During yesterday's investor's call, Activision-Blizzard announced that World of Warcraft subscriber numbers are ~10.2 million. This number is down approximately 100,000 since November of last year. The company indicated, however, that profits for the quarter were up due to successful releases of Skylanders and Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 and to over a million folks taking advantage of the WoW Annual Pass.

Read the full investors' report and its news about World of Warcraft.

The official World of Warcraft Twitter has been updated with the announcement that a press tour event for Mists of Pandaria will occur in mid-March and will yield tons of new information about the forthcoming expansion.

Invites going out for Mists of #Pandaria press tour March 13-15. The mists shall part as the seasons turn, and new infos shall be revealed.

What are you looking forward to hearing about after the event? Let us know!

In the last edition of The WoW Factor, the discussion swirled around what exactly it is that constitutes a "WoW Killer". This week, we continue to examine the issue from the perspective of you, our loyal forumites. Check it out!

You all had wonderful comments last time about what constitutes a “WoW Killer,” and as a writer I greatly appreciate input from all sources and of all types. While some of you took a steadfast approach and seriously discussed the merits of the definition of the term others duked it out fisticuffs-style while still others like punchrx made me spit out coffee due to their hilarious ingenuity with the written word.

Read more of Joe Sanicky's The WoW Factor: The WoW Killer Redux.

Citing a "jam packed schedule", Blizzard will not be hosting its (usually) annual fan convention, Blizzcon. The convention is the usual host for competitive online tournaments for StarCraft II and Warcraft. In light of the Blizzcon cancellation, these tournaments will be held in late 2012.

We’re excited to be showcasing Blizzard eSports on a truly global stage this year. We're also heavily focused on getting Diablo III, Mists of Pandaria, and Heart of the Swarm into players’ hands as soon as possible. In light of our jam-packed schedule, we’ve decided to hold the next BlizzCon in 2013.

Read more on the Blizzcon blog.

Guess this shoots Bill Murphy's prediction of a Titan announcement at Blizzcon 2012 in the foot. Perhaps we'll hear more at an alternative convention as has been done in the past.

Source: WoW Insider

Blizzard has announced that the last of the retired EU server blades for World of Warcraft are now available for auction on Ebay. The funds raised through the auctions will be donated to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Find out more of the details on the World of Warcraft EU site.

In a new interview over at VideoGamer.com, Blizzard's Lead Quest Designer Dave Kosak talks about how World of Warcraft is ready to take on 2012 in a big way. The interview highlights key issues such as player reception of patch v4.3; how Blizzard perceives faster, smaller content updates ala Rift; and possible subscriber incentives for WoW prior to Mists of Pandaria's deployment.

Q: Many users sadly unsubscribed to Cataclysm quite quickly. Do you think users will be more satisfied with Pandaria than they were with Cataclysm?

DK: For me Cataclysm, when we talk about the expansion, for me a lot of Cataclysm was the 1-60 re-design which was an epic amount of work. And I think we managed to pull that off in a time frame and we managed to do it and refresh the old world – that was a big part of Cataclysm. We're really happy with how that turned out!

Read the full interview at the link above.

This week's WoW Factor touches on a oft-discussed topic. Everyone is always looking for that game that will be a "WoW Killer" but what exactly does that mean? We take a look at the elusive "WoW Killer". See what we think and then weigh in with your own thoughts in the comments.

Last week’s article caused quite a stir in the comments section and many of you derided the piece as either a roundabout method of talking about SWTOR or just a bit of bait for the community to start fighting the good fight. While many of your comments and opinions were a bit depressing to me (as this is an editorial, i.e. an opinion piece, and the content of each article is subject to me and me alone) I am glad with the discussion that sprouted around the last WoW Factor, explicitly in the talk about what constitutes a “WoW Killer.” So this week I’m going to display my outline and framework for what this mythical being must be to fulfil all of our speculation.

Read more of Joe Sanicky's The WoW Factor: What is a “WoW Killer?”

