Released last July on the App Store, the WoW-friendly application now features some interesting and useful additions. Aside from compatibility with Apple's firmware 2.0, the app now allows you to view a character's gear, as well as his or her's reputation status.

In addition, non-US players can now make use of the app since it provides extended compatibility for characters from all other realms, such as those from China, Korea and Taiwan. The only thing missing seems to be the talents list for each character viewed. Otherwise, as a portable Armory, this app definitely does the job quite well.

Warcraft Characters is available on the App Store for free, so go ahead and download a copy. We'll be sure to keep tabs on any further updates regarding this nifty app as soon as we get them.

• Steve Jobs: 60 million App Store downloads and rising, iPhone kill switch exists
• WoW forums: on how regularly the armory is updated

Source: wow.qj.net

Firstly, what you grind is INCREDIBLY important. You should probably grind humanoids exclusively, they tend to have mobs that go down faster, and drop cloth for first aid and/or auctioning. There are a few exceptions to this rule though, if you are a skinner, you should grind beasts or dragonkin. Also, every now and then there are a few more exceptions, such as turtles in dustwallow(INCREDIBLE DROPS AND EXPERIANCE FOR THAT LEVEL!). In most situations though, humanoids are alot better to grind.

Secondly, know what you are grinding. Know where they spawn, what TYPES they are, what those different types USE (as far as abilities and spells), and most importantly : KNOW IF THERE IS A QUEST OR CHAIN OF QUESTS LEADING TO WHAT YOU PLAN TO GRIND! This may seem like common sense, but i assure you many people do not use a simple and fast tool called….THOTTBOT.COM… it will help you find mobs to grind, stuff that drops something you want, and quests!

Thirdly, while grinding, make use of your class to ITS FULLEST. Mana dumping may not always be the best choice for taking down a mob, try to kill mobs fast, but without losing much mana or health points, this will lead to shorter ammounts of time between the fights, allowing for more experiance per hour or drops per hour. Mages, make friends with mages and exploit them for their water early and often, every time you have to go grind, get food and water from a mage, in plentiful ammounts. This will assure you don't spend excess money on buying food or water. Another thing, bandages, while good, are not effective unless you have them created, do not use them unless you have them because cloth sells very well on most servers.

Fourthly, to deal with boredom, there are MANY solutions.
-Angle your computer in a position where you can watch tv and grind at the same time.
-Listen to music(lol, obvious?).
-Ventrillo and teamspeak with friends helps time pass VERY WELL.
-The phone can also help ALOT.
-This one will sound stupid, but simple homework(busy work, if you are a student) can also be done.
-This one may sound the wierdest, but if you know how to self hypnotise or meditate, it can give you the focus you need to do a long session of grinding(i have done this many times, thanks to a grade principle at my school who taught me to self hypnotise to keep my focus.

NOW FOR THE CLASS EXPLANATIONS!!!!

Warrior : Slow, high max damage weapon, with lots of attack power gear is IDEAL.
-Open with charge when you can get away with only pulling ONE MOB, more than one mob will slow you down because you will have to rest for a longer ammount of time. If the situation looks iffy for the pull, go ahead and pull with your ranged weapon, no reason to take a chance. ALWAYS execute whenever your mob is below 20%, until then, use your instant attacks(mortal strike if you got it is great!) for more sustained dps, and alot of burst damage. *** IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH MANA FOR A BATTLE SHOUT USE IT, YOU SHOULD HAVE BATTLE SHOUT UP ALMOST ALL THE TIME, IT INCREASES YOUR DPS ALOT***. At this point, you may need to rest, but if the mobs are green you should be able to just slice through them, in which case chain pulling is, indeed, awesome.

