Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Patch 5.4 is well underway, and Blizzard's been pretty busy. So have we, of course, covering all the hotfixes, writing new guides, and even covering some of the interesting news come out of Blizzard's other games, such as some long-anticipated but somehow still unexpected news about Diablo III's most contentious feature.

Downtime this morning is regulated to a series of rolling restarts at 7 a.m. PDT, but why not take some advice from the monks? Relax, sit back, and meditate on some of the past week's news. We have the usual roundup for you below.

Hot news and features

• Check out the latest patch 5.4 hotfixes for September 16, September 17, September 18, September 19, and September 20.
• Having trouble in the raid finder? We have some 5 second tips for defeating the bosses of the first wing of Siege of Orgrimmar.
• Got a tier token yet? Here's where to find the tier gear vendors for Siege of Orgrimmar.
• Watcher breaks down some recent changes to the heroic Norushen encounter.
• PvP season 14 has begun.
• If you're after that Timeless Isle treasure, we have advice for getting the weekly hard-to-get chests. We also have a guide to finding every single chest on the isle.
• The Siege of Orgrimmar world first race got off to a roaring start.
• Brewfest is here, and we have a guide to the achievements.

• Worried about the upcoming big squish? Don't worry, you'll be able to kill mobs just as quickly.
• If you needed more proof that the Warcraft movie might finally be a reality, casting rumors are suddenly coming fast and furious.
• The Diablo III auction house will be shutting down next year.
• The first round of nerfs may be coming to the Hearthstone beta, and the Defias Ringleader may be one of the hardest hit cards.

Class news and guides

• The Light And How To Swing It has tips for tanking paladins in the proving grounds.
• Lichborne digs into Siege of Orgimmar gear for death knights.
• The Care And Feeding of Warriors also looks at SoO loot.
• We discuss the right and wrong ways to use healing meters.

Dungeons, items, professions, PvP, and more

• Ghostcrawler comments on why heroic raid modes open after normal modes.
• Sorry Olivia. You got a lot of baking to do!
• Lodur looks at the unexpected adjustments needed when switching from 25-man raiding to 10-man raiding.
• How easy should it be to gear up an alt?
• Olivia shows you have to use oQueue to find a Flex raiding group.

Odds and ends

• Know Your Lore examines the (In-character) Alliance argument for destroying Orgimmar, as well as the (out of character) argument for leaving it alone and just forgetting the whole thing. We also have a lament for the lost innocence of the pandaren.
• Lessons in Lore is a fan-made Warcraft lore video series.
• Blizzard is hiring an eSports Director for its upcoming All-Stars game.
• The Activision-Blizzard/Vivendi split has been halted.
• The Dawn of the Aspects paperback version is available for preorder.
• Rossi doesn't like in-game holidays.

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Filed under: Realm Status, News items