A lot of talk has been swirling around the idea that Star Wars: The Old Republic is somehow the much ballyhooed "WoW Killer". Is it or is it not? That is the question. In today's WoW Factor, we take a look at that notion and offer a few thoughts on the subject. Check it out and then add your own thoughts in the comments.

With the recent and highly acclaimed launch of SW:TOR the World of Warcraft finally looks to have gained a worthy adversary after seven years on the market. While the fabled title of “WoW-killer” should probably never be tossed around in any seriousness SW:TOR’s rampant and undeniable success seems to raise the very legitimate question of whether or not the Sith’s return to a galaxy far, far away threatens more than just the existence of the Jedi. Now obviously it is much, much too early in the game’s timeline to predict an outcome but everyone who even remotely follows the ranting and ravings of the MMO world has probably kindled a thought or two along the lines of “by the gods…the Star Wars MMO is really here!”

Read more of Joe Sanicky's The WoW Factor: Slain by the Sith?

As with any new feature added to World of Warcraft, there are the doomsayers prophesying that the end of the game is nigh and woe to those who do not recognize it. In today's WoW Factor, we take a look at the Raid Finder recently added to the game. See what we think of it and then let us know what you're thinking in the comments.

Now, I’m not sure who Tweak (the author of the post) is, nor am I sure if I even care, but I have to give props to the guy for coming off as a pristine example of the typical everyman who plays WoW because he enjoys it and just wants a fair shake at the content. If the rest of the thread is anything like the first ten pages (and from what I hear around the water-cooler it is, even some blues stopped by to shake hands with the players) then there is a solid 183 pages of unadulterated praise for Blizzard’s latest prodigal son. I’m not even experiencing the Raid Finder yet and all this jubilant talk is getting me excited for my first run through it!

Read more of Joe Sanicky's The WoW Factor: Raid Finder - A Smash Hit?

The Blizzard Store is featuring some amazing deals for any and all things World of Warcraft related. Whether it's the WoW Battle Chest for $5 or Wrath of the Lich King for a measly $10, there are deals to be had for the Azerothian in your life.

• WoW: Battle Chest for $5 (reg. $19.99)
• Cataclysm for $20 (reg. $39.99)
• Wrath of the Lich King for $10 (reg. $39.99)
• Celestial Steed mount for $10 (reg. $25)
• Pandaren Monk pet for $5 (reg. $10)

Grab these smokin' deals before December 19th at the Blizzard Online Store.

Love it or hate it, the World of Warcraft v4.3 patch has arrived and brought with it more changes than you can proverbially shake a stick at. In today's WoW Factor, we take a look at the profound changes that v4.3 has brought to the world's most well-known MMO. Check it out and then leave your thoughts in the latest update in the comments.

Patch 4.3 is officially upon us patrons of World of Warcraft and with it vast amounts of new things to do! These are exciting times for WoW players as they take part in myriad activities ranging from resuscitating old gear via transmogrification, playing around at the Darkmoon Faire, working towards new tier pieces, or even battling against the demented Deathwing himself! Despite the fact that the contents of this patch were privy to all with an internet connection and a modicum of internet-based navigational skill there isn't too much left to surprise players even after they get their hands on the much vaunted “last patch before the Pandaria expansion”. Except for the spoilerific Deathwing cut-scenes that is!

Read more of Joe Sanicky's The WoW Factor: 4.3 Changes Everything.

Blizzard Entertainment has released the official trailer for the World of Warcraft v4.3 update, Hour of Twilight. Check it out.

Blizzard has a new post on the official community site for World of Warcraft indicating that the latest patch, Hour of Twilight, is now live on all servers. The team has been releasing boatloads of information about all of the changes coming with v4.3 and the community blog contains links to all relevant posts.

Included in the Hour of Twilight patch are features including the new Raid Finder, the Transmogrification system, Valor changes, the reworked Darkmoon Faire, Tier 13 armor sets and much much more.

