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.

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!

Big News Of The Week

Blizzard Rolls A One

In a move that surprised some people, amused others, and mainly invoked a summer hurricane of nerdrage, debate, and more nerdrage, Blizzard announced on Tuesday an attempt to bring accountability to their subscriber-only discussion forums by identifying message writers by real name. What followed, and what followed that, and what now follows that…

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Believe it Or Not, Other Things Are Afoot

Lost in all the real name kerfuffle, Blizzard speculated this week on changing the fundamental way you define what sort of mage or hunter you’re playing, by condensing talent trees in the game at some point in the possibly near future. On Wednesday, Zarhym announced a wholescale revamp that they would like to do… in a huge post in the forums.

Sending Things To Yourself, Only It’s A Different You

In another fun little tidbit, the new Blizzard community manager Lylirra popped up this week in a thread speculating about cross-realm functions to say the following,

“Adding the ability for players to be able to mail Bind on Account items cross-realm is something we’ve discussed on more than one occasion.  We understand that players would greatly appreciate having the option to send heirlooms, for example, to lower-level characters on different realms, so we’re exploring the possibility. It’s definitely on our radar! Due to the necessary infrastructure changes that would need to occur before cross-realm mail can be integrated, though, we have no immediate plans for adding this functionality as of yet.”

Town Cryer

Roger, aka Deafwolf, from the Aegwynn server writes: I have attempted to contact Blizzard through their website in the attempt to learn about sponsorship. I currently ride a road bike in charity events, criterium races, and distance races. I’m purely an amateur, but I believe I can offer good visibility outside the game. Who do I contact and how do I reach them about my request?

Cataclysmic Drop Of The Week

Go Raid Some Trolls!

This is the ninth in our limited series, wherein we’re highlighting things for you to do in WoW that you might not ever get to do again after the Cataclysm. It’s Zul’Gurub!

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz, James “Acuzod” Jefferies 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

Big News Of The Week

Lifting An NDA Is A Great Workout

Blizzard blew the doors down on this joint this week with the opening of the last major raid dungeon before the coming Cataclysm, and the sudden release of the beta version 4.0 of that forthcoming expansion to the world. The non-disclosure agreement has been lifted, and that means that beta testers are free to share pretty much anything they like about Cataclysm from here on out.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Your Guild Looks Kinda Perky

Along with the Cataclysm beta comes the full prediction of what guild talents are going to look like after the world is partially destroyed, and this week we learned that Blizzard is tentatively calling them Guild Perks.

Much like we discussed last week, guild perks will be improvements to aspects of the game that are somewhat more cosmetic or generalized, and will be available to everyone in the game who is in a guild, can join a guild, or can create a guild and go earn them.

The Real-ID Is For Complain And Worry

As we’re recording, Blizzard’s Real-ID system has been released exactly 13 days, and is now the subject of about 5000 e-mails to The Instance, and about 5000 man-hours of discussion in our guild chat.

Despite the massive FAQ Blizzard posted on the system, complaints and concerns have been rolling into the game forums on worldofwarcraft.com non-stop since Real-ID went live. We’re going to try to break down the concerns into categories, and discuss them as calmly as possible. Please folks, don’t try this at home.

Town Cryer

Soapy from Andorhal writes:

Hey, I was just wondering if you guys think that Blizzard might add some new servers with the release of Cataclysm. And if so, do you think they will offer free character transfers?

Cataclysmic Drop Of The Week

Go Get Something Legendary!

This is the eighth in our limited series, wherein we’re highlighting things for you to do in WoW that you might not ever get to do again after the Cataclysm.

That’s right. We’re crazy, and we’re suggesting that you build Thunderfury, Blessed Blade Of The Windseeker!!

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz, James “Acuzod” Jefferies 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

In case you’ve missed the news: Blizzard has taken World of Warcraft: Cataclysm to beta, and lifted the requirement barring disclosure of its content.  This means that:

• You are free to take screenshots of awesome things you see in the beta.
• You are free to post those screenshots somewhere, like Flickr or ImageShack.
• You’re free to share them in threads in The Instance Forums.  Woo-hoo!  You know you want to!
• If you’re not yet beta testing, and you really want to and have properly signed up, it’s only a matter of time before you get your invite.
• Whether or not you’re testing, you’re free to browse the official beta forums.  They’re a lot nicer than most forums on worldofwarcraft.com.

We’re planning all manner of fun Cataclysm beta contests and community events.  Be on the lookout for prizes to be given away on The Instance along with a “Most Badass Beta Screenshot” contest, perhaps a few “Caption The Beta Screenshot” contests, and a contest wherein you, The Instance listener, can win a cool prize for submitting a photos comparing the real-world to the world of post-Cataclysm Azeroth.  Get your creative eye ready!

