Tuesday Morning Post: Kitten-based economy edition
Happy Tuesday morning, everyone. Once again, Blizzard's let the big news wait until Monday. Yesterday, we learned that the Blizzard store will feature a bind on equip Guardian Cub, allowing you to place it on the auction house. Essentially, you'll be able to spend 10 dollars to buy an unspecified amount of gold. As you can imagine, people have opinions on this. Me, I'm just thinking Cats4Gold was a little ahead of its time. The time of the kitten based economy is upon us. How many cats do you think it'll take to buy a Vial of the Sands?
In addition to the cat stuff, we also have more news from patch 4.3 and elsewhere to cover. Downtime this morning is from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. PDT, so you should have time to get caught up. Join us after the break for a roundup of all the best stuff from the past week.
Hot news and features
Blizzard offered some guidance on the role of valor points in patch 4.3, including how you'll earn them and what types of things they'll offer.
The raid finder is getting some unique loot roll rules.
The hunter tier 13 set's look has been revealed.
Void Storage prices are a little more reasonable for now.
Zul'gurub and Zul'aman will be gaining some shortcuts in patch 4.3.
The new Hour of Twilight instance is in testing on the patch 4.3 PTR, and we took a go at it.
The Patch 4.3 PTR has some new character models, including a new Chromatic Dragon pet.
The new Tol Barad raid boss, Alizabal, is up for testing on the PTR.
The patch 4.3 PTR now includes a new Hurricane spell animation.
Blizzard is planning an easier way to manage hierlooms.
WoW Archivist takes one last look at classic WoW with patch 1.12.
World of Wardrobe starts in on tier 5 gear.
Brian Wood offers an analysis of raid DPS in the Firelands.
Class news and guides
Scattered Shots looks at the current state of hunter DPS.
Lichborne takes a first look at patch 4.3 for the death knight.
Totem Talks patch 4.3 restoration and patch 4.3 enhancement.
Shifting Perspectives discusses the patch 4.3 Wild Growth changes. We also discuss low level balance gear and offer more feral soloing tips.
Spiritual Guidance offers some shadow priest news from the patch 4.3 PTR. We also have an analysis of holy priest stat weights.
Encrypted Text offers a vision of a good rogue legendary quest chain.
The Light And How To Swing It offers some retribution feedback. We also look through World of Logs for paladin tanking help and discuss the new holy paladin AOE healing paradigm.
Raid Rx has advice for healing heroic Firelands.
Arcane Brilliance helps you use Rawr to optimize your mage's gear.
The Care And Feeding of Warriors discusses the arms talent tree in PVE and PVP.
Blood Pact speculates on demonology's role in tier 13 raiding.
Dungeons, items, professions, PVP, and more
The OverAchiever has a guide to The Littlest Pet Shop.
Addon Spotlight recommends some essential raid healing addons.
WoW Rookie has a BlizzCon survival guide.
Gold Capped looks at the profit in shattering Maelstrom Crystals. We also take a stab at making gold on high population servers.
Ready Check handles some raid drama.
Odds and ends
Safe Passage's Prologue continues.
About The Bloggers talks with paladin columnist Matt Walsh.
Know Your Lore talks about the players' impact on lore. We also take a look at the lore contained in The Shattering.
Look for the schedule for BlizzCon 2011? There's an app for that.
Glider's gone for good. The Lawbringer will fill you in.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
