Once, Kel'Thuzad was not very different from the other magi of Dalaran. Ambitious, maybe, perhaps more radical in his convictions, but certainly not more powerful than his peers. Yet it was Kel'Thuzad the Lich King made into a key figure of the Scourge's remorseless assault on the lands of the living. Now, the man named Kel'Thuzad is gone, and all that remains is Kel'Thuzad the lich, right hand of the Lich King and ruler of the necropolis Naxxramas. What evil was it that led him down this path? Learn more about the events that darkened the fate of Kel'Thuzad, and ultimately of all Azeroth, in Road to Damnation, a short story preview of the upcoming content patch for World of Warcraft.

Warcry's World of Warcraft site has recently been re-launched! The pages there have been updated to include new in-depth guides, information on Warcraft lore, item and quest databases, and a lot more. Head on over by clicking here.
Have you made or seen something that you think deserves to be on the World of Warcraft Community Watch? Send us a link at: wowcommwatch@blizzard.com.

* Links on this news post may expire over time and are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Spring is here, and the renewal of life brings a hint of love to The Onion, self touted as "America's Finest News Source". Read as a World of Warcraft player admits his undying admiration for someone special through use stunning game-related analogy, in their featured article "Baby, You Mean The World of Warcraft To Me". Experience this deeply moving and hilarious satire by clicking here.

Have you made or seen something that you think deserves to be on the World of Warcraft Community Watch? Send us a link at: wowcommwatch@blizzard.com.

* Links on this news post may expire over time and are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Patch 1.11: Shadow of the Necropolis.

New World of Warcraft Fan Art
The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with new pieces of artwork.

A new and terrible army has been spawned from the hives beneath Ahn'Qiraj, and the ruined city is now teeming with swarming masses of silithid and qiraji. But this new silithid army is not the only threat lying in wait among the ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, as the horrors of an ancient past stir once again to heed their masters' call and bring war and destruction to Kalimdor and the rest of Azeroth.

Learn more about some of the most dangerous creatures of the Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj on our new monsters pages!

• Obsidian Destroyers
• Moam
• Anubisaths
• Ossirian the Unscarred

We've updated the Profession Guides page with links to new player-made guides. This page features direct links to guides created by World of Warcraft players. Click here to check them out! If you have a profession guide that you want to submit for review, click here.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Stratholme.

New World of Warcraft Fan Art
The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with new pieces of artwork.

The Murloc is Lonely, an ever-evolving Fan Fiction has recently passed its 1-year anniversary. We have always enjoyed reading the progressing story and have featured it numerous times, including it in our own 1-year Anniversary World of Warcraft timeline. You can see all sections of The Murloc is Lonely by clicking here, and be sure to read the latest addition to Book Two here.

Have you made or seen something that you think deserves to be on the World of Warcraft Community Watch? Send us a link at: wowcommwatch@blizzard.com.

*Links on this news post may expire over time and are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

Get a rare inside look into the Blizzard development process with the World of Warcraft Behind-the-Scenes DVD, on sale now in our online store. Formerly only available in the World of Warcraft Collector's Edition, this DVD contains design commentaries from Blizzard developers, digitally mastered cinematics from World of Warcraft and Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, exclusive Blizzard artwork, and more.

The public test realms (PTRs) are now live featuring the changes coming in patch 1.10.2, which you can read about in the patch notes. We have seen a profound benefit with offering major patches on the PTRs, and although this is a minor patch, we believe the benefits will apply to it as well. You can copy your character or use one of the template characters and help us test the upcoming changes by visiting the Public Test Realm Page. Character transfers to the test realm are available from 3:00 AM to 3:00 PM Pacific Time Monday through Friday, for accounts that were active as of 12:01 PM Pacific Time on Monday, April 17. The test realm game client, which can be downloaded at the same Public Test Realm Page, is available for both PC and Mac.

Please be aware that the test realms are designed to allow us to test patches before they go public. Therefore, some changes may be introduced to the public test realms during the testing phase, before a patch goes live, and some changes may be introduced to the patch after the test realms have closed. To read more about the test realms, please review the Test Realm FAQ. We truly appreciate our players taking the time to help us test the latest changes to the game; thank you!

The bestiary page for World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has been updated with two new creatures from the upcoming expansion. Learn more about the Broken, loyal servants of Illidan the Betrayer, and the murderous rock flayers that stalk the Blade's Edge Mountains of Outland. Check out the updated bestiary now!

We're proud to announce the official World of Warcraft CD Cover Contest sponsored by EMusic. Players are being called upon to design the most creative music album themed after Azeroth or it's inhabitants, and submit it for entry on or before April 26, 2006. The album must contain both art and song titles, (see example here), and can be a parody of an existing album or a complete original. A total of 5 prizes will be awarded to the best submissions, including a SanDisk Sansa™ c100 Series MP3 Player! Interested? Click here to learn more.

