World of Warcraft operations in China have apparently hit yet another roadblock -- operator NetEase has suspended new user registrations while it applies for a license to operate the Burning Crusade expansion pack.
In the midst of its transition from operator The9 -- a switch made by Activision Blizzard in order to obtain a more favorable royalty rate -- WoW operations in China have become tangled in a power struggle between two different government groups, who differ on how to regulate online game content. As a result, the game saw a long closed beta and two months' downtime in the region last year before it was at last allowed to re-launch.
Now, according to Reuters, NetEase has decided to re-apply to the General Administration of Press and Publication for a license to operate The Burning Crusade, and will disallow new registrations for a week from Monday, ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
China's Ministry of Culture first approved WoW's relaunch in September 2009, having taken over some of the relevant regulatory responsibilities. However, many of those responsibilities remain the province of GAPP, which demanded the first suspension after the relaunch was greenlit without its input. NetEase has always maintained it never violated any regulations{...}
After further observations of the recent changes made to resilience and healing in PvP, we have made an additional change via an in-game fix so that the PvP healing debuff in Arenas, Battlegrounds, and Wintergrasp now also lowers the effectiveness of Power Word: Shield and Sacred Shield by 10%. The majority of other strong shields or damage absorption mechanics are already affected by the healing change, so we feel this new adjustment is an appropriate step in balancing the effects of resilience versus healing. The ultimate goal is to find a better median between PvP encounters feeling too quick from burst damage, or too long from heals, shields, and absorption effects. We will continue to monitor the way these changes play out and let you know if we feel any further changes are needed. As always, feedback based on your PvP experience with these new changes is welcome.
Since the launch of the World of Warcraft Armory, we've been regularly releasing updates and new features designed to help players stay connected to the game even when they're not logged in. Today, we wanted to give you a heads-up about a new service now in development that will let players access the Auction House directly through the Armory website or Armory App for iPhone or iPod touch.
While there are still plenty of details to be worked out, we're designing the service to offer auction functionality similar to what's available in-game. Players have been requesting -and we've been hoping to implement - a feature like this for a long time, and we're excited that the Armory and the game have evolved to a point that makes it possible.
This is a fairly complex service to develop, due in large part to its unprecedented integration with the game, so we don't have an exact release date yet. It's important to note here that certain elements of the service will be premium-based, which we'll go into more detail on once the service functionality is finalized. As with all of the services we offer, we plan to integrate the Auction House and Armory in a way that won't disrupt the gameplay experience, and we won't release it until it meets the quality standards that we've set for our other features and services. You may be seeing bits and pieces of the Auction House service pop up in the test builds we use for the public test realms as we go through the process of internal testing. We'll have more info to share with you here and at http://www.WorldofWarcraft.com as we get closer to release.
Share your proudest in-game moments with your real-world friends online with the new World Of Warcraft Armory application on Facebook. The app lets you create a custom feed of your characters' activity straight from the Armory, share it with the Facebook community, and view your friends' characters -- all on Facebook.
Once you've set up the app and linked it to your account, your Facebook identity will be associated with up to five characters of your choosing, and the app will generate automatic updates for your accomplishments, such as level gains, achievements, boss kills, and so on. For more information on how the app works, along with some helpful privacy tips, check out the FAQ .
Below you will find the official patch 3.3.2 notes. This patch is being applied while the realms are down for maintenance and will be available for download today. We will provide an update to this thread when the patch process is complete and realms begin coming online.
-Frostwing Halls, the final stronghold of the Scourge and their Lich King, has been added.
Halls of Stone
-Brann Bronzebeard has been getting into shape and now feels comfortable walking faster when escorted.
The Forge of Souls
-The Devourer of Souls will now cast Mirrored Souls less often. -The Spell Reflect ability has been altered on several creatures. It now has a cast time, only has 2 charges, and has a 75% chance of reflecting spells.
The Nexus
-Anomalus will now use the Create Rift ability only once, down from 3 times.
The Old Kingdom
-Elder Nadox now only gets one Ahn'Kahar Guardian during the encounter. -Jadoga Shadowseeker now only ascends once during the encounter. -Several enemies between the Befouled Terrace and The Desecrated Altar have been removed or had their pathing altered.
Pit of Saron
-Players can now zone back into the instance if they are dead while encounters with Krick and Ick or Forgemaster Garfrost are in progress.
Utgarde Pinnacle
-Skadi the Ruthless can now be removed from his drake with 3 harpoon strikes, down from 5. -Svala Sorrowgrave now casts Ritual of the Sword 1 time during the encounter, down from 3.
Vault of Archavon
-Toravon, the latest boss to join the Vault's giants and masters of the elements, is now accepting challengers in 10- and 25-player formats.
With the next Arena season just around the corner, we?d like to give you a preview of the new season 8 armor sets, designed to strike fear into the hearts of your opponents in battle. You can click on the thumbnails above to catch a sneak peek for each set, and you can also click the link below the image to download a high-res version.
Riding on the chill winds that flow around the frozen spires of Icecrown Citadel comes the once-noble steed of Prince Arthas Menethil. Now this beast, raised from its grave, bears the fearsome Lich King on its winged back. Even in undeath, it remains an ever-faithful servant. Learn more of its tainted history here.
As the confrontation with the Lich King draws nearer, fire erupts in the skies above Icecrown Citadel. Skybreaker and Orgrim's Hammer, the flag-flying gunships of the Alliance and Horde, clash near Deathbringer's Rise -- but it wasn?t too long ago that they were just ideas on paper. Read on to find out how our development team built this airborne assault.
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