Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking, Blue Posts, NA Road to BlizzCon, Warcraft Panel

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Upcoming PTR Wipe and Patch

Obtaining the Galaxy Gifts Card Back & 3 Free Packs, Deck Spotlight: Budget Friendly Decks, Card Design Competition #25

New StarCraft Warrior Hero and Voidseeker Mount - StarCraft 2 Legacy of the Void

Bonus Event - Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking
The Wrath of the Lich King Timewalking Dungeon Event is live! Be sure to pick up A Frozen Path Through Time from the NPC outside of your Town Hall in the Garrison, as it rewards an extra bonus roll and Iron Fleet Treasure Chest.

• Ahn'kahet
• Gundrak
• Halls of Lightning
• The Nexus
• Utgarde Pinnacle

Level Type Slot Name Model Viewer
660NeckNeck Shadowseeker's Pendant
660FingerFinger Nerubian Shield Ring
660NeckNeck Slasher's Amulet
660FingerFinger Stained-Glass Shard Ring
660FingerFinger Jedoga's Greatring
660NeckNeck Necklace of Taldaram
660NeckNeck Amulet of the Spell Flinger
660Off HandOff Hand Talisman of Scourge Command
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660BackBack Cloak of the Darkcaster
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660BackBack Subterranean Waterfall Shroud
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660ClothHead Elder Headpiece
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660ClothShoulders Mantle of Echoing Bats
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660ClothLegs Skirt of the Old Kingdom
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660ClothWrists Flame Sphere Bindings
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660ClothHands Gloves of the Blood Prince
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660ClothHands Silken Bridge Handwraps
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660LeatherShoulders Sprinting Shoulderpads
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660LeatherWaist Pyramid Embossed Belt
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660LeatherLegs Kilt of the Forgotten One
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660LeatherLegs Legguards of Swarming Attacks
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660LeatherHands Ahn'kahar Handwraps
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660MailHead Brood Plague Helmet
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660MailShoulders Spored Tendrils Spaulders
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660MailWrists Glowworm Cavern Bindings
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660MailHands Gauntlets of the Plundering Geist
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660MailHands Fiery Obelisk Handguards
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660PlateHead Faceguard of the Hammer Clan
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660PlateChest Bonegrinder Breastplate
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660PlateChest Battlechest of the Twilight Cult
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660PlateWaist Crawler-Emblem Belt
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660PlateFeet Volazj's Sabatons
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660PlateFeet Greaves of Ancient Evil
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660PlateWrists Bracers of the Herald
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660PlateHands Web Winder Gloves
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660Two-handed AxeTwo Hand Edge of Oblivion
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660Two-handed AxeTwo Hand Ice-Rimed Chopper
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660BowRanged Titanium Compound Bow
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660StaffTwo Hand Staff of Sinister Claws
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660DaggerOne Hand Blade of Nadox
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660CrossbowRanged Amanitar Skullbow
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660WandRanged Wand of Ahn'kahet
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Level Type Slot Name Model Viewer
660NeckNeck Burning Skull Pendant
660FingerFinger Gal'darah's Signet
660TrinketTrinket Offering of Sacrifice
660NeckNeck Amulet of the Stampede
660FingerFinger Hemorrhaging Circle
660FingerFinger Arcane Focal Signet
660BackBack Cloak of Bloodied Waters
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660BackBack Shroud of Moorabi
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660ClothChest Embroidered Gown of Zul'Drak
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660ClothChest Arcane Flame Altar-Garb
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660ClothWaist Snowmelt Silken Cinch
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660ClothWaist Living Mojo Belt
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660ClothLegs Leggings of the Ruins Dweller
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660ClothFeet Slithering Slippers
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660BackBack Shroud of Akali
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660LeatherHead Helm of Cheated Fate
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660LeatherShoulders Shoulderguards of the Ice Troll
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660LeatherWaist Sash of Blood Removal
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660LeatherLegs Gored Hide Legguards
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660LeatherFeet Boots of Transformation
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660LeatherFeet Gorloc Muddy Footwraps
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660LeatherWrists Bracers of the Divine Elemental
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660MailHead Helmet of the Shrine
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660MailChest Hauberk of Totemic Mastery
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660MailWaist Slad'ran's Coiled Cord
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660MailWaist Belt of Tasseled Lanterns
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660MailLegs Cannibal's Legguards
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660MailHands Grips of the Beast God
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660PlateHead Ground Tremor Helm
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660PlateShoulders Snake Den Spaulders
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660PlateShoulders Pauldrons of the Colossus
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660PlateChest Forlorn Breastplate of War
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660PlateChest Engraved Chestplate of Eck
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660PlateFeet Mojo Frenzy Greaves
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660PlateWrists Steel Bear Trap Bracers
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660PlateHands Horn-Tipped Gauntlets
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660BowRanged Drakkari Hunting Bow
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660One-handed MaceOne Hand Frozen Scepter of Necromancy
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660StaffTwo Hand Witch Doctor's Wildstaff
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660Fist WeaponOne Hand Fist of the Deity
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660WandRanged Wand of Sseratus
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Level Type Slot Name Model Viewer
660TrinketTrinket Winged Talisman
660BackBack Shroud of Reverberation
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660ClothChest Ornate Woolen Stola
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660ClothWaist Flowing Sash of Order
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660ClothLegs Woven Bracae Leggings
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660ClothHands Traditionally Dyed Handguards
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660ClothHands Giant-Hair Woven Gloves
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660LeatherWaist Belt of Vivacity
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660LeatherFeet Slag Footguards
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660LeatherWrists Advanced Tooled-Leather Bands
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660LeatherHands Charged-Bolt Grips
