I'll keep you posted. <shakes violently from withdrawals>

Update: The servers should be up within the hour. =)

Best of luck to you all! The final product will be reformatted and hosted on Infoceptor once the strategies get well under way, so keep an eye out. Until then, frequent the threads to keep up to date.

As far as beta testing goes, Blizzard has slapped up two new forums for us to enjoy; Quest Spoilers and PvP Discussion. I'll leave it to you to figure out what each forum is for.

The new realm is up, amongst the plethora of new additions and changes, and so our questing begins anew. Infoceptor has decided to remain on the horde this phase, on the PvP server. I'll be playing an Undead warrior, AlienInfection will be playing an Undead Priest, 2xtreme21 is an Undead Rogue and Wyverngod will be playing an Undead Mage. If you'd like to join us as we harass the Alliance, feel free to get in touch with any of us; just click our respective names.

Hope to see you online!

• Blink was removed from the mage
• All Shock Spells that the shaman now deal around 20% less damage.
• Mages can now conjure mana gems for instant mana regeneration.
• Learning to ride costs 100 Skill Points.
• Characters have an increased polygon count.
• Specifically, female breasts have been enlarged... hmm, wonder who suggested that?
• Druids can no longer wield two handed weapons or axes.
• Some skills, such as the Rogue's Stealth and Pickpocket now auto-level as you level, there's no need to practice them.
• The experience required to level has been increased.
• Tracking skills can now been trained using skill points, allowing you to see monsters you're tracking on the mini-map.
• Almost all green items are bind on equip.
• Each mail costs 30 copper.

Found that useful? Hope so!

The new World of WarCraft patch has just gone live this instance! If you're a better tester, I'll see you on the FvF server, look for Jeros, the Undead Priest. :)

It's obvious we can't go on with the insanely buggy state the map archive is in. Thus, I've decided to rewrite it completely from scratch. All bugs will be fixed, Maps of the Week will be Maps of the Week (Huzzah!), and if any of you have some ideas for the third version, just email me, and I'll see what I can do.

Which production trade skill in World of Warcraft sounds most exciting?
Smithing	65	13%
Alchemy	73	14%
Tailoring	7	1%
First Aid	14	3%
Cooking	21	4%
Engineering	94	19%
Leatherworking	19	4%
I'm a Communist	213	42%
TOTAL	506	100 %	..

Eh... how many communists do we have here? Wow, it certainly looks like people prefer the choice with a sense of humour more than anything else! Out of those who actually cared to trade, engineering was the favorite. After all, what's better than making machanical dragons and pet squirels... seriously?

On that note, we know that a majority of you have been having problems with the archive, and rest assured AlienInfection is working on it. He will be revamping the code extensively tomorrow, so hopefully everything will be working in a few days; not to mention running smoother than before.

I'll keep you posted. And be sure to send any bugs you know of to AlienInfection. It is a work in progress; any help is appreciated on your part.

Katricia has promised to keep us updated, so pay close attention to the boards.

At any rate, Flagship Studios and Hanbitsoft have signed a publishing agreement (June 7th) to release Flagship's first game into the Asian market. Surprisingly, this does not include Japan, but a number of other Asian countries, including Korea, China, and Taiwan.

For those unfamiliar, Hanbitsoft is the leading game publisher in Korea; sporting world record sales for Diablo II and StarCraft. They've had top market share for the past 5 years when it comes to PC games, and were the first to establish a Korean-Chinese joint venture in China.

It comes as no surprise to know that this is who Flagship Studios wants as their publisher.

Be sure to check out the full press release.

• Infoceptor Arcade

Of course, you can try to beat my score in Astroids!

Missile Command is a Warcraft 3 Implement of the classic game of the same name. Don't ring a bell? Well, basically you're being invaded by (insert here), who've decided to rain down missiles upon your city... it's up to you to shoot them down before they reach you. Don't sound familiar? Well I guess you're under 18 then!

Anyway, it's a fun game, and great for a break in LAN parties. Download it here. Got a scenario? Be sure to send it in.

Firstly, two new features are going to be implemented into World of WarCraft very soon. (read next patch)

The first is the postal system. The idea is nothing new, if any of you have ever played a MUD, (Multi-User Dungeon) this concept is no stranger to you. It works in the same way, you have normal mail, mail with accompanying packages, and Cash on Delivery. It's good to see this system finally appear in an MMORPG. (I haven't seen any others use it, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)

The second implementations are the two realm types. There is a standard server, where the players of each faction can engage eachother in PVP (this includes all NPCs), and then there is the War server. It works similarly to the standard server, except the factions actually fight over ground. This sounds like the most interesting server of all, and personally it will be the one I will be playing on. If you've ever played PlanetSide, it will be similar to that, except RPG style. =)

Check the rest of the details for yourselves in the aforementioned links.

