World of Warcraft

The game has been blamed by many educators for a fall in performance in school.^{[citation needed]} The game is indeed so addictive that it has been nicknamed WarCrack, in a manner like EverQuest named EverCrack. The popular Mexican resort towns of Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and Cancún all suffered significant damage from Wilma, causing major loss of tourism income. Further criticisms have focused on the addictive nature of WoW. The economic impact isn't limited to the United States, however. Blizzard have responded by outlining the policy they based this decision on, "To promote a positive game environment for everyone and help prevent such harassment from taking place as best we can, we prohibit mention of topics related to sensitive real-world subjects in open chat within the game, and we do our best to take action whenever we see such topics being broadcast.". Furthermore, a long anticipated concert by the industrial rock band, Nine Inch Nails, expected to have taken place Monday, October 24th, was postponed to another date, yet to be announced. The incident occured after several players were cited for "harassment" after advocating a group for gay-straight alliance[8] [9]. Due to roof damage caused by Wilma and the loss of power at the BankAtlantic Center, the Panthers also had to postpone their October 29 matchup against the Washington Capitals.

Blizzard garnered criticism for their decision in January 2006 to ban mention of homosexuality in-game. The NHL rescheduled its Saturday, October 22 regular-season game between the Ottawa Senators and Florida Panthers to Monday, December 5. The RP and RP-PvP also have naming and chat rules to encourage roleplaying. West Virginia vs South Florida has been rescheduled for Saturday, December 3. On a Normal or RP realm, players can only attack opposing faction members that willingly choose to "flag" themselves. University of Miami has been rescheduled for Saturday, November 19. On a PvP or RP-PvP realm certain areas known as "contested areas" allow players to freely attack members of the opposing faction. Georgia Tech vs.

Normal, Player versus Player (PvP), roleplaying (RP) and roleplaying player versus player (RP-PvP). The NCAA postponed two college football games scheduled in south Florida on Saturday, October 22. There are four different kinds of realm. The NFL moved up its regular-season game between Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins to 7pm on Friday, October 21 in preparation of the hurricane. Users may have up to ten characters per each realm, up to a maximum of fifty characters per account. Damage to sugarcane crops is critical and widespread. World of Warcraft also uses servers, known as 'realms' to allow players to choose their preferred gameplay type, and to allow the game to support as many subscribers as it does. Also, Florida's sugar Industry was hard hit, the cropping season had already started and had to be halted indefinitely.

Some of the expansion's features will be available to all players, though the most significant additions – visiting Outland, creating characters of the two new races, and so on – will require the Burning Crusade to be installed. As dynamic models have moved the storm's track east over Florida, oil futures eased as worries of another direct hit on the oil producing regions of the Gulf of Mexico subsided. The expansion will also feature Outland as a new playable zone, as well as a new flying mount, usable only in Outland, for high-level players. ^[32]. It will include an increased level cap of 70, a new crafting profession, and two new races, one of which being the Blood Elves for the Horde. This is compounded by problems caused last year by Hurricanes Charley, Frances and Jeanne, which devastated Florida's orange crop, destroying many groves entirely. On October 28, 2005 Blizzard revealed that the first expansion pack will be called World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade. Wilma's potential for damage to orange trees in Florida could have an impact on several upcoming growing cycles.

However, it is possible to launch World of Warcraft without the Blizzard Launcher by opening WoW.exe (typically found at C:Program FilesWorld of WarcraftWoW.exe). Orange juice futures reached the highest level in six years on Wednesday, October 19, 2005, closing up 2.9 cents at $1.118 per pound. The Blizzard Launcher is automatically opened by default desktop and start menu shortcuts. Many people later admitted they underestimated Wilma's power (Category 3) as she approached South Florida (Wilma was expected to weaken to a Category 1 as she reached the east coast), and failed to take the precautions that they would have taken with a stronger storm. The Launcher was designed to report cheats that would be considered a bannable offense to the user so they may avoid starting the game (and Warden) before removing them. Communication was also difficult -- land lines were damaged, while cellular towers were either damaged, without power, or overloaded in capacity. In November 2005, Blizzard introduced patch version 1.8.3 which added the Blizzard Launcher application. Much of Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties were told to boil water.

In November 2005, it was proven that the XCP rootkit secretly included with Sony music CDs in the US for the purposes of copy prevention could be used to disguise cheat programs from The Warden. Gasoline was in high demand for cars and generators; six-hour waits were not uncommon, due to lack of power to pump the fuel. However, such anti-cheat software can only follow a set of rules, so there follows a cat and mouse game as the game developers and cheat programmers attempt to circumvent each other. Any traffic lights still standing were not working, causing an increase in traffic problems. In particular, Blizzard relies heavily on a technology known as The Warden which can detect some botting and cheating programs. Power outages in southeastern Florida, notably in Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Palm Beach County, compounded the difficulties South Floridians faced following Wilma. Although Blizzard continues to ban players when they are detected as cheating, many players have found ways to escape detection. In addition, a tornado may have touched down in Miami-Dade County, causing damage to the South Beach Community Hospital.

Debates regarding the game's EULA as well as the rights of the players continue. Broward and Palm Beach counties were hit particularly hard by the many tornadoes in the western portion of the hurricane. There has been some controversy as to the legality of The Warden, since it allegedly uses techniques similar to spyware in order to analyse other running software on the players' PCs, as well as the file system.[7] However, software such as anti-virus software loosely falls into this definition as well. Damage was widespread throughout South Florida. Blizzard makes heavy use of a system known as The Warden on the Windows version of the game in order to detect third-party programs, such as botting software. This prompted many residents to switch service providers [31]. So far, Blizzard has banned well over 25,000 players from the game. Cable television and internet services as well as cell phone services were unavailable for up to 2 months in some areas.