Priest - This one is a strange one to grind with, but can be very good in the right hands. Shadow spec is important, with, hopefully, improved power word shield. Lots of int/stam/spirit gear is good.
-Open with a self power word shield, pull with mindblast and cast shadow word pain. Mindflay while the mob is running at you, if you are facing a caster mob, you may need to silence at this point. Reshield if needed whenever. Mind blast as soon as the cooldown up, and when your not mind blasting, use mindflay.
***A SPECIAL NOTE ON SILENCE, NEVER SILENCE AT THE VERY VERY START OF A SPELL, USE IT WHEN YOU THINK ITS ABOUT 1/2 to 3/4 DONE, THIS WILL SAVE YOU FROM 1 OR 2 MELEE ATTACKS, WHICH IS AMAZING***

Druid - i could tell you how people believe druids cannot grind, but this is UNTRUE, i have played a druid the entire game, and i tell you, they do it more efficient than most. Important note, spirit is nice, but not mass spirit for your "grinding gear", try to use stamina/strength/intel. Feral combat is nice, but also not needed. (next patch it will freaking own though).
***The best part about druid is that it doesn't need rest 95% of the time, you can be in bear form and not take much damage, switch and heal, because you regen mana while in forms, keeping you at 100% mana almost all the time***
-As a druid you can choose to moonfire/faerie first(optimal), then flip to bear and spam maul. When the mob dies, you can switch to heal and rejuve and go to the next mob. VERY SIMPLE.

Mage - Very good, because you can make your own water/food and can avoid combat very easily. Ill explain how to grind as a fire mage, but you can easily apply it to frost.
-Open with fireball fireball, and continue to cast fireball until the mob reaches you, when it reaches you, frost nova and SIDESTEP(SIDE STEP IS FULL MOVE SPEED WHILE BACKSTEPPING IS NOT AS FAST) until max range, use fireball 1-2 more times, at this point it will be dead or close to dead and you can fireblast/scorch it to finish. Again, a very simple grind class.

Hunter - I love grinding as a hunter, pet's make it very easy to be entertained imo. The main thing is that it is very easy to forget to buy a full bag of arrows/bullets, please take extra special care in doing so!
-Probably the simplest of all classes, pets tank very well, and the dps is strong. So open with pet running in, aimedshot, concussive shot and autshoot it, serpent sting and rapid shot every time the cooldown is up. Mana is not a problem, usually the pet does not sustain much damage. IF YOUR PET TAKES DAMAGE, IT IS A VERY GOOD IDEA TO USE LOWER LEVEL BANDAGES ON HIM, IT CUTS DOWN ON TIME AND MANA.

Rogue - Rogues really do not have any trouble grinding, and i feel silly in even writing this. IMO a good, slow main hand is key to maximum damage verses mobs. You won't take much damage do to high dodge and very fast killing. Rogues can chain kill many mobs at a time without rest, i have done 15-20 mobs without even using a bandage on my rogue.
-As a rogue, it is a good idea to open with cheapshot. If there is 2 mobs, sap one and kill the other. Pretty much exclusively using Sinister Strike and Eviscerate with enough points. SIMPLE SIMPLE SIMPLE. i dont know how you can mess this up :O.

Warlock - One of the hardest for me to explain, because there is so many different ways of doing this. You can use either the soullink build or the affliction build, even a destruction build can be used. Whichever suits you, go for it.
-Some say, use dot's and whatnot. In my opinion, the best way to do this is to spam shadow bolts, and when you are low on mana you can mana drain a mob with mana or life drain a mob when your low hp. I like to use a succubus because they do decent damage, and when an add comes you can always seduce. Warlocks are very mana dependant, and you should take this into mind when preparing for a long grind.

Shaman - Shaman grind very well with a slow 2hander and windfury. Enhancement build is a very good choice for grinding, because you do not use much mana to kill the mob, and you can use your mana to heal yourself in between fights.
-Open with a lightning bolt pull, then melee to death. A good strategy i have found is to drop a manaspring totem, a strength of earth totem, and a searing totem, and pull every mob to your totem setup, that way you get max mana effictiveness of your totems, and don't redrop them for each mob.