On that note, also be sure to take a peek at Blizzard's Fan Art section; they have 5 new pieces. Let me tell you, they look gorgeous. Some great work all around!

Stay tuned...those screenshots are coming. I promise. =)

Cool! Also in preparation for the next patch, Blizzard downloader is now offline.. we should expect a new push very soon!

First off, Blizzard now has a fan art section, which you can check here. Be sure to read the rules for submission. The rules page also links to the submission section, so if you have art you're sure you want to submit, that's where you should be headed.

World of WarCraft now has a new technical support area, so if you're having troubles with the beta be sure to check it out. They have a lot of problems already documented, so be sure to read through those first before asking directly for help.

Speaking of help...Katricia has slapped up a new Q&A on the Battle.net forums. You can find the topic here. Don't hesitate to ask questions yourselves, or, if you're not a beta tester, you can always head over to our WoW forums and ask one of us to post for you.

The new beta patch looms on the horizon, and as a result the beta downloader is down. Blizzard says they'll put it back up once the patch is released, but they gave no indication as to when that release date might be; which is somewhat expected by now. :)

Zooming to our own boards for a moment, the Art forum is as booming as ever, with new pieces by Guest #22334512; webcomic characters.

We also have some work from a newcomer; Flanker. You can see his artwork on the right, just click it to go to his thread; I'm sure he'd appreciate some commentary!

As far as writing goes, Ghostdude has released a second chapter of his story: Winter's Fury. Give it a read, and post your comments.

The General Forum is about as active as it usually is, but we have a Minesweeper tournament going on if you want to sign up. Gotta do whatever you can to pass the time right? :)

That's all for now folks! I'm still playing WoW, and I apologize for the lack of updates. My character in game is named Nagazil, so be sure to drop me a line if I'm playing!

I'll be sure to throw a plethora of screenshots at you along with another beta journal entry soon. And remember, if you're in the beta and would like to contribute to content or discussion, contact me and I'll give you access to our beta boards, as well as some space in which to host your content.

Lots of screenshots, with spectacular spell effects. It's a good way to know what instanced quests in WoW is all about.

• Siege on the Scarlet Monastery

Have a look

• World of Warcraft Movie  (50mb)

Send in your comments here.

What trade skill sounds the coolest? Go vote!

What gender will your primary character be in World of Warcraft?
Male (I'm Male)	292	45%
Male (I'm Female)	15	2%
Female (I'm Male)	154	24%
Female (I'm Female)	12	2%
Daboo? (I'm a Peon)	173	26%
TOTAL	643	100 %	.

Interesting! Very interesting, we can conclude several points from this week's poll

• Most males generall prefer playing as males, by most, we mean about two thirds. There's still a good third that would rather be a girl.
• Unexpected, there are more girls who'd rather play a guy than as a girl!
• If you meet a girl in the game, you're pretty much gunranteed that she's a guy in real life.
• The results of this poll could be skewed as a lot of people of one gender or gender preference liked peons more than others.

Have fun!

Starcraft	49.73%		48548
Super Smash Bros. Melee	50.27%		49082
TOTAL VOTES			97630

Wow.  532 votes.  That's all.  *sigh* Oh well, it made it a long ways, and I give it that much credit.  That just goes to show that even as an older game it still has avid players and supporters.  Much thanks to everyone who voted.

Wind

2 Socket Melee Weapons

Sur + El

10% Chance To Cast Level 9 Tornado On Striking +20% Faster Run/Walk +40% Increased Attack Speed +15% Faster Hit Recovery +120-160% Enhanced Damage (varies) -50% Target Defense +53 To Attack Rating Hit Blinds Target +1 To Light Radius Level 13 Twister (127 Charges)

Not too bad, especially with that -50% Target Defense.  Our very own seabass has a thread in the Diablo 2 section of our forums here, so give it a look and see what our players have to say about this new discovery.

[Discuss It]

Archs-TwoArmor(Overfill Char - Take Anything)
-Spikethorn 20%DR
-Corpsemourn
-Headhunters Glory with PDiamond(19/19/42/55 Res)
-Blackhorns Face
-Steelshade(Armet)
-3 Socket Dusk Shroud 437 Def

Not much else to say...Blizzard is on top of things as per usual.

• Zerg Portrait
• Protoss Portrait

Got art? Be sure to send it in!