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Pop law abounds in The Lawbringer, your weekly dose of WoW, the law, video games and the MMO genre. Mathew McCurley takes you through the world running parallel to the games we love and enjoy, full of rules, regulations, pitfalls and traps.

Welcome to another mail bag edition of The Lawbringer, ready to answer your questions, inqueries, and crazy considerations. A lot of you have been emailing me about SOPA and PIPA, the two bills currently being legislated on in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate. These bills make it extremely easy for parties who feel that they are the victims of copyright infringement to take websites offline without much due process due to the overreaching aspects of the broadness of the respective legislations’ wording. We as a subculture of the internet do not like these pieces of legislation.

I chose not to talk about SOPA or PIPA because, honestly, I think everyone is saying what I would say better than I could say it. So many people much smarter than I have already said wonderful things about these bills that you should probably read those instead. If you’re looking for more information on SOPA, PIPA, and their general mechanics and potential fallout, hit up Wikipedia for a full FAQ about the bill and great links. For a different perspective, my good friend Chris put up a great discussion of SOPA from a non-legal standpoint as a developer and programmer.

My Lawbringer mail bag always has awesome questions, and I’m thankful to all of you who send them in. I try to get to as many of them as I can, and if you haven’t gotten a response, try sending your question in again. It might have just gotten lost or whatever. Email mat@wowinsider.com with any of your Lawbringer questions.

World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more. Sample the whole spectrum on our Arts and Crafts in WoW page.

Once upon a time, decorating cakes consisted of homemade frosting and a spatula. These days, however, cake creation has developed into an art form that is technical enough to make one’s head spin. Cake, frosting and fondant have evolved from edible delicacies into full-on sculptural elements that can be used to create some jaw-dropping stuff, like the cake pictured above. You might not realize it at first glance, but the whole thing is completely edible.

Deathwing’s head was created to celebrate his demise in game — and what a delicious way to celebrate! Created by Domestic Scientist, Deathwing shows an amazing amount of patience and attention to detail — check out the veining on the horns and plates! For more photos and information on this amazing creation, check out The Domestic Scientist, and for more gorgeous cakes, follow after the break.

Speaking of amazing details, can you believe the cake pictured above is only an 8-inch round? From the careful attention to the character, including detailed pauldrons and tabard, to the tiny dark portal, huts, and even a miniature dragon, this cake is an impressive feat in sculpture. Created by Fondant Fetish over in the U.K., this is a tiny masterpiece of skill and creative prowess. And I’m guessing it tastes just as good as it looks!

For more photos of this fabulous cake, you can check out Fondant Fetish’s gallery over on Cakes We Bake, or check out the lovely video they put together for YouTube, which shows even more of the gorgeous, tiny details and the construction behind this beautifully intricate creation. And for more of the edible fabulousness of Fondant Fetish, you can check out her full list of galleries as well.

If you’re looking for elegance and flair, this stein cake may do the trick for you. The stein is completely edible and was made for a groom’s cake by Cup a Dee Cakes. This is not a tiny cake, by any stretch of imagination — the creation is nearly two feet tall and a masterpiece of design. The images on the sides are a combination of edible paper and painting, and the gold on top of the stein is actually modeling chocolate — completely edible and doubtless completely tasty, too!

Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome.

With Mists of Pandaria coming up on the horizon, many holy paladins are looking ahead to the changes that the expansion will bring. Most of the talent and ability info is still very malleable at this point, and as such, I haven’t begun to worry or get excited just yet. One thing that we do know is that in Mists, intellect will finish the transformation that it started in Cataclysm. Intellect is going to become a throughput-only stat, as it will stop increasing our maximum mana.

Today, intellect and longevity are nearly synonymous. Replenishment and Divine Plea are two of our largest mana sources, and they both scale off of our intellect. Most paladins are sporting intellect gems and trinkets, and intellect flasks and food fill up our bags. Holy paladins have been leaning on intellect for a long time due to its versatility, and it seemed like the decision to roll spell power into intellect would permanently ensure intellect’s role as our best stat. By decoupling intellect and mana, the developers are changing everything we know about gearing a healer.

