Tuesday Morning Post: A farewell to portals edition
The most staggering news to come out of the Cataclysm beta has hit: There are no more portals in the neutral hubs. That's right, camping out in Dalaran or Shattrath won't get you anywhere anymore. You're going to be moving to Stormwind or Orgrimmar whether you like it or not.
There have also been a bunch of wild rumors flying around about Cataclysm's release date. First, Amazon.com started sending out bunches of emails about release date changes which put the release at late November, and now there are rumors of a December release. Of course, they're all rumors; only Blizzard knows for sure, and it isn't talking. Still, 4.0.1 is on the PTR, and the background downloader is chugging away, so it feels like we're on the home stretch, regardless.
Maintenance this week consists of rolling restarts at 5 a.m. Pacific time, although a small handful of servers will get the normal 5-11 a.m. downtime. No matter which server you're on, there was a whole lot of interesting news from the live servers, from the beta servers and from the PTR in the past 7 days -- so how about catching up on it right now?
Hot news and features
There are some pretty awesome new titles in a recent Cataclysm beta build.
Justice and Valorous gear is now available on the beta servers and we have screenshots.
The WoW Insider Reader Meetup at BlizzCon has been a blast in the past, and it'll be even better this year. Join us at BlizzCon 2010!
Blizzard has introduced an automatic recovery form for hacked and stolen accounts.
Guild chat is coming to the official mobile armory app, as well as 3-D models, activity feeds and other upgrades.
Heroic Cataclysm dungeons are now available for testing on the beta servers.
15 Minutes of Fame talks with a WoW-playing pastor.
The pre-Cataclysm world events are up for testing on the PTR.
With Cataclysm fast approaching, we say farewell to the little-known zone of Quel'thalas.
Check out the new male worgen animations, and the worgen-Gilnean character creation process.
Class news and guides
Check out the latest restoration shamans changes from build 13033.
Arcane Brilliance looks at running Cataclysm heroics as a mage.
Totem Talk looks at restoration shamans in patch 4.0.1, as well as enhancement and elemental in patch 4.0.1.
Lichborne looks at what's changing for death knights in patch 4.0.1.
Shifting Perspectives looks at bear druids in 4.0.1 and the latest balance druid changes.
Spiritual Guidance looks at mana regeneration for shadow priests in patch 4.0.1 and patch 4.0.1 for holy and discipline priests.
The Care And Feeding of Warriors has a beta grab bag of topics, including heroics and the latest warrior changes.
The Light And How to Swing It looks at Guardian of Ancient Kings for protection and retribution and new heal spells for holy paladins.
Encrypted Text looks at the most useful new abilities for rogues in Cataclysm.
Scattered Shots looks at balancing hunter masteries in Cataclysm.
Dungeons, items, professions, PvP and more
Always wanted to get dungeon set 2? Here's how.
Ghostcrawler offers some insight into hit scaling in Cataclysm.
Blood Sport deals with bad momentum in arena PvP.
The Art of War(craft) looks at the current state of Cataclysm battleground PvP.
Gold Capped looks at the Quick Auction Poster addon.
The OverAchiever looks at more new and changed Cataclysm achievements.
Raid Rx looks at the fun factor (or lack thereof) in healing rotations.
Addon Spotlight looks at addons for leveling your pre-Cataclysm alt.
Older raid achievements will have their requirements reduced in Cataclysm.
Insider Trader looks at inscription and glyphs in Cataclysm.
Odds and ends
Check out The Guild, season 4, episode 10!
Wowcrendor has launched an instructional machinima website.
The Lawbringer looks at the truth and the myths about WoW in China.
Check out pictures of the newest WoW figurines.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In WoW Insider's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.
