Amidst the furor, vlad sends up a shout-out to Daniel Whitcomb’s most recent recap of the daily conspiracy theories: “i think you have done a hell of a job putting these articles together. good commentary and collection of all the different rumors. news reporting. not just silly fluff and quota fillers like some folks. gg whitcomb.”

Be sure to visit the thread to check out currently popular theories and add some insights of your own.

“That isn’t going to happen as it stands and it leaves me disappointed… because I enjoyed WoW and I do miss it. But I don’t miss it enough when I see stunts like this, when I’m reminded of the Hunter Ghost Wolf nerf or when I see that Blizzard puts its design sensibilities or maintaining rigid Alliance vs. Horde boundaries over opportunities for dumb fun and shiny knock knacks and character customization. It’s Blizzard’s commitment to dumb fun through things like Haris Pilton, Hemet Nestingwary, Interrogator Vicious and his wide Nancy, Easter eggs, trinkets and doodads that made me enjoy WoW. I could never really enjoy games built around serious fantasy like Conan or LoTR but crazy freebies, tabards, custom mounts and wacky Gnomish Steampunk technology was my window into appreciating WoW.

“When I see that commitment to ‘Alliance vs. Horde’ mentality (which prompts most of the most obnoxious behavior in the game; seriously, people who still have intense faction pride after they logout make me want to punch them) over a commitment to dumb fun and opportunities for crazy possibilities, I realize that this isn’t the kind of game being developed that I want to come back to.

“I’m not going to reactivate my account just to post my displeasure on the WoW forums over this. But I am frustrated because this is not only something I was prepared to come back for but something that I had multiple RL friends who were willing to come back to WoW for and transfer to my server so we could all experience the Kodo grind together, ride into BGs on our matching Kodos as Alliance and give the game a fresh try. If Blizzard’s staff changes their mind, I may come back and I may bring more with me. If they stand by their decision to promote rigid factionalism over fun and ‘rulebending,’ freewheeling fun, there really isn’t a game I’d be interested in returning to.

“I plan to call customer service over this today and lodge my concerns. I urge others to do the same. The 80 page thread on the official forums may not result in anything more than periodic extensions to keep the complaints isolated to a single thread. But this is probably the one thing that would prompt me to call Blizzard… and if we keep the lines ringing, perhaps they’ll realize how deep the disappointment runs for Horde players who still want rams (I’m one of those) and Alliance players who have been looking forward to Kodos since last Brewfest (I’m one of those too).

“This decision is obnoxious and offends me, even as someone who doesn’t currently play.”

“1. Avoid the ribbons that turn into the frost spikes that toss you for a bunch of damage. This is especially critical for the healer, and because you can actually be thrown into the water and forced to swim back around before you can do anything. As bear tank, I found that kiting the elemental back and forth across the area in front of the boss was the easiest way to avoid the ribbons, which were often obscured by my body.

“2. Bring an AoE. You have to deal with a lot of squishy adds. That makes this the perfect place for Seed of Corruption or Consecrate. If you do not keep the adds away from the healer, either by killing them off immediately or by grabbing their aggro, the healer will quickly be overwhelmed by adds in the third cycle.

“3. Show the core what your business is! And that business should be brutally punishing cores. Use all your cooldowns as soon as he is exposed. Have your healer and tank do whatever they can. This will make all the difference.

“This encounter is, in my opinion, well balanced for the level of gear it provides, which is equivalent to the 25-badge cloak. For my bear tank, the cloak would be an upgrade and the dps or healing versions would be great to have for questing or off-spec. (I’d also love for the enchant to drop.) For my hunter, I am using the badge version of the cape, which suggests it is at his gear level. Others in the party fell into about the same category. The encounter was tough, but doable, and the drops were commensurate.

“In the end, the pally AoE was very helpful at keeping the healer up, but the increased damage my hunter (with no t4 and still sporting several blue pieces) brought let us down the boss during his second phase 2, which my bear tank (with no kara drops) was able to get the group to. I suspect any entry level warrior or pally tank worth his salt could do the same. This is a fair (but tough) encounter that I suspect does not require any special group composition or overgearing to finish.”

“I really wish Heroic instances could work this way. Or raids. How I would love to join someone’s raid and demand that we all wipe quickly so we can get two badges in a hurry rather than actually trying to win and getting more. Then when people tell me I’m an idiot, I could whip out the ‘But I only have an hour of free time’ card and somehow make it sound like I’m only being a douche because I have less free time, and therefore more of a life than people who don’t agree with me.

“If you choose to play BGs, then play BGs. Don’t ruin PvP for those of us who enjoy it just because you’ve chosen to inflict yourself upon us for your own gain and can’t be bothered to try to win. When you join a BG, you are every bit as much a part of a team as when you join a group or raid. Act like it.”

Newellrp1’s reply is short and sweet: “Phi, short answer to your question: Grab some lube… you are going to get some brutal beatdowns as you start out fresh here in S4. All of the guys with super high ratings have been reset to 1500 and are going to have you (and me) for breakfast.”

A sore prospect, indeed.