Just a few days ago, we published a news-editorial about the upcoming Cataclysm stat system changes; in our recent feature, we offered an extensive roundup of Blizzard's answers to the most commonly-asked questions that followed the original stat change announcement from the official WoW forums. The new "Mastery System" coming in Cataclysm is one of the issues we addressed; players were having a tough time wrapping their minds around the idea last week, and we noticed many of our own readers bringing up similar questions in their comments. As luck would have it, Blizzard's Eyonix posted a "Mastery System Preview" thread in the official forums—most likely in response to all the confusion and speculation that the original stat system announcement stirred up last week.

"With this system," Eyonix said in the post, "we want to accomplish three things: give players more freedom in how they allocate talent points, simplify some of the 'kitchen sinky' talents that try to do too much at once, and add a new stat to high-level gear that makes you better at your chosen role." Eyonix explained that as players spend points in a particular talent tree (as per usual), they will receive three different "passive bonuses" specific to that tree. He said the first bonus will increase damage, healing or survivability, depending on the role of the talent tree. The second bonus will relate to a specific stat that's "commonly found on gear desirable to you, such as Haste or Crit," he said. Finally, the third bonus will provide players with a unique effect related to that tree; there will be 30 different effect bonuses total.

Eyonix describes that the purpose of the upcoming Mastery system is "to give players more flexibility to choose fun or utility-oriented talents rather than make them feel obligated to pick up 'mandatory' but uninteresting talents, such as passive damage or healing." Check out Eyonix's complete post after the jump, in which he describes the Mastery system in more detail and offers a few class-specific examples of the bonuses it will provide.

Just recently we noted that Blizzard is already preparing for the day when World of Warcraft will be declared obsolete, and while many readers felt that, like Everquest, WoW will never be considered "obsolete" (only unprofitable), there is one aspect of World of Warcraft that has remained untouched in its six years of development: WoW's classic hotkey based combat, otherwise affectionately known as "1-2-1-2-1-2" combat.

More specifically, while there are many who are happy with World of Warcraft's responsive combat design, it is also undeniable that sometimes it can be a bit jarring to realize that your raid DPS cycle really consists of you just pressing 1 button while occasionally pressing 2 once you've built up enough combo points or once a certain skill is off cooldown. In this regard, there have been a number of MMORPGs that have set out to try to "break free" of WoW's 1-2-1-2 combat, and while not all of these innovations have been very successful, we, here at ZAM, decided to really check out what sort of technology fads are on the rise for MMO gamers away from WoW's classic hotkey style of combat.

Last week Blizzard finally delivered a semi-detailed explanation of the upcoming character stat changes scheduled to be introduced shortly before Cataclysm's official release. At BlizzCon 2009, the World of Warcraft development team revealed the news that the existing character stat system would be completely redesigned in the next expansion. We only received a smattering of details back then, indicating that, among other changes, modifiers like Spell Power and Attack Power would be rolled into base stats.

The details were all but speculation until last week, when Blizzard poster Eyonix announced the preliminary information in the official forums. The result is an itemized list of all game stats and combat mechanics outlined in several categories, including "What You’ll See on Gear," "Being Removed from Items," "Going Away Completely" and more. The announcement was well-received but, as expected, the player community unleashed a barrage of questions and concerns. Instead of spending a few hours scouring multiple forum threads and searching for individual "blue" responses, we've done most of the legwork for you; after the jump, you'll find Blizzard's answers to last week’s most commonly-asked questions from players.

Going into the Intel Extreme Masters World Championships in World of Warcraft 3v3 arena, there were very few teams who believed that Team EG (Evil Geniuses) would do very well in the standings. With competition like Korea's super-powerful "Button Bashers," the legendary Rogue / Mage / Priest team who snapped up top spots at MLG Anaheim a few months back, and the European crowd favourite "Team Dignitas," composed of some of Europe's top talent - also playing Rogue / Mage / Priest - some were predicting that the tournament would ultimately come down to a Korea versus Europe finale of RMP versus RMP.

