If WoWhead.com/”>WoWhead is to be believed, arena WoW.joystiq.com/tag/season-9/”>Season 9 is WoWhead.com/blog=169597″>set to begin on Dec. 14. The curious folks at our favorite WoW database (as well as Boubouille of MMO-Champion) found a little snippet of text while scrounging around the game files:

Arena battles and Rated Battlegrounds are only available during an active player versus player combat season. Season nine will begin on December 14th, so be prepared at that time to take your shot at glory!

This would coincide neatly with the recent announcement that WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/28/arena-season-8-to-end-as-early-as-oct-12/”>arena Season 8 can end as soon as Oct. 12.

What makes this finding interesting is that WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/28/cataclysm-beta-arena-season-9-available-for-testing/”>arena Season 9 actually corresponds to rated battlegrounds Season 1, which means Cataclysm should be live by then. This could mean WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/13/rumor-cataclysm-targeted-for-a-november-2nd-release-date/”>sometime in November. We’ll find out for sure at this year’s WoW.joystiq.com/category/blizzcon/”>BlizzCon, but for now, all clues point to Blizzard’s being on track to release the game before the end of the year. This gives players about a month or even less time — about a week, to be exact — to hit max level. If the uncovered code holds true, we should expect to see Cataclysm on the shelves by Dec. 7, if not sooner.

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WoW.joystiq.com/media/2010/09/zach-taowc-ratedbg-003_thumbnail.jpg” alt=”" style=”margin-right: 5px;” />WoW.com/bloggers/zach-yonzon/”>Zach delivers your weekly dose of battlegrounds and world PvP in WoW.com/category/the-art-of-war-craft/”>one crazy column. Find out WoW.com/2010/07/08/the-art-of-war-craft-what-the-new-talent-overhaul-means-for-pv/”>how the WoW.com/2010/07/08/the-art-of-war-craft-what-the-new-talent-overhaul-means-for-pv/”>CataclysmWoW.com/2010/07/08/the-art-of-war-craft-what-the-new-talent-overhaul-means-for-pv/”> talent tree redesign affects PvP, how WoW.com/2010/07/17/the-art-of-war-craft-sub-speccing-for-pvp-in-the-current-catac/”>sub-speccing will work at higher levels in the expansion, and WoW.com/2010/07/30/the-art-of-war-craft-world-pvp-in-the-new-azeroth/”>how the new Azeroth will affect world PvP. Visit WoW.com/category/blood-sport/”>Blood Sport for the inside line on arena PvP.

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Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/news-items/” rel=”tag”>News items, WoW.joystiq.com/category/pvp/” rel=”tag”>PvP, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/30/arena-season-9-to-begin-on-december-14-cataclysm-launch-dec-7th/”>Arena Season 9 to begin on Dec. 14, Cataclysm launch Dec. 7? originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For the longest time in vanilla World of Warcraft, players were content with collecting the dungeon set 1 pieces from WoWhead.com/zone=2017″>Stratholme, WoWhead.com/zone=2057″>Scholomance and WoWhead.com/zone=1583″>Blackrock Spire. A purple item was a incredibly rare thing to see in the early days of WoW. It was a status symbol, a badge of pride for raiders who managed to band together to defeat WoWhead.com/npc=10184″>Onyxia or brave the depths of Molten Core. With epic items soon came epic discontent, largely from casual players who either didn’t have the time or the inclination to raid. As time went on and more raid dungeons were released, the complaining continued; players who were unable to dedicate the time needed to successfully complete a 40-man raid dungeon felt it was unfair that they could not obtain epic gear.

It was a valid complaint, but it took well over two years before Blizzard finally did something about it. About four months after the release of WoWwiki.com/Patch_1.9.0″>Ahn’Quiraj, Blizzard implemented WoWwiki.com/Patch_1.10.0″>Patch 1.10, “Storms of Azeroth.” Among the fun changes like the introduction of weather in Azeroth and quest-experience-to-gold conversion at level 60, casual players finally received what they’d been asking for: a quest line that didn’t require raiding and would allow them to upgrade their dungeon sets one into new ones that included epic gear. This set is called, appropriately enough, dungeon set 2.

