Today Blizzard launched a new service for World of Warcraft players that them to pay for a faction change. For $30.00 gamers can make their Horde character jump ship and join the Alliance or vice versa.
According to the FAQ, “Each Faction Change costs $30.00 USD (not including applicable taxes). This covers a single Faction Change for a single character.”
In order to change factions, gamers need to go to their Account Management page and click the “Change Faction” button. From here, you’ll be given a choice of which race you want your character to be from those available to their class and faction. If you are looking to just change your race, you’ll have to wait a bit longer. Blizzard notes in the FAQ, “We will be releasing a Race Change service in the near future for this purpose.”
Read: World of Warcraft Launches Paid Faction Changes.
UPDATE: The trailer has been added after the jump.
Today, during BlizzCon’s opening ceremony, Blizzard announced a new World of Warcraft expansion called “Cataclysm.”
According to the trailer, “As the terrible war against the Lich King continues, the proud defenders of Azeroth fight to secure a lasting peace. But there can be no peace when the world itself is devoured by rage.”
While not much is known, we do know that Goblins will be a new race for the Horde, and that the Alliance are getting the werewolf like Worgen. Blizzard also promised there would be new race and class combinations, as well as heroic versions of older dungeons.
As of right now, the trailer isn’t available online, but as soon as it is you can be sure I’ll post is here on The Wire. Read more »
Remember when I posted a new item about PopCap’s Peggle being integrated with World of Warcraft? Well today PopCap released Peggle: World of Warcraft edition.
The free stand-alone title features 10 levels, each themed after a World of Warcraft boss. A Duel mode, a Quick Play mode, and a whole slew of challenges are also included.
In order to get your hands on Peggle: World of Warcraft edition, head over to the official PopCap site. At 13MB, what have you got to lose? It’s free!
Read: Peggle: World of Warcraft Edition Spreads Free Glee.
Yesterday Blizzard revealed that it is preparing “a new service” which will allow World of Warcraft players to change their faction. This means you could turn your Orc hunter into a Human hunter, and vice versa.
According to a post on the official World of Warcraft forums by a Blizzard employee, “We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it. Read more »
Today Blizzard revealed some details about their upcoming unannounced MMO.
According to Blizzard community manager Zarhym (his name on the World of Warcraft forums), “We’ve already stated it’ll be a brand new franchise, which means the lore, art, and game play are being developed entirely from scratch.” He went on to state that the new MMO is just a, “shell of a game thus far.”
Blizzard has stated in the past that it is developing the title with the World of Warcraft engine for testing purposes.
It seems like Blizzard is feeling pretty confident about the new title. Zarhym said, “It’s an overwhelming process, but a process through which we excel. Our track record supports this.”
Read: Blizzard Confirms New MMO Based on Fresh IP.
Today Blizzard revealed this year’s exclusive BlizzCon World of Warcraft item.
Those who attend BlizzCon, or watch it on pay per view, will receive Grunty the Murloc Marine.
According to Blizzard, “This tiny terror is fully armored and comes equipped with a gauss rifle, which he’ll occasionally fire into the air to make sure no invisible spacecraft are swooping in to attack.”
In order to get Grunty, Blizzard fans need to go here on May 16. Tickets to BlizzCon are $125 a piece. If that’s too pricey, the pay per view is only $40.
Read: BlizzCon 09 Attendees Get WoW Space Marine Pet.
Today Blizzard announced that BlizzCon 2009 tickets will go on sale May 16.
As usual, the event will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center on August 21-22. In order to get in, you are going to have to drop $125 per ticket.
If you aren’t lucky enough to get a ticket on May 16, don’t get too upset. Blizzard has stated that there will be another block of tickets release on May 30.
If you are like me, and have absolutely no way to get out to Anaheim for BlizzCon, you might want to consider watching the event on TV. DirectTV customers will be able to watch the whole event from their couches for only $40. If you don’t have DirectTV, there are also Pay Per View Internet streams, which will also cost you $40. If you pay to watch, either via DirectTV or an online steam, Blizzard will send you this year’s BlizzCon-exclusive WoW item.
