World of Warcraft items

If you’re a WoW fan, why not fully immerse yourself in all that is Warcraft with this Warcraft headset? There’s a Warcraft peripheral out there for pretty much everything you can think of, ranging from mouse mats, USB sticks, all the way through to this high quality headset.

Coming from Creative, you should expect that the sound quality from this headset to be second to none. I’m not sure about being the best on the market but it’s definitely worth the price tag! The sound is definitely good quality, boasting THX TruStudio PC sound technology, making you feel like you’re really in the depths of the gameplay. You should be able to hear footsteps in the direction they’re coming from rather than just hear the footsteps themselves, something which generic headsets fail to achieve.

Not only is the sound quality great, but Creative have thrown in wireless technology, allowing you to move around freely whilst chatting to friends in WoW, without having to worry about those pesky wires. You can be rest assured that the sound quality won’t suffer though with the inclusion of wireless.

To top it off, if you’re a Horde-hater or an Alliance-advert, you can change over the lenses to suit your allegiance – a nice little touch to really make you feel like you’re fighting the battle in Azeroth.

If wireless isn’t your thing, or if you’d just prefer to save a few bucks, here’s the USB version.

I just got this in the mail and I gotta say I’m suitably impressed. To be honest I wasn’t expecting much but am happily surprised. Beautiful artwork, regular real world holidays noted AND WoW events like Winter Veil etc. are noted. Very cool

Here are the included pages:

Sept-Dec 2011: Thrall
Jan: Varian Wrynn
Feb: Vol’jin
Mar: Muradin Bronzebeard, Moira Thaurissan, Falstad Wildhammer
Apr: Garrosh Hellscream
May: Lor’themar Theron
Jun: Gelbin Mekkatorque
Jul: Jastor Gallywix
Aug: Genn Greymane
Sept: Sylvanas Windrunner
Oct: Velen
Nov: Baine Bloodhoof
Dec: Malfurion Stormrage

I think I might keep some of these even after the year is over to hang on my wall.

So, you’re looking for that perfect keyboard to assist you in your WoW experience, whether it’s to improve your DPS, make your raid leading simpler, or generally make your WoW gaming even more awesome, if that’s possible. This is my Warcraft keyboard review and is my honest impression of this brilliant accessory.

What’s good about it?

“What isn’t?” should be the question. Before I go into detail, here’s a quick list of some of the key features I found necessary to include in this Warcraft keyboard review:

• Macro recording
• Programmable hotkeys
• Intuitive media controls
• Designed for WoW

There are further features, but those 4 above should take your main focus. Most of us buy gaming keyboards to improve our skill level and gaming experience and this keyboard will do exactly that.

The great thing about this keyboard is that you can reprogram every single key on it, with mod keys added to create a seemingly endless amount of combinations. The software used on the Shift enables layers to be created, which in conjunction with the 8 specific hotkeys, give you a total of 24 keys that you can bind your macros to. Use the on-the-fly recording to measure your delays and timing for full customization and functionality. If you’re a warrior, don’t forget the “1-Shot-macro”, Swifty-style!

One of the features I simply can’t leave out of this Warcraft keyboard review is the handy layout for general gaming functions. All the most common commands such as group chat, guild chat, say, whisper, tell and emote and others all have their separate buttons so you won’t get frustrated by having to say “wc” or “mt” after typing in the wrong channel. The raid functions enable you to do those common raid functions at the push of a button – how handy is that?

What’s not so good?

These are the negatives that I wish to include in my Warcraft keyboard review:

• WoW specific

If you’re looking to take this keyboard on to further MMO’s, then you might disappointed, since SteelSeries are marketing this product for World of Warcraft and have designed the keyboard as such. This doesn’t mean it wouldn’t function with games such as RIFT or SWTOR, but the experience won’t be optimal.

What The Customers Are Saying

“You really won’t regret getting this keyboard. My reaction times are much faster and I’m enjoying much higher levels of interaction with WoW and am so happy.” – Kathryn Tufts

“It’s totally worth every cent. If you buy it, you’ll be sure to become a better gamer.” – Me (Amazon customer)

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is the Razer Naga gaming mouse and this is my ultimate Warcraft mouse review. Swifty of WoW fame has this mouse and so should you!

