Desde Blizzard nos informan que el testeo de realms ha sido reabierto e invitan a todos los jugadores de World of Warcraft a participar en el proceso de testeo público para el siguiente parche, versión 1.5, que introduce las esperadas "Battlegrounds" a nuestro WoW ( test realm patch notes)

Los jugadores pueden participar en este testeo creándose un nuevo personaje o copiando sus personajes de los realms existentes a los de testeo. Aquellos que previamente hubieran copiado sus personajes a los realms de testeo necesitarán volver a hacerlo de nuevo, ya que todos los personajes previos han sido eliminados de los realms de testeo. Para copiar tu personaje y bajarte el cliente para testear hay que visitar la página de Test Realm.

Estos días hemos descubierto la actualización de una nueva sección en WorldofWarcraft.com, la sección de Raids, llamada Raid Area. A continuación os comentamos la información que contiene.

RAID DUNGEONS

Una de las características obligadas de los juegos multiplayer masivos es la gran infinidad de cosas por hacer en ellos. Las RAIDS son asaltos realizados por grandes grupos de jugadores contra poderosos monstruos o dragones dentro de WoW. 

Destacamos:

Molten Core:

En Blackrock Depths, esta Raid para +60 (levels) tiene un tope de jugadores de 40 y es una de las más codiciadas por todos aquellos que ya han alcanzado el preciado nivel 60 con su personaje. The Molten Core está situada en lo más profundo de Blackrock Depths; está en el corazón de Blackrock Mountain y precisamente en ese punto, el emperador Thaurissan lanzó un señor del fuego llamado Ragnaros...

Onyxia´s Lair:

En Dustwallow Marsh, esta raid de +60 también tiene como tope 40 jugadores. Onyxia es la hija del mítico dragón Deathwing y hermana de Nefarion, señor de Blackrock spire. Este terrible monstruo reside en una terrorífica cueva tras Dragonmurk, una pequeña localización que limita con Dustwallow Marsh.

RAID ENCOUNTERS

Azuregos:

Esta raid, situada en Azshara es para todos los niveles y el objetivo es acabar con Azuregos, un tipo de dragón azul, de gran tamaño. Según se dice, el dragón luchará fieramente hasta la muerte con tal de proteger los tesoros mágicos que guarda en su interior. No tiene límite de jugadores.

Lord Kazzar:

Situado en Tainted Scar, esta raid para todos los niveles y sin límite de jugadores es una de las más conocidas. El colosal demonio Lord Kazzak se encuentra en Blasted Lands, esperando que se reabra el Portal Oscuro. Corren rumores que dicen que una vez que el portal sea abierto Kazzak podría viajar con sus fuerzas oscuras hacia Outland. Actualmente la zona está ocupada por legiones de demonios comandados por el elfo de la noche, Illidan.

Mañana viernes dia 22 sale el nuevo parche que incluye el tan esperado sistema del honor las battlegrounds, y el sistema de rangos por honor entre otras características.

El parche como de costumbre, será instalado en las horas de mantenimiento, de 5:00 a 13:00.

Podeis ver reportajes de algunos de los premios que darán los rangos én los siguientes links:

- Equipos de armaduras

- Equipos de armas

- Monturas especiales PvP

Ademas aqui tenéis el link de la pagina que muestra cuales son los cambios en este nuevo parche: Changelog

Mas info...

Además y con motivo especial de la salida de este parche he decidido poner links directos hacia algunos reportajes que podéis ir leyendo mientras bajais el parche: (estos ya son reportajes mas antiguos, puede que los hayais leido ya)

- Honor, como funciona y rangos

- Battlegrounds - Parte I

- Battlegrounds - Parte II

Ya se está testeando el próximo parche que va a salir, aunque de momento solo en los servidores de Estados Unidos, esto significa que falta muy poco para que salga aqui en europa.

Podéis ver los cambios de este nuevo parche en el interior de la noticia. (En Inglés)

PvP Honor System

The Player versus Player Honor System is now active. Players will be able to gain rankings based on their PvP performance, with lucrative rewards for those who distinguish themselves on the field of battle! Read more about the PvP Honor system.

 Children's Week

Children’s Week is celebrated in Orgrimmar and Stormwind City at the start of May and lasts for a week. It is a time to give back to the innocents of war: the orphans!

 Gurubashi Arena event

There is now a regular event in Gurubashi Arena in Stranglethorn Vale. Every three hours starting at midnight, a pirate with too much treasure on his hands will drop a chest in the center of the arena. Whoever can open the chest first gets the contents! Of course, the arena is a PvP Free for All area, so there might be other players who are trying to open it first...

 Elemental invasions!

Invasions by elementals at different locations on Kalimdor have reportedly been occurring sporadically every few days. Concerned adventurers should investigate Silithus, Un'Goro Crater, Azshara, and Winterspring to counter these incursions.

 General

• Charm and Polymorph mechanics can now be reactively countered by spells and abilities (e.g. Druid Shapeshifting will now cancel Polymorph effects).
• Mana regeneration is now disrupted when a spell has completed casting rather than at the start of casting. It will resume normally five seconds after the last spell cast. This change increases the total time spent regenerating mana and therefore increases the total contribution from Spirit for mana-based classes.
• Level 60 mounts purchased at vendors now have a whole new look. Faster undead mounts already have a different look and so have not changed. The new mounts can be seen standing near the mount vendors. If you have one of the old fast mounts, you can exchange it for one with a new look at the mount vendor.
• Healing-over-time spells should now be improved by "+Healing" items when cast on other players.
• Mind Controlled characters will no longer receive a durability penalty when they die.
• When a non-Hunter resurrects a pet, the pet will no longer receive resurrection sickness.

