So a while back, Tom Chilton talked about turning WoW into a "viable Esports platform" in an interview with Gamespy, and lots of players did not take it well. Some time later, the fire has still not died down. Darqchild of the Perenolde server posted another complaint about this the other day, expressing a belief that the creation of a 2nd rule set and the domination of the esports concept had already gone with the implementation of a Tournament server.

Bornakk replied with his own defense of Blizzard and Tom Chilton over a series of posts in the thread. First, he said that the implementation of the Isle of Queldanas in 2.4 with all its PvE quests and dungeons was proof that Blizzard still considers the PvE game. On the focus on the 3v3 Arena tournament, he said that just because they're running it doesn't mean they're neglecting other things, and said that information would be put out on new PvE content when it was available.

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Both Duncor and John "BigBearButt" Patricelli were on the podcast with me last Saturday, and despite my being a bit behind (Liberty City claimed most of my time last week), the show went really well.

• We chatted a lot about the mounts of Warcraft, including why you can't ride most of the bug mounts outside of AQ.
• We talked about how to make raiding faster
• We hit on a number of player events, including John's post about those crazy Druids in Nagrand, and our own It Came From the Blog fun
• We talked about what we're looking forward to in Wrath of the Lich King (I can't wait for the five man instances)
• And we answered lots of emails -- a few more jokes, a little advice, some good thoughts about Trinkets (and maybe putting an extra inventory slot in there), player housing, and lots of making fun of Duncor for quitting the game.
• And we figured out the real pronunciation of melee -- here it is.


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Thottbot and Wowhead, two of the most popular WoW database sites, have been having a few problems with ads lately. There was that brief issue with the trojan in a banner last month, and also apparently some rather irritating ads with flashing and sound have been showing up lately (and I think we can all agree that ads with sound are evil). But, like much of the Internet, these sites are kept free for us because they are ad-supported, so what can they do? Well, they've gone on advertising strike.

Both sites have temporarily pulled all their advertising in protest of these types of ads. And when the ads do come back, they'll be using direct ad sales only for a time, bypassing the big ad networks that were causing the problems in the first place, until the networks sort out their problems. There are two ways sites get advertising: another site emails them and asks to buy ad space (direct sales), and then they fill the rest of their space with ads from a network like Google AdSense (these are called remnant ads, since they fill the remaining space).

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Remember when we reported on the world's first M'uru kill by the SK-Gaming guild in Europe? It was revealed that the U.S. based Exodus clan on Blizzard's World of Warcraft Kel'thuzad server have also managed to defeat M'uru on the Sunwell Plateau, making them the first guild in North America to accomplish this feat.

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It looks like everything went okay with the server hamsters this morning as the servers are back up and running smoothly. In fact, it appears that all the servers are up right now. This is an oddity since usually there are at least one or two battlegroups that are down longer than the rest.

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MLG announces New PC Circuit
Major League Gaming, parent company of MMO-Champion.com, is adding PC gaming to 3 of its Pro Circuit Stops. The PC Circuit will feature World of Warcraft®: The Burning Crusade®, with $22,500 in prizes per event. The entire PC Circuit will be played on HP Blackbird 002 (http://www.hp.com/blackbird/).

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Adding one to the list of things I've never thought of that are actually pretty cool, scientists at De Montfort University in the UK have developed a way to control WoW with your eyes. The system uses existing LED eye-tracking devices, and essentially the cursor just goes where you look. Looking offscreen in various directions can trigger different modes (for combat or travel, for instance). The intention behind this project is to help people with disabilities that prevent them from using traditional input devices. So far, judging by the video, the interface is not up to par with clicking or key-pressing, but I think it does have potential for situations where it's required. The research team hopes to begin trials next year.

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Just because you think your ideas on the World of Warcraft forums always get ignored, it doesn't mean that the game developers no longer care. This was one of the more recent concerns put up on the WoW forums when forum poster Mageyadie noted the lack of actual game developer responses in relation to the suggestions sent in by the players.

Blizzard Poster Kisirani went out her way to explain the roles of both game developers and the different Community Managers have in handling the many suggestions put out on the forums. Said Kisirani: "If the developers took time out of their day to respond to every suggestion made on the forums, there would be no time left to actually develop the game".

