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14-8975487248-89. That is the code to my Authenticator. Ok, so not really, but that one piece of information can be your accounts savior, and it's downfall. The keyfob authenticators hit the scene around Blizzcon 2008, and they truly changed the way that people use their WoW accounts. These little, highly technical pieces of gadgetry have a chip that will, every 60 seconds, let you login to WoW once you provide your username and password. I was overjoyed to get mine, and the only time I have been worried is that one time I thought I had lost my fob in a move. Boy, was I glad I had been smart to put it with stuff I knew I would open early at my new place.

A few months after the key fob version was released, which most of the time saw the authenticator out of stock in the Blizzard Store, Blizzard released the Battle Net authenticator, an app for the Apple iPhone and iPod Touch, which opened up the Authenticator to many more people without the need to stock and ship an actual device. The biggest benefit, though, was the cost. At a great price of Free, the app based authenticator became an instant hit to iTouch and iPhone using WoW fans, though not long after Blizzard made the authenticator available to other platforms for a small fee, usually a buck or two.

When an iPhone OS update hit, the major flaw in the BattleNet Authenticator was revealed, that the code, a mock up of which I have at the start of this post, changed. Now, you might think that this number changing should be no big deal, right? Alas, you would be wrong. The number changing, made the numbers the game, which was calculating the number to expect based on the original number you supplied, was expecting a very, very different code. "Why not just tell blizz the number changed?" you might be asking. Good question. The information Blizz needs to change or remove the Authenticator on file, among other things, is your username, password, and the code you originally entered. Yup. That number that has now changed.

As this was the first update the iPhone OS since the app came out, no one knew to keep that code handy, and therefore thousands of iPhone or iTouch users were essentially screwed, and forced to call up Blizzard's non toll free billing number to fix a problem that was not their fault. I am sure their phone companies were overjoyed at the long distance charges accrued in those first few hours of that OS update. This flaw is only the first of many that have cropped up in the app based Authenticators.

Another one cropped up for a listener and staff member of the show, Xandarr2112. Xan was an iPhone owner who had the authenticator on his phone, right up until he lost the job that was providing him the phone. Without the iPhone to get the code from, he too had to make that toll charged call out to California to plead his case with Blizzard to remove the authenticator from his account, the one attached to the phone his employers kept, all without the code he would need to do so. Not a call I would want to make, that's for sure. Thankfully his account is once again secured, as the show was able to get him an authenticator(and a murloc plushy for his newborn) to replace the phone based one from before.

The final flaw in the entire authenticator system is the scam. The beauty of the authenticator is that a simple Trojan on your computer can get your username and password, but not your authenticator code. Scammers then turned around and began using phishing schemes to get players to give up their username, password, and... yes, even their Authenticator numbers. One would think there would be enough players smart enough to see through these, but the vision of a Spectral Tiger, one of the rarest mounts in the game, is a tempting specter to a player wanting a bit of the unique in a world of copy cat models.

As was reported awhile back on WoW.com, the WoW blog, the scammers used the lure of the Spectral Tiger mount to get players with lots of gold on their accounts to a website that they claimed would be used to redeem the 'code' for the mount. Players would go there, fill in the info like username, name, password, and their authenticator code, and once they did that, the hacker would use the handy section of account management to remove the authenticator, change the password, and rape the player's characters of anything of value.

Blizzard has tried to work around all of these flaws, pulling the app until it is fixed that updates don't change the authenticator code, changing the mount so that the scammer would just be asked by a smart player to see the mount item, since the TCG loot is no longer BoP, and made the authenticators easily removed with certain info. Still, though, a lost cell phone, a poorly implemented update to OS or app, or many other problems make the Authenticator more than just these handy little devices, or applications, to keep your account secure. Does this mean I recommend against them? Hell no! It is still better to have it, than not, but just be cautious with your info

Pride will come before the fall

Grom Hellscream was prideful and blood thirsty. He was a mighty warrior who sealed his fate by drinking the blood of Mannoroth, binding his people to the demon's blood for years. He drank to defeat foes that he and his race were tricked into slaughtering at the will of the very demons they thought they were subjugating. They nearly eradicated the Draenei, and then once their task was done, they became restless from the demon blood burning in them, and began attacking each other, before moving onto Azeroth. All because the mighty Grom Hellscream, wielder of Gorehowl, drank the blood of demons.

Flash forward to the present day. The heir of Grom, Garrosh, is now a leader among the Horde. Once a weak, sick boy, unable to even lift a weapon to combat his father's enemies, Garrosh has grown into a strong warrior. Alas, Garrosh has the same flaw which brought about his father's down fall, and the fall of the entire Horde in the second war, Pride. Garrosh feels his people are capable of destroying all of the alliance, and defeat every threat to this world without any help from others. Would Garrosh drink the blood of a demon if promised it would give him the upper hand on the Alliance, giving the entirety of Azeroth to the Horde? You bet he would, and he too, would fall.

Grom was too eager, too blinded by his bloodlust without even the taste of the demon's blood, to see the trap, the tricks being played on him by Kil'Jaeden. Garrosh too is blinded by blood lust, by an insane need to slaughter those he sees as responsible for the fall of the first horde, that he would too take any advantage offered to him that would give him and his warriors the ability to crush the pesky alliance forces.

No doubt, Variann Wrynn shares similar traits to his own father as well, believing the alliance is undeafeatable, where his father felt Stormwind could not fall, and both seem to be destined to follow the same path, though one can only hope that Variann will be willing to listen to the wisdom of others like Jaina and his son. This article, though, is not about Variann, it's about Garrosh, even though both do share several personality aspects.

I personally feel that Garrosh becoming warchief, which has been rumored but not confirmed recently confirmed, would be the worst possible thing for the Horde. The Horde is already a blood thirsty, battle hungry organization, even when their leader wishes peace, but a leader who only wishes to see more blood on the blade than peace talks and cooperation will be their downfall. Indeed, Garrosh Hellscream will bring about the downfall of the Horde, much like his father's actions led to the fall of the first Horde.

So I was noticing on MMO Champion a few days ago that there was some changes to flying in the recently applied 3.2.2 patch. After the 3.1 patch brought us the spectacular changes to speed and costs of pretty much every level of riding(yes, I count fast flight, cause it still had a discounted rate by rep), the 3.2 patch followed up by blah. Now the 3.2.2 patch that just hit made even more changes to the way mounting and riding work in World of Warcraft. The cost of slow riding was slashed more, originally being 800g, then slashed to 600g in 3.2, and now it is a mere 225g! That is dirt cheap even for the single toon player that is just hitting 60.

This, though, got me thinking to the future. What will Cataclysm flying cost us? What would it be called? Will they make us pay at all? These questions and more will be my theories for this post. First, the cost. Let's look at all of the riding costs. slow riding is now 5g to learn, fast riding is 95g, slow bird is now 225g, and fast bird is 5000g. Cold Weather Flying is 1,000g. The first two are relics of the Pre expansion game, while the latter two are the first big upgrades to riding after almost 3 years of game life. Slow flying had been buffed a bit, going from 800g to 225g, and 60% to 150% so that now you can fly 1.5 times faster, and for almost 25% of the original price. Sadly, fast flying is still the high price and same speed as it's been since it's inception in patch 3.1.

Cold weather Flying, the much hated 1,000g restriction that came in with Wrath of the Lich King which was a costly barrier to flying on one's normal flying mount, which many people paid more than 5,000 gold to train and use. While there was a loaner mount available for use in some zones, this was incredibly slow and acted as merely a way to access the more remote regions if you had no other means to buy the cold weather skill. The price has also not changed, though they did introduce a Tome of Cold Weather flying, a Bind on Account single use heirloom for those who are already 80, and have alts who wish to fly at 68 in Northrend.

Now to that we have the history, let us theorize the possible cost of flying in Azeroth once the cataclysm is upon us. First, I am sure there will be some cost. I don't think they will ruin their track record of giving us players money sinks for the ample gold they make available in game by giving us free flying in Azeroth. It just doesn't compute. As for the cost, I think it will be in the area of 500-1500 gold, based on their outlook on it. If they realize there si 5 less levels, and thus less as we go money making possibilities, they might go low.

If they think of it from the view that we could easily hit max level much faster and therefore be making max level gold for quest xp, they could increase it to the high side. I doubt it would balloon over 2,000 gold though, as that comes far too close to the pain of max level flying costs. I do think it will be unrestricted by level other than 'you get it when you get flying', as they are doing all they can these days to make flying more accessible, from changing the level you get to fly to 60, making the tome of cold weather flying, and lowering the cost of the slow flight riding skill.

As for the name, and any possible restrictions, I think the name is up in the air. Worldwide Flying? Warm Air Flying? Azeroth Flight? I don't know, but no doubt it will have some linguistically friendly name. I do think that Azeroth flight will be available to anyone at level 60 or better, simply due to the far reaches of the different zones in Cataclysm. It makes no sense to restrict it to only top level, because the quest zones are all over. Perhaps 80s, but even then it isn't very logical, not when the entire world is being redesigned, in part to allow it. No, I think it will be at 60, when we get our first flight abilities. Am I right? I'll let you know in July.

The patch 3.2 PTR is up, and there is alot being said about the changes to the mount system. Most people I know with toons still in Outlands are very excited about how fast they can level through Outlands once they can fly out there. I have to say, though, that I am not so sure. I have a few reasons for this perspective, primary being what I call incidental xp. This is all that xp you get from mobs you kill while traveling.

The big change I refer to is the fact that you can learn slow flight at level 60, as compared to the level 70 that you need to learn both speeds of flight. This is a cool change, along with the many other mount changes that are coming in this patch, of that I have no doubt, but I think this will negatively impact on the leveling players. Let me put this plainly: you get a quest from NPC bob and you need to travel a little ways away, kill 5 mobs, and bring back a piece of the mobs armor.

Currently you kill 10 mobs on the way to the target and 3 more on the way back. Let's say that each mob gives 1500 xp per kill. That is about 20,000 xp. Now in 3.2 you will kick up on your bird, fly to the target mob area and killing, then flying back to the quest giver. That is now 20,000 or so xp you have just lost out on. Multiply that by a dozen or even a hundred quests, and you begin to see a major slowdown in levelling.

'But Medros', you may say, 'won't this be the same for the other travel changes in 3.2?' My best guess is no it will not. The difference is that flight takes you over and out of range of the mobs on the ground, while even an epic land mount will not avoid the possibility of being dazed off your mount and forcing you to fight against your desire. So while you can ride really fast past your mobs starting at 40 once 3.2 hits, you will not be able to completely avoid fighting those mobs like we will be able to in Outlands when the patch hits.

The definite benefit to these travel changes is, for instance, that you can now get rep discounts on mounts and training, which will likely save me roughly 3,000g between all the toons who still need to buy riding skills. Whether the benefits will outweigh the downsides, it's impossible to say, and I think we will not really know until we see the patch hit and compare the duration of leveling now compared to then. I for one am interested in seeing what real, live gameplay will turn out like. What do you think the flying changes and mount changes will do for the game? Found a flaw in my logic or math? Leave a comment below!