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 really couldn’t do The Queue today without talking about StarCraft II. It really is about time that it’s released. The original StarCraft cam out on March 31, 1998; it required a 90 Mhz Pentium and 16 megs of RAM to run on Windows — any iPhone or Android is more powerful than that. What’s even more amazing, though, is that StarCraft I is still widely played and loved by millions of people around the world. People ask when WoW will end; you only need to point them to the 12-year mega success of Blizzard’s second franchise.
The above video is an awesome run-down of the lore in StarCraft I. I highly recommended that you watch it today before you sit down and play through the single-player campaign.
Babaloo asked:
“How much damage do you do in Cataclysm? Because Deathwing has 858 Million HP.”
While Captain Kirk and the original crew of the Enterprise had an initial five-year mission to explore the cosmos, Star Trek Online players have had a mere six months to do the same. In this span of time, a lot has happened for STO — some good, some bad, some controversial, and some radically different. As the game heads into its second six-month tour of duty, executive producer Dan Stahl threw open the doors for STO’sSeason 2.0 update, entitled “Ancient Enemies.”
In the latest State of the Game report, Stahl looks back at the additions, changes and accomplishments of the STO team since launch. The bullet point list he lays out is impressive indeed, listing 32 big ticket items that have been implemented into the game. He then looks at the immediate present with the launch of Season 2.0, which Stahl sees as a direct response to player requests and demands. “Season Two is filled with additional features and updates that you asked for, and in some cases even helped us design, specifically minigames,” Stahl writes.
Finally, the State of the Game looks at the future of the title and the many improvements that are slated for delivery, including an upgrade to ground combat, more ship options for both factions and rethinking exploration. You can read Dan Stahl’s full State of the Game report over at Star Trek Online’s site.
Reactivation weekend! Waitwut… Okay so I admit I had no idea what that means either.
Reactivation Weekend!
Greetings Daevas,
Tell your friends, family, and former Legion mates about the upcoming “Double Your Fun” reactivation weekend! All inactive Aion accounts will be reactivated to coincide with this weekend’s incoming Double XP goodness.
During this weekend of double fun, you can enjoy playing with friends you haven’t seen for aeons and level up twice as fast as usual!
The Reactivation and Double XP Weekends start and end at the same time, as found below:
Starts: Friday, July 30, 2010 at 8 a.m. PDT ,11 a.m. EDT, and Saturday July 31, 2010 at 1 a.m. AEST.
Ends:Monday, August 2, 2010 at 3 p.m. PDT ,6 p.m. EDT, and Tuesday August 3, 2010 at 8 a.m. AEST.
– The Aion Community Team
So, free play for a weekend AND double exp. Groovy. Time to get all your friends who aren’t subbed to come back!
After grabbing my copy of the Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Collector's Edition, I unwrapped the box and took screenshots of its content, including a few pages from the Art Book, the Comic Book # 0, and the Brady Games Starcraft II Strategy Guide CE.
The Art Book contains never seen before concept art of the naked Kerrigan scene, and the Brady Games Strategy Guide contains a spoiler of the mission that leads to the naked Kerrigan cinematic.
There are other favorites of mine like the interior of a Zerg Structure, two concept art of Gabriel Tosh never seen before, and a Diablo II-like concept art that resembles the valley of the Seven Tombs.
Take a look at the complete set of 59 Screenshots. Blog
If you can read this news post, you’re probably not playing Starcraft 2 because just like me, you suck at RTS games. I like you, let’s hug in Dalaran! Also, it looks like we will move to new servers very soon and I’ll try to keep you updated on the situation.
Raid Weapons Previews
Let’s start the day with previews of raid weapons models from Cataclysm! Keep in mind that these shots are from a modelviewer and might not be 100% representative of the final in-game model. (Well, 90% of the time they are fine)
Cataclysm Video – Mulgore
Another video from TotalBiscuit today, with a short tour of the revamped Mulgore in Cataclysm!
PS: I’m always looking for more videos, don’t hesitate to send me a PM about it. Nice videos, of course. And please, don’t post 10 mins+ videos in multiple parts if your youtube account doesn’t support it, I can’t really post that without making super-long news posts.
We will be forgoing our standard weekly maintenance on World of Warcraft realms this week, and do not have any planned downtime scheduled. Have fun!
