Tuesday Morning Post: Happy 2009 edition
Welcome to the first Tuesday Morning Post of 2009. I trust you've all recovered from your wild New Year's Eve debauchery and ready to face the new year bright eyed and bushy tailed, right?
Anyway, you know what would be an awesome way to kick off the new year? With a new patch. This would be the perfect time for 3.0.8 to go live, and with Ghostcrawler talking about changes that will make 3.0.8 but won't make the PTR and yet another 3 AM to 11 AM (Pacific time) downtime this morning, the time is right.
Still, I'm not making any predictions, since I've been terrible at predicting 3.0.8 as it is. It could just be that Blizzard is trying to let the servers recover from the holiday season and we still have a week or two to go for the patch. Either way, we have at least 8 hours of downtime coming up, so now's a good time to get caught up on all the latest WoW news. As usual, I have some of the past week's best content for you after the break.
Hot News and Features
Sister site Massively and Gamer DNA took a look at MMO subscription numbers in 2008. Their conclusions about WoW include some surprising predictions about the years ahead.
Speaking of predictions, check out our team's predictions for 2009.
The Queue this week includes the word about Pandas, and Wrath 101 covers Icecrown flight points.
With account theft and hacking on the rise over the holiday season, it's good to keep a clear head even as you protect yourself. Don't fall for these account hacking myths.
Ever wonder what happened to some of your favorite 15 Minutes of Fame subjects? We caught up with a bunch of them.
Class News and Guides
In class news this week, we had plenty of looks back at the year 2008. Here's the Druid look back.
For Hunters, we have a look back at the Hunter loot of 2008. Also, New Year's Resolutions for Hunters and for Blizzard regarding Hunters.
Death Knights look back at 2008 and claim 2009 as the Year of the Death Knight.
Priests looks back on their biggest class changes of the year.
Warriors also have a list of 8 big warrior changes in 2008.
Encrypted Text covers the year 2008, when Rogues changed from brutes to assassins.
Warlocks end the year on a bit of down note, according to Blood Pact. Of course, Ghostcrawler says that's going to change.
If you've followed WoW news, I don't have to tell you twice that 2008 was a heck of a year for Paladins.
In 2007, Totem Talk said Shamans needed work. Did they get that work in 2008?
Mages have started 2009 off with a bang by soloing 25-man Naxx.
Professions, Items, Factions, Raiding, and More
So you're probably grinding away at the Sons of Hodir for those shoulder enchants, but really, what are these dudes all about? Know Your Lore sums them up.
Ulduar is coming, and the blues are starting to talk about their plans, including the idea of hard mode encounters and Ulduar as the Sophomore raiding instance.
Insider Trader also looks back at the 2008 year with a roundup of our best profession guides.
WoW, Casually looked back at the top 5 greatest changes for casuals in 2008.
Enchanting will get some pretty enormous changes in 3.0.8.
Odds and Ends
The Guild season 2 continues with Episode 5.
Add one more professional sports player to the MMO nerd list: Vikings punter Chris Klune plays WoW.
Did you get mired in the recent character transfer trouble? You may have 15 days of free play coming your way.
Is your server suffering from Queues? You are not alone.
