Happy Tuesday Morning, everyone. This morning, we're coming to you earlier than we would have been last week. Or is later? Honestly, this whole time change thing is just making me confused. And sleepy. There's a reason I was never a math major. Luckily, there's nothing like an invigorating round of WoW news to get the blood pumping in the morning. Okay, so technically a cup of coffee would also work, but the machine isn't done percolating yet. Regardless, there's plenty of news to catch up on. There's been some interesting news trickling out of the Game Developer's Conference over in San Francisco, as well as the usual round of Patch 3.3.3 PTR news. Luckily, you'll have time to read it all while the servers are down.

With realm maintenance clocking in at only 6 hours today (from 5 AM to 11 AM Pacific), though, I wouldn't expect to see Patch 3.3.3 actually dropping this week, so you'll have to console yourself with the news and wait at least one more week to cash in all those Frozen Orbs. Check out our usual roundup after the break.

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Filed under: Realm Status, News items

Maintenance days are so boring, so let's try and spice it up. Today WoW.com is giving away six loot cards, each and every one of them come courtesy of WoWTCGLoot.com. Today you have a chance to get your hands on one of three Slashdance codes, or one of three Tiny codes.

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post. Make sure you comment using an email address you check frequently, as that's how we'll be contacting our winners. You may only enter once or you will be disqualified. The deadline is tonight (March 16th) at 11:59 PM. Comments will be disabled at that time, and winners will be chosen randomly (and so will the prizes).

Good luck!

Filed under: Contests

Each day WoW.com will take you through all the blue posts and other Blizzard news from around the internet. From Ghostcrawler's latest posts to the lowdown on StarCraft II and Diablo III, we'll keep you informed.

Welcome to the "Ghostcrawler talks about dodge, parry, and block" edition of The Daily Blues.

Table of Contents

• Ghostcrawler
• Other
• StarCraft II / Diablo III / Blizzard News

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Filed under: The Daily Blues

Every Monday evening WoW.com brings you a long list of WoW podcasts that were published the week (and weekend) before. If you don't see your favorite podcast listed, just let us know in the comments. Be sure to leave a link to it and we'll pick it up next week.

All podcasts and content belong to their owners. WoW.com is not responsible for what you hear, and some of the content may not be safe for work.

• All things Azeroth - Like the Energizer bunny
• Blue Plz - Entitled populist nonsense? Surely not. No, frost is not a viable raiding spec yet.
• Rawrcast - Death to Farmville
• The Instance - Mastery And Commander: The Far Side Of The World Of Warcraft
• Twisted Nether Blogcast - Whatever

More after the break!

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Filed under: Podcasting, Weekly Podcast Roundup

Here at WoW.com we're on a Daily Quest (which we try to do every day, honest) to bring you interesting, informative and entertaining WoW-related links from around the blogosphere. Is there a story out there we ought to link or a blog we should be following? Just leave us a comment and you may see it here tomorrow!

Ah, the World of Warcraft user interface -- your screenshots are the vacation photo of a generation of gamers. We spend so much time tweaking and perfecting our user interface that we just have to share. And for those of us still in search of the perfect UI? Well, screenshots are better than an IKEA catalog. So what's in the offering today? A few bloggers and their UIs:

• Mystic Chicanery provides a State of the UI.
• Panzercow makes the obligatory UI post.
• Cranky Healer shows off an updated UI.

Not enough UI for you? Well then, just because you asked -- some more helpful, UI-related links from around the web:

• Cannot be Tamed walks you through your major UI options, covering action bars, unit frames, key bindings, and combat text & notifications.
• Through the Eyes of a Tree points out useful healing addons.
• One More Alt helps us get started with Grid.

Filed under: Add-Ons, The Daily Quest

Want to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women? Blood Sport investigates the entirety of all-things arena for gladiators and challengers alike. C. Christian Moore, multiple rank 1 gladiator, examines the latest arena strategy, trends, compositions and more in WoW.com's arena column.

Listening Music: Pomplamoose (i.e. Jack Conte and his girlfriend Nataly Dawn) with a Single Ladies cover (originally by Beyonce). Although you've probably been able to guess by now, I'm a huge Jack Conte fan. This cover is short, but very intelligent.

Last Week: We asked the question, "Should racials be removed?" A lot of interesting responses filled the comments section of that article, people have some very strong opinions and it's definitely worth a read.

This Week: We'll be discussing specific issues that plague Dalaran arena. This will be the first in a two-part series -- part two will be Ring of Valor. The author doesn't believe Nagrand Arena, Ruins of Lorderon, or Blade's Edge Arena need much work. Dalaran has already gone through several changes to improve its game play. Blizzard, however, would do well to make additional changes to the arena. I've included some problems with its current implementation as well as some possible solutions.

