Filed under: News items

It's that time again, ladies and gentlemen! The Patch 3.3.3 PTR has been given a brand new build, and with it comes a few changes to the patch notes. There aren't many changes, but the few that are there are rather significant to the classes they impact. The changes are as follows:

Hunters

• Heart of the Phoenix: Cooldown reduced to 8 minutes, down from 10 minutes.

Warriors

• Thunderclap: This ability now counts as a ranged attack, granting it double damage on critical strikes instead of 150% and ranged miss chance, and still cannot be dodged or parried.
• Bladestorm: Warriors can now be Disarmed while under the effects of this ability.

Glyphs

• Glyph of Focus: Now increases the damage done by Starfall by 10%, down from 20%.

We've updated our full patch 3.3.3 patch notes listing to include these additions. If you've missed any previous updates, make sure to check them out! Patch 3.3.3 brings about small but noteworthy changes to the World of Warcraft. From a faster CoT, to putting those old Frozen Orbs to better use, to changes to the auction house -- there's several things all WoW players need to know. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3.3 will keep you up to date!

Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Updated patch notes originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items

We were just talking about it on today's podcast (thrill to the sound of three people barely awake trying to coherently discuss World of Warcraft) and hey, look, Ghostcrawler reads my mind from across the interwebs. Well, okay, no, he responded to a forum thread, but it's still interesting. Yes, interesting enough that I'm going to replicate the post here before discussing it. I am out of control, a renegade, I should hand in my posting badge and keyboard.

Ghostcrawler - Re: What's wrong with an Active Mana Regen Model?
I'm not sure we'd ever do a "deal damage to heal" model. It might work for new classes, but feels like a big change to existing classes that players know and love.

Having choices to get mana back is good. Standing around to regen mana is bad.

However, we still ultimately need a way that healers who are playing badly, trying to keep alive an undergeared / underskilled tank, or just tackling content that they're not yet ready for, can run out of mana to the extent that the encounter is over.

source
Personally, I hope that 'it might work for new classes' statement means we'll finally get something like a Warhammer Warrior Priest. I'm still jazzed from seeing Diablo III's version of the Monk and I'd be thrilled if they created a cloth wearing, staff wielding, spirit and intellect utilizing melee healer. I'm sad that they've ruled it out for any current classes (man, it would rock for paladins in my opinion and would single handedly make me like that class) but I'm very hopeful we'll be monking it up in an expansion or two.

Will WoW ever have a 'DPS to heal' model? originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items

The tenth annual Game Developers Conference is in full swing in San Francisco, CA, and our sister sites Joystiq and Massively are on the scene! No matter what kind of games you're into, there's a ton of news on its way out of the convention, and we're compiling some of the stuff that might matter to you in daily roundups just for you. If you want the whole GDC news experience, check out all of Massively's and Joystiq's coverage!

Sword of the New World: Let's get political
GamersFirst's achingly pretty MMO import Sword of the New World, née Granado Espada, is getting new content in its Political PvP system, allowing players to "run for office, control the colonies, and be a tyrant" in the SotNW universe's bizarro-America. Battlestar Galactica MMO on its way to your browser
TV space opera Battlestar Galactica follows in the footsteps of that other popular space show and gets its own MMO -- right in your browser. That's right, you can be a forsaken and a Cylon at the same time if you so desire. Somebody knows their audience. Massively gives it an in-depth look right here. Indie Fund wants to help your indie game get off the ground
Ron Carmel of 2D Boy -- creators of indie superhit World of Goo -- unveiled plans for Indie Fund, an innovative funding and mentoring system for indie developers who might not have the capital to get a game completed and published on their own. Taikodom blasts its way to America
Taikodom takes the mine-space-rocks economy of EVE Online and throws in a dash of twitch shooter for flavor, and GamersFirst is launching it stateside, with plans for a closed beta by summer and a release by year's end. Fallen Earth iPhone app is, well, basically Fallen Earth
Icarus Studios wants you stay connected to their post-apocalyptic romp Fallen Earth, and to that end, they're developing an incredibly comprehensive FE experience on the iPhone, allowing you to check out your inventory, browse the auction house, chat with friends, and even craft items, all on the go. Civilization V is bringing hexy back
Firaxis' latest entry into the Civilization series doesn't want you bogged down worrying about stuff like cardinal directions. You don't even need most of those anyway! Civ V goes old-school with its hex-based grid. Oh, and they also built a whole new engine from the ground up. Hug that DX11 card.

