyph causes Frost Fever to be refreshed, it will now also trigger a refresh of Icy Talons. Professions
Engineering
The Pet Bombling and Lil’ Smoky non-combat pets are no longer Bind-on-Pickup.