Blizzard announced today that they will be hosting a charity event on the eve of Blizzcon this year, on October 21 at the Hilton Anaheim hotel.  In addition to scoring you a pass to Blizzcon, the $500 per-person donation gets you a nice meal, the opportunity to rub elbows with Blizzard’s illuminati, a signed work of art, and a tax deduction, since the proceeds benefit the CHOC Children’s Foundation.  In response to this announcement, millions of people who want to go to Blizzcon have asked what CHOC is.

It’s short for Children’s Hospital of Orange County.  CHOC is the 18th busiest children’s hospital in the United States, and just a few miles up I-5 from Blizzard’s headquarters.  Founded in 1964, CHOC now serves the unique needs of over 200,000 children per year in their hospital, mission hospital, and numerous clinics and outreach programs.  Here are some facts about CHOC that we find very cool:

• CHOC enrolls the highest number of children in insurance programs in the state of California.
• CHOC surgeons were the first in the world to successfully complete a pulmonary resection in a child using a robotic system.
• CHOC has the nation’s first and only American Diabetes Association-certified pediatric diabetes program.
• CHOC conducted the nation’s first balloon dilation of a cardiac lesion, now a routine cardiac procedure.

Blizzard expects to sell out a limited number of tickets to this event, so if you want to participate, set a reminder for July 13.  That is the day that tickets go on sale on the Blizzcon website, and Blizzard intends to close the sale if they have not sold out within two days.

Big News Of The Week

It Just Got Real

Blizzard implemented World Of Warcraft version 3.3.5 this week, laying the groundwork for the opening of the Ruby Sanctum dungeon – but not yet making that raid instance available to players – and suddenly and irrevocably changing the nature of the game and every game Blizzard produces from now on… with the new Blizzard Real_ID system. What seemed like a trifle throughout the discussion of it over the last few months has generated more talk and debate this week than anything we’ve seen in a long time. Of course, it’s designed to generate talk, since it’s a communications system.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Is There A New Trio For The Win?
For years in 3v3 arena PvP in WoW, the trio of choice has been Rogue, Mage and Priest. The combination of the rogue’s ability to surprise attack with overwhelming stuns and damage, while the priest and mage focus all crowd control on keeping their focus target from being healed… has reigned supreme. That is, until this years’ Arena Tournament, which concluded open play this week.

Don’t Miss The Midsummer Fire Festival!
Even if you completed every quest and every achievement attached to the Midsummer Fire Festival last year, a lot of it has reset for you for this year, and we’re halfway through its’ two week duration, so there’s no time to lose.

Town Cryer

Liam G. writes: I am graduating in about a week and am also in a raiding guild. I have missed many raids lately due to RL schedule conflicts and my raid group says that if i do not show up for the next raid then i will be kicked from the guild but i have graduation that night. I could skip the Dance afterward and raid but it would disappoint my RL friends.

Cataclysmic Drop Of The Week

Step right up and get your heirlooms!

This is the seventh in our limited series, wherein we’re highlighting things for you to do in WoW that you might not ever get to do again after the Cataclysm.

You might have thought we’d save this one for last, since purchasing heirloom items will only take a few minutes of your time, but the fact is that heirlooms are relatively expensive. They run between 40 and 65 dungeon badges each, or between 60 and 95 Champion’s Seals from the Argent Tournament each, so it’s going to take some time to acquire, say, five of them for your up and coming hunter.

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz, James “Acuzod” Jefferies 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

Big News Of The Week

C’est La Vie, That’s Just The Way It Goes

Like many possible changes to the game that have never reached full implementation, Blizzard announced last week that two of their proposed changes to the game with the Cataclysm expansion have met the cutting room floor. Specifically, linear guild talents and the Path of the Titans. For various reasons, Blizzard has decided to dismiss them from Cataclysm, and said so, and was met with a lot of… feedback… as a result.

Rumors And Scuttlebutt

Some Glyphs Are Too Small, And Some Are Too Big

At the Blizzard press conference last week, they announced the concept of “medium glyphs”, by which a third tier of glyphs may give you many more options in Cataclysm. Furthermore, Blizzard proposed a couple of *very* interesting changes: a list of all the glyphs you have to choose from in your UI, and glyphs that stick around for you once you’ve acquired them.

The Guild Talents Thing Isn’t All Bad News

Tom Chilton asked some very difficult questions about guild talents as Blizzard announced the scrapping of such. We don’t have a direct quote, but it was a series of questions that explained why guild talents were problematic. Can only the guild leader pick the talents? Do you allow guilds to re-spec? Who pays for it? How do you give all the players in the guild a sense of being involved? This gave way to his demonstration of a better plan: guild leveling.

Town Cryer

We love good calls!

Cataclysmic Drop Of The Week

It’s Red And You Sit On It

This is the sixth in our limited series, wherein we’re highlighting things for you to do in WoW that you might not ever get to do again after the Cataclysm. Be a hero! Be able to prove it! Finish the achievement “Glory Of The Hero“!

Additional show content provided by Darrell the Tipgiver, Steve “Buxley” Pietrowicz, James “Acuzod” Jefferies 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