Project Lore

According to a government-issued press release, China's Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Commerce (that's right, they've got two Ministries on the job!) have filed an injunction against anybody who would sell or trade virtual currency for real goods or services. This comes as the country's first official ruling on the matter, which defines what does and does not constitute virtual currency (game cards count, apparently), and cites concerns of gambling and illicit trade using the the funny money as a go-between. Now, your average gold seller probably spends at least half his day in a tiny room filled with cigarette smoke and the ambient buzz of a dozen or so computers running non-stop, farming up mobs and resources just so he can earn his meager paycheck. He's the computer-age equivalent of your average "working joe." It almost makes me feel sorry for I wonder if Cash4Gold would accept all of my virtual WoW money? those guys, but hopefully the enaction of this new law will curtail the more malicious brand of online crooks: those that hack and ravage player accounts. Even if you haven't experienced it yourself, we almost all know someone who's fallen victim to the practice, and we understand how much of a pain in the butt it can be to get things squared away again. So, does this mean bye-bye Susan Express? As one of the more noted gold-selling sites, perhaps, as the Chinese government no doubt has their eyes on certain firms. But, as with just about any illegal trade, it will be all but impossible to completely stamp out. Gold farmers will go further underground or move their operations to other countries that have yet to ban the practice, though I believe that the law works both ways, meaning that Chinese players could be indicted for buying, as well as selling. The press release cites "QQ Coins" (yes, they're really called that) from Tencent.com as the most often-traded virtual currency in the country. Originally, they were used to purchase clothes and accessories for online avatars, but have come to be used by a variety of online stores seeking to capitalize on the incredible popularity of the associated online/networking services provided by Tencent. The new law makes exceptions for legitimate content providers, and the company has stated their intent to cooperate with the government in stopping online theft (just look at their "vision:" To be the most respected internet company). According to tech-related business site Information Week, the gold-selling business currently bring in "between $200 million and $1 billion annually." In addition to simply curtailing crime, the regulation seems apt to prevent the virtual trade from becoming too much of a burden on China's real-world economy in the future. I, for one, am glad to see China taking a stance on the issue, especially since the country is purported to house at least 80% of gold-selling operations worldwide. I can guess what most of you think of this development, at least from a WoW player's standpoint. But what about the global economy? These illicit operations may be a thorn in the side of real-world governments and creators of virtual goods (like Blizzard), but is stunting the growthy of a new economic avenue worth it in the long run? Just as digital distribution of products like movies or games is becoming a steady alternative to buying physical copies from the store, is it possible for money to effectively be traded in a similar fashion?

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Azeroth is quickly becoming the plastic surgery capital of the virtual universe! You can modify your character's name, face, hairstyle, even gender. And soon, you can even completely change which race you play, too! According to a post from Blue Nethaera, Blizzard has finally heeded the call of players who wish to carouse with friends of the opposite faction:

We wanted to give everyone a very early heads-up that, in response to player requests, we’re developing a new service for World of Warcraft that will allow players to change their faction from Alliance to Horde or Horde to Alliance. There’s still much work to do and many details to iron out, but the basic idea is that players will be able to use the service to transform an existing character into a roughly equivalent character of the opposing faction on the same realm. Players who ended up creating and leveling up characters on the opposite factions from their friends have been asking for this type of functionality for some time, and we’re pleased to be getting closer to being able to deliver it. As with all of the features and services we offer, we intend to incorporate the faction-change service in a way that won’t disrupt the gameplay experience on the realms, and there will be some rules involved with when and how the service can be used. The number of variables involved increases the complexity of implementing this service, but we plan to take the time needed to ensure that it lives up to expectations before officially rolling it out. We’ll go into much more detail on all of this here at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com as development progresses. In the meantime, we wanted to let you know that because this type of functionality requires extensive internal testing well in advance of release, you may be seeing bits and pieces of the service in the test builds we use for the public test realms moving forward.

