All realms will be undergoing maintenance Tuesday November 3rd from 3:00 a.m. PDT until at least 11:00 a.m. PDT. This is more or less the standard maintenance that we've all come to know and love so much. So hopefully this won't come as a surprise for folks.

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Welcome to Lichborne, WoW.com's death knight column.

Hi and welcome to this post Day of the Dead Lichborne. I'm filling in for Daniel this week to talk about my personal favorite death knight talent spec, namely blood. Blood! Over the past year blood has seen its ups and downs, often lagging behind frost for tanking and unholy for DPS (and at times vice versa) but as of patch 3.2 blood seems to be in a really good place, overall. Strong for soloing/questing as well as instancing as either a tank or DPS spec, blood can stand shoulder to shoulder with the other DK talent specs.

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Each week Dominic Hobbs brings you Blood Pact. "Much like your life as a warlock, it is important to learn from what we find in the world... before twisting it to our will." ~ Summoner Teli'Larien We're not hunters. We don't wander about shopping for a pet that catches our eye, like some fashion accessory. We reach through into the nether and wrest demons into this world, binding them to our will. We maintain our bond to this demonic denizen of the shadow, summoning them to our side at need. They are not pets, some companion for the terminally lonely and friendless, they are minions. They are our servants and slaves, powerful beings controlled through dominion, not feeble minded animals cooing for snacks.

This week I will start a review of our minions -- what they can do for us and how best we can use them. My aim is for this to be of use to anyone new to the class and these minions as well as more experienced players looking for tips and tricks. After the break we start right off with our pocket-mage.

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One of the easier ways to distinguish an older character from a reroll or alt is the presence (or absence) of a Feat of Strength. Feats of Strength, remnants of "the past glories of Azeroth," are among the most difficult achievements to get, and that's when they're even possible at all. Most, like the presence of an old-school PvP title, one of the original 100% mounts, or the Vengeful Nether Drake, are impossible to get these days, and are a sign that the person who has them is an experienced player. But with a little luck and a lot of elbow grease, even a new player can accrue some of these supposedly "past" glories.

I started playing WoW shortly after Burning Crusade launched and didn't expect to have a shot at most Feats, but a surprising number of them are still available. After getting The Fifth Element recently and being surprised to discover that: a). It's a Feat, and b). The original quest isn't even in the game anymore (man, I'm glad I'm such a quest packrat), I started nosing around the list of Feats to see what else a player could do even if they're new to the game. Moreover, there are two achievements you can get right now that will become Feats in 3.3, so let's get cracking.

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I think this might be one of my favorite things we've ever done (though all credit must go to Turpster, as usual). Last week on the show, he asked listeners for pictures of where they're listening to the show, and we got a nice gallery below of all of you in different places (many of you at work, which makes us worry a little bit), all listening to the WoW Insider Show all over the world. If you take a picture this week, feel free to send it along to theshow@wow.com, and we'll add it into the gallery below.

In the meantime, here's a new episode, featuring said Turpster and myself, along with Eddie "Brigwyn" Carrington, talking about what's coming up in patch 3.3, including the new looting system, paladin changes aplenty, and hints at the next expansion. And as usual, we answer your emails and just generally have a fun time. Enjoy -- and be sure to send us a pic while you listen!


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Just when NetEase was finally getting back to business in China (they were even planning for a Wrath release next month), they hit a huge snag: China's General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) office has apparently halted their review of the game and told the company to stop collecting subscriptions and signing up new subscribers. They've also passed on the company's application to go into business, and have called the new subscription signups "illegal behavior," threatening even suspension of the company's Internet service.

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Stop the presses! Hold your Hawkstriders! It came from the Blog is having a last minute Day of the Dead Dance Party tonight! And everyone is invited:

• Where: Falconwing Square on Zangarmarsh (US) realm
• When: Midnight EST (10pm Server time, 9pm PST)
• Who: Any level Horde character
• How: Ask Robinella or any It came from the Blog Lurker for an invite to the guild
• What: We'll be making a video of dancing with Catrina and transforming (so don't do the achievement before the rest of us) as well as completing The Grateful Dead quest.

If you have time to log on before the event and make some pocket money, learn cooking and bake some bread, please do. But we'll have extra cash and bread for those who don't. Of course, you'll only be able to complete The Grateful Dead quest outside of Silvermoon if you are a Blood Elf, but we will travel to other graveyards for other races, time permitting. Or you could just make a baby Blood Elf for this event only -- for those of you not dead set against it. (See what I did there?)

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Welcome to November, dear readers! It's the beginning of the month, so you know what time it is. Yes, we're still judging our entries for October, but it's time to kick off November's Guild of the Month contest. If you haven't been around for one of these before, let me explain how this works:

If you think your guild is the best in the World of Warcraft, you might have a chance to win a $100 gift certificate from SwagDog where you can pick up custom guild apparel for you and members of your guild.

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NetEase gets China non-approval notice
Reuters reported that China didn't approve World of Warcraft in China ... I guess the future of the game doesn't look good in China.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 2 (Reuters) - China's No.2 Internet games operator NetEase.com Inc (NTES.O) said it has been notified by a Chinese government agency that its operation of the World of Warcraft game does not have proper approval.

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Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.

Last week, I addressed a situation where a married couple who leads a guild were using the old double-rolling scam to get extra loot for each other. Normally I don't like to address the same topic two weeks in a row, but based on some of the comments from that post and the following e-mail that I received, some people still don't get why this is a problem.

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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 be your host today.

One question that has been coming up a lot lately: What are we going to do when Cataclysm's open beta starts? The answer is The Queue is going to turn back into its original inception of Ask a Beta Tester, except we're still going to leave the name as The Queue.

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; contact our tips line (attention: World of WarCrafts) with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

This week's WarCraft comes from Jilara of Southshore, US Perenolde (aka WoW.com reader RetPallyJil ) -- and yes, that's Arthas himself. The 12-inch customized figure is a patchwork of modified parts and handcrafted pieces. Arthas wields a "Fantasy Letter Opener" Frostmourne from eBay, refined and repainted.

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A small crew of machinima creators and artists have stepped up their gamed and delivered something truly new to the World of Warcraft fan video scene. Check out the Ravenholdt Labyrinth (Interactive WoW Adventure).

This isn't a single video. Instead, using the interactive linking annotation feature in YouTube, the creators have made a sort of "Choose your own adventure" adventure using WoW machinima. Depending on your choices, you can navigate Gigi further into Ravenholdt to discover the mystery . . . or get her killed. You make the choices as you proceed.

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