Paladin - Very slow if you do not know what you are doing, but can be fast if you do.
-A seal of command build with a good two handed weapon is almost necassary, except for one exception i will explain in a sec. It is a good i deal to judge crusader and apply seal of command, this will increase your dps when your seal procs. You really won't take much damage, and when you are in trouble, shields freaking own.
-Alternate grinding strategy, very effective in mid 50's and grinding undead in epl/wpl. Go for a protection build(with an option of soc) and a good shield/1h weapon. Pull 3-5 undead mobs and apply holy shield, holyshield + redoubt will be significant dps on there own, BUT exorcism and holy wrath will occasionly significantly increase your dps. Reapply holyshield as necassary, and you should have no problem, alternate ideas would be to use shield spike and retribution aura, which will lead to more damage.

You can farm the stockades in Stormwind City for easy greens and wool + linen cloth. This is THE BEST dungeon/instance to farm wool cloth because every other kill yields 3-5 pieces of wool and there are about 100 npcs in this instance. A stack of wool can go from 77silver to 2 World Of Warcraft Gold on the AH. You can do the math.

You can farm scarlet monastary chests and locked chests for the chance to get large knapsacks (sells for 1.25-2 world of warcraft gold) or a BLUE item. I roughly get a blue item once every 11th locked chests. If you focus on the graveyard, library, and armory (NOT CATHEDRAL), then you can easily get about 8 locked chests an hour, and about 10 regular chests. Need a rogue to lockpick or take blacksmithing and use Golden Skeleton Keys (requires 150 blacksmith skill).

You can farm furlbogs in southern map of Felwood for 1-3 pieces of mageweave every 3.5th kill. About 40 npcs in the area. Easily can make 100 mageweave an hour and 9 World of warcraft gold an hour off coin drops, for a total of 20-27 World Of Warcraft gold an hour.

You can farm Zul'Farrak outside in Tanaris zone for 2-5 pieces of mageweave every 3rd kill. About 40 npcs spread around that region. Can easily make 5 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour off coin drops and 80 mageweave an hour and sell that on the auction house for 10 World Of Warcraft Gold.

You can farm western plaguelands at the felstone field and field next to it for easy 25 world of warcraft gold an hour, traveller backpacks that sell from 15-27 world of warcraft gold an hour, and 1-3 pieces of runecloth every 5th kill. You can easily make a total of 60-120 gold an hour if you grind fast and it is not camped (which usually it isn't). Both farmsteads have about 60 npcs or 80npcs. Plenty for everyone.

Farm the center of thelsamar. There is an island full of troggs that are level 13-15 called stone splinters that drop 1-3 cloth every 3rd kill. Drops a green every 10th kill.

Farm the south of thelsamar to kill level 9-11 troggs that drop 1-3 cloth every 5th kill. Drops a green every 10th kill.

Can farm Whelplings on the east side of badlands in lelthor ravine. They drop "Dark Whelpling" which can sell for 35-200gold on the auction house. They make great companions and gold generation.

You can farm ShadowFangKeep south of The Supulcher south of the Undercity. They also drop the Horde equivalent of 3-5 wool cloth per kill and 3-5 linen cloth. There are about 300 npcs here. You can make about 5 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour off coin drops and another 20 World Of Warcraft Gold off greens and Wool Cloth sales on AH.

Can grind ragefire caverns in Orgrimmar (horde only or suicidal alliance) for 3-5 linen cloth 80% of the time off humanoids, and massive amounts of low level greens. Some greens sell on the ah for 1-2 World Of Warcraft Gold each to twinks. A green drops roughly every 7th kill.

You can farm normal rock elementals in the south, middle edge of The Badlands zone (nestled in a small valley). They drop a lot of grey loot that vendors for 50silver to 1.5 World Of Warcraft Gold and drop it every other kill. They also drop ELEMENTAL EARTH which sells on the ah for 1-3 World Of Warcraft Gold A PIECE. Average drop of the earths is 1 out of 17.

Can farm greater obsidian elementals in the middle of Searing Gorge zone. They drop an elemental earth every 20th kill and an essence of earth every 33rd kill. You can easily get 3 essences and 5 elemental earth's an hour, and resell them for a whopping 70 world of warcraft gold or more.

