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.

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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!

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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.

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Big show today! Let’s jump right in!

Big News of the Week
The All New Darkmoon Faire…we break it down.

We know what the blizzcon pet is Murkablo! An ill omen streaks across the sky over Azeroth’s Great Sea, heralding the arrival of this year’s BlizzCon-exclusive World of Warcraft in-game companion: the fearsome-ish Murkablo, aquatic protégé of Diablo III’s eponymous Lord of Terror! Anyone who attends BlizzCon 2011 or purchases this year’s BlizzCon Virtual Ticket will receive a Murkablo to call their own, along with a yet-to-be-revealed StarCraft II in-game gift.

World of Warcraft Mobile Armory updated to version 3.1.0. The World of Warcraft Mobile Armory for iPhone was updated earlier today to version 3.1.0. The update adds improved mobile auction house functionality, visual tooltips in chat, additional guild features, and other general quality-of-life improvements to bring the mobile app up to par with Battle.net’s latest web interface and expected on-the-go functionality.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Can I transmogrify my legendaries? You will not be able to transmogrify using a legendary item as either the source or the recipient of a change. This system is going to launch with fairly conservative rules, so that we can get it up and running as soon as possible and make fun improvements down the road. It’s not beyond the realm of possibility that we’ll eventually allow transmogrification to use the twill set or [insert your favorite item here], but probably not for the initial launch of the feature.

Blizzard ‘very, very serious’ about console Diablo 3. Blizzard is still playing coy about Diablo 3 on consoles, talking about the possibility without actually formally announcing anything. During a Gamescom press conference, lead designer Josh Mosqueira said Blizzard is “”very, very serious about bringing the Diablo 3 experience to the console. According to Eurogamer, he followed up by affirming that the company is “”trying to build the best console team at Blizzard”" with the express intent of working on Diablo. Last year, Blizzard said it was “exploring a Diablo-related concept.” Earlier this year, CEO Mike Morhaime said the company was “doing an investigation” into the idea of Diablo on consoles. Then in June, it posted a job listing for a “PlayStation 3 Specialist”

Blizzard Dota hits the reset button!

Drop of the Week
Diablo III community site is UP! Our new Diablo III community site is now live! Welcome to your sanctuary for all the latest developments from New Tristram and beyond, featuring community forums and regular blog updates. You can post comments and share Diablo III news items via Twitter, Facebook, and other popular social media outlets, and be sure to check out the new Diablo III news feed regularly.

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 kick things of with a sizable chat regarding the free-2-play movement, and where Blizzard might fit into that, including the idea that Starcraft go down the AOE road a little. But then, oh what a meaty show we have for you today! Just get listening!

Big News of the Week
Void Storage: A variety of items can be placed into Void Storage — including soul-bound items and Battle.net Account Bound items — making it the perfect location to store trophies from past conquests, as well as armor you may want to hold onto for Transmogrification. It will cost you to store or remove. NOT intended to be an extended bank of regular items you use. Includes bag searching, which will apply to regular bags and bank as well. 1000 gold to unlock.

Transmogrifier: The Transmogrifier NPC, which will let you change the appearance of any armor piece on you, while retaining the stats of your current gear. (= T12 stats, but with the Tier 2 look!). Players won’t be able to change the appearance of their armor into another armor type or class armor set, and you might have to own the armor before you can use it to swap the appearance of your existing armor. Visiting a Transmogrifier will present players with a new interface that will allow them to change the appearance of an item while retaining its original stats. This means that you can raid in your paladin tier 12 Immolation set, but look like you’re wearing Lightbringer, while priests can bring Benediction back — at least in spirit. Hunters can once again roam the jungles of Stranglethorn Vale in their tier 2 Dragonstalker set.

Raid Finder: The Raid Finder will be introduced in Patch 4.3, it will work like the Dungeon Finder.

5-Man Instances: 3 new 5-man instances will be added in this patch. One of the instance will be in the Caverns of Time, for the War of the Ancients.