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Hot on the heels of SK-Gaming's world-first kill of M'uru, the penultimate Sunwell Plateau boss, the US guild Exodus has scored a place in the hall of records by being the first in the region to kick his Naaru butt, early this morning. Exodus live on Kel'thuzad, Horde-side, and apparently just got sponsored a few days ago, which endowed them with a brand-new website and plenty of bandwidth just in time.

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Miguel and Baron Soosdon have showed us the error of our ways. We somehow completely missed this amazing up-and-comer, Gnomechewer. He has a variety of movies in his arsenal, yet has very little recognition on Warcraftmovies. We think we'll be seeing more of him in the future, though.

Gnomechewer's latest film, Standing in the Way of Control, was named after a song by The Gossip, although the mix he used is actually a mashup with Elastica's Connection. The machinima is about an Orc rogue that goes back in time to ensure that Thrall is still warchief in the present. To get his story across, he blends art and model-viewed characters together to create a surreal effect!

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All warmed up for the imminent arrival of patch 2.4.2 in World of Warcraft now that Blizzard's announcing that they're ending the current PTR phase?

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When Gaelan said he wanted to be decked out in purples, this was not exactly what he had in mind. Yes, it's the Embrace of the Fang set, beloved by (attractive female) twinks everywhere. Ignoring the requests of his guildmates to put on a tabard for God's sake, Gaelan instead chose to put on his boogie shoes inside a tauren tent. He was promptly drop-kicked off of Thunder Bluff by Cairne himself. Cairne usually reserves that move for the Alliance, but this was an extra-special case.

If you missed it the other day, Around Azeroth is running another user submission challenge: Grand Theft Azeroth! Send us pics of you (or your friends, we're not picky) committing your most nefarious deeds in the style of the GTA series. Mount-jackings, thefts, murders, muggings, cruelty to animals and critters, picking up blood elf ladies of the night, punting gnomes -- let your wicked side out. Send your screenshots to aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com by noon EST on Thursday, May 8, and please use the phrase "GTA" somewhere in your e-mail title.

Do you have any unusual World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We'd love to see it on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing aroundazeroth@wowinsider.com with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured here next!

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Looking for something to read. Look no further -- here's the best of our weekly features from the last seven days, presented in a handy roundup format. If you missed it the first time, don't make the same mistake twice.
Guildwatch: The aftermath
The messiest part of guild drama comes after it happens. And when the bank has been ninja-d the last gquit has been typed in, and the last wipe happens -- that's when Guildwatch appears. Shifting Perspectives: Druids just wanna have fun
Caw! Some Druids in the Penny Arcade alliance pull off a little fight-or-flight terror, The Birds-style. He Said, She Said: Hypermasculinity
Amanda and David wonder why your mage is so incredibly buff. Build Shop: Shaman 18/43/0
Pound for pound, one of the best melee DPS dealers in the game -- the Enhancement Shaman enters the Build Shop.
More great weekly features after the break, including an in-depth look at Cooking, and a must-read post for every Hunter. Scattered Shots: Auto Shot
David Bowers has an awesome look at something every Hunter uses, but most never think twice about. The Light and How to Swing It: Seals, blessings, and auras part I
Zach covers Paladin buffs and how they work in a comprehensive look. Don't forget to read part II as well. Insider Trader: Cooking, the final stretch
Amanda M's professions column takes you through Cooking, from 250 all the way to 375. Get ready to make lots of Ravager dogs -- good thing they're tasty. Addon Spotlight: DrDamage
Not a theorycrafter at heart? Let this addon do all the number crunching for you.

Rolin from the Kilrogg posted over at the World of Warcaft forums that if there's a possibility that Blizzard could make Molten Core into a level 70 zone. The reason behind this is that he wanted it to become a raid instance again.

If this can't happen, it could be a normal raid with a level 70 option, Rolin added. Well, this certainly didn't go unnoticed by the people behind the MMO.

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WoW Rookie is brought to our readers to help our newest players get acclimated to the game. Make sure you send a note to WoW Insider if you have suggestions for what new players need to know.

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Blizzard Entertainment's Europe support site has clarified on a couple of issues that are affecting the Kil'Jaeden encounter for World of Warcraft's Sunwell Plateau Raid.

