Rumors were flying at the end of last week that Blizzard would begin throttling server information requests, like inspection requests used by mouse-over add-ons that look at the gear of the player being examined piece by piece – like the infamous GearScore.

Just as soon as the rumors started to hit the boiling point and people on both sides of the discussion were claiming hallelujah, this was the end for GearScore or alternatively, how dare Blizzard target GearScore with a change like this, Nethaera made a post on the official forums to both confirm the point and clarify the reasoning behind it:

It’s important to understand that the throttling that is being done isn’t intended to break any functionality of add-ons, but merely to control the amount of queries that are being sent to the server at any given time. (Thus throttling the queries.) The queries will still occur, it just won’t happen as quickly as they currently seem to. You can read the statements that WoW Ace and WoW Interface have up for a bit more information on these changes. We wanted to give mod authors a heads-up prior to making the change so that they could make any adjustments they needed to on their mods.

http://wowinterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33432
http://www.wowace.com/announcements/blizzard-to-start-throttling-inspect-requests/

Nethaera makes a great point. I try to keep a technical eye on the machinations behind the scenes at Blizzard (see Additional Instances Cannot Be Launched: A Technical Perspective) and the rationale makes sense. While I don’t think that GearScore alone is breaking the game – which is the defense that some people are raising – I think that the proliferation of add-ons that query the game servers regularly in rapid succession can definitely drag down overall performance, and it wouldn’t take too many people running the same series of add-ons regularly that insist on querying the servers for in-game information that the default UI traditionally doesn’t make available (especially on-mouseover) to drag down server performance for everyone.

Still, what do you think? Is this the end of GearScore and add-ons like it, or will their developers simply find ways to adapt over time? Are you glad to see add-ons like these go, or are they just valuable tools that people are using poorly? Sound off in the comments!

My Warlock is entirely too small for me to really really get the old ‘Lock nostalgia (remember when Warlocks were all but the class to have, especially in PVP?) but putting the parody to the tune of the ridiculously infectious Ke$ha song, Tik Tok, is absolutely perfect.

Don’t get me wrong, the video is hilarious enough, but it’s a pretty well done machinima in and of itself, and watching it, regardless of what you think of the song, does make me want to log in and level my baby warlock a bit.

Poor druids – everyone thinks their HoTs need to be nerfed, even locks.

I’m not really the raiding type, but I am the curious type. I’ve always been curious about Ulduar, and doing all of Naxxramas. Or seeing Icecrown Citadel just once. I wouldn’t mind getting the Kingslayer title. I am also not a fan of GearScore. I understand all of the arguments for and against. I look at it like this. I am horribly undergeared and I have healed Trial of the Champion, The Forge of Souls and The Pit of Saron with just over a 2,000 gearscore. Granted, as I got some better pieces of gear those events definitely went easier. I feared for my healing ability in these and expressed concern when the Dungeon Finder dropped me into Trial of the Champion for my very first Heroic after hitting level 80. Yeah. I digress and get back to my original point.

While I dislike GearScore, it is a tool. It is also a tool that is used by many people. It’s overused by the Horde on my server and I figured that playing an Alliance character may open other doors for me. My question is this: At what point are you able to ask to join PUG groups or Naxxramas, or Ulduar? Is there a GearScore that is a decent indicator of when people may or may not let you in on their raids? I understand that this is server dependent, but doing google search after google search has not afforded me with even a hint of an answer. Any raiders out there who might know the answer to this? What are the requirement differences for 10-man versus 25-man? Help a girl out and point me in the right direction. Please!

Note: I started to write this article with an entirely different spin on Real ID and what I think about it, but new information has changed things a bit. Read on to find out what I discovered.

Friend List

One of the features of the recent 3.3.5 patch that I was most looking forward to happened to be the Real ID chat ability. Maybe I was mistaken, but it seems that there is a lot of concern regarding the privacy issues that come along with a feature like Real ID.

Real ID is meant to be a way to chat with players across different realms, across faction, as well as across different games using the Battle.net system. This is especially important when Starcraft II is released late July and many WoW players will be spreading their time between the two games. I can’t speak for all WoW players, but I know that my boyfriend and I will probably be spending a hefty portion of our free time trying the new Blizzard game.

The concept of Real ID is awesome. It’s something many other types of systems implement in different ways. Steam uses a universal chat system when you’re logged in. The difference with Steam is that you can choose to stay anonymous with regard to what people see. Real ID seems to be lacking in the privacy settings being available to the user to choose.

