Cataclysm screenshot of the day

The latest Cataclysm screenshot from Blizzard is shown above, featuring another look at Hyjal. Are those marigolds? Do we have any botanists in the house?

If you've missed any of the previous Cataclysm screenshots of the day or you want to see a high-res version of today's screenshot, check out the gallery below.

Call for submissions: The pause that refreshes

What are the absolute best opportunities during a WoW session for grabbing a quick break? Whether you're desperate for a bio break, need to make a brief phone call or simply need a moment to stretch and get a drink, when is the right moment to go AFK when solo, grouped or in a raid? What if you're a raid or event leader -- how do you build in the pause that refreshes?

We're looking for the Top 10 chances to take a break while playing WoW. Submissions should be between 500 and 1,000 words. Artwork is not mandatory, but any you choose to include must be your own work or from creative commons. We will not accept articles submitted under player names or pen names; please use your real name and email. We'll only be accepting the very best article.

Ready to submit? Read up about our guest post program, then sign up for Seed and submit your article here. (You can't see the article page unless you have a Seed account.) Unfortunately, the Seed program currently only allows us to accept submissions from individuals living in the United States; we hope to be able to accept international submissions in the future. We'll accept submissions for this assignment until 11:59 p.m. EST on Thurs., July 1. Good luck and good writing!

The Queue: Patching syndrome

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'm submitting a new disease to the books. It's called "Patching Syndrome." It's where people think something has changed because of the patch even though it hasn't.

That hair style you just discovered last night? It's always been there. Patch 3.3.5 had nothing to do with it.

Pwnzoar asked ...

"Originally, back before Burning Crusade, I remember them announcing that there were going to be racial flying mounts, similar to how we have racial ground mounts. Coupled with that, I remember pictures of an undead dragon that was going to be the Undead flying mount, and it looked epic. Why did they decide to switch that out and go with flying mounts for faction?"

Choose My Adventure: Letters home

Choose the adventures of the WoW.com staff as we level our characters in on Zangarmarsh (US-PVE-H).

Here is the schedule for the rest of the week. Robinemia will do a little bit more nekkid mailbox dancing tonight but is then going to play with fire. So meet at the Orgrimmar bank if you want to join me.

Robin Torres as Robinemia, the undead mage: Wednesday, 11 p.m. EDT
Amy Schley as Patent, the troll rogue: Thursday, 10 p.m. EDT
Fox Van Allen as Foxlight, the blood elf paladin: Friday, 8 p.m. EDT
Michael Sacco as Sahko, the orc warlock, Christian Belt, as Selfloathius, the blood elf warlock, Elizabeth Harper as Faience, the troll shaman, Matthew Rossi as Andrenorton, the troll mage, Michael Gray as Grayfields, the tauren hunter, Adam Holisky as Adammentat, the tauren druid, and Gregg Reece as Yakkowakko, the orc warlock, will be making appearances as they can
Turn the page for a couple of letters home.

E3 2010: Wrap-up

E3 (the Electronic Entertainment Expo for those not in the know) is a constant barrage of light, sound and color -- so much so that it is hard to shape an accurate description for it in mundane words. You simply have to be there; to see and experience the thing for yourself. But since not everyone could be with us at E3 last week, I'll do my best to give you a sense of the event. And even though World of Warcraft didn't make an appearance at this year's expo, I feel safe in saying that E3 had some gaming goodness for everyone.

Check out our galleries from the show floor and join us after the break for the details on the past week's announcements.

Breakfast Topic: When your alt becomes your main

You've raided Icecrown Citadel and killed Arthas. You've got a ranked arena team. Your gear score and achievement score both push 6,000. You're officially elite. Then one day that level 15 gnome rogue you rolled two years ago on a whim starts to call your name. She's got pink pig-tails and the cutest little laugh. Before you know it your little gnome is questing in Outland. Soon you're in Northrend. All of a sudden you're running heroics, and raiding. Now your little gnome is just as leet as your old main.

