Last week's All the World's a Stage was focused on the idea that not every character concept is appropriate to every group. The fundamental notion I was trying to convey is that each group has their own normative behaviors, themes, and characters. There's not necessarily anything fundamentally substandard about playing a vampire. Rather, many roleplay groups won't have space or stories available for someone who is playing one of the blood-sucking undead.

That being said, there was enough discussion about being a vampire that I wanted to take some time and review how you can go about exploring that character concept in the World of Warcraft. Azeroth isn't necessarily home to huge vampire organizations or angsty teens exploring puberty, but there are still plenty of opportunities to try out the ideas without breaking WoW genre.

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Every Sunday, Chase Christian of The Light and How to Swing It invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. This week, we examine the difference between throughput and longevity, and how intellect skews the scale.

Paladins have an incredible amount of what I call 'support' spells: things that aren't part of your rotation but provide us with quite a bit of flexibility. All of our 'Hand of X' spells would fall into this category, along with several other unique abilities that set us apart from other healers. Our healing toolbox has also expanded significantly, with Sacred Shield and Beacon of Light completely redefining how a holy paladin heals in WotLK. My actions bars are filled with macros and various support spells that I may need on a moment's notice.

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WARNING: The following post contains spoilers for the novel Arthas: Rise of the Lich King, and the final battle with the Lich King in Icecrown Citadel. They're all pretty much contained on Page 2, and I'll give you another warning later just in case you forget about it.

Most players are, by this point in Wrath of the Lich King, more than familiar with Arthas Menethil and his fall from supposed grace into the arms of the Lich King. Players may be slightly less familiar with Ner'zhul, the orc shaman who originally took on the mantle of the Lich King, but we've got an article for that.

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Every Sunday (and the occasional weekday) Spiritual Guidance offers holy and discipline priests advice on how to wield the holy light and groove to the disco night. Your hostess Dawn Moore will provide the music.

Last week, I had a bad day. More specifically, I had a bad raid day. I logged in, prepared, researched, and with high hopes of downing 25-man Sindragosa that evening. My guild had plenty of attempts, and many members had the weekend to explore the fight on 10-man or at least watch a video; I was certain we'd succeed, even with the initial difficulty of the ice block gimmick. For whatever reason though, it didn't go as planned, and with our attempts on the line, a small debate would break out after every pull. Tension between guild members rose quick and appropriately, my own focus and abilities deteriorated. What started out as an occasional mistake on my part turned into frequent and reoccurring disasters. I did keep trying hard, even though I failed, but there was no amount of effort to change how awfully I was playing.

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Reader comments -- ahh, yes, the juicy goodness following a meaty post. [1.Local] ducks past the swinging doors to see what readers have been chatting about in the back room over the past week.

We don't usually pick up comments from Breakfast Topics. It's just too easy, bringing to mind that weird kid who sneaks back to the table to lick leftover maple syrup and powdered sugar off the plates after a sleepover party breakfast. And this BT about what content might tide us over until Cataclysm hits evoked exactly that feeling: an over-abundant, sticky-sweet pool soaking mushy leftovers that seem glued to the plate.

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Want to get Gold Capped? This column will show you how, and is written by Basil "Euripides" Berntsen, also of outdps.com, the hunting party podcast, and the call to auction podcast.

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Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Pudie and Antubis and Sukugaru won last week's trivia! Pudie was the first to identify the origin of the song, and Sukugaru and Antubis reminded me that I had asked for the name of the song in specific, and not the movie title. The full answer was The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music from The Sound of Music. Lys' idea of Beauty and the Beast would also fit, and it hadn't occurred to me.

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The Colosseum takes us inside the world of the Gladiator (Relentless, Furious, Deadly, Brutal, Vengeful, Merciless, and otherwise), to interview some of the top Arena fighters on the battlegroups. Our goal is to bring a better understanding of the strategy, makeup, and work that goes into dueling it out for fame, fortune, and Frostwyrms. We're especially focused on the people who play these games, to further shed light on the world of the PvP player. If you'd like to be interviewed for The Colosseum, please feel free to contact us -- be sure to include your armory as a link!

Today's Colosseum offers a rare sight into the mind of an arena player who has multiple high-ranking teams...on multiple battlegroups. Patz, a discipline priest from Mugthol, has recently achieved top-five rank on not only his main character, but also an alt of the same class stationed on Kel'Thuzad (Patzqt).

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Tendaros of <Demonfracture> on Thorium Brotherhood writes in: "Protecting probably the most scandalous city on Azeroth is a paladin so light and airy that he has sprouted wings in his righteousness. Sure they only last for a little while, but still. Ah yes, and the levitating. That too is a gift of the Light. Well, not really. That came from the priest down by the auction house."

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The Lunar Festival is upon us once again today, and this year the real world inspiration for the in-game event coincidentally falls on the same day as Valentine's Day, which Love is in the Air is based upon (Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Chinese New Year to all, by the way). It's a funny little twist that has most of our metro's best restaurants booked today. We also joke that the only folks who won't be wearing red would be the loveless non-Chinese. This year, the Year of the Tiger, is also going to be pretty special to me and my wife because our second daughter is due in April, so we're about to welcome a tiger in the family.

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