New Raid: Deathwing raid will be the final raid of the expansion. You will even get to ride on Deathwing’s back during the fight, apparently to take him down over multiple phases. The project for an Abyssal Maw is gone for the moment, the storyline wasn’t convincing enough/fitting. All the 4.3 goodness can be found here!

Threat in World of Warcraft is still a threat. Also very threating. Also, hunters no longer care that much about Misdirect! The threat generated by classes in their tanking mode has been increased from three times damage done to five times damage done.

In an upcoming patch: Vengeance no longer ramps up slowly at the beginning of a fight. Instead, the first melee attack taken generates Vengeance equal to one third of the damage dealt by that attack. As Vengeance updates during the fight, it is always set to at least a third of the damage taken in the last two seconds. It still climbs from that point at the previous rate, still decays at the previous rate, and still cannot exceed the current maximum.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Character Activity Charts! The fine folks at MMO Champion have the skinny. So turns out, no one is playing their effing DeathKnight.

Drop of the Week
Free Shipping From FigurePrints Through Sept. 15! Take advantage of this hot summer deal by getting free shipping on all World of Warcraft FigurePrints ordered now through September 15 and shipped within the United States or Canada. Discounted rates to Europe are also being offered as part of this limited-time offer. If you’ve been considering a custom World of Warcraft character statue of your own, now is the perfect time to save some cash.

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 start by making sure things are ok in London for Turpster. But then, we dive in!

Big News of the Week
Void Storage and Transmogrifier – Patch 4.3 Teasing? We try and read the palms of Blizzard to find out. Also, check out these awesome character gender stats!

Rumors & Scuttlebut
EA shares jump 9% on analyst optimism over upcoming Star Wars game. We try and make sense of why this might be.

Drop of the Week
SteelSeries Announces Third ‘World of Warcraft’ MMO Mouse! SteelSeries announced the next in its line of Blizzard-licensed World of Warcraft mice, the World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse Legendary Edition. It’s a mouthful, we know. The new mouse is the follow-up to the equally lengthily-named World of Warcraft Cataclysm MMO Gaming Mouse ($99.99 direct, 3.5 stars). However, where the Cataclysm mouse takes after Deathwing, the Legendary Edition’s design is inspired by the Thunderfury sword of lore – though it looks more like it takes after cracked earth with fissures of lava running throughout.

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 start things off talking about the state of PVP and what Dills is finding fun on that side of the game lately.

Big News of the Week
Diablo 3 to feature player-to-player real money auction house for virtual items. Diablo 3 will sport a couple of in-game auction houses to sell items from player to player. One will be run entirely with in-game gold (very similar to the current WoW Auction House), and one will let players sell and buy items with actual money. We have a BIG analysis of this eventuality, and what it might mean for WoW in the end.

The BlizzCon 2011 Virtual Ticket is now available for purchase around the world!

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Blizzard just trademarked a very interesting “Mists of Pandaria“. And we talk a bit about this: World of Warcraft lost another 300,000 Subscribers last quarter.

Drop of the Week
The RAID finally gets a premier date! (Aug. 6th 2011), is the live stream event for The Raid documentary film. We hope that you can join us!

When: Saturday, August 6th, 2011 6 PM PST
Where: Gamebreaker.tv, Curse.com, and MMO-Champion.com
What: There will be a pre-show interview with director Kevin Michael Johnson, a screening of the entire film, and a post-show with special guests and Q&A.

Brought to you by: Curse.com, Gamebreaker.tv, and TypeFrag”

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 have a bit of a conversation about music and sound, and what that has meant to the game of WoW over the years.

Big News of the Week
Norway Terrorist Says World Of Warcraft And Modern Warfare 2 Helped Train Him. “I just bought Modern Warfare 2, the game. It is probably the best military simulator out there and it’s one of the hottest games this year. I see MW2 more as a part of my training-simulation than anything else,”… “Once you decide to strike, it is better to kill too many than not enough, or you risk reducing the desired ideological impact of the strike.” We discuss this thing at length.

