Tuesday Morning Post: It's raining again edition
Did you think things were getting slow in WoW news? Those might have been famous last words, so to speak. It never rains, but it pours. It started early last week with a stream of previews: Of the new battleground honor changes, of the new Ruby Sanctum raid, and a sneak peek behind the curtain of Wintergrasp's faction balancing mechanics. Then, Friday came, and bam. Here comes Patch 3.3.3, with tons of amazing information for everyone to drown in, both in the patch notes and in the game files.
If you haven't had a chance to dive into all the Patch 3.3.3 news, now is as good a time as any, since the servers will be down from 3 AM to 11 AM Pacific. Before you ask, we have not heard that the patch is going live as of this writing, and I'd sincerely doubt it myself. It's a bit buggy as it is, and the devs have hinted there's more to be implemented and tested. So feel free to sit back, relax, and peruse the best news from the past week, both from Patch 3.3.3 and beyond, just below.
Patch 3.3.3 Hot News and Info
We have the Patch 3.3.3 patch notes.
Yes, you can skip the talking and go straight to the culling in Patch 3.3.3.
Plenty of new models and mounts showed up in the Patch 3.3.3 PTR files, including a new grown up look for Anduin Wrynn.
The random dungeon system is getting some welcome tweaks and changes in Patch 3.3.3.
Did you keep rolling on all those Frozen Orbs? Your dedication may just pay off in Patch 3.3.3 thanks to Frozo the Renowned.
Patch 3.3.3 is bringing some major auction house UI changes.
There were many major UI changes in this patch, such as to the dungeon finder and battleground queue.
Patch 3.3.3 brings some slight changes to raid buff durations and functions.
The way we fight holiday bosses will change significantly in Patch 3.3.3.
Professions get a few tweaks in the patch, including some interesting crafting cooldown changes.
New Achievements in the PTR files offer up some major spoilers about pre-Cataclysm in-game events and lore developments.
Some data-mined doodads speak to more sinister doings by the Twilight's Hammer cult in the pre-Cataclysmevents.
More Hot News and Features
You may now buy the baby gryphon and baby windrider plushies from the Blizzard Store.
While it won't be out until Patch 3.3.5, Patch 3.3.3 still came with some extra Ruby Sanctum information.
Tom Chilton takes a look back at WotLK, and looks forward to things to come.
Know Your Lore honors one of the greatest Alliance heroes of the WoW era, Bolvar Fordragon.
Know Your Lore also offers the first part of our Lore 101 guide for all you new aspiring lore geeks.
Class News and Guides
Among the Patch 3.3.3 death knight changes were some major buffs to frost DPS.
Shamans get a supercharged Flame Shock among other things in Patch 3.3.3.
Check out the Patch 3.3.3 PTR warrior changes.
Priests got sort of a weird little healing tweak on the Patch 3.3.3 PTR, so we took it for a spin.
Blood Pact is already playing around with Patch 3.3.3 warlock raiding builds.
Lichborne offers a class in unholy DPS 101.
Shifting Perspectives offers a feral tank guide with Bear 101. We also have a balance PvP guide.
Scattered Shots goes Vampire hunting and discusses hunter trinkets.
Totem Talk discusses effective usage of Thunderstorm. We also have our restoration 101 guide for shamans.
Spiritual Guidance has a shadow 101 guide.
Sorry, beastmastery hunters, Ghostcrawler isn't convinced that buffing your pet damage is the best way to buff you.
Dungeons, Items, Professions, PvP, and More
Insider Trader takes an in-depth look at the Patch 3.3.3 Profession changes.
The drop rate of Frost Lotus has been increased in a recent hotfix.
Reader UI of the Week offers some help on adjusting your UI's size.
AddOn Spotlight takes a look at loot addons.
Unfortunately, Blizzard is still being pretty standoffish about the idea of guild housing.
Good news everyone! Raid Rx has advice for healing the Professor Putricide encounter.
Ready Check takes on the blood princes.
The Overachiever continues looking at dungeon and raid titles.
WoW Rookie looks at common ground rules and common courtesy for dueling.
The Art of War(craft) offers advice for fighting paladins.
Odds and Ends
Why not get a little culture from your WoW screenshots?
Check out some interesting shots of some of the new WoW action figures.
Blizzard has raised $1.1 Million for Make-A-Wish through the sale of Pandaren Monks.
Our favorite WoW DJ, MrVoletron, continues to mix it up.