According to Blizzard’s Real ID FAQ, “Both players must first mutually agree to become Real ID friends.” Basically don’t go willy-nilly giving our your account email address and adding strangers as friends. As a tool, this can be really awesome. It’ll let you keep in touch with people with whom you regularly chat with even if they’re not logged into your game at the moment. If you need help doing something and see a friend online, a simple asking couldn’t hurt. This can easily be abused in wanting to have at your disposal a large group of people available to play games with. The child I’m taking care of has friended everyone and anyone he can on his XBox Live account. This works on XBox Live, where you don’t see any information that you don’t want to share. This definitely is not the case with Real ID.

The “Real ID is a system designed to be used with people you know and trust in real life — friends, co-workers and family”.

I would suggest you heed that bit of advice, because this next bit threw me for a whirlwind! Originally, I was thinking this system was great! A nice way to keep in touch with my Horde friends while I’m playing Alliance. Or with my boyfriend who juggles his time between his 7 (yes, that’s seven) level 80s. But oh ho ho, Miss Medicina let her readers in on a secret (or not so secret since it’s right there in the FAQ) that was not highly publicized about Real ID.

If you are using Real ID, your mutual Real ID friends, as well as their Real ID friends, will be able to see your first and last name (the name registered to the Battle.net account). You will also be able to see the first and last name of your Real ID friends and their Real ID friends.

Take a minute and reread that. Say this with me now. “Um, wut?!” Now let’s think about this for just a minute. You and I Real ID friend each other. But I also have my boyfriend, a Los Angeles friend, and a local real life friend Real ID-friended. You don’t know these other people. You probably don’t give a crap about these people. But you can see that they’re my friends. Not only that, but you see their real names. Not the online persona that many of us have grown to be associated with. I will always respond to Mailynn (in it’s various different spellings). But now your friends, who are strangers to me, can see my real name. And in turn, google it. Fine. I’m safe. Most of you can google my name now, but you’ll find a whole lot of articles about some older gentleman who’s the CEO of some company in the mid-west and is not even remotely related to me. I’m safe. I’m going to assume that not everyone is as lucky as I am to have an internet twin that gets more attention than you… and is of the opposite gender.

So I Real ID friended someone I know on Horde side. I know personal information about him. I know his girlfriend’s name. I know how many children he has. I know where about he lives. I know who is best friend is. The point is, I consider him a friend, despite only having known him in game. I’m okay with having him friended via Real ID and getting the chance to chat with him whenever I want to. I am not okay with the fact that my boyfriend’s name, my Los Angeles friend’s name and my in town friend’s name will be viewable by my Horde friend. This is overstepping some major boundaries.

At first I thought this was great. I’m going to get those people I love to chat with all the time and friend them! It’s okay, we’re friends!! I didn’t realize that Blizzard opened the door to cyber-stalking to the Nth degree. What changed my mind? I asked my friend Kurn via Facebook to be Real ID friends. She is the reason why I play WoW. I miss our days from Eldre’Thalas. I miss having her as a friend I chatted with regularly. She took her toon to other servers and that’s okay, so did I. Real ID should have been the perfect opportunity for us to keep in touch again.

She very politely told me “No” and the reasons why. She brought to my attention the dangers of Real ID, and not just the overblown perceived dangers. Sharing real life information across the game to people who are not friended is not okay. Do you hear me Blizzard?!??! Make this a feature that can be either a) turned off or b) removed entirely. I am truly missing out on the ability to chat with someone I adore and love because she has privacy concerns. Hell, I now have privacy concerns and may consider removing everyone but the boyfriend just to keep the information sharing to a minimum.

What’s your take on all of this? Are you going to simply ignore all Real ID requests? Do you think I’m making too much out of this? I’m curious to know.

Blah blah blah

So I never really intended on being another WoW.com and only posting Shawn Tommelleo‘s Coffin Comics stuff here, but there’s another brilliant comic out there about something I’ve often complained about. The over abundance of verbage on boss fights. I don’t even raid! I’m talking about just the newer Northrend dungeons! I keep (lucky me) getting stuck in groups with new-ish level 80s and of course that means more… text. If hitting esc fast forwarded the entire process it might be less headache, but yeah. Verbage. Coffin Comics nailed this one on the head. Couldn’t be more true.

Also, after the last comic I posted, I added Coffin Comics to my reader. I’m always down for a good laugh.

Over at WoW.com, I found one of the most adorable and sweet posts I’ve ever seen in my life: Breakfast Topic: Things my wife and I have done in WoW – Matthew Rossi, one of my favorite authors at WoW.com, outlines how it was actually his wife that introduced him to WoW.com (which was WoW Insider at the time) and that he plays WoW with.

