Monthly Archives: November 2009

WoW turns 5, Warcraft turns 15.

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15-years

Over the past five years, a lot has changed in Azeroth. Valiant heroes have travelled the length and breadth of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms, taken wing in Outland to free the Black Temple from Illidan’s clutches, and set sail for Northrend to battle the mighty Lich King. Whether you’ve been part of the adventure from the beginning or are just getting started now, we’re glad to have you with us for the five-year anniversary of World of Warcraft and the 15-year anniversary of the Warcraft series.

Help Blizzard celebrate by checking out their hot new mini-site!

The Instance #169 – You Like Fishstick?

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This Week Is Your Chance To Vote For The Instance For Best Gaming Podcast In The 2009 Podcast Awards!  You Can Vote Every Day Until The End Of November.  Thank You For Your Support!

Big News Of The Week

Mr. T Returns To WoW

This week, Blizzard got the original Night Elf Mohawk himself to do a short commercial for the 5th anniversary of WoW, and gave the game a somewhat different look for a while. You can currently find a Night Elf Mohawk NPC just outside of every race’s starting area, and if you ask him, he’ll give you a stack of 5 grenades.

Pligrim’s Bounty

It’s a new holiday in WoW that started Sunday, November 22, and runs for 8 days.

So Many More Class Guides

Since our last episode of The Instance, Blizzard updated their Class Links page, a compendium of links out to dozens and dozens of guides that may or may not interest you as you try to figure out whether to go combat or assassination as you level up.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

A New Angle On Getting The Tier Gear

Starting with this weeks update to the public test realms, we’ve gotten a good look at how Blizzard may be doling out the tier 10 set gear in version 3.3 of WoW. It’s another small twist on how things were done previously, but doesn’t appear to deviate from the general trend of things over the last year.

That Ring Is Gonna Cost You

Blizzard Community Manager Bornakk laid the following sweet deal on us this week in the official forums:

Item level 251 Kirin Tor rings are currently planned for patch 3.3. I’m not sure what the cost to upgrade is but it will probably be similar to previous upgrades.

So for those of you who have spent 8800 gold on the 226 version of that ring, Blizzard is going to do the same thing here that they did in the last two expansions.

Town Cryer

Ryan V. writes: One of my really close friends recently got cut off of WoW. Her parents won’t see reason even though she paid for her subscription and followed their rules. They have no chance of seeing reason, but she can still play when she comes over to my house. She wanted to give me her character for my birthday so she would also be able to play it sometimes. However because of the rules blizzard has set for character transfers she can’t transfer it, is there any chance that I could talk to blizzard and try and show them that I am not someone selling my account?

Drop Of The Week

An Arctic Incentive

Make Your Pilgrims More Bountiful

We know what you’re thinking:

Five new cooking recipes to incorporate into this character of mine with the Thanksgiving holiday is great, but I’m not at cooking skill level 330 yet!

Well don’t despair, we’re here to get your cooking leveled up as quickly and inexpensively as possible. The WoWWiki Alliance and Horde cooking guides to the rescue.  And we’ve got a couple more tips for you from the kitchen.  Namely, mods:

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, StickerFu, FigurePrints!, TypeFrag and SquareSpace for sponsoring this episode.

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Next BlizzCon: Not Las Vegas

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leavinglasvegas

As of 11AM PDT, we can assuredly report that the next BlizzCon convention will not be held in Las Vegas.  A Blizzard source has assured us that the rumor on this subject is just that.  Furthermore:

  • Blizzard is not commenting on whether or not the next BlizzCon will be held in 2010.
  • Blizzard is not commenting on why their name is associated with the Las Vegas Convention Center calendar.
  • Blizzard is not commenting on where the next BlizzCon may be held.

That last point is key.  Wherever the next BlizzCon is held, it will not be in Las Vegas.

Battle.net Account now REQUIRED!

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In case you missed it, it’s go time, people. Blizzard gave you long enough to do it on your own. If you wanna use the game, then you’ll get on the train! The train to Battlenetville USA! GO GO GO! A taste below:

World of Warcraft is now a part of the new Battle.net! In preparation for the rollout of Battle.net’s upcoming communication and community features, as of today, all World of Warcraft accounts must be merged with a free Battle.net account in order to log in to the game. To upgrade to a Battle.net account, please go here. For more info, check out the Battle.net site or read the FAQ.

Now is the time, and this is the place.

