Silverh the hunter runs through the new Shadowfang Keep instance

The Shadowfang Keep, like the Deadmines, has also been remade into a new instance in the Cataclysm expansion, with four new bosses.
In fact, the entire Silverpine Forest zone has been remade, with many new quests. And on the Horde side, a long series of chain quest involving the Dark Lady Sylvanas leads to the bosses in the Shadowfang Keep.
Silverh, my new night elf hunter, joined a random group to go through this instance.
This instance only has one starting quest, and after beating each boss, next quest is automatically given.
Most of the mobs including the four bosses are undead. This instance has been given a level range of 16-26.

Silverh has already reached the level 20 cap of Wow starter edition. My third level 20 character :)



First boss, Baron Silverlaine, easy boss, he has a special ability that drains each player's life to almost zero.



Second boss, Commander Springvale, he still has a chance to drop a nice blue shield.



Third boss, Lord Walden, unlike the first two melee bosses, this one is a caster.




Fighting some trash mobs



Final boss, Lord Godfrey, a tough caster boss does tons of shadow damage (this is afterall, Shadowfang Keep). I like his hat ! He has a long story if you play the Horde quests in this zone.

Silverp the Rogue comes to the new barrens in wow cataclysm

The Barrens was one of the largest and most popular zones in World of Warcraft.
The land is mostly flat, with a few hills scattered throughout, running from Mor'shan Rampart near Ashenvale to the Great Lift near Thousand Needles can take 15 minutes without mount.
Barrens also had the widest level range of any single zone, spanning 15 levels (10-25).
The Barrens was infamous as a very busy secondary zone shared by tauren, orcs and trolls. With three instances and multiple travel hubs, it is a busy "in-between" area traversed by higher-level characters as well. This is a major contributing factor to the high volume of the chat in this region. The chat in the region has had the infamous tag of Barrens Chat due to its sometimes frequent trend of players going completely off-topic in discussions and delving into silliness, which annoys some players while amusing others. The Crossroads was also a popular destination for Alliance raids as it is a good meeting point to raid Orgrimmar.

Silverp the rogue decides to come to Barrens again to see the changes made in wow Cataclysm.

Silverp the blood elf rogue


Entering the Barrens, zebra, like Africa ... Also, it's so quiet, noone is playing in Barrens.


Mankrik, he found his dead wife in the old quest, now he wants to revenge.


Good old Crossroad, where all roads in Barrens intersect.


The barrens is split in two with a lava river separating the Northern Barrens and Southern Barrens. A fortified gate and high wall now separates the southern Barrens from Mulgore.


Verog the Dervish, a named Kolkar boss, I remember him from questing with previous toons.


Raptor King Reaperclaw, this maybe a new quest boss.


Silverp reaches level cap 20 from questing in Barrens.


Silverp gets a mount.

A revisit of the Deadmines instance

Silverhp the warrior went through the new Deadmine instance with a random pick up group.
This instance has been updated, it is totally new, with new quests.
The old boss Van Cleef is no more.
A new set of bosses await.


At a start of the instance, a replay of the demise of Edwin Van Cleef.
His daughter witnessed it, and vowed to avenge for his father's death.
Too bad she only appears in the Heroic version. We don't face her in a normal run.


First boss, a two headed ogre.


Second boss, a Goblin that sets bombs on the floor


Third Boss, a Mech Reaper.


Van Cleef's old boat.


Fourth Boss, a Worgen Admiral.


He has some cool special attacks, a mist of shadow


Final boss, a Murloc Captain sits in a pot, and throw you rotten food.


a new achievement.

Overall, a very nice and enjoyable instance. But I do miss the old version of Deadmines, wish Blizzard gives you an option to replay the old version.

More on Silverhp the Warrior's adventure in Elwynn Forest and Westfall

Fighting the first named boss


Victory Rush, first skill learned


Trick or Treat, first achievement earned


Some old quest bosses: Princess, Goldtooth, Hogger




Level 10 !


50 Quests completed


Can I keep him ? my first pet, a balloon

A test run of Blizzard's free Wow trial version

I downloaded the free Wow trial version and played for 20 mins.
The character can be played until level 20.
There are quite a few changes since I last played Wow.

I created Silverhp, a female human warrior.
First quest, to kill worgs in Northshire Valley !


First quest completed


Level up, I like the new interface


Learning the first skill, Charge


Option to upgrade to the full version


So far so good, I guess I will play until level 20

World of Warcraft subscription down to 11 million in July

It looks like World of Warcraft, Blizzard's nigh indefatigable roleplaying behemoth, may finally be experiencing some serious attrition. The number of paying subscribers for the online game dropped to 11.1 million between May and July, down from 11.4 million in May and 12 million back in October, 2010. That's nearly a million down in less than a year, despite the launch of Wrath of the Lich King in China and Cataclysm internationally, as well as a new free-to-play angle with a feature paywall.

Many online game publishers would kill just to have a quarter million subscribers, all told, but even for Blizzard, an exodus of 300,000 in 30 days time (or about 3 percent) seems a little steep.

Of course Blizzard's calling that "business as usual." telling investors during a call yesterday that declines are expected after major content drops like Lich King and Catacalysm. Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaine chalks it up to increasingly experienced players chewing through content more quickly with each new release.

Morhaine's not-exactly-inspired solution? Develop more content. Specifically: more raids and dungeons. I know—how utterly thrilling for those of you who've spent the last seven years chewing through...raids and dungeons.

Nonetheless, the game remains the world's most subscribed MMORPG, or at least that's what the game's apparently contentious enough for an edit-lock Wikipedia page says.

World of Warcraft offered 'free' until level 20

Popular online role-playing game World of Warcraft (WoW) is to be offered free up to level 20.
Previously fans of the game, which has 11.4 million subscribers, had to pay a monthly fee of £8.99.
Under the new system, players will be able to build an unlimited number of characters but they will not be able to join guilds or accumulate more than ten gold coins.
The move is seen as a way of attracting new players to the game.
Free bonanza
World of Warcraft is an online game in which players create characters, such as warriors, warlocks and shaman, who they then take on adventures to gather loot and items to make the avatars more powerful.
It is among the most successful of the so-called massively multi-player online games.
Blizzard Entertainment, maker of WoW, has previously offered free trials of the game but only for a limited number of days.
The free version will have no time restrictions.
Tim Edwards, editor of PC Gamer, estimates that it will offer someone new to the game around 10 to 15 hours of game-play.
"It is a really good offer and will allow people to get a flavour of the world," he said.
More and more companies are offering games for free as they aim to attract more PC owners to gaming.
"It is a free-to-play bonanza for gaming right now," said Mr Edwards.
"Team Fortress 2 went free over last weekend and it tripled its players overnight. If customers like the game it is pretty easy to get them to buy stuff," he said.
Users wishing to take advantage of the WoW free offer will still have to buy the base game, which costs around £10.
There are also three expansion packs for it.