BlizzCon 2010 Virtual Ticket Now On Sale
Originally Posted by Nethaera
(Source)
Want to experience the panel discussions, tournaments, game-related announcements, and all the excitement of BlizzCon from the comfort of your own home? The BlizzCon Virtual Ticket multi-channel Internet stream ( http://blizzcon.rayv.com/ ) is now available to order around the world for .95 USD (pricing may vary by region). In addition, new DIRECTV subscribers in the United States who sign up for DIRECTV service between now and September 24 through http://www.blizzard.directv.com/ will receive this year’s BlizzCon Virtual Ticket coverage for free. Existing DIRECTV customers will be able to purchase the event on DIRECTV Pay Per View for .95 beginning October 9.
Anyone who orders the event will also receive this year’s BlizzCon-exclusive World of Warcraft in-game item. In addition, for the first time, BlizzCon 2010 Virtual Ticket holders will have access to exclusive BlizzCon merchandise.
The StarCraft IncGamers launch event gallery has swollen to a massive 140 shots so far this evening, We have just added more shots from the Stockholm event and community member Warnico has also added a few shots from events in Rotterdam. We’ll add more as we get them from other locations.
Did you go to an event? Want to simply show how much you love your new boxed copy? Add your shots to the launch event gallery. Blog
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.
Either you’re in the beta or you’re not — but regardless of whether or not you’ve gotten the golden ticket (so to speak), there’s still plenty to read about regarding the upcoming Cataclysm expansion:
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! Be sure to check out our WoW Resources Guide for more WoW-related sites.
With Starcraft 2 literally just around the corner, it’s certainly important to understand just what has been going on in the Starcraft universe, from before the start of the first game until now. Thankfully, we’ve got you covered with an in-depth synopsis of the story. Even if you haven’t played through Starcraft, you will know exactly what ties into where as you delve into Jim Raynor’s story in Wings of Liberty.
Note: This article contains massive spoilers of the original game’s story. Starcraft‘s story begins a long time before the Terrans ever make it to the Koprulu sector. The Xel’Naga, a space-faring race of genetic scientists, decide that they are out to create the perfect species and begin to fiddle in the genetics of two species. One race, whose native planet is Aiur, develops intense psionic abilities. The other, whose home planet is Char, develops into a hive-mind society that assimilates biological material. Shortly after the creation of the hive mind, many of the Xel’Naga are forcibly assimilated by their own creation, leading to the Zerg. While this occurs, the Protoss go through a period of inter-clan warfare as they develop their methods, with the end result being the exile of all who use the Void as power and the formation of a central Protoss government.
Things are relatively peaceful, with skirmishes between the Protoss and Zerg, until the Terrans arrive in the sector. The Terrans are actually a group of criminal colonists, forced into colony ships as the first test subjects for space colonization. When diverted off course, they end up at the edge of Protoss space, where the Protoss bemusedly watch them develop from scratch and form the Confederacy of Man. Cut off from contact with Earth, the Confederacy is a loose collection of colonies, with a few dominating the rest. In one incident, the planet of Korhal is nuked by the Condfederacy, leading to the formation of a rebel group by the name of the Sons of Korhal. Their leader, Arcturus Mengsk, lost his parents in the nuclear devastation, and swore vengeance against the Confederacy.
At the beginning of Starcraft, reports of strange creatures have been pouring in at the colony of Mar Sara. A short time before, a strange alien fleet (the Protoss) showed up in the orbit of Chau Sara and bombarded the planet from orbit, killing anything and everything. Jim Raynor, a marshal on Mar Sara, fights to protect the colonists against both the encroaching Zerg threat and the tyranny of the Confederacy. He ends up joining the Sons of Korhal and discovers that the Confederacy was testing a new psionic weapon on Mar Sara that could lure the Zerg, which is what led to the infestation. Furious, he helps Mengsk use the same weapon against the Confederacy’s home planet. However, Mengsk betrays his second-in-command, Kerrigan, and leaves her to the Zerg as Tarsonis falls. Raynor quits the Sons of Korhal in disgust and takes a small army of loyalists with him.
Instead of being killed by the Zerg, Kerrigan is absorbed into the fold. She is a Ghost, which means that she is a psychically-gifted assassin. This is exactly what the Zerg wanted from the Terrans, and is why the psionic emitters were so effective. As she matures in both psionic power and strength, the Zerg are attacked by the Protoss with the help of their long-lost bretheren. The Dark Templar are the only ones that can kill a cerebrate, as only the energy of the Void can prevent their reincarnation. As they kill it, though, the minds of the killer (Zeratul) and the Overmind are linked, giving the Overmind the location of Aiur. Given the possibility to assimilate the Protoss over the Terrans, the Overmind initiates an invasion of Aiur and manages to embed itself into Aiur despite continued Protoss defensive measures.
