Playing Wrath for hours

As our commenters point out, this story's been picked up by English news sites around the net, including The Local, Mail Online, and the Times Online. Additionally, the use of "Halland," below, is sic -Google's translator spelled it that way, not us.
Here's the text of the article, translated into English by Google Translator:
A 15-year-old boy in Halland was taken to hospital after having spent a day in front of the new World of Warcraft. Food-and lack of sleep in front of the computer led to that he was cramping. Now warns his father others.
- We were terrified proposed, but he is out of danger," said the father to the newspaper.
The diagnosis was that the boy was eliminated in a combination of concentrated gaming, sleep deprivation and poor nutrition. The boy had to stay overnight and take back their lost sleep.
Now, the two parents that the boy must limit their time in front of the computer. They have talked with friends who also will cut down on their computer gaming.
At the same time, teenagers around the world to play World of Warcraft as never before. The latest version of the game expected to hit all-time Sales for the game.
- I want to warn other young people and parents, "says the father to the Evening Post.
The boy and his six friends met on Saturday night to play the nysläppta Wrath of the Lich King. In one day, it was only two hours sleep and a small breakfast in front of the computer. At 14 o'clock on Sunday, the boy collapsed.
Seizures reminded on an epileptic seizure as the family alerted SOS. The boy was taken by ambulance to Halmstads hospital where he received his fluid and nutrition drip.

Hitting level 30 is a major milestone in world of warcraft

Mounts used to become available at level 40. Now that the game extends to level 80 and early character progression has been sped up, you get to speed up at an earlier level, too.
There are two parts to getting yourself into the saddle. The first step is training your riding skill. Upgrading your riding skill as you level gives you access to faster mounts: Apprentice riding at level 30, Journeyman at level 60, Expert (regular speed) and Artisan (epic, or faster speed) at level 70, plus Cold Weather Flying in Northrend at level 77. (Because some of the game's content is accessible only by air, you'll want to get a flyer if you want to see the entire game.)Hitting level 30 is a major milestone in today's World of Warcraft: the level at which you get your mount. Up to this point, you've spent plenty of time hoofing it, getting to know the lay of the land. On the back of your trusty steed, you'll be able to zip across increasingly larger zones and quest areas in style. You'll start off on a standard ground mount, such as a Horse, Wolf or Kodo. Later, you can upgrade to faster versions of those creatures and eventually to mounts that can fly (in Burning Crusade and Wrath content).

Training your riding skill is the expensive part of riding. Expect to pay about 35 gold for Apprentice-level riding training. Beyond that, brace yourself. Buying upper-level riding skills is generally considered the defining expense of a character's leveling career. Without taking faction discounts into consideration, you're looking at 600 gold for Journeyman riding, 800 gold for Expert and a whopping 5,000 gold for Artisan training for your epic flyer. You can soften the blow by saving up early and making sure you have good reputation with the faction of the mount you'd like to purchase.
The other part of the riding equation is buying the mount itself. At 10 gold for a basic land mount, mounts are relatively cheap by comparison to the training needed to ride them.
Simply training your riding skill won't increase your speed or get you into the air; you have to buy a fast(er) mount, as well. Finding where to buy your mount can be somewhat mysterious for new players. Stables and trainers are not located in the main cities, so be sure to consult a list of riding trainer locations before setting out to make your purchase.
Class-specific mounts

Several classes train or perform class-specific quests for their mounts as part of their class progression. Warlocks get Felsteeds and Dreadsteeds, and Paladins also quest for their Warhorses and Chargers. Druids get a special Flight Form later down the road, and Death Knights earn their own Deathchargers.
How fast can I go?

