As mentioned earlier, it looks very much like Patch 2.4.2 is going to drop today. Those are the most up to date notes from the PTR

Blizzard has also announced BlizzCon 2008.  There look to be a lot of contests this year, as well as a silent auction.

More Wrath tidbits continue to surface. Things such as mounts that can carry passengers, the Trainers and AH crew staying put and not venturing into the new lands (again), and in another bit sure to stir things up, it seems the devs felt that they didn't reward PvE enough in TBC, (as the focus was heavily on PvP) and will look at adjusting that in WotLK.

Tigole drops a few bombs by announcing that the Zul'Aman Bear Mount will not be available after WotLK hits. They want to maintain the prestige of having done the zone "at an appropriate level". They are also looking at changing some of the titles, such as "Hand of A'Dal" and "Champion of the Naaru".

In a "Rust Storm" style move, Blizzard has taken action against Arena Teams that practiced Win-Trading. Several folks received 72 hour or even permanent bans, while every one caught had their Arena gear stripped off and their Arena Points total reset. Why folks think that they'll get away with cheating is beyond me anyhow, but it's nice to see Blizz crack down on this, as it was making Arena irritating for those not doing it. 

Sorry, folks. I am under the weather and not up to sifting through all the news that's out there. There is a ton of WotLK stuff though, and it's quite interesting. I'll see what I can do get a post up here later in the day. But, this is the first time I've called in to work on a legit sick day in over 10 years...so I'm "calling in" to this job, too. 

An unlinked quickie though...With it being extended maintenance today, it's highly expected that 2.4.2 will launch.  So um...hit up the forums, find one you usually don't go to, and settle in. Or, if you have some free time at work, do a search on WoW comics and see what you find. There are some great gems out there.

There is some amazing news on the next expansion coming out of a Gamespy article with some of the developers. Some of the highlights?

The Death Knight explained.

In a move that is already creating debate and controversy...Raiding will be undergoing some big changes. There will be no attunements to any 10/25 man raid in WotLK, and any 25man raid will have a 10 man version. This is HUGE news, and seen by many as a 'step in the right direction'. Others feel that Blizz is way off base here. Time will tell. 

There are also a few more tidbits that have come out. 

M'uru is down.

The Stormrage Lurkers and Crew have put Vashj to rest. 

Here is an interesting article on the various uses of a Paladin's Seals and Blessings.

A topic of a more personal nature that I've been getting a first hand education in, is that of Game/Time Management. Your boss is breathing down your neck, you are staying late at work. The kids want supper, your wife wants a night with you...and you have a raid in 10 minutes. It can get nuts. We've all heard stories or may even know those who have ruined careers due to this game. Those who have thrown away amazing GPA's or scholarships. How far do you go? How far can you go? Does your family remember you? Still have a girlfriend? Adjusted (or tried to) your work around your raiding/playing?

Bolty's back with a Priest Quiz this time. Maybe he'll work some up for some other classes...

I am often asked "Is being a hunter that hard? It's just ezmode levelling, autoshotlolAFK., right?" Well...yes and no. It's easy to be bad hunter. They are one of the, if not the most maligned class out there.  If you hang around with good hunters, you'll hear them griping about having to weave shots, and how it hurts their dps if they don't/can't/aren't good at it. Here is a nice little article to help explain what it is they are trying to do. It's also a good read for any hunter, as any better grasp of our mechanics is a better thing.  

Cameron Sorden comes up with a very nice article summarizing some of the issues involved with Guild Hopping. Why folks do it, what should be done about it. Should anything be done about it. There are some...unique suggestions (Any items acquired in a raid are removed from your toon on deguilding and putting it (or the gold equivalent, I imagine) in the Guild Bank. It's an interesting read, to be sure. 

Bolty starts things off this time around with a Tanking Quiz for everyone. Think you know everything there is to know about tanking? See how you fare on this brain buster!

Scott Andrews finishes up his 4 article series on Casual Raiding with a good post. Great stuff and suggestions all around.  

In a move that should make a lot of warriors and shaman happy,with Patch 2.4.2, a lot of the Epic BOP Weaponsmithing weapons are losing their 'unique' and/or 'main-hand' designations.

