In preparation for the release of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, Blizzard’s latest patch, “Echoes of Doom”, for World of Warcraft is now live and includes loads more than just a few items and tweaks to ready your game for the adventures ahead.

The release notes for this patch are pretty extensive, and include information on the new skills sets, raid buffs, professions, Stormwind Harbor, vanity pet and mount changes, the barbershops, arenas and new in-game event calender. This pre-Wrath of the Lich King patch is pretty large, and will get your characters up to date and ready to go kick some Alliance or Horde keister come November 13 when the expansion invades PCs around the globe.

Please note that these patches are only for North American users only and there are some special instructions for this patch that are slightly different than with previous versions.

First, you should install the 2.4.3 to 3.0.1 patch.  If you are a classic World of Warcraft user, you should install the patch found here.  Burning Crusade users should install the patch found here.  You should follow these instructions:

WoW-2.4.3-to-3.0.1-TBC-NA.zip SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

This patch is the incremental patch that will update World of Warcraft from 2.4.3 to 3.0.1. To apply this patch, do the following:

1. Copy the folder named “WoW-2.4.3-to-3.0.1-TBC-NA” to your World of Warcraft folder.
2. (Windows) Run Updater.exe from that folder (Mac) Run Updater.app from that folder.

This will patch your current World of Warcraft 2.4.3 version.

WoW-2.4.3-to-3.0.1-Classic-NA.zip SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS

This patch is the incremental patch that will update World of Warcraft from 2.4.3 to 3.0.1. To apply this patch, do the following:

1. Copy the folder named “WoW-2.4.3-to-3.0.1-Classic-NA” to your World of Warcraft folder.
2. (Windows) Run Updater.exe from that folder (Mac) Run Updater.app from that folder.

This will patch your current World of Warcraft 2.4.3 version.

Once you’ve got that out of the way, you should run the 3.0.1 to 3.0.2 patch for all North American users, found here.

This past Friday, an innocent question from a fan at one of Blizzcon’s Diablo 3 panels asking if Battle.net would remain free led to an unexpected — or, at least, unwanted — answer from the game’s lead designer, Jay Wilson: “We are looking to monetize Battle.net so that we get to keep making these games and updating features.”

Battle.net, for those who don’t know, is the online gaming platform used by many of Blizzard’s games, including StarCraft, Diablo, Diablo 2, and both Warcraft 2 and 3. Since its release alongside the original Diablo, Battle.net has always been completely free, which is what made Wilson’s answer so jarring.

Blizzard executive VP of game design, Rob Pardo, cleared up the comments while speaking with Joystiq. He made it clear that there’s no plan to do anything akin to Hellgate: London and Blizzard is absolutely not trying to turn Diablo into a subscription-based game.

With Battle.net we’re definitely looking at possible different features that we might be able to do for additional money. We’re not talking about Hellgate or anything like that. We’re not going to tack things on. I think World of Warcraft is a great example to look at. We charge people if they want to switch servers or if they want name changes, things that aren’t core to the game experience, they’re really just optional things that some people want. It takes us some development work to do it, so it makes sense to charge for it. We would never do something like say to get the full game experience, you’ll have to pay extra.

Is that enough reassurance for you? As a diehard Diablo fan, I could easily imagine being suckered into paying for optional things that I really don’t need — hopefully Blizzard will be gentle.

Death is a touchy subject. It’s hardly an ideal state to be in whether in a videogame or in real life (that’s what they tell me, at least), and when you’re dealing with a game as iconic as a Diablo title, the way in which death is handled is quite a big deal.

The subject recently came up on the official Diablo 3 forums. A Blizzard staffer going by the username ‘Bashiok’ was quick to offer up an answer as to how death is being handled in the new Diablo title. There’s a stark difference between the new system and the one found in Diablo 2: rather than being sent back to town and having to venture back to pick up your body (without any of your gear, mind you), you’ll now be sent back to a checkpoint. These checkpoints are scattered throughout the world and “generally” at the end of each level of a dungeon. After respawning at a checkpoint you’ll be left with a small amount of health.

Bashiok added, “It’s just too early to put a ton of thought in to what penalties there should be, if any, added on top of it.” That doesn’t make me particularly optimistic that we’ll soon be playing Diablo 3, but at least we’re getting some look into how things are changing from Diablo 2. Hopefully we won’t have to suffer through an outcry over the change like we did when Blizzard first showed the game’s change in art direction over its predecessors.

EA Mythic has unleashed the dogs of war as players from North America, Europe and the Oceanic territories take the battlefield in Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning. The battle is not only online in the Warhammer fantasy universe. WAR is competing for the hearts, minds and money of MMO gamers.

WAR has released its subscription plan which offers a discount for paying for several months up front. Here’s the break down from Business Wire:

• Monthly Subscription: $14.99 USD
• 3-Month Subscription: $41.97 ($13.99 per month) USD
• 6-Month Subscription: $77.94 ($12.99 per month) USD

WAR has met the three and six month discounts that World of Warcraft is offering, but I don’t think it’s enough to keep them competitive. The main problem WAR faces is that WOW has been around a lot longer. It’s faithful have been largely unfazed by many promising MMOs including FunCom hopeful Age of Conan.

Most gamers can afford only one subscription MMO at a time. It’s much easier to sell a new game to a new or solo player then it is to gamers that play with their friends. Since many PvP players belong to guilds, they often come as a package deal. WAR will have to do more than match prices to entice players to convert and bring their friends with them to compete with the entrenched WOW.

Seemingly every detail of Diablo 3 has sparked a controversy, from its art style to both of the first two character classes that been revealed. It’s not surprising given the sort of diehard fanbase the game’s predecessors have garnered, and even Diablo 3 lead designer Jay Wilson admitted to VideoGamer.com that he would hate Blizzard too if he were just a fan. But what he said after that was what really caught the eye — that the third Diablo 3 class will seem familiar to series vets.

