When I'm not playing WoW, I'm usually found indulging in manga and have been devouring the Warcraft series ever since the Sunwell Trilogy came out. Of all the characters introduced through comics and manga, the most tragic next to Anveena has to be Trag Highmountain. I've watched over the last year as more characters from the print franchises began to appear in-game, and there's something about seeing them translated into the game which gives me an amazing thrill.

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We can't believe it either – Turpster has been let loose on WoW.com to bring you videos from in and around the World of Warcraft! You've heard him on the WoW Insider Show, and now see him on TurpsterVision right here on WoW.com.

Here at WoW.com we give away TCG loot all the time and TurpsterVision should be no different. If you've always wanted to smash an ogre till his sweet delectable guts scatter all over the floor then today might just be your lucky day! Today you get the chance to win one of the new Fields of Honor loot codes by just leaving a comment to this week's TurpsterVision (Being a limey Brit this is open to EU only as the codes apparently only work over here...sorry)!

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A number of sites have done a post-mortem on the Mountain Dew WoW Game Fuel ad (featuring two ladies battling it out through their WoW characters in a live-action supermarket), and they've uncovered a really interesting fact: the ad was actually directed by Indian director Tarsem Singh, one of my favorites -- he not only did the visually stunning sci-fi/horror flick The Cell a few years ago, but more recently made The Fall, which is an very well-done kind of mirror-life fairy tale. He's directed a number of commercials before, including some for Nike and Levi's, and teamed up with a company called Zoic Studios (they've done a few other spots for video games already) for this WoW commercial.

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Rock Paper Shotgun has an interesting piece up looking at travel in massively multiplayer games, and while the analysis is really about travel in all MMOs, of course World of Warcraft gets placed front and center -- with the notable exceptions of Mages and Warlock summons, it's a game that squarely places you in its vast world, and asks you to make some solid decisions about where you want to be. While travel has certainly gotten easier (and will continue to do so), it's still an important part of the world -- sometimes, when you're in a backwater zone and your hearthstone is down and there's no summons available to you, you've just got to get on a griffon and put the time in to fly around.

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Yes, the cast time will depend on your riding skill and the area you're in. So, if you're in Outland or Northrend (no-fly zones excluded), the mount will require a 3-second cast time. If you're in Azeroth, a no-fly zone or do not have a flying skill, your cast time will be 1.5 seconds.

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That's great news! It's available for non-raiders at (Zarhym says) a very reasonable drop rate, but since raiders will get the most use out of it, mechanical raid bosses are much more likely to drop it than a mechagnome in Borean Tundra.

Following that, he also announced a number of changes, which are listed after the break.

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Upcoming Engineering Changes - Updated
Quote from: Zarhym (Source)Based on feedback in this thread about particular engineering items and schematics, we've made a few additional changes we'd like to share. Bear in mind again that this information is subject to change during the 3.2 testing process.

• World Enlarger: Cooldown is now 15 minutes, down from 1 hour.
• Mind Amplification Dish: A passive bonus of 45 stamina has been added to this tinker.
• Nitro Boosts: Passive bonus is now 24 critical strike rating.
• Frag Belt: The cooldown is now 6 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Crusader's Coliseum Audio Video
Nakriel posted a really nice video of all the sound clips introduced with the latest PTR patch. Do not listen to it if you don't like spoilers, most of the events happening in the Crusader's Coliseum are featured, including a few bits about Arthas and Anub'arak at the end of the video.

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We were initially hesitant to post a buy order on titanium for several reasons. First of all, we hate to be obvious. As many of our readers e-mailed and commented, the Titanium market is seeing enormous inflationary price movement based on the coming changes in patch 3.2 that will allow Jewelcrafters to prospect Titanium Ore for raw epic Gems. Further, there is the issue of mass speculation and the effect this sort of buying can have on the market.

Price Movements

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15 Minutes of Fame is our look at World of Warcraft players of all shapes and sizes – from the renowned to the relatively anonymous, the remarkable to the player next door. Tip us off to players you'd like to hear more about.

I really can't think of a more enjoyable way to game than in the same room as your friends. Even back in the EverQuest era, when my husband's Monk and my own Magician actively avoided one another outside of raids (incompatible characters, incompatible playstyles – we couldn't have been a worse mix), we got plenty of kicks and giggles from keeping an eye on one another's screens. These days, raid nights at our house mean not two but four players (three in my office, one upstairs – more, if friends with laptops are here). AFK breaks spawn a queue at the fridge that inevitably coalesces into a rowdy debate over the evening's tactics and drops.

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We here at WoW.com are on a Daily Quest to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere.

• RP Made Simple takes a deep look at an up and coming RP mod, Gryphonheart Items, which allows you to create custom vanity/flavor items to trade and share with others using the addon.
• Alterac Volley has added another Daily Quest Guide to their site, this time tackling the Midsummer Fire Festival.
• World of Snarkcraft reviews Wowhead's new Profiler feature.
• Blessing of Kings breaks down the patch 3.2 emblem changes, and gives some thoughts of their own.
• Should Rogues pick up Killing Spree in their PvE raiding spec? Slice and Dice says yes!
• Elemental Shaman extraordinaire Binkenstein is hard at work rounding up all of the applicable patch 3.2 changes.


