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September 2, 2010

The Lawbringer: A rookie’s guide to the TOU

Welcome to the Lawbringer, Wow.com's weekly guide to the intersection of law and the World of Warcraft. I'm Amy Schley, a new law school graduate and your tour guide through the rabbit hole of contracts, copyrights and other craziness.

Greetings again! We're on part three of an examination of the various legal documents to which we must consent in order to play our beloved World of Warcraft. Parts one and two examined the End User License Agreement; this segment will look at the Terms of Use ("TOU").

The first thing you'll notice as you examine the TOU is that it is quite similar to the EULA. This is by design -- while one of the EULA's provisions is to agree to the Terms of Use, the repetition increases the likelihood we'll actually read it. There are quite a few differences, including the code of conduct and the naming policy.

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The Lawbringer: A rookie's guide to the TOU originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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WoW Rookie: More Cataclysm changes for newbies and leveling players

New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide.

We've told you how to get ready for your first raid -- and now, we're going to help you actually get your hands dirty, in a new series for beginning raiders in Ready Check. We fired things up last week with Raiding 101; look for additional installments in future weeks (including today!).

Beta access being what it is (up and down -- and when it counts most for deadlines, the latter), we were unable to complete the Horde companion piece to last week's Alliance newbie zone revamps in Cataclysm. We're still working on that for you ... In the meantime, since we've got you revved up for Cataclysm news, we'll round up more rookie-centric details found scattered across the site over the past month.

Spoiler No. 1: Cataclysm spoilers ahead; proceed at your own risk.

Spoiler No. 2: This week's content has been posted previously, elsewhere at WoW.com. If you're an assiduous reader, this week's content will not be new news for you.

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WoW Rookie: More Cataclysm changes for newbies and leveling players originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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August 26, 2010

WoW Rookie: Alliance newbie zone revamps in Cataclysm

New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide.

Spoiler alert: Today's WoW Rookie is nothing but one big spoiler of the changes Cataclysm will bring to existing Alliance newbie zones. If you're aiming to hit the expansion spoiler-free with fresh, unsullied eyes, you'll want to re-join us two weeks from now (since next week's WoW Rookie will look at Cataclysm newbie zones Horde-side).

But for those of you who are itching for a glimpse into what's in store for newly created Alliance characters in the expansion, we've got brief highlights and screenshot gallery samplers of the gnome, dwarf, night elf and human starting experiences. There's not much new to report for draenei in the Exodar, save that their flight point has been moved inside the city. And as for the new Alliance race, the worgen, we've given them their own detailed gallery and write-up, and you can head over to our YouTube channel to watch video of several worgen gameplay segments. Come back next week for a similar look ahead at the newbie zone revamps for Horde races.

And now, screenshot galleries (one last spoiler alert for the road -- Cataclysm spoilers abound!) of each starting area plus written highlights, after the break.

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WoW Rookie: Alliance newbie zone revamps in Cataclysm originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 26 Aug 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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August 19, 2010

WoW Rookie: Coming back to WoW after a break

New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide.

You're not really a rookie -- but man, it's been ages since you last played! Azeroth feels like a whole new world. A "dungeon finder" -- huh? And why are all these people pelting you with friend invitations that have real-life names attached?

As more and more former players start peeking their heads back into the game in anticipation of the launch of Cataclysm, we'll be seeing more and more uncertain vets fumbling through mechanics and features even those rookies among us now take for granted. What's the best way to get back up to speed after an extended time away from WoW? Reader Anthony writes:

I used to be an avid WoW player but quit about a year ago (just before patch 3.1). I have been entertaining the idea of getting back in the game but am kind of intimidated, because I think there probably have been so many addons to the game since I left, I'll be totally lost. I used to use your website as a resource and visited it daily when I did play, but I stopped after I quit playing. So I'm not really sure what has changed.

And I am also not really sure if it's a good time to pick up playing again because of the expansion that's supposedly coming out. So I was wondering if there could be any way that someone on your team could give me a quick little up-to-speed brief on some of the changes that have happened, mostly with the gameplay aspects; I'm not overall concerned about new raids and stuff. I used to raid all day, every day when I played before but would rather just ease into that later. So if there's maybe a link or something, I would greatly appreciate it.

A "link or something"? WoW Rookie can certainly oblige. Join us after the break for a healthy dose of tips on getting your bearings if you've been away from WoW for quite some time.

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WoW Rookie: Coming back to WoW after a break originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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August 17, 2010

The Lawbringer: Rookie’s guide to the EULA, part 2

Welcome to the Lawbringer, WoW.com's weekly examination of the intersection between law and the World of Warcraft. Your tour guide is Amy Schley, recent law school grad.

Last week, we looked at the first half of the EULA -- the license limitations, the steps to terminate the agreement and a few other provisions. This week is the back half of the EULA -- the warranties, conflict resolution provisions and miscellaneous provisions.

Export controls

Section 8 prohibits the export and sale of the game to countries the United States has embargoed or persons that are on the "Specially Designated Nationals" list, essentially a list of terrorist organizations. Alas, this means that we won't be settling the War on Terror with world PvP death match.

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The Lawbringer: Rookie's guide to the EULA, part 2 originally appeared on WoW.com on Tue, 17 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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August 12, 2010

WoW Rookie: Collective wisdom

New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide.