The art of capturing the perfect shot, attempting to find the right gesture, making sure a gnome doesn't stumble into your frame. It's the art of machinima, and no one may know it better than Machinima.com. Their World of Warcraft section can be found by clicking here.

Have you made or seen something that you think deserves to be on the World of Warcraft Community Watch? Send us a link at: wowcommwatch@blizzard.com.

*Links on this news post may expire over time and are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Dire Maul.

New World of Warcraft Fan Art
The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with new pieces of artwork.

We are pleased to present the new Profession Guide Links page. This page features direct links to guides created by you, the players. So, if you're looking for advice on specific professions, click here.

In keeping with Blizzard's aggressive stance against cheating in World of Warcraft, we have since patch 1.10 banned over 5,400 accounts and suspended 10,700 more for participating in activities that violate the game's Terms of Use, including using third-party programs to farm gold and items. Such actions can severely impact the economy of a realm and the overall game enjoyment for all players.

We will continue to aggressively monitor all World of Warcraft realms in order to protect the service and its players from the harmful effects of cheating. Please note that selling World of Warcraft content, such as gold, items, and characters, can result in a permanent ban of the involved accounts from World of Warcraft.

Many account closures come as the direct result of tips reported to our GMs in game or emailed to hacks@blizzard.com by legitimate World of Warcraft players. If you suspect that a World of Warcraft player is using an illegal third-party program to farm gold or items, or is otherwise violating our Terms of Use, please report the suspected infraction via one of the means listed above. All reports will be investigated, and those that prove false will not result in corrective action.

Thank you for your continued support, and good luck with your adventures in Azeroth!

-Blizzard Entertainment

The previously announced character transfers to the new realms Norgannon and Thrall have been rescheduled to now begin on Monday, April 17th at 3:00 AM PDT and will end on Thursday, April 20th at 3:00 PM PDT. If you're planning to take advantage of these transfers we highly recommend doing so at the first available opportunity.

New Realm: Norgannon - Deadline: Thursday, April 20th at 3:00 PM PST
Players with characters on the following two realms will have an opportunity to transfer to Norgannon, a new PvE realm. If you're interested in transferring your characters from these realms to Norgannon, please click here.

Shadowsong	–>	Norgannon
Azjol-Nerub	–>	Norgannon

New Realm: Thrall - Thursday, April 20th at 3:00 PM PST
Players with characters on the following two realms will have an opportunity to transfer their characters to Thrall, a new PvE realm. If you're interested in transferring your characters from these realms to Thrall, please click here.

Alleria	–>	Thrall
Hellscream	–>	Thrall

During the transfer schedule, standard character creation will not be available for these two new realms. As always, eligible character transfers are available Monday thru Friday from 3:00 AM to 3:00 PM PST. Characters transfers from these realms to the new realms will be available until Thursday, April 20th at 3:00 PM PST.

The Cenarion Circle reputations page has been updated with more rewards of superior and epic quality! Check out the reputation rewards for the Silithus field duty quests and the new recipes that the vendors of Cenarion Hold have in store for those who have proven their dedication to the Cenarion Circle's fight against the silithid. Click here to see what items await you!

A new minor patch has been released for World of Warcraft during today's extended maintenance. You can read the full patch notes here.

Attention all comic authors and artists - we have a mission for you! The year-long World of Warcraft Comic Contest is now officially accepting submissions. It's simple: you create a World of Warcraft comic and then submit your work through our new comic submission page. Each month, you will have a new chance to be the lucky winner of an amazing prize package!

All year long, a jury will judge the submissions on a quest to find the most original, authentic or just plain funny World of Warcraft comics. This jury will announce one winner each month who will receive a Blizzard Edition iPod Nano and a copy of the first two volumes of Warcraft: the Sunwell Trilogy. Please review the contest rules carefully before submitting your work.

Good luck; we're already looking forward to receiving your submissions.

After many hours of side-splitting laughter, the archivists at the RPSA were able to sift though thousands of submissions for the World of Warcraft Caption Contest and settle on five winners. The winners will each receive a prize package consisting of a Sony PSP handheld gaming system and a SanDisk's Memory Stick PRO Duo™. Click here to check out the winning quotes!

Get a first glimpse of the many dangerous creatures you will be facing in the game's upcoming expansion, World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Read more about the sinister ethereals, the fearsome forest trolls, the nightmarish fleshbeasts, and the terrible gronn on the new Bestiary page. The bestiary will be updated in the coming weeks, so check back often!

We've updated our Unofficial Class Guide page with eight pages of new links. This page features direct links to guides created by World of Warcraft players. Click here to check it out! If you have a class guide that you want to submit for review click here. To find other tips, strategies, and useful class related information, click here.

We've updated our technology FAQ with two new Mac-related questions.

In our ongoing efforts to improve gameplay performance we will be opening realm-to-realm character transfers from select normal (PvE) realms to new PvP realms (listed below) on April 10 at 3:00 AM PDT. The PvP destination realms will be operating on the new hardware at our new World of Warcraft site. The decision to transfer from PvE to PvP in this particular case was made in hopes of increasing the number of players seeking to transfer, which will in effect help us further disperse our population.

