World of Warcraft

Are you anticipating World of Warcraft's 5.3 patch that's on the horizon? If so, Blizzard offers a handy preparation guide to help you get ready for it. Among the proffered hints is one to keep ahold of some of the currencies earned throughout patch 5.2 as the gear-upgrading Void Binders are returning. The guide offers a breakdown of associated costs for various gear and the different currencies. Also revealed is an 33% reduction in the XP needed to level from 85 to 90.

The guide continues with suggestions for item level requirements for various scenarios and dungeons, information on changes to lesser charms of good fortune, and an update on PvP Season 13. And if you haven't played in a while but intend to after the patch, save some time by making sure your game is up-to-date as well as any UI add-ons.

After my so-so review of The Burning Crusade's score a few months ago, I'm sure a few of you thought I was barking mad. World of Warcraft is well-known for great orchestra pieces, but I stick by saying that most of the brilliant stuff stayed the heck away from Outland. Fortunately, the sound quality got a lot better when we went up north for Wrath of the Lich King in 2008.

The score was composed and arranged by Russell Brower, Derek Duke, Matt Uelmen, Neal Acree, and Glenn Stafford. As to be expected by that name sandwich, the score features a lot of variety. While there are epic chants and the like that are to be expected from WoW, there's also a lonely, savage feel to the music that represents these far-off lands. There's also a lot of blowing wind that segues between tracks if you listen to the album straight through, and if that doesn't make you envision a snow-blasted landscape, I don't know what would.

The liner notes say that "this is the music of ice and despair, a dirge and a call to arms." I couldn't put it better myself. Let's dive into my picks for the best tracks from this score, shall we?

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It would be a rare fantasy MMO that didn't have a posse of dragons roaming the land (or flying through the skies), and Guild Wars 2 certainly does not break that trend. It doesn't mean that going head-to-head with one is any less intimidating, however.

Reader Paul sent in this little meet-and-greet with Puff, saying it was when his Asuran Mesmer first encountered a dragon. Let's just hope he remained alive to have a second encounter. Asurans often look like popcorn chicken to dragonkind.

It's not just flying lizards in this week's One Shots! What wonders await you, I wonder?

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Are you one of the five people on the planet who does not own World of Warcraft in some form? It's kind of been a big deal for the past several years. Having established that you do not already own the game, would you like to pick up the base game plus the first two expansions on the cheap? Even cheaper than their normal prices, that is? Because you have a chance to pick up the whole shebang for just $10 this week.

Normally the World of Warcraft Battle Chest bundle costs $20, but until April 23rd you can pick the whole thing up for half of that. The game also has a free trial you can play if you don't want to take the risk of buying the game without knowing if you'll like it, although at $10 it's almost cheaper to just bite the bullet.

If you're interested in Blizzard's upcoming Hearthstone CCG and have about 10 minutes to spare, your time could be put to worse use than by watching the following video. Said video features a match-up between a Mage player and a Shaman player as they duel with all manner of nasty cards, totems, and surprises.

A narrator attempts to give a play-by-play as the action flows thick and furious, giving us a deeper insight into how Hearthstone plays and what strategies players might use in the future. Give it a watch after the break, and don't forget to read our own hands-on with the title!

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Look out League of Legends: You've just been knocked down to second place. DFC Intelligence has determined that Valve's Dota 2 is now the most-played online game in the North America and Europe, with LoL in the number two spot and World of Warcraft in a distant third.

DFC made this claim based on its PC Game Meter service, which draws data from multiple sources. The service does not include browser and casual games in its report.

Update: Riot Games contacted us to say that DFC has retracted the report press release. GamesIndustry also posted the following update: "According to a Riot Games spokesperson, League of Legends sees 'over 500,000 peak concurrent players every day on just the EU West shard,' which doesn't even touch on players in the United States. This is contrasted with the 325,879 players that Valve's Steamgraph shows as the all-time high for Dota 2 beta."

Returning to an old MMO love is a tradition for us vets, isn't it? I see people doing it a lot, and I'm certainly not immune to giving in to these whims. It usually starts out mild: hearing a friend talk about the game, remembering a good time you had in it, or seeing a big chunk of shiny new content come down the pike. Suddenly you've signed up again and logging in like you never left. It feels so familiar.

It feels so alien.

And that's when you realize: You really can't go back again.

It's a dreadful realization, one that makes you lunge for the clock and attempt to turn back time with a sheer force of will. Stages of grief set in: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Sometimes you work in "snack food binge" in there as well. Why, you wonder, can't this be just like last time? It's a game, so why can't you recapture the same magic?

