Meet Mias the Putrid. Illustrated with the same art style of the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, she is World of Warcraft's latest featured wallpaper. Head over the full article to check the official wallpaper yourself.

World of Warcraft's latest patch is now out! Patch 2.3.3 has a couple of bug fixes and a couple of tweaks that improve data load times. Check out the details in the full article.

Download: World of Warcraft Patch 2.3.3 (US/AU)

World of Warcraft gamers, take heed: patch 2.3.2 is now out and ready for download. That means more fixes, a few changes, and even new commands and buttons. Hit the full article for more information on this WoW patch.

Download: World of Warcraft v2.3.2 patch

Do you love World of Warcraft? Are you excited about the Wrath of the Lich King expansion? Are you interested in free swag? If you answered affirmatively to any of the three questions above, then you definitely have to know about some free swag you can pick up for your own, courtesy of the fine folks at Blizzard.

Blizzard's just released a new fansite kit for people to use with the creation of user-made websites, and we found out about it through a helpful WoW Forums post by Nethaera. According to her post, you can find the following inside the fansite kit:

• Concept art for Wrath of the Lich King
• Wrath of the Lich King avatar pictures
• Sample HTML to help you with your page layout
• Logos for Wrath of the Lich King, Blizzard, and Battle.net
• Wallpapers
• Wrath of the Lich King fact sheet and FAQ
• A sample Wrath of the Lich King article
• Graphics source files to help you with your own designs

The source link we have below has a link to the download page where you can find the fansite creation kit. It's 35MB though, so dial-up users beware. In any event, why not grab some free Blizzard goodies for yourself, eh? Enjoy!

Being your party's tank in the World of Warcraft is a notoriously difficult business, all the more if it will be your first time being in this high-risk role.

Now, in case the tutorials out there (and their number-crunching) aren't your cup of tea, Morn over at the WoW Europe official forums put his Java programming skills to good use to create the Tanking Simulation app.

As its name implies, this application simulates the damage a tank receives from a boss, while calculating factors like class abilities (Holy Shield, Redoubt, Shield Block, etc.) As Morn explains, the application does so by "running 10.000 swings on the tank, and keeping track of damage taken, crushing blows taken, double crushing blows taken (a killer for a tank) and more." The app currently works for Druids, Paladins, and Warriors, with the author noting these interesting observations from previous tests:

• It turns out a Druid with comparable stats takes about 10% more overall damage than a Paladin and about 15% more than a Warrior.
• Also, for Paladins Redoubt tends to be active 20% of the time (at a 2 second attack speed) but provides little to no actual block.
• Shield Block (nor Holy Shield) doesn't provide crushing immunity until the boss attacks slower than once every 2.5 second, but at a 2 second attack speed it does reduce the amount you get crushed to around 1% of the time.
• Once a Paladin reaches over 102.4 avoidance with Holy Shield up, he takes less crushing blows than a Warrior, only about 0.1% of the time
  

The app seems to be well-received among the WoW forum commenters. Just make sure to thank the author for creating this handy application when you have the time.

Download: WoW Tank Simulation

Paladins are basically a hybrid class that mixes melee and casting abilities. Mostly paladins are known to have a raid role of healer, having strong buffs and healing abilities.

The Holy talent build is littered with buffs (mainly for casters) and healing skills. Here's a calculator for all the healing values you need to know kindly created by Nex from the IGN Vault. It has fields for your healing gear, mana per five, and mana pool plus crit chance not including Holy Talents. Cast times are also included, so you can calculate how many times you can heal in a fray.

Actual mana cost is also included as paladins have abilities to regain mana and gear that helps mana regen. Average heals, healing per mana, healing per second, and healing to OOM are also included. Oh, and by the way, the calculations are done for level 70.

Download: [Paladin Healing Calculator]

Ever get frustrated how in World of Warcraft you have to just stare at your screens while you're queued for battlegrounds when you could just as well be checking your mail or browsing the net while waiting?

Well, you've just hit the jackpot by clicking on this post 'coz in our hands right now is the very nifty WoW mod, BGSwitch! With BGSwitch, you'll basically get to browse the net while never missing a battleground or arena because it will alert you once your battleground is ready.

BGSwitcher (aka Thea@Khaz'GorothAfter) says that after charging BGSwitch, you can then easily "Alt-Tab out WoW, and when your battleground is ready WoW gets the focus again, letting you enter the instance, clear AFK, answer messages..."

This will also work not only while waiting for your battleground but also on other events like AFK-timer, chat-messages/keywords, ReadyCheck, Flight finished. Here are some notes from BGSwitcher on how to use this mod:

• run configuration ('/BGS CFG') @ first use, to ensure everything is setup right
• set keyboard-shortcuts via WoW-options-menu for easier handling
• ReSwitch can be used even if you are not queued

Commands:

• '/BGS' switches screen-mode(full/win), charges for ONE Auto-Re-Switch, sets you AFK, ....
• '/BGS OFF' stops unwanted soundplay and/ or resets everything to your default(after disconnect)
• '/BGS CFG' calls configuration-window
  

Download: [BGSwitch v5.4]

For the guys missing World of Warcraft's old LookingForGroup function that got axed, this Addon might perk you up. LFGX by jtbalogh should help fill in the former function's shoes, which appears to be an approximation of the old LFG. It also works with the current LookingForGroup and General channels, so it should not interfere with you basic functions.