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660MailHead Helm of the Lightning Halls
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660MailWaist Cord of Swirling Winds
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660MailWaist Mail Girdle of the Audient Earth
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660MailLegs Patroller's War-Kilt
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660PlateHead Planetary Helm
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660PlateShoulders Iron Dwarf Smith Pauldrons
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660PlateWaist The General's Steel Girdle
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660PlateFeet Skywall Striders
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660Two-handed AxeTwo Hand Colossal Skull-Clad Cleaver
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660StaffTwo Hand Lightning Giant Staff
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660DaggerOne Hand Librarian's Paper Cutter
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Level Type Slot Name Model Viewer
660TrinketTrinket Sphere of Red Dragon's Blood
660FingerFinger Band of Frosted Thorns
660NeckNeck Amulet of Dazzling Light
660FingerFinger Band of Glittering Permafrost
660Off HandOff Hand Tome of the Lore Keepers
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660Off HandOff Hand Telestra's Journal
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660BackBack Cloak of the Enemy
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660ClothLegs Opposed Stasis Leggings
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660ClothFeet Attuned Crystalline Boots
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660ClothFeet Cleric's Linen Shoes
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660ClothHands Gloves of the Crystal Gardener
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660ClothHands Gloves of Glistening Runes
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660BackBack Rippling Azure Cloak
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660LeatherHead Helm of Anomalus
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660LeatherShoulders Spaulders of the Careless Thief
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660LeatherChest Crystal-Infused Tunic
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660LeatherFeet Cavern Leather Treads
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660MailChest Hauberk of the Arcane Wraith
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660MailLegs Frozen Forest Kilt
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660MailFeet Cleated Ice Boots
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660MailFeet Dragon Slayer's Sabatons
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660MailWrists Bands of Channeled Energy
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660MailWrists Interwoven Scale Bracers
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660MailHands Gauntlets of Serpent Scales
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660PlateHead Arcane-Shielded Helm
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660PlateShoulders Chiseled Stalagmite Pauldrons
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660PlateWaist Girdle of Ice
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660PlateWaist Flame-Bathed Steel Girdle
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660PlateFeet Greaves of the Blue Flight
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660PlateFeet Rift Striders
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660PlateWrists Insulating Bindings
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660PlateWrists Glassy Silver Bracers
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660PlateHands Grips of Sculptured Icicles
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660ShieldOff Hand Bulwark of the Noble Protector
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660One-handed MaceOne Hand War Mace of Unrequited Love
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660Fist WeaponOne Hand Drakonid Arm Blade
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660DaggerOne Hand Glacier Sharpened Vileblade
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660WandRanged Wand of Shimmering Scales
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Level Type Slot Name Model Viewer
660NeckNeck Amulet of Deflected Blows
660TrinketTrinket Vestige of Haldor
660TrinketTrinket Meteorite Whetstone
660NeckNeck Gold Amulet of Kings
660FingerFinger Signet of Ranulf
660FingerFinger Ring of the Frenzied Wolvar
660Off HandOff Hand Seal of Valgarde
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660BackBack Shroud of Resurrection
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660ClothShoulders Silken Amice of the Ymirjar
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660ClothWaist Girdle of Bane
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660ClothLegs Sorrowgrave's Breeches
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660ClothWrists Cuffs of the Trussed Hall
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660LeatherShoulders Ceremonial Pyre Mantle
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660LeatherShoulders Silent Spectator Shoulderpads
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660LeatherChest Drake Rider's Tunic
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660LeatherChest Ymirjar Physician's Robe
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660LeatherLegs Ravenous Leggings of the Furbolg
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660LeatherLegs Crenelation Leggings
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660LeatherFeet Tundra Wolf Boots
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660LeatherHands Gilt-Edged Leather Gauntlets
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660MailShoulders Massive Spaulders of the Jormungar
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660MailShoulders Mantle of Discarded Ways
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660MailWaist Sovereign's Belt
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660MailWrists Dragonflayer Seer's Bindings
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660MailHands Tear-Linked Gauntlets
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660PlateHead Crown of Forgotten Kings
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660PlateShoulders Ferocious Pauldrons of the Rhino
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660PlateChest Reanimated Armor
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660PlateChest Ornamented Plate Regalia
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660PlateWaist Skadi's Iron Belt
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660PlateLegs Ancient Royal Legguards
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660PlateFeet Harpooner's Striders
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660PlateFeet Berserker's Sabatons
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660PlateFeet Echoing Stompers
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660PlateWrists Svala's Bloodied Shackles
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660PlateWrists Bands of Fading Light
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660ShieldOff Hand Tor's Crest
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660BowRanged Trophy Gatherer
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660One-handed SwordOne Hand Red Sword of Courage
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660One-handed SwordOne Hand Ymiron's Blade
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660One-handed SwordOne Hand Jeweled Coronation Sword
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660StaffTwo Hand Staff of Wayward Principles
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660DaggerOne Hand Ritualistic Athame
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660DaggerOne Hand Netherbreath Spellblade
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660WandRanged Brazier Igniter
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Blue Posts
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
Ashran Events Credit
We're aware of this bug, where players that are teleported into Ashran do not receive credit for event victories, and are working on a fix.