 PvP

• A handful of spells were added to the list of spells subject to diminishing returns in PvP. It is our goal to set as few spells as possible to be diminished. We've identified this short list of spells as having durations and cooldowns sufficient to almost permanently slow or immobilize targets but without adequate controls or other limiting factors. When a spell with diminishing returns is used against a target in PvP, the first effect has full duration. On the second use of the same category of spell (e.g. slowing), that spell's duration is reduced by 50%. On the third use, the duration is reduced by 75%. On the fourth attempt, the target becomes immune to the spell. Spells must be used on the same target within 15 seconds of the *end* of the duration in order to be diminished. In other words, if a target hasn't had a slowing spell active on them for more than 15 seconds, the next slowing spell will have full effect. The list of affected spells is:
  • Frost Shock
  • Cone of Cold
  • Entangling Roots
  • Frost Nova
• Guard directions, signs and signposts have been added to point you toward the PvP Officer Lounges in Stormwind City (Champions' Hall) and Orgrimmar (Hall of Legends).

 Racial Traits

• Blood Fury - Now increases base melee attack power by 25% for 15 seconds. When it fades base melee attack power is reduced by 25% for 45 seconds.
• Perception - Increased detection bonus.
• Berserking - Is now usable after being the target of a critical hit. Increases melee, ranged and spell casting speed by 25% but increases all damage taken by 10% for the duration.

 Druids

• Ravage and Shred now properly increase the attack power contribution by the percent modifier.
• Shapeshifting into an animal form will now remove Polymorph effects.
• Feral Charge - Fixed a bug where the ability cost 10 rage instead of five as intended. Should now cost five rage.
• Entangling Roots - Now subject to diminishing returns in PvP. This is considered an immobilizing effect.

 Hunters

• A new Hunter epic quest series is now in the game and waiting to be found.
• Scatter Shot (Talent) - Now usable while moving and no longer interrupts ranged combat. Now properly reduces the ranged attack power contribution by the percent modifier.
• Highland Striders no longer have Cower (Rank 3) when tamed.
• New Pet Ability: Dive - Increases movement speed for a short duration.
• New Pet Ability: Dash - Increases movement speed for a short duration.
• Freezing Trap - Visual changed.
• Track Hidden - Increased stealth detection.
• Scorpid Sting - Fixed a bug where it was not considered a poison. It can now be removed by poison curing effects.
• Aspect of the Cheetah/Pack - These Aspects will now be canceled when mounted.
• Viper Sting - This spell can no longer be used on warrior and rogue targets. In addition, while it can be used on a druid target at any time it will only drain mana when the druid is in caster form.

 Mages

• Amplify Magic and Dampen Magic effects should now replace each other properly.
• Improved Scorch (Talent) - Redesign. Scorch spells have a 20/40/60/80/100% chance to cause your target to be vulnerable to Fire damage. This vulnerability increases the Fire damage dealt to your target by 2% and can be stacked up to 5 times for a total of 10% increased Fire damage.
• New Spell: Arcane Brilliance (available at level 56 - Loot) - Infuses the target's party with brilliance, increasing their Intellect.
• Improved Mana Shield - Design changed. Instead of increasing the amount absorbed, it now decreases the mana lost per point of damage taken by 10/20%.
• An error message is now displayed if you try to use Blink on boats and zeppelins.
• Wand Specialization - Fixed a bug where the damage increase with this talent was higher than the listed amount.
• Cone of Cold - Now subject to diminishing returns in PvP. This is considered a slowing effect.
• Frost Nova - Now subject to diminishing returns in PvP. This is considered an immobilizing effect.
• Pyroblast and Fireball damage over time will now stack together.

  Paladins

• Seal of Wisdom and Seal of Light should now replace each other properly as well as stack properly when used by different paladins.
• Paladin Epic Mount quest added. To begin, talk to the paladin trainers Duthroian Rall or Brandur Ironhammer.
• Paladins who have completed their Epic Mount quest can repeat the final event in Scholomance for fun (and loot) by speaking with Lord Grayson Shadowbreaker.
• Sanctity Aura - Fixed a bug where the spell/talent was unlearned after logging out if learned before level 40.
• Resistance Auras - Paladins should now be able to switch from a resistance aura to any other resistance aura without canceling the current one first.
• Improved Seal of Justice - Fixed a bug that caused the talent to have no effect. It will now increase the frequency that the stun effect will land.

  Priests

• A new Priest epic quest series is now in the game and waiting to be found.
• Levitate - Duration and mana cost increased.
• Touch of Weakness - Should now be affected by the Blackout, Darkness, Force of Will, Shadow Focus, Shadow Weaving and Silent Resolve talents.
• Starshards - Should now be affected by the Focused Casting, Force of Will, and Silent Resolve talents.
• Holy Fire - Should now be affected by the Focused Casting talent.
• Mind Flay - Should now be affected by the Focused Casting talent.
• Desperate Prayer - Should now be affected by the Holy Specialization talents.
• Vampiric Embrace - Active icon tooltip rewritten to be more clear.
• Holy Nova - Now causes an explosion of holy light around the caster, causing Holy damage to all enemy targets within 10 yards and healing all party members within 10 yards. These effects now cause no threat as opposed to reducing threat temporarily.
• Holy Fire - Several changes were made to Holy Fire in an effort to make this a more usable and efficient damage spell. The cast time was reduced from five seconds to four seconds, which reduces the damage caused. Therefore, the damage was increased and more of the spell's potency was shifted into the damage-over-time portion. The duration was also increased and mana cost and cooldown were both decreased. While the direct damage portion was reduced slightly from the previous version, each tick of damage should be unchanged, and the spell now delivers one additional tick of damage. In total, the relative damage and efficiency of the spell has been increased.
• Wand Specialization - Fixed a bug where the damage increase with this talent was too high.

 Rogues

• Combo points will no longer be removed if the target is deselected. They will only be removed if a different target is selected.
• Fixed a bug where combo points were not always being applied to the target when using Cheap Shot, Ambush and Garrote.
• Vanish - Increased stealth bonus.
• Ambush, Backstab, Ghostly Strike, and Riposte now properly increase the attack power contribution by the percent modifier.
• The Kick ability prevents the target from casting spells in the same school when channeled casting is interrupted.
• If using Gouge triggers the Stormshroud Armor lightning effect, the Gouge effect will no longer be instantly interrupted.
• The Rogue trainers will now point the player to an appropriate area with boxes to unlock depending on the lockpicking skill of the player.
• Preparation - Will now clear the cooldown of the Blade Flurry ability.
• Riposte - Fixed a bug that prevented the ability from being used when the target had no weapon or was already disarmed.