I can echo the sentiment – the lovely lady I’m seeing also plays WoW, and while we used to play on the same server, she left for a more interesting place for the way she plays and I hung around mostly because I liked the raiding I was doing at the time. Both of us have been away from the game for a while, but it’s hard to imagine that she got started in the game when I had just signed up for an account back in the vanilla days and I bought her a copy for Valentine’s Day of all days, because she really wanted to play it.

Between Rossi and I, we’re proof positive that couples that raid together stay together – that is to say, if you share interests and likes and dislikes with your partner, you’re likely to stick together through the hard times, even if it doesn’t always seem so.

So what about you? Does your significant other play WoW? Do you think they ever would, or would you try to get them into the game? Let us know in the comments!

If you think you have the chops to be one of the people to help craft lore for not just World of Warcraft, but other Blizzard games, Blizzard is looking for you. The 2010 Global Writing Contest is open, and here are the requirements:

Blizzard Entertainment is proud to present the 2010 Blizzard Global Writing Contest! Once again you’re called to action, to use your wits and strength, to compete for the ultimate prize.

Your weapons? They seem to be but a musty tome and quill*, but know that their power is far stronger than the armies of the Scourge, far craftier than the zerg Swarm, and far mightier than the Burning Hells. Ready your tools, scribe, and prepare for combat with the inky beast called fiction!

Whether you’re an accomplished writer or you simply fancy writing as a hobby, we encourage one and all to submit their creative works to our judges of official Blizzard writers and masters of lore. Their eyeballs are glistening and ready, their ocular fortitude intensified by the 2009 Blizzard Global Writing Contest.

Yes, last year’s contest was a marathon for the retina. After poring over story and ballad, adventure and romance, the judges ascended from their drool-covered keyboards to proclaim that they had succeeded in their charge: the 2009 winners had been chosen. News delivered, they then heroically passed out.

Do you dare test our judges’ optic mettle, laying your ideas and dreams beneath their unblinking gaze? If so, submit a 2,500- to 7,500-word short story written in English and set in the Warcraft, StarCraft, or Diablo universe by August 23, 2010, and earn your chance to visit the Blizzard headquarters and meet the writers and staff behind the lore of Blizzard’s games and books.

See below for details about prizes and frequently-asked questions. You can also check out the official rules for more information.

The contest itself is pretty straight forward, but the rewards are even more interesting:

Grand Prize: The grand prize winner will receive a trip to Blizzard’s headquarters in southern California, where you’ll meet and eat with the Blizzard writing staff. You’ll also receive your choice of a Diablo III “OVERTHROWN” barbarian diorama or a Frostmourne sword.

Runners-up: Seven runners-up will each receive a prize package of the Diablo Archive, the Warcraft Archive, the StarCraft Archive, and the Warcraft: War of the Ancients Archive, all signed by Chris Metzen, the cover artists, and Blizzard’s writing staff.

Tempting? Go ahead and enter, and head over to the contest site for more details and the FAQs!

Midsummer Fire Festival - Courtesy Flickr User: Ulalume

Yesterday marked the beginning of what I’ve mentioned before is my favorite in-game holiday in the World of Warcraft, the Midsummer Fire Festival. There’s just something about riding around on your mount or flying around Outlands and putting out fires and honoring other fires and collecting blossoms and everything that I just love.

Or it could just be that I like fiery things, who knows. But it also plays into why I tend to love the Lunar Festival so much too, because it involves much of the same activities. Still, the Fire Festival is here and in full swing, and the loot table has changed up a bit this year – the Scorchling is gone this year, and in its place is the Frigid Frostling.

Speaking of such things, Ahune’s loot table has been changed up, and now that holiday dungeons are included in the Dungeon Finder, there’s no reason for you to not get out there and pick up some of his sweet new gear from his recently uplifted loot table.

Are you angling for some new gear, or do you already have your Flame Keeper/Flame Warden title and pet? Are you going to be collecting blossoms, maybe on an alt this time around? Let us know in the comments!

So today’s the day: Patch 3.3.5 is going live, what many people think is going to be one of the last few patches before the release of Cataclysm. Still, this patch brings more to it than just some bug fixes and updates – there are two big reveals in 3.3.5, the new Assault on the Ruby Sanctum dungeon, and the implementation of the Real ID system, which brings Battle.net further into the game and allows you to integrate friends from across realms and factions into your friends list, stay in touch with them, and find out when they’re playing – even if they’re not playing on your server.

Here’s the lowdown:

World of Warcraft Client Patch 3.3.5

The latest test realm patch notes can always be found at:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/test-realm-patchnotes.html

The latest patch notes can always be found at:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/patchnotes/

Assault on the Ruby Sanctum

For ages the red dragonflight and its noble matriarch, Alexstrasza the Life-Binder, have dedicated themselves to preserving all life on Azeroth. Recently, the very heart of this virtuous dragonflight has come under threat.

