Blizzard and DC Comics have announced a new World of Warcraft comic series called "Curse of the Worgen". The series is considered a 'miniseries' and is available both digitally and at local comic shops.

A series of grisly, animalistic murders have rocked the walled town of Gilneas. A famous detective sets out to discover the perpetrators, and finds far more than he bargained for. To discover the truth, he must delve through years of twisted history -- that of his family and Gilneas itself. This pivotal 5-issue miniseries explores the in-depth lore of the Worgen.

Grab a digital copy for $2.99 here.

Blizzard Entertainment has a laundry list of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm launch events planned for December 6th. European events will be held in Berlin, London, Madrid, Stockholm, Moscow, Paris and Rotterdam. The only U.S. event will be held in Fountain Valley, California. A Canadian event will be hosted in Toronto, Ontario and a Taiwanese event will be held in Taipei.

Attendees at the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm launch events will have the opportunity to purchase the standard edition of the expansion as well as the collector’s edition (while stocks last) which contains the following bonus items in addition to the game disc:

• An exclusive World of Warcraft: Cataclysm behind-the-scenes DVD including over an hour of developer interviews and commentaries
• The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Collector’s Edition soundtrack CD
• The Art of Cataclysm, a 176-page hardback book featuring never-before-seen artwork from the development process
• Starter pack and exclusive cards for the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game
• Exclusive in-game pet, Lil’ Deathwing
• A special-edition World of Warcraft: Cataclysm mouse pad

Read more about each city's specific events here.

World of Warcraft developer, Zarhym, has posted a new blog on the community site giving players fair warning that some quests will no longer exist after the shattering that Azeroth will undergo during Deathwing's escape and the destructive forces unleashed on the world. If there are achievements or quest arcs that are nearly finished, it may be wise to log on and finish them as the approaching destruction is probably less than a week away, perhaps as early as 4.0.3a's arrival.

As you're all aware by now, the shattering of Azeroth will drastically and permanently alter the continents of Kalimdor and the Eastern Kingdoms. In the wake of Deathwing's devastation, adventurers will be summoned to embark on new quests from levels 1 to 60 in these transformed territories -- and with so much new content to be found on these original two continents, many original quests will no longer be available after the shattering occurs. These quests will automatically be removed from your quest log, while any quests you’ve accepted that still exist in Azeroth will remain in your log.

Read more here.

World of Warcraft devs have been cranking out new blog posts at a furious pace. The latest one deals with Pilgrim's Bounty. From now through November 27th, World of Warcraft players from both Horde and Alliance will have the chance to participate in the annual Pilgrim's Bounty festival. It may be the last time to 'party hearty' in the Azeroth you have known and loved so well before 'Cataclysm-ic' events tear the world apart.

Daily Cooking Quests

Pilgrim's Bounty also plays host to a series of daily cooking quests designed to help chefs master their craft with seasonal recipes plucked from a Bountiful Cookbook. These quests require players to travel between the major cities of Azeroth and to fill the stomachs of armies with seasonal food. The reward for these quests is a Turkey Caller, a prize that ensures that the accomplished pilgrim will never go hungry again.

If you're interested in learning the Pilgrim's Bounty's recipes, speak with an NPC outside any major city. Stuffing and potatoes are easy enough to put in front of a fire, but if you want to cook a turkey, you'll need to catch one first. Un-sling your trusty Turkey Shooter and prepare for the hunt.

Read more here.

In a new developer blog post at the World of Warcraft community site, 'Ghostcrawler' talks about the ostensible 'nerfing' of healers that some expect to be coming down the road when Cataclysm debuts on December 7th. Ghostcrawler goes through the reason behind the more limited amount of mana regeneration that healers will encounter in Cataclysm and talks a good game about how 'resource management' makes players better at their crafts.