GDC 2010 roundup, day one originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Blizzard, News items

Sadly, the ultimate answer appears to be "very reluctantly" but it's an interesting read anyway. J. Allen Brack talks to G4 about WoW, consoles, and the barriers to entry for an MMO. The usual suspects apply, of course. WoW was designed for keyboards, consoles tend to have a short lifespan compared to the development time of a MMO, and WoW currently takes up about 15gb worth of memory while consoles like an XBox 360 have at most 20gb worth of hard drive space without buying any additions. This is no surprise, of course... they've said all this before.

What I really found interesting was that this is supposedly something they think about a lot. "In the case of WoW, we talk about it all the time." I'm the curious sort, so I find myself wondering why, given all the reasons Brack himself lists. Personally, I'd love to see a single player Warcraft property of some sort for consoles, perhaps a God of War style action game or even a Dragon Age/Mass Effect hybrid RPG. And who knows, perhaps Blizzard will come up with a way to do it despite their laundry list of reasons why they won't, they've surprised me before.

Blizzard: "How would we bring WoW to the console?" originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Guilds, News items

At the end of the summer last year I had this crazy idea: to make a TV show about a raiding guild. I was inspired by the relationships and interactions in my current guild and how much they impacted me personally -- both good and bad. I fleshed out the idea over beers (many beers) with some friends. We talked about logistics, equipment, participation, but most importantly, the goal. I wanted the show to be about the people, to be about the interaction between the raiders. And I don't mean ninja-looting drama-mama QQing. I wanted to explore the things that go on in a group of people trying to work together online to accomplish something great. There's more to raiding than drama. Things like, as I'm fond of saying, "the soul crushing 1% wipes and the absolute exhilaration of taking down a new boss for the first time."

I worked on a pitch and reached out to friends & family in "the biz" but I spent most of my time trying to explain concepts such as a "raid" or a "boss" or that when I said "guild" I meant a group of MMO gamers and not an actor's or writer's union -- which made for some very confusing conversations at first. Frustrated, I wasn't sure I'd ever convince anyone this was an idea worth doing. But I knew it was.

Continue reading Big Crits, a new WoW reality series

Big Crits, a new WoW reality series originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items, Cataclysm

We posted yesterday about some of the aspects of the mastery system, a new feature in Cataclysm that will allow players to obtain bonuses to whatever talent tree they choose to follow. Today Eyonix answered a few questions to clarify the system and how it will work with regards to specific classes and abilities:

• 1. 28/28/20 spec. Does mastery on gear affect both highest trees or give no benefit at all?
• 2. How are ferals and Dks as tanks working with mastery system in place? Are they to care about it for threat or do they have separate bonuses.
• 3. How are the non-pure classes going to be balanced against those with a full 76 point passive benefit? Balance, enhancement(not so much), shadow, feral, ele, resto, holy and Ret all have this issue.
• 4. Hybrids who use spells not improved by their spec on occasion such as heals or the extra lava burst are feeling that their non-specced spells are going to be extremely weak as compared to now.

Check out the answers after the break!

Continue reading Updates and clarifications on the mastery system

Updates and clarifications on the mastery system originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! I name this week's post not in a negative sense, but in a sense that it does seem like we've officially started winding down Wrath. Specifically, we recently saw the addition of the first edition of the Icecrown Citadel raid buff. It has started at 5%, but will eventually rise to 30%, allowing more and more people to power through the dungeon and see Arthas fall at their feet. It's the end of an era, but I feel the start of a much better one.

Of course, that's not to say we're completely out of Wrath yet. We have at least 2 more patches to go, and Patch 3.3.3 PTR news keeps rolling in, as does tons of other news. You'll have the usual maintenance break from WoW this morning, 5 AM to 11 AM pacific, so you have time to get caught up. As usual, here's our list of some of the major stuff from the past 7 days or so:

Continue reading Tuesday Morning Post: Beginning of the end edition

Tuesday Morning Post: Beginning of the end edition originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 07:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items

The background downloader has gone active tonight with a 77.5 MB partial file for the Patch 3.3.3 patching process. Don't expect the patch to go live tomorrow, of course (if nothing else, scheduled maintenance isn't long enough), but it looks like we may be within a few weeks of some nice new patch goodness, including the rise of DK frost dual wielding, Frozen Orbs, and the abolishment of battleground marks.

