We kick things off talking about what Titan might be all about.

Big News of the Week
Break out your tank tops! Midsummer Fire Festival is HERE! Same as every year, other than all the dungeon finder integration. Do we care about this one?

4.2 in game cinematic was released! Across the breadth of Azeroth, the Horde and the Alliance have dealt crushing blows to Deathwing’s elemental minions and fanatic Twilight’s Hammer cultists. Through it all, the Earthen Ring has never wavered from its tireless charge, holding Azeroth itself together amid the tidal fury and errant magical energies that churn at the Maelstrom. Yet as the elements continue their chaotic upheaval, it seems that the noble shamanic order might finally be on the verge of breaking beneath the great weight that rests on its shoulders.

Cataclysm Launching in Chinese Mainland on July 12. When World Of Warcraft’s Wrath of the Lich King expansion was released in Chinese mainland on August 31, 2010, the rest of the world’s players had played it for about 2 years and they would get Cataclysm 4 months later. But WOW(CN) then sped up and tried to shorten the distance between WOW(CN) and the global version. While Chinese WOWers just enjoy the 30% buff against Lich King, they are about to witness the shake of the earth and the catastrophe of Azeroth – Cataclysm is coming to China.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Let the “WAR” games begin. Last December we introduced a new feature to World of Warcraft called War Games. This feature would provide players with the opportunity to face off in battles of epic proportions for fun and bragging rights. Arena teams and Battleground teams could meet up, pick their field of battle, and go toe-to-toe to hone their skills, see who was king (or queen) of the hill, and settle a score or two. While this was an exciting new feature, starting a War Game wasn’t as visible or easily accessible as we had wanted it to be. To address this issue, patch 4.2 implements a new interface option within the Player vs. Player (H) tab that makes it easier than ever to call out friend or foe for a face-off.

Some smack about what Ghostcrawler leaked regarding possible Titan details.

Blizzard interested in making games for iPhone, iPad. “Activision-Blizzard’s Greg Street, a lead designer behind the company’s highly successful World of Warcraft online game, told Eurogamer that his company was interested in making games built for the iPhone.

“Everyone I know here has an iPhone or an iPad so we’re huge fans of the hardware,” Street said to Eurogamer. “If we could make the right game changes to make that work, it’s something we’d be interested in. It’s not something you’re going to see in the next week or two, but it’s the kind of thing we’re always looking at.”

Drop of the Week
Amazing Stained Glass-Style World Of Warcraft Fan Art
World of Warcraft fan art depicting various stories and legends within the the World of Warcraft setting, in the form of stained glass art. Created by artist Jian Guo.

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace, Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, and Typefrag.com.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

– The MP3 File
– The RSS Feed
– The iTunes Subscription
– The Zune Feed
– The Frogpants Ultra Feed (iTunes)

We chat things up a bit about E3, what that means for Blizzard and WoW, and our overall impressions of the MMO showing at the event.

Big News of the Week
Give me patch, or give me death! When will 4.2 hit? According to the End of Arena Season 9 Announcement it looks like the patch will be deployed on June 21st, with the new season starting the week after.

Wanna see a naked toon with the best weapons ever? We’ve got your back! Our friends over at MMO-Champion have done the work so you don’t have to, and extracted many if not all of the first wave of 4.2 based Firelands loot for all to see. Let’s talk about a few of the stronger showings.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Let’s get Legendary all up in here, yo! We talk a bunch about some recent blizzard Q and A regarding tanks!

Why does blizzard hate E3? Year in and year out, we get pretty pumped for E3 to happen, and hear about the spread of new games that will be eating up our lives for the next couple of years. But we never see Blizzard at this event. Why? Blizzcon is THEIR E3? Not unlike Rockstar, they are “”bigger”" than this. They don’t need it.

Drop of the Week
Do not forget Dark Pippi! He has provided sooooo many great songs we’ve played here on the instance, and his star is on the rise! Give him your support and check out his website, songs and youtube offerings. Really talented guy!

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace, Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, and Typefrag.com.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

– The MP3 File
– The RSS Feed
– The iTunes Subscription
– The Zune Feed
– The Frogpants Ultra Feed (iTunes)

Big News of the Week
The Winged Guardian has left the building! Or maybe entered it? When you take to the skies astride a blazing, eagle-winged lion, your comrades will know you mean business. Serious business. So saddle up, because this flying mount will travel as fast as your riding skill will take you, and it can even travel at 310% speed if you have at least one other 310% speed mount. Benefit Dinner is totally sold out. “Tickets to the BlizzCon Benefit Dinner are now sold out.

Goblins murdered by Nerf gun…blizzard suspected in the crime. The goblin racial Best Deal Anywhere will now only work with vendors you have reputation with and won’t stack with exalted guild reputation dealing with guild vendors. All players now have a ROAR sound if they /roar in the game. Best news ever? Battleground Q’s got slapped with nerfy McNerf Nerf.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
The talented Mr. Talent Trees! “Regarding the state of cata talent trees, Blizzard says, “You may have noticed we changed class talent trees for Cataclysm. We changed not just the trees themselves, as you might expect for an expansion, but the entire structure of the trees and the way you choose talents. Now that the Cataclysm model has been in play for several months, the team has been discussing what we like and don’t like about it, and I thought that might be of interest to some of you. As always with this series, this is design rumination, not a list of upcoming changes.”

Need roll makes items soulbound in Patch 4.2. Anti Ninja Loot System.
I think what you want is a system that keeps people from rolling on the gear you want because you don’t believe they deserve it to the same degree you do. There are already restrictions in place that keep people from rolling on items they can’t use. We don’t want to begin restricting what people can roll on based on current spec, because that’s not a black or white situation, which is how the system would need to be set up to work how you’d like. New pets abound! Dills talks about all the new pets we get to tame!

Drop of the Week
Digital Manga App Launches With Free Warcraft: Legends! Blizzard Entertainment is proud to announce our digital manga partnership with Cryptozoic Entertainment. Players can now enjoy reading manga set in the rich fiction of our game universes from the convenience of their mobile devices. To commemorate the occasion, readers have the opportunity to download Warcraft: Legends Vol. 1 for free via the Cryptozoic Comics App until June 2. Visit the Cryptozoic website for more information and be sure to check the Cryptozoic Comics App regularly for new books and specials as they become available.

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace, Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, and Typefrag.com.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

– The MP3 File
– The RSS Feed
– The iTunes Subscription
– The Zune Feed
– The Frogpants Ultra Feed (iTunes)