Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. With a new wave of 400,000 Mists of Pandaria beta invites having gone out this past week, everyone with an Annual Pass should now have their invites. If you have yours, you may want to read up on our guides to being a better beta tester.

I have to admit, when I am not testing my death knight, one of the things I have been doing is creating monks of various races to get a feel for whose combat animations look the coolest. Of course, none of them quite face up to pandaren just because they all have the whole issue of being old models, but you get some cool moves. I'm finding I really like Forsaken monks. They almost hearken back to the old ghouls of WCIII that they came from.

Whether you're in the beta or not, you'll want to keep reading. We have all the latest beta news you'll want to know about, as well as class news, opinions, and the rest. Downtime today is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have time to get caught up. Keep reading for more.

Hot news and features

• Patch 4.3.3 is live, and with it, some changes to the customer support UI. We'll show you the ropes.
• Check out the latest patch 4.3 hotfixes for April 17.
• World bosses are coming back with a vengeance in Mists of Pandaria, and Matt has a quick guide to etiquette and expectations for taking them down.
• Chase takes a look at three monk abilities that call back to classic fighting games.
• Rossi offers a beginner's guide to WoW lore.
• Anne offers some advice for dealing with in-game harassment.
• Brian takes a look at what WoW players search for on Google.
• We offer more transmogrification looks based off old Nintendo favorites.
• Rossi wonders if flying mounts caused more harm than good.

Class news and guides

• Scattered Shots examines the latest beta changes for hunters.
• Totem Talk takes a look at Ascendance, the new shaman skill in Mists.
• Arcane Brilliance takes a first look at the mage arcane tree in the Mists beta.
• Spiritual Guidance takes a look at some of the new Mists priest talents. Fox also shares his candidates for the worst abilities in game.
• Lichborne takes a look at the latest beta patch news for death knights.
• The Care And Feeding of Warriors has some thoughts on the arms tree in Mists.
• Blood Pact shares some thoughts on the destruction tree in Mists of Pandaria.
• Shifting Perspectives works through some restoration druid hate. We also have some more discussion of Symbiosis.
• Encrypted Text interviews Haileaus, a champion subtlety rogue.
• Raid Rx takes a look at druid raid healers in Mists of Pandaria.
• Anne offers a defense of the Lightwell.

Dungeons, items, professions, PvP, and more

• The Overachiever offers you a cookie. You'll feel right as rain!
• WoW Rookie helps you transfer to a roleplaying realm. Once you're there, you may want to read up on Anne's advice for cultivating harmony between roleplayers and non-roleplayers.
• Basil weighs in on the benefits of 10-man and 25-man raiding.

Odds and ends

• J!NX has unveiled new WoW-themed clothing.
• Know Your Lore speculates on the consequences if Stormwind had won the first war. We also have a biography of Velen the Prophet. Finally, we take a look at the history of the legendary blade Quel'serrar.
• 15 Minutes of Fame interviews some transmogging treasure hunters.
• The Lawbringer has a few loose ends to tie up about Etsy and the Annual Pass.

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Filed under: Realm Status, News items