To be clear, we don’t want healers to constantly run out of mana. We want them to run out of mana when they don’t play well. And we don’t want them to always fail. But we do want them to feel good when they are challenged, and overcome those challenges to succeed. When someone is wounded, we want healers to consider whether to use a slow, efficient heal (because they aren’t in immediate threat of dying) or a fast, expensive heal (because they are). That’s called triage, and it was notably missing from the Lich King healing environment. We think triage will make healing more fun. We’re making this change not to make healers sad by nerfing them, but to make healers happy by making the game more fun for them.

Read more here.

Events leading up to the release of the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion are underway. "Cataclysmic" events are beginning to take place with earthquakes, nefarious Twilight's Hammer agents showing up in major cities and now elemental spirits are making their presence known around Azeroth.

Wayward fire spirits have engulfed Orgrimmar, threatening to reduce the proud Horde capital to ash. Across the Great Sea, a sudden influx of earth spirits has rocked the foundations of Ironforge, pushing the once-indomitable dwarven bastion to the brink of collapse.

Even so, a glimmer of hope has come in the form of ancient tablets recovered in Northrend. These mysterious artifacts are believed to hold clues concerning Azeroth's tormented elementals -- a claim that can only be validated once the artifacts are delivered safely from the northern continent. The gifted shaman Thrall has also begun his own efforts to shed light on the disasters befalling the world. Of great concern, however, is whether anything will be left of Orgrimmar and Ironforge by the time answers are found....

Read more here.

Blizzard has announced a change to the way combat resurrections will be handled once World of Warcraft: Cataclysm goes live in December. Resurrections will be one form of resurrection per combat in a 10-man raid, three forms per combat in a 25-man boss raid.

The design for combat resurrection effects has changed a good deal for Cataclysm, and we want to make sure players are clear on how spells like Rebirth and Create Soulstone now function. Rebirth has a 10-minute cooldown and Create Soulstone has a 15-minute cooldown. On raid boss encounters, you can only use one of these combat resurrection spells (so one Rebirth or one Soulstone) per attempt for 10-player raids. For 25-player raids you can use three forms of combat resurrection per raid boss attempt (so three of any combination of Rebirth and Soulstone). The count is incremented as soon as a player accepts a resurrection, so one can always choose not to accept if he or she wants someone else to get the resurrection instead. There is no equivalent of the Sated debuff (which tracks Bloodlust/Heroism usage), but you will get an error message if you try to resurrect too many players, and we might add tracking to our raid interface if there is demand for it. Outside of raid content, you can use as many battle resurrections as you have available.

The discussion is here for those who want to participate. Otherwise, let us know your thoughts on the Game On Mac forums!

The new World of Warcraft Community Portal is now up for players and fans to preview. The final deployment of the portal will coincide with the arrival of the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion in early December.

Welcome to the new World of Warcraft community site live preview! Consider this your home for all the latest happenings in and around Azeroth, featuring an improved media section, contests, community forums, and brand-new functionality that lets you post comments to news items right here on the site. You'll want to check out this news feed regularly; we'll use it to share community highlights, game information, Arena coverage, and much more.

Check it out here.

World of Warcraft's Cory Stockton has posted a short but effective FAQ about the 'rated battlegrounds' coming with the Cataclysm expansion next month. Pardo indicated that the topic had generated confusion and hoped that the FAQ would help alleviate it. The FAQ covers the rewards gained for competing in the rated battlegrounds, as well as the requirements for entering.

Judging from the posts on the forum, it looked like most players were confused about what rated battlegrounds really are and how to interact with them. Hopefully this FAQ can help clear up some of those questions. Feel free to respond with any other questions you might have and we will do our best to post up the answers in this thread.

• Rated Battlegrounds are broken down into three brackets. 10v10, 15v15 and 25v25. These brackets rotate weekly and can be viewed in-game via the calendar by activating the battleground holiday filter.
• Players must create a raid with the full number of players required for the current bracket before entering the queue. Any level 85 player of your faction may participate in the battle (regardless of guild association).

Read more here.