Welcome to another installment of Arcane Brilliance, the weekly mage column that thinks nothing goes better with strudel than a warm ball of fire. Ok, so last week, we all clicked the “Create Character” button and selected a mage. We picked a race for that mage, gave him or her facial features, a skin tone, a hairstyle, possibly even a lower jaw, and chose a non-stupid name for our fledgling master of the arcane arts. This week, we’re backing our new mage out of the garage and taking him for a spin. Interesting fact: mages actually appreciate in value the more mileage you put on them! The first few levels can be a trying time for a new mage. A couple things you’ll notice: You’re wearing a skirt and wielding a stick. You’re a huge wuss. This can be quite vexing, especially if you’re used to another class, possibly one that wears actual armor into battle, doesn’t get a nosebleed from standing up too quickly, and isn’t the dungeon master for the chess club’s Dragonlance campaign. Well get used to it. You may have been on

Are you ready for big, exciting changes? Are you all set to be floored, destroyed, blown away even by all the tweaks and adjustments to the Warrior class in Patch 3.2.2? I hope you’re ready for a tectonic shift all told. Here we go! Please, brace yourselves, I can’t be responsible for your safety once you digest this critical new information. Warriors Talents   Arms   Sword Specialization: Now has a 2/4/6/8/10% chance to proc an extra attack, up from 1/2/3/4/5%. Protection   Critical Block: This talent now grants a 20/40/60% chance to block double the normal amount instead of 10/20/30%. As I said to a friend recently, you paid for the whole seat, so I suggest scooting back there. You’ve got lots of room. To any with heart conditions or delicate constitutions, I apologize if you just weren’t prepared for a mind altering paradigm shift like the one these patch notes provided. Such senses shattering power wasn’t meant for mortals. Should I keep going or was that enough sarcasm? I honestly can’t tell. I know that these are

Welcome to another edition of Arcane Brilliance, the weekly Mage column that believes leveling a Mage is a noble endeavor, worthy of praise, tax breaks, and probably some kind of discount at Denny’s. Arcane Brilliance also believes leveling a Warlock means you’re going to Hell. So, you may think I’m doing things backwards. You’re right. I totally am. I spent the last two weeks blathering on about gearing up for raiding. This week, we’re talking about the first twenty levels of the game. It makes no sense. Feel free to mock me in the comments. I’m freely admitting I’m a sad, confused individual, with little to no sense of journalistic etiquette. Also, bite me. In any event, the last round of Mage leveling guides are growing decidedly long in the tooth, having been written sometime around the same time as the Carter administration. Back then, Mages were still the “Kings of AoE,” 2v2 was still a viable Arena configuration, and crowd control was still something Mages were expected to actually do in instances. Remember all that?

Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited goes free-to-play today, so we put together a little round-up of our best guides for this new content. Maybe you’re confused on how the new DDO Store will work, or have heard rumors about what aspect of the game is truly free-to-play. Massively has you covered! Massively’s DDO Unlimited developer tour Love can sometimes be a fickle thing, but I’m pretty sure that I love what Turbine has done with the DDO Store in Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited. I’ll admit that initially I was a little concerned with the concept of an in-game store, but after playing with it at bit and asking some questions my fears have pretty much melted away. Massively Speaking Episode 57: DDO with Jerry Snook Massively Speaking Episode 57 returns this week with an entire episode dedicated to Dungeons and Dragons Online and their recent announcement about going free-to-play. Shawn is joined by DDOCast host Jerry Snook as they discuss the ins and outs, good and bad of a 3-year-old game going F2P. The pros and cons of free to

As we were preparing for this weekend’s WRUP, I noticed something. In the past, you may have noticed Alex noticing that some of us had forgotten the P in WRUP. This is to say, that many of us were not playing WoW, and in fact were not playing any video game whatsoever! I noticed that not only are we back to playing games on this lovely Labor Day weekend, but that we’re specifically playing WoW. Well, except for Alex, Adam, and Sacco. They all hate Azeroth and want the Scourge to win. Adam Holisky: (@adamholisky) – um… Champions Online Alex Ziebart: (@aziebart) – Now that BlizzCon and all of that is behind us, I’m going to show my personal blogs a little love. I finally put up my little sister’s Neri Ame review, which I’d been sitting on for weeks. Beyond that, probably working on my Paladin’s Ret gear and tackling Trial of the Grand Crusader with my raid. Robin Torres: (@cosmiclaurel) – There will be more Itchee with The Spawn, but mostly there will be leveling my drood in Battlegrounds. I will of course intend to

Word from the Argent Tournament front is that the Coliseum is being crushed — we’re getting lots of news here in GW that bosses are being downed, and with the last boss in this week, world firsts are happening already. Of course, for us, a down is a down, so we’re happy to report on any kills, whether they be in Naxx, Ulduar, or the ToC. But from what we’ve heard, there’s quite a few raiding groups out there that have trounced what the Argent Tournament has thrown at them, so we guess we’ll just have to wait and see what challenges there are to come. Meanwhile, you can find this week’s drama, downed, and recruiting news all after the break. Have a tip for us? Please do send us an email at guildwatch@wow.com, and you just might see it here next week. Thanks! Hit “Read More” for, well, more. DRAMA Knights Templar on Boulderfist sends congrats to their GM, Eruamandil, on his marriage. They picked him up some nice in-game items, and his new wife apparently got her own six-month subscription to the game, courtesy of a group of