Merus

Yeah, this doesn't even look like Rift's public quests. I imagine people are going to get bored of these very quickly.

How likely is it that Blizzard is still planning to go through and revamp Outland, considering their revamp of the old world is the major reason why Cataclysm has been so anaemic?

I don't think there'll be a 4.4; Blizzard have said that they felt the Sunwell after Black Temple cheapened Illidan, and I'm sure they don't intend to do the same to Deathwing.

It does seem really early, but at the same time it seems like people are mostly Done with Cataclysm, and it has been nearly a year already. Blizzard probably want to cut their losses and get an expansion focused around end-game content out as quickly as they can. It does sound like Mists of Pandaria is the new expansion and Azshara is the new end boss, considering the water/Azshara content we knew was coming is apparently not part of Cataclysm.

It seems like a fairly typical situation to me; considering that it's to specifications that no-one else can legally use, it doesn't seem like it's much different from a work-for-hire situation.

One of the tricks is that Blizzard must secure permission to be able to republish the contest winner, and to publicise the name of the winner. Often people get tripped up by the legal language that secures them that right. In this case, entering also asserts that Blizzard own the copyright of what you write - but then, it's fanfiction, so Blizzard own the copyright on the derivative works submitted anyway, and it's far simpler for them to just assert that than to make a derivative works argument after the fact.

Basically I don't think you need to feel like your creator's rights are taken away when you never really had them in the first place.

2011 Blizzard Writing Contest

Winners Announced 2012 Sometime

This is a very shaman-focused expansion, what with all the elementals everywhere, and most of the pre-existing significant shaman in lore have been Horde.

"Involving the entire guild is certainly democratic, but guild-wide votes all too often turn into popularity contests. The most well-liked officer isn't always the best candidate to top off the totem pole."

One guild I was in, in another game, fell apart when they ran a vote, and people ended up deciding that they actually preferred their candidate as leader and didn't have to stick around. Another hazard of the democratic process in MMOs is that people don't have to stick around and work with a leader they didn't vote for.

Mage + Kungaloosh = parent comment

Don't bother doing a complete run of Doctor Who; it's 30-something seasons, and many of the earlier ones no longer survive. Start with the reboot seasons, and maybe go back to a couple of the older serials.

"Morals seem to be a thing of the past."

It's ironic how you're condoning abusing children, something that was routine in the past and is considered immoral now, and then claim that morals have slipped.

Providing sorely-needed instruction is a laudable goal. Goading them into crying in the process is less so. The only lesson that teaches is that people are dicks, which doesn't really promote the respectful behaviour we want to see.