Beta Opt-in, Thor Mini Pet, and Much More!

Beta Opt-in, Thor Mini Pet, and Much More!

Beta is getting close, dear players and readers, so close that Blizzard is now allowing for an opt-in!  You can beat yours truly has followed these directions to be able to be considered to participate in Beta.

“Get those opt-ins ready for the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm closed beta! The sundering of Azeroth is nigh, and you don’t want to be left out in the cold of Northrend when you could be enjoying the sun-drenched beaches on the goblin isle of Kezan. To ensure you’re opted-in and eligible as a potential candidate, you’ll need a World of Warcraft license attached to your Battle.net account, have your current system specifications uploaded to the Battle.net Beta Profile Settings page, and have expressed interest through the franchise-specific check boxes.

So get your opt-ins set up, updated, and ready; we’re worgen real hard to get the beta going soon!” – Blizzard.

Another interesting bit of news is the new vanity pet that will be available for those who purchased the StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Collectors Edition.  Those who purchase the Collectors Edition will be able to use the Mini Thor pet in their World of Warcraft account!  If you don’t have a World of Warcraft Account well… *points to herself*…you know where to find me hehe.

“IRVINE, Calif. – April 8, 2010 – Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty™, will be available both in a standard edition and in a limited-release Collector’s Edition packed with exclusive bonus materials. Players who purchase either edition will be able to play online for no additional fee through the new version of Battle.net®, the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard Entertainment gamers.

PTR Patch 3.3.5 Note Review

PTR Patch 3.3.5 Note Review

Already testing for an upcoming patch, even with all of this wonderful Cataclysm information floating about out there! Links saved from Blizzards posts for those who want to read directly from Blue themselves.

“World of Warcraft PTR Patch 3.3.5

General

• The Ruby Sanctum, an all-new 10- and 25-player raid featuring normal and Heroic difficulties, is now available for testing! Players will find the dungeon entrance below Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight.
• Copied Test Realm characters are not copied with their achievement history in order to better facilitate the character copy process.

NightSkye: For those who want to read about the Ruby Sanctum (who missed it) you can check it out here.

User Interface
Chat Frame

• Players can now right-click on any chat type (Whisper, Trade, General, Party, Raid, etc.) and choose the Pop Out Chat option. This will move that chat type to a separate tab in the Chat frame which can be undocked and moved anywhere on the screen.
• Using the Pop Out Chat option on a Whisper will place the conversation with that player in a separate tab.
• Any time a conversation with another player is put into its own tab, the tab will glow when a new message is received.
• Hovering over the Chat Frame and using the mouse wheel will allow players to scroll through chat text.
• Players can select Classic Mode under Interface Options to keep the Chat Frame functionality closer to what it was prior to patch 3.3.5.
• The Simple Chat User Interface option has been removed.

Friends List

• A new icon has been added to the top left of the Chat Frame which will open up the Friends list.
• In addition to its current functionality, the Friends List will now allow players to add Battle.net accounts (Real ID). Players will have to confirm that they are friends in order for a Real ID to be added. Once Real ID friends, players can communicate cross-game, cross-faction and cross-realm.
• A new Pending tab has been added where players can accept or decline a Real ID friend request, or select the Report Spam or Block Communications buttons.
• Players can now select from three statuses which will be visible to their friends: Available, Away and Busy.
• A Broadcast window has been added to the top of the frame. Players can use this to broadcast a message to all of their Real ID friends online. This message will also be displayed under the broadcaster’s Real ID information in each friend’s list.

For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros Forum: http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114 ” – Blizzard

I am glad to be hearing about the chat options becoming available to be honest because I try to run World of Warcraft with minimal mods running but hopefully it won’t bog down the game.  It’s sometimes hard to keep track of Private Messages while during a boss fight in a raid, even with chat mods (it can be slightly annoying to see them pop up unexpectedly as well while running for your life!).

What do you, fellow readers and players, think of the  new cross game chat that will be implemented?

Happy Hunting!

Cataclysm: NPC and Mount Models

Cataclysm: NPC and Mount Models

The last few days have been rather hectic in gathering as much information as possible from the Alpha Tests.  I want to thank everyone for their patience and hopefully you’re as excited about all of this new information as I am!  There are a few NPC/Mount models available now that just made me squeal with excitement -yes, yes I do squeal when excited – and I wanted to share them with you.

The Female Goblin at the top of the images is awesome.  I really enjoy playing female characters (well because I’m a girl!) and while I don’t think the Goblins are as neat looking as the Worgen – personal opinion – this image changed my mind.  This female model looks amazing and it makes me want to play the race even more!  Following are the Goblins personal Banks, the Hobgoblin, and these models…well…kind of frightening?  The Worgen, of course, look so very ‘NightSkye wants to have one so bad’ hehe.  I am still a bid disappointed there isn’t a Female model out yet AND that Worgen don’t have tails.  I like tails!  For all the Shamans out there here is what the new Goblin Totems will look like (not sure if this is a final model or if there will be a bit more tinkering done).

The next NPC’s are of really AMAZING looking Kodo.  These images I am assuming (yes I know what can happen when you do that) are the new Paladin Mounts for Tauren.  Why do I say that?  Well, if you  notice in the second image there is that ‘Pally Aura’ like all of the horses have when they reach the 100% speed mounts.  These new mounts are so beautiful but at the same time I am so sad.  Why?  I’ve played a Tauren for near 5 years now and they are the most boring and ugly mount in the game.  Look at image one, shouldn’t ALL Kodo have looked like this to begin with?  War painted and feathered?  Keep your fingers crossed that non Paladin Mounts get a slight revamp as well. For image three and four – could these be the revamped Draenai Paladin Mounts?  Once again, the 100% mount has that classic Pally Aura.   The final image is of a Goblin Car – could this just be NPC only or possible Goblin Mount?

Last but not least a few NPC’s that I like looking at.  Remember in an earlier post how Hunters MIGHT, I stress might due to it NOT being confirmed, be able to tame a Fox?  Well enjoy 4 different colors!  Makes me wonder from what Zone they will appear in.

On these last few images I am wondering if they are strictly NPC’s in Gilneas or if these will be available to players in some form or another.

Okay last image, I promise hehe, but wouldn’t you want one of these (any color really) to be the Collector’s Edition Pet for Cataclysm? I know I would!

Happy Hunting!

P.S. The banner image is an Undead Brood Mother….any thoughts as to why?