Paid Character Customization

Date December 14, 2008

Looks like there is finally a paid character customization that let’s you change just about everything you could when first setting up your character. The only things you can’t change are class and race. However, gender, hair, skin color, and other features on your character can be changed. All of this can be done for $15. Here is the official FAQ regarding this new option:

Character Re-Customization FAQ

What is Character Re-Customization?

Character Re-Customization is a paid service that lets you change an existing character’s gender, face, skin color, and other cosmetic features determined by his or her race and gender combination. When you perform a Character Re-Customization, you may also change the character’s hair color and hair style (similar to the in-game barbershop) and select a new name, if desired.

Can I change my character’s race or class?

No, you cannot alter a character’s race or class. You may only change cosmetic features of a character through Character Re-Customization.

How much does this service cost?

A single Character Re-Customization costs $15 (not including applicable taxes). This flat fee covers all customization options available for a single character.

How do I know if I will be taxed?

Players in select states in the U.S. may be subject to taxation when using the Character Re-Customization service. This list includes but is not limited to:
- New Mexico
- Texas

How will my guildmates and friends know I customized my character?

The re-customized character will remain in the same guild and will stay on the friends lists of anyone who had added it. If you changed the character’s name, the new name will appear on friends lists in place of the old one, so we recommend you tell your friends and guildmates about the re-customization as soon as possible.

Can other players use this feature to get off my ignore list?

No. Characters whose names have been changed will remain on your ignore list, and their names will be updated automatically.

Will this affect a character’s mail or auctions?

Existing in-game mail and auctions will not be interrupted or canceled. However, after you change a character’s name, other players will need to send new mail to the new character name.

Can I customize multiple characters at once?

The Character Re-Customization service only allows one character to be customized per transaction. If you would like to customize multiple characters, you will need to process and pay for each one separately.

What will happen to the character’s Armory profile?

Once you have completed the Character Re-Customization process, the Armory profile will be updated to reflect the character’s new look and name.

When will I be charged for the customization?

You will be charged immediately upon pressing the confirmation button on the Character Re-Customization page.

Is there any way to cancel the re-customization while the process is pending?

Because the credit card is charged immediately upon confirmation, you cannot cancel the process once you have pressed the confirmation button and the character customization process is underway.

After I’ve paid, how do I go about selecting the new gender, face, name, and so on for the character?

After your payment has been processed, the next time you log in to World of Warcraft after having logged out for at least 30 minutes , you will see a new button when you log in to World of Warcraft that lets you re-customize the character’s features (and name, if desired) at your convenience. You do not have to re-customize the character immediately.

Are there any brand-new faces, horn styles, or other cosmetic options available only through Character Re-Customization?

No. The face, skin color, and other cosmetic options available through Character Re-Customization are the same as those already available to players at character creation.

What if the name I want is already in use?

Character names are unique on a per-realm basis. You will not be able to choose a character name that is already in use by another player on the realm.

If I change the character’s name, what happens to the old name?

Once the name change is complete, the character’s old name will be locked from use on the realm for 90 days. After that time, the old name can be claimed by any player on a first-come, first-served basis. If you want to use the name again, you will have to reclaim it before anyone else does after the 90 days have passed and the name is made available again.

Can I change my character’s appearance and name again if I want to?

Yes, but after completing a Character Re-Customization, that specific character cannot have his or her appearance or name changed again for 30 days. After 30 days have passed, you would need to purchase another Character Re-Customization or Paid Character Name Change if you would like to choose a new appearance or name. For more information on Paid Character Name Changes, please refer to our FAQ.

Is there any way to revert to the character’s original name after Character Re-Customization is completed?

Once you have selected the confirmation button to complete your name change, there is no way to immediately revert back to the old name. The old name is locked from use on the realm for 90 days, and you will have to perform another Character Re-Customization or Paid Character Name Change after the name is made available again. For these reasons, and because the Character Re-Customization charge is immediate and non-refundable, please be certain of your selection before you complete the process.

Diablo 3 Officially announced

Date June 28, 2008

Well it’s official, the week of nonsense splash screens has finally ended and Diablo 3 has been announced. Not only was it announced but there is tons of screenshots, art, and information on the game over at the official Diablo 3 website. If you haven’t checked it out yet I would highly suggest doing so now, there is also a cinematic and 20 (yes.. 20) minutes of gameplay footage that you can either stream or download. The game appears to be pretty solid right now so it’s possible that we could see a release date as early as 2009, though Blizzard has and will always stick with the “it’s done when it’s done”.

diablo 3

Diablo game announced this weekend!

Date June 24, 2008

Many more clues from the splash page are hinting towards the new Diablo game.

After further inspection of the splash screen image, we are now able to confirm its something related to the diablo universe. If you look close enough you will notice that there are 2 rune images, one on the right and one on the left. On the right, we have the Hel rune from diablo 2 and on the left we now have the Shael rune.

For the web savvy, they have hidden clues within the CSS file for the splash page. For those that don’t know, CSS stands for cascading style sheet and with it you are able to define the style for everything within your webpage (images, fonts, colors, etc). Each day they seem to be adding a commented out image to the css and naming the classes tundra and cavern so far. You can see the images they are linking to here:

http://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/_images/04.jpg
http://us.media.blizzard.com/232309/_images/15.jpg

More updates as they become available!

New Blizzard game announced soon!

Date June 24, 2008

For those of you who haven’t noticed yet, Blizzard has started their splash screen shenanigans again. Every website they own has been showing a cracking ice image before you continue to the page, and every day its getting bigger. Here is what the image looks like on the second day.

splash

The Blizzard World Wide Invitational event is being held this weekend in Paris so many are expecting a new game announcement by this Saturday if not earlier. Personally, I think we are finally going to see our new Diablo game announcement. What do you think it means?

Will Arthas be epic enough?

Date June 20, 2008

There was a blue post a couple days ago by Nethaera about their possible plans for the arthas encounter.

We currently have no plans to add a 40-player dungeon into Wrath of the Lich King. We fully anticipate making the 10 and 25-player dungeons and raids challenging as a part of their progression.

You can say what you like about whether or not a 10-player dungeon is truly challenging if you wish, but they take coordination and require each player to play their role to their best ability to succeed.

When it comes to whether or not Arthas will be epic enough, we are working to maintain the epic feel of the encounter and have been discussing ways of doing this that should be appropriate. One idea that has been talked about was whether or not it would require a 25-player group to defeat Arthas before it ever opens up to 10-player groups.

What we end up with is yet to be decided.

I think it would suck to have to wait until a 25 raid beat the encounter before those of us who can only field 10 even get a chance to see it. But after being part of an uberguild I can see where they are coming from, having 10 people walk up and kill arthas doesn’t seem too epic. What do you think about limiting the 10 player raids in WOTLK?