Good Tuesday morning, everyone. As we mentioned earlier, it's a regular maintenance day today. That means at least a good six hours of no WoW, from 5am PDT to 11am PDT. Between that, and those two little dirty things known as school and work, a lot of us aren't going to be able to play WoW for a bit. Luckily, we can still read about the game, right here on WoW Insider. Allow me to guide you through some of the best content of the past week.

As always, we're striving to bring you the best Wrath of the Lich King news and analysis on the web. Here's some of the hottest articles related to the upcoming expansion this week:

• What's that Kalgan? You're doing away with pure spell damage gear?
• Like DoTA? Then you may find a lot to love about WoW's next planned Battleground.
• Everyone's been asking for penguin pets for WotLK. It looks like Blizzard may be delivering.
• You've been rocking the achievements on your XBox 360, I'm sure, but now you might be able to do the same thing in WotLK.
• In the latest Hybrid Theory, Alex tells you why, as a Shadow Priest, he's being cautiously optimistic about WotLK.
• Zach talks about a refreshing change in the way we renew our DoTs.
• The Blizzcast delivered with more news and interviews with the developers about WoTLK. You can read our breakdown of it all here.
• In more minor but still awesome news department, you might want to rock your desktop with some new WoTLK wallpaper.
• Learn about one of the new enemy races, the Magnataur.
• It's not much, but it is something. Class Designer Koraa very cryptically hints that great things should be coming for Shamans.
• But seriously, how excited are you about this expansion?
• And how will badges work in WoTLK again?

Of course, even as we look forward to the expansion, we're still keeping an eye on what's current. For more news and analysis from around the World of Warcraft, check out these articles:

• Our own Alison Robert caught up with end-game raider Neg, an Orc shaman who originally raided with Nihilum and recently joined SK Gaming in time to help them bring down Kil'jaedan for the world first. You can read her interview right here.
• If you're a raider, you may have already heard of Tamzin, or at least used one of her strategy videos. Lisa Poisso sat down with her for last week's 15 Minutes of Fame.
• In PvP balance news, we look at the latest Arena class performance rankings from Vhiari.
• Speaking of PvP, a lot of PvPers are getting pretty impatient for Arena Season 4. What's taking so long? You might be surprised to find out what the holdup is.
• Ever wondered what would happen if 10 druids decided to take on Karazhan? Wonder no more. We even have photographic documentation!
• See what Blizzard Producer J. Allen Brack has to say about WoW's roots, PvP, and the problem of the level gap.
• Is buying gold really that harmless? Find out why it really isn't.
• If you were getting annoyed by all the hiccups and missing features over at WoW's official website, take heart. They promise they'll do their best to make sure it doesn't happen again.

• Looking for a Father's Day gift for the gamer dad in your family? Have an itch to be creative? How about making him a treasure chest?
• They may be evil, but it seems like they're everyone's favorite group of fanatical warriors anyway. Find out why with Know Your Lore: The Scarlet Crusade.
• Is it worth it to start raiding before WotLK? Mark Crump says yes.
• Our Karazhan gear guide series is getting into full swing. Whether you're preparing your first 70 or your fifth 70 for Karazhan, we have you covered. Don't see your class or spec on the list? Don't worry, we're probably already writing a guide for you.
• Check out the debut of our newest advice and strategy column, Tank Talk.
• Find out how to get the Wowhead tooltips you already enjoy here at WoW Insider into Google Reader as well.
• Can't get your Mage out of the 20-40 doldrums? Let us help you out.
• You can also find out how to swing your Paladin through the 50s and hit that 60 milestone.
• Is your wallet a little empty right now? Find out how playing WoW can save you money.

Also, as a friendly reminder, the Darkmoon Faire is in Elwynn Forest right now, and will be there until the 15th. To get the best out of the Darkmoon Faire, be sure to check out our Darkmoon Faire guides. Happy reading! We'll be delivering more news and views throughout downtime, and we'll see you on the servers when they come back up.

Tags: downtime, maintenance, roundup, roundups, scheduled maintenance, scheduled-downtime, ScheduledMaintenance, tuesday-morning, tuesday-morning-post, wotlk, wotlk-news

Filed under: Realm Status, Odds and ends, News items, Wrath of the Lich King