The Great Gnomeregan Run, WoW Team Picture, Recent Bans, Gladiator's Summit, Fan Art

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Diablo PTR Patch 2.6.1.47710 Patch Notes

The 2017 Hearthstone Summer Championship Survival Guide

The Great Gnomeregan Run
The Great Gnomeregan Run is this weekend, as is the event that inspired it, Running of the Gnomes!

Running of the Gnomes will benefit the Cleveland Clinic and breast cancer research. The event benefits the Cleveland Clinic and starts at 7pm EST /4pm PST on Scarlet Crusade-US on October 14th, 2017.

Join The Great Gnomeregan Run–October 14!

Are you a gnome? Do you know a gnome? Would you like to BE a gnome? (And who wouldn’t?) Then rise UP to the challenge of The Great Gnomeregan Run on Saturday, October 14 from Gnomeregan to Booty Bay.

Where: Beginning outside the gnome starting area and ending in Booty Bay

Who: Alliance-Only (Don’t worry, Horde can create a level 1 gnome and join in the fun too.)

Whether you’re a level 1 gnome (highly encouraged), a level 71 human, or a level 110 draenei, you’ll be able to join in this fun run beginning in the gnome starting area, winding through Dun Morogh, Ironforge, the Deeprun Tram, Stormwind, Elwynn Forest, Duskwood, and Stranglethorn Vale where the run culminates in Booty Bay.

It's a big big BIG world out there, but don’t worry about getting lost, there will be course markers and spectators along the way to help keep you on track. You’ll even see a few familiar faces among the onlookers!

Stranglethorn Vale is a dangerous place for low-level characters so you may want to find some muscle to join you along the way for a little extra protection. If you’re a higher-level character, think about playing chaperone for a gnome.

Whether short or tall, it will be a good time for all.

World of Warcraft Dev Team Picture
James Ridgers shared a picture of the entire World of Warcraft dev team.

Recent Actions Against Terms of Use Violations

We’ve recently taken action against a number of accounts that were that were found to be using third-party programs that automate gameplay. These programs (commonly called cheats, bots, or hacks) automate certain aspects of gameplay, or provide unintended advantages and abilities to the player. This type of cheating undermines other players' experience and severely upsets the balance of the game environment.

As a reminder, in order to ensure fair play and competitive integrity, we closely monitor these and other activities that violate the Terms of Use.

We’re committed to providing an equal and fair playing field for everyone in World of Warcraft, and will continue to take action against those found in violation of our Terms of Use. Cheating of any form will not be tolerated.

Gladiator's Summit Episode 3 - Watch Now!

Episode 3 is here! Watch the latest episode to find out all about the European Championship, and the four teams who qualified for the World Championship at BlizzCon.

Want to Know More?
All the latest episodes of the Gladiator's Summit will be on our World of Warcraft YouTube channel. To find out when upcoming episodes will be available, head to our WoW esports website for all the latest news, and all upcoming esports events.

What will the next episode be about?
Next up: we will dive into finals in the other regions - to see how the BlizzCon final is shaping up and who are the ones to watch.

Who’s hosting the show?
All the action will be brought to you by Jackson “Bajheera” Bliton and Elliott “Venruki” Venczel.

Where Can I Find Out More?
Find out when the latest episode will be released on our dedicated WoW esports website.

Diversity Meet-Up at BlizzCon

The Blizzard community is global and diverse, and this is something we cherish. We’re proud of how our players and our workforce reflect the spectrum of cultures, genders, sexual orientations, and interests that make up the world we live in—it’s cool we’re not all the same. It helps make life more interesting and rewarding. That’s why we think it’s important to find new ways to recognize who we are as a global community. We know that this is important to many others in the community too. Time and time again, we’re inspired by how our players celebrate and support each other’s differences.

With that in mind, we’re excited to introduce a new space at BlizzCon this year that we’re calling the Blizzard Diversity Meet-Up.

The Diversity Meet-Up is for all attendees who are interested to join discussions about diversity in gaming and in life. One of our loftier goals for the space is to make it a place for people to share their experiences as they relate to diversity and inclusivity, whether in our games or within our community. To that end, we’re going to encourage group discussions, and Blizzard employees will be there to share their stories as well. We’re also there to answer any questions attendees may have about how Blizzard is supporting diversity from a workforce and hiring standpoint.