An interesting discussion starts up here, looking for takes on how to handle docking DKP. A lot of guilds often struggle with DKP, and what to do with it. Do you dock those underperform? Reward those who do what they're supposed to? This is a pretty decent read. 

In addition to the casual raiding article, Adam Holinsky pipes up with 5 Tips to Minimize Raid Downtime. This is a pretty good read, though most of these seem kind of like no-brainers to folks who have been at this for a while.

It seems that it was a bug that was showing the epic Phase 4 gems from the Shattered Sun Offensive at a cost of 10 Badges. Proudmore has raced to the finish line, and unlocked the gem vendor, who sells her wares for 15 Badges.

Had a look through the Blizzard Fanart section lately? There are some beautiful works up there. Well worth a browse. 

We start today with a laugh, showing the perils of ganking.

After laughing there, you can wander over to the Blizzard Boards. There is a very interesting case of ninja'ing there. A mage rolled on the +stam warrior trinket over a warrior "for her PvP set". The mage doesn't think she's done anything wrong, and the thread gets enormous.  

Scott Andrews continues his article series on Raiding with a Casual Guild. 

Ishida007 has spotted some WotLK screenshot leaks that look pretty neat. With it in Alpha stage of the Beta testing, one wonders how far off it is.  

We start the day off with a wonderful find by NiteFox over on the Lounge forums. Seems a warlock over on Aman'thul tries to scam the GM's. It takes a bit of time, but the Blizzard response (About halfway down the first page) is utterly wonderful, and full of "own". Folks often don't remember it, but Blizz can see what you are doing in their game, all the time. If you are thinking about not acting in a manner that's acceptable, you don't "get away with it"...it can catch up to you months down the road.

For the curious, it seems that Illidian was not prepared, and Kel'Thuzad emerges the winner of WoWInsider's Two Bosses Enter contest.

It looks like some info about the Brutal Gladiator's Gear (Arena Season 4) has been sussed out via clever use of the Armory. What's left some folks choking is the steep Personal Rating requirement on the epeen parts of this gear. Some are for it, some are against it, and if it goes live, it'll be a lot harder to get, for sure.

Scott Andrews continues his series on making Raiding work with a Casual guild. It is again a very good read, and what I have seen to be one of the hardest parts of raiding in general. Getting folks to buy in, and be ready for when they do go. .  Lots of good suggestions and ideas in here, but the main problem still comes down to getting everyone ready and in there. 

Mike Schramm has an interesting breakfast topic, what are your favorite/least favorite mobs to grind? Having been one of the few on my server to complete the Winterspring FrostSaber quest before it got ruined, I'd have to say that qualifies as both for me. The reward, an armorless epic frostsaber was everything I thought it'd be, and it's still one of my most 'prized' WoW 'possessions'. However, The grind to get it was horrible, made worse by the fact that a lot of the time, I was competing for the needed kills against either a terrible drop rate, or one to three gold farmers.

After a couple false alarms by the Burning Legion and Area 52 servers, it seems that Proudmoore continues to lead the way in the Shattered Sun Offensive, being the first server to actually reach Phase 4. My server has come along nicely, and gotten the badge vendor up. Expensive gear, but she's been kept quite busy. As well, Premonition on the Alleria server is credited with the First US Kill of the Eredar Twins.

On a topic designed to create discussion, it's asked How Expensive is your DPS? As in, are you cheap dps to mainain, or does it cost you a pretty penny to do the damage you do. Of course the debate rages across all sorts of boundaries. Do consumables count or not? Are repairs part of your dps? Do you get heals? Is the need for heals considered an expense at your dps? Interesting topic, I found.  

We'll open this up with a look at my favorite class, the Hunter. Daniel Whitcomb has rounded up a nice selection of fora posts from the various hunter big names (such as Lactose and Cheeky) about some of the challenges a hunter faces. An often maligned class, this post is certainly a good read on some of the challenges hunters face in the game.

Scott Andrews continues the good articles with one about how to move a casual guild into the raiding scene.  It's not as easy as one thinks. He gives some good tips and places to start. Probably the best advice I saw in there was this tidbit: "You can raid as a casual guild, but you can't raid casually." I see this personally elsewhere and it's a trainwreck every time. 