Back long ago I started a druid for the sole purpose of making leather kits for my guild. At the time I didn't realize that since my main was an enchanter, I made myself redundant because leather kits overwrite enchantments -- but I must have liked my druid. As I leveled that enchanter, a mage, my druid was never far behind. Now both toons are level 80, geared, and at the top of their professions. I honestly don't know which one of them is my main and which is my alt. The only difference is, as a healer, the druid has more utility in raids and heroics.

Have you ever switched mains? What would cause you to switch? Guild needs? Personal preferences? Switching classes? With paid server and faction transfers, a lot of the old reasons for switching toons have gone by the wayside. We want to hear your main switching stories.

Cataclysm screenshot of the day

The latest Cataclysm screenshot from Blizzard is shown above, featuring a look at one of the most horrific creatures in all of Cataclysm. This half-throne, half-peacock monster will be the end of us all -- that, or it's just a normal, everyday inanimate object in the Halls of Origination. The world may never know (until the NDA is lifted).

If you've missed any of the previous Cataclysm screenshots of the day or you want to see a high-res version of today's screenshot, check out the gallery below.

It came from the Blog: Photo Safari target list

Does Mr. Soulscar have really, really cool sideburns or is that part of his hat? If you were in Razor Hill with right now, you'd be able to determine for yourself. Actually, you'd be off getting a head start on the Photo Safari contest. We will be giving away five Tiny and five Slashdance loot cards, courtesy of WoWTCGloot.com, for the best screenshots submitted before 12:01 a.m. PDT Wednesday. We will give one loot card per winning entry on the Photo Safari target list.

We are also accepting submissions for an honorable mention part of the safari. If you take photos of other landmarks located in the zones on the list and they follow the rules for the contest, we will choose the best of those to put in our galleries and will mention you in the contest results post. Woo! E-fame! What? It's something to do while your server is down.

Contest rules and the Photo Safari target list are after the break.

Cataclysm screenshot of the day

The latest Cataclysm screenshot from Blizzard is shown above, featuring a look at Mulgore. Also, pigs. Pigs are cool, right?

If you've missed any of the previous Cataclysm screenshots of the day or you want to see a high-res version of today's screenshot, check out the gallery below.

The Daily Quest: Lulz are the best medicine

Here at WoW.com, we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow! Take a look at the links below, and be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.

It's midnight on a Tuesday and, for many of us, servers are still offline. The woe! The agony! The never-ending boredom! So what's the cure? I propose a steady diet of interesting WoW blogs (back issues of The Daily Quest and the forums on Blog Azeroth are a great place to find them) -- today we'll specifically look at a selection from the lighter side of the blogosphere. They do say laughter is the best medicine, and when you're trying to treat boredom, that's probably right. (And before you have a chance to comment -- yes, some of these links are old. I know! But we haven't linked them before and I happen to think they're rather good.)

4 Haelz shows off some low-tech raiding gear. (Which reminds me more than a little of Fyreuni's Emergency Kindergarten. It must be the crayons.)
Cannot be Tamed thinks up some great new Tree Form cooldowns.
I Like Bubbles always entertains with Flowchart Friday. Recent flowcharts include How To Disc Gunship and Are You Going to Die on This Pull?
Too Many Annas covers the differing species of healers and has previously covered the differing species of tanks.
Still in need of a good laugh? You might try some lolcats or loldogs -- or share your favorite downtime lulz in the comments.

Breakfast Topic: Alt-zheimer's

This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com.

My pally will always stay near and dear to my heart. He's my beloved main, and no other class is ever going to take that coveted position from him. Recently, however, I've found myself leveling a few alts just for the fun of it. I always used to be a one-character kind of guy, so the experience has been new and exciting for me. During these excursions into altoholism, I've learned that I find a death knight's blood DPS -- may it rest in peace -- to be extremely fun to play. I've also learned that healing isn't quite the frightening endeavor I once thought it would be.

However, there are a few other things I've learned during this time, which I'd like to share with you now.


