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Blizzard Entertainment, makers of the famed Warcraft and Starcraft series, recently released the December issue of their Blizzard Insider newsletter. Besides the usual contests and comments, this issue also reveals some details about two upcoming titles, Warcraft III and World of Warcraft.

Concerning Warcraft III, the Insider notes two new substantial changes. The first is that the inventory for Heroes has been increased from four slots to six, allowing Heroes to carry additional items to aid their side in battle.

The second, and perhaps more substantial, change is a feature dubbed Upkeep. Upkeep will directly affect the amount of gold that peons can mine based on the number of units a player has. The more units a player has, the slower the gold comes in. In contrast, players with less units will mine gold at a faster rate. Blizzard hopes this will help improve tactical management as well as make players more selective when building units.

The Insider also takes the time to answer several player-submitted questions concerning their upcoming massively-multiplayer online role-playing game, World of Warcraft. One fan asks if any of the new races found in WC3 will make it into WoW; the answer: "you will just have to wait and see." Another player asks about items:

Q: Will you be able to randomly find items, and if so, will these items be classified as in Diablo II (Rare, Unique, etc.)?

A: Monsters will have treasure that characters can loot, but these will be drawn randomly from a specific item class for that monster type. We do not expect to have the same vast amount of random items as in the Diablo series, but we will have items that are rare and even some that could be truly unique by limiting them to only one per server.

The latest issue of Blizzard Insider is available online at the link below. Be sure to check it out for more info on Blizzard's upcoming titles as well as for details on some current contests.

IMG Preview: Warcraft III

IMG Preview: World of Warcraft

Blizzard Insider

WarCraft III

World of Warcraft

Buy WarCraft III

Buy World of Warcraft

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