Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. With BlizzCon almost upon us, you know we're preparing to get you all the juicy WoW news that's sure to come out. Don't think we're waiting until then, though. We're also writing tons of articles and guides to help you figure out what's coming and how to get the most of it.

If BlizzCon isn't your bag, or if you're all set for the 2 week wait, we also have plenty of news from WoW, including the latest on hotfixes and Connected Realms. Downtime today is slated to start at 3 a.m. Pacific time and last 8 hours, so you'll have plenty of time to read. You find the usual roundup of the last 7 days of news below.

Hot news and features

• Check out the contents of the BlizzCon Goody Bag. We also learned that BlizzCon attendees will receive free Virtual Tickets as well.
• Headed to BlizzCon? We'll show you how to navigate Anaheim.
• Could the next big WoW feature be downscaled dungeons?
• Check out the latest patch 5.4 hotfixes for October 21, October 22, October 23rd.
• The last wing of Siege of Orgrimmar is now open in Raid Finder.
• Previously Asia-only battle pets have been added to the Recruit-A-Friend program on the patch 5.4.1 PTR.
• The next wave of US Connected Realms has been announced, as has a new wave of EU Connected Realms.

• CM Vaneras delivered some possible bad news on the idea of merging high population realms to solve faction imbalance.
• Could Heroes of the Storm be running into a trademark conflict?
• Diablo 3 is adding enchanting and transmogrification to the game in the upcoming expansion. But Diablo 3's take on transmogrification is so good, WoW should probably steal it right back.
• Rumor has it that Vikings star Travis Fimmel could be the star of the upcoming Warcraft movie.

Class news and guides

• Scatter Shots has more raiding tips for hunters in patch 5.4.
• Arcane Brilliance discusses the current state of fire mages.
• Totem Talk discusses Chain Heal.
• Lichborne answers some common patch 5.4 death knight questions.
• Encrypted Text brainstorms rogue questions to ask the developers at BlizzCon.
• The Light and How to Swing It looks at tanking the Gates of Retribution, and at the retribution spec after patch 5.4.
• The Care And Feeding of Warriors looks at timing your burst damage.

Dungeons, items, professions, PvP, and more

• The casters and competitors for the BlizzCon WoW Arena PvP tournament have been announced.
• Hearthstone Highlights takes a look at the Eaglehorn Bow and the Frostwolf Warlord.
• WoW Archivist looks back at some of WoW's most terrifying monsters.

Odds and ends

• So what is BlizzCon, you ask? We'll get you up to speed on what it is, why you should paying attention, and how to take it all in.
• Is your account locked? Blizzard has tips for dealing with it.
• Blizzard is running profiles of the competitors in the upcoming Hearthstone Innkeeper's Invitational.
• Know Your Lore discusses the hope behind the destruction on Pandaria. We also discuss whose side Wrathion is really on.
• The Blizzard Store is offering full halloween costumes.
• A Hearthstone fan is crafting a real life Hearthstone gaming box.
• 15 Minutes of Fame interviews character artist and BlizzCon badge beautifier Noxychu.

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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