I personally own this mouse and am unsure as to why I didn’t buy it sooner. It’s improved my gaming skill no-end and it’s hard to say anything bad about it, however I’m sure my wife would say otherwise!

What’s Good About It?

Here’s a quick list of great features for easy viewing which I feel needs to be included in this Warcraft mouse review:

• 17 buttons
• In-game add-on for great customization
• Ergonomic Design

It’s a simple mouse, however it does everything that you need to. It has the usual LMB (left mouse button) and RMB (right mouse button), as well the clickable mouse wheel. The Naga also has two shoulder buttons which are within easy reach of your index finger, so make sure you bind them to essential spells or abilities, such as charge, blink, vanish etc. The great feature of this gaming mouse, though, are the 12 buttons on the side of the mouse, which are all reachable by your thumb, meaning all your spells and abilities are just a click away. Add to this the ability to use ctrl, alt and shift for further customization and you’ll find your speed and response times greatly improved in World of Warcraft. The mouse is shaped in the perfect way to fight in the palm of your hand, allowing hours on end gaming without any aches or strains.

Add the in-game addon, allowing you to hotkey all the buttons on your mouse, and you’ve got yourself the number one gaming mouse for World of Warcraft, courtesy of Razer.

What’s Not So Good?

I’m not a pro-gamer, but I’m not a beginner either, however this mouse should be good for both alike. There is one bad-point I feel is worth noting in my Warcraft mouse review:

• Remembering the layout

Because there are so many buttons on the side (12), in the first instance it’s actually quite difficult to train your thumb to select the correct button. It took me only a week to get used to it and Razer kindly include online support to help you, as well as stick-on buttons to help train you to learn the locations.

What The Customers Are Saying

“I can’t praise this mouse enough and as soon as I saw it, I knew I had something special in my hands.” – Jennifer

“It’s so easy to use. Sometimes I have trouble navigating a few of the buttons, however the rubber stickers help to track along the numbers.” – Alex Woody

There are always certain difficulties when an author tries to write something for a well-established intellectual property like World of Warcraft. There is an established cannon, plotline written by others that they may not be able to talk to or interview in order to build their own storyline, plus there are in-game plots and future plans that the author can potentially hint at, but not reveal. This means that any efforts written by an author brought in to write for that established setting must walk a tightrope that they are always in danger of pitching over. Most authors deal with this tightrope in one of two ways. Some create a story that is parallel to the main plotline, they use the setting, but may only barely reference established cannon. In the case of the World of Warcraft novel, Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects Christie Golden takes the other route and chooses to focus on one character’s experiences as they are surrounded by momentous events.

It is difficult to write a review of certain novels without giving away spoilers, and this book written by Christie Golden is one of those. Christie has written over thirty-five novels, and is no stranger to writing novels for established worlds, and has several novels under her belt in Blizzard’s favored child MMO. She does have better access to the behind-the-scenes work then most authors, and so can adhere more closely to the established plotline and cannon. She is the best suited to clipping the edges of what the players see in game with their characters and the in-game plot. It helps that she is returning to an established character, after Thrall’s original appearance nearly ten years ago. She gives her character a quest of seemingly benign nature that like most great heroes morphs into something where the different dragon aspects must soon depend on him for defense against an exterior threat. Chrsitie’s writing does support a robust level of character development, and she is very good at focusing on the various relationships between Thrall and her other characters. When she allows those relationships to further the plot it carries almost magically.

Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects does have a few small drawbacks, some of which are impossible to avoid due to the nature of the novel set in a constantly progressing game setting. First, though Christie’s writing is solid when dealing with character interactions and using those relationships to further the plot, but it is fairly weak in those few sections where she forces herself to speed through plot advancement, as well as ‘set up’ for World of Warcraft’s progressing world. This leads to the other issue, World of Warcraft has all ready progressed past the events in this novel. This means that it can sometimes feel a touch outdated, since it is not a ‘stand alone’ novel. Anyone new to the World of Warcraft series of novels or game is likely going to get lost. That said, anyone familiar with Christie’s writing, and her other novels is going to find that Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects is a great ride.

