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Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The Theramore's Fall scenario is live, and if you're a level 85 with decent gear, you can run it for another week or so, after which it turns into a level 90 scenario. If you want a peek at what it entails, we have a walkthrough of the Alliance side.

If you'd rather stay unspoiled, don't worry. There's plenty of other exciting happenings to read up on, especially with the launch of Mists of Pandaria only a week away. Downtime this morning is scheduled to start at 3 a.m. PDT and last for 8 hours as of this writing, so you should have time to get through it all.

Hot news and features

• WoW Devs hosted a Reddit AMA where they discussed just about anything, from lore to raiding to class balance. Check out the transcript of their answers. Best Buy is also hosting another Mists of Pandaria Developer chat today.
• Patch 5.0.5 is out, bringing with it some minor class tweaks and bug fixes. We have the patch notes.
• Challenge Modes will have no lockouts or consumable restrictions.
• Check out the latest live server hotfixes from September 12 and September 14.
• It's been 7 years since the Corrupted Blood incident, and a death knight disease bug offered a re-enactment.

Mists of Pandaria comes ever closer, and Blizzard's gearing up, from announcing launch events to showing TV spots. My favorite piece of news this week, however, is Ghostcrawler's triumphant entrance to Twitter. You can now receive Greg T. Street's wit and wisdom delivered to your smartphone in bursts of approximately 140 characters each. I myself was able to get some clarity on a question that's been near and dear to my heart for some time. Does the "T" stand for Tiberius? Ghostcrawler told me it doesn't, but he's willing to entertain a name change. I'd say that's what our country is all about, ladies and gentlemen.

As of this writing, downtime today starts at 3 a.m. PDT, and is expected to last at least 8 hours. If you've already caught up on Ghostcrawler's twitter stream, why not stay here with us? Read on for a rundown of the best news and features from the past 7 days.

Hot news and features

• The Battleground Call to Arms is no longer limited to the weekends.
• Blizzard is asking for your feedback on low level class balance.
• Li Li's Travel Journal continues with a stop in the Dawning Valley.
• Ghostcrawler explains why the devs can't please everyone with hamburgers.
• Fishing no longer requires a pole.
• Rage tanks got some buffs over on the beta.

According to this tweet from BlizzardCS, scheduled maintenance on all servers has been extended by two hours from 11:00 a.m. PDT to 1:00 p.m. PDT. Of course, this is fairly common for large patches. It could be extended further, so keep an eye on this post, and we'll update with any further information as it is warranted.

In the meantime, while you're waiting, you could always look at our Patch 5.0.4 coverage or find a book on the Kindle store (I know of a good one) to read.

Edited to add: maintenance has been extended until 3:00 p.m. PDT.

As of 2:50 p.m. PDT servers appear to be coming up.

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It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!

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Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. As I'm sure you've heard, the big news of the week is patch 5.0.4. It's dropping today, and with it come most of the major mechanical changes of the Mists of Pandaria expansion. Not sure what's happening? We have our own rundown of what to expect with the patch, and Blizzard has a patch 5.0.4 survival guide of their own.

In addition, you'll want to read on, because we have plenty of class- and feature-specific guides to help you get a handle on what's changed, and we'll posting more of them over the rest of the day today. Downtime today begins at 3 a.m. PDT and is expected to last for at least eight hours as of this writing, so you should have plenty of time to catch up. Read on for more patch 5.0.4 advice and news.

Hot news and features

• World of Warcraft Remote Services are now free to all subscribers. In addition, former subscribers get a free Lil' XT to keep or give away.
• Blizzard recently clarified the currency conversions coming in patch 5.0.4 and beyond.
• Patch 5.0.4 will end the current arena PvP season.
• The Theramore scenario will not be available for a few more weeks.
• Hit and expertise will be changing in patch 5.0.4 in ways you may not expect.
• Rossi muses on the trials and tribulations of adjusting to patch 5.0.4.
• Raid finder loot rules are changing, and they'll apply even to guild runs. Blizzard's also clarified where the raid finder is meant to fit in gearing progression.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The big news this week is, of course, the Mists of Pandaria opening cinematic. I don't know about anyone else, but my favorite part is that awesome Alliance admiral. Forget about Varian -- I want this guy for high king. Look at him. He's manlier than Gaston up in here.

