Azeroth isn't the only landscape that's changing. In preparation for the upcoming launch of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, we'll soon be releasing our new World of Warcraft community site which will provide players with a host of new features including blog posts, a robust game guide, and brand-new forums! If you want an idea of how this new site will look and operate, head on over to our StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty community site (http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/).

We currently plan to launch a live preview of the new World of Warcraft community site in early November, and will begin to transition over to the new forum system at that time. To make this transition as smooth as possible, we want to provide a tentative timeline for how we'll be phasing posting access from these forums (the ones on which you're currently posting) to the new forums.

• For approximately two weeks after the preview site is released, both sets of forums will be open for posting. The requirements for posting on the new forums will be the same as posting here: you will need an active World of Warcraft account that's in good standing and a compatible browser.
  
  
• Following the initial testing phase of the new community site, all forums located at http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com will be marked as Read Only. While you will still be able to access these forums, you will no longer be able to create new posts or edit existing ones.
  
  (The World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta forums will remain available for posting until further notice. In order to post on the beta forums, you will need to possess a World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta account.)
  
  
• The current forum system will be completely removed sometime next month to complete the transition to the new community site. All forum communication at that time, excluding that conducted on the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm beta forums, will move to the new forums.

As we get closer to the release of the new community site, we'll be sure to provide you with more information. In the meantime, we're making preparations to ensure that important announcements posted by Blizzard Entertainment will be available in the new forums, and we encourage you to do the same. If there are any beloved discussions or guides that you want to take with to you, be sure to start saving them now!

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Q u o t e:
I don't like change.

What is enticing about this new forum situation that would compel me to not complain fruitlessly to have it changed back?

What does it offer that the current forum does not?

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The site as a whole will offer a number of new toys. The front page, for example, will feature an interactive blog. News posts and announcements that you commonly see in the WorldofWarcraft.com feed will be now become blogs, and members of the community team will also use this outlet to engage the community on a variety of topics. Since it's all going to be interactive, players will actually get to comment on and discuss those news items with their peers.

The site will also feature a robust (and updated) game guide that will continue to grow as the community does, a gorgeous media page, easy-to-access links to all the various account services and support options we offer, and a dedicated community page that will cleanly layout all the latest comics, fan art, screenshots, contests, social media sites and more.

With respect to the forums, specifically, one of the new features that's really cool is the rating system. This rating system will allow the community (you guys) to promote positive discussion, demote unhelpful comments, and even report posts that violate the forum Code of Conduct all with just a few button clicks.

The way this works is, when mousing over a post or comment in the new site, you'll see thumbs-up (Like) and thumbs-down (Dislike) buttons. Clicking the "thumbs up" icon will rate the post up. If enough people like a post, it will gain a Highly Rated status and appear at the top of related search results. Highly Rated posts will also have a highlighted background. On the flip side, clicking the "thumbs down" icon will expand a drop-down menu which will include "Dislike," "Trolling, "Spam" and "Report" options. "Dislike" will rate the post down. If enough people dislike a post, it will be darkened, and with a lot of dislikes it will be hidden completely. You can also quickly report a post as trolling or spam, or use the report function to fill out a more comprehensive description of a violation.

That's just the tip of the iceberg, though. :)

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Q u o t e:
Will my avatar finally sport a pair of lucious pink pigtails as my Armory does? <3

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I believe it should, actually. The new community site will have Armory integration and, from my understanding, forum avatars will be based on how your character actually appears in game. (Except for characters under level 10.)

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Q u o t e:
We better have signatures...

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Customizable signatures are not currently planned for the new World of Warcraft community site. We're confident, though, that players will still be able to distinguish themselves based on the content of their forum posts and comments. :)