This represents the company's boldest step yet in allowing character customization. Blizzard's not kidding when they say that there are a lot of variables to consider when switching one's race, and it goes beyond simple cosmetics. You have to take into account such things as potential shifts in server population. Alliance races, on the whole, are played far more than their Horde equivalents, and on my server it's more than 2-to-1 in their favor. There are already too few people worth playing with, without having to worry about more turning coat and joining the other side. FOR THE... Alliance? And then there are issues such as race-specific abilities and stat changes that will no doubt occur if you go through with the procedure. While the overall impact might be small (a several-point decrease in Stamina, for instance), it's still something worth thinking about before you make the jump. And what about quests, reputation, or faction-based achievements? Will you have to start from scratch, aside from the gear and items you've already accumulated? According to Nethaera's post, we may or may not see parts of the new service appear on the PTR, but it seems highly unlikely that it will be implemented in the forthcoming content patch. Nonetheless, if you've ever wanted to hide from people in-game, it won't be very long before someone could potentially erase their footprint from any given server, changing virtually every notable aspect of their character in the process. Interesting prospect for a fictional world, huh? What do you think, readers? Are you up for this change? Itching to level up with some of your cross-faction friends or simply looking for a different experience altogether? What lasting impact might this have on the underdog Horde? How much would you pay for the ability to wholly modify your race or faction?

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I am now officially dropping Herbalism for Engineering. With this latest round of changes that will soon be reflected on the PTR, even if only a few of them make it to the live servers, there are so many cool benefits to Engineering over other professions - the way Engineering should be! Zarhym posted this on the forums today:

• Added a new Mind Amplification Dish attachment for helmets, allowing engineers to control other humanoid targets. Some restrictions apply: does not work in Arenas, dish sometimes reverses targets, unable to stack with other stat-improving head enchantments and makes your helmet look... stylish?
• Added a schematic for a Goblin Welding Beam that can heal friendly mechanical or vehicle units.
• Alarm-o-Bot functionality changed. Materials required reduced.
• Box of Bombs no longer requires an anvil.
• The Cobalt Frag Bomb now incapacitates enemies within a 3-yard radius. A short cast time was added, but they are usable while moving. This change applies to any Cobalt Frag Bombs already created. The existing recipe now makes 3 at a time.
• Engineers can now learn to create a portable Wormhole Generator for Northrend. The Wormhole allows them to travel to different locations in Northrend, although the locations are sometimes in dangerous places.
• Increased benefits from Hyperspeed Accelerators, Hand-Mounted Pyro Rocket and Reticulated Armor Webbing glove modifications.
• Increased the passive bonuses provided by Springy Arachnoweave, Flexweave Underlay and Nitro Boosts.
• Increased siege damage caused by Saronite Bombs and the Global Thermal Sapper Charge.
• Mote Extractor now has innate tracking for gas clouds while it is in your inventory. Tracking of gas clouds has been removed from goggles.
• A new repair bot has been added, and his name is Jeeves. He is the ultimate gentleman robot butler, able to perform all the mundane tasks of repairing, selling and buying junk for your entire raid. Additionally, he can open bank boxes for skilled engineers (350+). Jeeves is not destroyed when used, but due to pressing engagements, can only be summoned once an hour. The schematic for this handsome robot was said to be hidden within the parts of another robot – hoping to be found by an engineer one day.
• Nitro Boosts: Now have a 5-second duration.
• Potion Injectors now increase the amount gained by 25% when used by engineers. Quantity produced by recipes for Runic Healing and Mana Injectors has been increased.
• Reduced the materials needed to create all engineering Dragonlings, and reduced their cooldowns, although they still cannot be used in Arenas.
• Significantly reduced the cooldown on MOLL-E.
• The Spynocular belt attachment has been changed to a Frag Belt. The Frag Belt periodically produces a Cobalt Frag Bomb that can be used from the belt every 10 minutes (never runs out!).
• A Steam-Powered Auctioneer has been added to the Dalaran Like Clockwork engineering shop, allowing access to one's faction Auction House. The Steam-Powered Auctioneer was programmed with a superiority chip, and will only interact with Grand Master engineers.
• Transporter devices are no longer classified as trinkets and can be used directly from your inventory.
• The Ultrasafe Bullet Machine and Saronite Arrow Maker schematics have been simplified to create a full stack of the appropriate ammunition. No longer requires an anvil. Reduced the materials required to make this ammunition.

The biggest change is that Grand Master Engineers can access their faction's Auction House at the Dalaran Engineering shop "Like Clockwork". This is huge. Engineers no longer need to make their shopping lists before grabbing a portal to Orgrimmar or Ironforge and making sure their Hearthstone is up. Another great change is a reusable repair bot that also offers Engineers access to their bank on an hour-long cooldown. This is amazing - if you ever have gotten full bags and had to weigh what you want to destroy to get bag space, this is a godsend. The new Northrend Wormhole generators, as well as the ability to use these items without equipping them, gives Engineers such a huge boost in convenience that I just can't pass it up. The Nitro-boosts and Pyro-Rockets are perhaps the best profession buff for rogues, and giving rogues wipe-prevention with vanish and jumper cables is sure to make me a group favorite. What do you think? Is this enough to put Engineering on par with other professions?

