MMO-Champion Feed - Shadow the Fox Plush, Collegiate Dungeon Race, Developer Interviews, WoW History

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Celebrate the Season 12 Launch Alongside Your Favorite Streamers

Marin's a Pretty Cool Dude - Our Favourite Decks Featuring the Fox

Shadow the Fox Plush Now Available for Purchase
You can now purchase a Shadow the Fox plush to support disaster relief!

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

New Plush: Adopt Shadow and Help Support Disaster Relief Efforts
Shadow is already with you in Azeroth, but now you can cuddle up to the real thing! Introducing the latest magical World of Warcraft creature up for adoption in the Blizzard Gear Store: a plush version of Shadow the artful fox, based on the void-touched in-game pet. The Shadow plush features a light-up rune and poseable ears, and comes in a collector’s box to keep Shadow safe.

Thanks to you, Blizzard is helping people affected by disasters big and small in the U.S. and around the world. Between November 9, 2017 and December 31, 2017, sales of the plush will help support the American Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies—visit Shadow’s page on the Blizzard Gear Store for more information.

Summon Shadow into your realm today!

The American Red Cross and IFRC names are used with its permission, which in no way constitutes an endorsement, express or implied, of any product, service, company, opinion, or political position. For more information about the American Red Cross and the IFRC, please visit redcross.org or ifrc.org.

Collegiate Dungeon Race Playoffs

Originally Posted by Blizzard (Blue Tracker / Official Forums)

Watch the Collegiate Dungeon Race Playoffs!
Watch World of Warcraft Mythic Keystone dungeon race teams compete for a share of $20,000 in scholarship prize money. All matches will be live on Twitch from Thursday 9th through Sunday 12th of November between 5:00—9:00pm PST.

Back in September, Tespa announced The Great Collegiate Dungeon Race, and we’ve already hit the double elimination part of the tournament! As things stand, 16 teams remain—8 teams in the upper bracket (no losses) and 8 in the lower (one loss, and if they lose again will be knocked out)—getting whittled down to 4 teams as we head towards the final.

What’s the Deal?

• 16 teams remain, with 4 winning teams heading to the single elimination championship bracket
  
• Keystones start at 14, bumping up as the tournament progresses
  
• The tournament will be broadcast live over all four days
  
• Prize pool
  
  • First place: $2,000 per player
    
  • Second place: $1,000 per player
    
  • Third & fourth place: $500 per player
    

Upper Bracket

Lower Bracket

Where and When?

• All matches will be streamed live on our World of Warcraft Twitch channel
  
• Thursday 9, November 5:00—9:00pm PST
  
• Friday 10, November 5:00—9:00pm PST
  
• Saturday 11, November 5:00—9:00pm PST
  
• Sunday 12, November 5:00—9:00pm PST

What is a Mythic Keystone Dungeon Race?
Group dungeons and the teamwork they involve are centerpieces of World of Warcraft. And with the Mythic Keystone system introduced in Legion™, players are encouraged to gather up four of their friends and take on even greater challenges! With each increasing level of Mythic difficulty, the health and damage of enemies increases, and at certain levels new modifiers are introduced that will require players to adapt, evolve, and work together to succeed.

We’re looking forward to seeing another great round of World of Warcraft competition, and can’t wait to see students from across North America banding together against the Legion!

Developer Interviews
We're continuing to take a look at new information from the BlizzCon developer interviews.

Lost Codex Tweets Zandalari Druid Confirmation
The Lost Codex tweeted a portion of their interview.

• Zandalari Trolls have druids as a class option. Their travel form is a raptor.

The Starting Zone Podcast Interviews Chris Robinson and Jeremy Feasel
The Starting Zone Podcast scored an interview with Chris Robinson and Jeremy Feasel.

• The team thinks Warfronts will take a little more time than islands to complete.
• Islands are a major evolution of the Pandaria scenarios with higher difficulty spikes.
• A seafaring vendor will show up on your docks every day that sells Island consumables & power-ups that fill in some holes for your spec.
  
  • An arms warrior could purchase consumables to become more of a tank for the island run.
  • A mage could purchase consumables to be sort of a healing mage for the island run.
• Highmountain Tauren druid forms have moose antlers.
• Death magic and witchcraft are a big part of the Kul Tiras storyline.
• The team wanted to explore a flourishing troll civilization.
• Unique mounts, pets and other items will be rewarded from Islands.
• The team doesn’t want Azerite to feel extremely grindy.
• Losing in Island content still rewards a payout, but slightly smaller than winning.
• There is no set amount of different Island variations at launch, but it’s a lot!
• The new AI for Islands/Warfronts behaves nothing like current WoW AI.
• Spellbreakers and Phoenix Mages (caster/healer hybrid) are two specs you could see with Blood Elf Island AI opponents.
• Island AI can even resurrect team members that you take down.
• Islands have a 30 sec auto-resurrect spot similar to Battlegrounds for when you die.