Can kill level 53-54 toxic horrors in felwood on the middle top area of the map, west of the alliance flight path for essence of waters every 18th kill. These essences of water sell for 7-20 world of warcraft gold each.

Can kill level 55-58 undead in eastern plaguelands for essence of water that drop every 33rd kill. While this isn't a good ratio, there are hundreds of these. Concentrate on the middle of the map where you can find Plague Monstrosity, Plague Ravager, Blighted Surge, Discordant Surge, and Blighted Horrors. These essences of water sell for 7-20 world of warcraft gold each.

Can farm Living blaze level 54-55 for Essence of fire every 50th kill in Un'Goro crater. Level 53-54 Scorching Elementals in Un'Goro crater for Essence of fire every 20th kill. Sell the essence of fire for 7-20 world of warcraft gold on the auction house, each.

Can kill entropic Beasts in the middle part of felwood for essence of fire every 100th kill. Not great but if you want an uncamped spot… Sell the essence of fire for 7-20 world of warcraft gold on the auction house, each.

Can kill Dust Stormers in Silithus for essence of airs on the entire top side of the map that drop every 70th kill. Can kill Whirling Invaders that spawn from the event for essence of airs that drop every 20th kill. Can kill level 58 Cyclone Warriors for essence of airs that drop every 30th kill in the middle to bottom part of silithus. Sell these essence of airs for 15-30 world of warcraft gold each due to higher rarity.

You can farm elemental slaves on the west side of Alterac mountains (horde only) for the chance to get elemental earths (1 out of 15 kills). Goes for 1-3 World Of Warcraft Gold a piece on Auction House.

Can farm elemental exiles on the southwest area of Arathi Highlands for elemental earths. Same 1-3 World Of Warcraft Gold per earth on AH.

Can farm Dabryie's farm in Arathi Highlands (horde only) for 30 npcs of 2-6 silver each on 3-5 minute spawn timers. Often times not camped. Easily can generate 1-5 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour, more if you are an AOE class.

Can farm Go'Shek farm in Arathi Highlands (alliance only) for 30-40 npcs of 2-6 silver each on 3-5 minute spawn timers. Often times not camped. Easily can generate 1-5 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour, more if you are an AOE class.

You can area of effect the scarlet monastery graveyard (in Tristfall glades northeast corner of map) for a good 2silver - 6 silver per kill. An aoe class can easily farm and reset the instance for a good 30-60 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour.

You can farm warpwoods and deadwoods (funny, walking tree treant guys) for 2-10 silver, rare herb drops that sell for 1-5 World Of Warcraft Gold EACH, major healing potions (sells for 1-1.5 World Of Warcraft Gold each on my server), and Living Essences (sells for 8-14 World Of Warcraft Gold EACH on AH!). The warpwoods are located on the north side of Felwood zone near the alliance flight path person. The deadwoods are located just southwest of where the warpwoods are. I made an easy 40-80 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour depending on AH prices with my 60 PALADIN. If you have any other faster dps class, you can EASILY get DOUBLE the World Of Warcraft Gold per hour I got (I should've rolled a different class…. *cries*).

You can farm twilight hammer elites in Searing Gorge. They are located JUST WEST of the alliance/horde flightpoints. You can easily get 3-5 mageweave cloth per drop and about 2silver-16 silver per kill, with 9/10 silver being the most common drop of coin. Easily can make 10 World Of Warcraft Gold per hour off coin drops and 5-20 World Of Warcraft Gold per hour off the green and mageweave drops.

You can farm The Stockades elites located in Stormwind City for decent low level silvers and 3-5 wool cloth per drop on kill. A stack of 20 wool sells for 1-1.15 World Of Warcraft Gold on my server.