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As Juggynaut informed us all last week, with Patch 3.2 up on the PTR we're learning a lot more about what kind of new achievements and other goodies will be coming our way soon. A couple of the ones that caught my eye, since I love holidays, are Pirates' Day, Day of the Dead and Pilgrim's Bounty. It looks like those first two will be pretty small in scale, with the Pirate Day's achievement coming from drinking with the Dread Captain DeMeza (not Roberts!?) and joining her crew, and the Day of the Dead achievement from dancing with Catrina to become a skeleton. It's the Pilgrim's Bounty event that probably will draw in the most people because it seems to have the makings of a full-on world event that I guess would scan at least a week, like most others of this scope. From what MMO-Champion has uncovered, it looks like the Pilgrim's Bounty event will have something for everyone. Of course you have the random, just-for-fun achievements for the event: "Food Fight!" in which you bounce cranberries, stuffing, turkey, pie and sweet potatoes off a fellow feaster's head at a Bountiful Table; The Turkinator, which will have you heating up turkeys; Sharing is Caring, for which you'll pass candied yam, slow-roasted turkey, cranberry chutney, pumpkin pie and  spice bread stuffing at the table; Cook up each of these same dishes, and you'll earn Now We're Cooking (better get up that cooking skill!); And if you sit down to feast in each major city, you'll get Pilgrim's Paunch. On the PvP side, you'll have to wear your pilgrim attire and sit down to a bountiful table in each enemy capital city to earn the Pilgrim's Peril achievement. Anyone who enjoys daily quests will get a kick out of the Pilgrim's Progress achievement, for which you'll need to complete five Pilgrim's Bounty daily quests. You raiders out there will hopefully enjoy a draw back into Burning Crusade content to defeat the feathered and, might I say, turkey look-alike Talon King Ikiss in Sethekk Halls while wearing Pilgrim attire. This earns you the Terokkar Turkey Time achievement. And perhaps the oddest of all these (but sure to create some in-game fun) is the Turkey Lurkey achievement, for which you have to "blast those dirty, sneaking Rogues (of all 8 playable races) with your Turkey Shooter." I know I'll certainly be lurking around with my rogue just for the fun of that one. Now once all of this is completed, you'll get the Pilgrim title. Keep in mind that as we all know, information gleaned on the PTR is never official until it goes live on all servers. So things could change until then. But it looks like Blizzard has a pretty good idea of how they want this event to play out. Should make for a good time! Do you guys agree - is this an event you can get behind? Or are you dreading this as a possible addition needed to earn your Violet Proto Drake? What aspects of it are you most looking forward to? As for myself, all this talk of Thanksgiving feasts is making me hungry!

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Alex, Jeff and Juggy are back with their toons Droobins, Winterstrike and Juggynaut to go on a mount run in Karazhan. Will Attumen the Huntsman drop the Fiery Warhorse of just a few epics? Find out in this episode of Project Lore.