Of course, predictions never come out just the way you want them to, and the Canadian / American "Team EG," who ran a pressure-heavy Rogue / Warlock / Shaman, were the runaway sensations of the tournament, despite the fact that they had the least amount of practice amongst all of the teams present. Instead, Team EG relied solely on their personal abilities and, through sheer talent, they managed to step past the Koreans and into the grand finals against the Europeans. Team EG takes home one of the biggest World of Warcraft 3v3 tournament winnings in quite some time with a paycheque of 25,000 Euros.

You can check out the brackets and the teams at the Electronic Sports League website!

How do people cope when tragedy hits? Some laugh, many cry, some volunteer. And then a few keep doing what they enjoy, like play games. Read on to find out how one woman is coping with the massive earthquake that hit her home country of Chile last weekend ...

Blizzard has released wallpapers in the past, but their latest is part of their Battlecry mosaic project and looks fantastic.

Activision-Blizzard filed its annual report for investors on March 1, which summarizes the publisher's 2009 fiscal year. The report isn't exactly what most players would consider a leisurely read, although it does provide a few interesting details about the publisher's concerns with World of Warcraft's performance as of late. When it comes to investor reports, concerns like these—and the detailing of potential risk factors—is standard practice. Still, the report provides some insight into recent community topics like WoW's subscriber base finally leveling off, as we discussed in a news-editorial last month.

If you've been following the recent NetEase fiasco in China, it should come as no surprise that Blizzard's international subscriber base took a substantial hit last year. WoW's continued success in the Chinese market—which accounts for several million of its worldwide players—hinges on its approval in 2010: "Having World of Warcraft unavailable for play or available only on an unpaid basis would result in lost revenues and income, and having it unavailable for a prolonged period could have a negative effect on our reputation and subscriber base in China," according to the report.

Aside from the obligatory factors like "inflation, recession, rising unemployment and volatile gasoline prices," Activision-Blizzard is keeping a close eye on the social networking (Facebook games) and portable (iPhone) markets, fearing these burgeoning mediums could someday render WoW obsolete:

"Future increased consumer acceptance and increases in the availability such games or other online games, or technological advances in online game software or the Internet, could result in a decline in platform-based software and negatively impact sales of our console and hand-held products. Newer technological advances in online game software may also render products such as World of Warcraft obsolete."

The company also recognized a few WoW- and MMO-specific risks it's facing. "If consumer demand for World of Warcraft games declines and we have not introduced new MMORPG or other products that replace World of Warcraft 's potentially decreasing revenue, or added other sources of revenue, our financial condition could suffer," the report reads. In addition, Activision-Blizzard reiterates its need to "refresh World of Warcraft or develop new MMORPG products," according to the report.

The publisher also mentions the emerging prominence of "online functionality" in video games, echoing the recent changes to its Battle.net platform and its upcoming integration with other Blizzard games like StarCraft 2 and Diablo III. In addition, Activision-Blizzard refers to itself in the report as a "hit-driven" business and recognizes its need to stay one step ahead of competitors, who "may develop titles that imitate or compete with our 'hit' titles, and take sales away from them or reduce our ability to command premium prices for those titles."

With the 3.3.3 patch around the corner, raiders in Icecrown Citadel get the blessing from their respective commanders to boost health, healing and damage. Get more details after the break ...

Can't get enough World of Warcraft goodies? Well, the World of Warcraft Community site has more items for you to sink your teeth (and money) into. Oh, and a few free things as well. Read on for the details.

Although Cataclysm may still be months away, the developers at Blizzard aren't about to let us simply forget about their world-changing upcoming expansion. In a tightly crafted forum post by Eyonix, the Blizzard development team outlined the major gear and stat changes that are on their way with Deathwing's return. Some of the highlights include the complete abandonment of Defence and Weapon Skill, along with major changes to Stamina, Spirit, and Intellect.

Keep reading to find out more!