World of Warcraft = My serious relationship.
Dead or Alive 4 = My eX-BOXfriend.
WarCraft 3/StarCraft = The micro I never got in HS (making 2nd attempt now).
Borderlands, Left4Dead 2 Demo, & Heroes of Newerth = The cute guy(s) in my elevator.

Earlier this evening, I took a look at my Steam games list just to see how many games I have yet to actually complete before indulging in a new game: Dragon Age; aka the really attractive intern who makes working on the same floor with people who actually bought Modern Warfare 2 seem bearable. While I have a history of finishing games before starting new ones, I have discovered I am backsliding. I am, in fact, cheating on my serious relationship with several men in an elevator. Sometimes even two within an hour of each other.

So, does the holiday season force gamers to suddenly become noncommittal? Do we even tend to put those serious relationships on indefinite hiatus to indulge in ESRB-stamped, Christmas cheer? Evenso, I am grateful for Steam. At least it remembers your birthday, how many hours you’ve spent together, and occassionally gives you a discount on your loot without complaining that the price of movie theater popcorn has just increased.

GG.

In the Human Media Interaction department of Professor Anton Nijholtthe Centre for Telematics and Information Technology Research Institute, a study is being conducted using Brain-Computer Interfaces to measure both player moods and prompted movement using an application built specifically for World of Warcraft. For example, as soon as a player feels they are in danger, the character will shift into bear form to protect their vulnerability. Once the player has relaxed, they return to the regular character form. While this may not seem like a huge feat for anyone who has played the game, the ability to process those actions through nothing other than brain signals is quite astounding.

What would the future of games be like (especially WoW) if we no longer had the need to use our mouse and keyboard? Would this remove some of the challenges that non-twitch, keyboard turn, and click players face? Would this make gaming “too easy”? Leave your comments below and tell us what you think!

Subscriptions are completely optional, which will allow unlimited free play to gamers. The optional subscription, dubbed DDO VIP, grants paying players a monthly dose of Turbine Points (store currency), server priority access, open class/race options, additional character slots, a shared bank slot, and more. The cost for DDO VIP is currently $14.99 per month.

By taking the “game enhancement” route for paying subscriptions, and opening the floodgates for the freeloaders, Turbine’s outlook for the DDO relaunch must be a positive one. To sign up for beta access, simply click here.

Agent Wilkes: Publicly, Horzine Industries was hard at work fulfilling an MOD contract to develop the world’s most advanced combat armor. Privately, they were cloning a subterranean army of violent and unfortunate looking servants. As Wilkes will testify, having found and liberated their Mark 7 suit, they were great at multitasking.

Foundry Worker Aldridge: When you’re being paid more than three times the expected salary for unskilled labor, you learn not to ask questions. When inhuman screams can be heard from further down the assembly line, you close the door and take lunch break. When the door flies off its hinges and a mangled combination of man and machine comes charging in – lunch break is over.

DJ Scully: DJ Scully was AWOL from the military and spending his nights in the London underground spinning dark drum and bass, working under the table for the many clubs in London. During one of his sets he witnessed all his fans get shredded to pieces by a giant creature with flesh blenders for hands. These unfortunate events have thrust him back into the combat he was running away from.

Dr. Gary Glover: As one of the only survivors from the Horzine Biotics Labs staff, Dr. Glover had a major hand in creating the horror that is now tearing London apart. As hard as he tries, he can’t put this genie back in the bottle – not even with a double barreled shotgun.

One of the bank’s controllers, Ricdic, whose account was the receiving conduit for all ISK deposits going into EBank, had committed an act of theft. Removing approximately 200 billion ISK, Ricdic then proceeded to trade the kredits for £3,115 in the real world. The 27-year old Australian was quoted saying, “I’m not proud of it at all, that’s why I didn’t brag about it, but you know, if I had to do it again, I probably would’ve chosen the same path based on the same situation.” Ricdic has since been thrown out of the game as trading in-game cash for real money is against EVE Online’s terms and conditions.

EBank remains strong today with advance reports being offered soon, as a new chairman takes up position within the institution.