You can farm Dustwallow Marsh dragonkin elites (forgot name) on the south side of the map. They are actually Onyxia's guards but they are low level 41-43 gold elites. They drop a nice 3silver - 12silver on kill and can be skinned for medium and heavy leather(not sure on heavy but it might happen i think, i know medium is confirmed). They also drop the occasional 3-5 mageweave cloth. Easily can earn at least 30 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour.

You can farm Alterac Mountain ruins Ogre elites for easy, quick cash (located in middle of the map). THey are level 37-40. They drop a moderate amount of greens and once every 110th kill a blue item will drop, potions every 15th kill, and about 3-10 silver each kill. Don't forget to go inside the unbroken buildings because a named Ogre Elite resides in each one. Watch out for mel'gore the miser wandering patrol. I easily earned 40 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour.

Then there is the ultimate, the Wetlands zone. On the east side of the map leading to and near Grim Batol are level 58-60 dragonkin elites. Some of these guys drop up to FORTY-FIVE (45!!!) silver on kill! My paladin dps sucks too much to make this worth while but any dps class will love this place. It's also virtually uncamped. Just watch out for the named elite dragons that roam but they are *very* easy to avoid since they're so big, walk so slow, and you can pull your mobs away from his patrol path and not get agro. This area can potentially make you 45-80 World Of Warcraft Gold an hour.

Then there's the classic Hearthglen (north side, middle, of western plaguelands) elites of 55-57. They drop up to 33 silver but they hit my 4000armor plate for 150-200 damage and have about 7000 hp. It's also somewhat camped but generally is less camped than most other high end elites - you can easily find a spot of elites and safely solo if you pull correctly.

There's also Tyr's Hand located in the southeast corner of EASTERN plaguelands. These are 53-54 elites but hit for 220 on my 4000 armor plate. They also drop up to about 30 silver and rare items but it's often camped a lot.

East Dire Maul is not included because a trained monkey can do it

Materials needed for a full run on West and North;

Crescent Key (gotten in EDM), 2 rune thread, 8 rugged leather, 4 Rune cloth bolts, 1 Thorium Widget, 1 Frost Oil

Getting to Dire Maul

Get to Theramore, and fly down to Feralas. Once there head east, stay off the main road because it runs through a horde town (you can easily avoid by hitting the water) once past the town hit the road and follow it east. Dire Maul is located almost in the middle of the zone, once you’ve found it head north into it.

Now you don’t have to fight you’re way into DM, most of the mobs have a very small agro radius, so just dodge out of the way. Follow the passageways until you come to a T crossing. Go right, and head across the passage way you should see a door, go through and you come into a big green courtyard. From here you can access East, West, and North. Also you can mount up here, so do so.

West Dire Maul; Need Crescent key or a rogue

Ok, first you need to clearing the large wandering tree elementals. These can be banished, and they do have a knock back effect.

Once all the trees have been cleared move into the middle, you will see a large pylon with elementals about it. You need to clear all of them; they use arcane missiles, have a small blink, but not much in the way of HP. These can also be banished. Once all of the mobs have been killed continue out of the middle and go right.

You will a passageway leading off to the right (at this point people will be screaming to kill the named, don’t worry you’ll be coming back). Watch out of invisible ghosts, these not to hard (See invisible is great here).

You should see an open doorway that leads to a large room full of ghostesque mobs, with a ramp leading up. You will be clearing the mobs in the middle and right hand side. They can silence so keep you healer/spell casters back. Once the middle and left is clear, hug the right wall up.

Now at the top of the ramp you will find some wandering ghosts, its best to kill them and save you’re self some hassle. Now face down the ramp, you will want to hug the right hand side of the railing. Watch out for the two caster mobs, they can be a pain. Follow round until you hit a wall, at this point you should see another pylon. Just do the same as before.

After pylon two AoE the skeletons, carry on over the bridge. Invisible ghosts here again, only a few. Grab the quest, and hit the far side. Pylon number three, rinse and repeat. Now you may find a wandering NE female and her pet bear. Off tank the NE female (she’s a hunter and uses varying shots) and kill the bear first (he charges).