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After falling in love with the stories from Warcraft Legends: Volumes 1, 2 & 3, I decided to become a first adopter to the latest installment, Warcraft Legends: Volume 4.  The new manga from Tokyopop didn't have the same fanfare as its predecessor, but to be entirely honest, it didn't need it either.  Not only does that package contain the conclusion to Trag Highmountain's struggle against the Lich King, but Dan Jolley and Christie Golden return to pen a pair of excellent stories. Fate: I've been pretty critical of Knaak's novels in the past, however the short stories he creates for the mangas are entertaining and more spirited.  Sure, Trag may have been a Yoda clone back in The Sunwell Trilogy, but the Tauren has come into his own in his undead state.  Fate, the culmination to the four-part mini-series, happens to be the best of the quartet, even though its short and to the point. Knaak's ability to articulate Trag's desperation and his need for revenge in only a handful of pages is an impressive show of a cohesive and clear direction.  The 300 (among other movies) reference did not get by me either. Bloodsail Buccaneer: There is no point beating around the bush on this one.  Dan Jolley's epic tale, relative to the rest of stories in Legends, of the Bloodsail pirates is easily the best of the bunch.  The tale spans a whopping 62 pages, that enables Jolley to craft some of the deepest character development I've seen outside of the novels.  Bloodsail Buccaneer is a tale about three boys who are kidnapped and forced to work for, and later alongside, the band of pirates and their undead Captain Jerias Bloodvein.  What makes this story so grand isn't only its length and detail, or even the stellar art (best of the edition as well), but the blend of a known storyline with unknown characters.  The boys are a trio from Westfall who were at the wrong place, at the wrong time.  Eventually they are tied up, forced to pillage and plunder for the Stranglethorn Vale band, and are even sent off to seek the Captain's revenge against Edwin VanCleef. Yes, the story culminates in an epic raid on the Deadmines.  Apparently I can't get enough of the craftsman. Blood Runs Thicker: It's almost as if newcomer Tim Beedle read Jolley's story and realized how awesome the blending of unknown and known lore is.  Beedle's contribution to Volume 4 follows the odd traveling group known to all as the Darkmoon Faire.  The adventure focuses upon a newcomer to the group, the freakishly strong Kerri, and her troubles with the law.  By the end of the piece we see just how far the performers of "The Greatest Show In Azeroth" will go to protect one another.  Thebackstory puts a whole new light upon Silas Darkmoon's crew.  In short, don't piss them off.  Everyone's favorite buffer, Sayge, makes an appearance too.  As much as I enjoyed the story, Kawakami's art wasn't detailed enough for my liking.  Many panes felt rather empty. A Warrior Made--Part 1:  I know Golden has been writing fantasy for quite some time, but I can't help but think I have seen her grow within the Warcraft universe.  Initially I disliked her dialogue, but she made up for stale or bland conversations with terrific characters (see Fala).  A Warrior Made--Part 1 fixes the dialogue problems while setting the stage for another manga mini-series.  The tale takes place before the corruption of orcs, a time frame we rarely see, and revolves around a weak newborn female's struggle to be accepted by the Frostwolf clan.  It's another mix of known and unknown lore, but like Knaak's tales, the introduction lore to the mother of Thrall looks like it will be spread across a series of very short tales.  Part 2 will be published with three other stories in Warcraft Legends: Volume 5 in September. Volume 4 definitely had a reoccurring theme, blending new information into previously known lore, and it worked.  Well.  I don't think that all of the manga should focus on addingbackstory , but it was certainly refreshing to see some of these "everyday" characters play a part in the grand storylines that we players have always wanted to influence.  As for the mini-series stories, I really feel that the authors should make the parts far longer.  I may have enjoyed the tales from Knaak and Golden, but they seemed to finish just as they were getting started.  Overall, Volume 4 offers the best quartet of stories, including the best of all volumes, in Warcraft Legends.  On the strength ofJolley's story I will certainly be picking up his manga, Warcraft: Death Knight, and of course, Volume 5. To Tokyopop: The "behind the scenes" information is much more appreciated than a subset of literature from that other series you produce.

