For the past few weeks, Blizzard's toyed with us just a bit. Monday night bought a posted announcement of extended downtime, only for the morning to feature naught but rolling restarts. As of this writing, we're once again starting with a 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. PST downtime announcement. Will it stick this time? I suppose by the time you read this, we'll know.

Still, it's a win-win situation. If I'm right, I'm right. If Blizzard changes back to rolling restarts, we get to play the game again sooner. In the meantime, there's still stuff to read while the game's down. The biggest news we've gotten out of Blizzard thus far has been one of negatives: BlizzCon is gone, at least for this year. This means we'll have to party even harder in 2013, but what do we do in the meantime? For now, I suggest we catch up on reading. We've kept busy even with the dearth of news, offering guides and opinions you'll want to read. While you wait for the servers to come back up, why not read on? Our usual roundup of the best stuff from the past seven days awaits.

Hot news and features

• BlizzCon is cancelled this year, says Bashiok, so Blizzard can focus its efforts.
• Sure, you may be mad that BlizzCon's gone, but you can drown your sorrows in an official WoW soda cup, coming soon to ampm mini-mart.
• Blizzard's relaxing the in-game language filter a bit, which has caused Fox to reflect on Blizzard's often rocky relationship with the LGBT community.
• Blizzard's looking for a product placement guru for its next big MMO. What could this mean? The Lawbringer has a few ideas.
• What did you do last time you were bored in WoW? Raegwyn grabbed nine of his friends and did an all-death-knight Firelands run.
• Optional triggered boss modes may make a comeback in Pandaria.
• Hate those flashy weapon enchants? Blizzard is looking into letting you turn them off.
• In the Shadow of the Sun offers some new lore about the blood elves and their leader, Lor'themar Theron.
• Ol' Grumpy wants class-based quests back again.
• Could removing legendary weapons be good for the game?
• Allison offers up a list of WoW trivia for your perusal.
• Josh offers a few coping tips for some of the Raid Finder's worst jerks.

Class news and guides

• Shifting Perspectives helps you use your druid tanking cooldowns wisely. We also look at five mistakes new feral druids make.
• Totem Talk lists three easy ways to improve your shaman healing and four ways to improve your shaman DPS.
• Lichborne offers three predictions about the future of death knights in Mists of Pandaria.
• Encrypted Text discusses what to do when your DPS doesn't matter. Yes, that's right, your DPS is just like the shower in a con-goer's hotel room.
• Spiritual Guidance reveals six noob mistakes made by shadow priests.
• The Light And How to Swing It helps you use your hands. We also have a discussion of Holy Radiance nerfs.
• Raid Rx looks at the habits of the world's worst healers.
• The Care And Feeding of Warriors wants everybody to tank.

Dungeons, items, professions, PvP, and more

• Addon Spotlight features recommendations from the Twitter hivemind.
• WoW Rookie offers a guide to carrying the flag in Warsong Gulch.
• The Overachiever counts down the worst holiday achievements.
• Feeling sneaky? We offer a roguish transmogrification look for your consideration.
• Officers' Quarters opines on the shaky state of the 25-man raiding guild.

Odds and ends

• In a victory for Canadian WoW players, Canadian ISP Rogers Communications got in legal trouble for throttling traffic.
• Know Your Lore discusses Broxigar the Red. We also speculate on the future story of heroic Scholomance.
• 15 Minutes of Fame interviews some dastardly rogues.
• You can watch the MMO documentary Race to World First free through Feb. 3.

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Tags: downtime, extended-downtime, extended-maintenance, maintenance, realm-downtime, realm-maintenance, 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