Yeah, it's true. While some people have already pretty much beaten Wrath -- Yes, and I mean all of it -- Some of us haven't quite made it to 80 yet. But really, that's fine. There's a lot of awesome stuff to see in Northrend, and I don't mind stopping to smell the roses and whatnot. As it is, we HAVE to stop now, what with that 5 AM - 11 AM downtime this morning.

But I'm not too bummed about the break in leveling. If I wasn't waiting through downtime, I'd be waiting for the queue to clear up, right? Besides, this is a perfect opportunity to sit back and absorb the information overload from the past week. Here's a selection of some of hottest news from the past week, including quite a few leveling, gearing, and profession guides to give you a head start in Northrend once the servers come back up.

Hot News and Features

• The Midnight release lines actually started pretty early, and more than one WoW Insider writer were in them. Check out our picture gallery of midnight events around the USA. Marvel at the people braving fatigue, cold, and malfunctioning credit card machines, including Dan O'Halloran, who managed to get an interview with Tom "Kalgan" Chilton while he was at it.
• Still haven't had a chance to upgrade to Wrath yourself? You can upgrade online right now.
  
• Hints and Portents from the WoW European site hint at big changes coming to our WoW accounts.
  
• If you're still working on getting your addons in order, check out our list of essentials for some help and inspiration.
• Ask a Beta Tester is Dead, but there's a replacement: The Queue! But hey, no reason we can't look back on the good times of AABT.
  
• The official consensus is that Nymh of Drek'thar-EU was the first 80. We have an interview with him.
  

Class News and Guides

• We've rounded up all the best of our Wrath news for your class on the site thus far. Be sure to check out the roundups for your favorite class, and maybe your second-favorite one while you're at it.
• If you're leveling up a Warrior to 80, we have a list of weapons to look out for.
• If you're leveling a Mage through Northrend, have we got a guide for you.
• We have a Priest leveling guide for 70 to 75 as well.
• For Paladins, we have a list of Starting Zone upgrades to look for.
• For Death Knights, we have a little tanking advice.
  

Other Tips, Guides, and How-tos

• Feeling stuck in the Fjord? Want to head to the Tundra? You can actually shuttle back and forth between the two.
• You might also like to check out our Alliance guide to flight paths in the starting zones of Northrend. We have a Horde version as well.
  
• We have picture guides of many of the new profession recipes in Wrath, as well as a roundup of many of our key profession posts.
  
• If you're wondering where the epic crafting stuff is, we have an overview of that too.
  
• Speaking of Professions, you'll need to find a trainer first, of course. If you're lost on that front, we can help.
• If you're working up the ranks of Inscription, we've been working on it right beside you. This week, we covered the drive from 200-305 skill.
  
• Looking to start achieving in Northrend? We have 10 easy ones for you to get under your belt.
• Interested in Wrath raiding? Let us Introduce you to the new raid game and help you prepare for it.
  
• If you haven't had a chance to check out Northrend as much as you'd like, why not try our pictures of the starting zones? We also have previews of Sholozar Basin and Zul'drak.
• If you're into WoW Maps, MapWoW seems to be well on the way to mapping out Northrend in all its glory.

Odds and Ends

• Lovers of Squirrels and other critters may want to check out this guide for getting that achievement.
• J. Allen Brack talked with the Detroit Free Press about the expansion earlier this week.
• If you're crazy enough to step into the deep end of the Forum pool, You might be interested in the new level 80 official forum avatars.
• Here's something that's especially cool for me, since my favorite toy back in the day was my giant tub full of castle legos: A Lego replica of Booty Bay.
• Blizzard is hinting more and more that paid character appearance changes may be coming to Azeroth soon.
• One nice thing about all this money Blizzard earns -- you can get some pretty cool toys that way.
• Speaking of stuff to do while the servers are down, there's always playing with the new WoW Minis.
• If you need a sign that Wrath's popular, here's one: Even Bat Boy is playing it.
  

Tags: downtime, featured, joystiqfeatures, maintenance, roundup, server-downtime, server-maintenance, tuesday-morning, tuesday-morning-post, tweet-this, wrath-info, wrath-roundup

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, News items, Wrath of the Lich King