We see the Blizzard Diversity Meet-Up at BlizzCon as a celebration of our community and another way to enrich how we interact with each other. That’s the inspiration for bringing it to the show. We look forward to seeing you there, hearing your ideas and experiences, sharing our own, and coming together as we do every year to embrace our inner geek and everything else that makes us who we are.

Celebrate WoW Community Creations with The Fine Art of Fan Art (episode #1)
The Fine Art of Fan Art Episode #1 has been released!

We have some incredibly gifted artists in the World of Warcraft community. To celebrate a few of the talented players out there, we’re excited to introduce a new video series: The Fine Art of Fan Art.

Over the years, World of Warcraft fans have demonstrated their passion for all things Azeroth with incredible creations. We’ve been treated to paintings and drawings, sculptures and statues, machinima, cosplay, and so much more. Now we’re taking a closer look at the work that goes into some of these amazing projects.

In our first episode, we meet Thomas Karlsson—a digital artist from Sweden who brings the magic of Warcraft to life with a flick of his stylus. Check out the video below to learn more about Thomas, discover what inspires him, and follow his process as he creates an epic Varian Wrynn-inspired scene.

Stay tuned for the next installment of The Fine Art of Fan Art, coming soon.

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.

Patch 4.0.1 Goes Live
After a long maintenance, patch 4.0.1 released on October 12th of 2010. This new patch brought a number of new systems such as Flexible Raid Lockouts and Reforging to the game, as well as removing and changing stats. Also in this patch Spell Proc Alerts were added for each class. This system gives players a visual cue when an important proc is active.

New Druid Animations
After adding a few new Shaman and Warlock animations, Blizzard added new Hurricane and Wrath animations in 2011. Wrath required a second round of changes due to some visual issues, but the new iterations were a big improvement.

Patch 6.0.2 Goes Live
Patch 6.0.2 brought numerous changes to the game, including new character models, the stat squish, stat changes, auction house merge, the Toy Box, reagent bank, and more! Reforging was removed, along with Hit and Expertise. Bonus Armor, Multistrike, and Versatility were some of the new stats added.

Ian Hazzikostas Becomes Game Director
After joining the Blizzard team just before Wrath of the Lich King, Ion Hazzikostas became the Senior Game Designer. Shortly after the launch of Legion Tom Chilton moved to another project in Blizzard and Ion Hazzikostas was promoted into the position.

[Deleted]

Diversity Meet-Up at BlizzCon

Mother of god.

[Schmeebs]

Mother of god.

I'm guessing as a straight white male i am not welcome at the diversity meet-up.

[Liliannan]

Made a correction: James Ridgers shared a picture of the entire World of Warcraft *DEV* team.

There are tons more people who work on the game, this is just the developers.

[Atanox]

I'm guessing as a straight white male i am not welcome at the diversity meet-up.

The Diversity Meet-Up is for all attendees who are interested to join discussions about diversity in gaming and in life.

I'm pretty sure it's likely just your "I'm a straight white male, where's my parade?" personality that would be unwelcome just about anywhere.

[Schmeebs]

I'm pretty sure it's likely just your "I'm a straight white male, where's my parade?" personality that would be unwelcome just about anywhere.

I dont want a parade, i just dont want to be called a nazi.

[Strangewayes]

Mother of god.

Looking at the WoW team dev photo, my guess is the Diversity meetup actually is going to be about twin souled poly lesbians

[Korhali]

Unpopular opinion incoming! This diversity thing is just getting dumber and dumber. Diversity is important, but not in the way many people seem to think.

Skin color doesn't determine whether or not you're competent at game design. Sexual orientation doesn't determine whether or not you're competent at game design. Gender doesn't determine whether you're competent at game design. Religion doesn't determine whether or not you're competent at game design.

You want to know what does determine whether or not you're competent at game design? Three things: Education, Professional Experience, and Diversity of Thought. Ideas that differ from that of the collective, that may offer perspective that other people lack. The ability to look at a problem differently from others and propose solutions that are more efficient as a result. Diversity of Thought is not obtained through hiring all walks of life. It is obtained through the evaluation of individuals based on their merits, even going so far as to hire someone you disagree with if only to break up the GroupThink.

Skin color, sexual orientation, gender and religion doesn't necessarily mean you have that perspective. Being a black person in contemporary society doesn't offer you insight into game development, or any other technical skill for that matter. Being a gay dude doesn't either. Individual experience does. That is why you need to look at the individual merits of the person, and not just run down the diversity checklist. Anyone who thinks that being a minority offers any more perspective than individual accomplishments and experience has an agenda to further.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hide in my bunker to weather out the shitstorm I think I've caused.