Ok back to the middle of the bridge, and drop down onto the ramp below. Dismiss pets before hand or wipe central. The tree boss is a straight forward fight, he is also used in paladin epic if that’s an issue.

Down into the main courtyard and through the door. Invisible mobs again, just clear through until you come to the main chamber. You will find wandering patrols of storm elementals that need to be killed. Key is to banish the main one, and kill the lesser ones who don’t have that much HP. If no warlock, the big one can be off tanked easily enough.

At this point go left and clear pylon 4. Careful not to agro the mobs that wander around the central area. Go back to where you came in, and go right clear pylon 5. The main area is now accessible.

The fight is straightforward, just kill the eyes he spawn as they can be annoying. Now go leave the central area, and right from where you came in is a door that leads to the library. You will find a place to repair and buy drinks here, also Mooncloth Robe Pattern is available at 4 gold.

Under the ramp you came in is the prince, he hits fast but not overly hard. Once he is dead return to the quest NPC at the top for hand in. The reward chest is under the ramp in the library, by all accounts the mace sells for 7 gold.

This is West Dire Maul done, if you wish to make the most of the situation I would recommend doing North right after.

North Dire Maul

Ok in the corner of the library is a passageway that leads to North Dire Maul, follow this up. Once you reach the top of the passageway, hug the railing to the right. What you’re going to do now is to make life easy for you’re self. There is a ramp in front of you, you will want to run up it and left out of the instance, purely a time saving tool feel free to kill the ogres.

Now the overriding factor in North is NOT to kill the varying bosses you meet. The reason being, the more left alive at the end the more loot in the tribute (chest you get after killing the king).

If you do not have a rogue or an engineer you will need to go back down the ramp you ran up of and hug the right wall. Clear the dogs and continue round, you should see a named ogre. He has a key you need, once dead back out of the courtyard to instance start. If you have a rogue with 300 lock picking don’t worry

Facing out from instance entrance go left, watch out for the patrol of an ogre and two dogs. Dogs see through stealth. Clear the left area, and go up the first ramp you see. There are a few wandering patrols, its best to kill them off in case you wipe later on.

You should see a raised courtyard area, and a ramp. Clear up the ramp and be careful of adds (often best to pull down the ramp). Once this area is secure, you will notice a wandering named guard, try not to kill. Once he is safely away, grab the key from the chest in middle, and head to other side of courtyard and down ramp to locked door.

Once in the passageways look out for wandering Eyes of Zomm, they summon in two 60 elite elementals. Clear down the first passage way to the bugs, AoE these. Now you will see a set of ogres with pets to you’re right and a gnome with a quest marker. Also a wandering guard, and a broken trap on the floor. Pull the set of mobs around the fire. Then use the Thorium Widget and Frost Oil on the broken trap, this will freeze the named in place. Carry on around the corner, there’s a set of mobs in the corner but they can be safely ignored, and clear the set of mobs next to the ramp.

The gnome gives a quest for the ogre suit (you did bring the parts listed above right?) but you missing Ogre Tannin. Up the ramp and do the same again, and once more in the corner. In the corner is ogre tannin basket, looting tannin causes a mob to spawn and rush down the ramp, an easy kill

Return to the gnome and get you suit, then its back up the ramps. At the top ramp, go left and kill the two ogres at door. Carry on through and kill the other set of ogre. Now suit up and talk to the captain, only one person needs do this. He will rush off, and won’t agro other party members.

Now clear the right hand two mobs, pull them into tunnel to avoid adds. Hug the right wall, pull the dogs making sure that the patrol of dogs is no where near by. For the best result also pull dogs into the tunnel.

Now from the right wall cut across the courtyard to the broken ramp in the central ring. If you haven’t done so kill the patrol of dogs.

King fight is straight forward. Off tank the observer, making sure not to kill him, also keep him away from the king as he will heal him. The king hits hard, so have the healing ready. Have had a paladin tank him with a priest healer, and a warrior tank with a druid healer so nothing is needed. Once the king is dead, the observer becomes non-agro.

