In all seriousness, congratulations to SK Gaming for their accomplishment, which unfortunately only goes to punctuate the awkward balance of story and gameplay in MMOspace. Were this a novel or a movie, this would be considered the greatest of victories. Feasts would be held, Ewoks would sing nub-nub all night long, etc,.

In MMOspace, we just get in queue and kill him again, until we decide to kill somebody else. Woot.

Kil'Jaeden DOWN World First [SK Gaming via Eurogamer]

The key factor any MMO hoping to compete with this game needs to focus on is story. It's bits like this that really set the Warcraft Universe apart from anything else. Michael Fahey

The expansion not only drew in new players across the world, but saw old players returning to type /silly and /flirt several times over, chuckle to themselves, and then go back to whatever it was they were doing. Michael Fahey

Burning Crusade boosts Vivendi profits [GamesIndustry.biz]

The folks over at Blizzplanet have stumbled on the latest bit of cheeky pop culture humor the Blizzard has hidden away in Warcraft's latest and greatest expansion, The Burning Crusade. Deep in the heart of the Karazhan Dungeon lies an Opera Hall with it's own special easter egg surprise in the form of a stage performance of The Wizard of Oz. Although the names of the characters have been changed to protect the innocent (and avoid copyright infringement), the dialogue and loot such as the Wicked Witch's Hat and the Ruby Slippers are a dead giveaways.

Dorothee: "Oh Tito, we simply must find a way home! The old wizard could be our only hope! Strawman, Roar, Tinhead, will you - wait ... oh golly, look we have visitors!"

Blizzplanet has written quite a lengthy and detailed strategy for greeting and beating Dorthee and her friends, Tinhead, Roar and Strawman as they perform their act on the Opera House stage. They have also provided video footage of the events so you can see them for yourself before venturing into the apparently very dangerous Land of Oz.

When you're ready to check it out, just click your heels together three times and say "There's no place like Blizzplanet" or, if your Ruby Slippers are at the cobbler's, just click on the link below. Flynn De Marco

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Karazhan - Opera Hall Event [Blizzpplanet]

Dissent has been stirring among WoW players who were concerned that the only way to achieve the flying Netherdrake mount that Blizzard showcased as a key feature of the Burning Crusade expansion was through participating in group PVP arena matches. This of course has caused much fighting between PVP players and the non-PVP players, who felt they had been slighted. Those worries have now been put to rest by the wonderful men in blue type.

The armored Netherdrake will be available through the arenas as a reward, and a Netherdrake that has a distinctly different appearance from the armored Netherdrake will be available through a quest line which has not yet been implemented. It's likely that it will be implemented with the next major content patch.

Netherdrake PvE Mount Confirmed [Blizzplanet]

No release date has been set, but rest assured that China will eventually get to experience the extreme annoyance brought on by a thousand 12 year-old Blood Elves discussing Naruto in Eversong Woods general chat. Michael Fahey

Blizzard Deal Readies China for The Crusade [Next Generation]

According to Blizz, all you need to do is:

1. Login to Account Management
2. Click the Burning Crusade "Download Now" button
3. Enter your credit card information
4. Follow the link to download the Burning Crusade game client

Easy! And, no more boxes to throw away! Everybody wins. Michael McWhertor

The Burning Crusade: Direct Online Upgrade Now Available

By 'fastest selling across North America and Europe' I believe they are talking combined totals there, as Gamasutra reports that they narrowly missed the title for Europe, losing out to Eidos's Championship Manager 04 by under 1,000 units.

My excitement for the expansion is starting to wane a bit already, only a week after release, and at the rate players are burning through this new content I give it a couple of months before we're all sitting around at level 70 doing the same things over and over again. I'll be posting full impressions later this week. Till then, enjoy the delicious press release below. Michael Fahey

World of Warcraft : The Burning CrusadeTM Shatters Day-1 Sales Record

23 January, 2007 PARIS, France — Blizzard Entertainment today announced that World of Warcraft : The Burning Crusade has broken the day-one sales record to become the fastest-selling PC game ever in North America and Europe, with a worldwide total of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in the first 24 hours of availability. The Burning Crusade, the first expansion set for World of Warcraft, was simultaneously released in North America, Europe, Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia on 16 January, and on 17 January in Australia and New Zealand.

