Blizzard Updates, Ruby Sanctum, CHOC Dinner, and more!

[Confucius]

We have blizzard news! So without further wait, here's some recent blizzard news!

Ruby Sanctum

Ruby sanctum is now open on live realms! To learn more about this dungeon you can visit this page!

Here's the official post by Blizzard:

As noted in the official patch 3.3.5 notes, the release of the Ruby Sanctum was briefly delayed to better align its availability across all regions.

We're happy to announce that the wait is over, and the Ruby Sanctum is now open. To learn more about this exciting new raid dungeon, please visit the Ruby Sanctum preview page.

BlizzCon 2010 Dinner to Benefit Children's Foundation

Before blizzcon Blizzard is holding a dinner to help raise money for the CHOC Children's Foundation, at this dinner guests will get a chance to talk to the Blizzard developers and artists. If you're wondering what the CHOC is it's a children's hospital, their site can be found here.

For more information read the official quote from Blizzard below:

Before the BlizzCon festivities begin, we’re inviting you to join us for an evening of good food and good conversation -- all for a good cause. On Thursday, October 21, Blizzard will be hosting a special dinner to benefit the CHOC Children's Foundation, where guests will have an opportunity to meet and chat with game developers, artists, executives and other folks from Blizzard Entertainment.

From July 13 through July 15, we'll be holding an online drawing to determine who can win an opportunity to purchase tickets to this event. A total of 200 tickets will be available for $500 USD each (limit two per person), and the proceeds will benefit the CHOC Children's Foundation. In appreciation of your donation, you'll receive:

• Dinner and an opportunity to converse with executives, artists, developers, community managers, and others from Blizzard Entertainment
• A signed print featuring Blizzard Entertainment artwork
• One BlizzCon 2010 ticket (a $150 USD value)

The BlizzCon 2010 benefit dinner will take place Thursday, October 21 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Hilton Anaheim hotel. To opt in to the ticket drawing and view the official rules for this opportunity, visit the official BlizzCon website between July 13 and July 15.

Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Tap Chat Available Now

Blizzard's new headset, Sound Blaster, is now available for purchase, along with a new gadget the Tap Chat, you can use in place of your press to talk key so all you have to do is push down your foot to work the mic, or you can map it to a macro or a spell that you like to spam a lot, players who enjoy having custom key bindings for ease of use will enjoy this!

Here's the official post from Blizzard for more information:

You can now add even more functionality to the award-winning Sound Blaster World of Warcraft Headset with the new Tap Chat foot pedal accessory. By mapping your push-to-talk key or favorite macro to this foot control pedal, you can keep your hands totally free to control the game. As a bonus, the Tap Chat pedal will also come with an exclusive set of World of Warcraft logo lenses to further customize the look of your headset. The Tap Chat is available now, exclusively at the Blizzard Online Store and the Creative Labs Online Store.

Well that's it for recent updates for now! I hope you enjoyed reading about them!

[Trollin]

Any idea how much of the money they earn for the CHOC contest, actually goes to the Children Foundation?

[Confucius]

Edit: Rawr Remus

[Remus]

Obviously you don't comprehend what charity events are.

[Subset]

You shouldn't be flaming people Remus.

[Remus]

You don't know what a flame is, this is a simple statement about people who don't know what a charity event is and is for. all proceeds go to the charity, Blizzard doesn't get a single dime. I would flame but I would perceive it resulting in me loosing access to this website for some time.

[s_e_a_n_66]

Blizzard doesn't get a single dime.

While this may be technically true(in terms of profit, the event still pays for its self), charity or "non-profit" organizations can be shockingly corrupt. While a non-profit is technically required to "break even" at the end of the fiscal year(not bring in more money than they spent), they can in fact, decide to spend the money wherever they want(as long as it can be considered a business expense). For example, If I was running a non-profit, I could make myself or a friend and "employee" of the non-profit, and pay them a "reasonable" salary. I have heard of non-profit "employees" making upward of 500k a year(using all the right loopholes of course). Most of the money non-profig orgs get goes directly to the salaries of the employees running the non-profit. In most cases this is legit, as non-profit employees are in fact paid employees like you and me, but in some cases you are left wondering at how you can make half a mil a year at a non-profit job... Just something to consider before donating to charity or attending a charity event

In the US average salary for a non-profit worker is $49,000 - ~$70,000 / year