PvP realm Black Dragonflight - Deadline: Thursday, April 13 at 3:00 PM PST
Players on these four realms will have the opportunity to transfer to the PvP realm Black Dragonflight:

Hyjal	–>	Black Dragonflight
Lightbringer	–>	Black Dragonflight
Shadowsong	–>	Black Dragonflight
Zul'jin	–>	Black Dragonflight

PvP realm Dalvengyr - Deadline: Thursday, April 13 at 3:00 PM PST
Players on these 3 realms will have the opportunity to transfer to the PvP realm Dalvengyr:

Alleria	–>	Dalvengyr
Hellscream	–>	Dalvengyr
Whisperwind	–>	Dalvengyr

Due to connectivity- and gameplay-related concerns, the previously announced transfer from Khaz'goroth to Dalvengyr had to be removed from the schedule. After further review, it was determined that this transfer would have resulted in degraded performance for Oceanic players. The remaining transfers will take place as previously announced.

The transfers are scheduled to close at 3:00 PM PDT on April 13. However, we urge any players who wish to transfer to do so at their earliest possible convenience, as transfers may be closed earlier than expected depending on volume. Please note that standard character creation will be disabled on the two destination realms until the transfer process has completed.

Also, as a reminder, our normal schedule for conducting character transfers between eligible realms is from 3:00 AM PDT to 3:00 PM PDT, Monday through Friday. That schedule will be in effect for as long as this upcoming transfer period remains active.

As more details become available, we will provide additional information about other such measures that we're taking to address the performance issues that players on our high-population realms have been experiencing.

If you're interested in transferring your characters from the realms listed above to the new realms, please click here.

Check out the new World of Warcraft Limited Edition Bronze Figures, now available from Fantasy Flight Games. These figures, made from cast bronze with a black ink wash and a green felted base, are ideal game pieces for World of Warcraft: The Board Game, and the black wash brings out a high level of detail. You don't need the board game to enjoy these figures, however. They can also be used as nice decorations for your monitor or desk, or simply as a stylish accessory.

Visit the official Fantasy Flight website to order today.

All of Penny Arcade's World of Warcraft comics first published in the Official Strategy Guide are now available online in one succulent collection, aptly named the Penny Arcade Comic Archive. Learn more about the extravagant adventures of Yarnmaster Graal, High Knitter of Orgrimmar, or the misfortune of, uhm, Potionini... Frank... Potion-Guy? Either way, you can check out the archive here.

We have just updated our World of Warcraft Wallpapers section with a new wallpaper featuring Lady Sylvanas Windrunner and Varimathras.

New World of Warcraft Fan Art
The Blizzard Fan Art Section has been updated with new pieces of artwork.

D.D.A. has kicked off their new comic featuring the adventures of Monkeyboy. Their first task, to let their hatred of Night Elves and their name choices be known. We hope to see their passion for personified cartoon disdain continue. You can see the first comic here.

Have you made or seen something that you think deserves to be on the World of Warcraft Community Watch? Send us a link at: wowcommwatch@blizzard.com.

*Links on this news post may expire over time and are created by other companies/individuals that are neither affiliated with nor supported by Blizzard Entertainment.

The vendor rewards page for the Zandalar Tribe has been updated with the two new rewards introduced in patch 1.10. Click here to check out the new Brilliant Mana Oil and Brilliant Wizard Oil enchanting formulas!

Five new screenshots from World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade have been added to the site. Click here to check them out.

With the release of each patch, many classes see improvements to their talent trees, sometimes even including the addition of completely new abilities. Recently, the World of Warcraft Insider has spent some time with Tom "Kalgan" Chilton, Lead Game Designer at Blizzard, to talk about the ongoing class talent review process. Check out the full interview here and learn more about the philosophy behind the talent changes, and also about the future plans for the class talent review.

This interview was part of WoW Insider #6, sent out earlier this week to subscribers. To sign up for the Insider, click here.

Check out our last featured Penny Arcade comic from the Official Strategy Guide!

We have just updated the High Level Armor Sets page with the Tier 1 and 2 Raid Armor Sets! You can now check out the item stats for each piece of equipment and preview the looks of the class-specific Tier 1 and 2 Raid Armor Sets on any valid race/class/gender combination.

GameSpot has a new interview with Blizzard on World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

In a cunning attempt to take April Foolery to a new maximum, the Blizzard Joke Squad™ decided to shake things up this year by posting our jokes slightly ahead of schedule! Well, it was April Fool's day somewhere in the world... We hope you enjoyed our April Fool's events. In case you missed them, check out yesterday's jokes:

• BurgerCraft™
• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade - New Alliance Race: Wisps
• World of Warcraft: Evil Patch Notes

The Blizzard Joke Squad™ will see you again next year.

Make sure that you keep up to date on all the latest in the World of Warcraft March, 2006 News Archive.