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There's been a lot of speculation as to what Patch 3.2's new raid instance, the Argent Coliseum, will contain. We got a taste of what bosses we might fight a little while back when the 3.2 PTR launched and some Achievement information was datamined, but I've taken it all one step further.

As with my previous post on the 5-man content in the Coliseum, I've datamined a ton of information from the PTR game files, including NPC and spell data (another massive thanks to Boubouille of MMO-Champion for his help), to determine not only who we're facing up against (for sure), but how exactly the encounters will go down once we've gotten our epicly-clad heinies into the octagon Coliseum.

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The heat is on here in the UK and we've actually got a summer. Shocking, I know. But, rather than send people outside to soak up the rays the blistering heat and humidity has forced most inside. Suddenly Azeroth is that much more appealing, you can't get sunstroke in there, oh no. After Alex's terrible German accent last week (I'm really sorry about that, German readers, it won't happen again), things have settled down and we're back to the normal cycle of weekly maintenance.

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Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.

I have to admit, o' faithful Queue readers, that I considered pawning off answering questions today to someone else so I could have more time to catch up on other work. Patch days can get quite busy around the WoW.com head quarters.

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Okay, gonna say this right now.

This article is so full of spoilers you'll think you're in a movie with Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. The Argent Coliseum will be so spoiled that its parents bought it a car before it could drive. There will be less mystery to the Argent Coliseum than in M. Night Shyamalan's "The Village."

There. So. Thanks to Boubouille of MMO-Champion's help, I've spent the past few days digging through the spell and NPC data in patch 3.2's current PTR game files, slogging through thousands of new entries to find out how exactly the new encounters in the Argent Coliseum will be like (and who they'll be!). Well, I've been mostly successful in that regard, and I'm prepared to spoil about 90% of the Coliseum's encounters for you. But that's not all! This latest PTR patch was also kind enough to provide me with a ton of sound files related to the Coliseum and its set of instances, which has given me a very firm insight into what happens around the encounters. This particular article will focus on the 5-man instance.

Basic caveats apply: The encounters could change at any time, datamining isn't an exact science, I could be misinterpreting files, etc, etc. But I'm pretty solid on what I've written down, and anything I'm speculating on will be noted as such.

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You're a pet and mount maniac. You've hunted down every noncombat pet you can find, gotten a lucky roll on every rare mount you can possibly pick up, and after long last, you've earned both the "Lil' Game Hunter" and "Mountain o' Mounts" achievements. But still, you want more for some reason. More pets, more mounts, more achievement points.

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Dynash of Doomhammer (EU) tipped us off to the Ulduar: Defiance trailer. This movie trailer is created by Atraira, who you might remember from the hilarious music video for Boombox and the epic cinematic version of Ashbringer: The Return of Tirion Fordring. Atraira has a flair for creating art from pre-existing game files, and he's used that talent toward highlighting the Ulduar raid instance.

Of course, this is a trailer, and not a movie in its own right. That means it's heir to all the usual trouble a trailer can have. It can be a little vague, and you're never quite sure if the subject of its preview is ever going to materialize. All that being said, though, I really loved Atraira's work here. The use of voice-overs from the game's files is well executed and appropriately dramatic. The sweeping score he used in the background is inspiring. The way he pieced together each scene is motivating. It really came together very well.

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Like many other Blizzard fans, you're probably super excited about the upcoming release of StarCraft II -- it was "about time" when we first heard about the game, and now, this close to actually having the game out, anticipation is higher than ever. So why have you been waiting so long? According to Eurogamer's latest interview with Rob Pardo, you can blame none other than World of Warcraft for the delay. He and StarCraft II's lead designer both confirm that quite a bit of the RTS team were called back in to working on Blizzard's MMO. Artists and class and map balance guys alike were put back on WoW, resulting in the StarCraft title's delay for more than a year. Taken at face value, they're saying you could have started playing the new RTS last November if it wasn't for the whole Azeroth thing.

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The Ironforge chapter of Gnomes Against Repression By Larger Entities (G.A.R.B.L.E.) is going to have a field day with this incident at the Midsummer Fire Festival. Roxxii of <Legacy of the Kirin Tor> on Velen just wanted to dress up in her summer finery and watch the pretty flames. Instead, she ended up being the focus of a cruel game of Burning Gnome Tetherball between a couple of summoned fire elementals, tied to the pole and forced to run in circles to keep from being burned. Those draenei shamans can get pretty Eredar-like after a couple of drinks.

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And here are the Night Elf forms! I think I've avoided some of the annoying audio issues from the video on the 3.2 Tauren Druid forms, and I've also included an extended shot of the NE cat form's run animation, as it's one of the things that really distinguishes the bigger, sleeker cat model from its live counterpart. Unfortunately, they haven't fixed the bug where one of the bear models (the one linked to the NE's green hair) is unavailable (you'll get the black bear form instead), so only 4 of the 5 new bear colors could be included here.

