Filed under: Blizzard

Just how long have you been playing World of Warcraft? Whatever the answer, there's a very good chance you weren't playing when these screenshots were taken, back in the game's alpha phase. The above screenshot, taken off the coast of Stranglethorn Vale in the game's earliest of days, was posted to Reddit along with many others, all carefully annotated.

While it's not quite a comprehensive directory of Azeroth as it was, it's a more complete record than any we've seen and a great nostalgia trip for players who have been there as well as players who haven't. Some of the scenery will be familiar to anyone who played before Cataclysm, though a great deal of it is subtly off from the WoW you may remember. And then there are oddball shots like the one above.

Head to Reddit or Imgur to browse the whole gallery for yourself or read on to see a selection of our favorites.

There are a few things I do in World of Warcraft. I raid. I do dungeons and scenarios for valor points and also to test out specs and gear optimization for use later in raids. I run LFR for gear to use as a stopgap in later raids, or to supplement my bad luck (for instance, I really really need a trinket). And I do a lot of older content, because I am a transmogrification junkie and I always have a hankering for a new look. Every few months, I get the urge to PvP because I remember the six months I spent PvPing at the end of Vanilla and the on and off arena days of The Burning Crusade with equal parts fondness and loathing, and when fondness overwhelms loathing I go give it another shot.

These are the things I do in World of Warcraft. Everything else, I either don't do, or I do haphazardly. I don't do cooking anymore at all -- I used to, but one look at the current state of cooking and how intertwined it seems to be with the Tillers completely soured me on it. I don't do the Tillers. I only do dailies until I no longer need the rep to buy something and then I never do them again. I have two professions that I like to keep maxed, but I rarely do anything with them for profit, I just have them for the raiding benefits. In short, I play World of Warcraft to kill things and to look good while I do it. And that's enough for me.

But I know it's not enough for everyone. Mists of Pandaria will be six months old this April 21st, and for a lot of people, it's the expansion that increased choices -- the expansion that expanded their options. And in fact, it did so for me, as well. Because one of the great things about options is that they are optional, and you can choose not to do them. So for me some of the greatest aspects of Mists of Pandaria have been all the things I haven't bothered to do.

Fans of free stuff -- and who isn't? -- will appreciate the news that the World of Warcraft Rewards Visa is getting an upgrade. Currently the program offers game time rewards, but the new Blizzard Maximum Rewards program will offer more standard credit card rewards (such as gift cards, merchandise, cash back, and travel rewards) and also "additional Blizzard merchandise," which we're hoping means you can redeem points for pets, server transfers, and the like. While Blizzard's own information hasn't been updated yet, we received this straight from account-holder Orkchop, who received a letter explaining the upgraded program.

The program is due to start May 10th, so if you haven't signed up for your own World of Warcraft Rewards Visa, there's still plenty of time to get in on the action: head to Blizzard's website to apply. As is only fitting, you can choose from a number of geeky, Warcraft-themed card designs and even choose to immortalize your own character on your card. Any other questions? Check Blizzard's FAQ.

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When I left World of Warcraft, about two years ago, if you wanted to talk to Blizzard, you didn't have many options. You could submit an in-game ticket if you had a problem or post complaints or discussion in the forums and hope for a response. But response time for GMs was typically slow and you could never tell if a Blizzard employee would jump on responding to your forum thread. Having a conversation with a Blizzard employee seemed like a rare thing -- that involved a heck of a lot of luck

And while there's still no way to guarantee a blue response, when I came back to WoW, I was most surprised by how much communicating with Blizzard had changed. These days you can find Blizzard and Blizzard employees on the forums and in-game, of course, but you'll also find them on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and even Reddit. And they're not just there to talk official Blizzard business (though they certainly answer questions from time to time): you're just as likely to find them chatting and joking, just like anyone else on social networks.

So when you've got a burning question or a game problem that needs addressing, where do you go to talk about it? Do you stick to the classic official channels, or do you launch into a discussion on Twitter?

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One of the more volatile announcements that we've heard so far from Blizzard regarding Mists of Pandaria is the fact that Mists will not include any more 5-man dungeons. In an expansion where new content seems to be rolling out on a much faster, tighter basis than any expansion prior this seems a little bizarre to players, particularly those that enjoy dungeon-based content. Yet one of the things Mists has been doing consistently throughout the expansion is delivering a wider array of things to do. In fact, there's such a variety in endgame content that players sometimes feel legitimately overwhelmed by the sheer amount of it.

But just because we aren't getting any new dungeons doesn't mean we aren't getting alternate ways to obtain all that sweet, sweet gear we know and love. Patch 5.3 will see the introduction of heroic scenarios, slightly tougher versions of the scenarios we've already seen this expansion. In addition to valor, the heroic scenarios will offer raid-finder level rewards for players that choose to participate in them -- better than any gear you'll find in a heroic dungeon at this point.

While this may seem pretty cool for some people, it does make one wonder -- what's the purpose of heroic dungeons?

Blizzard stands out amongst other game companies in their astounding array of musical entities. From legitimate choral and orchestral works, to the dedicated professionals that bring you the realistic sounds you hear every day in game -- their multidimensional musicality is astounding. Sound is often over looked in a game, but in reality it is just as important as the visuals and the text you read; everything is about creating an emotional response to what your character in-game is doing, what they're fearing, what their heroism is forcing them to undertake.

We talk a lot about how that heroism is impacted by mechanics and lore, but little about how it's impacted by the audible stimuli of the surrounding environment and its many creatures. Take a minute while you do your dailies and raiding tonight and see if you can tell what's going on just by the sounds. I think you'll be quite surprised.

