Every Wednesday, Fox Van Allen uses his dark, shadowy powers to take the reins of Spiritual Guidance, causing severe harm to others in the form of large, yellow five-digit numbers. Holy and disc brethren, alike -- come join the dark side before his shadowfiend eats you.

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Welcome once again my friends to the lore that never ends, we're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside Know Your Lore.

This week, we look at the aftermath of the Second War and the years between it and the Third. A lot happened in this intermezzo between the drums of two wars, because in general it seems that Azeroth basically reels from crisis to crisis. I should also point out that in at least one case, a major lore figure dies in one source and yet is said to be alive later in a previous source. If you pay attention to Warcraft lore this will no doubt not surprise you terribly.

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The WoW Insider Show podcast returned on Saturday, bringing with it your suspiciously-Italian-host-and-co-host team, Sacco and Rossi, along with WoW.com's own rogue (and now holy paladin!) columnist Chase Christian. We talked about keeping raid and pug habits separate, updating the game's character models, and other topics, as well as answering your emails.

If you're wondering why this download is available so late in the week, well, we're wondering that too. It's probably for the same reason that I keep getting lost to the aether during the podcast call. We're streamlining the process of getting the podcast everywhere it needs to go, though, so starting this week it should be available every Monday on the dot.

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Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of No Stock UI, a WoW blog for all things UI, macro, and addon related.

Ah, the hero healer. It reminds me of me. Have you been in a situation where it always seems to be that one same healer which steals the spotlight raid after raid? Its as if raiding groups can't take down bosses without that one specific healer there. It gets progressively worse when that healer starts rubbing it in the faces of other healers whether directly or indirectly. Now don't get me wrong. A healer should be proud of what they are capable of doing.

But there are a few problems when it comes to being a hero.

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Welcome to Pimp My Profile, the column in which the WoW.com staff turns zeroes into heroes. Don't think you're performing where you should be? Not sure how your class/spec is supposed to be gearing up? E-mail us with your Armory link, and you might be next to receive our help!

I WANT TO RAID GOOD. Please, teach me to raid gooder than I already raid.

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Last night, Blizzard unveiled a new behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the Gunship Battle encounter in Icecrown Citadel. Although it's light on technical details, it's an interesting look at how they reasoned through both the mechanics and lore of the fight. They wanted something epic that allowed for some of the ship-to-ship combat that players have asked for, and it was a great opportunity to integrate the ICC raid with one of Icecrown's most important quest hubs.

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Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we discuss some of the tips and tricks to remember when raiding Icecrown Citadel's third wing, the Crimson Halls.

Blizzard hs been bringing their A-game in Icecrown Citadel, with each new wing's difficulty greater than the last. The most recently released wing, The Crimson Halls, plays host to a quartet of vampiric elves who will push your raid to the limit. ICC has been gradually becoming less and less PUG friendly, with complex fights, tight DPS checks via innovative berserk timers, and about twenty different ways to die per encounter. Add in the fact that each end-wing boss has a limited number of attempts, and it's easy to see why raid leaders only want to bring the best of the best to their runs.

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Season 8 arena gear now available for you to drool over! Even though season 8 hasn't quite started yet due to delays, arena players will be rocking it in style. Although no clear date has been set in stone, the next arena season is expected to start soon (possibly coinciding with the 3.3.2 patch). The above shot is what the paladin gear looks like. Personally, I really like the way paladins, priests and warlocks look. I can't say that there is a specific armor set that I absolutely despise, but do take a look at our gallery and see all the sets for yourself.

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The Classifieds brings you weekly updates on guild recruiting, rankings, splits and merges, progression and more. Have guild news or a Random Act of Uberness to share? E-mail TheClassifieds@wow.com.

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Obviously today's news from Apple of the iPad is the hottest thing since, well, the iPhone. One of the big things Apple was showing was the OpenGL 3D games on the iPad. OpenGL is the technology that allows advanced 3D graphics and games to function (DirectX is the Microsoft Windows equivalent, although OpenGL works on Windows too). For a long time people have been clamoring over the ability for WoW to run on an iPhone, and the iPad looks like the ideal touch device to let it run on.

And many of you began writing into us as soon as the iPad announcement was made, asking if we knew about WoW running on the iPad.

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Guys? We have our pony!

The Warcraft twitter account just linked to a new page on the official World of Warcraft site regarding Invincible. This stallion served Arthas in life as his mount. Unfortunately, Arthas worked his mount a little too hard and slipped on ice. Arthas had no choice but to give Invincible a merciful death. (You can find more details about the story if you've read Arthas: Rise of the Lich King by Christie Golden.) When Arthas became the Lich King, he visited Invincible's grave and raised him from the dead in order to serve him.

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Season 8 Armor Sets Preview
Blizzard finally released a small preview of the Season 8 Armor Sets on the official site!

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According to its author, Icecrown Citadel - The Movie was inspired by Invisura's Ulduar: The Mvie. The comparison is fairly apt, since this kind of long cinematic view of a raid is a relatively new concept. According to Cybeloras, Ulduar: The Movie is his favorite WoW film "of all time," so he's understandably pretty excited about this project. There's enough call-backs to Ulduar' s that you don't miss Icecrown's roots.

I think this is a fun movie for anyone who enjoys the lore of Icecrown Citadel. There's plenty of information here to get your fix for story and genre, while still focusing on the experience of raiding the Lich King's homebase. Cybeloras has done a pretty good job with this project, and I'm excited to see what comes next. The first part only includes the bosses from the lower spire, and the second part will be out once the creator has enough footage.

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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 will be your host today.

The above is a screenshot from Free Realms. Dancing ponies are not exactly my thing, but god knows we've talked about them enough. So I think after this screenshot, I'm never going to ask for a pony again. Forget it.

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Two Bosses Enter ... but only One Boss Leaves, in WoW.com's series of fantasy death matches. We're moving from the quarter-finals into the semi-finals of the Original Five-Man Wrath of the Lich King season. Grab a seat, and let's get ready to rumble!

This week, the Original Five-Man Wrath of the Lich King season of Two Bosses Enter moves into the semi-finals with a repeat match: Ley-Guardian Eregos versus Loken. If you believe voters cheated Loken out of his last victory against the Ley-Guardian based on their distaste for Eregos and The Oculus, now's your chance to set things right!

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Hey folks! After yesterday's EPIC RAGE in the comments section, let's try for something a little more low-key, shall we? How about a picnic? Gorthaur of Mal'Ganis sent in this screenshot along with a love letter to a certain NPC: "You complimented my dress, I commented on your new hairstyle. Our pet cockroaches skittered around as I laid out my freshly prepared Northern Stew. I don't know how you convinced Fenstad to shower petals on us while we toasted and laughed and ate, but it was a sweetly romantic touch.All in all, it was a fabulous date. I hope to see you again this year, Jeremiah."

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In the last year, I have noticed that Blizzard has been making more of an effort to reach out to its community. When I say community, I mean the artists, the writers, the singers, bloggers, theorycrafters, and everything in between.

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The following realms will be undergoing maintenance tomorrow from 5:00 a.m. PST / 8:00 a.m. EST until 9:00 a.m. PST / Noon EST. There is no indication given as to why the maintenance is occurring, but there have been widespread reports of lag and instance problems tonight. Common lag bugs like looting taking several seconds to complete or mobs rapidly changing places have been reported on quite a few realms.

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