It's a big day for Blizzard, with the 15th anniversary of the Warcraft series and the fifth anniversary of the game that has changed the world - World of Warcraft. We spent a bit of time trying to figure out how much Aussies would have dropped on WoW - up to $1,140 on subscription costs alone since the game's release in 2004.

We recently had the chance to talk to Blizzard's J. Allen Brack, the Director of Production of World of Warcraft, discussing various Warcrafty topics - the upcoming 3.3 patch, how the game has evolved over the years, in-game pets and the touchy subject of in-game purchases:

"We've had rename services, we've had transfer services, we recently introduced paid faction changes... we've had many services that are very similar to this for many years. It's not a new thing, in terms of how WoW does things." In a very carefully-phrased response, he goes on to explain that Blizzard are not talking about, or planning, to introduce a system that involves microtransactions for in-game gear, weapons, armour or other objects. Harking back to earlier comments, it seems that the future of this sort of trading is firmly in the hands of the gamers, who can effectively vote on the matter - with their wallets!

Warcraft 4 also gets a mention, but only in the sense that it's still a long ways off - if it ever comes. Head over to the full article for more information.