Good Tuesday morning, everyone! It's been a surprisingly slow news week as far as new Cataclysm stuff goes, but luckily, we have the PTR to keep us busy anyway. With Operation: Gnomeregan and Zalazane's Fall active for testing on the PTR, now's the perfect time to go test out some fun new world events and show your own patriotism for your favorite refugee race. If you'd rather stay on the live servers, we do have a nice picture gallery of the Zalazane's event for your perusal. The PTR is also being used to test the new Real ID functionality, which makes it an excellent time to caution you: Be careful who you trust with your Real ID.

Perhaps the most "surprising" news this week may be the fact that there is absolutely no downtime anticipated for today. That's right, early morning pacific coast Tuesday players, you can keep right on trucking. But just in case you need a break, or you're stuck at work or school and can't play, we've got the usual roundup of all the good news from the past 7 days or so after the break.
Hot News and Features

• Don't look now, but apparently Murlocs are real.
• 3 words: Pipe cleaner Thrall.
• 15 Minutes of Fame continues our conversation with Aron Eisenberg, also known as Nog from Star Trek: Deep Space 9.
• The Icecrown Citadel raid buff is now at 20%.
• TheoryCraft 101 takes a look at melee haste.
• The Cataclysm Screenshot of the Day has a look at the new Gadgetzan and the new Shimmering Flats.

Class News and Guides

• Lichborne has a beginner's frost tanking guide.
• Shifting Perspectives helps feral and restoration druids apply to raiding guilds, and opines on moonkin form in Cataclysm.
• Totem Talk looks at Ruby Sanctum drops for restoration shamans and trinkets for enhancement.
• The Light and How to Swing It continues looking at gearing a new level 80 tankadin and Holy Shock mechanics.
• Spiritual Guidance offers DPS troubleshooting tips for shadow priests and discusses those useful spells we sometimes forget we have.
• Scattered Shots speaks up in defense of damage meters.
• Ghostcrawler opines on the role and flavor of the fury tree in Cataclysm.
• The Care and Feeding of Warriors has tips for the new level 80 fury warrior.
• Arcane Brilliance loves mages.
• Here's some tips for stepping up your tanking game.
• Blood Pact looks at trinkets for warlocks.

Dungeons, Items, Professions, PvP, and More

• The OverAchiever helps you get the Oculus achievements.
• Gold Capped has a guide to using the new armory auction house.
• Insider Trader looks at cooking for fun and profit, with an emphasis on the second part.
• WoW Rookie covers resurrection methods and etiquette.
• Addon Spotlight takes a look at profession and gathering helpers.
• The Art of War(craft) opines on using battlegrounds as a bridge between expansions.
• Ready Check offers a postmortem on AVR.

Odds and Ends

• Just what are our characters eating and drinking, anyway?
• Drama Mamas offer advice on what to do when divorce drama leaks over into your WoW guild.
• Look at WoW through the eyes of the cynic.
• Know Your Lore is taking a look at Dwarven politics. Check out part one and part two.
• The official TCG site has more previews of the new Wrathgate expansion.

Tags: downtime, 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