A few months back, I wrote an editorial about Blizzard's new "post-Lich King" trend of releasing new content quicker than ever before. Despite the controversy and various player issues resulting from the company's new release standard, I believe it ultimately offers the community more good than bad. However, I recently came across the post, "Does new content outdate too fast?" at Tobold's MMORPG Blog, which gave me pause. Tobold received a letter from a casual World of Warcraft player who feels left in the dust; the speed of new endgame content—specifically dungeons like Ulduar, Trial of the Grand Crusader and now the new Onyxia raid—is just too fast for some players.

Most hardcore raiders would contend that, in this case, the good outweighs the bad. Even many casual raiders, including me, agree that new content is a good thing; regardless of how overwhelming it can be for people without the time to "just put their head down and do it." But there are other factors to consider, too. For example, what about casual raiders who can't find players willing to run through the 10-player, let alone the 25-player, versions of these dungeons because they don't have anything to gain? Even if an older raid dungeon still houses one or two pieces of gear that offers an upgrade, why not run the newest raid instead, which offers better odds of getting stronger gear?

As we reported, the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game and Miniatures World Championships, as well as a Darkmoon Faire, were held over the weekend at the Austin Convention Center in Texas. The Upper Deck Web site has all sorts of coverage from the event, including videos and podcasts.

William Postlethwait (top left) took home the TCG world crown after defeating Matt Markoff 3-2. Postlethwait actually lost the first two games, but came back to win the final three to seal the victory. You can read details on the match here. Derek Richardson won the miniatures tournament and earned the world title by defeating Michael Pozsgay. Check out how Richardson used his Jaina Proudmoore-based team in this summary of the match.

Halloween's less than three weeks away, which means it's a good time to pick up some pumpkins and carve them. If you're looking for some design ideas, Blizzard and Turbine just announced their pumpkin carving contests! The Blizzard one kicks off today and runs through Oct. 28. Simply submit your best Blizzard-related pumpkin for the chance to win a 32GB iPod touch. Check out last year's winners if you need some inspiration.

Turbine is looking for pumpkins with a Lord of the Rings Online theme, and winners will earn the "Master Carver" title on the official forums. One grand prize winner will receive 1,000,000 copper (also known as 10 gold). Be sure to check out the official rules before you pick up your carving kit. The contest ends on Oct. 30.

Also, don't forget about our very own Final Fantasy XI pumpkin carving contest for your chance to win exclusive in-game items! The first 500 approved entries will receive a small in-game pumpkin and the top 25 finalists will also receive a large in-game pumpkin, both available only through our contest. Check out last year's amazing winner and enter your own design!

During an interview with MTV news (via WoW.com), director Sam Raimi announced that Robert Rodat is the writer for the upcoming Warcraft movie. Rodat wrote the screenplays for "Saving Private Ryan" and "The Patriot," as well as "Fly Away Home."

Raimi also had this to say about the Warcraft film: ""We want to be really faithful to the game...to the Horde and the Alliance and the mythology that takes place in the game, and the archetypes that the game presents." The director feels Rodat will "tell a great character story within the fantastic environment of the world of Warcraft."

Hopefully the Warcraft script will emulate "Saving Private Ryan" more than "Fly Away Home." If we start seeing in-game quests where players must lead geese to a wildlife refuge, we're in trouble.

Patch 3.3 is up on World of Warcraft's PTR, and our comrades at Wowhead have pulled the 3D models of a number of important NPCs and items from the Icecrown Citadel.

After the break, you can see Jaina Proudmoore's's new model, as well as Shadowmourne and Quel'Delar, in full 3D! Now there are a lot of models that aren't represented in Wowhead's initial batch—they're just digging through them for now. But we'll have posts up soon for T10, as well as many others.

To see more of the models from WoW's patch 3.3, click here!

MMO-Champion reported it over the weekend, and now it's official: all current World of Warcraft players will be required to merge their World of Warcraft accounts with a Battle.net account on Nov. 11 in order to log in to the game. This is becoming mandatory because the new Battle.net will ultimately let players "participate in cross-realm chat in World of Warcraft, create real-life friends lists, communicate across different games, and a whole lot more."

Players who merge their accounts, as well as those who already completed the process, will receive a new penguin in-game pet. Bornakk says you can "check for him in your in-game mailbox later this week." To merge your account, all you need to do is visit the Battle.net Web site. You can also check out the FAQ here. Bornakk's full post can be found after the jump.

How do you feel about the mandatory mergers? Personally, I found it to be a quick and painless process. What about you? There's already a discussion going on in our forums, so feel free to add to the thread.

Blizzard has released the newest edition of the Gadgetzan Times fan fiction newsletter, and this issue seems to contain a little something for everyone. If you sympathize with the kobold lifestyle, you'll want to check out the poem that's appropriately titled, "You No Take Candle!" If you prefer world events, print out this crossword puzzle and give it a try.

The Gadgetzan Times is currently accepting stories written by players. If you have a tale to tell, send it in and maybe your story will appear in the next edition. Of course, Blizzard has only published two other issues of the fan fiction newsletter; the first was released in May 2008, while the second didn't come out until July of this year. Still, it's certainly worth submitting your work for consideration.

UPDATE: Based on player feedback, Blizzard has made a number of changes to the DPS set bonuses. You can view the updated bonuses after the jump. There's also been changes to the priest and paladin healing sets.

According to blue posts by Bornakk and Nethaera, the Tier 10 set bonuses have recently been released on the PTR and Blizzard wants your feedback. "The items will soon be available on the PTR for additional testing, but we welcome your initial impressions and theory crafting thoughts as well," Nethaera said.

You'll find the two- and four-piece set bonuses for healers, tanks and DPS after the jump. What are your impressions? Remember, none of the bonuses are set in stone and could change during the testing process.

Blizzard has been steadily adding information to its patch 3.3 under development pages. Last week the team released information on The Frozen Halls five-player dungeon, and previews of The Frozen Throne raid dungeon and some of the Tier 10 models were added in the last few days. Now the European site has posted biographies of Queen Sylvanas Windrunner and Lady Jaina Proudmoore, two characters who will play major roles in Icecrown Citadel.

I'm sure most of you already know the backgrounds of Sylvanas and Jaina, but it's nice to get a refresher course before patch 3.3 goes live. You can even view lists of their major novel, comic, manga, and game appearances. Both of their profiles can be found after the jump.

UPDATE: Zarhym updated the post to clarify what's been changed with the nameplates. For example, you'll see nameplates if you can peer into the doorway of a room, and nameplates for totems can be toggled on the PTR. The full update can be found after the jump.

Those of you on the public test realms may notice that Blizzard has made some changes to the way creature and character nameplates are displayed in World of Warcraft. Zarhym actually outlined these updates on the official PTR forum and is asking for feedback. Here's the list of changes straight from the blue post:

• The range at which you can see the nameplates is now much longer.
• You can no longer see the nameplates through objects which block line of sight.
• Instead of the nameplates trying to sort themselves, they just overlap. We think this makes them more useful for very large groups (example: Onyxia whelps).

Have you noticed these changes on the PTR? What do you think of them in PvE and PvP?