Here's another round up of the popular threads from the last few days. Remember, if you see a thread which you feel should be brought to everyone's attention, drop me a PM!:

• Is everyone leveling professions for their DK?: Bothering to level professions with your DK, or just racing to 80?
  
• Completely Removing Ingame Chat?: Would you like everyone to just shut up sometimes?
  
• I'm back, after being away for 5 months...: Yep, rgirty's back! What does he need to know to get back into playing his Priest and Mage after being away for 5 months?
  
• Anyones account get hacked lately?: There's a lot of it going around, make sure you're not affected.
  
• Invest in Frost Lotus?: Is it worth stocking up on raiding mats before raiding starts in earnest?
  
• What is the funniest 'bio' quest: Yes, poop quests are back with a vengeance in WotLK. Do they just gross you out, or do you find them amusing?
  
• What is your favourite WotLK 5-man so far?: You've had a bit more time now, any favourites coming through?
  
• Tanking and specs: Do Death Knights even need to spec Frost to tank? Not from what I've seen...

One of the many advantages to playing on a Role Play server is that you get events like the Annual Winter Veil Ball on the European RP server Argent Dawn. I was lucky enough to attend the last one, and it was even better than I'd imagined. There was a real party atmosphere, almost everyone obeyed the RP rules (with the exception of the odd fool), and it was a good two or three hours full of entertainment. In fact, it made such an impression on me that I'm now in the process of transferring all my characters from a PvP server to AD.

If you've never seen an RP event, you should start off with a cracker like this and you're in luck, because it's not long until the next one. The organiser, Créek, announced the 3rd Annual Winter Veil Ball today, which will take place on 28th December in Ironforge. I'll be there on my main character, so if you want to roll an alt for the evening and check out the festivities, I'll see you there! Read all about it after the break:

Ghostcrawler commented on a question about tanking on the official forums. Apparently people think it's way too easy since the expansion. I avoid tanking at all costs, so I can't comment, but what do you veteran tanks think; has tanking lost its challenge?

	Blizzard Quote: (Source)
	We definitely wanted to make tanking, especially 5-player dungeons and the introductory raids, a little easier. We also wanted to improve the AE-tanking capabilities of all tanks. We don't think the threat game is what is fun about tanking. It's a largely invisible and confusing number that traditionally required a mod in order to be tracked. We do want tanks to care about threat (or else they just stack mitigation and blame threat on the rogue) and we want them to care about dps too. Remember that the old Naxx was the pinnacle of 40-player raiding. The new Naxx was designed to be more like Karazhan, or even a litle easier, considering that some of the Kara fights (the dragons, Prince and Aran in particular) required a lot of coordination. Ulduar and subsequent raids will be a step up in difficulty, and I would also expect to see a lot more of the "hard mode" challenges, like "3 drakes up." We want to give players a chance to really test their mettle and have "server first" mean something and all that. We just want to do it without shutting 90% of players out of the instances -- arguably one of the coolest aspects of the game considering all of the customized art and sound -- and especially not the first couple of raids. If we're having this conversation about Icecrown, then I would admit we have a problem.

If you like your story lines that come from Lore, check out this video from Erunno. He hasn't used fancy video editing, just wow model viewer and a great idea to go along with it. Here's Erunno's description, watch the video after the break:

Harandil, a member of the Kirin Tor was captured and held captive in the Dark Iron prison deep in Blackrock Mountain for unknown reasons. He refused the help of an unknown demon but after years of captivity he gave up and accepted a Blood pact with him. With the demons powers flowing trough him, he devestated the prison complex and saved three other prisoners, one of them is an old friend, the paladin Varyon.
Each with his own reasons joined Harandil, who's goal is to get more information about his captivity from General Angerforge.
Meanwhile the Blackrock Orcs, commanded by Rend Blackhand, are preparing themselfs for a massive assault on the Dwarven city as requested by Lord Victor Nefarius.

Don't forget to catch up on your WoW comics from the weekend. As always, there's the latest episode of Teh Gladiators, where we find out what happened to poor old Trevor, then Dark Legacy takes a look at one of the many epic quest lines, this time one from Zul'Drak.

We are currently holding a live chat to discuss the recently released WoW book: Night of the Dragon. Feel free to check it out and contribute to the conversation, ask questions, or just watch.

Read more about it here.