Forced to choose

Today, holy paladins are able to have their Conjured Mana Cake and eat it too. Intellect gives us everything we could want out of a single stat. Blizzard’s developers are forcing us to choose between the two most important aspects of healing: throughput and regeneration.

While I loved being able to socket my gear mindlessly with Brilliant Inferno Rubies, I understand that creating tension between stats ultimately results in a more interesting gearing environment. Our secondary stats are almost to the point now where all three are balanced, and moving intellect and spirit to that same system makes sense. We need to learn how to handle the balance between intellect and spirit now.

Fixed mana pools for everyone

The key change in Mists is that intellect will no longer provide us with 15 mana per point, effectively fixing the size of our mana pools. While we’ll still have mana pools up in the six-digit range, they won’t see any increase from tier to tier. Every raiding holy paladin will end up with the same amount of maximum mana. We don’t know how Divine Plea, Replenishment, or Arcane Torrent will scale under this model, but my money is on spirit becoming a factor here. As a thought, I wouldn’t mind seeing Arcane Torrent grant us holy power points instead of mana in Mists.

Because every holy paladin starts with the same mana pool, the only differentiator in our longevity will be spirit. If one holy paladin has more spirit than another, then they have more longevity. It’s as simple as that. Rather than trying to figure out whether one paladin’s extra intellect makes up for the other’s spirit trinkets, spirit will simply be the first and last word. Need more longevity? Get spirit. It will be as simple as that.

Dungeons drop gear. For many players, that’s the whole point of going into an instance, whether it’s a 5-man dungeon or a huge raid instance. We’re locked in the ever-expanding search for better gear, and you have to kill bosses to get your sweet, sweet loot.

Most guilds use one or more various systems to make sure loot distribution is fair. Some employ a basic rule of civility; once you get gear in an a raid, it’s polite to defer further drops to other guildmates. Others use complicated but effective point systems, assigning dropped gear a point value that members can bid against. No matter what the general system for rolling on gear, the foundation of the system is based on all group members’ being part of a common team.

Pickup groups and Raid Finder groups possess no such commonality. The teams comprise random folks thrown together by Blizzard’s behind-the-scenes group-building algorithms. Basic roles are filled, a few rules followed — but basically anyone can get thrown together into a group.

Random groups rarely agree on loot etiquette before getting started. We all say we should agree on loot rules beforehand, but that rarely actually happens. Instead, most folks charge ahead into the dungeon operating under only a few basic assumptions about how loot will be divided. With that in mind, let’s review the basic etiquette of rolling on gear in groups.

Blizzard’s Rolling Tool: Use it

Blizzard’s rolling tool has come a long, long way. At this point, the tool knows whether your class can use a piece of gear, and the tool allows you to roll need, greed, or disenchant. Just in case there’s some horrible error, you can even trade gear among members of the instance for some time after the roll, unless it’s been disenchanted, of course. (You only get the disenchant option if you have a disenchanter in the group.)

As a general rule, you should use the rolling tool exactly as it is. Don’t try and modify it with freaky rules and regulations. Just click need, greed, or disenchant, and move on with your life.

The tool does have a few challenges. We’ll discuss them in just a second, but I want to underline: Don’t do anything but use the tool as intended without discussing it with the group first. In the attempt to be a good person regarding gear, you could very easily just screw yourself out of loot. No sense in trying to alter the rules if the group doesn’t agree to it beforehand.

Consideration in low-level dungeons

One of the places the rolling tool falls a bit short is in lower-level dungeons. A few natural situation illustrate why. First, groups are comprised of people leveling up through the game, and most characters won’t yet be settled into their final role. Along the way, tanks and healers especially will be trying to maintain two sets of gear: one for DPS and leveling, one for completing dungeons. Second, some group members will be trying to switch roles, collecting DPS gear while still tanking the instance you’re currently in.

While that dynamic shouldn’t give a person priority in a need role, it’s fair to say that’s a good reason not to disenchant an item that would otherwise see use. Most players agree that disenchanting is cool, but it’s better for a piece of gear to actually get used. Breaking a useful drop into a shard is kind of a putz move.

For this reason, check in with the group members to see if anyone might otherwise use gear before you start rolling disenchant. This should only take a second or three and can save some heartache for someone who’s trying to leave DPS behind to get into the tanking game.

World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more. Sample the whole spectrum on our Arts and Crafts in WoW page.

It takes a heck of a lot of courage to parody a Beatles song, and it takes a heck of a lot of skill to pull it off correctly. SilverLetomi has managed to do both, and she’s recorded dozens of Warcraft parodies and collaborations over the years. With an enviable vocal ability and an incredible amount of skill in creating and producing music, Letomi’s tunes have long been a favorite of many on YouTube, and it’s no wonder why — the girl’s got a great set of pipes!

Letomi’s work didn’t start with Warcraft parodies, however. She’s got years of experience in performing and audio engineering, something that is reflected in every song she puts out for people to hear. So what does it take to put together songs for the listening public? Letomi was kind enough to sit down with us and fill us in.

World of WarCrafts: Hi Letomi! Tell us a little bit about how you got into WoW. How long have you been playing? What got you into gaming in general?

Letomi: Lessee … I’m a Wrath baby. I’ve been playing for about two years now. I started playing because my boyfriend of the time was addicted, and I’d been watching over his shoulder going, “Oh, is that World of Warcraft? I’ve heard that’s addictive.” And then he proceeded to addict me.

Before WoW, though, I hadn’t done much gaming. My parents gave me and my sister a Play Station 2 and a couple games there, like the Hercules game and Harry Potter and Kingdom Hearts and Dance Dance Revolution. We’ve got a Wii now too and on that thing, we play Rayman’s Raving Rabbids TV Party almost exclusively. And by almost exclusively I mean I know we have other games, but I don’t know what they are. But really, I haven’t played very many video games at all, and it’s kinda sad to me.

You have a set of pipes and a talent for tossing music together! How long have you been singing and doing music? What’s your music background, any schooling?

Yeah, I’ve got schooling! I was accepted into an arts magnet school in sixth grade with a vocal music focus. The school itself was a middle and high school combined, so I was there, singing in choir and taking solo voice lessons, for seven years. They taught mainly classical styles of singing, but a newer choir conductor started getting us jazz music and our voice teachers broadened us with foreign language pieces and Broadway tunes.

Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat, bear, restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our feral cat edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. Let the face clawing begin!

As the great dragon crashed down, I turned and began padding toward the entrance to the shrine. The padding quickly became walking as I assumed my elven form, feeling the familiar weight of armor settle around my body. Brushing the sand out of my cloak, I turned to the figure who had silently watched us battle.

“Now that we’ve killed you,” I began, “You can help us?”

“Yes. The path to the Dragon Soul is open. It must be retrieved if we are to have any chance of stopping Deathwing and saving our world. I will now take you there.” He gestured, and a portal coalesced into existence.

I couldn’t help myself. “Um, I know you’re the Aspect of Time and everything, but wouldn’t it make a bit more sense to just go warn the other Aspects about Neltharion before he betrays them? This seems rather roundabout.”

He stared back at me, expressionlessly.

“Right. I’ll just … take the portal, and Shred something. Sounds good.”

The Well of Eternity

Well of Eternity is the second of the new 5-man instances released with Patch 4.3, and it is full of Burning Crusade lore. (In my subjective opinion, it’s the best of the three, which further proves that Blizzard needs to go ahead and release The Burning Crusade 2: They’re Really On Fire Now.) After a quick intro fight with a demon, you’ll meet Illidan, who will promptly enlist you, cloak you, and then lead you around as you kill demons and break things. After a short while, you’ll meet Peroth’arn.

