And already, there is a ton of news.Many of us stood in lines, waiting for our copies. Others just sauntered into the stores at some point and were able to score copies. Which is an interesting debate. Is it worth it to pre-order your copy? Not a single person who didn't pre-order had a problem getting a copy, and some even got their hands on Collector's Editions, which, as a pre-orderer, I couldn't do. So, it begins to beg the question, is pre-ordering worth it for a major release?

 Wrath hasn't been out that long...and already all the PvE content has been beaten. The super uber guild (who haven't even released their super uber name yet) that has been formed out of both Nihilum and SK-Gaming has already (2-4 days into the xpack) beaten everything there is to offer on the PvE end. Yes, in 3 days they leveled to 80 and blew all the raid content away. This is going to do nothing but spark up the casual vs hardcore argument big time. While they are paid to play WoW (must be nice) they have kind of shot themselves in the foot here. There's now nothing really for them to do for how long? It took 2 years to get WotLK out, and the next xpack is probably about as many years on the horizon. Sure there will be content patchs. They already have a list of some of what's coming. But...still, that's not much for them. If they can do this, that fast, will anything patched in be of a challenge, unless it's 'broken' when patched in? This is...quite the time in WoW. Folks can say that they knew Naxx as it's a recycled instance, or that the challenges for the truly hardcore lie in the undermanning Achievements. But if TBC was "way too hard" and excluded the casual players, has/will WotLK swing the other way, and open the door for anyone in a pug to go in and beat up major content? And, while the hardcore are a 'smaller' player base, if this is the case, Blizz will likely lose them somewhere before they can 'toughen'  things up again enouigh for them. So...where IS WotLK  heading?

 Robin Torres asks "What's your favorite part of WotLK so far?" and I think that's a good question. I find myself reveling in the 'newness' of it all. New places to go and see, new things to do, new quests to quest, new gear to Dressing Room and look at, and just so much to see and do. How about you? What's your favorite part so far?

 The world's first level 80, an EU warlock named Nymh, (No, not the movie maker of the same name) talks about what he's done. Thing is, and this came up last xpack too, but, while the method he used isn't really 'cheating', is it 'fair'? Basically, he'd tag mobs, and his friends would kill them, so he'd get the xp without the same kind of work of someone doing it 'solo'. It's not nearly as bad as those who have several people level the same toon up, but does it really 'count'?

 Mike Schramm deals with a question all of us likely have (or have our own answer to) that we've had to deal with in the last few days. What's the proper protocol for tapping a camped mob? How do you know what order folks showed up for? Does it matter? Just FFA and whoever scores the tap 'wins'? How do you deal with this kind of situation nicely?

 How are folks' realms holding up? Aside from the massive queues (with reports up to 1900 people on some) how are things? I have found that my realm is pretty stable and secure. There are a few odd hiccups, and there is some more lag than usual (of course) but all in all, the realm is doing pretty well for being a popular and original one. Memory may have blurred it, but this seems a lot better than the TBC launch. So, what's going on, on your realms?

The biggest news is,of course, that it's a mere couple days to the launch of Wrath of the Lich King. Everyone is focused on doing those last few quests. Making those last few raid pushes. Hitting those last few BG's or Arenas. It's coming, and it's huge!

 To start it off, I extend congratulations to the Terenas branch of Lurkers, who put down Illidan just in time for the xpack! They were even given a MH Warglaive for their troubles.

 There is a new world event taking place, as both Orgrimmar and Stormwind are under attack by Frost Wryms and Abominations. The various faction leaders are busy repelling the attacks, and the event is quite something to watch. Head off to Orgrimmar or Stormwind Harbor to check it out.

PvP Gear in Wrath takes an interesting turn. It looks like S3 will not be available for honor, and S4 will be keeping it's ratings requirements.  It's a move to keep such gear at a limited availablity as you will 'get better gear levelling to 80." An interesting move on Blizzards part, I think. PvP tends to come specially itemized for PvP. Is Blizzard saying that questing items will have that sort of requirement, or that everyone will hit 80 in PvE gear, and be on a level, controlable playing field?

Its' an age old question, one that those who mainly play on a PvE server just can't understand, and what those who play on a PvP server can't seem to explain. "What's the joy in ganking?" Volumes could be written about this, and it seems that you are either for or against it. There doesn't really seem to be a middle ground. But some insight is offered in the 222+ comments that accompany that article. Perhaps some enlightenment will be found there.

 Now, for a topic that's a bit of a pet peeve of mine:Levelling/Questing Addons. That is, addons that direction you to quest drops, areas where the mobs are, even going so far as to put a directional arrow up for the really challenged. The way I look at it is, check the quest out. Read it (not just the summary, the whole thing) and you'll be told where to go, and what to get/do when you get there. Pretty straightforward. I've now been in both betas, and there are some unclear quests out there...but that's what the feedback button was for. I used it liberally. When I needed to. The quests I saw (going through 4 zones) were all pretty straightforward, and if you read the quest, pretty easy. Some of them were a bit trickier, but that was due to the mechanics of the quest, not difficult semantics. In the 4-ish years I've been playing, a quest has only stumped me a handful of times. A quick question in /g cleared it up, too. But there are others who swear by them. That they couldn't level without them. That they do it the 'proper' way on their main, but then use addons to level their alts faster. I do admit that has me a bit boggled...the quests don't change. Once you've done them, you will know what to do on any toon doing that quest.  So, what's your take on levelling/questing addons?

Patch 3.0.3 is launching with tomorrow's maintenance, setting things up more for the WotLK launch happening in a few short days. 

 The PvE vs PvP debate will never end. PvP's an afterthought tacked onto an otherwise great PvE game. PvE is too easy, and if you want real WoW challenges, play against other real life people, not scripted encounters. Personally, I don't think that there'll ever be a solution that'll make even most folks happy about this. But...can PvP and PvE folks co-exist? Can a PvP oriented and focused guild make the cut?

I'm admittedly not a big fan of WoW Machinima movies. Some are pretty good, but for the most part, I don't find them of much interest. However, this one did catch my eye. It's from Lafawnduh and won first prize in Warcraft Movies Shrieking Shorties Contest. It's just a hair over 5 minutes long.

For discussion, I present...Knockbacks. Several things do it now, and several popular spells do it, too. Everyone has an opinion on these, and they are wide and varied. Is the dps gained to the person using the knockback spell worth the dps lost by any/all melee near the target mob? Are folks careful enough to properly use a knockback attack without aggroing more packs of 'friends' in tight instances? Can tanks keep their temper (and aggro) while their mobs are airborne a lot of the time?