Just s few hot fix notes for the live servers today:

 - Asif Kilter, Higg Dunhoff, and Val Arn Anog, the Rarities Traders who wander the lands, have returned to the capital cities of their respective realms. They do not plan to stay through the winter, however, and will likely leave again once the invasion has ended so players who have need of their services for completing the quest The Heart of the Matter should go visit them when they have the chance.

 - Fixed an issue that was causing members of the Hero class to receive a version of their Dragonslayer armor with the incorrect quality.

 - The boat which carries players from the distant isle to the Halfheim dock in the Midgard tutorial zone will now place them in the correct location upon arrival.

Note to self, must pay a visit to DF!

One small note that we forgot to mention in yesterday’s Doppelganger Invasion update:

Darkness Falls on all servers currently has the following bonuses:

      150% bonus to Bounty Points
      125% bonus to Realm Points

Enjoy!

The doppelganger saga unravels even more:

With the arrival of a group of infernal creatures known as Daemonic Heralds, the scholars of the ancient ways now know that the Doppelganger Invasion is the work of Lilith, the Demon Queen of Darkness Falls. The scholars who have been studying the doppelgangers these past several months have now moved to Darkness Falls itself to oversee the final chapter in this dark conflict.

- The doppelgangers who have been masquerading in the frontiers have been wiped out and driven back into Darkness Falls. Only the strongest of them remain in those fiery depths and they now call themselves Doppelganger Soldiers. They can be found throughout the upper regions of Darkness Falls and they grant a greater amount of realm points then their weaker predecessors.

Quick note for those who play on the classic servers:

There was an issue that may have caused players on the Classic ruleset to have received the ToA version of the dragon loot. To preserve the integrity of the Classic ruleset we are replacing all ToA dragon loot items that exist on the Classic ruleset with the Classic ruleset equivalent. These items will automatically switch out upon logging in. If you had one of these items equipped the correct version will be placed in your inventory. If your inventory is full, then the item will be created at your feet and a popup will inform you that your inventory is full. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and thank you for understanding.

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.