PC Gamer Interviews Ion and Alex
PC Gamer sat down with the WoW devs.

• Warfronts could have some things in the maps to reflect the winning side.
• The team is willing to permanently change the old world where it makes sense.
• The Burning of Teldrassil and the Siege of the Uncercity will be intro events.
• There might be PVP quests that have you hunt high value targets for rewards on the PVP enabled shards.
• The team can shard players in PVP shards with others of the same level range to avoid players getting one-shot.
• Leveling the Heart of Azeroth will be relevant the entire expansion.
• Internal testing of Islands and the new AI has been a lot of fun.

PC Gamer Covers WoW Classic Announcement
PC Gamer also sat down with J. Allen Brack to discuss Classic servers.

• Classic became possible because the team discovered a way for it to run on modern infrastructure.
• Classic servers will not have the features added to current WoW such as Dungeon Finder.

Eurogamer Talks to the J. Allen Brack
Eurogamer sat down with Brack to talk about Classic servers.

• The team ran old school Scholomance with the Nostalrius build.
• They have some infrastructure stuff in place and a build up and running for reference.
• The main part of the job is the infrastructure before tackling the design questions.
• No development will be taken away from Battle for Azeroth for Classic. A new team is being hired for this project.
• Brack can’t say whether it will be months or years for the release.
• Some players will return just for a nostalgia trip.
• The team wants to provide a constant social connection and community.
• These servers have full commitment now and will not be ditched if they are not popular.
• Blizzard has maintained contact with Nostralius and are considering involving some of their team in the process.

Digital Trends Discusses Classic Servers with Brack and Feasel
Digital Trends also got to interview J. Allen Brack and Jeremy Feasel on the Classic announcement.

• Blizzard wants the launch experience of Classic to be smooth and successful.
• The experience will be as identical to Vanilla WoW as possible, but they are not sure at which point in the patch life cycle of the original game it will take place.
• The team wants to create a Blizzard-quality experience of the original game.

GameSpot Speaks with John Height about Classic Servers
John Height answered some questions for GameSpot about the classic servers.

• Team members who worked on the original game have been consulted, but resources are not being taken from the current game.

This Week in WoW History
We're taking a look back at old MMO-Champion posts and World of Warcraft news that occurred during this time in previous years.

New Companions
The models for two new companion pets were found on the PTR. Lil’ Ragnaros, and the Moonkin Hatchling were the new additions to the game. These pets are available for purchase through the Blizzard Pet Store, and remain available even today. The Moonkin Hatchling was the new charitable pet, with sales helping a good cause for a limited time.

Sandstone Drake
In 2010, during a preview of professions in Cataclysm the Vial of the Sands was discovered. This was the newest profession mount available for crafting in game. Unlike the tailoring or engineering mounts, this could be traded and used by anyone. Its most notable feature was the spot for a passenger while transformed.

The Darkmoon Faire
Patch 4.3 introduced some new content in the game, which is still active, and expanding in today’s patches. The Darkmoon Faire hit the PTR with a variety of activities, and numerous collectable items such as mounts, pets, transmog, heirlooms, and cosmetic items. The faire provided multiple profession specific quests, as well as chances for PvP, and carnival games.

Recruit-a-Friend Updated
The Recruit-a-Friend program got updated in 2013, adding the Emerald Hippogryph, amongst other mounts such as the Heart of the Nightwing, X-53 Touring Rocket, and Swift Zhevra to the game. For pet lovers, the Golden Pig, Silver Pig, Jade Tiger, and Zipao Tiger are also rewards for recruiting new players to the game. This new program also allowed players to earn triple experience, as long as the characters leveled together.

Overwatch - The New Blizzard Game
At the 2014 BlizzCon, the new project was officially announced. Overwatch was introduced with a stunning cinematic trailer, in the Blizzard tradition, as well as a gameplay trailer. A variety of heroes, maps, and abilities were showcased in this new team based shooter. Some of the early concept art and development of the game was also showcased during the Overwatch - Origins panel.

BlizzCon Legion Preview
After the announcement of Legion at the 2015 BlizzCon, a lot of information regarding the new expansion was discussed throughout various panels. Systems such as Artifact Power, Artifact Weapons, Challenge Modes, new raids, Relics, and of course the preview of the new hero class, the Demon Hunters.

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