Blizzard had supplied more than 4 million game boxes to retailers worldwide, and more than 5,000 stores throughout the world had their doors open at midnight to welcome thousands of expectant players.

Day-one sales totals on both continents were similar, with an estimated total of nearly 1.2 million copies sold on the first day in North America and an estimated total of more than 1.1 million copies sold in Europe within the first 24 hours of launch.* By the end of the first day of availability on both continents, a total of more than 1.7 million players had already logged in and upgraded World of Warcraft to play The Burning Crusade.

"The Burning Crusade has already exceeded even our most ambitious expectations," said Mike Morhaime, president and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We're pleased that so many players are eager to see all of the new content that the expansion has to offer, and we look forward to seeing everyone online as additional players continue to upgrade in the days ahead."

Retailers are continuing to report sustained demand, so if players have not yet purchased their copy of The Burning Crusade, they are advised to call ahead to make sure their store has copies on hand. Additional shipments of the expansion have been routed to retailers to help maintain stock levels.

"The excitement and sense of anticipation generated by the huge crowd at The Burning Crusade launch event far exceeded our expectations," said Tim Ellis, Head of Games for HMV, UK. "And in terms of units shifted, this was HMV's biggest launch event ever, and that includes Audio and DVD events."

Prior to the launch of The Burning Crusade, World of Warcraft was played by more than 8 million players around the world — with more than 2 million on North American realms and more than 1.5 million on European realms — making it the most successful subscription-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game in PC-gaming history.

For more information on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, please visit the official website for the expansion at www.wow-europe.com/en/burningcrusade.

*Based on internal company records and reports from key distribution partners.

———

There's an interview up with the player on the World of Raids forums, where he goes into a little detail regarding the planning behind the accomplishment. While at first I was ready to jump on the "he has no life" bandwagon, the more I think about it the more I admire the planning and dedication the 40 man guild put into the project. Michael Fahey

First lvl 70 : Interview with him [World of Raids Forums - Thanks Mat!]

"Is this the line for Hello Kitty Island Adventures?"

Apparently it is, and one gentleman asks me if my name might be Butters, which is a reference to the South Park episode Make Love, Not Warcraft in case you hadn't seen it. Everyone in this growing line has, or at the very least has seen lines repeated over and over again through general, guild, and even trade channels. Even though the episode was technically making fun of WoW players, we've still embraced it as part of the game's heritage, right up there with Leroy Jenkins and "More DOTs!"

So what's the deal with the two lines anyway?

There aren't any GameStop employees outside at the moment, but a helpful line stander explains that in order to get the expansion you first go in and pay, at which point they write a number on your receipt. After that you come outside and wait for the clock to strike midnight. Fair enough. The girlfriend and I go inside, wait in line for five minutes or so, pay for our two copies of the expansion (one Collector's, one regular), and then head outside into the dark drizzly night to wait it out with the rest of Azeroth's finest.

It's one of the most diverse gaming crowds I have ever seen. People of all races, ages, and walks of life, all chattering away to one another as if they'd known each other for years. People whom, if they met in other circumstances, wouldn't spare each other a second glance are chatting away about the new races, jewel crafting, leveling, starting areas, etc.

By 11:40 the line had swelled, with upwards of a hundred people waiting in line at a store I wasn't sure a hundred people even knew existed, with another line of about twenty still waiting to put their money down in order to expedite the pickup process. The GameStop manager periodically comes out to shout at the back of the longer line, "If you are in this line and haven't gotten a numbered receipt, then you ain't getting Warcraft!"