With that being said, are these changes too little too late? Should there be additional textures for moonkin and tree forms? Is changing your character’s skin color or hair color going to affect the overall aesthetics of druids when they are not in bear/cat form? Leave your comments below, and let us know what you think.

In efforts to ensure your ticket will be successfully purchased, here are a few key reminders:

+ Create your Battle.net Account prior to the purchase date.
+ Check your Payment Options to verify that they are up to date with the proper information.
+ Be on time for the beginning of the sale. F7 is your friend, but use a reliable browser.

With the ability to purchase up to five tickets per household, many are suspecting that the second batch sale should be a smoother process. This is attributed mostly to the fact that resellers, such as the ones on eBay, have already purchased the maximum amount and have either posted their auctions, or are waiting for the complete sell out of stock before upping their prices.

In the unfortunate event that players miss both rounds of ticket sales, there is still hope that they can win a ticket. Several Blizzard fan sites are running contests now, and others have stated they will be following suit in the near future.

Only the Tauren druid sneak peek art has been released thus far. However, we are promised a Night Elf preview later this week.

Having placed third at the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals and qualifying for the Blizzard regionals, the current favourite to sweep the competition is aAa. Will we see another RMP mirror in the final round? Could Azox’s WLD team surprise us in their first tournament appearance? Leave your comments below as to which team you think will advance to the finals.

aAa Nawa
Anelit
Hiss
Phoenix

Sickology
Azox
Kadis
Léa

x6tence
Siler
Souler
Falcon

RiMP
Alec
Sanchez
Phildryzen

Class Changes

Death Knights

• Frost Presence: Armor bonus is now 60% down from 80%.

Druids

• Improved Barkskin: This talent now also grants 80/160% additional armor while in Travel Form or not shapeshifted.
• Improved Tree of Life: The armor bonus to Tree of Life Form from this talent has been reduced to 67/133/200% bonus armor.

Hunters

• Hunter’s Mark: The ranged attack power bonus from this ability has been increased from 300 to 500.
• Master Marksman: This talent now also decreases the cost of Aimed Shot and Chimera Shot by 5/10/15/20/25%.

Paladins

• Eye For An Eye: This talent now deals 5/10% of the critical strike damage taken by the paladin back at the attacker.
• Hand of Freedom: The base duration of this buff has been reduced from 10 seconds to 6 seconds.

Rogues

• Overkill: Talent redesigned. Now increases energy regeneration by 30% while stealthed, and for 20 seconds after breaking stealth.

Warlocks

• Chaos Bolt: This spell no longer ignores damage reduction effects of the target.

Warriors

• Blood Frenzy: This talent now provides 5/10% haste instead of 3/6%.
• Bloodthirst: Cooldown reduced from 5 seconds to 4 seconds, and rage cost reduced from 30 rage to 20 rage.
• Juggernaut: This talent now also increases the cooldown on Charge by 5 seconds.

Item Changes

• Death Knight PvP Gauntlets: The chance to refresh a Frost Rune when casting Chains of Ice has been removed. When equipped, these gloves now generate 5 additional runic power whenever Chains of Ice is used.

Dungeon Changes

Ulduar
-Mimiron

• The flight time of Rocket Strikes has been increased, and Rocket Strikes will try to prefer players at range.
• The Leviathan Mk II component of the V-07-TR-0N will become stunned during Phase 4 when the VX-001 component begins to cast the P3Wx2 Laser Barrage ability
• Proximity mines now deal less damage and have a lower duration. A small arming time has also been added so proximity mines will not immediately detonate on creation.

Bug Fixes

• Druid Tier 8 Balance Set: The 4-piece bonus no longer has its effect consumed by Starfire casts in progress when it triggers. The chance for the effect to be triggered has been reduced down to 8%, as it was originally inflated to compensate.
• Ice Layered Barrier: Upgraded to item level 232. In addition, the stats in the tooltip have been correctly adjusted to 78 spell power, 48 haste rating, 16 mana per 5 seconds, 52 Intellect, and 50 Stamina.
• Pulsing Spellshield: The stats listed in the tooltip for this item were incorrect and have been adjusted. This item provides 69 spell power, 34 haste rating, 42 critical strike rating, 45 intellect, and 45 stamina.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming patch? Leave your comments below!