World of Warcraft News and Raiding Strategies

With scheduled weekly maintenance tomorrow, we intend to make the following adjustments to the final encounter in the raid.

Nerub-ar Palace

• Queen Ansurek
  
  • Frothy Toxin damage reduced by 15% on Heroic difficulty.
  • Gloom Blast damage reduced by 15% on Heroic difficulty.
  • When calculating applications of Frothy Toxin, only living players are now counted towards the maximum possible application amount on Heroic and Mythic difficulties.
  • On Mythic difficulty:
    
    • Queen Ansurek’s health reduced by 5%.
    • Frothy Toxin damage reduced by 26.7%.
    • Silken Tomb health reduced by 20%.
    • Wrest damage (Intermission) reduced by 25%.
    • Grasping Silk maximum size reduced by 10%.
    • Shadowgate cast time increased by 20%.
    • Gloom Blast damage reduced by 25%.
    • Acolyte’s Essence periodic damage reduced by 15%.
    • Essence Scarred duration reduced by 50%.
    • Royal Condemnation damage reduced by 10%.
    • Summoned Acolyte health and Dark Barrier shield amount reduced by 15%.
    • Royal Shackle health reduced by 15%.

Blizzard Entertainment’s university relations and World of Warcraft development teams are proud to present the 14th annual World of Warcraft Student Art Contest! We’re calling on college and university students to submit original artwork or animations that would be a great fit for World of Warcraft.

Share your creative vision of something we’ve never seen before that still fits within the World of Warcraft universe. You can view previous winning submissions here.

Online submission forms are available on our contest page as of October 14, and entries will be received up to 11:59 PM PST on January 26, 2025. Read the complete contest rules prior to submitting your entry.

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Prizes

Four Grand prize winners (one from each category) will be chosen by the World of Warcraft art team and will receive the following epic prizes*:

• Wacom Cintiq Pro 24
• 1-hour mentorship session with a Blizzard artist
• A one-year subscription to World of Warcraft
• One (1) Blizzard Entertainment Sketchbook
• A Blizzard Entertainment T-shirt

Please note that only current US and Canadian college and university students are eligible to win. Residents of Quebec, Canada, are not eligible to participate.

To learn more about student programs at Blizzard, visit the early careers page.

Good luck to all entrants!

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Categories

3D Environmental Art

Using your creativity and ability to work within the World of Warcraft art style, create a small environment diorama that would fit well in the game world. Your quest: Concept, model, and texture an environment piece that you could imagine stumbling upon during your travels across Kalimdor, the Eastern Kingdoms, Outland, Northrend, Pandaria, the Broken Isles, or Argus.

Required elements are trees, rocks, grass, and props, plus a small structure (such as a shrine).

Your final piece should have a structure similar to the example provided below. We're looking for lower poly-count models (e.g.: around 1,500 polys for a mature-sized tree), so keep that in mind when creating your environment.

The final submission should be a high-resolution JPEG file no larger than 5MB.



3D Character Art

Using your creativity and ability to work within the World of Warcraft art style, concept, model, and texture a non-player character (NPC) or creature that you could imagine roaming the plains of Durotar, exploring the depths of Deepholm, or just sitting in the Pig and Whistle Tavern knocking back a mug o’ Thistle Tea.

Required elements are the character or creature, along with some sort of clothing or armor. Feel free to go further by adding weapons or other accessories.

The final piece should have a structure similar to the example provided below. Stay within a budget of 6,000 polys with one 1024x1024 texture for the finished character.

The final submission should be a high-resolution JPEG file no larger than 5MB.



3D VFX

Using your creativity and ability to work within the World of Warcraft art style, create a player ability that could be added to the kit of one of our existing classes. You could conjure up anything from the power of the void for a massive flying ball of death, call upon the elements of nature to ensnare an entire mob or wield the power of the Light to rip a giant fissure through the ground.

Required Elements

• Buildup of the ability, impact of the ability, and the aftermath.
• Feel free to go further by adding characters, creatures, props, or other 3d assets if needed.
• No frame length required.
• Submit a movie file (format can vary) as your final submission.

"Arcane Rain"
Quynh Ton
Ferris State University


3D Animation

Using your creativity and ability to work within the World of Warcraft art style, create a unique combat animation from one of the three choices listed. Imagine entering a dungeon and battling against the Lich King and his undead army or traveling deep beneath the Firelands to take down Ragnaros.

Required elements:

• Weapon (rig) of your choice, can be a character or creature.
• Feel free to go further by adding weapons, additional characters/creatures, or other accessories.
• Provide video(s) from 3 different angles: side view, back view (player view), 3 quarter view.
• Must be animated at 30 fps and set to meters.
• No frame length required.
• No motion blur or camera movement.
• Submit a movie file (format can vary) as your final submission.

Animation Choices: Please choose one

• Two hit (combo) attack
  
  • Must start and finish in the same pose.
  • Model can end away from starting area if need be.
• Weapon spell attack
  
  • Must start and finish in the same pose.
  • Should include a charge up/precast and release/spell cast.
  • Model can end away from starting area if need be.
• Summon and transition
  
  • Example: Emerging from the ground or entering a room.
  • Should transition into a passive or combat stance.
  • Should have lots of personality.

"Two-Hit Combo Attack"
Theresa Chang
California College of the Arts

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*Blizzard reserves the right to substitute a prize of equal or greater value for any prize.