Game developers usually perform nerfing to games' expansions. While patches are released every now and then, the big and experience-changing ones are found in the expansion sets and these things sometimes make or break a sequel. As we are all aware, The Burning Crusade is to be released by January and it is not spared from the same fate.

Most nerfs done in the beta servers did get the thumbs up and will be implemented to TBC. The thing here now is that a good number of players don't approve of the changes. A lot of flaming is reportedly going on in Blizzard's official forums and discussions regarding the matter.

We're listing now the changes (compiled by WoW Insider) that created the loudest ruckus among fans. While it could be possible that the outrage is nothing more but a hard parting with the familiar, there could be valid reasons to ask if the following changes are deserved or necessary.

• Warriors got a big change to rage generation that, as far as I can tell (there's a lot of math involved) gave a nerf to anyone carrying around a two hander. Rage was normalized, especially on crits, so people are reporting from 3-4 to up to 10 less points of rage per crit damage. Of course, as gear gets better, so will rage generation, but the warriors aren't thrilled.

Check out all the controversial changes after the jump!

We give you another batch of weekly development activities for Dungeons and Dragons Online. It's nice to see that the guys behind the MMO has been working really hard to improve the game for their community even if some of the development activities may have been lingering in the list for the longest time now. But still, you gotta admire these people who work tirelessly to bring something new and improved to the game amidst the tough challenges. So, we'll quit blabbing about how good and determined they are and we will now hook you up DDO's weekly development activities for September 11.

In Q&A
General

• NEW - The Spell Selection window should no longer crash the client.
• NEW - Some quest rewards were becoming permanently ransacked; this is now fixed.
• The tavern in Necropolis is now named "One Foot Inn" and has a new flavor NPC to relate the tale of how it got the name.

Monsters

•  Dead mummies will no longer cause despair.
•  Charmed mummies will no longer cause despair in allied players.
•  The Warrior of the Six is now correctly tagged as Neutral Evil.

Items

•  Repeating crossbows should once again be functioning properly.
•  NEW - If you have a shield and a wand/scroll/thrown-weapon equipped and are blocking, in most cases the shield will now take item wear, not the right hand item.
•  All adamantine weapons have been given a boost to their Hardness. This change will affect all existing weapons as well as newly created adamantine weapons.
• The new brigandine armor introduced in the Twilight Forge Module will now appear properly on Drow.

The full list awaits after the jump!

Stormreach Under Siege. Now, don't those three words just make you want to just skip this introduction that took me maybe an hour and and a half to write and go straight to what's going to a part of the next scheduled update for Dungeons and Dragons Online? Wouldn't it be nice to get the latest buzz on monsters inside the game like dead and charmed mummies not being able to cause despair to anybody anymore, plus The Warrior of Six now being correctly tagged as the Neutral Evil? Or more details on new and exciting quests that you can take? Or... Okay I'll shut up now and give you the details. Teasing was fun while it lasted.

Monsters

• NEW - Dead mummies will no longer cause despair.
• NEW – Charmed mummies will no longer cause despair in allied players.
•  NEW - The Warrior of the Six is now correctly tagged as Neutral Evil.

Quests

• NEW - Gwylan's Stand
• An influx of foolish adventurers into the area surrounding Gwylan's Stand has allowed the various monsters in the area to accumulate a little more treasure.

• NEW - Necropolis
• Bloody Crypt
• The Lich is now the Black Abbot and not a generic lich.
• Using the levers to open the east and west wings will correctly report that you used a lever, and not a book.
• Salasso now wears the correct robe.

The full article awaits after the jump!

This week, we can expect a number of improvements and bug fixes in Turbine's Dungeons And Dragons Online. As far as the game in general is concerned,  loot messages from other players will now be tagged as such, allowing them to be filtered out. A bug that caused players to get stuck while dismounting ladders has been addressed as well.

Specific improvements include the following:

Monsters

• The dragon's spellcasting AI and line of sight recognition had been improved.

Items

• Vorpal weapons will behead monsters as outlined in the original Players Handbook. This means you must roll a natural 20 and confirm a crit in order to vorpal your target.

Spells

• The Fragment of the Silver Flame's Protection from Evil spell no longer protects the wearer from Neutral and Good casters who attempt to affect the wearer with Charm or Enchantment or Compulsion spells.

Future developments include increased bandwidth (about 2%) and improvements in some of the slow-moving areas when a player's client gets flooded with information about objects in his/her local area. Hopefully, players will see a speed increase of 20-50%. There will also be a "showhelmet" command which can be used to hide a player's helmet graphic. Some work is being done to improve the combat/damage feedback mechanism, eliminating "false" hits (where the target would flinch but no attack roll would take place)  and give more accurate feedback as to the strength of the hit.

On the subject of Monsters:

• Widow type spiders will again shoot functional webs.
• Elemental Empathy will work properly on Earth Elementals that have used their Earthgrab ability.
• Arcane Skeletons will no longer "eat collectibles" they should be creating.

Finally,  those of you who wear Kundrak Delving Boots will be able to ward the movement effects of Storm Giant weather control. they will no longer ward the Beholder's petrify eye beam or the Mummy's Despair ability, but the programmers are working on exempting the boots from the movement restrictions of Sleetstorm and IceStorm.

Seems like environmental problems stemming from pollution aren't unique to the "real" world. Even as corporate industrialists and developers foul the ecosystems and desertification expands on planet Earth, the Withered Aegis of Istaria are killing off the wetlands south of Harro, expanding the Deadlands as their fort construction wreaks havoc with the delicate ecology of the Spiritous Swamp.

Unlike most creatures on Earth, however, their counterparts in the world of Tulga Games' Horizons appear to be fighting back as the native bloodsnout gruok and purple spiders start exhibiting atypically aggressive behaviors. According to NNRI associate researcher Saja, this new, aggressive behavior is a response to the spreading Blight:

“.. the common bloodsnout [and] purple spiders normally leave you alone unless you are a threat to their hatchlings...the constant lightning and gloom of a Blight Maelstrom is a radical change from the normal swamp environs. It must be terribly frightening for the poor creatures. They can’t express what they’re feeling in words, so they express it in actions. They don’t really mean to be vicious; they just want someone to know they’re hurt and scared.”

Istarian war correspondents report that Blight Blooms are popping up south of the Sandstone Quarry. There's a lot of the Undead running around, so travelers in that area should exercise caution.