Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone! By now, the countdown to Cataclysm is over. The servers are up and the race for level 85 has begun. Of course, it's also possible the servers are down under the strain of everyone trying to get in and play, since I'm writing this with a few hours left until the midnight release. I guess what I should say is that there is no scheduled downtime announced as of this writing, but that doesn't mean we won't see some unannounced stuff like they had on the European servers.

Either way, I'm sure by now that most of us have put aside our awesome gnome priests and troll druids and gone back to our level 80s. I know I've bid a fond farewell to my gnome priest and left her camped out in the Badlands listening to Martek and Theldurin the Lost telling tall tales about how they totally took out Deathwing. Still, I have a feeling she'll get some love again once my death knight is safely level 85 and kitted out in that awesome tier 11 gear.

Whether you're leveling your Wrath main to 85 or starting a new level 1 goblin, there's a lot you'll want to know about the brave new world of Cataclysm. Luckily, we're with you every step of the way, from giving you ideas on what do when you first log in and beyond. Read on for a roundup of some of all of the great guides and news items from the past week, and staying with us in the coming hours, days, and weeks, for even more great stuff you'll want to know.

Hot news and features

• Find out why you should roll a worgen or a goblin.
• Confused about zone and dungeon levels and progression? We have a road map for you.
• Check out our guide to the new Deadmines.
• We also have a guides to the new Cataclysm dungeons, such as Vortex Pinnacle and Blackrock Caverns.
• WoW Rookie looks at the dwarf starting area.
• Getting lost in Orgrimmar? Check out our guided video tour.
• We have an overview of the new guild leveling system.
• There are some new battleground brackets in Cataclysm.
• Check out the latest patch 4.0.3a hotfixes.
• Christie Golden's next WoW novel will be titled Thrall: Twilight of the Aspects.
• The Guardian recently had an interview with J. Allen Brack, Blizzard's chief project manager for World of Warcraft.
• Lead systems designer Ghostcrawler has a blog. This week, he's talking about tanking and Vengeance.
• The Alliance has won the Darkmoon Faire community contest. Check out the final prize!

Class news and guides

• Arcane Brilliance has a Cataclysm 101 guide for mages.
• We also have a Cataclysm 101 guide for DPS warriors.
• Our new enhancement shaman columnist has a Cataclysm 101 guide for you as well.
• Scattered Shots looks at pre-heroic gear for Cataclysm hunters and offers some advice for leveling a hunter in Cataclysm.
• Blood Pact has a brief primer for the Cataclysm warlock.
• Shifting Perspectives looks at the druid's road to level 85 and at some balance stuff that could use tweaking, maybe.
• Lichborne covers the basics of leveling your death knight to level 85.
• Totem Talk has a Cataclysm checklist for restoration shaman, as well as a guide to reaching level 85 for elemental shaman.
• The Light And How To Swing It looks at addons for protection and retribution paladins and the relationship between intellect and spirit for holy paladins.
• Encrypted Text talks about Cataclysm rogue mechanics.
• Spiritual Guidance has a shadow priest leveling spec for levels 1 to 85 and a guide to professions for healing priests.
• Raid Rx looks at leveling your healer from 80 to 85.

Items, dungeons, professions, PvP and more

• Officers' Quarters rounds up what guild leaders need to know about Cataclysm.
• We round up the major changes and additions to professions in Cataclysm, including an in-depth look at fishing.
• Insider Trader looks at the race to professional realm firsts.
• Low-level dungeon quest experience has been nerfed to prevent newbies from outleveling all these cool new zones.
• The Art of War(craft) has a guide to patch 4.0.3 shaman and rogue PvP talents.
• Blood Sport makes some predictions about arena Season 9.
• Gold Capped discusses the art of deep undercutting on the auction house.

Odds and ends

• We review a bevy of NVIDIA graphics cards to see how they work with WoW.
• Check out the latest edition of Safe Passage, WoW Insider's weekly webcomic.
• Know Your Lore talks about everyone's favorite warchief, Garrosh Hellscream. There's so much to say about this guy, we had to add a part 2.
• The Lawbringer talks about account security.
• We didn't start the fire, nor are we BLIND to it!

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion (available Dec. 7, 2010), from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.

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Tags: roundup, tuesday, tuesday-morning, tuesday-morning-post

Filed under: Realm Status, News items