Once you're done admiring him, you'll want to catch up on the rest of the week's news. We now that know that the latest PvP season will end on Aug. 28 and that, not coincidentally, patch 5.0.4 will drop on the same day. That means we're only a week away from some massive changes. You can check out our article on what is and isn't changing in patch 5.0.4. Many skill and UI changes from Mists of Pandaria will be going in, but some stuff will still be waiting for the Mists release date, and we'll let you know what's what.

Downtime this week starts at 3 a.m. PDT and lasts for eight hours, so you should have plenty of time to get caught up on everything you need to know. Read on for our usual roundup for news and guides from the past week.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Probably the biggest news this week is that Blizzard's security was breached, and passwords and other information were stolen. On the plus side, much of the information was encrypted. That said, it's probably a good idea for you to change your password and get an authenticator, if you haven't already. In other news, we continue to explore the Mists of Pandaria beta, and almost as exciting, the Curiosity Rover continues to explore Mars. That picture up there? It's a color picture of another planet. How exciting is that, I ask you?

Downtime today is a series of rolling restarts starting at 5 a.m. PDT, with a handful of servers staying down until 1 p.m. PDT. Check the link to see if your server's on the list. Whether your server's down for 15 minutes or eight hours, we're here to keep you busy. Read on for a roundup of the latest news.

Hot news and features

• Planning to level a monk? We have a guide for you.
• The background downloader is active, heralding the arrival of patch 5.0.4.
• Ghostcrawler recently commented about the rate of valor point gain in Mists of Pandaria.
• Ghostcrawler also confirmed and explained the lack of reputation gaining tabards in Mists.
• With Theramore about to fall on hard times, we take a look back at its history.
• Alas, the new Theramore scenario will not be tested on the PTR.
• Blizzard will be hosting a series of community round tables at gamescom 2012.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The release date for Mists of Pandaria may be less than two months away, but Blizzard doesn't appear to be slowing down on beta, and neither are we. Check out our roundup below for a bunch of new features and our guides to making the most of them. There's going to be a lot of do when Mists drops, and we help you get a leg up.

Scheduled maintenance today starts at 5 a.m. PDT and lasts around six hours, so you should have time to get some reading done. You should also have time to watch the video above, and you should, because we're on Mars and that is awesome.

Hot new and features

• Check out our 5-second guide to the bosses of the Mists of Pandaria leveling dungeons.
• Jade Forest is once again open on the beta, and with it come new quests and storylines for both Alliance and Horde.
• Valor of the Ancients is a new buff that will increase valor point gain for your alts.
• In Mists of Pandaria, you'll be able to raise your own cloud serpent mount.
• We check out the Crypt of Forgotten Kings scenario over on the Mists beta.
• What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been no longer rewards Master Riding.
• Raids in Mists of Pandaria will be released in a staggered schedule, with none available right at launch.
• Some beloved faction-specific gear models make a return in the new Jade Forest.
• Alex starts you out right with a story of beginning pet battles.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The big news this week is, of course, the release date. We now know that we get the expansion on Sept. 25. That means we have less than two months to go until the release of Mists of Pandaria. That doesn't mean beta testing has slowed down any, though. We're still getting near-weekly patches and lots of raid testing. We've even seen the introduction of the Tillers, the FarmVille-style faction. If you haven't already, check out Dawn's write-up for an in-depth rundown of how to start your your own farm.

Downtime this week is from 3 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you'll have plenty of time to get caught up on all the latest news. Read on for our usual roundup of all the good stuff from the past seven days.