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Have you ever made fun of the Alliance for having to go to bed early, or being kicked off their computer by their mommy? Or dealt with someone who had a squeaky, barely pubescent voice on Ventrilo? Rejected someone from your guild for being under the age of 18? When I think of age discrimination in WoW, these are sort of my "go to" examples, but then I came across a post on the official forums that made me stop and scratch my chin. It was a badly-worded, not to mention obvious, attempt at trolling; something not worth recreating here. But it did turn the issue on its head and resulted in a heated firestorm all too typical of internet zeitgeists. Pulling from my dubious inspiration, I pose the question: are we too old to be playing this game? From those of us who have just entered college to those of us who've earned tenure for teaching it so long, are we playing a game meant for tweens? For the zit-faced, brace-grinning stereotype that has represented the child-like "gamer" for decades? Let me speak in simple terms: Most of the people I play with are in their mid-20s or older, some have wives or husbands, and just as many have kids. These are men and women with families and jobs and other obligations who nonetheless take a period of time out of their day to get online with a bunch of other yahoos from around the world to yak in guild chat or take on raid bosses. The obvious answer, of course, is that you're never too old to play games. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that there are more people 18-and-older playing WoW than there are under. Though the research dates back to the game's launch period, Nick Yee's 2005 study posits that the average player age is 28.3, well above the legal standard of adulthood. And don't take online bloggers like Gaming Granny (50+, has probably played/tested more MMOs than you have) or Old Grandma Hardcore (73, mostly into console fare, but as into the hobby as they come) for granted. Grandma Hardcore probably isn't the only retirement age gamer kicking your hairless tush out there. They're the real deal and not to be trifled with! It goes to show that age is not the restriction, perception is. Instead, there is another, deeper issue lurking just below the surface: why World of Warcraft? What power, what draw does it have on older generations of either lapsed gamers or those that have never touched a controller in their life? WoW, for all of its hardcore playerbase, is probably one of the greatest casual gaming phenomenons this side of Nintendo's Wii. Now, that's being somewhat disingenuous, considering that some of the best and most experienced players I know are some of the ones I mentioned leading the family life, but let's face it: a good chunk of the game's 11.5 million+ subscribers fit snugly into the mold. WarCraft has several things going for it. First, it's computer-based, which is instantly attractive to a population increasingly familiar with the way these machines work. Console gaming offers a more "closed" experience, but in doing so, divorces itself from overlapping with other daily activities like surfing the internet, typing e-mails, or doing grunt work at the office. It takes time to figure out the more complex aspects of WoW, but an active understanding of the keyboard and mouse makes easing into the control scheme a heck of a lot more managable. In my travels around the internet, I've also found that older geeks, programmers, and technophiles tend to be hardcore computer gamers, sometimes at the total exclusion of their console bretheren. Second, it's a replacement for a social life. It's a sad fact of reality that when you work as hard as most adults do, there's little time or desire to go and hang out with friends (assuming you actually have any you consider that close). Your WoW buddies, however, are always there. Both in- and out-of-game communication tools make it easy to hold conversations and the convenience of running a 5-man dungeon with a few pals often outweighs the effort needed to round up real-life acquaintances for a night on the town. World of Warcraft serves as a portal to a sort of social life not easily afforded to folks post-college. And that's not even taking into consideration the latent competition aspects. After all, socializing is as much about contest as it is getting along. PvPing, or simply racing to the level cap with a friend, can be just as rewarding as playing a game of one-on-one basketball. For those adults unable to leave the house due to physical disabilities or family/spousal obligations, Warcraft can serve as a great substitute for scratching that competitive itch. Third, it's a good distraction! With it's wealth of content and cheaper entry fee, WoW is a wonderful substitute for more traditional past-times like watching CBS' primetime lineup, and when you're not raiding, it doesn't make undue demands on your time. It's easy for people log on to chat or run a few dailies while they do house-chores or take care of the kids. And speaking of the younglings, playing Warcraft can be an excellent way to connect with your kids. That's right, questing together to replace tossing the ball back and forth in the front yard as the primary way for a dad to spend quality time with his son! Heard it here first! When you add these three aspects to WoW's innate fun factor, it's not hard to see why more and more adults are turning to MMOs as a way to spend their free time. Ageism may be alive and well, but I believe there's absolutely nothing shameful in being an older player. There is nothing in the game's lore or content that suggests outright catering to a teen-specific crowd. As for the younger people reading this? Showing just a little bit of respect can take you a long way with your gaming elders. After all, you don't magically become a mature adult on your 18th birthday, no matter what the government might think. In fact, I've played with many-a-married-couple who've stormed off and ragequit a guild for the silliest, most purile reasons. Certainly, age is only the basest of factors in determining who is capable of being a reasonable person! Readers, do you agree or disagree? Have you ever encountered family members, co-workers, or other people your age that have questioned why you spend so much time playing "stupid computer games?" Ever caught lip from a younger player online? Or, quite simply, as an older individual, what about WoW has drawn you in so much? The discrimination works both ways, so younger players feel free to chime in with your own observations! But, let's try and keep it civil, OK?

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Dorkins continues his onslaught on Onslaught Harbor and loots loots his share of keys from his victims. Will those keys open the lockers and find the information he wants? Find out how in this episode of Project Lore.

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Like you guys and gals, I have been poring over all the exciting info coming out of the PTR right now. New gear, dungeons, and battlegrounds are so much fun and what keep this game exciting. But I can't help feel that the most significant change in this patch is something we found out about a while ago, and will change the way we play this game more than you might realize. The change I am referring to is the changes that Blizzard is making to the emblem system. In case you missed the blue post, here is the section I am referring to.