 Shaman

• Earth Shock - The visual for ranks two through seven has been changed to be consistent with rank one.
• Windfury - Fixed a bug that caused an additional attack beyond what was intended. In addition, fixed a bug that caused the next normal melee attack to happen sooner than intended.
• Level 58+ Shaman should talk to Sagorne Creststrider in Orgrimmar; there is a special quest for them involving a dreaded death knight who dwells in the depths of the Scholomance.
• Frost Shock - Now subject to diminishing returns in PvP. This is considered a slowing effect.
• Grounding Totem - Should no longer redirect area effect spells or be destroyed by area effects spells.

 Warlocks

• Warlock Epic Mount quest added. To begin, speak with a demon trainer in any of the capital cities: Kurgal, Martha Strain, Spackle Thornberry, or Jubahl Corpseeker.
• The Warlock Infernal quest is now available and can be found in Felwood.
• The Warlock Ritual of Doom quest is now available and can be found in the Tainted Scar.
• The succubus model has been updated.
• Paranoia (Felhunter) - Increased stealth detection.
• Seduction (Succubus) - Is now considered a Fear effect for purposes of diminishing returns.

 Warriors

• Thunder Clap - Visual and animation changed.

 Items

• The following set items have had their art updated:
  • Devout Crown and Mantle, Magister's Crown, Circlet of Prophecy, all parts of the Warrior "Might" set, Lightforge Helm, Helm of Valor, Dreadmist Mask, Wildheart Cowl and Pauldrons, and Coif of Elements. Other class sets will receive updated art in future patches.
• Random world items that had increased healing effects were mislabeled, and the amount of increased healing appeared to be half of what was actually occurring. The amount shown on the item is now an accurate representation of the healing increase.
• The Celestial Orb and Robe of the Archmage will no longer trigger the cooldowns of a Mage's mana gems. Mana gems are now on their own unique cooldown category.
• Tiny Black Whelping item changed to Dark Whelpling to reflect the name of the creature summoned.
• Fixed a typo in the aura description for the Mighty Rage potion.
• +Spell damage and +Healing effects have been increased in effectiveness to make them more attractive to players. Effects that increased damage and healing done by all magical spells received the largest increase, especially if the previous amount was small. We also fixed a couple bugs relating to these effects.
• Pimgib's Collar is now unique.
• Frayed Abomination Stichings are now considered to be uncommon items.
• Fordring's Seal has been improved with additional Stamina and Intellect.
• Ring of Protection's armor has been lowered, but the ring's Stamina has been increased.
• Voodoo Band has been slightly improved.
• Underworld Band is no longer unique.
• Filling jars of ooze no longer puts you into combat.
• The Rod of the Ogre Magi properly sheathes now.
• Changed the tooltip of the Bloodfang Hood's effect to properly indicate the duration of the stun.
• The Demon Forged Breastplate effect no longer requires channeling.
• Tooltips for the Blazefury Medallion, Storm Gauntlets, Fiery Plate Gauntlets Blessed Sunfruit, Blessed Sunfruit Juice, and ragged John's Neverending Cup modified to more appropriately describe their effects.
• The Amberseal Keeper's melee DPS has been reduced, but an additional +Spell Damage effect has been added instead.
• Onyxia Hide Backpacks are now 18 slot containers.
• Warstrike Shoulder Pads have been improved.
• Living Leggings, Breastplate, and Shoulders now have Stamina, but had their Nature Resistance lowered.
• Legplates and Legguards of the Chromatic Defier have been improved.
• The drop rate of Essence of Undead has been lowered.
• The drop rate for Gift of the Wild and Prayer of Fortitude has been considerably increased.
• General Drakkisath will now drop 2-4 Blood of the Black Dragon Champion instead of 1.

  Professions

• A significant number of additional engineering devices have been added to the world both as new recipes on vendors and as drops on monsters in the higher level (50+) dungeons and in raids.
• Seven new blacksmithing recipes are available to seasoned blacksmiths via a series of turn-in quests.
• Three new armorsmithing recipes are available to master armorsmiths. All 3 recipes are gained via quest.
• The Turtle Scale gloves recipe has been changed to have a white name rather than green since it can now be purchased at the store. Generally, recipes with white names are store-bought and ones with green or blue (or purple) names are drops from monsters.
• Some Blasting Powder icons Changed.
• Leatherworkers can now make throwing balls (as a toy).
• Ghostweave Belt pattern is no longer bind on acquire.
• Randal Worth in Stormwind now only teaches apprentice level leatherworking.
• Expert Blacksmithing Trainers will now point you to the appropriate artisan smith when you get a high enough skill.
• Bombs now cause a disorient effect when they go off, this was not working correctly previously.
• Flame Deflector and Frost Deflector now do an elemental damage absorb rather than a resistance increase.
• Minor Recombobulator now restores health and mana as well as removing polymorph effects.
• Target Dummies now generate an initial taunt pulse so creatures will attack them for the first 5 seconds after they are dropped.
• Gnomish Death Ray damage increased slightly and cooldown reduced to 5 minutes.
• The level of the Mechanical Dragonlings, Battlechicken, and Bombs dropped by the Goblin Bomb Dropper now scale with your engineering skill, so they will be always useful against enemies. Their damage and health has remained the same.
• Requirements to make the Helm of Fire were reduced.