Loot the king, and hail the NPC that ran in. Talk to him twice for tribute, make sure everyone has the king buff and head back to the start, talk to the guards on the way for a 120min buffs. You will find the captain on the way, talk to him to receive a quest.

Return to the library, and behind were the prince was, is a chest. Return the gloves to the captain for you’re reward.

This is North DM done.

FAQ

Q. Why don’t we killed the named in North?
A. The more bosses left alive when the king dies, the more loot in tribute. With all alive, 3 blue items

Q. We did north but can’t get the chest behind the prince, what do we do?
A. In order to access the chest you need to kill the prince, this is done by freeing the Immotar (clear the 5 pylons)

Once Season 4 ends, teams and ratings will carry over so that players still get to earn points and purchase gear until Wrath of the Lich King launches on November 13. Also, note that October 14 is only a tentative date, as Wryxian explains:

We re currently planning to end the fourth Arena season on October 14, 2008, and as always — this date could easily change.

This Arena Season is only ending in respect to the ladder, meaning we'll be taking a snapshot of the season's ladder and then go through our normal process to determine who is eligible for the end-of-season rewards. This process should take approximately one week.

It's very important for players who feel that they may be eligible for the arena-specific title and/or Armored Nether Drake to refrain from transferring their character to another realm between the date outlined above, and when the end-of-season rewards are physically awarded.

• World of Warcraft, Arena's Season 4: you'll see it coming
• World of Warcraft forums: Arena Season 4 arrives in two weeks

Source: wow.qj.net

Leipzig: Games Convention 2009 dated, GC 2008 sets record
With the Leipzig Games Convention 2008 finally closing its curtains, we now get confirmation that next year's event has already been scheduled. The announcement was made via press release by Leipziger Messe GmbH CEO Wolfgang Marzin: GC 2009 will be held from August 19 to 23, also in Leipzig.

Along with the announcement, we hear of a survey conducted to this year's event's visitors, asking them if they'd want to see another GC next year.

Among all the visitors - whether trade exhibitor or part of the general public (some of which have travelled from half way across the world just to see the show) - a vast majority of about 90 agreed.

This makes me think of what the outcome would have been if a survey like this were conducted at the end of this year's E3, but moving on…

GC 2008's success is proven by the sheer number of visitors who dropped in: over the four-day period, some 203,000 people came in. Compared to last year, the number of software and hardware companies from around the world who participated in the Leipzig event have increased, from 189 to 234.

• Leipzig: video game awardees for Best of Show in GC 2008
• Leipzig news coverage on QJ.NET

Source: wow.qj.net

Chilton was also rather excited about the new achievement system that they will be introducing soon. It will definitely give players something to strive for and extend their gameplay even further.

When asked about the hardest challenge the developers have encountered so far, Brack answered that the insertion of the new Death Knight class was the biggest hurdle they've faced. However, with the beta phase for WotLK well underway, modifications are still being made to the new character class before its official release with the new expansion.

One of the more interesting things they discussed was Blizzard's take on MMOs made for consoles and social networks. This doesn't necessarily mean gamers should hope for a console version of WoW soon. Brack specifically mentioned while this may work with other MMOs, this setup wouldn't really work with World of Warcraft. I guess this just means we'll just have to play WoW as it was meant to be played: on a PC.

You can view the full interview conducted by play.tm by following the link found below.

• World of Warcraft devs hint at graphical reboot, speak on ten man raids
• Blizzard's J. Brack Allen on the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion

Source: wow.qj.net

According to Kotaku's report, Blizzard is planning on unveiling the opening cinematic movie for Wrath of the Lich King at the event.

Following the airing of the opening movie, the company will also host a Q&A session, presumably to answer questions folks may have on the cinematic.

Playable demos, an opening cinematic, and a forum for questions. Sounds like the Blizzard media machine is going full force at Leipzig. Keep checking QJ for updates from Leipzig as it happens.

• Blizzard confirms showcase at Leipzig Games Convention 2008

Source: wow.qj.net