• Emblem System Changes
• Both the 10 and 25-player instances of the Crusaders' Coliseum drop a new Emblem of Triumph.
• Any dungeons that previously dropped Emblems of Heroism or Valor, such as Naxxramas or Heroic Halls of Stone, will now drop Emblems of Conquest instead. Emblems of Conquest can still be converted to Valor or Heroism.
• The Heroic dungeon daily quest will now reward 2 Emblems of Triumph and the normal daily dungeon quest will reward 1 Emblem of Triumph.
• The existing achievements to collect 1, 25, 50, etc. Emblems of Heroism, Valor, and Conquest have been converted to Feats of Strength since Heroism and Valor Emblems are no longer attainable.
• New achievements have been added to collect various amounts of any combination of emblems.

So what does this mean for our daily play style? Simply that we now have lots of reason to run heroics. Currently there is virtually no reason for me to step into a heroic. I don't need heroism emblems, gear, or rep. I, like many others, have progressed past this. But now things are different. With every boss dropping Conquest Badges the first few weeks of 3.2 are going to be full of heroic runs. This will let us get all the T8 tier gear, runed orbs, and deadly gear that we could possibly want in a very short period of time. Eventually we will all get all the conquest gear we can handle, but for a short time heroics will be very important. What is even more exciting is the details regarding daily quest rewards. Both the daily and heroic dailies will no give us Emblems of Triumph, which will purchase the next highest level of gear and, presumably, T9 tokens. To me this means I will be doing both of those dungeons every day that I can. It will certainly be an adjustment, but I must say I am sort of looking forward to it. I have always been a big fan of 5-mans, something about that groups size lends itself to a fun relaxed atmosphere. It is something I have missed. With this news I know I have lots of heroic dungeons ahead of me, and more importantly heroic dungeons worth doing! How do you feel about this change? Looking forward to getting back in those 5-mans? Or would you just as well leave them behind?

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QuestHelper/Carbonite & Extended QuestLog/DoubleWide Features Incoming I've never been one to play on the PTR.  Like many other players I don't want to spoil the upcoming content or experience "unfinished" gameplay.  And yet I spend hours a week just staying current with the latest news and revelations, from the Live realms and the PTR.  I guess that would make me a bit of a hypocrite - I won't spoil by playing, but get spoiled by reading occasionally - but that is the price I pay for knowledge.  So when my buddy noticed that the patch notes had changed again, he knew I would be interested. Blizzard began implementing QuestHelper functionality as part of the Secrets of Ulduar patch, and I was okay with it.  They have been trying to make leveling easier for some time now, and that change was the next logical step.  The devs seemed to have found a happy middle ground between the hardcore and the casual players thanks to additions to the tooltips.  In essence you still had to read the quest text to find out where mob X or item Y was located.  Only when you were in the general location - being able to mouseover an objective - would you be tipped off.  No biggie.  Enter Call of the Crusade, which is taking it a step further.

• A skull graphic will be placed on the map in the general area where players can find creatures they must kill for a quest.
• A skull graphic with red eyes will be placed on the map in the general area where creatures can be found that must be killed in order to collect quest objects.
• A gear/cogwheel graphic will be placed on the map in the general area where players must loot quest objects found in the world.
• A chat bubble graphic will be placed on the map in the general area where players must interact with a specific NPC for a quest.
• A yellow question mark graphic will show on the map to provide the location of a NPC whose quest the player has completed.

Aside from these obvious benefits, former downloaders of quest helping mods should see an increase in available system resources and (slightly) more secure accounts. Okay, this is way further then I expected Blizzard to go.  Before the hardcore base goes all "reading comprehension" on us let's take a step back.  Remove yourself from the discussion and just look at WoW as a product.  Blizzard, the creator of said product, is looking at QuestHelper, and mods like it, and realizes that it is one of the most downloaded add-ons for World of Warcraft.  What would you expect them to do?  Would you want them to simply ignore the actions of millions of players?  No, of course not. Here's the rub, many other UI changes are getting the option to be toggled on or off, but Zarhym's updates make no mention of that for the topic at hand.  If you want to play WoW the hardcore old school way it doesn't seem to be an option.  The freedom of choice is what the hardcore should be complaining about, not the dumbing down of a part of WoW that you are no longer a part of. Under what circumstances would you accept the added features to the world map?  Would it have been acceptable to you if it was implemented back in 2004?  Should the option be defaulted off?  Are you going to abandon your helpful questing mod if the feature goes live?  With the amount of subscribers reaching a plateau, does it even matter at this stage in the game? Let the QQ begin. <popcorn>

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