Sony Online Entertainment's Game Updates for February 6 for the EverQuest 2 MMORPG has finally been posted. This is pretty timely considering update 42 for the game has just been released. If you want to see all the changes implemented, click on the "read more" link below to get to the full article.

World of Warcraft music fans, gather around. We've got news about the rockstars from the Horde, Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain (L70ETC).

Smarba from the World of Warcraft Forums posted that L70ETC will be back at Shattrath City regularly. Blizzard poster Drysc confirmed this bit of information and went on to say that Level 70 Elite Tauren Chieftain will be "a permanent fixture of the Darkmoon Faire now, and you'll be able to enjoy them in Elwynn and Mulgore as well".

To ensure that you catch them at the said event, be sure to check up with the heralds in Ironforge, Orgrimmar, and Shattrath City. Here's to hoping that the WoW band learns a couple of new songs now that they're traveling with the Darkmoon Faire.

The technical beta for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has already kicked off, but those who weren't lucky enough to be chosen to beta test this MMORPG won't have to worry as Funcom has news for you. As it goes, the developers have decided to test how the server works under heavy load so they'll need all the people they can get. This is particularly important in high traffic areas (hopefully, the game won't have its own "Ironforge"). The data collected will be reviewed by the developers and a few fixes may be in order.

Quality Assurance Manager, Ørjan Mathis Tvedt, spoke on this testing and gave the skinny on its importance.

We’ll start by testing several different high-load scenarios on our servers by pushing the technology, like seeing how the server reacts to so many people going from one area to another at the same time. This is to further optimize our servers for the future tests which will be even bigger in scale.

To help facilitate the test, the beta testers have been given access to the Acheronian Ruins, but they can only use pre-made characters of a specific (and yet unnamed) class. They will also be given access to a limited amount of equipment and loot. They have noted that it is very different from the general beta because they are looking for specific data in conducting this test.

If you'd like to read more about it, you can find the full article via our read link.

   

World of Warcraft (WoW) guild Goon Squad is at it again. In case you're not familiar with them, take note that this is the same group that raided Ironforge back in December 2006 and started a hostage scenario a full month before that. This month, the group was back in Ironforge with a little number but with more finesse.

To the uninitiated, Ironforge is not that easy to penetrate. It is the capital city of Alliance-member dwarf race. In the lore, many dwarven strongholds fell during the Second War between the two factions but Ironforge was never breached. In this raid, Goon Squad used the Flask of Petrification, the alchemist-created item that protects players from any physical attacks or spells.

After the effect of the flask wore off (as you can't do anything while it is in effect), the fun for Goon Squad began. Alliance members fell to their knees, bloody and weakened, and... just watch the video clip, ok? It was posted by user avenger919 and we promise that it is fun, given that you're on the right side of the fence.

As you've probably seen, I'm one of those recovering Blizzard fans. I've been at it for a while, then stopped to get my bearings and figure out why I couldn't stop playing before. Now that I think about it, I realized that by equating World of Warcraft as something more than a game, I allowed the game to hold power over who I was.

Well, maybe it's time we all broke free from the thrall of Thrall and whispers of Whisperwind. Here are 10 things to help WoW-addicted gamers to distinguish between observations we find in real life and the illusions of WoW.

10. Conjured Bread and Water.

While it's true that there are people who do beg for bread and water in real life, note that there are no mages who can conjure those up in the real world. If someone asks for alms, help them get to a shelter or give them food or money, but don't expect to hand them thin air and say, "BREAD!"

NOTE: Claim does not hold true for Jesus Christ, though he could presumably multiply bread and fish and possibly transmute stone into bread rather than conjure it up from nothing.

9. No one in their right mind would really dance like Michael Jackson

Um... this should be self-explanatory.

8. You never end up face-first from a fall in WoW.

Not everyone notices this, but take it as a minor fact. You will always land on your feet at the end of that hundred-foot drop from Ironforge to the ground.

The full article awaits after the jump!

The World of Warcraft, like any online community, has its own dialect. Now, for the neophytes that find themselves befuddled by the world (of Warcraft)'s diverse set of slang that goes beyond your typical "LOL" or "WTF" abbreviations found in many an MMORPG's vocabulary, help is on the way.

