Month: April 2010

‘Tis the season to announce the winners of our first Holiday Fan Art Calendar Contest! After receiving many creative and inspired submissions from around the world, we’ve chosen the very best of the best works of art that captured the spirit of Azeroth’s various and sundry seasonal events. [more] Congrats to our grand-prize winner, Sumeet Lall, and to our eleven runners-up. Sumeet will receive a Wacom Cintiq 12WX pen input tablet, and all of the winners’ artwork will be featured in the 2011 World of Warcraft Daily Calendar.

You can check out a list of all the winners and their entries in our gallery here.

BlizzCon 2009 premiere product, n00bz are the next generation in unstoppable, totally customizable, huggable(?) Blizzard Entertainment-inspired designer vinyl toys. Programmed to feel love (that they express by never moving, or doing anything, ever), their mission is simple: to dominate your toy shelf and look good doing it. Now available in our online store,
take ‘em home today or turn them into whatever you want!

• n00bz Marine: Ragnaros 6″ Figure
• n00bz Marine: Ghoul 6″ Figure
• n00bz Marine: Murloc 6″ Figure
• n00bz Marine Blank 6″ Figure

Our newest Battle Plan takes a look at the past, present, and future of World of Warcraft as we work toward its third expansion, Cataclysm:

Wrath of the Lich King hit store shelves November 13, 2008 and quickly became the fastest-selling PC game of all time. Since its release, we’ve continued to expand on its content and tell the story of the Lich King and many others who have been touched by the Scourge’s emergence in Azeroth. From the initial release of World of Warcraft to The Burning Crusade, and then again with Wrath of the Lich King, we have steadily learned, grown, and have pushed ourselves to become better designers, and we’d like to take a moment to share with you some of the development team’s recent highlights, as well as a glimpse into the future. As our mission statement says, we continue striving to provide the most epic entertainment experiences ever.

To continue reading, visit the official forums here.

The Blizzard Pet Store has just been updated with a couple of fun new choices that you can get for your characters. Continuing in the theme of cute, miniaturized bosses, we have Lil’ XT, and the Celestial Steed is the first-ever mount to be available through the service. Of course, the Pandaren Monk, Lil’ KT, and the Wind Rider Cub and Gryphon Hatchling plushies are still available there as well. Head over to the Pet Store to see what’s available, or check the FAQ for more information.

As a part of our ongoing coverage of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we now bring you a first look at what’s in store for players levels 78-82 in Vashj’ir, an all-new underwater zone in the Great Sea of Azeroth. The remaining cursed Highborne night elves, now known as the monstrous naga, lurk through the ocean abyss seeking the power contained within the Elemental Plane of water, a place vulnerable to attack in the wake of Deathwing’s cataclysmic return. Read on to find out where fate may lead you should you venture to the sunken city, Vash’jir.

We will be holding our next developer chat on Twitter this Friday, April 16, at 5:00 p.m. PDT with two members of World of Warcraft’s class design team. This chat session will focus on the recently released Cataclysm class previews that you can see here.

Questions will be taken live through Twitter, so be sure to sign up for a Twitter account and follow @Warcraft in order to participate! For more information, visit the forum post.

As a part of our ongoing coverage of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we now bring you a first look at what’s in store for players levels 78-82 in Mount Hyjal, a historic piece of land long shielded by Malfurion Stormrage from adventurers so that the world tree, Nordrassil, could heal.

In the wake of Deathwing’s cataclysmic return, a simple shielding of dense foliage will no longer do the trick. Mount Hyjal now lies exposed to the Elemental Plane of fire, where a very angry Ragnaros plots his revenge against all life on Azeroth. Read on to find out how you must help some of Azeroth’s most legendary heroes, ancients, and demigods in order to save Nordrassil in Mount Hyjal.

Gnomish scribes and goblin designers are hard at work putting together the second epic issue of the World of Warcraft Official Magazine, and you can now see more of the first issue over at www.worldofwarcraftthemagazine.com. We just added an article previewing the changes coming in Cataclysm, including a close-up look at Deathwing, so check it out for an idea of what to expect from the magazine.

Subscribe now to make sure you get issue #2, shipping soon!