I am so there! this is gonna be cool.

Gotta love the little sneak peaks, man... (and Luke's writing, which always rocks)

That first shot is cool. I've never played WoW but the game always looked a bit sparse, like there weren't any towns. I guess when I've seen lots of polys in WoW screenshot it's always a bunch of characters and my friend says something that makes no sense to me like, "Look at him grif the blag for 56g" and I never know what to look at.

Wife finally gave me ok to cancel our WOW accounts YES! I just hope this expansion doesn't draw her back in.....

these aren't actually all new. they're from blizzcon and elsewhere it seems

[www.mmo-champion.com]

Looks like Hillsbrad and Silverpine.

Not leaked, they are either from Blizzcon, or fake (depending on what you're looking at).

@Kyle81: One does not simply walk away from World of Warcraft.

Give it time......

;-)

@FanDam: "grif the blag" !!! Priceless!

That needs to be worked into WoW lore right there.

These screenshots don't do anything for me. More of the same.

This is good. I'm finally free.

@Kyle81: LOL XD

Horray for more Blizzard copy and paste level design. Same trees, same buildings, same damned spiders... I've been killing spiders non-stop since beta and now I get to kill more. /sigh

Looks pretty good. New zones should be fun to explore.

I really don't see what the excitement is about these "leaked" screenshots. They look almost, if not identical to the shots found on the site for Lick King already.

No, thank you.

[worldofraids.com]

Has a few video clips up, better than 2 misc. screenshots.

@FanDam: For someone who doesn't play/understand WoW, you're well versed on the machinima. :P

@Kyle81:

same here! I just canceled this morning.

Fuck that game. its full of retards anyway.

I left this addiction shortly after being drawn back in for a month of TBC. Like any addiction, I get the occasional urge, but I just ignore it these days. Life comes first.

BTW Blizzard said they are getting away from the space alien scifi type stuff they did with BC and getting back to traditional warcraft lore. More gritty down to earth, huge weapons, and medieval warfare.

WOW ROCKS! USA! USA!

Download wotlk-inst-a1.exe here.

(note: just kidding)

People still play that game? Its sooo two thousand four.

None of these shots are from the closed alpha, everything that's been "leaked" so far are either from Blizzcon or photoshopped.

@rubadub: WoW is a microcosm of the real world: a few sentient beings in a sea of retardation. Much like alcohol and hard drugs are necessary to drown all of it out in real life, leaving General Chat is a nice first step in WoW.

These are not leaked. mmo-champion explains where they're from and what they are here.

[www.mmo-champion.com]

I don't think I can suspend disbelief any more as to the insane level of power inflation going on in the game.

Sure, you may have smote ancient gods and toppled mad kings, but can you handle... RAMS?

@Archavious: I still play diablo 2, which is sooo 1997.

So where are the shots of the Death Knight class? >:O

ehhh it really dosn't look like anything new for WoW just more of the same.

These are old from Blizzcon and only hyped to be new for no reason. I really don't see why this is news.

Now, the fake Dwarven beards and hairdos by Kanaru are where it's at!

[www.wowwiki.com]

Also some fun fake maps.

1) Make items that over power everything previously in the game.
2) Have customers grind the same content for months to get said items.
3) ???
4) Repeat.
5) Profit!

Sorry, WoW just doesn't hold up for me anymore. Blizzards more is less idea when it comes to content design, and item grind left me devoid of any feelings for this game a long time ago. I moved on to bigger and better things, like pen and paper D&D!

@Schmatz: Pfft. Research is for journalists. "Leaked Screenshots" is quite a bit more sensational than "Really Old Screenshots that We've All Seen Before."

It's like an episode of Stargate SG1; same forest with a different color filter.

@futurebiblehero:

I disagree, Barrens chat and shattrath general can both be hilarious and fun sometimes if you want a good flaming war or something.

Also, Why do so many people assume that WoW and RL have to be mutually exclusive? You CAN do both, its just theres a lot of publicized stories about retards who cant.

/rant.

anyway, cool shots. I'm mega hungry for WoTLK stuff at the moment.

Hehe, yay for F&F/Alpha's. ;)

i'm sadden by these pics seeing as there's no chance to ride flying mount around it seems. Needz more Outland

Thank you for reminding me to filter out WoW content.

I'd love to say it's time to get off the wow wagon, but I'd only be lying to myself. I got rehooked last winter when my roommate got a really nice PC and asked me what this WoW thing was all about. I should have lied to him and told him it killed kittens, instead I'm 4 and a half months into an addiction that is slowly killing me! You hear that blizzard your killing me... PS thanks!

that first shot looks zangief, amirite?

WoW doesn't seem to be aging very well. I wonder how long it'll be til they pull a SoE and upgrade the graphics very slightly like they did in Everquest?

@Krytha:

Oh pleeease, I still have a working gyroscope that allows me to play Tennis For Two.

@Jac21:

PuhLEEEZE,

I have a working pencil and paper that allows me to play tic tac toe

@Jac21:

And some 4th ed D&D, take that all you snobby PC users

I have such a love-hate relationship with WoW. This will probably intensify it upon release. Gah!

@MantisDragon:
You know, Lord Of The Rings Online is the first game to introduce me to the idea that maybe playing the game is just as much fun as leveling up... i found myself looking at the world around me, rather than how much more experience i needed til my next level. Success!

Warhammer online FTW.

World of Warcraft is for carebears.

@Jimbo4: I love how PVP MMO fans look down on PVE MMO fans as Carebears. Well, guess what? You're a Wuzzle (or Popple, if you'd like) for poopsocking it in order to compete when there are hundreds of games that offer an even-level playing ground right out of the box. But you know, hey, what fun is competition if you can't hide behind the enormous amount of free time that you have?

I thoroughly enjoy PVP in MMOs, but those of you that think you're superior on account of it are in dire need of some perspective. So you got ganked on the way to turning in a quest? You stuff more hours down the compactor so you can do that to someone lower than you. Truly brutal. Everyone that plays competitive games that aren't timesinks shiver at the thought of you ever playing on their field.

I started playing wow a couple months ago because a friend told me I should. I used to make fun of him for playing it and then it sucked me in like crack. I love this game!