Happy Tuesday Morning to all good little boys and girls. Ok, and the naughty ones too. Patch 3.3 seems to be coming along relatively smoothly, but with weeks before we see the next section of the Icecrown Citadel open up, we're sort of coasting along. Not that that's a bad place to be, what with the whole holidays thing. Speaking of which, Winter Veil is in full swing, and if you can catch a few moments to log on WoW on the 25th, be sure to pick up your gifts in game.

Of course, even if the game itself is settling in to a patch 3.3 routine, we're still hopping in the WoW.com news room. We've got advice on the new raid bosses, advice on the new dungeon finder, and more. And of course, the new year's just around the corner, so we've started looking back at the year both on the site and in the game. As usual, I have a list of some of the best stories from the past 7 days after the break.
Hot News and Features

• With the year almost done, we're looking back. Check out our top 10 most popular news stories from 2009.
• We're also looking the news stories we liked best from the past year. Check out our lists for January and February, and look for the rest of the months every day here on the site!
• Know Your Lore is back, and this week we discussed the story of Saronite.
• Authenticators are now even cheaper, as shipping costs have been removed.
• Blizzard continues to offer in game tweaks and fixes in the wake of the patch, including reigning in some 5-man bosses.

Class News and Guides

• Arcane Brilliance looks at mage gearing in Patch 3.3.
• Lichborne gives death knights some tips for Pugging with the dungeon finder.
• Shifting Perspectives offers some druid Pugging tips.
• Likewise, Totem Talk has some shaman Pugging tips.
• See a pattern yet? Spiritual Guidance has some priest Pugging tips.
• Encrypted Text, in the meantime, is jumping straight into Icecrown Citadel with some rogue raiding tips.
• The Care and Feeding of Warriors is likewise looking at the citadel.
• Blood Pact is offering some Warlock tips for the citadel as well.
• The Light and How To Swing It continues with more advice for the low level paladin tank.

Items, Dungeons, Professions, PvP, and More

• Raid Rx helps you figure out if you're ready to heal Icecrown Citadel.
• Ready Check has some tips for taking on Lord Marrowgar.
• The status of the Battered Hilt has seen a few changes in the past week or so.
• WoW Rookie gives you some tips for gearing up using the dungeon finder.
• The Drama Mamas want to help you avoid drama while using the dungeon finder.
• Tom Chilton recently had some things to say about new Cataclysm features and the pre-Cataclysm world event.
• Blizzard had some somewhat cryptic things to say about balancing Wintergrasp recently.
• The Art of War(craft) wants to help you get back into the groove of PvP.
• Blood Sport continues offering advice to the newbie arena player.
• Insider Trader looks at those most minmaxilicious of tradeskills, Jewelcrafting and Blacksmithing.

Odds and Ends

• Check out the latest installment of Byron the Tauren Rogue.
• 15 Minutes of Fame makes Child's Play out of WoW.
• Blizzard's added new features to the iPhone mobile armory app.

Tags: downtime, maintenance, realm-maintenance, realm-status, roundup, server-downtime, Server-Maintenance, server-status, tuesday, tuesday-maintenance, tuesday-morning, tuesday-morning-post

Filed under: Realm Status, Odds and ends, News items