Happy Tuesday morning everyone. This week, the future's still coming, slowly but surely. We have a pretty cool grab bag of Warlords of Draenor news from twitter and beyond, as well as some hints about the Warcraft movie. If you're more for the here and now, don't worry, though, there's plenty of news about the connected realms and other in-game happenings, and a round of new guides to help you up your game.

Speaking of here and now, we have scheduled downtime this morning from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. Pacific time, so you have plenty of time to read up on all the latest news. the usual roundup is below.

Hot news and features

• Check out the latest patch 5.4.2 hotfixes for January 14.
• The Lunar Festival is underway. Time to stock up on Moonglow!
• Nerfs are incoming to the Siege of Orgrimmar raid.
• The Warcraft movie may have started filming yesterday.
• Warlords of Draenor will come with a free level 90 if you pre-order, but you may be able to buy more boosts separately. And no, free level 90s are not the end of Warcraft.
• Cory Stockton recently tweeted a lot of nice new info about Garrisons in Warlords of Draenor.
• EU Servers have more connected realms coming up. We have the least on US connected realms.

• The Iron Skyreaver mount is now available from the Blizzard Store.
• Recent job postings suggest Blizzard could be looking to expand microtransactions.
• Greg Street, the man formerly know as Ghostcrawler, has joined Riot Games, maker of League of Legends.
• The final round of Hearthstone closed beta invites are complete.
• PvP power may be getting a redesign in Warlords of Draenor.
• Could Warlords of Draenor bring us more tanking mechanics that aren't "taunt at X stacks?"
• Blizzard wants to offer regular new 5-mans in Warlords of Draenor.
• Zarhym recently commented on "behind the scenes" sneak peaks and developer info.

Class news and guides

• We have a quick guide to the monk's mistweaving spec.
• The Care and Feeding of Warriors offers a guide for brand new level 90 arms warriors.
• Arcane Brilliance offers more challenge mode tips for mages.
• Lichborne rounds up the latest death knight news, including new hotfixes and tweets from the developers.
• Scattered Shots offers a beginner's guide to the hunter class.
• Blood Pact discusses keybinds and chunking for warlocks.
• Encrypted Text presents a rogue drama in three specs.
• Want to be a theorycrafter? We have some tips.

Dungeons, items, professions, PvP, and more

• Rossi advocates for one more patch in the MoP era.
• How can Blizzard improve honor in Warlords of Draenor? We have some ideas.
• Olivia argues for moving PvP Dampening away from the 5 minute mark.
• We'll help you get back into WoW after a long break.
• WoW Archivist reflects on the history of WoW in China.
• Wowhead offers a guide to popular references in WoW.
• Hearthstone's lead designer sheds some light on their card balance philosophy.

Odds and ends

• Anne remembers when the Plaguelands were creepy.
• We reflect on some of the unique roleplaying challenges bought forth by Warlords of Draenor.
• Know Your Lore discusses factional point of view and relates the story of Khadgar.
• Want to feel old? 15 Minutes of Fame talks to an 18 year old WoW veteran.
• The official forums have a few new features and a slightly new look.
• Should WoW have a customer loyalty program?

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Filed under: Realm Status, News items