PTR character copy service active (Updated)

While we're unsure exactly for what, the Public Test Realm character copy function is currently up and running, but not yet active. Could be for the upcoming Echo Isles and Gnomeregan content, could be for the new Ruby Sanctum raid. We have no idea. It may not even mean anything at all.
Of note: my particular character copies haven't been reset since the last PTR testing phase, giving me a grand total of one possible character copy to the PTR servers. You may be in a similar or worse boat.
As always, when Blizzard provides more information about the status of the PTR, as well as its contents, we'll be sure to let you know. Until then, feel free to hammer the character copy server -- you were going to anyway.
Update: MMO-Champion points out that instead of our normal Anasterian and Broxigar realms on the PTR realm list, we have Broxigar and BlizzCon Event. As Boubouille notes: "When was the last time Blizzard needed a server for BlizzCon?"

Blizzard releases official concept art gallery

For the last few years, I've been using the Sons of the Storm website and various Blizzard artists' DeviantArt galleries to get my Blizzard concept art fix. As of this evening, it seems Blizzard is taking a step toward consolidating all of this artwork into one public place.
Blizzard.com
We're pleased to announce the grand opening of our new Concept Art gallery, highlighting the myriad characters, environments, and other artwork we create during the development of our games. We plan to update this page regularly with a wide variety of never-before-seen pieces of art reaching all the way back to Blizzard's early days, so be sure to check back often!
sourceEarly days is right! There's artwork in the gallery that predates StarCraft and the early Warcraft games. Go check out Blizzard's concept art gallery, it will be time well spent.

The Guild comic: There's an app for that

If you like The Guild comic book and would like to read it on your Apple device, there is now an app for that. Dark Horse Comics has released an app on iTunes that allows you to read issue #1 electronically for less than a buck.

If you prefer your comic books in paper form (or want both), issue #2 is available in stores now. You have your choice of two covers, one drawn by Kristin Donaldson and the other drawn by Matthew Stawicki.The comic chronicles the origins of The Knights of Good from The Guild web series and is written by Felicia Day herself. The artist is Jim Rugg, who was also one of the artists in the Dr. Horrible comic.

The Art of War(craft): Three kinds of warlocks and how to kill them

Zach brings warmth to your day with a regular weekly dose of good, old-fashioned PvP. Like a comforting hot cup of cocoa with little pink marshmallows in the shape of stars. And battle axes. And skulls. We'll take this opportunity in the lull between Cataclysm news to continue our introductory guide to killing this and that.

Sure, it'll be radically different from now and the next expansion, but it should ultimately be useful to help a lot of beginners getting their feet wet (or bloodied) in the Battlegrounds until then. And believe me, the Battlegrounds is where it's going to be at. So take this opportunity to immerse yourself in the Battleground experience before Cataclysm shakes things up. We left our guides hanging with an introduction to warlocks and the usual abilities they employ on the battlefield. Today we'll wrap things up with a closer look at the three specs.

The fun thing about Wrath is that Blizzard made an earnest effort to make each warlock spec feel and play differently from each other, going so far as to tailor certain pets to work better with a specific spec. It was in Wrath where felpuppies became affliction warlocks' best friends, and destruction warlocks were encouraged to hang out with imps. Demonology, as always, had their burly bodyguards. After the jump ... how to spot them and, hopefully, squish them.

It came from the Blog: Gurubashi Beatdown II snapshots

Last Sunday, had its second Gurubashi Beatdown. First we had a fishing party in Orgrimmar, attended by Anne Stickney and Matthew Rossi. Then we galloped off to Gurubashi Arena with the intention of playing games in which we kill each other. There was good and there was bad.The badWe only got a couple of games played because we had to spend most of our time (successfully) fending off griefers.

One was even in a guild that had its intentions in its name.The goodWe had fun beating up the "bad" guys, but most of all, we got to know Thrahk. If we in the guild have our way, Thrahk will be warchief some day. For those of you unfortunate enough not to have met him yet: Thrahk is a level 1 orc, and he is brave and strong. We will have a Gurubashi Beatdown again -- and don't worry, I have a plan to avoid future issues. Our event next month, however, will be Children's Week-related. And, of course, Choose My Adventure continues.Here are the snapshots, which include some submissions from Butcheredcow, Orlak and (cutaia):

World of Raids on Cataclysm's Hyjal

One of the things I'm most looking forward to in Cataclysm is getting to see Hyjal in the present day. I still remember the first time my wife (her hunter pictured above) and I made our way inside and took a look around the deserted world tree Nordrassil, with Archimonde's remains hanging from the branches.

Very eerie and one of my favorite moments in the game. In Cataclysm, we'll actually get a chance to level in the zone (as we found out recently) and I'm stoked. So I was excited to see this preview map of Mount Hyjal modified by the folks at World of Raids to give you an idea of what the quest hubs will look like. It's interesting to see that this time levelling progression is taking flying mounts into account in their design of the zone (apparently, at least) rather than enforcing linear ground travel. Combined with the idea of getting to interact with Malfurion and possibly even resurrect Cenarius himself, I'm beside myself waiting to get a crack at defending the world tree from Ragnaros and his minions. It can't happen too soon as far as I'm concerned.

Buff(ing) for BlizzCon: It begins

This is a guest post written by ShrinkGeek contributor Rafe Brox. Get in shape in time for BlizzCon along with the WoW.com crew!If there's one thing that Blizzard does well, it's build anticipation for upcoming events. And, other than the release of upcoming expansions, nothing gets players going like BlizzCon itself. With it being six months away, it's certainly not too early to begin thinking about going, but that brings with it logistical and social considerations. I'll leave the logistics to someone in the hospitality or travel industry; however, for anyone who wants to make a killer impression on their fellow gamers, this column is for you.Welcome to Buff(ing) for BlizzCon, a bi-weekly guide to getting in shape, brought to you by the fitness freaks at ShrinkGeek. To quote Hanz and Franz, "Vee ahr goink to pahmp joo ahp!" Keen observers of this space may be saying to themselves, "Hey, wait a minute... that sounds a little familiar." You would be absolutely correct. That said, (re-)introductions are probably in order.

