In addition to destroying Azeroth and rebuilding all over with the release of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, Blizzard has torn down the previous community website ... and over the weekend it was reborn from the ashes! The new community website for World of Warcraft brings with it a plethora of exciting feature that every WoW player, Alliance or Horde, can enjoy. 

World of Warcraft players will immediately appreciate the added functionality of the website, but those who aren't familiar with the game will find a very clean and informative blog. They might not even realize the astounding complexities hidden behind the glamorous front.

Here's the the meat of the story, the list of new features:

  • New Home Page features
    • Browse Armory data
    • View and manage auctions
    • Guild news feed
    • Friends list for quick access to Armory profiles
  • Character Profile Homepage
    • Reforging details
    • Enhanced tooltips with more information than ever before
    • Raid progression, including recommendations
    • 3D character model view (coming soon)
  • Character Profile subpages
    • Events
    • PvP (coming in Season 9)
    • Remote Auction House
    • Reputations
    • Guild information, including calendar interaction and progression
  • Guild Profile subpage
    • View guild progression, top contributors, your current reputation, guild news, and more
    • Guild Roster with enhanced search and filter options
    • Guild Perks
    • Guild Achievements
  • New Game Section
    • Beginner’s Guide
      • Adventuring in Azeroth 101 -- beginners should start here
    • Updated race and class profiles
    • Realm Status page with real-time updates and new filter options
  • Patch Notes
    • Forum Improvements
    • Insert item tooltips into forum posts
      • Click on the new sword icon and enter an item ID number to insert an item tooltip link!
    • Enhanced Quoting
      • Select a portion of another post and a pop-up option allows you to paste it directly into the reply field
  • Fansite Integration
    • Didn’t find all the info you were looking for? We've been working closely with our fansites and now provide direct links to places like Wowhead (http://www.wowhead.com) and Wowpedia (http://www.wowpedia.org). Look for an arrow icon when mousing over specific items to see this new feature in action.

Oof! That's a lot of features! With such a robust website Warcraft players hardly need to log-in to the actual game anymore. It's simply astonishing how great of a job Blizzard has done making World of Warcraft accessible in a variety of fashions. They certainly caused some trouble with their Real-ID program, but it looks like they've come out of the controversy with a strong idea of what gamers are and are not interested in.

The beauty of the release is the timing. Seriously, why would you release such a positive new addition to the World of Warcraft in the shadow of Cataclysm's launch? It's because the community website isn't meant to be a marketing tool, it's just Blizzard doing what it does best: creating a high quality and fun environment for gamers to enjoy gaming. It's simple, but it's why World of Warcraft is 12 million subscriber strong.

Have you visited the new World of Warcraft community website, WoW Ranters? Have anything you'd like to say about what's been added or what's missing? Do you appreciate the upgrade, or are you too busy thinking about Cataclysm (T-Minus 6 hours)?

Check out the World of Warcraft community site right here.