Good Morning everyone! It's Tuesday Morning, and as usual, that means maintenance. Downtime is normal this week, from 5am PDT to 11am PDT. That's 6 hours without WoW, and a perfect 6 hours to catch up on WoW news here on WoW Insider. Of course, Wrath of the Lich King news continues to dominate. We've got people in the Beta working hard to bring you all the latest news and views from the testing, and we're scouring the web to find the best tidbits of information on what Blizzard's got planned for the future. Check it out:

Features, Photos, and Hot News

• We'd like to Introduce our newest class column, Lichborne, now appearing every Saturday. For our maiden voyage, we discussed the state of the Death Knight and some of the massive changes in store for the next major Beta build.
• If you've got questions about Beta, we've got answers. Be sure to check out our new daily feature, Ask A Beta Tester, now running every day until we run out of questions. Leave your questions in the comments of the latest installment, and they may be answered in a future article.
• Just in case you were doubtful, it looks like we will get our hot little hands on the expansion before 2008 is done.
• Check out our Illustrated tour of the Howling Fjord, one of the two starting areas in Northrend.
• You'll also want to see our tour of The Dragonblight, home of some familiar faces and lots of Dragons.
• Get hands on with a demo of the new barber shop system! Be sure to check out some of the new hairstyles coming with it too.
• Enjoy this nice and short video tour of Dalaran, the Shattrath of Wrath, and be sure to check out our Dalaran image gallery as well!
• If you need a nice little dose of vanity pet related cuteness to make it through the day, click here.

Class News

• Wondering about what cool stuff Death Knights get when they start the game? Check out our Death Knight gear gallery, and wonder no more.
• Exotic Pets have begun to hit the test servers, starting with Devilsaurs and Chimeras. Check the gallery to see just how huge these beauties can get even in captivity! You also might want to check out the Hunter's new stable slots and new baseline abilities.
• Energy and mana users take note: The way you regen is undergoing a bit of a change in Wrath.
• Speaking of mana users, Alex was also able to take a swing at the new Spellpower mechanics.
• And here's a heads up for the tanks: Crushing blows are out as an end game tanking mechanic.
• Check out our analysis of the latest Shaman changes here.
• Christian tackled the latest Mage changes in Arcane Brilliance, then had to do it all over again hours later when we got yet another bundle of new changes.
• Warlocks got a bit of talent tweaking as well.

Odds and Ends

• Here's one of Wrath's most unexpected and controversial changes: One potion per a battle, no exceptions! Meet Potion Sickness.
• In similar news, you can't chain leatherworking drums anymore either.
• In less depressing news, it looks like there's finally a built-in threat meter coming to the UI.
• Alchemists may also take heart in the fact that they can get a pretty nice new buff from elixirs and flasks now.
• Wrath's first money sink is revealed: An 8000g ring from Dalaran!
• Blacksmiths, eager to see what you can cobble together come Wrath? Try these recipes on for size.
• Alex gave us his impressions of Utgarde Keep, one of the first dungeons you're liable to run in Northrend.
• If you haven't been able to find the perfect tabard, or don't like the design your guildmaster came up with, take heart, you may have another option soon.
• "Hey, the King's back."

But yes, there is non-Wrath news as well. Here's some of the highlights from the other side of WoW:

• BlizzCon tickets will go on sale one week from today, and yes, there will be some awesome stuff in the goody bag.
• Scholomance has long been a favorite of a lot of us old pre-BC playing types, and it may be getting a bit of attention.
• It looks like the US Army may be taking a page from WoW's book and getting in on the MMO action. But can they measure up to the pure awesome that is the Argent Dawn?
• If you've ever had a burning desire to show off your arena rating to that dude who sits besides you on the bus every morning, now you can, with Armory info for the iPhone. While you're at it, you might want to check your realm status.

As always, there is plenty more to found with a bit of browsing, and plenty more to come today and in the weeks to come, so be sure to stay with us, and we'll see you on WoW after the downtime!

Tags: downtime, maintenance, roundup, scheduled-downtime, scheduled-maintenance, tuesday-morning, tuesday-morning-post, wotlk-beta, wrath-beta

Filed under: Realm News, Analysis / Opinion, Realm Status, News items