Lore is back in another episode of The Weekly Marmot, this time taking a look at Valor after the anouncement that the Valor upgrade NPCs are not going to exist once 5.2 goes live.

I’ve always been a little sceptical of wireless mice. Back in the early days of World of Warcraft I was raiding a boss in Molten Core, when suddenly the batteries died. Without a spare pair of AAs to hand, my evening’s onslaught toward Ragnaros was crippled. At that moment, I swore never to be hobbled by a wireless mouse again.

It’s taken the first wireless mouse from SteelSeries to persuade me to give them another go. With a built in lithium-ion battery and the option to go wired if the battery dies, the World of Warcraft Wireless MMO Gaming Mouse promised to overturn my preconceptions. After putting it through a barrage of tests I have to admit: I’m impressed.

Alongside the mouse, I also tried out the SteelSeries QcK Panda Monk Edition mousepad. With high quality artwork based on Blizzard’s latest expansion, I was eager to find out how mouse and pad would work together to provide the control and precision needed – not just for Mists of Pandaria, but for other popular MMOs as well.

More Lore for you today! 

This week:

• 1:40 - How memorable will Tier 14 be?
• 7:02 - Would adding a penalty to reforging make the system more interesting?
• 11:50 - How much do I need to spend to get a PC that runs WoW well?
• 16:41 - Will Blizzard try to push people to stop playing WoW when Titan releases?
• 20:49 - How do you feel about talents that directly affect your rotation?
• 27:08 - Now that we have LFD and LFR, should attunements be brought back?
• 33:57 - Is it a good idea to force PvE players into PvP for the 5.2 legendary?
• 40:29 - Is it better to buy valor pieces if you're only running LFR?

Julian "Mirai" Williams

This is more neat than it should be - an unofficial, unlicensed theme park in Changzhou, China is completely styled after World of Warcraft. It was opened last year mid summer and cost $48 million to make (probably calculated from yen, but there's no word on that). Reddit user Francesca Timbers took all these pictures, and Mashable reposted the gallery and her thoughts with permission. 

Also cool - there's a section of the park based around StarCraft. Neat all around. 

Julian "Mirai" Williams

With the PTR being pounded for new secrets like a punchbag, Lore from Tankspot has provided a new video previewing the Mists of Pandaria Council of Elders raid.

Lore takes you through the encounters with aplomb, outlining the different strategies that were attempted and what the results were with his usual insight.

In another shining example of what gamers can do when they band together, Blizzard announced that the special sale of the Cinder Kitten in-game pet for World of Warcraft netted a handsome some for the victims of Superstorm Sandy, which hit the east coast of the US late last year:

"Thanks to the overwhelming generosity of World of Warcraft players around the world who purchased the Cinder Kitten pet, we’ve raised a total of more than $2.3 million USD to support the American Red Cross’s ongoing Superstorm Sandy relief efforts."

Lore is back with another round of his Q&A show, PST. This time around, he tackles tough topics such as faction-tagging of world bosses in patch 5.2, discussing if reforging still have a place, pondering if add-ons are required and more.

It's the big issue, and it's hung over World of Warcraft - and all MMORPGs - like a thick sheet of whale blubber, and Lore would like to talk with you about it: Why does everyone hate the grind?

He has a slightly different take on it, and what's funny is (without having played the game for ages), I completely agree with him. Namely, that the grind is just fine in WoW. It belongs. And it works.

Julian "Mirai" Williams

Blizzard's got a full-court press going on behalf of the upcoming 5.2 content patch for World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria. Today, they unleashed a brand new teaser trailer showcasing what's to come in the realm of The Thunder King!

Unless you've been living in the Dalaran sewers, you've probably heard about a little game called League of Legends by Riot Games. What many folks don't seem to realize, however, is that its gameplay is based on an old Warcraft 3 mod called "Defense of the Ancients."  DotA, as it was called, nearly single-handedly popularized the multi-player online battle arena (MOBA) genre, and the rest is history.