Eliah Hecht has just come up with a comprehensive list of WoW's recurring game lingo, and aside from normal abbreviations like DPS (Damage Per Second), also delves into the more intricate (but essential) slangs. Here's a sample of the Outlands:

• OL: Outlands:
• BE: Blade's Edge
• HFP: Hellfire Peninsula
• HH: Honor Hold
• NS: Netherstorm
• SH/Shat: Shattrath City
• SMV: Shadowmoon Valley
• Tero: Terokkar
• TM: Thrallmar
• ZM: Zangarmarsh

For the WoW gamer just learning the ropes, look at this as a part of the growing compendium of beginner's guides to help you young 'uns get around in the realms, all the more with the new discoveries The Burning Crusade offers.

The full list awaits after this jump!

In light of a massive exodus of people flocking through the Dark Portal and into the Outland, you can't help but wonder what's left in Azeroth? Is "the Old World" still even there? Well, yes it is, apparently. You get a bunch of people having their own "boring crusade" and bosses talking about the lack of mobs.

rufbo from Curmudgeon Gamer decided to resurrect his WoW account, and since he didn't have the Burning Crusade expansion, had to settle for good old Azeroth. Unsurprisingly, it's not the same "good old Azeroth" that he once knew. What he saw reminded him of expansions of Ultima Online.

When UO started throwing in expansions, the old worlds very quickly started clearing out.... a bustling urban center [turned into] an absolute ghost town, made all the more eerie as the wandering NPC robots grossly outnumbered humans for the first time in my experience. That's happening now in WoW. Ironforge is nearly empty... auction houses, banks, city square, all nearly empty on my server.... I couldn't tell if my "new video card" was providing much better performance or if there simply wasn't anything to render!

Should Blizzard be worried? rufbo even playfully suggests that Ironforge should host a bingo night for gamers. On a good note though, he thinks that they should create expansions that are backwards compatible so that "players with expansions should continue to flow through old hotspots (possibly with new buildings in cities accessible only if you have the expansions, etc)."

Yes, equilibrium point will break even given some time, but for now, to those who are in the new frontier, let's use this time to reflect on our roots and where we've come from...

We're not sure if the crew over at Blizzard have overdosed on eggnog, but whatever it was, they pretty much successfully managed to spread Christmas Feast of Winter's Veil joy among the realms and citizens of Azeroth. Presents, uber-rare Rudolf mount, plus Great-father Winter and assistant's appearance were included for extra jazz.

So, boys and girls, go log back in to your World of Warcraft accounts as the Christmas Feast of Winter's Veil trees in Ironforge and Ogrimmar have been filled with presents for everyone to grab. Who knows, maybe you'll even get the ever-so-... cheerful item, Wand of Holiday Cheer which sends everyone in the affected area to burst out laughing.

More eggnog?

Let's see... What has the Wiimote been able to control so far? Remote-controlled cars, guitars, Sony's PlayStation 3, EverQuest II, and some other items. Yep, that's a lot of stuff.

Now, how about the king of MMOs?

Someone's decided to make a tutorial video for using your Wiimote to play World of Warcraft. As you can probably see from his interface, he's using DarwiinRemote to get the job done, so you'll have to remember to get that too. It isn't perfect though, as the there isn't a function for the right mouse button just yet, but this is a great first step.

In any case, what are we waiting for? If you have a Wii, an account for WoW, a Mac OS, and a few minutes to spare, you might as well learn how to do this little trick, right? All that's left is to figure out how to get my character to dance on-screen, and I'll be the hottest Night Elf dancing queen this side of Ironforge. Sweet!

Thanks to noobular for sending these WoW screenshots in. I don't know about you, guys, but there's some Christmas-y vibe to it, don't you think? Hmmm...zooming in...Nothing much, really. Just some Horde guys raiding Ironforge...

Huh? Say what? Ironforge? Raid? Okay, breathe. While you may find it unbelievable that Ironforge may actually be raided, believe it. Because we have the pictures to prove it. The guild responsible for it? Goon Squad. To those sooo out of the loop, these are the same guys responsible for the WoW hostage scenario last month. We're pretty sure they're feeling smug right now with their accomplishment. And why not? It's no simple feat after all.

Anyways, it sure must have been one heck of a party for these guys. We just hope your guild ain't one of them casualties of war.

More blazing glorious raiding pics after the jump!