Guildmates tighten bonds at BlizzCon meetups

ouldn't make it to California for the convention? WoW Insider takes you behind the scenes at BlizzCon 2011.

Face time -- it's an indispensable part of the human equation of forging bonds and getting on the same page. Friendships that used to rely solely on guild chat and forums deepen under the influence of voice chat, Facebook, and instant messaging. Today, we know our guildmates better than ever, but nothing can replace coming face-to-face, shaking hands, trading bear hugs, hanging out over days' worth of gaming and dinner and drinks ... and of course, endless discussions about WoW.

We talked with three of the many guilds that met up at BlizzCon 2011: Fail Squad, a 10-man raiding guild celebrating its first anniversary; Chatcon, a group of players who came together via chat room with a common goal of handling trolls on the official Blizzard forums; and Crisp, a U.S. top 100 raiding guild bonding in game over hard modes and out of game over BlizzCon drinks.

Read more:
http://mirabelle.doodlekit.com/home
http://mirandas.squarespace.com/
http://miriam.terapad.com/index.cfm?fa=contentNews.newsDetails&newsID=3266406&from=list
http://moirasu.ucoz.com/blog/wow_devs_answer_a_ton_of_fan_asked_questions/2011-10-27-1
http://monicasui.tumblr.com/post/11975019679/the-lead-producer-of-world-of-warcraft-gives-the-skinny

Fail Squad succeeds at BlizzCon

Fail Squad of Lightninghoof (US-H) planned its first anniversary (just past -- grats, guys!) and BlizzCon bash in style. Members rented a vacation house just two blocks from the convention center, where 13 guildies converged for a weekend of food, gaming, strolling back and forth to the con, celebrating the honeymoon of two guildmates (more grats!), and hanging out.

Fail Squad is a youngish guild of friends who've slowly and naturally coalesced throughout years of World of Warcraft. The guild's two 10-man teams, which started out in ICC, enjoy a friendly in-game rivalry in today's content. Their unquenchable team spirit shows through in the top-notch guild shirts they wore with pride throughout BlizzCon, featuring original art from guild member Amber Franklin.

Chatting it up with Chatcon

Not every group gathering at BlizzCon this year are actual guilds. Blaargh's Chatcon group met four years ago in a chat room bonding over goings-on on the official forums. This year, the group has something like 100 friends ("members"? "chataholics"?) scattered across BlizzCon.

At one point, the group had a loose guild running in game, but for now remains at less organized ends. The sprawling group keeps in www.bookwowgold.com touch via a Facebook page, and of course they hang out in their chat room while they're playing -- even former players who aren't actually subbed to World of Warcraft anymore.

Related information:
http://muriel.hpage.com/
http://www.nancydyu.350.com/bookwowgold.com.htm
http://natividad.spruz.com/pt/Im-actually-surprised-it-took-this-long-for-someone-to-put-WoW-in-Minecraft/blog.htm
http://nicolad.webstarts.com/index.html

Lichborne: The iconic death knight look

WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done.

So with BlizzCon just barely over, I figure we're still letting all the new information sink into our collective noodles, and therefore, we're going to discuss a really hard-hitting topic this week: creating the iconic death knight look.

I'm going to come out and say it: I think we've yet to really discover an iconic death knight armor set, certainly nothing like, say paladin Judgement armor or the new paladin PVP armor. On the other hand, I don't think we've had a terrible-looking set of tier armor until the latest tier 12, so that's a good run. But we're still looking for that great set. We didn't get any new information on death knight tier 13 other than one developer claiming it was totally awesome during a Q&A Panel -- but what the hell, let's speculate.

Skulls, spikes, and other cliches that are wow gold(www.bookwowgold.com)still totally badass

With death knight armor taking a long time to show up and being designed and redesigned again, one of the big jokes that's been circulating among death knight bloggers and tweeters is that Blizzard keeps adding more skulls and spikes. I'm sure this is mostly speaking lovingly, but I just want to state the obvious: If it's skulls and spikes, it's probably going to be badass. Don't believe me? Just check out warlock tier 5.

This is what my warlock alt's going to be wearing, and I am feeling no shame over it. The subtle interplay of red and black combines with glowing eyes and, yes, skulls on spikes to give a little edge of gothic terror. This is pretty classic for an evil type class like the warlock or death knight. While a PC warlock or death knight may not be intrinsically evil, the classes themselves deal with dark themes -- not just death but disease, pestilence, and the manipulation and devouring of souls. Things just sort of get dark. And when things get dark, what better decorations are there than skulls and spikes?

So to me, if we get skulls and spikes, there's a pretty good chance it could go iconic. The main question here is pretty simple: Will it be enough on its own? Has warlock tier 5 taken the skulls and spikes crown already? It's a big set of shoes to fill, but if any class can make skulls look good, it's death knights.

Related information:
http://horniuy.blog.com/2011/10/27/the-raid-finder-tool-makes-grouping-a-cinch-and-the-encounters-will-be-easier-too/
http://nicola-425.skyrock.com/3040316465-Hobbits-and-Comedians-Love-Lord-of-the-Rings-War-in-the-North.html
http://current.com/groups/art-and-style/93513724_the-lead-producer-of-world-of-warcraft-gives-the-skinny-on-the-ultimate-patch-of-cataclysm.htm
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=9090247