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/collecting-armor-sets-dungeon-set-2/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Collecting Armor Sets: Dungeon set 2

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/analysis-opinion/” rel=”tag”>Analysis / Opinion, WoW.joystiq.com/category/rp/” rel=”tag”>RP

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/collecting-armor-sets-dungeon-set-2/”>Collecting Armor Sets: Dungeon set 2 originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Warning: This episode has a lot of Cataclysm spoilers. Don’t listen if you don’t want to be spoiled!

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/WoW-insider-show-episode-157-unwelcome-mat/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading WoW Insider Show Episode 157: Unwelcome Mat

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/podcasts/” rel=”tag”>Podcasts, WoW.joystiq.com/category/WoW-insider-show/” rel=”tag”>WoW Insider Show

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/24/WoW-insider-show-episode-157-unwelcome-mat/”>WoW Insider Show Episode 157: Unwelcome Mat originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Patch 12984, the latest Cataclysm beta build, just crash landed across the net, and MMO-Champion is mining out the latest changes. Included in the changes are a bunch of new or tweaked guild achievements. Here are some examples:

• Realm First! Nefarian First guild on the realm to defeat Nefarian in Blackwing Descent on heroic difficulty while in a guild group.
• United Nations Raise 55 reputations to exalted. Reward: Dark Phoenix Hatchling.
• You’ve Been Iced Figure it out.

Perhaps the readers can actually help explain to me what “you’ve been iced” means. I wasn’t aware there were bros in Azeroth yet, but I guess after all those WoW.joystiq.com/2010/01/24/spiritual-guidance-icc-10-gear-guide-for-holy-and-discipline-priests/”>popped collars on the priest tier 10, it was bound to happen.

Hit the jump for the full list from MMO-Champion.

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-new-guild-achievements-added-in-patch-12984/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Cataclysm Beta: New guild achievements added in patch 12984

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/guilds/” rel=”tag”>Guilds, WoW.joystiq.com/category/news-items/” rel=”tag”>News items, WoW.joystiq.com/category/achievements/” rel=”tag”>Achievements, WoW.joystiq.com/category/cataclysm/” rel=”tag”>Cataclysm

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/18/cataclysm-beta-new-guild-achievements-added-in-patch-12984/”>Cataclysm Beta: New guild achievements added in patch 12984 originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sat, 18 Sep 2010 06:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how — but do you know the why? Each week, WoW.joystiq.com/bloggers/matthew-rossi/”>Matthew Rossi and WoW.joystiq.com/bloggers/anne-stickney/”>Anne Stickney make sure you WoW.joystiq.com/category/know-your-lore/”>Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

He was the last Guardian and one of the most influential people in Azeroth — but he never meant to be either one. Of all of the myriad and varied heroes in World of Warcraft, there is one man who is responsible for the majority of the events we see in Azeroth today. This man was solely responsible for the presence of orcs, responsible for the Horde, responsible for the ever-evolving conflict between Horde and Alliance. He was responsible for the original destruction of Stormwind, for the death of WoW.joystiq.com/2008/01/17/know-your-lore-anduin-lothar/”>Anduin Lothar, WoW.joystiq.com/2008/04/04/know-your-lore-the-wrynn-dynasty/”>King Llane Wrynn and many other heroes whose exploits didn’t make it into the annals of history. He was responsible, indirectly, for the corruption of WoW.joystiq.com/2007/02/23/know-your-lore-arthas/”>Arthas and the subsequent death of King Menethil, the razing of Stratholme and the rise of the Scourge. He arguably has more blood on his hands than any other being in Azeroth.

And yet he was also responsible for the first tenuous threads of peace stretched between Alliance and Horde. He was responsible for the rise of some of Azeroth’s greatest heroes — he was the man that made Varian Wrynn who he is today, he was the man who turned Thrall from an orc with dreams of peace for his people into a leader of action. He was responsible for saving Azeroth from being razed and torn asunder by the Burning Legion. He was a man of many talents, and a man of many regrets. His name is WoWhead.com/npc=15608″>Medivh.

