World of Warcraft Message Board older than one year ago

#worldofwarcraft Late last night, reports WoW Insider, Death Knights in World of Warcraft contracted a bug which allowed them to cast plagues upon friendly targets. The afflicted death knights, as per their namesake, went apeshit with this newfound power, laying waste to Azeroth's population in a way not seen since the infamous "Corrupted Blood" plague—which celebrated its seventh anniversary on Thursday. More »

#worldofwarcraft It turns out that there's a lot more information captured in a World of Warcraft screenshot than most players would ever think to look for. More »

#worldofwarcraft The latest update to World of Warcraft, prepping the game for the changes to come with its Mists of Pandaria expansion later this month, brought a number of changes to existing systems. Several more will be coming when the expansion goes live on September 25. More »

#art When Old Republic launched, World of Warcraft was its main competition. Now that Guild Wars 2 has come in and kicked a whole lotta doors down, the two "big" RPGs face the same up-and-coming threat. More »

#worldofwarcraft The Mega Bloks World of Warcraft line has been unleashed, bringing tiny plastic versions of Azeroth's iconic people, places and Deathwings to toy stores across the country. I have one such Azerothian playset in my possession, and you get to watch me put it together, piece by piece. More »

Blizzard Entertainment has disconnected Iranian players from Battle.net, preventing access to online-required games World of Warcraft and Diablo 3. The company states it has tightened its procedures to comply with current US law.

"Blizzard Entertainment cannot speak to any reports surrounding the Iranian government restricting games from its citizens," the company posted on the WoW forums. "What we can tell you is that United States trade restrictions and economic sanction laws prohibit Blizzard from doing business with residents of certain nations, including Iran."

The issue isn't a one-way street. Iran has also made moves to block online games for cultural reasons.

Blizzard is unable to provide "refunds, credits, transfers, or other service options to accounts" in Iran and will "happily lift these restrictions as soon as US law allows."

#worldofwarcraft Want a pony? How very old-fashioned of you. This isn't 2006, you know. It's time to upgrade to demanding a dragon, and World of Warcraft has you covered. More »

#worldofwarcraft The year was 2001. Rather than battling evil computers on white-washed spaceships, we were instead still living on Earth playing PC games, and stuck in that awkward phase between the pre-WoW Blizzard and its post-StarCraft efforts. More »

#blizzard Having earlier believed that it was Iran's fault gamers in the Middle-Eastern nation had suddenly found themselves unable to access Blizzard's World of Warcraft and Diablo III, it turns out there's another country's government to blame. Namely, that of the United States. More »

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#mmorpg The era of the subscription-based online game has well and truly ended in 2012. More »

Want to have a panda of your very own without any of the typical muss, fuss, or mists traditionally associated with exotic cow-colored bear ownership? Well, you have two options: 1) foist responsibility onto someone else every time it needs anything other than a warm, fluffy hug or 2) play World of Warcraft. I, of course, prefer the first option, but WoW’s offering isn’t half-bad either. In an upcoming patch, Blizzard plans to remove all expansion-based limits from race selection – including the Pandaren, once Mists of Pandaria launches. You’ll find the bear necessities after the bear-ake. (That second one didn’t really work, did it? Well that’s just unbearab– [sounds of hurling self out a window].)

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Blizzard have spent thirteenty-billion dollars on an opening cinematic for their forthcoming Mists Of Pandaria expansion, so I suppose it’s only fair that we all watch it. Then go, “Huh.” And then think, “Wouldn’t it be great if the game looked like that?” And then go back to picking our nails.

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#worldofwarcraft The Warcraft franchise looks like its entire world was made from children's balloons. It's nothing but big shapes and bright, bright colours. Love it or hate it, it's become an iconic style, something that's helped World of Warcraft not only run on anybody's computer, but look unique in doing it. More »

#worldofwarcraft This video preview of the newest add-on to Blizzard's mega-successful MMO premiered today at Gamescom. Enjoy the pandas! and the mists! More »

#nsfw I had to watch this about four times just to be completely sure that Internet video game rage comedian Francis did not, in fact, eat his Blizzard keychain authenticator during this rant about yesterday's breach of Battle.Net. Obviously, this video is loud and its language is NSFW. More »

#fineart If you've been reading Kotaku for a while, you may already be familiar with the name Genzoman. Or, as his mother knows him, Gonzalo Ordoñez Arias. The Chilean illustrator, part of the illustrious Udon Crew, is responsible for some of the most amazing video game images on the internet. More »

Activision Blizzard may see its share price increase as much as 50 percent as it prepares to launch the Mists of Pandaria expansion for World of Warcraft and Call of Duty Online in China, financial newsweekly Barron's reports. Activision Blizzard is currently trading at $11.25, after reporting Q2 earnings above expectations but below the previous year, bringing in $1.08 million.

Investors expect shares could reach a high of $17 due to Mists of Pandaria's launch in September and Activision's partnership with Chinese Internet provider Tencent Holdings to launch the free-to-play game Call of Duty Online, potentially in "mid-2013," Barron's says. The Chinese gaming market generated $7 billion and included 160 million gamers in 2011, and is expected to grow by 20 percent this year to cash in more than $9 million in 2014.