Faced with assimilation or extinction, the Protoss band together with the Dark Templar to take out the Overmind. To do so, however, they are forced into a civil war between the judicator caste and the templar caste. When the Dark Templar prove themselves up to the task of killing Zerg, the templar caste backs down, and Tassadar mounts a final assault on the Overmind. After breaking through its defenses with the help of Jim Raynor’s forces, Tassadar merged the energies of the Void with his own and his ship, destroying himself in a cataclysmic explosion and completely disintegrating the Overmind. This leaves the Zerg forces on Aiur in complete disarray.
While the Overmind was killed, the threat of the Zerg was not removed. The Protoss evacuate – with help from Raynor – from Aiur through portals to Shakuras, homeworld of the Dark Templar. There they discover that the Zerg followed them, and are forced to activate an ancient Xel’Naga temple with the ability to wipe the Zerg from the surface. However, this assists the newly-liberated Kerrigan in her end goal of taking over the Zerg, which leads to a rebellion of many of the refugees. By activating the temple, the Dark Templar eliminate a number of important cerberates, allowing Kerrigan to gain dominion over more of the Zerg. Despite knowing this, the Dark Templar activate the temple after putting down the rebellion, leading to the accomplishment of Kerrigan’s goals. They do this because of the growth of a new Overmind on Char, which will soon replace Kerrigan as the leader of the Zerg.
During this, the United Earth Directorate, or UED, has finally made it to the Koprulu sector. Tasked with pacifying the locals and bringing the Terran Dominion under their control, the UED begins systematically attacking and conquering of Dominion facilities. During this, they find a psi disruptor: a device that can jam Zerg communications. The major native liason to the UED, Samir Duran, urges the destruction of the device, but he is thwarted by the task force’s Vice Admiral, Alexei Stukov. After conquering the Dominion homeworld, the Admiral Gerard DuGalle chases Mengsk and Raynor to Aiur, but is stymied by the combined efforts of the Dominion, Zerg, and Protoss. Thanks to Samir Duran’s sudden withdrawal, which was immediately followed by a zerg attack, the natives of the Koprulu sector are spared. Shortly afterward, Alexei Stukov is branded a traitor for constructing a psi disruptor on Braxis, and killed by Duran under the orders of Dugalle. Before dying, Stukov reveals that Duran is a traitor, and Duran flees after his attempt to destroy the psi disruptor is ruined. Despite losing his best friend and second-in-command, DuGalle takes the disruptor, assaults Char, and subverts the baby Overmind to his will.
With the Overmind controlled by the UED, the Zerg begin to turn on Kerrigan, forcing her to make an alliance with the Protoss and Terran remnants. This alliance proceeds to destroy the psi disruptor, which restores Kerrigan’s control over the Zerg, and then assault Korhal to annihilate the occupying UED force. There Kerrigan betrays her allies and kills both Fenix and Edmund Duke, two important members of the remnant forces. Shortly afterward, she goes to Shakuras and brainwashes the Dark Templar matron Raszagal, forcing her to send Zeratul to kill the baby Overmind. Once the Overmind is killed, Zeratul kills Raszagal to free her from Kerrigan’s influence and departs Char. As he does so, he stumbles across a secret research facility constructed by Samir Duran to create a Protoss/Zerg hybrid. Shortly after leaving, Char is assaulted by the Dominion, UED, and Protoss forces. Despite being outnumbered and heavily outgunned, Kerrigan wipes out the UED remnants and forces the Protoss and Dominion fleets to retreat, leaving the Zerg as the most powerful faction in the sector.
Four years later, Jim Raynor is reduced to working the odd mercenary job to put food on his plate. He works through the flagship Hyperion, which was stolen during the previous wars. After getting his forces ruined at Char, Arcturus Mengsk retreated back to Terran space to lick his wounds and rebuild. Bafflingly, Kerrigan has gone completely silent, leaving her enemies alone and in the dark about her current activities. Despite having the upper hand over the other races in the sector, Kerrigan doesn’t move to annihilate or assimilate them. This is where Starcraft 2 picks up, and the rest is for you to find out!
The latest Cataclysmscreenshot from Blizzard is shown above. This is clearly a goblin harbor, which makes it about the most awesome place on the planet.
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 image, check out the gallery below.
More launch event videos for you, one from the launch in Brisbane Australia which includes a CE unboxing and another shot in moscow as fans ready for release.
There are several reasons people disliked Stranglethorn Vale in vanilla WoW. I could go into detail about the confusion that The Green Hills of Stranglethorn presents to new players. I could tell you about the lack of coherent direction in questing. I could harp on the horrors of the multiple quests with low drop rates. I could spend an entire article just talking about the amount of running around you have to do.
