This is correct - as mentioned above, the Alpha was under an NDA, and WOTLKWiki was put up using datamined and leaked Alpha information. It really took off when the alpha client got leaked a few weeks before the beta began, and people started doing sandbox servers and such.

Damn you, in my post-slumber state, I read the "should" as "will" and was already excited...

Short answers: Yes and yes.

I believe that, had the magazine been released when advertised, the ICC: 5-man previews and the raid info would have been much more pertinent. That being said, there was still useful information to be gleaned from the articles about the current content when I finally received my copy.

In addition, there was a multitude of general information about the game. The magazine perfectly caters to the WoW community. In fact, the previews of the goblin and worgen races were one of the highlights of the magazines, in my opinion. Sure, some of the info might have been released previously at Blizzcon, BUT the writers doing the articles did a beautiful write-up and took us along for the ride. In addition, there are previews of new professions and what not, with illustrations I hadn't seen before. I'm hoping that the next issue has peeks from Beta Cat in it. And, knowing that this magazine is the OFFICIAL WoW magazine, Blizzard will probably make that happen for us.

All in all, I believe that anyone with a WoW account will LOVE this magazine. It is totally worth the subscription cost to me (albeit a long publishing wait for the first issue >:[ ). If the additional issues follow the same format and general idea, this magazine is going to be around for a LONG time... and I will be subscribing to it each year.

EDIT: Holy %^*&, spelling! Sorry!

It is now the first week of April and I've got nothing. The WoW Magazine site as well as the Future US is unchanged and there's obviously been nothing in my mailbox. I had expected something to be mentioned by this time but there's nothing. Usually Blizzard is overjoyed to announce upcoming things like this (even if they're behind schedule) but I've not heard a single peep.

Hopefully they've not failed at meeting their deadline (again).

got this today:

It never ceases to amaze me just how huge the dragon aspects are when in that form. I have to wonder if Alexstraza sitting there at the Wrathgate gives us some sort of clue as to Deathwing's size.

Is that Deathwing on the right? Who is the one on the left?

*edit: Or are they both Neltharion at different stages?

Which would be consistent with the novels, where she is described as the largest of the five aspects.

Yeah, she is supposed to be bigger, but in this case I think they're about the same size but Deathwings radically shorter snout (which kinda' freaks me out), broken horns and the fact that Alexstrasza is higher up seem to alter the perspective a bit.

I received my next issue of the WoW magazine in the mail today. Some initial thoughts and stats follow.

It's 143 pages long with 3 full-color pullouts of the mural of Deathwing and Alexstraza that was seen at Blizzard HQ; the center is front and back with pencil on one side and full color on the other. At first glance there also appears to be more original artwork than in the first.

Articles include an interview with the design team, commentary on Season 8 by players, and tactics for everything from ICC and WSG to killing all the city leaders (with maps on how to traverse the cities) and 3-manning Molten Core for kills and bindings. They've also included a section on engineering as well as one on raiding addons.

There are sections on Titan lore with respect to past present and furture interactions (including nods to the Masters Glaive in Darkshore) as well as dragon lore.

One article on Plushies and one on the new Figureprint Busts round out the advertising portion. I expected to see something about the steed in here as well but I haven't seen it yet.

Got my new issue in the mail today! Was excited as hell, as I'd been waiting for a while!

The first article was the interview with the quest design team. It was without a doubt the star article of the magazine. It helps give a sense of knowing who writes your quests, which is something many people take for granted. It was easily my favorite article.
The second best article was the "Resetting the Scene" article, which highlighted the main areas affected by cataclysm, such as Gadgetzan becoming beachfront property. It was immediately preceeded by an article reminding you to take a "last look" at certain areas of Azeroth, if you care about that sort of thing. (i.e. - Last chance to see the original Barrens, Auberdine, 1k Needles, etc.)

Sadly, this was the extent of new, "cutting edge" content in the magazine [to me]. There were in-depth articles about Dragon-Lore, Tactics for Warsong Gulch, your For The <Faction!> achievements, and 3-manning level 60 content. It really seemed like a "placeholder" magazine waiting for more cataclysm content the drop.

THAT BEING SAID, I still enjoyed almost every article in the magazine. It simply cannot be stated how well put together the issues have been. (All two of them. *grins*) The articles are written by everyone. Devs, fans, CEOs, EVERYONE. There is not a doubt whether or not I will renew in two more issues. It's a joy to read, and I STILL can recommended it to people who enjoy reading. However, I cannot recommended it to people looking for an "inside edge" on content. If you're in it just for the cataclysm peaks, or thinking you need the tips for end-game, you'd be wasting your money. The community at Elitist Jerks won't need the insights to the 5-mans, raids, and arenas. However, If you're looking for a magazine that you want to collect, one that peeks at all aspects of WoW, or just want to have it sitting on your bookshelf, stacked in order from issue #1, you're going to love it.