Azeroth must have some incredibly complicated weather patterns. How else would we get the stark contrasts found between neighboring zones? Feralas, a forested land, is found between the dull deserts of Desolace and Thousand Needles. The tropical lushness of Stranglethorn Vale doesn’t seem to have spread to the neighboring fields of Westfall. And what possible justification is there for Dun Morogh, a snowy southern zone surrounded entirely by temperate plains and heat-induced blast craters? Unless it’s just nuclear fallout from Gnomeregan. Nécrótíc of <J N R V> onShadowsong has taken a picture of one of the few zone climate changes with a real explanation behind it; the beautiful jungle of Sholazar is out of place with neighboring Borean Tundra because it was used as a testing ground for the Titans. Deus ex machina? You decide. Do you have any

Jeff Kaplan has said some interesting things at this year’s GDC (expect a full account from us soon). One of them concerned a new technology that debuted in Wrath of the Lich King which I, for one, had not heard of before: progressive drop rates for quest items. Pre-Wrath, if you’re on a collection quest, whatever you’re trying to collect will drop at a constant rate (35% was apparently the standard). Overall, this averages to a predictable amount of kills per quest. But probability being the way it is, it was altogether possible to have terrible luck and have to kill 100 foozles to get your four gizmos, or to have great luck and get your gizmos in only four kills. It was the bad streaks that the devs were particularly concerned about, as those are very memorable and never fun. In Wrath, according to Kaplan, drop rates for quest items are

As planned, Medievaldragon hosted a live chat with author Christie Golden last night, and even if you didn’t tune in, you can see the transcript right over on WorldofWar right now. It’s a very interesting read, especially if you’re into the lore of the book and these characters — Golden talks about how she built up Arthas’ life and relationships, and turned him from the Human prince he started out as into the (her word) “monster” he is today. And she mentions a few fun tidbits about her influence on the game — she created the Taretha character in the Old Hillsbrad instance, and there’s an NPC in the Plaguelands that bears a striking resemblance. There’s also something in the Balnir Farm that she suggested they put in. You’ll have to go and see for yourself what that might be. And even if you’re

  Each week Arcane Brilliance thinks about its career as a Mage. It considers which profession to pursue, and polishes up its résumé:Previous job-titles: Sweet DPS, Table-whore, Sheep-botJob skills: Can blow stuff up good. Able to conjure 400 strudels per minute (depending on lag). Can teleport. Hates Warlocks... Now that the PTR class changes for patch 3.1 seem to have died down a bit, we can finally talk about other things. I asked last week for topic suggestions, and you guys responded in typically spectacular fashion. That’s one of the best parts about writing a column for Mages: my readership is made up of freaking Mages. I can always count on you guys to be smart and insightful…as well as complete nutjobs. Suggestions ranged from relatively normal (PvP tactics), to angry and bitter (One guy is switching his main to a Death Knight because Mages

I’ll let our submitter tell the story of his motorized misadventure in his own words (slightly edited for prettier formatting): “G.O.S.H. means Gnomish Original Safety Handbrake. But Neknuba from <Legends of Azeroth> on Anachronos-EU (alt of Jubinibu) found inside that acronym something more. Got Often Scorched Hairs? No? You know, Gnome Occassionally Sabotages Himself. Why? Well, Glitch Oddly Stays Hidden on Gear Outta Second Hand and that means Giddiness Obviously Sometimes Happens. Gosh! Get Out’n Survive Heights!!!!” Do you have any unusual, beautiful or interesting World of Warcraft images that are just collecting dust in your screenshots folder? We’d love to see them on Around Azeroth! Sharing your screenshot is as simple as e-mailing  with a copy of your shot and a brief explanation of the scene. You could be featured