If I may be allowed to indulge in a little self-aggrandizing on this fine Tuesday morning, I'd like to posit that the best article written this past week was posted on Sunday and written by me. This article is the review of Christie Golden's new Warcraft novel, Arthas. Now, before you accuse me of the sin of Pride, I should say that Alex totally agrees with me, so it's all good. Besides, I had some awesome inspiration courtesy of the book.

But my point is, you should go read the review, then go pre-order your copy. It's a pretty good book. If you're a lore or fantasy fan, there's a pretty excellent chance you will not be disappointed. That said, the release date is still a couple weeks off. This means that, in the meantime, you have no Arthas book, so you'll probably want to do the next best thing and read some WoW Insider, like during that 15 minute window while your server's down from rolling restarts this morning. Or longer if you're on one of the servers that may or may not get extra downtime. Here's a few reading suggestions:
Hot News and Features

• Watch out, the Phishers are out in force lately.
• The Arena season may end as early as April 14th, which could in turn be a harbinger of the patch.
• In another possible patch time indicator, Noblegarden was removed from the PTR calendar and later showed back up on April 26th.
• One more 3.1 feature has been delayed. This time, it's the equipment manager.
• Think WoW's getting less popular? You may want to think again.
  
• WoW Rookie helps you get down with WoW lingo.
• We checked out the new iPhone mobile authenicator.
  
• Check out our exclusive sneak peak at the new WoW-themed Hungry Man Gamer Grub! Before you check your grocer's freezer though, check the posting date on the article.
  

Class Guides and News

• Rogues are getting some buffs on the PTR, and Encrypted Text looks at 3.1 Rogue gear.
  
• Shifting Perspectives rummages through the odds and ends of 3.1 for Druids.
• Totem Talk is horribly hexed.
• Scattered Shots discusses Hunter pet leveling talents.
• Paladins, are you judging?
• Warriors take another look at Arms on the PTR.
• Arcane Brilliance looks at professions for Mages.
• Lichborne also looks at professions.
  
• Spiritual Guidance has some advice on Razuvious for Priests.
  

Dungeons, Raiding, and Loot

• Addon Spotlight takes a look at AuctionLite.
• Eliah doesn't think 25-man gear should be that good.
• Sorry guys who can't quite get the Safety Dance down, The Drakes are still gone come 3.1.
• Speaking of the Safety Dance, who says raiding doesn't have real life applications?
  

Professions, PvP, and More

• So what is the state of Engineering?
• Now you can look the part of the Chef with a Chef's Hat in 3.1.
• Our RL crafters seem pretty big on dolls this week. We've seen a Draenei Barbie and a female troll rogue action figure both.

Odds and Ends

• Guildwatch is kinder and gentler for April 1st. You can also check out our gallery of April Fools around the WoW web.
• Is Chromie really a MAN, baby?
• What does a Lawyer think of the new UI policy?
• Oh hey, here's some nice news for WoW video makers and enthusiasts of all stripes: Filefront's not shutting down.

Tags: downtime, maintenance, rolling-restart, roundup, scheduled-downtime, scheduled-maintenance, server, server-downtime, server-maintenance, server-status, tuesday, tuesday-morning, tuesday-morning-post

Filed under: Realm News, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, News items