[Mazzic518]

Unpopular opinion incoming! This diversity thing is just getting dumber and dumber. Diversity is important, but not in the way many people seem to think.

Skin color doesn't determine whether or not you're competent at game design. Sexual orientation doesn't determine whether or not you're competent at game design. Gender doesn't determine whether you're competent at game design. Religion doesn't determine whether or not you're competent at game design.

You want to know what does determine whether or not you're competent at game design? Three things: Education, Professional Experience, and Diversity of Thought. Ideas that differ from that of the collective, that may offer perspective that other people lack. The ability to look at a problem differently from others and propose solutions that are more efficient as a result. Diversity of Thought is not obtained through hiring all walks of life. It is obtained through the evaluation of individuals based on their merits, even going so far as to hire someone you disagree with if only to break up the GroupThink.

Skin color, sexual orientation, gender and religion doesn't necessarily mean you have that perspective. Being a black person in contemporary society doesn't offer you insight into game development, or any other technical skill for that matter. Being a gay dude doesn't either. Individual experience does. That is why you need to look at the individual merits of the person, and not just run down the diversity checklist. Anyone who thinks that being a minority offers any more perspective than individual accomplishments and experience has an agenda to further.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hide in my bunker to weather out the shitstorm I think I've caused.

I agree actually.

[Deleted]

That Ogre facing a Skeleton Dragon Image in the Art Video, has that been released or is this from a future WarCraft title?

[Deleted]

Diversity meeting hosted by Blizzard? Oh boy, this is going to be a show for a lifetime! And here I thought Blizzcon was going to be boring.

[Monketron]

I dont want a parade, i just dont want to be called a nazi.

Do you act/talk like a nazi? no? great, your imaginary problem is solved.

[wombinator04]

It'd be nice to work along a sea of white faces.

[Cobrakai]

Unpopular opinion incoming! This diversity thing is just getting dumber and dumber. Diversity is important, but not in the way many people seem to think.

Skin color doesn't determine whether or not you're competent at game design. Sexual orientation doesn't determine whether or not you're competent at game design. Gender doesn't determine whether you're competent at game design. Religion doesn't determine whether or not you're competent at game design.

You want to know what does determine whether or not you're competent at game design? Three things: Education, Professional Experience, and Diversity of Thought. Ideas that differ from that of the collective, that may offer perspective that other people lack. The ability to look at a problem differently from others and propose solutions that are more efficient as a result. Diversity of Thought is not obtained through hiring all walks of life. It is obtained through the evaluation of individuals based on their merits, even going so far as to hire someone you disagree with if only to break up the GroupThink.

Skin color, sexual orientation, gender and religion doesn't necessarily mean you have that perspective. Being a black person in contemporary society doesn't offer you insight into game development, or any other technical skill for that matter. Being a gay dude doesn't either. Individual experience does. That is why you need to look at the individual merits of the person, and not just run down the diversity checklist. Anyone who thinks that being a minority offers any more perspective than individual accomplishments and experience has an agenda to further.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hide in my bunker to weather out the shitstorm I think I've caused.

minorities have known this for a long time. tell that to the white people that dont, or go out of their way to devalue what people think/say just because they're a minority.

[Argorwal]

Love the dev team picture. Someone should link it every time someone posts about how all of Wow's problems are Ghostcrawler/Ion/Holinka's fault.

[TheRevenantHero]

Do you act/talk like a nazi? no? great, your imaginary problem is solved.

I don't think you understand how often people get called Nazis just for being white.

[alabaster jones]

Oh boy, mods gonna have a busy day.

Glad to see Blizzard hosting a meet-up though.

[Sforza]

"Diversity Meet-Up at BlizzCon"......... Oh my, try reading that with a straight face lol. (for anyone worth it's salt of course.)
First emojis, now this "Die-versity" crap. More millennial incompetence.

[Deleted]

I don't think you understand how often people get called Nazis just for being white.

Nobody was ever called a nazi because they are white.
The obsession some people have with being called a nazi is very weird.

[Zelion]

Do you act/talk like a nazi? no? great, your imaginary problem is solved.

Nobody was ever called a nazi because they are white.
The obsession some people have with being called a nazi is very weird.

apparently you don't go outside, or at least outside your echochamber.

I will give you an example. Ben Shapiro gets called a Nazi, and he's Jewish.

First it was you don't agree with me so you're racist. That didn't end up working for lefties so now its Nazi.