Dills got hacked. We have some sobering security reminders for you guys today, plus:

A tale of hacking, the T on 4.3, LFR exploit gets some in trouble, Race to World first is streaming FREE, Talent talk again in the rumor mill, BIG christmas deals at Blizzard, and MORE! (Also, great contest winner from DogHouse.)

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

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4.3 lands, Turpster is doing charity, and we get a visit from AHSpy! Plus:

4.3 has landed, and we land right on top of it, battle.net authenticator by-pass now available, cross-realm real ID happenings, talents and Mist, the state of the WoW economy server by server, and WoW players losing a ton of Weight! Guest, Pierre-Luc Brunet joining us!

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

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The whole crew is here, ready to nail down the latest in Anzerothian goodness. Shall we begin?

How you will roll in 4.3, two new TV spots hit the spot, happy birthday to wow, future Blizzcon plans, MoP talent calculator is out, and get Starcraft II on the cheap today, and MORE! Your emails, calls, and some interesting side talk about Skyrim, and the future of leveling systems in RPG’s.

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

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Dills is back, and all three of us are ready to rock! Skyrim might just inform a bit of the conversation today, but not too much, we promise.

Mass layoffs turned out to be a mass lie, Vivendi sells a bunch of Blizzard stock, new WoW ad airing this sunday, 4.3 valor changes and what that means, 1000 guilds have killed heroic Rag, your calls, your emails, Gamestop wants to save new WoW players some money, and Minecraft Stormwind is something to behold!

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

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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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