Hot news and features

• Blizzard previews two new scenarios, as well as the Mogu'Shan Vaults raid.
• Check out some of the newest pets and mounts from the Mists beta.
• Pet battles will make you vulnerable if you are PvP-flagged.
• Defeating challenge modes will grant you teleportation spells.
• Brewfest has been pushed back a week to allow people some time to level before facing Coren Direbrew.
• Gold normalization will be coming to bosses old and new in Mists.
• You won't need the Mists of Pandaria expansion for pet battles.
• Pet battle beta testing continues, with a bunch of changes to the system ready for testing soon.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. The patch 5.0.4 PTR is live now, complete with patch notes. While it's not Mists itself, it's another milestone on the road and another sign that a release date might just be coming our way soon. The big news for me this week though is the possibility of a Digital Deluxe version of the expansion. As someone who makes almost all of his media purchases in digital form these days, including his computer games, I love that I may finally have that choice in Mists. On the other hand, I've been buying those big old Collector's Edition boxes for years now. Do I really want to break that tradition?

While I sit here and agonize over my answer, why don't you check out our usual roundup of the past seven days' news? Downtime this week is just another set of rolling restarts -- but hey, why not give the servers a few more minutes to calm down?

Hot news and features

• The Mists of Pandaria opening cinematic will debut at 8:00 a.m. EDT on Aug. 16. In the meantime, you can watch the pandaren introduction video instead.
• Do you like daily quests? There will be 48 per day available in Mists of Pandaria. Olivia's not too sure she'll be doing them.
• Still, you may want to get used to doing dailies if you want reputation. Mists faction tabards won't grant reputation in dungeons.
• In order to promote pet hunting, wild battle pets will not be tradable.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. WoW's been rolling on pretty much as expected these days, and while rumors of release dates and sales fly around, the beta keeps patching and we keep on reporting.

Downtime this morning is just a series of rolling restarts beginning at 5 a.m. PDT, but there's still some juicy news to catch up on from the Mists of Pandaria beta and elsewhere. Read on to take it all in.

Hot news and features

• We have a look at some never-before-seen panels from the upcoming Pearl of Pandaria WoW graphic novel.
• The patch 5.0.1 PTR will be available soon, but Mists of Pandaria beta testers will not have access.
• Here's what you need to know about Mogu'shan Palace, one of the new 5-man dungeons in Mists of Pandaria.
• Check out our gallery of Vale of Eternal Blossoms, one of the new Mists zones.
• Blizzard recently offered some clarification on Challenge Mode gear scaling.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. After this week's news, I think we can safely say that we all hate July. I don't mean we hate it because it's too hot or because fireworks are too loud or whatever. I just mean that August is so much more awesome. Apparently, all the really cool stuff is happening in August. Whether it's a new cinematic or a new novel, we're getting lots of cool new stuff in August. Who knows? We might even get a new expansion in August, at this rate. Basically, what I am saying is that July is horrible and needs to be over with soon.

Speaking of being over soon, today's maintenance starts at 5 a.m. PDT and lasts only six hours. Still, that's a decent chunk of time, so why not read on? There's a lot of cool news from the past week to catch up on, even if it's all about stuff that won't happen until August.

Hot news and features

• The Mists of Pandaria opening cinematic will be debuting at Gamescom 2012 on Aug. 16.
• Tides of War, the new novel about Jaina Proudmoore, will be released in late August. You can now read an excerpt online.
• Check out this official preview of the new Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition pet and mount.
• Check out our Mists of Pandaria zone preview galleries for Townlong Steppes, The Dread Wastes, and Kun-Lai Summit.
• Wowhead has a preview of the Vale of Eternal Blossoms.
• Brann Bronzebeard offers some cool toys and bonuses for archaelogists in Mists of Pandaria.

Do you want to know why you should buy Mists of Pandaria? Look at that video. Look at it. Watch it. That is why you need to buy Mists of Pandaria. If you do not get a rush of glee at that video, I feel sorry for you. I can flip my own table in Mists of Pandaria. I don't even care about Garrosh anymore. I just want to flip my table all day.

If table flipping isn't your thing, don't worry. There was plenty of other juicy news coming out of WoW this past week, and we have the usual roundup ready and waiting for you. Downtime this week starts at 5 a.m. PDT and lasts around six hours, so you should have time to get caught up.