It’s that time of year again! The Feast of Winter Veil is upon us, so be ready to join the Revelers and pay a visit to Greatfather Winter in Ironforge and Orgrimmar. He’s so magical that he can be in both places at one time, just like Santa Claus! What a clever fellow.

Ho Ho Ho!

You’ve got a generous 19 days to fully partake in the joy and glee that is Winter Veil. Blizzard really make this holiday season special between December 15th and January 2nd. Ya see, Greatfather Winter is somewhat of a greedy man and he’ll be looking to you to help supply him with some milk and cookies. Mmm, cookies.

Fun and Cheer For All

There’s a myriad of quests and fun things to do in this period, so be sure to log in or reactivate your account. Personally, I find that one of the best things to do is run around hurling snowballs at random unsuspecting gamers.

Grab all the quests and you’ll be rushing around for the resourceful Smokeywood Pastures Company, finding lost shipments and trying to find their lost reindeer, Metzen who has been kidnapped!

There’s also some special bosses kicking around in dungeons across Azeroth. Head over to Northrend and also the Cataclysm areas to defeat bosses for special loot and fun encounters!

This is definitely a holiday event not to be missed, so if you’re looking for some winter snow fun, get in game now and experience the fun of Winter Veil.

Kissing a ‘Neutral Winter Reveler’ under mistletoe will magically create for you 5 sprigs of Mistletoe or 5 Handful of Snowflakes… You can also get Fresh Holly (x5), which can be used to transform your mount into a reindeer for thirty minutes…
There are snow mounds, Holiday Snow, in the snowy parts of the Alterac Mountains (and Dun Morogh) during this event. You can pick up Snowballs off them. They used to have a knock back effect, but that has been changed.
There are special Hardpacked Snowdrifts in Alterac Valley during this event. You can pick 5 Hardpacked Snowballs off them. They have a knock back and dismount effect so use them wisely.
Around this event, Blizzard forum posters a festive snowball icon, shown to the right.
The quest A Metzen the Reindeer are actually Neutral quests, in that they can be done by players of either faction. If a character has both quests, they can be accomplished at the same time. The difficulty in gaining the quest in the opposing faction’s city is … the opposing faction.
The Winter Wondervolt Machine is available in or just outside of several cities to transform your character’s appearance into a Winter Veil gnome. Your gnome outfit is randomly red or green.

Quests:

A Carefully Wrapped Present

A Festive Gift

Gaily Wrapped Present

Gently Shaken Gift

A Smokywood Pastures’ Thank You!

A Ticking Present

A Winter Veil Gift

Great-father Winter is Here!

The Feast of Winter Veil

The Hero of the Day

Preserved Holly (5)

The Reason for the Season

Treats for Greatfather Winter

Smokywood Pastures Gift Pack

Winter’s Presents

You’re a Mean One…

When will Blizzard stop coming up with excellent product ideas? “Never” is probably the correct answer to that.

This is a collectible trading card game based on World of Warcraft. We wonder if Blizzard realised they were going to create a global phenomenom when they had the idea for Warcraft. The single player games were successful enough, they then decide to take the online world by storm and create the best ever MMO to grace this planet. Now they’re trying to take over the card game market and we reckon they’re doing a pretty damn good job at it!

The starter deck allows you to select a hero from either the Alliance or Horde side who will lead your party alongside his or her allies, using the other cards to equip the hero with magical armor and weapons as you go. You’ll also be able to use special talents and skills as well as inviting the allies into your party and completing quests.

Naturally, the objective of the trading card game is to defeat your opponent first. So, basically the trading card game is exactly like the MMO, but in card form. Not a difficuly concept, but Blizzard have cleverly created a variety of different card sets, all containing different heros, allies, enemies, weapons, armor, talents and skills. It’s hard to see when it’ll all come to an end and quite honestly, with the state of the MMO market as it is that’s hard to envisage.

Even if you’ve never played a trading card game before, if you’ve thought about it or are into WoW anyway, why not give this WoW trading card game a try? It’s such great value, you won’t really miss out on anything by not giving it a shot.

With Christmas just around the corner and WoW’s Pilgrims Bounty in-game event on, this excellently designed plastic dagger will be a cool addition to your arsenal this year. Actually, never mind Christmas, it’ll make a cool toy or present in general, for you or for your kids.