What's a post here without a bit of controversy, right? Well, with the new Neck rewards available from the Shattered Sun Offensive, it seems that folks are regretting a choice made a long time ago...Aldor or Scryer. Now, you can change your faction, but it's a long painful grind, generally not really worth it. Of course, plenty of debate about whether or not the procs are one-sided or not ensues. 

The final battle has arrived! It's Kel'Thuzad vs Illidan! Who will come out on top! Go cast your vote!

Zach Yonzon chips in with a great article on Eye of the Storm strategies. I have been trying to grind up some honor, recently, and took a couple forays into EotS due to it being an EotS weekend, and getting a couple daily quests there. The...disorganization had me almost ready to start pulling hair out. Folks shouting out 2-3 conflicting strats, while everyone seemed to do whatever they wanted anyhow, while the Horde steamrolled us. I wish I could have pointed folks to this page then.

Most folks who I play with in WoW know the love/hate relationship the RNG and I have with each other. It loves to hate me. But, I figure that for everyone out there like me, there is someone who the RNG loves. (I'm looking at you, Mr. I-Got-A-Mature-Blue-Dragon-Sinew-In-Less-Than-30-Minutes). So it's interesting to see that I'm not the only one the RNG has taken a disliking to. 

Hortus has a pretty nice Known 2.4 Issues list up. 

Bornakk also lets us know that greens are the new purples again in WotLK. It won't be as bad as it was with the Classic to TBC change, but one of the same general nature is coming.  Time to stop raiding now and just kill time in Arena's and BG's.... 

On a final note, Sons of the Storm is a beautiful WoW inspired gallery site, with artwork well worth checking out. 

According to this, Proudmoore is the first server to reach phase 3 in the Shattered Sun Offensive. Cenarius is a very close second, at 99% right now. This came up in guild chat the other day, how hard it must be to do these dailies on a PvP server. For the curious, the first PvP server on the list is Blackrock, at #12 (87%). The second is Jubei'Thos, a huge jump away at #34 (77%). In last place right now is Blood Furnace, sitting at #224, with 2% in to phase 2.

For the theorycrafters out there, the brains over at Elitist Jerks are starting their Think Tank project. It will likely be a very valuable resource, so head on over and check it out, if you have the chops. 

Patch 2.4 sure is stirring things up! There is all sorts of information to be had, and things to do.

First off, your Thoughts on 2.4. How are you liking the patch? Is there something you love? Something you hate? Some great conversation in a thread I've started. 

One of the big changes is the Spirit/Regen model change. It means huge changes for pretty much every mana using class (Yes, even hunters). There is a lot of great discussion in the post that  Concillian has going.

Along with that good change, comes one that has nipped at hunters. It seems that Mania has gone over a bunch of reports, and found that Growl is miscasting, causing some Aggro Issues with hunters and their pets. It seems to be nothing more than annoying for the solo'ing hunter, but it is that, indeed.

In a topic that's coming up near and dear to me as I level up a warrior, Amanda Dean asks about those Long Runs you have as a young toon, with no mount and no previous Flight Point. What are some of the longest you fondly or, perhaps, not so fondly recall?

Something a lot of folks are talking about when they discover is is the buff "Sunwell Radiance". Doesn't sound familiar? That's because it's for the mobs in the Sunwell Plateau, the 25man instance introduced this patch. It's very existance has neither been confirmed or denied by Blizzard, but it does seem to be out there, and has a lot of tanks of all varieties talking about the buffs/itemization to come, as it looks like BLizzard is trying to remove the 'Crushing Blow' mechanic from the game.  

Speaking of the Sunwell Plateau, WoWjutsu is currently saying that there are 18 guilds in the 'top spots' for the progress race with each guild having kills for the first three bosses in the Sunwell. The race is on to see how fast the raiders can beat their content!

For the PvP'ers, the World Tournament is beginning. Bornakk has a quick post here, and then in that post points you to here if you want to join in the 3v3 battle!

Finally, in keeping with the April Fool's idea, Boubouille has posted that he's finally created a hack that allows you to roll 96+ on any /random 100 roll. Enjoy the day!