ZAM user TherionSaysWhat started a thread in our World of Warcraft general forum that has generated a lot of discussion. The thread is based around this quote by Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street regarding hard mode in instances: "If you want to see the content, go on normal mode. If you want a challenge, go on hard mode. If you complain that hard is too hard for you, then guess what... go back to normal mode. ... Now you can see Arthas, but you aren’t going to get his best, most prestigious loot if you aren’t awesome."

That comment was made in a thread on the official WoW forums that contains all sorts of interesting discussion on end-game difficulty. When one player suggested an Elite Mode that would be incredibly difficult to complete, Ghostcrawler seemed to like the idea: " That is kind of what we are trying to do with the hard modes in Ulduar. If they work out well, I could totally see selecting 3 or 4 difficulty levels when you zone in rather than just 10 vs. 25."

So what are your thoughts about this topic? Is variable difficulty a good thing, or will players just end up having hard mode on farm, making it pointless? Discuss it in TherionSaysWhat's thread.

Here's our regular list of ZAM features and noteworthy news articles for the week. Keep reading below and after the jump for links to all the stories you may have missed.

ZAM features

Our Top 5 MMO Complaints: Y'know what really grinds Christopher "Pywff" Tom's gears? Keep reading to find out. Here's a hint: he's not a fan of slaying rats.

Warhammer Online: On Trial: Sam "azerian" Maxted gave the Warhammer online free trial a try to see what impression it could give to people thinking about buying the game.

Introducing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Online: This may have been our April Fools joke, but we still love the thought of running through the sewers in a TMNT MMO.

UI Policy Change? We're Calling a Lawyer!: We sat down with lawyer Connie Mableson to discuss Blizzard's decision to formalize the design and distribution guidelines for add-ons in World of Warcraft.

According to a post by Bornakk on the WoW forums, the upcoming Equipment Manager feature planned to be added with Patch 3.1 will no longer be going live with the upcoming content patch.

"Certain issues were encountered with the upcoming Equipment Manager that could not be resolved in time for release with the next content update, patch 3.1. In order to ensure that this feature meets our standard of quality, we will be taking some extra time with the Equipment Manager and it will instead be released some time after patch 3.1. We understand that this feature is a widely anticipated addition and apologize for this minor delay." (-Source-)

Could this mean that Patch 3.1's release is coming soon? Discuss it over on the WoW General Forums.

The World of Warcraft European site has shared two contest-related announcements today. The first is that the 2009 Arena Shoutcasting Contest is ending in two weeks on April 17, so get your submissions ready for the chance to win a Dell Ultrasharp 3007WFP-HC Monitor and a polar bear mount.

If you're not familiar with the shoutcasting contest, all you need to do is download an Arena tournament video and provide commentary for it. You can download the video for both PC and Mac on this page, as well as see which countries are eligible to participate in the contest.

The second post was made to announce the winners of the four-year anniversary T-shirt contest. World of Warcraft launched in Europe on Feb. 11, 2005, and players submitted T-shirt designs in honor of the occasion. You can view the winners here. What do you think? Would you wear any of them?

Blizzard poster Ancilorn has announced on the European World of Warcraft forums that the third phase of the 2009 Arena Tournament will end April 7 at 21.00 CEST, so all participants should make sure to fit in their 200 rated 3v3 games to qualify for prizes.

After being shut down for a week, the tournament will then pick up again on April 15 to begin the fourth phase, which is the invitational ladder. Good luck to everyone in the tournament!

Edit: Just to clarify, phase 3 ends for U.S. players at 9 p.m. PDT on April 6.

A new year-long World of Warcraft comic contest has begun, and Blizzard is now teaming up with TOKYOPOP to give each month's winner three volumes of Blizzard manga, as well as the chance to be considered for upcoming volumes of Warcraft: Legends and StarCraft: Frontline.

You can send a new comic each month, so start creating if you think you have a funny WoW story to tell in less than one page, preferably with original art. Blizzard also has some suggestions for what not to submit; Illidan and "You are not prepared" jokes are very old now, if you didn't know.

You can submit comics here and read the official rules here. As always, feel free to share your work in our general forum, too.

Noblegarden, the in-game Easter event filled with brightly colored eggs, will no longer occur on April 12 as originally planned. Instead, according to a post by Naethera, it has been delayed slightly and will be held at a later date due to the addition of more content.

"There have been many additions made to the event including a change to the length of which the event runs (1 week) and additional content for players to enjoy. We look forward to sharing this new experience with you."

Later in the thread, Naethera stated she can't say if Noblegarden will run into Children's Week or be postponed until after that event.

Blizzard is apparently reaching out to include even more mainstream pop culture in World of Warcraft if the company's most recent announcements are of any indication. If you think you can dance or want to pimp your ride, keep reading.

On the official US Web site, Blizzard has introduced the dance battle system, which will be implemented in patch 3.1 "Combining elements of Arena competition with the dynamism and creativity of coordinated, player-controlled dance animations, Dance Battles offer a whole new kind of crew-versus-crew challenge." Create your routine with a custom interface that is similar to the vehicle interface and get ready to war stomp the yard!

The official European site, on the other hand, is showcasing a system that is currently under development that will allow you to pimp your mount. Add color, armor and decorations for a small fee and ride/fly around the world showing off your epic pimpage!

It's no surpise that we at ZAM are big fans of The Guild. We had a chance to talk with members of the cast at last year's BlizzCon before the second season hit the airwaves, and the show has continued to increase in popularity, as seen through the three awards The Guild won at the first Streamys, an awards show recognizing shows produced for broadband distribution.

The Guild took home awards for best comedy web series and best ensemble cast in a web series. Felicia Day was also named best female actor in a comedy web series.

You can see all the winners here (personally, I'm glad to see Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog earned all sorts of recognition). Check out the announcement on The Guild's Web site to see photos from the event or to watch episodes of the show.

With all of the upcoming UI changes in patch 3.1 and the new add-on development policy, this bit of news may not surprise you. Our friends over at WoW Interface have gotten an exclusive sneak peak at Blizzard's new in-game add-on store, which will be launching with the new patch. Here's the information from Cairenn's post:

"Authors will get 60% of the revenue generated by the sale of their addons, with Blizzard taking a 40% cut. ... Any AddOns that they choose to give away for free, the author will get a one-time lump sum payment of $10 - $25, depending on the complexity of the AddOn. Any AddOn that isn't properly maintained and kept up to date with the Blizzard patches will be removed from the store and all payments to the author will cease."

Sadly, this means add-on sites such as WoW Interface will become obsolete. We recently talked with lawyer Connie Mableson, and she actually said she expected Blizzard to offer add-ons for sale to players. You can read the interview here.