The best of WoW.com: June 23-30, 2009

See that shocked look on Thrall's face above? That guy's the leader of the Horde, and he just read (on WoW.com, of course) that for the first time, players of World of Warcraft will be able to switch their factions -- players will be able to leave his Horde, and those dirty Alliance might come to his side. No wonder he's so shocked. That story and more in this week's most popular posts from Joystiq's Azeroth-obsessed sister site.

News

• Faction changes coming to World of Warcraft
  Horde can be Alliance, Alliance can be Horde, cats and dogs sleeping together! It's lunacy!

• Patch 3.2 PTR unveils Tier 9 sets
  The next level of epic armor is coming to the game in the latest content patch...

• Patch 3.2 PTR Tier 9 set names
  ...And it's got a great set of lore names to go with along with it.

• Patch 3.2 upcoming Engineering changes
  Big changes for one of the game's most popular professions.

• Exodus punished for exploiting Yogg-Saron encounter
  After a guild accomplishes a world-first achievement kill, Blizzard determines they didn't quite follow the rules.
  

Features

• Patch 3.2 PTR: Tauren Druid conversation may reveal lore and expansion secrets
  A pair of Druids chatting in the new content patch might hint at the future of the game.

• The OverAchiever: Guide to Midsummer Fire Festival achievements
  Azeroth is heating up with the Fire Festival -- here's how to get everything done this week.

• Arcane Brilliance: More questions than answers
  Our Mage columnist didn't get all his questions answered in Blizzard's recent Q&A article about the class.

• Patch 3.2 PTR: New heirloom items gallery
  A pictoral look at some new heirloom items headed to the game.

• WoW Casually: What Patch 3.2 means for casuals
  Oh, you don't raid five times a week? Patch 3.2 has something for you as well.