1) Problem: The waterfall is a major annoyance.

It doesn't come down frequently enough to impact the game in substantial ways -- other than being exceptionally annoying at times. The vast majority of most Dalaran Sewers matches are fought "up top." The ledge on the side doesn't provide great line-of-sight when compared with the boxes.

If your team is fighting near the enemy boxes, but your healer is healing at the other set of boxes and the waterfall comes down, your team needs to adjust position quickly. Sometimes, the opposing team will win games simply because of that waterfall. Yes, your team could make a more conscious effort to prepare for the waterfall -- but should that be what arena is about? EDIT: Player vs. player should not be just that -- not player vs. environment. I hope that clarifies this last sentence.

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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, PvP, Blood Sport (Arena PvP)

Blood Pact is your weekly warlock digest brought to you by Dominic Hobbs. "The time has come! Gul'dan, order your Warlocks to double their efforts! Moments from now, the gateway will open and your Horde will be unleashed on this ripe, unsuspecting world." ~ Medivh

You might think that you could always tell a demonology warlock on sight, its minions being bigger and more powerful, to reflect his greater dominion of demons. This isn't really the case though, every warlock's minions look the same irrespective of build. If they are over level 50 then they become easier to spot as you'll find that they'll have a felguard following them about. To be fair, he is bigger and more powerful than all the other minions.

If you're drawn to demonology so that you can summon a greater variety of demons, or maybe more exotic ones like those beastmastery hunters, then you're going to be somewhat disappointed. You'll have and use the same demons until you learn to summon the felguard then you'll have him. That said, the demonologist has an array of talents that really amplify your minion's power and also boosts your own by drawing on the power of your demon. If it is synergy with an embodiment of evil ripped from the nether that you are looking for, then this is the place for you.

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Filed under: Warlock, Raiding, (Warlock) Blood Pact

Welcome back to The Queue, WoW.com's daily Q&A column where the WoW.com team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Adam Holisky will be your host today.

Most of last week I was on a nice vacation to the Washington, DC area. Some very cool sights, one of which is pictured above. All I could think of?

But I am le tired. Well, take a nap. Then fire ze missiles! (NSFW and all that.)

Swifteye asked...

"On the way to Ambassador, is it worth doing quests for a faction you're already exalted with?"

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Filed under: The Queue

No! They are not! A common fallacy I read sometimes is people arguing that since they farmed part of whatever it is they're selling, it's cheaper for them to make than it is for me to make. This is, quite simply, not true. It's easy to see where the error comes from, but much harder to win an argument about it.

Opportunity cost

If you farm herbs, you mill them, create inks, and then use those to make armor vellum, those vellums are not free, nor are they the cost of the vendor paper. The farmed materials can be sold a certain amount, and many people negate to factor this. Farming feels like getting something for free -- after all, you're playing a game, and then when you finish playing, you have goods you didn't have before.

Opportunity cost is, simply, what something would have been worth had you done something differently. The opportunity cost of going to law school is not the tuition, but the money you would have made had you not been studying law. Add that to the direct cost (tuition, books, bribes, what have you), and you get the total cost. Compare this to the profits at the end of the run to determine whether it's worth it.

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Filed under: Economy, Time Is Money

We have a nice update to the patch 3.3.3 PTR patch notes for you today, right from the mouth of Zarhym. Listed below is the update, and you can check out the complete patch notes and our patch 3.3.3 coverage to catch up on everything else.

Zarhym -- Updates to the Patch 3.3.3 Patch Notes

Dungeons & Raids

• Blood-Queen Lana'thel: Pact of the Darkfallen now applies damage twice as often, but for half the damage. This change will make the removal of the spell a bit more responsive.
• Hellscream's Warsong and Strength of Wrynn now provide their bonuses to player pet health and damage, as well as the absorption amounts of Power Word: Shield and Sacred Shield.

Death Knights

• Icy Talons: Fixed a numerical value error for rank 2 of this talent.

Items

• Glyphs
  
  
  • Glyph of Icebound Fortitude: Now always grants at least 40% damage reduction.
  • Glyph of Scourge Imprisonment: Now reduces the cast time of Shackle Undead by 1 second, up from 0.5 seconds.
  • Glyph of Deadly Throw: Now increases the slowing effect on Deadly Throw by 20%, up from 10%.
• Priest Tier-10 4-Piece Healing Set Bonus: Redesigned. This bonus now increases the effectiveness of the caster's Power Word: Shield by 5% and Circle of Healing by 10%.

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Patch 3.3.3 brings about small but noteworthy changes to the World of Warcraft. From a faster CoT, to putting those old Frozen Orbs to better use, to changes to the auction house -- there's several things all WoW players need to know. WoW.com's Guide to Patch 3.3.3 will keep you up to date!

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Filed under: News items