Let's face it: Crowdsourcing is king. Every company that beta tests its products (hello, Cataclysm!) knows the benefits of having hundreds, thousands or even millions of creative (and not-so-creative) minds plinking away at its features. If we put our heads together ...

Today's WoW Rookie rounds up recent posts at WoW.com that spawned info-rich comments ready to mined by us newbies. Before we dive in, though, I'd like to remind everyone (even you old hands out there who happen to be reading along) to keep sending in your favorite pointers for new players -- things it took you months to realize when you first started playing, things you wish you'd known back in the day. Send 'em in to lisa@wow.com, and we'll run one every week in WoW Rookie.

One more piece of business: Got a question or wondering about something in WoW that has you stumped? WoW Rookie is opening a mailbag section especially for new and leveling players. Send in your questions to lisa@wow.com.

Now, with thanks and much love to our prolific Breakfast Topic commenters, let us unleash the wisdom of the masses!

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WoW Rookie: Collective wisdom originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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August 11, 2010

The Lawbringer: A rookie’s guide to the EULA


Welcome to the Lawbringer, WoW.com's weekly exploration of the intersection of the World of Warcraft and the law. Acting as your tour guide is Amy Schley, just returned from Hell the bar exam.

Hello again! To kick off the return of the Lawbringer, we're going to move into rookie guide territory. Now, I know, I know -- your rogue "High Warlord Pwnyoo" is ready and willing to gank my mains, my alts and even my husband's toons for calling you a rookie. But by a show of hands, how many of you have actually read the EULA instead of just scrolling down to the bottom to click "Accept"?

Given the paucity of hands raised out there, I figure it's time for a rookie's guide to the End User License Agreement.

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The Lawbringer: A rookie's guide to the EULA originally appeared on WoW.com on Wed, 11 Aug 2010 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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August 5, 2010

WoW Rookie: Loremaster, a completist’s dream

New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide.

For those of us who are leveling up or even digging into a fresh 80, there's never been a better time to fold in The Loremaster to the ol' to-do list. Flying your Loremaster title proves you've been around the block; it's not like The Explorer, which you can hoof your way through even at level 1. Earning your Loremaster title means grinding out literally hundreds and hundreds of quests over every step of your journey through Azeroth, Outland and Northrend, from level 1 through level 80. It's the completist player's dream, a title that shows you've paid your dues in every zone at every level of the game.

We're not bringing this up now as just one more item to chuck into your pre-Cataclysm bucket list; indeed, The Loremaster won't be going anywhere in Cataclysm. While none of the numbers of quests required for completion have been adjusted yet to accommodate Cataclysm material, Blizzard has assured players not to worry about it. The Loremaster quest count has been updated before, so we should be confident that it will be adjusted again.

Still, if you're playing through the old content anyway, it simply makes sense to run through quests that will be disappearing when the expansion cracks Azeroth apart at the seams. Sure, there'll be plenty of new quests to do -- but you'll never get the chance to run all of these particular quests again.

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WoW Rookie: Loremaster, a completist's dream originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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July 29, 2010

WoW Rookie: Cataclysm changes to early and middle levels

New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide.

If you're not a leveling player -- and sorry, but that does not include you wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am types zipping up your latest alts -- then as I tell my family when they're hovering around me when I'm trying to write, "I love you; now go away." Today's WoW Rookie is all about stuff that matters to players who focus on WoW's leveling game. If you've got the whole leveling thing down pat ... if leveling is just a chore to get to the end game, where "the game begins at 80" ... if your pre-80 character is just one among your entire stable of toons ... then move along, big guy. Your secret handshake didn't pass muster at this clubhouse.

For those of us gleefully picking our way through the levels, we're going to take another look this week at what's ahead for us in the expansion. First, I've got a lead to share on a friendly place to tuck into for companionable leveling. Then we'll round up a whole collection of facts and developments on how Cataclysm will change the game for players in the 1-60ish range. If you're an assiduous reader of The Queue, none of this will be new news; we've cherry-picked some recent goodies that apply to players in the early to middle levels.

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WoW Rookie: Cataclysm changes to early and middle levels originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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July 22, 2010

WoW Rookie: The basics of dual spec

New around here? WoW Rookie has your back! Get all our collected tips, tricks and tactics for new players in the WoW Rookie Guide.

World of Warcraft is a game of specialists; even (and especially) the so-called hybrid classes end up playing in specific, focused roles in group and end-game content. The higher you level and the more talents you learn, the more specialized your character becomes. Your "spec" (specialization), determined by where you've distributed your points among the three talent trees available to your class, begins to define and inform your gameplay as you group with others more and more often.

At some point, you'll want to experiment with another set of talents -- that's time for a respec. (Look for talent recommendations in our leveling guides and our Class 101 series.) Soon enough, you'll be wishing you could switch between one set of talents and another -- and you can, with dual specialization.

Before we dig into the basics, we should note one of the more exciting changes for leveling players coming up in Cataclysm. The expansion will lower both the required level and cost of dual spec, giving players more flexibility for group and individual play than ever before.

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WoW Rookie: The basics of dual spec originally appeared on WoW.com on Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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