Blizzard takes action against anyone who exploits the game by temporarily and permanently suspending accounts. More than 20 days later, some residents and business owners remained without electric service. The World of Warcraft End User License Agreement specifically forbids these kinds of activities. Florida Power and Light, the largest electricity utility in the state, reported more than 3,241,000 customers had lost power, equivalent to approximately 6,000,000 people. This has since been stopped by modifying the linguistics engine to remove punctuation and numbers from the text. Hurricane Wilma caused widespread destruction of critical infrastructure, including power, water and sewer systems. One common exploit was the use of leet (an example is '|-|()// |2 U?', read as 'how r u?') to communicate between the Horde and the Alliance, since symbols and numbers were left unmodified in otherwise scrambled communications. The airport has reported $12 million in damages, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Such abuse ranges from gold farming to selling accounts on eBay. In Boca Raton, a city in southeastern Palm Beach County, the local Boca Raton Airport suffered extensive damage, including the collapse of two hangars, planes flipped over, and hangar doors blown in. As with all massively multiplayer online games, World of Warcraft has had its share of players who exploit the world of Azeroth. At least three deaths are blamed on Hurricane Wilma in Collier County and widespread wind and water damage is commonplace across the county. WoWWiki [6] has several resources for information about WoW User Interface customization. Widespread roof damage is evident across the county outside of the City of Naples itself. Blizzard has stated on the official forums that any modification that uses the Lua programming language will not be considered an exploit, though Blizzard reserves the right to change information available via the Lua language if the modification changes the nature of encounters in the game. 90% of all mobile homes in East Naples have been destroyed, while 30% of the mobile homes in all of Collier County suffered the same fate.

Use of these is against the Terms of Service agreed to when playing the game, and as such, may lead to possible suspension or closure of accounts. There has been damage to the 90 high-rise condominiums in Coastal Naples, where some levels have been blown out completely by the high winds brough by the storm (much like the damage in downtown Miami and Fort Lauderdale). Some programs that operate stand-alone, independent of World of Warcraft may be considered exploits, especially if they automate operation beyond that made available using the built-in macro functionality, or pass information in or out of the game. Out of the 170 signaled intersections in Collier County, 130 have been destroyed. Blizzard has released a User Interface Customization tool which they call "Cui" [5].. The Naples Airport was severely damaged by the hurricane, while areas like Immokalee and East Naples extreme and widespread roof damage to numerous homes and communities. All addons are created using the Lua programming language and XML, and images used for any modification are created using the .TGA (Targa) and .BLP image formats. The point of landfall, between Marco Island and Everglades City, is largely uninhabited but the communities around landfall suffered extreme damage.

There are also various cosmetic mods, including one that reproduces the infamous 'Leeroy Jenkins' sound [4]. Hundreds in the county, if not thousands, have been left homeless by the category three hurricane. The range of modifications that are available can be anything from ways to control Winamp in-game, to adding extra rows of button bars for spells, skills and more. The Naples Metropolitan Area received the brunt of Hurricane Wilma. At a simple level it allows full control over the content of toolbars and hot keys, as well as macros to automate sets of operations and the ability to script much more elaborate tools. Even while the center of Wilma was still a long way away from Florida, its effects were already being felt with its expansive outer bands. Modifying the user interface (UI) of a game is nothing new, but Blizzard has included exceptional support for modifications. Some Miami high-rises also suffered severe damage during the storm.

The upgrade from 10.3.5 to 10.3.9 is a free download from Apple. In the city of Fort Lauderdale, in Broward County, several highrise buildings suffered extensive damage, including the 14-floor Broward County School Board building and the Broward County Courthouse, which was forced to remain closed for two weeks as a result of the storm, along with Broward County Public Schools, which remained closed for two weeks. This is being done to help support upcoming x86-based Macs. Key West was under 3 to 6 feet (1 to 2 metres) of water from the storm surge, and major flooding was reported throughout the Keys. Note: In the patch notes for version 1.9.0, Blizzard announced that the operating system requirement for Mac OS X will increase from 10.3.5 to 10.3.9 in a future (beyond 1.9.0) patch or expansion. Early reports suggested the damage from Wilma was extensive and widespread over South Florida due to winds and flooding. This is discouraging for those who are not on an unlimited internet usage plan. ^[30].

Furthermore, they have not yet considered making it possible to play WOW as single player/Offline, that is: you play alone against the computer controlling NPCs. ^[29] The city of Havana was also without power and wind damage was reported as a result of winds up to 85 mph (140 km/h). FreeBSD users have also been successful in using Wine to run the game. Over 250 homes were heavily flooded and rescuers required scuba gear, inflatable rafts and amphibious vehicles to reach the most severely flooded areas. However, support for World of Warcraft is present in Windows API implementations Wine and Cedega, allowing the game to be played on Linux. Coastal flooding was reported in many areas due to Wilma's storm surge and flooding from the outer bands, particularly around Havana. As of July 2005, Blizzard has no immediate plans to release a Linux version, but there is an online petition aimed at convincing Blizzard to release a true Linux port. [28].

World of Warcraft allows all users to play together, regardless of their operating system. [27] It was the costliest natural disaster in Mexican history, according to local insurers. The following requirements are as stated on the official World of Warcraft website, but generally players believe that these specifications are too low for the game to be played enjoyably. Insured damage in Mexico is estimated at between $1-3 billion, which would likely translate to $2-6 billion (USD) in total damage. Boxed copies of the game use a hybrid CD to install the game, eliminating the need for separate Mac and Windows retail products. The destruction left behind by Wilma in the Yucatán has also severely damaged the tourist industry there, as the storm affected some of the tourist hot spots of Mexico. World of Warcraft runs natively on both Macintosh and Microsoft Windows platforms. [26].

[3]. The road trip to Mérida was very dangerous and impassable for Taxi yet people still payed upwards of $200 for a ride.
On February 2, 2006, the game won the "Grand Prix" award at the 2006 Imagina Games Awards. US embasy told tourist to go to Mérida, the next day they changed their game plan because Mérida had become so packed with people. World of Warcraft won critical acclaim in 2004 and achieved many awards as a result of this, some which can be found at the official World of Warcraft list of awards. Buses have begun to come into Cancún from Mérida, where tourists are hoping to find flights home. The impact of this on Blizzard's revenue is still to be determined. Thousands of tourists remain stranded in shelters, and the priority is sending them home now, according to President Vicente Fox.