Blizzcon community site for this year is OUT! “We’ve just opened up a brand-new BlizzCon community site for you to find all of the latest BlizzCon news, discussions, and more. Make yourself at home on the new community forums, check out the latest BlizzCon updates, and share news items via Twitter, Facebook, and more. As we get closer to the show, the new BlizzCon site will be your headquarters for panel schedules, lists of activities to look for at the convention, tournament updates, and lots more, so be sure to check in often.”

Paragon releases heroic Ragnaros 25-man kill video, and we have a link to prove it.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Battle.net Authenticator Changes. “We understand the concern many players have with the recent Battle.net authenticator changes. To that end, we’re exploring the idea of adding an “Opt Out” option within Battle.net Account Management, which would then force the prompt for an authenticator code whenever you log into World of Warcraft.

To be clear, we have gone to great lengths to ensure Battle.net accounts and authenticators provide players with a high level of security. Maintaining a safe and secure Blizzard gameplay environment remains a top priority for us.

[...] We’ve been discussing the best way to implement new options for this feature since the moment it was announced. We don’t yet have additional details about exactly how we might implement the feature, or whether it’s something you’ll need to opt out of by default, or opt into by default.”

“Diablo 3 Beta coming “soon”. Three reasons to believe that we will have a beta VERY soon: 1. Activision Earning Call – During the latest conference call, Activision announced that the beta would start during Q3 2011, that’s between July 1st and September 30th. 2. Press Tour – A Diablo 3 press tour is scheduled for Diablo fansites on August 1st, this is pretty much what happened with Cataclysm with the Press Tour happening 2 weeks before the start of beta. 3. Box Art.

Drop of the Week
The new “Healbot” iOS app helps healers practice healing when they are NOT in game. This game is based on the mechanics of the Healbot mod in WoW. You keep your dungeon party alive while they attack a boss monster by casting various healing spells. You have several healing spells available in various speeds & sizes.

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 start off this week talking about our first personal forays into Firelands, and what came of that little experiment.

Big News of the Week
Blizzard responds to Swifty ban incident. As you might have heard, Razer WoW gamer Swifty, along with numerous other players, were banned due to server disruption violations during one of Swifty’s live streams that crashed a server. While Swifty acknowledged that he never intended to crash the server, Bashiok responded to the bans by stating that even if no one intended to crash servers or disrupt gameplay, the emote spamming and influx of players brought down many servers. We’re dedicated to providing a fun, stable, reliable gameplay environment for our players.

World of Warcraft coming to Brazil in 2011. At an exclusive press event at the Museu da Casa Brasileira in São Paulotoday, Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced that a fully localized Brazilian Portuguese version of its critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft®, will be released in Brazil later this year. Brazilian Portuguese will be the ninth officially supported language for World of Warcraft worldwide, and the third supported language in Latin America, complementing the existing English and Spanish versions. An official Brazilian Portuguese World of Warcraft community website will also be available at launch. In addition, players in Brazil will have access to customer service for the game in Brazilian Portuguese.

World of Warcraft Mobile Armory for Android™ Now Available.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
New Battlegrounds…it’s complicated. We’d like to. We certainly haven’t forgotten about the PvP community at all and we do a lot of PvP oriented behind the scenes work right now. While not very much of that effort is channeled into creating new maps at the moment, we would definitely like to increase the variety of Battleground and Arena maps that are available in the future. That’s where things get sticky, though. One might think that creating a Battleground is a pretty simple process (they look simple, right?), but it’s not.

Part of the reason is that Battlegrounds are like ducks. A duck looks like it effortlessly glides across the water, but their little feet are actually working madly beneath the surface to make it happen. Battlegrounds are the same way. They may look simple — even static — to a casual observer, but in reality there’s an incredible number of very complicated processes going on behind the scenes. Part of the reason for this is due to a lot of technical hurdles that need to be jumped to make them perform as seamlessly as they do, battle after battle. As a result, it’s actually extremely difficult to design Battlegrounds, partially due to the technical limitations that are currently in place.