Read all about it on the World of Warcraft site.

The mere mention of *whispers* World of Warcraft causes some to immediately begin to sweat, set teeth to chattering and to cause copious amounts of froth to being spewing from oral cavities. Why the hate? Today we feature a new article to examine this particular phenomenon and why exactly it is that *whispers* World of Warcraft causes such high emotion of the negative sort. Read on and then give vent to your emotions in our comments section.

I am not here today to talk about Cyber Creations' plans to dominate the world however. I am instead here to analyse a certain bugbear that most of our readership hold dear like a very abused teddy bear. Of course I am talking about World of Warcraft; El Diablo, The MMO That Must Not Be Named, The Anti-Christ, Hell Bitch, World of Poop-Faces, That Dirty Popular One - and finally - World of Warcraft? More like World of Gay Craft. Because that’s totally not offensive.

Read more of Adam Tingle's World of Warcraft: Why Knock It?

The World of Warcraft community site has been updated with a new talent calculator that will allow players to preview various builds once Mists of Pandaria debuts. The calculator comes with the caveat that "spells and talents are not final and may change during the development process." That said, the dev team is asking players to try out the calculator and give feedback to the team.

Check it out at the links above.

Lazard Capital Markets has downgraded Activision-Blizzard stock from "buy" to "neutral" in light of World of Warcraft's declining subscription numbers.

Lazard analyst Atul Bagga does not believe Activision-Blizzard can stop the hemorrhaging of World of Warcraft subscriber numbers due to age and increased competition in the space.  The downgrade was mainly motivated by data coming out of a recent survery of 381 online gamers conducted by Lazard Capital Markets (along with Peanut Labs) . The survey results have Lazard Capital projecting a potential 900,000-1.6million player drop due to the the imminent launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic alone. 50% of those who were actively subscribed to World of Warcraft during the time of the survey stated they would be purchasing The Old Republic, while 38% said they may pick up the title.

Bagga wasn't entirely pessimistic, however, noting that half of former WoW subscribers polled during the survey stated they may return to World of Warcraft if Blizzard put on a special promotion, and that 33% of former subscribers would return to the game with the launch of Mists of Pandaria, the game's next expansion.

via GameSpot.

The celebrity of Barrens chat himself, Chuck Norris, has finally been featured in one of Blizzard's on-going series of celebrity TV spots for World of Warcraft.

Of course, what would this TV spot be without a Chuck Norris joke of its own?

Chuck Norris didn’t break a sweat filming the newest World of Warcraft television spot. Instead, he made the director cry and then cooled himself with the tears.

via the Official WoW blog.

In his latest WoW Factor, MMORPG.com's Joseph Sanicky takes a look at the recently announced Talents 2.0 and at the challenge Blizzard has taken on with its "elimination of the cookie cutter build" mantra. See if you agree with Joseph's thoughts and leave a few comments when finished!

The express purpose of the new talent system is to eliminate cookie cutters and introduce true choice and diversity into player builds, or so says Blizzard. Ignoring conspiracy theories of how this dumbs down the game or is marketing to tweens or whatever, this has the serious implication of truly fulfilling Blizzard’s goal of meaningful choice…or just making everyone a cookie. First off now everyone has the same set of default abilities to work with dependent on their class. After that every member of the class who is a certain spec will have additional abilities for that spec. Furthermore you get to choose six spells from each tier in the new talents.

Read more of Joseph Sanicky's The WoW Factor: Mage Talents 2.0.

World of Warcraft players will want to check into their accounts any time between Sunday, November 20th and Saturday, December 3rd to pick up a free anniversary gift. The package includes a Feat of Strength and when the package is 'opened', it shoots off fireworks, grants players a temporary (and celebratory) tabard and a +7% XP and reputation gain for a limited time.

Additionally, Blizzard has announced that a new World of Warcraft commercial is set to air during the first half of the Chargers-Bears NFL game on CBS. Set your TiVo!

Find out more about World of Warcraft.