Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The beta invite floodgates have opened. If you didn't get a beta invite yet (or even if you did), have no worry. Our tireless team is constantly scouring the beta, ready to bring you the latest news and guides to exploring the new areas, using the new features, and taking in the sights of Mists of Pandaria.

You can check after the break for a special Mists of Pandaria section, along with a roundup of the rest of the past week's news. Downtime is currently scheduled for 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have plenty of time to read through it all.

Mists of Pandaria news and features

• In the latest Dev Watercooler, Ghostcrawler explains the new Mists of Pandaria loot systems. He also explained spec-specific quest rewards.
• Have a look at our gallery of screenshots from the pandaren starter zone.
• Check out our overview of Temple of the Jade Serpent, one of the first new dungeons in Mists.
• Pandaren totems have been uncovered.
• We also take a gander at the new Dungeon and Raid Finder UI.
• Check out some of the awesome new archaeology items from the beta.
• We have a gallery of pandaren male customization options. We also have a pandaren male facial hair gallery. Finally, we take a look at male pandaren hairstyles.
• New quest markers should making questing pretty fun and easy. There are even quest markers for the world map.

• We also take a look at some video walk throughs of the new dungeons.
• New details of the Pet Battle system have been uncovered in the beta.
• Bad news, warlocks. Green fire won't be ready for the release of Mists of Pandaria.
• New vendor filters help you get your shopping done quicker.
• The Alliance is infiltrating Ragefire Chasm in Mists of Pandaria.
• What's Garrosh up to right now? See the Horde introduction to Mists of Pandaria to find out.
• We also have a look at the Alliance introduction, featuring one of my personal favorite NPCs.
• Looking to beta test? We have some advice for getting your addons working (or eschewing them completely) in the beta.
• David Kosak gave a pretty interesting interview to a Korean fan site recently. You should watch it.

Other hot news and features

• Be careful -- that Darkmoon Rabbit's dynamite.
• Warlocks aren't standing for the green fire delay.
• The Potion of Illusion can do some pretty crazy stuff.
• We offer some robeless transmogrification looks for casters who can't stand wearing that big blue dress.
• Rossi takes a look back at the Dragon Soul raid.
• With monks up and coming, some of us are probably thinking of switching mains again.

Class news and guides

• Totem Talk speculates on Mists of Pandaria stuff for restoration shaman.
• The Light And How To Swing It looks at beta news for the retribution paladin. We have a similar look at beta news for protection paladins. Finally, we look at paladin AoE healing changes in the beta.
• Scattered Shots takes a look at the latest hunter news from the beta.
• The Care And Feeding of Warriors looks at the fury tree in Mists.
• Arcane Brilliance talks about what the MoP beta means for arcane mages.
• Spiritual Guidance offers some first impressions of the beta from a healing priest's point of view.
• Lichborne offers some goals and advice for aspiring death knight beta testers.
• Encrypted Text continues looking at the lazy combat build.
• Blood Pact offers some advice to newbie affliction warlocks.

Dungeons, items, professions, PvP, and more

• Blood Sport offers a guide to PvP twinking.
• Addon Spotlight looks at base UI upgrades currently on display in the beta.
• Gold Capped predicts rising prices in Mists of Pandaria. We also discuss profiting off new glyphs.
• Ready to replace your keyfob authenticator with a smartphone version? We can help.

Odds and ends

• Know Your Lore looks at the rise of King Varian Wrynn. We also investigate the unbearable sadness of Alliance questing.
• 15 Minutes of Fame interviews a researcher who's out to prove that playing WoW can increase your brain power.
• Check out the awesome season 1 of Warcraft Mega Bloks.

---

Tags: downtime, extended-downtime, extended-maintenance, last-week-in-wow, 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