WoWArmory Facebook Application Closing. So there’s that.

Drop of the Week
Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects: Written by New York Times bestselling author Christie Golden, the new novel Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects follows the former War Chief of the Horde as he struggles with the ongoing repercussions of the Cataclysm.

When Azeroth was young, the noble titans appointed the five great dragonflights to safeguard the budding world. Each of the flights’ leaders was imbued with a portion of the titans’ vast cosmic powers. Together, these majestic Dragon Aspects committed themselves to thwarting any force that threatened the safety of the World of Warcraft.

Over ten thousand years ago, a betrayal by the maddened black Dragon Aspect, Deathwing, shattered the strength and unity of the dragonflights. His most recent assault on Azeroth—the Cataclysm—has left the world in turmoil. At the Maelstrom, the center of Azeroth’s instability, former Horde warchief Thrall and other accomplished shaman struggle to keep the world from tearing apart in the wake of Deathwing’s attack. Yet a battle also rages within Thrall regarding his new life in the shamanic Earthen Ring, hampering his normally unparalleled abilities.

Unable to focus on his duties, Thrall undertakes a seemingly menial task from an unexpected source: the mysterious green Dragon Aspect, Ysera. This humble endeavor soon becomes a journey spanning the lands of Azeroth and the timeways of history itself, bringing Thrall into contact with ancient dragonflights. Divided by conflict and mistrust, these dragons have become easy prey to a horrific new weapon unleashed by Deathwing’s servants . . . a living nightmare engineered to exterminate Azeroth’s winged guardians.

Of even greater concern is a bleak and terrifying possible future glimpsed by Ysera: the Hour of Twilight. Before this apocalyptic vision comes to pass, Thrall must purge his own doubts in order to discover his purpose in the world and aid Azeroth’s dragonflights as they face the Twilight of the Aspects.

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We kick things off with a small discussion regarding EA, PopCap, and how it somehow effects wow. You’ll have to listen to find out.

Big News of the Week
Real ID Group testing is now UP! “When delving into the depths of Azeroth’s darkest dungeons, it always helps to have some friends at your side… now you’re able to issue a call to arms no matter what realm they play on. We’re pleased to announce the new Real ID Party feature is now available for testing! This new feature will allow World of Warcraft players to invite their real-life Real ID friends of the same faction to a party regardless of the realm they play on, and then queue up for a 5-player regular or Heroic dungeon. We talk about it in full.

Season 10 transition gets some relief after all.

Rumors & Scuttlebut
Ask The Devs 11 Healing Answers Coming TODAY! like, right now probably. More next week. And, attle.net Mobile Authenticator for Windows® Phone 7 Devices.

New Official Website Feature – Companions and Mounts. A visit to your character profile will reveal a new heading entitled “Companions & Mounts.” There you’ll find a complete list of in-game pets and mounts that your character can discover throughout Azeroth (and beyond). The list is conveniently divided between those that your character has already collected, and those that you have yet to find.

Drop of the Week
15 Minutes of Fame: Holding fast to Azeroth through the journey of Alzheimer’s – by Lisa Poisso. Bill Craig is doing it right. The 61-year-old WoW player has suffered from early-onset Alzheimer’s disease for half a dozen years now, winding his way through Azeroth for about half that time. He’s ridden a bicycle all the way from Carrollton, Texas, to Carrollton, Georgia, to raise money and awareness for animal welfare — not once but twice.

He’s a Vietnam vet. He serves as an advocate with the Alzheimer’s Association, having recently returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., with his wife to meet with legislators about bills impacting Alzheimer’s. Bill’s contributions and commitment to his community and country are impressive for any seasoned professional, let alone someone living with a disease that monkeywrenches a person’s thinking, memory and behavior.

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

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