Alternatively, I could just tell you that it’s all fixed in Cataclysm — all of it. The usual caveats apply: this is spoiler-heavy, some stuff is incomplete and it’s from an Alliance perspective.
The first thing you should know, if you don’t already, is that Stranglethorn Vale has been split in two by a gigantic whirlpool, dividing it into Northern Stranglethorn and the Cape of Stranglethorn.
Join the Dominion was a Blizzard media campaign that included fan participation – submitting propaganda posters as well as taking a Terran military entrance exam. The campaign’s focus was the gradually unlocked StarCraft-related media content in the form of inspirational posters, StarCraft 2 story trailer videos, music from the game, and various propaganda items. We’re going to go over all the unlockables in this post, summarizing the entire campaign for your viewing pleasure!
To start, go ahead and get a good feel of the campaign by taking the entrance exam, which will assign you to your duty in the service of the Terran Dominion. Are you a skilled Viking pilot or more of a suicidal Firebat? Better find out before StarCraft 2 is released!
After finding out about your future role in the Terran military, check out this awesome gallery of StarCraft 2 posters:
Download some StarCraft 2 ringtones and SMS alerts:
Lastly, brace yourself for three amazing StarCraft 2 videos. The first two detail the story so far: the Terrans’ arrival at the Koprulu sector, the Protoss’ attempt to eradicate the Zerg, Kerrigan’s transformation into the Queen of Blades, and the events leading up to the beginning of StarCraft 2.
The last video is also the newest trailer for StarCraft 2 we’ve posted recently, combining stunning pre-rendered animation with in-game scenes seamlessly to create one of the best hype trailers ever, just in time for StarCraft 2′s imminent release!
In just a few hours, the wait will be over. Some may have needed the hype machine, but they had most of us at “StarCraft 2″.
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more.
I’ve been reading an anthropological analysis of the World of Warcraft for an upcoming 15 Minutes of Fame that talks about the game as an “active aesthetic experience,” a collective expression in which the participation of all is key to the entire experience. One of the things I’m most looking forward to talking about with the author is the incredible creative energy that WoW breathes into so many talented artists, writers, crafters and musicians. From WoW-themed arts and crafts that tickle our fancies to re-imaginings of the very artistic underpinnings of the game soundtrack and art itself, the World of Warcraft has inspired so many people across the world.
While obviously we could invite you to scroll through our backlog of World of WarCrafts columns (and indeed, if you’re interested in any sort of creative effort, we think you should), we decided to make things simple. We’d like to invite you to our new resource guide, Arts and crafts in WoW. From how-to instructions for arts and crafts, to recipe “strats” bringing you the flavors of Azeroth, to soundtracks and artwork and fan fic and more, we’ve gathered the best of our galleries and in-depth features together in one place. We hope you find it as enjoyable and inspirational as we do … Welcome to the sights and sounds of the community of World of Warcraft!
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including arts and crafts, fan art, WoW-themed recipes, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by emailing lisa@wow.comwith your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.
We recently had a chance to sit down and talk with the new executive producer about his work on Star Trek Online, the game’s strengths and weaknesses, and where development is headed for the future. There’s a new direction in store for the game, or perhaps it’d be more apt to say a new focus. If you’re interested in the game’s past and future, or even just in the various rumors that started flying about the game going free-to-play, take a look past the break for the full interview.
You’ll have the chance to meet the staff and developers at this StarCraft 2 midnight launch and grovel at their feet. Here’s WHEN and, most importantly, WHERE:
North America:
When: July 26th, 21:00 with members of the StarCraft 2 development team.
Where: “Fry’s Electronics”, 10800 Kalama River Avenue, Fountain Valley, CA 92708
UK, London:
When: July 26th, 22:30 with Carl Chimes, Lead Software Engineer, StarCraft II
Where: “Game Start Here”, 100 Oxford Street, London, W1D 1LL
Germany, Berlin:
When: July 26th, 22:30 with Rob McNaughton, Lead Technical Artist, StarCraft II
Where: “Media Markt”, Berlin-Mitte, Grunerstraße 20, 10179 Berlin
Brazil:
When: July 26th, 22:00 with Pausto de Martini from StarCraft II Cinematics
Where: “Saraiva”, Shopping Mall Morumbi, Av. Roque Petroni Jr, 1.089 – Morumbi São Paulo
Mexico:
When: July 26th, 20:00 with Salvador Arditti (Cinematics) & Santiago Baranda (Community Manager)
Where: “Game Rush”, Avenida Universidad # 697, Colonia del Valle, Ciudad de Mexico
Moscow:
When: July 26th, 20:00 with Tony Hsu, Game Producer, StarCraft II
Where: “Media Markt”, Moscow, 119334, Prospekt Vernadskogo 6, Trade Center “Capitoliy”
France, Paris:
When: July 26th, 19:30 with Dustin Browder, Game Director, StarCraft II
Where: “Fnac”, 74, av. des Champs-Elysées, 75008 Paris
Singapore:
When: 27.07.2010 10:00AM with Brian Kindregan, Lead Writer, StarCraft II
Where: “Funan DigitaLife” Mall, 109 North Bridge Road, Singapore, 179097
Sweden, Stockholm:
When: July 26th, 19:00 with Chris Sigaty, Production director, StarCraft II
Where: “Webhallen”, Sveavägen 39, 111 34 Stockholm
Romania:
Just kidding about this last part. He, he, he…
As a side note, if you can’t make it at Blizzard’s official StarCraft 2 midnight launch, it’s almost certain that you will be able to make it to one of more than 3,000 events that are being held at GameStop stores in the US.
