Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. It's another one of those weird weeks when the biggest stories of the week aren't even about the game itself, but about movies and upcoming games that we aren't technically supposed to know about.

Of course, there's plenty of cool stuff going on in game as we gradually discover those fun little secrets and smaller changes to patch 5.3, and we always have a good assortment of guides to help you get through the game. Downtime this morning is a series of rolling restarts at 7:00 a.m. PDT, but that's a good excuse to take a small break and read on for our usual roundup.

Hot news and features

• Project Titan has seen a developmental shakeup. Adam explains why he's not too worried about it.
• The Warcraft movie will start filming in 2014. This video recaps the history the long-upcoming movie so far.
• Patch 5.3 offers new Cataclysm gear vendors for catching up your ilevel.
• The Armored Bloodwing mount is now available for purchase at the Pet Store.
• PvP vendors are back.
• Blizzard's looking for more feedback on possible upcoming pet battle changes.
• One of the smaller, more mysterious additions in patch 5.3 is the presence of a new red dragon near Ahn'Qiraj.
• Blizzard's coming to the San Diego Comic-Con.

• WoW Insider recently held a video roundtable on heroic scenarios with some of our staff.
• Alex comments on the relationship between character gender and real life gender.
• Is time to remove transmog restrictions (My vote is yes, for the record)?
• Will Blizzard ever offer paid class changes? Our poll suggests most people don't think so.

Class news and guides

• Encrypted Text examines the RPPM system for rogues.
• The Care And Feeding of Warriors discusses warrior itemization concerns.
• Lichborne speculates on possible talent changes in patch 5.4.
• Shifting Perspectives helps feral druids spend VP in patch 5.3
• Blood Pact shows warlocks how to use CompareBot to compare logs.

Dungeons, items, professions, PvP, and more

• We have a guide to get you started on gathering professions.
• Vanessa Van Cleef died way too young.
• Could we see valor points rewarding on a scale of diminishing returns rather than a weekly cap at some point?
• If you've faction changed a max level character, you'll be able to go back and do your new faction's starting quests in for Mists of Pandaria.

Odds and ends

• Wowhead has launched a new Hearthstone section of the site with tooltips and artwork for the cards.
• Speaking of Hearthstone cards, this preview of the Earth Elemental card gets off to a rocky start.
• You know World of Warcraft's influence is big, but did you know it's even influenced the development of windows?
• Know Your Lore speculates on the possible hidden story of Rehgar Earthfury and Varian Wrynn and offers a recap of the reasons behind the conflict between the Horde and Alliance.
• 15 Minutes of Fame interviews a wargaming minature customizer with a Horde flair.
• Developer Take-Two Interactive doesn't believe MMOs work in the USA.

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Filed under: Realm Status, News items