Activision Blizzard's shares have fallen 10 percent this year, while the broad market has gained 11 percent. Parent company Vivendi was looking to sell its 61 percent stake in Activision Blizzard earlier this year, but it appears those efforts have shifted focus.

#scapegoatwatch The tragic murder of a dozen people in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado has not, for the most part, been tied to the supposedly pernicious effects video games have on society. But Fox News's website just found a connection. And it's a stretch. More »

#worldofwarcraft Ever since the first Warcraft game was released in 1994, fans of the series have been saying, some with kinder words than others, that the series feels similar to Games Workshop's Warhammer universe. It's a sentiment that only intensified after the release of World of Warcraft, ushering in millions of new fans to Blizzard's games who may not have been aware of Warhammer's existence. More »

World Of Warcraft’s surelyitreallycan’tbereal update, Mists Of Pandaria – the April Fool’s joke write large – has a release date at long last. It’ll be in the shops (shops?) on the 25th September. It’s going to cost a bloody enormous £30 in a box, but of course the digital version, not requiring a significant cut go to the store, price of packaging, shipping, etc, will be… wait, £30. Er. There is of course a Collector’s Edition at twice the price, and a Digital Deluxe containing the non-physical bonuses for £40. And you can now pre-order.

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#kotakuliveqa Surely you've heard of Athene, right? He's the best gamer in the world! He's got all kinds of world records, in everything from World of Warcraft to online poker. He can beat Diablo III's first boss in less than a second. His online fans are legion, and with their help he's farmed the most powerful weapons, beaten the toughest opponents, and raised gobs of money for charity. More »

These are, I must regrettably inform you, two stories related to World of Warcraft – not two stories related to one another. I apologize for dashing your dreams of Blizzard angrily stirring from its mountain lair and – blind with rage over losing Spider-Man and Evil Dead director Sam Raimi – hurling a spell bolt from on high that immediately transforms its playerbase into horses. Instead, I decided to collect today’s big WoW news in one place – mostly for convenience’s sake but also slightly to mislead you with a headline. I apologize for this most grievous of sins, but gosh, it was so, so worth it.

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#warcraft Sam Raimi was going to make a movie based on World of Warcraft. Now, he's not. More »

Crowd-sourcing. Crowd-funding. The next big thing. A flash-in-the-pan fad. Call it whatever you want, but right now, the gaming industry’s fallen in love with the idea of putting its fate in the hands of heaping piles of people. Double Fine Adventure was – so clearly that you could see it from space – the point where everyone took notice. Shockingly, crowds did, in fact, exist before that moment, but DFA caused them to really, truly become a thing in the industry’s eyes. Last week, however, saw Phase Two of that movement kick off with things like Penny Arcade’s Kickstarter, World of Warcraft’s Guild Mentoring Program, Steam Badges, and Steam Greenlight. Problem is, with the exception of the latter, we’re sort of doing a really miserable job of leveraging communities, you know, well.

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#worldofwarcraft Last year, Blizzard decided to auction off a number of "server blades" from World of Warcraft, which were literally the physical locations where people's online lives were stored and played out. More »

#worldofwarcraft Canadian man Jordan Osborne is lucky to be alive after an argument over World of Warcraft left him with a stab wound in the chest. More »

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter has elaborated on comments about how Vivendi would get rid of its stake in Activision Blizzard, following mounting speculation that the French conglomerate is trying to sell the game publisher.

Although a sale is "likely the preferred route" for Vivendi, Pachter wrote in a investor note, there aren't any "readily apparent buyers." Running through the list of suitors, it's noted that companies like Tencent Holdings have reportedly payed out $400 million and $600 million to acquire Riot Games and a minority stake in Epic Games, respectively, but those numbers still pale in comparison to Activision's worth at over $10 billion.

Acquisitions by Electronic Arts, Time Warner and Disney usually stay below a billion. Viacom did a $500 million write-off on its Harmonix debacle. It's also unlikely that any of the console manufacturers would purchase Activision Blizzard, since they would have to cannibalize sales. Activision's franchises du jour, like current champ Call of Duty, make so much money because they are available on every major platform.

Pachter believes the more likely outcome is a spinoff of Activision Blizzard. It would require some fancy financing on the back end, but it would give Vivendi an estimated $5 billion in cash, easing its personal burden. After the spinoff, Pachter feels Activision's shares would rise by how much cash the company generates every year and pay off its debts. Wedbush maintains an "outperform" rating for Activision Blizzard.

#fineart Last year, World of Warcraft developers Blizzard asked university students to "submit an original 3D environment piece fit for World of Warcraft". Basically, a digital diorama of a new WoW setting. More »

#worldofwarcraft Redditor JimmijTheRustler just up and published that image of what appears to be the official box for the upcoming Mists of Pandaria expansion to World of Warcraft. More »