“All the barbarian players are delighted and all the necromancers hate us. I understand, I don’t begrudge them that. I would hate me too! But what I would say is that when we announce the next class, which is quite similar to a previous class, then all those players will hate us too. You can’t make everybody happy, but I think when the game finally come out players will find there’s a good class for them, one they will love as much as the ones that came before. And if they don’t, I absolutely promise that in the expansions we’ll consider bringing back old classes. We just don’t want to do it with the first release. We want to establish our identity.”

The comparisons between the Necromancer and Witch Doctor aren’t difficult to draw, and it sounds like the next class will be another reinvention of an existing class. We know the decision to reinvent the Necromancer was simply a matter of being unable to improve any further on a class Blizzard believed to be nearly perfect. Looking at the remaining roster of Diablo II characters and looking at what Diablo III is lacking so far, it’s easy to imagine a new Sorceress-type class or a Druid-Amazon hybrid. Personally, I plan on holding out hope that this new class draws upon the Paladin. I won’t be mad if you make it happen, Blizzard. Promise.

Considering it was announced long before Diablo III, you’d think Starcraft II would be the next new game releasing from Blizzard, right? Not so, according to the latest rumor. An anonymous source apparently tipped off BattleForums, saying that the development of the Starcraft sequel has been postponed for the most part until Diablo III is ready for launch. They’ve even shifted around the teams as such:

[Starcraft 2] is still being worked on, but only by a minuscule amount of people compared to what [Blizzard] put on the Diablo 3 team.

Personally, I’ll be happy with either game, though I do wonder if this means we’ll have to wait even longer for a new Blizzard title. It’s also kind of strange that Blizzard would do this now, since everything I’ve seen of Starcraft II lately makes it look like it could be finished any day now. We’ll have to see how this all plays out.

Via BattleForums

BlizzCon 2008 has a contest for just about every gamer who wants to get involved and prizes to reward them. Those of you who are crafty can create Warcraft, Starcraft or Diablo themed costumes, dioramas and motivational posters. If Filking is your thing, put together lyrics or a musical composition based on the games and you could have the opportunity to preform your song for a live audience. There’s a new contest this year for gamers who fancy themselves comedians. Show off your best one liners based on Blizzard’s games in the BlizzCon /Silly Contest.

The BlizzCon Movie contest will have film makers telling an original story using World of Warcraft footage. Finally, you can dance your booty off Azeroth style in the BlizzCon Dance contest. I suppose this would go along with the costume contest so you can dress like your favorite character as well as dance like them. Head over to Blizzard’s BlizzCon 2008 site for all the information on these events and the sponsors handing out the prizes.

Blizzard announced a few minutes ago that they are offering up some of their gaming soundtracks via iTunes.

This follows in the footsteps of the Diablo III Overture, which was recently released as a Discovery Download and is free until Tuesday, September 9. At least in the U.S. – visitors to this site have reported that it was not free in other countries, but hopefully Apple has fixed that by now.

Much of this music was originally available only in collector’s editions of the games, or at special events such as the company’s BlizzCon. Each set will cost the usual in your area.

Here is what is currently being offered up in North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan:

• StarCraft Original Soundtrack
• Diablo II Original Soundtrack
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos Original Soundtrack
• World of Warcraft Original Soundtrack
• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Original Soundtrack
• World of Warcraft: Taverns of Azeroth Original Soundtrack

The albums have been placed on a new Blizzard Entertainment hub page within the iTunes store. This page also hosts content such as the BlizzCast podcast and trailers and gameplay footage from upcoming games, with more material to be added in the months ahead.

via: Press Release

Over at the Official World of Warcraft website, Blizzard has posted a reminder that the finals for both World of Warcraft and Warcraft III tournaments are scheduled for this weekend September 6-7. Attendees will be given the opportunity to demo WoW: Wrath of the Lich King and Starcraft 2.

If you’re near the the Hard Rock Cafe in Boston, Massachusetts in the US or the Circulo Bellas artes, Salon de columnas in Madrid, Spain admission is free. Check out the latest World of Warcraft news for the fine print on the tournaments.

The WoW PvP tournaments for Taiwan and Korea are over. There was no mention in the news of gamers being invited to demo the Wrath of the Lich King or Starcraft 2. Of course I can imagine the chaos that would have created in Korea. Starcraft is huge there. As it is, I can envision many gamers who don’t care about WoW or Warcraft III showing up this weekend for an opportunity to get their hands on a Starcraft 2 demo.

It should come as no surprise that WoW would be number one in sales on the PC charts, but for one company to have five titles in the Top 10? That is a testament to the popularity of the games it creates. Blizzard is no stranger to being the dominant company in the NPD charts though, and as you can see below, the week of August 17-23 was no exception:

• 1. World of Warcraft: Battle Chest
• 2. The Sims 2: Double Deluxe
• 3. World of Warcraft
• 4. Spore Creature Creator
• 5. World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
• 6. The Diablo Battle Chest
• 7. Nancy Drew: The Phantom of Venice
• 8. Call of Duty 4
• 9. The Orange Box
• 10. The Warcraft III Battle Chest

It is also no surprise that the Spore Creature Creator is up there, nor CoD4 or even The Sims 2 for that matter. I have even stopped batting an eye at the Nancy Drew game because despite what we choose to believe, even little girls like PC games too. However, what is shocking to me is that The Orange Box is still in the Top 10 after all this time- maybe this is because of all the Team Fortress updates and the like, because I would think that Portal and Half-Life 2 would be old hat by now.