Tagged News: world of warcraft

Editorial Director Julianne Greer is at DICE 2008 and had a chance to sit in on one of those highminded design driven chats that featured some heavyweights from Blizzard.

Thursday morning began with a group session of speakers versed in the creative process: Team Blizzard. Team Blizzard consisted of Mike Mohaime, CEO and co-founder of Blizzard (who is to be inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame at tonight's award ceremony), Frank Pearce, Executive VP of Product Development and co-founder of Blizzard and Rob Pardo, Senior VP of Game Design.

Morhaime and Pearce started in 1991, at the birth of Blizzard, which was originally called Silicone & Synapse and claimed a staff of three. None of the three had any game experience, but believed experience was only part of the equation for success.

Read more after the jump.

Miss out on BlizzCon last year? At the event, everyone received a Murloc card, which gives them a special treat in World of Warcraft and access to a future Blizzard game's beta. Today, we have five of them to give away. Enter to win this prize before February 13th.

Click below to enter.

If there's one recurring theme on the forums it's the outcry for new realms for the small section of players obsessed with powering new characters to cap on a virgin server. Well they've finally gotten their wish...sort of.

The first new server to be released since the launch of Burning Crusade, Ghostlands is using a different type of launch, one that disables character creation for a period of time, instead allowing players from higher population realms to transfer there first. This has been the standard since slightly before the release of BC, with many new realms having locked character creation for a set period of time.

The realms available for free transfer are:

Aerie Peak
Aggramar
Alexstrasza
Alleria
Argent Dawn
Blackhand
Cenarius
Doomhammer
Hellscream
Whisperwind

The free transfers will start on Thursday, January 31 at 3:00 PM PST and run until Thursday, February 7 at 3:00 PM PST.

Along with this a variety of other free server transfers have been announced. For the full list click 'Read More'.

Along with the super small 2.3.3 bug fix patch going live today a series of new free character transfers have been announced to alleviate the further bloat of certain high population realms:

Source A
Warsong
Illidan
Arthas
Burning Blade
Skullcrusher

Destination A
Lethon

Source B
Mal'Ganis
Kel'Thuzad
Sargeras
Tichondrius
Maelstrom

Destination B
Darrowmere

You've only got until 1pm PST on January 29th, so get in while the getting's good.

Despite all the prophecies of doom and gloom, World of Warcraft hit yet another milestone with more than 10 million subscribers, which according to Gamasutra cover all the current active subscribers:

Blizzard also took its customary step of explicitly defining who it counted as subscribers, clarifying that the 10 million number refers to those who have paid a subscription fee or have an active prepaid card to play World of Warcraft, as well as those who have purchased the game and are within their free month of access...

The total count did not include any of the free, expired or canceled or prepaid card subscriptions, but it did include Internet Game Room players and its licensees subscribers. Not surprisingly Blizzard co-founder and CEO Mike Morhaime was more than excited by the news:

"It's very gratifying to see gamers around the world continuing to show such enthusiasm and support for World of Warcraft. We're always pleased to welcome new players to the game, and we're looking forward to sharing the next major content update with the entire community in the months ahead."

What's next? WoW players claiming their own country! Click below for the official press release.

WoW Insider reported that the presumed gold cap limit, the sum of 214,748 gold, 36 silver and 48 copper, was achieved last week by two of the top clan leaders:

Dorgabas on the official forums and meth on MMO-Champion's forums both reported the discovery today, each with a screenshot to provide veracity to their claims. You can check them out by clicking here. The shots are of two different players, one of whom is on a German-speaking server. In the shot you can read his conversation with a GM, which supposedly translates to him asking the GM about the limit and the GM scratching his head in response.

Apparently you can be too rich for Blizzard. Not that any of us will see a fraction of that!

That's right, before the epic 2.4 patch can hit the test realm we've got a small bug fix patch to sit through:

World of Warcraft PTR Patch 2.3.3

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

General
- Some players may notice improved data load times when newly entering
the world and after zoning into new areas.
- Character/NPC load times have been decreased, and now should appear
faster. You're not hearing voices, there really are people in
Shattrath!

Bug Fixes
- Felspine the Greater in Shadowmoon Valley will no longer evade when
engaged.
- Players will now be correctly credited with their arena points if
they purchase an arena item during weekly arena calculations.
- Using a castsequence macro on a target moving out of range will no
longer cause it to stop working.

Hopefully this patch will move through quickly so we can experience the Sunwell!

And before you ask, no, there are no premades.

As announced by Blizzard poster "Vaneras", crowded European WoW servers will get a limited free transfer opportunity to the less populated servers between January 16th and 22nd:

Due to population differences between some of the highest and lowest populated PvP realms, the following Free Character Migration will be available January 16th to 22nd:

From: Al'Akir, Burning Legion, Stormscale, Magtheridon
To: Daggerspine, Spinebreaker, Xavius

Please note that the migration may be closed at any time should a destination realm's population rise too high.

If you've been contemplating moving, then hurry up before all the slots are filled!

SecurityFocus, an security information website, has published an interview with Gary McGraw, who has written a book about his experiences in finding various security flaws in MMORPGs.

To date, I don't believe online game security has grappled with the software security problem the way it should. I'm confident that our book will change that. We've already been contacted by a number of game companies interested in doing a better job with software security.

Real Flaws in Virtual Worlds

Harsher penalties have been announced for those players who still are AFKing their way to epics in Alterac Valley. According to Bornak:

In our continued efforts to support fair gameplay in World of Warcraft and to provide a positive experience for players, we are currently taking steps to ensure fair and enjoyable competition in the Battlegrounds. Starting immediately, we will be issuing warnings and penalties, including suspensions and the removal of Honor points and recently acquired Honor rewards, for non-participation in Battleground games.

We are taking action against thousands of accounts immediately, and will continue to monitor these situations and regularly take action against violators. If you encounter a player in a Battleground who is intentionally not participating in the battle for an extended period of time, please help us track the situation and report the player as AFK. For information on how to complete an in-game AFK report, please go here: (http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/pvp/battlegrounds/info.html). All reports will be thoroughly investigated, and corrective action will only be taken if the violation is confirmed.

What once was simply a cheap and backhanded way to earn honor has now become a serious offense that could earn you a suspension. Previously people reported AFK in a battleground would simply have their honor for that round revoked, but now it seems that cases will be reviewed and stricter punishments will be doled out.