Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. This week has had its share of silence, for sure. I'm not sure if the folks at Blizzard's just enjoying the last bit of the holidays or secretly playing that other game, but either way, they didn't have much to say this week. That's not say there wasn't activity and stuff to discuss, not at all. The Darkmoon Faire's back in town, for one, and we've all been looking back at some of the best and worst stuff to come out of 2011. This is also the week we had to say goodbye to that freaking sweet corgi in the picture above. We can only pray Blizzard gives him back to us a pet some time in the future. If they do not, it shall surely go down in the annals of history as one of the greatest MMO tragedies of all time.

Downtime this morning is a series of rolling restarts starting at 10 a.m. PST, so you should have time to dig in to all the retrospectives and guides we have ready for you. Read on for the usual roundup.

Hot news and features

• Darkmoon Faire is back, but it's a little buggy.
• We take a look at the state of DPS in Dragon Soul.
• Every wonder which weapon models get transmogrified the most?
• Do the ways we earn and cap justice and valor points need some adjusting?
• Rossi thinks this expansion ended rather well.
• We've finished our roundup of the best stories of 2011 on WoW Insider. Did your favorite story get a mention?

Class news and guides

• Totem Talk helps you heal Hagara and Ultraxion. We also review 2011 for the elemental shaman.
• Lichborne looks back at 2011 from a death knight's perspective.
• Spiritual Guidance has healing strategies for Warmaster Blackhorn and the Spine of Deathwing, as well for the Madness of Deathwing. We also have a shadow priest's guide to the Hour of Twilight.
• Encrypted Text looks back at 2011 as the year of the rogue.
• The Light and How to Swing It shows you how to evaluate your retribution DPS. We also take a look at the current state of the protection paladin rotation and the first year of holy power.
• Scattered Shots offers some hunter predictions for the new year.
• Raid Rx looks at the biggest healing moments of 2011.
• Arcane Brilliance offers some New Year's resolutions for mages.
• The Care And Feeding of Warriors also reviews the year 2011.
• Shifting Perspectives looks back at 2011 for the feral druid.

Professions, items, dungeons, PvP, and more

• WoW Rookie offers tips for leveling via the Dungeon Finder.
• Addon Spotlight offers an addon to show gear levels at a glance.
• Gold Capped offers a guide to selling Hagara pickpockets to rogues for their legendary quest.

Odds and ends

• Know Your Lore rates the top 10 lore reveals of 2011. We also have the top 10 lore developments for the same year. There is a difference!
• We offer a glimmering gladiator transmogrification look.
• World of Warcrafts talks to Hogger.
• 15 Minutes of Fame catches up to some of 2011's interview subjects.
• The Lawbringer has more to say on the subject of brand name licenses.
• Kalimdor hides some pretty creepy locales.

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Tags: corgi, downtime, maintenance, realm-downtime, realm-maintenance, rolling-restart, rolling-restarts, roundup, roundups, scheduled-downtime, scheduled-maintenance, server-downtime, server-maintenance, server-status, tuesday, tuesday-downtime, tuesday-maintenance, tuesday-morning, tuesday-morning-post

Filed under: Realm Status, News items