On August 3, 2005, China implemented legislation which forbids minors from playing games in which players kill each other. After Wilma passed, there was a sense of desperation that developed in the region, due to the fact that people were being held in shelters due to the extensive damage. ^[2]. ^[25]. Due to World of Warcraft's high sales it has been described as a "runaway success" with "overwhelming popularity", which other games, like The Matrix Online, blame for their lackluster sales. There have also been extensive reports of looting of many businesses in the Yucatán, particularly in Cancún. Blizzard also stated that at any given time at least 500,000 subscribers are online. Communication is limited at this point as telephone and electric services are completely out in the affected areas.

These numbers exclude all players under free promotional subscriptions, expired or canceled subscriptions, and expired pre-paid cards. It is comparable to the scene after Hurricane Emily back in July 2005, a storm of similar intensity but faster moving. 1.5 million of these are from the Chinese launch on July 7, 2005. On Cozumel, the damage is extensive, but not as catastrophic as originally feared according to a witness, with many broken windows, fallen trees and power lines but less in the way of structural damage. Over 1 million of these players live in the US. The Governor of Quintana Roo, Félix González Canto, said in an interview: "Never in the history of Quintana Roo have we seen a storm like this." ^[24]. As of December 2005, World of Warcraft has more than 5,000,000 players worldwide, making it the most popular MMORPG in the world. ^[23].

Still, in certain high population areas (like Ironforge or Orgrimmar), players continue to experience game performance delays. ^[22] One gymnasium used as a shelter lost its roof, which forced the evacuation of more than 1,000 people staying there. When more servers were added, these queues became less common and sales of the game resumed. Rainfall amounts in excess of 23 inches (590 mm) were reported in several areas, with Isla Mujeres reporting 64 inches (1,637mm) — three times what Hurricane Gilbert dropped. Due to the massive initial sales, there were also periods where players had to wait in queues before playing, as some realms were at their maximum player limit. Several homes had also collapsed. Sales were limited accordingly until more servers, called worlds, or realms, could be assembled. However, according to pictures and television reports, there is extensive structural damage throughout the Cancún area, as well as significant flooding and many downed trees and power lines and scattered debris.

Partly because of the huge number of people who bought the game, along with server instability, Blizzard chose to stop selling copies of the game some time after the launch. Information on damage remains unclear. As is common with the launch of a MMORPG, World of Warcraft had its share of problems at first.
. And, as with any game, it has its own terminology. Heavy damage to coastal areas was reported, and parts of the northwestern area of the island were washed out from the surge. World of Warcraft was declared by many in the computer gaming industry, including GameSpot and GameSpy, as 2004's game of the year. The northwestern Bahamas, particularly Grand Bahama Island, received a storm surge that was reported as high as 15 feet in some areas.

The game won high praise at E³ in 2003, including Gamer's Pulse's Best of Show award. poisoning, illnesses, waiting for help). The game was released in China on June 6, 2005. Indirect deaths indicate those caused by hurricane-related accidents (including car accidents, fires or other incidents), as well as clean-up and evacuation incidents and health issues (e.g. On March 2, 2005, 100,000 testers signed up for China's WoW beta test within the first hour. Direct deaths indicate those caused by the direct effects of the winds, flooding, tornadoes, storm surge or oceanic effects of Wilma. The game was released in Europe on February 11, 2005 with English, French and German language versions. [17] [18] [19] [20] [21].

Though not officially released in South Korea until January 18, 2005, it had been found on store shelves since November 2004. Wilma was also blamed for at least 26 indirect deaths. The game sold more than 240,000 copies in its first 24 hours on the market, more than any other PC game in history. In addition, a drowning was reported on Maule Lake in northern Miami-Dade County from a capsized boat. The collector's box contained the following items:. ^[16] Three more direct deaths were reported in Florida, one in rural Collier County and two in Palm Beach County, all due to wind-blown debris. One was the regular CD edition, and the other was the limited Collector's Edition. CNN reports that a Coral Springs man who was inspecting damage during the eye of the hurricane was killed by a falling tree, according to a Broward County official.

Blizzard released two versions of the game upon its launch. At least 35 Hurricane Wilma-related deaths were reported in the United States, all in Florida. The game was simultaneously released on both Windows and Macintosh computer systems in North America, Australia and New Zealand on November 23, 2004. ^[15]. Rest increases whether or not a character is logged in, but slowly enough (10 days to reach a fully-rested state in an inn) that it is most easily noticed when a character is first logged in after not having been played for several hours or days. In Cuba, a bus carrying evacuees crashed, killing four people, including three foreign tourists. Players can increase the rate at which their characters gain rest by a factor of four by returning to an inn or capital city to log off. ^[14].

However, in order to prevent players exploiting this by leaving one character logged off in an inn while playing another, the maximum amount of rest a character can accumulate is capped at 1.5 levels' worth; the quantity of experience this represents varies depending on the character's level. Another death was reported in the state of Yucatán due to a falling tree, but no other details were available. This feature allows someone who has been away from the game for a period of time to double his leveling capability until he leaves the rested state, providing a "catch up" incentive upon returning to the game. Four deaths have also been reported on Cozumel and another in Cancún due to wind blowing a window out. While in rested state, a character will earn twice as much experience as would normally be gained from killing monsters, but will gain the standard amount of experience from completing quests and exploring. Two were in the Playa del Carmen area due to a gas explosion caused by the strong winds. The other system used by Blizzard to help the casual player is the "rested state". At least eight deaths were reported in Mexico.