  Raids & Dungeons

• Azuregos now has a new ability - Mark of Frost. A player who is hit with the Mark of Frost will be temporarily frozen in a block of ice should they attempt to re-engage Azuregos. Mark of Frost is extremely powerful and will persist through death and resurrection.
• Bael'gar, Lord Incendius, and Golem Lord Argelmach are now slightly lower level than previously. This will provide a much better progression of creature and boss levels in Blackrock Depths.
• The Baroness Anastari encounter has been changed. Players who become unpossessed will now have full health, and after the Baroness unpossesses a player there will be a much longer cooldown before she can cast possess again. These changes should make her a more balanced encounter for a 5 man group.
• Lava Surgers no longer respawn once you kill Garr.
• When Majordomo Executus submits, a chest is spawned next to him. This chest should only spawn the FIRST time he is defeated in a saved instance. If a guild tries him a second or third night, no chest should spawn.
• Ragnaros now stays up 2 hours rather than 1 after being summoned.
• The Golemagg and Shazzrah encounters in the Molten Core has undergone some changes.
• Scholomance Itemization
  • 20 new Rare items have been added to Scholomance.
  • Several Uncommon items have been upgraded to Rare quality.
  • Rattlegore, Jandice Barov, and Lord Alexei Barov will now always drop at least one Rare item.
  • Ras Frostwhisper will always drop at least two Rare items.
• Stratholme Itemization
  • 26 new Rare items have been added to Stratholme.
  • Several Uncommon items have been upgraded to Rare quality.
  • Archivist Galford, Baroness Anastasi, Nerub'enkan, and Maleki the Pallid will now always drop at least one Rare item.
• Raid Itemization
  • Onyxia, Azuregos, Lord Kazzak, and all Molten Core boss creatures have all received some new items on their loot tables.
  • Onyxia will once again drop two upper tier class set helms.
  • Most of the non-class set items that dropped from Molten Core and Onyxia have had their effective levels increased, resulting in higher DPS weapons, and/or better stats and effects.
  • Players who defeat the Majordomo Executus encounter will now be rewarded with new epic items. This reward will only be granted the first time the encounter is defeated during the 6 day lifespan of a Molten Core instance.
  • The loot tables for some of the Molten Core bosses have been improved so they drop an additional epic item per kill.
  • World bosses such as Onyxia, Azuregos, and Lord Kazzak will no longer drop random blue items of a level lower than 50.
  • Prior to this patch, Molten Core boss creatures could drop items from one of two different tiered sets for every character class. The loot tables have been changed so Molten Core bosses will now only drop items from the lower tier class sets. However, some of the items from those sets were not previously dropping in Molten Core. These missing class set items will now drop in Molten Core, allowing players to complete their lower tier class sets. The higher tier class set pieces that once dropped in Molten Core will be found once again in Blackwing Lair, the next raiding zone scheduled for release in a future patch.
  • Future patches will include even more item rewards for these raid encounters, as well as improvements to the statistics, effects, and set bonuses for both tiers of the raid armor sets.

  Quests

• Party quest share information is now working. If you mouse over a quest that multiple party members have, it will display a mouseover tooltip indicating what nearby party member are on that quest. Also, to the left of the quest name in your quest log it will list a number in parenthesis indicating how many other players in your party have that quest.
• Quest givers who have repeatable quests now display with a blue question mark over their head instead of the standard yellow exclamation point/question mark.
• The Molten Core discovery quest has had its objective moved from inside the Molten Core to Blackrock Depths.
• Lunaclaw’s spirit should stay around longer before despawning, and the spirit should simply despawn as oppose to "die".
• The description text for both the Horde and Alliance versions of the "Rabine Saturna" quest have been clarified.
• The reward text for the "Hive in the Tower" quest has been clarified.
• Fixed the Resonite Crystal not spawning in the Stonetalon Quest "Earthen Arise."
• Kinelory in Arathi Highlands is now PvP-enabling, so Horde players who attack her will be flagged for PvP.
• Quickened Ana’thek the Cruel’s (quest target in Stranglethorn) respawn rate. He and his entourage now spawn every 5-8 minutes.
• Removed Stormwind Faction reward from the Greenwarden quest line in the Wetlands.
• The time Decrepit Guardians stay spawned (they're the mobs trapping the Annals of Darrowshire in Andorhal) increased from 1 minute to 2 minutes.
• The elementals in the plaguelands no longer attack the Spectral Defenders.
• The "haunting" radius of Pamela’s doll pieces in Darrowshire was reduced. You must now be closer to a doll piece before ghosts appear.
• Increased the respawn time of Mok'rash in Stranglethorn Vale from 9 hours to 2 hours on average.
• Fixed a bug that caused Razzle in Dun Morogh to become non-interactable.
• Added text to the Fresh Zhevra Carcass to clarify it’s use in the Ishamuhale quest.
• Typos in various quests have been corrected.

  User Interface

• Temporary weapon enchantments will now display as buff icons to the right of your normal buff icons.
• Recipes you already know will not show up in the auction listing if "Usable Items" is checked.
• The mouseover UI in the bottom right corner will no longer overlay the extra action bars if you have them up.
• If the subject line is not filled in when you put an item in a piece of mail, it will automatically be filled in with the item being sent.
• Mousing over the interface options menu will no longer count as a mouseover on objects underneath the interface window (Thus making it hard to set your chat windows to be fully transparent among other things).

