Wrath of the Lich King, Midnight Openings

It’s almost that time again folks, the next expansion for Blizzard’s World of Warcraft arrives the first minute on the 13th of November. This is the expansion we’ve all been waiting for, climbing the ranks to level 70 so we can enjoy all the fresh new content, preparing ourselves for Dark Knight status.

If you’re in the New York area, you’ll have a chance to meet CEO Mike Morhaime and executive VP of product development Frank Pearce. They’ll be a New York Best Buy signing copies of the title if you’re lucky to be in the area and plan to go out at midnight to get it. We’re not that lucky, but we’re also not standing in line this year for an event.

We’re trusting in Amazon and their promise to have the game at the door step on release day. If this isn’t the case, we’ll be playing some Burning Crusade content instead. If you want to join in the New York festivities read on for their full press release.

Best Buy® Counts Down the Arrival of Wrath of the Lich King™ in New York City

World of Warcraft® Players to Meet Blizzard Entertainment® Developers and Be Among First to Obtain Their Copy at an Exclusive Launch Celebration

MINNEAPOLIS—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Alliance and Horde members will converge on the Best Buy at 44th Street and 5th Avenue to take part in the highly anticipated midnight launch of Blizzard Entertainment®’s World of Warcraft®: Wrath of the Lich King™. The celebration, starting at 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Nov. 12 at the Best Buy store near Times Square, is the premiere developer meet-and-greet in the U.S. for the popular World of Warcraft game and the only such event on the East Coast.

The event includes appearances by Blizzard Entertainment cofounders Mike Morhaime, CEO, and Frank Pearce, executive vice president of product development. In addition, a number of the game’s developers will be available to meet players and sign copies of the game. Geoff Keighley, videogame TV host, will emcee the evening that will feature interviews, trivia and prize giveaways.

With more than 11 million subscribers, World of Warcraft is the most popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game in the world. Wrath of the Lich King is the game’s second expansion. For more information on the game visit www.WorldofWarcraft.com.

In addition to the original game and both expansions, players can purchase 60-day World of Warcraft subscription cards at Best Buy.

“At Best Buy, we’re passionate about helping gamers get the most enjoyment from their gaming systems – from having the latest releases to a full complement of gaming platforms, accessories, electronics and services,” said Jill Hamburger, Best Buy vice president games and movies. “Our newly introduced Reward Zone Gamers Club provides additional benefits and amazing experiences for our most loyal customers who love gaming.”

Reward Zone® program Gamers Club is a specialty expansion of Best Buy’s Reward Zone Loyalty Program. For every $150 spent on qualifying gaming software and accessories (certain exclusions apply) Reward Zone program Gamers Club members will receive 500 points/$10 reward certificates, in addition to their regular Reward Zone program points, that can be used on almost everything within the store. Additional membership benefits include special offers on game software and accessories, information on the latest gaming trends and hints and cheats for popular games to maximize the gaming experience. Members may also receive special access to invitation only gaming events hosted by Best Buy.

For more information on the launch event, visit www.bestbuy.com/midnightopenings.

Wrath of the Lich King is a trademark, and World of Warcraft, Blizzard Entertainment, and Warcraft are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc., in the U.S. and/or other countries.

(Thanks, Kotaku)

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“Gold Rush”

It’s amazing how economies thrive on virtual worlds like Azeroth. One can buy and sell wares at an auction house to bring in money and spend money. Unfortunately, on my return back to Azeroth after a large siesta from the virtual world, many things seem to have changed… it costs an arm and a leg for almost everything. Perhaps the Burning Crusade expansion has set a new level of cost?

Here’s the deal. If you’re a brand new World of Warcraft player, you’re going to find yourself having to harvest the materials of the world (known as “mats”) for yourself because the auction house is way too expensive for everyday items. Inflation is out of control, imagine going to the store to purchase a leather jacket for the price of a car. You’d go cold wouldn’t you?

Once upon a time things were different, “low-bee” items (items between 1 and 15 let’s say) were a reasonable price, usually in the silver range of money. Today, they’re weighted in gold. The concept of supply and demand is at work but how is it we can purchase the supply at such a high cost? Because we’ve got friends or other characters with a lot of unused cash!

With Burning Crusade we saw basic quests tossing around gold as if it were common place. A character would save up thousands of gold for mounts and then horde the gold as if it were precious until they realized it was nearly infinite in supply and would start passing it around their guild or to other low level characters in their account. The end result, a low level character can go into the auction house with 100 gold in hand and buy whatever they need for basic materials no matter the price.

The laws of supply and demand take on a whole new meaning when people buying have nearly infinate supplies of cash. For me, I’ve decided to purchase some materials while “grinding” for others because they’re just too costly to purchase. However, I’ll do what needs to be done to also exploit the high prices when selling items back to the auction house and contribute to the over-inflated economies.

Perhaps, over time, Blizzard will create a platinum piece to replace the common nature of the gold as it depreciates in value. Although that’s said more in jest, it’s unfortunate that brand new gamers to this MMORPG won’t be able to take full advantage of the auction house as they could years ago with the influx in gold deposits.