Episode 6 of BlizzCast, the official Blizzard podcast, is now online, and it contains an hour of interviews regarding World of Warcraft, Starcraft II and Diablo III.

In the sixth epic episode of BlizzCast, we spend a day with a developer and find out what life is like for World of Warcraft Lead Tools Programmer Monte Krol. Next, we take a look at StarCraft II unit design from concept to creation with Senior Art Director Samwise Didier and Lead Game Designer Dustin Browder. In our third segment, Bashiok spends some time with Anthony Rivero, senior artist for Diablo III, and discusses "bridging the gap" in the series’ character design. Bornakk wraps the episode up by answering some questions from the community.

You can download an mp3 of the show here or read the transcript here.

You killed your raid content mobs, you topped out your player versus player (PvP) rewards, you leveled to the cap only a month after the last expansion and, in only a few weeks (or days), the newest content addition to the game is coming out; the dreaded expansion.

Most MMOs that offer expansions which increase the level cap cause depreciation of old content. Let me explain. While features or content are not removed, and backwards compatibility is maintained, the content previous to the expansion often becomes obsolete or out of date. There is little reason for players to go through old content when there's obviously a new and better way of doing things.

Blizzard has prepared for Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK) by making previously challenging raid encounters significantly easier, forcing some folks to cry foul as their hard work becomes "cheapened". The drops now pull from the same loot tables as they did before the change, but with significantly less risk and challenge.

So my question to you is, do you care?

Some of the folks on our World of Warcraft board discussed this very thing last week, and the replies, barbed though they were, elicited strong responses on either side.

Due to the overwhelming popularity of the newest expansion, Wrath of the Lich King, and the absolute hordes of players descending upon Northrend, Blizzard has just announced that there is a new feature available for all of you who have not yet taken the plunge into the frozen wastes yet. As discovered and posted over in our WoW General Forums by Kelnoen the Malevolent :

I’ve had the opportunity to conduct some fun interviews over the years but sitting down with Jeffrey “Tigole”  Kaplan felt like I was hanging out with an extremely knowledgeable gamer, not a big wig at a major studio. From the moment I met him he had this pleasant aura about him which made it extremely easy to talk about our previous lives as hardcore ‘EverQuesters’. Once upon a time Jeff was the GM of a guild that many of you reading have likely heard of, “Legacy of Steel”. He’s used his love and knowledge of gaming and the end result is World of Warcraft.

The following is from my talk with Jeff Kaplan on Wednesday night at the official Blizzard Wrath of the Lich King Launch event in Anaheim, California. Special thanks go out to Humphrey Cheung from TGdaily.com for the pictures and to Blizzard PR for sneaking me inside Fry’s.

Allakhazam : Hey Jeff, thank you so much for agreeing to talk with us tonight. We know there is a lot going on so we appreciate your time.

Jeff : Well I really appreciate being here and I'm a huge fan of Allakhazam so it's my pleasure.

Allakhazam : Thank you! So what were some of the major challenges you had developing Wrath of the Lich King?

Allakhazam has been selected as the Top Informational Site in the multi-game fansite category of the MMOFury Fansite Awards!

"There is no other site that has been so consistantly putting out helpful information on online games. There was also no other site that received more nominations from its users than Allakhazam. Their World of Warcraft database is gigantic, possibly the largest. If you need information on the biggest games out there (WoW, EQ, EQ2, EVE, Star Wars, etc.) look no further, you have found your intel source."

We'd like to thank MMOFury and everyone who voted for Allakhazam.com as their top gaming information source. You can read the announcement here and see the list of all winners here.

UPDATE: A new European PvE server, Chamber of Aspects, has been opened as a migration realm. Migration from specific servers will remain open until Nov. 18 before character creation on the realm is enabled. Check here for all the information.

Blizzard is offering some new free server transfer options for both North American and European servers. As we previously reported, transfers to a new NA PvE server named Fizzcrank are being offered, and Blizzard recently added some more source servers that can transfer to Fizzcrank.

Here's the NA list. Those who can transfer to Fizzcrank have until Nov. 24. Also, players from a number of PvP servers can transfer to Dentarg, Haomarush or Chromaggus (all PvP) for free until Nov. 20. Despite the deadlines, it's recommended you take advantage of these offers as quickly as possible since they could be filled quickly.

Here's the European list. Unlike the NA list, it's all offers from one specific server to another specific server. You have until Nov. 18, but again it should be done as soon as possible.

Keep checking those posts to see if more servers are added. Blizzard is still trying to balance the server populations with the release of Wrath of the Lich King.

OK, I know we're all busy playing Wrath of the Lich King, but it wasn't the only WoW-related launch this week. Upper Deck's World of Warcraft Miniatures Game is now available in stores worldwide, so why don't you give it a shot while you wait for your server's queue to die down? It's available in four-figure starter sets and three-figure randomized booster packs.

Each of the 70 figures available ... captures the flavor and style of the popular World of Warcraft characters, including such fan favorites as Leeroy Jenkins, Warchief Thrall, and Varimathras.

Even if you don't plan on playing, these minis will make great collectibles. You may love or hate Leeroy, but who wouldn't want Thrall on their desk? You can check the game out this weekend at a number of events throughout North America. Here's the full list. I'm happy to say my local comic store is on there. Yours may be, too! More information on the game can be found here or below.

So with the release of WotLK and all the mayhem the midnight event brought out, GameStop has joined in the fun by offering a pre-paid one year gamecard and a hot quad-core gaming behemoth to the winner of their newest costume contest.

Wrath of the Lich King is live and I'm sitting in a Denny’s uploading screenshots from one of the funniest launch events that I've had the opportunity to attend. After fifteen hours of ‘CE Camping’ in a Fry's parking lot in Anaheim, I've returned with 'phat lewts', new friends and a few great stories. Please bear with me as I attempt to share with you my day at the official WotLK launch event. I'm rather tired.

To be completely honest, I had no idea what to expect Wednesday morning when I started my, now epic, journey to Fry's. I knew there would be players already in line but there is no way I could have prepared myself for what John Fitch, who was at the front of the line told me. "Yeah I've been here since 9am PST on Tuesday. By the time I get into the store I will have been here around 39 hours ." said the Hello Kitty enthusiast that you'll hear all about as soon as I transcribe our full conversation. To make his wait a tad more bearable, anyone who asked about what he was doing was informed that he was waiting in line for the new Hello Kitty game. As you can imagine, John had his fair share of weird looks. At one point in the evening he gathered a mob of people to circle the building shouting "Hello Kitty! Hello Kitty!" Some of the things we gamers do to entertain ourselves…

Now camping out over night in a lawn chair is hardcore, but I'm not sure if it tops Eugene Gray who checked out of a hospital earlier in the day to come down and wait in line against doctors orders. Hardcore? Most certainly! That wasn't enough so he brought out his Frostmourne replica. More to come about this badass later as I also sat down with him to get the whole story.

Following the maintenance troubles of the past two days, Blizzard has created a new service status forum.

Here's the welcome post by Dalathmordus:

This forum was created to bring you the latest information regarding the status of realms, transfers, name changes, and other vital game and account related services. Our goal is, as always, to maintain 24 hour working service, and your patience regarding any interruptions is greatly appreciated. Please refer to this forum frequently for available service updates and announcements.