  World Environment

• Andorhal has been overhauled to improve framerate, navigability, and monster spawns.
  • Repositioned quest spawns in light of new city layout (tower marker indicators, silos, etc.).
  • Doubled the number of small lockboxes present for the "Counting Out Time" quest.
  • Araj should now spawn as a result of destroying the crystals in the towers of Andorhal.
  • Kardris Dreamseeker is now being addressed properly as a female, rather than a male.
• There are new load screens for the Stratholme, Scholomance and Blackrock Depths instances. Additionally, many of the previous load screens throughout the world have been replaced with new art. Enjoy!
• Bloodvenom Post - Crossroads (Horde) no longer flies you through a tree. Sorry for the scrapes and bruises.
• Shalzaru's Lair on the Isle of Dread off the coast of Feralas now properly displays its name when you enter the cave.
• The dragon bones just to the southwest of The Swarming Pillar in Silithus have been named the Bones of Grakkarond.
• The levels of the NPCs in Camp Mojache have been raised to be commensurate with their counterparts at Feathermoon Stronghold.
• Patrolling scouts that can see through stealth and invisibility have been added to Darnassus, Stormwind City, Undercity and Thunder Bluff.
• The range of restock time for Argent Dawn vendors has been widened.
• Cairne Bloodhoof is now a little more talkative.
• High Priest Rohan is now properly associated with the Ironforge faction.
• Grimand Elmore in Stormwind is more talkative.
• Town Criers in all the major cities now have basic gossip text.
• More references to the fictitious locale of "Chillwind Point" have been squashed in favor of the very real "Chillwind Camp".
• Players will no longer get stuck in a location in the Ruins of Eldarath in Azshara.
• Fires in Thunder Axe Fortress in Desolace now have proper names.
• No longer a tree floating off the ground in the Sishir Canyon area of the Stonetalon Mountains.
• There is no longer a floating tree in Westfall above the defias tower.
• There are no longer fish flying around above the water line in Silverpine Forest.
• Female orcs no longer get stuck in scaffolding in Lost Rigger Cove.
• Removed a crate that was clipping through a tent/hut in Coldridge Valley.
• Removed the terrain that popped in and out of the crevice in the entrance to Foothold Citadel on Theramore Isle.
• Properly named the intact watchtower near Southshore.
• The Rainsticks sign in Thunderbluff is no longer floating.
• Removed floating object from Nijel's Point in Desolace.
• Removed an invisible collision wall located in the Barrens near the Bramblescar area.
• Players can no longer kill creatures with ranged attacks while the mobs are unable to damage the player when standing atop the cauldrons in Eastern Plaguelands.
• Closed a hole in the world in the Searing Gorge.
• There is no longer a hole in the world at Dun Garok.
• The minimum level requirement on the Dire Maul meeting stone has been properly assigned.
• The minimum level requirement on the Temple of Atal'Hakkar Meeting Stone has been properly assigned.
• The minimum level requirement on the Blackrock Spire Meeting Stone has been properly assigned.
• There is no longer a hole in the world in Raven Hill, Duskwood.
• A tree located too far above the ground in Feralas has been "replanted".
• The dock on the Forgotten Coast in Feralas is no longer partially floating above the ground.
• There is no longer water missing from the pool by the Grimtotems in the Lower Wilds of Feralas.
• A rock that was sitting above the ground at the top of one of the falls in Nighthaven has landed.
• Players no longer will get stuck in a location at Gurubashi Arena in Stranglethorn Vale.
• Major Mana potions buy/sell price slightly increased.
• Aggro radius of Bears and Wolves in Silverpine have been reduced.
• The Dry times in Ironforge have ended and the Stonefire Tavern in Ironforge now has alcohol again.
• Fixed a grammatical error in one of Captain Kromcrush’s yells in Dire Maul.
• Mizzle the Crafty in Dire Maul shouldn't be so repetitive in proclaiming a new king if the player cycles through gossip too quickly.
• Williden Marshal’s gossip text has been polished.

 Macs

• The keyboard shortcut to quit the game has been changed to Command-Option-Q to work around an issue with PowerBooks.

 Bug Fixes

• Fixed a bug where weapon skills were inappropriately capped at 5 times level. Characters should now gain benefit from weapon skill bonuses beyond their normal cap.
• Fixed portrait creation while alt-tabbed away from the game.
• Fixed sorting items in the auction house by current bid.
• Blessing of Sacrifice only transfers the damage dealt, up to the maximum listed in the tooltip.
• The "created by" tags are visible again when you inspect someone.
• Effects that indicated that they increased damage and healing by all magical spells were actually not improving healing. They now will properly increase healing by the listed the amount.
• Extra attacks gained from spells and abilities are applied immediately and do not affect normal combat swing time.
• Abilities which do an additional percentage of weapon damage now include attack power as part of the base weapon damage.
• Fixed race condition where damage would sometimes be applied after Ice Block or Divine Shield are activated.
• Ranged attacks use the target's defense skill instead of target's level to determine chance to hit.
• Fixed bug where ranged attackers would run up and engage you in melee combat.
• Pets and summons will now go with you if you use a hearthstone or other long range teleport.
• Fixed mouse selection bug when opening bags while the auction interface is open.
• There is no longer water missing on the shore of Jademir Lake in Oneiros in Feralas.
• Fixed a typo in the tooltip for the Field Repair Bot 74A.
• Fixed the geometry of the Branchclaw gloves.
• Lost Souls will now drop their Wispy Cloaks and Tormented Spirits will drop their Ghostly Bracers every time they die now.
• Whistle of the Mottled Red Raptor's buff icon now lists the mount as being a Mottled Red Raptor instead of a Crimson Raptor.
• Ancona creature name changed to Ancona Chicken.
• The wording of item resistance enchantments has been made more consistent.
• Roast Raptor now has an more appropriate inventory sound.

Paralelamente mientras el sistema de Honor para el PvP avanza, el equipo de desarrollo de World of Warcraft nos muestran una nueva faceta que se desconocía hasta ahora.

Se trata de una serie de monedas que puedes obtener de los cuerpos de los enemigos de la faccion contraria que vas matando, con estas monedas puedes comprar pociones de café que nos darán poderosos buffs, además cada 50 monedas que consigas, recibirás un regalo especial, un cafe mas grande y mejor.

Podéis ver la versión en inglés dentro de la noticia.

“Staying at the top spot in the new
PvP honor system
will not be easy. If you ever had to quit a raid on an enemy capital early because your frail human body forced you to bed, then you know what we mean. But fear not – a solution is at hand in the form of our new PvP honor bonus program called Warbucks, an exclusivity for our European players!

When you vanquish another character in honorable PvP combat, the player dealing the finishing blow will be able to loot the corpse of his fallen enemy and pick up a special token called a „Warbuck“. All inns will have their own Buckmonger-NPC who will provide players with powerful coffee potions that will bestow extremely useful buffs when consumed in exchange for their hard-earned Warbucks.

But wait, that's not all! For each fifty Warbucks that you turn in you will receive a special reward. The Buckmonger will send you an in-game mail containing your exclusive Coffee Code. Using your Coffee Code, you will be able to claim a real medium-sized coffee of your choice at a participating café near you (We will be providing a list of participating cafés for each country on this site shortly). Not even sleep will be able to stop you now, thanks to Warbucks! "

El martes 29 de marzo, la mayoría de los realms o servidores con gran número de jugadores estuvieron offline mucho más de lo previsto. Tanto es así que el Presidente de Blizzard, Mike Morhaime ha hecho un ofrecimiento especial, aparte de dar una disculpa, a todos los jugadores afectados por este rutinario mantenimiento que ocupó más de lo previsto.