The first issue that the company explained was regarding why the Hunter's Mark was not appearing on the boss' Shield Orbs. As Blizzard's tech crew explained regarding this problem (ticket 27696):

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When you have accumulated lots of stuff over time, it pays to have a way of organizing them for easy access later on. That's precisely what Blizzard has done with screenshot galleries in World of Warcraft.

Blizzard currently has 46 of all the said screenshot galleries up, and the company has more on the way. A lot of these will look familiar to you, and they should. These galleries hold player-submitted pictures that Blizzard had been asking for in recent months.

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This week's round up of WoW-related posts on our sister site Massively covers many different angles of the MMO universe dominated by World of Warcraft. You can click on the links below or subscribe to a special WoW-only Massively feed.

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Ok, admit it. Dornaa and Salandria are pretty cute. They say the darndest things and they are so tiny and they are like little bundles of irrepressible energy and now I want kids of my own, damn it. But seriously, If you're like me, you've probably kept your orphan whistle a little longer than you had to and took your orphan around a few extra places.

Auchindoun? The Dark Portal? Pff, c'mon kid. I'll show you some real fun. How about Karazhan? That was actually a lot of fun, although fighting Prince Malchezaar was sort of creepy, since Dornaa was staring at me through the whole fight as I stood with my back against the wall, tanking him. She looked sort of accusing. You don't suppose Mal was her dear uncle before the whole Eredar corruption thing, maybe? Unfortunately, I don't think you're allowed to take your orphan into the arenas, but I may have to take her for a tour of scenic Alterac Valley before the whistle disappears.

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It's Tuesday morning and the hamsters that run the servers are being fed by Blizzard, which means all the realms are down for extended maintenance until at least 11:00 a.m. PDT. There is no patch 2.4.2 to look forward to when the servers go back up this afternoon, but that might not be that bad of a thing. Usually patch days mean add-on trouble and serious server stability issues. Those spell disaster for anyone expecting to enjoy the evening.

While the servers are offline, go ahead and get your WoW fix from us! We've got a few dandy articles to entice you and keep your WoW addiction in full swing.

• Take a look at the official and unofficial patch notes for patch 2.4.2. Highlights include reduced cooldown timers, changes in the hand specifications of some weapons, and new polymorphing mechanics.
• A talented rogue was able to tank the seventh boss in the Black Temple, Mother Shahraz, by stacking insane amounts of avoidance and agility. Take a look at the video of the encounter, definitely worth watching if you have a minute.
• SK-Gaming killed M'uru (the next-to-last boss in the Sunwell Plateau) over the weekend. M'uru dropped some nice loot for them. Check out what they got in their world first kill.
• Did you know Blizzard launched a new and improved online store? The best part about it is that if you buy something, you can click a little check box that gives you a chance to be selected to participate in a beta. I ordered a tee-shirt over the weekend, and have my fingers crossed that I'll get in a certain beta test pretty soon (I could care less about the tee-shirt, naturally).
• Sean Forsgren recently profiled one of my favorite add-ons, Dr. Damage. It's a great tool that gives you very useful statistics about all your spells in the form of extended tooltips. Take a minute to look into it now, and get it all downloaded and setup for when the servers come back online later today.
  


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Update: Added Raid setup.

Exodus from US-Kel'Thuzad server managed to bring M'uru down, they are getting the US first kill, congratulations to them.

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M'uru US First Kill by Exodus
Exodus from the US-Kel'thuzad got the US First kill on M'uru, 5th boss of the Sunwell Plateau.

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We've got some news coming in in case you were hoping to get back into World of Warcraft after its scheduled maintenance for Tuesday, May 6. Blizzard Entertainment is announcing via WoW's login screen that they'll be extending the day's downtime.

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Sure, we've heard of World of Warcraft players taking out NPCs and fellow players before, but it seems that no players have thought about turning assassinations into a career - until now. You see, Blizzard forum member Zefiris (aka Kre) is accepting player requests for the "sanctioning" (killing in assassin speak) of certain Blizzard NPCs in the game.

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The announcement on the login screen tonight tells us that the realms will be down for extended maintenance on Tuesday May 6th, from 3:00 a.m. PDT until 11:00 a.m. PDT. It's curious how extended maintenance used to last from five until eleven, but now lasts an extra two hours – from three until eleven.

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