Base running speed on foot is considered 100% movement speed. On a mount, here's how fast you can go:
Normal land and flying mounts 160% Swift land mounts 200% Epic flying mounts 380% Swift Nether Drake or Ashes of Al'ar 410%

Death Knights, Druids, Hunters and Paladins get class-specific ways to increase their travel speed while mounted.
The infamous Carrot on a Stick used to be the first and longest-used trinket for many players. Today, there are other speed-increasing trinkets available for players under level 70 (Mithril Spurs, glove enchants and more), but Blizzard has removed the ability to augment riding speed once players are level 70 or above. Enjoy them while you can!
Before you saddle up

Heed these tips and you're ready to roll on your new mount:
Be sure to purchase both the riding skill you need plus the mount to use it. Your newly purchased mount will appear in the Mounts tab of your character pane once you've clicked it for the first time. Drag your mount's icon to your hotbar. Click it to mount, click it again to dismiss. (You can also dismount by right-clicking the mount "buff" to remove it.) You cannot cast spells or mount other mounts (including quest mounts/vehicles and flight path mounts) while mounted. Check the auto-dismount option in your options menu if you'd like to dismount automatically when you cast a spell. Mounts can only be used outdoors (with a few exceptions, such as in Undercity) and on dry land. You will be automatically dismounted if you run into an indoor area or into deep water. Getting hit by even grey-to-you, low-level mobs can dismount and stun you. Use caution when riding through mobs. You cannot summon your mount while in combat, so mounts aren't useful as getaway vehicles!
The perfect mount

Mounts are one of the most obvious and enjoyable ways to personalize your characters. Players today have many ways to earn or purchase a whole stable of mounts:
Purchase another race's mount when you reach Exalted faction with that race (a few races and mounts are limited due to size restrictions). Earn mounts through PvP and Battlegrounds. Raise your faction to earn rare mounts such as the Winterspring Frostsaber. Win a rare drop from an instance or quest. Make your own mount via Engineering (copters and motorcycles) or Tailoring (flying carpets). Obtain a special mount code from a World of Warcraft Trading Card Game card. Get a special holiday mount during Brewfest or Hallow's End. Receive a Swift Zhevra when you participate in the Recruit-a-Friend program. Buy an exotic mount (even one that holds multiple passengers) in Dalaran. Earn a Bear, Drake or Proto-Dragon by completing certain Achievements.

Check out our Guide to the Mounts of the World of Warcraft for for screenshots and basic information about the immense variety of mounts available in the game.

Tags: level 80

The mad baby pic in wotlk

Raiding blind

Is raiding more fun when you figure out the strategy yourself? "It actually kind of baffles me that strategies are so easy to come by for current top-end content these days," mused Mnemnosyne."In the old days of raiding, especially in EverQuest long before WoW, boss strategies tended to be somewhat secret. We wouldn't go so far as to call them closely guarded secrets, but no guild would ever post their strategy or a video showing exactly how they defeated the mobs. Guild members caught sharing the latest strategies were usually disciplined or kicked out.
"This meant we all usually had to learn at least some of each fight on our own, which was not only interesting but made for a wide variety of tactics that one doesn't see much in WoW. Some fights have only a few potential options; others were handled in massively different ways from one guild to the next, since the trailblazers kept their strategies secret except for limited hints.
"This contrasts sharply with the fact that almost every WoW guild I've seen has very, very minor differences in how they handle things to every other one. Who knows how many untested and possibly even superior strategies may exist but never be discovered, because everyone follows the posted strategies of some of the first people to figure things out and rarely deviates from them?"

 

 FCC commissioner: World of Warcraft causes dropouts

The denizens of [1.Local] spent pages and pages this week dissecting reaction to the claims of the FCC commissioner who dared to breathe the name "World of Warcraft" in a speech pointing the finger at video games as a major contributor to college drop-outs. "I think both Mrs. Tate and some people in these comments oversimplify the issue," observed Gravehound. "I'm a pretty hardcore procrastinator (only a sophomore so it hasn't hurt my grades too much yet), and I use WoW, or my 360, or a book, or a friend, or whatever's at hand to not do work right now.
"This does make me irresponsible, but it doesn't make me a fool, or a reject, or a failure. It's my responsibility to work on fixing this problem, but it's not as if I get up each morning and check box A for procrastinator or box B for perfect student. It's far more complex and difficult than that, as anyone who's struggled with any behavior they want to change knows.
"So let's not blame WoW for people's behavioral problems, but let's not act like because we can manage our time, others are incompetent or inferior if they have more trouble doing so."

 

 Mount, race restrictions lifted, Tauren rejoice

Yesterday marked the first post for new WI blogger Michael Sacco, known to many as former Blizzard blue poster Belfaire. Welcoming him aboard in his inaugural post was [1.Local] troll Saiforune: "As an official Troll Representative of the WoW Insider Troll Union, I welcome you with open claws into our cave any time. The presence of the blues is most welcome here. Seeing that you were a previous blue with very little problems, I hope I have to never go Troll form in any of your posts."
The great Hunter nerf of 2008

We knew this week was off to a rousing start when our mailbox began filling up with "ZOMG!!11! Hunter nerf!!1!" e-mails. Just how big a nerf it was began to sink in when Adam Holisky capped his post on the topic with the image of a face that has launched a thousand QQs. "Oh boy, you guys broke out the mad baby pic!" exclaimed InsaneAssault. "This is serious business. Haven't seen that guy since the honor carryover article."
Even those who weren't familiar with Mad Baby realized the gravity of his presence. "Where is the mad baby picture from originally? Does anyone know what happened to that kid?" wondered Frijona. Who nerfed that poor Mad Baby? Readers suggested a few theories – but we'll leave it to you to dig those theories out of the comments for yourself.

 Ghostcrawler: If you're 80, you're hardcore

Things have been fast and easy around here this week – in fact, some say Wrath is simply too fast and easy. But not everyone agrees. Galkuros spoke for many when he noted, "With TBC, endgame content was but a dream to me as I worked my way toward 70. No one on my server ever even downed a boss in Sunwell, and very few downed bosses in the raids leading up to that.
"With the changes Blizzard has brought with the expansion, I'm excited to get to 80 so I can experience the endgame content without devoting days on end to playing WoW (something my soon-to-be wife would not be happy with at all)."

 

 Five-man thoughts

In still more analysis of the relative ease of Wrath's five-man content, several readers astutely observed that EZ-mode playstyles don't always mean an easier time for the whole party. "It seems they have made tanking and DPSing a lot more laid-back than it used to be," wrote Camaris. "You can AoE tank, and even melee can now do AoE attacks.
"But healing, if anything, has become more hectic than TBC. I need to keep up Beacons, Shields and Judgments and have to heal massive AoE damage in quite a few instances. I've run instances as Retri and as Holy, and I have to say that there's a massive gap in the focus required. Loken is hands down my least favorite boss as a Paladin healer, because it is a prime example of two things Paladins cannot really do well: moving around a lot and keeping a whole group alive under AoE attacks."

 

 7 reasons to make a Death Knight

Robin Torres may have given us seven reasons to make a Death Knight, but Depo gave us a good reason not to make that Death Knight a Gnome: "My name is Deposition, and I am on a crusade. I will single-handedly, without mind of the current situation or without control of my own actions, murder every Gnome Death Knight I see.
"Your days are numbered."

 

 Are private servers really that bad?

WI readers had a lot strong opinions about private WoW servers. Are they technically legal? Is playing on private servers justifiable? Is it even fun? "You're forgetting one major issue here: the free trial sucks," scoffed Raaj. "You're making it sound like it gives you even a taste of how the game actually plays out. You can't mail things, you can't trade things, you can't even talk in global chat channels. You're cut off from everything else. If you weren't recruited by a friend, it's likely that you'll barely find another person to even interact with.
"The best analogy I can think of right here is to visit a car dealership, but not be allowed to drive the car, turn on the radio, or use any of the features. You're allowed to sit inside and you have to make your purchase based on that experience."