The Instance #168 – Three Stacks Of Chilton

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Big News Of The Week

Talking Pet Store With Tom Chilton

On Wednesday, Blizzard added a new dimension to their online store and the game itself with the release of two new premium in-game pets. At a cost of $10 or 10-Euro each, you can have one of these two new companions following every character you’ve got in game. This marks the first time that Blizzard has done direct pay-for-content microtransactions in World Of Warcraft, and it got a lot of people talking. So much so that we found the only fitting way to get to the bottom of the worry to be – An exclusive interview with Blizzard’s Tom Chilton! Have a listen, and look to this blog for a full transcript coming soon!

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

What’s Going On In China

It could almost be a World of Warcraft game session — two competing titans, plotting against each other, swapping blows, embarked on a quest for a single prize that only the stronger of them will claim.
But this is not virtual reality. The titans are two agencies of the Chinese government. And their quest, during which they have traded a few blows in the past week, is for a potentially rich prize: the power to regulate the real World of Warcraft, among the most popular online games in China. The background: On Monday, the Chinese General Administration of Press and Publication ordered the Shanghai-based operator of World of Warcraft, NetEase, to shut down its servers for World of Warcraft. The agency said that it had rejected the company’s application to become the new host of the game’s four million Chinese players. But by Wednesday, the Ministry of Culture had struck back. “In regards to the World of Warcraft incident, the General Administration of Press and Publication has clearly overstepped its authority,” a ministry official, Li Xiong, was quoted as saying in the Economic Information Daily, a newspaper in Beijing. “They do not have the authority to penalize online gaming.” The ministry said it had that authority. And it said NetEase was perfectly free to offer the game on computers in China. The matter now appears destined for settlement by the State Council, the Chinese government’s cabinet.

So begins an article by Michael Wines in the New York Times this week.

Blizzard Is Now Showing Off What The Tier 10 Priest And Paladin Sets May Look Like

Right here.

Town Cryer

It’s an all-calls Town Cryer this week!

Drop Of The Week

Our New Favorite WoW Blogger

OK – he’s not new at all, and most hardcore WoW-market enthusiasts have been reading his blog for at least a year, but we somehow missed The Greedy Goblin until just this past week, and if you’ve not yet read his writings at Blogspot, well, you’ve got a *lot* of catching up to do. Greedy Goblin writes a J.K. Rowling novel worth of updates every week, and focuses on both in-game and real world economics, in-game politics, and most humorously, making fun of his adversaries by posting screenshots of their reactions to his auction house tactics.

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz and the outstanding Instance Community.

Special thanks to DogHouse Systems, FigurePrints!, TypeFrag and SquareSpace for sponsoring this episode.

- The RSS Feed
The MP3 File
- The iTunes Subscription
The Zune Feed

What To Do With Your Death Knight

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Everybody’s got one.  People who play regularly on more than one server typically have more than one.  If you don’t have one, you’ve missed the most intriguing class storyline in the game.  Of course, we’re talking about your death knight – trained by Arthas, enslaved no more.  As a result of the influx of death knights that started almost a year ago, WoW has become overpopulated with players whose alt class doesn’t entirely make sense to them, or just doesn’t mean as much as their favorite class does.

Have you hit 80 on your death knight without really knowing what you’re doing, or how to maximize it?  Let’s talk about that.

Today, we’re going to give away a code for a Grunty The Murloc Marine in-game pet from Blizzard and The Instance to one person who participates in this thread on The Instance forums.  Just answer the original question posed by Jinxest there, or ask a new question of your own in that thread, or answer a new question before 6PM PDT today (that’s 9PM EDT).  One poster wins!

Blizzard Opens Pet Store, Stocks Up On Cedar Chips

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And it’s just a matter of time until you can buy your very own Henry.  Not that you could ever “own” Henry, per se.  From the Blizzard announcement:

Today we’re pleased to introduce the Pet Store for World of Warcraft, a new way for players to obtain in-game pets to join them on their adventures in Azeroth. Two brand-new companions are now available for purchase exclusively at the Pet Store in the online Blizzard Store: Lil’ K.T. and the Pandaren Monk.

Important note: If you have not already, you will have to move your account into Battle.Net before you can purchase and activate the new pets.  This and other technical issues are addressed in the Blizzard Pet Store FAQ here.

What do you think of this? Want to win a Grunty The Murloc Marine in-game pet from Blizzard and The Instance? To win today, just answer that question in a comment right here in the blog before 5PM PDT today (that’s 8PM EDT), and tell us what you think. One commenter wins!