Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. As of this writing, the big news of the week is probably the latest Twitter developer chat. If you missed it, we have the transcript. Topics included the fate of Crystalsong Forest, pet scaling buffs, new warlock pets, personal guild banks and other storage issues, and more. Be sure to check it out, it's good reading whether you're focused on Patch 3.3 or on Cataclysm. Coming up, we have the opening of the Crimson Halls, the next wing of Icecrown Citadel. That means lots of vampires. They're blood elf vampires, sure, but blood elves are awesome, so it's all good. And hey, if you dislike blood elves, at least take comfort in the fact that these vampires don't sparkle.

Finally, it looks like advance notice for downtime may be the name of the game after all, as we've know about today's downtime for a few days now. It's 3 AM to 11 AM pacific time, if you haven't heard, which means you should have plenty of time to catch up on WoW news. Check out a list of some of our content from the last 7 days below the cut.

Hot News and Features

• The official armory got some pretty sweet upgrades recently, including a 3D character viewer.
• Speaking of which, be sure to protect yourself with knowledge of the latest armory phishing scams.
• Check out some of the latest in-game fixes as of January 12th.
• The rumors are getting hotter: Has Sam Raimi really moved on to the Warcraft movie?
• In more WoW criminal news, we have someone arrested for an account selling scam.
• You can now fly straight to the Frozen Throne in Icecrown. Sort of.

Class News and Guides

• Moonkin rejoice: You may have some buffs coming.
• Death knights, want to cut down your PuG queue times? Check out Lichborne's latest: a death knight focused guide to 5-man tanking for the new dungeon finder system.
• Check out our guide to Lower Spire loot for paladins.
• Blood Pact has Plagueworks tips for warlocks.
• Arcane Brilliance knows that you make these mistakes too, mages.
• Shifting Perspectives helps you not to be seen.
• Spiritual Guidance takes a look at shadow priests and discipline raid healing.
• Encrypted Text isn't too concerned about the recent rogue nerfs.
• Scattered Shots continues to look at hunter loot in Icecrown Citadel.
• Rossi is full of Fury this week.
• Totem Talk plays with Fire Nova.
• Raid Rx teaches you how to (use) focus.

Dungeons, Items, Professions, PvP, and More

• There's certain abilities that Allison wishes just didn't exist in 5-mans.
• WoW, Casually looks at using 5-mans to level.
• So who's really to blame for aggro problems in PUGs?
• Addon Spotlight highlights Everyquest, now with post Patch 3.3 quest tracking goodness.
• Just in case you didn't hear about it the first time, the blues reiterated it recently: There's no sanctuary cities in Cataclysm.
• The Overachiever is going for broke.
• Insider Trader discusses selling your wares.
• Ready Check takes on the Deathbringer.

Odds and Ends

• Check out the latest installment of Byron the Tauren Rogue.
• 15 Minutes of Fame gets philosophical.
• We'd like to join 1. Local in wishing Michael Gray and his blushing bride a long and happy life together!

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

Filed under: Realm Status, News items