So the Wrath of the Lich King beta signups are up. If you haven't signed up yet, or even if you have, you may want to know more about what you're getting into. To that end, Blizzard has put up a handy beta opt-in FAQ on their forums to help people out. Find the full FAQ after the jump!

Here's something special for our World of Warcraft readers out in Europe. Blizzard is introducing what you could call an optional layer of security for your World of Warcraft account through a new product they've come out with, called the Blizzard Authenticator. Learn more after the jump!

UPDATE: It looks as if the Blizzard Authenticator will be available in America too.

Numerical scores are like so last decade ago. So, breaking free from the supposed "one-size-fits-all" checklists of items to add up to a game's "score", we're going to be implementing a new five-star review system. See, we're trying to avoid having to quantify video games into arbitrary numbers. After all, many of us feel that a game isn't just the sum of all its parts (as in a checklist), but rather, the totality of the gaming experience itself! In the full article, we've come up with a handy FAQ to introduce this brand spanking new system to all of you QJ.NET readers. And yes, there're no half-stars about it! Rawr!

Now that the Phase 2 of the World of Warcraft Arena Tournament 2008 has already begun, not to mention the end of practice round, it is already time to end the registrations for the first qualifying round. Act now before it's too late. Details and the exact time of the deadline over at the full article.

With all the screenshot galleries that World of Warcraft now has, you'd think that there'd be a quick and easy way to access them, right? Fortunately, there is. Blizzard has organized them on the game's official content index page. More new of this "sort" in the full article after the jump.

Even if you're new to World of Warcraft, you may have already heard of the Public Test Realm or PTR. This area is where the developers try out new patches before releasing it on the actual live servers. For those experiencing problems in getting their clients to work, Blizzard Community Manager Vaneras took the time to release an FAQ on the PTR. For more information, check out the full article.

World of Warcraft players who find living on the Crushridge, Grim Batol, Outland, and Stormscale realms a little too constricting will be happy to know that Blizzard will be offering free character transfers from now until February 5 to help disperse the high population servers across the different realms.

For more details, check out the full article after the jump!

 

Good news for all MMORPG players who are feeling claustrophobic in their current European World of Warcraft realms: Blizzard is allowing free character migration once more from October 24-30. According to Blizzard, this is supposed to help decongest the more populated realms in World of Warcraft Europe and increase individual realm performance.

To this end, Blizzard has put up a support page that lists the eligible realms. Though players may generally choose which realm they would like to move their characters to, there are certain limitations involved. For instance, character migration is usually only made between realms of the same type (PvE to PvE, PvP to PvP, etc.) Also, to insure the even distribution of players across realms, there will be certain instances wherein players will have only a single destination realm to transfer to.

For you PvP types, the current origin and destination PvP realms are as follows:

From: Crushridge, Frostmane, Grim Batol, Kazzak and Outland
To: Boulderfist, Jaedanar and Kor'gall

Blizzard has even put up a FAQ on their WoW Europe website to keep players World of Warcraft players in the know. To view the complete FAQ, just click on the link below.

Still wondering about the finer details of World of Warcraft's upcoming voice chat feature for patch 2.2.0? Blizzard spokesman Salthem over at the WoW Europe Forums has set up an FAQ for this particular matter, which should help in explaining how the game's now-integral VoIP system works.

If you're of the Public Test Realms, we imagine this guide will go a long way to help explain any problems you may have encountered while experimenting with this new feature.

If you're a newcomer, consider this a teaser of what to expect when this new feature becomes available with the next game update. The full list is available for viewing at the Europe's WoW forums, although we'll also provide some snippets here to give you an idea of what to expect:

Q: When can I try it out?

A: You can help us test the voice chat feature right now by logging in to the Public Test Realm and trying it out. Visit the PTR section of account management (located at WorldofWarcraft.com) to download the PTR client. If you want to play on the PTR using an existing character, instructions for copying a character to the PTR are also available at the page linked to above.

Q: Why did you choose to implement voice chat?

A: Since launching World of Warcraft, we have made a number of improvements to the interface to offer players more convenience and ease of use. The voice chat system is another such feature. It is simple to use and fully integrated into World of Warcraft, making it that much easier for players to communicate with each other.

Q: Will I be able to customize voice chat through World of Warcraft, or is it accessed via the account management webpage?

A: You can access the voice chat options via the in-game options menu. The parental control options of the voice chat feature are accessible via the parental control system located on the official World of Warcraft website.

 

If you're playing World of Warcraft, then you've undoubtedly heard about the introduction of in-game VoIP. No longer will players have to use third party solutions for their communication needs since this service will ideally provide each player with immediate information regarding the status of their party.

As Blizzard Poster/ Community Manager Nethaera promised, she's now posting a listing of the Frequently Asked Questions in the forums which has vital information that every player who plan on using this should know. Since the list is pretty long, here are a few of the most commonly asked questions about the service:

Q: What is the new voice chat feature in World of Warcraft?
A: The voice chat feature is the proprietary in-game voice communication system for World of Warcraft. It allows World of Warcraft players to communicate with each other using a simple-to-use interface that is seamlessly integrated with the game.

Q: Is the voice chat feature free?
A: There is no additional charge to use the voice chat feature; it is included with your monthly subscription fee.

Q: How can I deal with someone who’s being disruptive in voice chat?
A: While voice chat is not moderated by our in-game support team, we’ve provided tools to enable players to appropriately block or otherwise avoid voice chat from unwanted sources. At any time, you can right-click a player’s name and select the Mute option to avoid receiving voice chat from that player. If you right-click a player’s name and select the Ignore option, you will not receive voice chat or text chat from that player.

To avoid having uninvited players join your private chat channel, you can set a password for the channel. We also recommend viewing the updated Parental Controls page in account management, which now includes the ability to block or alter the use of voice chat on an account. For more information on how to use the voice chat features and controls, please visit our online voice chat manual. (Parental Controls Page and Voice Chat Manual should be available soon.)

If you want to read the entire FAQ, click on our Read Link which will send you to the WoW Forums. So far, the service looks pretty well implemented, but we won't be able to say until it has been given a proper stress test in the heat of a Raid.