Many players find grinding uninteresting and opt instead to continue to do quests. ^[13]. For example, players gain similar experience overall from completing quests as by only killing monsters ('grinding'). Almost 250 people were in emergency shelters on the island. In particular the game play has been changed to make it more even and fair for both hardcore and casual players. It pounded the island for a third day on October 18, 2005, flooding several low-lying communities and triggering mudslides that blocked roads and damaged several homes. Blizzard has used World of Warcraft to make some changes to the typical MMORPG in response to the common complaints received from players about other games in this genre. Wilma claimed one death in Jamaica as a tropical depression on Sunday, October 16.

As World of Warcraft is a constant work in progress, there are a number of issues affecting it. ^[12]. These memes gain notoriety through postings on the World of Warcraft Forums. Mudslides were triggered from the outer bands in Haiti, killing at least 12 people. There are various other memes, including "Face Melting", a reference to a very long thread on the priest forums on the World of Warcraft website which consisted of players saying "You will melt faces as a Shadow Priest in PvP" in different ways. The last places to issue this warning sat within the gap between bands as tornadoes were observed as far north as Sumter, Marion, Pasco, and Polk Counties. On some servers and to a lesser extent, YTMND, has become a popular meme. Anticipating high winds all public school districts south of Marion closed their schools on Monday, October 24 in order to prevent possible harm to county employees and students.

Also, there is a similarly reckless Arachnos Soldier NPC in the game City of Villains by the name of "Jenkins." In an amazing sign of the prevalence of the Jenkins joke, he was even part of a clue on the November 16th, 2005 episode of the TV game show College Jeopardy!. ^[11]. Or, in Adventure Quest, where a direct tribute to Leeroy Jenkins is replayed by players in the Vamprook Spyre. Curfews were put in place for several cities in Lee and Collier counties. Leeroy's popularity is even present in other games such as Guild Wars, where an NPC named Kilroy Stonekin rushes into battle, disrupting a perfectly good plan, while yelling his name in a direct reference. Hurricane shelters in the area were opened. Another popular phenomenon in the community is a video starring a player named Leeroy Jenkins, intended to provide publicity for Leeroy's guild. Other areas that were included in the mandatory evacuation were Seagate, Parkshore, The Moorings, Coquina Sands, Olde Naples, Aqualane Shores, Port Royal and Royal Harbour.

In addition to playing the game itself and conversing on discussion forums provided by Blizzard, World of Warcraft players often participate in the World of Warcraft virtual community in creative ways, including fan artwork, comic strip style storytelling or even recording songs devoted to deleted NPCs such as Captain Placeholder. Mandatory evacuations were in effect for all Collier County residents living West or South of US 41.
. All campuses of the University of South Florida, the University of Tampa and the University of Central Florida were closed on Monday, October 24.
. Petersburg, Florida also evacuated by 5 pm EDT on October 20. One of the more elaborate instances being RFD, otherwise known as Razorfen Downs, which consists of many hallways and rooms, and houses a long, elaborate spiral in the center, requiring users to fight everything in the way to advance. Eckerd College in St.

Instances are very elaborate dungeons that require good skills and organization to conquer. Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers completed an evacuation; classes were canceled until further notice. Some rare items such as armor sets, epic weapons, rare mounts, etc. ^[10]. Instances in World of Warcraft also feature many more rare item drops than just the world itself. The schools were closed to "allow parents and staff to prepare for the storm and potential evacuation", and also allowed "for needed preparation of schools to be used as hurricane shelters." The schools remained closed on Monday, October 24 as the hurricane made landfall. kill a certain number of enemies, or collect a certain number of objects). Also in Florida, all Collier County public schools were declared closed for Friday, October 21.

Therefore, instanced dungeons tend to be much more interesting than normal areas, in which quest requirements are very simple (e.g. At least 300 Keys evacuees were housed at the Monroe County shelter at Florida International University in Miami-Dade County ^[9]. For example, requiring that a large group of enemies be defeated so that one can pull a lever to rotate a bridge in order to access a new section of the map makes sense when one group is traversing the dungeon linearly; it makes far less sense in public areas where hundreds of other players might be in the same area. County offices, schools and courts were closed Monday, October 24. Typically, instanced dungeons are more elaborate and require more steps to be taken in a particular order for successful completion than are necessary in the main world. However, reports suggest that as many as 80% of residents may have ignored the evacuation order. The recently added Zul'Gurub and Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj instances allow for a maximum of 20 people and offers a more casual gameplay experience. A mandatory evacuation of residents was ordered for the Florida Keys in Monroe County.

These are the toughest areas in the game and success in these four instances is virtually impossible without great organization and good equipment. ^[8]. As of late 2005 there are four instances which allow for a maximum of 40 people: Onyxia's Lair, Molten Core, Blackwing Lair and the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj. In all, over 368,000 people were ordered to evacuate. Instances will allow only a certain maximum group size to enter, ranging from 5-man groups in some small instances, to 40-man raids. In Cuba, preparations were made to evacuate four western provinces, including the Isle of Youth ^[7]. This way a party can experience a dungeon without interference from other players, and cannot zerg it by bringing in outside help to overwhelm the opposition. In El Salvador, the National Emergency Committee was activated.

Instances, or "Instanced dungeons", are dungeons that have been designed and tailored specifically for certain sizes of groups and are duplicated for each group that enters it. In Nicaragua, civil organizations were ordered to make hurricane preparations. World of Warcraft also features instances. ^[6]. Given that every game like World of Warcraft has had new content sold as a new game expansion, this might be added in a future expansion for this game. In neighboring Yucatán, classes were also suspended in 18 coastal municipalities. The 3rd major continent, Northrend, which was featured in Warcraft III and The Frozen Throne expansion, does not appear in the World of Warcraft at all. Classes were suspended in the state's northern municipalities and residents of coastal areas were advised to take refuge further inland; tourists in the resort city of Cancún and its adjacent islands were told to return to their places of origin or head inland.