"Debido al incremento en el tiempo del mantenimiento de hardware de los servidores, hemos decidido regalar 1 día gratis en la suscripción a todos los jugadoers que se hayan visto afectados por el downtime; además todos ellos recibirán un bonus de experiencia extra se hayan logeado o no durante el tiempo de downtime", comenta el presidente de Blizzard.

Sin duda una gran noticia para todos aquellos que se vieron afectados por esta caida y se mordían las uñas por no poder seguir jugando con su personaje. Si tú eres uno de los que tuvo problemas esta semana, echa un ojo a los servidores que ponemos aquí abajo y sabrás que ese día gratis + el bonus, será tuyo.

Los servidores afectados fueron:

Alleria
Argent Dawn
Arthas
Azgalor
Blackhand
Bleeding Hollow
Bloodhoof
Durotan
Elune
Garona
Hellscream
Illidan
Lothar
Magtheridon
Mannoroth
Medivh
Sargeras
Shattered Hand
Skullcrusher
Stormrage
Stormreaver
Warsong
Whisperwind
Zul'jin

El post oficial, aquí.

Gracias a Warcraftcentral nos enteramos del lanzamiento de varios mods interesantes para nuestro vicio wow. Espero que os resulten útiles. Esta es la selección de mods: Autoupdate Tool, Pricemod e ImprovedAssist.

AutoUpdate Tool
Esta sencilla herramienta automáticamnete nos actualiza los archivos .toc después de instalar un nuevo parche en el juego. Es muy sencillo. Lanza el programa después de la instalación del parche y cualquier addon que haya sido deshabilitado en el parche será instantáneamente funcional. Les vendrá muy bien a los usuarios de Cosmos o programas similares.


PriceMod
Un mod realmente útil para cualquiera. Este programa te muestra los precios de los items de un vendedor por ejemplo. Para conseguir los precios más competitivos simplemente actualiza el programa y los tendrás. Aún está en fase beta de desarrollo, así que cualquier ayuda o feedback sobre el mismo será de gran ayuda, valga la redundancia.


ImprovedAssist

Una herramienta para asistir más eficientemente el objetivo principal en un ataque en masa o partida concertada. También funciona para warlocks y hunters. funciona con dos key bindings. La primera configura la ayuda y la segunda es el comando actual de ayuda.

En la sesión de mantenimiento de hoy, los chicos de Blizzard han subido una actualización a los servidores de World of Warcraft, en la que corrigen unos bugs y preparan al juego para futuras actualizaciones más ambiciosas, el parche es de 60 megas y los puedes bajar desde el Live Update de Blizzard. Obviamente, para jugar al juego su instalación es obligatoria.

Una muestra de los cambios realizados en el parche (en ingles) :

• Players who have completed the Molten Core discovery quest can now port directly to the zone, bypassing Blackrock Depths.


• Divine Favor - Fixed a bug that prevented the effect from being removed, allowing all Flash of Light and Holy Light spells to crit for the full duration.


• Bind on Pickup items that are of a quality below the default group loot threshold (white/gray) will no longer require confirmation before looting.


• Various Bind on Pickup items that were previously of common quality (white) have been changed to green (ie: Corruptor's Scourgestone).


• Several of the dungeon and raid armor sets have been updated with their non-placeholder textures. These sets include the Devout, Prophecy, Elements, Arcanist's and Wildheart sets. Future patches will update more dungeon and raid sets.


• Quests that are not completable while in a raid group are no longer allowed if the instance is owned by a raid group, regardless of whether you are currently in that raid group or not.

Fuente:Wow-Europe

El pasado 17 de marzo Blizzard anunciaba que World of Warcraft había sobrepasado ya el millón y medio de suscriptores, batiendo récords de suscripción en todo el mundo. Destacamos los lugares donde más eco ha tenido el juego, por este orden: Norteamérica, Korea y... Europa! En estas localizaciones, WoW ha alcanzado una concurrencia inusitada, siendo el número de suscriptores jugando al mismo tiempo en cada mercado de alrededor de 500.000 jugadores. Bestial.

Desde Blizzard se muestran muy satisfechos por los resultados obviamente. El propio presidente de Blizzard, Mike Morhaime, explicaba "todos nosotros estamos inmensamente satisfechos y asombrados por la demanda internacional de World of Warcraft". "Desde una región a otra hemos visto cómo el fenómeno se extendía y estamos seguros que todas esas personas están disfrutando un montón con el juego".

Desde su debut en norteamérica el pasado 23 de noviembre de 2004, WoW ha sido lanzado exitosamente en Korea y en Europa, ampliando popularidad alrededor del globo.

Las cifras que se barajan para Europa son las siguientes:

• Europe:


• Más de 290,000 cuentas creadas y 180,000 usuarios concurrentes en el primer fin de semana-


• Más de suscriptores activos 500,000 y 230,000 concurriendo en la actualidad.

Blizzard comunica que se está preparando para su lanzamiento en otras zonas del mundo como Asia. En China tiene previsto su lanzamiento durante este 2005, al igual que para Taiwan y otras regiones.

PD: Comentar que la webmistress de 4warcraft definitivamente ha sucumbido a la tentación del Wow y está comenzando a sufrir/disfrutar con el universo creado por nuestros amigos de Blizzard. La carne es débil...

Blizzard banea al menos 1000 cuentas de World of Warcraft de usuarios que recolectaban oro y luego se dedicaban a venderlo por internet por dinero contante y sonante, este hecho ya era muy frecuente en el Diablo II y como medida preventiva y para que la gente no aproveche el juego con intenciones de lucrativas sino simplemente lúdicas, y aprovecha para comunicar a todos los usuarios que si ven cualquier tipo de acto ilícito que se pongan en contacto con Blizzard para erradicar a todo ese tipo de gente.

.:: Fuente WorthPlaying.