No need to leave quest or group, just walk out of Ashran towards your faction base, then just walk back in. As simple as that.
In the meantime, while this isn't a pretty work-around, running out of Ashran and back in before your 30-second timer expires should temporarily fix the issue. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Pet Battle Daily Quests
Yesterday I was able to go on THREE different level 100 toons and take my pets around to battle the pet trainers of Dreanor.
This was never intended. As your collection is account-wide, it has been intended that most pet-related quests are also account-wide.

I talked to a dev about this, and we think there was a bug at play for you that was resolved with a recent minor patch. I've personally never seen the ability to run the same pet dailies on different characters on my account. With a few exceptions, again, that is not intended.

I've done my garrison pet daily across all 3 toons for the entire expansion, quite an oversight if they really want to call this unintended.
Your different characters each have their own different garrisons. It's the out-in-the-world battle pet quests that are intended to be account wide on a daily basis. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Patch 6.2.1 Delay
You should have been more direct.
I don't see how I was indirect. The explanation is necessarily complicated, because the way the whole topic of flying played out internally was complicated. Not everyone was on the same page and that led to mistakes in communication on our part, and confusion and frustration on the community's part.

Really my primary point in this thread was just that we didn't intentionally lie to people. We were fairly open about acknowledging the debate over whether to add flying, and the community latched onto various pieces of messaging spread across many months, in order to try to prove we had been deceitful, as though that benefits us somehow.