An eerie silence has settled over the Ruby Sanctum, the red dragonflight’s sacred lair within the Chamber of the Aspects. This troubling development has led to fears that the sanctum, home to Azeroth’s largest clutch of red dragon eggs, has been breached by an unknown, sinister force. If these claims are true and immediate action is not taken, the benevolent red dragonflight might be crippled forever.

Real ID: A New Way to Connect With Your Friends on Battle.net

One of our goals for the new Battle.net is to create the framework for an online gaming experience that is even more accessible, more engaging, and more entertaining than the previous Battle.net. The newly released Real ID feature, available to World of Warcraft players as part of patch 3.3.5, is an integral part of this effort, providing you with advanced ways for forming and maintaining meaningful relationships with your friends on the service.

Real ID is a completely voluntary and optional level of identity that keeps players connected across all of Battle.net. When you and a friend mutually agree to become Real ID friends, you’ll have access to a number of additional features that will enrich your social gaming experience in new and exciting ways. Go here for more details.

General
* The Ruby Sanctum, an all-new 10- and 25-player raid dungeon featuring normal and Heroic difficulties, has been added! Players will find the dungeon entrance below Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight. Please note due to the way this patch is being applied in all regions, this dungeon will not immediately be available in North America. Stay tuned to our General Discussion forum for an official announcement on the opening of the Ruby Sanctum.

* The functionality of the Vote Kick feature in the Dungeon Finder will now behave differently according to a player’s history with the system. Players using the Dungeon Finder who rarely vote to kick players from a group, or rarely abandon groups before a dungeon is complete, will find that the Vote Kick option will have no cooldown. For players who frequently abandon groups or vote to kick other players, the Vote Kick option will be kept on a cooldown. This functionality will adjust itself as a player’s behavior while using the Dungeon Finder changes.

User Interface

* Chat Frame

• Players can now right-click on any chat type (Whisper, Trade, General, Party, Raid, etc.) and choose to move conversation types into separate windows. This will move that chat type to a separate tab in the Chat frame which can be undocked and moved anywhere on the screen.
  Using the Move to Whisper Window option on a Whisper will place the conversation with that player in a separate tab.
• Any time a conversation with another player is put into its own tab, the tab will glow when a new message is received.
• Hovering over the Chat Frame and using the mouse wheel will allow players to scroll through chat text.
• Players can select Classic Mode under Interface Options to keep the Chat Frame functionality closer to what it was prior to patch 3.3.5.
• The Simple Chat User Interface option has been removed.

* Friends List

• A new icon has been added to the top left of the Chat Frame which will open up the Friends list.
• In addition to its current functionality, the Friends List will now allow players to add Battle.net accounts (Real ID). Players will have to confirm that they are friends in order for a Real ID to be added. Once Real ID friends, players can communicate cross-game, cross-faction and cross-realm.
• A new Pending tab has been added where players can accept or decline a Real ID friend request, or select the Report Spam or Block Communications buttons.
• Players can now select from three statuses which will be visible to their friends: Available, Away and Busy.
• A Broadcast window has been added to the top of the frame. Players can use this to broadcast a message to all of their Real ID friends online. This message will also be displayed under the broadcaster’s Real ID information in each friend’s list.

* For additional notes on Lua and XML changes please visit the UI & Macros forum.

It’s always fun to see what interesting little tidbits Blizzard sneaks into the patches for us. For example, the chat frame mods may very well make add-ons like Chatter completely useless for those of us who actively use them, but we’ll have to wait and see what the effects of the patch really are before I can call that.

Even so, RealID is the big story of the day, and once the servers are back up and everyone has the patch installed, I’m sure we’ll see the fallout from RealID very very quickly – whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing. So far it looks like Blizzard is putting the right privacy options in place to keep just anyone from knowing who you are on every realm you play, but it’s still going to be interesting to see how it all turns out.

"Timelost Lost" - Coffin Comics

While checking out WoW.com yesterday I came across Coffin Comics’ “Timelost Lost” comic and had myself a good laugh, like I hope you will.

I then took the opportunity to participate in my first Wintergrasp on my finally level 78 druid. There is truly nothing more frustrating than dishing out some insane DPS and seeing “Immune” flash across your screen because some lame Paladin couldn’t take their beating like a real plate class. I mean, I only had 10 Tenacity. My Starfall wasn’t dishing out that much damage. Alright, so okay, I killed quite the handful of other people around, just not the Paladin.

I don’t hate Pallys, mind you. I want to level one at some point. Maybe. One day. I just wish I could stop them from using the omg-wtf-Pally-bubble. Just once.