World of Warcraft is not entirely unique in the amount of customization it allows players to make to just about everything under the sun, but I have to say that it is a large selling point for the game. Addons have been made for just about everything in the game at this point. You can get one for tracking, using the AH, leveling, managing non-combat pets, randomizing mounts, strange RP lines and pretty much anything else you can think of. My personal favorites are the complete re-skins that crop up from time to time. I have no idea why people want WoW to look like Hello Kitty Island Adventure, but, apparently there are people that do. Just like the iPhone, there’s a mod for that. Beyond the pretty things, there are a multitude of mods that make the game that much easier to master, from things like boss ability announcements to telling you precisely which ability should come next in your rotation. Like I think most people did, I went absolutely crazy when I first discovered the ability to customize my game; at least, I try to console my ego by thinking that. I grabbed anything and everything that I thought might be even remotely useful at the time. Heck, I didn’t even really know what half of the things I downloaded

The deeds of every great hero inspire countless songs of triumph, virtue, and epic adventure. But although a hero’s glory endures in song, the creators of those songs are seldom remembered. After ages spent singing of the heroic exploits of others, the bards of Azeroth are finally stepping into the spotlight on their own terms, proving once and for all that while just about anyone can pick up a sword or cast a spell, only a true hero can vanquish evil with the power of ROCK! Armed with a trusty axe, killer riffs, and a ton of attitude, the guitar-wielding bard is the second hero class to be introduced in the upcoming Wrath of the Lich King expansion for World of Warcraft. The bard excels both as a solo performer and as part of a solid group lineup, able to front in a number of roles as varied as his musical repertoire. The bard’s extensive Metal skill line grants the potent transformational ability “I Am Murloc,” as well as direct damage effects like “Epic Solo” that will rock foes into oblivion while powerful Indie debuffs such as “Tape Jam” and “Shoegazer” keep them in check. If things heat up, the bard’s Punk tree can support the party with a wide range of abilities, such

One of the most popular puzzle games ever has just performed a mind-meld with the most popular MMORPG of all time. As crazy as it might seem, PopCap Games and Blizzard knocked boots and produced a World of Warcraft-themed 10-level version of Peggle for the PC. The best part? It’s completely free to play. This all-new WoW-themed Peggle mash-up is a stand-alone version of Peggle, available for free and combining the sights, sounds and storyline of World of Warcraft with the rainbows and unicorns of everyone’s favorite peg-popping pastime. It features ten new levels with Peggle masters Bjorn the Unicorn and Splork with his Space Blast facing off against denizens of Azeroth in scenes with names like “Too Soon, Executus” and “The Traitor King” – as well as ten new challenges with titles such as “Phat Lewtz” and “Pwnyxia.” Before the release of this new Peggle, the puzzler was introduced to World of Warcraft players back in April of this year, with an in-game version of Peggle for the hugely popular MMORPG.From pc.gamespy.com.

TGIF folks — that means it’s time for another installment of Ask WoW Insider. Last week we looked at the etiquette surrounding leaving an instance early as well as a bit of a trip down memory lane to highlight the best of Ask WoW Insider to date. This week we’ll be speculating about a lore issue: who is the most badass character of all in Warcraft history? Killah writes: Because of the recent activity regarding the new expansion set Wrath of the Lich King, it has come to my interest to find out about more about the lore in Warcraft. I was reading about the Lich King, his rise and fall, on WoWwiki. It suddenly appeared to me that the Lich King indeed possessed great powers, but yet there must’ve been someone stronger than him. My question to you guys is: What character is the strongest (physically, magically, powerful, fearful) in Warcraft history? This character might be deceased now, but still might the strong throughout history. Who’s your pick for the most badass Warcraft figure of all time (excepting Leeroy for simplicity’s sake)? Is it Illidan, or Neltharion, or that nasty murloc that pwned your ass in the Wetlands last week? Who’s your top of the tops?

miladyhikara is working on a series of sketches featuring “Bad Girls of Warcraft,” and the beginnings of the pieces are now up over on her deviantART page. They look fantastic — I especially think this Shivarra looks good, but she’s also got a female Naga, a Succubus, and Lady Barov herself. She says she’s working on color palettes for most of them, so we’ll have to wait to see the finished product — if the sketches are any indication, they should look amazing. She’s also still asking for suggestions apparently — who else would go in the “Bad Girls of Warcraft” series? Sylvanas? (is she really bad?) Onyxia for sure (in both forms). And she’s also thinking about doing a “Good Girls of Warcraft” series, too — hello Jaina, Tyrande and Fandral Staghelm. Wait, he’s not a girl? Then why’s he wearing that dress?From wow.com.

Gamasutra has a nice interview with someone on Blizzard’s team that we haven’t heard from very much before — Alex “Furor” Afrasiabi is currently a lead world designer for Cataclysm, and while we have definitely seen him at BlizzCon a few times, he hasn’t done as much press as, say, Tom Chilton or J. Allen Brack. But here he is on Gamasutra, talking about what Blizzard is doing to the World of Warcraft in the next expansion. And boy are they doing it. As we knew, Desolace and Azshara are getting revamped completely, while Feralas is in for some questing changes and zones like Loch Modan are seeing some “light” modification. Blizzard apparently looked at each zone and determined where it lay on the list of todos: Azshara is becoming the 10-20 Horde zone and so will get reworked extensively, but Silithus, while it may need work, probably won’t get more than a few tweaks. Afrasiabi also talks about the surprising origin of phasing and Blizzard’s philosophy. More after the break. Get this — phasing, the revolutionary technology that allows Blizzard to make a more transitive MMO than ever, started out as one of those 180,000 bugs. After a programmer came up with a way