Bottom line is we screwed up in how we handled this.

Too much tap dancing with a touchy subject causes this kind of thing. You guys played games with flight, trying to stretch out an expansion thin on open world content. The players aren't stupid, they see right through the double talk and misdirects.

The way flight was handled was shady, and the way it was implemented back into the game was as well. Personally I feel like it was all planned out in advance to minimize the inevitable loss of subs from a weak expansion. You guys knew subs were gonna nose dive and you needed to hold onto a carrot to put in the game down the road to pick things back up.

Timing. With Blizzard it's all about the timing. And the money. Sad to see it come down to that from a company that used to really have the 'by gamers for gamers' feel to it.
And just to reiterate, no.

We weren't playing games, thinking this was some way of stretching out content, or using double talk to pull a fast one on players. The reason people believe some or all of that to be true, however, is because we didn't handle the situation well, at all, so people developed their own conspiracy theories about what was "really happening."

Edit: As a side note, I wouldn't work for a company that pulled the tactics you say you "feel like" were "all planned out in advance." If you feel that to be true, I guess you have no reason to believe I'm telling the truth right now, but I'm still stating it for the record.

My reputation in life matters to me a lot, whether personal or professional. I'm not going to go against my moral code for the good of a company. Fortunately for me, that's why Blizzard has been a good fit for me career-wise.

Sorry, but I actually don't believe that it wasn't part of a timeline for this expansion. There was a lot of misinformation and misdirection. A lot of shady things (flying mounts on the CE box cover?) that helped to maximize expansion sales before dropping the bomb on players.
That is very sad. And clearly I'm not going to convince you otherwise. But it's sad. Like I said, I wouldn't be here discussing these things if your vision of Blizzard was reality.

You don't gain customer loyalty through deception or bait-and-switch tactics. You don't ever believe that making a profit and gaining loyalty are mutually exclusive. You make awesome products that you're passionate about, and that you think people will feel are worth enjoying; and you listen to their feedback about those products to see what things can be improved for a majority of customers. The folks here at Blizzard know this.

But WoW is also a huge ship of a game. If people on these forums think the ship is on the wrong course, we might agree on some level, but it takes time to correct for that. (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Blue Tweets
Originally Posted by Blizzard Entertainment
PvP
We do. It's week 2, not much has been added yet.
we increased the MMR scaling in RBGs by 30% this season. Rating inflation is active in RBG. (holinka)

You add something like 100 mmr a week into the arena bracket why not just do the same for rbgs?
Inflation resets each season. It increases 10 points per week. It is and always has been in RBG (holinka)
how does inflation reset if ppl have mmr of 2.9k in arena the first day?
their MMR was higher than 2900 at the end of last season (holinka)

Road to BlizzCon - Watch the NA Online Qualifiers
Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker
/ Official Forums
)
The first of our three WoW Arena North American Online Qualifiers cups on the road to BlizzCon is already underway—and this Saturday, you’ll be able to watch the battle unfold live on Twitch!

On Saturday, July 18 at 2 p.m. Pacific time (check here for your local time zone), join seasoned WoW Arena commentators Jared “vhell” Coulston and Josh “Lore” Allen for some action-packed matches at Twitch.TV/WoW. Follow along with every Frostbolt, Fear, and Flash of Light as the top 8 teams from our first Online Qualifier Cup compete to secure one coveted spot at the Americas Regionals.

More information on the North American Online Qualifiers is available in our official blog. Full details on Online Cup 1, including brackets and teams, are available on Battlefy. Who will you give your energy?

Signups for Online Cup 2 are now open as well! Teams can register here on Battlefy.

Ghostcrawler Tweets
Ghostcrawler has recently provided longer answers to some questions than tweets would allow.
Originally Posted by MMO-Champion
Always loved the work you did on my two favorite games. Saw you at Pax East last year, talked briefly. thoroughly enjoyed it. Question time: Clearly the player interaction that you did in WoW didn't end so well. Do you feel that is just the purview of smaller communities/games?
I don't feel that it ended badly. I'm curious why you would have that perception. I greatly enjoy interacting with players. I remember back in the day how frustrated I would get when I couldn't tell what on earth the developers were thinking with a particular change (or lack of change), so I always try to pay that back now that I am in the industry.

