Today’s contest is going to be very simple, and very late (for our Australian/Asian friends).  Or very early, if you’re hardcore.

How do you suggest we improve The Instance?

What would you like to see us do online, or out in the real world?  What would be an epic move we could make with the show?  Tell us what you think – only once – in the comments for this post or on our Facebook wall. Multiple suggestions from the same person will disqualify you entirely.

Here’s the twist: We’re going to give away four beta keys – two to the best two realistic suggestions, and two to the best two impossible/moronic/outrageous suggestions.  So you’re going to have to decide which of the two sorts you’re going for, and get it done quick.  We will award all four keys starting at 11PM PDT.  So you have just over 2 hours.

Have fun!!!

Update (9:45PM Hawaiian) — Just sent out four beta keys to tonight’s winners – Amanda S., Ty M., Xagar and Tadrith!  So many good suggestions!  Thank you, and congratulations!

It’s really that simple.  Today, I’m giving two beta keys to the writers of two haiku about WoW.  You may post your haiku in the comments here or on our Facebook wall.  Please only enter with one haiku, the best you can contrive.

My bare dwarf feet on

Cool dewy grass feel just right

A fine hunter’s day

I will be convening a panel of judges when this contest is closed for entries, which will be at 9PM PDT (midnight eastern) today.  So you have six hours to give it your best shot! Good luck!
Note: Please don’t post your haiku someplace other than the comments on this blog post or our Facebook wall, if you want it to be judged.  Also, please note that we will be checking to make sure the winning WoW haiku are original before awarding the keys.  Thank you!

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to patronize The Instance fan page on Facebook.

On that page, I have just created a new photo album called “WoW In Real Life”.  Now it’s time for you to get creative.  Post one photo to the photos page that fits the description:

“…your WoW things juxtaposed with real-world things, or just real-world things that remind you of WoW.”

It could be a picture of your collector’s edition of WoW on a snow sled.  Perhaps your FigurePrint on vacation in the city.  Perhaps you have an actual pet pig named Hellboar.  We will select one photo at 8PM PDT today.  It will be a photo that is funny/weird/beautiful/catchy.  You have four hours.

Good luck!!

We’re happy to announce that every day for the next 25 days, The Instance will give away two keys to the World Of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta test, courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment! As we build up to our landmark 200th episode, we want to give you the chance to beta-test and be among the first to experience the coming cataclysm.

Every day, starting tomorrow – Friday, July 23rd – Scott and Randy will each give away one of two unique codes that unlock your access to Cataclysm. To win, you’ll want to follow Scott and Randy, as well as Instanceshow, on Twitter. They might give away a code on The Instance Facebook page any day of the week. You never know when Randy might announce a giveaway in The Instance forum, or Scott might give his daily code to a random person in the live chat room during a recording of one of the show. If you want to win, you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled, and your mournes frosty.

Start looking for Scott and Randy to each give away one WoW:Cataclysm beta code per day, and good luck! We’ll see you in the game.

Curse.com, a portal that offers many tools for MMO players, has purchased MMO-Champion.com from Major League Gaming.  MMO-Champion.com is one of the most popular World of Warcraft news sites boasting more than 7 million unique visitors and over 80 million page views a month.  The site is popular for it’s simple design and Blue Tracker as well as providing many sneak previews of upcoming changes to WoW.  MMO-Champion’s founder and administrator, Fabien Bonte, will be joining Curse as a full-time employee and maintains that “99% of the decisions on the site” will still be made by him.  While Curse has been a leading provider of MMO tools and resources since being founded by Hubert Thieblot in 2005, some gamers will also be wary of the deal since Curse, along with WoWInterface, led to the downfall of WoWMatrix.  Continue reading →

A TON of you guys are in this! Huge thanks again to William Doran for shooting and editing this video!

As Cataclysm approaches everyday news comes out about the changes that are being made to the game.  A lot of what we are finding out is that some things are going away completely and the game is being simplified in many respects.  Simple may not always be better but there are quite a few spells that seem extraneous or poorly designed that may have had a purpose at some point but now have outlived their usefulness.  Should Blizzard just dump them all or is there anything salvageable?  Let’s take a look at some spells that either need to be dumped or get a tune-up.

Continue reading →

On our top bar above, you’ll now find a new page called Music, where we are cataloging every song we feature in The Instance, so you don’t have to! We know how much you want to be able to listen to your favorite WoW-related parodies and assorted songs that are submitted to the show, and we want there to be a one-stop-shop for you.

There is a long way to go before the page is complete, but if you’d like to help, feel free to comment there, or join us in discussion on this topic here.

Enjoy!