Hot news and features

• Could this be the new Mists of Pandaria box art?
• Gold sink mounts will now be account-wide in Mists.
• Want to play a brewmaster monk? We have a guide for you.
• Bubble-Hearthing is back, in pog form -- and by pog form, I mean glyph form.
• The Pet Journal offer a lot of fun flavor text in Mists of Pandaria.
• Check out our galleries of Valley of the Four Winds and Karasang Wilds, two of the new Pandaria zones, as well as The Veiled Stair, home of the Black Market Auction House.
• Community Manager Zarhym recently offered more clarification on the purpose and function of the Black Market Auction House.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. I have great news from the Mists of Pandaria beta. Remember everyone's favorite beta buddy, Captain Placeholder? He's back, baby, and he's been promoted. He's only with us for a short time every expansion, but we all treasure it, for sure.

In addition to welcoming back our favorite salty sea dog, there's plenty of other WoW news to catch up on from the last seven days. Realm maintenance this week starts at 3 a.m. PDT and is expected to last eight hours, so you'll have plenty of time to catch up. Read on, won't you?

Hot news and features

• Datamined info suggests that everyone gets a legendary in Mists of Pandaria.
• The Mists of Pandaria Collector's Edition mount and pet may have been uncovered in the beta game files. There's also evidence you'll get some Diablo III goodies with your purchase.
• Ghostcrawler recently outlined the dungeon difficulty changes coming with Mists of Pandaria.
• Ghostcrawler also had a few words to say about class design in Mists, including some stuff specifically centered on holy paladins.
• Pandaren females now have more character customization options.
• Wowhead offers a preview of Dread Wastes, another Mists zone.

This week has been a week of changes and transitions. Two of our contributors, Kelly Aarons and Mat McCurley, have left us, and we're sort of bummed about that but wishing them well. In game news, the Power of the Aspects buff on the Dragon Soul raid has grown to 25%. Finally, on the Mists of Pandaria beta, we've gotten a new patch and a bunch of new stuff to dig into. For starters, you can powerlevel your cooking to 525 for a price. You can earn your valor points from daily quests.

My favorite piece of beta news, though, has to be the new Pet Battle themes. As someone who first got into Blizzard games with the earlier Warcraft entries, hearing the dulcet tones of the original series human and orc music just gives me all kinds of warm fuzzy. I can almost hear that footman wishing he were sailing.

Downtime today starts at 5 a.m. PDT and is expected to last for six hours, so why not take a while to read and decide which is your favorite piece of news?

Hot news and features

• The Nomi the cooking apprentice quest line in Mists of Pandaria lets you train your very own student via dailies, while another line sparks another interesting story.
• Heroic dungeons are now open for testing in the Mists beta.
• Take a walk with us through the pandaren starting zone.
• Tom Chilton recently said a few words on the future of PvP in Mists of Pandaria.
• Pandaren flirts and jokes are now in the beta.
• Rossi takes you through one of Mists of Pandaria's new scenarios, Unga Ingoo.

Happy Tuesday morning, everyone! I would like to make a confession. I've been sort of in a huge fanboy mood lately. Legend of Korra has become sort of an obsession with me. I'm really getting into the whole Rory is the Master theory in Doctor Who. But honestly, what's got my little fanboy heart going the most is the new Jaina dialogue in the latest Mists of Pandaria beta build.

As a an Alliance diehard, I admit that I'm not really on board with the whole destroying Theramore thing, but Jaina's new dialogue still makes me pretty happy. I love that we finally have another leader that's speaking truth to power. Watch out, orcs. Jaina's coming for you, and this time it won't be Varian she puts on ice.

If you're not into the Alliance, don't worry -- there's plenty more faction neutral Mists of Pandaria news. Downtime this morning is just a series of rolling restarts at 5 a.m. PDT, but there's a lot of juicy stuff to catch up on, so why not take a few minutes and read on?

Hot news and features

• Head enchants are gone in Mists of Pandaria, and you'll buy your shoulder enchantments from player scribes.
• In Mists of Pandaria, you'll be able to blacklist your least favorite Battlegrounds when you queue for a random Battleground.
• The new core abilities tab in Mists will help you learn how to play your class.
• Forsaken now have a new racial ability that lets them drain health from the enemy.
• Level 90 flight is now available in the beta, and we'll tell you where to get it and how much it costs.