Blizzard certainly don't have any worries about their finances, even in the current economical climate. This is good news for those of us who enjoy their games, but it's also good for smaller companies who are associated with Blizzard. With well known retailers and manufacturers going into receivership all around us, a little business in Florida with 14 employees is flourishing, and no doubt their ties to Blizzard are partly to thank for it.

Epic Weapons are the people who make and sell Frostmourne, the real-life replica of Arthas' infamous runeblade. Collectors can buy the sword from their site for $379 now, but the #1 Frostmourne sold in an auction for more than $20,000. Epic Weapons also sell other replica items from films and TV shows, and their revenue for this year is expected to exceed $2 million.

"We believe the gaming industry is very logical" said Michael Hawkins, chairman of Epic Weapons. "We take something from inside a game and make it real."

After such a roaring success, can we expect to see another replica sword from the game any time soon, and if so, which sword will it be? Remember this story we ran not long ago? In August, Blizzard took out the patent to sell none other than Ashbringer, the sword that will almost certainly have a key part in bringing the Lich King down. Get saving those pennies...

Read the full interview with Epic Weapons over on FloridaToday.com.

Blizzard have really pulled out all the stops with the music in Wrath of the Lich King. The first time we got a good chance to listen to it was in the cinematic. That chilling vocal as Arthas makes his way to Sindragosa's Fall is enough to make the hairs stand up on the back of anyone's neck, and that's just on a computer screen. Take it from me, when you see it on a full-size cinema screen with booming sound, like in the opening ceremony at BlizzCon 2008, it pretty much chokes you up (even if you're not a huge fan of the cinematic itself). The theme continues in the expansion, every zone has its own distinct yet fitting soundtrack, which is instantly recognisable after a short time spent in game.

Does everyone appreciate it though? I know several people who have their own music pumping out of their headphones as they level or PvP, it seems almost the norm nowadays. Personally, I enjoy the sounds of the game and the atmosphere each zone theme creates.

How about you, do you soak up the in-game sounds and music as you play, or drown it out with heavy rock or maybe a bit of drum'n base?

Just a reminder that you have until tomorrow night to submit links to your Wrath of the Lich King videos; you could win some fantastic Razer goodies! Read more about the competition below, but get sending those links!

Lich King First Impressions Movie - By IncGamers and Razer.
Specifically for those of you that wanted a competition which didn’t involve designing something, a screen shot contest, or just adding a comment in a thread, Razer have come up with an idea for a video contest. We want you to make a video that shows off your first impressions of the expansion. Maybe it’s your first trip to Northrend, or your first steps as a Death Knight, we want to see a movie which captures the excitement and wonder of the new content. How you do that is up to you. No specialist expensive software is required, you can use something free like WeGame to capture and upload the footage.

Here are the rules: For all video submissions, the contestant has to include an “IncGamers” and “Powered by Razer” logo with his or her video. We will choose the three videos which best relate to our contest title. The 1st prize will be a Razer Lachesis and Razer Destructor, 2nd & 3rd will be a Razer DiamondBack 3G.You have until the end of the month, that’s Sunday 30th of November, which gives you plenty of time to get the game, explore, capture footage and post up your videos. Send links to your uploaded entries .

EDIT: The addition of the Razer & Incgamers logos is now optional, we don’t want to put off the lesser experienced of you out there

World of Warcraft: Night of the Dragon is the long-awaited follow-up to Warcraft: Day of the Dragon. Richard A. Knaak fleshed out a set of intermingled events that keep you reading in expectation of what would happen next. Danger lurks everywhere. Without, but even more within Grim Batol. Back on 2001, when Warcraft: Day of the Dragon hit bookstores, World of Warcraft was still in early development. The author had to rely on his skills, Chris Metzen (VP of Creative Design) and the dubbed Warcraft Bible to write Day of the Dragon.

With World of Warcraft now reaching its 4th Anniversary, Richard A. Knaak was able to take advantage of the geography and fauna of Azeroth. From Ratchet's goblins and Bloodsail Buccaneer pirates to Wetlands' dangerous oozes, crocolisks and raptors.

Day of the Dragon ... Night of the Dragon ... The first question that comes to mind with the cliché title is ... Has Deathwing returned, is he alive? Everything seems to point out the Earth-Warder is behind what transpires in the story. Yet the answer is continuously evaded and prolonged. That question is not answered well until the very end of the novel.