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/19/know-your-lore-the-council-of-tirisfal-and-the-last-guardian/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Know Your Lore: The Council of Tirisfal and the last Guardian

Filed under: WoW.joystiq.com/category/lore/” rel=”tag”>Lore, WoW.joystiq.com/category/know-your-lore/” rel=”tag”>Know your Lore

WoW.joystiq.com/2010/09/19/know-your-lore-the-council-of-tirisfal-and-the-last-guardian/”>Know Your Lore: The Council of Tirisfal and the last Guardian originally appeared on WoW.joystiq.com”>WoW Insider on Sun, 19 Sep 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You can’t go for a walk down memory lane without stopping to enjoy Boomdeyada WoW. Originally created as an entry for a contest, Boomdeyada WoW has taken on a life of its own. This epic machinima by WoW.com/tag/irdeen”>Irdeen Productions has achieved well over a million views on YouTube and continues to grow with every week.

Boomdeyada WoW does more than just parody the Discovery Channel’s video. It celebrates the world of Azeroth with its viewer, throwing both punchlines and gentle jabs at our own community. It’s a video that loves its subject and the rest of the world. I think if I had my way, I’d open up BlizzCon with a view of the video. I’ve not seen many single videos that shares so much enjoyment in just a few minutes.

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WoW.com/media/2009/03/britney_moviewatch_l_thumbnail.jpg” />Interested in the wide world of WoW.com/category/machinima/”>machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW.com/category/WoW-moviewatch/”>WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an email at WoW.com”>machinima@WoW.com.

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Filed under: WoW.com/category/WoW-moviewatch/” rel=”tag”>WoW Moviewatch

WoW.com/2010/09/08/WoW-moviewatch-boomdeyada-WoW/”>WoW Moviewatch: Boomdeyada WoW originally appeared on WoW.com”>WoW.com on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by WoW.com/2010/02/03/the-new-WoW-com-guest-blogger-program/”>Seed, the Aol guest writer program that WoW.com/tag/write-for-WoW-dot-com”>brings your words to WoW.com.

Before the maddening world changes of Cataclysm hit and we follow the shark with freakin’ laser beams down to level our toons to 85, we are left with the question of what to do for the next few months. As with both previous expansions, it becomes sort of a waiting game for new content. The apathy of “why bother?” hits, and logging on becomes less and less frequent — logging on just to check the AH, or for a guild raid, or to do dailies, and quickly off again, waiting with anticipation for when you can fly in the old world.

Some of us are hardcore gamers, but like many WoW players who get engrossed in our game of choice, we may have missed some of the other stellar video games that came out this year. Are you catching up on these titles while you wait for the next nugget of WoW content to come out? Or are you a TV and movie viewer, catching up on shows? Or are you catching up on real-life stuff you missed while in game, like spending time with friends and family and getting caught up with work, so you can take those couple of days off when Cataclysm actually launches?

Personally, I found that I fit into multiple categories here, spending time with my girlfriend, gaining relationship points for the inevitable amount I am going to tick her off when Cataclysm launches. I have also been playing some games I missed in the meantime, such as Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age Awakenings — well, not so much missed, but saw their shortcuts glaring at me, waiting on me to play them, while I logged in to WoW instead.

So where do you fit? Where are your spare hours going, since you aren’t in Azeroth as much? Or are you in game just as much as you always were?

Filed under: WoW.com/category/breakfast-topics/” rel=”tag”>Breakfast Topics, WoW.com/category/guest-posts/” rel=”tag”>Guest Posts

WoW.com/2010/09/08/breakfast-topic-are-you-catching-up-on-out-of-game-activities/”>Breakfast Topic: Are you catching up on out-of-game activities? originally appeared on WoW.com”>WoW.com on Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by WoW.com/2010/02/03/the-new-WoW-com-guest-blogger-program/”>Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW.com.

There is nothing better than sharing a common interest with friends, but what happens when you find yourself alone in Azeroth for long period of time? You and your friends used to spend hours playing together, raiding or simply sharing idle banter in private messages or even the dreaded trade chat. But lately, it seems that you are the only person playing. Your friends, for a multitude of reasons, simply can’t find the time to play anymore. Now you’re alone in a big world with no one to talk to and nothing to take the edge off the quest grinding. So what do you do?