NPD ha publicado la lista de los 10 juegos más vendidos para PC con fecha 26 de febrero. Como hemos adelantado en el titular, World of Warcraft se encuentra en segunda posición. A continuación el Top10:

1. Half-Life 2 (Vivendi Universal)
2. World of Warcraft (Blizzard)
3. The Sims 2 (Electronic Arts)
4. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: (LucasArts)
5. The Sims Deluxe (Electronic Arts)
6. RollerCoaster Tycoon 3 (Atari)
7. Halo: Combat Evolved (Microsoft)
8. Zoo Tycoon 2 (Microsoft)
9. NASCAR SimRacing (Electronic Arts)
10. Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight (Microsoft)

Por otra parte, World of Warcraft ha sido galardonado también como el mejor juego de Artes Visuales en el prestigioso Game Developers Choice Awards. Un premio muy significativo. Para más detalles, aquí.

La edición de este año del campeonato de juegos organizado por Samsung acaba de comenzar, y se desarrollará en Hannover, Alemania, hasta el próximo 13 de marzo. Como dato adicional, hay un español que ha conseguido entrar en el campeonato. Su nick es ToRRen, y le deseamos toda la suerte del mundo desde aquí.

Los ECG o Euro Cyber Games cubren este año juegos como: Unreal 2004, Counter Strike, Starcraft y por supuesto... Warcraft III Frozen Throne!

En la categoría de Warcraft3 había un total de 32 puestos disponibles para el campeonato pero solo se han cubierto 16, la mitad. Estos 16 jugadores jugarán en dobles eliminatorias al mejor de 3 mapas.

Los participantes son:

4K.Zeus (NE) - Croacia
4K.ToD (HU) - Francia
4K.Grubby (OC) - Netherlands
Snake-Dune (OC) - Polonia
SK.Miou (HU) - Alemania
SK.HoT (NE) - Ucrania
sCa|HasuHasi (UD) - Suiza
Giacomo (UD) - República Checa
64AMD.Cara (HU) - Rusia
BoNd (HU) - Gran Bretaña
TeG-Bird (HU) - Rumania
lanfan.ToRRen (NE) - ESPAÑA
[avatar] - Bulgaria
eT.LostSoul - Estonia
Spemon - Eslovakia
Sharky - Serbia y Montenegro

La primera ronda de partidas es la que sigue:

SK.HoT (NE) vs Snake-Dune (OC)
64AMD.Cara (HU) vs 4K.ToD (HU)
eT.LostSoul vs 4K.Grubby (OC)
TeG-Bird (HU) vs [avatar]
sCa|HasuHasi (UD) vs 4K.Zeus[19] (NE)
BoNd (HU) vs SK.Miou (HU)
Sharky vs Giacomo (UD)
LanFan.ToRReN (NE) vs Spermon

Más información, aquí.

Hoy los desarrolladores del World of Warcraft nos han preparado una nueva sorpresa, han subido un reportaje acerca de como funcionará el sistema de rangos, el honor, y los objetos que se ganaran con este sistema.

Podéis ver el reportaje entero aqui: Reportaje del sistema de Honor y rangos

Hoy mismo se han abierto las inscripciones para acudir a la próxima edición de Campus Party que se celebrará como cada año en el Museo de las Artes y las Ciencias de Valencia del 25 al 31 de julio. Como novedad, han excluido Warcraft III de las competiciones pero han incluido al WoW en modo exhibición suponemos.

Según reza en la web oficial, "durante la semana del evento, Campus Quest se llenará de elfos, humanos y orcos, unidos para afrontar numerosas misiones y retos en equipo".

Como comentario adicional, han vuelto a subir la cuota de la entrada para poder participar en el evento dividiéndola al igual que el año pasado en entradas de dos tipos:

• Entrada sin derecho a avituallamiento, manjares o comida y con derecho a un puesto de red y la participación en la zona de ocio y todos los eventos que se desarrollen durante estos días, por un precio de 92,80 €
• Entrada con todo lo demás + desayuno, comida y cena para todos los días que dura el evento, por un precio de 162,40 €

Hoy mismo se han abierto las inscripciones para los veteranos y todos aquellos que se quedaron en la lista de espera. Para los demás, la inscripción se abrirá el próximo 14 de marzo.

Los chicos de World of Warcraft nos adelantan que el próximo parche lo subirán a los servidores aprovechando el mantenimiento del dia 18 de Marzo. Algunas de las características de este parche son:

• Meeting Stones, which will make it easier for you to find a group for a dungeon
• Four additional action bars, giving you a total of 48 action buttons
• New flightpaths all across Kalimdor

A todo esto añadir cambios en los personajes, nuevos jefes, monstruos etc

Podeis ver la lista completa de cambios en este link

Los equipo de desarrollo del World of Warcraft nos han preparado una preview de lo que vendrá en una nueva mazmorra que proximamente añadirán al juego. Se trata de una dungeon llamada Dire Maul.

La mazmorra está diseñada para niveles entre 56 y 60, asi que es de una elevada dificultad, pero hay que destacar que los monstruos podrán dropear gran cantidad de items épicos y raros nunca vistos antes en Azeroth. Preview al completo en inglés en el interior de la noticia.

Reportaje en inglés:

Cautiously, I crept through the verdant growth of Feralas, edging ever-closer to the towering walls peering through the trees. I remained hidden, careful to keep the horns of my feline shape from tangling in the undergrowth. There, dusky skin stark against the lush green of the woods, stood the Gordok ogres.

I had been sent here by the Sage to discover what happened to Eldre'Thalas, the once-formidable night elven vault of arcane secrets. The forest eventually reclaims everything built within its clutches, and the crumbling, vine-draped walls were simple proof that the same was happening here. Still, despite the green's steady encroachment, the stonework in many places was largely untouched - evidence of the skill that went into building this place. The night elves expended a great deal of effort to preserve the knowledge within its walls, and greater energy still to keep it there. As I stalked the edge of Eldre'Thalas, watching the Gordok squatting on the ancient ruins, remembering the whispers of ghostly Highborn haunting the locked passages, and smelling the stench of demonic magic in the air, it was certain to me that bringing to light the long-lost treasures of what is now Dire Maul would no doubt be a challenge for even the most skilled of adventurers.

My scouting done, I turned away, heading back to camp to prepare my companions . . .