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For years it has been a running joke that the level 11 elite Hogger should be a high level raid boss. Every server will have heard talk of a 40-man Hogger run or re-rolling a bunch of level 1's just to tackle this insurmountable foe. He is surely the scourge of Alliance toons everywhere simply because he is the first elite we encounter as we explore Elwynn. Well, it seems Blizzard have listened, Boubouille over at MMO Champion has been datamining the 3.2 patch files and has discovered tidbits about some of the bosses we'll be fighting. Indeed the most interesting part involves memories of past encounters -- including Hogger. Yes, you can also fight Algalon, Onyxia, Illidan and Edwin VanCleef but Hogger is the most important. What confuses me though is whose memories are you fighting? Those of your own past encounters or those of one of the Argent Crusade? If it's the former, what happens if you've not fought said boss? What if you're Horde?

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Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all those other shiny MMOs! Check out this roundup of the latest news from the wider MMO world.

	Mythic employees shocked at Mark Jacobs' departure Mythic employees were surprised by their boss' departure, sources told me today. I spoke with a former employee, who asked to remain anonymous, about what they and their old co-workers thought regarding today's announcement that Mark Jacobs, the vice president and general manager of EA Mythic, will be leaving the company due to a new partnership with BioWare.
	Australian network filtering promises to reach out to block games, online games and more Australian Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy, has promised to extend Australia's proposed network-level content filtering regime to block games, online games, downloadable games, and websites that sell or allow download of games that are deemed not to be suitable for a 15-year-old audience. This, despite research by the IEAA (the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia) that the average age of Australian Gamers is 30.
	Highlights from the SOE Fan Faire 2009 community address Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire 2009 is happening in Las Vegas, and of course they've had a number of things to unveil so far. SOE president John Smedley gave his community address last evening, and other speakers made an appearance as well. We've got a few highlights from SOE Fan Faire 2009 for you:
	Massively Exclusive: 5 million accounts, vehicles & more in FusionFall This past January, Cartoon Network launched their first foray into the MMO space with the wildly successful FusionFall, offering families who like to game together a great deal at $9.95 a month for up to four separate MMO accounts. Since those exciting first days of launch, they've given away all manner of funky swag, racked up over 5 million accounts, and started a whole new generation of explorers down the road of MMO enjoyment.

	City of Heroes Issue 15: Anniversary goes live It was only a few weeks ago that we wrote about the City of Heroes Issue 15 beta testing, but this latest update to the game, Anniversary, has gone live. Issue 15 brings a host of improvements to City of Heroes particularly in terms of hero and villain character customization. There are 20 new character faces to choose from, two new costume sets, and costume change emotes, which provide flashy transitions between costumes for your characters.
	Lord of the Rings Online coming to China later in the year Lord of the Rings Online is coming to China later in the year, thanks to CDC Games and their partnership with Turbine. CDC Games is one of the largest online gaming distributors in China, and is said to be a pioneer in the 'free-to-play, pay for merchandise' business model in that country.
	Star Wars Galaxies producer says new changes could make it the "best year ever" Today marks the six-year anniversary of Sony Online Entertainment's epic MMORPG, and throughout the past six years, the game's seen a lot of changes. In an exclusive e-mail interview with lead producer Chris Field, he told us about the challenges of working on a six year-old game, their ongoing process of integrating fan feedback and what we can expect for SWG going forward. Hint: it's not going away anytime soon.
	Global Agenda closed beta to begin in July Hi-Rez Studios just updated their Answer Center with new Global Agenda beta information. The game is expected to move to a Closed Beta phase this July. Global Agenda has been in Alpha testing for a number of months now.
	Become a fan of Massively, win cool stuff If you're a fan of this website -- and I mean seriously, who isn't? -- then we have a special new group for you. Our brand new Facebook fan page has been created, and we want you to be a part of it! Why should you join this group? Simple: free stuff and exclusives! As a fan of our Facebook page (not to be confused with our Facebook group), you'll get special beta keys, in-game item codes and other offers earlier than anyone else!

So we're swimming in news again this week, what with the patch 3.2 PTR well underway (you can check out the latest patch notes right here) and all, but the biggest piece of news for me, remains the faction changes. If nothing else, this should pave the way for me to be able to switch every single one of my characters to the High Elf race once they're finally implemented. Of course, that's not the only race-related news bouncing around this week. It also looks like the Tauren may be looking to make some waves in lore.

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Tier 9 Prices and Leather_ArgentHorde
This new PTR build had its share of Tier 9 updates, the models for the Leather_ArgentHorde are available and we now have the prices for each piece. The biggest change here is the introduction of a common token for all armor parts, you can buy the Head/Hands/Chest/Legs/Shoulders of your set with a single item. (Example: Regalia of the Grand Conqueror)

Tier 9 Items Prices

Slot / ilvl	258	245	232
Head	1 x	75 x	50 x
Hands	1 x	45 x	30 x
Chest	1 x	75 x	50 x
Legs	1 x	75 x	50 x
Shoulders	1 x	45 x	30 x

And now the Leather_ArgentHorde armor models, please keep in mind that Blizzard didn't confirm that they will be the Tier 9 models ... But they could be.

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