Priests are not tanks, and running head on into the first pack of mobs in a dungeon will likely make one die.
Death knights cannot leap from ridiculous heights with impunity because they do not have Divine Shield.
Paladins cannot Death Grip loose mobs.
It's dangerous to bind Divine Intervention to the same key as Power Word: Fortitude.
Responding to a trade chat ad for Vault of Archavon from a level 45 character will get you ignored rather quickly.

I could go on, but I'll spare you all of my stories of momentary in-game fugue. The point being, bouncing between alts can make it very easy to forget exactly what you're doing at any given time. Of course, the more alts you're leveling at once, the harder it becomes to keep track of each little difference.

For many of us, World of Warcraft is full of moments like these. People jump off of cliffs because they fail to remember that their trusty epic land mount can't fly. Keybind discrepancies lead to interesting mistakes with unintentionally hilarious results. The myriad of abilities offered by the 10 classes can make even the sharpest player forget that some of them exist.

As you may know, the internet is partially fueled on the most renewable resource in existence: embarrassment. So, let's do our part in keeping it powered for one more day. We want to hear your stories of alt-induced failures. While you're at it, let us know if you've got any clever tricks up your sleeve to help the rest of us avoid these symptoms of Alt-zheimer's disease.

Around Azeroth: Trying to reason with hurricane season

Xenikos of on Velen (US-A) is stuck in the eye of the storm. Not the erratically populated battleground, but the natural weather phenomenon -- in this case, caused by a small, localized thunder god. Xenikos writes that after his guildmate Roquan assembled all the parts of Thunderfury, he and the rest of gathered in Silithus for the event. While trying to snap a shot of Thunderaan, he ended up with this picture.

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

Remember to include your player name, server and/or guild if you want it mentioned. Please include the word "Azeroth" in your post so it does not get swept into the spam bin. We strongly prefer full screen shots without the UI showing -- use Alt Z to remove it. Please, no more battleground scoreboards, Val'kyr on mounts or pictures of the Ninja Turtles in Dalaran. Older screenshots can be found here.

Zalazane's Fall official preview released

Many weeks ago we were given an Azeroth Bulletin about Operation Gnomeregan, the gnomes' imminent attempt to recapture their fallen city. Today, from the European community site, comes a preview for Zalazane's Fall. Vol'jin has put out a call to every man and woman capable of lifting a sword (or fireball) to assist him in retaking the Echo Isles.


Embedded on the coast of Durotar, the tiny troll Village of Sen'jin is bursting with recent activity. In what some claim is a retort to the overblown assertions of the vertically-challenged High Tinker Mekkatorque, Troll Chieftain Vol'jin has announced his intention to "honor de ancestors 'n' take back da 'omeland, mon." The call has been given, and the scattered Darkspear tribe has begun to gather at the once-sleepy location. Now the primal rhythm of beating drums and strange clouds of acrid smoke drift aloft deep into the night, arguably a sign of celebration and preparation for an impending offensive.




Head on over to the official site for the full preview and the full, high-res version of the propaganda promotional poster above. It really is enormous. Fit to print, perhaps? In the inspiring words of glorious Vol'jin: "Zalazane will fall!"

Encrypted Text: Weapon speed analysis

Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the rogue class. This week, we discuss the reason we're picky about weapon speeds.

If you've ever played with a hunter, then you know that every weapon is a hunter weapon. Either they need to gear for some special gear set they're working on they're hoping that Blizzard allows them to use maces and wands someday. Polearms, swords and even daggers can all fall prey to their instant need rolls. I'm just happy that they're not allowed to equip their pets with gear à la Diablo II, or else there would be a massive weapon shortage.

Rogues, on the other hand, have very narrow weapon requirements. In most cases, weapon speed can trump nearly any other stat weight, due to specific mechanics that favor a certain type of sword or dagger. While Cataclysm has promised to roll all weapon types into a single, balanced specialization, we are currently forced to pick our instruments of destruction carefully.