Guilds: a toon’s best friend Whether it’s on a RP, PvP, normal or mixed server, a guild can keep you entertained and chatting throughout that hard grind to 80. When you find yourself stranded in an area where there isn’t another living soul in sight, it’s always good to know that one /g away is a group of people who will, more often than not, love to hear how things are going, both in game and out. It’s a warming feeling to see that the minute you log on, another person is there to greet you with a friendly “Hey, _____.”

General and trade chat If a guild is not your thing, it’s always nice to take a few minutes between quests to sit in a capital city and share in some banter with your fellow players. General chat is full of other players discussing either the game itself, movies, music or a multitude of other topics. Even trade chat can be fun if you keep up with the latest internet memes, though after a period of time, it came become annoying.

WoW.com/2010/08/22/breakfast-topic-one-is-the-loneliest-number/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading Breakfast Topic: One is the loneliest number

Filed under: WoW.com/category/breakfast-topics/” rel=”tag”>Breakfast Topics, WoW.com/category/guest-posts/” rel=”tag”>Guest Posts

WoW.com/2010/08/22/breakfast-topic-one-is-the-loneliest-number/”>Breakfast Topic: One is the loneliest number originally appeared on WoW.com”>WoW.com on Sun, 22 Aug 2010 08:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome back to WoW.com/category/the-queue”>The Queue, WoW.com’s daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Mike Sacco will be your host today.

WoW.com/category/the-care-and-feeding-of-warriors/”>Matt Rossi visited Uldum in the WoW.com/category/cataclysm”>Cataclysm beta and caught this impromptu cat council happening. You can’t see it in this shot, but what they’re discussing is Azeroth’s Largest Ball of Yarn, just out of frame.

Pwnzoar asked:

Is there any way to rearrange your characters on the character screen? I’d like to have my 80s at the top without deleting my other toons, rather than scattered around in the list.

Unfortunately, there’s currently no way to reorder your characters on the character select screen. People have been asking for this feature for years, but we’re not sure if we’ll ever get it. Recently, up and down arrows were added to the character select screen in the beta, but Blizzard said that it was just a quick thing that dev needed to test something and not related to a new feature.

WoW.com/2010/08/10/the-queue-kitty-committee/” rel=”bookmark”>Continue reading The Queue: Kitty committee

Filed under: WoW.com/category/the-queue/” rel=”tag”>The Queue

WoW.com/2010/08/10/the-queue-kitty-committee/”>The Queue: Kitty committee originally appeared on WoW.com”>WoW.com on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 11:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW.com/category/world-of-warcrafts/”>World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more.

I’ve been reading an anthropological analysis of the World of Warcraft for an upcoming WoW.com/category/15-minutes-of-fame/”>15 Minutes of Fame that talks about the game as an “active aesthetic experience,” a collective expression in which the participation of all is key to the entire experience. One of the things I’m most looking forward to talking about with the author is the incredible creative energy that WoW breathes into so many talented artists, writers, crafters and musicians. From WoW-themed arts and crafts that tickle our fancies to re-imaginings of the very artistic underpinnings of the game soundtrack and art itself, the World of Warcraft has inspired so many people across the world.

While obviously we could invite you to scroll through our backlog of World of WarCrafts columns (and indeed, if you’re interested in any sort of creative effort, we think you should), we decided to make things simple. We’d like to invite you to our new resource guide, WoW.com/arts-and-crafts/”>Arts and crafts in WoW. From how-to instructions for arts and crafts, to recipe “strats” bringing you the flavors of Azeroth, to soundtracks and artwork and fan fic and more, we’ve gathered the best of our galleries and in-depth features together in one place. We hope you find it as enjoyable and inspirational as we do … Welcome to the sights and sounds of the community of World of Warcraft!

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WoW.com/media/2009/12/blaze1_lsp_thumbnail.jpg” />WoW.com/category/world-of-warcrafts/”>World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including arts and crafts, fan art, WoW-themed recipes, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by emailing lisa@WoW.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

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Filed under: WoW.com/category/world-of-warcrafts/” rel=”tag”>World of WarCrafts, WoW.com/category/arts-and-crafts/” rel=”tag”>Arts and Crafts

WoW.com/2010/07/26/world-of-warcrafts-fan-artists-breathe-creativity-into-their-ho/”>World of WarCrafts: Fan artists breathe creativity into their hobbies originally appeared on WoW.com”>WoW.com on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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