Read: BlizzCon Tickets on Sale May 16, Event to Be Streamed Online for First Time.
Today PopCap released a free version of its casual pachinko-esque puzzler Peggle as a free add-on to World of Warcraft. Now whenever you have to wait, you can kill time by shooting pegs.
This version of Peggle features WoW themed levels, a “talent tree” to spec you Peggle skills, and a new “/peggleloot” command, which allows players to divvy up loot based on a Peggle shot. Whoever get the highest score with one shot gets the loot.
In order to snag the Peggle add-on, click here.
Read: Peggle Hits World of Warcraft with Peggle-based Loot Rolling, Custom Talent Tree.
After months of teasing and waiting for new gear, World of Warcraft poopsockers players are able to head into Ulduar to conquer new content.
Here’s a small trailer showing what awaits:
In addition to Ulduar, the patch brings a huge number of changes to the game, from fundamental ones such as allowing ground mounts to swim (yes!) to balance tweaks for each class. Given the amount of time this has been in testing, I can only hope that class balance has improved since the last time I played the game.
The full patch notes can be found over at Blizzard’s patch notes page.
MMO-Champion has the rundown on all the changes, including gear, mounts, pets, dungeon maps, recipes, and anything else you could possibly need.
As I’m sure all of you know, it’s April Fools Day and there is a long standing tradition in the games industry when it comes to April 1st. Every year companies send out fake press releases: some are pretty funny, others not so much.
Every April Fools Day Blizzard Entertainment knocks it out of the park. They go far beyond the normal joke press release. This year they have sent out several videos and screen shots showcasing some “new” features in their games. For example, Blizzard announced today that they will be adding a “Pimp My Mount” feature to World of Warcraft. Blizzard’s website advertises, “Tired of your mount looking like every other raptor, wolf, horse, kodo, or nightsaber out there? Then Z to the A to the zzber (whew, that’s a mouthful!) will be glad to welcome you to his shop where you can epic-ize your mount with some phat total pimpage!”
Also added into the World of Warcraft is a new PVP Dance Battle System. According to Blizzard, “As with the Arena system, close communication and teamwork is crucial–you’ll have to be in sync, both with the music as well as with the other members of your crew, to become the ’server’ and not the ’servee.’” Blizzard even released a special promotion video which can be found here.
Blizzard isn’t one to ignore its other franchises. They announced today that there is a new player-class in Diablo III, The Archivist. Wielding magic spells like Lorenado, Quest Bolt and Shush. To see the Archivist in action, click here.
Lastly, Starcraft 2 got a little April Fools attention when Blizzard announced the newst weapon in the Terran arsenal, the Terra-tron. When you are hopelessly out numbered and the situation is looking grim, you can make a last ditch effort by assembling all your base structures into a giant walking robot. To check out videos of this kooky colossus, click here.
It is with great pleasure that I announce to you iGoogle’s new gaming related themes. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been more excited on the internet, ever.
One of the images within the World of Warcraft theme
I stumbled across this last night but was to busy to look into it but I really wish I had. Now every day when I wake up and turn my PC on to look at naked women check out the latest gaming news and reports on the GGL Wire, I can start the day off right by viewing orcs in epic battle, or Link doing his thing.
The collection of iGoogle gaming themes:
- World of Warcraft
- Mario
- Call of Duty: World at War
- Donkey Kong
- Street Fighter IV Read more »
Blizzard has launched its new Battle.net, integrating online accounts for games like StarCraft, Diablo II, and World of Warcraft.
From now on, instead of having an account for each game, players can merge all accounts under one Battle.net login. Additionally, the Blizzard Store is integrated into Battle.net, allowing downloads of previously purchased games (think Steam-like functionality, only from a web browser). Users of the new Battle.net will automatically be entered into beta drawings for Blizzard games.
While merging accounts is optional right now (and only available for users in the Americas), creating a Battle.net account will be mandatory in the future.
Visit the new Battle.net site here.
