I’ve heard the term over the years and even used it sometimes.
But HOW and WHO does it?
Also, does Blizzard promote it? Like a scavenger hunt type deal?
ActiBlizz do not promote it, but it is nothing illegal about it so the best they can do is encrypt what they don’t want to be datamined as best they can.
Otherwise, everything else is free to be dug up – sort of like an archaeological dig site.
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"First off, WoW stores all their data in specific formats. .db2/.dbc/.casc.
From this data we can parse it with a tool that reads the file hash and then lists the data for us conveniently. For example. Say when the new expansions launches, I want to know the names of the new Achievements and their descriptions. I’d parse Achievement.db2 and it would give me those things.
Similarly, if you are interested in game models, music or maps or something, you’d use the casc filesystem and find the data therein. More details I could dive into… But for the sake of simplicity, we can leave it there."
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Would it not have been possible to find out the new allied races for this expansion?
Not 100%, no.
Because the only real indicators for PC races are the holiday icons.
Vulpera are one such example of this.
You need to access to the code.
Some stuff stays encrypted or simply not added to the PTR. People were able to datamine animations or something of Vulpera but others were skeptical 'cause Blizzard was downplaying it.
A lot this expansion has been very well encrypted as well.
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They don’t promote it, and in the case of 8.2.5 they did hide things that couldn’t be data mined, they employed someone to help them do that, one of the guys from back in the day that figured out how to crack their code lol.
Btw have you guys seen Wrathions backpack model? With that and the RAF backpacks, perhaps they are going to start making backpacks a regular thing to replace cloaks!
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No, I have not seen that one.
Dude. nod Its really good and detailed lol.
Link please?
Oh, okay. Thanks. The mount seems like it might be problematic, though.
Its the bee mount lol. A crappy skin imho, but still the same mount. I’m just upset that they are rubbing it in our faces with the Mantid again 
I loved them so much and grinded that rep on so many toons cause I loved them, and they gave me a sudden but inevitable betrayal!
I’m more interested in the Arakkoa, but seeing the Mantid make a return would explain the Rajani’s own appearance.
They’re really thinking about the Arrakoa?
There’s no official word on them yet, but with the Witches of Drustvar having updated rigs of the Low Arakkoa, the Zanda Boomkin forms having updated rigs of the High Arakkoa, and the recent DK and LK leaks pointing towards the Shadowlands expansion being real, I’m feeling mighty confident that our birdbois will be getting a limelight of their own.
It makes sense, really. The Arakkoa have a connection to the Shadowlands that no other race really has. They can enter AND leave the Shadowlands on a whim, the Low Arakkoa can use the energy from the Shadowlands to cast spells and they’ve even sealed others (Terokk in particular) in there.
Now that I think about it, it does feel like the Witches and Zanda Boomkins were more testing grounds for the rigs…
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Digital pickaxes.