It is definitely hard for one person to be the spokesperson when dealing with a very large community. That was never my intention on WoW, but it often felt that way because I like to talk to players. One of the things I really like about Riot is how everyone is not only permitted, but encouraged to get out there and talk to players. It helps convey that we are a group (a large group) of developers and no single contributor has undo influence on the state of the product as a whole.

In terms of game design: Do you think the "design collaboratively" approach has it's downsides? That sometimes there needs to be someone who has more influence on embracing his vision on a product?‎
It definitely has its downsides, but it is still my prefered way to work. I am sure we are familiar with games that were developed by a strong auteur who just used other developers to carry out their vision. Such a vision can end be really consistent, since it came from one person, and there is a certain efficiency to just being able to tell people what to do.

On the other hand, when you work collaboratively, it is possible to produce a stronger design because more people are beating on it to make it great. You just have to make sure not to let the vision become too diluted or devolve into design by committee. Morale is often higher on collaborative projects because everyone feels more ownership of the vision. Finally, the development process isn't as brittle because you aren't so reliant on a single point of failure. If anything you are growing additional strong designers who can go off and do work independently.

Working by consenus doesn't have to mean that there are no deciders, leaders or vision holders. I find it works best when there is someone to say "Let's sail in that direction" and then the rest of the team figures out how to make that happen.

What is the biggest lesson you've learned during the design of each of your 3 major releases (AoE, WoW, LoL)?
That's a great question. I don't know that these are the biggest lessons I learned but they are the ones that first came to mind.

AoE - Players need to understand where the game is going. It's not an interesting decision if players aren't informed and are just guessing. "What unit am I supposed to build?" or "I don't understand why I lost" are big red flags.

WoW - Players get bored when they run out of content (and this can mean hitting a brick wall in addition to just completing everything). Content doesn't mean something they could theoretically do just for the sake of doing something. It means something they are motivated to do. Some players might have fun completing every single quest, but that doesn't mean it counts as content for everyone.

LoL - I never would have imagined you could ask players to learn such an unreasonable volume of information. You need to understand the mechanics of every champion and have a good understanding of how to play several of them, including things like item builds. And millions of players rise up to that challenge.

How do you have developed your way to work, in particular the interaction between your colleagues and peers/subordinates/superiors if any, throught your career? I am talking work/project wise. Feel free to not fully reply if i invade privacy!
I think it's common for newbie leaders to micromanage both because they have a really earnest desire to do the right thing and because they are eager to demonstrate that they can have an influence on a team. That was certainly me the first time I became a manager. I was terrible at it, but my team helped me realize that, and I vowed to do better. One thing I try very hard to do now is to let teams have a lot of autonomy because making mistakes is really the only way to learn how not to make them. I try to remove blockers and be there as a safety net when things go awry.

Having extraordinarily thick skin helps a lot with interactions with others because I'm not ever going to get offended by anything my colleagues say. I strive to be even tempered and reasonable because when you get stressed out and panic you send the message that you can't handle it.

I also try to be very empathetic, with both players and colleagues. When you can really put yourself in someone else's shoes you stop viewing them as a potential obstruction and you start to think about how you can help them out. Showing interest in their work also goes a long way. It's so stupidly simple, but you can go a long way towards earning colleague respect if you just keep your commitments. If you told them you'd send an email, freaking send it. Once they write you off as unreliable, they are going to stop going to you for help and you've missed the chance to earn a reputation as a problem solver. You want to be the problem solver.

I care a great deal about mentorship. Seeing someone rise up to become a future lead for the company is one of the most rewarding experiences in my life, let alone my work, and I have been fortunate to experience it several times. Related, it's really hard to be the boss of people who are also your friends, but I have navigated that minefield pretty well so far.

I don't pretend to be the last authority on this stuff. I have worked with people who seemed like total assholes who were still really effective and loved by their teams. So clearly they figured out how to make it work.
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Warcraft Movie - Comic-Con Panel
No footage of the movie is shown here, just discussion with the cast and director.

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