Featuring a jagged edge plastic blade, the owner of this Executioner Weapon will feel like they’re fighting off the Orcs from World of Warcraft instantly. The artwork fits the in-game weapons with a red heart at the top of a raven claw style handle.

More and more are taking their in-game experiences into the real world, with card games, costumes and toys becoming more and more popular. Whether you’re looking for a present for your kids or a friend or other family members, this WoW dagger will be a most welcome gift. If you’re definitely sure the recipient is into World of Warcraft, then chances are you won’t go wrong with getting them this cool dagger.

Re-enacting some of the key events from the game can be a great way to extent your experience of World of Warcraft. Why not grab two of these Executioner Weapons and have some cool playfights. Actually, why not go even further and pick up other WoW gear and have some full-blown battles? One could dress up as an Orc and the other a Night Elf or one of the other Alliance races. Or, even better, why not get a bunch of friends together and have an epic battle to the death? (not literally).

Whatever you decide to do, at the price that this plastic dagger is currently being sold for, you won’t be happier with this cool toy.

Achievements:

“FOOD FIGHT!”
Bounce food off a fellow feaster’s head at a Bountiful Table.

Now We’re Cookin’
Cook up one of every Pilgrim’s Bounty dish.

Pilgrim’s Paunch
Acquire the Spirit of Sharing from a complete Bountiful Table feast at every Alliance capital.

Pilgrim’s Peril
While wearing either a Pilgrim’s Dress, Robe, or Attire, take a seat at each enemy capital’s Bountiful Table.

Pilgrim’s Progress
Complete each of the Pilgrim’s Bounty dailies.

Sharing is Caring
Pass one of every dish at a Bountiful Table.

Terokkar Turkey Time
Defeat Talon King Ikiss while wearing a Pilgrim’s Hat and either a Pilgrim’s Dress, Robe, or Attire.

The Turkinator
Hunt enough Wild Turkeys quickly enough to gain Turkey Triumph.

Turkey Lurkey
Blast those dirty, sneaking Rogues with your Turkey Shooter.

Quests

Candied Sweet Potatoes (Buy them in Darnassus or Thunder Bluff)

Can’t Get Enough Turkey – Daily (Choose from Pilgrim’s Hat, Pilgrim’s Attire, Pilgrim’s Robe, Pilgrim’s Dress, Pilgrim’s Boots, or Turkey Caller)

Cranberry Chutney (Buy ingredients in Orgimmar and Iron Forge)

Don’t Forget The Stuffing! – Daily (Choose from Pilgrim’s Hat, Pilgrim’s Attire, Pilgrim’s Robe, Pilgrim’s Dress, Pilgrim’s Boots, or Turkey Caller)

Easy As Pie – Daily (Choose from Pilgrim’s Hat, Pilgrim’s Attire, Pilgrim’s Robe, Pilgrim’s Dress, Pilgrim’s Boots, or Turkey Caller)

Pilgrim’s Bounty

Pumpkin Pie (Buy in Stormwind or Lorderon)

Sharing a Bountiful Feast

She Says Potato – Daily (Choose from Pilgrim’s Hat, Pilgrim’s Attire, Pilgrim’s Robe, Pilgrim’s Dress, Pilgrim’s Boots, or Turkey Caller)

Slow-roasted Turkey – (Turkey Caller) (Wild Turkey’s found in Elwynn Forest and in Tirisfal Glade

Spice Bread Stuffing (can buy all the ingredients from vendor)

They’re Ravenous In Darnassus (Alliance)

Undersupplied in the Undercity (Horde)

We’re Out of Cranberry Chutney Again? – Daily (Choose from Pilgrim’s Hat, Pilgrim’s Attire, Pilgrim’s Robe, Pilgrim’s Dress, Pilgrim’s Boots, or Turkey Caller)

WoW’s 7th anniversary will be celebrated from November 20th, 2011 to December 3rd, 2011 during the same week as Pilgrims Bounty (Thanksgiving) event.

No pet this year so far, but you do get the achievement for logging in, and you’ll get a token in your game mail that you can click that “Increases Experience and Reputation gains from kills by 7% for 1 hour.”