The second-to-last content patch (1.8) introduces Emeriss, Taerar, Ysondre, and Lethon, four outdoor raid encounter dragons that protect the four portals to the Emerald Dream, and hints at further development of this storyline. Quintana Roo government officials declared a red alert on the evening of Wednesday, October 19. It is unknown where this device is, how to acquire it, or whether its currently in the game right now at all. On October 25, the storm gradually began weakening and was classified extratropical late in the afternoon, south of Nova Scotia, still at hurricane strength and affecting a large area of land and ocean with stormy conditions. He says that Eranikus is not dead and he can contact him, but he needs a powerful augur device that was stolen from him. Unexpectedly, Wilma strengthened again over the Gulf Stream and again became a Category 3 hurricane north of the Bahamas, having regained all the strength it lost within 12 hours. The current quest chain ends when you talk to Umbranse the Spiritspeaker. Passing over the Florida peninsula, Wilma weakened slightly to a Category 2 hurricane, its strength when it exited Florida and entered the Atlantic about six hours later.

It is also thought that the Essence of Eranikus trinket quest will be continued and will include Emerald Dream content. At landfall in Florida, Wilma had sustained winds of 120 mph (195 km/h). The green dragon and younger sister to Alexstrasza, she was empowered by the titan Eonar to be bound to the Emerald Dream in an eternal trance to forever watch over the wilds and the Druids. The reintensification of Hurricane Wilma is attributed to its interaction with the warm Loop Current in the Gulf. Ysera or the Dreamer is one of the five Dragon Aspects that watch over the world of Azeroth. Despite encountering significant wind shear in the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Wilma had regained some strength before making its third landfall just north of Everglades City, Florida, near Cape Romano, at 6:30 am EDT October 24 (10:30 UTC) as a Category 3 hurricane. The other four portals, in Ashenvale, Duskwood, Feralas, and the Hinterlands are connected to the Emerald Dream. Many houses were flooded with 1 to 2 feet of seawater.

(Note: This is speculation based on lore; there may be more to opening the portal than just acquiring the Book of Medivh.). Most streets on Key West and nearby islands were flooded with at least 3' of seawater that destroyed tens of thousands of vehicles. The Naxxaramas Necropolis is not yet implemented, although you can see an inactive portal deep inside Stratholme. After the hurricane had passed, a storm surge of up to 10 feet from the Gulf of Mexico completely inundated a large portion of the lower Keys. This book might be found on Kel'Thuzad who ought to be found in the Naxxaramas Necropolis, above Stratholme. on Monday, October 24. Some speculate that this portal will be opened when a player acquires the Book of Medivh. The center of the eye was directly over the metropolitan areas of South Florida at 10:30 a.m.

It is thought that this portal will be opened when the expansion set is released. Several cities in the South Florida Metropolitan Area, which includes Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami, suffered severe damage as a result of the intense winds of the rapidly moving system. Information released recently says that, come the expansion, The Dark Portal will lead to Outland. The storm made landfall on the southwest coast of Florida and cut a diagonal swath across the southern portion of the Florida peninsula, with the northern part of the eye wall crossing into south and central Palm Beach County. It is however not advised as it is a bannable offense. The storm's eye was now approximately 35 miles (56 kilometres) in diameter. It is possible to enter these zones, either accidentally or intentionally. Hurricane Wilma's southeast eyewall passed the near the island of Key West in the lower Florida Keys early on the morning of October 24, 2005.

Some examples of this are:. The hurricane began accelerating in the early morning of October 23, exiting the northeast tip of the Yucatán Peninsula and entering the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 2 hurricane. As of early 2006 a number of areas in the virtual world have yet to be implemented. Some portions of the Yucatán Peninsula experienced hurricane-force winds for well over 24 hours. They are:. The eye slowly drifted northward, with the center passing just to the west of Cancún, Quintana Roo. Some of the notable landmarks and locations in the game that were featured in previous Warcraft games, namely Warcraft III, are featured in the game. Portions of the island of Cozumel experienced the calm eye of Wilma for several hours, with some blue skies and sunshine visible at times.

This forced the Horde to mainly reside in Kalimdor, and the Alliance to settle predominantly in the Eastern Kingdoms. The hurricane's eye first passed over the island of Cozumel, and then made official landfall near Playa del Carmen in the state of Quintana Roo around midnight on October 22 EDT, with winds near 140 mph. While not all of the history of the four years between the end of The Frozen Throne and the start of World of Warcraft has been revealed, it is known that the conflict between the Horde's forces and the marines of the Theramore Isles at the end of the Orc mini-campaign were the kindling for the current conflict. On October 21, Hurricane Wilma made landfall on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula as a powerful Category four hurricane, with winds over 150 mph. The new World Tree of Teldrassil is off the northwestern coast of Kalimdor. These wind speeds indicate that the low ambient pressure surrounding Wilma caused the 882 mb (26.05 inches) pressure to be less significant, involving a lesser pressure gradient, than under normal circumstances. The current virtual world is built around two main continents: The Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor. Before Wilma, no storm had recorded pressure less than 900 mb (26.58 inches) without being at Category 5.

Some even grant a chance-on-hit ability, like the chance to spin the weapon wildly (damaging every hostile in the area) or hurl a fireball at enemies. (In comparison, Hurricane Gilbert, the previous Atlantic record holder, had a pressure of 888 mb (26.22 inches) and also had winds of 185 mph.) In fact, at one point after Wilma’s period of peak intensity, it had a pressure of 894 mb (26.40 inches) but was actually below Category 5, with winds of just 155 mph. Better weapons have a higher DPS (damage per second) and grant better increases to the player's attributes. 185 mph may seem incredibly fast, but for an 882 mb (26.05 inches) hurricane it is actually quite slow. Some classes rely more heavily on weapons than others, the Warrior relying on weapons the most heavily while the Mage hardly ever engages in physical combat. However, Wilma's winds were somewhat slower than the 196 mph implied by an 8 on the Dvorak scale. Warriors can equip every weapon available in the game with the exception of wands. Such a conversion would suggest that Wilma was more intense than Tip, were normal considerations in play.