For a round up of all of the changes, big and small, coming with the patch, be sure to check our Patch 3.3.3 Info page.
Patch 3.3.3 brings about small but noteworthy changes to the World of Warcraft. From a faster CoT, to putting those old Frozen Orbs to better use, to changes to the auction house -- there's several things all WoW players need to know. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3.3 will keep you up to date!

Patch 3.3.3 background downloader active originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items, Cataclysm

Blizzard has released a rather detailed look into a new feature coming in Cataclysm that we first heard about at BlizzCon 2009 -- the mastery system. The system will "allow players to become better at what makes their chosen talent tree cool or unique." Mastery bonuses are passive and are tied to each talent tree for every class. The more talent points you put in the tree, the more your mastery for that tree will increase. Each talent tree will have three mastery bonuses:

• Bonus 1: Increase to damage, healing, or survivability
• Bonus 2: Increase to a stat that's relevant to the given talent tree
• Bonus 3: A completely unique effect to the given talent tree

The mastery statistic on gear you'll get from 80 to 85 will increase the effect of bonus #3. Mechanically, the point of the mastery system is to remove talents like "6% more damage" and regulate those effects into the entire tree.

The entire announcement from Blizzard after the break. This includes some examples of the mastery bonuses for a few talent trees.

Continue reading Mastery System Preview

Mastery System Preview originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Analysis / Opinion, News items, Death Knight

MMO Champion's got the goods on an upcoming build of patch 3.3.3.

Mounts and pets

But first, check out Lil' XT! Doesn't your Lil' KT want a lil' company? No idea where this lil' guy will come from as of yet, but it could be a future purchasable pet joining the likes of the Pandaren Monk and Lil' KT!

Both the Celestial Steed and X-53 Touring Rocket (screenshot) now have their own spells and have 310% flying speed.

Icecrown Citadel

There's been some issues with absorption effects like Power Word: Shield not benefiting from the raid buffs that Wrynn and Hellscream provide. That will be addressed shortly with patch 3.3.3.

• Strength of Wrynn and Hellscream's Warsong now also boost the effect of damage absorption spells.

Glyph changes

These changes could be temporary and could be reversed at any time. They're not in the official notes.

Death Knights

• Glyph of Icebound Fortitude now always grants at least 40% damage reduction.

Priests

• Glyph of Scourge Imprisonment now reduces the cast time of your Shackle Undead by 1 sec. (Up from 0.5 sec)

Rogues

• Glyph of Feint now reduces the energy cost of Feint by 20. (Up from 10)
• Glyph of Expose Armor now increases the duration of Expose Armor by 12 sec. (Up from 10 sec)
• Glyph of Deadly Throw now increases the slowing effect on Deadly Throw by 20%. (Up from 10%)

Other changes

Warlocks

• Dark Pact now has a 100 yards range (up from 30 yards) and ignores the line of sight.

Patch 3.3.3 brings about small but noteworthy changes to the World of Warcraft. From a faster CoT, to putting those old Frozen Orbs to better use, to changes to the auction house -- there's several things all WoW players need to know. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3.3 will keep you up to date!

Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Build 11643 notes originally appeared on WoW.com on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items

Stormrage by Richard A. Knaak has made USA Today's Top 150 Best Selling Books list, coming in at #126 of the best selling books based on sales through February 28, 2010. Apparently the ebook community is embracing the new story as well: Stormrage hit #8 on the best seller list for ebooks from BooksOnBoard.

The latest offering in the World of Warcraft line of novels, Stormrage continues the story of events that the green dragonflight have been dealing with since World of Warcraft's launch: Nightmares have invaded the Emerald Dream, Malfurion Stormrage is nowhere to be seen, the Dragons of Nightmare are busting out of portals, and it looks like the whole of the Emerald Dream is in danger of permanent corruption. With Stormrage, we finally get to see what's been brewing for five years now -- no wonder it's popular!

You can pick up a copy of Stormrage at the Blizzard Store for yourself. Check out our full review of the novel, and our refresher course on the history of Malfurion Stormrage.