In a new post on their blog, Blizzard goes into how some of their sound design was accomplished for patch 5.3 and MoP. There's some more interesting facts that we learn in the article:

• The Zandalari Battlesaur consists of three sound layers (previewed in the video above): Voice actor Jon Olson, a bear, and a tiger
• There's five full time people working on WoW's sound design
• The monk's "woosh" sound was made by swinging large objects around in a circle and editing them together

Then there's also this line from Blizzard's post, which stands out as potentially the best thing ever written about Warcraft:

We also did a big vegetable destruction recording session where we tore up ears of corn, smashed walnuts, hit cabbage, and twisted celery among other things to use for sweeteners. These sounds were used in various ambiences, Monk abilities, creature exertions, farming, doodads, spells and in many different quests.

Blizzard's detailed look under the hood of sound design is available on their blog.

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• Hearthstone will be free to play. You have the option of purchasing more cards if you like, but you can win those same cards via gameplay and don't have to spend a cent.
• The beta will begin this summer, and you can sign up to be a part of it.
• Hearthstone will be available for Windows, Mac, and iPad. Further platforms have yet to be announced.

If you've been wondering where to go to get more information about Hearthstone, there is a new official Blizzard Hearthstone forum, as well as the PlayHearthstone official twitter feed and Facebook page - all great resources for information. Below the cut I've also compiled a number of the latest and greatest blue posts about the game, for your reading convenience. Oh and don't forget to check out the official FAQ as well, it is large and comprehensive. I haven't quoted it because it's far too big to do so. Now, on to the blue posts!

When we first heard about The Art of Blizzard Entertainment, a collection of artwork from Blizzard's artists over the course of their development history, we all seriously underestimated its size. While many expected something on the scale of the art books that come packaged with a World of Warcraft Collector's Edition, it turned out to be a 376 page behemoth that dwarfs nearly everything else on my office bookshelf. The book features everything from Chris Metzen's earliest Blizzard works to far more recent Mists of Pandaria and Diablo III artwork.

Thanks to Blizzard Entertainment themselves, we have a copy of the book to give to one of our lucky readers.

To enter for a chance to win, leave a comment on this post before 11:59 p.m. ET, Tuesday, April 9, 2013. You must be 18 years of age or older and a legal resident of the United States or Canada (excluding Quebec). You can only enter once. One winner will be chosen at random and we will contact you via whatever method you've used to comment. Official rules here.

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Want to know more about Blizzard's new digital card game, Hearthstone? During PAX East 2013, we spoke with Hearthstone Lead Designer Eric Dodds and Production Director Jason Chayes to learn some additional information about the game.

During the 20-minute interview, I asked the developers several questions, some on behalf of the lore nerds, others for the collectors among us. We discussed some of the game features planned for launch, as well as the possibility of implementing e-sports capabilities later. Also touched upon were the game's visual aspects, like the art work and animated game boards.

And for those of you with a history playing other strategy card games like Magic: The Gathering, I learned a bit more about Hearthstone gameplay and how the Forge works.

We're just going to leave this here...

In China, because of cultural rules/laws, dead players are represented by tombstones instead of skeletons. Dave Kosak tweeted as much and shared this picture with us all. And now you get to enjoy Oondasta stomping around a graveyard.

You can see a larger version of it right over here.

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After playing for almost eight years, I've become accustomed to the fees that accompany World of Warcraft. It's just... part of the game. We pay a monthly fee so the developers can bring us new shinies and dragons to slay. We pay a monthly fee so our Community Managers can wrangle cats and serve as our voice. We pay Blizzard to keep WoW going. At what works out (in the US) to be about $0.50 per day, in my mind, there's never been a cheaper night of entertainment.

Now, I wouldn't pose an argument against our monthly fee, but it's common to see complaints from the community about Blizzard's paid services for WoW. A character transfer is $25 USD, name change $10 USD, appearance change $15 USD, race change $25 USD, faction change $30 USD, and let's not forget about the various Guild Services offered at a price. Select services combine a few changes -- an appearance change allows a name change as well, for example.

What is reasonable? Well, for cosmetic services like appearance, race, and name changes, the prices are fair. They're things that aren't necessary in order to play. If you're in a top 100 guild, at some point you may gain an extra edge in changing race to benefit from a racial. Who knows. If you're being harassed by someone in-game, it may be necessary to name change, even. Other than that, I can't think of a situation in which those services would be "required."

Character transfer charges, on the other hand, should be looked at. Over on the EU forums, Taepsilum posted a great response to a thread on paid services that got me thinking.

So you quit playing WoW. That's okay: we understand. All of us here at WoW Insider have been playing the game an awfully long time, and we know it can get old sometimes. Once you've played through all the content and there's nothing but the same dailies and the same raids over and over again... well, there's only so many times you can go through the same content before it starts to lose its shine. We don't judge. However, even if you've moved on to new games, Blizzard's latest content bonanza might be enough to come back to WoW (at least for a little while). So let's talk about why patch 5.2 is worth coming back for.

A huge array of new content with Isle of Thunder and Throne of Thunder
We'll start with the obvious: patch 5.2 introduces a brand new zone to explore. The Isle of Thunder will unlock in stages as players on your realm complete daily quests (not unlike the Isle of Quel'Danas in The Burning Crusade). Would-be heroes join forces with one of two new factions, The Kirin-Tor Offensive (Alliance), led by Jaina Proudmoore, and Sunreaver Onslaught (Horde), led by led by Lor'themar Theron. And though we know new factions and their associated dailies sound like yet another grind, the new faction quests will at least be fun the first time. And, as with all factions, with reputation comes reward, and we're pretty sure everyone enjoys new loot.