Weapons: Every class can equip a melee weapon, while most can equip a ranged weapon such as a bow, wand, crossbow, or gun. Indeed, under normal circumstances the Dvorak matrix would equate an 890 mb storm in the Atlantic basin -- a CI number of 8 -- with an 858 mb storm in the Pacific. these usually provide no additional protection, instead boosting attributes or granting useful, sometimes bizarre abilities. These are closer to ambient pressures in the northwest Pacific basin. In addition, two rings, two trinkets, and a neck piece can be equipped to the character. Hurricane Wilma existed within an area of ambient pressure that was unusually low for the Atlantic basin, with ambient pressures below 1010 mb. Armour can be equipped to the head, shoulders, back, chest, wrists, hands, legs, waist, and feet. The cyclone must be more intense to get its pressure commensurately lower, and its larger pressure gradient would make its winds faster.

Armour is used to reduce damage taken from melee attacks, with cloth providing the least protection and plate providing the most. If two cyclones have the same minimum pressure, but one is in an area of higher ambient pressure than the other, it is in fact stronger. Warriors and Paladins can equip Cloth, Leather, and Mail armor prior to level 40, at which point they can upgrade to Plate armor. The greater the gradient, the faster the winds generated. Hunters, Shamans, Druids, and Rogues are restricted to Leather and Cloth armor; however, the former two can upgrade to Mail at level 40. The change in pressure over a distance, the pressure gradient, causes hurricane winds. Mages, Priests, and Warlocks are restricted to Cloth armor. The minimum central pressure in a tropical cyclone is the best indicator of intensity, because pressure can be precisely measured while wind speeds have to be estimated, but more importantly, because the difference between a hurricane's low central pressure and the pressure of the surrounding environment is what drives the hurricane's strength.

Types of Armour and Requirements: There are several different types of armor in the game, but not every class can wear every kind. Super Typhoon Tip is the most intense tropical cyclone on record with a central pressure of 870 mbar (25.69 inHg). A few of the many available include: rabbit, parrot, snake, or chicken. While Wilma was the most intense hurricane (a tropical cyclone in the Atlantic, Central Pacific or Eastern Pacific basins) ever recorded, there have been many more-intense typhoons in the Pacific (see link in the next section). Another set of miscellaneous items purchasable are non-combat pets, often stored in a crate in the player's inventory. Wilma was the first hurricane ever in the Atlantic Basin (and possibly the first tropical cyclone in any basin), to have a central pressure below 900 mbar (26.58 inHg) while at Category 4 intensity (in fact, only two other Atlantic hurricanes had lower recorded central pressures than Wilma's at this point: the previous record holder, Hurricane Gilbert of 1988, and the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935). Around major holidays (Christmas, Halloween, Chinese New Year, etc), special holiday-specific items and decorations appear in the game. By 11 pm EDT (03:00 UTC October 20), Wilma's pressure had risen to 894 mbar (26.40 inHg) as the hurricane weakened to Category 4, with winds of 155 mph (250 km/h).

Miscellaneous Items: These items include balls that can be tossed back and forth between two people, snowballs, fireworks, alcohol, and many other novelty items (such as a flute that makes people dance). The pressure dropped further to 882 mbar (26.045 InHg) three hours later before rising slowly in the afternoon (while the storm remained a Category 5 hurricane). Leatherworkers require skins and pelts to create items, and Alchemists require herbs and flowers. Shortly thereafter, Wilma set the record for the lowest central pressure recorded in an Atlantic hurricane when the pressure dropped to 884 mbar (26.10 inHg) at 8 am EDT (12:00 UTC) on October 19. that can be made by disenchanting green or better quality items. ^[5]. Enchanters require essences, dusts, shards, crystals, etc. During its intensification on October 19, the hurricane's eye shrank to as small as 1.5 to 2.0 nautical miles in diameter, becoming one of the smallest eyes ever seen in a tropical cyclone.

Tailoring materials are usually some form of cloth, such as linen. With Hurricanes Wilma, Katrina and Rita, 2005 became the first year on record in which three Category 5 hurricanes developed in the Atlantic basin. For example, ores and stones are materials for several Blacksmith and Engineering recipes. ^[4]. Materials: Materials, or "mats", are the components to make an item through a profession. The global record deepening is 100 mbar (hPa) by Super Typhoon Forrest in 1983. Any soul shard collected is automatically put into the soul shard bag. Wilma's rapid deepending set a new record for the Atlantic basin, and is one of the most rapid deepening phases ever undergone by a tropical cyclone anywhere on Earth.

These bags are unique to warlocks, who have always had trouble with having to carry so many soul shards. (In comparison, Hurricane Gilbert of 1988 – the previous recordholder for lowest Atlantic pressure – recorded a 78 mbar (2.30 inHg) pressure drop in a 24 hour period for a 3 mbar/h pressure drop.). Soul shard bags have more slots than other bags as well, but only carry soul shards. In the 24-hour period from 8 am EDT October 18 (12:00 UTC) to the following morning, the pressure fell 90 mbar (2.65 inHg) and Wilma strengthened from a strong tropical storm with 70 mph (110 km/h) winds to a powerful Category 5 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 185 mph (295 km/h)^[3]. They also increase your firing speed. Over a 10-hour period Hurricane Hunter aircraft measured a pressure drop of 78 mbar (2.30 inHg). Ammo bags have more slots than normal bags, however only ammo, such as arrows and bullets, can be put into them. Hurricane Wilma began to intensify explosively at an incredible rate during late afternoon on October 18 around 4 pm EDT.

There are also two types of special bags: Ammo bags and the new soul shard bags, introduced in patch 1.9. The 12th hurricane of the season, Wilma tied the record set in 1969 for most storms of hurricane strength in one season. For example, twenty Silk Cloth can occupy one slot, meaning Silk Cloth can stack up to 20, while a bolt of Linen can stock up to 10. Moving slowly over warm water with little wind shear, Wilma strengthened steadily and became a hurricane on October 18. Not all items are stackable, and the maximum stacking number varies from item to item. With Wilma, the 2005 hurricane season tied the record for most storms in a season with the 1933 season. Every item occupies one slot in a bag, unless it is "stackable." Stackable simply means that several items will occupy one slot in a bag. The storm was named "Wilma," the first time the 'W' name was used since alphabetical naming began in 1950.