The first phase is quite simple. You will enter with 30 stacks of Shadow Walk, which will turn into 30 seconds of Shadow Ambusher, which will grant you some crazy damage. Just dodge the obvious void zones and do your thing. Assuming the other DPSers in your group are reasonable, you’ll likely push him below 60% before the buff wears off, which triggers the “run away” part of the fight.

At this point, everyone gets re-stealthed and has to dodge some floating eyes for a while. With your feral movement abilities, this is pretty simple, but many groups just let themselves be found immediately to get it over with. Either way, he doesn’t do anything new, so just finish him off and proceed to Queen Azshara.

Of course, you don’t actually get to fight Azshara yourself (yay, lore), so this is a battle against her magi, who will spawn in twos. They fling quite a few spells around, but their damage output is mostly trivial for a good healer to handle. If your healer needs help, though, all the magi are stunnable with Maim, and most of the spells can be interrupted (but don’t; you want to save your interrupt).

More important, however, are Azshara’s spells. First will be Hand of the Queen — a ghostly hand that will mind-control one of the players in your group. It has very little health, so just kill it quickly (or rage at your group when you get MCed and everyone ignores it … seen that, too). Second will be Total Obedience, an AoE MC that thankfully has an 8-second cast time. You’ll get a very obvious warning message, so just run over, Skull Bash her, and get back to what you’re doing. Some groups will attempt to assign someone, but that usually ends in disaster, I find.

The World of Warcraft is an expansive universe. You’re playing the game, you’re fighting the bosses, you know the how — but do you know the why? Each week, Matthew Rossi and Anne Stickney make sure you Know Your Lore by covering the history of the story behind World of Warcraft.

The development of lore in WoW has ramped up over the years. While vanilla saw a few lore developments, players could still wander the lands of Azeroth with nary a clue as to why they were there, skipping quest text altogether in favor of simply getting the job done. The Burning Crusade saw more of these lore-related quests introduced, and Wrath pushed the concept even further. But Cataclysm’s taken lore and gameplay to a new level of interactivity.

Last week, in segments #10 through #8, we talked about a few of those innovations in lore development, include the emphasis on focused, directed storytelling over the aimless wandering days of vanilla WoW and the trend of releasing free-to-read short stories on the official website. Both of these have their ups and downs, but the short stories weren’t the only focus of Blizzard’s writing department.

The good Warcraft novels existed long before the release of WoW. These novels took various elements of the game and fleshed out the story for those who wanted to read the full version, but they never really tied into the games in a dynamic fashion. If you wanted to read more about Medivh, you could always pick up The Last Guardian, but the novel really didn’t have too much to do with the actual gameplay of Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. In regards to WoW, the novel Cycle of Hatred attempted to flesh out the lack of story between the end of Warcraft III and the beginning of WoW, but it didn’t have too much to do with the actual story of WoW itself.

Arthas, released during Wrath of the Lich King, was a well-written book that told the story of Arthas Menethil and his rise as the Lich King that was the focus of the Wrath expansion. But though the book discussed elements of Arthas’ rise to power, it didn’t really address anything that was actually going on in Wrath, present day. Stormrage was a bridge between what we’d seen in game in regards to the Emerald Nightmare and a resolution of those events — something that I to this day wish we’d been able to see in the game itself. And then we had The Shattering in 2010.

The Shattering was another bridge novel, this time tackling the events between the end of Wrath and the Shattering patch just before Cataclysm’s launch. It was brilliantly written and featured all kinds of character development that tied directly into what we would be seeing in Cataclysm, setting the pace for the two novels released in 2011, Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects, and Wolfheart. While other novels in the Warcraft stable were stand-alone pieces that didn’t really tie into what was going on in the game, 2011 represented a marked change in the way Warcraft novels were presented.