Stormrage novel hits the best-seller lists originally appeared on WoW.com on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 20:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items

digg_url = 'http://www.wow.com/2010/03/05/recent-nvidia-drivers-causing-catastrophic-failures/'; If you're using an Nvidia graphics card you should check your drivers, as there is a chance the newest drivers could cause your card to overheat during World of Warcraft, the Starcraft II Beta, or even Warcraft III. Blizzplanet reports the issue complete with links to two threads on the Nvidia forums discussing the issue, including one that states that Nvidia will be updating the driver in the near future.

Please check your drivers to make sure you're not using the versions that cause this problem and roll back if you can.

Datth - Low FPS with Nvidia 196.75 drivers We're getting reports where users are getting intermittent low FPS after installing these drivers. It seems that it is related to the fan control included in these drivers not working correctly and is causing the video card to overheat on 3D applications. This will affect Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft and StarCraft 2 Beta. Please uninstall the drivers and revert back to the older ones.

Windows XP: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_196.21_whql.html
Windows XP 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp64_196.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 32-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_winvista_32bit_196.21_whql.html
Windows Vista/7 64-bit: http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7_winvista_64bit_196.21_whql.html

More information can be found on threads such as these:
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161525
http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=161503

source

Recent Nvidia drivers causing catastrophic failures originally appeared on WoW.com on Fri, 05 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items, Raiding

Bornakk has announced a handful of in-game hot fixes on the official forums today. They're pretty much all Icecrown Citadel boss ability nerfs and tweaks, and should fixes a few annoyances with some battles, stretching from Marrowgar to Sindragosa. The full list is after the break.

Continue reading In-Game Fixes for March 4th, 2010

In-Game Fixes for March 4th, 2010 originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items

We just received this mouth-gaping footage of the celestial steed mount in action. The model for the mount was uncovered in the latest patch 3.3.3 PTR but as of now no one knows where it will come from or when.

The video shows what looks like an orc warlock flying over Icecrown, then swooping down to the steps of Icecrown Citadel into a gallop. At around 2:30, the steed rears and you can see a small galaxy of particles that have accumulated from the mount idling.

The celestial steed is certainly drool-inducing, and the music in the video adds an extra "oomph" to its beauty. (Or hamminess, depending on how you look at it.)

Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Celestial steed video originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 04 Mar 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, News items

In the most recent bout of data mining the PTR patch (specifically build 11623), the fine folks at MMO-Champion discovered more changes and clarifications to how warrior abilities will work. Keeping in mind again that this is the PTR and you never know how things are going to change, here are the specifics.

Protection

• Revenge damage has been slightly lowered, it now deals [ 31% of AP + 1636 ] to [ 31% of AP + 1998 ] damage at max rank. Down from [ 31% of AP + 2181 ] to [ 31% of AP + 2665 ] damage.
• Improved Revenge now Increases damage of your Revenge ability by 30/60% (up from 10/20%) and causes Revenge to strike an additional target for 50% damage.
• Vitality now increases your total Strength by 2/4/6%, Stamina by 3/6/9% and your Expertise by 2/4/6.(On live, this is Strength and Stamina by 2/4/6% and Expertise by 2/4/6.)

Arms

• Trauma now lasts 1 min, up from 15 sec.

The Trauma change is probably one for convenience, as it can be hard in a high mobility fight (like, say, running out of a Defile) to keep Trauma up and this way you'll have more leeway to keep those bleeds ticking at max efficiency while still getting out of bombs or fissures or what have you. Vitality is pretty much exactly as it was the last time we talked about it.

As for Revenge, the baseline ability is being adjusted slightly downward from our original exciting 3.3.3 revelation. But Improved Revenge is being hugely buffed. Hugely. When we first heard the news that Revenge would be getting some improvements, we speculated in the comments that perhaps they'd throw some AoE viability in there, and now they have done exactly that. By baking it into the talent instead of the baseline ability (and by removing the stun from Imp Revenge, it appears) you cut back on prot warrior stuns in PvP while giving a strong new reason to pick up Imp Revenge for more damage and more AoE threat. It's a pretty solid change for a tanking prot warrior.

