Well next month State of Azeroth will be on a bit of a break since I will be out of the country for approximately two weeks. Since I’ll be out of commission for a bit next month’s column will be smaller but should pack some fun bits for you all.

In the mean time what have your plans been so far pre-expansion? Gearing up for Blizzcon yet?

News

General
In good news for WoW fans in China, it seems like Wrath of the Lich King has finally been approved by the censors and is set to be released! A lot of the issues had to do with the amount of skulls and decaying undead in the game, so Blizzard has phased out a lot of that as well as turning the blood splashes from red to green for the release in China. Interested to see what it looks like? Well a news site called 178ChinaGame has some screen shots comparing the China release vs. the regular game. You can see all of the comparisons here. It’s intriguing to see how much had to change and in some instances what the original was changed into (like the patched together body on the table becoming a straw man).

Cataclysm Beta

As I mentioned above I’ve been playing more of the beta. Besides enjoying flying around the old world (which is seriously awesome) I’ve lately been doing all of the underwater Vasj’ir quests. How you get down there in the first place is pretty cool and the mechanics of how you’re able to survive underwater is pretty much explained right off the bat. I will say that fighting creatures underwater is a bit of a tricky situation sometimes because it feels like their aggro range is larger than it should be. And I’m also still getting used to the hunter changes in Cataclysm. I’m still not sure if I will like Focus or not. To be fair a little thing called StarCraft II did pull me away from the beta for a bit, so I need to go and fully check out what’s out now in the latest patch.

Speaking of patches, there has been several updates to the beta. The UI has been changed up a bit and it’s for the better. I think my favorite so far is being able to see the percentage values for hitting targets above my level. It’s a heck of a lot easier than going to sites to figure out what I need to stack or what number I need to get up to. Mounts also have their own tab, and the Glyph UI has been updated so you can now access glyphs you’ve learned already. Guild XP and level bonuses are also up and running so I’ve seen a lot more opening up and advertising for new members. I also enjoy the new Battleground interface which now displays the time between territorial battlegrounds like Wintergrasp and Tol Barad.

We also have some more fun things like Music and new loading screens out. The loading screens feature the leaders of the Alliance and Horde forces, as well as new screens for both Outland and Northrend. I think my favorite has to be the new Northrend loading screen. It just strikes me as a poignant piece of art. DominikaSents has a whole YouTube channel devoted to the new music that I highly recommend checking out! If you don’t want to listen through everything, you can skip right to the Login screen music. It has some great nods to some of the others that we know. The initial beginning doesn’t impress me but I admit that it does pick up speed and I began to like it more as it went on. There are some interesting parts that really made me think of God of War (mainly when the vocals kicked in during the heavy parts). All in all listening through the channel made me very excited to lay my hands on the soundtrack that will inevitably be in the collectors edition I plan on getting.

The guild vendor is now also up and you can go and check out all of the neat things he has for sale. There are some pets, recipes, heirloom gear, a faction specific ground mount and that fancy dark phoenix mount that I’ve been lusting after since I saw the model on MMO-Champion. Also a new model for Thrall has appeared and I’m not impressed. True he has new clothing, but it just doesn’t suit Thrall in my mind. And the massive necklace he has on reminds me of what the Monk from Diablo 3 wears. Again does not suit Thrall no matter what role he has stepped into. There is also a new model for Malfurion, and yet again it does not impress me. He looks like the offspring after a Nigh Elf mated with a Boomkin. Really?! This is how you wanted to re-design Malfurion Blizzard? I’m disappointed. At least Ysera looks good.

Thoughts on Blizzcon 2010

Well Blizzcon 2010 is approaching at a steady pace and I’m sure for those going many plans are being made. I’m also wondering several things about it myself. Like what will be the big announcement this year? Will there be any? Last year seemed like such a big event with the announcement of Cataclysm, the new Diablo 3 class and more StarCraft 2. Will we get to maybe finally play the female Worgen at Blizzcon ’10? Maybe check out some SC2: Heart of the Swarm? And who could top Ozzy as a musical performer?

Music wise I bet it may just be L80ETC (or do they prefer L800ETC?). But I do still wonder what will be said at the keynote. I’m sure the panels will be interesting and will talk about the myriad of changes that has happened since last year. Other than that my guess is that this year will be a bit more low key. I do hope that we get release dates for Cataclysm, Diablo III and Heart of the Swarm.

Comic Relief

I have a particularly fun piece that someone linked to on Twitter. Last year in the Armed Forces Journal Captain Robert M. Chamberlain wrote a piece entitled “Let’s Do This! Leeroy Jenkins and the American Way of Advising.” By now most if not all should know the infamous “All right chums, let’s do this! LEEROY JENKINS!!” But if you don’t the classic video is up on YouTube. But what is the link between Leeroy charging in and wiping the group he’s in and the US Army? Well according to Capt. Chamberlain, Leeroy’s charge is similar to how US forces in Iraq used to act. They changed their strategy to more thought out plans, but Chamberlain now feels that the Army is heading back to that Leeroy charge when it comes to advising Iraqi forces who are in the process of taking over where the US has left off.

It honestly worries me that someone within the army is comparing the strategy to that of Leeroy Jenkins. Being that this is real life and that many lives are affected by decisions overseas I would have hoped that the decisions weren’t as brash as those of someone playing an online video game. I wonder what the real Leeroy thinks of this. Well… at least he has his chicken.

Call to readers!

If you have any tips, tricks, news or funnies you would like to send in to be included in the next State of Azeroth please send an email to steph@gamingangels.com!

This is Steph signing off until next month. Glory to the Alliance!

Thanks to Necrotic Designs for the awesome banner!