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World of Warcraft usually puts together some pretty ornate pranks for the first of April. It's hard to forget about the console version of Molten Core, the Bard class, or the Tinfoil Hat. This year, fans were treated to... well, nothing. That's a pretty dramatic departure, and it prompted community manager Zarhym to take to the field and answer the obvious question about why no one got to have a laugh this year.

Zarhym explains that there were two main causes, the first being that the team simply hadn't come up with a joke that really stuck despite several ideas being bandied about. Add to that the fact that the team members usually responsible for assembling these jokes were otherwise occupied, and they were left without a joke and without people to implement the gag. So this year will go down as being sadly bereft of foolery from Blizzard.

Grabbing one of the year's hottest tickets will be a tricky prospect, especially considering how fast BlizzCon typically sells out. However, Blizzard is giving everyone a fair chance at grabbing one of these tickets by announcing the dates and times that they'll be going on sale.

Dates plural? Yes indeed! BlizzCon tickets will be sold in two batches, first on Wednesday, April 24th, at 10:00 p.m. EDT and second on Saturday, April 27th, at 1:00 p.m. EDT. The tickets for the two-day convention are $175, although if you want to package in the Children's Hospital benefit dinner with the show, you'll be looking at parting with $500.

The studio also assured fans that it will once again be selling virtual tickets to BlizzCon, although specifics regarding these have yet to come. BlizzCon is taking place on November 8th and 9th at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

If knowledge is half the battle, what's the other half? Winning, duh. It's certainly not flaky pastries or erotic roleplaying. You got to win the game's face off, and when you're done, you should pose for a commemorative photo like Reader Ralph here:

"This shot was taken just minutes from the end," he wrote to us. "After several fierce battles, our team of AFS soldiers succeeded in taking over the last Bane encampment! The Earth was ours again! WE WON! And then our universe winked out of existence, and Tabula Rasa was no more."

You won and you lost? Ralph, you officially broke the universe with that. Read on for more exciting player screenshots in today's edition of One Shots.

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I vividly remember a conversation I had with my then-girlfriend's parents back in 1996 about the potential of this growing "internet" phenomenon. With my limited understanding, I made it sound downright noble, a Library of Congress available at the fingertips of the average Joe or Jane. What I really should have said that it would be a tool for the distribution of pornography, nerd rage, and cute animal pictures.

I have no idea how big the cute animal picture industry is, but there have got to be millions of aspiring photographers daily who prod little baby critters with encouragement sticks in the hopes of eliciting a few "awws" out of strangers. Even when the serious business of MMOs came a-calling, cuteness infested fantasy lands near and far.

Whenever I see something absurdly cute in an MMO, I always smile because I know that somewhere, some uber-elite, way-too-serious player is developing facial tics from being in the same game world as it. So twitch away, as here are 10 of the cutest critters as seen in-game!

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A few weeks ago, I took a nice long look at World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. Then I wrote about it. My impressions, like most things on the internet, were met with both ardent agreement and defiant protest. Everyone has an opinion, especially when it comes to World of Warcraft -- some people love the game, some people hate it, and some give it a resounding "eh."

I don't mind people disagreeing with me. People react to games differently, and what works for me may not work for you. But there was one specific critique that rose, repeatedly, in the great debate raging in that article's comments section. A critique that, frankly, I cannot abide:

"World of Warcraft is too easy."

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Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft is a brand-spankin'-new online collectible card game from Blizzard, announced just yesterday here at PAX East 2013. And since I love you guys soooo much, I took the time to stand in line to take a look for myself. It certainly had nothing to do with the fact that I flock to CCGs like a moth to flame. No sirree.

Of course, this isn't your traditional MMO, so it's difficult to write a traditional review, especially considering I was able to play only a single match (which I won by a landslide, thank you very much), so instead I'm just going to give y'all a rundown of how the game plays and let you draw your own conclusions. Shuffle your cards, cut your decks, and read on for the skinny on Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft.

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With the World of Warcraft community adjusting to life after patch 5.2, Blizzard is revving up the engine to patch 5.3. The public test realm patch notes have become available, although the patch itself is not yet on the PTR.

Patch 5.3 looks to be a boon to PvP players, as it'll kick off a brand-new battleground: Gold Rush. Gold Rush takes place in Pandaria's Valley of the Four Winds and has both factions fighting for control over mines.

Other content coming in 5.3 is a new arena called Shado-Pan, four scenarios, heroic difficulty levels for scenarios, and adjustments to loot rolls. Our sister site WoW Insider has the full patch notes, so go check 'em out!