Patch 3.3.3 PTR: Revenge of the Warrior, now Improved originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, The Burning Crusade

World of Warcraft in China continues to walk a rocky path. NetEase, the company currently licensed to operate WoW's The Burning Crusade expansion in China, lost Li Riqiang, a senior director for the WoW business unit on the 24th of February, 2010. There is no word on why he left, and the company is keeping mum on details about the departure and his replacement.

This comes on the heels of a 62% jump in revenue in the fourth quarter of 2009 generated since NetEase was able to light up the TBC servers after resolving their disputes with the government, which had prevented them from launching the service in China until September 2009. That revenue increase was accompanied by lower profit margins, however, as NetEase must pay hefty licensing fees to Activision Blizzard.

The fact that there are still Chinese players who are willing to play an obsolete and no longer maintained version of the game is a little strange to me-- many Chinese players simply started over on Taiwanese servers. Judging by the amount of red tape that's being wrapped around anything to do with Blizzard, I suspect we'll see Cataclysm released before Chinese players can play Wrath of the Lich King without connecting to a server in Taiwan.

NetEase loses WoW director, Li Riqiang originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Death Knight, Cataclysm

We've known for a while that we were getting some pretty sweeping stat and gear changes in Cataclysm. The other day, the blues over at Blizzard put together a nice little post that outlined all the big points of the revamp. As you might expect, there are a few changes that DPS death knights are especially going to want to watch out for. Let's take a closer look at the changes that are most likely to affect the DPS death knight.

Continue reading Cataclysm: Stat and system changes for DPS death knights

Cataclysm: Stat and system changes for DPS death knights originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Death Knight, Cataclysm

We've known for a while that Cataclysm was going to feature some extensive changes to the stat and gear systems, and while we'd gotten bits and pieces of the whole picture before, the blues recently posted a massive breakdown of many of the changes. Death knight tanks will see a few things affect them as well, such as the complete removal of defense and a change to the workings of parry. Without further ado, let's break down the major changes that affect death knight tanking.

Continue reading Cataclysm: Stat and system changes for tanking death knights

Cataclysm: Stat and system changes for tanking death knights originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items

Hot from the latest patch 3.3.3 PTR updates are some stunning images contained in the data files. We don't know where you can get the above pictured Celestial Horse -- a lot of people are speculating about its location, but no one knows yet.

First up is the Celestial Horse you see above:

• Celestial Horse 1
• Celestial Horse 2
• Celestial Horse 3
• Celestial Horse 4
  

In addition, they've been tinkering with existing "tigon" models, the catwoman/catman models used for various Troll-related bosses. Most notably the bosses in Zul'Gurub. These will likely crop up in the reclamation of the Echo Isles.

• Tigon Male
• Tigon Female

Next up is a Twilight Dragon model which we'll see in action in the Ruby Sanctum.

• Twilight Dragon 1

This post will be updated throughout the evening as new models come in.

Gallery: Patch 3.3.3 PTR: March 3rd new models

Patch 3.3.3: Latest PTR datamining finds [Updated] originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 03 Mar 2010 02:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Filed under: News items, The Lawbringer

From Worlds in Motion we've learned that Blizzard has suffered yet another setback in China.

As reported by JLM Pacific Epoch, the Beijing Municipal Higher People's Court has found that The9, Blizzard's onetime partner in China violated the copyrights of five Chinese fonts owned by Founder Technology Group. The9, Blizzard, and two other parties have been ordered to pay a fine of RMB 1.45 million, or approximately US$ 212,000. The9 has appealed the order to the People's Supreme Court. (Lovely place by the way. Just watch the steps.)

To recap, Blizzard had licensed World of Warcraft to The9 to distribute the game in China. Apparently, in localizing the game for China, The9 used five fonts for the Chinese text in game. However, these fonts are owned by Founder Technology Group, who sued The9 and Blizzard for copyright infringement in 2007, requesting damages of RMB 100M, or about US$ 13M. In September 2007, when The Burning Crusade was released in China, all of the Founder Technology Group fonts were replaced with fonts that Blizzard had permission to use "as a gesture of goodwill to the gaming community" "without any admission of liability."

Given the rocky relationship between The9 and Blizzard, it is likely that this fine will be yet another bone of contention between the companies and that responsibility for this fine may end up being decided in yet another court battle. Stay tuned!

Blizzard and The9 fined $212,000 for copyright infringement in China originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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