They come in numerous carrying capacities, starting with a 4 slot bag, and increase in increments of two, up to 18. 24 reached tropical storm strength at 5 am EDT October 17 (09:00 UTC). Bags: Bags allow players to carry items. T.D. There is speculation that the legendary mount has a faster speed than the standard epic mount. The area of disturbed weather southwest of Jamaica slowly organized into Tropical Depression 24 on October 15. This is believed to be a one-of-a-kind item, even though some speculate that it may be a very rare mount drop in AQ as well, such as the mounts found in Zul'Gurub and Stratholme. In the second week of October 2005, a large area of low pressure with several centers of thunderstorm activity developed over the western Atlantic and eastern Caribbean.

A special mount, given to the one who opened the gates of Ahn'Qiraj, is also a legendary item. . Orange items, referred to as "legendary" quality, are the most powerful and rare in the game with only two weapons, and a necklace classified "legendary". Wilma also affected eleven countries with winds or rainfall, more than any other hurricane in recent history. With an exceptionally low drop rate, these items are hard to come by, and they are usually limited to boss drops or quest rewards. history. An item that has its name written in purple is extraordinarily powerful, and is referred to as an "epic" item. At least 62 deaths have been reported, and damage is estimated at $16-20 billion ($12.2 billion in the US) (2005 US dollars) [2], ranking Wilma among the top 10 costliest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic and the sixth costliest storm in U.S.

Blue items, too, sometimes carry an "Of the..." suffix. state of Florida. Blue items are usually dropped by enemies in instances, and usually have better attribute increases than green items. Wilma made several landfalls, with the most destructive effects felt in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico, Cuba, and the U.S. An item of Blue rarity is powerful, and is classified as rare. Wilma was the second 21st storm in any season, and the earliest-forming 21st storm by nearly a month. For example, items with the suffix "Of the Bear" carry Strength and Stamina boosts. It was the only time three Category 5 hurricanes formed in the Atlantic in one year, and Wilma was only the third Category 5 to develop in the month of October.

Green items often carry a suffix with an animal name, such as "Of the Bear" or "Of the Monkey." These tell what attributes the item carries. At its peak, it was the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Atlantic basin. An item of Green rarity is uncommon, and can be very useful. Wilma set numerous records for both strength and seasonal activity. An item with a white name is often useful to someone. Hurricane Wilma was the twenty-first named storm, thirteenth hurricane, and sixth major hurricane, and third Category 5 of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. Grey body parts from beasts are surprisingly lucrative, selling often for several times what other grey items of similar level would sell for; this is to compensate for the fact that beasts do not drop cash. The NHC's archive on Hurricane Wilma.

These items are often known as "Vendor Trash" or "Vendor Fodder," as they are easily sold for a moderate amount of money to any vendor. An item with a gray name is often worthless. Rarity: The rarity of an item may be noted by the coloring of the item's name. The deeper the color, the higher the rarity, and the higher stat boost it will grant.

A weapon or piece of armor that boosts attributes will have its name written typically in green, blue, or purple, depending on how high the boost is. Weapons may also boost attributes in a similar faction. Some armor also can grant increases to critical hit percentage, dodge percentage, etc., and some grant unique abilities. Attributes: Some items carry bonuses to a character's attributes.

There are various types of items in World of Warcraft, ranging from axes to flowers to animal organs. These special raptor and tiger-type mounts are very rare and take hours of game time to earn. Lastly, there are quests that are not very well known that can be done by each faction to gain a unique mount. Popular rumor has it that there are insectoid mounts as fast or faster than the epic level mounts of other species in the Temple of Ahn'Qiraj instance, added in January 2006.

Additionally, Baron Rivendare in Stratholme and Bloodlord Mandokir and High Priest Thekal of Zul'Gurub have a low chance of dropping epic mounts, unique to each individual, as well. Players who reach PvP rank 11 gain access to cheaper versions of the epic mounts. There are several other ways to acquire a mount as well. That said, the price is subject to discounts for honored reputation with your faction or attainment of rank three (of fourteen) in PvP Combat.

In addition, if you are not a Paladin or Warlock, you must learn the riding skill before you can use a mount, which costs twenty gold. The Warlock and Paladin classes gain access to free mounts at level 40, and a cheaper mount at level 60, whereas every other class needs to pay 90 gold for their standard mount, or 1000 gold for their epic mount. The first is availible at level 40 and gives a 60% increase to movement speed, while the other mount (commonly referred to as an "epic" mount) becomes available at level 60 and gives a 100% bonus to movement speed. World of Warcraft offers different types of mounts that move players faster around the world.

Additonally, the formula to calculate the amount of mana regenerated per second varies depending on the class. Trolls have an inherent passive racial ability that keeps 10% of their health regeneration active during combat. Healing rotations can be used to counter this, though. This says that spirit will not regenerate mana until 5 seconds have passed since the last spell cast - which effectively nullifies mana regeneration if you cast continuously.

Mana does, but it is important to take the "5-second rule" into account. Regardless of how high your spirit is, your health does not regenerate in combat. Each point of spirit increases the amount of mana regenerated by 1/8 and health by 1/9 per tick (every 2 seconds). Spirit increases the rate at which you recover health and mana.

Stamina is especially important for Warriors and Warlocks, but is also important for any class that focuses on player versus player combat as the more stamina a player has, the longer the player survives. Each point of Stamina increases a character's health by 10. Intellect is also used to determine the rate at which weapon skill increases. This attribute is very important for casting classes (Mages, Warlocks, Priests, Druids, Shamans), and is also used by the Paladins and Hunters, although it is not of the highest priority.