Sunday Morning Funnies: Bun bun

There are no newcomers to the list this week, but it does seem to have been overrun with bunnies. There is even an entry that was posted on a certain tricky day earlier in the month, so beware! Don't forget to leave tips about WoW-related webcomics in the comments section, or send an email to the team. As for last week's challenge, several people gave their opinions about the artwork from that week's list. Thanks for participating!This week, drop in a comment describing your favorite line from any comic on today's list. Whether it is funny, awkward, or profound, we want to hear about it. Equinox and the Sky Kings. WoW, eh?: The Silent Treatment.

The Warcraft Hero in: Show of Strength. Torment of the Week: Hijacked! and High Roller. Complex Actions: The Darkest Hour. Also: Who Knew? Beyond the Tree: Bravely, bold sir goblin. Also: When the evil shredder attacks! K's Grab Bag: Benefit of the Doubt. Dark Legacy Comics: Mr. Bun. Tales from the Crossroads: The Best Laid Plans.... Also, A Nose for Trouble and Hangover Remedy. LFG #345 and #346. Byron, the Tauren Rogue. Coffin Comics: Night of the Noblegarden. Slash AFK: Wet-Gnome. Quest: Plan. NPC: iWarm. Click back twice to start the storyline. Daily Quests: Noble(?)garden. The Daily Blink: Class Periodicals #4: Death Knight. Also: Close, But No Demonic Strudel. AFR: Ignoble. Teh Gladiators: #120 and #121. The latest from To Azeroth and Guilded Age.

Breakfast Topic: The motivations of guild leaders

This Breakfast Topic is brought to you by WoW.com's guest blogger program. Want to participate in a future call for guest posts? Read up on how to contribute, and keep an eye on the site for program announcements.My guild sucks. No, no ... it's okay. You don't have to comfort me. I've already accepted it. My guild sucks and it's entirely my own fault. I never finished our website. I've never done any proper recruiting. We have a tabard, but I'm not sure that it's very "sick" or even "awesome."

I've been a terrible guild leader so far and as a result, I've watched our membership dwindle down to just the dedicated few over the past several months. I'm not stuck there by any means. I've been offered spots with raiding guilds that actually do things like -- say, I don't know -- raid. So, why do I do it, you ask? Well, I choose to continue leading my cold, dead husk of a guild because I so thoroughly enjoy the concept of the guild management metagame. Call me stubborn, but for me it's a huge part of World of Warcraft.

Even if I were to finish off every single achievement in the game, it wouldn't give me nearly the same sense of satisfaction that leading a mildly successful guild would.Doing that, however, takes a lot of work. You can only get so far with word-of-mouth recruiting and a friendly atmosphere. Eventually, you have to have something to offer your few members or they'll find greener pastures. It's a big job, but somebody has to do it, right?Have you ever tried to run a guild or is that a job that doesn't even interest you? For those current guild leaders out there (both successful and otherwise), what drives you to keep on keepin' on?

Armies of Gielinor Story Competition

Over the last month, players have been battling to prove that their pen is mightier than the longsword by writing short stories based on either the Zamorak or Saradomin campaigns for our Armies of Gielinor story competition. By the time the competition closed we’d received well over a thousand entries, which meant that picking the winners was going to be no mean feat! Finally, though, we managed it and are happy to announce the recipients of lifetime membership for their RuneScape accounts.
After much debate, the judges decided that the best Zamorak campaign-inspired story was entered by celticqueen8, whose story really impressed all the judges due to its humour and originality. Dimitrix is a very worth runner-up thanks to a song which made him stand out from the crowd.
Meanwhile, the judges’ favourite Saradomin campaign-inspired entry came from Lunestruck, whose wildly imaginative story really captured the attention of the judges. The runner-up in that category was roleutrio.
Congratulations to you all!
You can find all the winning stories on the FunOrb and RuneScape forums. We’ll also be adding some more of the best stories to our forums and our official Facebook page over the course of the month.
We’d like to take this opportunity to offer our sincere thanks to everybody who entered. It’s been a pleasure to be a part of such a wonderful contest!

Eyonix leaving Blizzard

It's sad news for the World of Warcraft community today as longtime Blizzard community manager Eyonix has announced that he's leaving the company. He announced his departure in a simple and direct post on the official forums:"For nearly six years, we've shared our thoughts with one and other, we've laughed, we've argued, and we've cried -- the crying part was just me wasn't it? Those times, I'm afraid must come to an end as I've made the decision to explore opportunities outside of Blizzard.

It has very honestly been a huge pleasure, and I thank you all for allowing 'Eyonix' to always remain a very fond memory as I move on."My perspective might be a little different than some readers' due to my employment history, but I've always felt for the plight of the community manager, especially at Blizzard. Become emotionally detached, they say you're not passionate. Become emotionally invested, they say you take it too personally.

Eyonix has generally managed to strike that particular balance -- no mean feat for a community manager, especially one for a community so inherently unmanageable. He was one of the good guys.We'll likely never know what caused his departure, especially given that there was definitely no horrible public meltdown accompanying this particular exit, but I hope that the move is a positive and fortuitous one for him. Even when I might've disagreed with the Community team at large, I always supported Eyonix. Godspeed, little whelp.