My receipt has the number eleven scrawled at the top, so my girlfriend and I stick towards the front of the line, making several chatting buddies as we wait. There are refreshments present, but people seem to be ignoring the generic soda and doughnuts, just like they ignored the costume contest GameStop promoted despite the promise of a $35 gift certificate for the most dressed up. The now massive crowd is focused on getting their hands on the expansion and getting home as soon as humanly possible to get it installed. Quite honestly, so am I.

Midnight is almost tangible, shaking people out of conversations and forcing their focus to the front of the line. Here and there people call out impatiently to get things started. "They'd better get us in their soon, they're forming a raid back there." At 12:02 the first person leaves with their expansion in hand...but our line hasn't moved. Huh? GameStop has two lines formed. One for people who have paid, and one for the people who haven't. The plan was to get folks to pay and then send them to the other line so they can just come in, get their game, and leave. Unfortunately the line to pay was still a couple dozen deep once midnight hit, so the employees decided to give them their product as they paid for it, making the whole standing in line thing moot as the people who showed up late got theirs first.

They were not prepared.

On top of that, I realize that all the number on my receipt is a marker for the bag they have prepared for me inside, and not a place in line. I start to explain to my girlfriend that we need to go to the end of the line when our new chat buddies stop me. "Don't worry about it. Everyone is getting a copy, so it's no big deal." So yeah, if you saw a very tall man cut in front of the line for the BC launch at the Alpharetta GameStop, that was me and I feel terrible about it, but not as terrible as I would have felt had I made my girlfriend go to the back of that line.

After watching a few more latecomers leave with their booty, we finally get our booties inside the store, where there is a slight delay as the GameStop employees tried to figure out their own numbering system. Once we get our bag we are in our car and gone, leaving over a hundred people in our wake. The girlfriend is dying to get home to start leveling her 60 warrior once more, and me? I just want to go home like a responsible adult and get some sleep before work in the morning. The Burning Crusade can wait!

I am a terrible liar. Michael Fahey

Retailers on at least two continents have been extremely lax about the World of Warcraft Burning Crusade's January 16th street date. While most major game outlets across the US have been sticking to the agreement, many smaller shops as well as some large retailers already have the games on the shelves for purchase. I found the game at a Target store in Atlanta over the weekend, but since I already have it fully paid for at a midnight launch locations I passed on picking up a copy.

GamesIndustry.biz reports that at least one major supermarket in Europe started selling the game once they received it on Saturday, causing many independent stores to go ahead and sell theirs in order to stay competitive.

As of this writing there are 463 auctions on eBay for the expansion, with 327 of the for the limited edition Collector's Edition, which is going for upwards of $200 on average...over twice retail. Some enterprising folks are selling the game with level 60 characters bundled in, letting you experience the higher level content ineptly with a character you don't know how to play.

Any of you fine readers get a copy of the game early, and if so, does it ache to sit there staring at the box with one eye while the other stares intently at the clock? Michael Fahey

Retail breaks street date for WOW expansion [GamesIndustry.biz]

This week the momentum really kicks in with three big titles. The biggest of course being World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade, followed swiftly by Wario Ware: Smooth Moves and rounded out by cult favorite Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All.

I'll definitely be getting Phoenix Wright and Wario Ware, but it's going to be a tough choice between Warcraft and Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses. Flynn De Marco

• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (PC, MAC) The Blizzard core server meltdown in 3..2...
• WarioWare: Smooth Moves (WII)
  Wii- mote controlled mini games galore for the ADD generation.
• NCAA March Madness 07 (X360, PS2)
  More on the court realness from EA
• Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Justice for All (DS)
  Hold It! The Perry Mason of the DS set is back with all new cases.
• Fossil League: Dino Tournament Championship (DS)
  Pick a dinosaur and beat all the other dinosaurs to a bloody pulp.
• Great Invasions (PC)
  Discover your urge to invade other countries...
• Barbie in The 12 Dancing Princesses (DS)
  Activision won't claim this one on their website. Really.