A level 60 mage will gain a 1% crit chance w/ spells for each 59.5 int they have.). It is also linked to the critical strike chance with spells (Crit chance varies for every class/level. Each point of Intellect increases the character's mana by 15. This attribute is generally important for all melee classes (Warriors, Shamans, Paladins, Rogues and feral Druids) although Hunters also benefit from strength.

It is also linked to the amount of damage blocked by a shield. Each point of strength increases attack power by 2 points for Warriors, Paladins, Shamans and Druids, while Priests, Mages, Warlocks, Rogues and Hunters get 1 attack power per strength. It is said for example that a level 60 Rogue gains a 1% chance to get a critical strike for every 29 Agility, and a level 60 Hunter receives 1% for every 53 Agility. Hunters and Rogues generally need as much as an agility boost as possible from gear (in game equipment).

Agility is also linked to a character's chance to dodge and perform a critical strike with a weapon (although the degree of effect varies for each class). Hunters, Rogues and Druids also gain 1 point of melee attack power per point of Agility, although Druids only get attack power when shape-shifted to a Cat. Each point of Agility increases armor by 2 points, and ranged attack power by 2 points. For classes that rely on melee combat, strength is more important than spirit, while spell casters will benefit more from a spirit and intelligence boost than from a boost in strength.

For each class, different attributes are more important. These attributes hold a key role in determining a character's health (hit points), mana (is used up by casting spells), attack power (each point of attack power increases a character's damage per second by 1/14), armor (reduces the amount of damage you take), dodge chance, critical strike chances (a default of double damage with ranged and melee weapons, a default of 1.5 times with spells), health regeneration, and mana regeneration. Strength (STR), Intellect (INT), Spirit (SPI), Agility (AGI), and Stamina (STA) are the attributes of World of Warcraft. They are as follows.

Attributes are used by the game to calculate strengths and weaknesses for each character. In the upcoming expansion, the Jewel Crafting profession will be introduced. These types of players will typically offer gathered items for sale in the game's auction houses. Some players choose to select only "gathering" professions, opting to simply supply resources to players with item creation skills.

The most commonly paired skills are as follows: Mining and Blacksmithing, Mining and Engineering, Skinning and Leatherworking, Herbalism and Alchemy, and to a lesser extent, tailoring and enchanting. Many players choose to pair two related professions, thus allowing the character to gather the required materials for the crafting skill. Essentially, there are two types of professions: gathering and item creation. In addition to the character classes, a player may choose two primary professions and all three secondary professions that the game offers, if they so choose.

. Some will merely offer advice or further the story, while others patrol around set paths to keep cities defended against overzealous players. NPCs in major and minor cities can sell you merchandise, train you in your selected profession and class, sell you mounts, connect you to the Auction House (an eBay-like place to buy and sell items), and provide all services that are needed in the game. Early in the game, most mobs will be neutral.

There are also neutral NPCs that will only attack you when provoked, their name displayed in yellow. Any character with his name displayed in red is hostile towards you and should either be avoided or dealt with caution. There are also several hostile NPCs, mainly the NPCs of the opposing faction and mobs (enemies controlled by AI). They will be found automatically in any city allied with your faction, as well as any city you have earned a reputation of friendly or better with.

First are the friendly NPCs, whose names are displayed in green. NPCs have many types. NPCs are the characters that can only interact with player characters through scripted events or AI. The color of a PC's name tag can vary from blue, green, yellow, or red depending on faction, location, and play combat status.

Player Characters are people around the world actively playing the game. There are two types of characters in the game: Player Characters(PC) and Non-Player Characters (NPCs), the latter having many different offshoots. There are 20 possible combinations of race and class for each faction, for a total of 40 combinations across both factions. Classes are also limited by race.

Two of the classes are faction-specific: Paladins for the Alliance, and Shamans for the Horde. The nine available classes are Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock and Warrior. The races are split into two equally sized factions, the Alliance and the Horde:. When creating a character in World of Warcraft, the player can choose from eight different races and nine different character classes.

Players create characters which serve as their avatar in the online world of Azeroth. The two factions currently in the game are the Alliance and Horde, both consisting of different races. Users can create up to 10 characters per realm which range from a diverse amount of races and classes. Characters in the World of Warcraft are tied to specific user accounts which can be used in all servers, or realms.

. This level of popularity eventually led major MMORPG developers such as Sony Online Entertainment to re-think the way they are making games, even changing the gameplay of their past successful titles. As of January 2006, World of Warcraft is one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world, with more than 5.5 million active subscriptions. World of Warcraft is set four years after the events at the conclusion of Blizzard's previous release, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.

The Warcraft games are set in the eponymous Warcraft Universe, a fantasy setting introduced by Warcraft: Orcs & Humans in 1994. It is the 4th game in the Warcraft series, excluding expansion packs and the canceled Warcraft Adventures: Lord of the Clans. World of Warcraft (commonly abbreviated as WoW) is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Blizzard Entertainment. Players will try to access files not yet in game and then host them on websites to expose content not yet released (usually new zones, items, and graphics).

Data Mining – This is typically most common around the time that a patch is released on the public test realm. These exploits are usually not discovered right away and are allowed to be used (though typically thought of as unfair) until stated otherwise by Blizzard. This includes using wall-walking (removed in patch 1.9) to get into unfinished areas or abilities like the Sentry Totem to make one's character unattackable by other players. Game Mechanics Exploits – There are also other exploits involving the physics of the game, sometimes in conjunction with items.

The bot will kill monsters, loot gold, mine ore, collect herbs or gain levels automatically without the player having to be in front of the computer. Botting – A player who runs a third party program to control their character. Speed Hacking/Teleporting/subterrain travel – Since character position in World of Warcraft is determined by the client side, it is possible for players to send out artificial positional data and be instantly transported to any part of the world (even underground) or used to speed up traveling speed by increasing positional deltas. DirectX 9.0c.

32 MB 3D graphics card with hardware transform and lighting, such as GeForce 2 or better. 256 MB RAM or more (512 MB recommended, 1 GB for comfortable play). 800 MHz or higher CPU. Windows 98/ME/2000/XP: