Dills is in Vegas, but that did not stop us from chatting it up about WoW, even on Skyrim day.

Big News of the Week
WoW subscriber numbers down to 10.3 million players. During today’s Activision Blizzard investor call, it was announced that WoW has a total of 10.3 million players. This is down from the 11.4 million subscribers announced in March 2011. That means that 1.1 million players no longer play the game, a decline of about 10%.

In the call, Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime said that the majority of the subscriber loss happened in the east. There was no mention of specific subscriber numbers in the United States. Blizzard also declined to provide a subscriber forecast.

-Most of the subscriptions were lost in China.
-There is normally an increase in subscriptions around December.
-The decreased profit came from all of the games in development and no launches occurring.
-There will be at least two major releases next year.

Patch 4.3 now available on the Background Downloader. In an effort to save my PM box from imploding, I had to do a breaking news to tell everyone that the Patch 4.3.0 is now available on the background downloader for both EU and US players.

It doesn’t actually mean much, it just means that we reached the point where Blizzard is comfortable enough to release most of the static assets to the live client while they finish polishing the PTR one. There was no release candidate build on the test realms and I don’t really see the patch happening right now, you can all calm down.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Some Q and A is just what the doctor ordered (bits from the Class Design & Balance Q&A). Plus, Patch 4.3 – The New Darkmoon Faire is on Test Realms!

Drop of the Week
Get your replica wardrobe on! The very first class armor sets from the old level 60 5-man dungeons are back in the game, or at least replicas of them are back and you can buy them for Transmogrification purposes!

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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Dills has no internet today, but that did not stop Scott and Turpster from doing voice impressions of him. Plus:

Big News of the Week
Big Number Syndrome – Hey, our stats are growing exponentially. If you look at everything from the Strength on a weapon to the damage being done by a Fireball crit or the amount of health the Morchok boss has, they look downright absurd compared to the numbers for level 60 characters in the original shipping version of World of Warcraft. It’s not exactly a surprise that we were going to end up here, and we knew where we were going every step of the way, yet regardless, here we are.

Guardian Cub Tradable Pet Now Available! – “Now available in the Pet Store: the new and titanically cute Guardian Cub companion. Orphaned by its titan creators, the fledgling Guardian Cub has taken wing to look for a happy home. Adopt one today and it will stay by your side through thick and thin, following your character just about anywhere your adventures take you—even into the skies of Azeroth.

The Guardian Cub is the Pet Store’s first tradable pet, meaning it can be swapped between characters in-game or given as a gift to guildmates, friends, family, or that special someone (after a cooldown period — see below). Due to his finicky nature, each Guardian Cub will only give its allegiance to one owner, meaning it’s a one-time-use pet that permanently binds to a single character. Be sure to choose a master wisely.”

AHSPY is tracking how the cub is doing on your servers.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Patch 4.3 Dragon Soul Raid Mounts. One of the latest PTR builds added 2 mounts to the Dragon Soul loot tables, the Life-Binder’s Handmaiden drops from Madness of Deathwing (last encounter of the Dragon Soul raid) in Heroic Mode. People defeating Madness of Deathwing in normal mode will be rewarded with Reins of the Blazing Drake.

Patch 4.3 World Map and Minimap Improvements. “The minimap has an improved menu and will let you track a couple more things, including archaeology and questing areas. You can now track areas on your minimap, archaeology sites and quest objectives areas will now be displayed directly on the minimap! The world map now (finally) shows the level of regions on mouseover.”

Drop of the Week
The World of Warcraft Annual Pass has been expanded to include more countries and is now available in Russia, Switzerland, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and more.

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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Big contest announcement, and MORE Blizzcon news keeps trickling in a week later. Dills and Scott kick it off, and Turpster joins us later! Dig in!

Big News of the Week
A lot more talk about what it means to get Diablo III for free, way more Mists talk, with some clarifications post-Blizzcon, raids, dungeons and more! Too much to list here.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Blizzard’s Morhaime: F2P not right for WoW “I think that there’s an underlying, a fundamental assumption right now, that the less you charge, the more money you make. Which isn’t true. And it doesn’t necessarily make for a better game. I mean, everybody likes free… I think that definitely, players have seen a lot of really great quality free-to-play experiences, but I’m not sure it’s the best model for us right now,” Morhaime explains.

Drop of the Week
New Guild Services Now Available! Guild Master Faction Change costs $40 US. The Guild Master Realm Transfer costs $35 US. The Guild Name Change costs $20 US. You will receive a $10 discount when purchasing Guild Transfer and Faction Change in the same transaction, for a new total of $65 US.

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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Welcome to our Blizzcon episode, taped live at the AIE Guild Hall at Blizzcon 2011, in Anaheim, California. Let the fun begin!

Big News of the Week
Pandas. Duh.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
That we were there!

Drop of the Week
Pets!

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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Brian Ibbott of Coverville and TMS fame joins us today! We talk a bunch about Race to World First, and the Podcast Awards.

Big News of the Week
Blizzcon Next Week! What are we planning, what can you expect, what matters most?
- New expansion news.
- Other weird announcements?
- We will have full coverage with a show Saturday night, posted that evening or next day.

Big Cauldron of Battle and Cauldron of Battle…were recently changed on the PTR to Bind to Battle.net Account from Bind on Pickup. No more hassle with using your Alchemist alts! Also, how awesome are the new Hurricane and Wrath Animations?

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Sneak Peek: Guardian Cub Tradable Pet! “A new pet is coming to a Blizzard Store near you and … you can trade it and sell it at the auction house! Coming soon to a Pet Store near you: the new and titanically cute Guardian Cub companion. You’ve soared across Azeroth on the majestic Winged Guardian. Soon, you’ll be able to purchase a pint-sized Guardian of the Titans sidekick to accompany you on your adventures.”

Suspending LFG Queues?! An interesting client string that hints at a feature to “suspend” your LFG queue.
IN_LFG_QUEUE_BUT_SUSPENDED = “Your queue has been temporarily suspended. You will retain your position in the queue.”

A note about firelands progression. Blizzard says these are wrong.

Drop of the Week
Blizzard Charity Auction Benefitting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® Coming Soon! Want to own a piece of Blizzard Entertainment history? After a series of World of Warcraft infrastructure upgrades, we’ve preserved the retired HP server blades that once hosted many realms in our archives. In the near future a selection of these blades will be made available for auction, and the net proceeds will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Also, Turpster did some videos for Doghouse Systems!

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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At the top of the show, we talk about lifted NDA’s, tier 12 stuff, and game changing. And then, off to the races!

Big News of the Week
Blizzcon 2011 Guide App is OUT now! Have we played with it? What do we think?

New in 4.3: Inactive Guild Leader Replacement. We talk about what this feature means to you.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Role Bonus?! It looks like people who have the proper role for an item will get a bonus when they roll on it … or something like that.

Trion Worlds Announces Codename Red Door. What the hell is that?

Drop of the Week
“World of Warcraft Ruined My Life” – (by talk to snakes)

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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We talk on top about the movie we are all in, and a bit about what it means to be the first in world to hit some of these lofty WoW team goals.

Big News of the Week
Foo Fighters to Rock the House at BlizzCon 2011! We’re happy to announce that Foo Fighters will headline the closing concert of this year’s sold-out BlizzCon®, taking place October 21-22 at the Anaheim Convention Center. While tickets to the convention are currently sold out, viewers can watch at home by ordering a BlizzCon Virtual Ticket, offering comprehensive live coverage of the event (including Foo Fighters’ performance) globally over the Internet and also on DIRECTV® in the United States.

Nope, No Titan Reveal This Year. Sad, but hey…I am sure we will hear in 2012, right?

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Raid Finder Coming in Patch 4.3! We break all the good stuff down and talk about it.

Drop of the Week
Patch 4.3: New color-blind accessibility mode! Forum poster Ardhavara has posted an excellent guide to the color-blind accessibility mode for World of Warcraft, complete with images of the various ways it helps different kinds of color blindness. The console settings for each type are listed, and there’s a good explanation in the thread by poster Kaels explaining each type and how these options help to make the game more distinct for each. (thx to WoWInsider for the headsup!)

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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Turpster is away on a work assignment, but Scott and Dills are in the house, with the legendary Curt Schilling, founder of 38 Studios, and no stranger to this program. We hit the late breaking Diablo III 2012 news to start things off!

Big News of the Week
WoW Magazine calling it quits! After just five issues, the official World of Warcraft Magazine is calling it quits. Future US has posted a notice on the website, and subscribers can either get a refund for the issues they didn’t receive, or a voucher for six in-game World of Warcraft pets. Future recommends subscribers who want to keep up with the game in a dead tree format can subscribe to its PC Gamer publication, and it’s possible Blizzard may try to publish something itself, though there are apparently no plans for that yet.

The 4.3 Raid beans have been spilled! We get all up in this thing and figure what’s what. A good reference for all this can be found at this link.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Patch 4.3: Zarhym clarifies tier 13 drop methods. One of the most intriguing non-story tidbits to come out of the recent flood of patch 4.3 news is the fact that tier 13 will not be purchasable with valor points. If you want your tier 13 set, you will have to raid for it. Zarhym has clarified how this will all work in a forum post.

Drop of the Week
38 Studios launches a new video THIS MORNING! A must see.

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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T and Dills are traveling, but that does NOT stop us from recording a show anyway!

Big News of the Week
Nerfing Firelands! It’s happening. Did it seem faster this time around? All these amazing tier retrospectives really makes me appreciate the first set! MMO champion has them all up, and its a great guide to what you may want to transmogrify.

PayPal for Diablo III and Battle.net! We’re pleased to announce that in most regions, PayPal will be our payment-service partner for the Diablo III auction house, allowing players who trade with real-world currency the ability to cash out the spoils of their battle-torn adventures via a PayPal account.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
World of Warcraft movie gets The Dark Knight Rises producer! Now it seems that Thomas Tull, who is currently the executive producer on, the Christopher Nolan movie, The Dark Knight Rises is set to be producing World of Warcraft the movie. This can only be good for the film, which has the world waiting with intense anticipation.

Drop of the Week
Blizzard’s New Music Site! The music from our games is now available online. You can download full albums or individual songs, and you can also listen to samples for each track. You’ll also find additional information on each soundtrack’s details page if you want to learn more about the making of these albums. Check them out now!

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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DIII beta news, and TOR beta talk start us off today.

Big News of the Week
Whats the big deal about Worgan mounts! Life after Cataclysm: Tom Chilton and Greg Street have been doing interviews!

Patch 4.3
If you add up all of the Deathwing encounter stages, it will be the longest fight in the game.
Each stage of the fight will take place in a different location and offer some loot.
The encounter starts at Wyrmrest Temple, progressing toward the players being on Deathwing’s back while he is flying toward The Maelstrom.
The new five man encounters will build up to the Deathwing fight, similar to how the Icecrown five man instances built up to the Lich King.
To combat the complaints of armor always looking the same, there is a sub-lead who is in charge of guiding the art team to produce new styles not found in the game yet.

After Cataclysm
More armor customization could be coming in the future; Transmogrification was a solution that could be finished in time for Patch 4.3.
After Patch 4.3, and the world event, the team is going to focus on keeping players entertained and enjoying the game as well as new and potentially returning players.
On Mists of Pandaria: “Most of the time when we do anything panda-related it’s going to be a comic book or a figurine or something like that.”
There are more people that played World of Warcraft but no longer play World of Warcraft than currently play World of Warcraft
They believe that each spec plays like a separate class, making the game feel as if there are 30 classes.
Player created content is still in the back of their minds because of how well it worked in Starcraft II. Developing tools for players would take a lot of work, but the reward would be great as well.

Guess what? Blizzcon likes twitter!
People can follow @BlizzCon and get all the goods on the event leading up to the big weekend.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
New character models? Updating existing character models isn’t something we’ve been “”waffling on.”" It’s something we’d love to do, but the fact is the art team has finite resources. Updating the current playable race models to be more in-line with worgen and goblins requires much more than just increasing the poly count. There are more bone structures on the frames of newer models which allow for more animation options. In order to update older models, the wire frames have to change, which means a large number of existing animations and customizations/hairstyles would have to change.

It’s much more of a massive overhaul than many players are anticipating. That isn’t to say we don’t want to do it, but it’s difficult to justify delaying the creation of new art, models, and animations indefinitely to revamp old ones. And we have to make sure to do it in a way that doesn’t give some players a feeling of detachment from the look they’ve had for almost seven years.

Drop of the Week
Disenchanting Azeroth! With patch 4.3 and the introduction of Transmogrification coming to the Azeroth, it begs the question: If the majority is fair game, how can you avoid looking like everyone else? More on this below and a real eye opener to the potential future of shield design for the next expansion.

Special thanks to our sponsors this week: Squarespace (use code WOW6), Audible.com, Doghouse Systems, Rage Quit Relief, and Typefrag.com.

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