The story has a few well-known characters converging into the same location individually and separately. Each with their own mission and goal. Iridi is a draenei priestess sent from Exodar to retrieve something that has been stolen to them by a Blood Elf, after murdering her draenei companion. Her second mission is ... to find and destroy a nether dragon. The fake trails that set her looking all around Kalimdor for the blood elf came to an end, as she picks on the rightful trail and seeks to secure transportation in Ratchet. Her destination ... Menethil Harbor.

Vereesa Windrunner comes to Wetlands for motives of her own. Her twin offsprings were almost kidnapped by a blood elf she knows very well, in an attempt to sate his thirst for magic. She won't be at ease or sleep well for as long as the blood elf remains loose out there. Her hunting, incredibly, brings her to that dreaded place she fought at during the second war. Grim Batol.

More of the review here

We've just finished updating our content pages with two new additions. You can now check out the full loot tables for Ahn'kahet: The Old Kingdom, and The Violet Hold. The listings include Heroic drops. Check them out by clicking the links below!



As always, we're grateful for contributors to our content pages. We like to keep our community up to date on everything WoW, so if you'd like to join us and help out,

More reviews for you today, the first comes from Videogamer who are just the latest site to bestow praise on the expansion. PC Zone magazine also recently issued their review which scored the game an 86/100 according to Gamerankings. This is actually the lowest score for the game yet. It's not a low score by any means, but they obviously had a few issues with WotLK.

The World of Warcraft: Night of the Dragon novel by Richard A. Knaak hit bookstores on November 18. It's been nearly two weeks, and most fans have read through the book. Lore fans are invited to discuss the book's storyline and to share opinions and ideas. We will peel off this novel to analyze what it may foreshadow to the lore and to World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King (MMO). Unconfirmed rumor might be spawn from this novel that the next content patch could be a Grim Batol dungeon.

There are a few details in the novel that clearly marks the time-frame the events happen in. Anveena's sacrifice at the Sunwell Plateau is mentioned by an angry Kalecgos who shoved it at Krasus, blaming him.

This is mostly a fans chat with full spoilers. Only attend if you have read the book, or don't mind spoilers, or the book won't be available in your country for a long time and you wish to learn more of its content.

The fans chat will take place on Sunday, November 30 at 1:00 pm EST (New York) or 6pm (UK).

With the launch of WotLK, many people have returned to the game. For someone who hasn't played in a few months, there are many changes to face when logging back in. In a recent forum thread by a returning player, Twoflower, Shellar, Clevins and many more of you put together a list of some things they ought to know:

• Achievements!
  
• +heal is gone, spellpower is in its place.
  
• You can only consume one pot of ANY type during a fight.
  
• There are various glyphs which modify spells. Glyphs are created by the Inscription profession.
  
• Downranking? Gone. Well, technically not, but lower ranks of a spell cost the same or more mana for less effect
  
• Death Knights are here!
  
• Spellpushback changed : you can only get pushed back twice now, you are immune after the second push back.
  
• All tank classes can AoE tank now. Forget cc in leveling instances.
  
• New flying is from lvl 77.
  
• Lvl 70-71 instances : Utgarde keep does not have prequests, you can pick up 2 quests just at the entrance. The nexus does have 3 long quest chains to do before you go in, I'd say 2-3 hours till you have all the quests that lead in there. the nexus quest chains start just at the flying point where you land.
  
• Despite many cool little changes, generally the classes play the same.
  
• Dont rush for lvl 80, there is not much to do yet. only 3 raids, and they are all pushovers. enjoy the questing.
  
• A number of spells that couldn't crit before are now capable of doing so. For Mages, this includes Blizzard. For priests, it's Mind Flay. Furthermore, Shadowform now increases the damage from all DoTs by a percentage equal to the priest's crit chance.
  
• Player-cast raid buffs have been consolidated. With a couple of exceptions, any buff that can be placed by one class/spec can also be cast by another, and buffs of the same type don't stack (for example, Battle Shout shares a 'buff slot' with Blessing of Might)
  
• Pretty much all group buffs are now raidwide (this includes totems, auras, drums and Bloodlust). VE and PoH healing are notable exceptions to this.
  

What else would you tell someone who was returning to WoW now after a break?

The Archavon encounter was trivial due to the quality of the items for PvP users giving players very powerful gear too often. Interestingly, Blizzard did not address this by reducing the quality of the gear stats, as the fans had demanded. Instead the encounter difficulty was increased, and the reset timer was extended. Some may find this more adequate and fitting a decision than the former. Slorkuz said at the WoW-Europe forums the following:

	Blizzard Quote: