Blizzard Community Manager Draztal has been busy on the EU forums today, revealing, amongst other things, some interesting information on Blizzard’s new ideas for reputation gains and lesser charms.

Complaints about Mists‘ focus on daily quests have been plentiful, and acknowledged in various interviews by various members of Blizzard’s development team. They have not abated, and it looks like Blizzard are feeling ready to allow the Community Managers to release limited information on their proposed solutions.

Splitting Draztal’s post into two parts, he first addresses the repeated request for reputation tabards:

This offer was just announced by Blizzard in the EU, and if previous promotions are anything to go by, it will be announced by Blizzard US very shortly. This offer allows the purchase of the Celestial Steed, the Winged Guardian, or the Heart of the Aspects for half price, which, in the EU, equates to €10 or £8.50. In the US, all three mounts are available for $12.50 each.

With Christmas fast approaching, you may want to leave this article open on the computer of a family member, or a good friend, or maybe this is the perfect time to pick up a mount for someone special. If you’re planning to give a mount as a gift, do remember that, while the codes can be redeemed on any account via the Item Redemption Page, they are region-specific, so players wishing to purchase a mount in the US will need to do so via the US version of the pet store. It follows, then, that players wishing to buy a mount in the EU need to visit the EU pet store. Within those regions, though, there are no country-specific limitations.

Of course, these mounts count towards the various mount achievements available in-game, and with the changes in patch 5.0.4, are available on every character, rather than just on the one they were redeemed for.

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you’ll ever need to know.

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In a world first race that saw Method and Blood Legion pretty much neck and neck in WoW Progress’ points system, Method and fellow European guild Paragon snatched the Sha of Fear from under the noses of their US competition. WoW Insider sends their heartiest congratulations to both guilds!

It looks like the world first Sha of Fear kill went to Paragon, narrowly beating Method to the punch, but Method weren’t far behind with their world first 25-man kill. It’s an interesting conundrum, really, given how many people consider 25-man raiding to still be “proper” raiding. They’re opposed by the detractors of that view who assert that 10-man is just as hard and therefore should be considered in parallel with 25-man. In WoW Insider’s recent interview with Method, all their players asserted that the two were completely different beasts.

With Paragon, a previous world first guild in 25-mans, moving down to the smaller raid size that they had previously derided, it adds credence to 10-man raiding. But, in this tier at least, Paragon have so dominated their bracket that there’s not much competition. From Method’s completion tables, there wasn’t a single US guild in the running for the 10-man progression in this most recent, and final, world first race of this tier. Will more competition emerge? Earlier raids haven’t had such an EU-dominated 10-man race, certainly. Was it simply thanks to the holiday weekend?

For me, and this is only opinion, the reason I’ve followed the 25-man race more closely this time around is that there is more competition. Method, Blood Legion and Vodka have duked it out for the top spot all the way, with the closeness of the final Sha of Fear push making it a really exciting one. Blizzard Community Manager Taepsilum commented on a forum post that a stream of the race would be something they’d like to watch, and I agree, but I’d like to watch two guilds competing for a close win, rather than Paragon utterly controlling the entire race! But what do you think?

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Mists of Pandaria is here! The level cap has been raised to 90, many players have returned to Azeroth, and pet battles are taking the world by storm. Keep an eye out for all of the latest news, and check out our comprehensive guide to Mists of Pandaria for everything you’ll ever need to know.

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Blizzard CM Rygarius has posted a huge amount of information clarifying Cross-Realm Zones over on the Blizzard official forums. This much-discussed new feature has recently arrived on EU realms having been live on US realms for some weeks now, and has had a few teething problems that Blizzard continue to iron out.

Rygarius has clarified that Blizzard are still working to address problems with things like reporting and ignoring players, the Stranglethorn Fishing Extravaganza, /who requests, chat spam, realm hopping, and Tol Barad and Wintergrasp. It’s always great to know that Blizzard are listening to player concerns, and if you have any more do check out Rygarius’ post to see how to report bugs or issues.

Rygarius also provides a complete 101 on Cross-Realm Zones, letting us all know how they work, how realms are selected to be joined, and how parties and groups work. Rygarius also addresses concerns about realm community, low-population realm economies, and clears up just exactly how CRZs will work when Mists of Pandaria launches.

Check out the full post after the break!

We now know exactly when the Battle of Theramore scenario will be available for play. From Sept. 18 to 24, the week before Mists of Pandaria goes live, we’ll be able to queue up for the scenario alongside two friends. This is straight from Vaneras over on the EU forums.

So there you have it. You get one week to run the battle, be you Horde or be you Alliance, and then it’s time to level to 90 if you want to run it again. But unlike previous world events, this scenario will remain in the game indefinitely — if you miss it during that one-week period, you can always head back to it after you’re done leveling.

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It’s open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft’s next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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We now know exactly when the Battle of Theramore scenario will be available for play. From September 18th to the 24th, the week before Mists of Pandaria goes live, we’ll be able to queue up for the scenario alongside two friends. This is straight from Vaneras, over on the EU forums.

So there you have it. You get one week to run the Battle, be you Horde or be you Alliance, and then it’s time to level to 90 if you want to run it again. But unlike previous world events, this scenario will remain in the game indefinitely – if you miss it during that one week period, you can always head back to it after you’re done leveling.

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It’s open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft’s next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Introducing the Guild Mentoring Program