Okay, maybe not fabulous, but by unlocking four gems while playing the flash puzzles on the site you can gain access to an MP3 and some wallpaper, including the first ever widescreen wallpaper Blizzard has produced, which yo ucan see a sample of above. So hop on over there, play some games and download your exclusive goodies, or simply copy the picture above and steeeeeretch it out. Michael Fahey

Burning Crusade Flash Mini-Site [World of Warcraft]

Blizzard obviously doesn't want World of Warcraft players to get any sleep Monday night / Tuesday morning. At first the midnight releases seemed a little odd, seeing as we were assuming the servers would be down Tuesday morning as per usual, but Bliz has announced that instead of having patch Tuesday next week they'll be updating the servers on Monday with rolling restarts and downtimes of around 30 minutes. Once midnight server time hits you'll be good to go. Blizzard has updated the WoW website with links to stores having midnight launches, including Best Buy, Fry's, and EbGameStop.

Of course, this is still World of Warcraft, and there's still a chance the servers will go down anyway. Guess we'll have to wait and see. Maybe start a betting pool among guild members. Have fun with it. Michael Fahey

The Dark Portal Opens 1/16 [WorldofWarcraft.com]

In preparation for next week's big Burning Crusade release, Blizzard has gone ahead and released the 2.03 patch. Druids and Rogues get talent point refunds, items have been nerfed over level 60 to avoid having them be useful, blacksmithing and leatherworking have undergone changes, and much more. Also included in the patch are world events leading up to the big opening of the Dark Portal upon launch, including invasions and a random raid boss spawning throughout the lands of Azeroth.

So far the patch is pretty damn buggy. The warriors in my guild cannot seem to pull up a target window for the mobs they attack, making them use the 'click and pray' method of fighting. Others have reported their quest logs suddenly going blank.

Say what you will about random group-wiping bugs, I think it is extremely considerate of Blizzard, having made us wait so long for BC, to go ahead and get the horrible glitches started a week in advance. I'd post the full patch notes, but damn they're long this time around. Hit the link for details! Michael Fahey

World of Warcraft Client Patch 2.0.3 (01/09/2007) [World of Warcraft]

In one short week millions of World of Warcraft players will take their first trembling steps into The Burning Crusade, and GameStop stores across the country will be opening at midnight on Monday the 15th in honor of the forthcoming expansion. Depending on your local store's willingness to cater to MMO geeks, special planned include costume contests, card game tournaments (9 out of 10 real WoW players have no idea how to play it), screenshot character judging, and awkwardly trying to find out why your preorder isn't in the system while you cry tiny orc tears.

Good for GameStop. The expansion is going to sell itself, so this is just a fun chance for WoW players to see each other outside of the game and perhaps chat about raiding, PVP, Blood Elves, Draenei, and god knows what else while I am trying to sit quietly and play my DS. You NEVER mention WoW at a GameStop unless you have a good hour to kill during the resulting conversation.

I'll be there, of course. I've got a collectors and a regular on order. Would have gotten two collectors but the girlfriend said she was too busy tanking to worry about froo-froo extras. Sigh. Michael Fahey

GameStop Midnight Opening Participating Stores [GameStop.com via Gamervine - Thanks Joseph!]

No, I don't mean on Broadway, though that's what I thought too when I saw Blizz Planet's email. No this is much more net-based. Slight World of Warcraft spolier here so stop reading and certainly don't play the video if you don't want to know.

If you return a necklace, a bit of love jewlery, to Lady Sylvanas in the Undercity the usually depressed lady breaks out into song, complete with back-up singers. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like Blizzard put much energy into it. They all just stand there stuck in looped animation singing a pretty cool song. Hello, what happened to hip-thrusts. I want a little Lady Marmalade in my WoW. Brian Crecente

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade - Lady Sylvanas: Lament of the Highborne [Blizz Planet]

World of Warcraft patch 2.0.1, titled "Before the Storm", goes live today! One of the largest patches to date, the update sees a metric ass-ton of changes to the most popular MMORPG in the world. Highlights include new talents across the board accompanied by a complete talent point reimbursement for all players, the much anticipated looking for group tool, which allows you to look for a group down to a specific quest, new PVP arenas for group on group battles, and a complete revamp of the Honor System that relegates all of those hard won rank titles into tags over the players' heads. This patch paves the way for The Burning Crusade, due out January 16th.

Thanks to the Blizzard downloader I've already 478 of the 498 MB download completed, which means by the time I get home from work today I should be ready to rock on my 60 undead mage, once I respec him completely to frost so he can summon his new water elemental.

Since the WoW website gets hit so hard on days like this, I'll go ahead and post the full patch notes after the jump.

World of Warcraft Client Patch "Before the Storm" (12/5/2006)

Looking for Group Interface Tool

A new Looking For Group tool designed to assist players in finding groups for instanced dungeons and quests will now be available. This interface gives players the option to be added to a pool of other players also looking for a group, as a means to expedite the process. In addition, players will also be able to search for additional members in situations where they have a group and are simply looking to find more players. For a complete overview of this new interface, please take a moment and read the information contained on our comprehensive Looking for Group preview.

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/burningcrusade/townhall/lookingforgroup.html

General

* All players will have their talent points reimbursed and will have access to new talents throughout their trees; this includes the 41-point talents. Several new abilities have also been added for all classes.
* All pets will now receive a percentage of their master's armor, spell damage, spell resistances, attack power, and stamina.
* Low-level spells cast by high-level players will receive smaller bonuses from +healing and +spell damage.
* HoTs, DoTs, and channeled spells have been re-balanced to receive a more appropriate (higher) percentage of +spell damage and +healing.
* HoTs from different sources will now stack (i.e. multiple druids can cast the Rejuvenation spell on 1 target).
* New item property "Resilience" has been introduced. Resilience reduces your chance to be the victim of a critical strike, and reduces the amount of damage critical strikes do to you.
* Weapon Skill now does the following:
o Weapon skill will no longer reduce the percentage damage lost due to glancing.
o The player will gain 0.1% to their critical strike rating per weapon skill against monsters above their level.
* When casting a buff on a low level target, the appropriate rank of the buff will automatically be applied.
* In PvP, Crowd Control effects will last no longer than 12 seconds instead of the full duration, with a chance of a heartbeat resist.
* Players will no longer lose faction when under the influence of "Mind Control" or the Gnomish Mind Control Cap.
* Several improvements have been made to the Macintosh client, including support for Multi-Threaded OpenGL on Intel Macs running OS X 10.4.8 or higher.

PvP

* Honor System Revamp
o Current honor totals have been reset.
o Players may display their highest lifetime rank title (accessible from character sheet).
o Honor points earned each day may now be spent as a form of currency.
o Check the PvP tab of your character sheet to see your honor information.
o PvP rewards are no longer unique.
* Marks of Honor earned from battlegrounds are no longer turned in for reputation or honor. They are now used in addition to honor points in order to purchase rewards.
* Two New Arenas are now available in three different modes.
o 2v2, 3v3, and 5v5 matches
o Players may queue up at Goblin NPC's in Stormwind, Ironforge,
o Orgrimmar, Undercity, and Gadgetzan

Druids

* The talent "Swiftmend" will now include bonus healing from the talents "Improved Rejuvenation" and "Empowered Rejuvenation".
* "Omen of Clarity's" duration has been increased to 30 min.

Hunters

* Traps can be set while in combat, but require a 2 second arming time.
* "Auto shot" will be automatically enabled if the Hunter steps out of melee range while in combat with target.
* 1 Agility will now grant 1 Ranged Attack Power.
* "Auto shot" is now reset when casting Aimed Shot.
* "The Beast Within's" Bonus damage caused has been reduced to 10%, but now also reduces the mana cost of all spells by 20%.
* Freezing Traps will now cancel combat when cast.

Mages

* "Frost Nova" (Water Elemental Spell) has now been renamed "Freeze".

Shaman

* Shaman with the appropriate talent spec are now able to dual-wield.
o Self-weapon buffs such as Windfury Weapon can be applied to both main and off-hand weapons.
* Rockbiter's weapon functionality has been changed. It is now a damage proc instead of a flat attack power bonus.
* Windfury Weapon and Rockbiter Weapon enchantments will only benefit the weapon with the enchantment on it.

Warlocks

* The range of "Drain Life" and "Drain Mana" spells have been increased.

Warriors

* Rage generation from dealing damage has been normalized.
o All Rage awards are averaged with our expected rage per swing (adjusted for weapon speed).

Items

* The "Far Sight" effect has changed so that the camera now zooms in to a distant location, rather than instantly showing the distant view. This also affects the items: Ultra-Spectropic Vision Goggles, the Ornate Spyglass, and the Hunter ability "Eagle Eye."
* Spells can now require either a totem item or a totem category item to cast a spell. This means that the Enchanting Rods now count as all of the lower level enchanting rods as well, so you only need a single enchanting rod instead of all six. This also means that "Finkle's Skinner" now counts as a Skinning Knife. Several weapons that are picks have been flagged as counting as a Mining pick as well.
* Items that give bonuses, such as critical strike percentage, have been modified to adhere to a combat rating system.
* All current items will provide the exact same benefit from ratings at level 60 as they provided before the ratings system.
* Thrown weapon items no longer stack, but use durability instead. One unit of durability is lost per throw, and these items can be repaired.
* The tool tip for the Great Staff of the Guardian now shows the proper increase of 28 to the party spell critical rating.
* Items that are useable from player inventory with a cooldown will now update the cooldown in real-time.
* Players will no longer be able to sell the "Blue Skeletal Horse" to vendors.
* The damage Proc from the item "Misplaced Servo Arm" will no longer break the Rogue ability "Gouge".
* The "Skull of Impending Doom" has been changed and will now increase run speed by 60% for 10 seconds, but deals damage equal to 60% of your maximum health and drains 60% of your maximum mana for over 10 seconds.
* The Backfire effect on the "Net-O-Matic" will no longer break on damage.

Professions

* All of the profession-made items that have been created up to now have been given proper stats based on the current expansion item level progression table.
* Most of the items made by Tailoring/Leatherworking/Blacksmithing have had their creation time reduced. Now the cap on time required to make an item in those professions is based on quality and level.
o New Max times required.
+ Level 31+ Green Items at least 8 sec
+ Level 31+ Blue Items at least 15 sec
+ Level 31+ Purple Items at least 25 sec
* Skill level now determines what items you can disenchant.
o Skill 1= Level 1-20
o Skill 25= Level 20-25
o Skill 50= Level 25-30
o Skill 75= Level 30-35
o Skill 100= Level 35-40
o Skill 125= Level 40-45
o Skill 150= Level 45-50
o Skill 175= Level 50-55
o Skill 200= Level 55-60
o Skill 225= Level 60-65
* Players will no longer lose an item when attempting to disenchant on a boat when the loading screen appears.

User Interface

* Meeting Stone gossip options have been removed from Innkeepers in preparation for the new LFG system.
* LFG/LFM UI
o Tips have been added to Loading Screen tips and new player tips
o Meeting Stones now function similar to a Warlock Summon spell.
+ Players select party member to be summoned and right click the stone. A second party member then clicks the portal to summon.
* Enchanting UI has been vastly improved.
* Raid UI now supports frame for Main Tank.
* Spell Alert (Enemy Cast bar)
o Defaults to off
o Enabled through Interface Options
o Displays targeted enemy's cast bar when they are casting.
o May also be displayed with "V" key functionality.
* Auto-loot may be enabled with just one click in the Interface Options.
* Character sheet UI now displays more precise melee, ranged, and spell stats.
* Players can now cast item targetable spells on items that are in your action bar. For instance you can cast feed pet and have the food you want the pet to be fed in one of your action bars.
* Semi-charged items can no longer be placed in the Auction House.
* A knowledge base has been added to the in-game UI.
o Searchable database of FAQ's and common support issues.
* Keyrings have been expanded to hold more key-type items and will now size dynamically for the number of keys in possession.
* The Hunter ability, "Mend Pet," will now turn red when a pet is out of range.
* Players will now be able to disable ability messages in the floating combat text.
* Players will now be able to scroll down their ignore list if it extends beyond one page.
* The tooltips for the Show Dispellable Debuffs and Show Castable Buffs options will now specify they only apply to raid pullout groups.
* Significant changes have been made to User Interface customization.
o For specific details, please visit http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=36975623&sid=1.

Bugs

* The Rend Blackhand arena event in Upper Blackrock Spire will now properly reset after a wipe.
* Players will no longer resurrect with low mana and health if they died and released on a Zeppelin or Ship.
* Fixed an issue where effects with 100% chance to be applied were being resisted.
* Fixed an issue where high level players were not being properly credited the right amount of faction reputation.
* Party members will now be properly credited for completing the "Dead Man's Plea" quest when a totem or pet gets the killing blow on Baron Rivendare.
* Slowing abilities and spells will no longer decrease the speed of a player when traveling by Gryphon.
* Fixed an issue where players were re-taining talent based abilities even after re-training.
* Fixed an issue where the Warlock spell "Shadowburn" was improperly consuming two Soul Shards.
* Fixed an issue where players were unable to click on anything if they had any add-ons installed.
* Fixed an issue where players were able to use "Mana Burn" on mobs and players without mana.
* Fixed an issue where spells that proc while a player was standing would not proc if they were sitting or lying down.
* Fixed many interface overlapping graphic issues.
* Fixed an issue where Seal of Justice (Rank 2) will now refresh with melee strikes.
* Blood Elf mobs in Azshara will now have the correct model.
* Fixed an issue where a spell with two procs would be reflected and one of the procs would still hit the player that reflected the spell.
* Fixed an issue that was putting Hunters back into combat when they have the "Spirit Bond" Talent or have the Cryptstalker set bonus.
* Fixed an issue where players were being awarded the wrong item when double looting a corpse under the master loot option.
* Fixed an issue where players interrupted while casting would have a longer cast time than normal.
* Fixed an issue where players could not see enchants when inspecting another player.
* Fixed an issue where extra attacks from "Windfury Weapon" would not proc "Flurry" when they crit.
* Fixed an issue where players that were killed in freezing traps would be stuck there until releasing.
* Fixed an issue where Warlocks were able to despawn a pet to gain a free "Soul Shard"in the Battlegrounds.
* Warrior "Shield Slam" and "Shield Bash" will no longer trigger a proc from an equipped weapon.
* Fixed an issue where players were able to consume a Mana Emerald at full mana.
* The totem, "Wrath of Air," will no longer be useable in "Ghost Wolf" form.
* Fixed an issue where Warrior "Battle Shout" was causing too much threat.
* Fixed an issue where computers with ATi video cards were sometimes having problems when displaying a certain texture.
* Fixed an issue where the Warlock spell "Death Coil" gained double the benefit from the talent "Shadow Mastery".
* Player pets will no longer attack CC'ed targets while in Passive mode.
* "Prayer of Spirit" will no longer cast on the user if there is no other target selected.
* "Lightning Shield" will now have the appropriate cool-down time between uses.
* Fixed an issue where materials were being consumed if a player logged out before an enchantment had finished being applied.
* The Hunter, "Auto Shot," ability will no longer activate on resurrection.
* Fixed a bug where "Inner Focus" was not being consumed when using "Mind Soothe."
* Fixed a bug where Rogues were able to use the ability "Ghostly Strike" when not facing their target.
* Warlock pet dismiss sounds will now play properly.
* Fixed an issue where Fist weapons were sheathing improperly.
* Bags will no longer overlap the Bank UI when the game window is resized.
* Players will no longer be able to whisper to enemy players in Battlegrounds.
* The Skeletal Gryphon ride for the Eastern Plaguelands PvP event will now fly at its correct speed.
* Players will no longer be able to jump onto the top of the Dun Baldar Fortress in Alterac Valley and get behind the terrain to attack other players.
* Shapeshifting will now break "Nogginfogger Elixir" effect.
* You will no longer die when Feign Death is finished channeling.
* "Scatter Shot" will now properly do damage even if the target is immune to the confuse effect.
* "Aspect of the Cheetah" will now properly trigger with absorbed damage.
* Casting a lower rank polymorph on a target that is already under the effect of a higher rank will cause an error message and not consume mana.
* The talent, "Master of Elements," will now properly proc off of totems.
* Players will no longer be attacked by same faction guards when using mind control on an enemy player to attack.
* "Vanish" will now properly un-target the Rogue from the attacker when the attacker is in the same party.
* The talent, "Improved Chain Heal," will now properly add to the base healing done.
* "Healing Wave" Ranks 11 and 12 will now benefit from the Shaman talent, "Healing Way."
* "Improved Curse of Agony" will now properly increase the base and spell power.
* Warlocks will now be properly credited a Soul Shard from their pet when they take a flight path.
* Warlocks will now be properly credited a Soul Shard from their pet when they are dead at the end of a Battleground match.
* Warlocks will now be properly credited a Soul Shard from their pet when they enter an Arena.
* Casting "Dark Pact" after exiting combat will no longer put you back in combat.
* The tool tip for the "Great Staff of the Guardian" now shows the proper increase of 28 to the party spell critical rating.
* Several Chest spawns in Dustwallow Marsh will now properly spawn above ground.
* Items that can give +Stamina/Intellect from random suffixes will now properly apply while dead.
* "Beastmaster's Gloves" will now give the proper 2% crit chance for Hunter pets.
* Fixed a bug where you can end up with overlapping bags after resizing the window.
* Various graphical errors will be noticeable while viewing maps.