Built long ago by a covert sect of Queen Azshara's followers, this ancient city was used by these arcanists to process the Queen's most important demands in secret. Thousands of years have passed since the destruction of the Well, and Dire Maul's three wings have been overrun by ghostly Highborn, demons, and ogres. Only the most daring party of adventurers can enter this dungeon and face the ancient evils within.

Features

We are planning on implementing the following features for Dire Maul in the next patch.
- Dire Maul consists of three separate wings ranging in difficulty from level 56 to 60.

- There are many ways to complete the quests located in Dire Maul, and the decisions a party makes along the way will directly influence the potential rewards.
- In recent years, rumors have surfaced of an ancient arena within Dire Maul's courtyard where unique creatures were once fought for sport.

- Adventurers will find that the occupants of Dire Maul possess many rare and epic weapons, armors, and profession recipes never before seen on Azeroth.

Dos son las Reviews que os presentamos hoy sobre el Wow:

En primer lugar, la review de Armchain Empire, comenta que entre las cosas buenas del wow están la cantidad de opciopnes PvP, lo entretenido de las aventuras y cuidado diseño y sonido del juego. Le dan un 9/10 en la Review.

En segundo lugar os traemos la review de Jolt. Bien es cierto que si ya estábamos acostumbrados a ver calificaciones de 9 sobre 10 para el WoW en Jolt nos volvemos a sorprender ya que le suben la media. Su puntuación es de un 9.4, rozando más si cabe la perfección. La review, realizada por Michael "Parallax" Filby, es bastante extensa y entretenida de leer.

El director de Diseño de los títulos de Electronic Arts como "La batalla por la tierra media", acaba de anunciar su retirada de la plantilla de EA para integrarse en la empresa Blizzard el próximo 9 de marzo como diseñador senior.

Browder ha trabajado también en varios títulos RTS como Red Alert 2 y el conocido Command and Conquer Generals. Según los rumores, Browder ha entrado en el equipo de diseño de blizzard para trabajar en un juego RTS. ¿Estaríamos hablando de un posible Warcraft IV? Ya os iremos contando más noticias al respecto.

Tenemos más información en Gamespy.com .

Las cifras hablan por sí mismas. Durante la primera hora de registro para optar a ser betatester de la beta del WoW en China se produjeron un total de 100.000 registros, lo cual nos lleva al escalofriante dato de más de 1.600 registros por minuto. La fiebre WoW continúa abriéndose paso.

Después de romper récords en Norteamérica y por supuesto en Europa, la tormenta WoW sacude ahora China, donde todavía no está disponible. Según el semanario Pacific Epoch, durante en los primeros 60 minutos que estuvo abierto el registro, más de 100.000 jugadores se registraron esperando poder participar en el testeo de la beta. Según los datos de que disponemos, el betatesting en China comenzará en dos semanas.

Más info en Gamespot.

Después de enterarnos que la salud de World of Warcraft sigue en su mejor momento y que su crecimiento es imparable copando en estos momentos, según las estadísticas, el 15,3% del mercado de los juegos MMORPG, encontramos en internet una nueva Review del juego, que calificamos de excelente, a cargo de la web Xquted. Os recomendamos su lectura.

Las puntuaciones de la Review al WoW son las siguientes:

Scores - Puntuaciones

Gameplay 10

Graphics 10

Sound 9

Lasting Appeal 10

Presentation 10

Puntuación total 49 /50

Con lo cual nos da una puntuación de un juego casi perfecto. ¿Opinais lo mismo?

Mañana como viene siendo costumbre todos los viernes, habrá mantenimiento en los servidores de World of Warcraft y por ello todos los servidores estarán offline unas cuantas horas.

El mantenimiento se realizará desde las 7:00 de la mañana hasta las 15:00 del mediodía, en lugar del mantenimiento normal de 7:00 a 11:00, asi que es muy posible que se estén preparando para la salida de un nuevo parche.

Según he podido leer en los foros oficiales de World of Warcraft de Europa, nos informan que "estamos orgullosos de informaros que la espera para las tarjetas prepago del WoW ha terminado, ya que estarán disponibles a partir de mañana 4 de marzo".

Si necesitas una tarjeta prepago para registrar tu cuenta o quieres asegurarte de conseguir oro para hacerte con una, puede ser una buena idea pasarte por la tienda por la que adquiriste el juego y echar un vistazo.

Para todos aquellos que registraron sus cuentas con otro método de pago y desean cambiarlo a tarjetas prepago nos informan que la función que permitirá cambiar la forma de pago estará disponible antes de que termine el mes que blizzard ofrece gratuitamente con la compra del juego.

Podeis leer el post completo, aquí.

Blizzard ha anunciado la actualización de la página www.wow-europe.com, uno de los referentes dentro de World of Warcraft. Las mejoras se resumen en:

• Una página de Status por Reino para ayudarte a conocer qué reinos están arriba o abajo.
• Una nueva página de niveles de aventura dentro de tu guía de juego para ayudarte a encontrar aventuras dentro del juego.
• Una mejora de la sección básica renombrada como Game Guide, para ayudarte a encontrar más información sobre el juego rápido.

Hola a todos.

Hoy da comienzo una nueva etapa para el warcraft español en la que esperamos se convierta en vuestra página de referencia para informaros sobre las últimas noticias, descargaros interesantes replays, mapas... y por supuesto que la estancia en esta página os resulte aparte de informativa, amena y divertida.

4warcraft.com nace con la intención de cubrir todo el espectro que mueve el mundo del warcraft. Esto es, nos ocuparemos (o lo intentaremos por lo menos) de Warcraft III y del recien estrenado en Europa World of Warcraft, que cada día capta más adeptos y que está provocando en muchas ocasiones migraciones masivas de uno a otro. Desde aquí, intentaremos informar de las novedades de ambos mundos, en español.

Lamentamos la pérdida de páginas españolas como warcraft-iii.com y tantas otras que tras el paso del tiempo han ido desapareciendo. Nosotros intentaremos suplir esa falta de información por el universo warcraft dentro de la red Gamersmafia. Este pequeño rinconcito se suma al elenco de comunidades de jugadores que como nosotros, confiamos en esta iniciativa.

¡Larga vida al Warcraft!

MooN
Webmistress de 4warcraft.com