As for the further details by the author:

• The default Blizzard LFG server is optional and not required.
• This addon will import all 'Looking for More' requests from the server.
• Button mashing is needed since it can not be automated, so periodically press a few times the slash /lfwx, the keybind, the minimap button, or 'Refresh' button in the Lfmx tab.
• Sending requests is not implemented because broken by patches, so use the original Blizzard LFG server for now.
  

Instructions:

1. Run /lfwx to open window, or use keybind, or use minimap button
2. Open one or more chat windows for optional viewing
3. Join the LookingForGroup or General channels in any chat window
4. Enable the Blizzard server in options, if desired, and do button mashing.
5. See tooltips around the interface for additional help
6. (see warning below)
   

WARNING: Disable other addons that may temporarily block/hide messages in those public LFG chat channels and log back in. This addon is more useful when channels remain visible, showing the original message in the original channel without having to block anything. This addon makes every attempt to make the LookingForGroup channel end up looking and being used like it always did before being nerfed -- plus a few features notwithstanding.

Test and try sending some requests for update only and add comments like, 'just testing, no need to respond'. Test public channels with care though since test messages annoy people. If you are not comfortable using an addon to send requests to public channels, you could use the slash command to chat as usual. Or just wait for people to start talking in the channels.

Full installation details and the Changelog await after this jump!

Download [LFGX AddOn]

What's Christmas without a little holiday production? World of Warcraft players are in for a treat as the Blizzard Holiday Skit makes a comeback this year. It features a dramatization of an open casting call for the best undiscovered voice-acting talent in Azeroth, which includes an audition by Lord Illidan Stormrage himself ("You are not prepared!").

It also gives an insight on how fast a treant should talk to get into a Christmas pageant, the uses of a tardy Infernal, and exactly how a Murloc band sounds like. We also recommend you check out 3:44 - 4:13 of the mp3, and of course, the "finished production" at the end of the file.

Blizzard also has a little something in store for those who want to make their desktops more fitting for the Christmas season. New holiday wallpaper, which you can check out up top, is now available for your downloading pleasure.

Download: [Blizzard Holiday Skit: Night Before Wintervale]

It's been quite a while since we last brought you guys new WoW mods, more than a week in fact. So to make it up to the avid WoW modders, here's a brand new batch of mods: rmet0815's ClickHeal, Tiok's Faction Grinder, and Telic's MapNotes (Fan's Update).

Basically, these mods enable (respectively) healing with just one click, easy tracking of factions, and faster tracking of locations by adding a note system.

Now, since we have three mods here with us, allow us to go through them one by one albeit very quickly, alright?

ClickHeal: Aside from making healing real easy, this mod also has buttons for casting Fade/Barkskin and a button for group heal, which will come in real handy when you're in group battles. ClickHeal also supports a Panic button which will automatically choose and heal the character that needs it the most. Here's the changelog for v1.49:

• oRA2 support added (Config->Misc)
• damage per second (dps) now also shown on raid members
• BUGFIX: NeedyList ghost frames ('Pet') fixed
• BUGFIX: You no longer get an error clicking the Extra-tab
• BUGFIX: Perl Classic Unit Frames (PCUF, x-perl) integration fixed
• BUGFIX: Labels for spell finetuning fixed for priests

FactionGrinder: As we said earlier, this mod helps you keep track of your factions easier. Just a few notes though, if you're using Argent Dawn Grinder, make sure you remove it from the Addon folder before you install Faction Grinder. But don't worry, all your faction data will still be there. The currently supported factions are: Argent Dawn, Cenarion Circle, Timbermaw Hold, and Wintersaber Trainers. Check out the readme file for more info, alrighty?

MapNotes (Fan's Update): With this mod, you can now make notes not only on Battleground maps, but also on Continent Maps and on the overall World Map -- allowing you to keep track of interesting locations a lot easier. Just an important note before you install this, if you're upgrading from earlier versions of Mapnotes, make sure you back up your MAPNOTES.LUA database file from your SAVEDVARIABLES folder first, alright? Here's the changelog:

• Burning Crusade Compatibility
• changed the way the options work so that using a Checkbox takes affect immediately and the Save button is no longer required
• added new check-box on Options frame to auto-note Landmarks. Based on Magellan functionality.
• added new button on Options frame to delete auto-noted Landmarks in the current zone.
  

As usual, we recommend checking out the readme file or the log histories of these mods just to make sure you don't miss out on more important details about the mods. Enjoy!

Download: [WoW mods: ClickHeal, Faction Grinder, Mapnotes]