Good Tuesday morning, everyone! So it looks like we have at least one more week of Patch 3.1. But here's the good news: We're just about to hit August, and August is BlizzCon month! And of course, I know you're all looking forward to the premiere event of BlizzCon, the WoW.com meetup. That's right, we're back and better than ever, and we got a sweet new spot for the shindigs. You can see all the details here and then proceed to make your plans or be jealous as your ability to attend dictates.

But seriously, we still got a ways to go until BlizzCon, and hopefully a shorter ways to go until Patch 3.2, but in the meantime, we have a few rolling restarts and a handful of short downtimes to get through. With that in mind, here's some news to keep you busy while you wait for your server.


Hot News and Features

• We finally have some solid news about the Warcraft movie: Sam Raimi is directing. No word yet on who Bruce Campbell's playing, but I still say he has the chin to be Varian.
  
• More Halloween Masks have been uncovered. Is this proof the Worgen and Goblin thing was a false alarm on the new races front, or just a hasty last minute cover-up by Blizzard?
• Good news for any Chinese players who haven't been able or willing to make the jump to Taiwanese servers: It looks like the government is finally moving to approve the game.
  

Class News and Guides

• The Hunter Q&A was released last week, but not without some weird difficulties with deletions and a few phantom questions. And is that a new resource system they're hinting at?
  
• The blues had a bit more to say about Druids in a Druid Q&A follow up post.
• Encrypted Text takes a sneak peek at the new Emblem of Triumph rewards for Rogues.
• Arcane Brilliance is looking at Trial of the Champions loot for Mages.
  
• Shifting Perspectives discusses taking the first steps along the path of the Druid.
• Spiritual Guidance looks at the possibilities and perils of raiding with two Discipline Priests.
• Paladins, here's 5 goals for you to consider on your quest to be the most awesome Paladin you can be.
• Scattered Shots discusses Cunning Pets.
  
• Sorry Hunters, the Worgen pet is gone for good.
• On next strike abilities like Heroic Strike and Maul are due for a change, admit the devs.
  

Dungeons, Items, PvP, and More

• Ready Check helps you tackle Thorim.
  
• Good news for all those guilds still working on their Ulduar drakes: They're still in for the foreseeable future.
  
• WoW Rookie looks at slotting gems for the newbie.
• Insider Trader looks at Woodworking as the possible next new tradeskill.
  
• If you want to take your PvP game to the next level, be sure to check out Zach's Gearing up for PvP series on choosing the right hardware to dominate. Topics include Mice, Keyboards and surfaces, sound systems,
• All the World's a Stage discusses some lore and RP possibilities for Goblins and Worgen.
  

Odds and Ends

• The San Diego ComicCon was on this weekend, and there was news to be had. Chris Metzen and Bruce Campbell had things to say about the movie, and the Guild had their own panel.
  
• Turpster walks you through the mechanics of multiboxing with one box.
• Now that the Warcraft Movie is back on our minds, we've been discussing the possibilities for storylines, cast, and crew.
• Brad Pitt has some words of wisdom about marital matters in World of Warcraft.
• Wowhead has launched a premium service.
• No good ever seems to come of Dwarves exploring, but then again, this one did pretty well: He got the explorer title at level 17.
  

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

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