StarCraft II will still go on sale at midnight, but beforehand people who wait to get their copy of the highly acclaimed RTS sequel can participate in costume contests, art contests and other events. GameStop will also give away prizes such as 250$ GameStop cards, the collector’s version of StarCraft II and a trip to BlizzCon 2010. One last “Hell, it’s about time!” then counting down the hours…
Site and Contents Copyright 2003-2010 All Rights Reserved All information is for intellectual information and taultunleashed is a news source sharing the latest and greatest. Taultunleashed is not affiliated with any gaming company. If you are associated with any gaming company directly or indirectlys please leave now.
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! Be sure to check out our 
Starcraft‘s story begins a long time before the Terrans ever make it to the Koprulu sector. The Xel’Naga, a space-faring race of genetic scientists, decide that they are out to create the perfect species and begin to fiddle in the genetics of two species. One race, whose native planet is Aiur, develops intense psionic abilities. The other, whose home planet is Char, develops into a hive-mind society that assimilates biological material. Shortly after the creation of the hive mind, many of the Xel’Naga are forcibly assimilated by their own creation, leading to the Zerg. While this occurs, the Protoss go through a period of inter-clan warfare as they develop their methods, with the end result being the exile of all who use the Void as power and the formation of a central Protoss government.
At the beginning of Starcraft, reports of strange creatures have been pouring in at the colony of Mar Sara. A short time before, a strange alien fleet (the Protoss) showed up in the orbit of Chau Sara and bombarded the planet from orbit, killing anything and everything. Jim Raynor, a marshal on Mar Sara, fights to protect the colonists against both the encroaching Zerg threat and the tyranny of the Confederacy. He ends up joining the Sons of Korhal and discovers that the Confederacy was testing a new psionic weapon on Mar Sara that could lure the Zerg, which is what led to the infestation. Furious, he helps Mengsk use the same weapon against the Confederacy’s home planet. However, Mengsk betrays his second-in-command, Kerrigan, and leaves her to the Zerg as Tarsonis falls. Raynor quits the Sons of Korhal in disgust and takes a small army of loyalists with him.
Faced with assimilation or extinction, the Protoss band together with the Dark Templar to take out the Overmind. To do so, however, they are forced into a civil war between the judicator caste and the templar caste. When the Dark Templar prove themselves up to the task of killing Zerg, the templar caste backs down, and Tassadar mounts a final assault on the Overmind. After breaking through its defenses with the help of Jim Raynor’s forces, Tassadar merged the energies of the Void with his own and his ship, destroying himself in a cataclysmic explosion and completely disintegrating the Overmind. This leaves the Zerg forces on Aiur in complete disarray.
With the Overmind controlled by the UED, the Zerg begin to turn on Kerrigan, forcing her to make an alliance with the Protoss and Terran remnants. This alliance proceeds to destroy the psi disruptor, which restores Kerrigan’s control over the Zerg, and then assault Korhal to annihilate the occupying UED force. There Kerrigan betrays her allies and kills both Fenix and Edmund Duke, two important members of the remnant forces. Shortly afterward, she goes to Shakuras and brainwashes the Dark Templar matron Raszagal, forcing her to send Zeratul to kill the baby Overmind. Once the Overmind is killed, Zeratul kills Raszagal to free her from Kerrigan’s influence and departs Char. As he does so, he stumbles across a secret research facility constructed by Samir Duran to create a Protoss/Zerg hybrid. Shortly after leaving, Char is assaulted by the Dominion, UED, and Protoss forces. Despite being outnumbered and heavily outgunned, Kerrigan wipes out the UED remnants and forces the Protoss and Dominion fleets to retreat, leaving the Zerg as the most powerful faction in the sector.