Mac

* Added support for Multi-Threaded OpenGL on Intel Macs running OS X 10.4.8 or higher. Depending on hardware, scene and graphical settings, this can raise frame rates up to a factor of 2X.
* Improved video hardware detection and default settings, especially with Intel video.
* Vertex Animation Shaders have been disabled for systems with Intel video.
* Improved iTunes key-binding feature for smoothness and track name display.
* Fixed a bug where Tutorial Tips would not be marked as viewed correctly on PowerPC Macs.
* Fixed a rare crash bug in the audio code.
* Improved support for Weather Shaders.
* Added support for changing the mouse sensitivity in WoW. Previously, the Mac version ignored the value from the slider in the Interface Options dialog.

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Now that's a lot of patch notes. I'll see you folks in game. Send Rande a whisper on Ysera if Blizzard manages to keep the servers from exploding! Michael Fahey

World of Warcraft 2.0.1 Patch Notes [World of Warcraft.com]
Download the patch from Strategy Informer here.

Spike TV has announced that people might actually be watching the 2006 Video Game Awards on December 13th, if only for two minutes. During those two minutes, the cinematic trailer for The Burning Crusade, Blizzard's upcoming expansion to the World of Warcraft, will be shown for the first time anywhere. Afterwards thousands of WoW players are scheduled to go right back to raiding Naxxramas, never tuning into Spike TV again except for the odd Star Trek Marathon now and then.

I have questioned the validity of the Spike VGA show since they gave best shooter in 2003 to the PC port of Halo and spelled SOCOM as SOCMO. Man, I love playing me some SOCMO. As much as I enjoy World of Warcraft, I'll catch the trailer later on YouTube, thanks. Michael Fahey

VGA Awards To Debut Burning Crusade Cinema [Gamasutra]

Eagerly awaited by millions of players and gold farmers around the world, Blizzard's first World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade, has recieved an official release date. January 16th is the day when WoW servers flood to bursting with Blood Elf paladins and Draenei shamans, many of which will be naked, dancing females. I am so there.

Having played WoW on and off since launch, I am really hoping that the release date sticks. I'm so bored with the current content at this point I've started making up minigames to pass the time. Barrens Fire Nova Totem Gazelle Bowling is going to take the Azeroth by storm, mark my words. Michael Fahey

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Dated [Blue's News]